Our Reviews

At firstCLUE, we only review books we love, or at least like a whole lot—and the reviews appear months in advance of publication.

Newsletter Schedule

firstCLUE: New reviews every Thursday.
Monthly: Reviews of books publishing that month.

Our Database

Search our 400+ reviews by author, title and more.

Recent Reviews

For our latest reviews subscribe to the firstCLUE Newsletter
by Henrietta Thornton

The tutor is Isabel, a young woman who’s just started her new job at a rich Florida private school. Readers know that she’s angling …

by Dodie Ownes

Maria and Damien Capello hit the big time when they opened their oh-so-chic restaurant Polpette della Nonna in upstate New York. Chef Damien was …

by Jeff Ayers

Nikki Jackson-Ramanathan and her husband, Jai, live in a tiny apartment and get by on his job as a coach for a collegiate mock-trial …

by Brian Kenney

A charming novel with community at its heart. Arial Mayes Kingston has inherited a guest house in Monterey, California. Only in her mid-twenties, Arial …

by Brian Kenney

It’s a big day for both Bridget Keller and her old family friend Jimmy Maguire. Jimmy’s being released from notorious English prison Wandsworth, having …

by Dodie Ownes

Swedish author Bivald gives readers another delightful twisty tale (following The Murders in Great Diddling) with well-known mystery author Berit Gardner in the lead …