The month of May is also Mystery Month, a time to celebrate the stories that keep you digging for clues and second-guessing yourself until the very end. If you're looking for some titles to keep you on your toes, Apex has some recommendations!
Cinderwich by Cherie Priest
"Who put Ellen in the blackgum tree?"
Decades after trespassing children spotted the desiccated corpse wedged in the treetop, no one knows the answer.
Kate Thrush and her former college professor, Dr. Judith Kane, travel to Cinderwich, Tennessee in hopes that maybe it was their Ellen: Kate's lost aunt, Judith's long-gone lover. But they're not the only ones to have come here looking for closure. The people of Cinderwich, a town hardly more than a skeleton itself, as staunchly resistant to the outsiders' questions about Ellen and her killer. And the deeper the two women dig, the more rot they unearth... The closer they come to exhuming the evil that lies, hungering, at the roots of Cinderwich.
Praise for Cinderwich
"Cinderwich is a fantastic, spooky treasure from Cherie Priest—a mystery wrapped in Appalachian lore and family secrets, with so much heart. An absolute must read." —Fran Wilde, double Nebula winner and author of The Book of Gems
"Cinderwich is, at its heart, a compelling story of loss and the lengths we'll go to reckon with it, and it's a hell of a creepy ghost story too." —Kelly Baker, author of Final Girl: And Other Essays on Grief, Trauma, and Mental Illness
About the Author
Cherie Priest is the author of 23 full-length projects, her most recent books being Flight Risk and Holy Terror. Her most well-known book, Boneshaker (published in 2009) was nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards. Boneshaker also won the PNBA Award, as well as the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel.
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Coil by Ren Warom
In this gritty horror sci-fi novel by Ren Warom, Bone Adams is a legend, the best mortician in the spires. When a new killer begins leaving bodies twisted and bent into grotesque pieces of art, City Officer Stark tasks Bone to unravel the clues. As more victims are discovered, Bone and Stark are drawn deeper into a world where pain and personal statement blend and blur, and finally end up hunting for a semi-mythical man-machine named Burneo deep within the sewers.
But things aren't what they seem. While searching for Burneo, Bone and Stark discover a hidden lab full of evidence of horrific abuses of science and experimentation. Meanwhile, the killer is still on the loose, and, as Stark becomes more and more obsessed with the case, Bone is forced to a shattering realization. Everything is connected: the killings, the gang activity, the labs, and his own past. Unless he can figure out how, he won't survive.
About the Author
Ren Warom lives in the West Midlands with her children, her cat-pack, a snake called Marvin, and innumerable books. She's currently pursuing a PhD and thinks she may have lost her mind. If you find said mind, please return in a secure, locked box to the address on the collar. Do not, repeat, do not attempt to feed it! Thank you.
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Glitch Rain by Alex Livingston
A cyberpunk thriller from Apex Book Company! Author Alex Livingston injects traditional elements of the sub-genre—action, tech, and resistance—in a breathtaking tale of identity and privacy.
Akuba is a low-level hacker for the city's wealthy, making just enough to keep her bills paid and her booze flowing. Her job is to scrub the social feeds for faces who don't want to be seen, hanging out at parties to guard the elite from errant social media statuses and incriminating photo posts. Not the most glamorous job, but she's getting by. When an old debt comes due early, suddenly she is the one who needs to keep her face out of the drones' omnipresent eyes. Thrown into the high-stakes world of international cybercrime, Akuba will have to outmaneuver unlimited surveillance, high-tech con artists, and a hacker kingpin if she wants to survive. Every identity has a price in Glitch Rain.
About the Author
Alex Livingston grew up in various, quiet New England towns before moving to Buffalo, NY to study English at Canisius College. He is married and lives in an old house with his brilliant wife and a pile of aged video game systems.
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Happy Mystery Month from Apex Book Company!
