Five thrilling books that will inspire you to listen to a true crime podcast

Katherine Greene is the pen name of bestselling authors A. Meredith Walters and Claire C. Riley. They each cut their teeth on spine-tingling thrillers and true crime. It was their love of dark, twisted tales with a strong female voice led them to create stories that leave you guessing. Both currently live in the United Kingdom with their families.

The Lake of Lost Girls is their second novel.

At CrimeReads the authors tagged five "amazing stories that use [true crime podcasts] to deliver a fast-paced, and complicated narrative." One title on the list:

Sadie by Courtney Summers: This book focuses on some of our own very favorite things in a thriller: a small town, a missing girl, podcast snippets and revenge! A gut-wrenching story that flips back and forth between podcast segments and one jaded teen’s journey, with a closing line that will leave you speechless for a long time afterwards.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Sadie is among Megan Cooley Peterson's eight titles exploring real life crimes, Lisa Schroeder's seven top mysteries about teens, Kate McLaughlin's seven top fictional characters who are bent but not broken and Kate Kessler's six top revenge thrillers featuring female protagonists.

--Marshal Zeringue

Five thrillers set in Russia

At the Waterstones blog Anna Orhanen tagged five "thrilling tales of crime, espionage and deception set in Russia and the USSR you might enjoy next," including:

Archangel by Robert Harris

The master storyteller's third page-turning novel pitches a historian into a deadly race against time through Moscow and the frozen Russian North to locate Stalin's secret diary.

Read about the other thrillers on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue

The best historical fiction of the 21st century (so far)

At BookRiot Courtney Rodgers tagged the best historical fiction of the 21st century so far. One title on the list:

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles

Sentenced to house arrest by the Bolshevik regime, Count Alexander Rostov is stripped of his wealth and made to observe the world pass him by. Staying true to his gentlemanly ways, Rostov interacts with a revolving cast of unusual characters in his hotel dwelling. Charming and descriptive, A Gentleman in Moscow invites the reader into Rostov’s private world to understand 1920s Russia.

Read about the other entries on the list.

A Gentleman in Moscow is among Suzanne Redfearn's six architecturally inspired novels.

--Marshal Zeringue