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This week, the Silver Screen Library reviews Walter Mosley's latest Easy Rawlins mystery, Gray Dawn, and a comic thriller about a Florida PI by David Antocci, Grift Coast. We also look at Fallen Star, an Eve Ronin police thriller by Lee Goldberg, and Boom Town by Nic Stone, a mystery thriller set against the backdrop of an Atlanta strip club.
In our Classic Mysteries section, we review Simon Brett's latest cozy adventure, Mrs Pargeter's Past, and Nicholas Meyer's newest Sherlock Holmes pastiche, Sherlock Holmes and the Real Thing.
GRAY DAWN
B+
Easy Rawlins's search for a missing woman leads him to a multiple-murder site.
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GRIFT COAST
B
A Florida private investigator tries to save a family's farm from a shady land developer.
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FALLEN STAR
B+
A sheriff's detective investigates a body found in an oil drum and a fatal helicopter crash right outside her door.
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BOOM TOWN
A-
A former dancer at an Atlanta strip club investigates the mysterious disappearance of two other dancers years apart.
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THE GRAVE ARTIST
B+
A computer genius and a tough Homeland Security agent must stop a ruthless serial killer who targets newlyweds.
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WORLDS COLLIDE
B-
A new anthology from Horrific Scribes featuring 25 dark horror stories from individual authors.
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THE ESSENTIAL HORROR OF JOE R. LANSDALE
A-
A collection of 16 of the best horror stories over the author's entire career.
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I BECOME HER
C
A newlywed fears that her husband may have killed another woman on their honeymoon.
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SHADOW LAB VOLUME II
C+
Blackstone Publishing presents a new short-story anthology featuring seven horror tales by different authors.
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MIRAGE CITY
B+
Gay PI Evander Mills in 1950s San Francisco investigates mysterious disappearances.
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THE BEST MYSTERY STORIES OF THE YEAR 2025
B+
John Grisham selects and edits a collection of the 20 best mystery stories written in 2024.
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TWISTED TALES TO TELL IN THE DARK
B-
Eighteen authors contribute new Halloween horror stories for a seasonal fright anthology.
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THE GIRL FROM DEVIL'S LAKE
B+
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KISS HER GOODBYE
B
Frankie Elkins searches for an Afghan refugee who disappeared after relocating to Tucson, AZ.
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END GAME
A-
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FIVE FOUND DEAD
B
A writer and his twin sister try to solve a series of murders on the Orient Express.
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MIDNIGHT BURNING
B+
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THE APOCALYPSE CITY
B-
Ludo Carstairs and Michael Garris try to prevent the end of the world as we know it.
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WE ARE ALL GUILTY HERE
B+
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HATCHET GIRLS
B
Hap and Leonard take on a gang of deadly, axe-wielding female drug dealers.
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RIDESHARE
B+
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DEPARTURE 37
A
A nuclear armed B-52 disappears in 1962 and mysteriously reappears in midflight in the present day.
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THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE
C+
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STORIES TO TAKE TO YOUR GRAVE VOLUME 3
B+
A horror anthology comprising 16 new short stories set on the High Seas.
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THE LIST
B
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THE UNRAVELING OF JULIA
C
A recent American widow inherits a Tuscan villa that comes with a dangerous secret.
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WHAT THE NIGHT BRINGS
B+
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POWERLESS
C-
Life for an ordinary family in an alternate Communist version of the United States.
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BAT OUT OF HELL
B
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DEADLY DOLLS
C+
A collection of horror stories featuring some of the all-time favorite childhood toys.
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DON'T FORGET ME, LITTLE BESSIE
B
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THE BLUE HORSE
B+
Nevada sheriff Porter Beck tries to solve multiple murders against the backdrop of a wild-horse roundup.
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THE NO-END HOUSE
B
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THEM BONES
C+
Private investigator Rushmore McKenzie tries to recover stolen dinosaur bones.
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THE DEAD DETECTIVE
B+
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THE DEMONIC DETECTIVE
B+
Ludo Carstairs must stop four people who may bring about the end of the world.
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NEBULA AWARDS SHOWCASE 60
C
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THE VIGILANTE CRIME PULP FICTION ANTHOLOGY
B+
A collection of brand new pulp stories featuring a novella by Joe R. Lansdale.
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FOX
B+
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DEVIL OF THE PINES
B+
A man returns to his childhood hometown for his mother's funeral and encounters the legendary New Jersey Devil.
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A HIRED KILL
C+
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BADLANDS
A-
Archaeologist Nora Kelly investigates a cult associated with a mysterious vanished Southwestern indigenous tribe.
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DEATH AT A HIGHLAND WEDDING
C+
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NIGHT IN THE CITY
C-
A disgraced former DA tries to find the killer of his ex-girlfriend and clear his name.
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A DEAD DRAW
B
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THE BOOMERANG
B+
A desperate father seeks a cancer cure for his daughter that the government has covered up.
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WHISTLE
A-
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HIDDEN IN SMOKE
B-
Police investigators search for the arsonist who brought down a majfor freeway overpass.
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FDR DRIVE
C-
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NOBODY'S FOOL
A
A disgraced former cop tries to solve three related cold case mysteries over 20 years old.
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OVERKILL
B+
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THE RELUCTANT SHERIFF
C-
A rural sheriff tries to solve a murder where his ex-wife's new husband is the prime suspect.
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SOUTH OF NOWHERE
A
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ALL THE SILENT BONES
B
An adult reunion of four childhood friends ends in the brutal murder of one of them.
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LETHAL PREY
B+
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COLD BURN
B
A submarine crew freezes to death from the inside out, and a National Park Service agent tries to find out how it happened.
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DEATH IN THE DRESSING ROOM
B
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PLAYING DEAD
B
Members of the Detection Club contribute stories in honor of former President Simon Brett in a new anthology.
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THE FOURTH CONSORT
B
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BATTLE MOUNTAIN
B+
Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski try to stop a band of highly trained terrorists.
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ARCHIVE
- AI: Artificial Incompetence
- The American No
- Ashes Never Lie
- Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right
- Bellevue
- The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2025
- Beyond Reasonable Doubt
- The Big Empty
- The Bitter Past
- Blood Ties
- The Born Vampires
- Clete
- Cold As Hell
- Dark Space
- The Darkest Night
- Den of Iniquity
- Disturbing the Bones
- Disturbing the Dead
ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
BLACK FILM
A-
A history of the participation of Blacks in the movie industry as actors and filmmakers from the silent era to today.
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MURDER TO MOVIES
C+
The true story behind 17 real-life crimes that later became the basis for popular movies.
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ON THE SET OF FORREST GUMP
B-
The classic film's Oscar-winning producer describes how the movie ever got made.
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SPACE SHIPS! RAY GUNS! MARTIAN OCTOPODS!
C
A history of science fiction pulp magazines, as told by many of the authors.
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SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF ST. IVES
D+
The headmaster of an exclusive boy's prep school looks back on his sixty years at the school.
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RETURN OF THE KING
A-
A detailed examination of the 1970 heavyweight fight between Muhammad Ali and Jerry Quarry.
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THERE'S NO GOING BACK
B+
A look at Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme's life and film career.
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CESAR ROMERO: THE JOKER IS WILD
C+
The first full-length biography of Hollywood icon Cesar Romero explores his life and filmography.
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CRAZY LUCKY
B
A renowned entertainment lawyer recounts his experiences with his celebrity clients.
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ROBERT SHAW
C
The actor's nephew describes his uncle's life and his experiences in making the classic film, Jaws.
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EC CRUEL UNIVERSE VOL. 1
C+
Stories from the first five issues of EC Comics new science-fiction magazine.
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EMINENT JEWS
B
An examination of the lives of four prominent Jewish-Americans (Leonard Bernstein, Mel Brooks, Betty Friedan, Norman Mailer).
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AND INTRODUCING DEXTER GAINES
B
A young actor in 50s Hollywood gets involved with a major film producer and his actress wife.
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EC EPITAPHS FROM THE ABYSS VOL. 1
B
The first four issues of EC Comics' first new horror comic in 70 years.
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THERE'S NOTHING LIKE THIS
B
An analysis of Taylor Swift's success from a management and marketing perspective.
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I'LL HAVE WHAT SHE'S HAVING
C+
Chelsea Handler combines more anecdotes about her life with some self-help advice for readers.
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HOLLYWOOD BLACKOUT
B+
A detailed history of racial discrimination in the movie industry and at the Oscars.
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SLOW TRAIN COMING
C+
The story of a recent acclaimed Broadway musical, written by a leading cast member.
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A COMEDY OF TRAGEDIES
A-
Steve Barton, aka Uncle Creepy, looks back at his life and career in the horror industry.
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DRIVING MARILYN
B
A look at the career of legendary Hollywood agent Norman Brokaw, written by his son Joel.
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MILLENNIAL NASTIES
B
A look at the torture porn movies from Saw to Final Destination popular in the 2000s
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THE SALVATION OF HENRY MAXWELL
B+
An aging horror film actor reflects on the mysterious death of his wife decades earlier.
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THE LAST DECADE OF CINEMA
B
An in-depth examination of 25 of the best movies in the 1990s and what made them great.
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HOW TO MAKE A HORROR MOVIE AND SURVIVE
B+
A cursed movie camera brings death to the people it films on a horror movie set.
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BRUCE WILLIS
B+
An appreciation of the actor's career and films from a national film critic.
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I SAW THEM STANDING THERE
B
An original Beatles fan recounts her 60 years of experiences with the group since their Ed Sullivan appearance.
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STARRING JOAN CRAWFORD
C+
A look at Joan Crawford's life and times through an analysis of her films.
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DANCING ON THE EDGE
B
Russ Tamblyn looks back at his life and 80-year career in show business.
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CLASSIC MYSTERIES
MRS PARGETER'S PAST
B
Mrs Pargeter must protect one of her husband's friends from a pair of vicious gangsters.
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SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE REAL THING
B-
Sherlock Holmes investigates the world of fine art and a mysterious death without a body.
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A MOST PUZZLING MURDER
C-
Renowned puzzle solver Destiny Whip must figure out who killed the Sorcerer King in the middle of an occult ceremony.
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THE FOUR QUEENS OF CRIME
B-
Four famous 1930s mystery writers try to solve a real-life murder committed in the same house while they slept.
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DEATH ON THE AISLE
C
Mr. and Mrs. North get involved with a murder during a dress rehearsal of a Broadway show.
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THE ROMAN HAT MYSTERY
C+
Ellery Queen investigates a murder committed inside a crowded Broadway theater.
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CABARET MACABRE
B
Conjuror Joseph Spector solves two impossible murders at a wealthy judge's country estate.
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CLOSE TO DEATH
A
Detective Hawthorne investigates a crossbow murder in an exclusive gated community.
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THE GREAT MISTAKE
B
A young woman tries to solve multiple murders in an elite community.
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THE CASE OF THE ROLLING BONES
B+
Perry Mason defends a wealthy man accused of killing his former gold-mining partner.
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