Crime Is Hot
GAH. What is it about the bad boys?! The mean girls?! The corrupt cuties?! The SCINTILLATING SINNERS, as they say in the musical Chicago?! POP SQUISH SIX UH-UH! HE HAD IT COMING!!!!
My sister and I performed many a duet as Velma and Roxy growing up. So yes, I’ve been obsessed with fishnet tights, red lipstick, and the mob wife aesthetic since I was little. Were my parents worried? No, no, no… you see, I wasn’t actually committing any crimes! I was simply a child with an over-active imagination and a penchant for rolling fake cigarettes. The hidden underbelly of society seemed glamorous, forbidden, passionate… real ones get it, OK!?
Anyways, if you feel the same, grab your partner in crime, queue up JAY-Z and Beyoncé’s 03’ Bonnie & Clyde, and pick out your cutest black and white striped tee shirt. In honor of Elora Cooke’s criminally good new novel, In the Company of Killers, let’s dive into some devious deeds committed by some of NOVL’s favorite antiheroes.
In the Company of Killers
by Elora Cook
The hottest new accessory in any criminal’s getaway bag. In the Company of Killers makes you feel like you just pulled off the heist of the century and now you’re zooming away in an Italian sportscar with an international individual of mystery by your side. Grab your darkest sunglasses and chicest trench coat. Let’s do this.
Inside the tony suburb of Scarsdale is New York’s worst-kept secret: The mob runs everything, and the Nicastro family is at the center. Seventeen-year-old Tasha Nicastro lives a life of glitz and glamour, but she has no idea her family harbors a dark truth.
Tasha might look like your classic high school mean girl, but behind the designer clothes is a sharpshooter who knows how to bring anyone to their knees. The only person who has ever gotten under her skin is her former best friend, Leo Danesi, the youngest son of the Nicastro family’s rivals. After Leo returns to New York older and more handsome, Tasha thinks he’ll be the worst of her problems—until the life she thought she knew takes a violent, shocking turn. When her father and beloved older sister are murdered before her eyes, Tasha learns the dark truth: Her family runs the most powerful Mafia branch in New York, and now she’s set to inherit it all.
Tasha vows vengeance on the mysterious new mob behind the hit, but she can’t do it alone. She needs someone who already knows the underground world to help track them down. And that person is none other than Leo, the heir to his own family’s dangerous empire.
But Tasha is a Nicastro. She’s been raised in the company of killers, and there’s absolutely nothing she won’t do to avenge her family. That is, if the enemy doesn’t put her in gold chains first.
Dead End Girls
by Wendy Heard
This should be BookTok’s next obsession. The SUSPENSE. Heard of Thelma & Louise? Make way for Maude & Frankie. These two gals-on-the-run will steal your heart (and maybe your wallet)!
In one week Maude will be dead.
At least, that’s what she wants everyone to think. After years of research, Maude has decided to fake her own death. She’s figured out the how, the when, the where, and who will help her unsuspectingly. The why is complex: revenge, partly. Her terrible parents deserve this. But there’s also ‘l’appel du vide,’ the call of the void, that beckons her toward a new life where she will be tied to no one, free and adrift. Then Frankie, a step-cousin she barely knows, figures out what she’s plotting, and the plan seems like it’s ruined. Except Frankie doesn’t want to rat her out—Frankie wants in. The girls vault into the unknown, risking everything for a new and limitless life. But there are some things you can never run away from. What if the poison is not in the soil, but in the roots? This pulse-pounding thriller offers a nuanced exploration of identity, freedom, and falling in love while your world falls apart.
Nightweaver
by R. M. Gray
Pirates are like, the original criminals, so you KNOW I’m including Nightweaver on this list. The first time Captain Jack Sparrow sailed on to my screen, I knew I was ready to commit to a life of crime, sword-fighting, smudged eyeliner, and rum. Show me the plank, yo ho hooooo!
Six hundred years ago, Nightweavers, cursed beings with untamed power, claimed the continents for their own. The ocean was meant to be a safe haven for humanity, including seventeen-year-old Aster Oberon and her pirate family. But after Aster’s brother is killed in an epic battle at sea against Nightweavers, Aster and her family are thrust into a new life on land.
When a handsome Nightweaver named Will offers the Oberons protection and work at his opulent estate, Aster is suspicious. As the arrogant and entitled right hand to the wicked prince, Will is everything that she has been taught to hate. But as he shows empathy and kindness, Aster can’t ignore a blooming attraction. And even more, Will opens her eyes to a new reality: There are monsters worse than Nightweavers, monsters who may be behind her brother’s death.
As Aster hunts the creatures responsible, dark secrets threaten to unravel everything she once believed about her family, herself, and her world.
Renegade Girls
by Nora Neus, illustrated by Julie Robine
Nell Cusack and Alice Austen are rebels WITH a cause, and a great one. They may have to bend a few rules, but in reality, they’re exposing an even bigger crime- unjust working conditions at the local garment factory. A “Queer Tale of Romance and Rabble-Rousing,” Renegade Girls is one you don’t want to miss!
Seventeen-year-old Helena “Nell” Cusack came to New York this summer looking for a story—a real story. She dreams of one day writing hard-hitting articles for the New York Chronicle, but so far she’s only managed to land a job as a lowly society reporter. That is, until Alice Austen strolls into her life, an audacious street photographer who encourages Nell to shake up polite society…and maybe also take a chance on love.
When her best friend, Lucia, is injured while working in a garment factory, Nell is determined to crack the story wide open. Posing as a seamstress, she reports on the conditions from the inside, making a name for herself as the Chronicle’s first ever stunt girl. But as Nell’s reporting gains momentum, so do the objections of those who oppose her. Will Nell continue to seek justice—even if it hurts her in the end?
Based on real-life stunt girl Nell Nelson and photographer Alice Austen, this tenderly drawn narrative is about bringing buried stories to light and the bravery of first love.
To Steal from Thieves
by M. K. Lobb
Historical heists are waaaaay more interesting. I mean, yeah, we can steal microchips and data these days, but what happened to good old gold? Priceless jewels? A luxurious (and maybe haunted) oil painting? Let’s get back to our roots, people. THANK YOU, M. K. Lobb!
Within the dazzling halls of London’s Crystal Palace, the event of the season has arrived: The Great Exhibition. An opportunity for the greatest minds of the century to come together under one roof in an unprecedented display of art and invention. And for two unlikely partners in crime, it’s about to become the score of a lifetime.
Charming con man Kane Durante works alone—or on occasion with his best friend, Fletcher. But when his boss, the infamous Kingpin of London’s magical dark market, gives him the impossible task of stealing a priceless artifact from the Great Exhibition, he knows it’s a job he can’t pull off alone. Enter Zaria Mendoza, daughter of one of London’s greatest alchemologists. Ever since her father’s death, Zaria’s been struggling to keep her underground business afloat, and impatient clients are becoming violent. When the infuriatingly handsome Kane offers her the promise of enough money to get out of debt and leave London entirely, she knows she can’t walk away from this dangerous partnership.
But robbing one of the most public, heavily-guarded buildings in London isn’t going to be easy, especially when love and betrayal threaten to ruin everything they’ve worked so hard for.
Etiquette & Espionage
Still waiting on this series to become a Netflix series. PLEASE, HOLLYWOOD! In the meantime, I’ll re-read them for the [redacted] time.
Fourteen-year-old Sophronia is a great trial to her poor mother. Sophronia is more interested in dismantling clocks and climbing trees than in proper manners—and the family can only hope that company never sees her atrocious curtsy. Mrs. Temminnick is desperate for her daughter to become a proper lady. So she enrolls Sophronia in Mademoiselle Geraldine’s Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.
But Sophronia soon realizes the school is not quite what her mother might have hoped. At Mademoiselle Geraldine’s, young ladies learn to finish…everything. Certainly, they learn the fine arts of dance, dress, and etiquette, but they also learn to deal out death, diversion, and espionage—in the politest possible ways, of course. Sophronia and her friends are in for a rousing first year’s education.
The King is Dead
This book may be more tabloid scandal than crime, but I’d argue that the two go pretty much hand-in-hand. Mix in some royal intrigue, a dash of spicy romance, and we have a perfect read for all you drama-obsessed derelicts!
Heavy is the crown James has been born to wear, especially as the first Black heir to the British throne. But with his father’s recent passing, and with a new secret boyfriend, James is woefully unprepared for the sudden shine of public scrutiny.
When his secrets come spilling forth across tabloid pages and the man he thought he loved has suddenly disappeared, James finds himself on the precipice of ruin. As every detail of his life becomes public knowledge, his sense of safety is shattered and the people he trusts the most become the likeliest suspects.
What dangers lurk behind the palace walls—and will the new king find out before it’s too late?
Heiress Takes All
by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka
Read this one quick, so you can get to the sequel, Heiress Among Thieves!!!! This book had me imagining my friends and I as a group of criminals, hackers, and codebreakers. Tag yourself, I call Olivia!
Seventeen-year-old Olivia Owens isn’t thrilled that her dad’s getting remarried … again. She’s especially not thrilled that he cheated on her mom, kicked them out of their Rhode Island home, and cut Olivia out of her rightful inheritance.
But this former heiress has a plan for revenge. While hundreds of guests gather on the grounds of the gorgeous estate where she grew up, everyone will be thinking romance—not robbery. She’ll play the part of dutiful daughter, but in reality she’ll be redistributing millions from her father’s online accounts. She only needs the handwritten pass code he keeps in the estate’s safe.
With the help of an eclectic crew of high school students and one former teacher, Olivia has plotted her mid-nuptial heist down to the second. But she didn’t plan for an obnoxiously nosy wedding guest, an interfering ex-boyfriend intent on winning her back, greedy European cousins with their own agenda, or a vengeful second wife. When everything seems like it’s going wrong, Olivia has to keep her eyes on what really matters: getting rich. And when she’s done, “something borrowed” will be the understatement of the year.
Amidst competing schemes, nonstop twists, and a romance to root for, one high-heeled mastermind must prove to her father—and herself—that she’s more ruthless than anyone expected.