STEPH CHA is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Law School. She lives in her native city of Los Angeles, California. Follow Her Home is her first novel.
The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers (2024) Sarah Tomlinson "The Last Days of the Midnight Ramblers is an observant, suspenseful novel about an ambitious ghostwriter and the celebrities she manipulates, coddles, and sometimes loves. Sarah Tomlinson writes with compassion and sizzle, using her own skills as a ghostwriter to lend earth and substance to larger-than-life characters."
Dark Ride (2023) Lou Berney "I've been a Lou Berney fan for years, and Dark Ride is a cause for celebration. A suspense novel shot through with heart and soul, it has the feel of an instant classic. Through the journey of Hardly Reed, a lovable pothead turned amateur detective, Berney wrestles with a central existential question: what do we owe our neighbors, and what are we willing to give up to help them?"
Happiness Falls (2023) Angie Kim "Kim is a tremendous writer . . . a compelling mystery as well as a guide to managing the uncertainties of life and the challenges of family."
The Stolen Coast (2023) Dwyer Murphy "The Stolen Coast is a wonderful heist novel, unique and compelling, set in a town full of shifty operators and fugitives. Murphy's rich, fluid prose infuses every page? with salty sea air and a rueful sort of romance. I loved my sojourn in Onset, Massachusetts."
Everybody Knows (2023) Jordan Harper "With Everybody Knows, Jordan Harper takes on the Beast--the monstrous, corrupt, insatiable mass of organs that eats the losers and feeds the winners in capitalist America, with Hollywood as its base of operations. Our guides to this world (our world) are two of its own dirty players, a celebrity publicist with killer instincts and an ex-cop goon for hire, looking for survival and money and maybe, if it's in the cards, a little bit of redemption. It's a juggernaut of a novel, fast and high-impact, with a sense of doomed humor and bright, sharp teeth."
A Kiss After Dying (2022) Ashok K Banker "A Kiss After Dying is a fast, energetic revenge thriller with a roaring engine and twists for miles. Buckle up for some old-school smiting, where the sins of the father are thoroughly, ruthlessly punished."
With Prejudice (2022) Robin Peguero "With Prejudice is a fast, entertaining courtroom drama by an author who knows the ins and outs of the justice system. Peguero employs both his legal expertise and authorial sleight of hand to throw down twists and turns you will not see coming."
The Fervor (2022) Alma Katsu "A chilling, inventive supernatural thriller about a mysterious outbreak in a Japanese American internment camp during the frenzied nationalist days of World War II. The story is propulsive and dense with spidery scares, but the greatest horror comes from the deep resonance between this shameful episode of our history and the news we read every day."
Don't Know Tough (2022) Eli Cranor "Don't Know Tough is a gripping novel about rage and trauma, redemption and damnation, football and family and brutality in close quarters. Cranor's characters bristle with desperation and frustrated masculinity, a volatile cauldron of emotion that brings tension to every page."
We Were Never Here (2021) Andrea Bartz "Andrea Bartz takes a friendship with boundary issues and adds an extra-special ingredient--the permanent, secret alliance of two people who have gotten away with murder. . . . An observant, suspenseful, and deeply scary novel."
Velvet Was the Night (2021) Silvia Moreno-Garcia "Velvet Was the Night is a rollicking work of historical noir with a vivid sense of time and place and an unforgettable cast. Moreno-Garcia made me care deeply about her characters and their dangerous, riveting misadventures. This is a stylish hard-boiled novel painted in shades of gray with a whole lot of heart."
Bone Canyon (2021) (Eve Ronin, book 2) Lee Goldberg "Bone Canyon is a propulsive procedural that provides high thrills in difficult terrain, grappling thoughtfully with sexual violence and police corruption, as well as the minefield of politics and media in Hollywood and suburban Los Angeles. Eve Ronin is a fantastic series lead—stubborn and driven, working twice as hard as her colleagues both to prove her worth and to deliver justice for the dead."
Santa Monica (2020) Cassidy Lucas "Cassidy Lucas has created an engaging, satirical portrait of Santa Monica, where a vibrant cast faces a broad range of California problems—marriage and money troubles, poor body image for the haves, deportation for the have nots."
And Now She's Gone (2020) Rachel Howzell Hall "Heartfelt and gripping... I'm a perennial member of the Rachel Howzell Hall fan club, and her latest is a winning display of her wit and compassion and mastery of suspense."
Winter Counts (2020) David Heska Wanbli Weiden "David Heska Wanbli Weiden announces himself as a formidable new voice in crime fiction. The images haunt, the action crackles, and Virgil Wounded Horse makes a lasting impression as he knuckles his way through a heroin ring that threatens life as he knows it on his South Dakota reservation. WINTER COUNTS is a heartfelt page-turner with compelling characters, keen cultural insight, and a climax unlike any I've read before."
Pretty as a Picture (2020) Elizabeth Little "Pretty as a Picture is an atmospheric thriller that sparkles with intelligence and irrepressible wit, anchored by the singular voice of Marissa Dahl, a mega-competent female film editor plagued by anxiety. Elizabeth Little has an impeccable ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for detail, and she's created a page-turner that is as well written as it is captivating. I enjoyed every scene and sentence of this glorious book."
Restoration Heights (2019) Wil Medearis "Restoration Heights is a smart social novel that uses the expectations and conventions of urban crime fiction to ask provocative questions about the misdeeds done and damage suffered in a community undergoing sudden gentrification. Medearis treads sensitive territory with self-awareness and nuance, all while telling a good story that moves."
Black Swan Rising (2018) Lisa Brackmann "Black Swan Rising is a terrifying novel that focuses on a political campaign plagued by gun violence and misogyny. It cuts deep in a way that is all too distressingly believable, but Brackmann's smart prose and winning female protagonists go a long way towards fighting the darkness."
The Convert's Song (2014) (Valentine Pescatore, book 2) Sebastian Rotella "Riveting.... Skillfully layered.... The Convert's Song is just that rare thing, a rousing thriller with a fine weave. ... There's plenty of action, all of it fast-paced and gripping, but it's the relationship between the men that drives the story, giving it depth and urgency.... His background as a journalist proves useful in his fiction. He handles complex subjects with confidence and seeming ease."
