The Witch’s Trinity by Erika Mailman (Crown) is a marvelous novel that takes a common subject--witch trials during the 1500s and makes it fresh. A tiny German village, like its neighbors, is afflicted by famine and so the Church sends a friar to investigate and root out the evil. The villagers realize too late that he believes that it is someone in their midst who is causing their bad luck, resulting in events that tear apart the fabric of the close knit community.
Heartsick by Chelsea Cain (St. Martin’s Press) is about a homicide detective obsessed with the beautiful serial killer who tortured him and inexplicably saves his life and turns herself in. Dark and disturbing and graphic in its depiction of the killer’s actions. This is definitely worth a read for those looking for “new” ideas in the serial killer sub-genre.