Matthew Legare - Historical, Thrillers, & Noir
Website for Matthew Legare, writer of historical, thriller, and noir novels, including the Reiko Watanabe/Inspector Aizawa series set in 1930s Japan.
1930s Shanghai has long captivated people for its lurid underworld, usually presented in the form of the notorious Green Gang. However, there was a brief period in Old Shanghai where a new batch of gangsters rose to prominence, and their story is told in Paul French’s Devils of Shanghai.
[Read more…] about City of Devils Review & Paul French Interview
Eye of the Red Tsar by Sam Eastland is a historical mystery set in 1929, during the early days of Stalinist Russia. The first of the Inspector 
Pekkala series, it shines a light on an often-overlooked period, when the USSR was a strange international pariah, rather than the Red Menace of the Cold War.
[Read more…] about Eye of the Red Tsar Review & Sam Eastland Interview
Winter Raven by Adam Baker is a thriller novel mixed with espionage, philosophy, martial arts, and war, all set against the backdrop of 
Japan’s chaotic Sengoku Era.
[Read more…] about Winter Raven Review & Adam Baker Interview
A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell is a noir mystery set in the seedy streets of 1931 Berlin, full of vice, intrigue, and murder.
[Read more…] about A Trace of Smoke Review & Rebecca Cantrell Interview
[Read more…] about The Jade Dragon Review & Garrett Hutson Interview
Shanghai 1928 – the body of blonde woman is found dead, washed up on the “Beach of Dead Babies.” The mutilated corpse is marked with the Chinese character for “justice.” It’s with this gruesome and foreboding atmosphere that Death in Shanghai by MJ Lee, and the Inspector Danilov series begins.
[Read more…] about Death in Shanghai Review & MJ Lee Interview
Shanghai Story by the great Alexa Kang is a historical epic in the vein of such classics as The 
Winds of War and War and Remembrance. Whereas those books concentrated on the well-represented European Theater of World War II, Kang’s trilogy will focus on the lesser-known Sino-Japanese War.
[Read more…] about Shanghai Story Review & Alexa Kang Interview
In modern-day Tokyo, an American businessman meets a grisly end underneath an oncoming subway train. But it was no accident. He was pushed, and furthermore, we know who did it. Michiko Suzuki, a seriously damaged young woman, is the murderer, but why did she do it? So begins The Last Train by Michael Pronko.
[Read more…] about The Last Train Review & Michael Pronko Interview
Calcutta, 1919 – In the sweltering Indian heat, a British civil servant is found brutally murdered with a note shoved in his mouth. The note is a warning to the British – quit India or else. Thus begins A Rising Man, a historical murder mystery and the first in the Sam Wyndham series by Abir Mukherjee.
[Read more…] about A Rising Man Review & Abir Mukherjee Interview
Full of international intrigue, long-buried historical secrets, and criminal conspiracies, Tokyo Kill is a worthy follow up to Barry Lancet’s Japantown and Book 2 in the Jim Brodie series.
[Read more…] about Tokyo Kill Review & Barry Lancet Interview