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.
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
Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong. With a title as lurid as that, how can you not be interested?
[Read more…] about Sex Slaves of the Dragon Tong Review & F. Paul Wilson Interview
Tokyo Black by Andrew Warren has everything that thriller readers like. A burned ex-CIA operative hiding out in 
exile. High-stakes geopolitical tension. A gang of villains ready to kill anyone to bring out their plans. And most importantly, lots of action.
[Read more…] about Tokyo Black Review & Andrew Warren Interview
As previously mentioned, I love San Francisco, noir, and the 1920s. Speakeasies, gangsters, and flappers – these
might be clichés of the era but they’re what I love best about it. Wherever they appear, I’ll spend my money. Artist and writer Dan Cooney must have read my mind and created the Tommy Gun Dolls, a new graphic novel trilogy.
[Read more…] about The Tommy Gun Dolls Review & Dan Cooney Interview
1932 was an important year in Sino-Japanese relations. In March, the puppet state of Manchukuo was proclaimed, manufactured out of the conquered northeast region of Manchuria. It was also a momentous year for Shanghai when the city became a battleground. It’s on the verge of the undeclared war that we regroup with Inspector Danilov and Detective-Sergeant Strachan in The Killing Time, the fourth book in this series by MJ Lee.
[Read more…] about The Killing Time Review & MJ Lee Inteview
January 1937. On a bitterly cold night, the body of a young Englishwoman is found u
nderneath the Fox Tower in eastern Peking. The murdered girl is Pamela Werner, the daughter of a retired British diplomat and her killer vanished into the darkness. Midnight in Peking by Paul French is the definitive account of this forgotten girl’s murder.
[Read more…] about Midnight in Peking Review & Interview With Paul French
Like Weimar Berlin, Shanghai in the 1920s and 30s has always held a unique appeal for me. It’s got everything:
bloodthirsty gangsters, seedy prostitutes, glamorous nightclubs, spies, political intrigue, and a cosmopolitan feel that makes Berlin look like Oklahoma.
[Read more…] about The Murder Game Review & MJ Lee Interview
It was love at first site. The image of a running man, superimposed o
ver the Golden Gate Bridge, his head slightly turned to look behind him for danger. With a cover like that, I knew I was going to like Japantown by Barry Lancet. Anyone who knows me knows I love thrillers, and stories set in Japan and San Francisco. Imagine my joy when I learned this book is all three.
[Read more…] about Japantown Review & Interview With Barry Lancet
Goodbye Chairman Mao by Christopher New deals with one of the most fascinating and least known events of modern times; the Lin Piao Incident. For those of you unfamiliar, in September 1971, Mao Tse-tung’s successor, Marshal Lin Piao fled China in route to the Soviet Union but never made it any farther than Mongolia. His plane crashed landed, killing him and everyone on board.
[Read more…] about Goodbye Chairman Mao Review & Interview With Christopher New