The best thing about giving birth to a new book is actually holding the thing in your hands after years of writing, editing, revising, proofing, and waiting. A close second, however, is when you see it’s available for pre-order from the major online retailers—as I learned this week about my new thriller Beyond All Doubt (written under the pen name Hilton Reed). The key to pre-ordering a book is that when you do, sales on that pre-order date help calculate its sales status on that day—so I humbly invite you to order it today from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Target. The actual date of release is March 19, 2024, so you’ll have to wait a while before it drops on your doorstep. I thank you in advance!

— Reed Bunzel

In The Pigeon Tunnel, Errol Morris

Exposes The Real John le Carré

John le Carré (real name David Cornwell) possibly was literature’s most astute observer of the emotional and moral costs of spy life. No one better understood the required elements of espionage during and after the Cold War, or the complex architecture of a life built with lies. He saw, as T. S. Eliot said of John Webster, “the skull beneath the skin.” He understood that thrilling missions, physical risk, and seductive assassins make for fine plots, but the one thing that makes a story last is character. Unlike his contemporary Ian Fleming, le Carré never spent much time describing a martini, or allowed himself to be seduced by his characters. Charm, he knew, is a chimera. Or worse. In the new documentary The Pigeon Tunnel, British filmmaker Errol Morris downplays le Carre’s mistresses and marriages in favor of Russian nesting dolls, thousands of cracked eggshells overflowing an empty ballroom, and pigeons trapped in a tunnel, then freed only to be slaughtered. In the spymaster’s own words, "It is the perfect metaphor for the life of a spy.” As noted by Lea Carpenter in Air Mail, the biopic “allows the great spy novelist to come clean about his life as a spy and about the experiences that launched him into a life as a best-selling author. Like Fleming, Graham Greene, and, later, Frederick Forsyth, he was the spy who wrote what he knew.”

20 Compelling Mystery Movies

That Flew Totally Under The Radar

It would be almost impossible to find someone who doesn’t love a good mystery. From cozies to apocalyptic thrillers, a suspenseful story—with or without blood (or cats)—can be a powerful hook. A chilling murder mystery? An ominous secret society? Or perhaps, a century-long family secret? As Mohamed Ndao wrote for Movie Web earlier this month, “Despite our familiarity with these introductions, these stories venture into various routes. While some remain simple mysteries, others experiment with the narrative. All, however, unveil a greater truth about the world, and sprinkled with juicy bits of information, audiences can't help but dig deeper. Among enigmatic characters, the story is taken from typical fodder to an unforgettable adventure...each with its own defining traits, witty dialogue, and decisions made under duress, revealing more than meets the eye and pulling us closer to the astonishing climax.” While many mystery movies have seen success, there are just as many that slipped under the radar at the time of their release. Depending on their country of origin, their premise, and the steps taken to reach their conclusions, these films have been more or less overlooked until recently. With all this in mind, here are 20 mystery films—also from Movie Web—that many fans and critics alike consider to be underrated. How many have you seen?

DNA COLD CASE

Police ID The Remains Of Suspected

Victim Of Serial Killer 30 Years Later

The Hamilton County, Indiana Coroner has finally identified the remains of a victim believed murdered by suspected serial Herbert Baumeister at Fox Hollow Farm in Westfield more than three decades ago. Allen Livingston (left) went missing when he was 27 years old in August 1993, and he finally was positively identified after DNA collected from the scene was sent to state police early last year. Livingston's cousin, Eric Pranger, then submitted a sample from Allen Livingston's mother, Sharon, because she long has suspected her son was one of Baumeister's victims. She also is suffering from terminal cancer, and was hoping to find closure in her son’s disappearance. Twenty other people have provided DNA samples hoping to find their own loved ones who similarly disappeared at the time, as the remains of numerous individuals were found at the same location in June 1996. Investigators believe Baumeister, who has been linked to the disappearance of at least 16 men since 1980, frequented gay bars to lure men to his home, where he killed them. He took his own life at age 49 in July 1996 before investigators had a chance to question him, leaving many families with no answers... until now.

Tom Justice: The Bank Robber

Who Rode His Racing Bike To Work

What would a heist be without a getaway car idling at the curb, exhaust spewing from a tailpipe, the driver inside nervously waiting to shift into gear and tear off down the street, tires sizzling on loose gravel. That’s a feeling bank robber Tom Justice would never know, as he used his racing bicycle to flee from his jobs. According to Bicycling magazine, the former Olympic hopeful would leave his custom-built, orange Steelman road bike unlocked outside his target business, then saunter in and hand the teller a note that said something along the lines of, “I’ve got a gun, give me the money.” Then he would walk out with a plastic bag full of cash, transfer it to his messenger bag, strip down to the cycling kit he wore underneath his street clothes, and ride off unnoticed. Between 1998 and 2002, Justice stole from 26 banks in California, Illinois, and Wisconsin, earning himself a nickname from the FBI, “The Choir Boy Robber.” (He obscured his face from surveillance cameras by wearing a hat and bowing his head, and often held his hands together in front of him at the counter.) Until a botched robbery that led to his arrest, law enforcement remained stymied by the Choir Boy’s seeming lack of a getaway vehicle. He eventually was caught in March 2002 and, after pleading guilty, served nine years in federal prison. Today, at age 48, he works in a donut shop and still races on the same velodrome track where he first fell in love with cycling when he was 13.

The 10 Must-Read Thriller

Novels Of All Time: Unranked

The thriller genre is filled with thousands of amazing books. Whether you like a good murder mystery or a spy novel, there are thousands and thousands from which to choose. Selecting which ones to read is not an easy feat, which is why Books of Brilliance compiled this list of the 10 must-read thriller books of all time. Please note: I would never endeavor to create such a list myself, nor do I necessarily agree with this one. 

• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson

• The Silence of the Lambs, by Thomas Harris

• The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins

• The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides

• The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

• The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy

• The Guest List, by Lucy Foley

• Killing Floor, by Lee Child

• Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

• The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth

Available Now!

INDIGO ROAD

“Indigo Road is a beautifully wrought, hard-biting story with elements of classic noir presented through a prism of modern sensibilities. A fantastic read.” –S.A. Cosby, bestselling author of All The Sinners Bleed 

While still slinging drinks fulltime at The Sandbar in Folly Beach, Jack Connor works a side gig as a licensed bounty hunter. One afternoon, as he's transporting his latest bail skip named Willis Ronson back to jail, his SUV is ambushed by a team of gunmen, killing Ronson instantly and seriously injuring his court-appointed attorney, Alisha Dupree. Connor can’t help but poke around the edges of the deadly incident and quickly learns that Ronson was a man of many secrets, including a mysterious woman from his past who has caused him to be sucked into a domestic terrorist fringe group.