New Mystery Releases Hit Shelves

- Christopher Castellani's "Last Seen" draws inspiration from the real-life "Smiley Face Killers" theory, a debunked hypothesis that a network of killers is murdering college-aged men. The novel uses this premise to explore themes of grief and masculinity through the eyes of four young men who connect in the afterlife. - Jo Nesbo's "Wolf Hour," while from a master of "Nordic noir," is set in Minneapolis and follows parallel investigations into a series of murders, one in 2016 and another in 2022. The book is a standalone thriller, separate from his popular Harry Hole series. - "Antihero" is the 11th novel in the Orphan X series, which features Evan Smoak, a former government assassin trained since he was a boy. A core conflict in this installment is that Smoak must complete his mission to help a victim of a brutal assault without killing any of the perpetrators, forcing him to question his own code. - The Orphan X series, which began in 2016, follows Smoak's life after he breaks from the secret government program and uses his skills to help those with nowhere else to turn. - B.A. Paris, author of "Behind Closed Doors," also has a new psychological thriller out this week titled "When I Kill You." The story follows a woman who, 14 years after witnessing a murder, believes someone from her past has discovered her new identity. - Other notable crime fiction releases this month include Kelley Armstrong's "First Sign of Danger," a wilderness-set mystery, and "The Exes" by Leodora Darlington, a thriller about a woman with a string of deceased fiances.