When I’m not reading board books, crime fiction is one of my main reading homes. And surprisingly, mysteries show up in board books too! Here are a few crime novels I’ve read recently and a couple of mystery board books that we love. (You can also read other ‘books on a theme adult/baby pairings’ posts here.)
Faithful Place by Tana French
I’ve known of Tana French for years but didn’t read my first book of hers until a few months ago. It was AMAZING. What an absolute joy to read and discover. Her books are incredible studies into human nature, the world that she builds is deep and intricate, and the writing is wonderfully perfect poetry in parts. This is the third book in the Dublin Murder Squad series (and the third Tana French novel I read) and I loved it as much as I loved the first two. These are the kinds of reading experiences that make me love reading.
The Never Game by Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver is one of my favourite crime fiction authors and his books are great in a completely different way to French. Deaver is excellent at the face-paced thriller, and his books are full of fantastic twists and surprises. My favourite series of his is the Lincoln Rhyme series, and those are books I will always buy and read as soon as they come out. This book is the first in a new series, about a survivalist-turned-missing-persons-recoverer named Colter Shaw. I didn’t love it as much as I love the Lincoln Rhyme novels (my reader heart sometimes has difficulty letting go of fictional universes) but it was still a fun and enjoyable read.
Will Sheep Sleep? by Hilary Leung?
Sheep doesn’t want to go to sleep. His animal friends try all sorts of tricks related to bedtime routines to get him to sleep — do any of them work?! A cute bedtime board book that any parent who has ever had difficulty getting their child to sleep will empathise with. Sometimes this feels like the greatest parenting mystery of all: will my kid sleep? (We’ve reviewed the book before here).
Where is the Green Sheep? by Mem Fox, illustrated by Judy Horacek
This is one of our favourite books, and probably in our list of top three board books ever. Here is the blue sheep and here is the red sheep. Here is the bath sheep and here is the bed sheep. But where is the green sheep? Delightful rhyming text and fantastic illustrations the us through where all the different sheep are except… where’s the green sheep? This is actually one of the first books we reviewed for this website (or maybe it WAS the first?), which you can read here.