Snow White Must Die: A Novel (Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein, 1)

Amazon Best Books of the Month, January 2013: Nele Neuhaus’s provocatively titled Snow White Must Die is already an international best-seller, and it’s easy to see why this mystery has been universally embraced. Set in a small village outside Frankfurt, Snow White works so well in large part because of how firmly it is rooted in place. The sense of claustrophobia grows with each turn of the page; the people living in this small town are enmeshed in complex relationships based on lies, blood, and shared history. Two detectives, both outsiders, investigating the disappearance of a local girl discover that the crime is connected to events from 10 years ago in a way that is more twisted and toxic than they could have predicted. Neuhaus’s seemingly formulaic procedural mystery (girls go missing, it ties together with previous murders, townspeople won’t open up) is actually a nuanced take on how deeply rooted misogyny is in society, the problems with groupthink, and the power of silence. --Caley Anderson