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The Critic: A Steel City Mystery
Paperback
Series: A Steel City Mystery, Book 1
Publisher Price: $19.99
Publisher: Lila Books
Published: Jun 18 2026
Pages: 346
Weight: 0.79
Height: 0.77 Width: 5.25 Depth: 8.00
Language: English
DISCOVER THE PROPULSIVE, DARKLY ATMOSPHERIC NEW THRILLER THAT WILL KEEP YOU GUESSING UNTIL THE VERY LAST PAGE.
An ambitious critic wants her life back. But her rival has just been poisoned. The FBI is at her door. And she has a terrifying gap in her memory...
Pittsburgh, 1995. Jessica Greer has exactly one enemy worth hating: the theater critic who just stole her column. She never wanted him dead. But when he collapses in the newsroom from a lethal dose of ricin, the timing couldn't look worse. Suddenly she's the FBI's prime suspect.
Gulfport News calls it a thoughtful, psychological suspense novel about how memory, trauma, and public judgment can be just as poisonous as anything that comes in the mail.
With every piece of physical evidence pointing straight at her, the FBI starts circling. Soon, her past trauma and deepest psychological vulnerabilities are splashed across the evening news, turning her into the country's newest sensation: The Mail Murderess.
The harder she fights to expose the real mastermind, the tighter the trap closes. But Jessica's nightmare is only just beginning.
As the media builds its case and the authorities close in, she's left to confront the dark, inexplicable gap in her own mind from the night of the murder. All the while she's running from a question she is terrified to answer:
What if they're right?
Perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn, Lisa Jewell, & Shari Lapena.
Set against the gritty, nostalgic backdrop of 1995 Pittsburgh, this addictive suspense novel will make you question the fallibility of memory and how easily an innocent life can be dismantled.
While investigating a murder to keep the heat off herself, you'll be tossed into Jessica's world of chaos and action in THE CRITIC. Kirchner blends Pittsburgh's gritty theater backdrop, red herrings galore, nonstop 90s nostalgia in this entertaining and clever thriller. The first in a series spotlighting different characters from the scene, you'll be waiting for the next with bated breath. A bonafide win.
-Jaime Lynn Hendricks, bestselling author of Their Double Lives
Readers are OBSESSED, FIVE STARS:
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