S.A. Cosby talks Southern Gothic murder mysteries on our special Summer Reads episode.

On this week’s Fully Booked podcast, S.A. Cosby joins us to discuss All the Sinners Bleed (Flatiron Books, June 6)—to help kick off this year’s Summer Reads season. For the next three months, we’ll be celebrating a bevy of warm-weather reads: red-hot mysteries to read poolside, steamy romances for your camping trip, picture books for picnics, and satire for your staycation.

Start with Cosby’s scintillating latest, All the Sinners Bleed: “A gripping cat-and-mouse game between a twisted White religious killer and the first Black sheriff of a small Virginia community” (Kirkus). This Southern Gothic murder mystery follows on the heels of the internationally acclaimed Blacktop Wasteland, a heist novel, and Razorblade Tears, a supersharp crime thriller that debuted at No. 10 on the New York Times bestseller list—both of which have been optioned for film.

Here’s a bit more from Kirkus’ review of All the Sinners Bleed: “Welcome to Charon County, a ‘teardrop-shaped peninsula’ on the Chesapeake Bay with a cursed name and a blood-soaked history, where ‘equality’s surest foothold was found on the autopsy table.’ The latest tragedy is a school shooting, terrible enough on its own but only the beginning of the fresh hell descending on Charon…. [T]here is a mysterious killer still at large, his gruesome crimes steeped in Scripture and religious iconography. Recently elected Sheriff Titus Crown—organized, decisive, and conflicted between justice and vengeance—is on the case, using his FBI training to profile a madman…. [R]eaders will cheer at Titus’ brutal screeds against those who push him past the point of patience. Another provocative and page-turning entry in the Southern noir genre.”

Cosby takes host Megan Labrise on a tour of fictive Charon County, the setting of All the Sinners Bleed; why he chose to establish the place before peopling it with characters; the inspiration for Sheriff Titus Crown; prologues and foreboding; acknowledging the effects of mass traumas; portraying the mundanities of law enforcement; grief and redemption; whether it’s possible to make change from within a broken institution; what respect looks like in practice; and much more.

Then editors Laura Simeon, Mahnaz Dar, Eric Liebetrau, and Laurie Muchnick share their top picks in books for the week.

Editors’ picks:

Everyone Wants To Know by Kelly Loy Gilbert (Simon & Schuster)

Hope in the Valley by Mitali Perkins (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Banana Ball: The Unbelievably True Story of the Savannah Bananas by Jesse Cole with Don Yaeger (Dutton)

Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum (Flatiron Books)

Also mentioned on this episode:

Life in a Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

Dream Annie Dream by Waka T. Brown

Welcome to Wrexham (Tv series)

Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

Thanks to our sponsors:

Extreme Vetting by Roxana Arama

Lizzy Has Fantastic Feet by Antoinette Simmonds, illus. by Ian Dale

Shot Through Time by Richard Modlin

Whatever the Future Holds: A Story of Grace, Resilience, and Love by Heidi E.V. McCann

Fully Booked is produced by Cabel Adkins Audio and Megan Labrise.