A Criminal Element Best Book of 2024

“The elements of a scandalous crime are everywhere: a dubiously employed moll who could be a ringer for Jean Harlow, a former boxer with big money problems, a nattily dressed gangster insisting he shot his assailant in self-defense and the illegal nightclub whose patrons are rumored to include the mayor, various council members and even the chief of police.” —Alida Becker, New York Times Book Review

“William’s romantic coming of age takes up almost as many pages as his journalistic work, giving parts of A Killing on the Hill a poignant sweetness reminiscent of Thornton Wilder. But William’s forays into his new hometown’s shadier regions are as hard-boiled as any pulp-magazine novella.” —Tom Nolan, Wall Street Journal

“One of the best crime writers in the business.” —Associated Press

“Dugoni scores a decisive win with this tale of greed, lust, and bloodshed: it’s chock-full of expertly drawn characters and plenty of historical lore, and its note-perfect noir atmosphere could accommodate James Cagney. Here’s hoping this gets the series treatment.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Author Robert Dugoni is firing on all cylinders. His best-selling Tracy Crosswhite novels set in the world of the Seattle police number ten (and counting) in the series. Dugoni also has a spy series, a legal thriller series and stand-alone novels including one set during the Vietnam War and another spanning decades. Now he’s gone deep into historical fiction with this crime novel set in the 1930s. Seattle is in the grip of the Great Depression and Prohibition. So naturally vice is at an all time high. Cub reporter William Shumacher stumbles onto a great story: an ex-prize fighter murdered by a mobster, with a gangster’s moll just one of many unreliable witnesses. It’ll be the launch of a new series for Dugoni, assuming Shumacher survives.” —Parade

“Dugoni is a superb storyteller.” —The Boston Globe

“Dugoni’s plotlines flow fast through twists and dead ends to page-turning but believable resolutions…Seattle, its hills, harbor area, slums and fancy homes, trolleys and busy traffic all feel authentic. Highly recommended…” —Historical Novel Society, Editors’ Choice

“The best stories are those often not constrained by the truth. But digging around to find the answers could get a fellow killed. The truth here wasn’t simple. In fact it often became suspect.” —Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine

“The case is compelling, the characters are stellar, and the prose takes the reader back to a time when DNA and technology were not available to make a slam-dunk prosecution. Is it too early to say that this will be remembered as the best legal thriller of the year?” —Jeff Ayers, FirstCLUE

“Dugoni can flat-out write. Whether it’s a standalone (5) or one of his series (3), all of his books are terrific…A Killing on the Hill will keep you enthralled throughout.” —The Book Sage

“I would follow Robert Dugoni anywhere.” —Lisa Gardner, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“An author who seems like he hasn’t met a genre he can’t conquer.” —Bookreporter

“Crime writing of the absolute highest order.” —Providence Journal

“The bottom line is that there’s not much Robert Dugoni can’t do. He can write anything. Which is why his latest book, on the heels of his already impressive backlist, is so intriguing…To call it “gripping” doesn’t begin to do it justice. The fact is, it’s special and unlike anything else hitting bookstores right now.” —Ryan Steck, author of The Real Book Spy

“Though Dugoni is primarily celebrated as a thriller writer, A Killing on the Hill evokes comparisons with the likes of E. L. Doctorow’s Ragtime and Caleb Carr’s The Alienist in that it’s drawn on a broad canvas that weaves fact into the fiction.” —Jon Land, BookTrib

“A Killing on the Hill is a great mystery and a fun read. Dugoni perfectly captures a time when newspapers, rather than the internet, delivered the stories that captivated the public and left readers eager for more.” —Woman Around Town

“A Killing on the Hill by Robert Dugoni is undoubtedly a must-read thriller of the year, offering a riveting blend of intrigue, romance, and suspense that will leave readers eagerly turning the pages until the very end.” —The Book Decoder

Robert Dugoni is a critically acclaimed New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and Amazon Charts bestselling author, reaching over ten million readers worldwide. He is best known for the Tracy Crosswhite police procedural series. He is also the author of the Charles Jenkins espionage series, the David Sloane legal thriller series, and several stand-alone novels, including Her Deadly Game, The 7th Canon, Damage Control, and The World Played Chess. His novel The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell was named Suspense Magazine’s 2018 Book of the Year, and Dugoni’s narration won an AudioFile Earphones Award. The Washington Post named his nonfiction exposé The Cyanide Canary a Best Book of the Year. Several of his novels have been optioned for movies and television series. Dugoni is the recipient of the Nancy Pearl Book Award for fiction and a three-time winner of the Friends of Mystery Spotted Owl Award for best novel set in the Pacific Northwest. He has been a finalist for many other awards. Dugoni’s books are sold in more than twenty-five countries and have been translated into more than thirty languages. He lives in Seattle. Visit his website at www.robertdugonibooks.com.