Books by Lex Croucher

Infamous

by Ace Atkins, Lex Croucher

From "one of the best crime writers at work today" (Michael Connelly) comes a fast, funny, violent new noir crime classic—a Coen Brothers movie come to life.

He has been compared to Lehane, Ellroy, and Pelecanos, but Ace Atkins's rich, raucous, passionate blend of historical novel and crime story is all his own and never more so than in Infamous.

In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-for-ransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it. Kelly was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and what started clean soon became messy, as two of his partners cut themselves into the action; a determined former Texas Ranger makes tracking Kelly his mission; and Kelly's wife, ever alert to her own self-interest, starts playing both ends against the middle.

The result is a mesmerizing tale set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring one of the best femmes fatales in history—the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime—a great unexpected hero, and some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction.

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Infamous

by Ace Atkins, Lex Croucher

"Compelling...[Atkins] captures the imminent end of the gangster heyday."
-Booklist

In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-forransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it.

Once again Ace Atkins transforms real-life events into riveting, thrilling fiction. Infamous is a passionate blend of historical novel and crime story-set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring an unexpected hero, some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction, and the unforgettable Kathryn Kelly (George Kelly's wife), the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime.

Infamous

by Ace Atkins, Lex Croucher

Named a Most Anticipated Romance of 2023 by Goodreads and Bookpage

"Lex Croucher is one of my favorite rom-com authors, and they should be yours, too." ––Casey McQuiston, #1 bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue

"Croucher infuses this energetic Regency era friends-to-lovers sapphic romance with zany wit, joie de vivre, and a distinctive literary bent." ––Publishers Weekly

Twenty-two-year-old aspiring writer Edith (“Eddie”) Miller and her best friend Rose have always done everything together―from climbing trees and sneaking bottles of wine, to extensive kissing practice. But Rose has started talking about marriage, and Eddie is horrified. Why can’t they continue as they always have?

Then Eddie meets charming, renowned poet Nash Nicholson––a rival of Lord Byron, if he does say so himself––and he welcomes her into his world of eccentric artists and boundary-breaking visionaries. When Eddie receives an invitation to Nash's crumbling Gothic estate in the countryside, promising inspiration (and time to finish her novel, a long-held dream), she eagerly agrees. But the pure hedonism and debauchery that ensues isn’t exactly what she had in mind, and Eddie soon finds herself torn between her complicated feelings for Rose and her equally complicated dynamic with Nash, whose increasingly bad behavior doesn’t match up to her vision for her literary hero.

Will Eddie be forced to choose between her friendship with Rose and her literary dreams––or will she be able to write her own happily ever after?

Trouble: A Novel

by Lex Croucher, Kate Christensen

A Regency-era romantic comedy with a deliciously feminist and queer twist, from the New York Times bestselling author of Gwen & Art Are Not in Love.

There's a new governess at Fairmont House, and she's going to be nothing but trouble.

Emily Laurence is a liar. She is not polite, she's not polished, and she has never taught a child in her life. This position was meant to be her sister's––brilliant, kind Amy, who isn't perpetually angry, dangerously reckless, and who does (inexplicably) like children.

But Amy is unwell and needs a doctor, and their father is gone and their mother is useless, so here Emily is, pretending to be something she's not.

If she can get away with her deception for long enough to earn a few month's wages and slip some expensive trinkets into her pockets along the way, perhaps they'll be all right.

That is, as long as she doesn't get involved with the Edwards family's dramas. Emily refuses to care about her charges - Grace, who talks too much and loves too hard, and Aster, who is frankly terrifying but might just be the wittiest sixteen-year-old Emily has ever met - or the servants, who insist on acting as if they're each other's family. And she certainly hasn't noticed her employer, the brooding, taciturn Captain Edwards, no matter how good he might look without a shirt on . . .

As Fairmont House draws her in, Emily's lies start to come undone. Can she fix her mistakes before it's too late?

Trouble: A Novel

by Lex Croucher, Kate Christensen

A vibrant story of female friendship and midlife sexual awakening from the acclaimed author of The Great Man

Josie is a Manhattan psychotherapist living a comfortable life with her husband and daughter—until, while suddenly flirting with a man at a party, she is struck with the sudden realization that she must leave her passionless marriage. A thrillingly sordid encounter with a stranger she meets at a bar immediately follows. At the same time, her college friend Raquel, a Los Angeles rock star, is being pilloried in the press for sleeping with a much younger man who happens to have a pregnant girlfriend. This proves to be red meat to the gossip hounds of the Internet. The two friends escape to Mexico City for a Christmas holiday of retreat and rediscovery of their essential selves. Sex has gotten these two bright, complicated women into interesting trouble, and the story of their struggles to get out of that trouble is totally gripping at every turn.

A tragicomedy of marriage and friendship, Trouble is a funny, piercing, and moving examination of the battle between the need for connection and the quest for freedom that every modern woman must fight.

Not For the Faint of Heart: A Novel

by Lex Croucher

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Gwen & Art Are Not in Love: A Novel

by Lex Croucher

An Instant New York Times Bestseller!

"A total, rollicking delight. Gwen & Art gave me the same cheeky, swoony, giddy, irresistible high of the first time I saw A Knight’s Tale. Lex Croucher is one of my favorite romcom authors, and they should be yours, too." - Casey McQuiston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Kissed Shara Wheeler

Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

"In this frivolous medieval romp of a queer rom-com, Lex Croucher toys with Arthurian legend to delightful effect." - Entertainment Weekly

“Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for both of them.” - Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Simon Snow trilogy

“Gwen & Art Are Not in Love was exactly what I needed right now―a delightful, heart-warming, hilarious historical romp, overflowing with queer panic and terrible jokes. I loved it.” - Alice Oseman, New York Times bestselling author of the Heartstopper series

Reputation

by Lex Croucher

Bridgerton meets Gossip Girl with a dash of Jane Austen, in Reputation, a Regency-era historical romantic comedy with a deliciously feminist twist, from a hilarious new British voice, Lex Croucher.

Abandoned by her parents, bookish and sheltered Georgiana Ellers is spending the summer with her stodgy aunt and uncle at their home in the English countryside. At a particularly dull party, she meets the enigmatic Frances Campbell, a wealthy member of the in-crowd who delights Georgiana with her disregard for so-called "polite society."

Lonely and vulnerable, Georgiana quickly falls in with Frances and her wealthy, wild, and deeply improper friends, who introduce her to the upper echelons of Regency aristocracy, and a world of drunken debauchery, frivolous spending, and mysterious young men. One, in particular, stands out from the rest: Thomas Hawksley, who has a tendency to cross paths with Georgiana in her most embarrassing moments. Sparks fly, but Thomas seems unimpressed with the company she is keeping. And soon, Georgiana begins to wonder whether she’ll ever feel like she fits in––or if the price of entry into Frances’s gilded world will ultimately be higher than she is willing to pay.

Set against a backdrop of lavish parties, handsome men on horseback––and in a time when one’s reputation was everything––this edgy, hilarious romantic comedy explores sex, consent, belonging, and status through the eyes of an unforgettable heroine that Austen herself would have cheered for.

Bridget & Gabe Are Not Okay

by Lex Croucher

The sequel to the unforgettable New York Times bestseller Gwen & Art Are Not In Love that invites readers on a quest chock full of wit, undeniable yearning, and second chances.

They fell in love. They fought a great battle. And they won. Now, Camelot’s famous couples have fallen apart.

Newly crowned King Gabriel is having panic attacks in cupboards in-between council meetings. He can't tell Arthur just how not okay he is—so he's set him free, to find love with someone who can get through the day without breaking down.

Bridget has lost her spark for sparring, forfeiting again and again in the lists. When she’s invited to join Gabriel's round table, she hopes it’ll be the change she needs. But trying to navigate the post-happily-ever-after reality of a relationship with Gwen, when Bridget no longer feels like the dashing knight Gwen fell in love with, feels impossible.

With the kingdom still reeling from an attempted uprising, and rumored sightings of the holy grail, the questing beast, and the green knight happening across the country, the gang depart on a PR tour destined for disaster. Can Gabriel be the king his country deserves? Can Bridget get her jousting groove back? And will they find their way back to the courtly love that once seemed fated?

In the much anticipated follow-up to Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, Gabriel and Bridget set out on a daring quest to put love back on the table.

Gwen & Art Are Not in Love - A Novel

by Lex Croucher

An Instant New York Times Bestseller!

"A total, rollicking delight. Gwen & Art gave me the same cheeky, swoony, giddy, irresistible high of the first time I saw A Knight’s Tale. Lex Croucher is one of my favorite romcom authors, and they should be yours, too." - Casey McQuiston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of I Kissed Shara Wheeler

Heartstopper meets A Knight’s Tale in this queer medieval rom com YA debut about love, friendship, and being brave enough to change the course of history.

It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other.

They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen's childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom's only lady knight, Bridget Leclair.

Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen's royal brother. Lex Croucher's Gwen & Art Are Not in Love is chock full of sword-fighting, found family, and romantic shenanigans destined to make readers fall in love.

"In this frivolous medieval romp of a queer rom-com, Lex Croucher toys with Arthurian legend to delightful effect." - Entertainment Weekly

“Fun and genuinely funny, with lovely friendships and first-rate dialogue. Gwen and Art may not be in love, but I fell for both of them.” - Rainbow Rowell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Simon Snow trilogy

“Gwen & Art Are Not in Love was exactly what I needed right now—a delightful, heart-warming, hilarious historical romp, overflowing with queer panic and terrible jokes. I loved it.” - Alice Oseman, New York Times bestselling author of the Heartstopper series

The Unmagical Life of Briar Jones - A Novel

by Lex Croucher

Casey McQuiston meets The Secret History in this unmissable dark academia fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Lex Croucher following former childhood best friends who reunite at magical boarding school after years, only to find themselves enemies on opposite sides of the ugly secrets hidden within the gilded walls.

Welcome to the Temple School of Thaumaturgy...and your newest dark academia obsession.

For as long as they can remember, Briar Jones dreamed of attending the Temple School of Thaumaturgy. Behind its looming ornate gates, the elite boarding school--the place that has produced the most CEOs and Prime Ministers in British history--is whispered to be magical.

Briar's best friend, Sebastian Wolfe, never cared about Temple. He just wanted them to stay together forever.

When, at age eleven, Seb gets an acceptance letter and Briar doesn't, their childhood friendship is shattered. Seb vanishes onto Temple's grounds and Briar resigns themself to a mundane life. But they can't completely forget their yearning for Temple, for the extraordinary, to be one of the chosen in the ivory tower.

Seven years later, a summer job advert appears: a temp position sorting through the junk in Temple's attics. And when Briar takes it, they discover that quiet, sensitive Seb, the boy they once loved more than anything else in the world, has become Bastian: a beautiful, arrogant villain feared by the entire school. And worse, the secrets Temple is hiding might not be so enchanting after all, but darker and far more horrifying than Briar could have ever imagined.