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Steph Cha

@stephcha.bsky.social
2.6K followers 254 following 187 posts

Author of Juniper Song novels and Your House Will Pay. Series editor of Best American Mystery & Suspense. TV writer.

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Reposted by Steph Cha
Sergio Perez @sergioperez.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
This article does a great job of providing an accessible breakdown of what drives police abuse & why it is largely divorced from the makeup of the rank & file. In my investigations of police agencies across the country, the primary driver of excessive force & killings by police is clear: culture.
latimes.com
LAPD is no longer majority white — but a recent scandal shows racism remains an issue
An LAPD recruitment officer recorded his colleagues making derogatory statements about people of color. Unlike in years past, the LAPD is no longer a majority white department.
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Rob D. Smith @robdsmith.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Preorder The Best American Mystery & Suspense edited by @stephcha.bsky.social and @meganabbott.bsky.social for 20% off right now! www.harpercollins.com/products/the...
harpercollins.com
The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2026
“Crime fiction has always been outsider fiction, and this anthology, too, is a safe harbor for misfits and outcasts,” writes guest editor Megan Abbott. Full...
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Maybe it’s hard out there for Bret Stephens, according to Bret Stephens (I don’t know, I don’t do him the favor of reading his words), but it’s certainly not hard out there for Paul Harding. Just have more talent, dude, and more rigor.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I was a National Book Awards judge in 2023, and one of the finalists was This Other Eden by Paul Harding, not just any straight white man, but a straight white man who had already won a Pulitzer. He was also shortlisted for the Booker that year.
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Katie Drummond @katie-drummond.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
NEW: The Department of Homeland Security has subpoenaed REI (yes, the outdoor retailer) for details on anyone who bought a specific green beanie in the Minneapolis area. It's one part of a larger, and very disturbing, effort to go after people protesting ICE:
wired.com
ICE Wants to Know Everyone Who Bought a Certain Green Beanie From REI in the Last 2 Years
Homeland Security Investigations agents hit the outdoor retailer with a controversial subpoena as part of a dragnet search for the identities of protesters who entered a Minnesota church in March.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
I get these every day. I guess American authors, like American retirees, are rich enough by global standards to be worth the continuous squeeze.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Plenty to reflect about re: the Arday affair, but I'm going to repeat this one thing. The playbook the right used here is effective even though it's not especially sophisticated, as it relies on the audience to do the dirty work. I've been calling it "Trojan horse propaganda", let's go with that. 1/
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Damn I got my own list wrong. I assumed the Winslow would make the list and left it off. I had The Long and Faraway Gone by Lou Berney on there. Amazing book.
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Isabela Dias @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
A staggering 55 people have died in ICE custody since Trump's return to office. But the agency's official death toll record-keeping doesn't account for people like Prisciliano, whose health deteriorated in detention but died shortly after the agency released him from custody to be hospitalized.
motherjones.com
The Deaths ICE Doesn’t Count
Prisciliano Trejo Ricano passed away in the hospital days after being released from detention.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Open-ended. I’ve seen books I love on other people’s lists it never occurred to me might qualify.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Happy to see three of these included, plus a different Abbott (in retrospect, smart money was on Dare Me). The others are also very clearly among the 50 best thrillers of the 21st Century! The NYT list, like any best of list, is an incomplete and unwieldy amalgamation, but I’m thrilled to be on it.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
The Turnout (Abbott) Await Your Reply (Chaon) Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead (Gran) She Rides Shotgun (Harper) Bluebird, Bluebird (Locke) The Sympathizer (Nguyen) These Women (Pochoda) Lush Life (Price) American Spy (Wilkinson) The Power of the Dog (Winslow)
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I also picked what I figured were the most likely contenders by authors I wanted to see represented. But posting the list I ended up with below if you’re curious.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I ended up cutting titles that seemed likely to be wasted votes, as well as a handful I thought were already guaranteed to be included (Mystic River, Gone Girl, Lincoln Lawyer, Broken Harbour, and Fingersmith, which are all in there, as well as a couple I was surprised to see missing).
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I chose not to publish my ballot because it was a strategically selected subset of my actual list, which was something like 25 books long, that guessed at the likelihood of various titles to make it into the running.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I was polled for this list so I knew it was coming out, but didn’t expect to make the cut (I wouldn’t even have dared to hope if I’d seen the other 49). I do know the methodology worked to my advantage, as I had one title in the mix where most writers in the genre had several.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Thank you!
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Incredibly, Your House Will Be Pay made this list of the 50 best thrillers of the 21st Century. It is probably the 50th bestselling book on there, and I’m grateful to everyone who included it in their ballots.
nytimes.com
The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼
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Sergio Perez @sergioperez.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Big props to @stephcha.bsky.social for the well-deserved spot on this @nytimes.com list - she’s that rare combo of amazing artist & all-around great person. Read “Your House Will Pay” - you won’t regret it!
nytimes.com
The 50 Best Thrillers of the 21st Century
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I had American Spy on my ballot. Great book. Wish it had made it on.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Yea that would’ve made sense, especially for this genre.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I think a more accurate list would have authors get one slot each, and have authors with multiple books in the mix get their votes combined (though this would have kicked me off the list haha).
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
I have lots of opinions!
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Jordan Harper @jordanharper.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
www.newyorker.com/books/under-...
newyorker.com
How Jordan Harper Reinvented Noir for the Epstein Era
This year’s buzzy “A Violent Masterpiece” inverts the genre’s traditional contrast between optimism and despair. Is a hopeful crime novel still a noir?
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Alma Katsu (INCARNATE is out now!) @almakatsu.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Here's the full list of @NYT's top 50 thrillers.Congrats to buds @blacktopkid.bsky.social @jeanhanff.bsky.social @silviamg.bsky.social @stephcha.bsky.social for making the list (and looking askance at some really deplorable picks) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
The 50 Best Thriller Books of the 21st Century (Gift Article)
Hundreds of novelists, librarians, editors and other book lovers voted. See how their ballots stack up.
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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
luckily he chose a remote, seldom visited corner of the country to make shit up about
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
My subconscious really owning me with an orchestrated plot twist about parental hubris.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
Dreamt that my son produced a novel and I posted it online, like “not bad for a three-year-old,” then got slammed because I’d failed to notice it was 100% AI slop.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
I hope he tells people he sees promise in their writing, which he found on the internet, and invites them to engage in further discourse.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
This is an utter humiliation. Infuriating but also kind of satisfying, and I hope it’s watched by everyone in this man’s life, his kids, his friends, his doctors. I know these people have no shame, but imagine getting burned like this on television and having to go outside again. Hats off to Ossoff.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
This is an excellent read.
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Jordan Harper @jordanharper.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Obsessed with this line delivery
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
It’s kind of how I think the Greek yogurt is pronounced.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Haha I still don’t hear it.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
I’ve watched this ten times and cannot figure out what he’s saying, please help.
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buy my book @nmamatas.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
Sara Gran's Claire DeWitt series combines pure detection with a kind of visionary metaphysical fantasy.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Please enjoy this thoughtful Colin Dickey takedown of the latest spasm of public-facing activity by the Sackler family.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
(Back corner closest to the bathrooms if you want to say hi.)
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Wait I’m literally here?
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
All the Koreans in this bar chanting ¡MÉ-XI-CO!
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scarylawyerguy.bsky.social @scarylawyerguy.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Did the New York Times just BOTH SIDES Ken Paxton's sweetheart deal for a child sex predator. Yes, yes it did.
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Jake_Vig @jakevig.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
I am having Spencer Pratt send himself a Cameo congratulating him on his relocation out of Los Angeles.
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Brenny @pissedoffinnh.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
Wow.. nerves of steel
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dell cameron @dell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
NEW: One day after we revealed Meta was quietly building face recognition into its smart glasses, the latest version deletes it. Meta execs, who called our reporting "dishonest" and "misleading," continue to dodge our questions.
wired.com
Meta Deletes Face-Recognition System From Its Smart Glasses App After WIRED Report
The code WIRED identified is gone from the latest version of Meta AI, the companion app for the company’s smart glasses. Meta won’t say why or whether it’s coming back.
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josh (oldfriend99) @oldfriend99.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
I love how you do one thing wrong and suddenly you "made a mistake"
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Viktor Winetrout @viktorwinetrout.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
[whispering to crying baby] You have no idea
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Eliot Higgins @eliothiggins.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Bari Weiss not beating the bootlicking propagandist allegations here:
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Stephen King @stephenking.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE, by Jordan Harper: If you like horror/suspense/mystery, with a hanging that parallels the Jeffery Epstein "suicide," pick this barn-burner up now. The only book that equals it for sheer terror is THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.
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Steph Cha @stephcha.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
If by “using AI” you mean “dodging AI like it’s trying to drip squeegee water on my clean windshield” or perhaps “worrying about AI on a daily basis entirely against my will.”
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