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Double Trouble
A double dose of gripping psychological suspense, pairing two complete novels and two rare short stories, from six-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Joyce Carol Oates. Two serial killers – one female, one male – murder in the name of a higher cause. Ideal for fans of Alice Munro, Ann Patchett and Anne Tyler.
Celebrating 40 Years of pseudonymous suspense from JOYCE CAROL OATES
Four decades ago, acclaimed literary author Joyce Carol Oates penned her first novel of psychological suspense under the name "Rosamond Smith." In the Smith books, Oates explored themes of betrayal and deception, lust and murder, through stories involving twins, doubles, and hidden second identities – initially, keeping her own double identity a secret.
Hard Case Crime is proud to bring these extraordinary works of crime fiction, long unavailable in bookstores, back into print in definitive double editions, each pairing two complete novels and two never-before-collected Oates short stories, all linked thematically, to weave a sinister web filled with dark reflections.
In This Volume…
A female serial killer seeks refuge in her twin sister's home in STARR BRIGHT WILL BE WITH YOU SOON, while a male serial killer murders for the woman he craves in SOUL/MATE -- and the echoes continue in the rare short stories "The Murderess" and "An Unsolved Crime."
Celebrating 40 Years of pseudonymous suspense from JOYCE CAROL OATES
Four decades ago, acclaimed literary author Joyce Carol Oates penned her first novel of psychological suspense under the name "Rosamond Smith." In the Smith books, Oates explored themes of betrayal and deception, lust and murder, through stories involving twins, doubles, and hidden second identities – initially, keeping her own double identity a secret.
Hard Case Crime is proud to bring these extraordinary works of crime fiction, long unavailable in bookstores, back into print in definitive double editions, each pairing two complete novels and two never-before-collected Oates short stories, all linked thematically, to weave a sinister web filled with dark reflections.
In This Volume…
A female serial killer seeks refuge in her twin sister's home in STARR BRIGHT WILL BE WITH YOU SOON, while a male serial killer murders for the woman he craves in SOUL/MATE -- and the echoes continue in the rare short stories "The Murderess" and "An Unsolved Crime."
- GenresThriller
576 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 3, 2026
4 people are currently reading
115 people want to read
About the author
Joyce Carol Oates
863 books9,723 followersJoyce Carol Oates is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction. Her novels Black Water (1992), What I Lived For (1994), and Blonde (2000), and her short story collections The Wheel of Love (1970) and Lovely, Dark, Deep: Stories (2014) were each finalists for the Pulitzer Prize. She has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award, for her novel Them (1969), two O. Henry Awards, the National Humanities Medal, and the Jerusalem Prize (2019).
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
Oates taught at Princeton University from 1978 to 2014, and is the Roger S. Berlind '52 Professor Emerita in the Humanities with the Program in Creative Writing. From 2016 to 2020, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, where she taught short fiction in the spring semesters. She now teaches at Rutgers University, New Brunswick.
Oates was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 2016.
Pseudonyms: Rosamond Smith and Lauren Kelly.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 18, 2026
HUGE thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the review copy! This book releases next month, from Hard Case Crimes—and can you believe that gorgeous cover art? I’ll certainly be buying a physical copy when it releases. It’s always an honor to obtain ARCs of new releases by my favorite writer.
Though technically the tales—two novels originally published under JCO’s pseudonym Rosamond Smith and two previously-uncollected short stories—are not new, it’s nice to get a such a gorgeous release from Hard Case. And maybe this will introduce younger readers to the Rosamond Smith works! This is the first time I’ve read anything written under this pen name, and it was nice to finally get to Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon: originally punished in 1999, Starr is a crime/suspense novel with dashes of noir and I had a great time with it. It totally lived up to its reputation. What I loved was its marriage of such brutal killings and suburban normalcy—and what is the reality of a family member becoming a serial killer. This novel is worth the price of admission alone; I’m not sure if the original novel is now out of print but I hope Double Trouble helps get this one out to more readers.
Soul/Mate, the other Rosamond Smith novel collected here, falls a bit short of Starr Bright, but that’s okay. Published in 1989, this novel features a style of JCO’s writing I don’t care for as much: a style in which she often seems to get bogged down in the sentence structure, making sure every word choice has a certain flair: the prose verges into shades of purple. The narrative seems to get stuck. Still, I quite liked this one. JCO in crime mode is always immensely readable, ya know?
Of the two short stories, certainly my favorite is “An Unsolved Crime”— a little gem, really, feverish and almost hallucinatory: two abused siblings plotting the murder of their stepfather. How JCO does it I don’t know!
Story Ratings
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon (1999): 5 🌟
“The Murderess” (previously uncollected): 4 🌟
SOUL/MATE (1989): 4 🌟
“An Unsolved Crime” (previously uncollected): 5 🌟
Though technically the tales—two novels originally published under JCO’s pseudonym Rosamond Smith and two previously-uncollected short stories—are not new, it’s nice to get a such a gorgeous release from Hard Case. And maybe this will introduce younger readers to the Rosamond Smith works! This is the first time I’ve read anything written under this pen name, and it was nice to finally get to Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon: originally punished in 1999, Starr is a crime/suspense novel with dashes of noir and I had a great time with it. It totally lived up to its reputation. What I loved was its marriage of such brutal killings and suburban normalcy—and what is the reality of a family member becoming a serial killer. This novel is worth the price of admission alone; I’m not sure if the original novel is now out of print but I hope Double Trouble helps get this one out to more readers.
Soul/Mate, the other Rosamond Smith novel collected here, falls a bit short of Starr Bright, but that’s okay. Published in 1989, this novel features a style of JCO’s writing I don’t care for as much: a style in which she often seems to get bogged down in the sentence structure, making sure every word choice has a certain flair: the prose verges into shades of purple. The narrative seems to get stuck. Still, I quite liked this one. JCO in crime mode is always immensely readable, ya know?
Of the two short stories, certainly my favorite is “An Unsolved Crime”— a little gem, really, feverish and almost hallucinatory: two abused siblings plotting the murder of their stepfather. How JCO does it I don’t know!
Story Ratings
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon (1999): 5 🌟
“The Murderess” (previously uncollected): 4 🌟
SOUL/MATE (1989): 4 🌟
“An Unsolved Crime” (previously uncollected): 5 🌟
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
When I say this book messes with your head, I mean it in the nicest, most blood-splattered way possible. Double Trouble is Joyce Carol Oates in full villain era, writing under the name Rosamond Smith because one identity just couldn’t hold all the literary menace she had cooking. What we get is two novels and two short stories that feel like they were stitched together in a lab by someone who’s read too much Freud and not enough self-help. It’s psychologically messy, morally bankrupt, and weirdly sexy in the way only a Joyce Carol Oates crime story can be.
Let’s start with Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, which is basically what happens when the evil twin trope meets midlife crisis and a butcher knife. Sharon, now calling herself Starr Bright (because of course she is), shows up at her estranged sister Lily’s suburban home after years of radio silence, looking like a Vegas ghost and talking in vaguely biblical riddles. Lily, sweet pottery-teaching upstate housewife that she is, says sure, come on in. Cool, cool, cool. No notes.
Except Starr is a full-blown serial killer. Not exaggerating. This woman is on an FBI watchlist and also maybe thinks she’s on a mission from God. She’s got this glittering, wounded persona that she uses like a scalpel, cutting through Lily’s safe little life until she’s basically squatting in the soul of the family. She’s not just dangerous, she’s magnetic. And it’s that slow-burn infiltration that Oates absolutely nails. You’re not even sure when the story turned scary because it started out feeling like a Lifetime movie, and suddenly there’s blood on the wallpaper and biblical slurs on the mirror.
Then we pivot hard into Soul/Mate, and it’s somehow even more unhinged. This is less evil twin thriller and more if Joe from You had tenure in art history and unresolved grief issues. Dorothea is a museum curator, a widow, and an eternal side chick to a married man who’s never gonna leave his wife. She’s quietly successful, emotionally stalled, and maybe a little too bored. Enter Colin Asch, the world’s most polite chaos goblin, who looks like he should be in a Ralph Lauren ad but actually has murder in his heart and a Shelley quote in his back pocket.
Colin sees Dorothea and decides they’re soulmates. You know, in the “murder for her affection” kind of way. He’s charming. He’s broken. He’s got this weird savior complex where he thinks he’s eliminating evil, also known as anyone who makes Dorothea cry at a fundraiser. The vibe flips so fast from “mysterious younger man” to “maybe don’t answer the door alone.” And Oates loves playing in that tension. We see inside Colin’s head, and it’s all obsessive devotion, poetic delusion, and this chilling confidence that he’s right. Honestly, the way he rationalizes murder is almost worse than the murder itself.
The real gut punch is that Dorothea kind of... gets it? She doesn’t know the full truth, obviously, but there’s this growing awareness that something’s off, and she still doesn’t run. Not quite. Because for a minute, having someone rearrange their entire reality around you feels like love. And Oates knows that feeling is a trap, which is why it lands like a bruise when the walls finally close in.
Now, the short stories. They’re both quick hits, The Murderess and An Unsolved Crime, and they’ve got that classic Oates energy. Chilly, internal, bleak as hell. They’re more like haunted character studies than full narratives, and they echo the novels’ obsessions with duality, control, and the rot hiding under calm surfaces. Are they unforgettable? Not really. They feel more like bonus scenes on a deluxe edition Blu-ray. But they do deepen the thematic whole, like a little grim cherry on top of this sundae of psychological ruin.
What ties everything together is this twitchy, fever-dream fascination with doubles. Literal twins. Mirrored relationships. People living double lives or harboring secret selves. Everyone in this book is two people, the one they show the world and the one who’s quietly unraveling. Starr has her stripper-turned-angel-of-wrath persona layered over a fractured childhood. Colin wears his orphan charm like a costume while committing moral rot in the name of love. Even Dorothea is split, respectable professional on the outside, quietly unraveling in private, seduced by danger she doesn’t fully understand.
There’s something so vintage about the whole setup. Not in a dusty way, but in that lost cult classic VHS you find at a weird estate sale way. These books were written in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, and you feel it. The social dynamics, the gendered horror, the analog dread. But that just makes it juicier. It’s a little camp, a little noir, and very much not for the squeamish.
Is it perfect? Not really. Some of the prose goes full dramatic monologue. The short stories are a blip. And there are moments where you can see the literary gears turning. But honestly? I don’t care. Because even when it’s over the top, it’s doing something bold. This is Oates playing dress-up in a different genre and still managing to punch you in the throat with emotional truth. It’s twisted. It’s sad. It’s sexy in a “do not date this man” kind of way.
3.5 stars, for the psychological tension, serial killer couture, and the fact that Joyce Carol Oates somehow made stalking feel like a tragic love language.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Root for a Psychopath With a Poetry Habit
Big thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC. My brain is not okay, but I loved it.
Let’s start with Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, which is basically what happens when the evil twin trope meets midlife crisis and a butcher knife. Sharon, now calling herself Starr Bright (because of course she is), shows up at her estranged sister Lily’s suburban home after years of radio silence, looking like a Vegas ghost and talking in vaguely biblical riddles. Lily, sweet pottery-teaching upstate housewife that she is, says sure, come on in. Cool, cool, cool. No notes.
Except Starr is a full-blown serial killer. Not exaggerating. This woman is on an FBI watchlist and also maybe thinks she’s on a mission from God. She’s got this glittering, wounded persona that she uses like a scalpel, cutting through Lily’s safe little life until she’s basically squatting in the soul of the family. She’s not just dangerous, she’s magnetic. And it’s that slow-burn infiltration that Oates absolutely nails. You’re not even sure when the story turned scary because it started out feeling like a Lifetime movie, and suddenly there’s blood on the wallpaper and biblical slurs on the mirror.
Then we pivot hard into Soul/Mate, and it’s somehow even more unhinged. This is less evil twin thriller and more if Joe from You had tenure in art history and unresolved grief issues. Dorothea is a museum curator, a widow, and an eternal side chick to a married man who’s never gonna leave his wife. She’s quietly successful, emotionally stalled, and maybe a little too bored. Enter Colin Asch, the world’s most polite chaos goblin, who looks like he should be in a Ralph Lauren ad but actually has murder in his heart and a Shelley quote in his back pocket.
Colin sees Dorothea and decides they’re soulmates. You know, in the “murder for her affection” kind of way. He’s charming. He’s broken. He’s got this weird savior complex where he thinks he’s eliminating evil, also known as anyone who makes Dorothea cry at a fundraiser. The vibe flips so fast from “mysterious younger man” to “maybe don’t answer the door alone.” And Oates loves playing in that tension. We see inside Colin’s head, and it’s all obsessive devotion, poetic delusion, and this chilling confidence that he’s right. Honestly, the way he rationalizes murder is almost worse than the murder itself.
The real gut punch is that Dorothea kind of... gets it? She doesn’t know the full truth, obviously, but there’s this growing awareness that something’s off, and she still doesn’t run. Not quite. Because for a minute, having someone rearrange their entire reality around you feels like love. And Oates knows that feeling is a trap, which is why it lands like a bruise when the walls finally close in.
Now, the short stories. They’re both quick hits, The Murderess and An Unsolved Crime, and they’ve got that classic Oates energy. Chilly, internal, bleak as hell. They’re more like haunted character studies than full narratives, and they echo the novels’ obsessions with duality, control, and the rot hiding under calm surfaces. Are they unforgettable? Not really. They feel more like bonus scenes on a deluxe edition Blu-ray. But they do deepen the thematic whole, like a little grim cherry on top of this sundae of psychological ruin.
What ties everything together is this twitchy, fever-dream fascination with doubles. Literal twins. Mirrored relationships. People living double lives or harboring secret selves. Everyone in this book is two people, the one they show the world and the one who’s quietly unraveling. Starr has her stripper-turned-angel-of-wrath persona layered over a fractured childhood. Colin wears his orphan charm like a costume while committing moral rot in the name of love. Even Dorothea is split, respectable professional on the outside, quietly unraveling in private, seduced by danger she doesn’t fully understand.
There’s something so vintage about the whole setup. Not in a dusty way, but in that lost cult classic VHS you find at a weird estate sale way. These books were written in the late ‘80s and ‘90s, and you feel it. The social dynamics, the gendered horror, the analog dread. But that just makes it juicier. It’s a little camp, a little noir, and very much not for the squeamish.
Is it perfect? Not really. Some of the prose goes full dramatic monologue. The short stories are a blip. And there are moments where you can see the literary gears turning. But honestly? I don’t care. Because even when it’s over the top, it’s doing something bold. This is Oates playing dress-up in a different genre and still managing to punch you in the throat with emotional truth. It’s twisted. It’s sad. It’s sexy in a “do not date this man” kind of way.
3.5 stars, for the psychological tension, serial killer couture, and the fact that Joyce Carol Oates somehow made stalking feel like a tragic love language.
Whodunity Award: For Making Me Root for a Psychopath With a Poetry Habit
Big thanks to Titan Books and NetGalley for the ARC. My brain is not okay, but I loved it.
November 10, 2025
Hard Case Crime’s Double Trouble includes two complete novels and two short stories by Oates, all of which were originally penned under the pseudonym Rosamond Smith. Oates, in a career spanning from 1964 to 2025, penned 58 or 59 novels and numerous short story collections. Eight of her novels were published under the pen name Rosamond Smith. Characteristically atmospheric, her crime novels always have an odd oft-putting feel.
“Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon” (1999) feels a bit like Lawrence Block’s Kit Tolliver stories as both have a marauding woman wandering across the country, killing men she picks up along the way, particularly those who turn on her. But it’s a bit different in that Starr Bright has lost her mind along the way and is a bit of Charles Manson Bible-quoting pig-hating crazy with a duality of identity coming to a head when she returns home to see her sister and the now-teenage daughter she dumped off on her sister.
Written with day-glo coloring that will remind the reader a bit of Tom Wolfe writing in the “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” this novel, particularly in the beginning, has a whole swagger to it. Indeed, Starr has a swagger and an attitude all her own from her smoke-tinted designer glasses on down. “She wasn’t a girl for the harsh overexposed hours of morning or afternoon in the desert, her nocturnal soul best roused at twilight when neon lights flashed and pulsed into life.”
But Starr is not just some crazy princess in a miniskirt. For her, and Oates sets this up well, “the nightmares of childhood never end but continue beneath the surface of memory as beneath the surface of choppy murky water.” You get that Starr is broken beyond fixing despite her outer shell of glamour. Starr has a knack for picking up the wrong guys, guys who beat her without a second thought. She fights back with her blade, spilling blood everywhere and writing her signature on the walls: “DIE PIG FILTH DIE SATAN.”
Starr’s duality and shattered soul is hidden from all who meet her as it is masked under her glamour persona. A brilliant journey through her world — through her eyes.
“Soul/Mate” (1989), written ten years earlier than “Starr Bright,” is a whole different approach to serial killing.
What stands out, first of all, is how innocently Oates leads the reader into this crime fiction. It begins as a romantic story about Dorothea Deverall, widowed fourteen years earlier at 25, childless, alone, and seemingly destined to be an old maid forever. Her time occupied as being a mistress to Charles Carpenter, who would never divorce his wife, no matter how many secret dalliances he had with Dorothea. Meantime, Dorothea is constantly being set up at dinner parties.
What changes is the slight sweet young man who is Ginny Weidmann’s nephew, 27 years old, but still a wanderer with no permanent home: Colin Asch. This young gentleman has a thing for Dorothea, a thing that nothing could quench. But Colin is not necessarily the wealthy gentleman with no precise career other than art school that he appears to be. We readers quickly learn that Colin Asch has casually committed murder for no discernable reason at Florida rest stops. Meanwhile, he plays at being Colin Asch. “But he played it cool, knowing everybody likes sweet shy boys, tongue-tied boys, orphan etched into their faces.” And not since the age of 15, when he first killed, had he been linked to any of the murders.
Meanwhile, Colin is obsessed with Dorothea, spying on her like a peeping tom, sending her flowers and invitations. And eventually killing for her. Even at one point bragging about the kills to her.
The thing is that, beneath the surface, people perhaps are not always what they appear to be and are perhaps more savage, more literal, more gutteral. Surprisingly, only one character seems to recognize that Colin is way off the reservation and that he is indeed psychotic rather than the innocent young boy he pretends to be.
The Double Trouble volume also includes two poignant short stories. This reviewer was granted an advance copy of the volume which will be released shortly.
“Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon” (1999) feels a bit like Lawrence Block’s Kit Tolliver stories as both have a marauding woman wandering across the country, killing men she picks up along the way, particularly those who turn on her. But it’s a bit different in that Starr Bright has lost her mind along the way and is a bit of Charles Manson Bible-quoting pig-hating crazy with a duality of identity coming to a head when she returns home to see her sister and the now-teenage daughter she dumped off on her sister.
Written with day-glo coloring that will remind the reader a bit of Tom Wolfe writing in the “Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test,” this novel, particularly in the beginning, has a whole swagger to it. Indeed, Starr has a swagger and an attitude all her own from her smoke-tinted designer glasses on down. “She wasn’t a girl for the harsh overexposed hours of morning or afternoon in the desert, her nocturnal soul best roused at twilight when neon lights flashed and pulsed into life.”
But Starr is not just some crazy princess in a miniskirt. For her, and Oates sets this up well, “the nightmares of childhood never end but continue beneath the surface of memory as beneath the surface of choppy murky water.” You get that Starr is broken beyond fixing despite her outer shell of glamour. Starr has a knack for picking up the wrong guys, guys who beat her without a second thought. She fights back with her blade, spilling blood everywhere and writing her signature on the walls: “DIE PIG FILTH DIE SATAN.”
Starr’s duality and shattered soul is hidden from all who meet her as it is masked under her glamour persona. A brilliant journey through her world — through her eyes.
“Soul/Mate” (1989), written ten years earlier than “Starr Bright,” is a whole different approach to serial killing.
What stands out, first of all, is how innocently Oates leads the reader into this crime fiction. It begins as a romantic story about Dorothea Deverall, widowed fourteen years earlier at 25, childless, alone, and seemingly destined to be an old maid forever. Her time occupied as being a mistress to Charles Carpenter, who would never divorce his wife, no matter how many secret dalliances he had with Dorothea. Meantime, Dorothea is constantly being set up at dinner parties.
What changes is the slight sweet young man who is Ginny Weidmann’s nephew, 27 years old, but still a wanderer with no permanent home: Colin Asch. This young gentleman has a thing for Dorothea, a thing that nothing could quench. But Colin is not necessarily the wealthy gentleman with no precise career other than art school that he appears to be. We readers quickly learn that Colin Asch has casually committed murder for no discernable reason at Florida rest stops. Meanwhile, he plays at being Colin Asch. “But he played it cool, knowing everybody likes sweet shy boys, tongue-tied boys, orphan etched into their faces.” And not since the age of 15, when he first killed, had he been linked to any of the murders.
Meanwhile, Colin is obsessed with Dorothea, spying on her like a peeping tom, sending her flowers and invitations. And eventually killing for her. Even at one point bragging about the kills to her.
The thing is that, beneath the surface, people perhaps are not always what they appear to be and are perhaps more savage, more literal, more gutteral. Surprisingly, only one character seems to recognize that Colin is way off the reservation and that he is indeed psychotic rather than the innocent young boy he pretends to be.
The Double Trouble volume also includes two poignant short stories. This reviewer was granted an advance copy of the volume which will be released shortly.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
ARC for review. To be published February 3, 2026.
3.5 stars
A compilation of two Joyce Carol Oates novels (one of which has been on my list for awhile,) STARR BRIGHT WILL BE WITH YOU SOON and SOUL/MATE and two short stories, “The Murderers” and “An Unsolved Crime.” Reading the two novels back to back made me realize that the interior monologue of JCO’s killers is nearly always the same.
STARR BRIGHT is the story of twins Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley. Lily Merrick is a housewife who hasn’t seen Sharon in twenty years, since she ran off to become a model and dancer. Suddenly Sharon appears at Lily’s door one day, at loose end and “between professional engagements,” looking for a place to stay.
Sharon insinuates herself into the lives of Lily, her husband and her daughter. None of them know what/who she’s brought to their door.
The first part of the book was nothing special but watching Sharon worm her way into to lives of each Merrick was interesting. I looked up the original publication date and was a little surprised that it was published in 1998 as it reads as if set earlier, like maybe the 1980s. Maybe there’s something to indicate it was set then and I just missed it. I enjoyed this.
I had not heard of SOUL/MATE before but I really liked reading about the wonderfully drawn character of Dorothea Deverell, except maybe she was a little too perfect…I might want to stalk her too, if only to learn her secrets.
Deverell, a young widow, has a high profile, social job where she is hoping for advancement. She sees good friends socially and has been having a long term affair with an unhappily married man (OK, maybe not perfect.) One night at a dinner she meets her hostess’s odd nephew Charles Asch. He comes from a tragic background and seems to be roaming around the world with little purpose. Dorothea finds him mildly interesting, Charles finds her endlessly fascinating. Let the obsession commence!
Of special note here are the secondary characters. This is a short novel but JCO does an excellent job creating some fully realized, colorful side players who really add to one’s enjoyment of the book (even if they are also “types” often found in polite society.). Originally published 1989.
I found the two short stories to be immediately forgettable, but I liked the two novels.
3.5 stars
A compilation of two Joyce Carol Oates novels (one of which has been on my list for awhile,) STARR BRIGHT WILL BE WITH YOU SOON and SOUL/MATE and two short stories, “The Murderers” and “An Unsolved Crime.” Reading the two novels back to back made me realize that the interior monologue of JCO’s killers is nearly always the same.
STARR BRIGHT is the story of twins Rose of Sharon and Lily of the Valley. Lily Merrick is a housewife who hasn’t seen Sharon in twenty years, since she ran off to become a model and dancer. Suddenly Sharon appears at Lily’s door one day, at loose end and “between professional engagements,” looking for a place to stay.
Sharon insinuates herself into the lives of Lily, her husband and her daughter. None of them know what/who she’s brought to their door.
The first part of the book was nothing special but watching Sharon worm her way into to lives of each Merrick was interesting. I looked up the original publication date and was a little surprised that it was published in 1998 as it reads as if set earlier, like maybe the 1980s. Maybe there’s something to indicate it was set then and I just missed it. I enjoyed this.
I had not heard of SOUL/MATE before but I really liked reading about the wonderfully drawn character of Dorothea Deverell, except maybe she was a little too perfect…I might want to stalk her too, if only to learn her secrets.
Deverell, a young widow, has a high profile, social job where she is hoping for advancement. She sees good friends socially and has been having a long term affair with an unhappily married man (OK, maybe not perfect.) One night at a dinner she meets her hostess’s odd nephew Charles Asch. He comes from a tragic background and seems to be roaming around the world with little purpose. Dorothea finds him mildly interesting, Charles finds her endlessly fascinating. Let the obsession commence!
Of special note here are the secondary characters. This is a short novel but JCO does an excellent job creating some fully realized, colorful side players who really add to one’s enjoyment of the book (even if they are also “types” often found in polite society.). Originally published 1989.
I found the two short stories to be immediately forgettable, but I liked the two novels.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
When I saw that a book had recently become available to request by Joyce Carol Oates, I immediately put in my request and was so excited when I was approved for it. I read Fox which was published last year and loved it. Although written 49 years ago, her writing is as compelling as when Double Trouble was first published 40 years ago!
As I opened the eARC, I realized that this was a book published 40 years ago by her under a pseudonym- Rosamond Smith. Joyce Carol Oates has had a storied career, writing counting best sellers. This collection was published 20 years after she started her career which was written in a different style than her previous works.
Double Trouble contains 2 shorter novels and 2 short stories all revolving around the theme of serial killers.
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon- fascinating story about a set of twins, Lily living a normal life with her teenaged daughter and husband in upstate NY and Sharon who left home at an early age and traveled around the US and whose life did not end up turning out as she has hoped. The book starts out with her traveling in Nevada with a man she has just met in a casino and things take a very bad turn. A lot of good vs evil themes in this one!
The Murderess- the tale of a young woman who has a relative come live with her family after committing a murder.
Soul/Mate- a haunting tale of a young man obsessed with an older woman and kills numerous individuals
An Unsolved Crime- a short tale of an older man looking back on the death of his stepfather.
These stories stand up over time and I found them very compelling to read. If you are a Joyce Carol Oates fan, this collection is definitely worth a read to try and capture how the minds of murderers work. Fascinating!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thank you Titan Books, Joyce Carol Oates and NetGalley for an advanced copy of Doubke Trouble. This book will be released February 3!!
February 4, 2026
I am so excited to get to read stories under Joyce Carol Oates' pseudonym Rosamond Smith. This book has 2 stories and 2 short stories that make for such an enjoyable read.
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon is a novel about an evil twin who reappears at the nice twin's house after being gone for a while. The evil twin is already on the FBI's radar and she also slurs out biblical quotes. I found the evil twin charming, maniacal and very smart. She knew how to weave her evil web into the good twins perfect life.
Soul/Mate Dorothea is an museum curator. She meets Colin Ash and here is where all the fun begins. He is handsome, dark and disturbed and it seems like Dorothea is into it. All of his actions towards protecting Dorothea at any cost make sense, in his mind. His obsessions turn into murder.
The Murderess and An Unsolved Mystery are short stories that continue with the same themes found in the previous stories. It delves into the dark minds of killers and how everything makes sense to them in their minds. It also continues with the theme of double. Double twins, double personalities and double lives. This compilation feels like a cult classic with its 80s and 90s style of horror. I enjoyed it tremendously.
Thank you Netgalley and Titan Books/ Hard Case Crime for this eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.
Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon is a novel about an evil twin who reappears at the nice twin's house after being gone for a while. The evil twin is already on the FBI's radar and she also slurs out biblical quotes. I found the evil twin charming, maniacal and very smart. She knew how to weave her evil web into the good twins perfect life.
Soul/Mate Dorothea is an museum curator. She meets Colin Ash and here is where all the fun begins. He is handsome, dark and disturbed and it seems like Dorothea is into it. All of his actions towards protecting Dorothea at any cost make sense, in his mind. His obsessions turn into murder.
The Murderess and An Unsolved Mystery are short stories that continue with the same themes found in the previous stories. It delves into the dark minds of killers and how everything makes sense to them in their minds. It also continues with the theme of double. Double twins, double personalities and double lives. This compilation feels like a cult classic with its 80s and 90s style of horror. I enjoyed it tremendously.
Thank you Netgalley and Titan Books/ Hard Case Crime for this eARC. All opinions are entirely my own.
February 3, 2026
Double Trouble
Joyce Carol Oates
Date of Publication: February 3, 2026
Digital galley courtesy of Titan Books and NetGalley.
Double Trouble features two early JCO novels originally published under her pseudonym, Rosamond Smith: Starr Bright Will Be With You (1999) and Soul/Mate (1989), paired with two short stories: The Murderess and An Unsolved Crime.
Let me start by saying the cover alone is worth the price of admission. Aside from the noirish atmosphere prevalent throughout the book, it successfully conveys the duality of character the author is trying to convey in the stories, as well as the hidden violence in what is outwardly normal and innocent. Technically, I favoredStarr Bright more than the other novel, and both two short stories were enjoyable, however the entire collection is strong and cohesive, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys character-driven psychological thrillers, and would be a wonderful introduction to readers unfamiliar with JCO’s earlier work.
Joyce Carol Oates
Date of Publication: February 3, 2026
Digital galley courtesy of Titan Books and NetGalley.
Double Trouble features two early JCO novels originally published under her pseudonym, Rosamond Smith: Starr Bright Will Be With You (1999) and Soul/Mate (1989), paired with two short stories: The Murderess and An Unsolved Crime.
Let me start by saying the cover alone is worth the price of admission. Aside from the noirish atmosphere prevalent throughout the book, it successfully conveys the duality of character the author is trying to convey in the stories, as well as the hidden violence in what is outwardly normal and innocent. Technically, I favoredStarr Bright more than the other novel, and both two short stories were enjoyable, however the entire collection is strong and cohesive, and will appeal to anyone who enjoys character-driven psychological thrillers, and would be a wonderful introduction to readers unfamiliar with JCO’s earlier work.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Oates is known for her dark themes and this one is right up there. It's two novels in a single volume and the reader is hit with dark themes right out of the box.. The first, "Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon" tells the story of a female serial killer who seeks solace by returning to her hometown in the home of her twin sister and her family.. The first half of the novel details in gruesome manner the psychological and physical experiences that lead to each killing. While the second half of the book deals with the effort of the family to come to grips with this strange person who drops into their lives. Readers who are not familiar with the Hard Case Crime imprint of bringing to light past books by authors - some unpublished - and so may be puzzled by the time setting of the story. But that doesn't spoil the tension of the tale.
Review of advance copy received from Publisher
*Disclosure: I received a free advance review copy of this book from the publisher.
Overall, I found Double Trouble to be a compelling exploration of the dark corners of the human psyche. The short stories are taut and immersive, while the novels pack a powerful punch. Among them, I found Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon slightly more engaging than Soul/Mate, perhaps due to its position at the forefront of the collection. Both novels are unapologetically dark and richly character-driven, demonstrating Oates's mastery of descriptive prose that balances dramatic flair with a noir sensibility. While they may not be perfect, there’s an undeniable allure in how they lead the reader into chilling worlds of psychological complexity.
Read my full review at https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/....
Overall, I found Double Trouble to be a compelling exploration of the dark corners of the human psyche. The short stories are taut and immersive, while the novels pack a powerful punch. Among them, I found Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon slightly more engaging than Soul/Mate, perhaps due to its position at the forefront of the collection. Both novels are unapologetically dark and richly character-driven, demonstrating Oates's mastery of descriptive prose that balances dramatic flair with a noir sensibility. While they may not be perfect, there’s an undeniable allure in how they lead the reader into chilling worlds of psychological complexity.
Read my full review at https://www.coffeeaddictedwriter.com/....
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
The two novels included in this volume were written 25-35 years ago and released along with two short stories in this book. It is a perfect pairing of mass murderers whose personalities have a lot in common. Reading the well-developed character traits is a study of a master author at work. Not only the murderer himself/herself, but those closest to them, are portrayed so vividly that it is easy to feel the apprehension, confusion, and doubt they felt. JCO is a remarkable American treasure publishing dozens of excellent novels throughout her life.
Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC to read and review.
Thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books for the ARC to read and review.
December 5, 2025
This collection from the great Joyce Carol Oates features 2 novels and 2 short stories, the opening novel being Starr Bright Will Be With You Soon, a very dark and disturbing tale about a female serial killer, graphic in it's prose and disturbing in its' themes. The second novel is Soul/Mate dealing with a male serial killer and then 2 short stories The Murderess and An Unsolved Crime. Oates writes challenging fiction, does not hide the darkness with a veil of sweetness, her writing demands our attention, disturbing our senses and dares us to continue reading. Not for the fainted hearted.
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