“This book contains a rare kind of perfection: Elizabeth Hand’s rough, observant magic draws into its circle great historical accuracy, a cross-dressing central protagonist, a wonderfully tender portrait of the great outsider artist Henry Darger, a vibrant thriller plot, reflections on gender and its place in civic order, a helpful Ben Hecht, and one of the greatest climactic drop-the-mic moments I’ve ever read—and does all this while patiently setting into place the warm emotional armatures that make Curious Toys so moving.”

—Peter Straub, International Horror
Guild Living Legend

“Elizabeth Hand crafts a story that is, to borrow her own phrasing late in Curious Toys, ‘gruesome but peculiar,’ a fun-house mirror of a novel filled with Chicago history and detail. Dark and thrilling.”

—Lori Rader-Day, Edgar Award–nominated
author of Under a Dark Sky

“Breathless…A whip-smart thriller…Hand is a genre-hopping master of dark suspense…She has crafted Curious Toys as a tense, short-chaptered contemporary thriller, the kind where you might think ‘I’ll read just two more pages’ and then catch yourself having gulped down twenty…Yet the frisson of surprise insights is as reliable a pleasure here as the suspense plotting.”

—Alan Scherstuhl, Chicago Review of Books

“Glittering and scruffy as its carnival setting, with the deep gravity hold of a roller coaster.”

—Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls and Afterland

“When great artists meet—in this case Henry Darger and Elizabeth Hand—extraordinary things happen. For years Elizabeth Hand has been the supreme writer’s writer, an inside secret among those in the know. With Curious Toys, Hand confirms her place as one of the great writers of our era. This book is exactly what you want to read—absorbing, intelligent, bold. As the author says, only a girl would be so brave.”

—Sara Gran, author of The Infinite Blacktop
and Claire DeWitt and the City of the Dead

“This atmospheric novel will transport you to a world you’ve never imagined before.”

—Real Simple

“Curious Toys is an utterly compelling read with a sleuth who will win your heart. This is one mystery you won’t want to miss.”

—Ellen Hart, Mystery Writers of America Grand Master
and author of the Jane Lawless mysteries

“I’ve long admired Elizabeth Hand for her ability to write in whatever genre pleases her, be it noir, fantasy, or science fiction. With Curious Toys she goes further, spinning a wild, expansive, and bravura tale of carnival life, dead and missing girls, identity shifts, and big dreams transformed into awful nightmares. I loved this book.”

—Sarah Weinman, Anthony Award–nominated
author of The Real Lolita

“Within the bustle and color and people, real and imagined, is a classic mystery, carefully plotted and executed.”

—John Crowley, Boston Review

“An immersive, inventive historical mystery, led by a distinctly modern, queer heroine. I loved this story!”

—Kristen Lepionka, Shamus Award–winning
author of The Last Place You Look

“A well-crafted and deliciously unsettling period thriller.”

—Booklist (starred review)