Hi my fellow mystery fans! Street artist Biancoshock is turning abandoned manholes in Italy into tiny rooms and I want to know where the wittle libraries are?!
Sponsored by The Crime Book, the newest title in DK’s award-winning “Big Ideas Simply Explained” series.
The Crime Book is a complete compendium for crime aficionados to add to their collection. From Jack the Ripper to Jeffrey Dahmer, it is a full study of international true crime history that unpacks the science, psychology, and sociology of criminal behavior with infographics and in-depth research.
Foreword writer and consultant Cathy Scott is a Los Angeles Times best-selling author and investigative journalist best known for her books The Killing of Tupac Shakur and The Murder of Biggie Smalls.
Reading my way through Abbott’s catalog is one rewarding book after another!
Queenpin
by Megan Abbott: The young, unnamed protagonist is going to school and keeping the books for a dive club when Gloria Denton not only walks into her life, but takes her under her wing. The protagonist is taught the operation of picking up money, placing mob bosses bets, and everything else involved in Denton’s business. They’re the only ladies in a gambling and crime world run by men, and soon our protagonist finds herself falling for the femme fatale—only he’s a man, because Abbott is a genius. This is a quick noir read–without the casual misogyny– that left me wanting to stand up and clap as soon as I read the final line. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I love Megan Abbott.
I’ve decided to start rounding up inclusive upcoming mystery and thrillers every few months. Here are great mystery & thrillers publishing June – August to put on your TBR list.
More on Book Riot: 100 Must-Read Books About Serial Killers. And Alice Burton’s great interview with Jennifer Finney Boylan (author of Long Black Veil) on Love, Her Favorite Thrillers, and Being a Voice for the Trans Community.
A great read for Walter Mosley fans!
A Negro and an Ofay
(The Tales of Elliot Caprice) by Danny Gardner: Elliot Caprice finds himself in a desegregated jail cell beneath the St. Louis County Courthouse, which is only the beginning of his troubles as a biracial man navigating racism and colorism in 1952. Having left the Chicago PD, he has to call a friend back home in Southville, Illinois–now the first black county sheriff in the Midwest–for help. Being that Caprice hasn’t been home in quite some time, he’s forced to face the fact that the uncle who raised him is losing the farm and it’s time for him to stop running and help…which he tries to do by accepting a job with an attorney and promising to help on a case by producing the person needed for a will. But between his past (why he left the PD which is slowly revealed), his amazing ability to walk the fine line between bad and good, and the color of his skin, things aren’t ever easy for Caprice. Gardner does a great job of brining all the very different characters to life, inserting action movie scenes, and leaving you wanting more Elliot Caprice.
Calling Agatha Christie fans!
Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz: This is literally a novel inside a novel. It starts with Susan Ryeland, an editor, reading the latest manuscript in a mystery writer’s series. And as readers, we get to read the manuscript (see: novel inside novel!): a woman is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in the estate she cleans in a small village. It is considered an accident, and believed she must have tripped down the stairs. But this is a mystery novel set in a small village, so naturally there is a town full of secrets, people behaving strangely, whispers that point fingers, and another dead body—this one clearly murdered! Just as you’re settled into this manuscript and are about to discover the reveal Ryeland stops reading and takes us into her current problem with the manuscript, the author of said manuscript, and need to solve a mystery. Agatha Christie fans get two novels for the price of one–satisfying ending reveals for both included!
Not an adaptation but Luther is coming back for a fifth season! And most importantly Idris Elba is signed on to return as DCI John Luther. If you’re a fan of dark British procedurals and haven’t yet watched, get thee to Netflix where the first 4 seasons are streaming!
Over on EW you can read an excerpt from Unraveling Oliver by Liz Nugent.
I poked around the Kindle monthly deals and found you these:
Mycroft Holmes
by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Anna Waterhouse for $1.99
Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry (The Rabbi Small Mysteries) by Harry Kemelman for $1.99
Three books from Leonardo Padura’s Havana Quartet series: Havana Blue; Havana Gold; Havana Black each for $2.99
Manhattan Night by Colin Harrison for $2.99
The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5) by Louise Penny for $2.99
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And if you like to put a pin in things there’s now an Unusual Suspects board.
Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime come talk books with me on Twitter and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.