Hi fellow mystery fans! Have you been watching any good mystery shows and/or reading any great mysteries recently? I’m really enjoying Mindhunter on Netflix (especially love the dynamic between the “partners”) and my library went back to using Overdrive so I’ve been putting a dent in my backlist TBR!
Sponsored by Bethany House
When a terrorist investigation leads FBI agent Declan Grey to a closed immigrant community, he turns to crisis counselor Tanner Shaw for help. Despite the tension between them, he needs the best of the best on this case. Under imminent threat, they’ll have to race against the clock to stop a plot that could cost thousands of lives—including theirs.
When the Followup Novel is Just As Good!
Righteous (IQ #2) by Joe Ide: This was my must-read pick for October, and it’s one of the best mystery releases this year. Isaiah Quintabe (IQ) is back, still living in East Long Beach and helping his community by taking on cases and accepting payment in any form clients can pay–chickens included. While IQ is a loner and doesn’t always have the greatest social skills it’s because as a child he was being raised by his brother who was killed in a hit-and-run that was never solved. Not only does he decide to solve his brother’s case, but he also gets a visit from the past in the form of a woman who needs his services to help her sister in Las Vegas. With his refusal to let things go and his need to solve his cases, IQ ends up in the crosshairs of multiple gangs. All while realizing that this life he’s been living is lonely and maybe he should try to work on getting along better with friends like Dodson–a not-always-happy-to-be-dragged-along side-kick of sorts. Ide brings to life the ethnically diverse community of East Long Beach without creating stereotypical caricatures, but rather creates people with full backstories and lives. It’s the kind of crime novel where no one is necessarily all good, but everyone is human. I can’t wait for more IQ.
Links to Click:
Feeling lucky? Book Riot is giving away $500 to spend at any bookstore you choose!!!!!!!
Rioter Tirzah Price’s Genre Kryptonite is Queer Ladies Solving Crime.
Rincey and Katie talk Tana French, newsy items, and review recent releases on Read or Dead.
An interview with Adam Sternberg, author of The Blinds.
An interview with Leye Andele, author of Easy Motion Tourist.
The next novel in Alex Segura’s Pete Fernandez series is Blackout and the cover has been revealed.
The Problem with Pop Culture’s White Male Serial Killer Obsession by Sandra Song
Inside Tumblr’s Serial Killer Fandom Problem by Vanessa Willoughby
E! is adapting One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus into a series.
The Nancy Drew series that CBS passed on looks to be getting a second chance with NBC–although, as a completely different show that will follow the author of Nancy Drew. And sadly Sarah Shahi is no longer starring.
Sisters in Crime celebrates 30 years and put together a Publishing Summit Report: Raising Women’s Voices for Thirty Years.
She Finds Dead People:
Grave Sight (Harper Connelly #1) by Charlaine Harris: Depending on how you look at it, Harper Connelly is either cursed or gifted with the ability to find dead people after a lightning strike as a child. She can’t tell you who did it or why, nor is she a lie detector. What she can tell you is how they died and where the body is. It’s become her job, actually. Her and her stepbrother Tolliver travel around picking up cases where someone would like to finally know what happened to a missing person. If they’re dead, and within a reasonable distance, she finds them and can sense the cause of death–then she gets paid and moves on to the next place and case. Problem is, her new case is keeping her much longer then her or Tolliver care to stay even after she found the body, because it seems now there’s more bodies. Not only are Harper and Tolliver not able to leave, but it’s clear they’re not wanted. Harper is also going to have to face her co-dependent relationship with her stepbrother that stems from an abusive/neglected childhood–but maybe they should just focus on getting out of the town as fast as they can…
Ridiculous Small Town Characters Make for a Fun Read:
Pumpkin Picking with Murder (An Otter Lake Mystery #2) by Auralee Wallace: I picked this up because I needed something fun and seasonal to read and saw a review complaining that the characters were all too ridiculous–which to me sounded perfect. Erica Bloom visits her hometown (Otter Lake, New Hampshire) hoping that this time nothing goes wrong and she can finally get a relationship with the town’s sheriff to work. Enter a dead man, Erica’s “aunts” being looked at as suspects, Erica’s mother currently taking a vow of silence, and her best friend Freddie who has now deemed himself in charge of security demanding they look into the death. It’s one ridiculous event after another as Freddie and Erica do a lot of terrible investigation that places Grady, the sheriff, in the position of having to arrest his potential girlfriend…
Awesome Kindle Deals! (Same caveat as last time: I have no idea when the sales end so if you want it, get it–they’re all great reads!)
No One Knows by J.T Ellison is $1.99 (Mystery/Thriller about a missing husband and the suspected wife.)
Lamar Giles’ Fake ID is $4.99 and Endangered is $3.99 (A Little Q&A with Lamar Giles: here.)
Trouble is a Friend of Mine (Trouble #1) by Stephanie Tromly is $4.99 (For Veronica Mars fans.)
The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango, Imogen Taylor (translator) is $4.99 (Suspenseful crime novel about an author.)
North of Boston by Elisabeth Elo is $5.99 (Mystery/thriller with a unique MC and one of my favorite reads.)
Alexia Gordon’s Murder in G Major and Death in D Minor are each $2.99 (Cozy, fun, with some ghosts: reviewed here.)
The Missing File by D.A. Mishani is $1.99, A Possibility of Violence is $3.99, and The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything is $3.99 (Israeli detective series which feels written with kindness and is great for fans of procedurals and the exploration of human behavior.)
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And if you like to put a pin in things here’s an Unusual Suspects board.
Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.