Hello mystery fans! Hope you’re in the mood for Irish crime, thrills, and a dark, the-past-is-coming-for-you! AND at the end there’s a new HUGE giveaway.
Sponsored by Epic Reads
The daughter of two astronauts, Romy Silvers is no stranger to life in space. But she never knew how isolating the universe could be until her parents’ tragic deaths left her alone on the Infinity, a spaceship speeding away from Earth.
Romy tries to make the best of her lonely situation, but with only brief messages from her therapist on Earth to keep her company, she can’t help but feel like something is missing. It seems like a dream come true when NASA alerts her that another ship, the Eternity, will be joining the Infinity.
Romy begins exchanging messages with J, the captain of the Eternity, and their friendship breathes new life into her world. But as the Eternity gets closer, Romy learns there’s more to J’s mission than she could have imagined. And suddenly, there are worse things than being alone….
The Past Is Still Coming (TW: rape/ suicide)
It All Falls Down (Nora Watts, #2) by Sheena Kamal: This sequel was one I was anticipating and it didn’t disappoint! Nora has had a tough life, and the events of the first book only added more traumatic events, but she never quits nor stops moving forward, which is what leads her to leave one of the only people in her life–on his death bed–to find answers about her father. We travel from Vancouver to Detroit as Watts puts distance with her past to uncover who her father was, but her past in Vancouver isn’t going to stop coming for her no matter how far away she is–including PI Brazuca. Watts is the kind of woman that life has beaten–repeatedly–and left her hard, mistrusting, and determined, and I love watching her navigate through the world on difficult journeys. The book has a lot of different parts–the previous “case,” her caring for a dying man, her current mission to learn about her family, working on a new relationship, and Brazuca’s current work and case–but they all flow well with each other and come together in the end leaving me once again having read a really good book and wanting more Nora Watts. (You technically do not have to read The Lost Ones because this book does catch you up BUT it gives away a lot of the solves from the first book. Plus, the first book was a great thriller so you should read it.)
Irish Crime Fiction–So Good (TW: child abuse/ suicide/ rape)
The Ruin (Cormac Reilly #1) by Dervla McTiernan : The adaptation rights for this put it on my radar and I’m so glad it’s getting adapted and that it’s the beginning of a series because it’s a great read. Twenty years ago a wet-behind-the-ears cop ended up taking two young children away from a home their mother was dead in. Now one of those children, Jack, has died by suicide and the other, Maude, is refusing to believe her brother–who she didn’t have a relationship with–died by suicide. And that wet-behind-the-ears cop is now a detective assigned once again to Jack’s case. The novel follows a few characters, including Jack’s girlfriend, and really explores their lives while equally focusing on the mysteries which is really one of my favorite types of crime novels. Great pick for those who love mystery novels like The Dry.
I Inhaled This Audiobook In One Day! (TW: rape/ suicide)
The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger: It follows two women: Marina Tourneau, a recently engaged journalist on vacation and Annabel, an expat whose husband was on a plane that crashed in the Alps. Marina is marrying into a political family who wants her to quit her job—hahaha this is a great book so that isn’t going to happen–and Annabel, an ex NY socialite now living in Switzerland, who is discovering that the work her husband did at Swiss United may not have been what she thought… I really liked the characters, the pace, the whole journalist-won’t-let-go-of-the-bone, and I loved the ending–which of course I can’t talk about in any way. If you’re a fan of movies/novels where a journalist keeps picking, and you like watching how all the pieces come together grab this one. (I’d also really like to see this one get adapted into a film.)
Recent Releases
Still Water (Still #2) by Amy Stuart (A good thriller with multiple mysteries–You won’t be confused not having read Still Mine but this one does reveal a lot from the first book.) (TW: domestic abuse/ child death/ addiction)
City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai by Paul French (Currently Reading: True crime about two gang leaders in 1930’s Shanghai underground.)
Scandal Above Stairs (Kat Holloway Mysteries #2) by Jennifer Ashley (TBR: Historical mystery)
The Night Ferry (A Konrad Simonsen Thriller) by Lotte Hammer, Søren Hammer, Charlotte Barslund (Translator) (TBR: Dark, Scandinavian crime.)
The Last Thing I Told You by Emily Arsenault (Currently reading: Alternating POV between detective solving a therapist’s murder and a former patient.)
Giveaway (Hug a Luck Dragon and enter): Book Riot is giving away $500 of the year’s best YA fiction and nonfiction. There are SO MANY amazing books on this list including one’s I’ve shouted about White Rabbit, Undead Girl Gang (Reviews for both here), and Before I Let Go (Review). Also on this excellent list are some of my favorite, FAVORITE, reads: From Twinkle, With Love; The Poet X; Dread Nation.
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest 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.
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