Hello mystery fans! How’d the first week of a new year treat you? I’m still walking around on tiptoes with a helmet on so I’m in full comfort watching mode and am rewatching Star vs The Forces of Evil (Disney+). Someone really owes me money for stealing my likeness.
Want to Read Harder? This year you can find the tasks and subscribe to our newsletter for tips and recommendations at Read Harder 2023.
Bookish Goods
Just One More Chapter Mug by BellaAndOakGifts
If you’re looking for a new bookish mug, here’s one that comes in different styles and sizes. (starting at $14)
New Releases
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
For fans of a fallout from a crime, wealthy family saga, and books set in India. In the middle of the night in New Delhi, an expensive car hits and kills five people. But instead of the owner of the car being there, the only person is a servant with no explanation as to how this crime happened…
Blaze Me a Sun by Christoffer Carlsson, Rachel Willson-Broyles (translation)
For fans of Scandinavian crime novels. Two horrible acts of violence happen on the same night in 1986, Sweden: the prime minister is murdered, and a will-be serial killer calls the police after murdering his first victim, stating he’s just beginning. Sven Jörgensson is assigned the serial case and is hounded for years trying to solve it. Could those two unrelated events have more in common?
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
For those who have to wait usually a year-ish before a paperback releases, I thought I’d highlight two great 2022 titles that are out in paperback this month.
Just Pursuit: A Black Prosecutor’s Fight for Fairness by Laura Coates
For fans of Just Mercy and A Knock at Midnight, here’s another great memoir/nonfic that takes a look at our justice system and how it’s designed to be unjust for Black and Brown people and marginalized communities. As a former prosecutor for the Department of Justice, Laura Coates uses her experience, cases, and the environment she worked in to show how the same system works differently for different people.
An Impossible Imposter (Veronica Speedwell #7) by Deanna Raybourn
This is one of my favorite series: you get adventure, mystery, a wonderful grump and sunshine pairing, and it’s very funny. Veronica Speedwell is a lepidopterist who pairs up with Stoker Templeton-Van, a natural historian, to solve mysteries in late 1880s in England. A man long thought to be dead suddenly appears and Speedwell and Stoker are asked to determine whether this man is in fact the real heir to Hathaway Hall or an imposter trying to steal another man’s valuables. If you want to start at the beginning, pick up A Curious Beginning.
News and Roundups
12 New Mystery Books That’ll Have You on the Edge of Your Seat in 2023
Netflix’s The Pale Blue Eye is the “origin story” of Edgar Allan Poe
13 Books to Read If You Love the Knives Out Movies
Loved These Shows & Films? Read These Books!
‘The Lynx’ Is An Enigma Based On A Mystery Steeped In Comics Nostalgia
Unfortunately the need to fight book banning continues in 2023
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2023 releases. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!
Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy — you can find me under Jamie Canavés.
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