Hi mystery fans! Only Murders in the Building season 3 (Hulu) has started and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is available for digital purchase which means it’s an exciting week to make a lot of popcorn.
Are you a velocireader? If so Book Riot’s New Release Index will keep you in the know about all the latest books. New books for days! Subscribe today — you won’t be able to read them all, but it’s fun to try!
Bookish Goods
CUSTOM Tote Bag for Book Lovers by MollieHendrickDesign
This comes with two size options, you can pick six book titles, and you can add a quote to the other side of the tote bag — that’s a lot of customizing wins! ($35)
New Releases
Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping by Shane McCrae
For readers of true crime memoirs written by poets!
Before he was 2, Shane McCrae’s maternal grandparents kidnapped him so that he would be raised by their white family and they could hide from him that his father was Black. In order to keep the kidnapping a secret, Shane was deceived into participating in the lie — until the day Shane began to question his false memories and the lies, looking for his identity, leading him to the truth and his father.
Dead and Gone (Detective Annalisa Vega #3) by Joanna Schaffhausen
For fans of thrilling procedurals!
Annalisa Vega is a Chicago police detective with a tangled new case that becomes more complicated when it brings in a family member! Sam Tran, a PI and ex-cop, is found murdered with a message that means the murderer is angry at the police. So Annalisa needs to go through his open cases to see what he may have stumbled upon and that leads her to discover her brother recently hired him as a PI to find a stalker.
The only reason I’ve yet to read this one is I’m waiting to get my hands on the audiobook. I love Joanna Schaffhausen’s books as they always hook me immediately and keep me fully engaged until the end.
If you want to start at the beginning pick up Gone For Good!
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I have two murder mysteries for you this time with a twist: they’re set in space! If you love sci-fi and mystery, these are a great way to get a two-for-one. And if you’re solidly a mystery reader but want to test out another genre, this is a great way to do that, too.
The Deep Sky by Yume Kitasei
Earth’s environment is collapsing so a program was created to send 80 people into deep space to birth a generation. Tiny problem: halfway to reaching the new livable planet, a bomb explodes killing three people. Asuka — who wasn’t thrilled to be here to begin with — is the only survivor and immediately becomes the suspect forcing her to have to prove her innocence!
The author kindly listed content warnings: “miscarriage, fertility issues, terrorism, death of a child, racism, violence and gore, strong language”
Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
Here’s a locked-room murder in space! Clones awake on their ship to find their dead bodies, no memories, sabotage, and the realization that one of them is the murderer! They’ll have to fix the ship and solve the murders to stay alive…
I really enjoyed Mur Lafferty’s Station Eternity so I’m excited to go back and read this one while I wait for the sequel to Station Eternity, Chaos Terminal!
News and Roundups
Denise Mina Takes on Philip Marlowe and Chandler’s Los Angeles
The Two Very Different Versions of Killers of the Flower Moon
(not an adaptation but sounds fun for thriller fans) Uma Thurman stars opposite daughter Maya Hawke in trailer for crime thriller The Kill Room
Being that I only learned about this because of the cancellation news, maybe no one watched it because they didn’t know it existed? Apple TV+ Cancels New Series After Just One Season
25 Murder Mystery Movies That Keep You on the Edge of Your Seat Until the Final Reveal
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2023 releases and 2024 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy — you can find me under Jamie Canavés.
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