Hi, mystery fans! I hate that things like this have to exist, but here’s the great show Abbott Elementary (which returns in February with a new season!) being the helpers we need.
2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!
Bookish Goods
Reading dinosaur sticker by namicraftlove
Would follow this little pudding pop to its cave of books, no questions asked! ($5)
New Releases
Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar
For fans of psychological thrillers with a genre blend, fictional true crime podcasts, and past and present stories!
A pharmacist in NY, Dunia Ahmed, finds her life suddenly in danger multiple times — the first attempt is when someone tries to push her in front of a subway train. But now Dania is missing and considered dead. What happened? Will the answer lie in the true crime podcast transcripts?
The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes
For fans of funny new cozy series, murder mysteries, rural settings, and amateur sleuths!
Alice and Joe are just weeks away from her due date when they up and move from London to a small village for a quiet life. But you don’t get quiet in cozy mysteries! During a birthing class, where a fellow student goes into labor, a shop owner downstairs dies. What’s Alice to do? Join forces with fellow birthing class ladies to solve the crime! Bonus: if you’re not a fan of waiting a long time for the sequel, you’ll only have to wait until the beginning of summer for Dead Tired.
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
I’m going to skip doing the third Read Harder prompt for middle grade horror because I’ve recently covered the books I’d select: The Keeper by Guadalupe García McCall and Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle (Illustrator). Instead, here are two great options if you want to do the fourth prompt but add in true crime: Read a history book by a BIPOC author. Bonus: both have great audiobooks.
The Golden Thread: The Cold War and the Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjöld by Ravi Somaiya
History: The focus is on the history of the United Nations, but you also get a lot of other history, like of the Congo.
True crime: Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, died in a plane crash along with everyone on board in 1961. The case, fueled with plenty of theories (many conspiracies), has remained unsolved, with the UN waiting until 2014 for anyone to be appointed to look into the case.
I regularly think about a quote from this book and how sadly applicable it continues to be: “Nobody could call them off — only wind them up, set them off, and semi-legitimately deny any involvement in the destruction that followed.”
(TW attempted suicide recounted, detail/ mentions group rape not detailed or graphic)
Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Amit Katwala
History: The history of the lie detector, along with criminal justice/forensics, and the history of crime at the turn of the century.
True crime: Katwala takes readers into the courtroom for a dive into cases throughout history where the lie detector was used, including in deciding whether to execute a person or not.
(TW domestic violence/ brief mentions of past child sexual assault, no detail/ suicide, detail, including murder-suicide)
News and Roundups
The 2024 Audie Award Finalists (Lots of favorite authors and great books on this list — S.A. Cosby up for Audiobook of the Year AND best thriller.)
Love streaming on Prime? Amazon will now force you to watch ads unless you pay more
Bookish Valentine’s Day Cards for Friends and Lovers
End of Story: Controversial Author A.J. Finally Set to Release His Second Novel
HBO to Develop Gillian Flynn’s Novel Dark Places as a Limited Series
Washington State Introduces, Advances School Anti-Book Ban Bill
No, Argylle won’t be on Netflix after theaters (but it will be on another streamer)
Rhode Island native Kali Reis on starring in True Detective: Night Country – The Boston Globe
Julia Roberts Thriller Leave the World Behind Enters Netflix’s All-Time List of Most-Watched Films
Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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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