Hello, mystery fans! I was so incredibly happy to see Tracy Chapman at the Grammys that I am still playing her performance with Luke Combs on repeat.
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
Silly goose bookmark by CuppaSeriously
I regularly get yelled at by geese and can confirm they are this cute but not this friendly if you’re in “their” territory. Still love them and would recommend. ($4)
New Releases
When She Left by E.A. Aymar
For fans of a reluctant assassin, mob books, multiple POV, and people-on-the-run crime books!
Melissa Cruz commits no crime when she leaves her boyfriend, Chris, for Jake, a photographer she meets. But Chris is part of an organized crime family, so Melissa and Jake are forced on the run, and Chris hires the family’s assassin, Lucky Wilson, to go after them. But Lucky doesn’t want to be an assassin anymore; it’s greatly affecting him and has him in a cycle of panic attacks. So he strikes a deal with Chris: one last job, and he’s out. What could go wrong?
Prima Facie by Suzie Miller
(TW rape)
This is based on the same-titled play which has been awarded an Olivier and Tony Award and starred Jodie Comer (from Killing Eve!). Comer also narrates the audiobook which is exceptional!
Tessa Ensler is a criminal defense barrister who tells us stories of hardship growing up, going to law school, and her current cases where she deeply believes that the justice system always works as it should—including when she defends clients accused of rape. Then she’s raped by a co-worker who she has begun dating, and she is put through what rape victims endure if they want to take their assaulter to trial.
This is a sharp legal novel—Comer deserves all the awards—and I highly recommend also reading the memoir versions of #MeToo stories, including Know My Name by Chanel Miller, Black Box by Shiori Itō, and Unbound: My Story of Liberation and the Birth of the Me Too Movement by Tarana Burke. And for nonfic/memoirs that aren’t specifically about sexual assault but do delve into the author’s experience with sexual assault, these are must-reads: All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures by Sabrina Imbler, Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba, and Inverse Cowgirl by Alicia Roth Weigel, Jonathan Van Ness (Foreword).
(TW past domestic abuse/ sexual assault on page, rape culture, sexual assault cases)
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
A thing I am doing this year is catching up on some of my favorite series, which I am behind on for reasons that have nothing to do with the books: I was waiting for the format I wanted, I was spacing them out to not run out of them, and there are so many freaking books I want to read right this second but puny human brains don’t allow for reading multiple books at the exact same time. So, along with catching up with The Murderbot Diaries and finishing An Ember in the Ashes series, I’m working my way through the series below this year.
Bury Me When I’m Dead by Cheryl A. Head
I love that this series features a team of PIs, which makes it feel like many of my favorite procedural TV shows that walk you through a case from beginning to end while putting them in danger and also having real relationships of friendship, partnership, and also major head-butting as happens in teams.
(TW parent early-stage Alzheimer’s/ ableism/ forced vasectomy on teen)
The Spellman Files (The Spellmans #1) by Lisa Lutz
I love that this is a family of PIs—focusing on the middle child—that is full of shenanigans, dark humor, case-solving, and the kind of ridiculousness I love and appreciate.
(TW alcoholism/ suicide attempt mentioned/ molestation incident mentioned)
News and Roundups
Attica Locke’s third book in the Highway 59 series comes out this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you’ve yet to read Bluebird, Bluebird, and Heaven, My Home, I am very much suggesting you go do that right now. I am a non-rereader am seriously debating doing both on audio before the third book.
Inside the Writer’s Studio: Charlie talks with British mystery writer Janice Hallett about her novel The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. They discuss writing in documentary form, cold cases, religion, cults, classic mysteries, journalistic ethics, and much more.
The 12 Best Thriller Movies of 2024 (So Far)
Tim Burton to Direct Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman Remake With Gone Girl Author Gillian Flynn
Police raided George Pelecanos’ home. 15 years later, he’s ready to write about it
Tirzah Price revealed the cover for her upcoming In Want of a Suspect, “out from @harperteen on November 12, 2024! This is a Lizzie and Darcy spin-off and features murder, mayhem, a cute dog, and more shenanigans! Cover art by Emma Condon and design by Corina Lupp!”
Argylle might be bombing, but at least its fake author mystery has been solved.
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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