Hello, mystery fans! I’m back on my K-drama bullshit and watching Destined With You — hello, creepy bloody hand! I love a curse plot. I’m also watching Pretend It’s a City after listening to Fran Lebowitz on Julia Gets Wise With and falling down a rabbit hole. I, too, am cranky AF about all the nonsense in this world and would like to stand on a lawn beside Lebowitz, shaking my fists.
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
Audre Lorde Inspired Enamel Pin by twistedEGOS
You know I love enamel pins, and it’s been a while since I found a new one. Here’s a great one of Audre Lorde. ($13)
New Releases
Ill-Fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow
For fans of foodie cozy series starters and a dash of magic (adding emotion into food)!
In Pixie, California, Felicity Jin grew up a part of her mom’s magical bakery, but Felicity has never had her mom’s gift for baking or having people feel joy with her food. Through a turn of fortune (heh), Felicity finds herself making fortune cookies and coming up with the fortunes written inside. It’s one of these cookies and a dead rude customer that lands Felicity in the hot seat as a murder suspect! Guess she’ll have to learn to sleuth while honing in on her new cookie-baking hustle.
Where They Lie by Claire Coughlan
For fans of historical mysteries, a Dublin setting, and reporter leads!
Julia Bridges, an actress in Dublin, disappeared in 1943, with her last known sighting being at Gloria Fitzpatrick’s home. Years later, Fitzpatrick, tried for a separate murder, dies from an apparent suicide in an institution.
In 1968, Bridges’s bones are found, and junior reporter Nicoletta Sarto decides to dive into the mysterious case of what happened to Bridges and Fitzpatrick’s role in illegal at the time abortions.
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
When the crime affects your job!
All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
For fans of lawyer leads, past and present chapters, corporate intrigue, family drama, and the lead being a murder suspect!
Ellice Littlejohn is a corporate lawyer who finds her mentor dead at his desk. She does not say anything but leaves, letting someone else find the dead body. She was having an affair with him and wants nothing to do with being roped into the mystery. But she’s instead given his position, and then the detectives zero in on her, wanting answers. Between the murder at work, caring for her maternal figure, and her brother constantly being in financial trouble, she already had enough on her plate before needing to solve a murder and workplace mystery…
(TW main case questioned as suicide/ alcoholic parent/ dementia/ teen sexual assault recounted, not graphic/ child abuse/ brief mention partner abuse/ fat-shaming)
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
For fans of scientific jobs, crime coverups, and our world setting with a little scientific advancement (clones)!
Evelyn Caldwell is hiding a giant secret that could ruin her career: her husband stole her research and cloned a new wife, Martine, to be like Evelyn but the way he wants her. I know! Obviously, shit hits the fan, and Martine and Evelyn are forced to team up…
(TW past child and domestic abuse, mostly alluded/ present domestic abuse recounted/ death faked as suicide, brief detail)
News and Roundups
Targeting Demographic Data to Skew Reality
True Detective: Night Country Just Gave the Series Its Best Finale Ever
2023 was the year of the social thriller. Here are six favorites.
The Night Agent Season 2 Adds Stars From Vampire Diaries, The Expanse, Homeland, Station 19
Autauga-Prattville Library Board Bans LGBTQ+ Books for Under 17s; Red Labeling Queer Adult Books
11 Shows Like True Detective to Watch After Season 4
You’ll savor the off-beat mysteries served up by The Kamogawa Food Detectives
Author Brandy Schillace says new mystery book draws inspiration from her life
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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