Author: Jamie Canaves

For fans of cozy mysteries, bakery settings, and dogs!

In the series beginning (Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder), Maddy Montgomery’s life fell apart and so she moved to the small town of New Bison, Michigan where her Great Aunt left her a bakery, home, and dog (English Mastiff!) in her will. Now she’s working on keeping her Great Aunt’s legacy going strong in the Spring Baking Festival. One of the problems though is a new bakery has opened and the owner is known for sabotaging others. Which would be bad enough if he wasn’t found murdered, with a knife from Maddy’s bakery as the weapon…

For fans of nonfiction and art heists!

This takes you into the decade where Stéphane Breitwieser, with his girlfriend as the lookout, stole hundreds of works of art across Europe. He kept them all for himself to admire, but couldn’t stop trying to pull off more heists leading to finally getting caught.

For fans of delicious cozy mystery series!

Lana has come a long way since returning back to her Ohio hometown and is now managing her family’s Chinese restaurant. But she’s also always solving murders as one does in a cozy. This time around Lana and her sister Anna May travel to see an aunt in Cali and attend a restaurant convention. After witnessing a fight between a journalist and a food vendor, the journalist dies. The police ruling may be “accident” but Lana, spurred by her aunt, goes in to investigate!

Want to start at the beginning? Pick up Death by Dumpling.

For fans of historical mysteries, Jane Austen (but you don’t need to be a fan to enjoy these!), and series with standalone books!

Fanny Price’s uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, really cares for her and is letting her stay at his estate. The rest of his family is not kind to Fanny, and would very much like to throw her out. It’s a complicated situation made worse when her uncle dies in his art emporium and what Fanny discovers points to foul play, but saying so could jeopardize her life…She’ll just have to work out who the murderer amongst them is and work out that secret crush on her best friend too!

The Jane Austen Murder Mystery series is a fun “retelling” of Jane Austin classics that adds in murder and mystery in a fun way, and it’s by Book Riot Contributing Editor Tirzah Price! Each book does read as a standalone so you can read in order, or bounce around based on “trope” mood: Pride and Premeditation; Sense & Second-Degree Murder. Bonus: each audiobook is narrated by Morag Sims who has an impressive list of narrated books.

For fans of YA mysteries, social justice, contemporary stories of trying to get your life on track, and When You Look Like Us.

This is one of my favorite reads this year and I absolutely judged this cover because I loved it so much – it’s why I pressed play on the audiobook, knowing nothing about the book.

Andre Jackson has just been released from juvie but the life he was excited to get back to is no longer the same: the public has just learned about Covid-19; he has an ankle monitor, restrictions on his release, and six months of probation; there are protests against police brutality, and his friend is the reason he was in jail and now he is missing.

Andre is a sweet kid close to his family – his mom is a nurse, his dad owns a bookstore, he lives with his grandparents – and now finds himself needing to navigate a few things, including the pandemic and the reality of the danger vs. what is being said; his crush on his best friend’s sister; figuring out how he got framed with his friend’s backpack of stolen goods; and why his friend has just disappeared with only his sister worried?

The audiobook is narrated by Guy Lockard who has a great voice, and really made me feel like Andre was beside me at all times. Even though I am very much a person who avoids entertainment with pandemic stuff at the moment I loved Andrew so much that I stuck with this book and was glad I did. I’ll definitely be sure to read Kim Johnson’s previous novel, This Is My America, and all future work.

(TW grandparent death/ pandemic/ mentions of teen girl sexually assaulting teen boy, no graphic detail/ child abuse, not on page/ mentions past attempted murder-suicide, detail)

For fans of main characters returning back home to deal with the past, murder mysteries, past told through diary entries, and cults.

Lay Your Body Down keeps readers turning pages to solve the mystery as the danger ramps up into a thriller ending. Del Walker fled her upbringing with a town that worships an Evangelical pastor and while she may not have the best life she at least got out. Until she finds out that her ex-boyfriend, who ended up marrying her best friend, has died in a hunting accident leading her to return to the town. We get to know Del and her past relationships through her diary entries and in the present as she feels something is off with the story of how her ex died. Not only will she force her way into sleuthing but she’ll have to face her difficult childhood, abuse, and finally deal with her ex-best friend, now widow of the man Del loved – the same man who left her a strange voicemail right before his death…

(TW mentions finding a suicide scene, detail/ mentions stories of past physical domestic abuse, not graphic nor on page/ stories of past emotional abuse/ non-consensual sharing of intimate images/ fatphobia recounted/ recounts non-physical sexual assault of teen girl/ women recount abuse stories, not graphic/ brief mention past molester)

For fans of recent-ish historical fiction (1970s), murder mysteries, and returning back home.

West Mills, North Carolina is still segregated in the mid 1970s when the first murder in decades occurs and is of three siblings: Marian, Marva, and Lazarus. While the town is filled with gossip and accusations, the white authorities don’t care to solve the case. Moving back home to marry her childhood sweetheart after living in NY, Ms. Jo Wright discovers her fiancée is on the list of culprits as the victim’s half-sibling and decides to clear his name. But what she finds is a town full of dark secrets.

For fans of atmospheric historical mysteries, amateur sleuths, and speakeasies.

Vivian Kelly lives in NY with her sister in the mid 1920s and has just gone from patron at a local speakeasy to serving drinks — on top of her job at a dress shop. But the feeling of things looking up quickly changes when Vivian learns that her friend’s Uncle Pearlie has died. Because he was the doorman at the club, and thanks to her friend’s insistence, Vivian decides to ignore the police having ruled it a non suspicious death and decides to look into the case…

If you want to start at the beginning pick up Last Call at the Nightingale.

For fans of alternative sibling POV, historical mysteries (1921), and murder mysteries with a will.

Sir Lawrence Linwood’s three adopted children — each in a different part of the world with their own careers (archeologist, journalist, engineer) — have returned home to the family estate in Yorkshire because he’s been murdered. Now Caroline, Roger, and Alan discover that their father’s will has a strange provision: whoever solves his murder will inherit the estate…

This is high up on my TBR list (I’ve been hoping for an audiobook!) since I really enjoyed his previous historical mystery, A Gentleman’s Murder.

For fans of past mysteries and procedurals that turn to a “psychic” for help.

Vivvy Bouchet grew up with her mom and sister. Since childhood she’s had OCD and seems to have her mom’s psychic gifts. The difference is her mom called herself such and saw clients and Vivvy instead grew up to be an astrophysicist. But the boy whose life she saved as a kid, from a vision, is now a cop and he’s connected her with a case of a missing child. The detective on the case does not believe in psychics nor Vivvy but the child has never been found and her mother, in prison, continues to claim she’s innocent. Can Vivvy help? Or will ending up on an extremist podcaste’rs radar cause even more damage to the case?

I got sucked in from the opening hook of this novel and rearranged my to-do list for the day to be able to spend more time listening to the audiobook and its wonderful narrator, Karissa Vacker (The Banker’s Wife, Take Your Breath Away, Young Rich Widows). Definitely one of the best mysteries of the year.

(TW mentions eating disorder, detail/ murdered child/ brief mention past suicide attempt, detail/ mentions rape case/ mentions still birth/ past parent death of cancer/ OCD/ mentions all kinds of cases with brief mentions of every kind of violence/ past child abuse)

For fans of neighborhood murder mysteries and secrets!

Alexis — pregnant with her second child and looking to leave her past behind — and Sam — working to make partner at his law firm — have just bought a fixer upper in a D.C. suburb. And while they are welcomed into their community, when a neighbor is found dead it ends up dividing people, raising tensions, and forcing secrets to start to come out.

For fans of Nordic crime, murder mystery, and everyone-has-a-secret thrillers!

After becoming a widower, Bill Olsson is struggling financially and allows a lodger, Karla, to move in with him and his daughter. Karla is a law student who works as a housekeeper for the wealthy Rytters. Then the Rytters are murdered and Karla is brought in for questioning…

For fans of delicious cozy mysteries!

This is a great newish foodie cozy mystery series that has an odd couple pairing with cousins Yale and Celine Yee working a food market stall in L.A. This time around they’ll have to solve the murder of the local restaurant owners association’s president, which creates a list of suspects that includes dinner attendees. Near the top of the list? Yale’s dad!

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Death by Bubble Tea.

For fans of fictional serial killers and FBI consultants!

A lot of this book, and all the characters, are continuations from the first so you may want to pick None Shall Sleep if you’ve yet to.

Emma Lewis and Travis Bell were brought on as young and inexperienced FBI consultants because of their personal connections with serial killers. After that case finished, Travis went on to work for the FBI and Emma refused. But now there’s another active serial killer, possibly a copycat, so Emma puts herself in danger hoping to catch him before her past trauma swallows her.

For fans of historical mysteries, especially with settings rarely depicted!

This is set in Colonial Fiji (1914), where Akal Singh, a Muslim Sikh British Police officer, has been relocated from Hong Kong as punishment. His new assignment is given to him with instructions to not really investigate but he wants to prove himself, and really there does seem to be something going on at the sugarcane plantation where an indentured Indian woman is missing.

For fans of crime novels!

This is set in the summer of 2017 when violence and hate towards marginalized voices started to increase. Nikki Finch, a transgender woman who owns Beatnik café, felt the impact when her business partner was attacked by a neo-Nazi. With herself, family, and community in danger, Nikki feels like her life has become a choice: kill or be killed. Does she plan and pull off a perfect murder or will that set the wrong example for her daughter?

For fans of FBI procedurals looking to start a new series!

Dani Vega was a military codebreaker who now works as an FBI agent. And her new case literally happens in front of her: a NY senator’s chief of staff is murdered and she’s a witness. To catch the killer, and unravel the conspiracy behind it, she’ll have to partner with Gustavo Toro, an assassin turned informant. But soon they’re trapped in a secluded facility fighting for their lives…

For puzzle book fans!

This is literally a book filled with puzzle mysteries for you to solve via logic. Every pair of pages gives you three suspects info, three places the murder may have occurred, and three possible murder weapons (Clue, that you?) and with a few bits of info you deduce who is the murderer, where the murder took place, and with what weapon. The book is even sectioned off into different difficulties starting with easy. And yes, I did feel like the most accomplished person ever completing those easy logic puzzles.

For fans of contemporary that has a background threaded mystery.

The novel follows the lives of three domestic workers in Singapore: Angel is worried she’ll lose her caregiving work, Cora had retired to the Philippines but has mysteriously returned, and the youngest Donita is new to Singapore and documenting her life on social media. While the focus is on their lives and work, they also suddenly find themselves needing to know the truth behind a Filipina maid accused of murdering her employer…

For fans of legal thriller series!

Defense attorney Erin McCabe has a lot on her plate, including the tiny little problem of being a suspect in a murder! Why? Because the time of death is supposedly when Erin was having a consultation with the victim at his home. And her other case is a mother charged with her own child’s kidnapping and since Erin won’t reveal the mother’s location, the prosecutor wants Erin in jail.

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up By Way of Sorrow.