Author: Jamie Canaves

Now in paperback!

For fans of music, dual POV and timelines, and historical fiction!

The Delaney Foundation has found an unknown score by the famous composer Frederick Delaney, so they call in an expert on Delaney’s work, Bern Hendricks. He’s overjoyed to work with the foundation in authenticating the piece, but the deeper he looks into it, the more questions he has and the less thrilled the foundation is about Bern’s research…This is more of a mystery if you don’t read the publisher’s summary.

If you haven’t already read Slocumb’s debut, and enjoy theft mysteries, definitely also pick up The Violin Conspiracy!

For fans of atmospheric, character-driven crime novels, and revenge!

This is the sequel to The Searcher: you can start here and not be lost because French gives you all the info you need, but if you don’t want the first novel spoiled, start there.

American Cal Hooper is still not treated as a local in a rural Irish village he retired to, but he’s fitting in a bit better. He now has a girlfriend, Lena, and he’s continued to mentor Trey, a local teen who has been learning how to woodwork and restore furniture. Then, Trey’s absent dad shows up with a wealthy business partner and a whole plan to find gold on their lands. Cal is a retired cop, so he knows trouble and criminals and is immediately on guard. He has to dance delicately, though, because this isn’t his town, and the locals are very clear on that. The longer Trey’s father and his business partner stay, the more the town is in a frenzy over whether to join in the gold search or not, and the more fractures start to show in relationships. It’s only a matter of time before there’s a murder, and anyone seeking revenge is ready to take their chance…

Any year that a new Tana French novel comes out is a good year.

(TW past domestic, child abuse)

For fans of estranged couples coming together to solve a case, a Colorado setting, and missing persons cases!

Olivia Blake and Brandon Hall are divorced; their marriage not surviving after their eight-year-old daughter became a missing persons case four years ago. Now Brandon finds two harmed kids in a broken-down car, and Olivia is the doctor on call. Focusing on separate parts of the mystery — Brandon looking for connections to his own child’s case and Olivia trying to care for Jane Doe — they’ll have to face their own grief while getting answers.

For fans of funny books where the lead keeps accidentally finding themselves involved in crime!

Finlay Donovan is a writer always struggling with a current manuscript, a mother of two young kids, and a divorcée — but unable to shake her annoying ex-husband completely from meddling in her life. She also keeps finding herself in the crosshairs of criminals, ultimately choosing to commit some crimes herself to get away, partnered with her kids’ babysitter, who is always quick with a hilarious one-liner. This time around, Finlay and Vero need to go to Atlantic City to free the love of Vero’s life, who has been kidnapped, but since they can’t say why they are really going on this “girls trip,” they end up having to bring along the kids, Finlay’s mom, and her ex-husband. What could go wrong? For one thing, a hotel room with two dead men and Finlay and Vero once again up to their eyeballs in heaps of trouble. Did I mention Finlay is now dating a cop who works with her sister, and he’s shown up in Atlantic City…?

This series works really well for fans of comedy of errors/hijinks with a good mix of heart and crime that rides dead center between cozy and dark.

Fans of audiobook reading should be delighted by Angela Dawe’s ability to weave through characters, including the kids, without tipping into annoying voices.

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Finlay Donovan is Killing It!

For fans of contemporary family novels with a missing person thread running through (resolved at the end)!

This was one of my favorite books of 2023, and it’s now out in paperback!

In high school, Ruthy Ramirez disappeared after track practice and has been a missing person case since. We get to know the women in her family, her mom and two sisters, their childhood and adult lives, as they’ve carried the weight of Ruthy’s disappearance with them. Now, one of Ruthy’s sisters swears she recognizes Ruthy on TV — in a reality show, no less — and they’re determined to find that woman and see if it’s their Ruthy. This is one of those genre-blended novels that shows the weight and aftermath of a missing person case and how trauma is carried by those affected.

For audiobook readers: Claire Jiménez does a wonderful job bringing to life the Ramirez women and the rhythm of their voices.

(TW mentions of past child abuse/ talk of diet culture/ recounts of past child sexual assault, not graphic/ mentions past domestic abuse)

For fans of past family mysteries, alternating past and present POV, and armchair traveling to an island!

Mercedes Spivey grew up in Cuba, where she lost both her parents and was raised by her abuela: her father died as a soldier in Angola after her mother had mysteriously vanished. Her abuela, now ill, has Mercedes packing her bags in Miami to return to Cuba, and the visit home rekindles her need to find out what happened to her mom…

For fans of returning back to a hometown where a past mystery remains involving a group of childhood friends, a bit of the supernatural, and a giant nod to a huge classic book (not gonna say in case of spoilers!).

In the ’90s, six teens went to a party in a coal mine, and after what they witnessed, they were never the same again. They all escape the town and don’t speak for twenty years — until now, when Jia, one of the original six who has been dealing with visions, is called to return home to help with a missing person case. Jia helps and ends up finding one of the original six dead. It’s evident that the five remaining “friends” must return to town and once again join together to rid the town of evil…

If you like revenge thrillers, definitely pick up Kurian’s debut, Never Saw Me Coming!

For fans of historical fiction (WWII, Boston) with dual POV, including an FBI agent and a reporter!

Anne Lemire is a reporter for the Boston Star, writing a gossip column and recently using it to look at antisemitic attacks, including one involving her brother. Special Agent Devon Mulvey, whom Anne knew in childhood, ends up teaming up with her when her brother’s attack and Devon’s dead factory worker case intersect. They’ll face organized crime and domestic fascists as they try to solve their cases and dabble in a relationship.

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.

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.

For fans of procedurals, multiple points of view, past and present cases — including a personal one for the lead detective!

First, a bit about the series as a whole: the first book, City Under One Roof, introduces us to Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy about a year after her son and husband died during a camping trip. She’s on a case in the remote Point Mettier that ends up having the access bridge closed during a snowstorm. This sequel takes us into the death of her husband and son, and it does tell you the solve from the first book, so you may want to start there if that matters to you. If it does not, you won’t be lost or confused starting here.

Anchorage Detective Cara Kennedy now has questions about what happened to her husband and son when they went missing, later found dead, during a hike. She’s having their bodies exhumed, and she’s getting their DNA tested again after a gang member was found with photographs of her family from the trip. Even more WTF-y is that every other person in those photographs is missing or dead. One of the missing we get to know is a woman living in Unity, an isolated village that offers protection to women and children hiding from abuse. How does this all connect? And what actually happened to Kennedy’s husband and son?

If you enjoy multicast audiobooks, go with that format, narrated by Sophie Oda, Blaire Chandler, and Aspen Vincent.

(TW past child death/ domestic abuse/ mentions past sexual assault/ off page addiction, overdose death suspected/ past miscarriage mention/ traditional hunting/ terminal lung cancer, not main characters/ mentions past child abuse/ dementia)

For fans of book editor amateur sleuths, inheritance, and English country estates!

Jo Jones, an autistic book editor working in NY, leaves her current life for an abandoned country estate in England following her mother’s death. It’s the perfect opportunity to start her life fresh and put her energy into restoring the estate. But it’s a mystery, so you know she’s going to instead happen upon a murder: Sid Randles, caretaker, dead in the cottage. She obviously reports this to the local police, along with a woman she saw disappear, but since she’s autistic and from NY, the police take the skeptical shitty approach to the case. So Jo, along with some people she’s befriended in town, get to sleuthing!

This is one of my most anticipated 2024 mystery reads, and the only reason I haven’t gotten to it yet was HarperCollins no longer has an ALC (Advanced Listening Copy) program, and I wanted to read this book in audiobook, so I had to wait until pub day. (Life, it is so hard.)

For fans of middle grade mysteries that focus on a theft with a fun setting and friendship!

Young teens Bree and Alix are best friends having a great time at the Anime Expo. Bree is especially excited to meet the voice actor from her favorite series—she is after all dressed as Red Squirrel! But the panel is cancelled after an expensive print is stolen, so naturally, it’s time for Bree to put on her amateur sleuth hat! Not so easy, though, at a convention where everyone is in costumes and masks…

For fans of romantic thrillers—especially if you love “chick-lit,” action, and spies!

Dove Barkley has one of those cool-sounding jobs: she is paid to hack into companies’ networks to show them where their vulnerabilities are. That’s as much excitement as Dove would like in her life, so she’s not really thrilled when a man is murdered in front of her, and a CIA agent claims to be her sister’s partner—which is how Dove learns her twin is a spy! She’s roped into the mission, trying to find her sister and basically trying to stay alive. Oh, and her sister’s partner, Mendez, seems to be short-circuiting Dove’s brain, even though she’s certain this is not the time for romance and doubting everything he’s told her about himself…

Reach for this one when you need a fun action read that throws romance into the mix.

For fans of armchair traveling while solving a murder mystery and novelist-turned-amateur sleuth MCs!

Novelist Radhi Zaveri is once again finding herself solving a murder mystery: the killing of a matchmaker’s assistant in Mumbai. With a long list of clients (any who could have motive), first, Radhi will have to figure out if the assistant was even the target or the actual matchmaker.

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up A Mumbai Murder Mystery.

For fans of stories where wills leave someone a business and a mystery, British murder mysteries, and antiques (C.L. Miller is the daughter of the late Judith Miller of the BBC Antiques Roadshow)!

Divorced and with a kid in college, Freya Lockwood learns that the man she tracked down valuable antiques with 20 years ago has died and left her and her aunt his business in a small English village. But that’s not all he left: there’s also a cryptic letter for Freya that she’s about to realize puts her on the hunt for his murderer…

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?

(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)

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?

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.