Category: Unusual Suspects

For fans of contemporary novels with great voice and an underlying mystery that is solved at the end. This is one of my favorite books of the year, I really loved the voice(s) and its mix of genres. The central running mystery is about Ruthy Ramirez who disappeared after track practice in junior high. She’s never been heard from since. Over a decade later, one of her sisters swears that she spots Ruthy on a reality show. But how? We follow the remaining women of the Ramirez family living in Staten Island who in different ways have been worn down by life. We watch them struggle in their personal lives, work, with each other, the dreams they had and have, and the questions of what happened to Ruthy — how can someone just disappear? The novel alternates between the three women — Dolores, Jessica, and Nina — in their current lives, while they also recount their childhood and past stories. And then, at the end of the book, their need to know if that is Ruthy on TV leads them to drive to the set of the show in hopes of getting answers…

I highly recommend this book for the pleasure of getting to know these women. And if you listen to audiobooks, it’s a fantastic choice as it’s narrated by the author, Claire Jimenez, who really brings 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)

I adore this entire series with all my heart. This is a must-read series for fans of fun historical mysteries with great opposites-attract pairings. Raybourn also has a gift for humor and consistently delivers one great entry into the series after another.

Veronica, a lepidopterist, and her partner Stoker, a natural historian, find themselves forced back together by Stoker’s brother Tiberius, who may be in great danger. Tiberius was a part of a friend group called the Seven Sinners, which recently had two members die. A bit odd. But what really seals the something-isn’t-right-here feel is that Tiberius’ is sent a message to get his own affairs in order. So Veronica and Stoker team up to throw a party and invite all the remaining Seven Sinners in order to smoke out the possible murderer. What could go wrong?!

Among a great series that I always love–for it’s characters, humor, and adventures–this may be my favorite! And the audiobook has a great narrator, Angèle Masters, which really brings all the characters to life.

If you want to start at the beginning pick up A Curious Beginning.

For fans of journalist leads, family mysteries, and past and present story lines! In present day, Meghan McKenzie works at the Detroit Free Press as a reporter and pitches her own family mystery as an article to write: Her great-grandfather’s murder. All she’s ever known was that he died a woodworker at the age of 28. In 1929 we meet carpenter Robert Lee Harrington, his young daughter, and pregnant wife as they start a new life in Birmingham, Alabama.

Meghan travels to Birmingham to find the answers she’s looking for to write her article, and while some people are happy to help, others are not. Both Robert and Meghan’s stories slowly unfold, increasing in danger.

I love that the audiobook had a narrator for each time period: Jade Wheeler and Ronald Peet.

For fans of historical mysteries and gothic mysteries. Margaret Lennox, running from her past, decides that an isolated house in the west of England would be a great place to take a job as governess to a widow’s only child. What could possibly go wrong? Certainly taking up a forbidden relationship with the gardener won’t make things worse? Maybe the abandoned east wing is a red flag, along with gossip from the village that does not trust the widow…

It’s always strange to say this about true crime memoirs but this is a gorgeously written book that will live with me forever which I loved. It’s for fans of true crime looking for the focus to be on the victim(s) and our society, without excessive graphic violence descriptions. Cristina Rivera Garza uses her sister’s murder in 1990 to spotlight femicide in Mexico. Twenty-nine years after Liliana Rivera Garza — a 20-year-old architecture student — was murdered, Cristina decides to get the files and follow the investigation, while also adding entries from her sister’s diary to show how a teenage relationship led to her strangulation in her home years later. The book also brings to light many femicide cases in Mexico and protests, shining a light on women trying to fight back against gender-targeted crime and how society has played a role in its existence and protection. If you read true crime memoirs, I highly recommend picking this one up to get to know Liliana and Cristina. Liliana’s diary entries are also a perfect snapshot of a teen girl’s life.

Victoria Villarreal does a fantastic job narrating the audiobook, which I listened to in one day.

(TW mentions rape cases the way the news does/ talks of femicide cases/ mentions case believed to be suicide that was later determined murder/ mentions partner sexual assault, not graphic/ partner abuse/ mentions brief threat of suicide)

This is the first book put out by Gillian Flynn‘s imprint! And if you’ve ever wanted a lesbian nun covered in tattoos who goes full amateur sleuth, here you go! Sister Holiday is not a nun with habits you’d expect from a nun: smoking, cursing, and throwing herself into an investigation. And she won’t have anyone messing with the home she’s finally found, so when an arsonists hits Saint Sebastian’s School, killing a janitor, even the New Orleans heat won’t stop her from finding who’s responsible in order to save the school from being shut down. Being an amateur sleuth mystery, and her not fitting in the perfect nun box, you know she’s going to become a suspect herself…

For fans of domestic thrillers, stories where the past is maybe coming to get you, and slow burn suspense! Annie Lin has had a difficult life recently, including losing her business. Now she, her husband, and her recently traumatized child move from New York to Kauai in the hopes of helping their son, bringing peace of mind to Annie, and fixing her marriage. But during a storm, a stranger seeks shelter at their home. Could this be a new friend that Annie desperately needs or has danger just arrived?

For fans of action, murder mystery, remote locations, and page-turners! This is a spinoff from Armstrong’s Rockton/Casey Duncan series, which takes the two main characters from that series and begins a whole new adventure for them — similar to the last. You can 100% start here.

Casey Duncan is a detective married to Eric Dalton, a sheriff. They’re taking what they know of a secret town that houses people who need refuge (sometimes from bad people, sometimes they are the bad people) and creating their very own hidden town in the Yukon wilderness. But things are definitely not starting out on a good note when two of the workers building the town ignore the rules and go into the forest. Soon the two missing crew members are a dead body and a missing person and Casey and Eric have to deal with a prickly architect, a crew with plenty of gossip, a woman with a wolf, and the dangers in the forest to figure out what happened — all while they try and settle into their new town, bring in Casey’s sister, and find out some residents can’t wait any longer to join…

Definitely pick this up if you need to be sucked into another world, want a missing person/murder mystery, and the pace of a thriller.

The audiobook is narrated by Thérèse Plummer, who I really enjoyed as she brings all the tension and action into her voice. She also narrated Armstrong’s previous series.

(TW briefly mentions past suicide, not detailed/ Parkinson’s discussions past and present)

I love Walter Mosley and am glad he has a new crime series — his backlist is extensive and in all genres! This series is for fans of PIs, and old school detectives looking for a modern story.

Joe King Oliver lives in a world where people owe each other favors and no one is all good or all bad. He used to work for the NYPD until he was framed and ended up in Rikers. Now he’s a PI with his daughter helping out in the office, even if he’s trying very hard to dissuade her from this line of business. He ends up with two jobs, both really uncomfortable: a family friend needs him to look into a white nationalist arrested for murder who is being hidden in the prison system; and his ex-wife needs help for her wealthy husband. As usual King is going to find himself down very dangerous rabbit holes…

You can jump in here, but if you’re a completionist pick up Down the River Unto the Sea.

The audiobook is narrated by Dion Graham who is always an automatic listen for me.

(TW brief suicide mention, detail)

This is one of my favorite reads of the year. It has so much of my catnip: university setting, return to past school, a past murder mystery being reexamined, and a true crime podcast host. It also dives into the way rape culture has always existed but the difference in language and understanding through generations, the spectrum of predators, and the way victims are exploited in the true crime genre.

Bodie Kane is a well known podcaster with two young children and a marriage-on-paper-only when she’s asked to return to Granby School, the boarding school in New England she once attended, to teach a film class. She accepts, even though she never really enjoyed her time there and her roommate was murdered. Now one of her students decides to take on the assignment Kane gives with a focus on her roommate’s murder. The case was solved, the athletic trainer found guilty, but the student is convinced it was all wrong. Now Kane has a front row seat to the students digging into the case, a flood of her own memories, and a world where it feels like everyone has an online opinion for true crime cases.

The audiobook is a great production, mostly narrated by Julia Whelan with a bit narrated by JD Jackson. More audiobook productions should follow this lead.

(TW brief mention past drug overdose, brief mention past addiction and death unknown if suicide, detail/ brief mention past domestic abuse/ mentions sexual assault case/ eating disorder/ rumors of statutory student teacher/ past memory possible suicide attempt/ recounts past groping/ mentions suicide cases, method mentioned/ mentions of terminal cancer diagnosis and death)

For fans of elite private schools and “fixers”! Hana Yang Lerner goes to an elite school in Washington, D.C. where she’s basically the school fixer — students hire her for whatever mess they need resolved, or disappeared. Her only problem is that her father, a senator, is in a car accident that almost kills a woman and has him arrested. It leads to Hana losing her friends, standing, and reputation and her fixer skills are no match for the situation. It’s why she takes a job from an anonymous person with the job of following her ex-best friend. What could wrong?!

For fans of PIs, family drama, and decades old unsolved murder cases. Billie Levine lives in New Jersey with her mom, brother, and now grandfather who is a retired cop/PI, that moved to Florida but has returned since Billie’s mom has been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Her mom’s condition is why Billie has decided to take over her grandfather’s private PI firm — it’ll hopefully pay some bills and have flexible hours so her mom isn’t left alone at home. But what she thinks is a simple case — a boyfriend looking for his girlfriend — ends up getting very complicated quickly. The missing girl had a true crime podcast, and she was focused on an unsolved murdered woman case that Billie’s grandfather has files on, and connects to the Jewish mob Billie knows. And Billie is having to reckon with her own past — an ex connected to the Jewish mob — and her emotional state is thinking that she will inherit her mom’s diagnosis.

(TW addiction/ mom with early onset Alzheimer’s / mentions assumption of partner abuse/ alludes to past attempted sexual assault, no details/ alcoholism/ transphobia, transgender reveal used as a “twist”/ antisemitism)

For armchair travelers and PI fans! Emma Djan works for a PI firm in Accra, Ghana. Her current case is a bit tricky since it comes from a friend of her boss: his daughter recently graduated from high school and disappeared from her home one night. The parents blame the boyfriend she suddenly was spending all her time with. But it’s not long into Emma’s investigation that she finds the boyfriend murdered, discovering he was a sex trafficker. Now she needs to find her missing woman and figure out who murdered her boyfriend…

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up The Missing American. And if you want a completed procedural series, pick up Quartey’s Wife of the Gods.

For fans of CIA agents, historical fic (’90s!), and inserted chapters from the killers point of view. Melvina Donleavy is able to recognize anyone she’s ever seen because her brain will put together things people don’t notice like the shape of the back of their head. This is why the CIA thinks she’s an asset. And why they send her on her first mission to Soviet Belarus. She’s undercover and with a team, but even her own team doesn’t know why she’s really there. And complicating things is that women have been disappearing, and being murdered, in Minsk. Because some of the victims have been sex workers, no one seems concerned to look for the possible serial killer. But Melvina wants to know and starts to ask a few questions, leading to a woman who spoke to her to be murdered. Melvina is already in enough danger with her assignment, and now she’s added to that and potentially placed the entire team in even more danger…

I chose the audiobook format, which I enjoyed, narrated by Eva Kaminsky. I liked the balance between character focus and intensity and could see this being adapted into a limited series.

If you want a procedural trilogy pick up Kent’s The Dime.

(TW sexual assault/ mentions terminal cancer diagnosis/ mentions suicidal plan/ mentions past child abuse/ faked suicide, brief detail/ brief mention animal cruelty)

For fans of murder mysteries, past secrets, and family dramas. Markus Peña is an activist and musician with plenty of enemies when he’s murdered. His estranged sisters, Melinda and Emily, know Markus wasn’t a good person but they still need to find out who killed him and why. The problem is they’re not without their own problems and secrets, including one being a vigilante…

The series is called “pie before guys” and that makes this an automatic win for me. Also, I enjoyed the first book in the series: Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies. You get a lady assassin, with a smidge of magic, on the cozy mystery line. This time around Daisy Ellery — who bakes special deadly pies for awful men — has entered a baking contest like GBBO. That means her secret murder life will meet her public baking life when the man she’s going to deliver a deadly pie to ends up dead before she feeds him — and he turns out to be one of the baking contest’s judges. Oh my!

I have the audiobook, narrated by Tanya Eby, high on my TBR for when I need a fun book.

For fans of historical fiction! The series started with Annalee Spain working as a theologian at a Chicago Bible college returning home to help her estranged father. Now a year later, in 1924, Annalee finds herself in a relationship with a pastor and embroiled in another mystery. She’s the suspect in a murdered man’s case when the handkerchief she lent a crying woman is found on the woman’s dead husband’s body. Hope she finds the clues she needs to exonerate herself in Estes Park, Colorado now that her boyfriend has also gone missing…

If you want to start at the beginning, pick up All That Is Secret.

For fans of family drama, zany characters, words, and middle grade novels. It’s also a great, fun read for fans of the mansion murder mystery mixed with The Mysterious Benedict Society (for the characters, not the SFF). In the Swift family, children get their name by family tradition and family dictionary: the day they are born, the family dictionary is used for their name with the belief that they will grow into the word’s definition. This is something that Shenanigan Swift is currently wrestling with: are they really destined to be the name they were given or is there room for them to be someone else? But this takes a slight backseat to the family reunion: Shenanigan is excited to learn about her family members. Except the family reunion soon becomes a murder mystery and Shenanigan, her sisters Phenomena and Felicity, and her cousin Erf will have to figure out what exactly is happening.

The audiobook narrator, Nikki Patel, is delightful!

For fans of dark academia, murder mystery, multiple suspects, multiple POV, and full cast audiobooks.

The Urban Promise Prep School is an all boys charter school in Washington, D.C. that may pride itself in education but is really just a cruel place that thinks students need to be broken, constantly threatened with punishment, and not even allowed to talk while walking the hallways. Now their strict principal, Kenneth Moore, has been shot and killed. Three students are the suspects: Trey, the basketball player living with his uncle, trying to get looked at by scouts, who threatened the principal before his death; Ramón, who has no plans on going the route of his cousin in joining a gang, makes pupusas every day to sell for needed money even though it’s against the rules, and whose hair brush was found at the scene; and J.B., who’s sick of all the rules, just got his dream girl to be his girlfriend, and who somehow has the principal’s blood on him.

We get the story by following the boys now and right before the shooting, along with a whole cast of characters from J.B.’s girlfriend and Ramón’s Abuela to people living in the community. We see opinions and rumors vs the life each boy is living from their point of view until what really happened is revealed…

The audiobook has a great full cast and is really well produced including adding, without distraction, atmospheric sounds. It felt like a lot of care and attention went into the production. The narrators are Alfred Vines, Anthony Lopez, Brad Sanders, Christopher Hampton, Eliana Marianes, Hannah Church, Henriette Zoutomou, Jaime Lincoln Smith, Maria Liatis, Renier Cortes, Suehyla El-Attar, and Xenia Willacey.

(TW child abuse/ mentions alcoholism)

For fans of fun crime books, witty dialogue, and a good amount of ridiculous situations.

This is the third book in the series and you can jump in here, you won’t be lost in that who/what you need to know is given to you, but lots of the stories are snowballs starting from the first book, Finlay Donovan Is Killing It.

Finlay Donovan is an author who always either has writers block or is trying to actually make a deadline. While she herself may not be a disaster, the circumstances and situations she ends up in make her one a lot. She has two little kids, an ex-husband, and Vero, the babysitter who at this point is probably her only friend and her business partner. Once again her and Vero find themselves in various dangerous situations that also crank up the humor, ones that involve the mob and the two women playing undercover at police academy training. What could wrong?! Literally everything, creating comedy gold for readers.

The audiobook is narrated by Angela Dawe, one of the few narrators I’ve encountered who doesn’t do annoying child voices, and who really nails the timing of the humor in this novel. How she manages to not make herself laugh, I will never know.