Category: Unusual Suspects

If you’re looking for a deep dive into a journalist’s life that takes you through her work and personal life as she reports on what starts as a missing child case, grab this one. You get inside the life of a reporter, community activism, politics, and a case from beginning to end. (TW teen murder sexual assault not on page, recounted by medical examiner/ discussions of sexual assault cases; predators and groomers, not graphic/ brief suicide on page/ mentions past murders by domestic abuse partners)

If you want a page-turner with corporate intrigue, family drama, past and present chapters, and a lawyer MC that becomes the main suspect, this was one of my rare reads this year that kept me up past my bedtime! (Review)

If you like cozies, food, and want to start a brand new series, here’s your next delicious read, set in South Florida! Bonus: recipes! (Review)

The sequel to An Elderly Lady is Up to No Good is finally here! I would recommend reading the first because it’s fun but also this one starts at the end of that one, and even though it’s stories of her past, it still tells you how the last one ended and what she’s doing now. Spoiler: still up to no good.

I really liked Fallen Mountains and have been anticipating Kimi Cunningham Grant’s next novel. This is set in the Appalachian woods where a man and young girl live cut off from the world except for two people who know they are there. When one of them doesn’t show up for his yearly trip to bring them their food supply, things begin to unravel…

If you want a cozy mystery that feels written for fans of Practical Magic (widow, magic, witches, family) with a murder mystery, here you go. And perfect vibes for fall reading if you’re a mood reader.

A fantastic way to find great new mystery writers is through an anthology filled with short stories by awesome crime writers. Steph Cha has taken over the annual Best American Mystery Stories anthology and her first editor selected was Alafair Burke, who produced this collection. If you’re curious about the stories, Steph Cha posted a Twitter thread!

Here’s a dark and twisty school mystery that is set in 1940s Washington, DC. Two teenage girls try to solve the murder of a classmate and determine why one of their teachers has dramatically changed. This sounds like a great read if you’re looking for a nod to the femme fatale noir classics.

If you’re a fan of Nordic noir and want the dark storytelling without graphic violence on the page, here’s one with a journalist lead! It’s especially for fans of the trope “a person on the run reaches out to a journalist who gets mixed into the murder plot.” (TW: discussions of sexual assault and child abuse)

If you’re looking for a procedural series set in Chicago, here’s the sequel to Only The Holy Remain. This time around the murder mystery Detective Frank Calhoun is working on is of a rookie police officer and a social worker.

Mystery meets quirky, comedic, and paranormal: a travel agent who is psychic, and has a murdered fiancé, teams up with a Seattle PD detective to solve a cold case.

Let’s get into the whole “cozy mystery” subgenre for a second: it, like the romance genre, has rules–albeit very different ones. There is no sex, cursing, or graphic violence on page in a cozy mystery. While many readers of the subgenre are only looking for the “cozy” feeling and don’t necessarily care or realize the rules, they are still there. I say all this because I’ve seen this book labeled a cozy mystery even though it breaks the actual genre rules and I hate to see a book not find its intended audience–meaning I don’t want readers who read the genre for the very specific rules to then go tank the ratings because there is swearing and talk of sex. You do get the cozy vibes of baking and small town, without graphic violence– but toss in a lead who can be abrasive as she many times blurts out what she’s thinking before editing the thought, and has a business of making macabre desserts (yum!). Not only is she going to have to figure out who killed her ex-boyfriend’s uncle, but she may want to take care to not be on the list of next to die…

And I’ll end October with two blockbuster books. The first, on a sad note since this was posthumously published. It is of course about the spy world and ties the past to the present, but fans will also probably be thrilled to discover it’s set in an English seaside town and follows Julian Lawndsley who has just taken over a bookshop.

Hillary Clinton teamed up with Louise Penny, her IRL friend and the author of the very popular mystery series Chief Inspector Armand Gamache to write a political thriller. I’m currently listening to the audiobook and am especially curious to see how much feels overlapped to her being the main character–I may have LOLed at her having made the character a widow.

If you’re looking for a fictional serial killer page turner here’s one for $2.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a Scandinavian whydunnit with court room scenes here’s one for $2.99! (Review)

From the author of Mexican Gothic and Certain Dark Things, this slow-burn suspense and coming-of-age story set in Baja California, Mexico is on sale for $1.99 (Review)

There’s a study being conducted on psychopaths at a university, by one of the professors. He believes much of what has been believed and the way society treats psychopaths is wrong. The students enrolled wear specific smart watches and keep a journal along with meeting with the professor. They do not know of any other members in the study, nor does the public know of this study.

We mainly get the point of view of three students in the study: Chloe, Charles, and Andre. Chloe is very clearly in the study and at this school for only one reason: she’s going to kill the student who assaulted her when she was a tween. That’s it, get out of her way. Charles is very much using the program to learn and adapt and trying to do well in school and maintain his relationship with his girlfriend. Andre is lying about being a psychopath–what started as kind of a joke snowballed and then he couldn’t turn down a full scholarship. While they all have their own individual issues, they all end up with one shared issue: someone is killing them off!

This worked for me on a lot of levels, starting with it being thoughtfully written and not another book filled with stereotypes. I really liked how different all the characters were and following their individual stories. As for the main reasons I couldn’t put this book down: I really needed to know if Chloe would succeed and also to find out who is behind the murders! I really look forward to what Kurian writes next.

(TW nonconsensual drugging/ past tween rape/ adult child abuse/ briefly recounts teacher student statutory relationship, not graphic/ webcam hacking and non-consensual distribution of sexual images/ past suicide briefly mentioned, detail)

I absolutely stayed up way past my bedtime reading this. I was grabbed from the very opening page as Phoenix, a seventeen-year-old, is sent to rob a home by her mother–I mean there is already so much to unpack! I will stop here for a second to say I knew NOTHING about this book when I started and loved watching how layer by layer everything past and present unfolds. Brooke Lauren Davis clearly understands that part of a good mystery/thriller can be in the way information is doled out to the reader. So with that said, I can’t remember what is revealed early vs later, so if you like the full ride, just go grab the book rather than reading below.

After that tense opening scene, you follow along as this mother duo team (Phoenix and Nina), who are living in a van and steal everything they need, make their way to a small town that Nina grew up in. They have one very clear mission: ruin the life of the man who ruined Nina’s life. It’s not going to be so easy though, because Ellis Bowman is literally the town hero. The head of the perfect and beloved family. He’s also a blockbuster author who keeps putting out memoir/self-help books based on how perfect his life is.

But Nina has a plan, and Phoenix is to carry it out. Except things immediately go wrong, and Phoenix ends up being taken in by the Bowman family. Maybe this new plan will work better? But while Bowman’s son is like a golden retriever in human form and ready to believe all of Phoenix’s lies and help her, his sister Melody is the complete opposite. Melody is certain Phoenix is there for the family’s recent misfortune and to sell information to the papers.

What starts as a straight revenge plan suddenly gets more complicated for Phoenix as she recognizes herself in Melody and starts to have difficult decisions to make in carrying out her mom’s plan.

I loved the way this unfolded, how you get to know past and present Nina, and Melody and Phoenix’s relationship. I also loved the way the points of view are shown: instead of the present story being from the revenge seekers POV, we only see in past chapters what happened to lead up to Nina wanting revenge and the rest of the book is narrated by Phoenix who doesn’t know she’s caught between it all until it’s too late.

(TW domestic abuse, not graphic nor on page but a “fleeing” scene/ statutory rape/ brief mention of past suicide, detail/ side character with terminal cancer)

Excellent memoir + true crime nonfiction that is a great comp for readers who liked Just Mercy. And it’s $4.99! (Review)

This is “chick-lit” meets mystery and currently $1.99! (Review)

Police procedural thrillers where a detective plays cat and mouse with a serial killer are historically a very white male centered category that then opened up mostly just enough to let in white women, making it rare to come across one written by and with a Black woman MC. If you like the fictional serial killer hunted by the messy-life detective who’s suddenly partnered with a rookie thing, here’s a great start to a new series set in London. Bonus Matheson is a criminal solicitor and teaches criminal law. (Review)

Here’s a fictional serial killer story set during the Harlem Renaissance! And as much as some people love to argue that it is unrealistic for people of color and LGBTQ+ to have existed in history—as if they just magically appeared on earth the other day—they in fact did. Here we have the focus on victims who are given less focus, Black girls, and a young Black lesbian turned amateur sleuth because the police threaten her into helping them find a serial killer. (Review)

This time we have the tropes of the fictional serial killer thrillers—true crime podcast and all—with a huge difference: the focus is on the victims and dragging the serial killer monster myth out into the bright daylight to show the reality. This one is definitely a page turner and for anyone who nodded along to Lindy West’s essay “Ted Bundy Was Not Charming–Are You High?” in The Witches Are Coming. (Review)

Given the problematic obsession our society has with real serial killers, you can usually place your bet on the fact that if you’ve never heard of one, it’s because the victims were from a marginalized community. Elon Green does a fantastic job in focusing on the victims of a serial killer who killed gay men in New York during the ’80s and ’90s while also bringing the city to life, the LGBTQ+ community, and the reality of the discrimination they faced.

(TW it was hard to keep track of these because much is mentioned as part of history and cases but the main ones are homophobia/ alcoholism/ hate crimes / racism)

If you like narrative nonfiction, history, and unsolved mysteries, here’s a great read for $2.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for an Agatha Christie style mystery set in India, here’s one for $1.99. (TW ableism)

A rare case where I say that a crime novel is beautiful, currently $1.99. (Review)

Two of Tess Sharpe’s crime novels are on sale and I absolutely love her so happy day. Barbed Wire Heart is for fans of Netflix’s Ozark and is $1.99! (Review) and Far From You is $3.49! (Review)

If you want a delightful read with a young British sleuth, start this series for $1.99. (Review)

Miriam Quiñones-Smith is a food anthropologist with a lot on her plate (sorry not sorry) whose husband has just moved them from NY back to her hometown of South Florida. If her parents still lived in Miami, it would be great; but they’ve moved away and she’s left with her meddling mother-in-law who may be trying out for the role of passive aggressive queen. Her husband is being super weird, working nonstop, and not telling her what he’s doing or where all their money is suddenly coming from. It doesn’t help that her husband’s brief high school girlfriend seems thrilled to have him back in town and that her mother-in-law sure seems like she wishes they’d stayed together.

But Miriam has plenty to distract her from her sudden marital woes, including reconnecting with her best friend, hosting a food show she knows nothing about (the hosting part, she’s great at cooking), caring for her young son, and did I mention attending a luncheon where a woman drops dead in front of her? When her best friend gets accused of murder, she’ll just have to figure out who is really responsible—no matter how much the detective tells her to stop.

I love the mix of Latinx food in this book (delicious, mouth watering descriptions but also interesting history and recipes at the end), the women’s friendships, the look behind the scenes of a food show, and all the Spanglish which was music to my ears. I’m really looking forward to this series and hope it’s long-running.

(TW diet culture, eating disorder, disordered eating/ mentions past addiction/ briefly mentioned with no details: past miscarriage; past overdose; past suicide)

I got a fair amount of chores and many pieces added to a jigsaw puzzle while inhaling this audiobook. I really appreciate when an author can take a thing that’s been done a lot and still make it feel twisty. So if you really like the ride of not knowing and feeling all the twisty turns, I’d skip knowing about the book and just jump in. If you’re good with the details, read on.

Emily and Kristen are best friends traveling together and having a great time in Chile on their annual reunion trip. Emily has only just started to feel like herself again when Kristen kills a date in self defense. Now Emily is right back where she was on their last trip: having to disappear a body killed in self defense. How many times can this happen before you’re not just unlucky? With her PTSD triggered, Emily begins to spiral feeling that Kristen, who helped her get past the trauma the first time, isn’t as traumatized as she is this time. Is it that trauma looks different for different people, or does she not really know her best friend?

This is as much a page-turning what-is-really-happening thriller as it is an exploration of the long reaching arms of trauma.

(TW sexual assault/ brief partner abuse recounted/ brief past suicide, no detail/ briefly mentions history of suicide, detail/ pedophile mentioned, not detailed or graphic)

If you like reading the book first for an adaptation comes out, this series will be a series of films starring Toni Braxton and you can start the first book for $2.99!

If you’re looking for a delightful historical mystery with a wealthy Australian artist as the sleuth, pick this up for $4.95! (Review)

If you’re looking for a character driven mystery on the search for innocent or monster, pick this one up for $1.99! (Review)

Here’s a fun revenge thriller meets murder mystery that I inhaled the audiobook of! Bonus: it did not do the “mental illness is the boogeyman” thing! A professor at a university is doing a study on sociopaths by offering them scholarships to the school if they’ll work with him. It’s a secret program and the students enrolled don’t even know who the others are. One happens to be faking being a sociopath. One is only there to murder the guy who assaulted her as a teen. And one may be killing them all?…

(TW nonconsensual drugging/ past tween rape/ adult child abuse/ briefly recounts teacher student statutory relationship, not graphic/ webcam hacking and non-consensual distribution of sexual images/ past suicide briefly mentioned, detail)

One of my favorite reads of the year, and perfect for fall reading, here’s a social-thriller meets “is the house haunted?” horror novel (not slasher or gory)! A blended family moves into a new house where strange things are happening as the teen daughter tries to get situated, leaving her past behind. But either there is something seriously wrong with this house or someone is trying to scare her…

(TW addiction/ past overdose mentions, not graphic/ obsessive thoughts/ past child murder mentioned, not graphic or detailed)

The author of the legal thriller A Good Marriage is back with a new thriller. This time a group of four friends who went to Vassar College have now come together for an intervention for the fifth member of their group. Years before they covered something up at school and they’re all willing to do whatever it takes to keep that a secret… For fans of multiple POV and past and present mysteries.

I think if you want Liane Moriarty, but amped up into the thriller category or more focused on the mystery, Lisa Jewell is your author. This time around we have a young mother who goes missing on a date night. Years later in the area she was last seen, someone comes across a note on a tree that says “dig here”…

For historical mystery fans! If you’re looking to read a historical mystery set in the early 1900s that is based on a real person: Constance Kopp was the a deputy sheriff of Bergen County, New Jersey and then started a detective agency with her sisters. If you’re looking to start at the beginning pick up Girl Waits with Gun.

If you love psychological thrillers, unreliable narrators, and past and present chapters, absolutely pick this one up. Also great in audio and also did not use mental illness as the boogeyman. Paloma just found her roommate dead, but when the police arrive he’s suddenly gone. That starts the beginning of her mindfck “I swear I saw him dead but did I make it up somehow?” It doesn’t help that he was blackmailing her before he died… We get to see Paloma’s time growing up in a Sri Lankan orphanage up until she was adopted, and now as she moves back into her parents home trying to figure out what is happening…

(TW child abuse/ past child suicide attempt briefly mentioned, detail/ ableism/ colorism/ pedophile/ PTSD/ Blackout drinking)

For true crime readers and true crime podcast listeners, here’s a book by the hosts of the true crime podcast RedHanded. Suruthi Bala and Hannah Maguire don’t believe that victims just happened to be at the wrong place nor that killers are monsters. They explore real cases with an exploration of society, gender, poverty, and culture.

Here’s a horror novel I think mystery fans will like, or that can be a nice step into horror if you’re curious. A family was brutally massacred and a young girl is accused–she was covered in all their blood–and will now only talk to one person: the local sheriff’s son who has agreed to interview her for an article.

(TW brief mention of possible suicide, detail/ child abuse/ mentions past teen grooming assumed assault, not graphic and not on page)

The trilogy conclusion to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder! This series is for fans of true crime podcasts in fiction who are looking for a series that is a limited commitment.

If you’ve been anticipating the sequel to The Thursday Murder Club, it’s here! This is one of those series that has mass appeal for mystery readers as it deals with real things but never goes very graphic or dark. It also has the fun element of a group of folks in a retirement community who have a true crime club of armchair detectives.

If you’re looking for humorous nonfiction that is what the title says here you go. Bonus: it’s written by the author of the Truly Devious series!

Here’s a thriller series that follows a Chinese-Norwegian modern-day ninja. And if you’re looking for some armchair traveling, this time around Lily Wong travels with her mom to Hong Kong where democracy movements and business family takeovers take over (heh). If you want to start at the beginning: The Ninja Daughter.

I wouldn’t call this true crime, but I think it’s adjacent and a nonfiction book that crime readers would be interested in reading. As the owner of the world’s leading disaster management company, Robert A. Jensen takes you into his world.

If you like thrillers and horror and books starring homicide detectives, here’s one to read this fall! And did I mention there’s also a locked-house mystery?

The sequel to The Inheritance Games (not a fantasy!) is here! I recommend starting with the first book about a young woman being left basically everything in a ridiculously rich person’s will. However she had no idea who he was or why he left her everything. But his family sure is NOT happy. Time to dig through the mystery of why and dig up all those family secrets.

If you’re looking for a historical crime novella that dramatizes the murder of David Rizzio, private secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots, Denise Mina has got you covered!

Love PI stories? Want to spend some time in Chicago? Looking to start a great new series with solid mysteries in every book? Start here for $2.99! (Review)

If Annie Wilkes and Norman Bates birthed something, it would be this thriller that years later I still shudder thinking about two scenes. And you can read it for $4.99! (This has all the TWs you can imagine related to kidnapping a woman into making her your girlfriend.)

If you’re a fan of Orphan Black and want a crime novel set in our world but with some sci-fi (clones!), pick this one up for $2.99! (Review)