Category: Unusual Suspects

One of my favorite reads of the year! Here we follow two CIA agents on different missions, whose paths cross and can you trust anyone in a spy novel?

CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan was basically put on timeout (suspension) after it was discovered that she was having a secret relationship with a spy from another agency, MI5–apparently that is frowned up on amongst spies. So she’s called back from her mission, and while not supposed to be active she’s called in because informants, including her first one, are dropping dead. Because the informants had no connections to each other it’s speculated that it has to be a mole and Duncan is to help find them.

Upon her return she meets, and befriends, CIA agent Theresa Warner whose husband, also CIA, was murdered. She’s been labeled the “Red Widow” because people are unsurprising and Warner is on her own mission, and that’s to find out how and why her husband was really killed…

This focused on taking readers inside the CIA headquarters and inside the two CIA agents’ current lives, which I found fascinating! So much so that I read it in a day. I especially loved how the two women are in the same field but one is a widow with a child who deeply loved her husband, and the other is single and without any deep personal connections.

(TW suicide not on page, brief detail/ side character with cancer/ briefly mentions war crimes)

If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining crime novel, and enjoy humorous inner monologue characters like Stephanie Plum, this is a must-read.

Finlay Donovan is having a hard time: Her ex-husband is a bit of a shit, she has two young kids, and is so far beyond deadline on her book manuscript, her agent is demanding she give her something. And that’s how Donovan becomes an accidental hitwoman. Okay, so more specifically, while giving her agent a story in a coffee shop a fellow patron overhears, misunderstands, and hires her to kill someone for her. Whoopsie.

Of course Donovan would never take this job. But it is a lot of money. But no. Okay, but maybe she’ll just go to the place and see who the intended hit is. And that’s how she ends up in so much more trouble than she could have imagined. Lucky for her, the fired babysitter is ready to be an entrepreneur and maybe hitwoman is in her future? No, of course not. But maybe?

I was cracking up from the opening and found myself thoroughly entertained to the finish. Just the right amount of ridiculous to make crime fun! I’m glad it’s the start to the series and look forward to future shenanigans.

(TW date raper/ stalker)

This is my current read because I am always here for Japanese crime, and this just sounded like a hook that would grab me and, spoiler, it did! Each chapter is a different character(s) riding a bullet train and they are all either criminals or victims (why not both!), including a kidnap victim rescued by two criminals who aren’t doing a great rescue job. There’s a suitcase of money on the train and lots of people with grabby hands… This seems to be flowing between beach read thriller and an exploration of human behavior and Japanese society, and it has my full attention.

I just got two upcoming titles I am super excited about: Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna (Tante Poldi #4) by Mario Giordano, J. Maxwell Brownjohn (Translation), which is a hilarious mystery series with an elderly lady always getting into trouble and solving mysteries; All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris, which, not gonna lie, had me at the cover! But also it’s a legal thriller with secrets and the past is coming for you so you know I am all in.

For fans of teen detectives looking for a fun read set in a beach resort with an in-house detective and a valet always on the hunt for a mystery, this is a great series currently $4.99! Goldie is one of my favorite detective characters, and her mom is a performing mermaid!

Feeling in the mood for a revenge? Here’s one I love for how it unfolds and it’s $3.99! (Review-includes TWs)

How much trouble can a “little old lady” get into? Well, if she’s a murderous Swedish octogenarian, a lot, and you can find out all the details for $1.99! (Review-includes TW)

A murder-mystery, starring a detective, with shape-shifting witches, and written by an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation–top of my want list! Oh and along with the who murdered the security guard at the children’s museum there’s also the whole who stole ancient human remains from the museum?!

It’s finally here! This is the smashing of a rom-com and a crime novel together for a super entertaining, funny, warm, and fun book. Would your family help you dispose of a body after accidentally killing someone in self-defense? Meddy Chan’s would! All while planning an elaborate wedding their business is working on. And while maybe falling in love with a past love. (Review) (TW attempted assault scene)

This true crime is for readers of stories about cults and anyone looking for a deep dive into the recent news stories regarding NXIVM–which got even more press for the involvement of Seagram heir Clare Bronfman, Smallville actor Allison Mack, and Battlestar Galactica actor Nicki Clyne.

If you’ve been following along my shouting of mystery books I love, you’ll realize that this being written by a fellow Rioter is not why I love it but, rather, I am a big fan of historical mysteries and this one hit so many spots for me–which I say as someone who is not particularly a fan of P&P. If you need a delightful historical mystery, want to watch Lizzie Bennet as an amateur sleuth, and want to watch her bicker with Darcy (delicious bickering!) while trying to free an innocent man, run to this one. I did the audiobook and highly recommend that format. (TW alludes to past employer assaulting housemaids)

Here’s a historical mystery that is darker and brings to light history many probably know very little about. Set in 1426, Joseon (Korea) Min Hwani disguises herself as a boy and sets out to find her missing father. He’s a detective who disappeared a year earlier while investigating missing girls from a forest. While trying to find out what happened to her father Min also finds herself rebuilding her relationship with her sister, learning about her family and its secrets, and needing to know why girls keep disappearing… This is a suspenseful mystery that takes a hard look at the treatment of girls and women in little known history. I went with the audiobook for this and really enjoyed it. And if you never read Hur’s previous historical mystery, The Silence Of Bones, get that one too. (TW past child abuse, recounted/ mentions of suicide/ human trafficking)

More historical fiction! This is a great series, set in the early 1900s NY, which follows Jane Prescott, a ladies’ maid as our amateur sleuth. This time we go behind the curtain of Broadway and among all that drama there’s a murder! If you’re looking to start at the beginning pick up A Death of No Importance (Review).

And here’s a way more recent history setting that follows a lawyer, Henry Rios, in 1986 L.A. On the November ballot is a terrifying measure that would place people with HIV into quarantine camps, so Rios accepts to counsel the activist group Queers United to End Erasure and Repression. But soon he’s instead representing a client facing the death penalty after a bombing.

For fans of true crime podcasts in their mystery books: Elle Castillo hosts a popular true crime podcast focusing on cold cases of missing children in her hometown of the Twin Cities. Now she’s decided she’ll tackle the biggest unsolved case from 20 years ago…

Here’s a little known–outside of the Asian community–case that has finally started to get some attention. This true crime book takes a look at the murder of Vincent Chin, the trial, protests, and verdicts.

For fans of short stories, here’s an anthology that can either give you a lot of your favorite authors writings in one shot or introduce you to great new authors.

Looking for a dark, sardonic thriller? Set in Tel-Aviv, women who once joined a group who swore to have a childfree lifestyle are turning up dead. Sheila’s once close friend Dina Kaminer, one of Israel’s preeminent feminist scholars, was murdered. But who would murder her and label her a mother by gluing a baby doll to her hand?

For fans of action, noir, and pulp, the second graphic novel volume in the Reckless series is now available. I really liked Brubaker’s Velvet series (Review).

I was recommending legal thrillers the other day to someone and saw that this great series starter is literally free at the moment, which you should grab and read ASAP! (Review)

If you’re looking for a slow-burn psychological crime novel that dives into nature vs nurture, here’s one I enjoyed for $1.99! (Review)

For fans of dark academia, mysteries, and Shakespeare, here’s a great choice for $2.99! The novel starts with Oliver being released from jail and a detective coming to ask if he’ll now finally reveal what really happened ten years ago at the Conservatory…

If the serial killer is in prison who is behind all the new bodies?! If that’s your fictional serial killer trope here’s a great start to a new British detective series.

DI Angelica Henley is having a rough time with her husband not wanting her to go back to work after a leave from being stabbed while on a case. With a young daughter and PTSD, he’d like her to just quit altogether. But she can’t not investigate when the same type of killings start again after the serial killer is already in prison… So she doesn’t actually tell him about the case she’s assigned to–whoopsie. Another big change is that she has a new partner at work, Salim Ramouter, to get to know and train. So between the bodies piling up (old serial killer got someone to work for them? Copycat killer?), a new partner, a pissed off husband, and some work drama, it’s the makings of an intense procedural you’d make a bucket of popcorn for if you were watching it on TV.

I really enjoyed the new partner dynamics (watching them have to get to know each other, trust each other, and navigate their own personal lives), Henley’s tug-of-war between her personal life and being a present mom while working, and that this felt very much like the procedural network shows I always get fully sucked into. I’m excited that it is the start to a series since I very much look forward to more of Henly and Ramouter and their next case. For fictional serial killer fans this should be your next pick!

(TW side character with early onset dementia/ mentions flasher case/ past rape case discussed, detail/ past suicide discussed, not detailed/ mentions suicide cases, brief detail/ panic attacks/ PTSD/ attempted rape)

This is a perfect read for fans of Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club for the excellent balance of murder mystery that doesn’t feel dark because of the unique cast of characters. It’s just a delight to read.

I’ll start with a note on it being the second book in a series: both novels can be read as standalones, although they are both worth reading. The Stranger Diaries (Review) is for fans of the book-within-a-book trope and nods to gothic stories. There is a side character detective who is more focused in the sequel, and ties the two books together: Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur.

Now onto The Postscript Murders. Peggy Smith passing away in her 90s, with a heart condition, isn’t a thing to alert the authorities over. But her home health caretaker Natalka starts to get an uneasy feeling and has some questions about Peggy having been a murder consultant. Starting with, what exactly does that mean and why are there so many books dedicated to her and her help?

The characters of this really make the story delightful, and Griffiths’ clear knowledge and love of the mystery genre shines through. Come for the murder of a “murder consultant” and stay for the mid-30s gay Sikh Detective Sergeant, the ex-monk coffeehouse owner, and former BBC broadcaster, all joining Natalka to solve this murder while getting to know each other better.

I am thrilled to once again be in the land of being able to read the way I used to, and I inhaled two crime novels. I bought and thoroughly enjoyed Bury Me When I’m Dead, which is the start to a PI series. It’s actually three PIs and a secretary working together at their own agency who take on what seems like a simple-ish case of an employee who got caught scamming and disappeared. But as they rack up expenses for travel, get kidnapped, shot at, and discover a whole nest of secrets, they find more danger than answers. If you like PI stories that walk you through the case piece by piece, with great characters and real relationships, here is your next series. (TW parent early stage dementia/ ableism)

And I read The Lion’s Den by Katherine St. John, which deceptively looks like a regular fiction book but is really a crime book à la Real Housewives (frenemies!) if they were on a boat with MURDER. All books are beach reads for me, but this is the kind those who use the term generally mean. I will note there were aspects of the writing for the Filipina character that I was not a fan of. (TW mentions past domestic abuse/ possible suicide attempt, not detailed/ past suicide mentioned, not detailed but a character imagines different scenarios with details/ rape recounted/ attempted statutory assault on page)

My current read: I absolutely loved Boyfriend Material (hilarious romcom) so you better believe that I grabbed Hall’s upcoming book, which is literally a romcom meets Great British Bake Off. You know when you get the most delicious dessert put in front of you and you have to fight between inhaling it because OMG so good and also eating it super slow because OMG so good. That is this book and me being at the halfway mark.

If you like unsolved murder mysteries and small towns, here’s one for $1.99! (Review) (TW suicide attempt/ talk of pedophile)

For a clever cat and mouse fictional serial killer read that strips the perps of their power, this is a great thriller and currently $0.99! (Review) (TW rape/ domestic abuse/ mentions suicide, detail)

For fans of nonviolent true crime stories, here’s one that takes a look at who owns dug up dinosaur bones for $2.99! (Review)

This was a surprising YA thriller that started like You and then took it’s own little path. Delilah is having a really hard go as of late: her father has passed away and her mom’s current boyfriend is abusive. Being a cop has put them both in an even more difficult situation, fearful they won’t be believed. When a fellow student, Logan, takes interest in Delilah, her life is only set to get scarier.

He’s not only already following her and obsessed with her, but after witnessing an act that he filmed, he decides to blackmail Delilah into dating him. Cornered and scared, she feels she has no choice but to lie to her best friend and mom and go along with the charade of dating Logan. But how long can she let him control her life? How will she ever get away from him?

This is about being cornered and feeling no one can, or will help. Of being scared. Of believing the wrong choices become correct if they feel like the only lifelines– but where is the line of defense and when does it turn into attacker?

This is listed as the first in a series and I’m curious to see how this can/will continue.

(TW stalking/ domestic abuse, emotional part on page/ dead father/ past suicide attempt, brief detail/ past suicide, brief detail/ drugging without consent)

I’m a fan of Gailey’s novels; they always have super interesting hooks that suck me right in. And anything that gives me any level of an Orphan Black vibe is a thing I am here for. So in case you haven’t realized it, this is both a crime novel and sci-fi. But before you run away if you don’t read sci-fi, it’s very much set in our world, just with a little advancement in science. Clones to be exact.

Evelyn Caldwell has just been awarded for her research and work and should be on top of the world. Except she’s hiding a huge secret. Her husband stole her research and cloned a new wife–more to his specifications!–off of Evelyn. Yup! He lives with that new wife, Martine, and no one can know or Evelyn’s research and career will be in serious danger.

What could go wrong? Oh, just a little death. And clean up. And ex and clone teaming up because crime upon crime just means the cover up needs to be bigger and more involved…

I really liked the idea of a wife having to team up with the “better made version of herself” who wants and is all the things she doesn’t want to be and isn’t. It creates a great dynamic while raising a bunch of questions (including ethical science ones), and leaves the reader kind of rooting for getting away with murder. And I am excited for the adaptation!

If you’re an audiobook reader I recommend listening to a sample before deciding, I switched to print and had a totally different experience in tone and voice of the character.

(TW past child and domestic abuse, mostly alluded/ present domestic abuse recounted/ death faked as suicide, brief detail)

Holy revenge, Batman! This is a delicious page-turner with so many layers of revenge, you won’t soon forget. I absolutely loved watching how this unfolded starting with a jerk teacher at a prep school who thinks it’s his job to punish others into being better… I’m super excited about this one so mark your calendars for July 20th.

If your checklist has dark, fictional serial killer, and page-turner, pick up this thriller from Hillier for $2.99! (Review) (TW: rape scenes/ domestic violence/ pedophilia off page)

Looking for history and true crime? For $1.99 you got it!

If you want to travel to the 1950s and wonder what is under London, here’s a fun secret organization murder-mystery for $2.99! (Review) (TW past suicide mentioned kind of as reveal, brief detail)

If you can read brutal true crime memoirs, this was the first true crime memoir I read that I found to be an excellent read and it’s currently $2.99. (Review) (All the trigger warnings)

Why yes the retired NBA player is an author of a Sherlock series, and you can check it out for $2.99!

If you’re looking for a recent in history historical and a character-driven spy story, here you go for $2.99! (TW child abuse/ suicide)

Baby read her first manga. And loved it! I am kind of mad at myself that this whole time I just assumed manga wasn’t for me and was totally wrong and I have been missing out. If a part of your brain just asked anything about manga, this may help.

This is the first volume in a series about a spy, which is more than enough to keep me interested. But this is so much more. Loid is a spy and for his next mission to be successful he must get close to his target, and the best way to do that is through their kids at a private school. Easy peasy. Except Loid doesn’t have any kids. The obvious solution for him is to randomly adopt a kid and find a wife to fake a family with him, as one does (?). Here is where this gets fun-fun: unbeknownst to Loid, the child he adopts, Anya, is able to read people’s thoughts, and the fake wife, Yor, is actually an assassin. I know!

It makes for a lot of fun that none of them know this about each other while they form this fake family to get Anya enrolled into an elite school, where they need to get her accepted first for Loid to have any chance at accomplishing his mission. Nothing is going to go right! I inhaled the first two volumes and the only thing that has slowed down my reading from already being caught up is they seem to randomly go out of print (in paperback), and you have to wait a little for a new printing. Totally worth the wait. So if you want a fun read with laughs, spies, assassins, and action here you go! If you’re hesitant about reading a manga, you can read the opening on Amazon with the “preview”.

I recommend going into this with zero knowledge, as I did, to enjoy its unfolding. For readers who do not read that way, here you go: this is an unexpected crime story, with slow build suspense, and a bite. It’s about ambition, and identity, not being satisfied, and thinking why not take what you think is owed to you (as if the world owes anyone anything).

We start with Florence Darrow working in publishing who finds herself fired, rightfully so, but before long she has a dream job. A famously anonymous author is hiring an assistant. Not only will she get to work with her, but she’ll get to see her next book, and be one step closer to being an author herself. But after a voyage, and an accident, Florence starts to wonder if maybe it would just be easier if she herself became the anonymous author. I mean if only one other person really knows who she is how hard could it be…

I really enjoyed this and it was a total page-turner for me. It took a thing I’ve read before and made it feel fresh, which is something I always appreciate. (TW mentions story of man obsessed with teen girl, doesn’t give details)

It is so hard to be working right now because all I want to do is go finish this book! It starts with an unnamed narrator telling you part of their revenge plot. Then you meet the university students who are in a mystery club–nicknamed after famous writers–on their way to an island where unsolved horrible murders were committed. It’s like a Japanese ode to Agatha Christie and I just got to the point where they are gonna start to die and I’m so excited (do not judge me!).

I’m planning on continuing my awesome nonfiction streak by listening to Megan Rapinoe’s memoir One Life. Why yes I did shout goooooooooooal in my head while writing that sentence.

And Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby landed on my doorstep and I squealed–I loved Blacktop Wasteland–so I read the first chapter while walking the book to my physical TBR and I already love it and am ready for it to break my heart? Take me on a wild ride? I don’t know and I don’t care, I’m in.

If you’re in the market for a crime thriller that also works for horror fans (If Annie Wilkes and Norman Bates birthed a book) and is set in Brazil, here’s one for $4.49. (TW I don’t remember but think dude kidnaps woman to make her love him.)

If you like dark, character driven Japanese crime novels, here’s one that unfurls from one event: a girl’s murder and her mother’s threat on four girls. And it’s $1.99! (I don’t remember TWs, sorry.)

If you’re on a nonfiction kick like me, here’s a great one for fans of journalism for $5.99. (TW gaslighting/ rape/ sexual harassment/ suicide attempt mentioned)

If you want a fun light historical mystery book, here’s a great recent series starter for $2.99!

And if you STILL haven’t read Tana French and are in the mood for a procedural in Dublin, her first book is $1.99! (TW rape/ child death)