Category: Unusual Suspects

The author of The Hunger and The Deep (which add a nice little added horror element to history) has a new thriller. And we get not one but TWO lady spies working for the CIA. Add in dead informants and there-must-be-a-mole-we-have-to-find and you’ve got what is certain to be a page-turning, twisty spy thriller.

And now for fans of fictional serial killers and British detectives. Oh, and the trope: if the serial killer is already in prison why all the new dead bodies?! You get a lead detective, Anjelica Henley, who put the serial killer in prison and now has to deal with her PTSD, her husband who wants her to quit, and figure out why all the dead bodies–in literal pieces. (TW early onset dementia side character/ mentions flasher case/ past rape case discussed, detail/ mentions suicide cases, brief detail/ panic attacks/ PTSD/ attempted rape)

If you’re looking for a bit of travel (Nigeria) and like your mysteries solved by the untraditional detective or amateur sleuth stumbling along, here’s a case with a psychologist who specializes in crime tapped to investigate. The case is also not the usual in the mystery genre: 3 students were tortured and murdered publicly.

If you like some fun, witty banter, and adventure in your historical mysteries here’s the latest in this must-read series. Nothing like impersonating a princess to get you into trouble! (Review)

If you’re looking for a hell of a read built on suspense, identity, and some Veruca Salt but-I-want-it mentality here’s your next page-turner. I would 100% recommend knowing nothing about this for a full ride experience. But if you don’t dare here’s a bit: Imagine working for an anonymous author whose identity basically no one knows and finding that maybe it wouldn’t be so hard to slip into their role… (TW mentions story of man obsessed with teen girl, doesn’t give graphic details)

Here’s your cozy mystery fix with sprinkles on top! You get all the tropes you’re looking for, plus delicious ice cream flavor descriptions, except Bronwyn Crewse is more on the I-don’t-want-to-meddle side when her best friend is very much insisting they solve the murder of the mall developer.

For fans of the murder-mystery A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Review) there is now a sequel! Pip is back, although not as a detective. The case from the 1st book is wrapped up and she’s doing a podcast on the details of it but not actively sleuthing. Buuuuuut this is a sequel to a mystery book so of course she’ll be convinced to one-more-time look into a case: a young man has disappeared and only the family is worried.

The author of The Reunion (Review) is back with a new thriller! A Parisian cop wakes up in Central Park with no memory. That’s a mystery in itself but she’s not alone: She’s handcuffed to a stranger who has blood all over his shirt! She better put her detective skills to use…

The sequel to Mrs Mohr Goes Missing (Review) is here! Set in Cracow, 1895, we once again follow the socialite turned amateur sleuth Zofia Turbotynska. This time it seems her maid has gone missing, and after the body is found she works with the police to figure out what happened. This is a great series for fans of historical mysteries and Agatha Christie.

And the sequel to Winterborne Home for Vengeance and Valor is here! Five orphans in a house with a sword-wielding vigilante clearly means there is plenty of mystery and adventure to be had!

Another sequel and more traveling–this time Argentina. There’s a lead journalist as the investigator, who of course doesn’t trust local police, and murders that include sacrificial offerings nearby.

If you need your cozy mysteries to have great titles, awesome covers, and delicious food inside, Chien has got you covered. Also, everything you want and expect in a cozy. This time with Lana Lee going to culinary school. Maybe she’ll manage her family’s restaurant AND be able to help out in the kitchen. Or probably just find another dead body and figure out who and why?! *why-not-both-taco-girl-shrug

I stayed up WAY TOO LATE reading this and regret nothing! What does Stevie Bell do after solving the Ellingham Academy cold case? She gets roped into solving another cold case–this time at a summer camp! There is a lot to love in Johnson’s originally mystery trilogy including her clear love and knowledge of the mystery genre and its broad appeal for teen and adult readers. Now she’s tossed in slasher films and the strange, intrusive, often times gross obsession with true crime. Because while Stevie herself is respectful and just trying to solve who murdered four camp counselors in the woods in the ’70s, the dude who “hired” her to solve it is just obsessed with making money off of a true crime podcast. Thankfully, Stevie is good at ignoring people and brings along two friends to the camp with her to focus on the mystery she’s determined to solve.

Johnson is so good at understanding the tropes crime readers love and giving them to you with a story that feels classic and fresh at the same time. Stevie is a wonderful character managing her anxiety, her immediate response to shy away from difficult emotions, and her immediate response to look at everything like a mystery and always think about how to solve crimes. If you enjoyed the trilogy I would absolutely pre-buy/request your library purchase the fourth installment (June 15th), and future you will be so grateful for past you who had this ready for you on release day. Haven’t read the previous books yet? I would get those read from here to June, BUT if you want to start with the 4th book you can. Johnson kindly doesn’t spoil the actual solve from the trilogy, and while you need to read those three in order this one felt like a standalone book that comes after the trilogy. And in case I wasn’t clear, run to this book!

More books? More books! My winning streak of nonfiction reads continues with the excellent Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, where Ijeoma Oluo takes a look at the damaging systems we have in place to deliberately benefit only a few, and the harming lasting effects this has had and why 2016 shouldn’t have been a shock. Definitely go with the audiobook narrated by Oluo if you audio buuuuuut you may also want a physical format that you can highlight. Mucho highlighting. Also, love that cover.

I am halfway through Dead of Winter (August Snow #3) by Stephen Mack Jones which is a series that gives me two things I love: mystery and action! Recommend for “gritty” crime fans and also for those who love Joe Ide’s IQ series.

And I got my greedy little hands on this upcoming mystery/thriller about trying to outrun your past that I am super excited about: My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa.

Here’s a great historical mystery–I say this about all of Kang’s books–currently on sale for $1.99. Come for the girl with two hearts and stay for the grave robbing and suspicious deaths! (Review)

Another historical mystery series for you, this time the start of a series which seems to have all the books in the series currently on sale for $0.99! (Review)

I swear I did not plan this to be so many historical mysteries it just happened! The sequel to A Death of No Importance is currently $2.99! (Review)

If you don’t read middle grade books, I can not express how much you are missing out on some book gems. Here you have a puzzle mystery (my favorite which there are not enough of) with one contemporary story line and one historical.

Candice Miller has moved from Atlanta to South Carolina with her mom while their home is remodeled. Her parents are divorced and she has a great relationship with both her mom and dad, but she’s really not happy that the move has taken her away from her dad and friends. As much as she loved her grandmother, whose house they are now staying in, it’s weird that people seem to only remember her for the meltdown that led to her being forced to retire from her post as city manager. Another issue she’s having is that her mom and neighbor have decided to force her and the neighbor boy to spend time together.

So Candace is bored and tethered to this kid who’s being bullied, Brandon Jones. But soon she finds a letter revealing there’s much more to her grandmother’s story, and she gets to know Brandon, a boy who loves books as much as she does and makes for a great friend. They find themselves solving the puzzle that her grandmother failed to figure out and that promises a treasure at the end. We watch both the history of the town and the current town in alternating stories as the past comes to meet the present, both the good and the bad.

This is super bookish, including playing off The Westing Game, with a wonderful friendship and families, and I honestly found more nuance and understanding than I do in adult books/characters sometimes. And for readers who are making their way through the 2021 Read Harder challenge I’ll add this one along with Ophie’s Ghosts by Justina Ireland (review) to must-read for the middle grade mystery task. But this is a great read for all readers with bonus points for excellent narration on the audiobook by Cherise Boothe.

A neighborhood drama with crime and bite! This was a book I picked up knowing absolutely nothing about it and a great reminder of why I love doing that: the opening itself had a nice kick and then I found myself on many twisty turns saying “OMG” out loud to no one.

The setup starts in the future looking back at an event in a Long Island suburb that appears to have started with a sinkhole opening up. But really the sinkhole just created enough new tension to explode out all the tension that was already simmering below the surface between the residents.

I’m going to go vague with this one so as not to spoil anything for anyone who wants the full experience. There’s the recently moved-in family of a rockstar husband, his pregnant wife whom everyone looks at as “trashy” because classism, and their two kids. The queen bee of the neighborhood is a mom of four with an always-working husband, the supermom that everyone turns to for help. While the daughters of the two families are friends and the mom’s were once friends too, there has been a rift recently and only one of them knows why. Enter a sinkhole and the secrets start to come out—and this pleasant, wealthy neighborhood becomes anything but.

I especially liked the balance of child voices and adult voices in the different perspectives of everything happening. This is a great book club pick, and/or one to read with someone else because you’re gonna want to seriously discuss some stuff in this as you process it all out.

(TW child abuse/ side character with cancer/ past addiction/ brief mention of suicide, detail/ murder suicide/ mentions suicidal thoughts, details/ ableism/ talks of past teen sexual abuse)

More undercover work! A lawyer lead. And add romance! Which you can read for the current $2.99 sale price! (Review)

If you’ve been making your way through this great, completed, procedural series set in Ghana grab the fourth entry (2nd to last book) for $1.99!

If you’re craving a page-turner, psychological thriller that is fun here’s one that is currently $1.99! (Review)

This was my most anticipated book of 2021 and it’s one of my favorite books of 2021. I am SO glad that at last everyone can run to this book. Daunis Fontaine navigates between her wealthy white family’s town and the Ojibwe reservation. At 18 she loves science, plays hockey, hangs out with her best friend, and has just decided to enroll in a local college instead of the planned university since her GrandMary recently became ill.

The feeling of being between places, never fully accepted, and unsure what her future holds becomes even more complicated when she witnesses a horrific crime. Wanting to help her Ojibwe community, she agrees to work undercover with the FBI. And that just comes with its own issues, and stirs up past family secrets.

Daunis is a thoughtful character who, while trying to navigate her own feelings, trauma, and path in life, puts herself on the line to help her community while understanding a history and culture that the FBI and outsiders don’t. There’s a story about family, belonging, trauma, finding your voice, violence toward Native women–and a few other things–that all roll into one story, carried by Daunis, who you’ll cheer for from beginning to end. There are books with characters who I forever carry with me and Daunis is one.

(TW addiction, overdoses/ murder suicide scene/ past child abuse, details/ sexual assault on page, not graphic or detailed)

If you read this book knowing nothing about it you’d think you’d read a great spy novel–you’d be right about only the great part because it’s nonfiction. It is a fascinating true story about a woman who beat all the odds to survive as a spy for decades. Ursula Ruth Kuczynski became a communist as a teenager, married young, and moved to Shanghai with her architect husband where she was recruited by Richard Sorge, a Soviet military intelligence officer. From there she had quite a life!

I could not stop listening to this story (the audiobook is narrated by the author, which I very much recommend), which is filled with fascinating information (the g-spot is named after German physician Ernst Gräfenberg) and people. At the center is Ursula “Agent Sonya.” She was always willing to risk everything for her undercover work and the communist cause, which she believed was the only way to truly defeat racism and Nazis (the whole Third Reich and the Soviet Union becoming allies was a surprise to her). She went back to transcribing secret messages hours after giving birth, clearly sought danger, and somehow managed to never be betrayed even when fellow agents were captured. If you like to read about deeply layered people and history, this is a must-read. “I may not be innocent, but I’m right.”

(TW mentions past suicide, brief details/ torture/ mentions dead baby/ WWII)

I downloaded this SO fast as soon as I got access to an egalley. It’s the latest book in a great PI series set in Chicago–so if you want a mystery marathon from here until its June release start reading Broken Places (review), which is currently $2.99 in ebook!

I’m currently finishing Arsenic and Adobo (Tita Rosie’s Kitchen Mystery #1) by Mia P. Manansala which should be on all cozy mystery fans TBR, especially if you like mouth watering food descriptions, great families, and best friends.

And my streak of picking up/finishing excellent narrative nonfiction and graphic novels continues with my two latest finished books: Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker (Highly recommend the audio/ all the trigger warnings); Heartstopper (Heartstopper #1) by Alice Oseman, Lluís Delgado (Translator) (Highly recommend having the sequel on hand!)

Here’s a great coming-of-age story smashed with a mystery about a teen boy looking into the murder of his cousin, which is currently $4.99. (Review)

Want to start at the beginning of a popular procedural series set in a remote place? Here’s one currently $2.99! (Review)

This is a character-driven mystery set along the Red River, one side in Minnesota one side in North Dakota, in 1970. Nineteen-year-old Chippewa woman Renee Blackbear, known as Cash, is tough because she’s had to be. After a car accident when she was a toddler she has spent her life mistreated and abused in white foster care homes and learned to work the farms doing the jobs assigned to men as a means for money and independence. Sheriff Wheaton, who dealt with the car accident case, has always looked out for her and calls her in to help him with a murder case.

A man’s body is found stabbed to death and Cash finds herself between her time as a pool shark and working the field looking into who the man was, and who would have killed him. While she tries to figure that out, and stay alive, we also see the history of her life, her relationship with Wheaton, and his attempt to get Cash to enroll in college.

I love that Cash’s character is tough, not because a writer just wrote that adjective for a woman character but because she’s had a difficult life and this has been her way to survive, and because of her refusal to take any more crap from people. I had actually started with the sequel in this series, Girl Gone Missing, which starts just at the end of this one; I was never lost while reading it, but I am glad I got to start at the beginning. I’d really like this to be a series that continues as Cash is a character I randomly think of and wonder about how she’s doing (characters are real!). And while I’ll read any amount of pages about Cash, I like that the novels so far are just over 200 pages, letting me curl up for an afternoon and get an entire story read that completely transports me to another place and time.

(TW alcoholism/ past suicidal thoughts briefly mentioned, detail/ past child abuse)

This is one of my absolute favorite series. Is it funny? Yes! Does it have a slow burn will-they-won’t-they? Yes! Does it distract from the mysteries? No! Does it totally make it more entertaining? Yes! Does it have adventure? Yes! Sleuthing? Yes! Amusing bickering? Yes! A woman who refuses to be told what to do? Double yes!

This time around Veronica Speedwell (lepidopterist) and Stoker Templeton-Van (natural historian)–when not hilariously bickering–end up roped into a missing Princess case. Apparently, it is frowned upon in this establishment for princesses to up and disappear. And by this establishment I mean 1889 England because this is a historical mystery. The goal is to keep the disappearance a secret because clearly the princess has just taken a break and will return, but no one can know she’s missing. Plus, there are important duties to attend to and that’s how Veronica ends up being talked into pretending to be the princess until they find her. Fun! Except this is a mystery and wow does Veronica have a knack for getting herself and Stolker into life or death situations. Throw in mountain climbing, diaries, do-I-have-to-marry-him, delicious desserts, I-think-it’s-a-murder, a grump and a cheerful go-getter, and literal LOL scenes and you’re in for a fantastically fun mystery.

If you’re debating jumping in here, I’ll say that you won’t be lost because Raybourn gives you all the necessary tidbits, but so much of the delight of this series is watching characters’ secrets be revealed and Veronica and Stoker’s relationship. Plus, why only want one great read when you can have 6?

My reading took a massive hit last year (I mean my everything but ya know) and this past weekend I read three books which felt amazing to finally do again. I found my new favorite romance novel, which was my libro.fm pick: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. If you need a bunch of good laughs run to that book. And All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries #1) by Martha Wells had been hyped so much I thought I’d be disappointed but I wasn’t: It’s as entertaining as I’d hoped a book about a murdering bot who’d rather watch TV than have to keep helping out annoying humans, would be.

I then picked up The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson and have been shaking my fists at all the work I’ve had this week because I really want to get back to this British serial killer procedural! It’s one of those books that I just really liked the voice from the beginning and it’s doing a really good blend of the current case and the lead’s personal life.

I am THE most excited to have gotten my greedy little crime loving hands on the Truly Devious continuation where Stevie Bell has a new mystery not set at Ellingham Academy. I refuse to know anything else about it so I can enjoy every moment as it happens without any anticipation of what is to come.

If you’re looking for a cat and mouse thriller here’s a great one currently on sale for $4.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a thriller with a cult here’s one currently on sale for $4.99! (Review)

Sutanto is the author of the upcoming Dial A For Aunties (Review), which has been getting a lot of attention (it’s a great crime/romcom and should!) but I’m not sure many readers realize that The Obsession is her debut. It started with You vibes and then went in its own surprising way and I really enjoyed this novel. Delilah is having a hard time after her father’s death with an abusive stepfather. And after an incident she ends up being blackmailed by her stalker classmate into having to date him. Cornered, and fed up, Delilah is going to have to figure a way out… (TW stalker/ domestic abuse/ past suicide attempt and suicide, detail/ drugging without consent)

Mosley is an extremely prolific writer, writing in most genres, and has a few well known detective series. Easy Rawlins is probably the most known since Devil in a Blue Dress starred Denzel Washington in the adaptation. And the detective is back again! The series, having aged from the ’40s, finds Rawlings in 1969, Southern California with a Vietnam veteran wanting to hire him. You can count on trouble from cases to personal life to follow our detective.

I love this series! It has a fun, unique, remote setting where basically victims to criminals have found themselves a safe place to hide, which makes for an interesting community since no one knows who is which. The lead is Detective Casey Duncan who was a homicide detective who ran with a friend to hide here, and has stayed and ended up partnering romantically and professionally with the sheriff. This time around, the mystery concerns the actual town makeup, meaning its existence may be in danger…

Summers, who wrote the 2018 hit Sadie (Review), is back with another YA crime novel! We have separated sisters again but this time it’s because of a cult. And one sister is determined to prove The Unity Project is a cult in order to get her sister back.

If you want a modern, dark take on Sherlock, IQ is the detective and series for you. Set in East Long Beach, Isaiah Quintabe, IQ, takes on the cases the police don’t/can’t, and he always ends up in danger but uses his deduction skills to survive. While I am a fan of jumping randomly into series, the progression of IQ as a character and his personal relationships (Dodson–rhymes with Watson!) are really worth starting at the beginning to watch them unfold.

If you like atmospheric crime novels, all of Jane Harper’s novels are for you. Her recent standalone is all about a past incident that a small community ocean town is trying to forget, but this is a mystery novel so it’s all going to come out. Especially after someone is murdered! (Review)

I am currently listening to the audiobook–which has an exceptional narrator, Nicole Lewis–and I can’t put it down! It follows a suburban community with a new family that doesn’t “fit in,” and after a sinkhole opens up it’s only a matter of time before something even worse happens… This literally starts with the question of how a community could conspire to kill an entire family and also asks “what if they had it coming”? And I literally said out loud “Oh really!” So, yes, I am racing through writing this so I can get back to reading–sorry, not sorry.

I am a huge fan of narrative nonfiction and Loftis wrote Code Name: Lise, which I loved (Review), so this is at the top of my TBR. Aline Griffith was “an ordinary American girl who became one of the OSS’s most daring spies in World War II before marrying into European nobility”. Sold! I love these amazing stories that are finally getting recognition.

Here’s an awesome graphic novel collection of 16 Noir stories by 40 Black creators which got funded on Kickstarter. You can check out all the creators and some awesome pages here!

This is a police procedural, fictional serial killer translation that takes you to Northern Spain. This is the sequel in the trilogy and the book starts where the first one ends so if you haven’t yet read The Silence of the White City (Review), start there! If you did, then, like me, you’ve probably been highly anticipating the continuation and it’s now here! A note that Eva García Sáenz is the name used for English publication, but her full name is Eva García Sáenz de Urturi, and so there are two Goodreads pages etc.

For true crime readers, here is a look into two girls murdered in a small community. Faleiro looks into Padma and Lalli’s 2014 disappearances and murders in a village in western Uttar Pradesh, India–which leads to a look at “political maneuvering, caste systems and codes of honor”.

If you’re looking to start a police procedural starring a detective, meet Detective Adam Tyler who in the first book Firewatching is the sole member of the South Yorkshire Cold Case Unit. The first book deals with arson cases and now Tyler finds himself with a newly promoted DC trying to solve a murder as they’re pulled away from Cold Cases–except for the personal cold case in Tyler’s life involving his father’s death, which Tyler keeps investigating…

The sequel to East Of Hounslow (the most reluctant MI5 spy ever!) is only $0.99!!! Get thee this book and the first if you’ve yet to read it.

If you’re a fan of dark crime shows like Ozarks this book is for you and it’s $1.99 and I will read anything Sharpe writes! (Review)