Category: Unusual Suspects

Megan Abbott Has A New Novel Coming!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 15, 2020

Sponsored by Santa Monica by Cassidy Lucas and Harper Perennial.

On the western edge of Los Angeles is the beachside city of Santa Monica, where the sun-kissed, wealthy residents seem to inhabit real-life California dreams. When movie-star-handsome fitness coach Zack Doheny is found dead at his gym, the tragedy shocks the elite community. As the narrative flashes back to the months leading up to Zack’s death, it quickly becomes clear that things in this coastal paradise are not as glittering as they seem… Addictively suspenseful, sharply observed, hilarious, and compassionate, Santa Monica captures readers with propulsive storytelling alongside emotional urgency, irresistible characters, ambitious themes, and a vivid sense of place.

Hello mystery fans! It’s been another week so I’m back with a bunch of podcasts, roundups, giveaways, upcoming releases I’m super excited for, and Kindle ebook deals.

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Rincey and Katie appreciate talking about some good news and get into the fall spirit with some dark, creepy campus novels on the latest Read Or Dead.

Liberty and Vanessa chat I Hope You’re Listening by Tom Ryan and In the Study with the Wrench: A Clue Mystery, Book Two by Diana Peterfreund on the latest All The Books!

(A handful of mystery/thrillers) October 2020 Earphones Award Winners

Ian Rankin: ‘I became a suspect in a real-life case while researching my first novel’ (This needed many followup questions!)

Nikki Dolson has a short story you can read right now: Liars, Killers and Thieves

If you missed the live conversation with mystery authors Kellye Garrett, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Valerie Wilson Wesley you can watch the recording here.

Crime Writers of Color podcast: Kim Johnson–This is My America

Crime Writers of Color podcast: Nikki Dolson–Love and Other Criminal Behavior

5 Spooky Books to Read This October

Megan Abbott has a new novel, The Turnout, publishing in 2021 and I am absurdly excited.

I’m also excited that Stacey Abrams has an upcoming political thriller: While Justice Sleeps

And some more muppet arms because S. A. Cosby, author of Blacktop Wasteland, has a new crime novel coming in 2021: Razorblade Tears

Agatha Christie’s Best Poirot Mysteries Other than Orient Express

Five excellent new thrillers and mysteries take us back to the pre-COVID-19 era

(Some true crime and mysteries) The Best Books to Elevate Your Reading List in 2020

Win a Book Lovers Puzzles Prize Pack

Enter to win a $250 Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Kindle Deals

A Lady's Guide to Etiquette and Murder Cover

A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (A Countess of Harleigh Mystery Book 1) by Dianne Freeman

If you’re in need of a funny historical mystery that will feel like a cozy blanket around your soul here is one for $2.99 and there are 2 more books in the series out. (Review)

Lay Your Sleeping Head (Henry Rios Mysteries Book 1) by Michael Nava

All seven books in Henry Rios legal series are $3.99 right now so if you’re looking to marathon a series here you go.

The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott

If you’re looking for a unique character driven spy novel and love historical novels here’s one for $4.99. (TW suicide mention/ sexual harassment/ attempted rape)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming releases for 2020 and 2021. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Unusual Suspects

The Mysteries I Haven’t Gotten To Yet

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 13, 2020

Killer Kung Pao (A Noodle Shop Mystery #6) by Vivien Chien

This is one of those mouth watering cozy series that I just always enjoy. There’s a slow burn romance between Lana Lee (the young woman who moved back home who finds herself constantly solving mysteries while running her family’s Chinese restaurant) and a police detective. Plus, as you can imagine, yummy food.

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

All I know about this book is that it’s about an English professor who kills the man at her university she deems the worst every year. That’s all I need to know, I’m in!

The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

Here’s a political thriller that basically takes you behind the scenes of dark money politics as it follows a political consultant sent to Carthage, South Carolina for a campaign as punishment (maybe he can redeem himself) for a past mistake. “The goal: to manipulate the locals into voting in favor of the sale of pristine public land to the highest bidder.”

Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto by Michelle Bowdler

Since the #metoo movement got widespread public attention there have been some excellent books including Know My Name by Chanel Miller. In Bowdler’s memoir she not only discusses her rape and recovery, but also takes a look at why, in our society, rape “is not treated as a crime of brutal violence but as a parlor game of he said / she said.”

I Killed Zoe Spanos by Kit Frick

This one sounds like the YA mysteries that fall in my wheelhouse: mystery + crime podcast. A young woman arrives at a small Hamptons village to be a summer nanny and ends up not only looking like a missing woman, but also confessing to the crime–eh, what?! Enter a podcaster who decides she’ll uncover the truth of what happened and why Zoe confessed.

Seven Years of Darkness by You-Jeong Jeong,Chi-Young Kim (Translator)

Jeong wrote The Good Son, so this naturally is a must-read for me. This time, we have the mystery of a young girl found dead and the three men somehow connected to the incident who start a cat and mouse game with each other to clear their own names without having to reveal what they are hiding. I am always here for a cat and mouse game.

I You We Them: Volume 1: Walking into the World of the Desk Killer by Dan Gretton

This is a memoir plus true crime mix, but the true crime part isn’t the usual. It’s a look into the people who were behind the orders of crimes against humanity so they essentially get to pretend their hands are clean– the “desk killers”. This is the kind of book that hits hard on the moral questions while shinning a light into the dark corners of our society.

Unusual Suspects

21 Lighthearted Cozy Mystery Books

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 8, 2020

Sponsored by The audiobook edition of Dear Child by Romy Hausmann, read by Nicky Diss, Jane Collingwood, & Simon Slater.

A woman held captive finally escapes—but can she ever really get away? Twisty, suspenseful, and psychologically clever, Romy Hausmann’s DEAR CHILD is a captivating thriller with all the ingredients of a breakout hit. You won’t want to miss this #1 internationally bestselling thriller where Gone Girl meets Room. Listen to DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann.

Hello mystery fans! It’s time for your news and roundup links, what to watch, and Kindle deals!

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

15 Detective Books for Young Sleuths

10 Great Books About Kid Detectives

5 of the Best Criminal Friendships

7 Unconventional HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES Adaptations

Riot Roundup: The Best Books We Read In July-Sept 2020

Here’s @crimebythebook with an IG Live Author Chat with Rachel Howzell Hall

Robert Downey Jr.’s third Sherlock Holmes film aims to kickstart Marvel-style ‘mystery-verse’

Top 10 underrated Agatha Christie novels

21 Lighthearted, Cozy Mystery Books to Settle Down With This Fall

Watch Now

Hulu: Agatha Christie’s Marple, British ITV television series loosely based on Christie’s book series and short stories is a completed series with 6 seasons. Watch the trailer here.

Kindle Deals

A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar is $5.99!

For fans of Sadie, I loved this crime novel and it did not get the attention it should have. (Review) (TW sexual assault on page/ terminal illness/ past child abuse/ talk of suicide with some details)

She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey is $4.99

For fans of investigative journalism here’s an in depth look at the Pulitzer-prize winning reporters who broke the news of Harvey Weinstein’s years of abuse. (TW rape/ sexual harassment/ suicide attempt mentioned/ gaslighting)

When You Find Me by P. J. Vernon is $1.99!

For fans of psychological thrillers with bite! I look forward to his next book. (Review) (TW alcoholism/ pedophile/ animal cruelty)

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang is $1.99!

If you’re looking for a great historical mystery, and want to play vampires or human murderer this–and all of Kang’s mysteries–is great! (Review) (TW brief mention of past child abuse, detail/ brief mention of past partner abuse, familial abuse on page/ addiction/ brief mention past suicide; attempted suicide, detail/ attempted rape, on page; alludes to past rape)

Unusual Suspects

(10/7) 1920s Speakeasy Murder Mystery!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 6, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin.

Condom dresses and space helmets have debuted on fashion runways. A dead body becomes the trend when a coat made of human skin saunters down fashion’s biggest stage. The body is identified as Annabelle Leigh, the teenager who famously disappeared over a decade ago from her boyfriend’s New York City mansion. This new evidence casts suspicion back on the former boyfriend, Cecil LeClaire. Now a monk, he is forced to return to his dark and absurd childhood home to clear his name. He teams up with Ava Germaine, a renegade ex-model. And together, they investigate the depraved and lawless modeling industry behind Cecil’s family fortune.

Hello mystery fans! Do you know what is officially out in the world that you can go snag with your greedy little read-all-the-book hands? Tana French’s new standalone The Searcher (I’ll talk soon about it!) and Sherry Thomas’ 5th Lady Sherlock, Murder on Cold Street (Review). And if you were a fan of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, Stuart Turton’s new historical mystery The Devil and the Dark Water is also out and sitting next to my bed. And now on to the books I have for you this week: the start to one of my favorite procedural series and a delightful historical mystery set in a speakeasy.

The Unquiet Dead cover image The Unquiet Dead (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #1) by Ausma Zehanat Khan: This is one of my all-time favorite series so I went looking to see if there is any book announcement for a 6th book. I did not find one, but it reminded me that I never read the first book in the series because I started with the second book–you already know I am like this. The thing with going back to start at the beginning of a series is that many times, for me, the first book is not as strong as the later books. Not the case at all with this series, Ausma Zehanat Khan hit a homer with her first book.

Esa Khattak is a second generation Canadian Muslim running a police unit focusing on community policing, which was recently created by the Canadian federal government. Khattak is perfect for this job as he understands the nuance and consideration (as does Ausma Zehanat Khan) that these complex cases need. One of his detectives is Rachel Getty, a cop’s daughter with family issues, who had seen her career sink after she’d filed a sexual harassment claim. But Khattak realized that meant she knew what it was like to not have your voice heard and requested her assigned to his unit.

Now they’re working on a case where they aren’t even sure why it’s a case: a man out for a walk fell to his death, and it was ruled an accident. But it turns out that Khattak knows one of the dead man’s neighbors, from his university days, and there’s a fiancé that may have stood to gain money, and something is off.

Ausma Zehanat Khan writes these great crime novels that spotlight history and modern issues that usually don’t get the attention they deserve. In this case we get flashback chapters about the 1990s Srebrenica massacre. I also adore Khattak and Getty’s relationship of trust, admiration, and friendship as they work to unravel cases. The audiobook has a lovely voiced narrator, Peter Ganim, and you have four more procedurals that follow for a great marathon. (TW child abuse/ war crimes, torture, rape camps/ pedophile not on page, discussed/ suicide, including past child, detail)

The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert: If you want to be immediately transported to a 1920s speakeasy in New Orleans’ French Quarter, to solve a murder, run to this book.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1929 and Millie’s aunt has left her in charge of her speakeasy, Cloak & Dagger, for the first time. Of course everything is going wrong, starting with a group of wealthy patrons led by a socialite who is looking for a boy. Millie realizes Marion, the Cloak & Dagger’s drag performer, is the boy and tries to warn him someone is looking for him because she knows nothing about Marion’s life prior to arriving at the club and becoming her best friend. Cut to the socialite being found dead and Marion being suspect number one.

So Millie puts on her sleuthing, breaking-and-entering, cop-fighting hat and gets to proving that Marion couldn’t have done this. It won’t be easy though, seeing as her estranged mother has shown back up in her life, the speakeasy may be a friendly home to the queer community but the world isn’t, as much as she doesn’t want to she may be falling in love with a waitress, she has to rope in some friends to help her, and there’s a pesky cop that keeps standing in Millie’s way. This is a fun mystery with absolutely delightful characters that will make you swear you lived through the 1920s. Definitely pick this one up if you need an escape. (TW implied partner abuse/ homophobia)

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Unusual Suspects

The Big Mysteries and Thrillers of Fall

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date October 1, 2020

Sponsored by Size Zero by Abigail Mangin.

Hi mystery fans! If you’re looking for distractions, I’ve got for you a bunch of links, a crime film adaptation, and a handful of ebook deals.

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Rincey and Katie pick up some fun Scooby-Doo themed books based on a listener request and get really excited about some recent reads on the latest Read Or Dead.

8 Books That Highlight How Broken the U.S. Criminal Justice System Is

8 Seriously Unnerving Science Thrillers

The Big Mysteries and Thrillers of Fall

Jordan Harper, the author of the fantastic crime novel She Rides Shotgun, tweeted that he turned in his next novel!

Thriller vs. Horror: Your Guide

Agatha Christie mysteries are still raking in the cash a century on

So sad (TW possible suicide, no details): Yuko Takeuchi, Japanese Actress of ‘Miss Sherlock’ and ‘Ring’, Dies at 40

Who Is Enola Holmes? 7 Facts About Nancy Springer’s Hit YA Book Series

The more you know: Kellye Garrett revealed she changed something in her novel to match the cover art.

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo–upcoming thriller about a serial killer after abusive men–has sold the rights, with Fargo attached to write and produce the pilot episode.

Win a year subscription to Audible

Watch Now

Netflix: Starring a full cast–including Bill Skarsgård, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson–the film adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock’s novel follows a group of characters from the end of WWII through the ’60s, including a husband-and-wife serial killers team. Watch the trailer here.

Kindle Deals

For gritty crime fans who want a modern day Sherlock: Righteous (IQ #2) by Joe Ide is $2.99! (Review) (Sorry don’t remember TW)

For a psychological thriller that just released: Girl Gone Mad by Avery Bishop is $4.99! (TW suicide–I haven’t read it, have no clue how it handles mental illness.)

For an Agatha Christie type mystery but on the Tour de France: The Black Jersey by Jorge Zepeda Patterson is $4.99! (Review)

For a French past-and-present will they get caught mystery: The Reunion by Guillaume Musso, Frank Wynne (Translator) is $2.99! (Review) (TW talk of rape/ suicide, thoughts/ teacher student relationship)

A true crime memoir for social science fans: Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married by Abby Ellin is $2.99! (Review) (TW suicide/ rape/ briefly mentions cases with pedophile)

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Unusual Suspects

Murder On A Luxury Ship!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 29, 2020

Books Perfect for True Crime Podcast Fans

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 24, 2020

A Puzzle Mystery Focused On Family Drama

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 22, 2020

Sponsored by White Fox by Sara Faring, with Fierce Reads.

“A ghost story that will spook even the most hardened grown-ups.” —Entertainment Weekly. After their world-famous mother disappears under mysterious circumstances, sisters Manon and Thais are sent away from their remote Mediterranean home by their father. Lured home a decade later by the death of their father, the sisters discover their mother’s legendary last work, White Fox, a screenplay filled with enigmatic metaphors. The clues in this dark fairytale draw them deep into society’s surreal underbelly, into the twisted secrets hidden by their glittering family, to reveal the truth about their mother—and themselves.

Hello mystery fans! Two of my favorite reads of the year, that I’d earlier shouted about, are officially out in the world, so definitely pick up Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson (Review) and And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall (Review). Plus, they both have great backlists for plenty of reading. And now for what I have for you this week: my yearly reminder that I absolutely adore Charlotte Holmes with my entire being, and a puzzle mystery with a focus on family drama.

Murder on Cold Street cover image Murder on Cold Street (Lady Sherlock #5) by Sherry Thomas: A yearly highlight for me is the new release of Lady Sherlock–it’s always a treat and this year was no exception, but felt even more needed in this absolute garbage year. The series premise is that, after Charlotte Holmes blew up her social standing and was cast out, she ended up pairing with Mrs. Watson, taking on cases where she pretends her brother Sherlock is in the next room listening to whoever needs his help for a case while Charlotte helps him as the front of the business. But it is all a charade, Charlotte is the only detective Holmes, a secret very few know.

After their big, world trotting case in the last book, we’re treated to a quiet and tight mystery with a small circle of characters that will delight mystery readers. Inspector Treadles, who Holmes has of course assisted, has been arrested on murder charges and his wife has come to Sherlock Holmes for help. So of course Charlotte is on the case! Only slightly distracted by every dessert she sees, Charlotte must figure out why Inspector Treadles won’t help his case, and why two men who worked at Mrs. Treadles’ inherited business were shot and killed. Oh, did I mention it’s a locked-room mystery?!

There’s always so much to love with a Charlotte Holmes book: her obsession with sweets; friendships; step-by-step deducing; great mysteries; an equal treat for fans of Conan Doyle’s work and those who’ve never read him; the banter; a will-they-won’t-they *eyebrow dance running plot; an equally smart and fun historical mystery series. And bonus: it’s equally wonderful in audiobook and print. (TW past attempted assaults)

The Last Equation of Isaac Severy by Nova Jacobs: This was a unique puzzle mystery that focuses on family drama. If you’d told me I’d be glued to any book that focused on anything dealing with math I would have laughed and laughed and laughed–but here we are. First, a heads up that this entire book deals with basically everything that would get a suicide warning from beginning to end.

At the top of the Severy family is Isaac Severy who has died by suicide, though some believe there must be something else going on. He was a famed mathematician with children who never lived up to his brilliance and two grandchildren he adopted and raised: Hazel, a bookstore owner flailing in life, and Greg, an LA police detective. Isaac left Hazel a letter, which basically puts her on the hunt to figure out his secret work, while others are already hunting for what they believe to be his work. What none of them knows is what exactly this equation was, but they all believe it to be something grand that could change the world.

Enter a secret organization that’s really pushy about finding out the information, a long lost cousin, and a family full of drama and secrets. While Hazel grieves and tries to figure out what is happening, her brother Greg is secretly following their father who has just been released from prison, and Isaac’s son is having a mid-life crisis and being pursued by the secret organization for whatever information he can give them about his father. The family’s secrets are going to spill, there’s affairs, murder, and (in what was most shocking to me) interesting math explained in layman’s terms. If family drama is your catnip and you want one with a mystery for a unique-ish read, this is your book. (TW suicide throughout/ grandparent with dementia/ past child abuse recounted, mostly emotional and neglect)

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.

Unusual Suspects

Female Spies, True Crime Adaptations, And Tons of News 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 17, 2020

A Cozy And A Dread-Inducing Crime Novel

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date September 15, 2020

Sponsored by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Zoe Johnson spent most of her life living in the
shadows, never drawing attention to herself. But when a wide-eyed, bedraggled teenager with no memory walks into the diner where Zoe works, everything changes. Now, against her better judgment, Zoe, who has been trying to outrun her own painful memories of
the past, finds herself attempting to help a girl who doesn’t seem to have any past at all. The girl knows only one thing: she must reach a woman in Corpus Christi, Texas, hundreds of miles away, before the government agents who are searching for her catch
up to them.

Hi mystery fans! I’ve got an entertaining cozy, with a core ghostly friendship I adore, and a thoughtful crime novel with all the dread. What a combo!

Execution in E (Gethsemane Brown Mysteries #5) by Alexia Gordon: This is one of the few series that I actually stay up to date with and this is now my favorite book in the series. We get an awful influencer and her also awful wedding party, a suspicious death, and a music teacher and her ghost friend on the case. It’s fun!

(Heads up the entire case revolves around whether it was a suicide or murder.) Think of Gethsemane like Jessica Fletcher–if Fletcher were Black, and younger, and assisted by a ghost–because people just keep dropping like flies ever since Gethsemane, an American musician, moved to the Irish countryside. Luckily for the town, she’s nosy, capable, and has a ghost–whose name she helped clear in a past case–to help her snoop for evidence. This time we have a destination wedding with an awful couple who are only marrying each other for what they can do for the other: a social media wedding for the influencer bride; marrying into money and status for the groom. But then the groom ends up dead and those who know him are certain it wasn’t suicide.

So Gethsemane and her ghostly friend Eamon decide to find out what really happened, because if it was murder then the number one suspect will be local friends, since the groom actually dated a local and it ended badly! Basically, anyone who knew the groom is also a suspect because, as I mentioned, these people are awful. Enter the occult, a priest, the Garda who wants nothing more than for Gethsemane to stick to teaching music and not crime solving, the entertaining banter between Gethsemane and Eamon, and town gossip for a fun, everyone-is-a-suspect mystery! (TW main case is a possible suicide, details/ suicide on page/ briefly recounts drowning)

Three by D.A. Mishani, Jessica Cohen (Translation): Mishani has an Israeli procedural series (The Missing File) I really like, so when I saw that he had a new standalone crime novel, I was excited. And wow did it deliver. Seriously, I won’t say how or why but [redacted] is chef’s kiss. The title is in reference to three women in Tel Aviv–all incredibly different from each other and who don’t know each other–that are separated into three sections.

We start with Orla, a recently divorced single mother who is struggling financially and emotionally. She ends up dating Gil, slowly at first, after meeting through online dating and the charming, wealthy, devoted father unravels into a trigger warning for men. The brilliance in Mishani’s story and writing is how a seemingly mundane start to dating takes a slow and dark path you don’t realize is danger until too late. And then we meet the next woman and by then my knuckles were already white and I was shouting like Bastian in The Neverending Story for them to hear me!

This is a dark in content crime novel, that feels like having the rug taken out from under you, but, rather than being written as detailed violence or gore, the dread comes from the realization that this is every day–there is nothing over the top here for thrills.

If you’ve yet to discover Mishani’s writing I highly recommend him: his characters feel like studies on human behavior, his writing is thoughtful, and twisty without the twists feeling gimmicky, and at this point I get to pick up his work without worrying I may end up with something problematic I wasted my time reading. I’ll just be over here still shouting how we need more translated crime books!

Oh, and if you’re an audiobook reader, the narrator Lucy Paterson does a great job of really bringing the three women to life–you may already know her from the Killing Eve books and Yrsa Sigurdardottir’s thrillers. (TW talk of suicide as a cover for murder/ briefly mentions past loss of pregnancy)

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own, you can sign up here.