Category: Unusual Suspects

Hello mystery fans! It’s the weekend and this crime train always stops for round-ups, news, trailers, links to share, and Kindle deals. Here we go:

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Rincey and Katie talk adaptation news, including the Dan Mallory movie, and take a walk down memory lane with middle grade mystery books on the latest Read Or Dead.

Get to Know Nordic Noir With These 10 Novels

Alyssa Cole is on the Smart Bitches podcast: When No One Is Watching, with Alyssa Cole

On the Crime Writers of Color podcast: Faye Snowden, author A Killing Fire, is interviewed by Robert Justice.

Audiobooks Are — And I Can’t Stress This Enough — Saving My Sanity During COVID-19

(There are crime novels mixed in) The 23 Most Anticipated YA Books to Read in September

How Are Crime Authors Going to Address the Pandemic in Their New Books?

The Big Books of Fall

(The Bright Lands is one) Win 5 Books by Authors You Should Get to Know

Win a Copy of THICK AS THIEVES by Sandra Brown!

Win a year subscription to Audible

News And Adaptations

Jane Harper updated fans on Instagram regarding The Dry adaptation: “In an alternate universe, today was the day the The Dry movie was due to hit screens. The pandemic means the release has been postponed with a new date still to be confirmed, but trust me, it is absolutely worth the wait.”

‘No Time to Die’ Gets New Trailer as 007 Marketing Engine Roars Back to Life

The Inside Story of the $8 Million Heist From the Carnegie Library

Literary Scammer Dan Mallory to Be Rewarded by Having Jake Gyllenhaal Play Him on TV

Catherine Steadman To Pen Series Adaptation Of Jess Ryder’s ‘The Ex-Wife’ For BlackBox Multimedia & Night Train Media

Kindle Deals

Legal mystery fan? Here’s a series starter not to miss that is a revised edition of The Little Death: Lay Your Sleeping Head by Michael Nava is $3.99–and I sure did add the audiobook for $1.99!

Historical mystery fan? Don’t miss this series starter based on one of the first female Indian lawyers: The Widows of Malabar Hill by Sujata Massey is $1.99! (Review) (TW domestic violence)

 

Like your thrillers to be cruel AF? I got you: Lying in Wait by Liz Nugent  is $1.99! (Review) (TW: cyber-exploitation/ Heads-up a character deals with fat shaming throughout the entire novel.)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! First, if you’re looking for a social thriller/suspense/psychological thriller, Alyssa Cole’s When No One Is Watching is finally here and it’s one of my favorite reads of the year (Review). Now for what I’m chatting about today: an impactful crime novel and an Italian procedural with a lead unlike all other procedural leads.

Three-Fifths by John Vercher: Holy crime novel, Batman! This is a quick crime novel that packs a hell of a punch and leaves you thinking about it long after the last page.

Bobby Saraceno is in his early twenties, having been raised by a single white mother, doing his best to get by and excited to reunite with the only person he’d considered a friend, Aaron. Aaron had been in prison for the last three years and Bobby thought they’d pick back up, uniting over their love of comic books. But things quickly get out of hand when Aaron violently attacks a young Black man and Bobby flees the scene with him. The violent attack doesn’t just test their friendship but, rather, it unravels Bobby’s entire life, starting with the fact that he’s always passed as white and never told anyone, including Aaron, that his father is Black. After the crime we follow the fallout as we get to know Bobby, his mother who is trying to quit drinking, and the doctor struggling with a separation who sees the victim come into the hospital. And let me tell you how hard I was rooting for these three characters.

The entire novel is set in the mid-90s in Pittsburgh showing how little has changed as it illustrates the layers and depth of identity while tackling classism, racism, colorism, homophobia, loyalty, family, and the way society’s ills can break a person. (TW homophobia, racism/ slurs/ prison rape/  miscarriage, infertility recounted/ alcoholism/ suicide on page)

The Sleeping Nymph (Teresa Battaglia #2) by Ilaria Tuti, Ekin Oklap (Translator): A great sequel in this Italian procedural trilogy! First, a note on it being a sequel: the first book in the series, Flowers Over the Inferno, is where you should start because the trilogy is an evolution of the main character. However, if you’re not a reader of serial killer fiction and you want to start with this one because the mystery sounds more your speed, you won’t be lost.

Now on to The Sleeping Nymph, which had a super interesting mystery case: An art restorer realizes that a 70-year-old painting is covered in blood and calls police with the concern that maybe the woman in the painting was murdered–especially since the painter has been in a self-imposed catatonic state for almost 70 years. I know! Tasked with the case is Superintendent Teresa Battaglia who is 60 years old, has diabetes, and now uses a notebook to keep track of everything because she’s hiding the beginning stages of dementia from everyone. Yup! If a crime was committed, it took place 70 years ago, during WWII, making it highly unlikely that a missing woman would have been recorded by police. So where does the team start?

Battaglia is tough and prickly, but always looking out for those she cares for in her own way. Her partner, half her age, is struggling with a secret that is unraveling his relationship with his girlfriend and has Battaglia after the secret. And Battaglia has to deal with a contentious boss from her past, while trying to convince the team that a young dog trainer who is blind is perfect for their team.

Not only was the mystery a hook for me but this goes into an interesting place, the Resia Valley, and its people, which will probably be a first *learn for most readers. If you want a mystery to sink into, enjoy procedurals and historical mysteries, and like watching your characters evolve over a series, don’t miss this one. I know I’m going to greatly miss Battaglia at the end of this trilogy. (*Keep in mind this is fiction, and not own voices, but it certainly led me down a rabbit hole.) (TW ableism/ past memory of dead baby, not graphic or detailed/ memory of past child abuse/ past domestic abuse briefly recounted, loss of pregnancy/ past war torture mentions, details/ anti-Semitism)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! It’s Friday, which means I’ve got roundups, trailers, something new to almost watch, and Kindle ebook deals.

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

On this week’s All The Books! Liberty and Patricia discuss Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, among other new releases.

‘We already have a Black writer’: Black Chicago crime fiction author Tracy Clark, others talk about the fight for recognition

Enola Holmes official trailer–Netflix’s adaptation of the Enola Holmes Mysteries by Nancy Springer, which follows Sherlock’s teen sister.

Who Is Enola Holmes and Why Didn’t We Know Sherlock Had a Sister? Here’s Your Answer

Death on the Nile Official Trailer–20th Century Studios’ adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder mystery novel.

Dark Horse to Publish, Distribute Print Editions of Comixology Originals (including The Black Ghost Vol. 1 by Alex Segura, Monica Gallagher and George Kambadais!)

4 Great Mystery and Thriller Audiobooks From Black Authors

Mexican Gothic author Silvia Moreno-Garcia shares what fans can expect from Hulu series

The Making of a Fierce and Badass Black Heroine

The Women of Canadian Crime Fiction: A Roundtable Discussion

Enter to Win $50 to Your Favorite Independent Bookstore!

(Almost) Watch Now

Netflix: The Wallander series, which follows the Swedish detective Kurt Wallander and is based on Henning Mankell‘s series, will get a prequel series on Netflix streaming on September 3rd. Here’s the trailer for Young Wallander.

Kindle Deals

If you’re looking for translated work, the author of The Hole has a new crime novel: The Law of Lines by Hye-young Pyun (Author), Sora Kim-Russell (Translator) is $1.99!

If you’ve yet to read the most recent release in the Samantha Brinkman series: Final Judgment by Marcia Clark is $1.99! (The series generally has most major trigger warnings)

If you need a lovely escape here’s a Sherlock meets Fantastic Beasts series starter for a completed series: Jackaby by William Ritter is $1.99!

And if you want something awesome and intense as your form of escape: No Exit by Taylor Adams is $5.49! (Review) (TW racial slurs/terminally ill parent not on page/pedophile not on page)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hello mystery fans! First, if you’ve been waiting for the release of Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden, it’s finally here! (Review) Now for this week I have for you one of my favorite mystery writers that will totally scratch any reading itch you may have for a detective/procedural based on classics, and a fun mystery with all the nostalgia.

A Midsummer’s Equation (Detective Galileo #6) by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith (Translator): I love Higashino’s detective mysteries and wish they’d all get translated–he’s huge in Japan! First, a note on the whole #6 in the series–you don’t have to read these in order, you actually technically can’t unless you read the untranslated original works because they have not all been translated to English, and the ones that have been were done out of order. Publishing, am I right? So pick up whichever sounds the best first, and then read them all.

Now about A Midsummer’s Equation: it has so many elements of the genre stitched nicely together it makes for a perfect curl-up-with-a-mystery-book read. The premise is: a guest dies at a family inn in Hari Cove, a now economically struggling tourist town, and the question is, “was it murder or an accident?” You follow the family inn members, mostly the visiting nephew and the daughter who works at the inn but is also fighting a company from undersea mining their ocean. We then also follow not one, not two, but three crime solvers: the small town police who rule the man falling into the water an accident; the Tokyo police who ask for an autopsy and suspect foul play, especially upon realizing it is a former detective who has died; and Manabu Yukawa, a physicist and college professor who is referred to as Detective Galileo as he assists the Tokyo detectives.

There’s a lot to love here, from the way the mystery is built and unraveled, reminding me of old school mysteries with a bit of Sherlock; the different perspectives; a nice armchair trip to Japan; and Detective Galileo bonding with the inn’s nephew and performing science experiments with him. If you’re looking to watch a complex mystery solved and don’t want dark, gritty, nor graphic, this is your book. (TW brief discussions of possibility of suicide/ mentions past cancer death, side character with brain tumor)

The Dark Deception (Daphne and Velma #2) by Morgan Baden: If you’re looking for a mystery to give you nostalgic feels (for those who grew up with the Scooby gang) but sans murder, this is an entertaining pick. The series takes you back to the beginning and gives you a look at how Daphne and Velma became friends again, after a fallout, and how together they start solving crimes in Crystal Cove. Think of it as the prequel to the Scooby-Doo series, where you really get to know the characters beyond the stereotypes, watch the friendships grow, them deal with family issues, navigate teen years, and of course, most importantly, solve some mysteries.

I recommend starting with the first for two reasons: it shows Daphne and Velma’s friendship being repaired; this one gives you the entire solve of the first book. However, if you want to skip the first because you only want a non-murder mystery, you won’t be confused reading this one. Now about The Dark Deception: it’s all about the jewels. The jewels that keep washing up on the Crystal Cove shore. Where are they coming from and why? But, like any good Scooby-Doo mystery there is more to solve than one thing–I mean the whole town is a mystery–but also the girls are spying on Shaggy because something is up with him and they want to know what.

Watch Daphne get an internship and Velma navigate who she is as they try and solidify their friendship, slowly build ties to their future gang, and solve some of these mysteries while being pesky kids.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! I’ve got a bunch of round-ups and articles, adaptation news, a trailer, and two great (technically 3) Kindle ebook deals to help get your mystery solving game on.

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Rincey and Katie talk about a new Megan Abbott book, Unsolved Mysteries, cold cases, and more on the latest Read or Dead!

Pick a Fashion Statement and Find Your Next True Crime Read

Cozy Mysteries New Releases: How to Keep Track?

Tirzah talks about two great backlist books, including mysteries that feature unsettling childhood memories on All The Backlist!

And Liberty and Tirzah talk new releases, including Denise Mina’s The Less Dead, on All The Books!

J. L. Brown, author of the Jade Harrington mystery novels, is interviewed by Robert Justice on the latest Crime Writers of Color podcast. (The first in the series, Don’t Speak, is .99cents on Kindle right now!)

Michelle Bowdler’s superb book Is Rape a Crime? questions the conventions of the ‘rape story’

What’s in a Page: Inside the Tommy Orange and Louise Erdrich-approved own voices thriller Winter Counts

Get an Exclusive First Look at the Prep School Murder Mystery ‘They Wish They Were Us’

Excellent adaptation news: Roxane Gay’s Graphic Novel The Banks to Receive Film Adaptation

Elisabeth Moss to star in Blumhouse psychological thriller Mrs. March

We have a trailer for the Netflix adaptation of Donald Ray Pollock’s The Devil All the Time

Enter to Win $50 to Your Favorite Independent Bookstore!

Win a 1-year subscription to Kindle Unlimited!

Kindle Deals

For a life-long jewel thief memoir (I love her so much!): Diamond Doris: The True Story of the World’s Most Notorious Jewel Thief by Zelda Lockhart is $2.99! (Review) (TW domestic abuse/ elder abuse)

If you’re looking for an is-her-ex-a-serial-killer mystery: The Liar’s Girl by Catherine Ryan Howard is $1.99! (Review) (TW panic attack on page/ stalking on page)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hello mystery fans! I have something a bit different for you this week. Sometimes while waiting for an author I love’s next book I will go in search of what they’ve announced and discover that they’re working on something completely different. Like a TV show. Getting to watch a show or film an author has written (not necessarily an adaptation of their work) feels like bonus content. Plus, for anyone struggling to read during the absolute garbage fire that is 2020, this may offer you some viewing options. Or maybe you’ve seen one of these shows/films and didn’t know one of the writers had great novels, and now you have even more to add to your TBR. Either way, here are some of my favorite dual writers of novels and TV/Film.

Let’s start with Attica Locke, who I discovered was one of the writers for Empire (Cookie!) after having read her Jay Porter legal series and standalone The Cutting Season and needed more of her writing. Since then her TV writing credits have only grown! Not only is Locke one of our best crime writers today (run to read Bluebird, Bluebird if you’ve yet to), she also wrote on Ava DuVernay’s Netflix mini-series When They See Us (trailer) based on the true crime case of the Central Park Five. And she wrote on Hulu’s adaptation of Celeste Ng’s novel Little Fires Everywhere (trailer) starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon. So you have five novels, a network show, and two streaming mini-series to marathon. Make popcorn.

Megan Abbott writes about girls and women in a way that always gets under my skin and stays (in a brilliant way) while writing about all the complexities of being a teenager and woman. And her novels usually have an obsession or unique “community” like gymnastics in You Will Know Me and a research lab studying premenstrual dysphoric disorder in Give Me Your Hand. She also wrote great noir novels in which she went all feminist on the genre: my favorite stood-up-and-clapped-when-I-finished being Queenpin. While you may already know that she wrote on her own USA Network series adaptation of her cheerleading crime novel Dare Me (trailer), you may not know that she was also story editor for HBO’s The Deuce (trailer), set in set in ’70s/80s New York City, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco. Which means you have 9 novels, a crime graphic novel (Normandy Gold), and two shows to marathon.

Deacon King Kong is not only one of my top crime reads this year, but it’s one of my favorite reads period, which sent me on a mission to read more James McBride. And that’s how I discovered that one of his previous novels, The Good Lord Bird, is a Showtime limited series that will premiere in October starring Ethan Hawke–and for fans of Daveed Diggs, he plays Frederick Douglass (trailer). The story is set right before the Civil War and follows a young slave and a group of abolitionist soldiers. Lucky for readers McBride has an extensive catalog of novels, nonfiction, and memoir to dive into.

Here’s the author that started this whole fall down this rabbit hole: Gillian Flynn. Yes, she’s known for the did-you-see-that-coming novel and screenplay film adaptation of Gone Girl. But she also adapted Lynda La Plante’s novel Widows (trailer) with Steve McQueen into an awesome heist film starring Viola Davis. And it turns out Flynn’s latest project is Utopia (trailer), a conspiracy thriller series starring John Cusack, Rainn Wilson, and Sasha Lane, coming soon to Amazon Prime. So if you’ve been waiting for her next novel, which she briefly hinted at a while back, you can at least watch some of her stuff in the meantime. If you’ve yet to read Flynn’s before-Gone-Girl work, Dark Places is one of the only crime novels I’ve read where I didn’t figure out the solve.

And here’s some TV show writing overlap: Lisa Lutz, who wrote the great dark comedy PI series The Spellmans, was also on the writing team for HBO’s The Deuce and USA Network’s Dare Me. So if you’ve yet to discover Izzy Spellman, the PI working at her parents’ firm, you have six novels to marathon.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! I have great adaptation news for you this week, roundup lists, and a bunch of great Kindle ebook deals!

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

7 Postmodern Murder Mysteries

6 Murder Mysteries with Classical Music

Liberty and Vanessa discuss Blacktop Wasteland and more on All The Books!

In the Study, with a Typewriter: 100 Years of Agatha Christie Novels

The Less Dead author Denise Mina breaks down her newest crime thriller

The library invites all of San Francisco to read Channel Miller’s Know My Name in 2021

20 Books Like Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, From The Third Rainbow Girl To Hell In The Heartland

Paper Gods will be adapted to TV by John Legend, Sony Pictures, and Nia Long, with Long starring

Hulu is Turning Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic Into a Series

Enter to Win $50 to Your Favorite Independent Bookstore!

 

Kindle Deals

For fans of Sadie: A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar is $5.99! (Review) (TW sexual assault on page/ terminal illness/ past child abuse/ talk of suicide with some details)

For a uniquely set whodunnit: The Black Jersey by Jorge Zepeda Patterson, Achy Obejas is $4.99! (Review)

For a Japanese mystery: Newcomer by Keigo Higashino, Giles Murray is $2.99! (Review)

For an Italian trilogy procedural start: Flowers Over the Inferno by Ilaria Tuti, Ekin Oklap is $1.99! (Review) (TW child abuse)

For a thriller: The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger is $1.99! (Review) (TW rape/ suicide)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! I have a great addition to the not-like-the-others spy stories and a Regency mystery that is delightful.

A Spy in the Struggle by Aya de León: Remember on Friday when I said I was looking forward to reading this over the weekend? Well, I ended up reading the first half in one sitting Friday night—until that pesky thing of needing sleep happened—and finishing it Saturday morning, hence why I’m starting my raving about a December book in August. It’s very good and worth the pre-buy and letting your library know you want them to have it.

Aya de León never fails to create excellent characters while bringing communities, and their different voices and complexities, to life. Yolanda Vance is a Type A personality who has done nothing but focus on school and work until she finds herself handing in evidence during a raid of her law firm and becoming a pariah in the legal field. With that path blown up, she ends up hired by the FBI as a lawyer. Before she can settle in, she’s given an undercover assignment she has no training for—because she’s all they have in the form of a young Black agent who can relate to teens. She isn’t that confident about her ability to blend in seeing as she’s never felt she fit in anywhere; but she has a positive-thinking-book’s lessons always at the ready and never quits, so off she goes from NY to California.

The assignment is to bug the center of Red, Black, and Green!, a teen activist group the FBI has labeled as extremist, while volunteering for the group and reporting back what she learns. While she struggles to keep her opinions to herself—that anyone who doesn’t like their situation can just work hard enough to change it—she also learns a few interesting things: that a recent overdose isn’t believed by the community to be an OD, that the informant who came before her was murdered, that she may not be as anti-love as she thought, and that many of her beliefs are about to be challenged.

We get to know Yolanda as she gets to know the FBI team, her new Red, Black, and Green! team, a suitor, and through memories of her childhood with her widowed mother and her years at a prep school and then law school. We also get to know the community fighting against the government-tied corporation that RBG! is protesting and the hilarious, creative, and smart teens making their voices heard, along with the rookie cop who found the OD in question, and adult coordinators of RBG!. I absolutely loved the characters, story, and the bonus of a few shexy-time scenes. Add this to the list of fantastic mold-breaking spy novels like American Spy and the Vera Kelly series. I’m always here for more de León novels and would be thrilled for more Yolanda Vance—this could easily be a series, and I would totally be here for that! (TW drug overdose, talk of addiction/ brief past mention of child-on-child attempted sexual assault)

The Body in the Garden (Lily Adler Mystery #1) by Katharine Schellman: A delightful Regency era murder mystery. Lily Adler is recently widowed and while she chooses to be an independent woman, she in no way wants to be shunned by society. At a ball in London, she’ll get more than she bargained for: she overhears blackmail, a man is murdered, and she discovers the magistrate is bribed to not solve the case. Whatever is a lady to do? Investigate herself, of course! I mean she doesn’t have a plan, nor does she think she knows what she’s doing. But she figures she can’t make the situation worse, so why not? Seriously, I love her.

She won’t be working—secretly on solving a murder—alone, however. And she certainly will not be ignoring all of society’s gender and class rules—maybe just a couple. She has navy captain Jack Hartley, who was her husband’s friend, and nineteen year old West Indies heiress Ofelia Oswald, who has ties to the dead man, to help. And oh are they going to bicker, and question each other, and bicker some more—in the fun, amusing way. There may even be some love in the air? There will definitely be more murder, so they better get their antics under control and solve this quickly! If you need a truly enjoyable start to a new historical murder mystery series, this is your book. Also, the audiobook has a lovely voiced British-born narrator, Henrietta Meire, so highly recommend that format. I can’t wait for the next mystery!

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hello mystery fans! I rounded up great giveaways, AH-mazing news, interesting things to read to murder your TBR, and Kindle ebook deals for books further in the series which rarely ever get put on sale!

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

In AMAZING giveaway: We’re giving away 100 audio downloads of When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole to 100 lucky Riot readers! 

In AMAZING news: Megan Abbott has a new novel coming in 2021 (EEP!) and it’s already been sold to be a TV series (Double EEP!). All her books focus on some kind of obsession, or intense field, and this time we get ballet. It is an understatement to say I can’t wait to read this one.

 

In MORE amazing news: Aya de León (Uptown Thief) has a new novel releasing in December about a spy: A Spy in the Struggle! And look at that cover! This is what I’m reading this weekend, because my greedy little hands got an egalley.

Rincey and Katie get excited about adaptations of The Shining Girls and Magpie Murders, and talk about mystery books by Black authors that they’ve recently picked up on the latest Read or Dead!

QUIZ: What Dark Crime Book Should You Read Next?

10 Small-Town Thrillers to Read This Summer

8 Thrillers Told From Multiple Points of View

Reconsidering The Case Of The Crime Genre: a chat with S.A. Cosby, Rachel Howzell Hall, and Walter Mosley.

Sisters in Crime announced the 2020 Crime Fiction Writers of Color Award-winner! All the congrats!

Featured Trailer: THE NOTHING MAN by Catherine Ryan Howard

Win a 1-year subscription to Kindle Unlimited!

Enter to Win $50 to Your Favorite Independent Bookstore!

Watch Now: 20 Murder Mystery Movies That Will Awaken Your Inner Sleuth

Kindle Deals

If you’re making your way through Detective Elouise Norton’s series (you should!) the fourth book is on sale: City of Saviors by Rachel Howzell Hall is $2.99!

And DITTO for Veronica Speedwell: A Dangerous Collaboration (A Veronica Speedwell Mystery Book 4) by Deanna Raybourn is $1.99! (This series is the escape you need right now!)

Every time I see this one I’m going to put it here and tell y’all again to go read it: The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater is $2.99!

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

Hi mystery fans! Here’s 3 great reads: a historical mystery, start to a fictional serial killer trilogy, and unsolved murder with an interesting hook.

Opium and Absinthe by Lydia Kang: Kang has quickly become my go-to for great historical mysteries. And bonus points for this feeling she inserts that maybe this will be fantasy without being fantasy. In this case: is it regular murder or vampire murder?! Tillie Pembroke is a young woman in 1899, NY, trying to figure out how to get around the societal pressures and mandates that will keep her from being herself–a delightfully curious woman always seeking to learn more and be independent. Injured from a riding accident, she finds out that her sister has been murdered in the most peculiar way–punctures on her neck and drained of blood.

Now she’s not only devastated by the loss, taking pain killers for her injury, which she is unaware she is addicted to, but her mother and grandmother want to move on from the ugly situation and marry Tillie off. To her murdered sister’s fiance–and this is why I don’t romanticize these times! Anyhoo, Tillie isn’t having any of it and she wants to know who murdered her sister and why–and seeing as she’s just read Dracula, she isn’t ruling out a vampire just yet. Soon, she’s devised ways of sneaking out to meet a newsie for investigating adventures. Which quickly lands her labeled a hysterical woman and with doctor’s orders for more drugs–we don’t want those hysterical women folk anything but placid, basically.

It’ll take all of Tillie’s strength to overcome addiction, her family and doctor’s restrictions, and her grief in order to figure out who is behind her sister’s murder… I love that Kang writes intelligent and spunky women, while plunging me into 1800s/1900s NY, and giving me great mysteries with medical history. If you’ve yet to read her historical mysteries, I also highly recommend A Beautiful Poison (Review) and The Impossible Girl (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)

The Silence of the White City (Trilogía de la Ciudad Blanca #1) by Eva García Sáenz, Nick Caistor (Translator): If you are looking for an engrossing start to a fictional serial killer trilogy translated from Spain, have I got a great read for you! This, for me, was one of those mystery reads that didn’t break any molds but gave me what I look for in these kinds of mysteries, and added the element of a new setting.

Twenty years ago, Vitoria, the capital city of Basque in Northern Spain, was terrified of a serial killer and his ritualistic killings. Now it seems the murders have started again–which is equally terrifying and baffling seeing as the serial killer is in prison. He was an archaeologist brought forward by his twin brother who had been a police officer at the time of the killings. Dun dun dun! Now Inspector Unai López de Ayala “Kraken” has to figure out if the imprisoned serial killer has a new partner on the outside, or if they got it wrong all those years before…

Come for the twisty serial killer mystery, stay for the tour of Vitoria, Spain. Bonus: García Sáenz has managed to write a sweet spot that I think will appeal to both fans of dark mysteries and not too dark mysteries by writing the content on the dark side, but leaving out the overtly, unnecessary graphic details. Think Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons, and The Da Vinci Code. If you’re wondering how much I enjoyed this, I immediately checked to see if my library had the following two installments in Spanish rather than waiting for the English US releases. (TW child murders, not graphic/ attempted suicide and suicide/ partner, child abuse/ nonviable pregnancy/ date rape/ past statutory not on page)

The Less Dead by Denise Mina: My go to rec for overall Tana French comp is Denise Mina. While French is an American-Irish writer and Mina is a Scottish writer, they both have extensive back catalogs of police procedurals and standalones, and write mysteries with a darkish pen that are really explorations of human behavior with layered characters that are different levels of flawed.

And both of Mina’s last standalones have opening hooks I couldn’t resist. In this case, a woman who reaches out to an agency to set up a meeting between her and her birth mother’s sister for the first time, and discovers said aunt is only meeting with her because she found out she’s a doctor and wants access to the database to prove a cop killed her sister all those years ago. Not the family reunion Margot was hoping for.

Margot was already having a rough go. She’s pregnant, but she hasn’t told her boyfriend as they’re in a separation period because he called the police on his brother for a domestic abuse incident. His brother happens to be partnered with Margot’s best friend, and she felt betrayed that he broke her confidence. Her adoptive mother has also just passed and she’s clearing out the house and struggling with grief and questions of why her birth mother placed her up for adoption, months before she was murdered.

Readers are plunged into Margot’s chaotic life. Margot is a character who never did what I wanted her to do, but part of why Mina writes crime novels I enjoy so much is that while the characters don’t behave how I want, they do make sense and force me to understand other people’s struggles and lives. And her aunt Nikki’s, a recent-ish sober woman who takes Margot into her past of teen prostitution and drug use and what it’s like to be the women society doesn’t care about, as Margot’s birth mother’s murder remains unsolved all these years later with Nikki still receiving threatening letters from the killer…

Mina delivers an absorbing mystery, crime novel, and exploration of a grieving woman at an impasse in her life while showing us Glasglow’s drug history. (TW stalking/ suicide mentioned as threat, no detail/ past disordered eating/ domestic abuse/ rape cases, including teen prostitution/ addiction)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases and 2021. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. 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.

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