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Unusual Suspects

HBO to Develop Gillian Flynn’s Novel DARK PLACES as a Limited Series

Hi, mystery fans! I hate that things like this have to exist, but here’s the great show Abbott Elementary (which returns in February with a new season!) being the helpers we need.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

illustrated sticker of a mint colored dinosaur with a giant stack of books that says Readosaurus

Reading dinosaur sticker by namicraftlove

Would follow this little pudding pop to its cave of books, no questions asked! ($5)

New Releases

cover image for Almost Surely Dead

Almost Surely Dead by Amina Akhtar

For fans of psychological thrillers with a genre blend, fictional true crime podcasts, and past and present stories!

A pharmacist in NY, Dunia Ahmed, finds her life suddenly in danger multiple times — the first attempt is when someone tries to push her in front of a subway train. But now Dania is missing and considered dead. What happened? Will the answer lie in the true crime podcast transcripts?

cover image for The Expectant Detectives

The Expectant Detectives by Kat Ailes

For fans of funny new cozy series, murder mysteries, rural settings, and amateur sleuths!

Alice and Joe are just weeks away from her due date when they up and move from London to a small village for a quiet life. But you don’t get quiet in cozy mysteries! During a birthing class, where a fellow student goes into labor, a shop owner downstairs dies. What’s Alice to do? Join forces with fellow birthing class ladies to solve the crime! Bonus: if you’re not a fan of waiting a long time for the sequel, you’ll only have to wait until the beginning of summer for Dead Tired.

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

I’m going to skip doing the third Read Harder prompt for middle grade horror because I’ve recently covered the books I’d select: The Keeper by Guadalupe García McCall and Warren the 13th and The All-Seeing Eye by Tania del Rio and Will Staehle (Illustrator). Instead, here are two great options if you want to do the fourth prompt but add in true crime: Read a history book by a BIPOC author. Bonus: both have great audiobooks.

The Golden Thread cover image

The Golden Thread: The Cold War and the Mysterious Death of Dag Hammarskjöld by Ravi Somaiya

History: The focus is on the history of the United Nations, but you also get a lot of other history, like of the Congo.

True crime: Dag Hammarskjöld, the second Secretary-General of the United Nations, died in a plane crash along with everyone on board in 1961. The case, fueled with plenty of theories (many conspiracies), has remained unsolved, with the UN waiting until 2014 for anyone to be appointed to look into the case.

I regularly think about a quote from this book and how sadly applicable it continues to be: “Nobody could call them off — only wind them up, set them off, and semi-legitimately deny any involvement in the destruction that followed.”

(TW attempted suicide recounted, detail/ mentions group rape not detailed or graphic)

cover image for Tremors in the Blood

Tremors in the Blood: Murder, Obsession, and the Birth of the Lie Detector by Amit Katwala

History: The history of the lie detector, along with criminal justice/forensics, and the history of crime at the turn of the century.

True crime: Katwala takes readers into the courtroom for a dive into cases throughout history where the lie detector was used, including in deciding whether to execute a person or not.

(TW domestic violence/ brief mentions of past child sexual assault, no detail/ suicide, detail, including murder-suicide)

News and Roundups

The 2024 Audie Award Finalists (Lots of favorite authors and great books on this list — S.A. Cosby up for Audiobook of the Year AND best thriller.)

With Mindy Kaling in her corner, author Amina Akhtar sets out to shake rather than strangle stereotypes

Love streaming on Prime? Amazon will now force you to watch ads unless you pay more

Bookish Valentine’s Day Cards for Friends and Lovers

End of Story: Controversial Author A.J. Finally Set to Release His Second Novel

HBO to Develop Gillian Flynn’s Novel Dark Places as a Limited Series

Washington State Introduces, Advances School Anti-Book Ban Bill

No, Argylle won’t be on Netflix after theaters (but it will be on another streamer)

Rhode Island native Kali Reis on starring in True Detective: Night CountryThe Boston Globe

Julia Roberts Thriller Leave the World Behind Enters Netflix’s All-Time List of Most-Watched Films

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Amanda Seyfried To Headline Limited Series ‘Long Bright River’ For Peacock

Hi, mystery fans! If you’re a Nintendo Switch player, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying playing Rayman® Legends Definitive Edition — it’s fun, just the right amount of increasingly challenging, and reminds me of a combo of the things I like about Nintendo’s Super Mario and Sega’s Sonic. My current life mission is beating this game! (“You gotta have a goal. Do you have a goal?”)

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

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Book Stud Earrings by OliveAndIvyByWhitney

These are lovely stud earrings for book lovers — and make a great gift. ($10)

New Releases

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Wander in the Dark by Jumata Emill

For fans of YA murder mysteries, family drama, siblings (brothers), and amateur sleuths!

At the heart of this murder mystery are two half-brothers: Amir and Marcel Trudeau. They aren’t on speaking terms, rooted in their mothers’ dislike of each other and their father raising one son while essentially having left the other. Amir ultimately goes to Marcel’s 16th birthday party, though, because of a girl, which turns out terribly for everyone: the girl is murdered, Amir is the suspect, and now Marcel and Amir are forced to hash out their family issues and solve a murder.

I really enjoyed the balance of the family drama, Amir and Marcel fighting their way to a better relationship, Marcel investigating, the New Orleans setting, and the dive into the prejudice in our justice system and our current media.

I love that the audiobook gave each brother his own narrator: Kevin R. Free and Nile Bullock.

I also really enjoyed Emill’s previous YA murder mystery, The Black Queen, and look forward to future books.

(TW past animal cruelty)

cover image for Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect

Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect (Ernest Cunningham #2) by Benjamin Stevenson

For fans of author main characters, bookish books, remote mysteries, and murder mysteries where a handful of people are all suspects with motives!

Author Ernest Cunningham is invited to attend the 50th Australian Mystery Writers’ Festival to be on writing panels, along with bestselling authors, while on a luxury train traveling the Australian desert. Surely (don’t call me Shirley!), you can see all the delicious mystery tropes ahead: an author is murdered, and the fellow authors become both prime suspects and essentially “detectives” to find out what actually happened!

You don’t need to read the first in the series — they can each be read as standalones — but it’s a fun, creative, remote mystery if you’re interested: Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

If you’re a fan of adaptations, here are two January mystery/crime adaptations that are under the radar.

cover image for Eileen

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

The book: For fans of character-driven novels following a desperate, self-loathing woman who is slowly building up to an ending of crime/suspense! Eileen Dunlop explains how, in the 1960s, at age 24, she disappeared from the small town where she worked at a boy’s prison.

The adaptation: The film, starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin Katherin, is available on VOD and DVD at the moment.

Watch the trailer!

cover image for The Maltese Falcon

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

The book: For fans of classic detective novels! A simple enough case at the start turns into anything, but when Miss Wonderley hires Detective Spade to locate her eloped sister, only Spade’s partner ends up shot, and Spade is now being hunted…

The adaptation: Monsieur Spade, starring Clive Owen, takes us into the detective’s retirement (30 years after the novel’s setting) for a “one more case” plot. It’s currently playing on AMC and streaming on AMC+.

Watch the trailer!

News and Roundups

5 of the Internet’s Theories About the Author of Argylle, From Most to Least Ridiculous

Congrats to all the finalists and the crime books Vengeance Is Mine by Marie NDiaye, Judgment and Mercy: The Turbulent Life and Times of the Judge Who Condemned the Rosenbergs by Martin J. Siegel, and Creep: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba: 2024 National Book Critics Circle Awards Finalists Announced

Fascinating and soothing to watch: Syndetics Unbound’s year-end “Top Titles” list for all of 2023!

Amanda Seyfried To Headline Limited Series Long Bright River For Peacock

2023’s Most Influential Authors Reveal The 2024 Novels They’re Most Excited To Read

As Long As It Isn’t True: A Literary Scandals Podcast — Friends With the Monster: Truman Capote’s ANSWERED PRAYERS

Bookish Valentine’s Day Sweatshirts to Celebrate Your One True Love

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Winter/Spring 2024 Adaptations Releasing

Hi, mystery fans! I will watch anything that Michelle Yeoh is in, so my weekend plans absolutely include watching her new movie on Netflix, which looks like a dark comedy crime family film: The Brothers Sun.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

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Read Your Heart Out tee by ChickenTee

This one comes in a ton of options, plus it has about 28 colors to choose from. ($15)

New Releases

cover image for Silent Judgement

Silent Judgment by Zaire Crown

For fans of urban thrillers, assassins, and plots that feel like they’re ripped from the headlines!

Amelia Chess is a Black conservative TV personality who has made herself known for attacking marginalized communities, including her own. Now, after her most recent opinion on a police shooting, she is faced with death threats, and a bodyguard is brought in. Silence, known as a street executioner, has zero desire to be Amelia’s bodyguard, but he has no option when a kingpin calls in an owed favor…

not dead enough book cover

Not Dead Enough by Tyffany D. Neiheiser

For fans of YA thrillers and the how-is-the-dead-guy-messaging-me?! trope.

Charlotte is a high school junior with PTSD: her boyfriend Jerry, who was physically abusive, died in a car accident she survived on prom night. She’s doing her best to put her life back together while keeping the past abuse secret…until she suddenly starts receiving messages from Jerry’s phone and is forced to face the past and question: if the ghost of Jerry isn’t after her, then who is…?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Danika Ellis, who is steering Book Riot’s Read Harder challenge, has also been offering helpful selections for other book challenges, including PopSugar’s 2024 reading challenge. Being that the first reading challenge I ever did (years back) was PopSugar’s, I thought it would be fun to offer some mystery book options for some of the first prompts.

Patron Saints of Nothing cover image

Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay

#2: a Bildungsroman / coming-of-age story

For the challenge: you have a teen boy navigating identity, culture, and finding his way and place when his roots can feel as if they conflict with his current daily life.

Adding a mystery: Jay Reguero is a senior in high school when he learns that his cousin Jun has died in the Philippines. Unable to comprehend how Jun died in relation to the Government’s current war on drugs, he plans on spending his spring break in the Philippines with family as a cover to investigate Jun’s death.

Bonus: the audiobook is narrated by Ramón de Ocampo (Red, White, and Royal Blue)!

(TW addiction/ discussions of sex trafficking/ past rape, not detailed)

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng book cover

Gorgeous Gruesome Faces by Linda Cheng

#5: a book about K-pop

For the challenge: An all-girl pop group disbanded after a member died by suicide. Now, one of the past members signs up for a K-pop workshop with the chance to train in Korea.

Adding a mystery (thriller/ psychological horror): While one past group member is in the workshop to become a K-pop star, another past group member has arrived to infiltrate and find out what really happened to the past member that died…

Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing cover image

Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymiczkowa

#13: A book originally published under a pen name

For the challenge: Maryla Szymiczkowa is the pen name for Jacek Dehnel and his partner Piotr Tarczyński, who currently live in Warsaw.

Adding a mystery: Zofia Turbotynska is bored with her life in 1893 Cracow, Poland. She’s 38 and married to a professor who doesn’t value all the help she’s given to his career. So when a woman disappears from a nursing home, Zofia naturally decides to investigate herself — she is smart and loves mystery novels, so why not!

(TW mentions infertility/ discussions of addiction/ past domestic abuse mentioned)

News and Roundups

Alex Segura returns to the scene of the comic book crime with the new novel Alter Ego (Secret Identity follow-up!)

Congrats to the mystery books that won at the ALA Youth Media Awards winners (and also all the other genre books): The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist (The Robert F. Sibert Award for the most distinguished informational book for children) and Promise Boys (The Odyssey Award for best audiobook production).

Monsieur Spade Makes Clive Owen a Classic Noir Hero in the Best Kind of Fanfiction: TV Review

Hey YA Extra Credit: Madcap Mysteries

Winter/Spring 2024 Adaptation Preview

(At least 5 adaptations!) Oscar Nominations 2024: Oppenheimer Dominates With 13 Nods, Poor Things Follows With 11

This British Miniseries Pairs Jane Austen With a Murder Mystery

Defunding liberal arts is dangerous for health care: “Through literature, poetry, theater, and visual arts, students acquire important professional capacities, such as tolerance of ambiguity, skillful clinical communication, and sensitivity in listening to and learning from patient stories.”

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Louise Penny’s 19th Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Announced

Hello, mystery fans! At the end of 2023, I ran out of new podcast episodes, so I started looking for new ones and also decided to start at the beginning of podcasts that I was only listening to current drops since I’d started. Which is all to say, it’s how I discovered a really interesting story on how Tom Clancy became a big-name author (hint: it involved a president) on this episode of the Book Riot podcast: Accountability Pants. It’s also really interesting to listen to podcasts that have been around a while (a decade in this case!) to see the then and now (in this case, in publishing!). It’s also nice to take a little break from everything being on fire in the current timeline.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

a navy sweatshirt with pink graphic book and white text saying Books Are My Language

Books Are My Language sweatshirt by BellasCozyDesigns

I love when something works for a holiday and year-round. Also, you get options between sweatshirt and hoodie, and there are 11 colors to choose from. ($45)

New Releases

cover image for The Morning Show Murders

The Morning Show Murders by Al Roker, Dick Lochte

For fans of celebrities writing mysteries, amateur sleuths, food, and murder mysteries set in network TV!

Before having to become an amateur sleuth, Billy Blessing is already busy running a NY restaurant, regularly being on the morning show Wake Up, America!, and working on a new food competition show. That is, until he becomes the suspect of murdering the executive producer in his new show. What’s a suspect to do but become a sleuth and clear his name!

cover image for The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett

For fans of stories about cults, past mysteries, and fictional true crime reporters!

Years ago, three members of a cult died by suicide, and the baby they believed to be the Antichrist and its mother disappeared. The baby, now reaching its 18th birthday, gives a literary agent the idea to assign the case to a true crime reporter for a book deal. The problem is, no one knows anything about who the baby is, so Amanda Bailey has a massive investigation ahead of her, which we get to watch be pieced together with messages, interviews, recordings, screenplays, a diary, a novel…It’s all just one twist after another, starting with the fact that Amanda isn’t the only person on this assignment: Oliver Menzies, whom Amanda blames for ruining her career once, is also on the same case and writing his own book!

If you like inventive format and watching a case from beginning to end, I inhaled this one in a day.

This has a great multicast audiobook — which clearly states before each entry who is speaking and through what format — narrated by Annie Aldington, Nneka Okoye, Gareth Armstrong, Sid Sagar, and Kristin Atherton.

(TW past child endangerment, attempted harm/ past assumption of postpartum depression / past mass suicide, detail/ house fire/ past child abuse)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Last year, two good deadly game YA novels were released — Thieves’ Gambit by Kayvion Lewis and Their Vicious Games by Joelle Wellington — which inspired me to write a post about dark academia and deadly games. Last week, I watched the new deadly game film Self Reliance, so naturally, my brain stayed in this space. With that in mind, here are two deadly game books.

cover image for A Killer's Game

A Killer’s Game by Isabella Maldonado

For fans of procedurals!

Dani Vega is an FBI agent who witnesses a murder in NY by an assassin for hire, Gustavo Toro. Rather than being taken into custody, Toro makes a deal that ropes Vega in. The problem is the operation they think they’re in charge of ends up luring 13 people, including Dani, into an isolated building where the puppet master promises only one will come out alive…

cover of hide by kiersten white

Hide by Kiersten White

For fans of horror!

Imagine being offered $50,000 to hide in an amusement park for a week and not get caught! This is the offer made to 14 people, including Mack, who is living in a homeless shelter. Mack is confident in her chances of winning — how hard is hide and seek anyways? — but soon, she’ll figure out that the stakes are her life…

News and Roundups

2024 Edgar Award Nominations

Andrew Scott is Talented Career Criminal Tom Ripley in First Teaser for Netflix’s Ripley

New Mysteries for a New Year

10 Best Harlan Coben Book Adaptations, Ranked

Louise Penny’s 19th Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Announced

Sparkly and Fun Stickers for Library Lovers

Anti-Book Ban Bill Introduced in Colorado

Ruth Wilson on her new series The Woman in the Wall

I’m Terrible At Murder Mystery Games, But I Love Murder Mystery Games

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Readers’ Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers of 2024

Hello, mystery fans! If you’re a fan of dark-ish comedies, a bit of WTF is going on, and deadly games, watch the new Hulu film Self Reliance, starring Jake Johnson and Anna Kendrick.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

a sticker sheet with 12 stickers with illustrations of kittens and books and hearts

Valentine Sticker Sheet for Book Lovers by HMPaperStudio

If you put stickers in your Valentine cards or just love book lover and kitten-themed stickers, here’s a sweet set. ($3)

New Releases

cover image for The Perfect Affair

The Perfect Affair by Angela Henry

For fans of domestic thrillers and “did he or didn’t he” mysteries!

Paige and Aaron Nichols hit a big rough patch in their marriage when Paige correctly accuses Aaron of having an affair with a coworker. He promises he’ll end it and work on their marriage, except what happens next is that the coworker comes forward with information that could get Aaron fired, and then she disappears, leaving Aaron as the prime suspect…

cover image for The Heiress

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

For fans of alternating POV (including letters!), returning home to an estate, family fortunes, murder, and secrets!

Ruby McTavish, who is famous for surviving a childhood kidnapping, died a decade ago. Her fortune, including a family estate, was all left to her son Camden. He hasn’t wanted anything to do with it, now living with his wife in California and making a living as a teacher. But the past comes for everybody, and Camden finally relents and returns home to North Carolina to finally deal with his mother’s will. What could go wrong?!

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Here are two books if you’re looking for some humor in your reading while also offering a mystery!

cover image for To Have and To Heist

To Have and to Heist by Sara Desai

For fans of a rom-com meets crime — heist in this case — who love Jennifer Crusie (Getting Rid of Bradley)!

Simi Chopra may not be living her best life right now, but that isn’t going to stop her from being there for her bestie, who just got scammed and is now suspected of stealing a diamond necklace. No worries, jewel thief Jack can solve all their problems by helping them steal the necklace back. The catch? Simi and her bestie have to put together a crew to pull off a heist during a wedding. Will this be amateur hour, or will they pull this off?

Soneela Nankani has great humor timing in her narration of the audiobook!

cover image for Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions

Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions by Mario Giordano, translated by J. Maxwell Brownjohn

For fans of the way The Princess Bride is narrated and older women speaking their minds while solving crimes!

Auntie Poldi is a Bavarian widow in her 60s who has just moved to Sicily. With her nephew visiting, she narrates to him the story — and the story breaks are for them to quibble and for him to lament on his writing career — where her handyman goes missing and Poldi puts herself on the case! Poldi marches to the beat of her own drum, does as she pleases, and makes for a fun lead in this series which currently has four translated releases.

News and Roundups

Murder, They Wrote

This is what your favourite book genre says about you

Apple TV Plus has a brand-new crime thriller — and it’s a must-watch

How a Sherlock Holmes obsession and personal loss informed Issa López’s True Detective

Readers’ Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers of 2024

Why Armando Lucas Correa Went From Historical Fiction to Writing a Thriller

Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen Is Getting the Franchise Treatment

One Piece Creator Spotlights Detective Conan With Anniversary Tribute

Power Ranking the Books of 2019

Black Crime and Mystery Novels We Love

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Start 2024 off on a thrilling note with these 4 crime fiction novels

Hi, mystery fans! Hulu is chasing the success of Only Murders in the Building with a new mystery show: Death and Other Details is set on a cruise ship, has Agatha Christie vibes, and stars Mandy Patinkin (“My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.”).

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

a hoodie sweatshirt with a printed graphic on the back of a woman with an open book and text saying "born to read forced to work"

Born to Read bookish hoodie by ChapterCatchers

The accuracy hurts! ($37+, available in a handful of colors)

New Releases

cover image for The Night of the Storm

The Night of the Storm by Nishita Parekh

For fans of intergenerational family drama, being in the MC’s head, remote mysteries, and slowly getting past and present reveals!

Jia Shah is struggling as a single mom when her son gets into a fight in school, and she thinks her ex is ready to take him away. When a hurricane evacuation happens, she ends up going to her sister’s house, only to arrive and find out that the whole neighborhood — minus one neighbor — has left. Between the stress of the storm, her stress with her ex, being a mom, and her issues with her brother-in-law, the last thing she needs is a dead body…

The narrator, Soneela Nankani, does a fantastic job on the audiobook.

(TW fertility issues/ assumes domestic abuse, nothing on page/ past statutory involving 17-year-old)

cover image for The Search Party

The Search Party by Hannah Richell

For fans of remote mysteries, past friends coming together, secrets bubbling over, multiple POVs from adults and kids, and not knowing who the victim is at the beginning!

A married couple of architects left their city life for a quiet, remote life in hopes of helping their adopted son, who has PTSD because of his early childhood. They’re opening up a camping site and have invited their college friends for a weekend retreat reunion. Sounds fun, right? Except this is a remote mystery, and humans are gonna human. There’s a fight between the kids, in which the parents take sides, a teen who was forced to come along and is miserable, a loan amongst friends that is going sour, an arguing couple, and secrets amongst the friend group that start to accidentally be revealed. We begin with a scene that appears like someone is being forced to jump to their death, then you start getting DCI interviews and go back and forth between the arrival and reunion weekend and the investigation, which includes a missing person and a murder…

The audiobook has dual narrators, Beth Eyre and Jamie Parker, who kept me fully invested in this mystery!

(TW past child abuse/ past suicide)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Since there are 24 tasks for this year’s Read Harder, which breaks down to two per month, I thought after doing the first task, I’d knock out the second one by finding the mystery versions: “Read a YA book by a trans author.”

cover image for No One Left But You

No One Left But You by Tash McAdam

For fans of past and preset murder mysteries with a lead who has no memory of the night in question!

Two timelines careen towards each other with a before-the-murder storyline and an after-the-murder storyline. Max has recently transitioned, which led his best friend and hookup partner to turn into his bully; his mom is an alcoholic who keeps misgendering him; and the only thing he has is his music and song lyrics he writes. That is until Gloss, an uber-popular and shiny cool new girl, shows up and takes Max under her wing. But the veneer starts to crack, and a murder at a party lands Max in an interrogation room with someone confessing to the crime and Max still not remembering what exactly happened…

(TW alcoholic parent, child abuse/ misgendering, transphobia / mentions past suicidal ideation)

Cover of Saint Juniper's Folly by Alex Crespo

Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo

For fans of horror-lite, found family, and haunted house mysteries!

We follow three teenagers in small town Saint Juniper, Vermont. Jaime ran away from his past but is now back in his hometown, and after going into the woods, he disappears! Theo is a senior who feels totally stuck in life until he goes into the woods and finds a haunted house with Jaime trapped inside! Naturally, Theo turns to a local teen, Taylor, for her witchy powers and help to free Jaime. But Taylor is grieving her mother and is banned from using magic by her father. How did Jaime get stuck, what is this haunted house, can they all solve a mystery together, and can Taylor and Theo save Jaime?!

News and Roundups

Book Banning Will Not Stop at Schools

The Most Anticipated Books of 2024

10 New January 2024 Book Club Picks, From GMA Book Club To Amor en Páginas

Start 2024 off on a thrilling note with these 4 crime fiction novels

The Year of the Female Creep

Line of Duty’s Anna Maxwell Martin teams up with David Mitchell in new BBC crime drama

International Family Mystery Thabo and the Rhino Case Comes to US and Canada Theaters Nationwide Starting Feb 23rd

Giancarlo Esposito’s Crime Thriller Parish Gets Teaser From AMC

Another Round of Public Library Bomb Threats

ChatGPT Owner Admits to Needing Copyrighted Material to Train Its AI Tools

Winter Bookmarks for Cozy Reading

Proposed Anti-Book Ban Bills Presented in Massachusetts

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

Clive Owen stars as the now-retired gumshoe Sam Spade

Hello, mystery fans! This weekend, I’ll be watching Echo on Disney+, which was one of my most anticipated shows this year since I’ve really enjoyed what the streamer has done with other Marvel characters getting series. If you haven’t already watched, I recommend Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Hawkeye, WandaVision, Moon Knight, and Loki. It’s totally worth getting the streamer, even for just one month, and marathoning those shows.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

canvas tote bag with a screenprinted image of a raccoon reading a book that says "read trashy books"

Raccoon Reading Book Tote Bag by FrayedInkDesign

I swear I’m not turning this into a raccoons reading newsletter, but also I couldn’t not share this. ($16)

New Releases

cover image for Better the Blood

Better the Blood (A Hana Westerman Thriller #1) by Michael Bennett

This is a new-in-paperback release this week to read if you missed it in 2023! For fans of procedurals, fictional serial killers, Indigenous mysteries, multiple POVs including the killers, and armchair traveling to New Zealand!

Detective Hana Westerman works for the Auckland police and is a mother to a teen activist daughter and ex-wife to a superior officer when a new case develops: a killer announces revenge on six British soldiers’ descendants tied to the brutal murder of a Māori chief in the 1800s. Not only will Hana have to stop the killer, but she’ll also have to deal with the past, including her own…

The audiobook is narrated by New Zealand actors Miriama McDowell and Richard Te Are.

cover of Northwoods by Amy Pease; image of shadow of a man standing in front of a lake at sunset

Northwoods by Amy Pease

For fans of murder mysteries with multiple POV procedurals!

This is a solid mystery that will satisfy many tropes: struggling detective (PTSD, alcoholism), small town, multiple POVs including from the sheriff, murder mystery + missing person mystery. It’s a great mix of following the clues of the mysteries mixed in with town life and the struggling characters’ personal lives.

Eli North has PTSD from war and is self-managing it with alcohol, which is obviously going terribly. Drunk, he stumbles across the body of a teen boy who appears to have drowned. He ends up being put on the case by his mother, who is the town sheriff and is trying her best to help Eli. She feels guilt over the death of the boy, whose mom is an addict, because she feels that as sheriff, she didn’t do enough. Added into the murder mystery is a missing teenage girl, a “miracle” drug from a pharmaceutical company, and Eli trying to do right by his son and ex-wife. If there is a sequel, I am definitely reading it.

(TW teen death/ PTSD, alcoholism/ drug addiction, drug overdose/ panic attacks/ suicidal ideation, attempted suicide/ past domestic, child abuse)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Thought I’d give some mystery options if you were joining in and working your way through this year’s Read Harder challenge. The first task is “Read a cozy fantasy book,” so I have two that blend cozy mystery with fantasy!

Murder in G Major cover image

Murder in G Major (Gethsemane Brown Mysteries #1) by Alexia Gordon

For fans of amateur sleuths, music, and ghosts!

Gethsemane Brown is a musician who moves from the US to Ireland to teach schoolboys in an orchestra. What she ends up with is a lovely cottage that has a ghost who needs Gethsemane to solve the actual case where he was accused of the murder-suicide of his wife and self. This is a fun series with snarky humor and a great pairing between Gethsemane and her ghostly first “client” turned friend and sleuthing partner.

cover image for Caught Dead Handed

Caught Dead Handed (Witch City Mystery #1) by Carol J. Perry

For fans of psychics and cozy mysteries!

Lee Barrett returns to her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts, but finds no jobs as a reporter and settles as the host for a late-night show for horror movies. She’ll be the call-in psychic because the last one was murdered — cue ominous music. She plans on faking her way through the job, but then strange things start to happen, including the past host’s cat having powers and visions of real events…

News and Roundups

Readers’ Most Anticipated Mysteries & Thrillers of 2024

The Dictionary, Guinness World Records Among Books Banned in Escambia County, Florida

Apple TV+ has a new crime drama for us to check out, and it stars Doctor Who‘s Peter Capaldi. What can we expect in Criminal Record?

Amanda Knox set to produce true crime drama about her wrongful conviction

Clive Owen stars as the now-retired gumshoe Sam Spade

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

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Unusual Suspects

The Most Anticipated Mystery and Thriller Books of 2024

Hi, mystery fans! How’s the new year treating you? I’ve been laughing a lot watching Mr. Queen (Netflix), relieving stress by stress playing Rayman Legends (Nintendo Switch), and reading a ton—my first read of the year was The Swayze Year: You’re Not Old, You’re Just Getting Started!

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

jigsaw puzzle of a little raccoon reading a book

Raccoon Reading Book Jigsaw Puzzle by SimplyIdeasShop

The squeal that left my body when I saw this! ($17+, Options on how many pieces you want)

New Releases

cover image for Last Seen in Lapaz

Last Seen in Lapaz (Emma Djan Investigation #3) by Kwei Quartey

This is a new-in-paperback release this week!

Here’s a series for fans of PIs at an agency, mysteries set outside of the US, and missing person cases that unfold into even more crimes.

Emma Djan is a PI working for an agency in Accra, Ghana. The case currently assigned involves a diplomat’s daughter, Ngozi Ojukwu, who, rather than starting college, disappeared in Lagos, Nigeria. It’s believed she ran off with her boyfriend, Femi, except he’s found murdered and has been involved in human trafficking. So Emma goes undercover in the hopes of finding out what happened to Ngozi.

If you want to start at the beginning of this series, pick up The Missing American, and if you like completed series, pick up Quartey’s Wife of the Gods, which starts the Darko Dawson procedural series.

cover of First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston; image of woman standing on a porch in front of a big house

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

For fans of secret identity, con women, and cat and mouse games!

Evie Porter isn’t really Evie Porter. She’s been assigned this identity, after screwing up her past assignment, by whoever her mysterious boss is. She’s determined to make up for her last job, except a few things happen: she likes the man she’s dating, Ryan Sumner, who is supposed to be her target, and a woman shows up in Evie’s life with Evie’s actual identity. Clearly, someone is after her, but who and why? And how is she going to outsmart them…?

This was an audiobook (narrated by Saskia Maarleveld) that I knew absolutely nothing about and hit play just to see if the beginning interested me, and OOP, suddenly all my chores were done, and I was at the end having read a very satisfying mystery.

(TW parent death by cancer)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Here are two big mystery tropes in other genres!

cover of the death I gave him by em x liu

The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu

For fans of Shakespeare retellings and locked-room murder mysteries, who want to try (or already read) sci-fi!

Imagine Hamlet but in a high-tech lab with an Operating System AI who wants to be called Horatio and Dr. Graham Lichfield, who has been murdered and needs his son Hayden to avenge his death! But who is Ophelia, you may ask? The security head of the lab’s daughter, Felicia Xia.

cover of black sheep by rachel harrison

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

For fans of cults and having to return to the town you escaped who are looking to try (or already read) horror!

Imagine leaving the cult you were raised in at 18 — your mother, a horror actress, is a leader in said cult — only to return home after receiving an invitation to the wedding of your ex-best friend and your previous boyfriend. What could go wrong?!

News and Roundups

New mafia book stands out because of the background of its author, an ex-mobster

The Most Anticipated Mystery and Thriller Books of 2024

The Novels of Argentine Author Claudia Piñeiro — More Than Mysteries

New Year, New Bullet Journal Supplies

Harlem After Midnight, Fall, and more mystery books to kick off the year

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

Categories
Unusual Suspects

5 under-appreciated crime novels you should read

Hello, mystery fans!

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

a photo of dangling earrings that looks like iridescent round monsters reading a book

Cute reading monsters earrings by MilosMarvelousCrafts

Cute, fun earrings — plus you can select the earring type. ($22)

New Releases

cover image for The Misfits

The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee and Dan Santat

For fans of middle grade and crime-fighting teams!

Olive Cobin Zang is 12 and swears her busy parents don’t care about her. Her grandma recently passed away, and now she’s starting a new boarding school…which Olive quickly learns is a cover for a crime-fighting organization that uses kids. Adults didn’t work, and teenagers really didn’t work, so why not try kids?! They aren’t spies, and they aren’t police, and no one knows who is really in charge of the youth operatives, but they’re trained and taught to “prevent chaos, catch lawbreakers”. So that’s what Olive and her fellow team do in this fun, fast-paced, high-stakes (dangerous missions!) mystery!

The audiobook has a great narrator, Cindy Kay.

cover image for Here in the Dark

Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski

For fans of self-destructive main characters and the theater!

Former actress Vivian Parry is now a theater critic for a NY magazine. She ends up making a trade with a graduate student: he’ll put her on a panel (to help her career), and she’ll give him the interview he wants for his thesis. The problem? The graduate student’s fiancée claims Vivian is the last to see him before he disappeared. What’s Vivian to do other than self-destruct and try to find him…?

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

It’s a shame that there isn’t more middle grade and YA nonfiction, so I wanted to highlight two titles.

cover image for From a Whisper To a Rallying Cry

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

For readers of true crime and the US justice system.

In Detroit in 1982, a fight that began in a bar ended with Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, being beaten to death by two white men after Chin left the bar and they went searching for him. The men who killed Chin only received three years of probation and a $3,000 dollar fine. Paula Yoo dives into interviews, court transcripts, and news to focus on the night Chin was killed, the court case, protests, the following federal civil rights trial, and the Asian American movement.

(TW mentions past suicidal thoughts, not detailed/ xenophobia, racism)

cover image for The Mona Lisa Vanishes

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist

For fans of art, history, and theft!

Back in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was not famous, a guard at the Louvre shouted, “La Joconde, c’est partie!” (The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!) A man had walked in, taken the painting off the wall, and walked back out. This book is about a heist, and it has Pablo Picasso, conspiracy theories, art, and history! It’s enjoyable for all ages!

News and Roundups

5 under-appreciated crime novels you should read

The 25 Best Books of 2023 Are Just Right for Thrill-Seekers and Go-Getters

Seven classic mystery books to curl up with over the winter

12 new crime shows we’re most excited about in 2024

11 Best Detective Series Set in London

DC Comics kicks off 2024 with the launch of a brand new series of The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.

Categories
Unusual Suspects

To Mick Herron, failure is more interesting than success

Hi, mystery fans! Welcome to 2024.

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

a wooden book stand tray that holds a book, with a spot for a glass and snacks or eyewear

Personalized wooden book stand and tray by BlueberryCreekHom

If you’re looking for a tray that doubles as a book stand, here’s a nice one. I, however, would not keep a drink there, because I keep seeing myself lifting the book and hitting the cup and then cursing. ($47)

New Releases

cover image for Midnight

Midnight by Amy McCulloch

For fans of remote mysteries on a ship!

Olivia Campbell is an actuary who recently had a nervous breakdown because of work. Her boyfriend, Aaron, is an art curator who is planning a recently deceased artist’s exhibition on a luxury cruise. Hoping to reset herself, Liv decides to go on the cruise to Antarctica. Problem? Many! Liv is terrified of being out on the water since her father’s death; Aaron doesn’t make it onto the ship, Liv has to run the exhibition, and it’s a remote mystery, so there’s gonna be a lot of accidents, anxiety, and deaths…

Author’s backlist: Breathless.

The audiobook is narrated by Cathleen McCarron, who you may know from Conviction and Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

(TW suspected suicide death/ recounts past desire for self-harm that could be triggering for suicidal ideation)

cover image for Borgata

Borgata Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia by Louis Ferrante

For readers of true crime, mafia, and history!

This is a deep dive that traces Italian organized crime throughout history, including the control of labor in Sicily, the American Mafia in lawless New Orleans, and the relationship with Jewish gangsters before prohibition.

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

Let’s start the year with great mysteries from last year that are now out in paperback!

cover image for The Black Queen

The Black Queen by Jumata Emill

For fans of YA mysteries with school settings and multiple POV!

Lovett High’s first Black homecoming queen has been murdered. Duchess Simmons, her best friend and daughter of a cop, can’t get anyone to believe her that she knows who the murderer is: Tinsley McArthur, who felt entitled to be this year’s winner instead because all the women in her family have been homecoming queens. Except Tinsley swears she’s not responsible and isn’t going to let people accuse her…

(TW past parent death from cancer/ mentions past suicide/ mentions past date rape, not graphic/ mentions past child molestation, not graphic/ statutory)

cover of Nine Liars (Truly Devious) by Maureen Johnson; illustration of a shattered picture frame lying on a bed of fall leaves

Nine Liars (Truly Devious #5) by Maureen Johnson

First, a bit of background on the series: The first three books, beginning with Truly Devious, are a trilogy and need to be read as such. Book 4 and 5, however, can be read as standalones and without having read the trilogy.

Now a senior in high school, Stevie Bell convinces her principal to let her do a study abroad trip with her friends in London. Why London? Because that’s where Stevie’s boyfriend is. Except who has time for romance or studying when there’s a murder to solve? (The only thing Stevie thinks about.) In the ’90s, nine Cambridge friends were staying at a friend’s home playing drunk hide-n-seek in the middle of the night when two were murdered with an ax. And Stevie is certain the original robbery-gone-wrong is incorrect, so she’s going to prove it…

News and Roundups

Every TV Series Coming to Apple TV+ in January 2024

Father Brown is back for series eleven

Barnes & Noble virtual event: Wednesday, February 07, 2024, 3:00 PM ET—Jordan Harper, Everybody Knows, will be in conversation with New York Times bestselling author of All the Sinners Bleed, S.A. Cosby. (Two of our current best crime writers!)

To Mick Herron, failure is more interesting than success

Yukito Ayatsuji’s The Decagon House Murders Mystery Novel Gets Live-Action Adaptation (Really hope this will come over to the US!)

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.