Hello fellow mystery lovers! This week I’m recommending some great genre-mixed mysteries. I pretty much read every genre, and since mystery has always been my favorite, I love when they mingle. I’ve found it’s also a great way to expand your reading into other genres and to be able to read the same book with someone who doesn’t necessarily read the genre(s) you love. It’s like a middle ground that lets you explore a bit of more than one thing.
Sponsored by Haven by Mary Lindsey
Rain Ryland has never belonged anywhere. He’s used to people judging him for his rough background, his intimidating size, and now, his orphan status. He’s always been on the outside, looking in, and he’s fine with that. Until he moves to New Wurzburg and meets Friederike Burkhart.
Freddie isn’t like normal teen girls, though. And someone wants her dead for it. Freddie warns he’d better stay far away if he wants to stay alive, but Rain’s never been good at running from trouble. For the first time, Rain has something worth fighting for, worth living for. Worth dying for.
Fantasy Meets Historical Fiction Mystery:
Jackaby (Jackaby #1) by William Ritter: Think Sherlock with a female assistant and throw in some critters like Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Abigail Rook, the narrator, has run off to be an Archeologist (how dare that woman not be a proper lady!) but when her dreams don’t pan out she finds herself working with Jackaby, a socially oblivious investigator. While Jackaby may not be super observant of social behavior, he is skillful in spotting nonhuman creatures–now if he can only convince others. Rook and Jackaby make a great team. Theirs is a serial killer mystery, and it’s fun. If fantasy isn’t usually your jam, this is set in Victorian England with only sporadic creatures so it’s a great toe-in-the-water step into fantasy without feeling overwhelmed. It’s also the first in a series of four, so you can binge the whole thing: Beastly Bones; Ghostly Echoes; The Dire King. (And those covers are gorgeous!)
Chick Lit Meets Mystery:
Getting Rid of Bradley by Jennifer Crusie: When Chick Lit exploded onto the scene, I read it all. ALL. It was generally funny, fun, and centered around women, and I devoured it like candy. This book has managed to stay on my bookshelves since the ’90s–I’m an old–and I decided to give it a reread. It was as delightful as I remembered it–which honestly is all I remembered because my memory is terrible. Lucy Savage is divorcing her husband, and good riddance. Except getting rid of Bradley (ha!) isn’t solving any of her problems: her I’ll-be-a-fabulous-blonde has turned her hair funky colors; there seems to be a mix-up with Bradley’s identity; two cops keep bothering her; and it looks like someone is trying to kill her. Turns out one of those cops, the one that looks like a bad boy, has some serious sparks with Savage which is only going to get further ignited as she’s under his protection. OhMy! I know Chick Lit gets a bad rap–as things women like tend to–but this book is fun, and ridiculous, and at the core a mystery about who Bradley is, where he went, and why someone is suddenly trying to kill Lucy Savage.
Science-Fiction Meets Mystery/Thriller:
Sleeping Giants (Themis Files #1) by Sylvain Neuvel: This novel is amazing and if you’re an audiobook reader it’s a must in audio–all the narrators are fantastic. Told mostly through interviews and journal entries we get the story of Rose Franklin who as a child was ridding her bike and came across a giant metal hand. Think of discovering a gigantic dinosaur bone except metal and ohmygod what! Almost twenty years later there is still not much known about this metal hand, nor where it came from. But people want, and need, to know, including Franklin, who is a physicist in charge of cracking the mystery of the hand. Everything about this book is built on not only the mystery of what and from where, but you don’t even know who the “investigators” are, which also becomes a part of the mystery. It’s a page-turning Sci-Fi mystery/thriller that is a hell of a ride. And since it’s set in the U.S. and doesn’t have the world building of a lot of Sci-Fi, it’s a great place to start if you’re overwhelmed by the genre.
Crime Meets Romance (Trigger Warning: Sexual/Domestic Abuse):
Uptown Thief (Justice Huslers #1) by Aya de León: A fellow Rioter had recommended this and I’m so glad he did. This is a mashup crime novel and romance. It isn’t a puzzle mystery type book, instead you follow criminals. But not your everyday criminals, these are women who are running a women’s health clinic in NY for underprivileged women. But you need money to keep a clinic open and funding just isn’t enough. So Marisol Rivera creates a down-low escort service that targets CEOs that want to donate to the clinic. Except she’s targeting human garbage CEOs so her and her crew can rob them. Girls gotta do what a girls gotta do to keep helping her community… As for the romance: Rivera may finally get a shot at a real relationship when a now ex-cop she grew up with starts circling her orbit. There’s also a really nice relationship between two of the clinic workers. Also, plenty of criminal activity–including some hold-your-breath-they’re-going-to-get-caught moments.
Links to Click:
Book Riot is giving away $500 to a bookstore of your choosing–ermergerd that’s SO MANY BOOKS!
A murderer helped make the Oxford English Dictionary.
Winnie M Li’s Dark Chapter has won the 2017 Not the Booker prize. (Review)
An interview (via live chat) with Tess Gerritsen, author of Rizzoli & Isles series and a ton of books.
Sarah Blaedel’s Louise Rick series is being adapted into a TV series.
Milwaukeeans: Murder and Mayhem on Nov. 4th
Now in Paperback:
Tell the Truth Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta (Review)
Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia (Review)
Fields Where They Lay (Junior Bender #6) by Timothy Hallinan
The Last Day of Emily Lindsey by Nic Joseph (Review)
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d (Flavia de Luce #8) by Alan Bradley
Recent Release Kindle Deal!
Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber is $2.99 (Review)
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And if you like to put a pin in things here’s an Unusual Suspects board.
Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canaves.