Hello mystery fans! This week I have for you a Southern lit mystery, a favorite P.I., and a page-turner that ended nowhere near where it began.
Sponsored by Cold Aim by Janice Cantore, new in paperback from Tyndale House Publishers.
Police Chief Tess O’Rourke’s small town is still reeling from a devastating fire when the FBI asks for help: Could she shelter a witness in a high-profile human trafficking case? When crews come to town to assist with the fire cleanup, Tess worries strangers might shine a light on things best kept hidden. She doesn’t know that Rogue’s Hollow is already home to a suspect from a twenty-five-year-old murder case . . . and someone is taking cold aim at those Tess is sworn to protect.
Southern Lit With Past Mystery (TW past child abuse/ suicide/ dog harmed–you’ll see it coming and it’s skippable)
The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz: I took a Southern lit course in college I loved so I gravitated toward this one RUL fast. Billie James returns to Mississippi for the first time since childhood after her mother’s passing, which left her her father’s property. Her father was a poet and activist who died when she was four years old and there’s always been a strange mystery surrounding his death. Her return will dredge up the past–of course–thanks to neighbors who used to own her family, seeing relatives she hasn’t seen since she was a child, and a researcher looking to write a book on her father. James will not only have to question everything she knew at the time of her father’s death and since, while also coming face-to-face with the racism of the past and present. This character-driven, past mystery is a great read for fans of Southern lit. And, this really should have been the lead, Bahni Turpin narrates the audiobook. If she narrates I will listen!
Great P.I. Series (TW suicide/ discussion of eating disorder)
The Stories You Tell (Roxane Weary #3) by Kristen Lepionka: This continues to be a series that makes me anticipate the next read and keep up-to-date with. If you’ve yet to start this one, and are a fan of P.I. stories, go pick up The Last Place You Look because you should really read from the beginning to see Weary’s character growth. This time around she’s more settled, including with her ex-girlfriend, now girlfriend again–they’re even double dating. Anyhoo, while Weary is trying to focus on a case about a business owner trying to track down counterfeit merch, she ends up really having to figure out what happened to the woman who disappeared from her brother’s home… This series, and book, works great if you’re a fan of P.I. stories with thrilling endings, family drama, struggling characters you root for, good twisty mysteries, and a modern facelift to the comfort of P.I. genre tropes. Look how many things there are to love!
A Past Mystery + A Will They Get Caught Crime Novel (TW talk of rape/ suicide, thoughts/ teacher student relationship)
The Reunion by Guillaume Musso: This ended up being really fun for me because I swear I started this with it being one thing, and then it’s like I was asked to change rides at one point and strapped in for something else. And since you know I hate to give anything away I’m only going to focus on the beginning of this story: Two men return to their prep school’s reunion twenty-five years later, not so much for the reunion but because the gym is going to be renovated and the body they hid in there is gonna be discovered! So they have one weekend to figure out what to do, if anything, before their lives are never the same again–except there is more to the story. They know one of the missing people was murdered, because they committed the crime, but everyone thinks that person is missing along with a student. But what happened to the missing student that day?… I read this in almost one sitting while floating in the pool because hello, page-turner!
Recent Releases
A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar (Reading: Friend searching for missing friend–this one was highly recommended to me.)
The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Reading: bananapants setup that is a page-turning thriller.)
Knife (Harry Hole #12) by Jo Nesbø (Scandinavia procedural thriller series.)
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest 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 Canavés.
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