Mysteries that are just as Extra as Poker Face

If you haven’t had shakshuka before, you need to get on it ASAP. It’s a relatively simple North African/Middle Eastern dish that combines tomatoes, spices, and eggs, but somehow amounts to something greater than its parts. Especially if you make sure your eggs are still a little gooey. This goes perfectly with a crusty bread or toast (and a few avocado slices, if you’re feeling fancy). I’ve made this recipe by Suzy twice already.

I just started this one, and so far, I really like it (and also just came out yesterday!). It opens up with Vera Wong getting out of bed and setting out on her daily routine, which involves bemoaning the many ways young people need to do better, and how they could start by taking her advice. One day, as she heads down to her perpetually empty tea shop, she finds a dead body. She calls the cops, of course, but not before she does super helpful things like outlining the body in sharpie and taking a peek at the victim’s wallet and pockets. Oh, and she also invites all the people she thinks may be suspects together for a meal that she spent all morning cooking. This is a fun, messy mystery that shouts out all the real Aunties out there.

Dayna is struggling as an actress in L.A. when she stumbles upon an accident and realizes that helpful tips for it result in a $15,000 reward…that she desperately needs. Once she starts investigating, she wants to solve the case for more than just the money, of course, but like…the money would really come in clutch for an actress only known for a questionable commercial. As she hunts down any and every lead — emphasis on “every” — she gets into various shenanigans. This is an overall lighthearted mystery with some genuinely funny moments.

Never have I identified with a fictional character more than I have with Murderbot. The fact that its name is Murderbot is something to unpack, but in the meantime, just know that it’s an android that serves as a security unit, or a SecUnit, who has hacked its own module to become self-governing. And what does this expensive, literal killing machine do with its autonomy? For one, it names itself Murderbot. It also spends most of its time watching soap operas (the fave being Sanctuary Moon, which Martha Wells herself described as being “based on How to Get Away with Murder, but in space, on a colony, with all different characters and hundreds more episodes”). But Murderbot still performs its job of keeping the ill-informed and often illogical humans safe, which includes accompanying them in trying to figure out who’s trying to sabotage their mission of conducting surface tests on a distant planet. I’ve read all the Murderbot material (several novellas, a short story, and a novel), and can’t wait for the next installment. If you love Kevin R. Free’s audiobook narration like me, he really shines in the Murderbot audiobooks.

With her 4-year-old going to school with duct tape of their head (for reasons), her book still unwritten, and her ex husband being raggedy, Finlay’s life is the definition of hot mess. When she’s overheard talking about her new novel with her agent, the eavesdropper mistakes her for an assassin, and she gets offered a big ole check to take someone out. She (unknowingly) accepts, like you do, but after she realizes what’s going on and refuses, the mark ends up dead. In her garage. And all signs point to her. This shares some of Poker Face’s ridiculous scenarios and even more ridiculous characters.

Like in Poker Face, the crime is revealed first in this one. Sportcoat, a cranky church deacon, hobbles out into the common area of a project building in Brooklyn and shoots a drug dealer. The dealer in question is 19-year-old Deems, who was actually coached by Sportcoat when he was younger. Deems survives, and because of this, people think it’s the end for good ole Sporty, but, as in Poker Face, the universe keeps looking out. From a friend named Hot Sausage to others in the community — including literal ants from Columbia — the characters and mystery in here are extra and super entertaining.