Hello mystery fans! I recently stumbled across Teenage Bounty Hunters on Netflix, which is ridiculous fun so far. And I am very excited to watch Joy Ride which looks hilarious — and who doesn’t need a good laugh?
What do S.A. Cosby, Khaled Hosseini, Sarah Bakewell, and Yahdon Israel have in common? They’ve been guests on Book Riot’s newest podcast, First Edition where BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world. Subscribe to hear them and stay to hear Book Riot’s editors pick the “it” book of the month.
Bookish Goods
Fun Book Earrings by RumursRunWild
If you like dangling earrings and wearing bookish jewelry, look at these! Also, a great gift for teachers, librarians, and book lovers. ($10)
New Releases
The Mistress of Bhatia House (Perveen Mistry #4) by Sujata Massey
If you’re a fan of historical mysteries, you should be reading this series!
Being a female solicitor in 1920s Bombay is not an easy task but Perveen Mistry is always charging forward. This time around Perveen takes on the case of a disgraced servant — accused of causing an accident that burned an aristocrat’s son — going so far as to move her into Perveen’s family home. With so much stacked against her, can she prove her client is being framed?
If you’d like to start at the beginning, pick up The Widows of Malabar Hill.
The Wicked Unseen by Gigi Griffis
For fans of YA missing person mysteries, moving to a new town, an MC who is a huge fan of horror films, and the ’80s satanic panic but set in our time!
Teenager Audre’s family has just moved to a rural town where her mom inherited a mortuary. When a girl goes missing, Audre’s dad — a historian who joined a satanic group in the past for research purposes — becomes a suspect. Audre struggles to find her place in the town, one rooted in religious extremism, and finds herself looking for the missing girl, the preacher’s daughter, when no one else seems to be really looking beyond blaming satan for the disappearance.
(TW fake suicide “performance” by church group/ child abuse/ racism, xenophobia, homophobia/ panic attack/ religious extremism)
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
A favorite series of mine is publishing the final book in the series this year, so that’s the theme this time: completed series!
Malice by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith
I love this series, which will publish the final Detective Kaga book this December: The Final Curtain (aptly named).
In Japan the series has 10 books, but only four will be translated into English so you can easily catch up before the end (though reading the first three in order is not necessary).
In the first one from this series to be translated into English, you get a lot of catnip: a locked room mystery, a whydunnit, and the main character is a Japanese author!
Jackaby by William Ritter
For fans of completed book series, here’s some Sherlock-inspired historical fiction (late 1800s) with a serial killer mystery, and a mix of fantastic critters.
Abigail Rook’s dream of being an archeologist didn’t pan out and instead, she’s now working for the socially oblivious investigator Jackaby. Jackaby can see nonhuman creatures, even if he can’t convince others of such, and so he and Abigail are on the hunt for a serial killer thinking maybe the police have missed the culprit because they aren’t human…
And if you’re looking to marathon the series here’s the order: Beastly Bones; Ghostly Echoes; The Dire King.
News and Roundups
Last Call Is About a Murderer—and, More Importantly, His Gay Victims
Manslaughter Park Turns a Jane Austen Classic Into a Sapphic Mystery
Bestselling Author Jesse Q. Sutanto Talks Diversity, Genre-Hopping and Her Upcoming Adaptation
Deadloch is the Feminist Crime Parody You Didn’t Know You Needed
24 Mansion-Style Mysteries You’ll Love if You’re a Fan of Clue
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2023 releases and 2024 releases. 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 Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy — you can find me under Jamie Canavés.
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