Hello mystery fans! If you’re looking for a fun time travel to the ’80s slasher film era, I really enjoyed Totally Killer on Prime.
I have the best job that matches people with what they want to read more of through TBR, so if you want to give it a try, here’s a thing about it: Autumn is here, which means it’s time to curl up with a great read and get cozy—whatever your version of cozy looks like. Whether it’s romance, creepy reads, modern classics, or escapist reads you crave, TBR can help you find the perfect books for your fall reading, with options curated to your specific reading tastes.
Bookish Goods
Reading Makes Me Feel Less Murdery Poster by MiriVintage
You know the rule: if it makes me laugh, you get to see it! ($25)
New Releases
Untraceable (The Factory #2) by Aya de León
For fans of spy organizations and prequel stories!
While this is the second book to be released in this series, after Undercover Latina, it’s a prequel and can be read as a standalone.
At 15, Amani Kendall’s entire life is upended when her family goes on the run: her mom is being pursued by a stalker, and her scientist father is missing. This leads to her being moved from a wealthy, all-white school to an underfunded school where her fellow classmates look like her. With everything going on in her life, she’s worried about who is after her family, how much danger they are in, and how easy it may be to find them. But her mom isn’t giving her satisfactory answers, so she decides to investigate herself…
I recently wrote a Reading Pathways to reading Aya de León if you’re looking for where to start with her work.
The Bell in the Fog (Andy Mills #2) by Lev AC Rosen
For fans of modern historical fiction and ex-cops turned PI!
Andy Mills is now a PI in San Francisco during the early 1950s. But business is certainly not booming for a few reasons, including that many people in the queer community aren’t signing up to trust a former cop. This is why he feels he has to take a case from an old flame—plus, how hard can a simple blackmail case be? Ha, it’s a PI novel, so of course, it’s going to get complicated. And for Andy, that means getting drawn back into the world of the Navy.
If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Lavender House!
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Towards the end of every year, this fun thing happens where my brain starts to have a mini-meltdown over all the books that have been released this year that I’ve yet to read—as if all those books won’t just still exist in the new year. So I thought I’d look at two books released earlier this year that I’m still very excited for and have only not gotten to just because *gestures like a muppet being electrocuted at all my unread books*
Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor
I’ve seen people liken this to a better, modern The Godfather and call it epic in scope with a focus on corruption (amongst many themes), which is keeping this high on my TBR.
We follow various characters, including Ajay, who was sold into servitude to Sunny Wadia’s family, and Neda Kapur, a journalist working on a corruption story. A decade into working for Sunny, Ajay finds himself at the scene of a crime where a car has hit and killed five people, but he cannot explain how this has happened.
All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord
This is a YA mystery exploring grief that wasn’t on my radar the month it was released, so it’s been added to my missed-but-will-definitely-be-reading pile.
A year ago, Hannah MacLaren’s cousin/best friend died of an overdose. While trying to process her grief, she’s become fixated on needing to know who exactly sold her cousin the drugs, certain this will at least help the family with closure. To do this, she gets a new look and lies her way into the expensive private school her cousin attended. But life is complicated, and so are people, and Hannah finds herself having to choose between a new crush and potential friends or staying true to her mission of finding out who is responsible for her cousin’s death.
News and Roundups
The amount of times I have talked about and written about and screamed into the void about the mystery genre being the worst in gatekeeping is enough to feel like a broken record, so here’s proof: “I’ve spent the last year recording every English language fiction deal in Publisher’s Marketplace, googling over 4000 authors, and this is what the current book deal landscape looks like…mystery 89% white” (SFF author Jessica V Aragon on Twitter)
20 Engaging Whodunits and Mysteries: Light-hearted Fun without the Chills
The 100 Best Mystery and Thriller Books of All Time
Detective Monk and friends return in first look at Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2023 releases and upcoming 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 Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Litsy—you can find me under Jamie Canavés.
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