Hello mystery fans! If you like cozy food competitions and Halloween, I highly recommend the Halloween Baking Championship (Max). I’m currently watching season 9, and it’s not only delicious––and gross!–but the judges are funny, and whoever does their costumes deserves an award.
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
I’d Rather Be at Book Club Sticky Notes by PeanutButterTaco
If you always have sticky notes around, here’s a cute bookish one. ($4)
New Releases
Murder in Drury Lane (Lady Worthing Mysteries #2) by Vanessa Riley
For fans of historical mysteries and theater-set mysteries!
Armchair travel to England in the early 1800s, where an abolition bill is pending, and Lady Abigail Worthing is married to an older lord who is mostly away. To distract her from her marital issues and a recent break-in, Lady Worthing is at the Drury Lane theater watching A Bold Stroke for a Wife. Except her recent trip to the theater is not all acting, at least not when the playwright is murdered. Now Lady Worthing will find herself once again putting on her amateur sleuth hat!
The Night I Died by Anne Frasier
For fans of “returning home to face the past” mysteries and PIs!
Olivia Welles left her small town in Kansas for a life in Venice, California, where she’s now a PI. Bonnie Ray-Murphy, who survived the car accident that killed Olivia’s mother, calls her out of the blue asking for help––she’s incarcerated on charges of killing her child. Olivia returns home ready to look into whether Bonnie is the monster the town accuses her of being or if there is a bigger mystery to solve…
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Here are two true crime memoirs authored by poets.
Memorial Drive: A Daughter’s Memoir by Natasha Trethewey
Trethewey recounts with beautiful and heartbreaking introspection her early childhood, her life with her mom’s second husband and the terror of living with him, her mother’s escape from the abusive marriage, and then her murder.
(TW domestic abuse/ emotional child abuse, gaslighting/ threats of murder suicide)
Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collections include Native Guard (Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry), Thrall, Monument: Poems New and Selected.
The Red Parts by Maggie Nelson
Nelson’s true crime memoir not only shines a light on her aunt’s murder––Jane Mixer was murdered in 1969, and the case wasn’t solved until 2004––but it’s also a meditation on society and humanity.
(I don’t remember TWs, sorry.)
Maggie Nelson’s poetry collections include Bluets and Jane: A Murder.
News and Roundups
A Humanitarian Crisis is Unfolding in Gaza. Here’s How You Can Help
Are Gatekeepers Giving Up The Fight Against Book Bans?
A Haunting in Venice to Get Digital Release on Halloween
Titan and Hard Case Crime preview Noir Burlesque
The Black Book Is Nigeria’s First Runaway Netflix Hit
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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