The Best Mystery of 2023 Lists Have Begun

For fans of procedurals, archeologist leads, and MCs returning home to solve a mystery!

Syd Walker studied forensic anthropology but works instead for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Rhode Island branch, trying to preserve Indigenous history. She doesn’t return home often, having left behind her parents, a sister with addiction issues, and her childhood, where she witnessed her childhood friend and parents’ murders. But she has to leave her pregnant wife and head back to Oklahoma when an old badge of hers is found in a skull, and her sister is now missing.

This is a great procedural––with a strong character voice right from the start––about being haunted by the past, struggling with the present, and the history of real atrocities towards Indigenous people, especially Indigenous women and Two-Spirit.

I really enjoyed the audiobook, narrated by Carolina Hoyos and Erin Tripp, and will absolutely read any future books if this becomes a series.

(TW addiction, past survived overdose/ mentions past child abuse/ graphic child harm)

For fans of satire, a-hole women on a killing spree of men, and readers who maybe want a gender-swapped American Psycho!

Tiffany isn’t winning any kind of decent human award: she grew up being awful to her younger sister, is awful to her sorority sisters, and is basically spoiled and behaving as such. And now she’s found something to actually make her feel something and open her appetite: killing men! Quickly realizing––and even checking with a lawyer for advice––that she’ll quickly be suspected if she continues killing frat guys, she expands her killing spree to random prey. But satisfying her murderous desires isn’t enough when copycat killers begin. The boyfriend she’s trying to make “the one” won’t stop grieving, and the relationship starts to show cracks…

(TW fatphobia, diet culture, eating disorders, disordered eating/ mentions past parent cancer death/ date raper, drink drugging/ hidden camera to record sex/ domestic abuse)