Hello, mystery fans! If you’re a fan of how things were made and need something soothing to end the year with, I’ve been enjoying Behind the Attraction on Disney+.
Need a last-minute (or New Year) gift? Tailored Book Recommendations is here to help! Here at TBR, we pair our customers with a professional book nerd (aka bibliologist) who just gets them. They fill out a survey and then sit back and relax as we pick books just for them. We’ve got three levels — recs-only, paperback, and hardcover — and you can gift a full year or one time, so there are options for every budget! Get all the details at mytbr.co/gift.
Bookish Goods
Reading DIY embroidery kit for beginners by EmBeaRoidery
Maybe in 2024 you’ll want to repeatedly stab something and end up with something pretty in the end. ($34)
New Releases
Let’s end the year with something a little different: two authors who published more than one book this year!
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Jesse Q. Sutanto had a super productive year with, that I know of, four novels publishing!
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is a fun, thoughtful murder mystery with a funny older sleuth who owns a tea shop. When a dead body is found in her shop, she steals some evidence—for personal sleuthing of course—and pisses off the cops by outlining the body with a marker!
I’m Not Done with You Yet is a twisty psychological suspense about obsession, and the ways we may think we know ourselves but don’t…
Didn’t See That Coming is a YA romance with tropes of best friends to love and secret identity!
Theo Tan and the Iron Fan is the sequel to Theo Tan and the Fox Spirit, a fantasy middle grade series following Theo Tan, a Chinese American boy, and his snarky fox spirit companion.
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
S.A Cosby put out two crime stories this year, one an Audible original crime spree and the other a small town crime mystery.
All the Sinners Bleed is a dark crime novel with a serial killer on the loose in Charon County, Virginia, where Titus Crown just became the first Black sheriff. It’s been a quiet town on the major crime front until Titus takes over and his new position starts with a school shooting that targets a teacher. The incident puts Titus on an investigation with horrific past crimes and an unidentified third party…
Brokedown Prophets is a full-cast audible original that follows Preach, Digit, and Maria after they accidentally kill someone and end up on the run together…
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Here are two recent book announcements that are very exciting, and should be a good nudge to start their respective series if you haven’t already!
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
From Deanna Raybourn’s blog: “After 14 months of waiting, I can FINALLY share the fantastic news that KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE is getting a sequel!! So thrilled to let you know that KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS, featuring the same quartet of assassins as the first book, will pub in the spring of 2025. Cheers!”
Wouldn’t mind skipping right over 2024 and soft landing into 2025 to read this sequel! If you’ve yet to read the start of the series, absolutely go pick it up: you get women in their 70s who have been assassins since their 20s and are now being “retired” by the agency. So this time they band together to fight “the hand that feeds them.” It’s a fun book to either end or start the year with.
Also by the author: If you prefer a sunshine/grump pairing and like a historical setting with your humor plus a longer series, pick up A Curious Beginning from the Veronica Speedwell series.
Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
And now we jump to the land of PIs with the announcement that Jackson Brodie will return in a sixth book: Doubleday picks up new Jackson Brodie title from Atkinson.
If you’ve yet to meet Jackson Brodie, pick up Case Histories: Brodie, divorced with an eight-year-old in Edinburgh, finds himself looking at three cases from different decades: A woman beside her murdered-with-an-axe husband in their kitchen; a child who vanished from her backyard; a man who murdered a man’s daughter at his office.
Also by the author: If you want a standalone historical novel with a lady spy, pick up Transcription.
News and Roundups
Octavia Spencer, Hannah Waddingham Team Up for New Action-Adventure Series at Amazon Prime Video
Introducing the 2024 Reading Log!
Erica and Tirzah look at the best YA books they’ve read this year on Hey YA including Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley, Invisible Son by Kim Johnson, A Long Stretch of Bad Days by Mindy McGinnis (100% agree with these).
Al Roker has an upcoming mystery book: Murder on Demand (The Morning Show Murders)
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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