Hello mystery fans! Ana de Armas and Chris Evans’ Ghosted is now streaming on Apple TV+ so I’ll leave you with all the mystery goodness below while I run to go watch it.
And if you haven’t yet subscribed to Book Riot’s newest newsletter Deep Dive, as the title suggests you’ll get longer pieces written by different bookish experts in your inbox. Which is as awesome as it sounds.
Bookish Goods
Crime Solver T-shirt by CozyQueenMedia
I do have a pretty high rate of fictional mystery solving! ($18)
New Releases
Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb
For fans of history, music, the art enthused being threatened by shady peeps, and past and present storylines!
Frederick Delaney is a renowned 20th century composer whose legacy included a lost opera. Bern Hendricks, a music professor and an expert on the composer, could not run fast enough at the chance to authenticate what is believed to be the found opera. In the current timeline we watch Bern and Eboni work for the Delaney Foundation to authenticate the piece and learn its history. In the 1920s we watch Frank Delaney in Manhattan meet Josephine Reed, one is a struggling musician and the other is a musical prodigy living on the streets.
Bianca Torre Is Afraid of Everything by Justine Pucella Winans
1. If the cover is giving you SFF vibes, it isn’t at all — it’s pure YA amateur sleuth mystery.
2. It’s so fun and funny, and one of my favorite characters that I’ve read this year.
Bianca Torre has a lot of anxieties. So many in fact that they have a list! What’s a teen with a lot of fears who is trying to figure out their gender to do? Join a bird watching group of course! And maybe do some spying on neighbors (people watching?) with their binoculars. That’s how Bianca sees a neighbor’s murder, and realizes that after the police label it a suicide, the case must be solved properly. Bianca goes into sleuth mode with their best friend — both anime lovers — even though neither are true crime enthusiasts.
This is one of those books that’s fun, has a large dose of friendship, and makes the mystery solve the right kind of ridiculous. And it looks like Justine Pucella Winans has a middle grade fantasy, The Otherwoods, releasing this fall which I am definitely looking forward to — along with any future books.
(TW suicide assumed in murder case/ anxiety, fears, panic attack/ animal cruelty, bird)
Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!
Riot Recommendations
Let’s do a couple more mysteries that released in paperback this month.
Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
I love that this was inspired by headlines of Chinese art disappearing from Western museums and its focus on Chinese American identity, colonization, and the diaspora from the view of different characters.
Will Chen is a student at Harvard when he witnesses a theft at the school’s museum, which leads to him being handed a business card. The person on the other end of the card hires Chen — who assembles a team — to steal five Chinese pieces from museums around the world for an absurd amount of money. The team is inexperienced in actual heists, Chen’s father works for the FBI, and each member has their own personal life issues, so things get complicated…
Sense and Second-Degree Murder (Jane Austen Murder Mystery #2) by Tirzah Price
This is a fun series that twists Jane Austen’s work into murder mysteries with romance. You do not have to read them in order and you do not have to have read the classics to enjoy these.
Sisters Elinor and Marianne have big plans: Elinor would like to be a scientist and Marianne a detective. They’ll be combining their skills and putting them to the test when they discover their father dead, resulting in a difficult financial situation for them. They’ll have to set out to prove its murder!
News and Roundups
Tennessee Bill Would Punish Publishers for Selling “Obscene” Material
Students, authors fight censorship in PA schools
Emil Ferris showed a sneak peek for vol 2 of My Favorite Thing is Monsters and I am so beyond excited!
Jennifer Garner ‘Wrote Letters’ to The Last Thing He Told Me Author Laura Dave to Land Lead Role
96 Mystery and Thriller Recommendations by Mood and Setting
Will Trent Renewed By ABC For Season Two
Alma Katsu shared that the rights for Red London have been optioned for a TV series!
Nancy Drew Retro-Style Action Figures and an All-New Novella
Yes, Don Winslow retired. And yes, City of Dreams is his new novel.
Intriguing Trailer for Murder Mystery Series City On Fire Set in NYC
Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2023 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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