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Unusual Suspects

33 Highly Anticipated Crime Novels

Hi mystery fans! If it’s cold where you are, I hope you have the warmest Snuggie and a good book!


Sponsored by Bookclubbish

2019 has some truly spine-tingling suspense novels to sink your teeth into. Everything from exciting debut authors to new releases from best-selling authors, these suspense titles will take readers to some new, unexpected places and hit readers with more twists and turns than you’ll ever see coming!


From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Murder on the River cover imageRincey and Katie talk recent news, books written by Native and Indigenous authors, and what they’re reading on the latest Read or Dead.

33 Highly Anticipated Crime Novels: January–March 2019

18 Questions I Have For “You” On Netflix (Spoilers obviously)

This riveting suspense novel confronts the misogyny in stand-up comedy head-on

News And Adaptations

Hollywood Ending cover imageThe 2019 Lefty Awards nominees were announced and I immediately spotted some favorites: Hollywood Ending, Broken Places, The Widows of Malabar Hill

Mystery Writers Of America announced their 2019 Edgar nominations and there are some great books on this list–and some more favorites of mine: A Treacherous Curse, The Feather Thief, Sadie, The Widows of Malabar Hill… but I’m going to be a broken record and point out that the lack of AOC/marginalized authors shows the narrow scope many are reading in the crime genre.

Chelsea Cain’s One Kick was adapted into a 12-episode limited series starring Leven Rambin, Chris Noth, and Danny Pino, and here’s the trailer! The show will premiere February 27th.

The Last Place You Look cover imageKristen Lepionka couldn’t find an organization for LGBTQ+ crime writers so she created a twitter account “for sharing info and news about queer crime writers.” If you want to follow her and @crimequeer on Twitter click here.

According to Netflix, 40 million members watched the You adaptation in its first 4 weeks.

Watch Now

The Hate U Give book cover and movie poster

The adaptation for Angie Thomas’ The Hate U Give is now out on DVD.

In theaters: King of Thieves, starring Michael Cain and Charlie Cox, is based on a true story about a group of retired thieves who pull off a jewelry heist. Watch the trailer.

Kindle Deal

The Good Son by You-jeong jeong cover imageThe Good Son by You-Jeong Jeong is $1.99 and perfect if you’re looking for a slow-burn psychological suspense that starts with a young man finding his mother dead with no memory…(Review) (TW: stalking/ suicide)

Bit Of My Week In Reading

I inhaled Tana French’s In The Woods audiobook (Yes, I keep reading series out of order because I’m me) and, seriously, French is top of the crime writing genre. If you haven’t read her yet, ruuuuuuun to her books.

American Spy cover imageI got my greedy hands on Tracy Clark’s Borrowed Time, the upcoming second book in the Chicago Mystery series, and I did a little dance and apologized to all my other books because they just moved down a spot on my TBR. I’m also super excited to have gotten an upcoming spy thriller by Lauren Wilkinson: American Spy. And for my mystery break, I muppet armed over Nicole Dennis-Benn’s upcoming Patsy because I loved her novel Here Comes the Sun so so so much.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own you can sign up here.

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Today In Books

Jane Austen Portrait Identity Dispute Continues: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Libby, the one-tap reading app from your library and OverDrive.


Jane Austen Or Not Jane Austen?

Direct descendants of one of Jane Austen’s brothers have long claimed that an oil painting they possess is a portrait of a teen Jane Austen. Art experts have long disputed the claim. Now the Rice family says an overlooked letter further proves their claim.

We’re Getting The Theme Park And A Comic

Excited about the Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge theme parks being built at Disney World and Disneyland? While you wait for their summer and fall openings, you can explore Black Spire Outpost with Marvel’s five-issue Galaxy’s Edge comic book series.

Novel Banned By Nazis In 1933 Getting First English Translation

At the Edge of Night by Friedo Lampe was seized and banned by the Nazis for homoerotic content and a relationship between a white woman and a black man. Simon Beattie, the English translator for the novel, says of Lampe: “He’s a very interesting author: a disabled, gay writer during the Third Reich … who somehow survived only to be shot by a Red Army patrol days before the end of the war.

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Unusual Suspects

Historical Mystery, Small-Town Procedural, Missing Persons

Hi mystery fans! This week I have a historical mystery, a small-town procedural, and a missing persons mystery.


Sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!

We’re giving away $100 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter to win by signing up for Unusual Suspects, our mystery/thriller newsletter about new releases, book recommendations, book deals, and more. Enter here.


Historical Mystery (TW suicide/ pedophile–not graphic)

A Beautiful Poison cover imageA Beautiful Poison by Lydia Kang: I loved Kang’s last novel, The Impossible Girl, so as soon as I finished that I went looking for more of her writing–and now I have a new author to love. This is set in New York in 1918 and follows three childhood friends, who have lost touch, brought back together to solve a murder. Allene is wealthy, engaged, and bored–so clearly the one who wants to play detective. Birdie is working at a factory, struggling to feed her little sister, and Jasper is working as a janitor, hoping to go to medical school one day and avoid the draft. While the deadly Spanish influenza is killing people Allene, Jasper, and Birdie are realizing that some deaths are murder and not sickness… This was a great read that showed you each character’s private struggles along with how childhood bonds evolve, break, repair, and change through life–all while staying focused on the mystery and teaching you some chemistry along the way.

Missing Persons Mystery

The Suspect by Fiona Barton cover imageThe Suspect (Kate Waters #3) by Fiona Barton: First, for any readers who may skip this thinking it’s the third in the series, the books are connected by a reporter character but read as standalones, so this series works both for standalone readers and series readers. What I really like about Barton’s novels is she creates unrelated characters and slowly starts weaving everyone together. This time there are two families who haven’t heard from their just-graduated-from-high-school daughters and aren’t sure what to do since they’re in England and their daughters are in Thailand. Journalist Kate Waters, with a somewhat missing son of her own, goes searching for answers along with DI Bob Sparkes, whose wife is terminally ill. Told in present, from multiple POV, it also weaves in one of the missing girl’s journals, which tells a very different trip from what they’d been reporting back home and posting on social media…

Procedural (TW suicide/ gambling addiction/ ableism)

Lost Lake by Emily LittlejohnLost Lake (Detective Gemma Monroe #3) by Emily Littlejohn: This procedural follows Detective Gemma Monroe in Cedar Valley, Colorado. She’s a recent mom, has a fiancé, has a bit of an obnoxious work partner, and a grandmother with dementia. While juggling all those things she takes the case of a missing woman who was camping with her boyfriend and friends. Then there’s a museum theft and a murder and Monroe must figure out if the cases are related or not–all while trying to figure out who in her department is leaking information to the media. This gives you a good amount of procedural, as she tries to figure out what is happening, while also giving you scenes of her private life, but it never becomes a character driven novel. What I liked about Monroe was that she makes mistakes while investigating, as I imagine happens more often than we see with fictional detectives, and watching her try to balance her personal life with the work hours of a detective who can’t let go of cases. I jumped in here with the series and wasn’t lost at all. She gives you brief summaries of past cases without revealing the solve, and gives you enough information to know why her personal relationships are where they are.

Recently Released

The Vanishing StairThe Vanishing Stair (Truly Devious #2) by Maureen Johnson (TBR: I’ve been really looking forward to this sequel since the first book, Truly Devious, ended on a cliffhanger!)

The Smiling Man (Aidan Waits Thriller #2) by Joseph Knox (TBR: Procedural set in Manchester.)

The Hangman’s Secret (Victorian Mystery #3) by Laura Joh Rowland (Currently reading: Historical mystery, with characters I really like who photograph crime scenes and play detective.)

The Burning Island cover imageThe Burning Island (Charlie Cates #3) by Hester Young(TBR: A journalist who has visions/dreams that lead her to find missing children.)

The Current by Tim Johnston (TBR: “One girl’s survival, and the other’s death—murder, actually—stun the citizens of a small Minnesota town, thawing memories of another young woman who lost her life in the same river ten years earlier, and whose killer may yet live among them.”)

Golden State by Ben H. Winters (TBR: Dystopian-mystery/speculative-mystery)

The Golden Tresses of the Dead (Flavia de Luce #10) by Alan Bradley (TBR: Flavia is a delightful child chemist who runs towards solving murders.)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own you can sign up here.

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Today In Books

The Oscar For Best Picture Could Go To BLACK PANTHER: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!


Oscar’s Best Picture Nomination A First This Year

Black Panther has been nominated for the Oscar’s Best Picture, making it the first superhero film to ever win a nomination in this category. And it’s not the only bookish nomination: BlacKkKlansman is also up for Best Picture; If Beale Street Could Talk is in the Actress In Supporting Role category; Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is in Animated Feature Film category…You can see all the bookish nominations here.

NBCC Announced 2018 Award Finalists

National Book Critics Circle has announced the finalist in six categories for its 2018 awards. Check out the 31 books up for best book in autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Warm Up Your Arms

We’re muppet arming at the announcement that Celeste Ng’s Everything I Never Told You is getting adapted and starring Julia Roberts. If you’ve yet to read this literary novel about family and secrets, with a mystery woven through, you’re gonna want to get to that now that the adaptation is in the works.

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Today In Books

Young Millennials Help Poetry Sales Soar: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!


Poetry Sales Soar In UK

Nielsen BookScan, UK book sales monitor, reported 1.3m volumes of poetry sold in 2018, a 12% increase from 2017. The surge is thought to be created by young readers looking to make sense of the current political chaos: “Poetry is resonating with people who are looking for understanding. It is a really good way to explore complex, difficult emotions and uncertainty.”

Guillermo del Toro Backs GoFundMe To Save Bookstore

Horror and fantasy bookstore in L.A., Dark Delicacies, is another store possibly facing their end due to skyrocketing increases in rent. So they created a GodFundMe page with the hopes of being able to relocate. Guillermo del Toro, among others, have tweeted to fans asking them to help save the bookstore.

Nancy Drew And The Hidden Staircase Has A Trailer

Here’s the trailer for the new Nancy Drew film hitting theaters March 15, which is produced by Ellen Degeneres. The film looks delightful, Nancy and George look aces, but, uh, where did the rest of Bess go?

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Today In Books

Hallmark Is Publishing Audiobooks: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by our Unusual Suspects giveaway of $100 to the bookstore of your choice!


Hallmark Will Publish Audiobooks

Hallmark has partnered with Dreamscape Media in order to produce and distribute audiobooks. Their first audioboook will release on February 12, and of course be Valentine’s Day themed: The Secret Ingredient by Nancy Naigle. Click here for more of what’s to come.

Amazon Is Not To Blame For Falling Author Earnings, According To Amazon

The Authors Guild recently put out a report saying that the “median income from writing-related work fell to $6,080 (£4,730) in 2017, down 42% from 2009, with literary authors particularly affected.” It then stared at Amazon as the culprit. Amazon is now hitting back, saying “many of the survey’s conclusions are flawed or contradictory.” For more on this finger-pointing click here.

You Have Only 4 Hours To See These Manuscripts

Oh, and also, you have to be in Glasgow on January 25th. But if those two things align for you: On Burns Day, two original manuscripts of Robert Burns poems will be on display at the National Library of Scotland’s Kelvin Hall base.

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Today In Books

Anti-LGBTQ School Sent 100 LGBTQ Children’s Books: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by Flatiron Books.


The Phobics Are Still At It

Vice President Mike Pence’s wife Karen Pence started teaching at Immanuel Christian School, a school that bans LGBTQ+ students and staff. In response, The Trevor Project sent the school 100 copies of A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo, a children’s book about a boy bunny who loves a boy bunny. In full-circle, A Day In The Life of Marlon Bundo was created by John Oliver in response to the original book Marlon Bundo’s Day in the Life of the Vice President, which was written by Charlotte Pence and illustrated by Karen Pence.

The 2019 Tournament Of Books Brackets Are Here

Look at all these awesome books forced to fight each other! But seriously, if you want to play along here are the brackets and the showdown begins March 6th, so there’s plenty of time to send all the best juju you have to your favorite book.

$2.2 Million!

That’s how much the philanthropic institution, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given to the Academy of American Poets in two grants. “The funds will enable the work of several poets serving in civic Poets Laureate positions, and of more than 20 poetry organizations who comprise a national Poetry Coalition.”

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Today In Books

Are Ebooks Draining Library Budgets? Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo and the Grishaverse.


According To The Free Library of Philadelphia, Ebooks Are Budget Draining

There seems to be a clash brewing between libraries and publishers where library workers feel publishers aren’t pricing eBooks fairly. The options currently are: Metered access, which is based on a short time period or specific number of checkouts before the book must be purchased again, or perpetual license, which is priced significantly higher than the print edition.

A+E Studios Will Be Bringing The YA Adaptations

A+E Studios has partnered with Swoon Reads to adapt its titles to film and TV. Swoon Reads is unique in that they let readers select which books get published and have a say in the process, like voting on the cover and title. And, keeping with that model, it looks like your feedback can help get your favorites adapted! Cool, cool.

In Sad News

Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mary Oliver has passed away at 83. Oliver, who had more than 15 poetry/essay collections, was especially celebrated for her love of nature and animals. “One of her favorite adjectives was ‘perfect,’ and rarely did she apply it to people.” May we recommend you read Devotions and shed some tears with us.

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Unusual Suspects

Fiction’s First Lesbian Private Eye

Hello mystery fans! It’s the weekend and I’m excited to watch the start of True Detective‘s third season and read every book–every single one is my goal! Hope you have a good book or are out being your best Scooby gang–that makes sense in my head.


as long as we both shall live cover imageFlatiron Books, publishers of As Long As We Both Shall Live by JoAnn Chaney

You can’t be married to someone without sometimes wanting to kill them…As Long As We Both Shall Live is JoAnn Chaney’s wicked, masterful examination of a marriage gone very wrong, a marriage with lots of secrets.


From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Death By Dumpling cover image3 Fun & Light Mysteries Rincey Recently Read

Caleb Roehrig Talks About His New Novel Death Prefers Blondes

10 British Crime Shows You Can Watch On Netflix

Alice Feeney’s psychological thriller Sometimes I Lie is being adapted by Ellen Degeneres’ production company and Sarah Michelle Geller will star in and executive produce.

Best-selling author Sherrilyn Kenyon tells fans she suspects her husband poisoned her

An excerpt from Duped: Double Lives, False Identities, and the Con Man I Almost Married by Abby Ellin

Here’s an awesome Kickstarter: A new graphic novel based on the 1978 series by Eve Zaremba starring Helen Keremos, crime fiction’s first lesbian private eye.

AND get the muppet arms ready because we get to read Attica Locke’s Bluebird Bluebird sequel this year!

Kindle Deals

Meddling Kids cover imageMeddling Kids by Edgar Cantero is $2.99 if you’re looking for a modern twist on the Scooby-Doo gang.

The Winters by Lisa Gabriele is $2.99 if you’re in the mood for a suspenseful new take on Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Broken Places by Tracy Clark is $2.99 (which I just reviewed this week) if you haven’t gotten it yet it is beyond worth this ridiculous sales price.

Some Books I Acquired This Week

House of Beauty cover imageI just got galleys for House Of Beauty by Melba Escobar (which is pitched as “Narcos meets Claws in this thought-provoking Colombian crime novel set in and around a beauty salon in Bogotá.”); The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda (Miranda is an author I follow because I’ve enjoyed all her mysteries so far); The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides on audiobook (a thriller a fellow Rioter really enjoyed, which is all I needed to know.)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, and Litsy–you can find me under Jamie Canavés.

If a mystery fan forwarded this newsletter to you and you’d like your very own you can sign up here.

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Today In Books

Stephen King’s Tweet Saves Paper’s Book Review Section: Today In Books

This edition of Today in Books is sponsored by The Red Address Book by Sofia Lundberg.

a stack of letters and postcards, with the title on a card laid on top of the stack


The Power Of Twitter

The Portland Press Herald was cutting regional book reviews that were locally written. That was until Stephen King tweeted his dismay and the paper challenged that if he could get them 100 subscribers they’d reverse their decision. He did and they did, so for now the book reviews live on another day.

Atria Launches New Imprint

Signal Press, headed by Julia Cheiffetz, will publish books about our current social and political injustices, and has already been busy at work having acquired 11 books. A couple of the forthcoming titles are How to Raise a Boy: Rethinking Gender in America After #Metoo by Emma Brown and Ida B the Queen by Michelle Duster.

Move Over Fifty Shades Of Grey

Literally. Michelle Obama has broken Fifty Shades streak of holding the #1 spot on Amazon’s best-selling books with her memoir Becoming.