Author: Jamie Canaves

(TW suicide) This is my current audiobook — with a fantastic narration by Hannah Choi — and I am loving it! It’s for fans of a possibly unreliable narrator and psychological works where you’re really up in the main character’s brain. And wow, she has a fantastic voice. Katrina Kim read a children’s book as a child that stuck with her and she now uses the world of the book to create scenarios in her current life to basically try and cope with her mental health and life stresses — including being broke. She is also stalking a coworker, which she argues is in no way stalking! She is just doing this as part of her rituals to help her out. While desperately needing to do one of her rituals — going to Cayatoga Bridge — she watches her coworker die by suicide. And he blames her. Needing to understand how this happened, she tries to go through everything she’s learned about him in the years she was stalking him, but a different picture starts to present itself. What if every time she was watching him, he was watching her?…

This is the kind of book I would inhale in one sitting, and the only reason I haven’t is because life keeps getting in the way!

For fans of childhood friends brought back together to solve a childhood mystery, and past and present stories. Decades ago, as children, Naomi, Cassidy, and Olivia were playing in the woods when Naomi was repeatedly stabbed by a serial killer. Naomi managed to survive and the girls identified the attacker and ended up getting a serial killer sent to prison. The thing is, they didn’t tell the truth: Naomi didn’t really remember who attacked her. Now a photographer in Seattle, she’s back home in her small-town in Washington where she’s reunited with Cassidy and Olivia after the killer dies in prison. But things aren’t well, Olivia wants to finally come forward and tell the truth. When she’s found dead, Naomi is forced to try and find out the parts of her attack that she’s never remembered.

(TW past suicide attempt, detail/ suicidal ideation/ mentions serial killer that sexually assault, not graphic/ mentions past child abuse/ assumed suicide case, detail/ suicide note, read/ past stories of older boy preying on 11 year old girl/ past statutory)

For fans of procedurals, missing persons cases, past and present, and fictional serial killers. Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput’s lover, Tara Mondal, disappeared over a decade ago in Mumbai wearing a blue-sequined saree. Now, mutilated women’s bodies are found in graves with scatterings of blue sequins. There’s a serial killer on the loose, and someone doesn’t want Rajput on this case…

I have been waiting for a new Jordan Harper novel since the second I finished She Rides Shotgun, which is one of my favorite crime novels and one of my favorite child characters. I mention this because that’s the high bar I had when I dropped everything last year to inhale a galley of this book and it immediately became one of my favorites of 2023. It’s an L.A. crime novel that follows the kind of people that are the behind-the-scenes puppet masters no one really knows about. But bad puppet masters. Mae Pruett works for a firm that basically cleans up celebrity and wealthy people’s messes. Sometimes Mae is tasked with dealing with a once child star and other times she’s helping bad, cruel people just get away with anything. She’s always been okay with her job, she’s good at it, until a coworker who had something to tell her is murdered. It’s ruled a car jacking gone wrong, but Mae isn’t letting it go. Instead she ends up partnering with Chris, an ex who was once in law enforcement and has since gone private after being forced out. He’s also on the not right side of the law or ethics in his field of work. And like Mae, he’s willing to start risking the life he has to figure out what is really happening behind a murder. The further they dig, and the more they put their lives in danger, the more Chris and Mae are going to have to question who they currently are and whether they’re okay with that…

And just like that I’m back to awaiting for Harper’s next novel!

Great read if you’re looking for a procedural, multiple POV, and remote mystery — will be on my end of year Best Of list. Cara Kennedy is a detective in Anchorage dealing with the loss of her husband and son, who died a year earlier while hiking. When a teenager finds severed body parts in the remote Point Mettier, Kennedy ends up on the case. She’s partnered with local officer Joe Barkowski, and also stranded there thanks to a blizzard. It’s a place where all 205 residents live in the same high-rise building so certainly someone must know something, but as small communities go, this one isn’t looking to talk. I loved the town characters — including a teen girl struggling with the life her mother has laid out for her and the one she wants to carve for herself — and how we get to know some of them as the POV rotates between residents and the officers. Plus, the unique setting. Count me in for whatever Iris Yamashita writes next.

The audiobook has a great multicast: Aspen Vincent, Shannon Tyo, and Anna Caputo.

(TW questions suicide as cause for case/ past child deaths/ recounts domestic abuse, murder/ recounts child abuse)

For fans of school mom mysteries (think Big Little Lies) and amateur sleuths returning home. Paige Lancaster was a successful Hollywood writer, until she was passed up for a promotion and cheated on by her husband so she vandalized some stuff. Now a single mom, she’s back in her hometown in Connecticut living with her mom after her father, who’d been police, passed away. She enrolls her 8-year-old daughter in a new school and quickly finds out that some of the moms are a bit intense about the Parent’s Booster Association, which has always had 100% parent involvement and they are not going to let Paige mess that up. Then one of them is found dead — a death thought to be an accident — but she was married to Paige’s high school boyfriend and, well, Paige may have gotten into a fight with the wife the night before… We watch as Paige tries to figure out this new life, and investigate what really happened, while also getting to know some of the PBA members — including Nina, an on-the-outs mom who just wants people to listen to her about an accounting program having an issue. If you’re looking to get sucked into a town’s gossip while watching a murder mystery play out, grab this one.

The audiobook has a great multicast: Amanda Dolan, Sura Siu, and Lanna Joffrey.

(TW mentions past miscarriage/ mentions past alcoholism/ mentions past rape, no details)

For fans of a fallout from a crime, wealthy family saga, and books set in India. In the middle of the night in New Delhi, an expensive car hits and kills five people. But instead of the owner of the car being there, the only person is a servant with no explanation as to how this crime happened…

For fans of Scandinavian crime novels. Two horrible acts of violence happen on the same night in 1986, Sweden: the prime minister is murdered, and a will-be serial killer calls the police after murdering his first victim, stating he’s just beginning. Sven Jörgensson is assigned the serial case and is hounded for years trying to solve it. Could those two unrelated events have more in common?

If you like dark humor and crime novels, run to this one. It’s also a smart take on the revenge tale, and although a different tone and style, it should satisfy fans of My Sister the Serial Killer.

Geeta’s husband disappeared years ago, saddling her with debt. But everyone in her village in India suspects she up and murdered him. So a woman tired of her abusive husband decides to blackmail Geeta into killing her husband for her — after all, she’s already done it before. But Geeta continues to profess her innocence and instead finds herself a pawn while trying to fix her own life. I loved the use of dark humor to explore social issues like the caste system, and also the silly humor of all the characters having random criminal knowledge because they all watch the same popular crime show.

Bonus: Soneela Nankani does an excellent narration on the audiobook.

(TW domestic violence/ mentions child abuse, no detail/ rape stories/ animal cruelty/ metnions past suicide, detail/ sexual assault/ infertility/ colorism/ fat shaming/ mentions past cancer death/ femicide/ pedophiles)

If you’re looking for a dual timeline, two POVs, a remote village in Scotland, and slow burn Gothic suspense, here you go! At the age of five Maggie MacKay proclaimed she knew a murder had occurred, and that she was the reincarnation of the murdered man, Andrew MacNeil. As an adult she decides to finally return to Kilmeray, where the murder happened. Even if she’ll be shunned by all the townspeople, she has to finally get to the bottom of what happened. In the ’90s, Robert Reid moves his family to Hebrides, outrunning his past and thinking a new start will work. But he remains an outsider and you can’t really ever outrun your past…

As a big fan of Clark’s first PI series, Broken Places, I am super excited to see she has a new series! For fans of procedurals and fictional serial killers. Detective Harriet Foster is having to get to know a new partner while grieving her last as she lands a murdered woman case in Downtown Chicago. Soon another victim has the same lipstick markings around the wrists and ankles and Foster is hunting a serial killer…

If you’re looking for a long running cozy series that has an adaptation here you go! M.C. Beaton passed away in 2019 and R.W. Green has continued the series. Agatha Raisin and her PI partner Toni Gilmour are on their way to a wedding when a nudist runs at their car shouting he’s seen a dead body. But when they go to see, the body has disappeared. Agatha and Toni need to figure out what happened and it looks like going undercover in the Mircester Naturist Society is the best way…

If you want to start at the beginning pick up The Quiche of Death.

For fans of cozy mysteries with a lead writer, a book inside a book, and books set in a bookstore! Sam Washington runs a bookstore and is about to have her historical mystery novel publish when a local library is flooded. Sam offers her bookstore for book clubs to meet but a book club leader, also an influential reviewer, ends up threatening to tank Sam’s upcoming book and sue her over her poodle being “vicious.” Naturally, this being a cozy, the reviewer is found dead in the bookshop! Sam will have to get cracking on solving this case.

If you want to start at the beginning pick up The Plot Is Murder.

For fans of duel mysteries: one current murder case and one past cold case! Morgan Mori is a photographer who returns home to Black Harbor and ends up witnessing a police officer being shot. The officer’s partner, not assigned the case, is determined to solve it regardless and ends up partnering with Mori. Turns out the photographer may be more than just a witness to this current case, and she may be able to help solve the town’s 20-year cold case of a wealthy mogul’s disappearance…

If you want to start at the beginning pick up Hello, Transcriber.

I’m always excited for a new Aya de León and this is high on my reading list–especially since she always blends crime and romance so well! Morgan Faraday is securing her future by marrying Sebastian Reid, an oil company heir. The bonus: he runs a billion-dollar company that is green in order to offset the damage his family has done to the environment… or so Faraday thinks. A glimpse into Reid’s emails and private associates is painting a picture of “just for show in public”. Can Faraday gather enough evidence to expose him and stay alive?

For fans of procedurals, island settings, and twisty mysteries. Shana Merchant previously transferred from the NYPD to Thousand Islands where she is a Senior Investigator. She’s currently dealing with fallout from things that happened recently and has a new case: tourists have come in for the Pirate Days event and one has been reported missing by her husband. But is it a coincidence that things are starting to suddenly feel like a previous case to Merchant?

This one does rely on events that have happened in previous books so if you want to start at the beginning (a remote mystery!), grab Death in the Family.

For fans of dark, propulsive thrillers and assassins! This is the sequel, so if you’d like to start at the beginning, grab Her Name Is Knight.

Nena Knight is an elite assassin working for the Tribe, a syndicate in Africa. But what happens when you suspect the danger is coming from someone inside the organization? This is Nena’s fear while on her current mission as the Tribe finds itself under attack and Nena creates her own team to find the traitor…

For fans of fictionalizations of true crimes. Betty Gow is a Scottish immigrant working for the Lindbergh family in New Jersey, caring for Charles Lindbergh, Jr., until he disappears in 1932. The crime makes it into international headlines, and Betty goes from unknown to known as the Lindbergh Nanny — and a prime suspect in the public and media’s eyes… If you’re looking for backlist, I recommend Fredericks’s series A Death of No Importance.

If you love the way old school detective stories put the pieces of a mystery together slowly throughout the book until the reveal at the end — that details how it was all done — you should absolutely be reading Higashino. This is part of a series but all the books are standalone (I promise, they’re not even translated in order).

A patrolman finds a dead body beneath a Japanese statue, but he was not murdered there. Then his wallet is found on a man who was hit by a car. Why did the first man drag himself while dying to that statue, and why does a stranger in a coma have his wallet? Detective Kaga will meticulously follow clues and theorize his way to the answers.

(TW recounting of suicide attempt, detail)

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder author Holly Jackson has a new book! It’s a fast-paced thriller that takes place in the span of eight hours as six friends in an RV find themselves targeted by a sniper. Why? Turns out one of them has a secret someone is willing to kill over…