Author: Jamie Canaves

Hi mystery fans! It’s Friday, but we had a day off on Wednesday and all the days are confused so I’m gonna start by recommending something non-mystery related: Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette on Netflix is fantastic, you should go watch it. And now back to our previously scheduled mystery content!

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Sponsored by Pegasus Books’ The Seasonaires by Janna King

An idyllic Nantucket summer begins like a dream for scrappy Mia, Southern beauty Presley, handsome introvert Cole, sultry Jade, energetic young designer J.P., and party-boy Grant, all of whom are working as seasonaires—influential brand ambassadors—for the clothing line Lyndon Wyld. But like all things that look too good to be true, the darkness lurking underneath slowly rises to the surface. Corporate greed, professional rivalries, and personal conflicts mix with sex, drugs, and the naiveté of youth, exploding in a murder that sullies their catalog-perfect lives.

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From Book Riot and Around the Internet

I rounded up new paperback releases for beach reading over at Novel Suspects.

Dick Smith is offering a $5000 reward to anyone who can solve one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries: “Twenty years after a pilot first spotted The Maree Man — a mysterious large-scale artwork carved into the desert in a remote part of Australia — its origins and the people behind it are still unknown.”

At EW Amber Tamblyn’s debut novel expands the #MeToo conversation: “The novel for me really felt, even as I was writing it, like an indictment of our culture — including myself and most readers — for how we are either complicit or complacent when it comes to the culture of rape.”

Giveaway (Hug a Luck Dragon and enter): Book Riot is giving away $500 of the year’s best YA fiction and nonfiction so far! Some great mysteries on the list: White Rabbit, Undead Girl Gang (Reviews for both here), and Before I Let Go (Review). 

Adaptations and News

Vivien Chien revealed the cover for the third book in the Noodle Shop Mystery series!

Megan Abbott had a great chat with Gillian Flynn at Vanity Fair: “There’s a huge place for anger right now—particularly for the many, many women who’ve been violated—and this is a time to be angry. Let’s be very angry. Constructive anger is a very useful tool, and is a very important thing to express.” (The adaptation premieres this Sunday on HBO)

Remember how the Grantchester adaptation was losing James Norton but we didn’t know who would be joining the series? Now we know: Tom Brittney has joined the PBS mystery show. “Santer added, ‘I’m delighted that Tom is joining the cast. He’s a hugely likable and talented actor, and will make both a fine vicar of Grantchester and a great crime-solving partner for Geordie Keating.'”

Last year Emma Cline’s ex-boyfriend hired lawyers over copyright, and other, claims regarding her debut novel The Girls. A federal judge has just dismissed the copyright claims–however the claims involving key-logging software to access personal info were not dismissed.

A South Carolina police union has objected to a high school reading list–yeah, you read that correctly. One of the books is The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, a book that delves into police brutality. The police union claims they “received an influx of tremendous outrage” and that the book is “almost an indoctrination of distrust of police.” There’s a lot happening here, starting with people calling the police about book lists (what is happening?), and none of it is good.

True Crime

Why Are We Obsessed With Mothers Accused Of Murder? “Yet all together — and whatever one might think about their subjects’ guilt or innocence — they make a compelling, sometimes unintentional case that problematic assumptions and a gendered moralism can lead the public imagination, and the judicial apparatus, astray.”

7 British True Crime Documentaries You Won’t Want To Believe Happened In The UK

Gone Fishing: New true crime podcast launches

Discarded napkin helps US police crack 32-year-old murder mystery

Is True Crime as Entertainment Morally Defensible?

Kindle Deals

Megan Abbott’s brilliant noir Queenpin is $1.99! (Review)

Hollywood Homicide (Detective by Day #1) by Kellye Garrette is $0.99!!!!!! (Review)

The Name of Death by Klester Cavalcanti, Nick Caistor (Translation) is $3.99! (Dark Nonfiction About A Brazilian Hitman: Review) (TW: child rape/ torture)

Bit of My Week In Reading

I did a lot of muppet arming over getting my hands on Tana French’s upcoming The Witch Elm so naturally I started that IMMEDIATELY. And it’s so good. SO FREAKING GOOD I don’t want to finish it because then it’ll be over–*insert crying emoji.

I inhaled, INHALED, the first half of Orphan X by Gregg Hurwitz. I am a sucker for fictional assassins that I care about–let’s not explore this too deeply–and anything that gives me ’90s action/thriller movie vibes. Basically I am loving this read at the moment.

And I received Keigo Higashino’s upcoming Newcomer which I’m going to read this weekend–sorry other books that were first in line, I LOVE Japanese crime and I LOVE Higashino.

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 Canaves.

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

Hello mystery fans! Hope you’re in the mood for Irish crime, thrills, and a dark, the-past-is-coming-for-you! AND at the end there’s a new HUGE giveaway.

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Sponsored by Epic Reads

The daughter of two astronauts, Romy Silvers is no stranger to life in space. But she never knew how isolating the universe could be until her parents’ tragic deaths left her alone on the Infinity, a spaceship speeding away from Earth.

Romy tries to make the best of her lonely situation, but with only brief messages from her therapist on Earth to keep her company, she can’t help but feel like something is missing. It seems like a dream come true when NASA alerts her that another ship, the Eternity, will be joining the Infinity.

Romy begins exchanging messages with J, the captain of the Eternity, and their friendship breathes new life into her world. But as the Eternity gets closer, Romy learns there’s more to J’s mission than she could have imagined. And suddenly, there are worse things than being alone….

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The Past Is Still Coming (TW: rape/ suicide)

It All Falls Down (Nora Watts, #2) by Sheena Kamal: This sequel was one I was anticipating and it didn’t disappoint! Nora has had a tough life, and the events of the first book only added more traumatic events, but she never quits nor stops moving forward, which is what leads her to leave one of the only people in her life–on his death bed–to find answers about her father. We travel from Vancouver to Detroit as Watts puts distance with her past to uncover who her father was, but her past in Vancouver isn’t going to stop coming for her no matter how far away she is–including PI Brazuca. Watts is the kind of woman that life has beaten–repeatedly–and left her hard, mistrusting, and determined, and I love watching her navigate through the world on difficult journeys. The book has a lot of different parts–the previous “case,” her caring for a dying man, her current mission to learn about her family, working on a new relationship, and Brazuca’s current work and case–but they all flow well with each other and come together in the end leaving me once again having read a really good book and wanting more Nora Watts. (You technically do not have to read The Lost Ones because this book does catch you up BUT it gives away a lot of the solves from the first book. Plus, the first book was a great thriller so you should read it.)

Irish Crime Fiction–So Good (TW: child abuse/ suicide/ rape)

The Ruin (Cormac Reilly #1) by Dervla McTiernan : The adaptation rights for this put it on my radar and I’m so glad it’s getting adapted and that it’s the beginning of a series because it’s a great read. Twenty years ago a wet-behind-the-ears cop ended up taking two young children away from a home their mother was dead in. Now one of those children, Jack, has died by suicide and the other, Maude, is refusing to believe her brother–who she didn’t have a relationship with–died by suicide. And that wet-behind-the-ears cop is now a detective assigned once again to Jack’s case. The novel follows a few characters, including Jack’s girlfriend, and really explores their lives while equally focusing on the mysteries which is really one of my favorite types of crime novels. Great pick for those who love mystery novels like The Dry.

I Inhaled This Audiobook In One Day! (TW: rape/ suicide)

The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger:  It follows two women: Marina Tourneau, a recently engaged journalist on vacation and Annabel, an expat whose husband was on a plane that crashed in the Alps. Marina is marrying into a political family who wants her to quit her job—hahaha this is a great book so that isn’t going to happen–and Annabel, an ex NY socialite now living in Switzerland, who is discovering that the work her husband did at Swiss United may not have been what she thought… I really liked the characters, the pace, the whole journalist-won’t-let-go-of-the-bone, and I loved the ending–which of course I can’t talk about in any way. If you’re a fan of movies/novels where a journalist keeps picking, and you like watching how all the pieces come together grab this one. (I’d also really like to see this one get adapted into a film.)

Recent Releases

Still Water (Still #2) by Amy Stuart (A good thriller with multiple mysteries–You won’t be confused not having read Still Mine but this one does reveal a lot from the first book.) (TW: domestic abuse/ child death/ addiction)

City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai by Paul French (Currently Reading: True crime about two gang leaders in 1930’s Shanghai underground.)

Scandal Above Stairs (Kat Holloway Mysteries #2) by Jennifer Ashley (TBR: Historical mystery)

The Night Ferry (A Konrad Simonsen Thriller) by Lotte Hammer, Søren Hammer, Charlotte Barslund (Translator) (TBR: Dark, Scandinavian crime.)

The Last Thing I Told You by Emily Arsenault (Currently reading: Alternating POV between detective solving a therapist’s murder and a former patient.)

Giveaway (Hug a Luck Dragon and enter): Book Riot is giving away $500 of the year’s best YA fiction and nonfiction. There are SO MANY amazing books on this list including one’s I’ve shouted about White Rabbit, Undead Girl Gang (Reviews for both here), and Before I Let Go (Review). Also on this excellent list are some of my favorite, FAVORITE, reads: From Twinkle, With Love; The Poet X; Dread Nation.

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 Canaves.

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

Hi mystery fans!

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Sponsored by Pegasus Books’ Dodging and Burning by John Copenhaver

In small-town Virginia in August 1945, Jay Greenwood leads twelve-year-old tomboy Ceola Bliss and local socialite Bunny Prescott to a stretch of woods where he claims to have found a dead woman. But when they arrive, the body is gone. Ceola gets swept up playing girl detective, but Bunny becomes increasingly skeptical of Jay and begins her own investigation. She journeys to Washington, D.C., where she is forced to confront the brutal truth about her dear friend—a discovery that triggers a series of events that will bring tragedy to Jay and decades of estrangement between her and Ceola.

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Let’s start with a Little Q&A: Oyinkan Braithwaite (I give authors I’m excited about six questions and let them answer any three they’d like.)

I’m going to be a little mean and RAVE about a novel that doesn’t come out until November 20th because it’s so good–SO GOOD–that it’s totally worth a pre-order and deserves all the mountain-top shouting! So if you don’t already have My Sister, The Serial Killer on your radar you should! Not only does it deliciously live up to its wicked title, it’s also a very smart exploration of women’s issues as Korede’s defense of sister Ayoola’s murderous ways is put to the test when they both set eyes on the same man… I read this in one sitting and can’t wait to read it again–and for all of you to read it!

And here’s Oyinkan Braithwaite:

If you were forced to live the rest of your life as one of your characters who would it be? All my characters have major issues…but if I had to choose, I would choose to live as Ayoola – at least she seems to be having a good time!

If you adapted a well-known book into a Clue mystery what would be the solve? This was harder than I thought: Dorothy, red shoes, on the yellow brick road.

 If you were to blurb your most recent/upcoming book (à la James Patterson)? Every young woman should read this book. And every non-young woman. It’ll change your life. And then read it to your pets. No animals were harmed in the making of this book.

OR

This book is the first debut to be written by a black Nigerian female millennial with a chicken pox scar in the middle of her forehead. There will never be another of its kind! Get it while hot!

Thank you, Oyinkan!

From Book Riot and Around the Internet

On the latest Read or Dead Rincey and Katie talk recent news and the phrases that will automatically have them picking up a book.

Sherlock Holmes Quotes That Were Actually Written By Doyle

4 Crime Novels for Armchair Travelers

Here are some TV characters I’d love to end up in novels as PIs.

New hope in mystery of James Bond’s missing Aston Martin

News and Adaptations

The trailer for Angie Thomas’s adaptation of The Hate U Give is here! The novel follows Starr Carter after she witnesses a friend shot by police and the fallout.

Sheena Kamal’s The Lost Ones has won the 2018 Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery.

I mustache if you’d like to see the first look at John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot from the upcoming The ABC Murders BBC/Amazon adaptation? (Ha, sorry couldn’t resist!) Since this will surely start off many debates about what his mustache should look like here are a bunch of descriptions Agatha Christie wrote regarding his facial hair: Great Moments of Poirot’s Moustache 

Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door–which starts like a ripped from the headlines child abduction story–is being adapted into a TV series.

And also getting a TV series is Jessica Knoll’s The Favorite Sister which “features two sisters whose lifelong sibling rivalry explodes in the crucible of a reality TV show, leaving one of them murdered.”

Watch Now

Now in theaters: The Catcher Was a Spy, adapted from Nicolas Dawidoff’s same titled biography, stars Paul Rudd as the real life Major League baseball player who was also a WWII spy. See the trailer here.

Kindle Deals

The Drowning (Fjällbacka #6) by Camilla Lackberg is $1.99 (Swedish crime)

The Red Road (Alex Morrow Book 4) by Denise Mina is $2.99 (Mina is a good pick for Tana French fans)

And looks like most of Alex Segura’s Pete Fernandez series is on sale: Silent City is $1.99; Down the Darkest Street is .99cents; Dangerous Ends is $4.99

A Bit Of My Week In Reading

Look at that pretty bookmail! #FashionVictim by Amina Akhtar; Sister of Mine by Laurie Petrou; The Guilty Dead (Monkeewrench #9) by P.J. Tracy;  The Confession by Jo Spain

As for currently reading I’m actually in the middle of a mystery “palate cleanser“ and reading 3 awesome things: Trail of Lightning (The Sixth World, #1) by Rebecca Roanhorse;  No. 1 with a Bullet by Jacob Semahn, Jorge Corona; Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older (Crime may be my genre but sometimes I need monster hunters, awesome comic art, and dinosaurs!)

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 Canaves.

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

Hello mystery fans! I’ve got a fictional serial killer, a British detective, a #MeToo novel, plus a bunch of releases for you this week. Also, The Tonight Show is doing a summer book club and IQ and The Good Son are on the list of 5 book choices. You can see the other three options and vote here!

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Just for Book Riot readers: sign up for an Audible account, and get two audiobooks free!

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Dark Serial Killer Page-Turner (TW: rape scenes/ domestic violence/ pedophilia off page)

Jar of Hearts by Jennifer Hillier: Geo Shaw is a wealthy 30-year-old executive who is now going to jail because the body of her high school best friend has finally been found, 14 years later. She’s cooperating with authorities, doing her time, and trying to get her life back on track. Problem is, there’s a string of new murders, and the bodies are being left with a message. Is Geo being targeted, or does she still know more than she’s told? I inhaled the audiobook, as I really quite liked getting to know Geo (especially her time in jail) and was definitely doing the “gimme more” while waiting for the reveals. (I find the summary gives away a lot of the book, so if you don’t like knowing a lot before hand you may want to avoid reading the entire summary.)

A Novel for Our #MeToo Times (TW: rape scenes/ suicide/ cutting)

Any Man by Amber Tamblyn: Tamblyn has effectively spotlighted our rape culture, focusing on how we treat and talk about victims and perpetrators, through the use of prose and poetry that focuses on male victims of a female serial rapist. It’s a difficult, yet important book to read that doesn’t let you look away. It succeeds in continuing the very necessary conversations of the #MeToo movement, but also left me with questions rattling around in my brain: Was the centering of fictional male victims so powerful because the genre is essentially always female victims? Is it partly because we’ve been trained to center men’s stories and feelings as most important? Are we just not “used to” hearing male stories because, fictionally and in real life, they come forward even less than women? There were a few parts of the novel that felt like Tamblyn just cut herself open and poured herself onto the page the way Roxane Gay does, and it stayed with me. And most likely will for a long time.

Just What My Procedural-Loving Heart Needed (TW: rape)

Salt Lane (DS Alexandra Cupidi #1) by William Shaw: I loved Shaw’s The Birdwatcher (review) and my only note at the time had been that I’d wish there had been more of a side-character. Well, let me tell you, dreams do come true because that character is the star of this new series! DS Alexandra Cupidi is having a difficult time in her private life–new home, struggling teen daughter, still settling in her new job, visiting mother, new partner–when a difficult case of a dead Jane Doe is assigned to her. Then a John Doe. Will Cupidi be able to keep her quick temper, big mouth, and inability to follow procedure to stay safe in check in order to solve these cases? A great procedure, with a flawed lead you root for, which incorporates current political issues. I’m already counting down the days for #2! (You do not need to have read The Birdwatcher to read Salt Lane, but I recommend both because they’re great reads.)

Recent Releases

Bonfire by Krysten Ritter (Paperback) (Jessica Jones wrote a good thriller: Review)

Dead Girls: Essays on Surviving an American Obsession by Alice Bolin (Currently reading: A really good exploration of the dead girl trope in films and novels and our society’s obsession with dead women.)

Murder at the Mansion (Victorian Village Mysteries #1) by Sheila Connolly (TBR: Cozy mystery set in Maryland.)

Bimini Twist (Jane Bunker Mystery #4) by Linda Greenlaw (Currently reading: A non-nonsense former Miami homicide detective is now living in Maine as an insurance investigator and deputy sheriff.)

The Lost Ones by Sheena Kamal (Paperback) (Great noir with thriller ending: Review)

Conan Doyle for the Defense: The True Story of a Sensational British Murder, a Quest for Justice, and the World’s Most Famous Detective Writer by Margalit Fox (Currently listening to the audiobook: Really interesting look at the author of Sherlock and how he used his own deduction skills on a real case.)

Peril & Prayers (A Sister Lou Mystery #2) by Olivia Matthews (Currently reading: Cozy mystery where Sister Lou, her nephew, and a reporter try to solve the murder of a retreat’s owner.)

On Her Majesty’s Frightfully Secret Service: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Paperback) (Historical mystery)

The Girl Who Takes an Eye for an Eye: A Lisbeth Salander Novel by David Lagercrantz (Paperback)

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 Canaves.

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

Hello mystery fans!

From Book Riot and Around the Internet

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Sponsored by Poisoned Pen Press

David Hazard wanted nothing more than to forget his renegade family and the foggy New England village “on the wrong side” of Narragansett Bay where he grew up. When sudden tragedy brings him back to Little Compton to care for his grandmother during her struggle with dementia, he discovers her fragile memories may hold the key to a bizarre mystery half a century old—and perhaps to the sudden and brutal murder right next door.

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Genre Kryptonite: Badass Female Revenge Thrillers

Quiz: Find Your Perfect June Mystery/Thriller Read!

Books About Obsessive Friendship For Fans of Killing Eve

(TW: suicide) On the latest Annotated podcast Rebecca and Jeff delve into the end of Truman Capote’s literary career brought on by a socialite’s death by suicide after Capote published a short story in Esquire magazine.

PopSugar has their best picks for Summer Thrillers

Authors Steph Cha, Alex Segura, and AA Dhand spoke with the Guardian about their detective novels and the lack of diversity in the crime genre. “For every PI novel with a protagonist of colour, there are about 10 books about gruff white cops falling in love with murdered white women, 10 ‘girl’ books about murderous white women, and 10 more about serial killers in Scandinavia,” says Cha.

Tiffany D. Jackson (Monday’s Not Coming; Allegedly) wrote about Why Aren’t Missing Black and Brown Children a National Priority? at Epic Reads

Read an excerpt from Andrew Shaffer’s Hope Never Dies: An Obama Biden Mystery on EW.

Adaptations

Luther season 5 teaser is here which means Luther season 5 is almost here! If you’ve yet to see this dark, procedural BBC series you can catch up on Netflix–and then impatiently wait with me. (I know it’s not technically an adaptation but there are tie-in novels starting with The Calling (Luther #1) by Neil Cross.)

Watch the trailer for USA network’s The Sinner season 2. After the popularity of the adaptation of Petra Hammesfahr’s novel the USA network decided to continue by turning the show into an anthology and giving Detective Harry Ambrose another case similar to the first: why would an innocent appearing character, that no one would ever suspect of violence, commit such a horrific act?

True Crime

For the Los Angeles Times Megan Abbott asks Why do we — women in particular — love true crime books?: It’s been interesting to ponder the question of women and true crime in recent months amid our #Metoo moment. If, for decades now, true crime served as the collective unconscious of so many women, all the taboo topics the culture as a whole represses, what happens when the culture is unable to repress them any longer?

At Vulture Nicholas Quah’s podcast review: In the Dark Is a Scathing and Meticulous True-Crime Podcast

Teen in ‘Making a Murderer’ Asks Supreme Court to Take His Case: “But 16-year-old Brendan Dassey’s confession — seen by viewers nationwide as part of the Netflix series “Making a Murderer” — should never have been used to convict him, his lawyers say, and they’re hoping the Supreme Court agrees to take his case.”

Kindle Deals

ONE OF MY FAVORITE mysteries is only $2.99: Tell the Truth Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta (review) (I don’t remember the trigger warnings.)

If you’re looking for a cozy mystery Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry (The Rabbi Small Mysteries Book 2) by Harry Kemelman is $1.13

 

 

Bit of My Week In Reading

I really enjoyed the graphic novel Dept. H Vol 1 (currently $1.99!), which is a locked-room mystery set undersea as a daughter tries to find her father’s killer amongst a crew of researchers.

I inhaled Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe, which is a scathing look at Hollywood and society’s treatment of girls/women as a former child star now tries to solve a case of missing girls to get her career back when her own sister has been missing for years. Should have a gigantic yellow sticker on the front that says WARNING: PAGE-TURNER! (TW: rape/ self harm/ eating disorder/ gaslighting / mentioned: suicide attempt)

In bitter-sweet reading I’ve been listening to Anthony Bourdain’s crime novel Bone in the Throat which is filled with kitchen scenes, FBI, and mafia.

And I’m so excited the galley for The Hollow of Fear (Sherry Thomas’ third novel in the Lady Sherlock series) landed on my doorstep and of course I had to immediately start it because Charlotte Sherlock is my favorite Sherlock. Don’t @ me!

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 Canaves.

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

Hello mystery fans! A little bit of everything this week with psychological suspense, the return of Nancy Drew, and a nonviolent page-turner true crime.

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As part of Season 2 of our podcast series Annotated, we are giving away 10 of the best books about books of 2017. Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click the image below:

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Great Slow-Burn Psychological Suspense (TW: stalking/ suicide)

The Good Son by You-jeong Jeong, Chi-Young Kim (Translator): I love a novel that starts with someone covered in blood and with no memory, as Yu-jin does. Once he discovers his mother’s body he’s forced to try and piece together the missing gaps in his memory. This turns quickly into a whydunnit that takes you into the life of a twenty-year-old man whose mother treated him like a child as he suffered seizures and blackouts, but slowly, as everything begins to unravel, Yu-jin finds himself uncovering long held secrets… The audiobook had a great narrator that really made you feel like you were in Yu-jin’s mind.

FANTASTIC Nonviolent True Crime

The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century by Kirk W. Johnson: I had wanted to read this one for the nonviolent true crime roundup I’d done but hadn’t been able to get a copy until now. Now if you’re thinking “But really how interesting can bird specimen theft be?” let me just tell you this book was super interesting from beginning to end, and read like a thriller that I couldn’t put down. Just 10% into the book I felt as if I’d read 10 books worth of information and adventure. You start with a museum heist by a 20-year-old flutist, and then go on historical expeditions with everything from thieving ants, to Charles Darwin, and blackmail. And that’s just the very beginning of this very banana pants true story because why would a university student steal HUNDREDS of rare bird specimens? Well, you see, there is a community of fly tiers which uses, and obsessively covet, the rarest bird feathers. And there’s also the author, a refugee advocate, who got involved in this story and needed to know after the trial what was still unknown and began to investigate himself–because of course this book had plot twists! It’s a fascinating look at a crime (which not only stole property but potential knowledge from the museum), obsession, and man’s destructive need to conquer and own nature.

Nancy Drew Is Back!

Nancy Drew #1 by Kelly Thompson, Jenn St-Onge, Triona Farrell, Ariana Maher: This had a great Nancy Drew and Veronica Mars vibe from the get-go that I loved. As we’re introduced to all the characters, given a little mystery case Drew is currently solving, and then given a bit of the big mystery à la I-know-what-you-did-last-summer. It was definitely more getting to know the characters–Hardy Boys included–than anything else, but I really liked the characters and look forward to seeing what they get into. I’m especially looking forward to more George: “You’re still Nancy Freaking Drew. And it’s ALWAYS something with you.” (Here’s a great post on How to Buy Comics.)

Recently Released

A Cast of Vultures (Sam Clair #3) by Judith Flanders (Witty cozy mystery series perfect for chick lit fans.)

Slowly We Die (Jana Berzelius #3) by Emelie Schepp (TBR: Medical thriller.)

You Were Made for This by Michelle Sacks (TBR: Dark, twisty, suspense.)

Providence by Caroline Kepnes (From Lenny Books, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner’s publishing imprint.)

The Rooster Bar by John Grisham (Paperback)

AND Book Riot is giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice! Enter here you lucky people!

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 Canaves.

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

Hi fellow mystery fans! If you’re looking for a dark, super-intense, procedural binge, Marcella season 2 is now on Netflix. It’s been giving me a heart attack all week so clearly I must share that feeling. (ALL the trigger warnings.)

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We’re giving away $500 to spend at the bookstore of your choice! Click here, or on the image below to enter:

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From Book Riot and Around the Internet

Great diverse mystery reads that published April – June for all crime reading tastes.

5 Literary Mysteries That Have Never Been Solved But Are Seriously Fascinating

Listen to Rincey and Katie’s one year anniversary episode of their Read or Dead podcast.

Here’s an audiobook excerpt of Liz Nugent’s Lying in Wait. (Review)

Rot The Eyes Right Out of Your Head with This Collection of 60 Free Film Noir Classics

Giveaways (Hug a Luck Dragon and enter):

Win one of 10 copies of Still Lives by Maria Hummel (Review)

Book Riot is giving away $500 to the bookstore of your choice!

Penguin Random House is giving away 12 thrillers!

 

News and Adaptations

Karen McManus, author of One of Us is Lying, revealed her second stand-alone novel Two Can Keep a Secret. More deets here.

Watch the trailer for Titan Comics upcoming Minky Woodcock: The Girl Who Handcuffed Houdini by Cynthia von Buhler.

Gillian Flynn talks about the struggle with getting Sharp Objects published and why she wrote it: At the time, Flynn said she was seeing a lot of stories about men and how they handle violence and rage, but there weren’t many stories about “how women handled their anger and their violence and what that looked like.” 

Extra exciting for This is Us and Breaking Bad fans: Ron Cephas Jones (William) and Aaron Paul (Jesse Pinkman) have just joined the already excellent cast for Apple’s upcoming series Are You Sleeping, an adaptation of Kathleen Barber’s same titled novel. (Review)

True Crime

Watch the trailer for White Boy Rick: Starring Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Jason Leigh, based on Richard Wershe Jr.’s real life story of being a fourteen-year-old FBI informant and drug king pin in the ’80s. Wershe Jr.’s autobiography White Boy Rick: My Years as a Teenage Drug Informant for the FBI releases in August.

How a True-life Heist Movie Used the Real Criminals and Victim to Bring the Story to Life: “American Animals” looks at the audacious attempted heist of priceless books from Transylvania University’s special collections library in 2004 by childhood friends Warren Lipka and Spencer Reinhard.

(A story from 2016 because “this sickening trend with no sign of stopping“–Hawon Jung) These Women Hunt Hi-tech Peeping Toms in South Korea Where Secret Camera Porn is Rampant.

Kindle Deals

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes is $2.99 (If you cause a death, you get a companion animal in this parallel world, so Zinzi has a sloth on her back as she delves into the dark crime world after being hired to find a missing pop star.– Beuekes is one of my favorite authors.)

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson is $1.99 (Has been on my TBR for-EV-er. A woman’s memories are lost every night when she sleeps and her husband fills her in in the morning. But now her latest journal entry tells her not to trust her husband…)

Blonde Faith by Walter Mosley is $2.99 (This is the 11th book in his Easy Rawlins detectives series which started with Devil in a Blue Dress.)

And Recent Galleys That Have Landed On My Doorstep!

The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel that Scandalized the World  by Sarah Weinmen

Some Die Nameless by Wallace Stroby

Watch the Girls by Jennifer Wolfe

Bimini Twist by Linda Greenlaw

City of Devils: The Two Men Who Ruled the Underworld of Old Shanghai  by Paul French

What Remains of Her by Eric Rickstad

Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien

Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough

Buried in Books by Kate Carlisle

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 Canaves.

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