Author: Jamie Canaves

Hello fellow mystery fans! This newsletter will go great with popcorn–or whatever snacks you enjoy while watching TV–as I’ve found two great adaptations currently streaming on Netflix. Don’t worry I’ll be back next week (yay!) with a bunch of mystery/thriller book recs and news–but this week it’s all about adaptations.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by I Found You by Lisa Jewell.

Two decades of secrets, a missing husband, and a man with no memory are at the heart of this brilliant new novel, filled with the “beautiful writing, believable characters, pacey narrative, and dark secrets” (Daily Mail, London) that make Lisa Jewell so beloved by audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

“Jewell is a wonderful storyteller. Her characters are believable, her writing is strong and poetic, and her narrative is infused with just enough intrigue to keep the pages turning. Readers of Liane Moriarty, Paula Hawkins, and Ruth Ware will love.” —Library Journal (starred review)

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Oh, before I get started and forget: If you’re a Book Riot fan who wants more of us (!) there’s a new subscription program called Insiders! Starting at $3 a month different levels get you different access like a dedicated podcast/newsletter, store deals, new book release index (which I am obsessed with!)…AND there’s an Insiders-only Slack forum where we all chat that has a mystery channel!

Veronica Mars’ zombie cousin!

iZombie: This TV show is loosely adapted from the same titled comic series by Chris Roberson, Laura Allred, Mike Allred, Todd Klein and I’m actually glad it was only loosely adapted because it allowed me to enjoy both, without either spoiling the other’s plot. Basically the comic is a zombie gravedigger, Gwen, who eats dead people’s brains to stay alive but has the side effect of now getting the deceased person’s thoughts/memories. In the comic she has a ghost and werewolf friend and it’s more urban fantasy with mysteries.

Enter Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas who took just the concept of a zombie woman who eats dead people’s brains and temporarily inherits their “brain” from the comic and turned it into a procedural TV show. Gwen is now Liv Moore (get it?!) and rather than a gravedigger she’s a medical student–er, was until she woke up a zombie. The whole zombie thing is part of the show’s mystery but every episode is also a case that Liv is helping the police department with. She kind of lied and pretended to be psychic on account of she probably shouldn’t tell them she’s eating the case’s victim’s brain and getting their memories to help. Did I mention she works at the morgue? Easy brain access! She also takes on a bit of the deceased’s personality/quirks which makes for some funny and entertaining TV. This is one of my fun shows, with a lot of heart (and brains!), that has great characters (especially looking at you Ravi!), and the added bonus of special guests from Veronica Mars popping up here and there. You can binge the 1st two seasons on Netflix and the 3rd is currently playing on the CW.

Welcome to Havana/ Bienvenidos a Havana

Four Seasons in Havana: A Netflix original four-part series adapted from Leonardo Padura’s hard-boiled detective series. Set in the 90s each part is about an hour and a half in a different season of the year following a case assigned to Mario Conde: a depressed detective who’s always grumpy about any case assigned to him–he’d much rather be a writer–and seems to be perpetually having an existential crisis. The show, filmed in Havana, does a great job of giving a look into life in communist Cuba and bringing Padura’s noir series to life. While it was difficult at times to see this once beautiful island in its current destroyed state it was refreshing to see an honest portrayal. I also really liked the characters in his circle of friends, their friendships, and their shit talking gatherings.

The Winds of Lent: A young teacher is found murdered and Conde quickly finds himself placing a friend in danger while tracking a drug dealer and also having a hard time focusing since he’s fallen head over heels for a woman.

Past Perfect: Conde is assigned a case of a missing businessman which quickly gets complicated because it’s Conde and of course the businessman’s wife is an old obsession of his.

Masks: Conde, and his homophobic/transphobic attitude/language, doesn’t want–but has no choice–in being assigned the case of a murdered gay man. The man is a diplomat’s son, complicating the case further, and sending Conde into Cuba’s gay communities–and into the arms of a new woman.

Autumn Landscapes: Conde finds himself on a treasure hunt of sorts after a murdered man is found in the sea–but his time is limited as there’s a hurricane on its way to the island.

I really enjoyed this series and hope Netflix continues to adapt mystery/thrillers from around the world as limited series–Dear Netflix, More of this, please!

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

Hi my fellow mystery fans! The Zoological Wildlife Conservation Center in Oregon lets you have a sleepover with sloths and this is where I want to spend the rest of my life reading all my books! Who’s coming with me?

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Marlena by Julie Buntin.

An electric debut novel about love, addiction, and loss; the story of two girls and the feral year that will cost one her life, and define the other’s for decades

Everything about fifteen-year-old Cat’s new town in rural Michigan is lonely and off-kilter, until she meets her neighbor, the manic, beautiful, pill-popping Marlena. Cat is quickly lured into Marlena’s orbit, and as she catalogues a litany of firsts—first drink, first cigarette, first kiss, first pill—Marlena’s habits harden and calcify. Within the year, Marlena is dead, drowned in six inches of icy water in the woods. When a ghost from that pivotal year surfaces unexpectedly, Cat must try to forgive herself and move on, even as the memory of Marlena keeps her tangled in the past.

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Kendra Donovan is back!

A Twist in Time (Kendra Donovan Mysteries, #2) by Julie McElwain: Kendra Donovan is still stuck in 1815 England after a mysterious wormhole that seems to have moved her from being a modern FBI agent to being in an English castle. But as much as she still wants to find a way to return to her home–and time period–just as in the first book, she’s got more pressing matters in the form of solving a murder. Lady Dover has been murdered and there are plenty of suspects, considering she had quite a few lovers–and no qualms about pissing people off. Speaking of lovers, Donovan’s current love interest is a suspect since he was a former lover of Ms. Dover–juicy stuff, filled with plenty of society gossip! If you’re looking for a fun, feminist, historical fiction mystery here you go. I love watching Donovan fight sexism while also trying to remember the things she can’t reveal because they happen in the future.

Japanese crime fiction always delivers for me!

Penance by Kanae Minato, Philip Gabriel (Translation): This is a dark, character driven crime novel that unfurls from one event: a group of girls are tricked into letting one of the girls help a stranger and that girl is later found dead. The four surviving girls from that day find themselves threatened by the murdered girl’s mother and it changes the course of their lives along with the actual event. I love the construction of the novel where each of the surviving girls (Sae, Maki, Akiko and Yuko) tells a part of that fateful day from their perspective, along with how their life has turned out, now 15 years after the crime. Running throughout the novel is also the mystery of who that stranger was and whether he’ll ever be caught… If you’re a fan of dark, character-driven novels get thee this book!

Lambda literary award finalist have been announced and I just added all the books from the mystery categories to my TBR list.

I kind of love that James Patterson blurbed his own book: Like was Dan Brown too busy so Patterson said “I got this!”? Also, it’s kind of working–I mean I haven’t read a Patterson novel in a bazillion years but now I’m debating that maybe I should read The Black Book. I mean if it is the best one in 20 years!

Watch the always delightful Kristen Bell read the original proposal for Veronica Mars—which was originally meant to be a novel, and was very different from the show we came to know. (I still want more Veronica Mars novels, please!)

When everyone is potentially shady!

The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda: Leah Stevens was a journalist who refused to name a source and also had a restraining order taken out on her so when her friend Emmy offers for them to room together in a small Pennsylvania town Leah thinks the move will be a new life start. But it seems her new life comes with its own new problems: a woman is attacked and left in a coma unable to say who her attacker was, and the victim looks an awful lot like Leah! That’s frightening enough, but now Leah is wondering if the guy who’s been harassing her is responsible? Is she in danger? And then Emmy disappears… Seriously what is happening in this town?! This was a page-turner for me with an ending with bite!–which I love.

On Book Riot: Kate Scott brilliantly reimagined three classics as murder mysteries and Tiffani Willis spent a month reading Sherlock Holmes retellings.

AND the cover for the final installment in the Jackaby series has been revealed! <—–look how pretty and striking!

I have to go shopping now:

Why yes we have earned ourselves mystery solver patches–and they glow in the dark!

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

Hi my fellow mystery fans! Did you hear that humpback whales got together and started a mystery book club? Okay, not really but since Mother Nature seems to be weeping especially loud lately I’m just gonna pretend that’s what is happening until scientist figure this one out. (I’d just really like to be invited to a whale book club–or a game of Clue!)

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Sponsored by John Darnielle’s Universal Harvester.

It’s the late 1990s and Jeremy works at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa. A local schoolteacher comes in to return Targets and says: “There’s something on it.” Two days later, a different customer returns a different tape and says: “There’s another movie on this tape.”

Jeremy discovers that in the middle of each movie, the screen blinks dark and the movie is replaced by a few minutes of jagged, poorly lit home video.

“This chilling literary thriller follows a video store clerk as he deciphers a macabre mystery through clues scattered among the tapes his customers rent. A page-tuning homage to In Cold Blood and The Ring.” — O: The Oprah Magazine

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My best read in February and I’m still raving about it!

The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani: Abani is an excellent writer who wonderfully mixed literary fiction, mystery, crime, and horror together. And by that I mean the writing was perfect, the depth of character fantastic, the mystery interesting, and the horror breath-stopping the way only a reminder of how truly awful humanity can be can do. The novel begins with conjoined twins (named Fire and Water) bathing near a barrel that turns out to be filled with blood, which leads a detective desperate to solve unsolved murders to swear it must be them. Sunil, a doctor specializing in sociopaths, is tasked with evaluating the twins–and more importantly proving they are sociopaths. But he doesn’t really think they are and seems more drawn to understanding them and their lives. That is of course when Sunil isn’t remembering his life in South Africa–a dark past–and falling in love with Asia, a prostitute.

Betty Rhyzyk is my new favorite detective!

The Dime by Kathleen Kent: To be totally honest, I had planned on skipping this one since I wasn’t really in the mood for the whole Mexican gang rapist/drug dealers thing (what I assumed it would be about–it’s not!) BUT Mulholland Books has yet to disappoint at all AND Liberty recommended it. I AM SO GLAD I READ THIS ONE. After a huge weekend reading slump where nothing I picked up made me want to keep reading, this one enveloped me into its pages and wouldn’t let me go. I tell you all this because I don’t think the summary does this awesome book justice. Rhyzyk is a hard-ass, take-no-shit detective trying to balance her career, her personal relationship with her doctor girlfriend, and the ghosts of her past. And by ghost I mean her recently deceased uncle who’d always been the only true family and good advice giver in her life. While she may start out investigating a Mexican cartel in Texas, this takes some hard turns into different territory and leaves you with an ending you wouldn’t expect. Kent has written a brilliant detective with hard-edges and heart while striking the perfect balance of humor, violence, action, and procedural. I want more!

The Woman in Cabin 10 is getting a film adaptation! There was apparently some competition for the rights that CBS Films ended up winning and Hillary Seitz will be writing the script. This was one of my favorite 2016 mystery releases and I’m really looking forward to the film.

The Girl in the Spider’s Web is coming to theaters in 2018: And I should finally read it! Seems all the issues with continuing the U.S. adaptation of the series have been resolved by adapting TGITSW and deciding to cast all new actors for the parts. Have any thoughts who should play Lisbeth? Blomkvist?

Have you been watching HBO’s Big Little Lies adaptation? While I agree that this was a perfect opportunity for women writers and directors to helm a project–it’s written by David E. Kelly, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée– I am really enjoying the series. The acting is A+ and the dark mood from the book and the flashbacks are perfectly portrayed… If you like think-pieces about the shows you’re watching Emily Nussbaum wrote a nice piece for The New Yorker: The Surprising Generosity of “Big Little Lies”

J.K. Rowling uses Twitter, and humor, to reveal the title for the next Cormoran Strike novel: EW rounded-up the fun.

MacMillan Audio has a sample of Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama narrated by Richard Burnip: Listen to Chapter Two. (And if you want to read my review: here.)

Has your life been missing Murder, She Wrote guest star playing cards? Have I got great news for you!

Now in paperback:

Alligator Candy by David Kushner: This is a memoir where Kushner talks about growing up after his older brother was murdered at the age of 11, and the two times in his life he faced actually learning all the circumstances of the crime. He had only been four at the time so he’s always questioned whether his memories–especially of the last moment he saw his brother before the murder–were even real. He also looks back at how his other family members dealt with the tragedy, now from the perspective of an adult. While raw in parts and gut-wrenching in others–the crime was brutal–the book is also a reminder of the healing power of community and is written without the gross sensationalizing of a crime, which sadly happens too often.

Over on Book Riot: Katie McGuire has recs for Feminist Crime Comics for Fans of My Favorite Murder and I talk about 5 Japanese crime writers I love.

I have to go shopping now:

This “Cereal Killer” spoon is awesome.

And I am all emoji heart eyes for Book Riot’s Agatha Christie “The Body in the Library” t-shirt.

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

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Hello again my fellow mystery fans! I hope you’re well and excited for all the books, news, and adaptations I’m about to throw at you.

Let’s start with some great news: Walter Mosley (who I love) has a new novel coming out in 2018 published by Mulholland Books (who have put out some great mystery/thrillers like Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta and Kill the Next One by Federico Axat!). I am really excited for Mosley’s PI novel.

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This week’s newsletter is sponsored by Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama.

For five days, the parents of a seven-year-old Japanese schoolgirl sat and listened to the demands of their daughter’s kidnapper. They would never learn his identity. And they would never see their daughter alive again.

Fourteen years later, the mystery remains unsolved and the stigma of the case known as “Six Four” has never faded.

Yoshinobu Mikami, a former detective who was involved in the original case and who is now himself the father of a missing daughter—is forced to revisit the botched investigation. Mikami is hoping to help finally put the notorious case to rest. But what he uncovers are secrets that he never could have imagined.

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And even more great news: A new audiobook has Stephen Fry narrating Sherlock Holmes! The collection has four novels and four short stories AND Fry wrote an introduction for each, exclusively for Audible Studios. Even though I’ve previously read A Study in Scarlet I couldn’t pass up listening to Fry’s introduction, nor his narration. His introduction is the perfect length and gives a quick insight into his personal attachment, some history on Arthur Conan Doyle, the characters, the time period, and the detective genre. If you’ve never read Doyle’s Holmes before this is a perfect collection to read so that when you’re in the mood for a novel or short story you can select one and find yourself in Baker Street with Fry’s wonderful narration in your ears. Or if you’re a superfan already the collection is a hell of a binging challenge! Listen to a sample.

Epic Reads has a generator that tells you your Sherlock Holmes story title.

This one broke my heart:

A Good Idea by Cristina Moracho: After her parents’ divorce Finley moved with her mother to N.Y., but now she’s home in Maine with her father for the summer. Except, it’s anything but a reunion or summer vacation. Her childhood best friend, Betty, is missing–although most likely dead considering Betty’s boyfriend confessed, then recanted after the police were forced to set him free because they didn’t have a parent in the room. Fin is determined to find out what happened and where Betty is, dead or alive. She’s an expected mess in trying to live her life, grieving for Betty, questioning herself as a friend, and whether to seek revenge on Betty’s boyfriend. She’s angry, taking drugs, confrontational, and very real as the novel dives into moral grey areas and questioning how far you’ll stick up for those you love. My heartbreak came from the sadly often times real look at how many people did nothing, or the very wrong thing, in relation to helping someone with depression. A dark, partially morally complex mystery that left me looking forward to more from Moracho.

Creepy, looking-over-your-shoulder thriller!

I See You by Clare Mackintosh: I really enjoyed I Let You Go, so this was a must read for me and it delivered in the thriller page-turner department! Imagine while commuting to work seeing a photograph that you swear looks like you in the ad section of the newspaper that just lists a website. It gets worse! Now imagine you realize that former women in ads have reported their keys stolen and been murdered! Now you’re also convinced someone is watching you… Like I said this one is a creepy, page-turner that made me super glad I don’t take the train to work because I would have been a paranoid mess while reading this one–it’s so good! And there are plenty of suspects because Zoe, a single mom, has an ex-husband and a current live in boyfriend…

Juno Rushdan has a three book deal for a romantic thriller series that sounds really interesting: “Kinkade’s partner in the mission turns out to be a former lover who she’d assumed was dead—’by her own hand.'” Dun-dun-dunnnnnn!

Jack Ryan is coming to Amazon: Based on Tom Clancy’s character the adaptation so far will star John Krasinski (Jim!), Abbie Cornish, Marie-Josée Croze, Wendell Pierce.

Excellent literary fiction with a dual past and present mystery:

Ill Will by Dan Chaon: In the ’80s Dustin Tillman’s mom, dad, aunt, and uncle were all murdered leaving him, his adopted brother, and twin cousins orphaned. Now a psychologist, husband, and father Tillman finds the past coming back as his brother is being exonerated of the murders thanks to DNA evidence. It was Tillman and a cousin who had pointed the finger originally sealing his brother’s fate–back when the country actually thought there was a wave of satanic groups coming for us. But that isn’t all Tillman is dealing with: his wife is dying; he has a new patient convinced that he can crack a serial killer conspiracy of why college athletes keep getting drunk and drowning; his brother Rusty is reaching out to his son. The novel takes a deep dive into the characters lives and thoughts, past and present, and while the mysteries come second you’re given satisfying conclusions and a tense ending placing Chaon on my excellent-writer list. Excellent! (If you’re a fan of audiobooks the narrators were great.)

Bustle has a list of addictive mysteries and on Book Riot Beth O’Brien has very specific mysteries she enjoys.

David Finch’s upcoming Netflix series Mindhunter, based on Mind Hunter: Inside FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unit written by Mark Olshaker and John E. Douglas, has a creepy teaser trailer.

I have to go shopping now:

Clue inspired murder mystery cookies. (Don’t know if they taste good but they look awesome!)

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

Whether you’re finding yourself buried under snow or in unseasonably warm weather I hope it’s with a good book in your hand! I for one am on a fantastic reading roll and am diving straight in this week because there are so many books to talk about!

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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Hades by Candice Fox.

On a dark night in a junkyard on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia, Hades Archer disposes of things other people either don’t want, or cannot face. Old machinery and dead bodies are dismembered with equally cool precision, until two children are delivered for disposal, still alive. Hades nurses them back to health and raises them as his own. They are twins, a boy and a girl, whom he names Eric and Eden.

Flash forward: the twins, now adults, are detectives in the Sydney Metro Police homicide squad, when a series of bodies turn up with vital organs missing. A serial killer is stealing organs from healthy people and selling them to the desperately ill. Eric and Eden team up with Frank Bennett, a tarnished detective fighting his own demons, as they track down a madman who lives for the kill…

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A great series with rich and wonderful characters that expertly blends detective mystery with history and politics:

Among the Ruins (Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak #3) by Ausma Zehanat Khan: Getty and Khattak are back with a new mystery that they’re solving unofficially, and on different continents. Zahra Sobhani, a Canadian-Iranian filmmaker, is dead and Khattak is asked to look into her death while in Iran (on leave from Canada’s Community Policing dept.), which is unsafe for him and difficult since he can’t use his usual resources–except for Getty, back in Canada who he has helping him. I really liked the mystery (which turned out to not go in the direction I was expecting), the three points of view (Getty, Khattak, and a prisoner’s), and as always my favorite part of Khan’s series is the deep dive into politics and cultures.

I hope this is the beginning of a series:

August Snow by Stephen Mack Jones: An ex-marine, ex-cop–who won a gigantic wrongfully-dismissed lawsuit against the police department–returns to his childhood home in Mexicantown, Detroit and quickly finds himself wrapped up in a mystery. Snow may have turned down Eleanore Paget’s request to hire him to investigate her investment bank but when she dies he finds himself on the case, and in constant danger. Jones does a fantastic job of bringing Detroit to life like a character, including the racial harmony, tension, and racism. While much of the FBI, cybercrime, and shoot-’em-up scenes aren’t plausible they reminded me of my love for action movies, and I could see August Snow easily being a great television/film character.

Read an excerpt: Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions, Amy Stewart’s next release in the Kopp Sisters series.

Clare Mackintosh, I Let You Go, discusses I See You on Flavorwire’s ‘The Sweetest Debut.’

Awesome:

Winter of the Gods (Olympus Bound #2) by Jordanna Max Brodsky: Selene DiSilva is a goddess, living with a mortal man, in N.Y. when they’re asked to help with a murder investigation. But this isn’t what anyone at first suspects and soon DiSilva realizes that someone is hunting the gods… Let’s count all the things that make this book awesome: 1. Greek gods secretly living amongst mortals. 2. A kick-ass (literally and figuratively) goddess who is also hilarious. 3. A mystery. 4. Awesome fight scenes. 5. A modern, unique take on Greek mythology. 6. A human and goddess relationship…  I need book #3 NOW!

Argentinian Agatha Christie:

Death Going Down by Maria Angélica Bosco, Lucy Greaves (Translator): Bosco is known as the Argentinian Agatha Christie and that’s a hard title to live up to so I went into this excited, but also aware that I was most likely going to be disappointed. I was not! Bosco has written a great whodunnit that starts with a woman being found dead in the elevator of an apartment building in Buenos Aires–not everyone is buying the suicide angle and there’s a building filled with suspects and secrets! At 160 pages this is a satisfying quick-ish read. I for one am hoping for more of Bosco’s work to be translated, and if not I’ll just have to brush up on my Spanish.

Now in paperback:

Perfect Days by Raphael Montes (Annie Wilkes + Norman Bates had a terrifying book baby!)

The Ex by Alafair Burke (Did he or didn’t he?!)

The Widow by Fiona Barton (Unsettling, deep dive into how spouses stay after the other is accused of a horrible crime. Great on audio! Perfect for Dateline fans.)

The Lion’s Mouth (Hanne Wilhelmsen #4) by Anne Holt (Great mystery/political thriller that works as a standalone.)

Amy Dunne has a best friend:

Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach, Jorjeana Marie (Narrator): Okay, so not really but I promise you one of the characters in this book and Amy Dunne would make the perfect friends–god help everyone else. Ava returns home to her family’s failing vineyard after her identical twin sister Zelda dies in a fire. But Ava is suddenly finding herself receiving messages from Zelda which send her on an elaborate game to unravel the mystery of where Zelda might really be… Think a fractured family is forced to reunite literary novel that is held together by a mystery and sprinkled with suspense.

Teaser trailer: The Sinner: USA upcoming adaptation of the same titled novel by Petra Hammesfahr starring Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbott, and Bill Pullman. This looks sooooo good!

I have to go shopping now:

Murder, She Wrote illustrated and handmade cushion

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

Do you ever reach a point where all the mystery you’ve been reading bleeds into real life? The other night I let the dog out and she charged out barking so I followed to see what had caught her attention and I found myself staring at a very large silhouette of a man holding an ax above his head. I’d just finished a novel about serial killers so I internally screamed “Serial killer! Run!” Then I realized it was my neighbor chopping his Christmas tree, I’m guessing for a bonfire. OR all my reading sounded my alarm bells and saved my dog and I because mystery books save lives.

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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by The Cruelty by Scott Bergtsrom.

Taken meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Bourne Identity in this action-packed debut thriller (optioned for film by Jerry Bruckheimer) about a girl who must train as an assassin to deal with the gangsters who have kidnapped her father.

 

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What serial killer book was I reading?

What You Don’t Know by JoAnn Chaney: This was chilling, brutal, exceptionally written, and it gave me nightmares–I loved every minute of it. (Let’s not think too hard on what that says about me.) Chaney has written flawed characters (as humans are) that are incredibly real and rather than pushing me to dislike them I found myself constantly wondering what I would do in their situation. The novel begins by alternating point of view between three of the main characters: a pair of detectives that could not be more different from each other; a journalist who has reached the point of I’ll-do-anything to get back my career; and the serial killer’s wife, trying to start a new life. As the story unfolds–if the serial killer is in prison who is committing the new murders?!–we get more points of view added taking us deep into these characters lives, fears, desires, struggles, and need.

Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Translator): I picked this up because of the marketing that it had “a twist no reader could predict,”–and it did–but the novel was not what I was expecting. In an interview Yokoyama explained how he’s more “interested in the psychology and social dynamics of characters who happen to be affected by crime.” And that is what you get about 80% of the time as you follow Mikami, now working in press relations, as he’s struggling with the disappearance of his daughter, pushback from the media who are upset the police are holding back the name of a driver from an accident, and his digging into a fourteen-year-old unsolved kidnapping/murder known as Six Four. As a reader of a lot of U.S. police procedures I am accustomed to a book that would focus solely on this once-investigator obsessing over solving Six Four AND finding his daughter. Instead he’s wrapped up in all the politics happening in the department, dealing with his wife who isn’t leaving the house since their daughter’s disappearance, and trying to unravel a screw up during the Six Four investigation. It isn’t until about the 80% mark that it switches into a suspenseful thriller-ish novel and then BAM, you get the twist. Totally satisfying for me.

I’m intrigued:

“Calvin and Hobbes meets Sin City” is all I had to hear. Now to patiently wait for the release of Spencer & Locke.

I had never heard of these studios or this YA book before but I have to say that title has me reeeeal interested: ‘The Dead Girls Detective Agency’ YA Novel Being Adapted As Digital Series.

Becoming Bonnie, a forthcoming historical novel–which also sold the rights to the sequel–about a young Bonnelyn Parker (from Bonnie & Clyde) sounds interesting.

Sarah Paulson will star in Amazon’s Lost Girls based on Robert Kolker’s book about the serial killer who found his victim’s using Craigslist.

When genres blend wonderfully:

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy: I read a galley of this book a while ago and it’s still with me because there was this strange creepy factor throughout that I couldn’t look away from which had me constantly turning the page. Eurydice (Edie) works at the Elysian Society which basically means people come to speak to the dead through her. Not in a scam that she pretends to pass on messages kind of way. In a very real way that she takes a pill that allows the actual person who has passed on to inhabit her body temporarily and spend time with their loved one who has paid money for the service. During the service Edie has no idea what is happening, it’s kind of lights out for her (which is where my imagination kicked into gear and was creeped out). Edie is great at her job until Patrick comes to spend time with his deceased wife Sylvia and Edie becomes obsessed with Patrick and the mystery of Sylvia’s death…

You can read an adapted excerpt from Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of New York City’s Greatest Female Detective and the 1917 Missing Girl Case that Captivated a Nation. (Whew, that’s a mouthful title!)

From Book Riot: Books for Fans of My Favorite Murder by Hannah Engler and with news of a possible Veronica Mars’ miniseries I plead for new books.

Have you been watching Riverdale? For me it’s a bit 90210 with a Twin Peaks vibe and some serious Archie angst. I really like it and am really enjoying the murder mystery part of it. I’m also here for Rioter Preeti Chhibber’s weekly podcast Riverdale: #HotArchie Edition.

I have to go shopping now:

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries T-shirt

Nancy Drew wrapped pencils

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

A month into 2017 and I’ve already read so many good books (including amazing debuts–one I’ll be shouting about next month), that I can’t help but think this is going to be a fantastic year for books!

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Today’s newsletter is sponsored by Serial Box.

Serial Box, today’s hottest publisher of serialized fiction brings everything that’s awesome about TV (easily digestible episodes, team written, new content every week) to what was already cool about books (well-crafted stories, talented authors, enjoyable anywhere). From Urban Fantasy to Science Fiction – they have something for every taste, and reading (or listening!) on the go has never been easier than with their iOS app. Readers who prefer their spy tales with a twist are invited to The Witch Who Came In From The Cold and the streets of Prague, 1970 where spies practice sorcery in their games of intrigue.

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Give me ALL the “unlikable” women, please!

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh: Eileen Dunlop tells the story of how at age twenty-four, in the ’60s, she came to finally disappear from the small town where she worked in a boy’s prison and lived with her abusive, alcoholic father. This takes you 100% into the life of a desperate, miserable, intensely self-loathing woman while slowly building up to an ending of crime/suspense. If you like character driven novels and not knowing where things are leading this was a great read as Moshfegh places you so deeply into Eileen’s life that you can smell her life. (Not a mystery but you can read her An Honest Woman story at The New Yorker.)

New Megan Abbott in 2018 has me all muppet arms! Give Me Your Hand will be a psychological thriller about two scientists and the secret they share–is it too early to already love it?!

Watch now: Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, inspired by Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, is now available on DVD/Digital HD. Watch trailer here.

Want an ending to talk about?

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough: Single mom Louise has a bit of a bar hookup with a man she’s just met only to later discover he’s her new boss and–wait for it… married! I haven’t even gotten to the awkward part yet: Louise’s boss’ wife befriends her. Everything is just weird and chaotic after that because clearly there isn’t a single person who is behaving normally or doesn’t appear to be seriously hiding something. This is a mindfck, psychological thriller, with a sprinkling of magic realism, that will keep you asking wtf and turning the page. You might want a reading partner for this one so you can share your guesses and discuss the ending.

Great mystery audiobook!

 A Beautiful Place To Die (Detective Emmanuel Cooper #1) by Malla Nunn, Saul Reichlin (Narrator):  Englishman Detective Emmanuel Cooper is tasked with solving the mysterious murder of Captain Pretorius, a white officer, in South Africa during the 1950s. Complicating the investigation that already has too many chefs in the kitchen–and an unidentified Peeping Tom–is the recently placed apartheid system that applied racial segregation and becomes as important to the novel as the mystery. I can’t speak for accuracy but I loved Reichlin’s narration and how he changed accents and tone between the many characters. It’s a good mystery with great characters that left me wanting to read the rest of the series and made me immediately listen to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime which was excellent and a perfect pairing.

Another great audiobook!

  Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, Megan McDowell (Translator), Hillary Huber (Narrator): You get a mix of genres including Literary, Horror, Psychological Thriller and my favorite genre WTF/Bananas! The novel starts with a woman dying in a hospital in Argentina as a young boy questions her on the events that led up to her illness. Instead she tells him the story she heard about him from his mother: poison, a healer, souls being split between bodies!… If you’re looking for a fantastic, quick-ish, unsettling read you need this novel!

Over on Book Riot: 5 Paperback Mysteries You Need to Check Out by Swapna Krishna and A Female Sleuth Reading List in Response to Sherlock’s Season 4 by Deepali Agarwal (S4 SPOILERS).

Adaptation news: John le Carré will have another spy novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, adapted into a limited-series by AMC and the BBC.

Yes, please:

Colombian writer Santiago Gamboa will have his crime novel, Return to the Dark Valley, translated to English.

Kensington bought audio and world rights to Joseph Souza’s Bring Me Closer which sounds like a thriller I need to read.

Recently released in the UK Fiona Cummins’ debut novel Rattle will be adapted to television. “A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter” has me wanting to read it now so I’m probably going to order this online from a bookstore that ships worldwide rather than waiting for a U.S. release.

And I’ll leave you with: Mystery Writers of America announced the 2017 Edgar Nominations.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

It’s a new year and I’m once again challenging myself to read ALL the books. Oh, and I’ve already read a mystery that will be in my top reads of 2017 so clearly it’s going to be an excellent reading year!

My top read already!

The Dry by Jane Harper: This was a completely satisfying read that has two mysteries, past and present, and a town that is as much a character as the people. Aaron Falk returns to his hometown after the death of his childhood best friend and family, in what appears to be a murder-suicide, but after being asked to investigate, Falk is forced to face the town’s current state of despair and also everything he ran away from years before: the death of a childhood friend and the questions he’s never answered… My only complaint is that it’s a debut novel and I don’t have a back catalog I can go binge read!

Have you heard?

Benedict Cumberbatch is related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a real life twist that no one would believe in fiction. And you can play along with a live Sherlock mystery on Twitter.

I love a book that takes a sharp turn into WTF? land!

The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley: Charles Blakey is struggling to pay his mortgage and get a job which makes the arrival of a stranger offering him a ton of money to rent his basement a bizarre proposition he’s slowly finding his way to accepting. But then the stranger’s demands and cage arrive and Blakey, a black man, suddenly with a white man imprisoned in his basement finds himself unable to understand what is happening. Blakey is about to find out what type of man would offer a ton of money to hide in his basement inside a cell…

Archie, Jughead, and a murder!

At least that would be my tagline. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is imagining the dark underbelly from the Archie Comics in Riverdale on the CW and I am 100% here for the January 26th premiere. Did I mention Luke Perry and Molly Ringwald are Archie’s parents?! Watch the trailer here.

Hilarious!

A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell #2) by Deanna Raybourn: I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much in a mystery, let alone historical fiction. Imagine 1887 London and getting to know all the badly behaved of “polite society.” If that sounds like fun—it was!—you don’t want to miss Veronica Speedwell (a lepidopterist) and Stoker (a natural historian) as they try to solve the murder of an artist before the man accused of committing the crime is hanged. Added bonus: Speedwell and Stoker each have family drama and, unrelated to that drama, sexual tension.

So much Nancy Drew:

The 2007 Nancy Drew film starring Emma Roberts is now streaming on Netflix.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Del Col, Werther Dell’Edera (illustrated): This dark reimagining I’m hesitant on. I love the idea of a darker, older, reimagining of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys but I’m not sure how the ‘femme fatale’ will be handled. Guess I’ll just have to wait until its March release. Fingers crossed.

Looking for a nice Nancy Drew pin to wear? Here you go.

Want to read a dark and gruesome locked-room mystery?

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada, Shika MacKenzie (Translator), Ross MacKenzie (Translation): In the 1970s friends Ishioka and Mitarai try to solve a gruesome crime and locked-room mystery from the 30s. Artist Umezawa had planned on creating the perfect woman by using dismembered body parts from six daughters and nieces. The women were in fact dead and one would think Umezawa had to be the murderer, BUT he had been murdered days before in his locked studio leaving a decades-old unsolved mystery of seven murders. This is one of the few books that I had ZERO idea of the solution and I loved that.

Like your books with a sharp twist and multiple points of view?

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia: Hattie Hoffman reminded me a bit of a teenage Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) in that Hoffman is never really herself but rather constantly morphing into the person someone else wants, needs, or expects her to be. She hates everything about her small town and is planning on moving immediately after her high school graduation but something changes that will forever keep her in her hometown. Chances are you won’t see the twist coming.

In Theaters: Live by Night is Ben Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s same titled crime novel. Watch trailer here.

Watch Now: The adaptation of The Girl On the Train on Digital HD from Amazon/iTunes or buy the DVD on January 17th.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

I am trapped between elation over 2016 finally coming to an end and terror over 2017 beginning. Since I have yet to find a time traveling DeLorean, I have no option but to continue with time as it’s presented. Because of this I’ve decided to do a bit of a different newsletter this time and will be rounding up my favorite mystery-related things of 2016 and talking about upcoming things in 2017 that I am excited for.

We’ll start with Best Of 2016 lists for mystery books!

Or at least that’s what my intention was, BUT my plan crashed and burned like 2016 when I realized people are still putting out lists that would make readers think authors of color don’t even exist. Kirkus Reviews managed to choose 18 mysteries for Best of 2016 and 17 are by white authors. That feels like it takes effort to do. Or, you know, a lot of conscious/unconscious bias. The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times apparently met their quota of 1 out of 10, and in what I can only imagine is the worst game ever (where everyone loses) Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post tried to outdo everyone by actually having all-white author lists. I just finished writing about the problem with the Goodreads Choice Awards—spoiler, all white authors—and here we are again.

I know for a fact that there were a lot of great mystery books written by non-white authors this year because I read a bunch and quite a few are on my Best Of list. NPR also put together a great list—although I have to note that as much as I LOVE The Regional Office Is Under Attack! audiobook, I would not categorize it under mystery. I really wanted to use this space to talk about the various lists and books on them but I honestly would be doing readers a disservice if I did because the mystery genre, starting from the top of publishing, needs to have a long hard discussion/thinking about how and why anyone is still publishing lists that only promote white authors as being the best.

2016 mystery/thrillers that may not have crossed your path but should have:

Betty Boo by Claudia Piñeiro, Miranda France (Translation): The novel starts with a murder, but rather than having the urgency of must-solve, it becomes a character driven novel which follows a novelist (semi-retired after her last book bombed), a crime writing journalist (punished and moved off of his crime section), and the new wet-behind-the-ears crime journalist as they try to piece together the murder of a man three years after his wife was murdered. You get a good mystery that it is solved at the end, but what I loved most about this novel were the characters and the exploration of gender roles, youth vs. middle age, gated communities, and the secrets we live with.

The English Teacher by Yiftach Reicher Atir, Philip Simpson (Translator), Charlotte Albanna (Narrator): I really enjoyed the audiobook of this spy novel. It was different from what I’m used to, in that rather than being a fast-paced, heart-pounding thriller, it simmered and took you into former Mossad agent Rachel Goldschmitt’s life, sharing how she became an agent, while giving the details I find spy novels usually skip. While not comparable to the USA Network show Covert Affairs, the audiobook did manage to briefly fill that void I’ve been feeling since the show was canceled. For interesting backstory on the novel: A true Mossad spy story that didn’t really happen.

Want to see the gigantic list of submissions for the Edgar® Award? Here you go!

2016 mystery/thrillers I didn’t get to that are rolling over like cell phone minutes to my 2017 must-read list:

The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

The Trap by Melanie Raabe

A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas

Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon

Unknown Caller by Debra Spark

I’m counting down the days for Attica Locke’s crime novels!

I haven’t actually heard any more news—fingers crossed it hasn’t been pushed back to 2018—but I haven’t forgotten the announcement that Attica Locke has two crime novels coming, the first in fall of 2017.

Publishing News:

Kate Carlisle’s Fixer-Upper Mystery series sounds like a fun cozy-mystery series.

In case you missed these 2016 articles/posts:

Troy L. Wiggins’ The Unique Crime Fiction Perspectives of Black and Latinx Women

NPR’s The ‘Girl’ In The Title: More Than A Marketing Trend

Liberty recommends books to read after binge watching Making a Murderer.

Interview with a Bookstore: The Mysterious Bookshop

Free coloring page download of Amy Stewart’s Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble covers.

Elle’s 6 Books You Need to Read This December, including mystery.

BuzzFeed’s The Girl on the Train and Women’s Dark Fantasies

Bill Morris’ Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Turns 75

Leaving Netflix and premiere reminder:

Murder, She Wrote will no longer be streaming on Netflix starting January 1st so get your binge on now!

Reminder that Sherlock returns with ‘The Six Thatchers’ on January 1st.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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I may not be surrounded by my usual piles of books—currently I’m surrounded by stacks of gifts, gift tags, and countless rolls of wrapping paper that refuse to stop rolling off the table—but I am still 100% about discussing books! So lets get to all the mystery, crime, and murders which I like to believe don’t get solved until we read them.

Norwegian Crime:

I discovered Anne Holt thanks to Rioter Leila Roy’s Queens of Crimes. I’m a big fan of Scandinavian crime novels/Nordic noir because they’re dark and morally complicated, so I had to read Holt. Her Hanne Wilhelmsen series (one of three) is now mostly translated to English. I was reading out of order since they were being translated out of order BUT if you haven’t read the series yet you’re in luck: The Lion’s Mouth (#4), Dead Joker (#5), No Echo (#6), and Beyond the Truth (#7) published in the U.S. this year so you can read the first eight novels in the series in order. If you’re a dabbler or don’t care about order, the novels 1222 and The Lion’s Mouth work as stand-alones.

So. Many. Twists.

I’m not going to say a lot about Federico Axat’s Kill the Next One because I was totally unprepared for all the sharp turns in the novel and I don’t want to take that awesome experience away from other readers. The novel starts with Ted, having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, about to take his own life, except he’s interrupted by a stranger with a strange proposition who knows way too much about Ted. Ted complies with the stranger’s request and quickly realizes nothing is as it seems. And when I say nothing is at is seems, I mean nothing. You have no idea where this is going after the opening. Enjoy!

Megan Abbott has excellent taste! (Not that it was up for debate.)

Abbott listed her favorite thriller writers in By the Book and having never heard of Steph Cha, I knew I had to read her. In Follow Her Home, Juniper Song, a mid-twenties Korean-American with a fixation for Philip Marlowe, decides to help a close friend who fears his father is having an affair. Song may not actually be a PI but she has many similarities and I think would get listed with the best of the best—terrible smoking habit included. Song is broken from the past, dripping with sarcasm, relentless, and my new favorite main character in a noir series. Speaking of series, I need to go buy Beware Beware and Dead Soon Enough.

Sequels are coming!

A Murder in Time (Kendra Donovan #1) by Julie McElwain: McElwain sprinkles a bit of accidental time travel to place modern day FBI agent Kendra Donovan in a British castle in 1815. Add a serial killer and Donovan’s continual forgetfulness/refusal to oblige with 1800s rules for women, and you have a great feminist mystery. The second in the series, A Twist in Time, is listed as coming April 2017!

A Front Page Affair (Kitty Weeks Mystery #1) by Radha Vatsal: This is perfect for readers who love a mystery but try to avoid graphic violence, especially towards women, and are historical fiction fans. Set in NY at the beginning of World War I, Capability “Kitty” Weeks finds herself trying to solve a murder that occurred during an event she’d attended while working as a reporter for the women’s fashion section of The Sentinel. While she is more than capable of not only solving the crime and being a newspaper reporter, she’s a woman in a time where women aren’t even allowed to vote. The second book in the series, Murder Between the Lines, is listed as coming May 2017!

Adaptation news:

Caleb Carr’s The Alienist began casting for the TNT adaptation.

HBO is done teasing us and finally released the official trailer for Big Little Lies.

Carl Hiaasen’s Basket Case may be coming to Fox.

The first issue has me excited for the series!

Imagine having zero interest in being a princess because you’ve already decided you want to be a detective. Now imagine you have no say in things because you’re only ten. That’s what Max is dealing with in Mega Princess #1 by Kelly Thompson, Brianne Drouhard, M. Victoria Robado. Even after a visit from her fairy godmother, who mints her with some extra princess powers, Max is undeterred from becoming a detective. She even has a sarcastic horse sidekick!

If you’re planning a murder mystery party and are a fan of cutting:

These printable murder mystery photo booth props look awesome. They even seem like fun to wear while playing Clue.

Find yourself with less time than usual during the holiday season?

Read a great mystery short story published in The Atlantic: Reply to a Dead Man by Walter Mosley

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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