Author: Jamie Canaves

When You Gotta Solve Your Friend’s Murder

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 19, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! I just had to delete a TON of things from my phone because I have so many TBR audiobooks (which I am not deleting) that were using up all my storage. And then I got a bunch more audiobooks which I’m super excited about and already started inhaling. Also, thanks to the Viki app I have expanded from K-dramas to my first romance series from Taiwan (Lost Romance) which straight up went murder in the first episode (did not see that coming)! And now for your escape entertainment: there’s new releases, backlist, something to watch, recent mystery news and roundups.

Skeleton With Book Shirt

Death by TBR, anyone? $17+

New Releases

An Eternal Lei (A Leilani Santiago Hawai’i Mystery #2) by Naomi Hirahara

I’m so excited that we get a sequel to Iced in Paradise (Review). If you like mysterious person mysteries, an amateur sleuth who must clear their friend’s name, want to armchair travel to Hawai’i, and were looking for a new cozy series, here you go.

Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride by Lorenzo Carcaterra

And now we travel to an Italian island! Who needs the police when you can have Nonna Maria, an elderly Italian widow who knows everyone and is known by everyone, help you. In this case the help needed is a woman who suddenly questions who her fiance really is…

Riot Recommendations

If you’ve been in the mood for mysteries starring amateur sleuths looking into their friend’s death, I’ve got two great ones for you.

Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf

This is a great read especially for fans of words and/or Scrabble, mental health not being the boogeyman, and people who live/breath a hobby. You get play-by-play action and lots of history/definition of words as Najwa Bakri is finally back at a Scrabble tournament with two important things to do: become the Queen of the Tiles, the title left vacant after her friend Trina died, snd figure out who is posting on Trina’s inactive Instagram account questioning Trina’s death…

(TW depression, anxiety/ drugging without consent / grief)

Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Mila Flores doesn’t believe her best friend took her own life and so she sets out to prove it by conjuring up a spell that will bring Riley back from the dead. Great idea. Except she not only brings back Riley but also two recently dead teen girls she really didn’t like much. Three dead teens seems excessive though and maybe they’ve got a mystery on their hands instead? They better get over their issues and team-up quick though because the spell only lasts 7 days and they need to solve this mystery in time!

(TW suicide)

Watch Now

The Lincoln Lawyer on Netflix: Not to be confused with the film adaptation, this is a brand new series adapted from Michael Connelly‘s novels following an LA lawyer working our of the back of his car. It’s created by David E. Kelley, who seems to be adapting all the crime novels lately, and stars Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Neve Campbell, Becki Newton, Jazz Raycole, and Christopher Gorham (Auggie!). Watch the trailer.

News And Roundups

23 New Books By Asian-American And Pacific Islander Authors Perfect for Mystery Readers

Cover reveal for In Myrtle Peril, the newest in the super fun Myrtle Hardcastle series by Elizabeth C. Bunce. (The first book in the series is Premeditated Myrtle)

‘Nine Perfect Strangers’ Nears Deal for Season 2 at Hulu, Will Compete in Emmy Drama Categories

2 great thrillers to read now — and 2 for your summer reading list

We’ve got two more Jane Harper announcements: Here’s the cover reveal for the US release for the final Aaron Falk book.

AND The Dry 2: Eric Bana filming sequel to Aussie smash hit film

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2022 releases. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

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

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

Unusual Suspects

New Jane Harper Novel Announced!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 17, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! Here are some new releases, some killer books (heh), and a roundup of news and round-ups to click.

Nacho Average Detective Mug

For fans of puns, detective mysteries, and warm drinks, this is a great gift (for you or them) for $19.

New Releases

With Prejudice by Robin Peguero

Here’s a new legal thriller that follows an entire case from beginning to end. The case is not simple: Gabriel Soto is accused of murdering Melina Mora, but the remains recovered weren’t enough to tell much of what happened to her.

Readers are taken directly into the jury room, into the prosecution’s side as they build their case out of court, into the defense side as they build their case and meet with the defendant, inside the judge’s chamber, and of course inside the courtroom as the case is tried. There is discovery that happens during the actual trial throwing both the prosecutor and defense into loops trying to right their case again.

A thing I really liked about this one was how we get backstories for everyone showing how there is no such thing as being impartial, since we carry around with us our experiences.

(TW presumed sexual assault case discussed in prep, trial, interrogations/ police racial profiling, racism/ homophobia/ domestic abuse/ mentions child death case/ alcoholism, addiction / murder suicide case/ Sept 11th on news)

Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

I need more popcorn thrillers in my life! And by that I mean books that hook me immediately with a premise that makes me want to sit with a tub of popcorn, inhaling both the book and the treat, as I race to find out what happened. Barclay has become a consistent writer of popcorn thrillers for me and his recent release was no exception. I listened to the audiobook in less than 2 days (if you’re a fan of multicast narrations, pick up the audio format).

The premise: a wife disappears while her husband is on a weekend fishing trip with his best friend. Years later the husband has changed his name and moved because he’s remained a suspect when the woman is seen returning to where her home had been, freaking out and running away. And so what is happening?! Where has she been? Why did she disappear again?!

These are all questions the police have, and her husband appears to also have (he is now living with his girlfriend and her teenage brother who she has custody of). You get to follow along different points of view starting with the night of the disappearance (there is a moment that legit scared the daylights out of me!) as we slowly come to find out all the answers to what happened then, and what is happening now…

(TW quick mention past parent death, car accident, heart attack/ past alcoholism/ a mother with terminal cancer, death)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

I’ve got two books this week that are from the killer’s point of view, but are wildly different from each other, though oddly with a common “bad therapist” element.

My Annihilation by Fuminori Nakamura, Sam Bett (Translator)

I really don’t want to say a lot about this one as it opens with you thinking your reading one thing and then you end up going on a whole different ride as maybe things aren’t as them seem. So if you’re up for noir, trauma themes, revenge, terrible medical professionals, and a slight feeling of a feverish dream that explores these things grab this dark novel.

(TW suicide / sexual assault/ domestic abuse, child abuse/ blackmail over sex tape/ misogyny )

Blood Sugar by Sascha Rothchild

Ruby is a self professed murderer, although quick to explain she is not a sociopath being that she loves and helps animals. She has no issues with being a murderer and feels no regret over the people she’s killed, starting at age 5 when she killed another kid. She’s explaining all of this, taking us into her life from childhood through being a therapist, because she may have done some killings but she is absolutely 100% here to defend herself against the charge of killing her husband…

(TW child drowning/ brief past statutory, not graphic/ brief past addiction/ attempted sexual assault of teen/ brief mention past child abuse/ natural dog death/ rescuing of injured and harmed animals, all with happy endings)

News & Things To Click

Tom Ryan’s YA thriller Keep This To Yourself is being adapted into a series!

‘A Simple Favor 2’ to Reunite Anna Kendrick, Blake Lively and Director Paul Feig

‘Holy Spider’: First Footage Of Ali Abbasi’s Cannes Competition True Crime Thriller Set In Iran

Aaron Falk returns! Jane Harper announced her upcoming novel Exiles, releasing early 2023!

7 Shows Like The Flight Attendant to Watch If You Like The Flight Attendant

Can Fiction Help Solve the Ethical Problems of True Crime?

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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

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

Unusual Suspects

Inside Only Murders in the Building’s Mysterious, Meta Second Season

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 12, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! I’ve got mysteries for you in roundups, news, things to watch, and of course more books to add to the ever growing TBR list.

I Can Go From Zero To Online Detective In 3.5 Seconds

This tee speaks truth for $21.

New Releases

Murder Is Revealing (Write Club Mysteries) by Michelle Corbier

If you’re looking for an amateur sleuth, like doctor leads and writer leads, here’s a new series. Dr. Myaisha Douglas’ goal to write a novel leads her to join a writing group, but the writing advice comes with a murder! As an armchair detective she decides she’s the best option to help assist the police in solving the case.

The Agathas by Kathleen Glasgow, Liz Lawson

For fans of amateur teen sleuths and Agatha Christie (references to Poirot and Miss Marple and you even gets quotes between chapters), here’s a new YA murder mystery. This is one of those fun trope-y books. Alternating between the stories of Alice and Iris, who’ve been paired together for tutoring by the school, you get opposites that join together to solve a murder. Toss in a group of other kids that help with their hijinks in figuring out why the kid they think didn’t commit the murder just confessed, and why the murdered girl’s stepdad is acting so strange? If you like multiple narrators, pickup the audiobook format.

(TW domestic abuse/ drugging without consent/ stalking)

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Riot Recommendations

I’ve got two books that should appeal to mystery fans and horror fans—I read my horror in the summer in the sun, thank you very much.

Reprieve by James Han Mattson

For mystery fans: a court case, transcripts, build up to whodunnit and whydunnit murder case.

For horror fans: a full contact haunted escape room!

This is characte- driven in that you follow different people through the years leading up to how they were all inside this escape room, and how one came to be murdered. Between those chapters you follow four people as they try and finish the escape room in order to win a huge prize, and the court case and interrogation of what went so wrong that one of them is dead.

I inhaled this audiobook, getting invested in each person’s life while also being SUPER certain I would not enter a full-contact horror house ever for any reason. I’m always a fan of watching the pieces slowly come together to reveal the whole thing, and this has the bonus of also being a social horror.

(TW homophobia/ racism/ tells a fake horror story about a witch killing kids/ parent death/ brief mention of past sex worker attack)

White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig

For mystery fans: a whodunnit mystery being solved by an amatuer sleuth.

For horror fans: the body count!

Rufus has to help solve a murder to help his half-sister from going down for the killing. But it’s super complicated because she’s from the side of the family that pretends he doesn’t exist and he needs his ex-boyfriend’s help who he’s still in love with. Then there’s that pesky thing where people keep turning up dead…

If you’re looking for a fun horror-ish vibe YA mystery, pick this one up.

News & Roundups

Michigan-Based ‘Renovated to Death’ Author Draws on Love of Old Houses for First Cozy Mystery Novel

Chris Bohjalian’s Novel ‘The Lioness’ To Be Adapted For TV By eOne

Inside Only Murders in the Building’s Mysterious, Meta Second Season

‘Jack Ryan’ To End With Season 4, Spinoff Headlined By Michael Peña Eyed By Amazon

7 Books That Deliver Unexpected Mystery

You can now watch the Spy X Family anime adaptation on Hulu if you don’t have crunchyroll!

Watch Now

The Devotion of Suspect X on Rakuten Viki: For fans of watching the puzzle of the mystery get solved meticulously there’s the film adaptation of one of Keigo Higashino’s Detective Galileo novels, The Devotion of Suspect X. The series–each novel reads as a standalone I promise–always follows a crime, those affected by the crime, and the police, the latter who always need the help of the physics professor Manabu Yukawa (Detective Galileo). The Chinese film adaptation stars Wang Kai, Zhang Lu Yi, Ruby Lin, and Ye Zu Xin. You can watch the trailer here and learn about the Rakuten Viki app.

Upcoming

I squealed SO loud when I saw that Ausma Zehanat Khan has a new detective series coming this fall: Blackwater Falls. I love her Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak detective series.

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

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

Unusual Suspects

Women Assassins

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 10, 2022

Sponsored by

Hi mystery fans! The newsletter may look a little different–it is!–but it’s still all the things you love (crime all the time!) just all mixed together in every send now. Expect new releases, recommendations, the latest in mystery content on Book Riot, and even a link to some bookish swag.

Murder, She Wrote puzzle

If, like me, you pair jigsaw puzzles with audiobooks, here’s a puzzle for Murder, She Wrote fans: Puzzle, She Solved ($20)

New Releases

The Bangalore Detectives Club (Kaveri and Ramu #1) by Harini Nagendra

Like cozy mysteries and want to do some traveling from your arm chair? Travel to 1920s Bangalore where recently married Kaveri attends a party that turns into a murder case. Clearly she’ll need to investigate when she’s certain the accused is not guilty. Good thing she’s got a brain for mathematics and a doctor husband to help.

The Marlow Murder Club (The Marlow Murder Club #1) by Robert Thorogood

For fans of elderly detectives! Judith Potts lives alone happily, and designs crossword puzzles. After witnessing a murder, and the police not taking her seriously, she decides to take matters into her own hands and investigate herself. But one needs help in these endeavors which she gets from the wife of a Vicar and a dog-walker.

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

If you’ve been in the mood to read about some lady assassins then I’ve got two for you.

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo, Chi-Young Kim (Translator)

I am forever and ever on the give me more translated crime bandwagon. This is one of those crime books with a great premise that I thought had a great execution: If your career has been murdering people for money and you’ve reached the age of retirement, what happens?

Hornclaw is a sixty-five-year-old contract killer. She’s spent decades murdering people for money, no questions asked. She’s very good at her job. But she’s been getting less assignments lately–are they trying to retire her? Can a contract killer just retire? She doesn’t want to. But an error on a job turns her life upside down…

If you like dark-ish crime novels, being in a character’s head, and want a character-driven book with added thrilling scenes don’t miss this one. Nancy Wu narrates the audiobook.

(TW attempted sexual assault/ mentions drug overdose/ baby killing/ natural dog death from age/ child kidnapping)

Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp

First, a note on comps and genre. For super strict cozy genre readers, there’s a few curse words, there’s no shexy times, there are darker themes and discussions but not graphic or on page, and the lead is literally a murderer—hence the whole theme. I wouldn’t put this as a comp for Pushing Daisies—outside of including pies and the magic being the same kind, just a pinch in our real world. I don’t say that as a knock on this book, I just like books to find their right audience rather than readers getting angry they didn’t get what they thought they were going to get.

Daisy Ellery murders men she thinks deserve to no longer inflict their harm on the world via her pies. The way Like Water For Chocolate infused emotion into food, she basically just makes murder pies that don’t have any added ingredient other than the magic that she is into them. And the good news is the pie can’t kill anyone else no matter who eats it, only the intended recipient. And they don’t have to die if they can choose to be a better person—most don’t take that option.

If you’re looking to read some mouthwatering pie-making and like revenge, cooking competitions, and a side dash of romance, here you go. There’s even a pie recipe–sans poison–at the end! Tanya Eby narrates the audiobook.

(TW domestic abuse/ mentions past parent with cancer, parent with addiction/ mentions past death from ectopic pregnancy/ sex recording without knowledge)

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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

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

Unusual Suspects

The 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Award Winners

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 5, 2022

Sponsored by

Hi mystery fans! Let’s catch-up on roundups, news, adaptations and find some things to watch shall we?

From Book Riot and Around The Internet

The 2022 Edgar Allan Poe Mystery Award Winners

Chris Evans’s Mustache May Just Be the Real Star of “The Gray Man”

Do Revenge Thrillers Like Shining Girls Actually Serve Assault Survivors?

How Fleetwood Mac, Mary Shelley, and the Manson murders inspired Rachel Hawkins’ next thriller

We Need A Good Courtroom Movie Drama, With All Those Hard Lessons About “Truth”

Under the Banner of Heaven creator Dustin Lance Black on his decade-long journey to adapt the show

Crime Writers of Color podcast: CWoC co-founders Kellye Garrett author of Like a Sister and Gigi Pandian, author of Under Lock & Skeleton Key are interviewed by Robert Justice.

‘Saint X’: Alycia Debnam-Carey Set As Lead In Recasting As Victoria Pedretti Exits

Sony’s 3000 Pictures Acquires Film Rights To ‘I Think My Mother-In-Law Is Trying To Kill Me’; Jessica Knoll To Adapt Reddit Short Story & Executive Produce

The 11 best shows like The Flight Attendant

Giveaway: Win an ARC of Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier!

Giveaway: Win a Nook GlowLight Plus!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Watch Now

Shining Girls on Apple TV+: Based on Lauren Beukes time-traveling thriller The Shining Girls about a serial killer who can stalk victims over eras thanks to time travel and the woman who survived who is hunting him back. The cast includes Elisabeth Moss, Phillipa Soo, Amy Brenneman, and Jamie Bell. And here’s the trailer.

Recent Interests That May Also Interest You + My Reading Life

Reading: The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes / What’s Coming to Me by Francesca Padilla

Streaming: What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim (Hulu) / Made For Love s2 (HBO Max)

Laughing: does not mean what you think it means

Helping: All-Options

Upcoming: We’re getting a new Truly Devious book this year: Nine Liars!!! Check out an exclusive excerpt from Maureen Johnson’s new YA murder mystery ‘Nine Liars’

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

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

Unusual Suspects

Fictional True Crime Writer

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 3, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! This week I have for you a character-driven crime novel of a woman desperate to figure out how her sister was killed and a novel that stars a true crime writer.

Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun, Janet Hong (Translator)

I’m always interested in translated crime books and wish U.S. publishing would translate more. This is a South Korean crime novel that does have a mystery component because it’s a young woman wanting to know how her sister was killed, but it’s more focused on showing the aftermath of a crime and how it affects people.

The book changes characters and time, each chapter revealing those connected to the killing of Hae-on, a young woman known for her beauty. So much so that her younger sister Da-on, who lived in her sister’s shadow when she was alive and then in the shadow of her death, got plastic surgery to look more like her. We get to know Hae-on through her sister, as well as the classmates of both girls and the toll a seventeen-year-old crime has on family and friends. If you’re looking for a quick read that packs a punch that’s structured differently from what you’re used to, I really enjoyed this smart crime novel.

(TW mentions past child abuse/ mentions past suicide, detail/ brief eating disorder/ cancer/ mentions past postpartum depression/ mentions past suicidal ideation/ mentions past baby kidnapping/ mentions rape, not graphic)

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

In our current timeline, Shea Collins, who escaped an attempted kidnapping as a kid, now spends her nights obsessing on true crime cases. During the day, she’s a receptionist and doesn’t really have a social life. So she’s pouring all her time into a case from the ’70s: Two men were murdered and the woman who stood trial, Beth Greer, was acquitted.

Now Collins is interviewing Greer, or at least attempting to, to find out her story and what really happened. But Collins feels uneasy at Greer’s mansion, and unexplainable things keep happening… Will she ever be able to get down to the truth about the murders, Greer’s life story, or will she destroy her own life in the process of chasing this story?

This was a page-turner for me that really works for readers who like past mysteries, fictional true crime writers, and things a little spooky.

(TW mentions past attempted child kidnapping, brief mention of sexual assault, not graphic/ alcoholism/ brief mention of past partner abuse/ mostly alludes to child abuse incident, not graphic/ speculates sexual assault, mentions past rape, not graphic)

From The Book Riot Crime Vault

Five Historical Spy Thrillers Based (In Part) On Real Events

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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

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

Unusual Suspects

Writes About Murder, Does a Murder: Weird Bookish Stories Edition

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 28, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! We’ve got another week light on entertainment news but I still found you great stuff to click for roundups and news and there’s stuff to watch and plenty of books to read below.

From Book Riot and Around The Internet

8 of the Best Non-Movie Adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Works

Writes About Murder, Does a Murder: Weird Bookish Stories Edition

Read or Dead: Nusrah reminisce about their favorite debuts by mystery authors.

It’s Ryan Gosling vs. Chris Evans in The Gray Man exclusive first look

See Ana De Armas As An Untraceable CIA Agent In First Look At Her New Movie

10 Books to Help You Get Over a Reading Slump

Don Winslow talks Shakespeare and Coppola, but not retirement, at Festival of Books

What’s in a Page: Sarah Pinborough previews her creepy new novel Insomnia

‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?’ Review: A Delightful New Detective Duo

9 Shows Like Bones to Watch If You Like Fun Procedurals

Classic Agatha Christie mystery, Edgar Allan Poe musical set to return to Vertigo stage in 2022-23 season

Giveaway: Canadian Readers: Win a Copy of WATCH OUT FOR HER by Samantha M. Bailey!

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Watch Now

Under the Banner of Heaven on Hulu: This miniseries is a murder mystery set in a Mormon community based on Jon Krakauer’s same titled true crime book. It’s a whodunnit and whydunnit murder mystery about the real life murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty and her infant daughter. The series added the fictional investigators Jeb Pyre and Bill Taba as a duo, Prye being Mormon and Taba not. The cast includes Andrew Garfield, Sam Worthington, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Denise Gough. And you can watch the trailer here.

Recent Interests That May Also Interest You + My Reading Life

Reading: Dirt Creek by Hayley Scrivenor / Chef’s Kiss by Jarrett Melendez, Danica Brine, Hank Jones, Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou

Streaming: Barry S3 (HBO Max) / Julia (HBO Max) Bebe Neuwirth and David Hyde Pierce reunited and it feels so good.

Laughing: Ain’t y’all pets too?

Helping: House of Tulip

Upcoming: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson (Sept 6, 2022) If standing ovations were a thing given to books consider me standing and clapping right now. This is a horror novel with massive appeal for mystery/thriller readers as we follow a true crime podcast trying to finally figure out what happened to an almost entirely murdered town after its first integrated prom. If you’re thinking that means its setting is historical, it is not. Segregated proms exists in the 21st century: schools get away with it because the proms aren’t hosted by the school but rather parents and/or students off campus. We follow the podcast, interviews from those who survived, and articles after the fact while also going back to 2014 to watch all the events that led up to the massacre and survivors to say “Maddy did it.” If you’re getting major Carrie vibes from the cover and summary I’d say this is a retelling that surpasses the original hands down.

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

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

Unusual Suspects

April Releases: Bonus Edition

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 26, 2022

Sponsored by

Hi mystery fans! I usually end the month with a roundup of new releases for you buuuuuuut I kind of already did that in a post: April New Releases: Mystery/Thriller/True Crime. So what I’m going to do here is add to that. For various reasons I can only get so many books into each roundup and then I wish I’d been able to add more after the fact. So here’s my chance to do that. One is an Audible exclusive, that should hopefully have print copies release in a year. The second released in print last year but just got an audiobook release–In case you hadn’t noticed audiobooks are saving my reading in the pandemic. And, last but not least, the final book is from the University of California Press, which highlights activists fighting to abolish the prison industrial complex.

Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan, Vanessa Lillie

This is a fun audiobook with heart and a great full cast of narrators. It’s set in the ’80s in Rhode Island when four partners at a law firm die in a jet crash. Now three widows and a girlfriend are not only grieving but about to find out that a lot of money is missing and the mob is here to collect.

This does have a mystery component—where is the money, why is it missing, and what is going on with this project the firm was working on? But I’d move this more to the crime side of the genre since we’re mostly following the women trying to survive and scheming to find the money and get it to the mob. We get to know four very different women and watch as their own grievances come out, they learn of secrets, and are forced to find a way to work together in order to stay alive.

Camille is the second wife with a stepdaughter that no one takes seriously, Justine has a young son and her husband was having an affair. Krystle is the funny smart-mouth who knows how to talk to the mob and will do anything for her grown son who she wants to take over the firm. Meredith is a stripper that no one knew had paperwork leaving her everything.

The book strikes a really good balance between heartfelt and real life struggles and witty banter and running from the mob. And the narrators—Dina Pearlman, Karissa Vacker, Helen Laser, Ariel Blake–knock it out of the park.

(TW a young child with cancer, not terminal / sexual harassment, groping / diet culture)

The Amelia Six by Kristin L. Gray

This is a middle grade whodunnit following Eleven-year-old Amelia (Millie) Ashford focused on solving the crime of the missing goggles. Not just any googles, these are Amelia Earhart’s goggles and Millie was the last to see them in the display case in Earhart’s childhood home where Millie and five other girls, who she doesn’t know, are spending the night. I’m currently listening to the audiobook and enjoying it: Millie is a sweet kid in therapy, with anxiety ever since her mom left the family. All the kids love Amelia Earhart so you get a bunch of facts on her and also learn about fellow ground breaking aviators like Bessie Coleman and Nellie Zabel Willhite.

Rebel Speak: A Justice Movement Mixtape by Bryonn Rolly Bain

Rooted in the tradition of call-and-response, prison activist, artist, and scholar Bryonn Rolly Bain speaks with those working to expose the systematic injustice and fighting to abolish the prison industrial complex. You’ll hear from the founder of Los Angeles’s A New Way of Life Reentry Project, Susan Burton, a Sing Sing Correctional Facility warden, and the author’s brother upon being released from prison in an intimate conversation, to name a few. “Reimagining the role of the writer and scholar as a DJ and MC, Bryonn moves the crowd with this unforgettable mix of those working within the belly of the beast to change the world.”

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

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

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

Unusual Suspects

The Most and Least Satisfying Endings of All of Agatha Christie’s Mysteries

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 21, 2022

Sponsored by

Hello mystery fans! Let’s click some links for all things mysteries: roundups, news, adaptations, and something to watch!

From Book Riot and Around The Internet

10 New Book Genres and Sub-Genres for your TBR

Neither Saints Nor Monsters: The Depiction of Women in Contemporary Crime Fiction

The Most and Least Satisfying Endings of All of Agatha Christie’s Mysteries

All The Books!: Liberty and Tirzah discuss new releases including Queen of the Tiles by Hanna Alkaf and Pay Dirt Road by Samantha Jayne Allen.

Hey YA!: Tirzah and Erica discuss some great YA Mysteries including The Red Palace by June Hur.

The Unique Relationship Between Queer Media and Spoilers

Nordic Noir: The Best Shows and Movies to Watch

This looks like an adult I Know What You Did Last Summer + it has Rosie Perez and I am super excited for it: Apple drops trailer for bilingual thriller ‘Now & Then’, debuts May 20

Best crime dramas on Netflix: great detective series to watch

Aurora Teagarden Mysteries Likely Dead in Wake of Candace Cameron Bure’s Move From Hallmark to GAC Family

Solving a Garden-Party Murder in 1920s India

Italian Crime Thriller ‘Diabolik’ Sells Wide

Scott Free To Adapt Ragnar Jónasson Thriller ‘Outside’ As Feature Film

Giveaway: Win a Copy of 22 SECONDS by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro!

Giveaway: Enter to Win a Pair of AirPods Pro

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

Watch Now

Anatomy Of A Scandal on Netflix: (Heads up this fictional case is all about an accusation of sexual assault) Adapted from Sarah Vaughan’s domestic thriller, this miniseries is developed by David E. Kelley and Melissa James Gibson. James Whitehouse, a Parliamentary minister, is accused of rape. His wife Sophie believes he’s innocent. The prosecutor Kate Woodcroft is certain he’s guilty and will work tirelessly to convict him. Starring Sienna Miller, Michelle Dockery, and Rupert Friend. Check out the trailer.

Recent Interests That May Also Interest You + My Reading Life

Reading: Lemon by Kwon Yeo-Sun, Janet Hong (Translator) / I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers

Streaming: The Hating Game (Hulu) / Heartstopper (Netflix)

Laughing: Get out of my garden

Helping: Potential Increase to Library Budget and What You Can Do to Help / Let’s Be Blunt About Cannabis Justice

Upcoming: Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard (Aug, 2022) is a fun, twisty, thriller set on a horror movie set in the middle of the woods that plays with thriller and horror tropes. It also has the bonus of a fictional story you read inside the fictional story you’re reading—it’s like two for the price of one! Adele Rafferty fled Ireland after a bad experience on a film set and is living in LA. But now, after another disastrous audition, she gets a call about a horror film set to start production in a day that just lost their leading actor begging her to step in. And so she ignores all the warning signs, including a two week film schedule and skeleton crew, convinced this may be her last big break chance and gets on a plane back home. But once on set things take a turn, including the creepy things happening to the lead in her script happening to her! Will she get out in time to save herself or will she end up with the same fate as the character she’s playing–oh wait, she still hasn’t been given the ending to the movie she’s filming… While you wait, if you haven’t read any of CRH’s books pick up The Nothing Man, The Liar’s Girl, and 56 Days.

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

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Unusual Suspects

Crime In Nature

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 19, 2022

Sponsored by

Hi mystery fans! You might be thinking that since it’s now spring and nature has sprung, I thought to put together some mysteries in the outdoors. Which would be a great story but the truth is I just happened to read these two books back to back and surprise: a theme of outdoors happened. So I have a fictional remote mystery on a mountain and a true crime memoir that takes a dive into our national parks.

Breathless by Amy McCulloch

I really like books with interesting settings, especially places that you could not pay me to even think about going to. That’s the beauty of reading and getting to watch someone else do it.

In this case the majority of the book takes place on a mountain, Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world. Cecily Wong is trying to basically make her career and she’s hit a moment in her life where she believes it’s now do-or-die: either she takes—and accomplishes–this opportunity, or she’s never going to be a journalist. Charles McVeigh is a world famous mountaineer and he’s agreed to let Wong interview him, a huge deal, but only after she completes the summit with him.

Teeny tiny problem: she’s broke and it costs a lot to buy equipment, she’s not a climber, her journalist boyfriend dumps her when she gets offered this assignment, and most importantly for the purposes of a mystery, people start dying. Will she make it, not only to the summit to get her interview, but back down alive?

The book has amazing detail that puts you right on the mountain, constantly aware that one slight misstep—literal and figurative—will leave you dead. Which then starts to get paired with the drama of people in dangerous situations, and the whole Agatha Christie plot of a remote place where people are popping up dead. But in a place so dangerous, surely there isn’t anything sinister beyond extreme conditions? Or is everyone in even more danger?

The author’s bio states “In September 2019, she became the youngest Canadian woman to climb Mt Manaslu in Nepal – the world’s eighth highest mountain at 8,163m (26,781ft),” and it really shows in the book that mountaineering is a thing she knows a lot about. It also shows how much the sport (? is it considered a sport) discriminates against anyone who isn’t a cis man, making an already incredibly difficult thing even more difficult for so many people. I learned a lot from this book and while I remain forever and ever certain this is not a thing for me, I loved getting to experience it while all cozy inside my home. The audiobook, narrated by Katie Leung, paired really well for me with a jigsaw puzzle.

Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles

This is part of the new true crime subgenre that melds memoir with true crime. The true crime aspect is the still unsolved murders of Julie Williams and Lollie Winans, who were murdered in 1996 in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park. The memoir aspect is Kathryn Miles talking about how she came to learn of this case, her ties to hiking and how this case spotlighted the dangers of hiking and camping for especially people who aren’t cis men.

The true crime part really focuses on who Lollie Winans and Julie Williams were: their lives growing up, how they met, and their lives at the time of the murders. While there was a suspect in the case, a man in prison for assaulting a woman that was publicly named, and Attorney General John Ashcroft said he’d seek the death penalty in the case and try it as a federal hate crime, he later suspended the case. To this day the same person has remained accused but not tried and the case is unsolved.

Miles lays out the case and doesn’t believe the accused is the killer. She also meets and interviews the accused’s legal team, who always believed him innocent, as well as criminal investigators, and even presents the case to a class to get the student’s opinion on who they think the killer is. I can’t say I was sold either way in the argument mostly because I did feel there was a feeling of the end of the book being rushed (can you put publishing deadlines on investigating cold cases?) and Miles posits herself that investigators will zero in on someone they believe and only use the facts to prove that, and questions whether she too was doing that in the reverse. There were a few parts where it felt that. On the plus side Miles steered clear of giving unnecessary gruesome or graphic details. And I really hope this case gets the right kind of attention that may finally help solve what happened so the women’s loved ones can at least have answers.

What I did find absolutely fascinating about this book was the deep dive into national parks, their history, how they operate, and most importantly their safety. How safe is it for people, especially non cis white men, to hike and camp out in national parks? Again, you can miss me with any hiking and camping trip, no matter how much I love nature, but that didn’t stop me from being fascinated by all the information related to those activities.

(TW child sexual abuse, not graphic/ date rape recounted, not graphic/ stalker/ brief suicide, detailed/ women and girls sexual assault cases/ mentions past child abuse)

Don’t forget you can get three free audiobooks at Audiobooks.com with a free trial!

From The Book Riot Crime Vault

15 of the Best Feminist Mystery Novels

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

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