Author: Jamie Canaves

For readers of memoir mixed with true crime, this is Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Natasha Trethewey’s story, including the murder of her mother after her mother had left her second husband. You can pick it up for $2.99 right now. (Review)

If you’ve yet to pick up the sequel in the fantastic Lady Sherlock series, you can now read it for $1.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a thriller where a girl raised by a con-artist finds herself in a bank hostage situation, and those hostage takers are about to regret all their life’s decisions, RUN to this book. It’s currently $2.99! (Review)

And I leave you with a nonviolent true crime book that looks at the question: who exactly owns dinosaur bones? Currently $3.99. (Review)

Here’s a great series for detective fans, which just released the sixth installment and follows a team of investigators in Detroit. You get not just one PI but a whole team! If you want to start at the beginning check out Bury Me When I’m Dead (Review).

If you’re a fan of dark academia, private school settings, secret societies, social thrillers, and twisty reads this is a great pickup. Bonus: the audiobook narrators, Jeanette Illidge and Tapiwa Mugweni, are excellent.

If you’re looking to start a new historical mystery series, like fictional serial killers, noir-ish, and want a Harlem Renaissance setting here’s your next read. (Review)

This is a rare case where this is the fourth book in a series but it is a standalone because the first three were written as a contained trilogy. The Box In The Woods is perfect for fans of the mystery genre and horror tropes as you race to try and solve the mystery! This book is the experience I’m always looking for when reading mysteries. (Review) If you want to read the trilogy start with Truly Devious.

For fans of Ruth Galloway’s series there’s a new release! The series follows a forensic archaeologist who lives near Norfolk in a salt marsh. If you want to start at the beginning pick up The Crossing Places, where Ruth helps with a missing child case and finds herself and her remote life put in grave danger. Griffiths is also the author of The Stranger Diaries (Review) and The Postscript Murders (Review) so there is plenty of great mysteries to read in her catalog.

If you like historical mysteries, this is a series you should absolutely be reading. Set in the early 1900s, it follows Perveen Mistry, India’s only female lawyer. If you want to start at the beginning, mostly for full character backstory, pick up The Widows of Malabar Hill. (Review)

For domestic thriller fans, here’s a page-turner that follows Oliver and Nathan and a night gone terribly wrong for Oliver at a bathhouse, and the need to keep Nathan from finding out, which only creates more problems and tension… The book has alternating narrations between Oliver and Nathan, and the audiobook selected two narrators, Michael Crouch and Daniel Henning, to portray them so if you audio pick up that format.

If you’re looking for a thriller and aren’t afraid to fly here’s a twisty one about a flight attendant on an inaugural groundbreaking flight who ends up having to choose between saving her daughter or everyone on the plane when she finds a threatening note…

Here’s the sequel to East of Hounslow (Review), which picks up after the cliffhanger ending and follows Jay Qasim, the most reluctant spy–because MI5 forced him into helping. If you want a character to root for and love, grab this series–it reminds me a lot in tone to a show I really enjoy, Man Like Mobeen.

Lippman has an extensive catalog to dive into–including a PI series and recent standalone releases Lady in the Lake (Review) and Sunburn (Review)–and has a new psychological suspense starring a novelist, which has some Misery vibes…

If you’re a fan of PI mysteries, this is the fourth in a Chicago set series you should absolutely be reading. If you want to start at the beginning, pick up Broken Places (Review), and if you want to jump into the series with Runner here’s my review.

The author of No Exit (Review) is back with a new thriller! (TW suicide) Lena Nguyen doesn’t believe that her estranged twin sister died by suicide, so she’s shown up to interview the state trooper whose story doesn’t seem to line up with the bit of facts that are known.

Here’s a fascinating read about the language of cults and how it’s used to not only get and keep power for cult purposes, but also how the language is used throughout our society, including in marketing. (Review)

I recently decided to actually try out a manga, and I absolutely loved it and now have a whole new world of reading opened up to me. This was my first and it’s a fun spy story with an assassin and a mind reader that create a “fake” family, but none know the others’ real identities. It’s $4.99 and I highly recommend it. (Review)

If you’re craving a cozy historical mystery smashed with a romance novel ,here’s a series starter that is currently $2.99! (Review)

PI fans should not miss this series which has so much to love. Not only is each book a solid mystery with a great PI lead, but there is also a nun best friend and a pickpocket klepto.

Cass Raines was a former homicide cop who quit after a traumatic incident to become a PI. Her father figure was a priest, murdered in the first book, and she has two childhood friends currently in her life: a nun and a no-longer-criminal who is acting suspicious. Add in dating a recent divorcé with a not-happy-kid and Cass is full up on personal life things considering she likes to keep everyone a good arm’s distance out. So she focuses on work.

The case involves a mother with a history of addiction who recently completed a program and is getting her life back in order. Her daughter, a teenager in foster care, has gone missing and no one is paying the case much attention; they’re just treating it as a runaway case and only see the mother as an addict who doesn’t have custody. But Cass takes the case and decides to look into it, trying her best to work with the assigned police detective on the case and the retired cop also helping out. And by that I mean that Cass is going to piss a lot of people off, because don’t tell her what to do and don’t stand in her way. I like her a lot.

This is one of the few series that I am always up to date with: I love the characters, am always treated to a great mystery that walks readers through an entire case, and I don’t feel so bad sweating during summer while reading about the brutal Chicago winter.

You can jump in here mid- series because anything you need explained is, but I do recommend enjoying the entire series and getting to know Cass and her small circle of peeps–including the diner she’s obsessed with: Broken Places (Review)

(TW side character brief mention of cancer/ suicide scene discovered/ suicide scene, detail/ mentions forced adoption without parent consent)

If you’ve been following me talking about books for a bit, you know I’m a big fan of picking up books knowing zero about them. Especially in the crime genre, it really gives maximum experience for all the turns, unfolding, and twists of the story. And this is one of those I was glad to have known nothing about because it really unfolds in a surprising way. So I’m going to skimp on the plot points and then just talk about what I liked most that made this really work for me.

A little over a decade ago three people went missing: a woman while out for a run; later a woman and her young daughter. In the present the young daughter has returned. But now there are even more questions than answers in this small suburban community.

The things I really liked: the way this flashed back to the time of the disappearances and to the present time; the multiple narrators which take us into many different lives all loosely to intimately connected; a look at the Doula profession not in the stereotypical “hippie” way but an interesting and eyeopening look at Obstetrics and the rights people with uteruses aren’t always told/given; the “escape” chapter which was 100% pure psychological thriller; the everyday drama and how it can just be momentary periods in everyday life or sometimes grow too big to feel manageable.

I went with the audiobook for this one–I love multicast narrations–and recommend it if you’re an audiobook listener who can track past and present chapter jumps. They’re clear, so I wasn’t lost, but if you’re a listener who misses things sometimes it can be tricky with the time and POV jumps.

(TW kidnapped child/ briefly mentions past miscarriage, few details/ rumors and assumptions of domestic violence/ fatphobia, diet culture mentions/ recounts past attempted suicide and suicide, both detailed/ topic of medical consent regarding pregnancy and labor)

Tiffany D. Jackson always delivers! The only reason it took me two sittings to read this novel instead of one was because I don’t actually get paid to read—rude, I know. This is a social thriller meets is-the-house-haunted?! that will keep you up all night either reading or checking your house. Maybe both. I freaking loved it and I can’t wait for you all to read it and meet Marigold (Mari) and her blended family who have just moved into a new house and neighborhood where nothing feel right… If you’re already a Jackson fan, 100% absolutely pre-buy/have your library get it because you’re going to love it. If you’ve yet to read Jackson, she has a fantastic backlist of mystery books that you should get to. (TW addiction/ past overdose mentions, not graphic/ obsessive thoughts/ past child murder, not graphic or detailed)

Also just finished: The Collective by Alison Gaylin (Nov 2). I inhaled this thriller–it’s so well plotted and is perfect for revenge fans. Gaylin is another author with a great backlist of mystery/suspense. (TW panic attacks, anxiety/ use of dead name / brief ableist language/ hate crime mentions and rape cases, not graphic/ recounts past suicide attempt, detail/ murders staged as suicides)

And I just loaded my phone with even more audiobooks I’m excited about: Thirty Talks Weird Love by Alessandra Narváez Varela (I’m especially obsessed with that cover); The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian (Rioters rave about Sebastian a lot so time for me to finally read her work); Get Good With Money by Tiffany Aliche (self explanatory)

The sequel to East of Hounslow is ridiculously priced at $0.99 and literally just published in the US. It starts after the cliffhanger of the first book so I do recommend reading East of Hounslow first. (Review) This is a series I really love, about the most reluctant spy EVER recruited by MI5.

Love historical novels and want a crime novel where the lead can’t remember the crime they’re accused of? Good news: you can read one for $1.99! (TW baby death/ rape/ slavery/ addiction/ abuse/ suicide)

If you’re looking for a fun domestic thriller and still haven’t read Downing’s first novel, it’s currently $1.99! (Review)

This classic detective novel, written in the 1930s, should have been the start to a great crime writing career but was sadly cut short by the author’s death at age 37.

This is worth reading just for the fact that it’s a novel set in the 1930s written by Rudolph Fisher, an African American doctor, musician, and writer–making it the first-known detective novel written by an African American author. It’s also worth reading for the actual story. I find a lot of times when reading classic mystery books that they aren’t “surprising” through today’s eyes because of the amount of books that have since done the same thing. In this case, I found that the twist still held up even today.

The story starts with Frimbo, an African immigrant mystic living and working in Harlem, being found dead by two local friends, Bubber Brown and Jinx Jenkins. They call Dr. John Archer who later ends up assisting the Harlem detective, Perry Dart, on the case. I won’t give away anything in the plot so instead I’ll say the time and setting are brought to life through many of the characters’ conversations, and you’ll get an interesting look at where things stood with forensics (fingerprints!) and medicine at the time.

If you’re a listener, I highly recommend the audiobook which is narrated by J. D. Jackson, who you may know from his excellent voice work on Bluebird, Bluebird and Three-Fifths.

(TW: brief mentions of domestic abuse/ colorism and ableism in banter between 2 characters throughout)

Montell takes a deep dive into cults, specifically the language used in order to gain and sustain power, and has written a book that is fascinating, eye-opening, and just a dash terrifying. It’s written in a completely accessible way—perfect for any reader who loves playing the “did you know” game—since Montell seems to be a person who is just herself fascinated by cults. That fascination stems from learning as a young child that her father escaped a cult his parents raised him in.

You get histories on some of the most known cults—and the realization that you may have been holding onto incorrect information all this time—but the book casts a wider net in looking at how that same language is also used by companies and in social media marketing. The question then becomes: when is it used for good, bad, or a middle ground?

A few things I found particularly interesting that are still bouncing around in my brain: brainwashing doesn’t exist and is widely not accepted by experts; the beginning key element of cults is creating an “us vs them” dichotomy, something playing out very loudly recently in U.S. politics; the cult member who survived the mass killing in one cult then later joined another cult. If your brain has been craving an engrossing read lately, this is your book.

(TW mass suicide cult case/ guru who uses triggering language related to suicide discussed in detail/ mentions suicide case, detail/ mentions cult leaders and doctrines allowing all types of abuse, including sexual assault, not detailed)

If you’re looking for a great historical mystery with a lead who loves Sherlock, and a dash of romance, grab this one on sale for $2.99! (Review)

This was one of my favorite novels last year and it recently won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best novel. It’s an adult crime book that follows children looking into the disappearance of a friend, and moves from a coming-of-age feel to noir. You can pick it up on sale for $1.99! (Review)

I love this series and am a fan of Griffiths’ previous work too. If you love books within books and a nod to gothic works, you’ll want to pick this one up, especially with the current sale price of $2.99! (Review)

If you’re about to skip over this one because you don’t read, or aren’t in the mood, for cozy mysteries (which the cover may make you think it is), come back this is not a cozy!

Set during the Harlem Renaissance, Louise Lloyd has never been able to avoid the spotlight after escaping a kidnapper as a teenager, and setting free the other girls in the process. The press has remembered her, as has the Harlem community. When she’s arrested for assaulting an officer, this comes in handy for the police who recognize her and want to use her. There’s a serial killer, killing young Black girls, and the detective in charge thinks a young Black woman like Louise will make it easier to get people to help with the investigation, rather than white cops asking questions. She doesn’t want to but is backed into a corner, so she goes out asking questions, putting herself in danger…

Louise is a great character who, after being kidnapped as a teen, being forced to raise her younger siblings, and thrown out by her father, wears no rose colored glasses when viewing the world. What she does love is dancing with her girlfriend and friend until the morning hours at a speakeasy, with zero intention of marrying or doing any of the things expected of women.

If you’re looking for a historical mystery, set during the exciting Harlem Renaissance, with a bit of a noir feeling to it, pick up this book. I’m excited that it’s a series starter and look forward to more of Louise and the time period.

(TW attempted rape/ kidnapping/ homophobia/ racism)

The characters in this story, with nods to Sherlock and Watson, bring a delightful and fun feel to this mystery. Set in 1940s New York, the most famous woman PI in the country, Lillian Pentecost, has multiple sclerosis and needs help with mundane tasks related to her job so she can continue to focus on the important things. So she offers the job to Willowjean “Will” Parker, who ran away from home and has been working with the circus.

Will narrates the story, bringing us in to see how she met Pentecost and now recounting a major case they took on: after the patriarch of a family died by suicide, the matriarch was found murdered in a locked room on fire. The murder remains unsolved and so the children, twins, and their godfather hire the detective to find out who murdered their mother as society is now gossiping that it must have been the ghost of their father. Toss in family drama, business drama and political contracts, secrets, dating, and a spiritual advisor, and you have a twisty mystery filled with danger.

My favorite part is the voices of Will and Pentecost, complete opposites who bump heads in a loving way. Will has a quick dark humor as she navigates life and her new career, and Pentecost is cranky, smart, and resourceful while navigating life with a slowly progressing, but progressing nonetheless, disease.

(TW recent past suicide, detail/ mentions of past child abuse and domestic abuse, not graphic/ homophobia)

If you like remote mysteries, locked-room mysteries, and nods to Agatha Christie and Sherlock, this one is for you! And it’s a steal at $1.99. (Review)

If you’re a fan of literary suspense, Southern literature, and past mysteries, grab this one currently on sale for $1.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a YA page-turner with an excellent cover, you can snag this one for $1.99. (Review)

This is a great series for fans of Joe Ide’s IQ series and gritty crime fans who love a vivid community. It stars August Snow, a PI who has moved back home and is trying to help out the neighborhood while also solving mysteries–this time, the case gets personal when a past employer of his mother’s hires him to look into being blackmailed and things go wrong real quick! If you want to start at the beginning pick up August Snow (Review–I didn’t keep TW notes back then)

If, like me, you haven’t read a good political/legal thriller in a while, this will scratch that itch. A supreme court judge goes into a coma and a law clerk learns that she’s been left power of attorney, which enrages his family and puts her in danger while she tries to figure out why… Bonus: The audiobook has a wonderful narrator, Adenrele Ojo. Double bonus: There are going to be two more books and I want them now. Triple bonus: It’s getting adapted into a show.

(TW attempted suicide, detail/ addiction/ briefly threatens sexual assault, doesn’t/ degenerative brain disorder/ genocide/ Islamophobia)

Looking for a start to a cozy mystery series in a small town with the returning-back-home trope and great food descriptions? Here you go! I especially loved that, along with the main restaurant, we get to visit a handful of other local restaurants, with full food descriptions. Yum!

If you like mystery series with a lot of humor and ridiculous characters, this one is a lot of fun. The setup actually reminds me of the format of The Princess Bride in that Poldi is always telling her most recent mystery adventure to her visiting nephew who is narrating the book to the reader. Poldi is in her 60s, will absolutely not be told what to do, probably hasn’t met a man she didn’t have the hots for, has a mouth that gets her in trouble, and is always entangled in a mystery after moving to Sicily. You won’t be lost starting with this book, but the whole series is fun and does have running side plots. So if you want to start at the beginning, pick up Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions. (TW main case questioned to be suicide, detail)

A Japanese ode to Agatha Christie that fans of remote mysteries will not want to miss! (Review)

Absolutely a favorite read! Everything about this book is wonderful from the writing and characters to the ghost whose murder must be solved by a young girl. (Review)

A page-turning thriller with a mystery and contract killers that is twisty and takes the standard “must find children from long ago sperm donation” trope and goes in a different direction! (Review)

Here’s one that sounds perfect for fans of books about books. Jacob Finch Bonner is now a writing teacher because he didn’t make it as a novelist. So when a student with a fantastic plot idea dies before publishing, Bonner takes it as his own and gets the acclaim he always wanted. Until an email arrives saying someone knows he stole the book…

I’ve enjoyed Kubica’s previous work–always a slow-build suspense that manages to stay in the real world rather than having a far out there twist–so I have this audiobook loaded as my next pick. A decade ago, two women, separately, disappeared–one with her young daughter. Now the young daughter has been found. We’re taken into the past lives of neighbors, and the current lives of the found girl’s family, to try and piece together what happened, what is connected, and who is responsible and why…