Author: Jamie Canaves

RUN TO THIS: You can pre-buy Rachel Howzel Hall’s upcoming release now for $4.99!

If you like narrative nonfiction that reads like a spy thriller, about a spy you’ve probably never heard of, run to this ebook that’s currently $1.99! (Review)

Jane Harper’s sequel to The Dry is $2.99! (Review)

Everything about this book is an ode to Agatha Christie and classic detective novels, and it’s an excellent read for fans of remote mysteries.

Seven university mystery club members, where all the members have taken on names of famous authors, have decided to travel and stay on an island where a bunch of murders still remain unsolved. To add to the setup, they are staying in a literal decagon-shaped house where the room layout adds to the fun of who is staying in what room when the murders begin.

But first, we watch as they discover plates that have “victim” written on five, “murderer” on one, and “detective” on one of them. Surely, this must be a joke? But by which of them, and why is no one confessing?

As we watch the mystery club try to figure out what is happening, and start dying on the island, we also get to watch as, on the mainland, one former and one current mystery club member investigate the previous year’s murders, and why, suddenly, mysterious letters saying, “My daughter Chiori was murdered by all of you,” are being sent out. Oh, and you get some chapters from the killer that give you no clues as to who they are. So, who will figure it out first: the mystery members on the island, the two on the mainland, or will no one be left at the end…?

This was entertaining in that it follows the genre tropes while also having the extra fun element of mystery fans as characters using their genre knowledge to try and figure out the mystery they are suddenly in. If you’re a fan of remote mysteries, don’t miss this one.

(TW murder suicide story recounted)

I feel like people who liked and were fans of Michelle McNamara’s work will especially like this fictional serial killer novel that focuses on a true crime podcast. Elle Castillo is now a popular true crime podcast host–like full production podcast–after years of having been a social worker. For her new season, she decides to go for the case that has always haunted her: a serial killer whose victims had a numerical pattern in age, starting at 21 and getting younger. She receives a tip from a listener, but finds him dead when she arrives and thus begins the intense story of a woman obsessed with identifying a killer of children, who will stop at nothing.

This is an excellent read for fans of true crime podcasts (you watch behind the scenes of Castillo working on it and “listen” to transcripts), fictional serial killers that are dragged into the light to give the power to the victims, and cat-and-mouse thrillers. I especially liked that Castillo had a solid marriage no matter how far off the deep end she went.

(TW infertility briefly recounted/ child murders/ child abuse/ sex offender investigated, crime not on page/ panic attacks/ past murder faked as suicide recounted, detail)

My favorite Sherlock is $2.99! (Review)

If Robin Hood were a group of women robbing rich a-hole CEOs to fund their women’s clinic in NY is the core of this book and I loved it. And you can snag it for $2.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a truly bananapants nonviolent true crime and still haven’t read this book, run to it, it’s $3.99! (Review)

A mystery for horror fans that you can snag right now for $4.99! (Review)

This is one of my favorite books of the year and one of my favorite all-time characters–I’ll be carrying Ophie around with me from now on, randomly wondering how she is and what she’s up to.

Saved by what she’s about to learn is her ability to see ghosts, Ophie and her mother are forced to flee their Georgia home in 1922 when her father is murdered. Trying to settle in Pittsburgh, Ophie can no longer go to school and must instead join her mother working in a mansion, since they need to move out of the home they’re sharing with family that is not fully inviting. While working at the beck and call of an elderly woman, Ophie makes friends with a ghost, and soon realizes that there is a mystery surrounding not only how she died but who she is. As Ophie navigates her new life, restricted freedoms, grief, and her aunt’s guidance with the rules of being a person that can see ghosts, she finds that she must figure out who her new friend is and why they died.

As much as Ophie is expected to behave as an adult, she is a child and continues to sneak off to do what she’s not supposed to, drawn by the allure of her new friend ghost and the need to solve the mystery. She’s a character you’ll root for from start to finish, in every aspect. And if you don’t read middle grade because you think it’s too juvenile, I urge you to try this book: you can read a sample here, and you can always check it out from your library and give it a go. Bonus, if you’re doing the Read Harder challenge: here’s your #9. What I’m saying is, go read this book! The characters are fantastic, it’ll sink you into the time period, and the writing is excellent–what more can you ask for?

(TW hate crime off page, not detailed)

If you’re looking for a dark read all about revenge have I got your next book! I listened to the multivoice audiobook while working on a relaxing puzzle, which was a hell of a “these two things do not go together” situation.

Ever since her parents disappeared seven years ago, Tress Montor lives and works with her grandfather at an animal attraction with dangerous wild animals. She’s basically shunned by the entire town and she’s reached her tipping point of anger, thinking her previous best friend graffitied her home and fed her dog to the alligator.

Yup. And that’s not all that’s between these two former friends: Tess is convinced that “has it all” Felicity Turnado knows what happened to her parents. So she’s going to make her confess by slowly bricking her in à la Edgar Allan Poe (The Cask of Amontillado). This was wild, dark, fckd up, and with serious bite as it explored a lot of things from class to family secrets.

The only thing that didn’t work for me were the panther voice chapters, which I only mention in case you feel the same way–no need to stop reading as there are only a few, very short instances. I saw that this is listed as a first in a series; I am beyond curious as to how this will continue, and I am definitely signed up for more.

(TW animal cruelty/ seizures/ it feels like a date rape scene is going to happen but that’s not what it is or what happens/ fat shaming/ briefly mentions past domestic abuse)

If you’re looking to start a great new PI series, want to spend some time in Chicago, and want a series that hits all the tropes you want while still feeling new, grab this one, which is currently $1.99. (Review)

If you need an intense page-turner that’s basically a cat-and-mouse thriller while trapped in a snowed-in location, here’s one for $4.99. (Review)

If you like books about writers and slow-burn crime stories with bite, this new release is currently $5.99! (Review)

Not only do you get a PI but it’s an agency so you get a whole team! Charlie Mack is a PI with an agency she started with fellow PIs Don and Gil–who she previously worked with at INS/homeland security–and their office manager, Judy. They’re four completely different personalities who annoy each other like siblings–Judy always quoting musicals to Don’s annoyance–but at the end of the day are a great team. Which they need to be to stay alive in what starts as a simple case and gets really dangerous and complicated quick.

Mack’s father’s friend, once her mentor, needs her help: as the owner of Reliable Restaurant Supply he’s discovered that an account executive was stealing and disappeared with over a hundred grand. Mack and her team are to find her, which leads the team to travel from Detroit, Michigan to Birmingham, Alabama. Only the case has a lot of layers, people, moving parts, and secrets–oh and that danger I mentioned. So it quickly becomes clear that it’s a far-from-easy case, and they’ll need to make more than one trip to Birmingham.

And while trying to focus on the case, Mack is also trying to spend as much time as she can with her mother who is living in a care facility with the beginning stages of Alzheimer’s, and Mack has started dating a cop but is spending more time hiding from her feelings and not committing.

If you like watching cases as they unfold step by step, while trying to put the puzzle pieces together yourself, and procedural shows that involve teams of investigators, here’s your next great read. It’s everything you want in a great PI novel. And I immediately bought the second in the series upon finishing.

(TW parent early stage Alzheimer’s/ ableism/ forced vasectomy on teen)

Barclay has become my reliable popcorn thriller author–I need a tub of popcorn to inhale while inhaling his page-turners. And this one has a known hook that takes its own path and adds twists. Miles Cookson is very wealthy and has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness that is also genetic. Instead of leaving his money to his only family, his brother, he ends up discovering that the long ago donation to the sperm bank did get used and he’d rather give the resulting children his money.

Nothing personal against his brother, he just isn’t a fan of his wife. Plus, discovering he has kids makes him want to at least leave them money in case he did pass on the disease. Lucky for him, Chloe Swanson had already started looking for her biological father, so Cookson doesn’t have a hard time finding and meeting her. Except they quickly find that something isn’t right and Cookson’s half-siblings are disappearing. Did I mention the team of contract killers out just randomly killing people? Have fun trying to figure out, along with Swanon and Cookson, what is going on and how much danger they themselves are in…

This is a fun page-turner with heart that blends a mystery with thrills and action scenes. I really enjoyed the contrasting scenes between the contract killers, and Swanson and Cookson getting to know and trust each other. And bonus: I really liked the audiobook, narrated by George Newbern.

(TW suicidal thoughts recounted/ groomer of teen girls, no assault scenes on page but emotional abuse, kidnapping is/ infertility/ attempted suicide scene)

If you wanted another setting like Mindhunter’s season 2, 1979 Atlanta during the Atlanta Child Murders where a serial killer was kidnapping and murdering Black children, this is a literary suspense novel by an excellent writer and it’s currently $3.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a locked-room mystery whydunnit, you can’t go wrong with Higashino, and this one is currently $2.99 so run to it. (Review)

For Tana French fans, here’s a police procedural that is character driven currently $1.99! (Review)

A locked-room mystery set in our world but with the invention of time travel, which is currently $1.99! Perfect price if your hesitant on trying a sci-fi mystery. (Review)

One of my favorite reads of the year! Here we follow two CIA agents on different missions, whose paths cross and can you trust anyone in a spy novel?

CIA agent Lyndsey Duncan was basically put on timeout (suspension) after it was discovered that she was having a secret relationship with a spy from another agency, MI5–apparently that is frowned up on amongst spies. So she’s called back from her mission, and while not supposed to be active she’s called in because informants, including her first one, are dropping dead. Because the informants had no connections to each other it’s speculated that it has to be a mole and Duncan is to help find them.

Upon her return she meets, and befriends, CIA agent Theresa Warner whose husband, also CIA, was murdered. She’s been labeled the “Red Widow” because people are unsurprising and Warner is on her own mission, and that’s to find out how and why her husband was really killed…

This focused on taking readers inside the CIA headquarters and inside the two CIA agents’ current lives, which I found fascinating! So much so that I read it in a day. I especially loved how the two women are in the same field but one is a widow with a child who deeply loved her husband, and the other is single and without any deep personal connections.

(TW suicide not on page, brief detail/ side character with cancer/ briefly mentions war crimes)

If you’re looking for a fun, entertaining crime novel, and enjoy humorous inner monologue characters like Stephanie Plum, this is a must-read.

Finlay Donovan is having a hard time: Her ex-husband is a bit of a shit, she has two young kids, and is so far beyond deadline on her book manuscript, her agent is demanding she give her something. And that’s how Donovan becomes an accidental hitwoman. Okay, so more specifically, while giving her agent a story in a coffee shop a fellow patron overhears, misunderstands, and hires her to kill someone for her. Whoopsie.

Of course Donovan would never take this job. But it is a lot of money. But no. Okay, but maybe she’ll just go to the place and see who the intended hit is. And that’s how she ends up in so much more trouble than she could have imagined. Lucky for her, the fired babysitter is ready to be an entrepreneur and maybe hitwoman is in her future? No, of course not. But maybe?

I was cracking up from the opening and found myself thoroughly entertained to the finish. Just the right amount of ridiculous to make crime fun! I’m glad it’s the start to the series and look forward to future shenanigans.

(TW date raper/ stalker)

This is my current read because I am always here for Japanese crime, and this just sounded like a hook that would grab me and, spoiler, it did! Each chapter is a different character(s) riding a bullet train and they are all either criminals or victims (why not both!), including a kidnap victim rescued by two criminals who aren’t doing a great rescue job. There’s a suitcase of money on the train and lots of people with grabby hands… This seems to be flowing between beach read thriller and an exploration of human behavior and Japanese society, and it has my full attention.

I just got two upcoming titles I am super excited about: Auntie Poldi and the Lost Madonna (Tante Poldi #4) by Mario Giordano, J. Maxwell Brownjohn (Translation), which is a hilarious mystery series with an elderly lady always getting into trouble and solving mysteries; All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris, which, not gonna lie, had me at the cover! But also it’s a legal thriller with secrets and the past is coming for you so you know I am all in.

For fans of teen detectives looking for a fun read set in a beach resort with an in-house detective and a valet always on the hunt for a mystery, this is a great series currently $4.99! Goldie is one of my favorite detective characters, and her mom is a performing mermaid!

Feeling in the mood for a revenge? Here’s one I love for how it unfolds and it’s $3.99! (Review-includes TWs)

How much trouble can a “little old lady” get into? Well, if she’s a murderous Swedish octogenarian, a lot, and you can find out all the details for $1.99! (Review-includes TW)

A murder-mystery, starring a detective, with shape-shifting witches, and written by an enrolled citizen of the Choctaw Nation–top of my want list! Oh and along with the who murdered the security guard at the children’s museum there’s also the whole who stole ancient human remains from the museum?!

It’s finally here! This is the smashing of a rom-com and a crime novel together for a super entertaining, funny, warm, and fun book. Would your family help you dispose of a body after accidentally killing someone in self-defense? Meddy Chan’s would! All while planning an elaborate wedding their business is working on. And while maybe falling in love with a past love. (Review) (TW attempted assault scene)

This true crime is for readers of stories about cults and anyone looking for a deep dive into the recent news stories regarding NXIVM–which got even more press for the involvement of Seagram heir Clare Bronfman, Smallville actor Allison Mack, and Battlestar Galactica actor Nicki Clyne.

If you’ve been following along my shouting of mystery books I love, you’ll realize that this being written by a fellow Rioter is not why I love it but, rather, I am a big fan of historical mysteries and this one hit so many spots for me–which I say as someone who is not particularly a fan of P&P. If you need a delightful historical mystery, want to watch Lizzie Bennet as an amateur sleuth, and want to watch her bicker with Darcy (delicious bickering!) while trying to free an innocent man, run to this one. I did the audiobook and highly recommend that format. (TW alludes to past employer assaulting housemaids)

Here’s a historical mystery that is darker and brings to light history many probably know very little about. Set in 1426, Joseon (Korea) Min Hwani disguises herself as a boy and sets out to find her missing father. He’s a detective who disappeared a year earlier while investigating missing girls from a forest. While trying to find out what happened to her father Min also finds herself rebuilding her relationship with her sister, learning about her family and its secrets, and needing to know why girls keep disappearing… This is a suspenseful mystery that takes a hard look at the treatment of girls and women in little known history. I went with the audiobook for this and really enjoyed it. And if you never read Hur’s previous historical mystery, The Silence Of Bones, get that one too. (TW past child abuse, recounted/ mentions of suicide/ human trafficking)

More historical fiction! This is a great series, set in the early 1900s NY, which follows Jane Prescott, a ladies’ maid as our amateur sleuth. This time we go behind the curtain of Broadway and among all that drama there’s a murder! If you’re looking to start at the beginning pick up A Death of No Importance (Review).

And here’s a way more recent history setting that follows a lawyer, Henry Rios, in 1986 L.A. On the November ballot is a terrifying measure that would place people with HIV into quarantine camps, so Rios accepts to counsel the activist group Queers United to End Erasure and Repression. But soon he’s instead representing a client facing the death penalty after a bombing.

For fans of true crime podcasts in their mystery books: Elle Castillo hosts a popular true crime podcast focusing on cold cases of missing children in her hometown of the Twin Cities. Now she’s decided she’ll tackle the biggest unsolved case from 20 years ago…

Here’s a little known–outside of the Asian community–case that has finally started to get some attention. This true crime book takes a look at the murder of Vincent Chin, the trial, protests, and verdicts.

For fans of short stories, here’s an anthology that can either give you a lot of your favorite authors writings in one shot or introduce you to great new authors.

Looking for a dark, sardonic thriller? Set in Tel-Aviv, women who once joined a group who swore to have a childfree lifestyle are turning up dead. Sheila’s once close friend Dina Kaminer, one of Israel’s preeminent feminist scholars, was murdered. But who would murder her and label her a mother by gluing a baby doll to her hand?

For fans of action, noir, and pulp, the second graphic novel volume in the Reckless series is now available. I really liked Brubaker’s Velvet series (Review).