Author: Jamie Canaves

If you’re a fan of smart and fun teen detectives with spunk, this is a great series–that comes with the bonus of even more reading with the graphic novels it’s based on!– to fall into. The first book introduces the characters and involves a set piece stolen from the monster movie being filmed at the resort where Goldie works (Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit), and this second book is about a magician convention and the mystery of who is stealing all the trick elements. (Review)

This is already in my top 2021 titles for sure! I love Sharpe’s ability to write tense crime novels with fantastic characters. Her previous novel, Barbed Wire Heart, is perfect for fans of Ozark, and this time she wrote a bank heist gone wrong with three teens determined to get out alive by tricking the robbers. Sharpe manages to run up to every trope, dismantle it, drop it, and give you something fresh, and I am forever looking forward to what she’ll write next.

If you like thrilling past and present storytelling that slowly unravels a character, run to this book. And if you enjoyed Sadie and No Exit, make this a must-read. Also, the less you know going in the better if you want the full ride experience. Oh, and one more thing: all of Sharpe’s crime novels are awesome, so go read those too. (Review)

This is the second in a new part PI series set in Ghana. The first book, The Missing American (Review) is half in the US and half in Ghana and this second one is fully in Ghana. I also said part PI because the books follow Emma Djan and the story of how she’s assaulted while a police officer and becomes a PI instead, and is still a rookie PI at a firm, but also follows many other characters. This time a woman has been murdered and we learn about the people who knew her, and all their secrets, and hers, until we find out the who and why. (TW mentions past child abuse/ child sexual assault/ alcoholism/ ableism/ stalking, peeping Tom)

An anthropologist, small-time thieves hired to steal maps, a sheriff, lobbyist, and a fixer hired to clean up the “they didn’t do the job right” mess. All those things are why I’m sold and looking forward to reading this one. Also, Liberty really enjoyed it and talked about it on All the Books!

Originally published in the 1930s, it’s listed as the first detective novel written by an African-American. Following one of New York’s few Black police detectives, Perry Dart, we watch as he tries to solve the murder of N’Gana Frimbo, with the help of a physician and two local boys who want to clear their names.

If you’re looking for historical crime novels, and especially like when they are inspired by real people, this is a series for you. Stewart even shows research for the inspiration if you like falling down rabbit holes. (Review for first in series Girl Waits With Gun)

I read the second book in this historical mystery series, A Decline in Prophets (Review), and very much enjoyed it. It follows a cast of fun characters, led by Australian Rowland Sinclair. This time he finds himself in Shanghai and, once again, there is a dead body and fingers pointing at him, so chop-chop he’s got to solve the murder.

Absolutely one of my top 2021 books–and an excellently narrated audiobook if you audio–about a teen boy trying to find his missing sister. If you’re a fan of Lamar Giles and Tiffany D. Jackson you should run to this one. (Review)

If you like shows that pair two people in different fields together to solve crime, and one that adds sexual tension (Castle; Bones), this series is perfect for you. (Review for first book The Vanishing Season)

For fans of character driven and atmospheric slow burn novels with a mystery told in past and present–with a group of friends at the center.

If you’re looking for a graphic novel, murder, and something set in the ‘80s, this is one of three planned volumes, all standalone complete stories, following “Ethan Reckless: Your trouble is his business, for the right price. But when a fugitive from his radical student days reaches out for help, Ethan must face the only thing he fears…his own past.”

One of my favorite mystery authors who puts together their mystery plots so well. This is the first in the series of translations (I think it’s the 3rd in the series in Japan–the order really doesn’t matter, I swear!) and it’s only $2.99!

If you’ve yet to read Tiffany D. Jackson, remedy that immediately! Her most recent is once again another excellent YA crime novel and it’s $3.99! (Review)

Not to galley brag or anything but I got my hands on Stacey Abrams upcoming legal thriller and I’m the most excited to dive into this over the weekend.

Currently I’m reading this year’s release in one of my all-time favorite historical mystery series: An Unexpected Peril (Veronica Speedwell, #6) by Deanna Raybourn. Raybourn never fails to make me laugh from the opening page and I forever thank her.

And in my ears right now is Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks, which I picked up because ’80s and Salem and it is absolutely a delightful, fun, unique ride.

A fantastic coming-of-age meets a missing person mystery. Jay Murphy is a junior in high school who has just started dating the girl he’s had a forever-crush on. He’s also saving as much money as he can (writing papers for wealthy students and working at Taco Bell) in order to retire his grandmother, Mimi, who has raised him and his sister Nicole. Jay is so sweet that, because his father died before he could live out his dream of retiring to Florida, he doesn’t want Mimi to miss out on that luxury, especially after raising him and his sister, so he’s just working to raise money to surprise her with a retirement.

But his life gets derailed when his sister Nic, who is dating the neighborhood drug dealer they are warned to stay away from, calls him high one night while out with her boyfriend. Annoyed, he doesn’t pay her much attention and then ignores her next phone call. When she doesn’t come home he assumes she’s doing one of her temporary disappearing acts, so he lies to Mimi and covers for Nic. But days pass and Nic doesn’t even reach out to Jay, which never happens, and he finally realizes it’s more likely she’s missing than hiding. This sets him, and an unlikely friend, in search of answers since Jay feels the police aren’t helping and Mimi’s blood pressure is too high.

There are books that require time to get to know a character and place, but this is one of those works where, from page one, you get a great sense of Jay and his life. He’s funny without trying to be funny, thoughtful, introspective, and trying to find his way in life after grieving two parents’ deaths. He’s fiercely loyal to his sister and grandmother, and I love that as real as this book is about the hardships of life, there is also very much hope.

If you listen to audiobooks, the audiobook is a must: Preston Butler III is an excellent narrator, and I will for sure pick up books just for his narration–I better see this submitted for the 2021 Audie Awards. And if this wasn’t Pamela N. Harris’s debut, I would be getting her entire backlist right now. I’ll just have to immediately get anything she puts out in the future.

(TW past parent cancer death mentioned, not detailed/ briefly mentions past sexual assault, no details)

There are times when the right book comes into your life at the right time, and this book was that for me during the scary things happening in 2021. This was my temporary escape. It’s a cozy historical mystery smashed with a romance novel.

In 1865 there is a serial killer in London killing both men and women and branding them with Bible sins. Lady Katherine Bascomb, who owns a newspaper after her husband’s death, decides to start writing about the murders in order to help keep women informed and safe. Problem is, her first article gets the murders pinned on an innocent man, and now Detective Inspector Andrew Eversham is dealing with the consequences of her article and trying to undo the damage. While they do start off “hating” each other because they don’t understand the other’s point of view, it isn’t an enemies to lovers trope since it doesn’t really last long before they’re actually working together, and you can predict what is coming.

While this is very much a historical romance where the two main women buck at society–owning a newspaper, having affairs–it also isn’t the full “do as they please”, and they are very much aware of consequences. It’s also part of the story that Katherine is a do-as-she-likes woman because of how awful her husband and marriage was, and now, as a widow, she has found a kind of freedom she realizes would never have existed in marriage or under her parents’ roof.

If you want to watch a detective and widow try to uncover a serial killer while falling in love with each other, here’s a little escape from the world.

(TW briefly mentions past assumed suicide article, brief detail/ past case of domestic abuse, not on page but aftermath briefly detailed)