Author: Jamie Canaves

Hello mystery fans! This week I have for you a Southern lit mystery, a favorite P.I., and a page-turner that ended nowhere near where it began.

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Sponsored by Cold Aim by Janice Cantore, new in paperback from Tyndale House Publishers.

Police Chief Tess O’Rourke’s small town is still reeling from a devastating fire when the FBI asks for help: Could she shelter a witness in a high-profile human trafficking case? When crews come to town to assist with the fire cleanup, Tess worries strangers might shine a light on things best kept hidden. She doesn’t know that Rogue’s Hollow is already home to a suspect from a twenty-five-year-old murder case . . . and someone is taking cold aim at those Tess is sworn to protect.

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Southern Lit With Past Mystery (TW past child abuse/ suicide/ dog harmed–you’ll see it coming and it’s skippable)

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz: I took a Southern lit course in college I loved so I gravitated toward this one RUL fast. Billie James returns to Mississippi for the first time since childhood after her mother’s passing, which left her her father’s property. Her father was a poet and activist who died when she was four years old and there’s always been a strange mystery surrounding his death. Her return will dredge up the past–of course–thanks to neighbors who used to own her family, seeing relatives she hasn’t seen since she was a child, and a researcher looking to write a book on her father. James will not only have to question everything she knew at the time of her father’s death and since, while also coming face-to-face with the racism of the past and present. This character-driven, past mystery is a great read for fans of Southern lit. And, this really should have been the lead, Bahni Turpin narrates the audiobook. If she narrates I will listen!

Great P.I. Series (TW suicide/ discussion of eating disorder)

The Stories You Tell (Roxane Weary #3) by Kristen Lepionka: This continues to be a series that makes me anticipate the next read and keep up-to-date with. If you’ve yet to start this one, and are a fan of P.I. stories, go pick up The Last Place You Look because you should really read from the beginning to see Weary’s character growth. This time around she’s more settled, including with her ex-girlfriend, now girlfriend again–they’re even double dating. Anyhoo, while Weary is trying to focus on a case about a business owner trying to track down counterfeit merch, she ends up really having to figure out what happened to the woman who disappeared from her brother’s home… This series, and book, works great if you’re a fan of P.I. stories with thrilling endings, family drama, struggling characters you root for, good twisty mysteries, and a modern facelift to the comfort of P.I. genre tropes. Look how many things there are to love!

A Past Mystery + A Will They Get Caught Crime Novel (TW talk of rape/ suicide, thoughts/ teacher student relationship)

The Reunion by Guillaume Musso: This ended up being really fun for me because I swear I started this with it being one thing, and then it’s like I was asked to change rides at one point and strapped in for something else. And since you know I hate to give anything away I’m only going to focus on the beginning of this story: Two men return to their prep school’s reunion twenty-five years later, not so much for the reunion but because the gym is going to be renovated and the body they hid in there is gonna be discovered! So they have one weekend to figure out what to do, if anything, before their lives are never the same again–except there is more to the story. They know one of the missing people was murdered, because they committed the crime, but everyone thinks that person is missing along with a student. But what happened to the missing student that day?… I read this in almost one sitting while floating in the pool because hello, page-turner!

Recent Releases

A Prayer for Travelers by Ruchika Tomar (Reading: Friend searching for missing friend–this one was highly recommended to me.)

The Chain by Adrian McKinty (Reading: bananapants setup that is a page-turning thriller.)

Knife (Harry Hole #12) by Jo Nesbø (Scandinavia procedural thriller series.)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, 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.

Hello mystery fans! This is not an adaptation but the trailer for Knives Out seems perfect for fans of a good whodunnit–and Chris Evans swearing and a fantastic cast. It definitely nods at Agatha Christie and Clue so you know I’m excited.

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Sponsored by Book Riot’s Amazon store. Shop our favorite summer reads (including some of our favorite books of 2019 so far), bookish accessories, deals, and more.

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From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Jean Kwok on how Searching for Sylvie Lee became this summer’s book club sensation

United States of a Mystery: Essential Florida Crime Fiction

A Teen Assassin and Other Favorite Mysteries And Thrillers!

Chanelle answered our questions about her inspiration, The Gone Dead audiobook–narrated by Bahni Turpin–and her love of independent bookstores!

Post-Gone Girl, Here’s How These Authors Are Moving the Psychological Thriller Genre Forward

Giveaway: Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha

Rioters Chose Their Best Books Of 2019 So Far and of course there’s a mystery/thriller section.

This week’s All The Books has Liberty talking about three mystery releases she enjoyed: Second Sight by Aoife Clifford, Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger, Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. (And Rebecca talked about a nonfiction release I loved: I Like to Watch: Arguing My Way Through the TV Revolution by Emily Nussbaum.)

News And Adaptations

Idris Elba On The Racism That’s Impacted His Viewpoint Of Playing James Bond

Report Says Grace Jones Quit ‘Bond 25’ Shortly After Arriving On Set Due To Lack Of Lines

Agatha Raisin producer Free@Last TV is developing a TV detective drama based on Freeman Wills Crofts’ classic Inspector French novels.

“He’s already working on his next project, one he started before writing The Nickel Boys: a crime novel set in Harlem in the 1960s.” (Colson Whitehead is writing a crime novel!)

Kindle Deals

For historical mystery fans A Necessary Evil (Sam Wyndham #2) by Abir Mukherjee is $1.99! (Review) (TW suicide/ addiction)

For cozy mystery fans Dim Sum Of All Fears (Noodle Shop Mystery #2) by Vivien Chien is $2.99! (Review) (TW suicide)

For a twisty domestic read For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt is $1.99! (Review) (TW brief discussion about child suicide/ pedophilia)

AND HAPPY DAY to you all Steph Cha’s Juniper Song PI trilogy is on sale–and they are never on sale! Follow Her Home (Review); Beware, Beware (Review); Dead Soon Enough (Review) are $2.99 each! (Off memory I think the series has TW for suicide and rape.)

Watch Now

In case you needed a reminder the first three seasons of Veronica Mars are now streaming on Hulu. And, it’s not an adaptation, but I just saw that The Spy Who Dumped Me is streaming on Hulu and if you want a funny “spy” thriller totally watch it. It stars Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon and I really want there to be a sequel!

And A Bit Of My Week In Reading

I finished reading: Stephanie Oakes’ The Arsonist which had a character I loved, and I really enjoyed the story even if it felt predictably slotted. The audiobook has great narrators! And The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz has the amazing Bahni Turpin narrating and was a great Southern Lit, return home, past mystery!

All my library audiobook holds came in at once, as they do, so these will be my in-my-ears-book friends: Tan France’s memoir Naturally Tan (I love him so much!); A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson, Rachel Willson-Broyles (Translation) (Scandinavian legal thriller!); The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda (I’ve enjoyed all her mysteries!)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, 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.

Hello mystery fans! It’s a new month and I’m starting you all off with three new releases: I’ve got a whydunnit, a return home mystery, and a past and present mystery stuffed with all the reveals.

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Sponsored by Book Riot’s Amazon store. Shop our favorite summer reads (including some of our favorite books of 2019 so far), bookish accessories, deals, and more.

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Whydunnit! (TW child abuse/ suicide attempt)

The Best Lies by Sarah Lyu: This was a page-turner for me that opens with you knowing the crime: Elise shot and killed her best friend Remy’s boyfriend. We get Remy in the present talking to her lawyer, and a police detective, as she explains what happened that night. And we get the recent past where we see Remy meet Elise and Jack, separately, and how their relationships evolve. Adult and YA toxic friendship novels are not new, and I’ve read a ton of them, but this one could have taken many turns it didn’t and surprised me with the ones it did in a good way. It felt thoughtful. It explored quite a few things while always keeping the suspense and tension of the why threaded through–especially when we learn Remy is lying… If you like a whydunnit and toxic friendship novels this was a really good read.

Return Home Mystery! (TW addiction/ PTSD/ statutory rape/ suicide mention with detail)

Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger: I really enjoyed Alger’s previous novel, The Banker’s Wife, and was thrilled to discover that this one, while totally different, is also super good. It hits a lot of notes for different crime fans: return home; FBI agent on leave; murder mystery; procedural; thriller ending. A thing I really liked about this novel was that it set up a lot of things that are tropes for the genre but never took the worn path. For example the main character Nell Flynn, is an FBI agent on leave after being shot who returns home for her father’s funeral. You think she’s going to be self-destructive and angry but she’s not. And I say this as someone who loves a hotmess, self-destructive woman character–it’s just nice to get something that feels different in the current trends. Flynn ends up assisting a local detective, her father’s last partner, on a murdered woman’s case and quickly finds herself in over her head when things start pointing at her father leading her to question what she actually remembered from the long ago night when her mother was murdered… If you like mysteries with thriller endings, past and present mysteries, and a main character you root for don’t miss this one. And while it’s a great standalone I’d love for it to be the start of a series so I can get more Flynn.

Past And Present Mystery With So Many Reveals! (TW suicide/ child murder/ past pedophile without detail/ partner abuse/ rape mention/ sexual harassment/ addiction)

Never Look Back by Alison Gaylin: This is one of those vacation reads for me: it had a great hook in the first 60 pages; was plot driven; kept making me lean forward with the reveals whether I saw it coming or not. I’m going to give you a bare bones summary of the plot–you can find the full everywhere else–but I loved going into this one not knowing the initial reveal. Quentin Garrison is a true crime podcast host and he’s currently working on one about two teenage killers from the ’70s. But it’s a personal podcast for him, since he has a connection to one of the crimes… This one is told from multiple points of view, although mostly from three: Quentin Garrison; one of the teen killer’s letters; Robin Diamond, an online columnist. If you want a twisty book, filled with reveals, and don’t mind “diary” type entries amongst the chapters lay back and enjoy the ride!

Recent Releases

The Gone Dead by Chanelle Benz (Currently listening to the audiobook– with the amazing Bahni Turpin narrating!–and it’s a really good Southern past mystery.)

Stone Cold Heart (Cat Kinsella #2) by Caz Frear (Good new-ish British procedural series.)

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager (Apartment sitter at mysterious apartment building starts to uncover secrets, including that sitters disappear…)

Second Sight by Aoife Clifford (Looking forward to reading this Australian crime.)

Give Me Your Hand by Megan Abbott (Paperback) (One of my favorite crime authors–Review) (TW suicide)

This Body’s Not Big Enough for Both of Us by Edgar Cantero (Paperback) (Dark comic noir.)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. And here’s an Unusual Suspects Pinterest board.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime, come talk books with me on Twitter, Instagram, 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.