Category: Unusual Suspects

May Releases 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date May 5, 2020

Sponsored by our 1-year Kindle Unlimited subscription giveaway, courtesy of Macmillan’s eDeals Newsletter. Enter now!

We’re giving away a 1-year Kindle Unlimited subscription to 5 lucky winners, courtesy of Macmillan’s eDeals Newsletter.

Hello mystery fans! I’ve got a bunch of May releases you’ll want on your radar including translated crime, a legal thriller, cozy, and plenty of mysteries to solve. (📚= I’ve read and recommend; 📖= currently reading and enjoying.)

Shooting Down Heaven cover image Shooting Down Heaven by Jorge Franco, Andrea Rosenberg (Translator): 📖 For literary fans, this follows a group of kids in the ’90s during the height of Colombia’s drug cartels–and the death of Escobar– and their reunion now as adults when one of them returns home.

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf: 📚 This is a procedural where the cop assigned to the cold case is now working on her childhood best friend’s unsolved murder. It’s told in past and present chapters, both timelines rushing to reveal what happened on that fateful night and who is responsible–everyone is a suspect!

A Deadly Inside Scoop (An Ice Cream Parlor Mystery #1) by Abby Collette: 📖 Really enjoying this cozy mystery that is a return to small-town to run the family business. The business being an ice cream shop (yum!) and the mystery being a dead person that won’t be good for business.

My Mother’s House by Francesca Momplaisir: A dark and unsettling read that uses a house with living feelings and thoughts to tell the tale of the Haitian immigrant family living inside and one man’s abusive behavior.

Catherine House by Elisabeth Thomas: 📖 A school with experimental curriculum in the rural Pennsylvania woods is the setting for this gothic suspense that of course has a group of friends and secrets to be uncovered…

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight: A friend back from law school calls Lizzie Kitsakis from Rikers needing her help. He’s the main suspect in his wife’s death…

Death in the East (Sam Wyndham #4) by Abir Mukherjee: I adore this historical mystery series about a Scottish detective working in 1922 Calcutta, India. This time around his British past comes to find him twenty years later… The only reason I haven’t already inhaled this book is I don’t have a galley–seriously, I love this series.

I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me by Juan Pablo Villalobos, Daniel Hahn (Translator): Labeled as part campus novel and part gangster thriller, this Spanish prize-winning novel follows Juan Pablo Villalobos, a Mexican student on his way to Spain, who gets kidnapped and forced by gangsters to make a corrupt politician’s daughter fall in love with him–or his cousin will die…

The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert: Historical fic set in 1920’s New Orleans with a murder mystery for fans of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mystery.

Sister Dear by Hannah Mary McKinnon: This sounds like a revenge thriller–when Eleanor’s dad dies she finds out he wasn’t her biological father and the man that is, instead chose another family. With a daughter that is Eleanor’s half-sister, and that half-sister is going to pay apparently.

What You Don't See cover image What You Don’t See (Cass Raines, #3) by Tracy Clark: 📚 This is a great recent PI series set in Chicago, following a former cop with a great support system reluctantly taking on cases that are usually annoying to her–this time an abrasive media empire owner needs protection from a stalker…

Silence on Cold River by Casey Dunn: Ama Chaplin is a defense attorney in Georgia who left her life behind and previous name behind in Atlanta. Now a sociopath who was a teen she defended seventeen years ago is in front of her and has plans…And only one person, a grieving suicidal father, believes something happened to her and goes into the woods with a shotgun to find out.

The Silence by Susan Allott: 📖 Here’s an Australian mystery, part historical, about two neighboring families, a woman that disappeared in the ’60s, and the man now suspected of having something to do with the disappearance. You know I’m always in for any mystery that is going to have all the secrets coming out.

The Scotland Yard Puzzle Book: Test Your Inner Detective by Solving Some of the World’s Most Difficult Cases by Sinclair McKay: You read all the mystery books, but are you ready to be a detective? Find out by trying to solve these cases!

These Women by Ivy Pochoda: For fans of literary novels, fictional serial killers where the victims are the ones given voice, and gritty L.A novels.

The Last Trial (Kindle County Legal Thriller #11) by Scott Turow: A legal thriller where an 85-year-old defense lawyer takes on a final case of a friend charged with insider trading, fraud, and murder and this final case will put his career in jeopardy and challenge whether he ever knew his friend…

Hard Cash Valley (Bull Mountain #3) by Brian Panowich: This is a gritty southern noir series that has been optioned for television so you’ll want to get the books read before the adaptation.

Hunting November (Killing November #2) by Adriana Mather: The sequel to Killing November, about an elite boarding school training the elite’s kids to be the next generation of assassins and spies. This is one you need to start at the beginning with.

Westside Saints (Westside #2) by W.M. Akers: The sequel to Westside which is a genre blend of detective fic, historical fic, and fantasy set in a reimagined Jazz Age New York!

America’s First Female Serial Killer: Jane Toppan and the Making of a Monster by Mary Kay McBrayer: Fellow Rioter, and writer of our horror newsletter, McBrayer novelizes 19th-century serial poisoner Jane Toppan.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! 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.

Unusual Suspects

Free YA Crime Audiobooks

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 30, 2020

Cat And Mouse Game Up Mount Everest 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 28, 2020

Sherlock Holmes’ Teen Sister Coming To Netflix!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 23, 2020

Locked-Room Mystery With Time Travel!

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 21, 2020

Sponsored by Final Expense by Darrell Coleman.

It is not uncommon for thirteen-year-old girls to have regular babysitting jobs for neighbors. It is not uncommon that these business relationships become more like family connections. When Jared and Lisa Thompson’s thirteen-year-old babysitter, Nichole, concludes that Jared may be in trouble, this very smart little girl sets out to help Uncle Jared any way she can.

Hello mystery fans! I think I’ve succeeded in giving different types of mystery readers books to get sucked into immediately and lost in for a bit of time. One is a thriller, one is a locked-room mystery with time travel, and the last is a funny procedural.

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier: An intense and absorbing thriller! When starting my next round of reads I’ll read the first chapter of a handful of books/listen to the opening of a few audiobooks, and the ones that catch my attention most stay in my now-reading pile. In this case, I listened to the opening of Little Secrets and then whoops I was already halfway in and fully absorbed.

So a perfect thriller if you need something to grab your attention and let you escape for a while. You are fully up in Marin Machado’s mind and life, first on the day her four-year-old son Sebastian is taken, then a year later as there are still no answers. From the outside she’s a very successful hairdresser, wealthy, in a marriage people envy, and the mother of the abducted child no one has found. Inside, she has not moved on from that day, her husband Derek and her don’t really communicate, and she’s secretly hired a PI since the FBI stopped actively looking for Sebastian. And then the PI drops a bomb in her life: she hasn’t found her son, but she accidentally found out Derek has a mistress. And now Marin has something else to obsess about…

This is one of those great thrillers that goes beyond the good vs bad, showing everyone is capable of different degrees of behavior when pushed into situations they’d never imagined. Also, everyone’s got secrets–can you guess them? (TW child kidnapping/ mentions self harm, not detailed/ domestic, child, partner abuse/ attempted past suicide, detail/ suicidal thoughts)

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas: Okay, so yes this is sci-fi but stay with me if you don’t read that genre: it’s 100% set in our world, just with the invention of time travel. Also, it’s a locked room mystery!

Four scientists invent time travel in 1967 but as they’re revealing their amazing accomplishment one of the four women, Barbara, has a mental health crisis. In response, they ostracize Barbara and continue on without her. In the present day there’s a body found in a locked-room and, since it is highly unlikely that a person would be able to shoot themselves multiple times, it is thought to be a murder. But how and why? And a year prior to the current time, we have Barbara’s granddaughter who is discovering the family secrets of who her grandmother was and what she’d contributed to time travel.

This jumps around timelines and characters as we get more and more pieces to solve the locked-room murder, but this novel also has a lot of interesting characters, relationships, and fun time travel bits: like using it to save plants; and characters can visit themselves in different ages and meet and chat. It’s fun and smart! I’d note that the audiobook is for experienced listeners because you need to be able to keep track of the time period and the character changes. (TW case suspected of suicide/ self harm/ disordered eating)

A Bad Day for Sunshine (Sunshine Vicram #1) by Darynda Jones: This is the start to a new procedural series that is perfect for fans of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series, and a bit of the mother-daughter relationship in Gilmore Girls. It’s kickass women, with a dose of laughs that range from the absurd to dark humor.

Sunshine Vicram had run away from her hometown, Del Sol, New Mexico, as a teen but is back now that her parents entered her–without her knowledge–in the election for sheriff. And Sunshine won. So she’s back, with her teenage daughter, and running the police department. But before she can settle in, there’s a kidnapping, a teen girl who since childhood predicted this would happen. And Sunshine isn’t the only one on the case. Her daughter Aurora, who is struggling fitting in her new school since she’s been labeled a narc, is her own Nancy Drew–if Nancy had looked up to Lisbeth Salander.

This walks that line of dealing with real issues but staying in the fun read category because of the character’s sense of humor and some zany antics. So if you like a quirky town with secrets and are looking for an entertaining read, this is your next book. And for audiobook fans: remember how I mentioned Evanovich’s series? Same audiobook narrator for the recent releases! Lorelei King managed to voice a bunch of characters seamlessly without sounding grating or annoying with wild voice changes. (TW past child suicide thoughts and attempt, detail/ past date rape, kidnapping)

Recent Release

The Silence Of Bones by June Hur (Great historical mystery–Review.)

The Closer You Get by Mary Torjussen (Thriller where coworkers having an affair select date and place to meetup after telling their spouses but only one shows up…)

Death in Her Hands by Ottessa Moshfegh (Slow-burn psychological suspense.)

Final Judgment (Samantha Brinkman #4) by Marcia Clark (Defense attorney Samantha Brinkman’s latest case is defending her current lover, and now client!)

Strike Me Down cover image Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia (Thriller following a forensic accountant!)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! 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.

Unusual Suspects

Addictive New Thrillers 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 16, 2020

Sponsored by The audiobook edition of D. J. Palmer's The New Husband, read by January LaVoy and Rebecca Soler

What makes Simon Fitch so perfect? He knows all her favorite foods, music, and movies. Her son adores him. He was there when she needed him most. He anticipates her every need. He would never betray her like her first husband. The perfect husband. He checks all the boxes. The question is, why? Listen to the audiobook edition of D. J. Palmer’s The New Husband, read by January LaVoy and Rebecca Soler. This riveting thriller proves just because you love someone doesn’t mean you know them.

Hi mystery fans! We got through another week and that’s a hell of a feat. I rounded up some interesting things to read, watch, found a bunch of great Kindle deals, and shared some things that made me happy this week in hopes they may also bring you even a few moments of joy.

From Book Riot And Around The Internet

Rincey and Katie are back with a new Read or Dead talking about some changing release dates, Tiger King, and the books they turn to when they need some comfort.

Bolder and Wiser: 3 Shows About Older Women Writer-Detectives

9 Addictive New Thrillers to Add to Your TBR List This Spring

48 Mystery and Thriller Recommendations by Trope

The Hollywood Golden Age Producer Turned Cold War Spy

Enter to Win a $250 Gift Card to Barnes and Noble!

Enter to win 6 cozy mysteries!

What to Watch on Lockdown: 14 James Bond Alternatives to Take the Place of Delayed ‘No Time to Die’

7 Shows Like Bosch That Are Not Bosch That You Should Watch If You Liked Bosch

‘Da Vinci Code’ Author Dan Brown Is Teaching a Free Class on Writing Thrillers

“She’s a dangerous person”: “Killing Eve” head writer discusses the consequences of Eve’s survival

Watch Now

Amazon Prime: The sixth season of Bosch returns on April 17th (today!). The TV series is adapted from Michael Connelly’s long running procedural book series which follows LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch.

Kindle Deals

One of 2019’s best crime novels: Your House Will Pay by Steph Cha is $2.99! (Review)

If you’re looking for a boarding school mystery with revenge: People Like Us by Dana Mele is $2.99! (Review) (TW suicide/ statutory rape/ cyber-exploitation)

If you wanted to start a long running spy thriller series: Daniel Silva’s The Kill Artist (Gabriel Allon Series Book 1) is $2.99! AND The Other Woman which is the 18th book in the series is also $2.99!

For fans of noir and Japanese crime: The Gun by Fuminori Nakamura and Allison Markin Powell (translation) is $1.99!

If you read true crime and still haven’t read McNamara book, it’s a must: I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara is $3.99! (Review) (TW rape)

Looking for a seaside set thriller? The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda is $1.99!

Things That Made Me Happy This Week

Parasite is on Hulu (Also, Elvira and Romancing The Stone)! Kim’s Convenience season 3 dropped on Netflix! Insecure on HBO is back!

Alyssa Cole’s upcoming social thriller When No One Is Watching is so freaking good! I may have asked on my work Slack for a note to spend the day finishing it instead of working (super professional)–I ended up getting all of my work done first and then read the second half in one sitting because it’s the kind of intense and suspenseful read that you can’t put down, and when you do put it down you can’t stop thinking about it.

A 93-year-old woman got a massive Coors Light delivery after a viral plea for more beer.

I’m still playing the Dixie Chicks’ new song Gaslighter on a loop.

The USPS Lunar New Year: Year of the Rat stamps arrived and they’re even more gorgeous in person.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! 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.

Unusual Suspects

Opening That Could Be In OCEAN’S ELEVEN 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 14, 2020

Sponsored by our giveaway of a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble! Enter here.

We’re giving away a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble. To enter, just sign up for our Giveaways newsletter and be alerted when we’re giving away free books! Enter to win here.

Hello mystery fans! I have officially entered the stage of having no clue what day or time it ever is, no matter how many times I look at the calendar/clock. But it is always time for me to talk books, especially the mystery kind, so let’s do that. I have a really entertaining historical mystery, an awesome narrative nonviolent true crime, and a mother daughter suspense.

The Silence of Bones by June Hur: I get a lot of requests from readers looking for historical fiction that isn’t set in WWII or Europe (because that market is saturated), so here you go! This is a highly enjoyable mystery set in 1800, Joseon Korean dynastic kingdom. Seol has had a pretty rough life, orphaned as a child and now sent by her older sister to the capital with the mission of finding her older brother’s grave, while being trained as a police damo. She’s basically an indentured servant to the Capital Police Bureau because Confucius’s law doesn’t allow men to touch women they aren’t directly related to. So Seol arrests women and touches dead women’s bodies on murder cases.

She’s scrappy, sensitive, and a quick learner, which is why Inspector Han forms a friendship with her and helps her learn to solve cases. But soon she’s questioning whether Han is involved in the murder of a woman… This has a great lead character and setting while delving into Korean history, including the persecution of Catholics, and I really hope this becomes a series. (TW past suicides mentioned, detail/ mentions public groping/ torture/ past child murder mentioned/ dog killed, skippable)

The Falcon Thief cover image The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird by Joshua Hammer: If you enjoyed The Feather Thief this is a must-read. Also, this is a great read for fans of narrative nonfiction, nonviolent true crime, adventure, and nature. Look, I know this sounds boring like The Feather Thief and Bad Blood because, whatever, how exciting is bird stealing or a Silicon Valley startup? SO VERY MUCH when the stories are kind of bonkers. And in the case of The Falcon Thief you get adventure stories, and an opening that could be in Ocean’s Eleven–if they were after falcon eggs–and really interesting animal facts, and history. Plus, it’s all narrated like a fantastic story taking you into the world of rare egg smuggling (after being stolen from nests!), falconry, the UK’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, and plenty of finger pointing “it wasn’t me, they’re lying.” If you’re a fan of being told a story and British narrators, go with the audiobook. (TW talks of past crime cases that include suicide, detail; rape, no detail; child deaths, no detail/ some animal harm, but I’d say more what you find in animal documentaries)

Darling Rose Gold cover image Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel: This is one of those novels I recommend knowing as little as possible about beforehand for full suspense effect. If you still want to know what it’s about, then read on.

It’s told in alternating points of view between mother and daughter: Rose Gold Watts, a young woman, is picking up her mom, Patty Watts, from prison after her five year sentence. Patty was found guilty of making Rose Gold sick all her life and Rose Gold’s testimony put her mom in prison. But Patty doesn’t understand why Rose Gold lied and the few people in Rose Gold’s life don’t understand why she’d forgive her mother and give her another chance. Who, if anyone, is lying? Are they rebuilding their relationship? Or are they trying to pull one over on the other?… Highly recommend the audiobook, which has two narrators and really sinks you into each character’s thoughts and actions. (TW alludes to attempted suicide/ past suicide, brief detail/ disordered eating/ talk of past PTSD, addiction, miscarriage/ child abuse)

Recent Releases

No Going Back (Nora Watts #3) by Sheena Kamal: A great PI series with thriller scenes and endings! (Review for 1st book in series.)

Death of an American Beauty (A Jane Prescott Novel Book 3) by Mariah Fredericks: Historical mystery series with a great lead (a lady’s maid) and interesting historical moments in early 1900s NY. (Review for first book in series.)

miracle creek cover image Miracle Creek by Angie Kim (Paperback): Mystery + family drama + court room drama! (Review) (TW child abuse/ suicide/ sexual assault)

Girls Like Us by Cristina Alger (Paperback): Return home, murder mystery I hope becomes a series! (Review) (TW addiction/ PTSD/ statutory rape/ suicide mention, detail)

Conviction by Denise Mina (Paperback): What if you were listening to a true crime podcast and realized you once knew the accused?! (Review) (TW suicide, suicidal thoughts/ eating disorder/ rape/ addiction/ animal cruelty)

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! 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.

Unusual Suspects

Mystery & Thrillers Based On Pop Culture 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 9, 2020

Procedural, Thriller, and Historical Mystery 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 7, 2020

Sponsored by our giveaway of a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble! Enter here.

We’re giving away a $250 gift card to Barnes and Noble. To enter, just sign up for our Giveaways newsletter and be alerted when we’re giving away free books! Enter to win here.

Hello mystery fans! I hope you and yours are safe and healthy, and you’re doing as best as can be expected right now. I’m going to keep trying to find you escapes in the form of mystery books, and I got three for you this week: the third in a great procedural series; a historical mystery for Agatha Christie fans; and a thriller that veers into pandemic territory for those of you out there who I keep seeing turning to Station Eleven and apocalypse books.

Trail of Echoes (Detective Elouise Norton #3) by Rachel Howzell Hall: I really enjoy this series, which follows homicide detective Elouise “Lou” Norton in L.A. (If you want reviews for book 1 and book 2.) This time around Lou gets taken back to the building she grew up in when a thirteen-year-old girl is found dead at a park. Sadly, there’s a pattern of talented young girls who are disappearing, and soon someone is taunting investigators.

Lou is snarky, determined, refuses to take crap, and will not stop until she figures out who is responsible. You get the personal aspect of a case that hits close to home for the detective, her working with her new-ish partner Colin Taggert, her relationship with her boss, her awesome friendships, and her trying to date. Hall is very skilled at bringing to life communities that home different races and ethnicities while giving them many different voices. If you’re a fan of police detective procedurals, you should definitely pick this series up! (TW rape, statutory/ discussion of suicide, attempts)

Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing cover image Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing (Profesorowa Szczupaczyńska #1) by Maryla Szymiczkowa (Pseudonym for Jacek Dehnel and Piotr Tarczyński), Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Translator): This is a great mystery, especially perfect for fans of Agatha Christie. Zofia Turbotynska is a 38-year-old woman living in 1893 Cracow, Poland. She’s married to a university professor who should thank her for all the help with his career, but she’s a woman living in a time when she can’t really do much, so she’s desperately bored. Until a woman goes missing from a nursing home and she decides to use her love of mystery novels and her intelligence to solve the case. Of course she can’t tell her husband or the mother superior in charge of the nursing home, so all of her questionings and sleuthing will be done in secret.

Turbotynska is a fun, witty, very opinionated character, and the book reads like a nod to Agatha Christie that is infused with interesting history! (TW mentions infertility/ discussions of addiction/ past domestic abuse mentioned)

The Red Lotus by Chris Bohjalian: If you’ve been with me awhile, you know I prefer to pick up my crime books knowing as little info about them as possible, which is what I did in this case. And I recommend it, but also will note this caught me by surprise taking a turn into pandemic territory (whoopsie!), but it’s a really good thriller and I listened to the audiobook in a day regardless. Alexis and Austin are a recent couple who have taken a trip to Vietnam so that Austin can do a cycling tour and most importantly pay respect to where his father died during the war. Alexis, an ER doctor in the U.S., is waiting for his return back from cycling when she realizes something is wrong. He should have already been back. Or he would have called. Soon Austin is missing, Alexis is back to work in the U.S., the FBI are trying to figure out what happened, and Alexis learns that maybe Austin was never truthful with her…

This is one of those books that takes you into really interesting places, like the E.R. and on cycling tours, as you slowly learn what is really happening in relation to the mystery–all as the tension keeps ramping up! (TW MC has history of self-harm, details/ mentions murder suicide, details/ ER stories recounted/ recounts past war scenes)

And here’s Book Riot’s continued COVID-19 Updates from the Bookish World.

Browse all the books recommended in Unusual Suspects previous newsletters on this shelf. See 2020 upcoming releases. An Unusual Suspects Pinterest board. Get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! 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.

Unusual Suspects

100 years of Agatha Christie 🔪

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date April 2, 2020