Category: Unusual Suspects

A month into 2017 and I’ve already read so many good books (including amazing debuts–one I’ll be shouting about next month), that I can’t help but think this is going to be a fantastic year for books!

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Give me ALL the “unlikable” women, please!

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh: Eileen Dunlop tells the story of how at age twenty-four, in the ’60s, she came to finally disappear from the small town where she worked in a boy’s prison and lived with her abusive, alcoholic father. This takes you 100% into the life of a desperate, miserable, intensely self-loathing woman while slowly building up to an ending of crime/suspense. If you like character driven novels and not knowing where things are leading this was a great read as Moshfegh places you so deeply into Eileen’s life that you can smell her life. (Not a mystery but you can read her An Honest Woman story at The New Yorker.)

New Megan Abbott in 2018 has me all muppet arms! Give Me Your Hand will be a psychological thriller about two scientists and the secret they share–is it too early to already love it?!

Watch now: Park Chan-wook’s The Handmaiden, inspired by Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith, is now available on DVD/Digital HD. Watch trailer here.

Want an ending to talk about?

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough: Single mom Louise has a bit of a bar hookup with a man she’s just met only to later discover he’s her new boss and–wait for it… married! I haven’t even gotten to the awkward part yet: Louise’s boss’ wife befriends her. Everything is just weird and chaotic after that because clearly there isn’t a single person who is behaving normally or doesn’t appear to be seriously hiding something. This is a mindfck, psychological thriller, with a sprinkling of magic realism, that will keep you asking wtf and turning the page. You might want a reading partner for this one so you can share your guesses and discuss the ending.

Great mystery audiobook!

 A Beautiful Place To Die (Detective Emmanuel Cooper #1) by Malla Nunn, Saul Reichlin (Narrator):  Englishman Detective Emmanuel Cooper is tasked with solving the mysterious murder of Captain Pretorius, a white officer, in South Africa during the 1950s. Complicating the investigation that already has too many chefs in the kitchen–and an unidentified Peeping Tom–is the recently placed apartheid system that applied racial segregation and becomes as important to the novel as the mystery. I can’t speak for accuracy but I loved Reichlin’s narration and how he changed accents and tone between the many characters. It’s a good mystery with great characters that left me wanting to read the rest of the series and made me immediately listen to Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime which was excellent and a perfect pairing.

Another great audiobook!

  Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, Megan McDowell (Translator), Hillary Huber (Narrator): You get a mix of genres including Literary, Horror, Psychological Thriller and my favorite genre WTF/Bananas! The novel starts with a woman dying in a hospital in Argentina as a young boy questions her on the events that led up to her illness. Instead she tells him the story she heard about him from his mother: poison, a healer, souls being split between bodies!… If you’re looking for a fantastic, quick-ish, unsettling read you need this novel!

Over on Book Riot: 5 Paperback Mysteries You Need to Check Out by Swapna Krishna and A Female Sleuth Reading List in Response to Sherlock’s Season 4 by Deepali Agarwal (S4 SPOILERS).

Adaptation news: John le Carré will have another spy novel, The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, adapted into a limited-series by AMC and the BBC.

Yes, please:

Colombian writer Santiago Gamboa will have his crime novel, Return to the Dark Valley, translated to English.

Kensington bought audio and world rights to Joseph Souza’s Bring Me Closer which sounds like a thriller I need to read.

Recently released in the UK Fiona Cummins’ debut novel Rattle will be adapted to television. “A psychopath more frightening than Hannibal Lecter” has me wanting to read it now so I’m probably going to order this online from a bookstore that ships worldwide rather than waiting for a U.S. release.

And I’ll leave you with: Mystery Writers of America announced the 2017 Edgar Nominations.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

It’s a new year and I’m once again challenging myself to read ALL the books. Oh, and I’ve already read a mystery that will be in my top reads of 2017 so clearly it’s going to be an excellent reading year!

My top read already!

The Dry by Jane Harper: This was a completely satisfying read that has two mysteries, past and present, and a town that is as much a character as the people. Aaron Falk returns to his hometown after the death of his childhood best friend and family, in what appears to be a murder-suicide, but after being asked to investigate, Falk is forced to face the town’s current state of despair and also everything he ran away from years before: the death of a childhood friend and the questions he’s never answered… My only complaint is that it’s a debut novel and I don’t have a back catalog I can go binge read!

Have you heard?

Benedict Cumberbatch is related to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a real life twist that no one would believe in fiction. And you can play along with a live Sherlock mystery on Twitter.

I love a book that takes a sharp turn into WTF? land!

The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley: Charles Blakey is struggling to pay his mortgage and get a job which makes the arrival of a stranger offering him a ton of money to rent his basement a bizarre proposition he’s slowly finding his way to accepting. But then the stranger’s demands and cage arrive and Blakey, a black man, suddenly with a white man imprisoned in his basement finds himself unable to understand what is happening. Blakey is about to find out what type of man would offer a ton of money to hide in his basement inside a cell…

Archie, Jughead, and a murder!

At least that would be my tagline. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is imagining the dark underbelly from the Archie Comics in Riverdale on the CW and I am 100% here for the January 26th premiere. Did I mention Luke Perry and Molly Ringwald are Archie’s parents?! Watch the trailer here.

Hilarious!

A Perilous Undertaking (Veronica Speedwell #2) by Deanna Raybourn: I don’t think I’ve ever laughed this much in a mystery, let alone historical fiction. Imagine 1887 London and getting to know all the badly behaved of “polite society.” If that sounds like fun—it was!—you don’t want to miss Veronica Speedwell (a lepidopterist) and Stoker (a natural historian) as they try to solve the murder of an artist before the man accused of committing the crime is hanged. Added bonus: Speedwell and Stoker each have family drama and, unrelated to that drama, sexual tension.

So much Nancy Drew:

The 2007 Nancy Drew film starring Emma Roberts is now streaming on Netflix.

Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys: The Big Lie by Del Col, Werther Dell’Edera (illustrated): This dark reimagining I’m hesitant on. I love the idea of a darker, older, reimagining of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys but I’m not sure how the ‘femme fatale’ will be handled. Guess I’ll just have to wait until its March release. Fingers crossed.

Looking for a nice Nancy Drew pin to wear? Here you go.

Want to read a dark and gruesome locked-room mystery?

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada, Shika MacKenzie (Translator), Ross MacKenzie (Translation): In the 1970s friends Ishioka and Mitarai try to solve a gruesome crime and locked-room mystery from the 30s. Artist Umezawa had planned on creating the perfect woman by using dismembered body parts from six daughters and nieces. The women were in fact dead and one would think Umezawa had to be the murderer, BUT he had been murdered days before in his locked studio leaving a decades-old unsolved mystery of seven murders. This is one of the few books that I had ZERO idea of the solution and I loved that.

Like your books with a sharp twist and multiple points of view?

Everything You Want Me to Be by Mindy Mejia: Hattie Hoffman reminded me a bit of a teenage Amy Dunne (Gone Girl) in that Hoffman is never really herself but rather constantly morphing into the person someone else wants, needs, or expects her to be. She hates everything about her small town and is planning on moving immediately after her high school graduation but something changes that will forever keep her in her hometown. Chances are you won’t see the twist coming.

In Theaters: Live by Night is Ben Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s same titled crime novel. Watch trailer here.

Watch Now: The adaptation of The Girl On the Train on Digital HD from Amazon/iTunes or buy the DVD on January 17th.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

I am trapped between elation over 2016 finally coming to an end and terror over 2017 beginning. Since I have yet to find a time traveling DeLorean, I have no option but to continue with time as it’s presented. Because of this I’ve decided to do a bit of a different newsletter this time and will be rounding up my favorite mystery-related things of 2016 and talking about upcoming things in 2017 that I am excited for.

We’ll start with Best Of 2016 lists for mystery books!

Or at least that’s what my intention was, BUT my plan crashed and burned like 2016 when I realized people are still putting out lists that would make readers think authors of color don’t even exist. Kirkus Reviews managed to choose 18 mysteries for Best of 2016 and 17 are by white authors. That feels like it takes effort to do. Or, you know, a lot of conscious/unconscious bias. The Wall Street Journal and The Seattle Times apparently met their quota of 1 out of 10, and in what I can only imagine is the worst game ever (where everyone loses) Publishers Weekly and The Washington Post tried to outdo everyone by actually having all-white author lists. I just finished writing about the problem with the Goodreads Choice Awards—spoiler, all white authors—and here we are again.

I know for a fact that there were a lot of great mystery books written by non-white authors this year because I read a bunch and quite a few are on my Best Of list. NPR also put together a great list—although I have to note that as much as I LOVE The Regional Office Is Under Attack! audiobook, I would not categorize it under mystery. I really wanted to use this space to talk about the various lists and books on them but I honestly would be doing readers a disservice if I did because the mystery genre, starting from the top of publishing, needs to have a long hard discussion/thinking about how and why anyone is still publishing lists that only promote white authors as being the best.

2016 mystery/thrillers that may not have crossed your path but should have:

Betty Boo by Claudia Piñeiro, Miranda France (Translation): The novel starts with a murder, but rather than having the urgency of must-solve, it becomes a character driven novel which follows a novelist (semi-retired after her last book bombed), a crime writing journalist (punished and moved off of his crime section), and the new wet-behind-the-ears crime journalist as they try to piece together the murder of a man three years after his wife was murdered. You get a good mystery that it is solved at the end, but what I loved most about this novel were the characters and the exploration of gender roles, youth vs. middle age, gated communities, and the secrets we live with.

The English Teacher by Yiftach Reicher Atir, Philip Simpson (Translator), Charlotte Albanna (Narrator): I really enjoyed the audiobook of this spy novel. It was different from what I’m used to, in that rather than being a fast-paced, heart-pounding thriller, it simmered and took you into former Mossad agent Rachel Goldschmitt’s life, sharing how she became an agent, while giving the details I find spy novels usually skip. While not comparable to the USA Network show Covert Affairs, the audiobook did manage to briefly fill that void I’ve been feeling since the show was canceled. For interesting backstory on the novel: A true Mossad spy story that didn’t really happen.

Want to see the gigantic list of submissions for the Edgar® Award? Here you go!

2016 mystery/thrillers I didn’t get to that are rolling over like cell phone minutes to my 2017 must-read list:

The Kingdom by Fuminori Nakamura

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

The Trap by Melanie Raabe

A Study in Scarlet Women (Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas

Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon

Unknown Caller by Debra Spark

I’m counting down the days for Attica Locke’s crime novels!

I haven’t actually heard any more news—fingers crossed it hasn’t been pushed back to 2018—but I haven’t forgotten the announcement that Attica Locke has two crime novels coming, the first in fall of 2017.

Publishing News:

Kate Carlisle’s Fixer-Upper Mystery series sounds like a fun cozy-mystery series.

In case you missed these 2016 articles/posts:

Troy L. Wiggins’ The Unique Crime Fiction Perspectives of Black and Latinx Women

NPR’s The ‘Girl’ In The Title: More Than A Marketing Trend

Liberty recommends books to read after binge watching Making a Murderer.

Interview with a Bookstore: The Mysterious Bookshop

Free coloring page download of Amy Stewart’s Girl Waits with Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble covers.

Elle’s 6 Books You Need to Read This December, including mystery.

BuzzFeed’s The Girl on the Train and Women’s Dark Fantasies

Bill Morris’ Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine Turns 75

Leaving Netflix and premiere reminder:

Murder, She Wrote will no longer be streaming on Netflix starting January 1st so get your binge on now!

Reminder that Sherlock returns with ‘The Six Thatchers’ on January 1st.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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I may not be surrounded by my usual piles of books—currently I’m surrounded by stacks of gifts, gift tags, and countless rolls of wrapping paper that refuse to stop rolling off the table—but I am still 100% about discussing books! So lets get to all the mystery, crime, and murders which I like to believe don’t get solved until we read them.

Norwegian Crime:

I discovered Anne Holt thanks to Rioter Leila Roy’s Queens of Crimes. I’m a big fan of Scandinavian crime novels/Nordic noir because they’re dark and morally complicated, so I had to read Holt. Her Hanne Wilhelmsen series (one of three) is now mostly translated to English. I was reading out of order since they were being translated out of order BUT if you haven’t read the series yet you’re in luck: The Lion’s Mouth (#4), Dead Joker (#5), No Echo (#6), and Beyond the Truth (#7) published in the U.S. this year so you can read the first eight novels in the series in order. If you’re a dabbler or don’t care about order, the novels 1222 and The Lion’s Mouth work as stand-alones.

So. Many. Twists.

I’m not going to say a lot about Federico Axat’s Kill the Next One because I was totally unprepared for all the sharp turns in the novel and I don’t want to take that awesome experience away from other readers. The novel starts with Ted, having been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, about to take his own life, except he’s interrupted by a stranger with a strange proposition who knows way too much about Ted. Ted complies with the stranger’s request and quickly realizes nothing is as it seems. And when I say nothing is at is seems, I mean nothing. You have no idea where this is going after the opening. Enjoy!

Megan Abbott has excellent taste! (Not that it was up for debate.)

Abbott listed her favorite thriller writers in By the Book and having never heard of Steph Cha, I knew I had to read her. In Follow Her Home, Juniper Song, a mid-twenties Korean-American with a fixation for Philip Marlowe, decides to help a close friend who fears his father is having an affair. Song may not actually be a PI but she has many similarities and I think would get listed with the best of the best—terrible smoking habit included. Song is broken from the past, dripping with sarcasm, relentless, and my new favorite main character in a noir series. Speaking of series, I need to go buy Beware Beware and Dead Soon Enough.

Sequels are coming!

A Murder in Time (Kendra Donovan #1) by Julie McElwain: McElwain sprinkles a bit of accidental time travel to place modern day FBI agent Kendra Donovan in a British castle in 1815. Add a serial killer and Donovan’s continual forgetfulness/refusal to oblige with 1800s rules for women, and you have a great feminist mystery. The second in the series, A Twist in Time, is listed as coming April 2017!

A Front Page Affair (Kitty Weeks Mystery #1) by Radha Vatsal: This is perfect for readers who love a mystery but try to avoid graphic violence, especially towards women, and are historical fiction fans. Set in NY at the beginning of World War I, Capability “Kitty” Weeks finds herself trying to solve a murder that occurred during an event she’d attended while working as a reporter for the women’s fashion section of The Sentinel. While she is more than capable of not only solving the crime and being a newspaper reporter, she’s a woman in a time where women aren’t even allowed to vote. The second book in the series, Murder Between the Lines, is listed as coming May 2017!

Adaptation news:

Caleb Carr’s The Alienist began casting for the TNT adaptation.

HBO is done teasing us and finally released the official trailer for Big Little Lies.

Carl Hiaasen’s Basket Case may be coming to Fox.

The first issue has me excited for the series!

Imagine having zero interest in being a princess because you’ve already decided you want to be a detective. Now imagine you have no say in things because you’re only ten. That’s what Max is dealing with in Mega Princess #1 by Kelly Thompson, Brianne Drouhard, M. Victoria Robado. Even after a visit from her fairy godmother, who mints her with some extra princess powers, Max is undeterred from becoming a detective. She even has a sarcastic horse sidekick!

If you’re planning a murder mystery party and are a fan of cutting:

These printable murder mystery photo booth props look awesome. They even seem like fun to wear while playing Clue.

Find yourself with less time than usual during the holiday season?

Read a great mystery short story published in The Atlantic: Reply to a Dead Man by Walter Mosley

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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We’re giving away a 12-month Audible membership. Go here to enter!

We’re giving away a 12-month Audible membership. Go here to enter

The last of the pumpkin pie with chocolate crust has been eaten and I’m comforting myself with books. I have a lot of great books to talk about so I’ll wait a moment while you reinforce your shelves… Ready?

Read this, then that:

Catherine McKenzie’s Fractured is about an author, Julie Apple, who wrote a popular book, has a stalker, and moves to a new home where a neighbor is very intense about how the neighborhood should behave. The name of the book that the fictional character Julie Apple wrote is The Murder Game, which is now a real book—Meredith has to prosecute a friend from law school accused of murder whose defense lawyer is Meredith’s ex-boyfriend from law school. It’s a bit confusing BUT I recommend reading them backwards for a few reasons, including avoiding spoilery things, because they were great mystery page-turners. So read The Murder Game by Julie Apple and then Fractured by Catherine McKenzie (they’re both really written by McKenzie).

I love Marcia Clark’s new series!

It reminds me of Scandal/HTGAWM in twists, reveals, and the “good guys” aren’t always good guys. In Blood Defense, Sam is a defense lawyer trying to get her practice to succeed instead of hemorrhaging money and takes the case of a detective accused of murdering two women—one was a TV star. In Moral Defense, Sam, Michelle (her best friend/office manager), and Alex (criminal turned investigator) are back solving the case of a brutal family murder that left one surviving member: the teen daughter.

Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, has a new book, Into the Water, scheduled for May 2017 release!

Did you know you can cook along with Chief Inspector Gamache? Well, sort of: Recipes from the world of Three Pines.

HBO’s Big Little Lies adaptation has a premiere date!

Calling all Veronica Mars fans:

I usually don’t see the connection when books comp VM, but I can see it with Stephanie Tromly’s Trouble Makes a Comeback (Trouble #2) audiobook. Especially compared to VM’s high school years: there’s the one big plot carried on from the previous season book that takes place outside of the school (the disappearance of Digby’s sister) along with the smaller plot inside the school. Zoe and Digby aren’t Veronica and Logan but the contentious relationship is there, along with the fun elements from the show. The book does a good summary of the previous book if you’re looking to jump in here.

For fiction/nonfiction fans looking for a good spy story and perfect for anyone looking for a non-violent mystery/true crime:

The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell: A Dyslexic Traitor, an Unbreakable Code, and the FBI’s Hunt for America’s Stolen Secrets by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee: This read like a spy novel/movie except it was true—which I had to keep reminding myself every time I thought, “That’s not realistic!” Bhattacharjee takes you into the world of a man who spent his life feeling he had to prove his intelligence so once he felt his life sinking he decided to save himself by concocting a plot you’d only see in a spy movie. Unlike fiction you get the real process the FBI has to take when a traitor is suspected amongst them.

Are you a fan of fictional serial killers? Here are 16!

Nailbiter by Joshua Williamson, Mike Henderson (Artist): A dark and awesome graphic novel that takes place in Buckaroo, Oregon where 16 of the world’s most notorious serial killers have come from. Clearly there is something going on! At least that’s what NSA Agent Carroll believes when he calls agent Finch to come meet him. But when Finch arrives Carroll is nowhere to be found… Did I mention the infamous “Nailbiter” has been released from jail?

Adaptations On My Radar:

I wish I could already add the USA Network adaptation of Petra Hammesfahr’s novel The Sinner to my TiVo’s OnePass.

I want the novel and adaptation of Tangerine now!

Peter Cameron’s Andorra has a bookseller main character and the adaptation has cast Gillian Anderson which is all I need to want to read the book and watch the movie.

More Fantastic November Releases!

The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything (Avraham Avraham #3) by D.A. Mishani: I love Mishani’s series—for one I don’t think there are many crime/mystery novels coming from Israel and second his novels read as if they’re written with kindness. In the latest of the series Inspector Avraham Avraham (who takes issue with fictional mysteries since he thinks they always get the wrong person) recognizes a murder victim as the victim of rape from a previous case. Told in alternating POV you’re taken into the daily lives of Avraham and Bengtson, a woman in a troubled marriage. Perfect for fans of police procedurals and the exploration of human nature.

Under the Midnight Sun by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith (Translator): This begins as a detective mystery—detective Sasagaki is investigating the murder of a pawn shop owner and then a possible suicide—that segues into a crime novel that follows characters connected in some way to the deaths and then ends back with detective Sasagaki who refused to give up on his case. It’s a very dark crime novel, sprinkled with a great detective, and threaded with a whodunnit mystery.

Watch Now!

Tell No One: Adapted from Harlan Coben’s novel is about a couple who are attacked, leaving only the husband, Alexandre, as a survivor with no memory of the event. Eight years later, with Margot’s killer behind bars, two more bodies are found and Alexandre (I like to call him French Dustin Hoffman) finds himself once again a suspect. This had it all: mystery, crime, twists, chases, secrets, deception…
Currently streaming on Netflix.

Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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No need to mince words here: we are giving one lucky Book Riot reader $250 to blow at Amazon. Overstuff those stockings or get a jump on your New Year reading pile–up to you. Go here to enter.

If you’re a mystery and thriller lover, liker, occasional dabbler, or looking to dip your toe in for the first time welcome to the Unusual Suspects’ newsletter—don’t mind the police tape and I’m pretty sure that’s ketchup.

I’ll be sharing great books (old, new, and upcoming), adaptations, publishing news, and anything interesting/exciting that might fall under the mystery umbrella. There’s so much to discuss let’s get to it.

Calling Nancy Drew fans!

I’m still giving CBS all the side-eye possible for passing on a modern-day Nancy Drew starring Sarah Shahi but I’m consoling myself with a comic I’m very much enjoying: Goldie Vance by Hope Larson. Goldie is technically a valet at a Florida resort but can’t help constantly assisting the in-house detective on cases—and especially going rogue. Not sure I would stay in a hotel that needed a detective on the payroll but it totally works in the comic. Goldie is smart, fearless, and determined, with a dad as a boss and a mom who works as a live mermaid. It’s awesome and delightful!

Read Now!

Among the Ruins (Ausma Zehanat Khan’s third book in the Rachel Getty & Esa Khattak series) is coming out in early 2017 so ending the year/starting the year reading The Unquiet Dead and The Language of Secrets would be an excellent decision that I highly recommend!

 

Now Playing:

Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, based on Douglas Adams’ series, is for fans of quirky, weird, wtf, ridiculous, and odd paired “detective” tales. There’s a lot thrown at you in regards to story (there’s a kidnapping, a murder, a firing…) and characters (down on his luck guy, a holistic detective, a holistic assassin, a sick sister, detectives, unhinged landlord…) and while you have no idea how any of it relates you know it’s all going to, somehow. Currently airing on BBC America Saturdays at 9/8c and streaming on their site/app.

Good Behavior, TNT’s adaptation of Blake Crouch’s Letty Dobesh novellas, is for fans of crime/thrillers. While on probation and in the midst of committing a crime Letty overhears a murder-for-hire meeting and decides she must save the intended victim. I’m always here for lady criminals and Michelle Dockery is perfectly cast! Premiered November 15 at 9/8c on TNT and streaming on their site.

Going to the movies? Nocturnal Animals, adapted by Tom Ford from Austin Wright’s novel Tony and Susan, starring Amy Adams and Jake Gyllenhaal will be in theaters November 23. “An art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband’s novel, a violent thriller…” I’m sold!

Have you heard?

Sherlock will return January 1, 2017 with its 4th season starting with the episode ‘The Six Thatchers’!

HBO has picked up the Canadian/U.S. rights to the limited series Cormoran Strike based on the series by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling).

The current adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Murder On The Orient Express has a fantastic cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Judi Dench, Daisy Ridley, and Leslie Odom Jr.!

Looks like Hollywood is planning on skipping two books to make The Girl in the Spider’s Web the “sequel” adaptation to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo film.

Make room on your TBR shelf for these October releases:

Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta: A mystery and drama–Bish, suspended from the MET, is roped into finding the person responsible for a school bus bomb and finding the kids who have run away—filled with wonderful moments and humor, that never falls near the territory of tragedy porn. I finished this one hoping that I will get to once again meet these fantastic characters and wanting to read Marchetta’s entire back catalog.

 

The Trespasser (Dublin Murder Squad #6) by Tana French: Antoinette Conway is a tough as nails detective in the Murder Squad who is getting no respect from fellow detectives and is, along with her partner, hoping to finally get a case to prove them wrong. They get the case—a woman murdered in her home—but as they keep going in circles trying to figure out what happened Conway starts to doubt herself. French brilliantly places readers inside this investigation without ever making you feel like you want to hurry things along. And the audiobook has a nice narration by Irish actress Hilda Fay. (You can dive into the series here without feeling lost—most of the books in the series change the characters, although this is Conway’s second appearance—but if you’re looking for a recommendation on how to read the series Rioter Jessica Woodbury wrote a great post.)

 

IQ by Joe Ide: The novel jumps between Isaiah Quintabe’s childhood and his current life as a private detective in East Long Beach taking the cases the LAPD haven’t solved for whatever his clients can afford—until he takes a case for money involving a rap mogul whose life is in danger. Ide’s gift is writing characters that are so alive I felt like they were in the room with me. And there was a bidding war for the rights before the novel even published!

 

The Mistletoe Murder and Other Stories by P. D. James: Great whodunit short stories with twists! And if you’re an audiobook fan it’s narrated by English actors Jenny Agutter and Daniel Weyman who do a lovely job.

 

 

Four Rabbi Small Mysteries: Friday the Rabbi Slept Late, Saturday the Rabbi Went Hungry, Sunday the Rabbi Stayed Home, and Monday the Rabbi Took Off by Harry Kemelman: A mouthful of a title because it’s a collection of four novels that follows Rabbi David Small and the small Jewish community he’s recently begun to watch over. I found this a very enjoyable cozy whodunit read with the bonus element of taking me into a Jewish community in the ‘60s not lacking in small town drama—starting with a vote to oust the new Rabbi who while a suspect is also helping solve the case of the murdered nanny.

San Juan Noir by Mayra Santos-Febres (Editor): A good collection of noir (crime infused, dark, despair) short stories that are set in Puerto Rico and written by writers of Puerto Rican heritage. From the panty-stealer trying to save a dog from his cruel, criminal owner to the story that brings San Juan to life like a character I found myself carving out time every day to sneak in at least one story.

Now that I’ve overloaded you with mysteries to solve I’m going back to reading! Until next time, keep investigating! And in the meantime feel free to come talk books with me on Litsy, you can find me under Jamie Canaves.

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We’re giving away a brand-new, top-of-the-line Kindle Voyage. Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the image above!

We’re giving away a brand-new, top-of-the-line Kindle Voyage. Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the image below.We’re giving away a brand-new, top-of-the-line Kindle Voyage. Go here to enter for a chance to win, or just click on the image below.Save

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