Newsletters Dev – Page 20 – getting it done!

New Year, Same You. But New Frights!

Post author By Emily Martin
Post date January 5, 2024

Sponsored by

Horror fans, it’s been ages, and I’ve missed you over the holidays. Now 2024 has begun, and while it’s a new year, The Fright Stuff will remain the same newsletter you’ve come to know and love. Get ready for another year of thrills, chills, etc. I know I am!

2024 is the tenth year of the Read Harder Challenge! Join us as we make our way through 24 tasks meant to expand our reading horizons and diversify our TBRs. To get book recommendations for each task, sign up for the Read Harder newsletter. We’ll also keep you informed about other cool reading challenges, readathons, and more across the bookish internet. If you become a paid subscriber, you get even more recommendations plus community features, where you can connect with a community of passionate, like-minded readers in a cozy and supportive corner of the internet. Sign up today!

Bookish Goods

The Black Cat Candle by EPluribusLtd

As you set your reading goals for the year and settle in for your next read-a-thon, why not light your way with this eerie candle, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat?” And if you want more candles for your Poe-inspired collection, this Etsy store also makes candles inspired by “The Tell Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Gold Bug,” “Annabel Lee,” and “The Masque of the Red Death.” Each handmade candle is $26.

New Releases

Rabbit Hole by Kate Brody

Rabbit Hole is a debut horror thriller that looks at the dark side of true crime. Theodora “Teddy” Angstrom’s older sister, Angie, went missing 10 years ago, and the case remains unsolved. Now, Teddy finds herself falling down the Reddit rabbit hole, trying to uncover the truth behind what happened to her sister. But will she be able to find Angie? Or will she self-destruct?

The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan

This horror fantasy novel takes place in a haunted mansion by the sea, Akbar Manzil. After a painful loss, Sana and her father move into the estate, hoping for a fresh start. But in Akbar Manzil, there is a room that’s been locked for decades, and behind that locked door is a room frozen in time, marred by tragedy.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell

Looking for some quick horror reads to get your reading goals off to a good start? Here are some amazing horror novels in translation that are right around 200 pages. Fever Dream is a mind-bending novel that starts with a woman waking up sick in a hospital bed. A young boy sits at her bedside, and she speaks with him, trying to make sense of what happened to her.

The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell

The Hole is another novel of psychological horror. Ogi wakes up from a coma following a car accident that killed his wife and left him paralyzed and disfigured. Now, his mother-in-law is in charge of his care. But as she mourns the loss of her only child, she often neglects to care for Ogi and leaves him alone in his bed. The only thing Ogi has left to remember his wife is her garden in their front yard. So when Ogi sees his mother-in-law digging up the garden his wife had spent so much time cultivating, he is confused. And his mother-in-law, digging bigger and bigger holes in the garden, insists she’s simply finishing what her daughter started.

Happy New Year, everyone! I am excited to share more scary reads with you all year long. Until then, you can follow me (and message me) on Instagram at emandhercat. Sweet dreams, horror fans!

Book Radar

Sapphic Astrological Romance Incoming and More Book Radar!

Post author By Emily Martin
Post date January 5, 2024

Sponsored by

Hi Book Friends!

It’s Monday, which means it’s Book Radar time. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that you’re ready to dive into books. I’ve got a lot of stuff to share with you today. Let’s gooooo!

Book Deals and Reveals

Here’s the cover reveal for Susie Dumond’s sophomore novel Looking for A Sign, perfect for lovers of romance and astrology. This queer romance follows Gray, who’s on a mission to date one person of each zodiac sign to find her perfect match. It’s out on June 11.

And here’s the cover reveal of What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould, featuring an illustration by Peter Strain. It’s out on December 10.

Here’s another exciting cover reveal: Before & After You & Me by Dallas Woodburn. This contemporary YA novel is coming on May 7th from Owl Hollow Press.

Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst will become a published author two years after her death. Kryst’s mom, April Simpkins, said that one of her daughter’s dying wishes was getting her book — By the Time You Read This: The Space Between Cheslie’s Smile and Mental Illness — published. It will be released on April 23.

Alice Hoffman has announced a new book for young readers. When We Flew Away explores the life of Anne Frank before the diary. It’s out in September.

Here’s an excerpt from The Waters by Bonnie Jo Campbell. This book was just announced as the January 2024 pick for The Today Show‘s “Read With Jenna” book club.

Attention horror lovers! Start your new year off right with a fright and check out these scary reads for January of 2024.

Start your new year with a bang with Book Riot’s January 2024 horoscopes, paired with new books from Kiley Reid, Bora Chung, and more.

Book Riot Recommends

Hi, welcome to everyone’s favorite segment of Book Radar called Book Riot Recommends. This is where I’ll talk to you about all the books I’m reading, the books I’m loving, and the books I can’t wait to read and love in the near future. I think you’re going to love them too!

Prepare Your Shelves!

Kinning by Nisi Shawl (Tor Books, January 23)

Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed debut novel Everfair came out in 2016. I think we can all agree that 2016 seems like a gazillion years ago. But the wait for the sequel to Everfair is almost over. Kinning will be out later this month!

Kinning is an alternate history novel that picks up where Everfair left off. The Great War is over, and Everfair has found peace. Now, our heroes are looking to spread the revolutionary message of Everfair to the rest of the world. Everfair is a symbol of hope, equality, and anticolonialism, but can they keep the dream alive? Or will outside forces prevail?

Kinning imagines a utopian Afrofuturistic world and digs deeper into the realm of sci-fi and fantasy than its predecessor. This imaginative novel will definitely have people talking just as much as Everfair did, so make sure to add it to your TBR ASAP!

What I’m Reading This Week

This Thing Between Us by Gus Moreno

Black Paradox by Junji Ito

Out There Screaming, ed Jordan Peele

A Winter in New York by Josie Silver

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll

Biography of X by Catherine Lacey

Bookish Memes

We all know Ben Affleck loves his Dunkin. Sometimes, too much. Here are some excellent bookish memes featuring Ben Affleck struggling while drinking Dunkin Donuts.

And Here’s A Cat Picture!

The Christmas tree is still up, friends. And I think it has to be until I finish viewing all of my Christmas movies. Still, I think Murray might be judging me a little bit? Also, hey, check it out; we got an Echo for Christmas.

And that’s all I have for you this Monday! I hope you have a wonderful week, and I hope your reading year is off to a good start. Happy New Year!

Emily

The Kids Are All Right

Elections, Selkies, And More!

Post author By Margaret Kingsbury
Post date January 5, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Sunday, kidlit friends! I have welcomed in the new year with yet another respiratory virus, sigh. Here’s hoping for a healthier year! Today, I’m reviewing books about elections and two fabulous new releases.

Bookish Goods

Bookstore Hoodie Sweatshirt by SciencePlusCoffee

This hoodie looks so comfy and cozy, perfect for the winter months. $52

New Releases

Like So by Ruth Forman, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa (PB)

This is the sweetest picture book about the love between a grandchild and a grandmother. Its simple and heartwarming prose describes acts of love: “I hug you like so / you hug me like so / we got love.” The vibrant illustrations depict sweeping scenes from both nature and at home, connecting this love as being a part of nature. Ruth Forman previously published several board books celebrating Black joy (like Glow and Curls), but this is her debut picture book.

The Selkie’s Daughter by Linda Crotta Brennan (MG)

I am always here for selkie folklore retellings. This is a lovely historical fantasy set in Nova Scotia. Brigit is the daughter of a selkie and a fisherman, though she lives with the humans and tries to deny her selkie heritage by cutting the webbing from her hands and feet. When villagers begin killing seal pups, the selkie king is angered, and Brigit must come to accept and love her heritage if she wants to save her father, the village, and the seals.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling some anxiety about elections happening this year. Kids will have questions and want to learn more, and these four children’s books about voting and elections are great ways to start answering some of those questions.

Ida B. Wells Marches for the Vote by Dinah Johnson, illustrated by Jerry Jordan (PB)

This picture book biography of famous Black activist Ida B. Wells opens with her birth in Mississippi. It follows Ida’s life as she becomes a teacher as a teenager to care for her younger siblings after the death of their parents, starts her own newspaper and writes against lynching, and becomes a suffragist for women’s right to vote. The sweeping biography then pauses at the Women’s March of 1913. At this famous march, racist white women suffragists, like Alice Paul, told Ida and other Black suffragists that they could not march in the parade. Ida ignored them. Connecting all these stories is the theme of Ida’s bravery and courage in always choosing to do the right thing. The painted illustrations are gorgeous.

The Walk by Winsome Bingham, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (PB)

This was one of my favorite picture books of 2023. It follows a child as she and her grandmother walk to a polling location. As they walk, they gather neighbors, and as a community, they take their most important walk of the year — to the polls. I love the inclusion of disabled and elderly community members, whose right to vote is often made much more difficult by lack of accessibility. I also adore the themes of community care and activism. When my daughter accompanied me on a walk to vote last year, I actually brought this book with me, and we read it together after I voted.

Sofia Valdez and the Vanishing Vote by Andrea Beaty, illustrated by David Roberts (TR)

This chapter book is part of The Questioneers series, though each book can be read as a standalone. The famous questioning class is having a class election on what their class pet should be, and Sofia Valdez is chosen as election commissioner to make sure the election goes off without any hitches. When the votes are counted, one vote is missing, and it’s up to Sofia to figure out why and how. I adore this series. Also, check out the picture book Sofia Valdez, Future Prez.

Act by Kayla Miller (MG)

This middle grade graphic novel is the third book in the Click series, though each book can be read as a standalone. Olive and her friends have started 6th grade. When she learns of unfair policies that prevent her friend from going on a school field trip, she decides to take action and run for the student council. She wants to change the rules to make things more fair, but she’s running against two of her other friends. This is an empowering read about how kids can make a difference at their schools.

Today is the last day of my daughter’s winter break. We’ve stayed home almost the entire time as I recover from the latest virus. She has been entertaining herself by taking her stuffed animals outside and having them go on adventures in the backyard, like climbing this tree. Meanwhile, I am sitting on the porch with a box of tissues and guzzling tea.

If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom.bsky.social, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.

All the best,

Margaret Kingsbury

Canada Giveaways

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Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date January 5, 2024

We’re giving away a surprise box of 10 banged-up books to one lucky reader!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Book Riot’s Tailored Book Recommendations ships lots of new hardcover and paperback books to subscribers. Some of the books get a bit banged-up in transit, and dinged corners or smudged dust covers mean they can’t go out to customers — but they’re still the same great books! Give them a home and get hours of reading for free. Fill out the form above, and you will be entered to win. All you have to do is sign-up for our Check Your Shelf newsletter for curated book news and lists for librarians and their supporters.

What's Up in YA

A Blast From YA Past: YA Book Talk, January 8, 2024

Post author By Kelly Jensen
Post date January 5, 2024

Sponsored by

Hey YA Readers!

It’s the first “normal” Monday of the new year. I hope you’ve found a groove that’s working for you, and even more, that you’re reading something good right now.

Today, let’s look at a couple of new hardcover releases, then take a blast to the past and check out some of the popular YA books from decades gone by.

Bookish Goods

Library Card Sticky Notepad by PocketfulofProsey

I am obsessed with these due date style sticky notes. I have maybe put them into my cart to buy and just need to hit checkout. $16.

New Releases

We’re heavy on paperback releases this week compared to hardcovers, which rarely happens! Find below two of this week’s new YA hardcovers and grab the rest of the list in the winter roundup.

Arya Khanna’s Bollywood Moment by Arushi Avachat

This book is set up like a Bollywood movie and follows Arya during her senior year in shaadi season. Arya is excited her sister is home, though she herself is juggling a million challenging emotions after watching her best friends break up, her rival for student council become more intense, and being unable to suppress flutters for the irresistibly cute Dean.

A fun slice-of-life family story that’s been compared to Save The Date and Never Have I Ever.

Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham

A rom-com by two of the best illustrators working in kid lit? Count me in!

Val is convinced she is cursed when it comes to love. It’s generational. No one in her family has had luck with a little thing called love.

Then, she meets a pair of lion dancers. It’s chance, but something in it rekindles hope in Val. Might she be able to break the family’s curse and find true love?

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

A Blast From The Past

What were the big books from years gone by? This is always one of my favorite things to look back at when we change calendar years, as it really shows what changes and shifts in our preferences for reading, as well as what stays consistent. Not to mention, it’s a fascinating look at trends.

It won’t surprise you that most of the books on this list of top books from 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years ago are going to be primarily written by white authors and men. We’ve, of course, gotten better, and even though they dominate these lists, there were women and people of color writing, too—they didn’t get the same marketing or publicity as more privileged colleagues.

This list comes from perusing bestsellers for 2014, 2004, 1994, 1984, and 1974. These were the big books, some of which may have topped the bestseller list for months and others that won big awards (The New York Times Bestseller list for YA is only 11 years old—you can take a peek at its evolution in this piece written for its 10th anniversary).

The books below are not in any order. I did not include books that were in the middle of a series, like those by Marissa Meyer or Cassandra Clare. Know, too, that because a book is listed here, that’s not necessarily an endorsement. Many of these books were firsts in some capacity and cultural perceptions, as well as a more diverse publishing industry, have changed what we understand of some earlier titles. Another caveat to add here is that earlier YA tended to be on the lower range than what we see now, and some of it might, were it published in today’s market, be middle grade.

2014 Top YA Books

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

I’ll Give You The Sun by Jandy Nelson

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

This One Summer by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki

The Young Elites by Marie Lu

2004 Top YA Books

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

ttyl by Lauren Myracle

Luna by Julie Anne Peters

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Be More Chill by Ned Vizzini

Bird by Angela Johnson

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

1994 Top YA Books

This was not a particularly robust year for young adult fiction. There were stronger years in the ’90s, but 1994 was a high point for series books and excellent middle grade titles.

Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper

The Midnight Club by Christopher Pike

Girl, A Novel by Blake Nelson

Flour Babies by Anne Fine

18 Pine St. 1: Sort of Sisters by Walter Dean Myers

Halloween Party by Wendy Corsi Staub

1984 Top YA Books

Fantasy Summer by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The Third Eye by Lois Duncan

Interstellar Pig by William Sleator

Turn It Up! by Todd Strasser

Back Home by Michelle Magorian

1974 Top YA Books

There were not a lot of YA books that made it big this year, either, but those that did, did.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier

The Cat Ate My Gymsuit by Paula Danziger

M.C. Higgins, The Great by Virginia Hamilton

I don’t know about you, but I am thinking it’s about time to revisit The Chocolate War again.

We’ll see you on Thursday for your YA paperback releases and your YA book news.

Until then, happy reading!

–Kelly Jensen

True Story

New Year, New Books!

Post author By Kendra Winchester
Post date January 4, 2024

Sponsored by

With the new year comes new books! I don’t know about you, but I have been completely overwhelmed trying to keep track of everything. On New Year’s Eve, I spent HOURS looking up, writing down, and organizing my most anticipated new releases. Of course, you will always find new books here, but you could also check out Book Riot’s new releases newsletter, which you can subscribe to here. So let’s jump into some new books, but first, bookish goods!

Bookish Goods

Library Card Pillows by dirtsastudio

I may be pillow obsessed. Why suffer through uncomfortable season if you can just solve the problem by adding a pillow (or 12)?! These adorable library card pillows would be a great choice. $32

New Releases

Simply Chinese Feasts: Tasty Recipes for Friends and Family by Suzie Lee

Just in time for the Lunar New Year, Simply Chinese Feasts highlights the author’s family traditions around great food and celebrations. From her parents’ hometown of Hong Kong to Lee’s new home in Northern Ireland, Lee’s recipes include culinary inspiration from around the world.

The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors by Erika Howsare

Nature lovers will adore The Age of Deer’s investigation into humanity’s relationship with deer. For millennia, humans have hunted, protected, and lived with these gentle creatures. Howsare examines what the deer has symbolized throughout human culture and what it means today.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Black Folk Could Fly: Selected Writings by Randall Kenan

Black Folk Could Fly is a posthumous collection of nonfiction works from throughout Randall Kenan’s career. In it, he writes about his childhood in rural North Carolina, his move to New York City to work on his writing career, and his travels around the country to interview Black people about their experiences. Kenan was always pondering, “What does it mean to be Black in America today?” Through his writing, we can see the progression of his thought process as he mulls over this question and reads other Black writers on the topic.

Divine Might by Natalie Haynes

We are now in a golden age of myth retellings. Everyone and their mother’s brother has been trying their hands at these myth-inspired tales, but few authors are as good as Natalie Haynes. While Haynes is more known for her fiction, Divine Might is nonfiction, with each chapter examining different goddesses and their stories. Haynes’ holistic way of viewing these goddesses invites readers to reexamine their own assumptions about these divine figures.

That’s it for this week! You can find me over on my substack Winchester Ave, over on Instagram @kdwinchester, or on my podcast Read Appalachia. As always, feel free to drop me a line at kendra.d.winchester@gmail.com. For even MORE bookish content, you can find my articles over on Book Riot.

Happy Reading, Friends!

~ Kendra

Swords and Spaceships

The Most Anticipated SFF Sequels of 2024

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date January 4, 2024

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m bringing you a continuation of my most-anticipated books of 2024 (the first half of the year, at least). These ones are all specifically sequels or later books in a series because they always deserve more love than they get. Hope everyone has been having a great first week of the new year. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.

Bookish Goods

Iron Widow Quote Print by TsundokuChronicles

Since I’m back on my Iron Widow BS, you bet I’m going for something in that theme. This is an excellent quote from an excellent book. The seller also has a lot of other nice little prints like this! $3

(Soon-to-be) New Releases

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles by Malka Older

Sequel to The Mimicking of Known Successes. Of course, I’m excited for another cozy little space mystery with Investigator Mossa and Pleiti. This time, it’s a missing person’s case, with students and staff from Valdegeld University vanishing and…no one noticing. Release date: February 13

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

Sequel to Iron Widow, which was one of my favorite reads of 2021. Zetian has a lot of revelations she needs to deal with, all while figuring out how to navigate deeply misogynistic politics — and still find her vengeance. Through it all, those she loves the most are being held hostage, used as leverage against her. Release date: April 30.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Round two of sequels, incoming!

The Sunforge by Sascha Stronach

Sequel to The Dawnhounds. I read the first book after it won the Sir Julius Vogel Award back in 2020, and it has stuck with me since because it was so…vivid and crunchy. The sequel promises to bring us more of the same, with the city of Radovan consumed by fire and the Kopek trapped there unless the pirate crew can find a way to escape. Release date: August 6.

The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo

This is the fifth book in the novella series that started with The Empress of Salt and Fortune, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it. The stories follow the travels of Cleric Chih and the stories they learn — or, in this case, make for themself. Release date: May 7

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Giveaways

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Post author By Vivek Patel
Post date January 4, 2024

We’re partnering with Bookperk to give away a pair of AirPods Pro!

Enter here for a chance to win, or click the image below!

Here’s a bit more from our partner: Bookperk is the place for readers! Fantastic deals, exclusive giveaways, bookish finds & more — delivered daily for free.

Read This Book

Read This Book…

Post author By Tirzah Price
Post date January 4, 2024

Sponsored by

Welcome to Read This Book, a newsletter where I recommend one book that I think you absolutely must read. The books will vary across genre and age category to include new releases, backlist titles, and classics. If you’re ready to explode your TBR, buckle up!

Happy New Year from me, and I hope that you’re kicking off 2024 with some excellent reading! I wanted to share a very wintry book (but not Christmas or New Year’s themed!) with you because, hey. It’s January, and this is the reality for a lot of us. Despite the gloomy and cold atmosphere, this book really did feel like a warm hug, and I loved it.

Those Pink Mountain Nights by Jen Ferguson

Berlin, Cameron, and Jessie all work at Pink Mountain Pizza, a popular indie pizza spot in their small Canadian town. It’s the dead of winter, and Berlin is teetering on the edge of her depression. Her best friend stopped talking to her weeks ago and won’t explain why. Cameron is grieving the disappearance of his cousin and trying to keep his family together. Jessie comes from the richest family in town, but she is desperately trying to escape their suffocating grasp and strike out on her own. Two things happen to throw their worlds into turmoil: first, Berlin thinks she spots Cameron’s missing cousin one night working the late shift. Second, the news that Pink Mountain Pizza is being sold to Jessie’s father becomes public. Over the course of one very tumultuous week, Berlin, Cameron, and Jessie must contend with these upsets, all while making tentative steps toward friendship.

Oh my gosh, this novel — I wasn’t sure quite what to expect going in, but it ended up totally capturing my heart. This is a book with three point of view characters, although we spend the most time in Berlin’s head, so she really feels like the anchor of this book. Her heartbreak and confusion over losing her friend are palpable, and she doesn’t have an outlet for all that hurt and frustration, so she takes it out on Cameron, whom she’s known forever but isn’t exactly friends with.

Cameron is a character who laughs at everything because if he doesn’t laugh, he’ll probably cry. Money is tight at home, his parents are largely absent, and he’s doing his best to hold it all together for his younger sisters while grieving the loss of his cousin and privately raging at a world that gives up on missing Indigenous teen girls.

Cameron and Berlin clash spectacularly, and then Jessie comes in to shake things up a bit. As the daughter of the man trying to buy their pizza joint, she understands that her presence is awkward, but she’s making an earnest effort to go to a trade school and make her own life, something her parents don’t understand or condone. She sometimes makes reckless choices, but she has a heart of gold.

Sometimes, the plot feels a bit meandering, but that’s okay — I was so drawn in by the characters and their day-to-day lives and struggles and their passion for Pink Mountain Pizza. The book has a slow burn build, and it confronts some dark themes, but the ending is ultimately hopeful and inspiring and reminds readers of what can be accomplished with a community that cares for one another.

Happy reading!
Tirzah

Find me on Book Riot, Hey YA, All the Books, and Instagram. If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, click here to subscribe.

Unusual Suspects

5 under-appreciated crime novels you should read

Post author By Jamie Canaves
Post date January 4, 2024

Sponsored by

Hello, mystery fans!

Bookish Goods

Cute reading monsters earrings by MilosMarvelousCrafts

Cute, fun earrings — plus you can select the earring type. ($22)

New Releases

The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum by Lisa Yee and Dan Santat

For fans of middle grade and crime-fighting teams!

Olive Cobin Zang is 12 and swears her busy parents don’t care about her. Her grandma recently passed away, and now she’s starting a new boarding school…which Olive quickly learns is a cover for a crime-fighting organization that uses kids. Adults didn’t work, and teenagers really didn’t work, so why not try kids?! They aren’t spies, and they aren’t police, and no one knows who is really in charge of the youth operatives, but they’re trained and taught to “prevent chaos, catch lawbreakers”. So that’s what Olive and her fellow team do in this fun, fast-paced, high-stakes (dangerous missions!) mystery!

The audiobook has a great narrator, Cindy Kay.

Here in the Dark by Alexis Soloski

For fans of self-destructive main characters and the theater!

Former actress Vivian Parry is now a theater critic for a NY magazine. She ends up making a trade with a graduate student: he’ll put her on a panel (to help her career), and she’ll give him the interview he wants for his thesis. The problem? The graduate student’s fiancée claims Vivian is the last to see him before he disappeared. What’s Vivian to do other than self-destruct and try to find him…?

Looking for more new releases? Check out our New Books newsletter!

Riot Recommendations

It’s a shame that there isn’t more middle grade and YA nonfiction, so I wanted to highlight two titles.

From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement by Paula Yoo

For readers of true crime and the US justice system.

In Detroit in 1982, a fight that began in a bar ended with Vincent Chin, a Chinese American, being beaten to death by two white men after Chin left the bar and they went searching for him. The men who killed Chin only received three years of probation and a $3,000 dollar fine. Paula Yoo dives into interviews, court transcripts, and news to focus on the night Chin was killed, the court case, protests, the following federal civil rights trial, and the Asian American movement.

(TW mentions past suicidal thoughts, not detailed/ xenophobia, racism)

The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, a Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day, illustrated by Brett Helquist

For fans of art, history, and theft!

Back in 1911, when the Mona Lisa was not famous, a guard at the Louvre shouted, “La Joconde, c’est partie!” (The Mona Lisa, she’s gone!) A man had walked in, taken the painting off the wall, and walked back out. This book is about a heist, and it has Pablo Picasso, conspiracy theories, art, and history! It’s enjoyable for all ages!

News and Roundups

5 under-appreciated crime novels you should read

The 25 Best Books of 2023 Are Just Right for Thrill-Seekers and Go-Getters

Seven classic mystery books to curl up with over the winter

12 new crime shows we’re most excited about in 2024

11 Best Detective Series Set in London

DC Comics kicks off 2024 with the launch of a brand new series of The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2024 releases and mysteries from 2023. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations!

Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, 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.