Jamie Canavés is the Tailored Book Recommendations coordinator and Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter writer — in case you’re wondering what you do with a Liberal Arts degree. She’s never met a beach she didn’t like, always says yes to dessert, loves ‘80s nostalgia, all forms of entertainment, and can hold a conversation using only gifs. You can always talk books with her on Bluesky, Litsy, Goodreads, and her substack Multitudes Contained.
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With the arrival of the holiday season I recently rounded up gifts for mystery fans in the Unusual Suspects newsletter. Since there is so much great stuff, and I thought of even more gifts to add, I decided to make it a post. So whether you’re buying gifts for someone else or for yourself—no judging, treat yo self!—here are 66 gifts for mystery fans.
Let’s start with some mail order subscriptions:Mail Order Mystery: Perplexing puzzles. Curious clues. Twisting plots. Adventure and intrigue. No batteries required. Extraordinary stories for extraordinary kids. Check the mailbox and expect the unexpected.
Hunt a Killer: WHAT IF A SERIAL KILLER DELIVERED A PACKAGE TO YOUR DOORSTEP EACH MONTH? “It’s like a real-world escape room.” Are you ready to put your detective skills to the test in one of the most immersive, fun games of your life?
Coffee House Press has an awesome grab bag option and one of the selections is Murder, They Wrote ($10 for 3 surprise mystery books is awesome)
For fans of Clue and murder mystery parties/games:
Not only is this fun game a great gift for fans of the movie and Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, but there are so many editions:
Murder She Did Jessica Killed Them All T-Shirt (If you thought it was super suspicious that murders just always happened around Jessica Fletcher…) (available in: 7 colors, unisex, s–xxl)
Pushing Daisies season 1: This show is utterly delightful, quirky, unique, with beautiful sets and costumes, AND every episode is a mystery. Ned has a secret gift: if he touches something dead it comes back to life. But there’s a catch (isn’t there always?!): if he touches it a second time it is dead forever, and if he doesn’t touch it dead again then something nearby will die in its place. Naturally a local detective figures out Ned’s gift and uses him to help him solve crimes (for reward money) by touching the recently deceased. The show is never streaming anywhere so it’s a great DVD or digital gift. And there’s a 2nd season.For Paperback Readers Here are Recent Releases:A Midsummer’s Equation (Detective Galileo #6) by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith (Translator)
also Higashino’s Under the Midnight Sun (Best of 2016 Mystery)
I See You by Clare Mackintosh (my review)
IQ by Joe Ide (The first in a great series.)
The Mistletoe Murder: And Other Stories by P.D. James (Great whodunit short stories with twists!)
The Last Day of Emily Lindsey by Nic Joseph (my review)
Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d (A Flavia de Luce Novel) by Alan Bradley
Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil by Melina Marchetta (Best of 2016 Mystery)
And for Fans of Movie Tie-in Paperbacks:Murder on the Orient Express (Hercule Poirot Mysteries) by Agatha Christie
The Snowman by Jo Nesbø, Don Bartlett (Translator) (For fans of dark Scandinavian thrillers.)