New Maureen Johnson Mystery, British Serial Killer Procedural, 500+ Page Mysteries & More!
It’s time once again for your bi-weekly roundup of mystery goodness! Before I jump into the new releases, backlist, and news, I want to share the delightful film I watched this weekend. I pressed play knowing nothing about Wicked Little Letters (Netflix) because all I needed to watch it was to see Olivia Coleman on the poster. I was thrilled to discover the film is part historical mystery, part procedural, and ends with a courtroom trial. I found it hilarious, and while Coleman was her usual perfect, I also loved Jessie Buckley’s character and was ecstatic to see Anjana Vasan from We Are Lady Parts.
Bookish Goods
New Releases
The Kill List (Inspector Anjelica Henley #3) by Nadine Matheson
For fans of reading about fictional serial killers, thrillers, and British procedurals!
DI Angelica Henley is not only faced with a difficult case, but it comes with an emotional and personal component: DCI Harry Rhimes is her former boss and mentor, and he’s now being investigated for corruption. Since his cases are being overturned, Henley and her team are forced to figure out if he got a serial killer case wrong 25 years ago. Then the killings start again…
Backlist readers who want to start at the beginning should definitely pick up The Jigsaw Man!
Death at Morning House by Maureen Johnson
For fans of past and present mysteries, remote settings, and family drama!
Past: Phillip Ralston is a physician in the 1920s who adopted six children from England and is raising them, along with his biological child, with a strict exercise and study routine based on eugenics. Then, the youngest child is found dead, and an older sibling falls to her death.
Present: Marlowe Wexler takes a summer job on an island where the Ralston family’s mansion still stands. Marlowe is trying to escape the fallout from a truly disastrous date and unknowingly puts herself in real danger. Whatever has yet to come to light regarding the mysterious deaths of the Ralston’s children is something that someone is willing to kill to keep from being revealed.
I will continue to drop everything to read a delicious Maureen Johnson mystery, she understands the genre and delivers the tropes and mystery in a satisfying way for genre fans. If you’ve yet to read her backlist, absolutely pick up Truly, Devious (which starts the trilogy portion of the series). If you prefer a nod to slasher films and camp settings, you can also start with the fourth book, The Box in the Woods, since Johnson doesn’t spoil the trilogy resolve.
(TW: fire / forced drugging (edible) / murder-suicide mentioned, method detail/ child murder/ suspected teen suicide, method detail)
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
I recently did a prompt from the Read Harder challenge in 2015 that left me wondering what the 2016 prompts were. After looking through the list, I ended up inspired by the “Read a book over 500 pages long” challenge and picked two books that I think literary-leaning readers who like to be sunk into a place and characters’ lives will enjoy.
Six Four by Hideo Yokoyama, Jonathan Lloyd-Davies (Translator)
576 pages (according to Kirkus review)
For fans of Japanese crime novels, procedurals, job politics, and big satisfying endings you most likely will not guess!
Yoshinobu Mikami is in his mid-forties and working as the press director for the police department after a career as a detective. His teenage daughter is missing, his wife doesn’t leave the house, and he’s frustrated with the politics of the job. A cold case from almost 15 years ago, involving a botched kidnapping case where they’ve yet to discover the kidnapper nor find the child, comes into play again as the statue of limitation’s clock is running out.
Orient by Christopher Bollen
640 pages (according to publisher’s page)
For fans of small towns with new and old residents clashing!
The residents in an isolated Long Island town are fighting: locals vs new, moneyed New Yorkers. Heightening tensions is a research facility shrouded with rumors and a dead caretaker, which leads to finger-pointing at a new resident who took in a gay teenager hired to help around the house. We start with simmering tensions, but with all the secrets and fighting between the new rich and old rich, the small town becomes an unsafe place to live in.
News and Roundups
- A Dark, Deeply Romantic Mystery You’ll Never Forget
- Man on Fire Series at Netflix Casts Bobby Cannavale
- Maureen Johnson is working on “a case file in book form, with a sealed solution in the back.”!
- A New Era for Banned Books Week: Book Censorship News
- Ryan Eggold, Kevin Del Aguila Join Daniel Dae Kim In Broadway’s Yellow Face; Complete Cast Announced
- A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder Author Holly Jackson Responds to Criticism Over TV Adaptation Changes: ‘I Sympathize Entirely With Book Fans Who Wanted to See Their Favorite Moments’
- Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is getting a sequel in 2025, Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man), which has a slight title change as Sutanto explains in her Instagram post.
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.
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