Mystery/Thriller

Upcoming Mystery Releases Worthy of Confetti Cannon!

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Jamie Canaves

Contributing Editor

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 definitely talk books with her on Litsy and Goodreads. Depending on social media’s stability maybe also Twitter and Bluesky.

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A version of this post was originally published in the Unusual Suspects mystery newsletter. Sign up for reviews, adaptations, news, new releases, and much more mystery & thrillers!

I’ve found the downside to writing posts about upcoming mystery releases is that inevitably more books will be announced that I wish I could go back in time to add to the original post. Like when I wrote about the 2018 mystery & thrillers I was excited about I did not know Tana French has an upcoming novel! So let’s talk about those novels that didn’t make it into my first post because I didn’t know about them yet.

The Witch Elm by Tana French (Viking, October 9)

Tana French has an upcoming novel! And it’s a standalone! And suspense! After being attacked Toby goes to take care of his uncle at his family’s ancestral home, but if he meant this to be an escape it won’t be because a skull is discovered. All the give-me-grabby-hands! If you’ve missed all the Book Riot shouting about how fantastic French is here’s why her Dublin Murder Squad series is a perfect binge and A Little Q&A with Tana French.

cover image: the title letters have a white brick wall graphic and the author's name have a car driving in flames in the lettersWrecked (IQ #3) by Joe Ide (Mulholland Books, October 9)

A new IQ! A new IQ! I really enjoy this series about a PI who takes on cases in his East Long Beach neighborhood using his intelligence and deduction skills. Looks like this time around Dodson isn’t just a sometimes-needed-sidekick but a full on partner. Oh, and he’s got ideas for the business like social media and I’m already cracking up just imagining IQ’s response. If you find yourself getting overwhelmed starting series that have so many books you’re just in time because reading IQ and Righteous will get you all caught up!

cover image: a black and hot pink smokey graphic with the title and author name in block lettersAny Man by Amber Tamblyn (Harper Perennial, June 26) (TW: rape)

Tamblyn is known as a poet, actress, and vocal speaker for the #metoo movement so seeing that she had a novel coming out definitely piqued my interest. Then I read the summary and it became a the-UPS-guy-is-definitely-getting-tackled-on-delivery-day must-read. Tamblyn uses poetry and prose to create suspense in a novel about a female serial rapist of men “to give shape to the shocking narratives of victims of sexual violence, mapping the destructive ways in which our society perpetuates rape culture.”

cover image: dark blue with a section cut out of center with a woman in Japanese woman in a bar lighting a man's cigaretteThe Lady Killer by Masako Togawa (Pushkin Vertigo, October 2)

Bring me all the Japanese crime novels. All of them! A married man with a roving eye is convicted of murdering three of his recent mistresses… “Full of subtly menacing tensions and sharp psychological insights”—here for this!

 

cover image: a bunch of polaroid photos put together to show a woman's face zoomed in to her eye, nose, and mouthPieces of Her by Karin Slaughter (William Morrow, July 31)

Karin Slaughter’s last book, The Good Daughter, slaughtered me (sorry, not sorry) and here I am begging for more. A small town, family, secrets, and explosive violence—sounds like Slaughter is still at her best. If you’ve yet to discover Slaughter she’s a fantastic writer and perfect for fans of dark mystery/thrillers/procedurals that explore human nature.

cover image: Washington DC flipped upside as the skyline a british castle at the bottom and a woman in a blue Victorian dress running away in a white cloud in the center all washed in a light blue colorCaught in Time (Kendra Donovan #3) by Julie McElwain (Pegasus Books, July 3)

You know my love for Nevertheless, She Persisted mysteries and this is one of my favorite series. Donovan is still stuck in 1800s England after somehow being transported from modern times where she was an FBI agent. Donovan trying not to reveal things from the future, while solving cases in a society that doesn’t let women do practically anything is always a smart and fun read for me.

cover image: silhouette of a profile of a woman looking up blended into a black backgroundIt All Falls Down (Nora Watts #2) by Sheena Kamal (William Morrow, July 3)

I really enjoyed the first in this series, The Lost Ones, which introduced Nora Watts and had an explosive thriller ending. I’m glad to see we’ll get more Watts, one of those “unlikable” women that I really liked a lot, as she travels to Detroit to uncover a mystery concerning her father. Problem is it seems her Vancouver past is looking for her…

 

cover image: a view of a woman from behind standing in a snowy forest washed in blue light with her overcoat billowing behind herThe Hollow of Fear (Lady Sherlock #3) by Sherry Thomas (Berkley, October 2)

That squeal you heard that cracked the earth was me finding out there is more Charlotte Sherlock on the way! It looks like the plot from the previous book continues so I’m not going to talk about this one in case you haven’t started the series but I am going to glare at you until you go start this fantastic series: A Study in Scarlet Women. (Equally wonderful in audiobook narrated by Kate Reading!)

cover image: a wolf like monster in a skirt and blouseMy Favorite Thing is Monsters Vol 2 by Emil Ferris (Fantagraphics, August 14th)

I have been needing this book since the second I turned the last page on Vol 1–a fantastic, gorgeous, smart, creative graphic novel about a young girl trying to solve her neighbor’s murder while trying to navigate her difficult life. If you haven’t read Vol 1 yet go do that immediately so you can then impatiently wait for August with me!

cover image: a gold framed green painting with the title and a baby elephant and palace paintedMurder at the Grand Raj Palace (Baby Ganesh Agency Investigation #4) by Vaseem Khan (Redhook, June 12th )

So this one time I read a mystery book just to see if it would give me tips on how to end up on the receiving end of inheriting a baby elephant: The Unexpected Inheritance of Inspector Chopra. And then I fell in love with a retired Inspector and his elephant sidekick. So what I’m saying is I’m excited for more Chopra, baby elephant Ganesha, and I’d like more mysteries with animal sidekicks. Please, and thank you.

Now tell me what upcoming mystery and thrillers you’re excited for?