Reading Recommendations: Amateur Sleuths
A new month means another batch of reading recommendations! I’m focusing on stories that feature amateur sleuths as the main protagonists. I love reading stories of people uncovering mysteries and, in these picks, I have a mixture of books to share with you. To see even more recommendations, visit my previous post here.
Hollywood Homicide
Dayna Anderson doesn’t set out to solve a murder. All the semifamous, mega-broke actress wants is to help her parents keep their house. So after witnessing a deadly hit-and-run, she pursues the fifteen grand reward. But Dayna soon finds herself doing a full-on investigation, wanting more than just money―she wants justice for the victim. She chases down leads at paparazzi hot spots, celeb homes, and movie premieres, loving every second of it―until someone tries to kill her. And there are no second takes in real life.
Set in a world of glitz and glamour, this mystery novel is full of entertainment suspense, memorable characters, and humor. I enjoyed the main character Dayna’s one-liners and wit which makes the reader laugh out loud. People often underestimate her but even as a retired actress, she has many skills that come in handy. I appreciated how the author, Garrett, uses her TV writing (from Cold Case) experience which gave the mystery elements among smaller details a more authentic feel. I would recommend it to readers looking for something more lighthearted.
Queen of the Tiles
When Najwa Bakri walks into her first Scrabble competition since her best friend’s death, it’s with the intention to heal and move on with her life. Perhaps it wasn’t the best idea to choose the very same competition where said best friend, Trina Low, died. It might be even though Najwa’s trying to change, she’s not ready to give up Trina just yet.
But the same can’t be said for all the other competitors. With Trina, the Scrabble Queen herself, gone, the throne is empty, and her friends are eager to be the next reigning champion. All’s fair in love and Scrabble, but all bets are off when Trina’s formerly inactive Instagram starts posting again, with cryptic messages suggesting that maybe Trina’s death wasn’t as straightforward as everyone thought. And maybe someone at the competition had something to do with it.
As secrets are revealed and the true colors of her friends are shown, it’s up to Najwa to find out who’s behind these mysterious posts—not just to save Trina’s memory, but to save herself.
Being that I was once part of a Scrabble club in elementary school piqued my interest in this novel. Since this novel takes place over the course of a weekend it is very fast-paced while keeping readers engaged in the suspense elements. I love the clever wordplay of Scrabble and the double-entendres lace the plot giving the novel depth and showing just how clever Najwa is. Each chapter starts out with an unusual word which gives us clues to the story. Everyone is a suspect and because they want to take over the “queen of the tiles” throne only makes each participant more desperate than ever. Najwa goes through her own journey of regaining confidence in her Scrabble skills and healing through grief.
Dead Dead Girls
Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Manhattan’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that.
When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore–several local black girls have been murdered over the past few weeks. After an altercation with a local police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum: She can either help solve the case or let a judge make an example of her.
The novel has a diverse cast at the helm of the narrative and LGBTQ representation as well. Louise deals with the trauma from her past of being Harlem’s Hero and how her father used her story of survival in order to gain fame. It haunts her every day and it’s one of the main reasons she becomes so fired up about solving this case even if it means putting her life on the line. Louise is a charming, quick-witted, and clever woman making her detective skills even sharper. She uses her resources to find clues and her character is one that readers will want to root for. While this novel is highly immersive and showcases the glitz and glamor of the Jazz Age it also discusses topics of racism, prejudice, and segregation of that era.
Specter Inspectors
True believer Noa, her cynical little sibling Gus, credulous cameraman Ko, and skeptical Astrid head to one of the most haunted towns in America to prove that ghosts exist, for all the social media likes!
The investigations of hauntings uncover something more devilish than just a couple of ghosts, something that will put Noa and Astrid’s relationship to the test… and reveal the centuries-old sinister secrets of the town itself.
I love a good Scooby-Doo-style story of a gang of friends trying to investigate a mystery. And Spector Inspectors delivers that. In Issue One, we spend most of the time setting up the characters and their relationships as they investigate a supposed “haunted” location. But they end up more than they bargained for. It got my interest piqued even though I’ve only read one issue. It’s fact-packed, spooky, and light-hearted (it’s aimed at a younger audience). The reader gets invested in seeing what secrets will be revealed as our ghostly crew unravels the mysteries of a town that won’t let them leave.
Whispers Beyond The Veil
Canada, 1898. The only life Ruby Proulx has ever known is that of a nomad, traveling across the country with her snake-oil salesman father. She dreams of taking root somewhere, someday, but, until she can, she makes her way by reading tarot cards. Yet she never imagined her own life would take such a turn…
After one of her father’s medical “miracles” goes deadly wrong, Ruby evades authorities by hiding in the seaside resort town of Old Orchard, Maine, where her estranged aunt, Honoria, owns the Hotel Belden, a unique residence that caters to Spiritualists—a place where Ruby should be safe as long as she can keep her dark secret hidden.
But Ruby’s plan begins to crumble after a psychic investigator checks into the hotel and senses Ruby is hiding more than she’s letting on. Now Ruby must do what she can to escape both his attention and Aunt Honoria’s insistence that she has a true gift, before she loses her precious new home and family forever…
Ruby is an engaging heroine (and main character) in this series who is forced to start a new life in her Aunt Honoria’s charming hotel. Ruby runs into pickpockets, unusual spiritualists, and corruption to solve the mystery of the hotel. Set in the late 1800s, this novel depicts the scenic sights of Old Orchard Beach which is soothing yet sinister. Because the main suspects seem to lurk in the Belden Hotel you aren’t sure who to trust and it felt like playing a game of clues. The historical aspects were interesting, touching on the Spiritualist movement of the era as well as pier life.
A Deadly Inside Scoop
Recent MBA grad Bronwyn Crewse has just taken over her family’s ice cream shop in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and she’s going back to basics. Win is renovating Crewse Creamery to restore its former glory, and filling the menu with delicious, homemade ice cream flavors–many from her grandmother’s original recipes. But unexpected construction delays mean she misses the summer season, and the shop has a literal cold opening: the day she opens her doors an early first snow descends on the village and keeps the customers away. To make matters worse, that evening, Win finds a body in the snow, and it turns out the dead man was a grifter with an old feud with the Crewse family. Soon, Win’s father is implicated in his death. It’s not easy to juggle a new-to-her business while solving a crime, but Win is determined to do it. With the help of her quirky best friends and her tight-knit family, she’ll catch the ice cold killer before she has a meltdown . . .
This novel was a fun read from beginning to end. I love that it was a cozy mystery with a Black protagonist, and it even touches on the issues only the struggles of owning a business but also being a person of color/family in her town. Bronwyn is not only determined to find the mystery to clear her family’s name but also because of how much this shop meant to her grandmother. Seeing this strong attachment to the shop was heartwarming, especially when the novel has its quieter moments of reflection. Additionally, this novel has everything readers are looking for in a cozy mystery series: the zany best friend/sidekicks, wacky amateur sleuths, and even a potential romantic interest.
That concludes my list of reading recommendations! What books with amateur sleuths do you recommend or what are your favorites? Comment below!
