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The Cluesletter 2021 Holiday Catalogue: 36 gifts for mystery book lovers

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Hello!

My name is Manon. I read and write and review in San Diego, California. Learn more about me.

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Bouchercon 2024 photo dump! 🤠🔍 So wonderful

Bouchercon 2024 photo dump! 🤠🔍

So wonderful to spend time in Nashville with such great mystery writers & fans. I got photos with as many Cluesletter authors as possible but I’m missing a few—it was so easy to miss people in that giant hotel 🙃 Raquel V. Reyes, Ellen Byron, Kelley Garrett, & Cayce Osborne were also in attendance.

Special shoutout to the seven Atria authors who made up today’s Cluesletter interview. Thanks for being great sports and answering my pesky interview questions (on camera, no less!).

PS, consider this your invitation to read some short stories by Anthony Boucher. They are wonderful. If I had a spare $1250 I would’ve bought the first edition of Rocket to the Morgue 🚀

#bouchercon #mysterybooks #bouchercon2024 #mysterybookstagram #mysterybooklover

Bouchercon PSA!! 🚨 I’m thrilled (pun very mu

Bouchercon PSA!! 🚨

I’m thrilled (pun very much intended) to share I’ll be the official content creator for Atria’s Hospitality Suite next week at #Bouchercon2024 in Nashville.

All of these wonderful authors (swipe to see the full list) will be there, and it’s my job to ask them about murder and other mysterious things.

Come hang out on Saturday, Aug 31 from 8am-noon in Delta Ballroom B. Meet the authors! Get your books signed! Be thrilled!

Can’t make it? Drop your burning questions in the comments 👀

For more Bouchercontent, the Sep 3 Cluesletter will be a special recap edition. So, subscribe if you haven’t already 💌
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #thrillerbooks #atriabooks

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍 Sleuths, I finally updated m

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍

Sleuths, I finally updated my site to include the latest Cluesletter interviews. If you missed any issues from the past couple of months, definitely stop by to see those featured authors.

Today’s interview is with Will Dean, whose latest thriller, THE CHAMBER, is out now. If you’re looking for a locked-room thriller in the most claustrophobic setting imaginable, don’t miss this one. 🌊

Happy sleuthing!
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #mysterybookstagrammer

🌊 For the armchair saturation divers out there:

🌊 For the armchair saturation divers out there:

Six experienced saturation divers are locked in a hyperbaric chamber. Their work is dangerous—but they still don’t expect to find one of their team dead in his bunk. The remaining team must stay in the chamber for four days of decompression . . .

Claustrophobic, harrowing, mysterious, and thrilling, Will Dean’s THE CHAMBER is one heck of a ride. Plus, there’s a map AND glossary in the beginning of the book. If you’re like me, you’ll do a Wikipedia deep dive (ha) into saturation diving, because WOW, what a fascinating job (that I am absolutely not cut out for).

👉 PLUS! Get ready for an interview with Will Dean in tomorrow’s Cluesletter. It’s a good one 👀

Thank you to @atriathrillers for the ARC!
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #bookreview

IT’S MYSTERY, BABY 🔍💃 Something fun for y

IT’S MYSTERY, BABY 🔍💃

Something fun for your Friday!! Clips are from:

Clue (1985)
Murder, She Wrote (TV)
Knives Out (2019) & Glass Onion (2022)
Agatha Christie’s Poirot (TV)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
BBC’s Sherlock (TV)
Columbo (TV)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Psych (TV)
Death on the Nile (1978)
Dr. No (1962)
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#mysterybooks #mysterymovie #murdermystery #mysterybookstagram #agathachristie

In the last Cluesletter, I shared seven short stor

In the last Cluesletter, I shared seven short stories I read recently.

What I loved about this challenge was that it gave me the chance to curate a list of stories, old and new, that reflected the immense breadth of the mystery genre. While I enjoyed all seven, I also ranked them based on the mystery, writing style, and “lingering emotion”—how I felt after setting down the story.

I’ll repeat the list below, starting with no. 7 and ending with no. 1. Enjoy!!

🔍 Kevin Egan, “Foxx Goes to College,” 2024. Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, April/May 2024.
🔍 Jay Randall, “The Midnight Caller,” 2024. Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, July/August 2024.
🔍 Agatha Christie, “Ingots of Gold,” 1928. Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (Berkley, 1986).
🔍 Jim Allyn, “Princess Anne,” 2014. The Best American Mystery Stories 2014 (Mariner Books, 2014).
🔍 Mark Twain, “The Stolen White Elephant,” 1882. World’s Greatest Detective Stories, ed. Will Cuppy (The World Publishing Company, 1943).
🔍 A. A. Milne, “A Savage Game,” 1950. Murder by the Book (British Library Crime Classics), ed. Martin Edwards (Poisoned Pen Press, 2022).
🔍 C. Hedley Barker, “The Ace of Trouble,” 1925. The Omnibus of Crime, ed. Dorothy L. Sayers (Garden City Publishing Company, 1929).

#mysterybookstagram #detectivestories #mysteryshortstories #shortfiction #shortstories

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍 I hope you all are enjoying

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍

I hope you all are enjoying some good mysteries this summer. Today’s Cluesletter is a fun one (don’t I say that every time?). In today’s issue, I share seven short stories I recently read—and ranked! I think many of you sleuths will enjoy them, too.

The delightful Annie McEwen joins us, chatting about her Northwoods Mysteries series. The first two books are out now!

Happy sleuthing!
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #mysterybookstagrammer

Happy Friday! ❤️ Deanna Raybourn’s KILLERS

Happy Friday! ❤️

Deanna Raybourn’s KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE was a delightful mystery-thriller starring four retired assassins—well, they’re trying to retire. Someone seems to want them dead.

Did I enjoy reading this? Absolutely. The writing, the banter, the women, it was wonderful.

That said, the plot…? Predictable, unfortunately. The mystery was not quite as satisfying as I’d hoped.

I gave it four stars. But I am verrrrry excited to know that a sequel is in the works. There’s so much potential with these ladies. 🔪
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #bookreview

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍 Some updates from today’s

Tomorrow! 👀 Tom Mead joins the Cluesletter to

Tomorrow! 👀

Tom Mead joins the Cluesletter to chat about CABARET MACABRE, the latest mystery featuring magician sleuth Joseph Spector.

I thoroughly enjoyed this atmospheric and head-scratching novel about murders past and present. There is nothing so satisfying as a traditional mystery, and Cabaret Macabre is excellently plotted and brilliantly executed. See also the book’s front matter: a list of characters, family tree, and TWO maps. While it’s part of a series, it works easily as a standalone.

This one is for you if you like:

🗝️ Locked room mysteries/impossible crimes
🔍 Golden Age vibes worthy of the Detection Club
🧠 Puzzling whodunnits with a strong cast

Thank you @tommeadauthor and @mysteriouspress for the ARC. 💚🔪
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #bookreview

Me after reading ATTWN 🫣 Do you see any of you

Me after reading ATTWN 🫣

Do you see any of your fave Christies in this pile? I put some of mine: Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Cards on the Table, Evil Under the Sun, Death on the Nile (which is mostly out of frame)… all iconic 🔍

#agathachristie #murdermysteries #herculepoirot #missmarple #mysterybooks #bookishreels

Happy Monday, sleuths! 🔍 A couple months back

Happy Monday, sleuths! 🔍

A couple months back I read Ellen Raskin’s THE WESTING GAME and so many of you were in my DMs absolutely raving about it. You were totally right—I loved it. 🎇

Written with humor and wit, the mystery follows the tenants of an apartment complex, all of whom are named as heirs in the will of the wealthy, recently deceased businessman Sam Westing. The will is a puzzle, which heirs are paired off to solve, and the winners will inherit the $200,000,000 Westing fortune.

I was puzzled, amused, and surprised. The characters are vibrant and unique, and despite the zany tone, generally realistic. (I was #TeamTurtle 🐢 the whole time.) I also didn’t expect to get emotional at the end, but I did.

The not-so-goods: I found this a little tough to get into, mainly because there are so many characters and the POV is third person omniscient. Bits of it also didn’t age well, which is to be expected with a nearly fifty-year-old book.

Overall, so much fun and a clever mystery for kids and adults.
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #bookreview

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍 My intro today was inspired

HAPPY #CLUESDAY 🔍

My intro today was inspired by some comments I’ve received on my recent Minute Mysteries TikToks. Based on those comments, it seems not everyone understands red herrings—and many are falling victim to them in the short whodunits! Let’s talk about pesky red herrings and why I love them.

Today’s interview is with Kellye Garrett, whose latest thriller, MISSING WHITE WOMAN, explores popular domestic suspense tropes from the perspective of a woman who feels she doesn’t belong. Thanks for joining, @kellyekell 🩷

Happy sleuthing!
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #mysterybookstagrammer

⭐️BOOK TOUR⭐️ #gifted @bibliolifestyle @

⭐️BOOK TOUR⭐️

#gifted @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks

Happy Mystery Monday! Today’s feature is A TALENT FOR MURDER by Peter Swanson, which just released this month. I was so pleased with Swanson’s THE CHRISTMAS GUEST (a novella) so I’m especially excited to have this on my shelf.

🔍 SYNOPSIS:

A newlywed librarian begins to suspect the man she married might be a murderer—in this spectacularly twisty and deviously clever novel by Peter Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing and Eight Perfect Murders.

Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her work as a librarian in Maine. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured salesman whose job took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . .but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram #atalentformurder #peterswanson #bibliolifestyle

Book Mail 💌 Here are some lovely mysteries & t

Book Mail 💌

Here are some lovely mysteries & thrillers I’ve received recently:

💚 HOW TO KILL A GUY IN TEN WAYS by Eve Kellman

🩷 THE MURDER AFTER THE NIGHT BEFORE by Katy Brent

🙏 BLESSED WATER by Margot Douaihy

🔍 MURDER ON DEVIL’S POND by Ayla Rose (out July 9)

🤿 THE CHAMBER by Will Dean (out Aug 6)

🦂 THE EXAMINER by Janice Hallett (out Sep 10)

Thank you to the tagged publishers for the books!
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#bookrecommendations #booklover #bookstagrammer #mysterybooks #booklover #bookstagram #mysterybookstagram

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