My Last 3 Mystery Reads

I adore Mariko Tamaki’s graphic novels, so this was one of my most anticipated reads of the year based on the author alone, but it got elevated even more because she moved into the mystery genre. In a year where my most anticipated reads have left me feeling more sad trombone than wanting to throw them at everyone to read ASAP, Tamaki totally delivered for me.

Set in an all-girls school in the late ‘80s, the mystery starts when the most popular actress in the theatre group, Elizabeth—who just performed in a cool modern take of Romeo & Juliet—is found dead. Abby is a new student who is not fitting in great, and her roommate is a jerk to her. She’s also one of the last people to speak to Elizabeth. Unsatisfied with the explanation of Elizabeth’s death, Abby starts asking questions and sneaking around looking for answers to what really happened to Elizabeth.

Why Abby transferred to this school is slowly revealed as letters she keeps mailing out keep coming back unread. Slowly, she keeps pairing with her roommate, despite her treatment, in hopes of figuring out the mystery surrounding Elizabeth. In their sleuthing and interactions, you see the panics of the ’80s/’90s play out regarding drugs and homophobia, while the real dangers are ignored. The latter, and the way Tamaki brings this time period to life by making the reader feel it, was my favorite element. This will definitely be on my list of favorite mysteries of 2025.

Mariko Tamaki’s work always uses limited coloring in a way that sets mood and tone: grey blue to navy in This One Summer; a contrasting pink amongst black and white in Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me; tan and a periwinkle in Roaming. And This Place Kills Me was no exception, as it uses a variety of grey blues and a peachy pink.

As a big fan of Karin Slaughter’s adapted Will Trent series (new season when?!), I decided to read her new series. Where the book starts and where it goes are done in stages, and if you don’t like any kind of spoilers, you can skip my thoughts.

This felt like the first two books in the series—which would have had a big cliffhanger at the end of book one, with readers having to wait a whole year for book two—joined together. It’s a procedural that starts as a missing teenagers case: Emmy Clifton is an officer in Clifton County when two teenagers, Madison and Cheyenne, disappear while everyone is celebrating the 4th of July. Emmy’s best friend is the mother of one of the girls, putting added pressure on Emmy and the investigation. As the search for the girls ramps up, and a deep dive into what these girls’ private lives really entailed, Emmy also deals with a crappy husband, a mother with dementia, her father being the Sheriff, a fallout with her best friend, and a lot of extended family drama—which bleeds out into the town and everyone’s lives.

(Spoiler for how the book is formatted) The book then jumps over a decade into the future: along with Emmy’s point of view, we get a new investigator, recently retired from the FBI, Jude Archer. Not only is there plenty from the past to solve, but there’s a new case, and Emmy and Jude are forced to work together, complicating Emmy’s life further as she already has to deal with the fallout from a lot of what happened in the beginning of the book (purposely being vague here).

If you like your crime novels layered, that is what Slaughter is writing. Her themes are always dark and graphic, and this book is no exception. Sometimes this opens the door for very real things, like predators and “look how dark and messed up being a girl can be,” to feel “exaggerated” when they’re on the page, but procedural fans that want to be taken on a long journey will be satisfied and end up looking forward to the next book.

Finally, in the complete opposite end of the mystery spectrum, is this absolutely delightful middle grade mystery. I would have inhaled this book as a child and thoroughly enjoyed it as an adult for being silly, and also heartfelt, with a take-charge lead.

Ten-year-old Bonnie Montgomery has a secret identity: she’s also a male detective in a beret and mustache known as Montgomery Bonbon. Do adults see through her costume? Absolutely not, she’s one of the greatest detectives! The only person who does know her secret identity is her grandfather who, rather than worrying, helps her do things like sneak out of the house to go break into a museum to solve her current case.

I see a lot of child and teen characters in novels (and film and TV) who are obsessed with reading the classics of mysteries, but as a kid, I would have been reading these books and having a super fun time.

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