Bookwild - Fall 2023 Thrillers We Can't Wait to Read

Episode Date: August 18, 2023

This week, we talk about fall thrillers you should pre-order!Follow us on Instagram:Gare @gareindeedreadsKate @thegirlwiththecookonthecouchBooks We Talked AboutBright Young WomenMidnight Is The Darkest HourShadowheartThe Helsinki AffairThe Flash GirlsNecessary PeopleThe FuturesWhen I’m DeadLast Night at the Hollywood CanteenThe Taken OnesThe TraitorBlood SistersThis Is How We End ThingsChristmas PresentsDreambound Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows, and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on Bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So thank you so much for joining us. And we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified. My love, the hair model of my life, my techie Becky. And the list just keeps growing. I know, I know. I want to shout out. I was going to talk about your shirt because I meant to mention it earlier. Bookshelf teas, because I love, even though I'm not like a big color person, I like love this shirt from bookshelf teas. Yeah. And now that Barbie's out, it's kind of giving

me Barbie vibes. Yeah, I agree. Book Barbie. So I'm like, oh my God, Lauren is just so ahead of the game. She is. And if I forgot to shout mine out because last week I was wearing mine. Nobody's heard for me for months shirt from her. So we're both on a kick. And if you do shop at bookshelf teas, you can use the code gear indeed reads and get 15% off. Nice. So. And you should. shop there. So, if you're listening to this podcast, you need at least one shirt from there. You need at least one book, book a shirt. Yeah.

She's got, like, so many things that, like, people will be able to get. My mom has some. And she reads, like, one book a year. I was going to say, did I not know that your mom read? And you're like, no. No. I just, like, there's, like, some books that, like, I'm like, I'm never going to shut up about this.

And then, like, she'll read it and be like, oh, it's really good. Like, when I, like, when I got invited last minute to the luckiest girl alive premiere, and she was like my plus one, she was like, I have to read the book now. And she like went through it in like three days, like finished it on the train on the way to New York City. Oh my God. That's amazing. But I have been excited for this episode since May.

I know. We really did talk about it that long ago. Well, it's just going to be a very fun one. I know. It's probably going to be my favorite episode ever. I know. But to kind of tantalize everybody, I have an icebreaker for you. You're good at those.

I love them. I love them. And I'm hopped up on Diet Coke. I hope my dentist doesn't hear that. Okay, so like I sneak like the mini cans of Diet Coke. Yeah. Like I'll sneak one like maybe two or three of them a week. Like when I like just for that little afternoon jolt.

Oh yeah. But my like when I went to the dentist the last time he was like, your teeth are so clean. Like everything looks really good. He's like, you don't drink soda or anything like sugary, do you? And I was like, no, I'm a big water person. That's pretty much it. Like no alcohol, no soda. I told the truth on the alcohol and I don't drink as much.

soda as most people do. So I was like, oh, no, no, I'm not a soda person. Well, if it's diet, you're not actually having the sugar stuck on your teeth. So I'll support your delusion there, too. Yeah. I was like, whatever. So I love this question in any form. But like, have you ever heard of like the Rose and Thorn question? Is that like something you liked and then something you didn't? yeah like when you go on vacation Kardashians right yes okay yes yes so we have talked about for almost a year now how much like we just love fall and like it's the best like it's the best time of the year truly it's the best yeah so i want to know what is your rose or peak a fall and what is your thorn or pit a fall okay

Oh my gosh. I think I am so basic that the rose is everything pumpkin spice flavored. I think if I'm being honest with myself, that is, it's right up there with like it not being 90 degrees anymore. So it's like the temperature, but that's, I feel like that's kind of a given. So I feel like pumpkin spice is my, my actual answer for that part. Thorn. What is a thorn? Well, I mean, this one's not very exciting, but one thorn is that when all the leaves start to, like, get a little bit moldy after they've kind of all fallen.

My asthma gets significantly worse. And almost every year I have to do around. a prednisone in the fall. So. Yeah, that could be a pain in the ass. Yeah. Yeah, I can see that. Yeah, I can see that. I'm like super basic, too.

Like, my, my rose is just, like, all around vibe. Like, I love that the weather is, like, chilly, but not too cold that you don't want to leave your house. Yeah. I love horror movies. So, like, just basically, like, a 50-degree chilly, but, like, sunny day, watching scary movies with a pumpkin spice latte and like my favorite sweatshirt is like my vibe. Like that is like my perfect like just all like around general feeling. That makes me entirely happy. Um, but my thorn

is like I hate the heat as you do too. So like the fact that like when it feels like you're like trickling down Satan's ball sack for three months of the year. I just don't. I just don't. understand why the days are so long in the summer when it's like miserably hot, I would prefer if the days were the longest in fall, like September, October, November. So that's my only thorn is I love fall so much and I love fall weather. But then it's like dark at five o'clock or 5.30 and that kind of pisses me off. Yeah. You know what's interesting is that's actually one of my favorite parts actually too, though, is that the days are shorter. But with your reasoning, I'm now with you. If I had to pick when the days would be shorter, I would prefer it to be in the

summer, especially because then it would cool down sooner. Yeah. So you've converted me. I agree with that now. Oh, my God. Amazing. Amazing. You didn't even know it. It's just like, annoying. I'm just like, oh my God, like fall is finally here and like all like the cozy vibes and everything. And I'm just like, why can we just not like I think like my favorite thing like the time that I'm like I know fall is here now is like when like I haven't had a lot of them this summer because it's been so ungodly hot but I think like my favorite thing is like when you have that one day we're like you know how some days in the summer where it's like cooler so you don't need your AC on like maybe you just have like some doors and windows open and that's enough to like keep you comfortable

I love that first day where like you have your doors and windows open and you're like, ooh, it's a little chilly. I have to get a sweatshirt. I have to close my doors now because it's like 50 degrees in my house. Yes. And then I'm like fall is here, which is like, oh, my skin is a little bit chilly for the first time. I have goosebumps. And for once it's not like a goose bump because you like went into air conditioning from like being super hot.

Right. Or have one of these like I have on my arm right here. where I took Murphy for a walk the other day and a wasp stunned me. To have been a fly in the air when that happened. Well, I also saw a snake. I forgot about it. You were having a really, really bad week of WAL case.

I didn't even tell you the worst of it. They put a bulletin out today for a town that's literally a 10-minute drive from me. Uh-huh. that a horse tested positive for EEE, which is like equiline. Not good. Something. It's some sort of disease that causes brain inflammation.

Oh, my God. And so they're like- Eastern equine encephalitis. Yes. Yes, that is it. It is in my town. A horse tested positive for it. And the worst part is, is that like, it's transmitted through a mosquito bite.

And it affects like horses and humans and like all mammals and. Oh, it does affect humans. Yeah. Reptiles, amphibians. So like. So basically you can't go outside right now. The mosquitoes could be toxic. Which normally would be not a problem at all.

But I have a little munchkin that has to go outside. I have a little munchkin that has to go pee every half hour. Well, not, no, like hour and a half. But still, like I'm like, oh, my. God, like, I can spray myself down with bug spray, but like, what do I do with my little munchkin? I know. Oh, well, what I will tell you, because I hate the smell of bug spray, like, absolutely hate the smell of, like, what you think of when you think of bug spray. And so this year, I was a hippie about it. And you can use witch hazel and lemon and eucalyptus. And like,

So just like barely any of that, but mostly witch hazel and you shake it up. And I've been using that all summer. And I have only had one mosquito bite all summer. And I am so prone to them. And then I have to take Benadryl. It's a whole thing. It has worked for me all summer. So that would work on dogs.

Cool. Cool. Well, hopefully. You're like, I didn't need all of that information. No, I did. I did. I'm just like trying to imagine. me spritzing him down or like rubbing him down with like anything right now because he is like

he gets his little wild puppy moments and I'm like yeah but yeah so hopefully I don't have brain inflammation and die let's hope you don't or all of the mosquitoes can just like fucking disappear I don't know what they're just die I hate mosquitoes I hate them but I don't care if they're crucial an ecosystem. I disagree. I didn't even know that they were. I was just like, what do they do? I think every environmentally leaning person is always like, it's a part of the ecosystem, but about like anything. Well, yeah. I mean, I feel the same way about frogs. Like, I hate frogs. I hate snakes. Like, I hate mosquitoes. Like, whatever. But I'm not that person. I'm just a boy looking forward to fall, hoping that he doesn't have brain inflammation when the cool weather

gets here. Yes. So same. If I do survive, there are a lot of books that I want to read this fall because 2023 is like, I feel like every year I'm like, oh my God, like publishing is never going to be as good as it is this year. And like last year, I was very nervous for 2023. And this year, I'm like, this is going to be the best year of our lives as readers. Because there are amazing books coming out. they just are. To all of our little book-loving ghouls out there and goblins and monsters, here are our favorite, most anticipated fall reads of 2023. Then did I.

Perfect timing. Perfect timing. And before anybody thinks that they can fast forward through this episode or like they're going to predict anything, we already know that Jessica Knoll and Ashley Winstead are going to be mentioned. So those are our honorable mentions before we get into our other mentions. So obviously as the like boy with the Jessica Noel tattoo on his back, not yet, but maybe one day, I don't know. I might get a Jessica Null tattoo. I mean, why not?

I would love to get like this, okay, this is my idea for like my favorite author, which would be Jessica Null is how cool would it if you found an area on your body and I just got like Roman numerals tattooed on the release dates of her books. That would be really cool. That would be so fucking cool. I like that idea. Or the barcodes. Oh yeah. I didn't even think of that. Mini barcodes. That would be so cool. That's a really good idea. But then she would block me on Instagram and be like, you've taken this too far. You never know. Never know. Only way.

Only one way to find out. Only one way to find out. I would have to wait until they were officially released because, like, her book was supposed to come out October 3rd, the same day as Ashley Winstead. I had this whole idea for like the, like, blonde bombshell duo on Instagram for that pub date. And then they moved her pub day up to September 19th. So I'm just glad that I didn't get the barcode or,

the like 10-3-23- and then like it's September 19th and I'd be like, it's September 19th and I'd be like back. Yes. So obviously like my number one book that I'm going to recommend for the entire year

is Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll. It takes place in January 1978. Florida State University's campus in Tallahassee, but also like some parts of the Pacific Northwest because there's a serial killer that is loosely based off Ted Bundy, who is terrorizing women across the entire country. But in January 1978, there is a night of promise, excitement,

and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay at home. And she's startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound. And Pamela makes the faithful decision to investigate, but what she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence. Two of her sister's dead, the other two maimed, and over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that's captivated public interest for more than four decades. Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings 25-year-old Ruth Wachowski into her life. Ruth is a young woman with painful secrets of her own and the two have an instant connection until Ruth goes

missing at a state park in broad daylight surrounded by like a thousand other people at the beach and Tina devotes herself to finding out what really happened to her. So when Tina finds out about what happened to Pamela and the sorority in Tallahassee, she basically like knows that it was the same person that's responsible for Ruth's disappearance. And the two women kind of join forces to go from there and, you know, become sisters in finding out what the truth is. And it's fucking amazing. It's so good. I just got an e-gallie of it today. So I'm super excited. I'm so pumped for you. I'm so pumped for you. I'm very bleak. Like if you are looking for like, oh, something spooky and scary. Like this is not.

it. Like, this is very much like a reflection in literary form of what women who were murdered by Ted Bundy and the victims that survived Ted Bundy and everything, like, it's very like haunting, it's very like

bleak. It's very bleak. But it's like, it almost like reads like there are some parts where like you don't see certain things coming because it is still a work of fiction. But there are other parts where you're like, when you think about how she, like, how much research she went, like, put into

this book, it's just an incredible work of art. I'm so excited to read it. Right, young women. Fuck, yeah. Jane Lull for life. But really. But really. You are the number one fan.

But really. Yeah. I mean, it doesn't get more fan girl in this, to be honest. Yeah, well, I fan girl, our girl Ashley Winstead that you mentioned earlier. And hers, as you mentioned, comes out October 3rd, and it's called Midnight is the Darkest Hour. And it is about a librarian named Ruth, who lives in a small town in Louisiana. and her dad is a fire and brimstone Baptist preacher. So Ruth has always felt like an outsider in the town.

And unfortunately for her, the townspeople fear, the only things the townspeople fear more than God and the devil are the myths that haunt the area. Like the story of the low man of a empiric figure said to steal into sinners' bedrooms and kill them on moonless nights. When a skull is found deep in the swamp, next to a mysterious... Wow, I can't read tonight.

Next to mysterious carved symbols, bottom springs is thrown into uproar, and Ruth realizes only she and Everett, an old friend with a dark past, have the power to comb the town's secret underbelly in search of true evil. So it just sounds so unique. It's extremely unique.

it's so good. It's very good. It's like one of my favorite books of the year. Oh my gosh. You're going to love it. You're going to love it. I don't see how anybody who's a fan of Ashley Winstead wouldn't like this story because of just how fucking amazing she is. Yes. You are going to love this story. You are going to love it. I know that 100%. Like if, Somebody was like, would you bet your arm on this? And like, if you were like, it was okay, I would allow somebody to cut my arm off. Yeah, I don't think that'll happen. Like, I can guarantee that you're going to love it. I know.

I can tell. I'm always going to love it. But, yeah, I can tell. Mm-hmm. I have full faith. Mm-hmm. So, all right. So those are our...

Our obvious ones. Yeah, our obvious ones. and did you do release dates? I guess I should have texted you. Like, I have it pulled up on Goodreads, so, but I don't have to say the dates. Well, I just, I was like, do I say the dates? Yeah, I don't know. Okay.

I think people will find out. I always put the links in the episode, so. Oh, okay. Yeah, because you're techie, Becky. I'm techie Becky. I'm just unhinged. Just unhinged. Just unhinged.

Well, my first one, I'm going to get, I don't say I'm going to get this one out of the way. That sounds really shitty. But I'm going to mention this one because the thing is, is that I had found that like there are a lot of like continuations of series or sequels and things that are coming out this fall. But I can't not mention the series because I've talked about Meg Gardner and the unsub series like hundreds and hundreds of times on here. and I love them. And book number four comes out this fall. And it is called Shadow Heart. And I'm super pumped. Obviously, FBI special agent, Caitlin Hendrix is back. This time she's facing a case in which a Tennessee

prisoner, Ephraim Judah Good, draws haunting portraits of women. He claims he's killed. Around the country, desperate families of the missing seek answers in his eerie drawings. Meanwhile, on darkened back roads in New York City streets, a new killer poses duct taped bodies at the sites of goods murders. Two serial killers are locked in twisted rivalry. To stop the brutal slayings, Caitlin Hendricks must unravel the connection between Good and the broken heart killer. Their warped competition destroys anyone in their path, caught between a manipulative psychopathic, and a ruthless unsub, Caitlin has to dive into not one, but two dark and twisted minds. Damn.

Damn is, damn. I mean, hello. I love a serial killer book. I love the unsub series because they're all serial killer books without giving me any of that. Oops. I'll give me any of that stuff that I like don't like in it. Yes. Like spies and espionage and stuff like that.

But like my first recommendation. But they're all serial killer books, and they're all really good, and they're loosely based on real, like, serial killers. So I'm just really excited for a new installment, because it's been a few years. But I'm also excited for the fact that, like, it's a serial killer thriller with two serial killers that are like competing and she's in the middle and she's a fucking bad ass. There is a lot of action in them. I need to read them.

I will say that. I sound dark and action packed. Yes, they are dark and action packed. So I think that you would absolutely love them. I will say there are a couple of parts where you're like, you might be like, I wish I would read this when Tyler was home. So I will say that. Okay.

Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. But shout out. Shout out to my girl, J.M. Cannon for scaring me with the Flash Girls this week while Tyler was gone. So you have a point. You have a point. I'm so excited. Yeah. Another dark and action-packed one. But that'll be a discussion for another day. Yeah. Because we have so many fall books. I know. And my first one really was, like the one I had pulled up first is literally espionage. So. it couldn't have been timed more perfectly. One day you might turn me into a fan. Maybe. You have lots to read.

I'm excited to hear it. Yeah. Every serial killer, psychological thriller, every book about like a woman who kills her like shitty husband. Man, romance. It's like after all those.

You've got everything. You don't need another, you don't need another genre. But for me, I'm excited. Let me have this one. For me, I'm excited for a book called The Helsinki Affair by Anna Petoniac. So I'm trying to see.

It's a long description, so I'm saying if there's anything I can shorten up. But Amanda Cole is a brilliant young CIA agent following in the footsteps of her father, Charlie. But Amanda's posting in Rome is a sleepy one. She's listless and looking for action when on a hot summer day, it walks right through the door. A lowly Russian operative is desperate telling her that a U.S. Senator is about to be assassinated on an overseas trip to Cairo. Amanda believes he's telling the truth, but her superiors do not, and they determine that the best course of action is no action at all. But when the assassination occurs, Amanda is suddenly thrust into an international conspiracy as she tries to find out why the senator was killed. What did he know that made him a target of the KGB and the Kremlin?

I keep almost coughing. Okay. Amanda pairs up with fast-talking, take-no-bullshit, Kath, a brash, older woman, and legendary spy to get to the bottom of the case. The investigation takes them from Rome to London to Moscow to Helsinki. As Amanda and Kath get closer to solving a case that involves double agents, blackmailed CEOs, illegal arms transfers, yachting oligarchs, and more, I had no clue how much was in this book. One question keeps coming back to haunt Amanda.

Why was her father's name written down in the senator's notes, notes that he seemed to be putting together right before he died. In order to get to the bottom of this international plot of blackmail, murder, and lies. Amanda must decide where her loyalty lies with her country or with her family. Dude, you're going to fucking love this book. I know. I had, it'd been a while since I read the synopsis. So that like list at the end. You're going to edit this and be like, what the fuck was he doing when I was talking about this?

But like I'm looking at my bookshelves because Anna Pitoniac is one of my favorite storytellers. Oh my God. I'm not joking. There is, there's a book called The Futures that I read by her, which is like about a couple. And it's like drama. Like it's kind of like Taylor Jenkins read-esque. You got me. Okay. It's very good. And then there's a book called Necessary People, which is very much like Megan Abbott. Ooh, okay. But her characters are so good.

Like the way that she writes characters are amazing. So if her characters are anything like they were in those two books, but you have espionage and spy and action pact is going to be something you are like never wanting to put down. I got it on NetGalley last week or two weeks ago. So I'm so excited. I'm so excited for you. Like when you said Anna Petoniac, I was like, I was like, I know, I know I remember like, I remember the arc of necessary people. Yes.

I remember the arc of necessary people because it is like one of my favorite book covers ever. It's like the hardcover copy with like the red and like the two heads. Oh my God. I love it. It's beautiful. You're going to love that because she's one of like- And I'm going to read her back lists. She's one of the best storytellers ever. Oh my gosh. I'm so excited. I'm even more excited now. I would do necessary people first because it does have a little bit of like mystery suspense in it. And then if you like that, I would do the futures because that is very much like about a relate. That's very much character-driven about a relationship. but the way she writes her characters reminds me of like Taylor Jenkins read.

Wow. I'm so excited. You are going to be so obsessed. Devour it, probably. Devour completely. Speaking of people you should read. I know this book comes out on Halloween because it's like the plot sounds so good. And I'm like, this is a perfect book for Halloween.

It's the third book that takes place in the same town of Black Harbor. They're not, like, connected, but there might be like spoilers in this third book for the first two books. So it's not really like a sequel, but like if you just read the first two, because everyone will love them. Different characters each time.

Yes. And it's when I'm dead by Hannah Morrissey. She's amazing. I'm, I just can't wait. I loved her first two books. This one sounds like it's going to be my favorite one so far. It is the latest book in the Black Harbor mysteries. They are dark. They are chilly. She told me she will never write a book in the summer. Thank God for people like her. Love her. It is one girl murdered, another girl missing, and the medical examiner desperate to uncover the truth. On a bone-chilling October night, oh my God.

Medical examiner Rowan Winthorpe investigates the death of her daughter's best friend. Hours later, the tragedy hits even closer to home when she makes a devastating discovery. Her daughter, Chloe, is gone, but not without a trace. A morbid mosaic of clues forces Rowan and her husband to question how deeply they really knew their daughter.

As they work closely to peel back the layers of this case, they begin to unearth disturbing details about Chloe and her secret transgressions, details that threatened to tear them apart. Amidst the noise of navigating her newfound grief and reconciling the sins of her past, and undeniable fact rings true for Rowan. Karma has finally come to collect. What a line. What the fuck! I mean, oh my God. I'm just going to be hearing karma as my boyfriend the whole time I'm reading it. I keep my side of Black Harbor clean.

Everything about that sounds nice. I know. A bone-chilling October night. Oh, my God. And it comes out on Halloween. Perfect. Perfect. I hope I get an arc of it because I need to read it before Halloween because Halloween.

I mean, I always take the week of Halloween off from work. Yes. Like, that is my... That's your holy week. That's my Christmas. Yeah. Like, there will be leaves falling. I will be in sweatshirts.

I will be watching like every scary movie imaginable. And everybody needs to like leave me alone because I am carbo loading. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Pumpkin stuff. Yeah. Chug in pumpkin spice and eating pizza.

Thank you for your consideration. So yummy. That's like ideal. Oh, yeah. Oh. Well, you mentioned Taylor Jenkins read on my last one. And this is a book that kind of is giving me Evelyn Hugo vibes, but it actually has murder. And it's called Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James.

Yeah. And the cover is so cool. Perhaps the best place in 1943 Hollywood to see the stars is the Hollywood canteen, a club for servicemen staffed exclusively by those in show business. Murder mystery playwright Annie Lawrence,

new in town after a devastating breakup, definitely hopes to rub elbows with the right stars. Maybe then she can get her movie made. But Hollywood proves to be more than tinsel and glamour. When despised film critic Fiona Ferris is found dead in the canteen, kitchen, Annie realizes any one of the canteen's luminous volunteers could be guilty of the crime. To catch the killer, Annie falls in with Fiona's friends, a bitter and cynical group, each as

uniquely unhappy in their life and career as Annie is in hers, that call themselves the ambassadors club. Solving a murder in real life, it turns out, is a lot harder than writing one for the stage. And by involving herself in the secrets and lies of the ambassadors club, Annie just might have put a target on her own back. Damn. I know. That sounds really good. It just sounds very, very interesting.

Yeah. I'm loving you coming into your, like, this era of like old Hollywood glamour and like historical fiction and like spy and espionage thrillers. And like, this is the thing that I love about reading and the friends that you can make through reading. is that like you and I have so much in common when it comes to crime fiction, but we also like at our hearts are like very different. Like to me a comfort read is like jar of hearts, like something that's very bleak and violent and like chilling.

And like you are like all about like character driven like Taylor Jenkins weed. Like spy thrillers where people are like jumping buildings and like taken down the government. And I'm like that goes so far over my. head. But it's just such a like good example of like, how reading can truly find you your besties. Even if you. And you can evolve your reading interest over time. Foul show. Yeah. Yeah. Because I have discovered I really do care typically more about character driven. So it's like I'm just not reading as many popcorn thrillers. But now I just like know that about this phase of my life. Yeah. I just like,

like, I just like have come into my own with like being like you are a mood reader. Yeah. You're always going to be a mood reader. And like for you, it's like very much like different genres. And for me it's like, oh, I want something bleak. Oh, I want something really character driven and heavy. Like, oh, I want like a popcorn. Throat like I can like depending on my mood, I could read like character driven like very dense. Bright young women by Jessica Nol. Yeah. And then like two days later, like a popcorn thriller by like Freedom McFadden.

Yeah, you've got range. And like a male male romance right after. Or at the same time. Oh, my God. If you know what I mean. Boshaw do. Oh, so. I didn't have any mail, male, male romances on here.

Oh, yeah. Because I am going to be leaning into my male male-male hockey romances. when it starts to cool off. So I want to find if that's my jam, which I think it will be. Probably. So. But I'm all about murder today, folks.

Yeah. I get it. So who knows better about murder than my home girl, Jess Lowry? Not many people. Love her. I love, love, love her. She does like historical fiction.

thrillers, but like 70s, 80s, like just, oh, my God, they're so good. They're so good. And her new one comes out this fall, and it's called The Taken Ones. Two girls vanished, a woman buried alive, between two crimes, decades of secrets yet to be unearthed in a pulse-pounding novel by Edgar Ward nominated author, Jess Lowry. In the summer of 1980, with no fear of a local superstition, three girls go into a Minnesota wood. Only one comes out. Dead silent, memory gone, no trace of her friends. The mystery of the taken ones captures the nation.

In summer of 2022, cold case detective Van Reed and forensic scientist Harry Steinbeck are assigned the disturbing homicide. a woman buried alive clutching a heart charm necklace belonging to one of the vanished girls. Van follows her gut, Harry trusts and facts. Their common ground is the need to catch a killer before he kills again. They have something else in common. Each has ties to the original case in ways they're reluctant to share. As Van and Harry connect the crimes of the past and present, Van struggles with memories of her own nightmarish childhood

and the fear that uncovering the truth of the taken ones will lead her down a from what she too may never return. That sounds chilling. That is such a detailed, intense plot that I'm like, oh my God. Because, like, I love her. Like, I have never read a book by her that, like, I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't read that again. Like, I'm always like, that is so fucking good. And, like, her plots are always very, very complex and, like, very specific and intricate.

like no one else will do it. There's like tunnels, under towns, there's like bicycle mentions that like are very important. It's just like everything is very, very well detailed and every detail is important. I still need to read the quarry girls. I think that's like my like unspeakable things and the quarry girls are like tied as my favorites by her. Okay. Until this one. But with this one.

Uh-huh. On Goodreads, it says it's a Van and Harry number one. So I'm thinking that these two characters may be the start of a series by her. That's exciting. Yeah, I would be really excited about that. Oh, that's awesome. I love her. Yeah.

And to make things even better, I have a copy of the taken ones for you that I'm going to be sending you this week. Oh my gosh. Add it to my ever-growing list. Yep. Oh, it sounds so good. Yeah. I think you'll really like her writing. Like, you'll be like, this is very like. Yeah.

If anything you told me about JM Cannon is like how I'll feel that I think that they would be like two and the same. Even when you, like, that part where you said like she's like clutching the necklace that someone else was wearing, it was reminding me. of J.M. Cannon. So, yeah, we're in for treats

with both of them. Well, I have not a segue, but another spy thriller. Oh, my gosh. And what I also just noticed is this is the

third one in a row that's 400 pages. So I have a lot of long, reading to do. I was like, why do these keep saying 400, but it just does. So it's long synopsies as well, but the traitor is the second alias Emma book by my girl, Ava Glass. I have not said the words oligarch and yachting, you know, very often in my life. And I just read it in the first description. And it's in the first sentence of this one. So this is apparently the episode about oligarchs

yachts but british spy emma make piece goes undercover on a russian oligarchs super yacht where she's one wrong move away from a watery grave in this electrifying thriller from the author of alias emma an m6 an m16 revoked by spy thriller fan card an m6 operative is i don't know what an m16 is so It's not real. It's MI6, but I read it as in 16. If I saw MI6, I'd be like, is that the sixth Mission Impossible movie? I'd be kind of. Oh, my God. Well, an MI6 operative is found dead, blocked in a suitcase inside his own apartment.

Despite an exhaustive search, no fingerprints are found at the scene. Emma Make Peace and her handler Ripley, known an assassination, when they see one and such an obvious murder can mean only one someone is sending a message. I think that's a typo can mean only one thing someone is sending a message. As she digs into his past, Emma discovers that the unfortunate spy had been investigating two Russian oligarchs based in London. He'd become obsessed with the idea that the two were spies aided by a third man whose identity he had yet to uncover. When he shared his findings within MI6 and weeks before he died, the response came back fast, drop the investigation, and move on.

Had he uncovered a secret that cost him his life to pick up where he left off without ending in a suitcase of her own, Emma goes undercover on one of the oligarchs million dollar yachts. I really am going to, how many times can I say oligarch and yacht scheduled to set sail to Monaco? Under other circumstances, this would be a dream vacation. But if Emma's real identity gets discovered, it's a death sentence. This is my fall of oligarchs. I don't know what an oligarch is. It's someone who is wealthy and politically powerful.

what's an oligarch conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people so yeah it's like they are wealthy people that are politically involved in a country cool because you were like how many books am I going to read about oligarchs and I was like ha ha ha I don't know what an oligarch is like what is an oligarch I was like, I know, right? And I'm like, I think it would

It sounds like an allegorque sounds like an Aligarch sounds like a very expensive piece of furniture to me. It does. I'm like, is this like the lion, the witch in the wardrobe or what? Or like a weird animal from Florida. Yeah.

Like an armadillo or something. Yeah. Oh my God. Okay. That is too funny. I know. But yeah, I'm a big fan of this series already, so I can't wait. And I'm going to read it pretty soon. Well, I can't wait to hear what you think of your Alleguard journey. Yeah. My segue is, as much as you love spy and espionage thrillers, my thing that I am enjoying seeing more in crime fiction lately is the fact that there are a lot more. stories that are fictionalized stories that kind of touch base on the fact that there are a lot

of missing and murdered indigenous women. So Blood Sisters by Vanessa Lilly is coming out this fall and it sounds incredible and it is another one in which they are, she is touching base on missing and murdered indigenous women. And the thing that I love about this is it's described as a visceral and compelling mystery about a Cherokee archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs who summoned to rural Oklahoma to investigate the disappearance of two women, one of which is her sister. As an archaeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Sid Walker spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land's indigenous past, even as she's escaping her own. While Sid is dedicated to her job, she's haunted by a night of violence. She barely escaped in her Oklahoma town

15 years ago. Even though she swore she would never go back, the past comes calling. A skull is found near the crime scene of her youth. Just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes. Sid knows she has to return home. She refuses to let her sister's disappearance or remains go ignored, as so often happens in cases of missing native women. But not everyone is glad to have Sid home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her back. The deeper that Sid digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness in the town that no one wants to face. We love exposing something that someone doesn't want to face. That's been a theme for our fall books. I'm here for it. And if it's like,

some like political white guy who is like over tanned with a bad comb over, I'm going to be like, called a, strangely specific. Well, you know, with everything going on right now with, he who shall not be named, there's a lot of things about like, oh, like, he's innocent, this, this and that. And I'm like, but nobody really wanted to pay attention to the fact that he was rubbing elbows with Jeffrey Epstein. So let's talk about how there's a lot more to uncover about Mr. 45. And in the words of my girl Karen Huger from Potomac, Kling, Kling, Kling.

I forgot about that. She's such a specific vibe. My mind, yes. Potomac is just perfect for me. I mean, love. Not Potomac, but did you see that Mary is going to be back on Salt Lake City? Yes, I'm very excited for Mary. I was shocked. There's always got to be one, like, little nutty one. You know what I mean? There's got to be like one, like, nutty unhinged housewife or it just like doesn't make sense. And like having Mary come back. just feels right. It's going to be fascinating. It's going to be so good. Having her, like, tell Heather, like,

there's been a lot that Heather has seen where, like, Heather has, like, people have thrown this in her face. They've tagged her in and everything. So for Heather to be like, do you really think that I look in bread and having Mary be like, yes, I do.

I do. Like, Mary's not going to tell you that just to hurt your feelings. Like, she's going to tell you that because she actually believes it. I know because she's just that, like, she's blunt. Yes, she's blunt and she's like a little kooky. And she's very honest.

Like the fact is like her saying like, little kid, like little kids just like say it. You look inbred. Yeah. And Mary's mind is like her saying it makes it a fact. I know. Like I'm just, I can't wait. I can't wait for me.

And the tricky thing for me is technically. I prefer that to someone who says it behind my back. Oh, yeah. 100%. You know, in some ways, I'm like, good for you. You just told me to my fate, to my inbred face. I'd rather, I'd rather know who somebody is our entire friendship, even if it doesn't work out. That's what I'm getting at.

And not to be shady. But like, nothing is worse than like investing years and years in a friendship with somebody, only to have the friendship end and to have you be like, I know how shitty of a person they are, are they going to, like, do this behind my back? Yep. Now that the friendship's over. Mm-hmm. But if they do, I can do the same.

To this fake person. This made-up scenario. Same. You're like, means to. I have someone totally made up that I feel that way. I'd much rather have somebody say it. Like, I'd much rather have somebody, like, in a friendship be like, I fucking hate you. I think you're boring.

I think you're stupid. I think you're like a bitch. I think, like, you're all of these things. So that when the friendship is over, I know what you're saying behind my back. You know, like, don't pretend like, oh, I think you're so smart. And I think you're so kind. And you light up the room when you walk into it only for the friendship to be over to have you be like, the room is dull when you walk into it.

I fucking hate your guts and like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, exactly. So what we're saying is we appreciate honesty. Yeah, we appreciate Mary. We appreciate Mary. It's going to be very fun. Yeah. Well, I don't have a segue.

How could you? I know. I was like, I don't, I was like, do I have a housewife-esque book left? And I don't. I just don't. But I do have kind of a traditional psychological thrill. after all of those other recommendations by RJ Jacobs, who is so nice and he was my first podcast guest on Between the Lines a little over a year.

He is so nice. He is very nice. He's very cool. And he has a new book coming out called This Is How We End Things. And it is Dark Academia. Campus is, oh, are you? you ready for this talk about bone chilling october night campus is empty a winter storm is blowing in and someone is lurking in the shadows waiting for their chance to kill again oh my god forest north

carolina under the instruction of enigmatic professor joe lions five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying but discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the students more honest instead it's making it easier for the to guard their own secrets and all of them have something to hide. When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As Harvard's secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who's lying, who isn't, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought. That sounds so fucking good. Doesn't it?

it, it's cold, it's dark academia, there's a lying theme. Oh my God, it kind of sounds like, not like sounds like in a sense of like, oh, it's going to be just like this, but like it kind gives me a little bit of, um, Vera Curian. What was it? Never saw me coming. Yes, I agree. I completely agree. And we, you guys all know how much we love that. Oh, nice. And you've got the copy. I have a neck gallery. Fuck yeah, fuck yeah, fuck yeah. That sounds really good. We should definitely read that together.

I feel like that's something that we should read together. I think so, too. Let me spin my cart around here because I have a segue. You and your library cart. My library. Yeah, my thriller one, not my mail-male romance one. Don't want to get those. You boys, I'll deal with later.

So speaking of. Snowstorms. Nice. Wintery vibes in the fall. We love it. This is the longest synopsis in the entire world. Dude, my last one is somehow longer than the other ones. Really?

Yeah. Oh, my God. Okay. So I'm going to try to, like, fly through this. Speaking of snowstorms, one of my books that I'm looking forward to the most is Christmas presents by Lisa Unger. because I love her. I love, love, love her. I love the cover. Instead of presents this Christmas, a true crime podcaster is opening up a cold case. Madeline Martin has built a life for herself

as the young owner of a thriving business, the next chapter bookshop, despite her tragic childhood and now needing to care for her infirm father. When Harley Granger, a failed novelist turned true crime podcaster, drifts into her shop in the days before Christmas, he seems in on digging up events that Madeline would much rather forget. She's the only surviving victim of Evan Handy, the man who was convicted of murdering her best friend, Steph, and is suspected in the disappearance of two sisters, also good friends of Madeline's, who have been missing for nearly a decade. It's an investigation that has obsessed her father's sheriff James Martin right up until his stroke took his faculties. Harley Granger has a gift for seeing things that others miss. He wasn't much of a

novelist, but his work as a true crime author and podcaster has earned him fame and wealth and some serious criticism for his various unethical practices. Still, visiting Little Valley to be closer to his dying father has caused him to look into a case that many people think is closed and some never want reopen, or some want reopened. I'm sure some people don't do, but what else. And he has a lot of questions about the night Stephanie Kramer was killed. Ansela and Sam Wallace disappeared. and Madeline Martin was left for dead, bleeding out on a riverbank.

Since Evan Handy went to jail, three other young women have gone missing. Most recently, a young college dropout named Lolly. Five young women missing in the same area in a decade. Are they connected? Was Evan Handy innocent after all, or was someone else there that night? Someone who is still satisfying his dark appetites. I can't believe how many things are going on in that story. As Christmas approaches in the blizzard pair style.

Madeline and her childhood friend Badger returned to the past they hope was dead to find the missing Lolly and answer questions that have haunted them both, discovering that the truth is more terrible and much closer to home than they think. Be done this time. Oh my God, yes. Yeah, there's like if that's just the synopsis, imagine everything that's going to even happen.

I know. And the worst part, well, not the worst part. I mean, it's a 250 page book. Mm-hmm. I love Lisa Unger. I'm a huge fan of her. This one sounds like it's probably going to be like one of my favorites of her because of like, oh, the blizzard's coming in and like we're investigating a serial killer.

And like, I love when you have crimes that are like connected. Like this one was left for dead. This one was murdered. These two are missing. This girl's now missing. Like this is like, you know what I mean? Like there's just so much going on. So I'm very.

excited for this. Yeah. Me too. It's going to be very good. Now I'm winded. And it'll be nice and cool when we read it. Yeah. Most likely.

Mm-hmm. Yep. Makes it even better. Oh, my God, I know. All the dead leaves. Yes. When the leaves die, I come alive. Same.

Same. I don't have a segue, but I do have an intro that clearly this is my year of L.A. slash Hollywood, which you were kind of quick out. Yeah. But it was the whole Hallie Sutton, Hollywood coming into our lives is just, you know, I can't get enough of Hollywood in L.A. Hallywriters is Sally. Because I'm reading her other book, The Lady Upstairs right now.

It is amazing. and it is a even grittier version of Hollywood than the Hurricane Blonde. So there's my little PSA. I love that. But the other book I was going to talk about is called Dreambound by Dan Frey or Fry. I never know which one it is. When Byron Kids' 12-year-old daughter vanishes, the only clue left behind is a note claiming she's taken off to explore the hidden world, a magical land from a series.

of popular novels. She's not the only child to seek out this imaginary realm in recent years, and Byron, a cynical and hard-nosed reporter, is determined to discover the whereabouts of dozens of missing kids. Byron secures a high-profile interview with Annabel Tobin, the eccentric author of the books, and heads off to her palatial home in the Hollywood Hills. But the truth Byron discovers is more fantastical than he ever could have dreamed. Harley just scared the shit out of me walking in and I'm like generally like what are doing mom so I was like what was that sound as he uncover locations from the books that seem to be bleeding into the real world he must shed his doubts and dive head first into the mystical mystical street mystical secrets of los angeles

if he ever hopes to reunite with his child soon byron finds himself on his own epic journey but if he's not careful he could be the next one to disappear. And this one's one of my just, she just ran into the chair that time. She's like, get her fucking ass out here, mother. Right. This one is just like a little bit more out there.

I think it's a little more fantastical than the sci-fi I normally read. But I love stuff about dreams. And I mean, it's called dream bound. So maybe the dreams have something to do with it. Or maybe I'm just being less. the wrong direction because I just realized the synopsis doesn't talk about dreams. It talks about a book.

But I tend to- Maybe it's a book he wrote in his dreams. There we go. There we go. Maybe I just saw, we just solved the whole book. Could you imagine? I'd be like, we were right.

The guy who doesn't read sci-fi is like, well, maybe it's this. Yes. But yeah, I mean, clearly L.A. gets me, dreams get me, whether they're in it or not. and yeah, I'm excited for it. It's also 400 pages. That's fucking crazy. You know, it does. I like when, like, sci-fi, like, has, like, crime fiction elements.

Yeah. All, like, the daughter disappeared and stuff. Because I feel like that's, like, a good, like, I don't want to say, like, beginner because I feel like that's, like, condescending. But, like, I feel like it's, like a good, like, segue. I feel like it's, like, a good, like, segue to go from, like, crime fiction to, like, want to try science fiction from like that's like how ninth house made me yeah yeah because there was some like crime fiction yeah yeah like i did that with like a dean coots book that was like very much like um i think it was like about a serial killer and like this man's girlfriend had disappeared

and there were like different like portals and stuff i don't really know sci-fi that much but like it was like pretty good like i enjoyed reading it but um but yeah i like really enjoy that when like they kind of have like a little bit like crime fiction elements because it kind of like will attract readers who don't necessarily read sci-fi yes i agree with that i love a jean ribland yeah what's your next one why are you smiling at me i don't have a next one you don't did you go first yeah oh okay

because I was like I was like hey guys like fall we love fall like roses and thorns obviously we're going to talk about like Jessica Null and then I just started talking about Jessica Nol because once your name comes out of I don't shut up

you're right so those are our books yeah that's what you should read this fall and probably many more to come obviously so if you follow us on Instagram we'll be sharing like a ton of more recommendations and I will say one last thing about my girl Kate.

She should definitely be following her on Instagram because she cost me some money this week because she keeps referring to the Flash Girls by J.M. Cannon right here. And it's like one of the most amazing covers in the entire world. The author took this picture for the cover, which is amazing. and this is like the book like that I am dying to read next so I'm so excited for you to read it we have the Flashgirls by J.M. Cannon We have Blood Oranges by J.M. Cannon. So pretty.

And we have the Quiet Wife by J.M. Cannon. Oh my gosh. So I will be I bought all of them. They all sounded so good that I was like, I just need them. I like love this year I'm finding I'm even just like finding more authors where like the need to read their backlist is just like so intense and I kind of like that like I thought that that's why I'm reading how like Sutton's other book I was like how could I not read her other one so I feel the same way J. M. Cannon's been that way for me so it's been and yeah that's who the at julia

heberlin would be my other one so I have so many where I'm like I just want to read all these backlist books, but it's kind of fun. Yeah, yeah. I had like a similar experience with, um, where's our, where are her books? Sarah Stewart Taylor. Um, this is like a four book series. Um, Maggie Darcy. Yeah. Um, says it, it's for fans of Tana French and Kay Atkinson. Um, so I got. an arc of her second book in this series, and I really, really enjoyed it. Like, the publisher was like, you know, you can read it as a standalone. So I read the second book, and I loved it so much that, like, I went and bought the first book.

And, like, I just collected book three and four when the arcs came out so that I can just binge that series because I really enjoyed that. I love that. So that's kind of my recommendation. for some backlists. Yeah. Basically, we're saying this full fall season, just stay inside and read as much as possible. Yes. And don't get some weird horse disease.

Yeah, don't get some weird horse disease from a mosquito. Yeah. Don't go outside. Stay safe.