You're Looking for a Mind-Bending Mystery

Are in your villain era or are a "Percy Jackson" fan

Hi friends,

First off, happy (belated) birthday to my mom! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I squeezed in three bookish events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday:

• Friday, I caught a lecture by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of We Should All be Feminists, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center. *

• Saturday, I saw my friend Eman Quotah, author of Bride of the Sea, in conversation with Ghassan Zeineddine about his new short story collection, Dearborn.

• Sunday, my book club discussed Vera Kurian’s Never Saw Me Coming. (I loved it and it’s coming to a newsletter near you soon.)

And, now, what to read if…

You Want a New Take on a Mystery Novel

My Murder by Katie Williams

Katie Williams’ My Murder is one of the best — and most inventive — books I read this year. It’s narrated by Louise, a wife, mother, professional hugger and — in case that wasn’t weird enough — clone of a woman murdered by a serial killer. The government brought back Lou and four other women, all victims of the same man, for a second chance at life.

Lou knows she should feel grateful for the second chance, but she’s left with a sense of malaise. She regularly asks her husband to describe the day of her death, as she’s unable to remember the time leading up to her murder other than that she was struggling to adjust to motherhood. As she grows closer with the other clones, Lou realizes her murder doesn’t fit the serial killer’s pattern. She grows convinced someone else murdered her and sets out to find the culprit.

A friend loaned me My Murder after reading it in a single sitting. I did the same thing. It’s darkly funny, wildly original and tightly plotted. But it also raises real questions about the ethics of cloning and offers sharp commentary on contemporary motherhood. Expect to see this one on my favorites of the year list.

You’re Proudly in Your Villain Era

My Life as a Villainess by Laura Lippman

In contrast to (or maybe reaction to) the #GirlBoss and GOOP-ified perfection that defined the 2010s social media aesthetic, posters are now proclaiming they’re in their “villain eras.” A time, defined by Bustle, “not about being an actual villain. This is not a green light to abandon your friends, stop showing up to work, or just generally be a jerk. This era is about choosing yourself, setting boundaries, and really living your life rather than curating it. It's about swapping politeness for a spine, and people pleasing for independence.” If that’s the energy you’re trying to bring the last few months of 2023 — and in to 2024 — you’ll want to read Laura Lippman’s My Life as a Villainess.

I love Lippman’s mysteries (her Tess Monaghan series got me through the spring of 2020), so I was excited to read her first non-fiction collection, and I’m so glad I did. Over a series of essays, Lippman explores aging, becoming a mom in her fifties, her career in journalism and even her favorite cookware. Standout installments include “Fine Bromance,” a remembrance of celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain and “Game of Crones,” about Lippman’s attempt to improve her body image so she could pass that along to her daughter.

Despite her claims, Lippman doesn’t come across as a villain, but rather someone I’d enjoy hanging out with. She started her career as a Baltimore Sun reporter, giving her strong attention to detail and the ability to write a tightly constructed scene. Those skills make her novels and essays shine. I’m honestly not sure what I hope she writes next — another collection or a mystery. 

You’re Excited for the New “Percy Jackson” Show

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron

I was just a bit too old for the peak of Percy Jackson mania (I’m member of the Harry Potter generation) but I know they’re beloved for their blend of YA action-adventure tales with Greek mythology. A new adaptation hits Disney+ in December. If you’re counting down to the days ‘til you can binge it, grab a copy of Kalynn Bayron’s This Poison Heart, the first book in a duology about Briseis, a teen who can control plants.

Briseis lives in fear of anyone in her Brooklyn neighborhood learning about her secret power. Trees bend towards her as she walks down the street and the flowers in her parents’ florist shop grow bigger and brighter when she enters it. When her birth mother’s sister leaves her the family home in rural upstate New York, Briseis and her family hope it’ll be a chance for her to learn to control her powers, but instead she finds the mansion’s poison garden is the smallest secret her inheritance holds. Without spoiling too much, she uncovers a connection between the house, her family and the pantheon of gods and goddesses Rick Riordan wrote about in Percy Jackson.

Take my advice: make sure you have both This Poison Heart and the sequel, This Wicked Fate, on hand when you start reading. I had to wait to find out what happened to Briseis after the first book ended with an intense cliffhanger. You can learn from my mistake.

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Thanks, as always, for letting me into your inbox. I’ll be back next week.

*I work with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center at my day job.

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What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Twitter @elizabethheld or Instagram.

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