New Mysteries Set In India & Australia, Political Murder, + News for August 30, 2024

I love window stickers which make it look like there are rainbows inside your room, so of course I had to find a bookish one! $10.

For fans of stories with multiple points of view and procedurals.

Borei Gowda is the Assistant Commissioner of Police with a big case: if an octogenarian professor was, in fact, murdered, were his political views the cause or something else? If that didn’t give Gowda enough to have to investigate, he’s only just scratching the surface of the case when he’s forced to join the Central Crime Branch and a merged team that includes a former classmate of his. From the victim’s family secrets to Bangalore’s criminal underbelly, there are plenty of interesting characters to follow with the investigation.

If you want to start at the beginning pick up A Cult-Like Wound!

For fans of atmospheric crime and missing person cases!

Phoebe Sweeney was on a solo van trip across Australia when her regular social media posts stopped. Now her sister Katy Sweeney, desperate to find her, has decided to retrace her sister’s trip in hopes of finding, at the very least, information. But Katy isn’t alone for long when she ends up taking in Lily, a stranger who asks for her help. Both women have their own secrets as they venture out into dangerous and unknown terrain in search of a missing woman.

For fans of satire and Veep (if the show had had a murder mystery)!

We know that someone has been murdered and it’s tied to a group of US Senators’ staffers. The newest one is Cam Leann, who is just learning the ropes and is taken in by a group known as the Gang of Six. Who has been murdered, by who, and why will unravel as you’re plunged into Washington politics—including a current Supreme Court nomination process which would seat the first Black chief justice.

For fans of police procedurals and Scandinavian crime novels!

Chief Inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is on leave when Birgitte Volter, the Norwegian Prime Minister, is murdered at her desk. Wilhelmsen has to travel back home from California to solve the case, needing to first figure out if the murder was political or personal.

I started the series here and wasn’t lost, but you can also start at the beginning with Blind Goddess!