The Best Book I Read This Month: Detective Aunty by Uzma Jalaluddin

Five years ago this month, I read a delightful book called Hana Khan Carries On. It was the best book I read that month. I recently picked up another book by the same author (Uzma Jalaluddin), and it became the best book I read this month.

Detective Aunty is, as you might suspect from the title, a mystery. Set in Toronto, the story follows Kausar Khan as she tries to prove her daughter’s innocence after her daughter is accused of murder.

The mystery part of the story is a pretty standard cozy. The milieu in which it occurs is not. Detective Aunty focuses on a South Asian family that lives in a culturally diverse community, a community that is feeling the pressures of gentrification. The story’s big problem and Kausar Khan’s efforts to solve it are complicated by both personal and community issues. The characters, themselves, were also well-drawn. They were sometimes charming, sometimes trying, but always relatable and real.

I loved this book so much that as soon as I finished it, I looked to see if there’s more—and there is! The second Kausar Khan book is already on bookstore shelves. Don’t be surprised if it shows up here too one day. ;-)

The Best Book I Read This Month: Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero

The best book I read this month was a pop culture delight. If you’re at all familiar with Scooby Doo cartoons, the title of Edgar Cantero’s Meddling Kids gives away the premise: a group of kids and their dog solve mysteries.

In Cantero’s version, the kids really were kids—tweens—when they solved their mysteries (as opposed to the older Scooby Doo gang) and their last case comes back to haunt them many years later.

Cantero’s detectives are not a 1:1 match to the Scooby Doo gang—the dog, for example, is a Weimaraner, not a Great Dane—but they were known for unmasking a monster to reveal it was an angry older man who did, indeed, call them “meddling kids.” And it all took place in a town near the Zoinx River. It’s a fun homage to Scooby and the gang. There are shout-outs to other pop culture properties, too, but I don’t want to give them away.

The story centers around the gang’s realization that their last mystery sent an innocent man to prison and their efforts to right that wrong by finding the real perpetrator. Along the way, they encounter old friends, old enemies, and dangers both real and supernatural. The story is fun and suspenseful, one that appeals not only to fans of Scooby Doo but also to those who love Stranger Things.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Shutter by Ramona Emerson

The best book I read this month was a mystery by Navajo (Diné) author Ramona Emerson. Shutter follows photographer Rita Todacheene as she gets caught up in and tries to solve a series of murders in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rita is literally haunted by her work. She sees dead people, and these ghosts both help and hinder her pursuit of justice.

It took me a little while to get into this story, but once I found the rhythm, I couldn’t put it down. The mystery was well-crafted, and I love the way Emerson wove in not only Rita’s personal history but also her Navajo culture.

Rita both accepts and rejects her culture. The tension she feels between living and working in white society and being true to her roots informs much of the story. Should she listen to her grandmother’s warnings about the ghosts she sees? Should she give up her job with the Albuquerque police in favor of a job that doesn’t bring her in contact with death all of the time? Rita wrestles with these questions as she tries to solve the gruesome murder of a young mother and of a judge and his family. Ultimately, it is this pursuit of answers that endangers Rita’s life.

I don’t know if this is the first in a series, but I hope it is. I like Rita. I adore Rita’s grandmother. I want to spend more time with both of them.

The Best Book I Read This Month: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

The best book I read this month was a romp featuring four 60-year-old assassins. Yes, you read that right—I used the words romp and assassins in the same sentence. I never thought I’d describe a book about murder as fun, but that’s exactly what Deanna Raybourn’s Killers of a Certain Age is: fun.

Billy, Natalie, Mary Alice, and Helen are celebrating their retirement—from nearly forty years of working as assassins—when they discover they themselves are targets for assassination. What follows is part murder mystery, part buddy road comedy, part revenge drama.

It was a delight to read about women “of a certain age” without the focus being on divorce or loss or aging. Loss and aging play a role here, but these women are not going quietly into that good night. They are action heroes—smart, sassy, capable, and kick-ass. I loved it. I want more books with characters like these women—mature, strong, and badass.

The Best Book I Read This Month: The Burning Girls by C.J. Tudor

The best book I read this month is one of the most complex stories that I’ve read in a long time. C.J. Tudor’s The Burning Girls weaves together multiple mysteries in a compelling way.

The main storyline follows Reverend Jack Brooks and her daughter as they try to make a new life in a small town. Brooks was assigned to this town after a tragedy on her old parish, but instead of peace in her new post, she lands in the middle of small town politics, an unsolved disappearance of two teenage girls, and questions about the death of a former priest. Oh, and someone is stalking her. It’s a lot of plot lines to manage, and Tudor does so brilliantly. Some twists and turns I figured out ahead of time, but others came as a surprise—always a good characteristic to have in a mystery.