You're listening to all the backlist, a weekly show up about books that are not new. I'm your host, Vanessa Diaz, this is episode 450.5, and today I'm going to tell you about two mysteries

that are great for busting a reading slump. So let's get the obvious out of the way I have been on here a very not zero number of times talking about reading slumps in the past year, two years, three years. I don't know how many at this point I don't even if I need to give this

disclaimer but I think a lot of us are in this same space and have or found ourselves

in and out of this space in the last several years because things are hard I want to give a quick shout out to Christina Orlando

over at Reactor who sums up a lot of what I've been feeling lately really

beautifully in this piece that's actually about 30 fantastic SFF titles to look forward to in 2024, but the intro to that piece really

speaks to just how hard it is to be a person talking about books right now, not hard because it's us who are suffering so much as that there is so much other suffering in the world and it can feel difficult to put into words why it's still important to talk about this stuff or to feel that it's important at all like to talk about books and genre fiction which is often not taken as seriously when there is so much heaviness going on in our country in the world awful things terrible things and then here we are wanting to talk about you know fun little made up stories on pages

but as she points out art is is important, books are important, we know this, and it is important to reach for art and joy to bring light to dark spaces.

And it's again, just really beautifully put, so I hope you go check that out. I know it definitely made me feel a little bit better about

taking the time to do what we do because it is important to still talk about this sort of stuff and to find that

joy that I just mentioned is essential. So let's talk. about this

book that I just mentioned is essential.

So let's talk about some books that pulled me out of a funk

both recently and in other hard times.

One is a thrilling read set in a smart home in the Scottish Highlands and the other in a house with a secret room that is the beginning of a really fun series.

But before we do that, let's hear from our sponsor.

Today's episode is brought to you by Source Books, the fastest growing publisher in the world.

So I have a new true crime story for you coming from New York Times best-selling author Casey Sherman,

and it is titled Murder in Hollywood.

So it follows Hollywood Starlet Lana Turner,

who was one of Tental Town's most recognizable faces in the 40s and 50s, but her life behind the scenes was terrible.

It was terribly dark. So she started dating this mobster. His name was Johnny Stampano.

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