How Do You Write A Spy Novel During Geopolitical Chaos

Dear mystery fans, here’s a roundup of news and links!

Writing a Spy Novel in an Age of Geopolitical Chaos

Michael Idov’s espionage novel, The Collaborators, was published in November 2024, and he has thoughts and feelings about writing spy fiction in the current state of the world: “Americans are openly living in a 1970s paranoid conspiracy thriller, where corruption goes all the way to the top—except that half of the US population seems to see this as a good thing, or at least a temporary cleansing necessity. You try writing grounded spy fiction in a reality where ‘the president is in on it’ is not even a twist.”

Related: if you’ve yet to read Alma Katsu’s Red Widow series and Kathleen Kent’s Black Wolf, here’s your nudge.

The Thursday Murder Club Author Would Rather Write Books

Collider has written a post on why Richard Osman decided to opt out of writing the adaptation series of his very popular book The Thursday Murder Club, which he discussed in a 30-minute BBC interview that you can listen to.

Image courtesy of Hulu

Say Nothing explores ‘human wreckage’ wrought by young radicals during the Troubles

“The thing that was most interesting to me from the very beginning, is what happens when somebody who is at the vanguard of political radicalism in their youth gets older?’ Keefe said. ‘What happens when the political circumstances change?’” While this article is from November, I feel like lots of us probably missed out on seeing and hearing about a lot of things during that time, so here’s a great write-up about a great adaptation—because the book (Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland) and series (Say Nothing on Hulu) are still very much worth your time.

The 2025 Audie Award® Finalists Have Been Announced

Note: you may have to toggle to select the audiobook option

There are 28 categories—including one for mystery and one for thrillers—that will award one finalist in each group at the award show on March 4th. Some of my absolute favorite audiobook listens outside of the mystery/thriller genre are on the list: There’s Always This Year, James, Lights Out, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and Margo’s Got Money Troubles.

And of course, what you’re probably most interested in, the mystery finalists: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera, narrated by Will Damron and January LaVoy; Rough Pages by Lev AC Rosen, narrated by Vikas Adam; The Midnight Feast by Lucy Foley, narrated by Joe Eyre, Sarah Slimani, Roly Botha, Laurence Dobiesz, and Tuppence Middleton; Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner, narrated by Hillary Huber; This Is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter, narrated by Kathleen Early.

And the thriller finalists: The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean, narrated by Mizuo Peck, Tessa Albertson, Nicole Lewis, Rebecca Lowman, Joy Osmanski, Angel Pean, Shaun Taylor-Corbett, Erin Ruth Walker, and CJ Wilson; First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld; The Forest of Lost Souls by Dean Koontz, narrated by January LaVoy; The Little Drummer Girl by John le Carré, narrated by Adjoa Andoh; Lone Wolf by Gregg Hurwitz, narrated by Scott Brick.

I noticed some interesting things: off the top of my head, two were book club picks (Listen For the Lie was a GMA March 2024 pick, and First Lie Wins was a Reese January 2024 pick). Reese’s having a pick in the finalists round should have her celebrating, given that she’s recently leaned hard into audiobook promotions (she has a partnership with Apple Books for Audiobooks).

My opinion: I’ve only read three of these—The Return of Ellie Black, First Lie Wins, and Listen for the Lie—and think all of them are worth a read/listen. And while I’ve yet to get to Rough Pages, I adore Lev A.C. Rosen as an author based on everything I have read of his (Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts) and Camp).

Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf. See upcoming 2025 releases, and mysteries from 2024 and 2023. Check out this Unusual Suspects Pinterest board and get Tailored Book Recommendations! Until next time, keep investigating! In the meantime, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Substack.

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