Human Specimens (Amazon Prime)
Human Specimen by Kanae Minato
If you don’t already know Kanae Minato, she has two great crime novels translated from Japanese to English: Penance and Confessions. They were both loved by Rioters, especially the latter. While Human Specimen hasn’t been translated yet for English readers, it does have an adaptation you can watch.
The dark story centers on a butterfly researcher and professor, Shirô Sakaki, who confesses to turning six boys into “human specimens.” And his own son is one of them—I said it was dark! You can stream the five-episode series on December 18th on Amazon Prime.
Little Disasters (Paramount+)
Little Disasters by Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Vaughan’s 2018 novel Anatomy of a Scandal already got the adaptation treatment with the Netflix legal suspense series by David E. Kelley and Melissa James Gibson. Now Vaughan’s 2020 thriller Little Disasters—which is focused on friendship and motherhood—is also getting the series adaptation treatment.
Premiering December 11th on Paramount+, the six-part psychological thriller follows a group of four women who became friends during pregnancy. When Jess (Diane Kruger) takes her baby to the ER, her friend Liz is the doctor on duty. The problem is that Jess can’t explain her daughter’s head injury, and Liz has to decide whether to call social services.
Rosemead (In Theaters)
This is a film based on Frank Shyong’s column in the LA Times, A dying mother’s plan: Buy a gun. Rent a hotel room. Kill her son.
The dramatic film, based on real events in 2015, follows a terminally ill mother and her teenage son who has recently been diagnosed with schizophrenia. Directed by Eric Lin, written by Marilyn Fu, and starring Lucy Liu, the film has already won a handful of awards in film festivals.
You can see Rosemead in theaters on December 5th, and you can watch the trailer here.
Adaptation-adjacent
Wake Up Dead Man (Netflix)
Writer and director Rian Johnson has talked a lot about his crime genre influences, and at the top of that list is always Agatha Christie: “Inspired by Christie, Johnson set out to tell a story that reflected his own time, wrapped up in the trappings of the genre he loves.”
It’s why there are so many beloved tropes in the Knives Out film series and why the first two films, Knives Out and Glass Onion, were huge hits with mystery fans. (Fun fact: The eat-shit scene in Knives Out was inspired by Johnson’s family gatherings.) So I had to include the third film in the franchise, Wake Up Dead Man, which streams on Netflix on December 12th.
Daniel Craig is back as the detective Benoit Blanc, and once again, we have a whole new cast of actors, from Kerry Washington to Glenn Close. Set in upstate New York and centering on a small church, the latest Knives Out movie sees Blanc pairing up with the local police chief to solve a murder.
Browse the books recommended in Unusual Suspects’ previous newsletters on this shelf, and see 2025 and 2026 releases! Until next time, come talk books with me on Bluesky, Goodreads, Litsy, and Multitudes Contained.
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