Five Stories That Aren’t What They Seem
A reading list of twisted tales and unraveled mysteries
This is an edition of The Wonder Reader, a newsletter in which our editors recommend a set of stories to spark your curiosity and fill you with delight. Sign up here to get it every Saturday morning.
The kayaker who went missing—and stayed missing for so long that rescue teams were at a loss. The seemingly perfect man who conned women—and was brought to justice by his own victims. The following stories pack a double punch, starting with a mysterious circumstance and tracing the story to places unknown and unexpected. Today, sit back and explore five gripping reads that aren’t what they seem.
The Missing Kayaker
By Jamie Thompson
What happened to Ryan Borgwardt?
The Perfect Man Who Wasn’t
By Rachel Monroe
For years, he used fake identities to charm women out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then his victims banded together to take him down. (From 2018)
The Con Man Who Became a True-Crime Writer
By Rachel Monroe
In his old life, Matthew Cox told stories to scam his way into millions of dollars. Now he’s trying to make it by selling tales that are true. (From 2019)
Still Curious?
- They stole Yogi Berra’s World Series rings. Then they did something truly crazy. The childhood friends behind the most audacious string of sports-memorabilia heists in American history
- The unbelievable tale of Jesus’s wife: A hotly contested, supposedly ancient manuscript suggests Christ was married. But believing its origin story—a real-life Da Vinci Code, involving a Harvard professor, a onetime Florida pornographer, and an escape from East Germany—requires a big leap of faith.
Other Diversions
PS
I recently asked readers to share a photo of something that sparks their sense of awe in the world. Charles H., 68, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, shared this photo from “early in the morning in August 2025 as I was leaving Guymon, Okla., driving through the Okla. panhandle to hike Black Mesa. Shots of the moon never seem to capture the awe, but I took this photo anyhow and was surprised later to see the halo of a cloud.”
I’ll continue to feature your responses in the coming weeks.
— Isabel
