I hope you're all having a wonderful summer; I know I am! First it was that great visit from our niece Daisy, and now I'm in full Summer Mode. What's full Summer Mode? Getting everything done before 2 PM which is when I take my "bucket" of iced green tea and my books out to the pool to sit and read in the cool and the shade until 6 or 7 PM. I know... the life of Riley (and I know how blessed I am)!
I've been reading some fantastic books out there in the pool, and you'll be reading about them on the blog. Of course I've been keeping my eye peeled for more candidates for my Best Reads of 2016 list, and here are my picks for new (mostly) crime fiction being released during the month of July.
They're sorted by release date and contain all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite "book procurement" sites. Synopses and book covers are courtesy of Amazon. Now let's check out my list!
=== July 5 ===
Title: Tag, You're Dead
Standalone Thriller set in the Chicago area.
ISBN: 9781464206313
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 334 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Six young people play a dangerous Game of Tag in public, chasing through
the crowds, streets, and buildings of Chicago. This secret,
one-of-a-kind, wildly expensive Game offers a macabre twist to the
childhood version…if you get Tagged, you get Dead.
Three "Its" have
their reasons for buying a place in the Game. Surgically enhanced Brandy
is obsessed with destroying a naturally beautiful girl. Untalented
Robert covets his target's position as superstar of the basketball team.
Brainiac Charles craves a battle against an intellectual equal. Given
their elite social status, they reject any possible downside to the
contest. Each expects the satisfaction of killing their prey, then
walking away.
Hand-picked innocents play as “Runners,” under threat
to their loved ones should they refuse to participate: lovely,
small-town Laura; celebrated athlete Tyrese; and Amanda, gamer
extraordinaire. Alone, hunted by their adversary, each feels a single
hope…to survive.
Technological wizardry controls the Game. As soon
as Runners receive the “Go” signal on smartwatches locked to their
wrists, the Game rockets them through the city, from the El to Michigan
Avenue to the Lincoln Park Zoo. There is no time to rest. Every thirty
minutes the Runner’s location is transmitted to the It, which steadily
diminishes the Runner’s chance of ever reaching Home Base alive.
The
Game will not end until someone is Tagged, so the Runners must choose
how to play. Will they accept death? Murder their Its? Or find a way to
use individual strengths to stop the Game before anyone dies?"
Title: Another One Goes Tonight
Series: #16 in the Peter Diamond police procedural series set in Bath, England.
ISBN: 9781616957582
Publisher: Soho Crime
Hardcover, 400 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Two police officers are about to head home after a long night shift when
they receive one last call. En route to investigate, the patrol car
spins off the road, killing one of the exhausted cops and leaving the
other in critical condition.
Detective Peter Diamond is assigned
to look into the case. His supervisor is desperately hoping Diamond
will not discover the officers were at fault. Instead, Diamond discovers
something even worse—a civilian on a motorized tricycle was involved in
the crash and has been lying on the side of the road for hours. Diamond
administers CPR, but the man’s fate is unclear. Soon, though, Diamond
becomes suspicious of the civilian victim and begins a private inquiry
that leads to a trail of uninvestigated deaths. As the man lingers on
life support, Diamond must wrestle with the fact that he may have saved
the life of a serial killer."
Title: As Death Draws Near
Series: #5 in the Lady Darby historical series set in Ireland.
ISBN: 9780425277720
Publisher: Berkley
Paperback, 352 pages
Synopsis: "July 1831. In the midst of their idyllic honeymoon in England’s
Lake District, Kiera and Gage’s seclusion is soon interrupted by a
missive from her new father-in-law. A deadly incident involving a
distant relative of the Duke of Wellington has taken place at an abbey
south of Dublin, Ireland, and he insists that Kiera and Gage look into
the matter.
Intent on discovering what kind of monster could
murder a woman of the cloth, the couple travel to Rathfarnham Abbey
school. Soon a second nun is slain in broad daylight near a classroom
full of young girls. With the sinful killer growing bolder, the mother
superior would like to send the students home, but the growing civil
unrest in Ireland would make the journey treacherous.
Before
long, Kiera starts to suspect that some of the girls may be hiding a
sinister secret. With the killer poised to strike yet again, Kiera and
Gage must make haste and unmask the fiend, before their matrimonial
bliss comes to an untimely end..."
Title: Gone With the Wool
Series: #4 in the Yarn Retreat cozy series set on the Monterey Peninsula of California.
ISBN: 9780425282670
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Synopsis: "Every October, thousands of monarch butterflies flock to California’s
Monterey Peninsula to spend the winter there. To welcome their colorful
guests, Cadbury by the Sea holds a weeklong festival complete with a
butterfly queen and her court.
Eager to show some town spirit,
Casey Feldstein finds herself fluttering back and forth between setting
up a yarn retreat, baking and helping out at the festival. But when a
former butterfly queen is found dead with a knife in her back after a
Bless the Butterflies service, Casey must set her loom aside to hook a
killer with a score to settle."
Title: The Long Drop
Standalone Thriller set in Glasgow, Scotland.
ISBN: 9780316380577
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, 320 pages
UK Release
Synopsis: "A standalone psychological thriller from the acclaimed author of the
Alex Morrow novels that exposes the dark hearts of the guilty...and the
innocent.
The "trial of the century" in 1950's Glasgow is over. Peter
Manuel has been found guilty of a string of murders and is waiting to
die by hanging. But every good crime story has a beginning. Manuel's
starts with the murder of William Watt's family. Looking no further that
Watt himself, the police are convinced he's guilty. Desperate to clear
his name, Watt turns to Manuel, a career criminal who claims to have
information that will finger the real killer. As Watt seeks justice with
the cagey Manuel's help, everyone the pair meets has blood on their
hands as they sell their version of the truth. THE LONG DROP is an
explosive novel about guilt, innocence and the power of a good story to
hide the difference. "
Title: Dressed to Kilt
Series: #3 in the Scottish Highlands cozy series set in... Scotland!
ISBN: 9780425265840
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages
Synopsis: "Winter is leaving the residents of Glenkillen snowbound, but Eden isn’t
about to let the weather dampen her spirits. With only a little time
left in Scotland, she’s determined to make the most of it—starting with
attending a fancy whisky tasting with local looker Leith Cameron. But
her classy date turns into a major party foul after a woman is found
drowned in one of the vats of alcohol.
Eden immediately steps
in as a Special Constable to help solve the case, but her investigation
turns sour when she realizes that the killer could be somehow connected
to her own Scottish heritage. Now, in order to find the proof she needs
to put the murderer behind bars, she’ll have to take a shot at
unearthing her family’s past—before she herself winds up buried..."
Title: Underground Airlines
Standalone, Speculative Mystery
ISBN: 9780316261241
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Hardcover, 336 pages
Synopsis: "A gifted young black man calling himself Victor has struck a
bargain with federal law enforcement, working as a bounty hunter for the
US Marshall Service. He's got plenty of work. In this version of
America, slavery continues in four states called "the Hard Four." On the
trail of a runaway known as Jackdaw, Victor arrives in Indianapolis
knowing that something isn't right--with the case file, with his work,
and with the country itself.
A
mystery to himself, Victor suppresses his memories of his childhood on a
plantation, and works to infiltrate the local cell of a abolitionist
movement called the Underground Airlines. Tracking Jackdaw through the
back rooms of churches, empty parking garages, hotels, and medical
offices, Victor believes he's hot on the trail. But his strange,
increasingly uncanny pursuit is complicated by a boss who won't reveal
the extraordinary stakes of Jackdaw's case, as well as by a
heartbreaking young woman and her child who may be Victor's salvation.
Victor himself may be the biggest obstacle of all--though his true self
remains buried, it threatens to surface.
Victor
believes himself to be a good man doing bad work, unwilling to give up
the freedom he has worked so hard to earn. But in pursuing Jackdaw,
Victor discovers secrets at the core of the country's arrangement with
the Hard Four, secrets the government will preserve at any cost.
Underground Airlines is
a ground-breaking novel, a wickedly imaginative thriller, and a story
of an America that is more like our own than we'd like to believe."
Title: Little Girl Gone
Series: #1 in the Afton Tangler police procedural series set in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
ISBN: 9780425281765
Publisher: Berkley
Hardcover, 336 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "On a frozen night in an affluent neighborhood of Minneapolis, a baby is
abducted from her home after her teenage babysitter is violently
assaulted. The parents are frantic, the police are baffled, and, with
the perpetrator already in the wind, the trail is getting colder by the
second.
As family liaison officer with the Minneapolis P.D.,
it’s Afton Tangler’s job to deal with the emotional aftermath of
terrible crimes—but she’s never faced a case quite as brutal as this.
Each development is more heartbreaking than the last and the only lead
is a collection of seemingly unrelated clues.
But, most
disturbing of all, Afton begins to suspect that this case is not
isolated. Whoever did this has taken babies before—and if Afton doesn’t
solve this crime soon, more children are sure to go missing ."
=== July 12 ===
Title: Clear to Lift
Standalone, Contemporary Fiction set in Nevada and California.
ISBN: 9780765378514
Publisher: Forge Books
Hardcover, 320 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Navy helicopter pilot Lt. Alison Malone has
been assigned to a search and rescue team based at Naval Air Station
Fallon, Nevada, near the rugged peaks of the Sierra Nevada, and far from
her former elite H-60 squadron. A rule follower by nature, Alison is
exasperated and outraged every time she flies with her mission
commander, "Boomer" Marks, for whom military procedures are merely a
suggestion. Alison is desperate to be transferred out of the boonies,
where careers stagnate, and back to her life and fiancé in San Diego.
Alison's
defenses start to slip when she meets mountain guide Will Cavanaugh
during a particularly dicey mission. Will introduces her to a wild,
beautiful world of adventure that she has never known before. Stranded
on a mountain during a sudden dangerous blizzard, Alison questions every
truth she thought she knew about herself. When Will braves the storm to
save her life, she must confront the fact that she has been living a
lie. But is it too late to change course?
Full of action and adventure, dangerous and heart-stopping rescues, blizzards and floods, family secrets and second chances, Clear to Lift
by Anne A. Wilson is a thrilling woman's journey as she finds
confidence, truth, love, and herself against the majestic backdrop of
the Sierra Nevada."
Title: Among the Wicked
Series: #8 Kate Burkholder police procedural series set in New York.
ISBN: 9781250061577
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 320 pages
Synopsis: "Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called
upon by the sheriff's department in rural, upstate New York to assist on
a developing situation that involves a reclusive Amish settlement and
the death of a young girl. Unable to penetrate the wall of silence
between the Amish and "English" communities, the sheriff asks Kate to
travel to New York, pose as an Amish woman, and infiltrate the
community.
Kate's long time love interest, State Agent John
Tomasetti, is dead set against her taking on such an unorthodox
assignment, knowing she'll have limited communication - and even less in
the way of backup. But Kate can't turn her back, especially when the
rumor mill boils with disturbing accounts of children in danger. She
travels to New York where she's briefed and assumes her new identity as a
lone widow seeking a new life.
Kate infiltrates the community
and goes deep under cover. In the coming days, she unearths a world
built on secrets, a series of shocking crimes, and herself, alone...
trapped in a fight for her life."
=== July 19 ===
Title: The Branson Beauty
Series: #1 Sheriff Hank Worth mystery set in Branson, Missouri.
ISBN: 9781250084385
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 320 pages
Synopsis: "The Branson Beauty, an old showboat, has
crashed in the waters of an Ozark mountain lake just outside the popular
tourist destination of Branson, Missouri. More than one hundred people
are trapped aboard. Hank Worth is still settling into his new role as
county sheriff, and when he responds to the emergency call, he knows
he’s in for a long winter day of helping elderly people into rafts and
bringing them ashore. He realizes that he’ll face anxiety, arguments,
and extra costs for emergency equipment that will stretch the county’s
already thin budget to the breaking point.
But he is absolutely
not expecting to discover high school track star Mandy Bryson’s body
locked inside the Captain’s private dining room. Suddenly, Hank finds
himself embroiled in a murder investigation, with the county
commissioner breathing down his neck and the threat of an election year
ahead of him. And as he wades deeper into the investigation, Hank starts
to realize he’s up against a web of small town secrets much darker and
more tangled than he could have ever imagined.
In her captivating
debut novel, Claire Booth has created a broad cast of wonderfully
compelling characters, and she perfectly blends humor with the emotional
drama and heartache of a murder investigation."
=== July 28 ===
Title: The Dead House
Series: #5 in the Fiona Griffiths police procedural series set in Wales.
ISBN: 9781409152750
Publisher: Orion
Paperback, 464 pages
UK Release
Synopsis: "When the body of a young woman is found in an old 'dead house' - the
annexe where the dead were stored before burial in medieval times - of a
tiny church in a small town in Wales, it seems that past and present
have come together in a bizarre and horrifying way. For DC Fiona
Griffiths, the girl - a murder victim whose corpse was laid out with
obvious tenderness - represents an irresistibly intriguing puzzle, given
Fiona's unusual empathy for the dead. And when her investigations lead
her to an obscure and secretive monastery hidden in a remote valley, she
finds that the murder victim is far from the only victim of a dark and
disturbing melding of modern crime and medieval religious practices.
Only Fiona is capable of solving this brilliantly crafted mystery."
I can tell you that there are some treats in store for all of us in July! Any time there's a new Fiona Griffiths mystery, you know I'm doing my happy dance around the house. I am passionate about that series! I've already read the latest books by Peter Lovesey and Anne A. Wilson, and-- sneak preview-- they are very good. Sit in the pool until you're permanently pruned good.
Which ones of my picks caught your fancy? Inquiring minds would love to know!
