While I'm waiting to get my hair cut, I'm going to share my picks for the best new crime fiction being released throughout the month of July.
I've grouped them according to their release dates, and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.
Let's see if I can add a title or two to your own Need To Read lists!
=== July 1 ===
Title: Mary's Place
Author: Charlotte Hinger
Standalone novel set in 1980s Kansas
330 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Iron and Mary Barrett’s farming family is rural royalty, their
success symbolized by a magnificent three-story house, Mary’s Place.
Years in the building, the house is a testament to Mary’s grit and
organizational abilities. But when bank examiners apply new ratings for
agricultural loans in the 1980s, the family’s belief that its prosperity
is a natural outcome of hard work is sent reeling.
Bank president J.C. Espy had never done anything crooked in his life until the FDIC changed the rules for agricultural loans. After becoming desperate to save his hundred-year-old bank, he worries that his resulting choice will cause his friend Iron to lose his land. Frantically J.C. works to convince Iron he will lose everything if he doesn’t comply with the new standards. In the meantime, both Iron and J.C. must negotiate with sons who have contempt for their fathers’ old-fashioned values. While Iron agonizes, Mary maneuvers to keep the family together and save the farm.
Mary’s Place is an unforgettable tribute to the rural families who weathered one of the worst agricultural disasters in American history."
Bank president J.C. Espy had never done anything crooked in his life until the FDIC changed the rules for agricultural loans. After becoming desperate to save his hundred-year-old bank, he worries that his resulting choice will cause his friend Iron to lose his land. Frantically J.C. works to convince Iron he will lose everything if he doesn’t comply with the new standards. In the meantime, both Iron and J.C. must negotiate with sons who have contempt for their fathers’ old-fashioned values. While Iron agonizes, Mary maneuvers to keep the family together and save the farm.
Mary’s Place is an unforgettable tribute to the rural families who weathered one of the worst agricultural disasters in American history."
=== July 2 ===
Title: Death in a Lonely Place
Author: Stig Abell
Series: #2 in the Jake Jackson (former police officer) series set in rural England.
352 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Former London detective Jake Jackson—introduced in the acclaimed mystery Death Under a Little Sky—finds
his new life in the country threatened by an old case from the past in
this absorbing mystery that will challenge readers’ detective skills. 
Title: The Quiet Woman
In a quiet village, a storm is brewing . . .
Detective Jake Jackson left London for a quiet life in Caelum Parvum. The idyllic country village offers the peace he craves—tending to his chickens, swimming in his lake, and spending long, lazy evenings with his new love, Livia. It’s the perfect setting for their relationship to blossom.
Then a case from the past re-emerges, shattering the calm and plunging Jake into the shadowy world of No Taboo—a clandestine group which serves the extravagant whims of Britain’s elite. And when Livia accepts a position working for a powerful publishing magnate, suspicions arise about her new employer’s connection to the mysterious group.
As
unseen forces manipulate those around him, Jake races to expose the
deception that threatens his peaceful world. Amid the desolate beauty
and seemingly friendly faces of this small, cozy community, Jake must
decide who he can really trust . . . or learn just how far No Taboo will
go to protect their secrets."
Author: Priscilla Masters
Series: #2 in the Nurse Florence Shaw series set in England.
208 pages
Synopsis: "Nurse
Florence Shaw is baffled when a quiet patient dies in an apparent
suicide pact with her husband. Can she uncover the truth behind this
mysterious woman? 
Title: Dog Day Afternoon
Title: The Burning
Title: A Refiner's Fire
Richard and Christine Clay have
been married for decades. Their relationship has stood the test of time
despite Christine appearing passive while her husband is unmistakably
dominant - at times bullying and controlling.
Nurse Florence Shaw
has seen Christine at the surgery a number of times with minor
complaints over the past year, none of which has led to a serious
diagnosis. But when Florence hears that the couple appear to have
entered into a suicide pact, she is shocked, though not surprised that
Richard has survived. Was Christine's death really a suicide, or was
there more to this quiet woman than meets the eye?"
Author: David Rosenfelt
Series: #29 in the Andy Carpenter series set in New Jersey.
304 pages
Synopsis: "Retired lawyer Andy Carpenter has run the Tara Foundation―the dog
rescue organization named after his beloved golden retriever―for years.
It's always been his calling, even as Andy's pulled into representing
clients in court. His investigator, Marcus Clark, has been at Andy's
side for a long time. Even though they've known each other for years,
Marcus keeps his personal life a mystery.
So it’s a shock when Marcus arrives at the Tara Foundation with two strangers in tow. Turns out Marcus takes disadvantaged young men under his wing, gets them jobs, a place to live, and a chance at a different life. And they want a dog. Andy’s specialty. One of the young men, Nick Williams, instantly falls in love with one of the dogs, Daisy.
When there’s a mass shooting at Nick’s work, leaving six dead, all signs point to Nick. Marcus, who's never asked Andy for anything, asks Andy for help. Despite Nick's troubled background, Andy trusts his friend and takes the case."
So it’s a shock when Marcus arrives at the Tara Foundation with two strangers in tow. Turns out Marcus takes disadvantaged young men under his wing, gets them jobs, a place to live, and a chance at a different life. And they want a dog. Andy’s specialty. One of the young men, Nick Williams, instantly falls in love with one of the dogs, Daisy.
When there’s a mass shooting at Nick’s work, leaving six dead, all signs point to Nick. Marcus, who's never asked Andy for anything, asks Andy for help. Despite Nick's troubled background, Andy trusts his friend and takes the case."
=== July 9 ===
Author: Donna Leon
Series: #33 in the Commissario Guido Brunetti police procedural series set in Italy.
288 pages
Synopsis: "Around one AM on an early spring morning, two teenage gangs are
arrested after clashing violently in one of Venice’s squares.
Commissario Claudia Griffoni, on duty that night, perhaps ill-advisedly
walks the last of the boys home because his father, Dario Monforte,
failed to pick him up at the Questura. Coincidentally, Guido Brunetti is
asked by a wealthy friend of Vice-Questore Patta to vet Monforte for a
job, triggering Brunetti’s memory that twenty years earlier Monforte had
been publicly celebrated as the hero of a devastating bombing of the
Italian military compound in Iraq. Yet Monforte had never been awarded a
medal either by the Carabinieri, his service branch, or by the Italian
government.
Title: Pentimento Mori
That seeming contradiction, and the brutal attack on one of Brunetti’s colleagues, Enzo Bocchese, by a possible gang member, concentrate Brunetti’s attentions. Surprisingly empowered by Patta, supported by Signorina Elettra’s extraordinary research abilities and by his wife, Paola’s, empathy, Brunetti, with Griffoni, gradually discovers the sordid hypocrisy surrounding Monforte’s past, culminating in a fiery meeting of two gangs and a final opportunity for redemption.
A Refiner’s Fire
is Donna Leon at her very best: an elegant, sophisticated storyteller
whose indelible characters become richer with each book, and who
constantly explores the ambiguity between moral and legal justice."
=== July 16 ===
Author: Valeria Corciolani
Series: #1 in the art historian Edna Silvera series set in Italy.
244 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "Pentimento Mori is the first
book in the Edna Silvera series. Renowned art historian Dr. Edna
Silvera is not your typical detective. In fact, she's not a detective at
all. But when she stumbles across an apparently-impossible medieval
painting in the suddenly-deceased Nando Folli's junk shop, her curiosity
lands her in trouble with the police and on the trail of a shadowy
world no one wants to admit exists.
Title: Murder at the White Palace
What transforms Pentimento Mori from a great mystery to a must-read is Corciolani's adept use of solidly-researched and uniformly-fascinating art history, ranging from the significance of colors and pigments in medieval art to why the Pope blesses people with three fingers. If you're interested in art history, you'll want to read this book. If you're not interested in art history, read this book and you will be.
Apart from being surreptitiously educational, Pentimento Mori
is a fun read. Corciolani's style hits the sweet spot between cozy
mysteries and more gritty fare. While there's a colorful and engaging
cast of characters, lots of laughter, and limited violence, there's real
tension and solid action that drives the plot. With something for
everyone, Pentimento Mori has "book club choice" written all over it."
=== July 30 ===
Author: Allison Montclair
Series: #6 n the Sparks & Bainbridge historical series set in England.
320 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "In the immediate post-war days of London, two unlikely partners
have undertaken an even more unlikely, if necessary, business
venture―The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. The two partners are Miss Iris
Sparks, a woman with a dangerous―and never discussed―past in British
intelligence and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a genteel war widow with a
young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Looking to
throw a New Year’s Eve soiree for their clients, Sparks and Bainbridge
scout an empty building―only to find a body contained in the walls. What
they initially assume is a victim of the recent Blitz is uncovered
instead to be a murder victim―stabbed several times.
To make matters worse, the owner of the building is Sparks’ beau, Archie Spelling, who has ties to a variety of enterprises on the right and wrong sides of the law, and the main investigator for the police is her ex-fiancĂ©e. Gwen, too, is dealing with her own complicated love life, as she tentatively steps back into the dating pool for the first time since her husband’s death. Murder is not something they want to add to their plates, but the murderer may be closer to home than is comfortable, and they must do all they can to protect their clients, their business and themselves."
To make matters worse, the owner of the building is Sparks’ beau, Archie Spelling, who has ties to a variety of enterprises on the right and wrong sides of the law, and the main investigator for the police is her ex-fiancĂ©e. Gwen, too, is dealing with her own complicated love life, as she tentatively steps back into the dating pool for the first time since her husband’s death. Murder is not something they want to add to their plates, but the murderer may be closer to home than is comfortable, and they must do all they can to protect their clients, their business and themselves."
Title: Havoc
Author: Deborah J. Ledford
Series: #2 in the Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran police procedural series set in New Mexico.
347 pages
Synopsis: "It’s been over a year since the case that almost broke her, but
when Eva “Lightning Dance” Duran is called back to duty, she doesn’t
hesitate to answer. A bank robbery has left an officer down and a
suspect on the run. Law enforcement is in hot pursuit, and residents are
on the lookout―but before anyone can catch the criminal, tragedy
strikes.
A member of the Taos Pueblo tribe has been shot and killed. The culprit? An untraceable 3D printed gun. With the support of fellow tribal cops, Eva breaks the news to the victim’s family and swears to find justice.
More violence
follows, feeding the rising racial tensions between the Taos Pueblo
people and the Hispanic community. New evidence forces Eva to consider
the possibility that the bank robbery and 3D guns are related, but until
she figures out how, there’s no telling how deep this crime ring
goes…or how far its evasive ringleader will go to protect it."
There you go-- my picks for the best new crime fiction being released in July. I'm probably most excited for the books by Allison Montclair and Stig Abell. How about you? Are any of these books already on your lists? Did I tempt you to add any? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!
