October is usually the month when the weather finally cools down here in the Sonoran Desert, and I'm looking forward to it. I've been abiding by all the rules all summer long, but it seems that my body doesn't want to cooperate, and I'm sick to death of being stuck at home. I've decided that I'll just wrap myself in Saran Wrap and head on out to places like the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Garden... and the Heard Museum for good measure.
Watch out, Phoenix! I'm turning myself loose!
However, until blast-off I've been keeping my eye on new crime fiction. (I know, shocking, isn't it? *wink*) The following list contains my choices for the best new crime fiction being released in October. They're grouped by their release dates, and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.
Let's see if I'm able to tempt you with any of my choices...
=== October 3 ===
Title: Glory Be
Series: #1 in the Glory Broussard cozy series set in the Louisiana bayou.
272 pages
Synopsis: "It’s a hot and sticky Sunday in Lafayette, Louisiana, and Glory
has settled into her usual after-church routine, meeting gamblers at the
local coffee shop, where she works as a small-time bookie. Sitting at
her corner table, Glory hears that her best friend—a nun beloved by the
community—has been found dead in her apartment.
When police
declare the mysterious death a suicide, Glory is convinced that there
must be more to the story. With her reluctant daughter—who has troubles
of her own—in tow, Glory launches a shadow investigation into
Lafayette’s oil tycoons, church gossips, a rumored voodoo priestess,
nosey neighbors, and longtime ne'er-do wells.
As a Black woman of
a certain age who grew up in a segregated Louisiana, Glory is used to
being minimized and overlooked. But she’s determined to make her
presence known as the case leads her deep into a web of intrigue she
never realized Lafayette could harbor."
Title: Murders of a Feather
Series: #3 in the Dr. Kate Vet cozy series set in New York State.
384 pages
Synopsis: "Hudson Valley winters can be brutal…and deadly! Dr. Kate is
once again on the case (not to mention thin ice) after discovering a
young engaged couple frozen to death in the lake. To make matters
worse, her temporary receptionist appears to have overdosed from a
recreational sedative used at the animal hospital. Kate barely has time
to dread Valentine's Day (and the fact that she's alone on this holiday,
once again) as the police investigation shows that all three fatalities
are in fact homicides.
But who would want the young
couple dead, just as they were embarking on a new life together? And
who pumped the temp employee full of enough animal tranquilizers to drop
an ox? Kate doesn't know where to begin until she stumbles upon a
connection between the three victims and decides she needs to
investigate further. But will her investigation leave her any time to
get to know the handsome large animal vet she's just met on a house
call? And is the injured wild crow she's taken under her wing in fact an
omen of more bad things to come?"
Series: #10 in the Tracy Crosswhite police procedural series set in Washington State
379 pages
Synopsis: "
Tracy Crosswhite is reopening the investigation into Seattle’s
Route 99 serial killer. After thirteen victims, he stopped hunting and
the trail went cold, stirring public outrage. Now, nearly three decades
after his first kill, Tracy is expected to finally bring closure to the
victims’ families and redeem the Seattle PD’s reputation. Even if it
means working with her nemesis, Captain Johnny Nolasco.Lead
detective of the original task force, Nolasco dares Tracy to do what he
failed to: close the case. Forming an uneasy alliance, Tracy and
Nolasco revisit old leads and pursue new evidence only to unearth
high-level corruption and cover-ups as dangerous as the elusive killer
himself. At the risk of being exposed, such deadly and powerful forces
will go to extremes to stay in the shadows.
That’s
just where Tracy and Nolasco are headed―to find the twisted truth behind
a killer’s motives, his disappearance, and his chilling comeback."
=== October 17 ===
Title:
Up on the Woof TopSeries: #14 in the Chet & Bernie humorous P.I. series
320 pages
Synopsis: "Chet the dog, "the most lovable narrator in all of crime fiction" (Boston Globe)
and his human partner Bernie Little find themselves high in the
mountains this holiday season to help Dame Ariadne Carlisle, a renowned
author of bestselling Christmas mysteries, find Rudy, her lead reindeer
and good luck charm, who has gone missing.
At Kringle Ranch, Dame
Ariadne’s expansive mountain spread, Chet discovers that he is not fond
of reindeer. But the case turns out to be about much more than reindeer
after Dame Ariadne’s personal assistant takes a long fall into Devil’s
Purse, a deep mountain gorge. When our duo discovers that someone very
close to Dame Ariadne was murdered in that same spot decades earlier,
they start looking into that long ago unsolved crime.
But as they
reach into the past, the past is also reaching out for them. Can they
unlock the secrets of Dame Ariadne’s life before they too end up at the
bottom of the gorge? Is Rudy somehow the key?"
Title:
Home at Night Series: #5 in the Mercy Carr law enforcement/working dog series set in Vermont
352 pages
Synopsis: "It’s Halloween in Vermont, winter is coming, and five humans, two
dogs, and a cat are a crowd in Mercy Carr’s small cabin. She needs more
room―and she knows just the place: Grackle Tree Farm, with thirty acres
of woods and wetlands and a Victorian manor to die for. They say it’s
haunted by the ghosts of missing children and lost poets and a murderer
or two, but Mercy loves it anyway. Even when Elvis finds a dead body in
the library.
There’s something about Grackle Tree Farm that
people are willing to kill for―and Mercy needs to figure out what before
they move in. A coded letter found on the victim points to a hidden
treasure that may be worth a fortune―if it’s real. She and Captain
Thrasher conduct a search of the old place―and end up at the wrong end
of a Glock. A masked man shoots Thrasher, and she and Elvis must take
him down before he murders them all. Under fire, she and Elvis manage to
run the guy off, but not before they are wounded, leaving Thrasher
fighting for his life in the hospital, Mercy on crutches, and Elvis on
the mend.
Now it’s up to Mercy and Troy and the dogs to track
down the masked murderer in a county overflowing with leaf peepers,
Halloween revelers, and treasure hunters and bring him to justice before
he strikes again and the treasure is lost forever, along with the good
name of Grackle Tree Farm…."
Title:
Hunters of the Dead Series: #7 in the Holmes on the Range historical/Western series set in Wyoming
272 pages
Synopsis: "
The A.A. Western Detective Agency takes on a new case in 1894
Wyoming, a land of bandit gangs and rustlers, when a group of scientists
come to town in the hopes of rustling up something very
different-dinosaur fossils.With
Big Red and Old Red Amlingmeyer on protection duty, Old Red's obsession
with Sherlock Holmes is forced to take a back seat. Until a human body
is shockingly discovered during an excavation, that is.
As
the mystery deepens, these cowboy detectives must put their sleuthing
skills to the test to catch a killer stalking their client's dig site.
With death lurking around every corner, can the Double-A Western Detective Agency catch the killer before it's too late?"
=== October 24 ===
Title:
Tulle Death Do Us Part Series: #4 in the Material Witness cozy series set in central California
250 pages
Synopsis: "When the historic Waverly House is transformed into a wedding
venue, the town buzzes with excitement. An out-of-town couple with the
loosest of local ties has adopted them as their own. But amidst the
celebration, tragedy strikes when a guest is found dead in the chapel
before the wedding march plays. Suspicion quickly falls on the bride.
Poly's ex-boyfriend, the groom-to-be, needles Poly for help in solving
the murder, but things take a complicated turn as the bride points the
finger--at him.
Poly dives headfirst into a web of secrets and
hidden agendas. From the eccentric wedding planner to the envious
bridesmaids, she must untangle the knot of clues while navigating chaos
of wedding season at her fabric shop. As the investigation unfolds, Poly
has a choice: her familiar past or a potential future with the town’s
most eligible bachelor. With puns as sharp as tailor's shears and her
knack for finding trouble, Poly is determined to expose the real culprit
before the bride’s “I do” becomes the bride doing life."
Title:
Jane and the Final MysterySeries: #15 in the Jane Austen historical series set in England
312 pages
Synopsis: "March 1817: As winter turns to spring, Jane Austen’s health is in
slow decline, and threatens to cease progress on her latest manuscript.
But when her nephew Edward brings chilling news of a death at his former
school, Winchester College, not even her debilitating ailment can keep
Jane from seeking out the truth. Arthur Prendergast, a senior pupil at
the prestigious all-boys’ boarding school, has been found dead in a
culvert near the schoolgrounds—and in the pocket of his drenched
waistcoat is an incriminating note penned by the young William
Heathcote, the son of Jane’s dear friend Elizabeth. Winchester College
is a world unto itself, with its own language and rites of passage,
cruel hazing and dangerous pranks. Can Jane clear William’s name before
her illness gets the better of her?
Over the course of
fourteen previous novels in the critically acclaimed Being a Jane Austen
Mystery series, Stephanie Barron has won the hearts of thousands of
fans—crime fiction aficionados and Janeites alike—with her tricky
plotting and breathtaking evocation of Austen’s voice. Now, she brings
Jane’s final season—and final murder investigation—to brilliant,
poignant life in this unforgettable conclusion."
Title: Dangerous Women
Series: #2 in the Secret Lives thriller series featuring 75-year-old Ethel Fiona Crestwater set in Washington, DC
320 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "In a case deciding the future of clean energy, everything
hinges on how the chief justice of Supreme Court will lean. DANGEROUS
WOMEN stirs up the perfect cocktail of ingenious spy-craft and political
intrigue of Thomas Perry's The Old Man brightened with the charming, uncanny energy of Killers of a Certain Age.
This urgent, cleverly plotted high stakes thriller is set in motion by
botched attack on two law clerks leaving one dead and the other in a
coma. The ensuing cover up leaves a string of bodies and too many
players at cross-purposes. It also leaves Chief Justice Clarissa Baxter
with a target on her back.
We'll need an off the grid
hero with friends in high places: enter retired FBI
agent-turned-boardinghouse landlady, Ethel Fiona Crestwater (legend) and
her double-first-cousin-twice-removed Jesse Cooper (sidekick). Although
in her mid-seventies, Ethel is no bumbling amateur sleuth; she's a
seasoned pro with razor-sharp instincts and Bond-worthy skills.
College-aged Jesse brings tech savvy and boundless enthusiasm, along
with an innate talent for intrigue. Together, the unlikely duo will face
malicious back-stabbing political sycophants, conniving lobbyists, and a
motivated assassin bent on removing the Chief Justice from the
equation―along with Ethel, who stands defiantly between the hitman and
his payday."
Title:
The Christmas Appeal Author: Janice Hallett
Standalone cozy novella set in England
208 pages
Synopsis: "The Christmas season has arrived in Lower Lockwood, and the
Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive holiday production of
Jack and the Beanstalk to raise money for a new church roof. But despite
the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking among the amateur theater
enthusiasts with petty rivalries, a possibly asbestos-filled beanstalk,
and some perennially absent players behind the scenes.
Of
course, there’s also the matter of the dead body onstage. Who could
possibly have had the victim on their naughty list? Join lawyers Femi
and Charlotte as they investigate Christmas letters, examine emails, and
pore over police transcripts to identify both the victim and killer
before the curtain closes on their holiday production—for good."
=== October 30 ===
Title: Cheap Trills
Series: #4 in the Cyd Redondo humorous cozy series set in Bali
223 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "It’s 2007 and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, has Eat, Pray, Love
fever. Every book club in town is devouring the bestseller and all of
Cyd’s senior citizen clients are dying to head to exotic Bali. But the
travel agent in Cyd only sees its dangers—three active volcanos, six
venomous snake species, no wheelchair ramps, about fifteen possible
tropical diseases, and the death penalty for smugglers.
So she’s
hurt and furious, but also terrified, when her mother, Bridget, sneaks
off with two friends on a Bali tour booked by Cyd’s archnemesis, Peggy
Newsome. Of course, Bridget and her friends wind up stranded and smack
dab in the middle of a murder investigation. Now Cyd must navigate
Balinese culture, battle songbird smugglers and thieving monkeys,
commandeer a funicular railway, infiltrate an underground Tupperware
network, and find the real killer, all while trying to keep three
hungry, endangered Bali Starling chicks alive in her purse . . ."
=== October 31 ===
Title: Blood Sisters
Standalone psychological thriller set in Oklahoma
384 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "As an archeologist for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Syd Walker
spends her days in Rhode Island trying to protect the land's indigenous
past, even as she’s escaping her own.
While Syd is dedicated to
her job, she’s haunted by a night of violence she barely escaped in her
Oklahoma hometown fifteen years ago. Though she swore she’d never go
back, the past comes calling.
When a skull is found near the
crime scene of her youth, just as her sister, Emma Lou, vanishes, Syd
knows she must return home. She refuses to let her sister's
disappearance, or the remains, go ignored—as so often happens in cases
of missing Native women.
But not everyone is glad to have Syd
home, and she can feel the crosshairs on her. Still, the deeper Syd
digs, the more she uncovers about a string of missing indigenous women
cases going back decades. To save her sister, she must expose a darkness
in the town that no one wants to face—not even Syd.
The truth will be unearthed."
Wow! There's a bumper crop of good new books coming in October, isn't there?
Did I manage to add any books to your wish lists? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!
