It's almost impossible for me to believe that summer's almost over. Of course it does linger longer here in the Sonoran Desert, but it's still my favorite time of year. At least I have travel plans to help keep my mind off the waning of the warmth.
I also have new books to keep me occupied. I always have my eyes peeled for the newest in crime fiction, and these are my picks from those books being released throughout the month of September. They are grouped according to their release dates, and each entry contains all the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite "book procurement sites." Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon.
Happy Reading!
=== September 6 ===
Title: Santorini Caesars
Author: Jeffrey Siger
Series: #8 in the Andreas Kaldis police procedural series set in locations throughout Greece
ISBN: 9781464206016
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 304 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "When a young demonstrator is publicly singled out and assassinated by highly trained killers in the heart of protest-charged Athens, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis is convinced the killing was meant not to take out a target, but as a message. A message from whom? To whom? And why?
Kaldis’ search for answers leads him and his team to the breathtakingly beautiful island of Santorini, heralded in legend as the lost island of Atlantis, and to eavesdrop on a hush-hush gathering of Greece’s top military leaders looking to come up with their own response to the overwhelming crises and uncertainties their country faces.
Is it a coup d’état, or something else? Greece is no stranger to violence upending duly elected governments and memories of the nation’s last junta dictatorship years still burn in the minds of all who lived through the Regime of the Colonels. The answer is by no means clear, but as suspects emerge and international intrigues evolve, the threat of another, far more dramatic assassination grows ever more likely―as does the realization that only Kaldis can stop it.
But at what price? Greece’s government is in chaos, its goals and leadership are suspect, and Kaldis is forever at odds with its methods. Life is not the same, nor is it likely to return to better days any time soon. With a new child on the way, and their young son coming face-to-face with the harsh nature of the world around him, Kaldis and his wife wonder if carrying on the fight matters anymore.
It is a time for testing character, commitment, and the common good. And for saving the nation from chaos."
Title: What Gold Buys
Author: Ann Parker
Series: #5 in the historical Silver Rush series set in Leadville, Colorado
ISBN: 9781464206238
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 408 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "Autumn 1880 in the Rocky Mountains brings frost, snow, and the return of Silver Queen Saloon owner Inez Stannert to Leadville, Colorado.
In this silver rush boomtown, those who are hungry for material riches seek their fortunes in precious metals. Others, hungry for spiritual relief, seek to pierce the veil between life and death with the help of fortunetellers, mediums, and occultists. Deep in the twisted byways of Leadville’s Stillborn Alley, soothsayer Drina Gizzi awaits the promised arrival of her benefactor, the mysterious Mr. Brown. When she is found murdered, strangled with a set of silver and gold corset laces, no one seems to care except the three who find her body―Inez, her lover Reverend Sands, and Drina’s young daughter, Antonia. The mystery surrounding Drina’s death deepens when her body vanishes without a trace.
As Inez and Antonia band together to seek out Drina’s killer, they unearth disturbing evidence of underground resurrectionists, long-held grievances, and white-hot revenge. Meanwhile, Inez’s husband, Mark Stannert, true to his word that he only “plays to win,” contrives to drive Inez and Sands apart, gambling that he can convince her to abandon her plans for divorce. But what can gold buy, after all? A new life? Freedom from the past? Truth and justice for those murdered and unmourned? Or a final passage for Inez and Antonia into an unmarked grave and the world of the dead?
And what of Mr. Brown, whose missing presence hovers over all, like a spirit from beyond?"
Title: Downfall
Author: J.A. Jance
Series: #17 in the Sheriff Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona
ISBN: 9780062297716
Publisher: William Morrow
Hardcover, 400 pages
Synopsis: "Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady returns in this outstanding new mystery set in the beautiful desert country of the Southwest.
With a baby on the way, sudden deaths in the family from which to recover, a re-election campaign looming, and a daughter heading off for college, Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady has her hands full when a puzzling new case hits her department, demanding every resource she has at her disposal.
Two women have fallen to their deaths from a small nearby peak, referred to by Bisbee locals as Geronimo. What’s the connection between these two women? Is this a case of murder/suicide or is it a double homicide? And if someone else is responsible, is it possible that the perpetrator may, even now, be on the hunt for another victim?"
Title: Winter's Child
Author: Margaret Coel
Series: #20 in the Wind River mystery series set in Wyoming
ISBN: 9780425280324
Publisher: Berkley
Hardcover, 304 pages
Synopsis: "In the midst of a blizzard, Myra and Eldon Little Shield found an abandoned baby on their doorstep and brought her inside. Five years later, no one has come back to claim the little girl now known as Mary Anne Little Shield. But now that she’s old enough to start school, her foster parents fear social services will take her—a white child—away from them.
Determined to adopt Mary Anne, the Little Shields hire lawyer Clint Hopkins, who wants Vicky as cocounsel on the case. But before their meeting can take place, a black truck deliberately runs Hopkins down in the street.
Enlisting Father John to help investigate who would kill to stop the child’s adoption, Vicky unravels a connection between the five-year-old girl and a missing alcoholic Arapaho wanted for robbery—only to uncover one of the darkest secrets in Wind River’s history…"
Title: The Homeplace
Author: Kevin Wolf
Standalone set on the eastern Colorado plains
ISBN: 9781250103161
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 272 pages
Synopsis: "Chase Ford was the first of four generations of Ford men to leave Comanche County, Colorado. For Chase, leaving saved the best and hid the worst. But now, he has come home. His friends are right there waiting for him. And so are his enemies.
Then the murder of a boy, a high school basketball star just like Chase, rocks the small town. When another death is discovered―one that also shares unsettling connections to him―law enforcement’s attention turns towards Chase, causing him to wonder just what he came home to.
A suspenseful, dramatic crime novel, The Homeplace captures the stark beauty of life on the Colorado plains."
=== September 8 ===
Title: The Question of the Felonious Friend
Author: E.J. Copperman (AKA Jeffrey Cohen)
Series: #3 in the Asperger's mysteries set in New Jersey
ISBN: 9780738743516
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Paperback, 288 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "It’s been one year, two weeks, and three days since Samuel Hoenig opened the doors of Questions Answered. The personality traits of his Asperger’s Syndrome help him maintain objectivity―a critical component of his business’s continuing success.
But when Tyler Clayton, a young man who also has Asperger’s, asks if a store clerk is truly his friend, Samuel, for the first time, can’t bear to give an objective answer. It’s a dicey situation that only gets worse when one of the key players ends up dead. Resolving to do the right thing, Samuel, with help from his associate Ms. Washburn, wades into the murky waters of friendship, and the answer he finds may be a revelation to himself most of all."
=== September 13 ===
Title: An Obvious Fact
Author: Craig Johnson
Series: #12 in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series set in Wyoming
ISBN: 9780525426943
Publisher: Viking
Hardcover, 336 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "In the midst of the largest motorcycle rally in the world, a young biker is run off the road and ends up in critical condition. When Sheriff Walt Longmire and his good friend Henry Standing Bear are called to Hulett, Wyoming—the nearest town to America's first national monument, Devils Tower—to investigate, things start getting complicated. As competing biker gangs; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; a military-grade vehicle donated to the tiny local police force by a wealthy entrepreneur; and Lola, the real-life femme fatale and namesake for Henry's '59 Thunderbird (and, by extension, Walt's granddaughter) come into play, it rapidly becomes clear that there is more to get to the bottom of at this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally than a bike accident. After all, in the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, whose Adventures of Sherlock Holmes the Bear won't stop quoting, 'There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.'"
Title: Stalking Ground
Author: Margaret Mizushima
Series: #2 in the Timber Creek K-9 series set in mountains of Colorado
ISBN: 9781629538334
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Hardcover, 320 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "When Deputy Ken Brody's sweetheart goes missing in the mountains outside Timber Creek, Mattie Cobb and Robo are called to search. But it's mid-October and a dark snow storm is brewing over the high country--and they're already too late. By the time they find her body, the storm has broken and the snow is coming down hard.
While Brody hikes down to bring back the forensics team and veterinarian Cole Walker gathers supplies to protect them from the storm, Mattie and Robo find themselves alone, guarding the gravesite overnight in the dead of the early winter. And that's only the first long, dark night in a series of them, because as their investigation develops, Mattie, Robo, Brody, and Cole find themselves in the middle of the killer's stalking ground--with no way out unless they can catch a predator more deadly than any natural threat."
Title: Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions
Author: Mario Giordano
Series: #1 in the Auntie Poldi amateur sleuth series set in Sicily
ISBN: 9781908524690
Publisher: Bitter Lemon Press
Paperback, 320 pages
Synopsis: "This is the first novel in a charming new mystery series set in Sicily and laced with Italian sensuality and humor. It features an amateur sleuth, the sassy and foul-mouthed Auntie Poldi.
Recently widowed Poldi moves to Sicily in order to quietly drink herself to death with a sea view, but fate intervenes. When she finds the corpse of a young man on the beach, his face blown off with a sawn-off shotgun, she becomes a potential suspect in his murder case. Poldi soon falls for the gorgeous Commissario Montana who has been assigned to lead the case. They form an investigative—and romantic—partnership. The delightful details of this romance, and the extreme awkwardness of Poldi's retelling it to her mortified nephew, are some of the novel's many high points.
Sicily, a vivid backdrop, is an island of people obsessed with food. They talk passionately about which remote village produces the best olives, pistachio ice cream, oyster mushrooms, mandarins, and marzipan, and about which restaurant serves the best pasta al nero di sepia or canolli a la crema di ricotta. And there is never a direct reference to the mafia ("an invention of those fascists in the North"), even when confronted with murders committed with sawn-off shotguns.
Mario Giordano, the son of Italian immigrants, was born in Munich in 1963 and studied psychology at the University of Düsseldorf. He writes novels, books for adolescents, and screenplays. He lives in Cologne. Auntie Poldi and the Sicilian Lions is his first mystery novel."
Title: Sun, Sand, Murder
Author: John Keyse-Walker
Standalone police procedural set in the British Virgin Islands
ISBN: 9781250088291
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 288 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books
Synopsis: "As a Special Constable, Teddy Creque is the only police presence on the remote, sun-drenched island of Anegada, nestled in the heart of the British Virgin Islands. In all his years on the job, Teddy has never considered the possibility that he might have to address an actual crime on his peaceful island. That is, until he receives a hysterical call about a dead man on the beach. Indeed, Teddy is shocked to discover Paul Kelliher, a biologist who traveled to the island every winter for research, lying dead on the sands of the island’s most remote beach, killed by a single shot to the head. And when the BVI’s “real police” task Teddy with informing Kelliher’s nearest kin of his death, Teddy makes an even more surprising discovery: there’s no record that Paul Kelliher ever existed. Suddenly Teddy’s routine life is thrown into tumult as he tries to track a killer―against his boss’s wishes―while balancing his complicated family life, three other jobs, and the colorful characters populating the island around him.
Written with a wry, witty narrative voice and a plot full of twists and turns, John Keyse-Walker’s Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut is a pure delight."
Title: Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness
Author: David Casarett
Series: #1 in the Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency series set in Thailand
ISBN: 9780316270632
Publisher: Redhook
Paperback, 368 pages
Synopsis: "Meet Ladarat Patalung - the first and only nurse detective in Thailand.
Two nights ago, a young woman brought her husband into the emergency room of the Sriphat Hospital in Thailand, where he passed away. A guard thinks she remembers her coming in before, but with a different husband - one who also died.
Ladarat Patalung, for one, would have been happier without a serial murderer-if there is one -- loose in her hospital. Then again, she never expected to be a detective in the first place.
And now, Ladarat has no choice but to investigate...
The first novel in a captivating new series by David Casarett, M.D."
=== September 27 ===
Title: A March to Remember
Author: Anna Loan-Wilsey
Series: #5 in the Hattie Davish historical series set in the 1890s in various locations throughout the United States
ISBN: 9781617737282
Publisher: Kensington Books
Paperback, 304 pages
Synopsis: "Traveling secretary Hattie Davish is taking her singular talents to Washington, D.C., to help Sir Arthur Windom-Greene research his next book. But in the winding halls of the nation’s capital, searching for the truth can sometimes lead to murder . . .
Hattie is in her element, digging through dusty basements, attics, and abandoned buildings, not to be denied until she fishes out that elusive fact. But her delightful explorations are dampened when she witnesses a carriage crash into a carp pond beneath the shadow of the Washington Monument. Alarmingly, one of the passengers flees the scene, leaving the other to drown. The incident only heightens tensions brought on by the much publicized arrival of “Coxey’s Army,” thousands of unemployed men converging on the capital for the first ever organized “march” on Washington. When one of the marchers is found murdered in the ensuing chaos, Hattie begins to suspect a sinister conspiracy is at hand. As she expands her investigations into the motives of murder and closes in on the trail of a killer, she is surprised and distraught to learn that her research will lead her straight to the highest levels of government . . ."
Hattie is in her element, digging through dusty basements, attics, and abandoned buildings, not to be denied until she fishes out that elusive fact. But her delightful explorations are dampened when she witnesses a carriage crash into a carp pond beneath the shadow of the Washington Monument. Alarmingly, one of the passengers flees the scene, leaving the other to drown. The incident only heightens tensions brought on by the much publicized arrival of “Coxey’s Army,” thousands of unemployed men converging on the capital for the first ever organized “march” on Washington. When one of the marchers is found murdered in the ensuing chaos, Hattie begins to suspect a sinister conspiracy is at hand. As she expands her investigations into the motives of murder and closes in on the trail of a killer, she is surprised and distraught to learn that her research will lead her straight to the highest levels of government . . ."
It's certainly a bumper crop of good'uns in September, isn't it? There are the tried and true (no one stand between me and books featuring two of my favorite sheriffs, Joanna Brady and Walt Longmire) as well as some intriguing new voices. I think of the new ones, I'm most interested in Giordano's Auntie Poldi (will she run into Inspector Montalbano there in Sicily?) and Casarett's Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness.
How about you? Which ones of my picks tickled your fancy the most? Inquiring minds would absolutely, positively love to know!
Ooooh, a new Coel and a new Craig Johnson?! Niiiiice! Don't tell my budget, but the Cohen looks good, too!
ReplyDeleteAnd it is!
DeleteThis comment is from "Lealee" in Missouri who has problems leaving comments on my blog. I'm more than happy to post them for her. :-)
ReplyDelete"I have my credit card aimed at the Mizushima and Johnson books. Oh and I plan to read the Margaret Coel book as well. I've made it this far with her and, according to her newsletter, this book will wrap up the series."
Since I've read both the Mizushima and the Johnson, I can tell you that you've made excellent choices.
DeleteI came late to the Wind River mysteries, so I still have several to go before I catch up. I hadn't heard that she was wrapping up the series, so that is a bit sad to know.
My favorite sheriff (Walt) will be my 'most looked forward to' this month! And I am also newer to the Coel books, so hadn't heard that news either.
ReplyDeleteYou're going to love An Obvious Fact!
DeleteThis month, I'm all about trying some new authors:
ReplyDeletethe "Auntie Poldi" looks like fun; I've never read anything set in the British Virgin Islands and I like "wry & witty" so the Keyse-Walker looks like a good bet for me; and I might give Murder at the House of Roster Happiness a try too. :-)
That impressed me the most about this month's offerings: the new ones-- the same three you chose-- with the added bonus that we get to do a lot of traveling in those pages. :-)
Delete