The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker

 

First Lines: San Francisco, California. Thursday evening, March 9, 1882. Long vacant, the house smelled of dust and decay.

Inez Stannert has always chosen the unconventional path. When fleeing her wealthy East Coast upbringing, she found herself in Leadville, Colorado, as a saloon owner and cardsharp. Now she's in San Francisco, the owner of a music store who helps other women with small business loans and tries to keep her strong-willed ward, Antonia, out of trouble. 

 

When a skeleton tumbles out of a wall in her latest business investment-- complete with a bag of Civil War-era gold coins-- Inez has to use her street smarts and determination to learn the man's identity and why he was murdered-- secrets that someone has already been willing to kill for in order to hide.

 

Little does she know that Antonia is doing a little investigating of her own...

 

~

 

I've followed Inez Stannert's path from the very first Silver Rush book, Silver Lies. It's a life that has been anything but ordinary and has had more than its share of surprises along the way. It's always a pleasure to see a favored series get stronger with each book, and I'm happy to say that The Secret in the Wall is the best Silver Rush mystery yet.  I mean, who doesn't like a mystery that has a skeleton behind the wall, a bag of gold coins, secret passages, secret staircases, and secret rooms? And I haven't even mentioned Alcatraz yet!

 

Parker always does an excellent job of weaving historical facts into her mysteries, and this time she has the American Civil War and California's part in it to work with. It may be the 1880s, but The Secret in the Wall proves that the Civil War and all its conflict is bubbling away, barely beneath the surface.

 

What put the smile on my face and raised the enjoyment factor of reading this book tenfold was Inez's ward, teenage Antonia. The daughter of a murdered prostitute, Antonia was left to her own devices until taken in by Inez. Antonia chafes under any sort of authority, and the only reason why she puts up supervision from Inez is because she does respect the older woman. Inez is finding it difficult to keep Antonia on a solid path because she doesn't want to break the girl's amazing spirit. Inez had enough of that herself growing up in a wealthy family on the East Coast. Antonia seems to go out of her way to do the opposite of what she's told, and this only proves that Inez is trying to raise a fiercely independent younger copy of herself.   

 

In The Secret in the Wall, Antonia makes a new friend, and since the new friend lives right next door to where the body in the wall was found, Antonia wants to have a lot of sleepovers at her new friend's house so they can sneak over to explore next-door's secret rooms and passageways. The young girls' investigations mirror Inez's with possibly grave consequences. It's amazing to me how Parker has created a character who exasperates me to no end yet still makes me laugh. Suffice it to say, when Antonia wasn't making me mentally rip my hair out, I was having the time of my life creeping around a derelict house with her in the wee hours of the morning.

 

And if you're in the mood for some fun in 1880s San Francisco, I strongly recommend joining Inez and Antonia in The Secret in the Wall.  

The Secret in the Wall by Ann Parker

eISBN: 9781464214950

Poisoned Pen Press © 2022

eBook, 387 pages

 

Historical Mystery, #8 Silver Rush mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley

February 2022 New Mystery Releases!

 

I've been living here in Phoenix since 1976, and you'd think that I would be fully acclimated to its rather balmy winters. Part of me is, but the lizard part of my brain looks at a calendar, sees the fateful word "February" on it, and immediately wants to burrow down with a huge stockpile of books and yarn to avoid the usual blizzards.

Now that you know that little tidbit of trivia about me, you know that I've been keeping a lookout for new books, right? Okay. Okay. There's nothing new about that; I just thought I'd drum up a new excuse!

The following list contains my picks for the best new crime fiction being released during the month of February. They're grouped according to release date, and I'd like to thank Amazon for providing their covers and synopses.

Let's take a look to see if I've included any that tickle your fancy, too...

=== February 1 ===

Title: Reader, I Buried Them & Other Stories

Author: Peter Lovesey

Short Story Anthology

384 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "More than fifty years ago, Peter Lovesey published a short story in an anthology. That short story caught the eye of the great Ruth Rendell, whose praise ignited Lovesey’s lifelong passion for short form crime fiction.

On the occasion of his hundredth short story, Peter Lovesey has assembled this devilishly clever collection, eighteen yarns of mystery, melancholy, and mischief, inhabiting such deadly settings as a theater, a monastery, and the book publishing industry.

The collection includes that first story that launched his story-writing career as well as three exclusive new stories. In addition, Lovesey fans will delight in a personal essay by the author about the historical inspirations—and in an appearance by the irascible Bath detective Peter Diamond, who has, in the author’s words, “bulldozed his way” into this volume. "  

Title: Four Thousand Days

Author: M.J. Trow

Series: #1 in the Margaret Murray historical series set in 1900 London.

224 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittlng: Books.

 

Synopsis: "October, 1900. University College, London. When the spreadeagled body of one of her students is discovered in her rented room shortly after attending one of her lectures, Dr Margaret Murray is disinclined to accept the official verdict of suicide and determines to find out how and why the girl really died.

As an archaeologist, Dr Murray is used to examining ancient remains, but she’s never before had to investigate the circumstances surrounding a newly-dead corpse. However, of one thing Margaret is certain: if you want to know how and why a person died, you need to understand how they lived. And it soon becomes clear that the dead girl had been keeping a number of secrets. As Margaret uncovers evidence that Helen Richardson had knowledge of a truly extraordinary archaeological find, the body of a second young woman is discovered on a windswept Kent beach – and the case takes a disturbing new twist … " 

Title: Paris Noir: The Suburbs

Editor: Hervé Delouche 

Short Story Anthology set in the suburbs of Paris, France. 

280 pages

Synopsis: "From the introduction by Hervé Delouche: The term Greater Paris is in vogue today, for it has an administrative cachet and seems to denote a simple extension of the capital—as if a ravenous Paris need only extend her web. However, it was not our goal to embrace the tenets of the metro area’s comprehensive plan, aka the Grand Projet, envisioned as a future El Dorado by the planners and developers. Rather, our aim was to depict the Parisian suburbs in all their plurality and diversity. Without pretending to encompass every spot on the map, we instead opted to give voice and exposure to the localities chosen by the writers who have been part of this adventure. Thus, we decided to adopt the word “suburbs”— in the plural, obviously, for the periphery of the capital is not a homogeneous bloc, nor is it reducible to a cliché like “the suburban ring” . . . Here are thirteen stories, decidedly noir, to be savored without sugar or sweetener."

 

 

Title: The Goodbye Coast

Author: Joe Ide

Series: Standalone Philip Marlowe mystery set in present-day Los Angeles.

320 pages

 

Synopsis: "The seductive and relentless figure of Raymond Chandler’s detective, Philip Marlowe, is vividly re-imagined in present-day Los Angeles. Here is a city of scheming Malibu actresses, ruthless gang members, virulent inequality, and washed-out police. Acclaimed and award-winning novelist Joe Ide imagines a Marlowe very much of our time: he’s a quiet, lonely, and remarkably capable and confident private detective, though he lives beneath the shadow of his father, a once-decorated LAPD homicide detective, famous throughout the city, who’s given in to drink after the death of Marlowe’s mother.
 
Marlowe, against his better judgement, accepts two missing person cases, the first a daughter of a faded, tyrannical Hollywood starlet, and the second, a British child stolen from his mother by his father. At the center of The Goodbye Coast is Marlowe’s troubled and confounding relationship with his father, a son who despises yet respects his dad, and a dad who’s unable to hide his bitter disappointment with his grown boy. 

Steeped in the richly detailed ethnic neighborhoods of modern LA, Ide’s The Goodbye Coast is a bold recreation that is viciously funny, ingeniously plotted, and surprisingly tender." 

=== February 8 ===

Title: Jane and the Year Without a Summer

Author: Stephanie Barron

Series: #14 in the Jane Austen historical series set in England.

336 pages

 

Synopsis: "May 1816: Jane Austen is feeling unwell, with an uneasy stomach, constant fatigue, rashes, fevers and aches. She attributes her poor condition to the stress of family burdens, which even the drafting of her latest manuscript—about a baronet's daughter nursing a broken heart for a daring naval captain—cannot alleviate. Her apothecary recommends a trial of the curative waters at Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire. Jane decides to use some of the profits earned from her last novel, Emma, and treat herself to a period of rest and reflection at the spa, in the company of her sister, Cassandra.
 
Cheltenham Spa hardly turns out to be the relaxing sojourn Jane and Cassandra envisaged, however. It is immediately obvious that other boarders at the guest house where the Misses Austen are staying have come to Cheltenham with stresses of their own—some of them deadly. But perhaps with Jane’s interference a terrible crime might be prevented. Set during the Year without a Summer, when the eruption of Mount Tambora in the South Pacific caused a volcanic winter that shrouded the entire planet for sixteen months, this fourteenth installment in Stephanie Barron’s critically acclaimed series brings a forgotten moment of Regency history to life." 

=== February 15 ===

Title: Diablo Mesa

Author: Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child

Series: #3 in the Nora Kelly series set in Roswell, New Mexico.

400 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Lucas Tappan, a wealthy and eccentric billionaire and founder of Icarus Space Systems, approaches the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute with an outlandish proposal—to finance a careful, scientific excavation of the Roswell Incident site, where a UFO is alleged to have crashed in 1947. A skeptical Nora Kelly, to her great annoyance, is tasked with the job. 

Nora's excavation immediately uncovers two murder victims buried at the site, faces and hands obliterated with acid to erase their identities. Special Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned to the case. As Nora’s excavation proceeds, uncovering things both bizarre and seemingly inexplicable, Corrie’s homicide investigation throws open a Pandora's box of espionage and violence, uncovering bloody traces of a powerful force that will stop at nothing to protect its secrets—and that threatens to engulf them all in an unimaginable fate." 

Title: The Texas Job

Author: Reavis Z. Wortham

Series: #9 in the Red River historical series, a prequel featuring Tom Bell in 1930s Texas.

416 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Texas Ranger Tom Bell is simply tracking a fugitive killer in 1931 when he rides into Kilgore, a hastily erected shanty town crawling with rough and desperate men―oil drillers who've come by the thousands in search of work. The sheriff of the boomtown is overwhelmed and offers no help, nor are any of the roughnecks inclined to assist the young Ranger in his search for the wanted man.

In fact, it soon becomes apparent that the lawman's presence has irritated the wrong people, and when two failed attempts are made on his life, Bell knows he's getting closer to finding out who is responsible for cheating and murdering local landowners to access the rich oil fields flowing beneath their farms. When they ambush him for a third time, they make the fatal mistake of killing someone close to him and leaving the Ranger alive.

Armed with his trademark 1911 Colt .45 and the Browning automatic he liberated from a gangster's corpse, Tom Bell cuts a swath of devastation through the heart of East Texas in search of the consortium behind the lethal land-grab scheme." 

 

 

Title: The Secret in the Wall

Author: Ann Parker

Series: #8 in the Silver Rush historical series set in 1880s San Francisco, California.

400 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "Inez Stannert has reinvented herself―again. Fleeing the comfort and wealth of her East Coast upbringing, she became a saloon owner and card sharp in the rough silver boomtown of Leadville, Colorado, always favoring the unconventional path―a difficult road for a woman in the late 1800s.

Then the teenage daughter of a local prostitute is orphaned by her mother's murder, and Inez steps up to raise the troubled girl as her own. Inez works hard to keep a respectable, loving home for Antonia, carefully crafting their new life in San Francisco. But risk is a seductive friend, difficult to resist. When a skeleton tumbles from the wall of her latest business investment, the police only seem interested in the bag of Civil War-era gold coins that fell out with it. With her trusty derringer tucked in the folds of her gown, Inez uses her street smarts and sheer will to unearth a secret that someone has already killed to keep buried. The more she digs, the muddier and more dangerous things become.

She enlists the help of Walter de Brujin, a local private investigator with whom she shares some history. Though she wants to trust him, she fears that his knowledge of her past, along with her growing attraction to him, may well blow her veneer of respectability to bits―that is, if her dogged pursuit of the truth doesn't kill her first." 

=== February 22 ===

Title: The Kill of It All

Author: Diane Vallere

Series: #9 in the Madison Night "Mad for Mod" cozy series set in Texas.

280 pages

 

Synopsis: "Madison Night’s star is on the rise. Thanks to a series of TV spots to promote her decorating business’s grand reopening, she’s busier than ever. The police commissioner, impressed with her screen presence, engages her to replace the original actress in his feel-good campaign for local law enforcement. But when the first spokeswoman’s body is found on set after Madison’s testimonial airs, the last thing the police need is publicity.

Madison steers clear of the controversy by focusing on her company relaunch, but when gossip links the victim to someone special in her life, she gets involved by proxy. She uses her soapbox to draw out suspects, but if she’s not careful, it might serve as a coffin instead.

Can Madison reveal a hidden killer before the bubble bursts on her newfound success?"

 

 

Title: The Verifiers

Author: Jane Pek

Series: #1 in the Claudia Lin amateur sleuth series set in New York City

368 pages

 

Synopsis: "Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls—and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. 
 
A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate—and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit. Part literary mystery, part family story, The Verifiers is a clever and incisive examination of how technology shapes our choices, and the nature of romantic love in the digital age."

 

February is filled with favorite authors. Are any of these books on your own wish lists? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Mortal Music by Ann Parker

First Line: There had been occasions in the past when Inez Stannert had looked a man-- and even, once, a woman-- straight in the eye and felt justified in pulling the trigger.

The last thing Inez Stannert wants to do is be diva Theia Carrington Drake's accompanist for her last appearances on the stage during San Francisco's holiday season, but her music store is floundering and she needs the money. Besides, not only will she be earning badly needed extra cash, but the exposure should also bring new (and wealthy) customers to the store.

Unfortunately, the whole experience is a struggle. The singer is almost impossibly demanding, and unknown threats seem to be stalking her. It's not long before Inez realizes that there is a murderer stalking the city's opera halls, and it's only a matter of time before Theia is his next victim. Together, she and private investigator Wolter Roeland de Bruijn will have to catch a killer before Theia's voice is silenced permanently.

Ann Parker's historical Silver Rush mysteries have been a joy to read from the very first book, Silver Lies. Inez Stannert is a strong, intelligent, unconventional woman readers first met as an owner of a popular saloon in mining boomtown Leadville, Colorado. She's divorced her unfaithful conman husband and been forced to give her infant son to a family member to raise. Looking for a fresh start, she's moved to San Francisco with her young ward Antonia and opened a music store.

Readers always learn things when they pick up a Silver Rush mystery. In this year of 1881, Parker seamlessly weaves in facts about local San Francisco landmarks, music, the Comstock Lode, and the plights of African-Americans as well as dressmakers and other businesswomen.

As Mortal Music opens, Inez's young (and extremely headstrong) ward Antonia is bundled off to spend the holidays with the co-owner of the music store. I wondered about that because the give-and-take between these two strong-minded and independent souls often leads to laughter and plenty of headshaking on my part. However, it didn't take me long to realize why Antonia was shuffled off stage left. There's no way in the world Inez could deal with Antonia AND Theia Carrington Drake at the same time. She would've been driven berserk.

The private investigator de Bruijn adds quite a bit to the story. His ability to investigate things Inez isn't able to is important, but even more important is the dynamic between the two. There's a growing attraction there even though de Bruijn is having a difficult time dealing with Inez's personality. She's just not the usual sort of woman he runs across. She's more liable to pull out her revolver and shoot someone assaulting her instead of screaming for help.

Mortal Music is slow-paced and probably could have used a bit more editing to tighten up the story, and I found whodunit to be rather easy to deduce, but I didn't much care. There's just something about Inez Stannert and the world that Ann Parker creates that gives me so much pleasure that I'm willing to overlook a small bump or two along my reading road. If you enjoy historical mysteries and haven't read a Silver Rush book, I highly recommend the series and suggest that you begin with the first book, Silver Lies. If you're already a fan, be prepared to sink into this story with a happy sigh of anticipation.

Mortal Music by Ann Parker

eISBN: 9781492699507

Poisoned Pen Press © 2020

eBook, 448 pages

Historical Mystery, #7 Silver Rush mystery

Rating: A-

Source: Net Galley

 

January 2020 New Mystery Releases!

Since I'm still supposed to be keeping this ornery leg of mine elevated, I really don't have time for a lengthy introduction. I know you'll forgive me because the books are the important things, right?

The following are my picks of the best in new crime fiction being released throughout the month of January. They are grouped by their release dates, and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

Let's take a look and see if I managed to include any titles that tickle your fancy, too!

=== January 1 ===

Title: Script for Scandal

Author: Renee Patrick

Series: #3 in the historical mystery series set in Hollywood featuring Lillian Frost and Edith Head.

240 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "1939, Los Angeles. Lillian Frost is shocked when her friend, glamorous costume designer Edith Head, hands her the script to a new film that's about to start shooting. Streetlight Story is based on a true crime: the California Republic bank robbery of 1936. Lillian's beau, LAPD detective Gene Morrow, was one of the officers on the case; his partner, Teddy, was tragically shot dead.

It seems the scriptwriter has put Gene at the center of a scandal, twisting fact with fiction - or has he? With Gene reluctant to talk about the case, the movie quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town, a suspicious death on the Paramount studio lot and the police reopening the investigation into Teddy's death, Lillian is determined to find answers. Can Lillian and Edith uncover the truth of what happened that fateful day and clear Gene's name?"

Title: Lady of Perdition

Author: Barbara Hambly

Series: #17 in the Benjamin January historical mystery series set in 1840s Texas.

256 pages 

Synopsis: "April 1840. Benjamin January knows no black person in their right mind would willingly go to the Republic of Texas but when his former pupil Selina Bellinger is kidnapped and enslaved, he has no choice. Once there he is saved from being hanged by Valentina Taggart, wife of the wealthy landowner of Rancho Perdition. 

After Valentina is accused of the murder of her husband, she, in turn, calls on Benjamin for help. To do so, he must abandon the safe haven of New Orleans, where people know he's a free man, to return to the self-proclaimed "Slaveholders' Republic".

In a land still disputed between vengeful Comanche, disgruntled Mexican Tejanos, Americans who want to join the United States and those who want to keep Texas free, January must uncover what happened to Valentina's husband. Behind lies, betrayals and rising political tensions lies the answer... but finding it could cost Ben his life."

Title: The Hocus Girl

Author: Chris Nickson

Series: #2 in the Simon Westow historical mystery series set in 1820s Leeds, England.

224 pages

Synopsis: "Leeds, May 1822. Thief-taker Simon Westow owes Davey and Emily Ashton everything - the siblings gave him sanctuary when he needed it most. So when Davey is arrested for sedition and Emily begs Simon for help, he starts asking questions, determined to clear his friend. Are the answers linked to rumors of a mysterious government spy in town?

Davey's not the only one who needs Simon's help. Timber merchant George Ericsson has been 'hocussed' by a young woman who spiked his drink and stole his valuable ring and watch. Who is she, and how does she know one of Simon's assistant Jane's deepest secrets? The path to the truth is twisted and dangerous. Simon and Jane encounter murder, lies, betrayal and a government terrified of its own people as they attempt to save Davey and find the hocus girl."

=== January 7 ===

Title: Facets of Death

Author: Michael Stanley

Series: #7 in the Detective Kubu police procedural series set in Botswana.

336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "David Bengu has always stood out from the crowd. His personality and his physique match his nickname, Kubu―Setswana for "hippopotamus"―a seemingly docile creature, but one of the deadliest in Africa. His keen mind and famous persistence have seen him rise in the Botswana CID. But how did he get his start?

His resentful new colleagues are suspicious of a detective who has entered the CID straight from university, skipping the usual beat cop phase. 

Shortly after he joins the CID, the richest diamond mine in the world is robbed of 100,000 carats of diamonds in transit. The robbery is well-executed and brutal. Police immediately suspect an inside job, but there is no evidence of who it could be. The robbers die in a shoot-out, but the diamonds remain missing. So who masterminded the crime? Rumors of a witch doctor's involvement send the detectives down a dark path. Ultimately, new recruit Kubu finds himself engineering a risky trap. Will his first major case prove his worth―or kill his career?"

Title: There's a Murder Afoot

Author: Vicki Delany

Series: #5 in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop cozy series set in London.

336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to London for a Sherlock Holmes convention--but will Gemma's father take the fall for a felonious forger's fatality?

The 6th of January is Sherlock Holmes's birthday, and lucky for Gemma Doyle, January is also the slowest time of the year at both the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium, and Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room. It's a good time for Gemma and her friends to travel to England for a Holmes Convention. For Gemma, the trip provides an opportunity to visit her parents, Jayne Wilson is excited about seeing all the sites London has to offer, and Ryan Ashburton just wants to spend some time with Gemma. But the trip is immediately derailed when Gemma's father Henry recognizes his brother-in-law Randolph Denhaugh, who disappeared more than thirty years ago on the night he stole a valuable painting from his own parents.

Henry, a retired detective with Scotland Yard, has been keeping tabs on the man's career as a forger of Old Masters and he warns Randy to stay away from his family. It's up to Gemma, with the help of her friends, to plunge into the "lowest and vilest alleys" of London to save her father from prison." 

=== January 14 ===

Title: The Missing American 

Author: Kwei Quartey

Series: #1 in the Emma Djan private investigator series set in Ghana.

432 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "When her dreams of rising through the Accra police ranks like her late father crash around her, 26-year-old Emma Djan is unsure what will become of her career. Through a sympathetic former colleague, Emma gets an interview with a private detective agency that takes on cases of missing persons, theft, and infidelity. It’s not the future she imagined, but it’s her best option.

Meanwhile, Gordon Tilson, a middle-aged widower in Washington, DC, has found solace in an online community after his wife’s passing. Through the support group, he’s even met a young Ghanaian widow he’s come to care about. When her sister gets into a car accident, he sends her thousands of dollars to cover the hospital bill—to the horror of his only son, Derek. Then Gordon decides to surprise his new love by paying her a visit—and disappears. Fearing for his father’s life, Derek follows him across the world to Ghana, Internet capital of the world, where he and Emma will find themselves deep in a world of sakawa scams, fetish priests, and those willing to kill to protect their secrets."

Title: The Hollows

Author: Jess Montgomery

Series: #2 in the Kinship historical mystery series set in 1920s Ohio.

352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Ohio, 1926: For many years, the railroad track in Moonvale Tunnel has been used as a shortcut through the Appalachian hills. When an elderly woman is killed walking along the tracks, the brakeman tells tales of seeing a ghostly female figure dressed all in white.

Newly elected Sheriff Lily Ross is called on to the case to dispel the myths. With the help of her friends Marvena Whitcomb and Hildy Cooper, Lily follows the woman’s trail to The Hollows―a notorious asylum―and they begin to expose dark secrets long-hidden by time and the mountains."

=== January 21 ===

Title: The Words I Never Wrote

Author: Jane Thynne

Standalone suspense novel set in the present day and 1930s Europe.

400 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "New York, present day: On a whim, Juno Lambert buys a 1931 Underwood typewriter that once belonged to celebrated journalist Cordelia Capel. Within its case she discovers an unfinished novel, igniting a transatlantic journey to fill the gaps in the story of Cordelia and her sister and the secret that lies between them.

Europe, 1936: Cordelia’s socialite sister Irene marries a German industrialist who whisks her away to Berlin. Cordelia, feistier and more intellectual than Irene, gets a job at a newspaper in Paris, pursuing the journalism career she cherishes. As politics begin to boil in Europe, the sisters exchange letters and Cordelia discovers that Irene’s husband is a Nazi sympathizer. With increasing desperation, Cordelia writes to her beloved sister, but as life in Nazi Germany darkens, Irene no longer dares to admit what her existence is truly like. Knowing that their letters cannot tell the whole story, Cordelia decides to fill in the blanks by sitting down with her Underwood and writing the truth.

When Juno reads the unfinished novel, she resolves to uncover the secret that continued to divide the sisters amid the turmoil of love, espionage, and war. In this vivid portrait of Nazi Berlin, from its high society to its devastating fall, Jane Thynne examines the truths we sometimes dare not tell ourselves." 

Title: The Blaze

Author: Chad Dundas

Thriller set in Montana.

384 pages

Synopsis: "Having lost much of his memory from a traumatic brain injury sustained in Iraq, Army veteran Matthew Rose is called back to Montana after his father's death to settle his affairs, and hopefully to settle the past as well. It's not only a blank to him, but a mystery. Why as a teen did he suddenly become sullen and vacant, abandoning the activities and people that had meant most to him? How did he, the son of hippy activists, wind up enlisting in the first place?

Then on his first night back, Matthew sees a house go up in flames, and it turns out a local college student has died inside. And this event sparks a memory of a different fire, an unsolved crime from long ago, a part of Matthew's past that might lead to all the answers he's been searching for. What he finds will connect the old fire and the new, a series of long-unsolved mysteries, and a ruthless act of murder."

=== January 27 ===

Title: Mortal Music

Author: Ann Parker

Series: #7 in the Silver Rush historical mystery series set in 1880s San Francisco.

448 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "All Inez Stannert wants for Christmas is for the struggling music store she owns in San Francisco to be a success. When diva Theia Carrington Drake asks Inez to be her accompanist for several high-profile personal appearances, Inez is thrilled. This is the chance she was waiting for―a way to make some extra money and bring her store into the limelight of the city's polite society to enhance her business. 

But things are far from pitch-perfect. An unknown threat is stalking Theia; her pet bird is found slain, and her signature gown is destroyed. Soon, Inez realizes that a murderer is stalking the city's opera halls, and that it's only a matter of time before Theia is his next victim. She'll have to enlist the help of private investigator Wolter Roeland de Bruijn and uncover the killer before Theia's celebrated voice is silenced―permanently." 

=== January 28 ===

Title: The Truants

Author: Kate Weinberg

Standalone suspense set in England.

320 pages

Synopsis: "People disappear when they most want to be seen.

Jess Walker has come to a concrete campus under the flat gray skies of East Anglia for one reason: to be taught by the mesmerizing and rebellious Dr. Lorna Clay, whose seminars soon transform Jess's thinking on life, love, and Agatha Christie. Swept up in Lorna's thrall, Jess falls in with a tightly knit group of rule-breakers--Alec, a courageous South African journalist with a nihilistic streak; Georgie, a seductive, pill-popping aristocrat; and Nick, a handsome geologist with layers of his own.

But the dynamic between the friends begins to darken, until a tragedy shatters their friendships and love affairs, and reveals a terrible secret. Soon Jess must face the question she fears most: what is the true cost of an extraordinary life?"

Title: Hi Five

Author: Joe Ide

Series: #4 in the IQ private investigator series set in Los Angeles.

352 pages

Synopsis: "IQ is back- and working a case that involves juggling many more personalities than he expected. Cristiana is the daughter of the biggest arms dealers on the West Coast, Angus Byrne. She's also the sole witness and number one suspect in the murder of her boyfriend found dead in her Newport Beach boutique.

Isaiah Quintabe is coerced into taking the case to prove her innocence. If he can't, Angus will harm the brilliant PI's new girlfriend, ending her career.

The catch: Christiana has multiple personalities. Five radically different ones. Among them, a naïve, beautiful shopkeeper, an obnoxious drummer in a rock band, and a wanton seductress.

Isaiah's dilemma: no one personality saw the entire incident. To find out what really happened the night of the murder, Isaiah must piece together clues from each of the personalities- before the cops catch up."

What a lineup of excellent reading! Which books made you add them to your own wishlists? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Cozy Con 2018: Part Two

I'm going to exercise a little poetic license and deviate from the actual order of the panels for The Poisoned Pen's CozyCon 2018. I'm going to post them in the order in which host Barbara Peters wanted them. Peters had to contend with an author whose flight was late, and I don't so I can follow her original plan. And just in case you missed Part One, you can catch up with the rest of us.

Right now it's time to get this show on the road, so here's the panel with historical mystery writers C.S. Harris, Tessa Arlen, and Ann Parker!

L to R: Barbara Peters, C.S. Harris

"Originally, I was a reader of romance, which will surprise all of you since I started The Poisoned Pen," host Barbara Peters said. "I cut my reading teeth on the Oz books, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, whatever. My mother was the more serious mystery reader. She loved P.I. stories, so I was also brought up on Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald. I read Robert Parker in real time, but I find that historical mysteries are my passion.

"One of the reasons why I enjoy Poisoned Pen Press and all the other presses is that they publish books that I like to read. I publish books that I like to read, and these three authors write books that I particularly like to read.

"Candace's latest book was reviewed on Shelf Awareness today. They called it 'a blend of Elizabeth George and Georgette Heyer, Why Kill the Innocent will appeal to mystery and Regency readers with its intricate plotting and historical detail,'" Peters continued. "This is the thirteenth Sebastian St. Cyr mystery, and in reading it you will get a history lesson about the totally dysfunctional family of George III. George IV, the heir, had a daughter from one of the worst marriages in recorded history, and she's the focus of part of the plot of this book, right?"

C.S. Harris

"Yes. Princess Charlotte," Candace replied. "I knew the general outline of the family, but I was appalled when I read more and learned what the Prince Regent put his wife through.

"He sent his mistress to the dock to meet his bride's ship. Caroline, his bride-to-be, knew that Lady Jersey was his mistress, and the Prince Regent sat Lady Jersey prominently at the wedding feast. Lady Jersey was invited along on the honeymoon. He had given Caroline pearl bracelets as wedding gifts, and he took them back and gave them to Lady Jersey who made a point of wearing them around Caroline because the Prince Regent had appointed her one of Caroline's ladies-in-waiting. It's really hard to imagine that he could've been any crueler to her unless he would've locked her up.

"The Prince Regent was a narcissist, a pathological liar, and he was very vindictive," Candace told us. "He was incredibly mean to his daughter. I don't think he had the capacity to love anyone other than himself. As his daughter Caroline grew up, the crowds loved her and would cheer as she rode down the street. This made her father hate her because those same crowds would boo and hiss whenever he went by, so he tried to keep her out of the public eye. Despite this, Caroline grew to be a very likable woman.

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"She died in childbirth, and that made everyone scramble to get married because, although George III had had all these children, Caroline was the only one who was legitimate. By the time Caroline died, they were all in their forties, so it was too late, and that's how England wound up with Queen Victoria."

"So that's the household in which the mystery takes place. We'll get back to that, but you can see that it was a setting that was just ripe for disaster!" Barbara said. "So, Ann Parker, there you are-- it's good to see you!

"For you, this is a pivotal book because Inez Stannert, whom we first met during the silver rush in Leadville, Colorado, has decided that her life needs a reboot, and she's gone off to San Francisco, which is a rough town. There's a lot going on."

"Yes," Ann replied. "San Francisco in 1881 had the Barbary Coast, it had Chinatown, and in addition to the Barbary Coast waterfront, there was another in the Mission Canal District that I became very intrigued with. It was also a rough part of town. Inez and I began to tiptoe through the town to see what was there and what was of interest. Inez was looking for business opportunities; she's a savvy woman. It was an interesting period for businesswomen in San Francisco."

Ann Parker

"Inez was part owner of a saloon in Leadville with her husband, and they're now divorced," Barbara said. "She's also invested in a couple of bordellos in Leadville with her partner, Flo, who's a madam. So, for her day and age, Inez is an adventurous venture capitalist."

"It just so happens that this is an exciting time for women entrepreneurs in San Francisco," Ann said. "Women owning and running millinery shops, laundries, stationery shops, and boarding houses-- proper and not-so-proper. A lot of them needed capital to grow their business. There actually was a woman in San Francisco who was well-known for giving loans and helping women to build their businesses. Right now her first name is POOF! gone, but they used to call her Mammy Pleasance. Does this ring a bell for anyone? But there is a history of women funding women, which is pretty cool."

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"Needless to say, a body floats up, her past comes back to haunt her-- both literally and figuratively-- from Leadville, so it's a very interesting book with lots going on," Barbara said. "And it's a kind of pivot for her to see where we're going. Because Leadville was becoming like Cabot Cove a little bit so San Francisco really opens up possibilities."

"Oh, yes!" Ann replied. "There's San Francisco, and across the bay there's Berkeley. The University of California existed during this time frame-- and accepted women."

Barbara moved on to the third writer on the panel. "So, Tessa, this is your fourth book for Lady Montfort. You've jumped from the Edwardian Era right into World War I."

"Yes," Tessa replied. "In fact, in the third book, I did a little countdown. When the mystery was solved, the boys were going off to war. I left it at that, but then I decided I wanted Lady Montfort to be involved in the war on the home front. I'd just finished reading Robert Graves' Goodbye to All That, and I thought, 'Oh, this is what I want to do.' So it starts in the summer when England is struggling to bring in the harvest without men and women are stepping up to run the Land Army as well as run hospitals and keep everything going.

"Clementine [LadyMontfort] is up in Scotland visiting a friend who's in a very special hospital called Craiglockhart which is taking care of the growing number of soldiers struggling with what they called then 'shellshock' and what we know today as PTSD. The Battle of the Somme ran throughout the summer months, and the casualties were horrendous.

Tessa Arlen

"So Clementine visits Oscar and decides that the Dower House can be turned into a rehab center, which not only had to be funded by her husband but had to get approval through the War Office.

"Everything is going well at the hospital. The doctor has many types of therapy, and he's worked hard to educate the nearby villagers because they all believed these men are cowards and malingerers. Then a young war hero who's not only suffering from shellshock but amnesia as well is found murdered in the hospital's vegetable garden. Since the War Office is about to arrive for its quarterly inspection, with this murder, it looks as though the hospital is completely out of control."

"And Mrs. Jackson, the formidable housekeeper is in charge of the hospital," Barbara remarked. "Many of your readers will already be familiar with country houses being turned into hospitals after watching the second season of Downton Abbey.

"Lady Montfort and Mrs. Jackson have a Holmes-Watson... no, they don't because they're really quite equal. There's not that disparity between them."

"They're intellectually equal, but socially they're not equal at all," Arlen observed. "But they do have a huge respect and liking for each other."

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"Candace, let's get back to Why Kill the Innocent," Barbara said. "You've told us about Princess Charlotte and her terrible situation. When a body is discovered, who is it, and why is it of such importance to St. Cyr?"

"The victim is Princess Charlotte's music teacher and a minor composer and was based on a real person named Mary Guest who did teach Charlotte. But she wasn't murdered!" Candace replied. "St. Cyr gets involved because his wife literally trips over the body."

"Sebastian has evolved quite a bit since the series began," Barbara said.

"Yes," Candace replied. "When he returned to London from fighting Napoleon, he was quite damaged-- PTSD-- and then he learned secrets about his own family that he found very hard to accept. Yes, he's definitely coming back from the edge."

"St. Cyr's family is wildly dysfunctional and so is his wife's family," Barbara commented. "You almost have to wonder if there were any normal families among the British upper crust during the Napoleonic Era!"

"I think it was a combination of money and power... and people who were marrying, not for love, but for alliances," Candace said. "Parents had very little to do with their children who were spoiled by nannies."

L to R: Tessa Arlen, Ann Parker

"Ann, let's get back to you," Barbara said. "Inez has come to San Francisco, and she's not alone."

"That's true!" Ann chuckled. "She's brought her ward with her, Antonia, who is a young girl Inez met in Leadville in the previous book. By book's end, Antonia has no family, so Inez takes her under her wing.

"It's interesting how these things bubble up from the unconscious," Ann remarked. "I had no intention of this happening, but I'm glad it did. It's wonderful to get to know Antonia, and I'm finding it's a lot of fun pairing her with Inez. Antonia is such an independent, strong-willed child. She's almost like Inez in miniature. It will be interesting to see where this goes."

"Inez came from such a solid, affluent background, but she made one terrible mistake," Barbara said.

"But he's such a charmer!" Ann laughed.

"Yes, he's a gambler," Barbara said. "It's just so interesting to see Inez, who comes from such a solid upbringing, make this one mistake, and she's led a very unconventional life ever since." 

"Yes, her family disowned her, and the only person who keeps in touch is her sister," Ann said. "How does a person live their life after making one terrible mistake?"

"Lady Montfort, on the other hand, made a spectacular marriage," Barbara said to Tessa.

"Yes, and now Clementine's broken the rules by investigating murders," Tessa said. "She investigates upstairs, and Mrs. Jackson-- who at first didn't want anything to do with this-- investigates downstairs. By this fourth book, Mrs. Jackson is completely on board."

C.S. Harris

Looking at C.S. Harris, Barbara said, "You left us with a cliffhanger, you rat! Do you plan these things out, or do they just happen?"

Candace laughed. "I know how it's going to turn out! Laura Joh Rowland, who's a good friend of mine, told me that she made a mistake with her Sano Ichiro series. She planned it as a one-off, and she said that, if she had it all to do again, she'd plan out the series. So... that's what I did. I sat down and planned things out, like Sebastian's personality and his family. I thought I'd have this all done by book six, but I'm writing book fifteen right now!"

"I like the fact that the series is moving in such small increments of time," Barbara said.

"Yes, thirteen books, and it's only been three years."

"I tell everyone it was a twenty-year war and only ended with Waterloo," Barbara said.

"Fourteen is Who Slays the Wicked," Harris told us. "The blurb will be out soon, so I'm not giving anything away by telling you that Lord Ashworth is the victim."

"Good! At least one of these bastards gets killed!" Barbara exclaimed. (Does she get emotionally involved with any of her favorite series? Nah. Not a bit!)

Ann is interested with the Palace Hotel and a printing co-operative, so she's thinking about an opera singer, that co-operative, and maybe a body in a trunk for her next book, although she's going to have to talk with her editor (Barbara) first. "Oscar Wilde actually visited Leadville," Barbara told us, "and Ann has been trying to think of a reason for Inez to go back there so she can meet Wilde."

"I'm going to wait a book or two on that," Ann said.

Tessa, on the other hand, is thinking about writing something new. "It's a very different protagonist," Tessa said. "She's very young, a little socially awkward, but she's quite independently-minded. She becomes infatuated with an American fighter pilot who's stationed on an airfield that's on her grandfather's land. This takes place during World War II, and the dialogue is so much easier! Her name is Poppy Redfern, and she lives in a very remote village which is horrified at having all these Americans on their doorstep. I'm married to an American, so it's very easy for me to write this!"

Thus endeth Part Two. Come back next Monday for the third and final part which features Paige Shelton, Kate Carlisle, and Jenn McKinlay!

A Dying Note by Ann Parker

First Line: Not my hands!

It's 1881, and Inez Stannert and her ward, young Antonia Gizzi, are now settled in San Francisco. Inez has turned her business acumen toward investing in legitimate businesses, one of them being a music store owned by a celebrated local violinist. She might be the co-owner of a saloon in Leadville, Colorado, but she's turned her back on that life-- not only to raise Antonia properly but for herself as well.

All her careful plans may come tumbling down when she and Antonia are dragged into the mystery of a young musician's death. The musician turns out to have ties in Leadville, ties that threaten to expose Inez's former life. They aren't the only ones looking for answers: Wolter Roeland de Bruijn, the "finder of the lost," has been tasked with finding the young man's killers and dispensing justice. Lives and reputations are on the line, and Inez is running out of time.

It's always a pleasure to watch a series grow from strength to strength, and this is exactly what I've seen happen with Ann Parker's Silver Rush series. There's always some fascinating historical snippets to learn, a fantastic setting, an engrossing mystery to solve, and a strong, intelligent main character to cheer on. Inez Stannert has not had an easy life, and she's needed every bit of her intelligence and determination to survive and to succeed.

What makes A Dying Note even more interesting is the addition of young Antonia Gizzi to the cast of characters. Antonia's short life has been even more difficult--she and her mother were abandoned by her father, and as her mother lay dying, Antonia had to learn how to live on the streets of Leadville. This little girl is sharp as a tack and, as my grandfather would say, as independent as a hog on ice. I loved Antonia's ability to answer questions truthfully without actually telling the honest truth. That takes a lot of skill. She's used to making her own decisions, and she doesn't trust anyone but Inez. Inez is probably the only person strong enough to deal with Antonia, and I'm certainly looking forward to seeing what happens next.

The pace of A Dying Note is excellent, and the scenes in which various characters are being followed through the streets of San Francisco are downright nerve-wracking. Even though the whodunit is relatively easy to deduce, learning all the hows and whys and getting the person out into the open is fun. This series is for all fans of historical mysteries, and if you haven't given it a try yet, I suggest you start at the beginning with Silver Lies. You've got some good reading ahead of you!

A Dying Note by Ann Parker

eISBN: 9781464209826

Poisoned Pen Press © 2018

eBook, 319 pages

Historical Mystery, #6 Silver Rush mystery

Rating: A

Source: Net Galley 

April 2018 New Mystery Releases!

April is turning out to be a much busier month than I'd planned, mostly because my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Not only will our niece Daisy be here from England for two weeks beginning the 23rd, not only do I have to clean house like a crazy person, I also have to see if I can nudge my eyeballs into high speed because I over-committed on advance reading copies. For some reason, this seems to be a lesson I need to re-learn every two to three years.

Nevertheless, I am always on the lookout for new crime fiction, and these are my picks for the month of April. They are grouped according to release dates, and I'd like to thank Amazon for the covers and synopses. Hopefully, I've chosen a title or two that strikes your fancy. Let's see how much I can tempt you...

=== April 3 ===

Title: Lost Books and Old Bones

Author: Paige Shelton

Series: #3 in the Scottish Bookshop cozy series set in Edinburgh, Scotland.

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Delaney Nichols, originally of Kansas but settling happily into her new life as a bookseller in Edinburgh, works at the Cracked Spine in the heart of town. The shop is a place filled with curiosities and surprises tucked into every shelf, and it’s Delaney’s job to research the rare tomes and obscure artifacts that people come to buy and sell. When her new friends, also students at the medical school, come to the shop to sell a collection of antique medical books, Delaney knows she’s stumbled across a rare and important find indeed. Her boss, Edwin MacAlister, agrees to buy the multivolume set, perhaps even to keep for his own collection.

But not long after the sale, one of Delaney’s new friends is found murdered in the alley behind the Cracked Spine, and she wonders if there is some nefarious connection between the origin of these books and the people whose hands they fell into. Delaney takes it upon herself to help bring the murderer to justice. During her investigation, Delaney she finds some old scalpels in the bookshop’s warehouse—she and discovers that they belonged to a long-dead doctor whose story and ties to the past crimes of Burke and Hare might be connected to the present-day murder. It’s all Delaney can do to race to solve this crime before time runs out and she ends up in a victim on the slab herself." 

Title: Wedding Cake Crumble

Author: Jenn McKinlay

Series: #10 in the Cupcake Bakery cozy series set in Scottsdale, Arizona.

288 pages

Synopsis: "With Angie and Tate's wedding just around the corner, it's a happy time for Melanie Cooper and the bakery crew. Not only are they finessing the last minute details of the big day, but their bakery, Fairy Tale Cupcakes, has just been hired to bake cupcakes for the blockbuster book signing of a controversial author who wrote a steamy bestseller filled with juicy local gossip.

But one by one, the people Angie has hired to work at the wedding begin turning up dead. As the body count rises, the bestselling author is the next to bite the dust. Mel quickly realizes she needs to figure out how the murders are connected and why--before the killer brings the entire cupcake crew crumbling down. After all, Angie and Tate deserve their sweet happily ever after."

Title: A Necessary Evil

Author: Abir Mukherjee

Series: #2 in the Wyndham and Banerjee historical series set in 1919 Calcutta, India.

381 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "India, 1920. Captain Wyndham and Sergeant Banerjee of the Calcutta Police Force investigate the dramatic assassination of a Maharajah's son, in the sequel to A Rising Man.

The fabulously wealthy kingdom of Sambalpore is home to tigers, elephants, diamond mines, and the beautiful Palace of the Sun. But when the heir to the throne is assassinated in the presence of Captain Sam Wyndham and Sergeant 'Surrender-Not' Banerjee, they discover a kingdom riven with suppressed conflict. Prince Adhir was a modernizer whose attitudes—and romantic relationships—may have upset the more religious elements of his country, while his brother—now in line to the throne—appears to be a feckless playboy.

As Wyndham and Banerjee desperately try to unravel the mystery behind the assassination, they become entangled in a dangerous world where those in power live by their own rules—and those who cross their paths pay with their lives. They must find a murderer before the murderer finds them . . ."

Title: The Awkward Squad
Author: Sophie Hénaff
Series: #1 in the Awkward Squad police procedural series set in 2012 Paris, France.
271 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Suspended from her job as a promising police officer for firing "one bullet too many", Anne Capestan is expecting the worst when she is summoned to H.Q. to learn her fate. Instead, she is surprised to be told that she is to head up a new police squad, working on solving old cold cases.

Though relieved to still have a job, Capestan is not overjoyed by the prospect of her new role. Even less so when she meets her new team: a crowd of misfits, troublemakers and problem cases, none of whom are fit for purpose and yet none of whom can be fired.

But from this inauspicious start, investigating the cold cases throws up a number a number of strange mysteries for Capestan and her team: was the old lady murdered seven years ago really just the victim of a botched robbery? Who was behind the dead sailor discovered in the Seine with three gunshot wounds? And why does there seem to be a curious link with a ferry that was shipwrecked off the Florida coast many years previously?"

Title: A Dying Note
Author: Ann Parker
Series: #6 in the Silver Rush historical series set in San Francisco.
319 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "It's autumn of 1881, and Inez Stannert, still the co-owner of Leadville, Colorado's Silver Queen Saloon, is settled in San Francisco with her young ward, Antonia Gizzi. Inez has turned her business talents to managing a music store, hoping to eventually become an equal partner in the enterprise with the store's owner, a celebrated local violinist.

Inez's carefully constructed life for herself and Antonia threatens to tumble about her ears when the badly beaten body of a young musician washes up on the filthy banks of San Francisco's Mission Creek canal. Inez and Antonia become entangled in the mystery of his death when the musician turns out to have ties to Leadville, ties that threaten to expose Inez's notorious past. And they aren't the only ones searching for answers. Wolter Roeland de Bruijn, "finder of the lost," has also been tasked with ferreting out the perpetrators and dispensing justice in its most final form. Leadville's leading madam Frisco Flo, an unwilling visitor to the city with a Leadville millionaire, is on the hook as well, having injudiciously financed the young musician's journey to San Francisco in the first place.

Time grows short as Inez and the others uncover long-hidden secrets and unsettled scores. With lives and reputations on the line, the tempo rises until the investigation's final, dying note."

Title: Resurrection Bay
Author: Emma Viskic
Series: #1 in the Caleb Zelic private investigator series set in present-day Australia.
288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Caleb Zelic's childhood friend has been brutally murdered - fingers broken, throat slit - at his home in Melbourne. Caleb vows to track down the killer, but he's profoundly deaf; missed words and misread lips can lead to confusion and trouble. Fortunately, Caleb knows how to read people; a sideways glance, an unconvincing smile, speak volumes. When his friend Frankie, a former cop, offers to help, they soon discover the killer is on their tail. Sensing that his ex-wife may also be in danger, Caleb insists they return to their hometown of Resurrection Bay. But here he learns that everyone - including his murdered friend - is hiding something. And the deeper he digs, the darker the secrets..."

Title: American by Day
Author: Derek B. Miller
Standalone mystery set in the present-day US.
352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "A gripping and timely novel that follows Sigrid—the dry-witted detective from Derek B. Miller's best-selling debut Norwegian by Night—from Oslo to the United States on a quest to find her missing brother.

SHE KNEW IT WAS A WEIRD PLACE. She’d heard the stories, seen the movies, read the books. But now police Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård has to leave her native Norway and actually go there; to that land across the Atlantic where her missing brother is implicated in the mysterious death of a prominent African-American academic. AMERICA.

Sigrid is plunged into a United States where race and identity, politics and promise, reverberate in every aspect of daily life. Working with—or, if necessary, against—the police, she must negotiate the local political minefields and navigate the backwoods of the Adirondacks to uncover the truth before events escalate further.

Refreshingly funny, slyly perceptive, American by Day secures Derek B. Miller's place as one of our most imaginative and entertaining novelists."

=== April 8 ===

Title: Scot Free

Author: Catriona McPherson

Series: #1 in the Last Ditch series set in California.

288 pages.

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Lexy Campbell fell in love and left her native Scotland for a golden life in California—hitched to a hunk, building her marriage counseling practice, living the dream. Six months later she's divorced, broke, and headed home. There's just one last thing. Lexy's only client—sweet little old Mrs. Bombarro—is in jail for murdering her husband with a fireworks rocket. Lexy knows the cops have got it wrong; all she needs is a few days to prove it and somewhere cheap to sleep at night. But checking into the Last Ditch Motel leads Lexy to a whole new cast of characters with troubles of their own."

=== April 10 ===

Title: The Trauma Cleaner

Author: Sarah Krasnostein

Standalone Non-Fiction

293 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Before she was a trauma cleaner, Sandra Pankhurst was many things: husband and father, drag queen, gender reassignment patient, sex worker, small businesswoman, trophy wife. . . But as a little boy, raised in violence and excluded from the family home, she just wanted to belong. Now she believes her clients deserve no less.

A woman who sleeps among garbage she has not put out for forty years. A man who bled quietly to death in his living room. A woman who lives with rats, random debris, and terrified delusion. The still life of a home vacated by accidental overdose.

Sarah Krasnostein has watched the extraordinary Sandra Pankhurst bring order and care to these, the living and the dead—and the book she has written is equally extraordinary. Not just the compelling story of a fascinating life among lives of desperation, but an affirmation that, as isolated as we may feel, we are all in this together." 

Title: A Breath After Drowning

Author: Alice Blanchard

Standalone psychological thriller

448 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Child psychiatrist Kate Wolfe's world comes crashing down when one of her young patients commits suicide, so when a troubled girl is left at the hospital ward, she doubts her ability to help. But the girl knows things about Kate's past, things she shouldn't know, forcing Kate to face the murky evidence surrounding her own sister's murder sixteen years before, bringing Kate face to face with her deepest fear."

=== April 17 ===

Title: Murder at the Mushroom Festival

Author: Janet Finsilver

Series: #4 Kelly Jackson cozy mystery set in California.

176 pages 

Synopsis: "Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast manager Kelly Jackson is hosting a cooking class during the Week of the Mushroom festival to attract guests, not drama. But soon after she finishes foraging for an edible mushroom species on sacred Native American land, a local newspaper reporter gets shot dead at the same site. With suspicions spreading like fungi in the quaint Northern Californian community over the culprit's identity, Kelly and a savvy gang of sleuthing seniors known as the "Silver Sentinels" must uncover the truth about the secluded property before a tricky killer prepares another lethal surprise . . . "

Title: The Dark Side of Town

Author: Sasscer Hill

Series: #2 in the Fia McKee undercover agent series set at the Saratoga Racetrack in New York state.

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Fia McKee, now officially employed by the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau (TPRB), is sent undercover to Saratoga Racetrack to investigate Mars Pizutti, a racehorse trainer whose horses’ wins are suspiciously lucky—and lucrative. Fia’s bosses believe Pizutti’s success is based on illegal drugs and deceitful methods, and they want Fia to work inside his barn to ferret out the truth.

But after witnessing the tragic and inexplicable suicide of a jockey, Fia discovers the rider’s death is only the tip on an iceberg involving the mob, a crooked racing hedge fund, and threats to the lives of another jockey and his young sister. Fia must find out who’s connected to who, and what shadowy forces are at play before someone else dies."

Title: Whispers of the Dead

Author: Spencer Kope

Series: #2 in the Special Tracking Unit series set in El Paso, Texas.

324 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "There has been a murder, but not only is the identity of the victim unknown, most of the body itself is missing. All that’s been found is a pair of feet, stored in a portable cooler, and left in the house of a Federal judge in El Paso, Texas. The killer apparently broke into the judge’s house, left his grizzly message, and disappeared without a trace. With no clues as to the killer, the person killed, or the intent behind the cooler, all the authorities really know is that this likely isn’t the killer’s first—or his last—victim.

Magnus “Steps” Craig is an FBI agent and an elite tracker, easily the best in the world. Steps is renowned for his incredible ability to find and follow trails over any surface. As part of the three-man special team, FBI’s Special Tracking Unit (STU), he is called in on cases where his skills are indispensable. But there’s a secret to his skill. Steps has a kind of synesthesia, an ability that allows him to see whatever each particular person has touched in a unique color—what Steps calls ‘shine.’ His ability is known to only a few people—his father, the director of the FBI, and his partner, Special Agent Jimmy Donovan.

While the Special Tracking Unit tries to grapple with the gruesome scene in El Paso, they soon discover another, earlier victim. Once again, only the feet—in a disposable icebox—were left behind. With almost no clues besides the body parts, Steps and his team find themselves enmeshed in the most difficult case of their careers. And The Icebox Killer has only just begun."

If you've been paying attention to me at all, you know I've been looking forward to Spencer Kope's Whispers of the Dead, but April has quite a few intriguing titles. Which ones have tempted you to put them on your wishlists? Inquiring minds would love to know!