Synopsis: "Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching
hot day, beside a creek on the grounds of a grand country house, a local
man makes a terrible discovery. Police are called, and the small town
of Tambilla becomes embroiled in one of the most baffling murder
investigations in the history of South Australia. Many
years later and thousands of miles away, Jess is a journalist in search
of a story. Having lived and worked in London for two decades, she now
finds herself unemployed and struggling to make ends meet. A phone call
out of nowhere summons her back to Sydney, where her beloved grandmother
Nora, who raised Jess when her mother could not, has suffered a fall
and is seriously ill in the hospital.
At Nora's
house, Jess discovers a true crime book chronicling a long-buried police
case: the Turner Family Tragedy of 1959. It is only when Jess skims
through its pages that she finds a shocking connection between her own
family and this notorious event – a mystery that has never been
satisfactorily resolved.
An epic story that spans generations, Homecoming asks
what we would do for those we love, how we protect the lies we tell,
and what it means to come home. Above all, it is an intricate and
spellbinding novel from one of the finest writers working today."
=== April 11 ===
Author: Will Thomas
Series: #14 in the historical Barker & Llewelyn series set in Victorian London.
320 pages
Synopsis: "Cyrus Barker, along with his
former assistant and now partner Thomas Llewelyn, is the premier enquiry
agent in all of 19th century London, and beyond. They've thwarted the
designs of villains and crooks off all sorts, helped Scotland Yard crack
their most challenging cases, and worked for the Her Majesty's
Government at the very highest levels. But nothing has been quite as
challenging and dangerous as the latest case that comes to find them.
In
1893, a volunteer at the British Museum makes a startling discovery.
When examining a mummy in the museum's collection, he discovers there is
a giant ruby in the shape of a heart buried in the chest of the mummy.
Even more startling, the mummy might well be Cleopatra. The following
morning, the volunteer is found floating in the Thames and the ruby has
gone missing. Hired by the victim’s wife to learn the truth behind his
death, Barker and Llewelyn find themselves in the crosshairs - now they
must avoid a violent street gang, a ruthless collector, and the British
Museum itself in order to find the killer and safeguard the gem."
Series: #2 in the Letty Davenport thriller series set on a cross country road trip to California
384 pages
Synopsis: "Letty Davenport’s days working a desk job at are behind her. Her
previous actions at a gunfight in Texas—and her incredible skills with
firearms—draw the attention of several branches of the US government,
and make her a perfect fit for even more dangerous work. The Department
of Homeland Security and the NSA have tasked her with infiltrating a
hacker group, known only as Ordinary People, that is intent on wreaking
havoc. Letty and her reluctant partner from the NSA pose as
free-spirited programmers for hire and embark on a cross country road
trip to the group’s California headquarters.
While the two work
to make inroads with Ordinary People and uncover their plans, they begin
to suspect that the hackers are not their only enemy. Someone within
their own circle may have betrayed them, and has ulterior motives that
place their mission—and their lives—in grave danger."
=== April 18 ===
Title: A Wealth of Deception Series: #2 in the Scandal Mountain Antiques cozy series set in Vermont.
336 pages
Synopsis: "When Vermont antique and art dealer Edie Brown discovers an
unsettlingly dark collage by the famed reclusive “outsider” artist known
only as Vespa, she opens a Pandora’s Box of deception and danger.
Edie
teams up with Uncle Tuck and Kala to investigate the background of the
collage but only uncover secrets that are more disturbing than the
artwork itself. As Edie tracks down the validity of the piece, she
stumbles into an art underground where some people are willing to kill
to keep their schemes a secret.
Esden expertly crafts a complex
cast of characters, a breathtakingly gorgeous setting, and a twisty
plot that often poses more questions than answers."
Title: Symphony of Secrets Standalone historical thriller set in the 1920s Manhattan music scene and the present day.
448 pages
Synopsis: "Bern Hendricks has just received the call of a lifetime. As one of
the world’s preeminent experts on the famed twentieth-century composer
Frederick Delaney, Bern knows everything there is to know about the man
behind the music. When Mallory Roberts, a board member of the
distinguished Delaney Foundation and direct descendant of the man
himself, asks for Bern’s help authenticating a newly discovered piece,
which may be his famous lost opera, RED,
he jumps at the chance. With the help of his tech-savvy acquaintance
Eboni, Bern soon discovers that the truth is far more complicated than
history would have them believe.
In 1920s Manhattan, Josephine
Reed is living on the streets and frequenting jazz clubs when she meets
the struggling musician Fred Delaney. But where young Delaney struggles,
Josephine soars. She’s a natural prodigy who hears beautiful music in
the sounds of the world around her. With Josephine as his silent
partner, Delaney’s career takes off—but who is the real genius here?
In
the present day, Bern and Eboni begin to uncover more clues that
indicate Delaney may have had help in composing his most successful
work. Armed with more questions than answers and caught in the
crosshairs of a powerful organization who will stop at nothing to keep
their secret hidden, Bern and Eboni will move heaven and earth in their
dogged quest to right history’s wrongs."
=== April 25 ===
Title: Mastering the Art of French Murder Series: #1 in the American in Paris historical series set in post-World War II Paris.
272 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "As Paris rediscovers its joie de vivre, Tabitha Knight, recently
arrived from Detroit for an extended stay with her French grandfather,
is on her own journey of discovery. Paris isn’t just the City of Light;
it’s the city of history, romance, stunning architecture . . . and food.
Thanks to her neighbor and friend Julia Child, another ex-pat who’s
fallen head over heels for Paris, Tabitha is learning how to cook for
her Grandpère and Oncle Rafe.
Between tutoring Americans in
French, visiting the market, and eagerly sampling the results of Julia’s
studies at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school, Tabitha’s sojourn is proving
thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return
to Julia’s building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar.
Tabitha recognizes the victim as a woman she’d met only the night
before, at a party given by Julia’s sister, Dort. The murder weapon
found nearby is recognizable too—a knife from Julia’s kitchen.
Tabitha
is eager to help the investigation, but is shocked when Inspector
Merveille reveals that a note, in Tabitha’s handwriting, was found in
the dead woman’s pocket. Is this murder a case of international
intrigue, or something far more personal? From the shadows of the Tour
Eiffel at midnight, to the tiny third-floor Child kitchen, to the grungy
streets of Montmartre, Tabitha navigates through the city hoping to
find the real killer before she or one of her friends ends up in prison .
. . or worse."
Series: #3 in the Arliss Cutter thriller series set in Alaska.
368 pages
Synopsis: "Off the northeast coast of Russia, the captain and crew of a small
crabbing vessel are brutally murdered by members of Bratva, the Russian
mafia—their bodies stuffed into crab pots and thrown overboard. The
killers scuttle the vessel off the coast of Alaska and slip ashore.
In
Washington, DC, Supreme Court Justice Charlotte Morehouse prepares for a
trip to Alaska, unaware that a killer is waiting to take his revenge—by
livestreaming her death to the world.
In Anchorage, Alaska,
Deputy US Marshals Arliss Cutter and Lola Teariki are assigned to
security detail at a judicial conference in Fairbanks. Lola is tasked
with guarding Justice Townsend’s teenaged daughter while Cutter provides
counter-surveillance. It’s a simple, routine assignment—until the
mother and daughter decide to explore the Alaskan wilderness on the
famous Glacier Discovery train. Hiding onboard are the Chechen
terrorists, who launch a surprise attack. While they seize control of
the engine, Cutter manages to escape with Justice Townsend by jumping
off the moving train—and into the unforgiving wilderness.
With no
supplies and no connection to the outside world, Cutter and the judge
must cross a treacherous terrain to stay alive. Two of the terrorists
are close behind. The others are on the train with the judge’s
daughter—and they plan to execute her on camera. With so many lives at
stake, Cutter knows there are only two options left: catch the train and
kill them all . . . or all will be killed."
Series: #15 in the Dr. Ruth Galloway series set in the Norfolk region of England.
368 pages
Synopsis: "When builders discover a human skeleton during a renovation of
a café, they call in archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway, who is preoccupied
with the threatened closure of her department and by her
ever-complicated relationship with DCI Nelson. The bones turn out to be
modern—the remains of Emily Pickering, a young archaeology student who
went missing in 2002. Suspicion soon falls on Emily’s Cambridge tutor
and also on another archeology enthusiast who was part of the group
gathered the weekend before she disappeared—Ruth’s friend Cathbad.
As
they investigate, Nelson and his team uncover a tangled web of
relationships within the archeology group and look for a link between
them and the café where Emily’s bones were found. Then, just when the
team seem to be making progress, Cathbad disappears. The trail leads
Ruth a to the Neolithic flint mines in Grimes Graves. The race is on,
first to find Cathbad and then to exonerate him, but will Ruth and
Nelson uncover the truth in time to save their friend?"
Title: We Love to Entertain Standalone Thriller set in Vermont.
368 pages
Synopsis: "Holly and Robert Barron are attractive young real-estate investors and contestants in a competition run by To the Manor Build,
the nation’s most popular home renovation app. With millions in product
endorsements and online followers at stake, they’re rehabbing a Vermont
home they scored at a bargain price into a chic hilltop estate ideal
for entertaining.It’s all camera-ready laughs and
debates over herringbone tile until Holly and Robert go missing hours
after their picture-perfect wedding—leaving behind a bloody trail.
Suspicion
falls quickly on Erika Turnbull, the Barrons’ twenty-something
assistant—eager, efficient, and secretly in love with Robert. Did Erika
let her misguided passion turn her into a murderer? So claim the
townsfolk of Snowden, Vermont, who still haven’t forgiven her for a
tragic accident back in high school.
But Erika’s
mother, Kim, is not about to let small-town gossip and a cop with an axe
to grind destroy her daughter—again. With time running out and their
own lives at risk, the mother-daughter duo set out to find what really
happened to the Barrons. First, though, they’ll have to confront the
vengeful former owner of Holly and Robert’s estate, ruthless
reality-show producers, and a secret that might bring their own house
down."
April is set up to be a feast for mystery lovers, with books of all sub-genres as well as both familiar and new-to-me authors. Are any of these books (besides The Last Remains) on your own Need-to-Read lists? Which ones? Are there any new authors on my list that you're tempted to try? Do tell-- It's cruel to keep inquiring minds guessing!
