The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel by David Casarett

First Line: The frail woman sitting alone below in the courtyard was sad.

Nurse ethicist Ladarat Patalung and Detective Wiriya Mookjai are still basking in the afterglow of their successful investigation in Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness. Although Ladarat is in the middle of scouring records to ensure that all the patients who died in her hospital had the dignity of a "good death,"  the detective believes he's found another case and wants her help. Wealthy foreign travelers are disappearing all over Thailand, and he's worried that a killer is at large. When the two discover that the missing tourists have nothing in common except for short stays at a resort known as the Magic Grove Hotel, Ladarat agrees to investigate.

I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness, and looked forward to this one with a great deal of anticipation. Unfortunately, The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel was a bit of a disappointment. The characters and the setting are still strong, and the mysteries are intriguing, but this second book in the series really needed more editing and tightening up.

The mysteries took forever to get moving-- mainly due to the fact that too much emphasis was placed on food in the first half. Casarett has definitely tickled my taste buds with his descriptions of Thai food, but having Ladarat attempt to learn to cook was overkill. Once all the food descriptions stopped, the pace picked up and my flagging interest was re-engaged.

There were also too many mysteries to solve: drugged bus passengers, a smuggling ring, tourists disappearing from a strange hotel, a doctor who's acting strangely... and why are so few people dying in the palliative care unit of the hospital? When there are so many investigations screaming for attention, they oftentimes do not get all the attention they deserve, and that's what happened here.

Yes, The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel does have a problem or two, but I'm still looking forward to the next book. There is a wit and humor and gentleness in these two books that just plain makes me feel good. Learning about all the many variations of Thai smiles and feeling good are two excellent reasons to keep reading, don't you agree?
 

The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel by David Casarett

ISBN: 9780316270694

Redhook Books © 2017

Paperback, 384 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency mystery

Rating: C

Source: Purchased from The Poisoned Pen.

December 2017 New Mystery Releases!

Nothing can make me feel more like an old fart than what seems to me to be the rapid progression of time. There's no way that Thanksgiving should be in my rearview mirror and Christmas looming ever closer in front of me. In fact, I'm finding that so difficult to accept that I'm sitting here with my choices for the best new crime fiction being released throughout the month of December instead of going out and putting up Christmas decorations. (Those two Santa lamp finials and that one Christmas chair cushion will be enough. Right?)

Well, if you're delaying the inevitable like I am, stay where you are and take a look at my list. It's organized by release date, and hopefully I've included a title or two that will tickle your fancy... or perhaps the fancy of some folks on your gift-buying list. Covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon. Let's take a look at the list!

=== December 5 ===

Title: Chained
Author: Eileen Brady
Series: #3 in the Kate Turner DVM cozy series set in upstate New York.
275 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Everyone in the charming Hudson Valley town of Oak Falls expected Flynn Keegan, their handsome blond "Golden Boy" to make it big in Hollywood. So when veterinarian Kate Turner identifies a bone dug up by one of her dog patients as human, no one thinks back ten years to remember Flynn. Until DNA and a smashed skull prove he was murdered.

With few clues available to the forensic team, the grieving family begs Kate to investigate. His four closest friends plead ignorance. Neighbors and teachers remember the charismatic young man but offer no real help. Meanwhile, Kate is juggling her eccentric house call clients, a silly pot-bellied pig wedding and the sudden re-appearance of an old college boyfriend. Anthropologist Jeremy Engels, who returns like Indiana Jones from an African dig, is eager to rekindle their romance and offer his help. Together, they plan to crash Flynn's high school reunion, a re-creation of his senior prom, and interview his fellow students. Time isn't of the essence with a ten-year-old cold case. Right? Her Gramps is convinced the killer is long gone, just like the illegally captured brown bear she helped save, now roaming free in the woods. But Kate soon discovers that chains of love can be as strong as those made of steel - and some deadly secrets have put her next on the kill list."

Title: Beau Death
Author: Peter Lovesey
Series: #17 in the Peter Diamond police procedural series set in Bath, England.
416 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Bath, England: A wrecking crew is demolishing a row of townhouses in order to build a grocery store when they uncover a skeleton in one of the attics. The dead man is wearing authentic 1760s garb and on the floor next to it is a white tricorn hat—the ostentatious signature accessory of Beau Nash, one of Bath’s most famous historical men-about-town, a fashion icon and incurable rake who, some say, ended up in a pauper’s grave. Or did the Beau actually end up in a townhouse attic? The Beau Nash Society will be all in a tizzy when the truth is revealed to them.

Chief Inspector Peter Diamond, who has been assigned to identify the remains, begins to fantasize about turning Nash scholarship on its ear. But one of his constables is stubbornly insisting the corpse can’t be Nash’s—the non-believer threatens to spoil Diamond’s favorite theory, especially when he offers some pretty irrefutable evidence. Is Diamond on a historical goose chase? Should he actually be investigating a much more modern murder?"

Title: And Death Goes to...
Author: Laura Bradford
Series: #3 in the Tobi Tobias cozy series set in St. Louis, Missouri.
210 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "The Tobias Ad Agency is in the running for the coveted Golden Storyboard, and Tobi couldn't be more thrilled-until she discovers it's literally an award to die for. 

It's an honor just to be nominated. But, let's get real, Tobi wants to win. The St. Louis Advertising Awards are like the Oscars for her field, and Tobi' is up for its most prestigious prize, Best Overall Ad Campaign. The competition is always fierce, but this year it's killer . . . 

Despite her high hopes, Tobi isn't exactly shocked when she doesn't win. But she is shocked when the winner, Deidre Ryan, takes the stage only to plummet to her death as a platform suddenly gives way. After the police discover foul play, Tobi's Grandpa Stu wastes no time in nominating suspects. But was Deidre the intended victim-or was someone else meant to take the fatal fall? Now it's a race to catch a killer in the spotlight before another nominee gets the booby prize and Tobi gets trapped in a no-win situation."

Title: Nightblind
Author: Ragnar Jónasson
Series: #3 in the Dark Iceland police procedural series set in northern Iceland.
240 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Ari Thor Arason is a local policeman who has an uneasy relationship with the villagers in an idyllically quiet fishing village in Northern Iceland―where no one locks their doors.

The peace of this close-knit community is shattered by a murder. One of Ari’s colleagues is gunned down at point-blank range in the dead of night in a deserted house. With a killer on the loose and the dark Arctic waters closing in, it falls to Ari Thor to piece together a puzzle that involves a new mayor and a psychiatric ward in Reykjavik. It becomes all too clear that tragic events from the past are weaving a sinister spell that may threaten them all."

Title: Comic Sans Murder
Author: Paige Shelton
Series: #3 in the Dangerous Type cozy series set in Star City, Utah.
288 pages

Synopsis: "The visit of quirky world-famous horror author Nathan Grimes to Star City is especially thrilling for Clare Henry and her grandfather Chester. As the owners of The Rescued Word, a charming boutique shop in town, Clare and Chester specialize in restoring old typewriters and repairing beloved books. They’ve invited Nathan to their shop to use their equipment for his next book.

But all plans to work on the book take a step in the wrong direction when a tourist discovers an abandoned ski boot on the slopes—and the only sign of the owner is the dismembered foot he left inside! Nathan’s writer’s curiosity for all things horror is further piqued after the body of Clare’s high school friend Lloyd Gavin is discovered sans one foot. When all toes point to a class reunion gone wrong, Nathan can’t help but join Clare and her best friend, police officer Jodie Wentworth, as they hurry to track down the killer before more former classmates become Most Likely to Be Killed."

Title: Insidious Intent
Author: Val McDermid
Series: #10 in the Tony Hill and Carol Jordan police procedural series set in northern England.
400 pages

Synopsis: "Widely recognized as one of our finest crime writers, with numerous accolades and legions of devoted readers worldwide, internationally bestselling author Val McDermid is back with the latest installment in her series featuring psychologist Tony Hill and former police detective Carol Jordan. In Insidious Intent, Tony and Carol are on the hunt for a serial killer who victimizes women at weddings without a date―and forces the duo to confront their most haunting moral dilemma so far.

In the north of England, single women are beginning to disappear from weddings. A pattern soon becomes clear: Someone is crashing the festivities and luring the women away―only to leave the victims’ bodies in their own burned-out cars in remote locations. Tony and Carol are called upon to investigate―but this may be the toughest case they’ve ever had to face. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Paula McIntyre and her partner Elinor must deal with a cruel cyber-blackmailer targeting their teenage ward, Torin."

Title: The Missing Guests of the Magic Grove Hotel
Author: David Casarett
Series: #2 in the Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency cozy series set in Thailand.
384 pages

Synopsis: "A fascinating mystery featuring Ladarat Patalung, the first and only nurse detective in Thailand.

As a nurse ethicist, Ladarat Patalung works to save the lives of her patients, and to make sure the ones she can't save have at least the dignity of a "good death."

But when wealthy foreign travelers start to go missing all across Thailand, Detective Wiriya Mookjai fears that a killer is at large, and turns to Ladarat for help.

The travelers have nothing in common, except for brief stays at a mysterious resort, known as the Magic Grove Hotel..."

=== December 8 ===

Title: Too Big to Die
Author: Sue Ann Jaffarian
Series: #12 in the Odelia Grey cozy series set in southern California.
288 pages

Synopsis: "It's the dog days of summer for Odelia and Greg after they rescue a dog from a closed car on a blistering hot day. The culprit is former reality star Marla Kingston, who's married to a client of Odelia's law firm. The dog was saved, but Odelia's job might not be when Kingston demands blood. Things get even stickier when a video of the rescue goes viral, and the man who helped them winds up dead. And who is the mysterious young woman who shows up about the same time? Is she connected or just an opportunist looking to cash in on their reluctant Internet fame?"

=== December 12 ===

Title: Signal Loss

Author: Garry Disher

Series: #7 in the Hal Challis police procedural series set outside Melbourne, Australia.

352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "A pair of hit men working a job for a meth kingpin has a very bad day, and the resulting bushfire draws attention to a drug lab and two burned bodies in a Mercedes. Sergeant Ellen Destry—newly minted head of her department’s sex crime unit—and Inspector Hal Challis return in this newest installment of Garry Disher’s Peninsula-based crimes series. With meth-related crime on the rise, interdepartmental tensions mount, and Challis soon finds himself fighting to keep control of his case. Meanwhile, Destry is hunting for a serial rapist who is extremely adept at not leaving clues. A tense, human, and at times darkly funny entry into Disher’s celebrated Ned Kelly Award-winning series."

Title: A Murder for the Books

Author: Victoria Gilbert

Series: #1 in the Blue Ridge Library cozy series set in Virginia.

336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Fleeing a disastrous love affair, university librarian Amy Webber moves in with her aunt in a quiet, historic mountain town in Virginia. She quickly busies herself with managing a charming public library that requires all her attention with its severe lack of funds and overabundance of eccentric patrons. The last thing she needs is a new, available neighbor whose charm lures her into trouble.

Dancer-turned-teacher and choreographer Richard Muir inherited the farmhouse next door from his great-uncle, Paul Dassin. But town folklore claims the house’s original owner was poisoned by his wife, who was an outsider. It quickly became water under the bridge, until she vanished after her sensational 1925 murder trial. Determined to clear the name of the woman his great-uncle loved, Richard implores Amy to help him investigate the case. Amy is skeptical until their research raises questions about the culpability of the town’s leading families... including her own.

When inexplicable murders plunge the quiet town into chaos, Amy and Richard must crack open the books to reveal a cruel conspiracy and lay a turbulent past to rest in A Murder for the Books, the first installment of Victoria Gilbert’s Blue Ridge Library mysteries."

Title: Unnatural Causes

Author: Dawn Eastman

Series: #1 in the Dr. Katie LeClair suspense series set in Michigan.

288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Katie LeClair has finally settled down as the new doctor in Baxter, MI. After years of moving, schooling, and training, she wants nothing more than to find a place she can call home, and a small town outside of Ann Arbor seemed perfect.

Katie quickly gets to work on building a life for herself in Baxter, and beyond reviving her love life, she also finds a pair of business partners in a team of father and son family practitioners. But that idyllic dream is immediately shattered when one of her patients is found dead. That wouldn't be the worst thing, except the death is ruled a suicide, and as evidence has it, the suicide was a result of the medication Katie had prescribed. But she doesn't remember writing it.

When a closer investigation reveals it was murder, Katie is catapulted into an off-the-books investigation that leads her down a dark path of past secrets. But someone is willing to kill to keep part of the town's history in the shadows, and Katie must race to find out who before it's too late in nationally bestselling author Dawn Eastman's riveting series debut Unnatural Causes."

=== December 19 ===

Title: Historically Dead

Author: Greta McKennan

Series: #2 in the Stitch in Time cozy series set in Pennsylvania.

222 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Seamstress Daria Dembrowski must find a historically-minded killer before the fabric of her peaceful town rips wide open . . . 

When the reality show My House in History comes to Laurel Springs, Pennsylvania, savvy seamstress Daria Dembrowski sees a business opportunity. The show follows two elderly sisters' quest to restore their colonial mansion, and that means a heap of work for a seamstress who specializes in historical textiles. Although one of the old women is a bit of a grump, Daria loves the job-until she discovers one of the researchers dead, and the whole project threatens to unwind.

As a series of historical crimes pile up, from a stolen Paul Revere platter to a chilling incident of arson, Daria must find the killer quickly, for her life is hanging by a thread."

I think you'll agree, there are some very interesting new books being released in December, and I'll have you know that one of the titles in this post has made my Best Reads of 2017 list. Which books tickled your fancy? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness by David Casarett

First Line: "I have come to see you, Khun Ladarat, about a matter of the utmost urgency."

Ladarat Patalung is the nurse ethicist for Sriphat Hospital in Chiang Mai, Thailand, so when something strange happens in the emergency room, her expertise is called needed.

Two nights ago a young woman brought her husband into the emergency room where he passed away. The problem? A guard remembers the same woman coming in before-- but with a different husband who also died.

Now Ladarat has no alternative but to conduct an investigation. Is there a serial killer on the loose in her hospital? If there is, she is determined to do everything in her power to stop this person.

Through the talents of writers such as Timothy Hallinan, Colin Cotterill, and now David Casarett, I am learning a great deal about the wonderful people of Thailand. How many other cultures do you know of that have names for all of the many different types of human smiles? 

I quickly fell under Ladarat Patalung's spell. She is a truly solitary woman whose life revolves around the hospital. She takes her job as an ethicist very seriously, but outside of her job, the only interactions she has are with the person running the food cart in her neighborhood and her cat. (By the way, those stops at that food cart made me ravenous for Thai food!) Ladarat travels to and from the hospital in a forty-year-old Volkswagen Beetle, and the year she spent studying in Chicago means it's easier for her to bridge the cultural gap between East and West when patients and their families need her.

It doesn't take long for us to know what's happening with the woman and her serial husbands; the pleasure is in watching the way Ladarat tracks down this black widow. Ladarat does do something very ill-advised that in other books would make me accuse the main character of being too stupid to live, but in Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness, Ladarat's actions prove her to be as naive as only the truly good-hearted can be. I don't quite know how Casarett managed my volte-face, but kudos to him! 

There's more to this book than a nurse ethicist's investigation. Besides the mouth-watering food, there's an extremely important inspection that she needs to get ready for, and a severely injured newlywed couple and their parents who need her skills. I also learned a bit more about the role of Chinese immigrants in Thai history.

This is a book that's perfect for the armchair traveling amateur sleuth. Exotic location. Food. Culture. Intriguing mystery. And a main character who will have you eagerly awaiting the next book in the series-- just as I am.
 

Murder at the House of Rooster Happiness by David Casarett

ISBN: 9780316270632

Redhook Books © 2016

Paperback, 368 pages

Cozy Mystery, #1 Ethical Chiang Mai Detective Agency mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.  


 

September 2016 New Mystery Releases!

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 . . ." 

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!