November 2020 New Mystery Releases!

There's nothing like trying to compose blog posts with the racket of chain saws right outside the window. We're having some work done on many of the trees on the property with the HUGE project of cutting down the enormous dead Aleppo pine coming Saturday. I'm going to miss that tree, so it's a good thing that I have the distraction of new books to talk about and share with you all.

I've grouped my picks of the best new crime fiction being released during the month of November by their release dates, and the synopses and covers are courtesy of Amazon.

Now it's time to see if any of my choices tickle your fancy, too. Let's take a look!

=== November 1 ===

 

Title: The Cipher

Author: Isabella Maldonado

Series: #1 in the FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series set in various US locations

335 pages

Synopsis: "FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.

His coded riddles may have made him a depraved social media superstar—an enigmatic cyber-ghost dubbed “the Cipher”—but to Nina he’s a monster who preys on the vulnerable. Partnered with the FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, who is haunted by his own past, Nina tracks the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches."

=== November 3 ===

Title: Consolation

Author: Garry Disher

Series: #3 in the Constable Paul Hirschhausen police procedural series set in Australia.

400 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "In Consolation, Tiverton’s only police officer Constable Paul Hirschhausen is dealing with a snowdropper. Someone is stealing women’s underwear, and Hirsch knows how that kind of crime can escalate. Then two calls come in: a teacher who thinks a child may be in danger at home. A father on the rampage over at the primary school.

Hirsch knows how things like that can escalate, too. Families under pressure. Financial problems. But it’s always a surprise when the killing starts." 

Title: The Preserve

Author: Ariel S. Winter

Standalone thriller set in the future

256 pages

Synopsis: "Decimated by plague, the human population is now a minority. Robots—complex AIs almost indistinguishable from humans—are the ruling majority. Nine months ago, in a controversial move, the robot government opened a series of preserves, designated areas where humans can choose to live without robot interference. Now the preserves face their first challenge: someone has been murdered.

Chief of Police Jesse Laughton on the SoCar Preserve is assigned to the case. He fears the factions that were opposed to the preserves will use the crime as evidence that the new system does not work. As he digs for information, robots in the outside world start turning up dead from bad drug-like programs that may have originated on SoCar land. And when Laughton learns his murder victim was a hacker who wrote drug-programs, it appears that the two cases might be linked. Soon, it’s clear that the entire preserve system is in danger of collapsing. Laughton’s former partner, a robot named Kir, arrives to assist on the case, and they soon uncover shocking secrets revealing that life on the preserve is not as peaceful as its human residents claim. But in order to protect humanity’s new way of life, Laughton must solve this murder before it’s too late.

The Preserve is a fresh and futuristic mystery that is perfect for fans of Westworld and Blade Runner."

=== November 5 ===

Title: The Diabolical Bones

Author: Bella Ellis

Series: #2 in the Brontë Sisters historical series set in England.

352 pages

UK Release

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Charlotte, Emily and Anne Brontë are rather losing interest in detecting until they hear of a shocking discovery: the bones of a child have been found interred within the walls of a local house, Top Withens Hall, home to the scandalous and brutish Bradshaw family.

When the sisters set off to find out more, they are confronted with an increasingly complex and sinister case, which leads them into the dark world of orphanages, and onto the trail of other lost, and likely murdered children. After another local boy goes missing, Charlotte, Emily and Anne vow to find him before it's too late.

But in order to do so, they must face their most despicable and wicked adversary yet - one that would not hesitate to cause them the gravest of harm. . ."

=== November 10 ===

Title: Shallow Ground

Author: Andy Maslen

Series: #1 in the Detective Ford police procedural series set in England.

367 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Barely a month since his promotion to Inspector, DI Ford is called in to investigate the murder of a young nurse and her son in a small flat in Salisbury. There are few clues, and no apparent motive, but Ford can sense that there’s a serial killer at work. After all, he knows from brutal personal experience how killers cover their tracks…

It’s been six years since Ford lost his wife in a climbing accident—an accident he caused. He is desperate to keep the truth hidden, especially from his son, Sam. But Ford’s new partner, Dr Hannah Fellowes, is a crime scene investigator with a ruthlessly analytical mind, and as they work together to track down the killer, his crippling guilt is compounded by fear of exposure.

When instinct leads him towards a high-profile suspect, his superiors’ warnings just make him more determined to connect impulse and fact. But can Ford hold it all together—the case, his life—long enough to stop the killer?"

Title: Moonflower Murders

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Series: #2 in the Susan Ryeland series set in Greece and England.

608 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Retired publisher Susan Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London.

And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts. 

One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime. 

The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened."

Title: Murder in Old Bombay

Author: Nev March

Historical mystery set in 19th century Bombay, India.

400 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims ― his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide ― Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon.

But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous. Captain Jim's investigation disturbs the shadows that seem to follow the Framji family and triggers an ominous chain of events. And when lively Lady Diana Framji joins the hunt for her sisters’ attackers, Captain Jim’s heart isn’t safe, either.

Based on a true story, and set against the vibrant backdrop of colonial India, Nev March's Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning lyrical debut, Murder in Old Bombay, brings this tumultuous historical age to life." 

Title: After All I've Done

Author: Mina Hardy

Standalone psychological suspense set in the US.

310 pages

Synopsis: "Five months ago, an accident left Diana Sparrow badly injured and missing a few months of her memory. As if that's not enough, she's started having recurring nightmares about the night of the accident. Dreams that feel so real, she's left questioning: maybe she didn't just slide off the road into a ditch. Maybe, just maybe, she hit something. Or someone.

She can't turn to her former best friend Val, who's been sleeping with Diana's husband Jonathan for months, but she might find some comfort in newcomer Cole Pelham. Yet the closer they become, the more Diana begins to wonder what really happened that night--and how Cole might be connected. Worse, it seems everyone else could be involved, too.

Who was with her that night? What really happened? As her life unravels thread by thread and the dreams become too real to ignore, Diana will have to face the unthinkable--and do the unforgivable."

=== November 24 ===

Title: Meet Isabel Puddles

Author: M.V. Byrne

Series: #1 in the Mitten State cozy series set in Michigan.

336 pages

Synopsis: "The only thing widow Isabel Puddles loves as much as her hometown of Gull Harbor on the shores of Lake Michigan is cozying up to a good mystery--but she never expected to be caught in the middle of one...

To the tourists and summer residents, Kentwater County is a picturesque community of small-town charm, fruitful farmland, and gorgeous freshwater beaches. To middle-aged widow Isabel Puddles, it's where she enjoys breakfast every morning at a local café with her childhood best friend and spends her evenings cozying up with a good book and her devoted Jack Terrier, Jackpot. In between, Isabel makes ends meet through a variety of trades--preserving pickles, baking pies, working the counter at her cousin's hardware shop, and occasionally helping "fix-up" the hair of corpses at the local funeral parlor.

When Isabel discovers a two-inch nail embedded in the skull of Earl Jonasson, it seems the octogenarian may not have died of a stroke. His son is quickly arrested when his alibi doesn't check out. But Isabel has known Earl Jr. since they were kids and can't believe he'd murder his own father, regardless of his financial difficulties. As gossip about Earl Sr.'s land and insurance policy money starts to spread around the county, Isabel finds herself conducting her own investigation to clear her friend's name. But real detective work isn't like Jessica Fletcher's Murder She Wrote mysteries, and she's meeting dangerous suspects who don't like Isabel poking around in their business..."

There's certainly a wide-ranging selection of new books this month, isn't there? Did any of them tickle your fancy? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Isabella Maldonado at The Poisoned Pen!

Denis knows how to make me laugh. We were well on the way to our favorite bookstore, The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, when he asked-- completely out of the blue-- "So... who is this Isabella Maldonado?" (He's learned that coming with me to see authors he's never heard of always means new books for him to read.) I filled him in on a few facts: retired police officer, local author, her books are set here in Phoenix, and her second mystery featuring a Latina police officer, Phoenix Burning, was launching that night so there might be cake. I may be mistaken, but I think he drove a little faster the rest of the way to our destination.

Denis and I reserved our seats, then sat in the back to relax, read, and chat. A cake and goodies table was set up, and a man was busily going through a couple of boxes of what I thought of as props. I could see this was going to be an interesting evening-- especially when many people showed up who were ready to celebrate.

L to R: Isabella Maldonado & Patrick Millikin

"It's great to see more Arizona and Phoenix talent and novelists start to come in and fill the void. For a long time, there weren't too many people writing about Phoenix, so it's great to see someone with an extensive police and law enforcement background really doing it right-- and not just North Scottsdale but the entire Phoenix area," host Patrick Millikin said. After discovering that almost everyone (with the exception of Denis) had read the first book in the series, Blood's Echo, Patrick asked Isabella to tell us a bit about her new book, Phoenix Burning.

"As we know at the end of book one, Veranda makes an oath to herself that she will take her secret to the grave. No one will ever know her deep dark secret," Isabella said. "Well, that doesn't play out very well. It's hard to keep secrets like that. Unfortunately, in book two everything blows up in her face and she's scrambling to deal with her department, her own loud, interfering, loving, Latino family, and of course, the Villalobos crime family."

Isabella Maldonado

"We do have to be careful of giving away spoilers because there are some big ones to give away," Millikin said. "But it's safe to talk about this one because it happens at the beginning of the book. It's when a certain person is killed on a street corner. Can you kind of set up the basic plot for us?"

"One of the things I wanted to do was use my own experience in law enforcement when I was involved in a huge, multi-jurisdictional task force where we were trying to track down some really, really bad folks. I wanted to draw from that experience and have a situation in Phoenix where things went so horribly awry that it would necessitate a multi-jurisdictional task force.

"So I asked myself and I asked my friends on the Phoenix police force what could happen, what would be so bad that it would make national headlines? So the book opens with that premise. There's a high-speed pursuit and a shootout, and it goes all the way through Phoenix. I have to warn locals," Maldonado continued, "that I did make up roads. I did that on purpose so I wouldn't cast aspersions on any particular parts of the city. At the end of the pursuit, the gunman runs into a shopping mall that I made up called the Arcadia Shopping Mall. You can tell by the name that it's a high-end, posh place. A cross between Biltmore Fashion Park and Scottsdale Fashion Square. The shootout continues right into the mall with guns blazing and people running and screaming. And yes, it does make national headlines. And then the task force comes in."

Available Now!

 "Talk a little about the Villalobos cartel. Is there a particular model for that group?" Patrick asked.

"The cartel I've created is more sophisticated than your average cartel. I describe it as the largest cartel in the world. You can think of it as any large family business dynasty, but their business is crime," Maldonado replied. "The father, Hector Villalobos, has come up with his own retirement plan, which is to divide up his cartel between his four adult children. Bartolo was given the drugs sector. Adolfo is the oldest son and was pushed out of the way by Bartolo, but Bartolo gets his in book one. Now it's Adolfo's turn to be in charge. He's the CFO. He does money laundering, gambling, racketeering, and everything else that goes on. The third son, Carlos, is in charge of human trafficking and sex trafficking. Daria is the only female. She's in charge of explosives, of gun running and that sort of thing.

"That's how Hector has set it up where everyone has a part in the division of labor. You'd think it would work, but none of them get along in this family because their father has raised them to be hyper-competitive."

"For those in the audience who aren't acquainted with you, could you talk a little bit about your law enforcement background?" Millikin asked.

Bella and her nightstick

"I got into law enforcement in the 1980s," Bella told us. "Some of you may remember the 80s. It was a time of big hair and shoulder pads and a lot of lip gloss... and those were just the men. But that's when I got into law enforcement. Back East. In the Fairfax County Police Department. It's a suburb of Washington, DC. The county is similar in size to Phoenix and has 1.2 million people, so it has a large population and a good-sized police department.

"Back then I was one of the few women in the department, so that was quite interesting," Maldonado continued. "I slowly climbed my way through the ranks and over the course of twenty-two years, I eventually became a captain. As captain, I held the title of Gang Council Coordinator; I was a precinct commander; I was the spokesperson for the department at one point; and then when I retired, I was the commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. I had the chance to do a lot of different things in the department. I was a hostage negotiator; I would also do interpreting for some of the detectives. I was exposed to a lot of different things, and I had a very interesting and fun career.

"That's one of the things I wanted to write about. I thought you know what? I want to write about these stories and have them end the way they should end, instead of the way they do end."

Bella's husband Mike who's head of the Phoenix Crime Lab

"What brought you out to Phoenix?" Patrick asked. "Is he standing over there?"

Bella laughed. "Yeah, that guy standing over there wearing the Phoenix Burning t-shirt. He's modeling for me tonight."

"You say 'retired,' so you put in your twenty..." Maldonado nodded, "and did you always have the desire to write and make that a second career?" Millikin asked.

"Yes, absolutely. Since I was a little kid I always knew that I would be a writer at some point. After I retired, I spent five years studying the art and craft of writing. I put a lot of work into it. I joined Sisters in Crime, and that really did a lot to help me hone my skills. I also published three short stories to try to home in on what my style was."

Patrick said, "I always like to ask authors with a law enforcement background if they read police procedurals and really dial in on what they got wrong."

Maldonado laughed. "Yes! I was a lot worse at it before I started writing my own stuff. Now I've learned why they have to do stuff a different way. I'll use an example from the Phoenix Police Department. They've changed their policy, and now if an officer is involved in a fatal shooting, there's nothing unusual about taking that officer off duty for thirty days while they investigate and evaluate. Well-- talk about slowing the plot down! Now I have a much better appreciation of why you have to bend things a little."

"And officers are working more than one investigation at a time," Patrick commented.

"Yes. Not only that, but it's not just two partners working a case. A whole squad will be working it," Maldonado said.

Interesting bracelet....

Bella's series takes place all over Phoenix. Police headquarters is in the middle of downtown Phoenix. The Villalobos live in a mansion in Paradise Valley. But Veranda and her family are based in South Phoenix.

The author fell in love with Phoenix when she moved here, and when she began to write, she realized that few books were set here. She also wanted to ensure that Latino food and culture and family traditions played a big part in her books. "Some people have told me that they always get hungry when they read my books," she laughed.

"I know we have some aspiring writers in the audience," Millikin said. "Do you have any advice for them?"

"You have to really believe in what you're doing," Maldonado said. "And you have to have nerve. A lot of nerve. I pitched directly to editors and publishers at conferences. I was offered a three-book deal right out of the chute, and I was really surprised at that. To get an agent, I went to Thrillerfest in New York City.

"It's kind of like speed dating. You get three minutes-- they set a timer-- to pitch your book, and you need to convince them you're fabulous. In three minutes. And these hardened New York City publishers have heard it all! You have to push the boundaries, but I was able to get an agent."

"Wait a second. Let's back up," Millikin said. "You published your first book without an agent?"

"I got the three-book deal without an agent," Maldonado replied. "I had all sorts of people tell me that I wasn't going to get an agent now that I already had a contract, but I thought to myself, if these people can't see any potential in me they're not right for me to begin with.

"And there were a few in that room filled with agents who said, 'What do you need me for?' and I said to myself, I don't. I don't need you. You don't have any imagination if you can't see anything going forward. But there were four or five who could see, so we'll see what happens."

The author as police officer

Then we had a trivia contest in order to earn some fun swag. Unfortunately, I did not know the correct terminology for a nightstick. (PR-24) Lots of fun and laughter filled the remaining part of this event-- including locals' incomprehension of tourists who think 8 oz. of water, a pair of flip-flops, and a tank top are sufficient to go hiking up Camelback Mountain. (This can lead to almost daily mountain rescues. Many people want to pass a Stupid Hiker Law to join Arizona's already existing Stupid Motorist Law.)

When the event drew to a close, Denis and I were glad we'd come... and we left with a slice of tasty launch cake apiece!

A delicious launch cake

March 2018 New Mystery Releases!

It's a good thing I took another look at my post title. It originally said "March 2918 New Mystery Releases." Some of you might have seen that and thought someone spiked my punch bowl-- or wondered about my wonderful contacts who could tell me about books being written nine hundred years from now!

I'm always on the hunt for new mysteries to read, and these are my picks of new crime fiction being released throughout the month of March. I've grouped them by release dates and hopefully given you enough information so that you will succumb to temptation and add them to your wishlists. Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

It's time to stop talking so you can take a look at the list.  Here we go!

=== March 1 ===

Title: The Suffering of Strangers

Author: Caro Ramsay

Series: #9 in the Anderson & Costello police procedural series set in Glasgow, Scotland.

256 pages

Synopsis: "When a six-week-old baby is stolen from outside a village shop, Detective Inspector Costello quickly surmises there?s more to this case than meets the eye. As she questions those involved, she uncovers evidence that this was no impulsive act as the police initially assumed, but something cold, logical, meticulously planned. Who has taken Baby Sholto ? and why?

Colin Anderson meanwhile is on the Cold Case Unit, reviewing the unsolved rape of a young mother back in 1996. Convinced this wasn't the first- or last - time the attacker struck, Anderson looks for a pattern. But when he does find a connection, it reaches back into his own past . . ." 

=== March 6 ===

Title: A Brush with Shadows

Author: Anna Lee Huber

Series: #6 in the Lady Darby historical series set in the UK.

383 pages

Synopsis: "July 1831. It's been fifteen years since Sebastian Gage has set foot in Langstone Manor. Though he has shared little with his wife, Lady Kiera Darby, about his past, she knows that he planned never to return to the place of so many unhappy childhood memories. But when an urgent letter from his grandfather reaches them in Dublin, Ireland, and begs Gage to visit, Kiera convinces him to go.

All is not well at Langstone Manor. Gage's grandfather, the Viscount Tavistock, is gravely ill, and Gage's cousin Alfred has suddenly vanished. He wandered out into the moors and never returned. The Viscount is convinced someone or something other than the natural hazards of the moors is to blame for Alfred's disappearance. And when Alfred's brother Rory goes missing, Kiera and Gage must concede he may be right. Now, they must face the ghosts of Gage's past, discover the truth behind the local superstitions, and see beyond the tricks being played by their very own eyes to expose what has happened to Gage's family before the moors claim yet another victim..."

Title: A Funeral in Mantova

Author: David P. Wagner

Series: #5 in the Rick Montoya amateur sleuth series set in Italy.

220 pages

Synopsis: "Lombardy was once hotly disputed by the cities of Venice and Milan. Today it is famed for its food rather than war. But the murder of the elderly fisherman, for so it proves to be, reveals battles still rage within the region's controlled agribiz, the manufacture of cheese and cured meats by generations of local families, as well as over the best use for a parcel of land owned by the victim, Roberto Rondini, and now passing to his heirs.

Rick Montoya, an American from New Mexico self-employed as a translator in Italy, soon receives a call from the States. The US Embassy in Rome has recommended his services to wealthy Angelo Rondini, cousin to Roberto. Angelo, age seventy-eight and born in nearby Voglia, has been invited to the funeral by Roberto's daughter, Livia Guarino. Out of respect, Angelo has agreed to connect with the Italian family he hasn't seen since he was a very young boy.

Rick hires on as interpreter. And soon receives another assignment - a local cop, Inspector Crespi, linked to Rick's uncle, Commissario Piero Fontana of the Roman Questura, leads the murder investigation and asks Rick to observe and report. Rick agrees, if Angelo accepts his working undercover. And so Rick once again puts his linguistic skills to use for the local law in solving a crime.

Despite the joys and distractions of the city and its watery setting, its glorious art and architecture, and the temptations of the local cuisine and cheese culture, the investigation must probe the life of Roberto and the history of the Rondinis as well as the rivalries of the locals. Yet with all this on display, the story is stolen by two women: Angelo's American executive assistant, and Livia, the Rondini clan's new matriarch.

David Wagner's Rick Montoya Mysteries will appeal to readers of Michael Dibdin, Donna Leon, and Martin Walker." 

Title: Barbed Wire Heart

Author: Tess Sharpe

Standalone noir thriller.

416 pages

Synopsis: "Harley McKenna is the only child of North County's biggest criminal. Duke McKenna's run more guns, cooked more meth, and killed more men than anyone around. Harley's been working for him since she was sixteen--collecting debts, sweet-talking her way out of trouble, and dreading the day he'd deem her ready to rule the rural drug empire he's built.

Her time's run out. The Springfields, her family's biggest rivals, are moving in. Years ago, they were responsible for her mother's death, and now they're coming for Duke's only weak spot: his daughter.

With a bloody turf war threatening to consume North County, Harley is forced to confront the truth: that her father's violent world will destroy her. Duke's raised her to be deadly--he never counted on her being disloyal. But if Harley wants to survive and protect the people she loves, she's got to take out Duke's operation and the Springfields.

Blowing up meth labs is dangerous business, and getting caught will be the end of her, but Harley has one advantage: She is her father's daughter. And McKennas always win.

A remarkable novel with a deep emotional core, BARBED WIRE HEART seamlessly blends page-turning suspense with a multilayered and unflinching portrayal of a poor, rural community where family is everything."

Title: The Silent Companions

Author: Laura Purcell

Standalone Gothic suspense set in England.

315 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But with her husband dead just weeks after their marriage, her new servants resentful, and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure—a silent companion—that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself. The residents of the estate are terrified of the figure, but Elsie tries to shrug this off as simple superstition—that is, until she notices the figure’s eyes following her.

A Victorian ghost story that evokes a most unsettling kind of fear, The Silent Companions is a tale that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect—much like the companions themselves."

=== March 8 ===

Title: Phoenix Burning

Author: Isabella Maldonado

Series: #2 in the Veranda Cruz police procedural series set in Phoenix, Arizona.

338 pages

Synopsis: "Homicide Detective Veranda Cruz will stop at nothing to take down the Villalobos cartel. But when a wave of violence in the city escalates, she fears that the secrets of her past will take her down instead.

Adolfo Villalobos is a crime boss who's determined to stake his claim. To prove that he's ready to run his family's sprawling criminal empire, he devises a plan to silence his siblings and destroy Veranda, leaving a trail of destruction through downtown Phoenix that makes national headlines. Veranda believes the task force she's been assigned to lead will end the cartel's reign of terror, until Adolfo's revenge takes a cruel—and highly personal—twist."

=== March 13 ===

Title: Lethal in Old Lace

Author: Duffy Brown

Series: #5 in the Consignment Shop cozy series set in Savannah, Georgia.

298 pages

Synopsis: "There are two social functions in Savannah guaranteed to get people talking: weddings and funerals. And just as consignment shop owner Reagan Summerside agrees to marry the hunky Walker Boone, her neighbors, sisters Annie Fritz and Elsie Abbot, step up their business as professional mourners. They are so successful that the Sleepy Pines Retirement Center has hired them as a part of their retirement package. But the celebration over good business is cut short when the residents at Pines suddenly begin dying at an alarming rate. And the sisters are the first suspects.

Reagan has her doubts, however, and begins to look into the strange phenomenon. But then something even stranger happens: a body winds up in the sisters’ pink Caddy. The evidence begins to pile up and the suspicious case of Willie Fishbine, who swindled the sisters out of a fortune and coincidentally died prior to the Pines case, is reopened.

Not wanting Willie to be buried until they can find the killer responsible for the murders, Reagan must catch the culprit in time to walk down the aisle. Witty, fabulous, and full of charm, Lethal in Old Lace is perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Jenn McKinlay."

Title: Searcher of the Dead

Author: Nancy Herriman

Series: #1 in the Bess Ellyott historical series set in Elizabethan England.

334 pages

Synopsis: "Living amid the cultural flowering, religious strife, and political storms of Tudor England, Bess Ellyott is an herbalist, a widow, and a hunted woman. She fled London after her husband was brutally murdered, but the bucolic town in the countryside where she lands will offer her no solace. She still doesn’t know who killed her husband, but she knows one thing: The murderer is still out there. This becomes all too clear when Bess’s brother-in-law, a prosperous merchant, is himself found dead—dangling from a tree, an apparent suicide.

But Bess doesn’t believe that for a moment, and nor do her neighbors. Competition is cutthroat in the 17th century, and word around the town holds that the dead man is a victim of rival merchants scheming to corner the wool market. Bess, though, is convinced the killer is out to destroy her family.

Town constable Christopher Harwoode will cross members of his own family to help Bess find the killer—whose next target may very well be Queen Elizabeth I—in this unshakably gripping, devilishly unpredictable series debut that will delight fans of Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory." 

Title: This Is How It Ends

Author: Eva Dolan

Standalone thriller set in the UK.

336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "The building was once home to families, friends, children, couples, love, life. Now, almost every apartment is empty, the inhabitants forced out by the developers tearing down the old social housing to build luxury homes.

Only a few of the inhabitants have fought back against the attempts to evict them from their homes and their histories. And they have been joined by passionate student protester and would-be journalist, Ella, who is leading a high-profile media campaign to protect those who refuse to leave.

One night, Ella returns home to find a horrible scene awaiting her-the dead body of a mysterious man. Panicked, she calls her neighbor Molly, who convinces her that the police won't believe she's innocent. Together the two women concoct a gruesome plan to hide the body.

But the secret won't stay buried for long. As truth hangs in the balance, a neighbor tells Molly he had heard Ella arguing with a man in the hallway and mistrust grows between Ella and Molly, as repercussions of that night threaten to change both women's lives forever."

=== March 20 ===

Title: Death Comes in Through the Kitchen

Author: Teresa Dovalpage

Standalone amateur sleuth set in Cuba.

368 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Matt, a San Diego journalist, arrives in Havana to marry his girlfriend, Yarmila, a 24-year-old Cuban woman whom he first met through her food blog. But Yarmi isn’t there to meet him at the airport, and when he hitches a ride to her apartment, he finds her lying dead in the bathtub.

With Yarmi’s murder, lovelorn Matt is immediately embroiled in a Cuban adventure he didn’t bargain for. The police and secret service have him down as their main suspect, and in an effort to clear his name, he must embark on his own investigation into what really happened. The more Matt learns about his erstwhile fiancée, though, the more he realizes he had no idea who she was at all—but did anyone?"

Title: The Temptation of Forgiveness

Author: Donna Leon

Series: #27 in the Guido Brunetti police procedural series set in Venice, Italy.

272 pages

Synopsis: "The memorable characters and Venetian drama that have long captivated Donna Leon’s many readers are on full display in The Temptation of Forgiveness. Surprised, if not dismayed, to discover from his superior, Vice-Questore Patta, that leaks are emanating from the Questura, Commissario Guido Brunetti is surprised more consequentially by the appearance of a friend of his wife’s, fearful that her son is using drugs and hopeful Brunetti can somehow intervene. When Tullio Gasparini, the woman’s husband, is found unconscious and with a serious brain injury at the foot of a bridge in Venice after midnight, Brunetti is drawn to pursue a possible connection to the boy’s behavior. But the truth, as Brunetti has experienced so often, is not straightforward.

As the twenty-seventh novel unfolds in Donna Leon’s exquisite chronicle of Venetian life in all its blissful and sordid aspects, Brunetti pursues several false and contradictory leads while growing ever more impressed by the intuition of his fellow Commissario, Claudia Griffoni, and by the endless resourcefulness and craftiness of Signorina Elettra, Patta’s secretary and gate-keeper. Exasperated by the petty bureaucracy that constantly bedevils him and threatens to expose Signorina Elettra, Brunetti is steadied by the embrace of his own family and by his passion for the classics. This predilection leads him to read Sophocles’ Antigone, and, in its light, consider the terrible consequences to which the actions of a tender heart can lead."

=== March 27 ===

Title: To Die but Once

Author: Jacqueline Winspear

Series: #14 in the Maisie Dobbs historical series set during the beginning months of World War II in England and France.

336 pages

Synopsis: "During the months following Britain’s declaration of war on Germany, Maisie Dobbs investigates the disappearance of a young apprentice working on a hush-hush government contract. As news of the plight of thousands of soldiers stranded on the beaches of France is gradually revealed to the general public, and the threat of invasion rises, another young man beloved by Maisie makes a terrible decision that will change his life forever. 

Maisie’s investigation leads her from the countryside of rural Hampshire to the web of wartime opportunism exploited by one of the London underworld’s most powerful men, in a case that serves as a reminder of the inextricable link between money and war. Yet when a final confrontation approaches, she must acknowledge the potential cost to her future—and the risk of destroying a dream she wants very much to become reality." 

Title: Murder, She Knit

Author: Peggy Ehrhart

Series: #1 in the Knit & Nibble cozy series set in New Jersey.

288 pages

Synopsis: "Since her only daughter left for college, widow Pamela Paterson has kept busy as associate editor of a craft magazine and founder of the Knit and Nibble knitting club in quaint Arborville, New Jersey. Now, she’s trying out a new hobby—solving murders!

Pamela is hosting the next Knit and Nibble meeting and can’t wait to liven up her otherwise empty home with colorful yarn, baking, and a little harmless gossip. She even recruits Amy Morgan, an old friend who recently moved to town, as the group’s newest member. But on the night of the gathering, Amy doesn’t show. Not until Pamela finds the woman dead outside—a knitting needle stabbed through the front of her handmade sweater . . .

Someone committed murder before taking off with Amy’s knitting bag, and Pamela realizes that only she can spot the deadly details hidden in mysterious skeins. But when another murder occurs, naming the culprit—and living to spin the tale—will be more difficult than Pamela ever imagined . . . "

Well, this list has a little something for everyone, doesn't it? My vote for the creepiest book cover this month is Caro Ramsay's The Suffering of Strangers. My favorite? It's a tie between Winspear's To Die but Once and Ehrhart's Murder, She Knit--although that cat looks like a twin of the cat in Betty Hechtman's knitting series! (Or... at least I think it's a cat. It's got a mighty long nose.)

Did I tempt you with any of these titles this month? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Blood's Echo by Isabella Maldonado

First Line: Five hundred kilos of white death snaked through downtown Phoenix.

Detective Veranda Cruz has spent years learning all there is to know about the Villalobos drug cartel. Now she leads an elite task force on the Phoenix Police Drug Enforcement Bureau. No one suspects Cruz's obsession with the cartel until an operation goes spectacularly wrong. 

Targeted by an increasingly unstable drug lord, Cruz must protect her family and avoid adversaries within the police force while she tries to set another trap, this time as part of the Homicide team.

Blood's Echo is a fast-paced juggernaut of a thriller led by a strong, interesting woman. While Veranda Cruz tries to bring down one of the most powerful drug cartels in the world, readers learn quite a bit about family dynamics-- both within Veranda's large and caring Hispanic family and the drug cartel itself.

Veranda and Cole Anderson, the arson investigator, are the strongest characters in the book, and while the secondary cast is good, it's not as developed as these two. I look forward to seeing other characters fleshed out as the series progresses.

Maldonado is good with action scenes. Anything to do with bringing down the cartel and the search for a possible mole within the police department is exciting and fast-paced. 

All in all, I enjoyed reading this first Veranda Cruz mystery set in Phoenix, Arizona, and I'm looking forward to others.
       

Blood's Echo by Isabella Maldonado

eISBN: 9780738751337

Midnight Ink © 2017

eBook, 312 pages

Police Procedural, #1 Veranda Cruz

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley 


 

March 2017 New Mystery Releases!

I thought last month was a gold mine for new crime fiction, but March is its equal, I am thrilled to say! I even think I have more than my normal "baker's dozen" picks, and they're a good blend of trusted and new authors.

I've grouped all my choices by their release dates, and I've included all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite libraries and bookstores. Book covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

I'm so anxious to start sharing that I'm not going to wax poetic about the weather here in Phoenix or anything else. Let's get to these new books!

=== March 7 ===

Title: Fractured Families

Author: Charlotte Hinger

Series: #4  in the Lottie Albright series set in western Kansas.

ISBN: 9781464205613

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Hardcover, 294 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "The discovery of the body of a young man inside the mausoleum of the Civil War veteran who commissioned this bizarre sculpture park makes the blood of Undersheriff Lottie Albright and her husband’s Aunt Dorothy run cold. Dorothy Mercer, paying a visit to Western Kansas from Manhattan, may be a bestselling mystery novelist, but she is truly shocked confronting murder firsthand. But the real bone-chiller is yet to come.

With snow coming on, Lottie and Dorothy act quickly to preserve the crime scene while awaiting the arrival of Sheriff Sam Adams. Eyes, and boots, on the ground, they measure and photograph underneath the park’s bizarre parade of tree-high sculptures. Why would they look up?

Reaching Woman stands some forty feet in the air, trapped in stone. And in her arms―a ghastly bundle. It takes the sharp eyes of the old sheriff to spot her burden. It breaks all hearts when it’s brought to earth, a second body, so fresh, so frozen, so forlorn.

Lottie, transitioning from local historian to the politicking necessary to organize a regional crime center, is made the lead investigator. It’s a test of the concept and of her role as its director. She needs investigators, forensics, technology, manpower―and a psychologist to pit wits with a clearly deranged killer. Her twin, Kansas City’s Dr. Josie Albright, is the perfect choice.

Frank Dimon at the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, a reluctant champion of the regional concept, believes too many members of Lottie's family―her veterinarian/deputy husband Keith, Josie, even Dorothy―are on Lottie’s team. But Frank’s insertion of a forensic psychologist of his own choosing sets off a ferocious conflict between Josie and his appointee, Dr. Evan Ferguson, as a hastily assembled crew from the region's counties pits rural wisdom against the KBI's sophisticated methods. Frustration mounts and urgency grows as more statues of women cradling victims are found, the vicious winter weather aiding the psychopath’s work.

No matter how cutting edge the technology, you can’t beat luck. In a break from the stress, Lottie begins to read a Commonplace Book deposited at the Historical Society. As she follows the heartbreaking words penned by a desperate, shunned child of stunning inner beauty and strength, his observations provide the key―at a terrible cost." 

Title: Burials

Author: Mary Anna Evans

Series: #10 in the Faye Longchamp series set in Oklahoma.

ISBN: 9781464207501

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Hardcover, 302 pages

Synopsis: "A woman waits under five feet of dirt--a woman who is now nothing but bones stained the deep red of Oklahoma clay. A delicate silver necklace, a handful of ancient pearls, and a priceless figurine rest with her. Twenty-nine years is a long time to wait for a proper burial.

Faye Longchamp-Mantooth, who runs a small and shakily financed archaeological consulting firm with her husband, Joe, has come to Sylacauga so she and Joe can join his father, Sly Mantooth, in dispersing his mother's ashes. Fifteen years is a long time to wait for a proper ceremony.

Faye has partially financed the trip by hiring on to consult on the reopening of a site closed down 29 years ago when archaeologist Dr. Sophia Townsend disappeared--for good. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation intends to create a park if nothing sacred lies in the soil. What no one expects is the lonely red bones that emerge as the backhoe completes its work. Inevitably they prove to be those of Sophia Townsend. And examination shows Sophia was first killed by a blow to the head.

Chief Roy Cloud of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's Lighthorse Tribal Police hires Faye, who clearly can't be a suspect, to consult. Which is fine with Faye, who won't rest easy until Sophia's murder is solved. But the investigation comes uncomfortably close to home when she learns that her father-in-law knows more about the dead woman than he is willing to admit. So, it appears, does everyone in tiny Sylacauga.

Dr. Sophia Townsend had possessed a sexual magnetism as forceful as an Oklahoma tornado, and she had never hesitated to use it to manipulate everyone around her, people whose hearts she broke and whose marriages she destroyed. Was she killed by one of her lovers, or by one of their wives? Or by the woman who became enthralled with her? Or maybe Sly Mantooth? Or was something else elemental--greed, buried treasure, fame--at work?

Faye's obsession with this case tests her professional ethics and it tests her marriage. Such was the power of Sophia Townsend that, twenty-nine years after her murder, she wreaks havoc (along with the weather) once again."

Title: A Climate of Fear

Author: Fred Vargas

Series: #8 in the Commissaire Adamsberg series set in France.

ISBN: 9780143109457

Publisher: Penguin Books

Paperback, 416 pages

Synopsis: "A woman is found murdered in her bathtub, and the murder has been made to look like a suicide. But a strange symbol found at the crime scene leads the local police to call Commissaire Adamsberg and his team.

When the symbol is found near the body of a second disguised suicide, a pattern begins to emerge: both victims were part of a disastrous expedition to Iceland over ten years ago where a group of tourists found themselves trapped on a deserted island for two weeks, surrounded by a thick, impenetrable fog rumored to be summoned by an ancient local demon. Two of them didn’t make it back alive. But how are the deaths linked to the secretive Association for the Study of the Writings of Maximilien Robespierre? And what does the mysterious symbol signify?" 

Title: The Silence of the Flans

Author: Laura Bradford

Series: #2 in the Emergency Dessert Squad cozy series set in Ohio.

ISBN: 9780425280904 

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Baker Winnie Johnson does her best work when the heat is on. As owner of the Emergency Dessert Squad, she has a deft touch in the kitchen and a soft spot for lost causes. So when her business professor beau, Jay Morgan, expresses misgivings over having to fail one of his fourth-year students, Winnie cooks up a sweet solution.

She’ll offer an extra credit opportunity in exchange for a little help with her growing business. But when her protégé’s first dessert delivery poisons a student journalist, the publicity threatens to burn Winnie’s business to a crisp. Now the entrepreneur-turned-detective must uncover the ingredients behind a recipe for murder before she crumbles under pressure..." 

=== March 8 ===

Title: Blood's Echo
Author: Isabella Maldonado
Series: #1 Veranda Cruz police procedural set in Phoenix, Arizona. 
ISBN: 9780738750804
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Paperback, 312 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Detective Veranda Cruz leads an elite task force on the Phoenix Police Drug Enforcement Bureau. Bartolo Villalobos is the heir apparent to the most powerful cartel in the world. No one in the department suspects the secret motive behind Veranda’s obsession with the cartel . . . until an operation goes horribly wrong.
Targeted by an increasingly unstable drug lord, Veranda must protect her family and stay clear of adversaries within the force while she sets a trap for Bartolo. As the desert action heats up, Veranda and her new Homicide team―along with an arson investigator who kindles a flame for her―are all drawn into a deadly gambit. Taking down Bartolo is the ultimate goal, but is Veranda ready to trade life for justice?"   

Title: Reservations
Author: Gwen Florio
Series: #4 in the journalist Lola Wicks series set on Arizona's Navajo Reservation.
ISBN: 9780738750422
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Paperback, 312 pages

Synopsis: "Journalist Lola Wicks would much rather pursue a story than spend time with people she barely knows. So when an eco-terrorist bombing escalates the controversy surrounding a new coal mine on Arizona’s Navajo Reservation, she’s almost relieved to have a distraction from meeting her in-laws.

But as the violence gets worse and Lola digs deeper, she can’t escape the feeling that her husband’s family is somehow involved―a suspicion that jeopardizes not only her marriage, but also her life." 

=== March 14 ===

Title: Elementary, She Read

Author: Vicki Delany

Series: #1 in the Sherlock Holmes Bookshop cozy series set on Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

ISBN: 9781683310969

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Gemma Doyle, a transplanted Englishwoman, has returned to the quaint town of West London on Cape Cod to manage her Great Uncle Arthur's Sherlock Holmes Bookshop and Emporium. The shop--located at 222 Baker Street--specializes in the Holmes canon and pastiche, and is also the home of Moriarty the cat. When Gemma finds a rare and potentially valuable magazine containing the first Sherlock Homes story hidden in the bookshop, she and her friend Jayne (who runs the adjoining Mrs. Hudson's Tea Room) set off to find the owner, only to stumble upon a dead body.
The highly perceptive Gemma is the police’s first suspect, so she puts her consummate powers of deduction to work to clear her name, investigating a handsome rare books expert, the dead woman's suspiciously unmoved son, and a whole family of greedy characters desperate to cash in on their inheritance. But when Gemma and Jayne accidentally place themselves at a second murder scene, it's a race to uncover the truth before the detectives lock them up for good."

Title: Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table

Author: Janet Finsilver

Series: #3 in the Kelly Jackson cozy series set in fictional Redwood Cove, California.

ISBN: 9781616509347 

Publisher: Lyrical Underground

Paperback, 190 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Poisons, prophecies-and a peculiar past . . . When a local woman begins searching for a couple she hasn't seen since the 1960s, Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast manager Kelly Jackson and the crime-solving group, the "Silver Sentinels," are quick to help out. They're also quick to guess that they're in over their heads after the woman is found dead beside the body of a Greek fortune teller-and a fellow Sentinel gets attacked. As Kelly juggles work and her responsibilities at a food and wine festival in town, she and her sleuthing posse must confront a killer obsessed with old secrets . . . and solve a murder mystery more than fifty years in the making . . ."  

Title: In This Grave Hour

Author: Jacqueline Winspear

Series: #13 in the Maisie Dobbs historical series set in England.

ISBN:  9780062436603

Publisher: Harper

Hardcover, 352 pages

Synopsis: "Sunday September 3rd 1939. At the moment Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation Britain’s declaration of war with Germany, a senior Secret Service agent breaks into Maisie Dobbs' flat to await her return. Dr. Francesca Thomas has an urgent assignment for Maisie: to find the killer of a man who escaped occupied Belgium as a boy, some twenty-three years earlier during the Great War.

In a London shadowed by barrage balloons, bomb shelters and the threat of invasion, within days another former Belgian refugee is found murdered. And as Maisie delves deeper into the killings of the dispossessed from the “last war," a new kind of refugee — an evacuee from London — appears in Maisie's life. The little girl billeted at Maisie’s home in Kent does not, or cannot, speak, and the authorities do not know who the child belongs to or who might have put her on the “Operation Pied Piper” evacuee train. They know only that her name is Anna.

As Maisie’s search for the killer escalates, the country braces for what is to come. Britain is approaching its gravest hour — and Maisie could be nearing a crossroads of her own."  

Title: Skeleton God

Author: Eliot Pattison

Series: #9 in the Shan Tao Yun police procedural series set in Tibet.

ISBN: 9781250067623 

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "In Eliot Pattison's Skeleton God, Shan Tao Yun, now the reluctant constable of a remote Tibetan town, has learned to expect the impossible at the roof of the world, but nothing has prepared him for his discovery when he investigates a report that a nun has been savagely assaulted by ghosts. In an ancient tomb by the old nun lies a gilded saint buried centuries earlier, flanked by the remains of a Chinese soldier killed fifty years before and an American man murdered only hours earlier. Shan is thrust into a maelstrom of intrigue and contradiction.

The Tibetans are terrified, the notorious Public Security Bureau wants nothing to do with the murders, and the army seems determined to just bury the dead again and Shan with them. No one wants to pursue the truth–except Shan, who finds himself in a violent collision between a heartbreaking, clandestine effort to reunite refugees from Tibet separated for decades and a covert corruption investigation that reaches to the top levels of the government in Beijing, China. The terrible secret Shan uncovers changes his town and his life forever." 

=== March 21 ===

Title: A Twist of the Knife

Author: Becky Masterman

Series: #3 in the series featuring ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn set in Florida.

ISBN: 9781250074515

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Ex-FBI agent Brigid Quinn, now happily settled in Tucson, doesn’t visit her family in Florida much. But her former partner on the force, Laura Coleman―a woman whose life she has saved and who has saved her life in turn―is living there now. So when Laura calls about a case that is not going well, Brigid doesn’t hesitate to get on a plane.

On leave from the Bureau, Laura has been volunteering for a legal group trying to prove the innocence of a man who is on death row for killing his family. Laura is firmly convinced that he didn’t do it, while Brigid isn’t so sure―but the date for his execution is coming up so quickly that they’ll have to act fast to find any evidence that may absolve him before it’s too late…"  

Title: Single Malt Murder

Author: Melinda Mullet

Series: #1 in the Whisky Business series set in Scotland.

ISBN: 9780399179051

Publisher: Random House Alibi

eBook, 300 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When Abi inherits her uncle’s quaint and storied single malt distillery, she finds herself immersed in a competitive high-stakes business that elicits deep passions and prejudices. An award-winning photojournalist, Abi has no trouble capturing the perfect shot—but making the perfect shot is another matter. When she starts to receive disturbing, anonymous threats, it’s clear that someone wants her out of the picture. But Abi’s never been one to back down from a fight.

Arriving on the scene with her whisky-loving best friend, Patrick, and an oversized wheaten terrier named Liam, Abi seems to put everyone in the bucolic village on edge—especially her dour but disturbingly attractive head distiller. Acts of sabotage and increasingly personal threats against Abi make it clear that she is not welcome. When one of Abi’s new employees is found floating facedown in a vat of whisky, Abi is determined to use her skills as an investigative journalist to identify the cold-blooded killer and dispense a dram of justice before he strikes again. But distilling truth from lies is tricky, especially when everyone seems to have something to hide."   

=== March 28 ===

Title: The Devil's Feast

Author: M.J. Carter

Series: #3 in the Avery and Blake historical series set in England.

ISBN: 9780399171697

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Hardcover, 432 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "London, 1842. Captain William Avery is persuaded to investigate a mysterious and horrible death at the Reform, London’s newest and grandest gentleman’s club—a death the club is desperate to hush up. What he soon discovers is a web of rivalries and hatreds, both personal and political, simmering behind the club’s handsome façade. At the center is its resident genius, Alexis Soyer, “the Napoleon of food,” a chef whose culinary brilliance is matched only by his talent for self-publicity.

But Avery is distracted, for where is his mentor and partner in crime Jeremiah Blake? And what if this first death is only a dress rehearsal for something far more sinister?"  

Title: Tightening the Threads

Author: Lea Wait

Series: #5 in the Mainely Needlepoint cozy series set in coastal Maine.

ISBN: 9781496706287 

Publisher: Kensington

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Antique dealer Sarah Byrne has never unspooled the truth about her past to anyone not even friend and fellow Mainely Needlepointer Angie Curtis. But the enigmatic Aussie finally has the one thing she s searched for all her life family. And now she and long-lost half-brother, Ted Lawrence, a wealthy old artist and gallery owner in town, are ready to reveal their secret connection . . .

Ted s adult children are suspicious of their newfound aunt Sarah especially after Ted, in declining health, announces plans to leave her his museum-worthy heirloom paintings. So when Ted is poisoned to death during a lobster bake, everyone assumes she s guilty. If Sarah and Angie can t track down the real murderer in time, Sarah s bound to learn how delicate and deadly family dynamics can truly be . . ."  

What a fantastic group of books! Cover Love shout-outs to Blood's Echo, Reservations, In This Grave Hour, and that fabulous house on Murder at the Fortune Teller's Table.

Which titles made it to your own wish lists? Inquiring minds would love to know! (And while I'm wondering, I'll head over to my "upcoming review pile." I have some books to finish....)