Celebrating Mysteries: the Americas

 

It's time for me to share the latest addition to my series that celebrates mysteries with a strong sense of place. For one reason or another, I haven't done nearly as much traveling as I'd like, so I've been forced to do the next best thing: read books set in the countries I'm curious about. I love finding authors who can seamlessly weave an area's landscape and culture into their stories to give me a deeper understanding of the world around me. 

This installment will list some of the mystery series I enjoy that are set in the Americas-- excluding the United States, which will have a chapter all its own. Of them all, I need the most help in gathering new authors to read from Canada and Central and South America, so if you have any recommendations, please leave a comment! I do admit that I like to add to your reading lists, but I also look forward to your help in increasing mine. Turnabout's fair play, eh?

Oh! Before I head off into my list, I'll include links to the other posts in this series just in case you missed one... Africa & Australasia, Europe, and Asia. If I missed any good ones in any of those posts, your additions are very much appreciated. 

 

The links will take you to authors' websites, to my reviews of the books, or to Amazon if my review isn't available. Now it's time to get down to work!

Bolivia

 

City of Silver is a standalone historical mystery by Annamaria Alfieri that absolutely knocked my socks off. 

 

I will be the first to admit that my knowledge of South American is woefully inadequate, but I'm taking up some of the slack by reading marvelous books like this. 

 

The setting is Potosí in what is now Bolivia in the 1650s. At the time, it was the largest city in the Western Hemisphere (comparable in size to London), and-- at an altitude of 14,000 feet-- it's the highest city in the world. Add its fabled silver mines to the mix, and you have a place that was the world's richest city for well over a century.

 

The way Alfieri created an intriguing mystery and then seamlessly wove in all the details of the setting still makes me drool. This is the sort of book that I love, and I'm so glad I had the good fortune to find a copy and read it.

 

 

Brazil

 

Pancreatic cancer took Leighton Gage away from us much, much too soon. I absolutely love his Inspector Mario Silva series and have lost track of the number of times I've recommended it to someone. The seven-book series takes readers to various locations throughout Brazil, and I came to a much better understanding of the country through reading them. 

 

The first three books in the series are:

 

Blood of the Wicked

Buried Strangers

Dying Gasp

 

 

The British Virgin Islands 

 

 

 

John Keyse-Walker writes a series featuring Constable Teddy Creque, the sole police officer on the remote island of Anegada. Not only are the mysteries good, I've learned a lot about Caribbean island life and the British Virgin Islands. i was so happy to see that the third book in the series, Palms, Paradise, Poison will be available in the UK at the end of this month and in the US at the beginning of January.

 

Sun, Sand, Murder

Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed

 

 

Canada

 

 

Barbara Fradkin has written a series with a main character who eventually annoyed me so much that I don't intend to read any further, but I have to admit that I will miss the series because I loved how much I learned about various areas in Canada. If you are much more tolerant of a "squeaky wheel" than I am, chances are you'll really enjoy Fradkin's Amanda Doucette series for more than the landscapes.

 

There are currently four books in the series:

 

Fire in the Stars

The Trickster's Lullaby

Prisoners of Hope

The Ancient Dead

 

M.J. McGrath wrote a trilogy about Edie Kiglatuk, a former polar bear hunter and the best guide in her isolated Inuit community in the Canadian Arctic. Not only did I enjoy following force-of-nature Edie around while she solved mysteries, I enjoyed learning about the Inuit culture of Canada.

 

White Heat

The Boy in the Snow

The Bone Seeker

 

 

Mexico

 

Simon Levack wrote a series of historical mysteries set in Precolumbian Mexico on the eve of the Spanish colonization of the Americas and feature as the protagonist Yaotl, a fictitious slave to the chief minister in the Aztec state of Tenochtitlan under Emperor Moctezuma II. Demon of the Air, the first book in the series, won the Debut Dagger Award, given by the UK Crime Writers' Association, in 2000.

 

Besides the amount of fascinating historical research that brought these mysteries to life, I enjoy the mysteries, the humor, and the help it's given me with pronunciation of what look like tongue-twisting names. I've been hanging on to the fourth book-- saving it for just the right time, I suppose-- but I really think I need to read it soon.

 

Demon of the Air

The Shadow of the Lords

Aztec City of Spies

Tribute of Death

 

 

There you have it-- my list of mysteries from the Americas that have such a strong sense of place that you feel as though you're living with the characters as you read.

 

Did I leave anyone out? Please let me know!

The Bone Seeker by M.J. McGrath

First Line: That Friday afternoon in late July was the last time Edie Kiglatuk saw Martha Salliaq alive.

Teaching summer school in the Canadian Arctic, Edie Kiglatuk is shocked when her favorite student, Martha Salliaq, is found dead in nearby Lake Turngaluk. Edie promises the Inuit girl's family that she will uncover the truth and enlists the aid of Sergeant Derek Palliser of the Ellesmere Island Native Police. While they begin their investigation, lawyer Sonia Gutierrez is working hard to overcome obstacles concerning the cleanup of Lake Turngaluk, but she's beginning to think that there is a larger conspiracy involved. What the three of them don't realize is that, while they're unearthing long-buried secrets, they're also putting their lives at risk.

 

M.J. McGrath's Edie Kiglatuk series ended at three books, but as far as I'm concerned it could have continued for much, much longer. The three books (White Heat and The Boy in the Snow are the first two) not only have absorbing mysteries to solve, they also give readers a vivid, fascinating picture of life in the Arctic Circle and of the Inuit culture. (Please do not call them "Eskimos" because that word means lice in another language.)

It's summer in the Arctic, and one of the things McGrath has her characters show us is how people deal (or don't) with twenty-four-hour-a-day sunlight. Camp Nanook is a summer military encampment not far from the village where Edie is teaching, and I was shocked to learn that "...thirty per cent of Arctic postings returned to the south with some kind of mental disorder." Scary stuff, right? The mystery is a good brain teaser for armchair sleuths since it involves the history of the Distant Early Warning line formed by Canada and the U.S. during the Cold War. Not only are there Inuits involved in Martha Salliaq's murder, but readers also have to navigate suspicious governmental goings-on.

The investigation is hampered, as always, by the government consistently giving the Inuit the short end of the stick. Edie and Sergeant Palliser have to wait days to receive extra help such as the most basic forensics equipment, and all the while, officers in nearby Camp Nanook are working in the shadows to find out what Edie and Palliser know-- and how to prevent them from learning anything more. 

The Bone Seeker benefits from an exceptionally strong cast of characters. Derek Palliser, derisively called "Lemming Police" by the locals, finds himself upping his game in light of Edie's passion for the truth even though he's hampered by insomnia. Edie's hunting skills translate well into a homicide investigation, and well, she's just a force of nature. "Only set of rules I know is mine...And I don't have any." A welcome addition to the cast is the lawyer Sonia Gutierrez from Guatemala. She has her own shadowy past, and after working for years on a lawsuit to force the government to clean up this area of Ellesmere Island, scarcely anything gets past her razor-sharp intellect and unflinching gaze. Whatever you do, don't mess with Edie and Sonia!

There's more than meets the eye to the title of this book, and when you come to that part (as I hope you will), you may find a chill running down your spine and a tear in your eye. The Bone Seeker works well as a standalone, but if you love mysteries with strong unconventional characters and learning about other cultures, I highly recommend that you read all three books in order. Then you will join me in wishing Edie Kiglatuk would appear to solve another mystery up at the Arctic Circle.

The Bone Seeker by M.J. McGrath

ISBN: 9780143127475

Penguin Books © 2014

Paperback, 368 pages

 

Amateur Sleuth, #3 Edie Kiglatuk mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet.

The Boy in the Snow by M.J. McGrath

First Line: Edie Kiglatuk had no way of knowing how long the bear had been looking at her.

Against her better judgement, Edie Kiglatuk promised her ex-husband that she would help him in his bid to win the Iditarod-- the most famous sled dog race in the world. Edie's never been so far from home, and she misses it terribly, especially when she stumbles upon the frozen body of an infant on land belonging to an exiled Russian Orthodox religious sect.

Edie's blocked at almost every turn in her attempt to find out what happened to the baby. It's election time, and candidate Chuck Hillingberg doesn't want an inconvenience like a dead child to damage his chances of becoming the next governor of Alaska. Hillingberg hasn't come up against anyone quite so stubborn as this half-Inuit, half-white woman though. Edie's not going to quit. Because she's not only fighting for justice for an innocent child, she's fighting demons from her own past.

Anchorage, Alaska is the farthest south Edie Kiglatuk has ever been, and she doesn't like it much. For one thing, there's too many trees. For another, it's almost impossible to find anything that's fit to eat. A good deal of my enjoyment in reading The Boy in the Snow came from watching her try to acclimatize to Alaska. It's something that I certainly would have to do as a bonafide desert dweller, but I'd certainly be coming at it from an entirely different direction!

I was rather sad that the book has more to do with politics and greed than it does the Iditarod, but that's the way this story panned out, and I adjusted well. McGrath shows that Alaska still has ties to Russia (something that I hadn't thought of but should have), and if anything there were a few too many bad guys roaming around. I almost needed a scorecard.

Having read the first book in this series, White Heat, as well as a short story, I found that I had the most difficulty with Edie herself. I don't remember her being quite so ill-tempered and combative. Of course, her behavior undoubtedly has a lot to do with those demons from her past, the dead baby, and her dislike of Alaska. Edie is used to getting from place to place on foot, with a dogsled, or possibly on a snowmobile, but here she has to drive cars and trucks. This isn't a good mix for woman nor machine. As someone with her says, "Edie doesn't drive. She bulldozes." And that's how Edie investigates, too. She doesn't pay attention to the good advice her friends give her; friends who'd help her more if she let them. All in all, Edie is her own worst enemy here, and I'm hoping that she's on a more even keel in the third book.

The Boy in the Snow by M.J. McGrath

ISBN: 9780670023691

Viking © 2012

Hardcover, 384 pages

Native American Mystery, #2 Edie Kiglatuk mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet. 

White Heat by M.J. McGrath

First Line: As she set a chip of iceberg on the stove for tea, Edie Kiglatuk mulled over why it was that the hunting expedition she was leading had been so spectacularly unsuccessful.

Half Inuit Edie Kiglatuk is a part-time teacher at the local school and also guides hunters out into the  Canadian Arctic that she knows so well. She's working hard to help her stepson Joe Inukpuk pay for his nurse's training. When one of the hunters she's guiding is shot and killed, her carefully balanced life begins to teeter. The Council wants to call it an accident, but Edie and police sergeant Derek Palliser are suspicious. Then the other hunter goes out into the tundra again and disappears. Regardless what the Council says, Edie is determined to find out what's really going on.

White Heat is one of the best evocations of place that I have read in a long, long time. I'm fortunate that I decided to read the book in the summer; otherwise, I might have gotten frostbite. McGrath paints a fascinating portrait of the Inuit people high up in the Canadian Arctic: what the typical village is like, the typical home, transportation, medicine, education, Inuit customs and history, and more. All this information blends seamlessly into the story. Some of the information is disturbing, some of it makes good appetite suppressants (I'll never visit the area to sample its cuisine), and all of it is fascinating.

Add in an intriguing mystery that has everything to do with the landscape, a remote chapter of its history, and bad guys whose motives are unclear, and you've got two-thirds of an excellent mystery.

The final third is the cast, and McGrath has created two very memorable characters in Sergeant Derek Palliser and Edie Kiglatuk. Palliser falls in love with the wrong women and spends a lot of time studying lemmings instead of doing police work, but that doesn't necessarily have a lot to do with how well he does his paying job. This man has depth.

What Edie Kiglatuk has goes way beyond mere depth. This woman is an ex-polar bear hunter-- one of the best in the entire area before she began drinking too much. To be a polar bear hunter, you have to be smart, you have to be able to think and react quickly, you have to know your terrain, and you have to be brave. Edie is all of these. She's also an excellent teacher, and I loved the scenes showing how she manages to teach her class of Inuit children how to survive in their own world as well as the world of the white man. If Edie has a flaw, it's her emotional entanglements, and those can and do lead her astray.

After reading the digital short story "Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas," I had the feeling that I would really enjoy the series, so I'm very glad I bought the first two books. When I'm ready to risk fictional frostbite once again, I have the second book, The Boy in the Snow, waiting for me.

White Heat by M.J. McGrath

ISBN: 9780670022489

Viking © 2011

Hardcover, 400 pages

Amateur Sleuth, #1 Edie Kiglatuk mystery

Rating: A

Source: Purchased from Book Outlet

July 2014 New Mystery Releases!

I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting a lot of prime reading done so far this summer. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I get to sit out in the shady end of my pool while doing so. If I had a heated pool and could read out there all year long, I'd probably develop webbed fingers and toes. Well... at least toes!

I'm definitely making dents in my to-be-read shelves, but you know me-- I'm always on the lookout for new books to read.

These are my picks for new mysteries arriving throughout the month of July. They are sorted by release date, and I've listed all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite book procurement sites. Book synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

Happy Reading!

=== July 1 ===

Title: The Prime Minister's Secret Agent

Author: Susan Elia MacNeal

#4 in an historical mystery series featuring Maggie Hope, typist-turned-spy, during World War II

ISBN: 9780345536747

Publisher: Bantam

Paperback, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "World War II rages on across Europe, but Maggie Hope has finally found a moment of rest on the pastoral coast of western Scotland. Home from an undercover mission in Berlin, she settles down to teach at her old spy training camp, and to heal from scars on both her body and heart. Yet instead of enjoying the quieter pace of life, Maggie is quickly drawn into another web of danger and intrigue. When three ballerinas fall strangely ill in Glasgow—including one of Maggie’s dearest friends—Maggie partners with MI-5 to uncover the truth behind their unusual symptoms. What she finds points to a series of poisonings that may expose shocking government secrets and put countless British lives at stake. But it’s the fight brewing in the Pacific that will forever change the course of the war—and indelibly shape Maggie’s fate."

Title: Be Careful What You Witch For

Author: Dawn Eastman

#2 in the Family Fortune cozy series set in western Michigan

ISBN: 9780425264478
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Leaving a traumatic police career behind, Clyde Fortune has returned to her seemingly quiet hometown of Crystal Haven, Michigan. In spite of the psychic powers of its residents, there’s no telling what trouble is brewing in this burg…

The highlight of this year's fall festival in Crystal Haven is a bonfire with a witch’s cauldron resting over it. Clyde’s best friend, Diana, leads a ritual to divine the future, but it seems no one foresees that one of their own will drop dead—or that Diana will be a prime suspect.

Clyde already has her hands full with her eccentric family, runaway nephew, and burgeoning secret romance with a hunky homicide detective. But after another coven member is attacked, Clyde suspects there’s a witch hunt afoot and focuses her psychic and sleuthing skills to clear her friend’s name and catch a killer."

Title: Ill-Gotten Panes
Author: Jennifer McAndrews
#1 in the Stained Glass cozy series set in New York state
ISBN:  9780425267950
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "After a banking scandal loses Georgia her job and fiancé, she decides that a change of scenery will help piece her life back together. But escaping to her grandfather’s house in the old-fashioned, brick-making Hudson River hamlet of Wenwood, New York, turns out to be less relaxing than she expects. Not only is the close-knit community on edge about their beloved brickworks being turned into a marina to draw in tourists, one of those most opposed to the project winds up dead—cracked over the head with a famous Wenwood brick.

Georgia wouldn’t be broken up over the news except for the fact that the main suspect is the deceased’s biggest adversary—her grandfather. Now, to remove the stain from her grandy’s record, Georgia will have to figure out who in town was willing to kill to keep the renovation project alive, before someone else is permanently cut out of the picture…"

Title: The White Magic Five and Dime
Authors: Steve Hockensmith, Lisa Falco
#1 in the Tarot Mysteries set in Arizona
ISBN: 9780738740225
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Paperback, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Much to Alanis McLachlan's surprise, her estranged con-woman mother has left her an inheritance: The White Magic Five & Dime, a shop in tiny Berdache, Arizona. Reluctantly traveling to Berdache to claim her new property, Alanis decides to stay and pick up her mother's tarot business in an attempt to find out how she died.
With help from a hunky cop and her mother's live-in teenage apprentice, Alanis begins faking her way trough tarot readings in order to win the confidence of her mother's clients.  But the more she uses the tarot deck, the more Alanis begins to find real meaning in the cards ... and the secrets surrounding her mother's demise."

=== July 8 ===

Title: The Dead Will Tell

Author: Linda Castillo

#6 in the Kate Burkholder police procedural series set in Ohio

ISBN: 9781250029577

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "Everyone in Painters Mill knows the abandoned Hochstetler farm is haunted. But only a handful of the residents remember the terrible secrets lost in the muted/hushed whispers of time—and now death is stalking them, seemingly from the grave.

 On a late-night shift, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is called to the scene of an apparent suicide—an old man found hanging from the rafters in his dilapidated barn. But evidence quickly points to murder and Kate finds herself chasing a singularly difficult and elusive trail of evidence that somehow points back to the tragedy of that long ago incident. Meanwhile, Kate has moved in with state agent John Tomasetti and for the first time in so long, they're both happy; a bliss quickly shattered when one of the men responsible for the murders of Tomasetti’s family four years ago is found not guilty, and walks away a free man. Will Tomasetti be pulled back to his own haunted past?

When a second man is found dead—also seemingly by his own hand—Kate discovers a link in the case that sends the investigation in a direction no one could imagine and revealing the horrifying truth of what really happened that terrible night thirty-five years ago, when an Amish father and his four children perished—and his young wife disappeared without a trace. 

And, as Kate knows—the past never truly dies . .."

=== July 15 ===

Title: The Bone Orchard

Author: Paul Doiron

#5 in the Game Warden Mike Bowditch series set in the wilds of Maine

ISBN: 9781250034885

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "In the aftermath of a family tragedy, Mike Bowditch has left the Maine Warden Service and is working as a fishing guide in the North Woods. But when his mentor Sgt. Kathy Frost is forced to kill a troubled war veteran in an apparent case of "suicide by cop," he begins having second thoughts about his decision.

Now Kathy finds herself the target of a government inquiry and outrage from the dead soldier's platoon mates. Soon she finds herself in the sights of a sniper, as well. When the sergeant is shot outside her farmhouse, Mike joins the hunt to find the mysterious man responsible. To do so, the ex-warden must plunge into his friend's secret past—even as a beautiful woman from Mike's own past returns, throwing into jeopardy his tentative romance with wildlife biologist Stacey Stevens.

As Kathy Frost lies on the brink of death and a dangerous shooter stalks the blueberry barrens of central Maine, Bowditch is forced to confront the choices he has made and determine, once and for all, the kind of man he truly is."

Title: Herbie's Game

Author: Timothy Hallinan

#4 in the Junior Bender P.I. series set in Los Angeles, California

ISBN:  9781616954291
Publisher: Soho Crime
Hardcover, 400 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "It’s everyday business when Wattles, the San Fernando Valley’s top “executive crook,” sets up a hit. He establishes a chain of criminals to pass along the instructions and the money, thereby ensuring that the hitter doesn’t know who hired him. Then one day Wattles finds his office safe open and a single item missing: the piece of paper on which he has written the names of the crooks in the chain. When people associated with the chain begin to pop up dead, the only person Wattles can turn to to solve his problem is Junior Bender, professional burglar and begrudging private eye for crooks.

But Junior already knows exactly who took Wattles’s list: the signature is too obvious. It was Herbie Mott, Junior’s burglar mentor and second father—and when Junior seeks him out to discuss the missing list, he finds Herbie very unpleasantly murdered. Junior follows the links in the chain back toward the killer, and as he does, he learns disturbing things about Herbie’s hidden past. He has to ask himself how much of the life he’s lived for the past twenty years has been of his own making, and how much of it was actually Herbie’s game."

Title: World of Trouble
Author: Ben H. Winters
#3 in the Last Policeman trilogy set in New Hampshire
ISBN: 9781594746857
Publisher: Quirk Books
Paperback, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Critically acclaimed author Ben H. Winters delivers this explosive final installment in the Edgar Award winning Last Policeman series. With the doomsday asteroid looming, Detective Hank Palace has found sanctuary in the woods of New England, secure in a well-stocked safe house with other onetime members of the Concord police force. But with time ticking away before the asteroid makes landfall, Hank’s safety is only relative, and his only relative—his sister Nico—isn’t safe. Soon, it’s clear that there’s more than one earth-shattering revelation on the horizon, and it’s up to Hank to solve the puzzle before time runs out . . . for everyone."

=== July 22 ===

Title: Remains of Innocence

Author: J.A. Jance

#16 in the Sheriff Joanna Brady series set in Bisbee, Arizona

ISBN:  9780062134707

Publisher: William Morrow

Hardcover, 400 pages

Synopsis: "Sheriff Joanna Brady must solve two perplexing cases that may be tied together in New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance’s thrilling tale of suspense that brings to life Arizona’s Cochise County and the desert Southwest in all its beauty and mystery.

An old woman, a hoarder, is dying of emphysema in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. In cleaning out her house, her daughter, Liza Machett, discovers a fortune in hundred dollar bills hidden in the tall stacks of books and magazines that crowd every corner.

Tracing the money’s origins will take Liza on a journey that will end in Cochise County, where Sheriff Joanna Brady is embroiled in a personal mystery of her own. A man she considers a family friend is found dead at the bottom of a hole in a limestone cavern near Bisbee. And now there is the mystery of Liza and the money. Are the two disparate cases connected? It’s up to Joanna to find out."

=== July 24 ===

Title: The Bone Seeker

Author: M.J. McGrath

#3 in the Edie Kiglatuk series set in the Canadian Arctic

ISBN:  9780670785803

Publisher: Viking

Hardcover, 352 pages

Synopsis: "In the third novel in this highly praised mystery series, Edie Kiglatuk works as a summer school teacher in the Canadian arctic. When one of her female students is found dead in nearby Lake Turngaluk, Edie enlists the help of Sergeant Derek Palliser to pursue the case, promising the girl’s Inuit family that they will uncover the truth. Meanwhile, lawyer Sonia Gutierrez investigates the toxicity of the lake and suspects that there might be a larger conspiracy involved. As the three clamber over rocky terrain under twenty-four-hour daylight they start to unearth secrets long frozen over—risking their own lives in the process. With stunning prose, M. J. McGrath delivers another thrill ride through a hauntingly beautiful landscape."

=== July 25 ===

Title: I Can See in the Dark

Author: Karin Fossum

Standalone thriller set in Norway

ISBN: 9780544114425

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Hardcover, 224 pages

Synopsis: "Riktor doesn’t like the way the policeman storms into his home without even knocking. He doesn’t like the arrogant way he walks around the house, taking note of its contents. The policeman doesn’t bother to explain why he’s there, and Riktor is too afraid to ask. He knows he’s guilty of a terrible crime and he’s sure the policeman has found him out. 

But when the policeman finally does confront him, Riktor freezes. The man is arresting him for something totally unexpected. Riktor doesn’t have a clear conscience, but the crime he’s being accused of is one he certainly didn’t commit. Can he clear his name without further incriminating himself?"

=== July 29 ===

Title: Ghost Month

Author: Ed Lin

Standalone thriller set in Taiwan

ISBN: 9781616953263

Publisher: Soho Crime

Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "August is Ghost Month in Taiwan—a time to commemorate the dead: burn incense, visit shrines, honor ancestors, and avoid unlucky situations, large purchases, and bodies of water. Jing-nan, a young man who runs a food stand in a bustling Taipei night market, doesn't consider himself superstitious, but this August is going to haunt him no matter what he does. He is shocked to the core when he learns his ex-girlfriend from high school has been murdered. She was found scantily clad and shot on the side of a highway where she was selling betel nuts to passing truck drivers. Beyond his harrowing grief for his lost love, Jing-nan is confused by the news. "Betel nut beauties" are usually women in the most desperate of circumstances; the job is almost as taboo as prostitution. But Julia Huang had been the valedictorian of their high school, and the last time Jing-nan spoke to her she was enrolled in NYU's honor program, far away in New York. The facts don't add up. Julia's parents don't think so, either, and the police seem to have closed the case without asking any questions. The Huangs beg Jing-nan to do some investigating on his own—reconnect with old classmates, see if he can learn anything about Julia's life that she might have kept from them. Reluctantly, he agrees, for Julia's sake. But nothing can prepare him for what he learns, or how it will change his life."

Wow-- what a month! Any time there's a new Joanna Brady mystery, I think it's Christmas... and then there's the final installment of Ben Winters' marvelous Last Policeman trilogy... and Timothy Hallinan... and... and... 

Got. To. Read. Faster!

What about all of you? Do any of these titles make your Need to Read lists? Do tell!

What's New in Christmas-Themed Mysteries for 2013

This time of year, I like to fix myself a big mug of hot Christmas tea, and curl up with a good mystery by the fireplace and all my trees. What would be better to curl up with than a Christmas-themed mystery?

I've chosen ten prime suspects, grouped them by the month they were/are released, and of course I've included all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite "book procurement locations." Synopses are courtesy of Amazon.

In this busy and wonderful time of year, please don't forget to take some time for yourself to relax and enjoy a good book. Happy Reading!

=== September ===

Title: Christmas Carol Murder

Author: Leslie Meier

#21 in the Lucy Stone series set in Maine

ISBN:  9780758277015

Publisher: Kensington

Hardcover, 272 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Lucy Stone normally loves the holidays, but this year, Tinker's Cove has fallen on hard times. The story's not so bleak at Downeast Mortgage, whose tightfisted owners, Jake Marlowe and Ben Scribner, are raking in profits from everyone's misfortune. Half the town is in their debt, so when the miserly Marlowe is murdered, the mourners are few and the suspects are many. Can Lucy solve the case and deck the halls before the killer strikes again?"

=== October ===

Title: Duck the Halls

Author: Donna Andrews

#16 in the Meg Langslow series set in the southern US

ISBN: 9781250028778

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "A few nights before Christmas, Meg is awakened when volunteer fireman Michael is summoned to the New Life Baptist Church, where someone has rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft. The lengthy process of de-skunking the church requires its annual pre-Christmas concert to relocate to Trinity Episcopal, where Mother insists the show must go on, despite the budget-related protests of Mr. Vess, an elderly vestryman.  Meanwhile, when Meg helps her grandfather take the skunks to the zoo, they discover that his boa has been stolen - only to turn up later during the concert, slithering out from the ribbon-bedecked evergreens.  The next morning is Sunday, and the congregation of St. Byblig's, the local Catholic church, arrive to find it completely filled with several hundred ducks.

It's clear that some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them.  But before she can, a fire breaks out at Trinity, and Mr. Vess is discovered dead. Who would have murdered such a harmless - if slightly cranky - old man?  Who has the time during the busy holiday season to herd all of these animals into the town's churches?  And will Meg ever be able to finish all of her shopping, wrapping, cooking, caroling, and decorating in time for Christmas Eve?"

Title: A Catered Christmas Cookie Exchange

Author: Isis Crawford

#9 in the Mystery With Recipes series set in New York state

ISBN:  9780758274892

Publisher: Kensington

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "The snow is falling and there's a wreath on every door in tiny Longely, New York, and that can only mean one thing: The feisty members of the Christmas Cookie Club Exchange are busy perfecting their recipes once again. And with the Baking for Life cookie contest on the line, the stakes are higher - and deadlier - than ever. Millie Piedmont is certain that Millie's Majestic Meltaways will win the competition - and when she dies in a suspicious car accident en route to the show, Bernie and Libby wonder if a rival club member may have felt the same way. Millie's niece enlists the sleuthing sisters to help her find some answers. Did someone run Millie off the road? And who stole the cookies from her car? The members of the Cookie Club appear to be grieving the loss of their friend, but Bernie and Libby start digging and are shocked to uncover a soap opera of sinister secrets and clandestine affairs. Perhaps all the back-biting, gossip, and petty jealousy were just the right ingredients to whip up a half-baked murder. Between Christmastime catering and catching a killer, Bernie and Libby may have bitten off more than they can chew. But they'll stop at nothing to get to the truth, because no holiday treat is sweeter than justice."

Title: Spirit of Steamboat

Author: Craig Johnson

A Sheriff Walt Longmire novella set in 1988 in Wyoming and Colorado

ISBN: 9780670015788

Publisher: Viking

Hardcover, 160 pages

*Reviewed on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Sheriff Walt Longmire is reading A Christmas Carol in his office on December 24th when he’s interrupted by the ghost of Christmas past: a young woman with a hairline scar across her forehead and more than a few questions about Walt’s predecessor, Lucian Connally. Walt doesn’t recognize the mystery woman, but she seems to know him and claims to have something she must return to Connally. With his daughter, Cady, and his undersheriff Vic Moretti in Philadelphia for the holidays, Walt is at loose ends, and despite the woman’s reticence to reveal her identity, he agrees to help her.

At the Durant Home for Assisted Living Lucian Connally is several tumblers into his Pappy Van Winkle’s and swears he’s never clapped eyes on the woman before. Disappointed, she whispers “Steamboat” and begins a story that takes them all back to Christmas Eve 1988, when three people died in a terrible crash and a young girl had the slimmest chance of survival . . . back to a record– breaking blizzard, to Walt’s first year as sheriff, with a young daughter at home and a wife praying for his safety . . . back to a whiskey-soaked World War II vet ready to fly a decommissioned plane and risk it all to save a life."

Title: Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas

Author: M.J. McGrath

An Edie Kiglatuk digital short story set in the Canadian Arctic

ISBN: 9780698155541 

Publisher: Penguin

eBook, 80 pages

*Reviewed on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Days before Christmas in the vast Arctic landscape of Ellesmere Island and the sun hasn’t come up for nearly two months. A hunter comes upon a body in the snow: head crusted with frozen blood, bruised fists, half dead. What others might have dismissed as a case of drunken misadventure, sometime-detective Edie Kiglatuk sees as a fight turned fatal.

When the battered victim doesn’t pull through, the alleged culprit goes into hiding and the victim’s three-year-old daughter goes missing with him. Since Edie has strong personal ties to the killer, it’s up to her to find him before a rifle-slinging search party beats her to it, taking justice into their own hands.

A stunning short mystery with a magical and heart-rending twist, Edie Kiglatuk's Christmas includes excerpts from the first two novels in the series, White Heat and The Boy in the Snow."

Title: Mrs. Jeffries and the Merry Gentlemen
Author: Emily Brightwell
#32 in the Victorian mysteries set in London
ISBN: 9780425268087
Publisher: Berkley
Hardcover, 288 pages

Synopsis: "Orlando Edison is a stockbroker using London’s infatuation with foreign mining ventures to make a fortune. He has curried favor with the nation’s most respected aristocrats, even inviting three of the most influential investors in England—known as the Merry Gentlemen—to be part of his latest enterprise.

Despite his mysterious past, Edison is now welcomed in the highest circles and moves with ease among the rich and powerful. Yet a few days before Christmas, he is found sprawled across his doorstep, murdered. Charismatic and charming, Edison was kind to his servants and generous with his friends. Why would someone want him dead?

Inspector Witherspoon and his household are all looking forward to the festive season. Witherspoon is eager to spend time with his godchild. Wiggins, the footman, is infatuated with football and would rather cheer goals than chase down clues. And Mrs. Goodge longs to bake recipes from the latest cookbooks. But they all know their duty, and led by the intrepid Mrs. Jeffries, they plan to see justice served for the holidays…."

Title: Mulled Murder
Author: Kate Kingsbury
#21 in the Pennyfoot Hotel series set in Edwardian England
ISBN:  9780425262917
Publisher: Berkley
Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "With one of her housemaids leaving to get married, Cecily Sinclair Baxter wants nothing more for Christmas than some good help. Instead of visions of sugar plums, she’s calling the plumber to deal with flooded bathrooms. Then there’s the surly new janitor, who acts like he got coal in his stocking.

But as Cecily scrambles to hire and train new staff in time for the holidays, one of her guests is beyond help. Gerald Evans is found stabbed to death on the beach, and Cecily soon discovers he was a private investigator from London looking into dark doings involving the Pennyfoot. Who among the staff or guests was being pursued, and what secret drove that person to cold-blooded murder?"

=== November ===

Title: A Christmas Hope

Author: Anne Perry 

#11 in the Christmas mysteries series

ISBN: 9780345530752

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Hardcover, 208 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Although she lacks for nothing, Claudine Burroughs dreads the holiday season for forcing her to face how empty her life has become. She no longer expects closeness with her coldly ambitious husband, and she has nothing in common with their circle of wealthy, status-minded friends. The only time she is remotely happy is when she volunteers at a woman’s clinic—a job her husband strongly disapproves of. Then, at a glittering yuletide gala, she meets the charming poet Dai Tregarron and finds her spirits lifted. But scarcely an hour later, the charismatic Dai is enmeshed in a nightmare—accused of killing a young streetwalker who had been smuggled into the party.  

Even though she suspects that an upper-class clique is quickly closing ranks to protect the real killer, Claudine vows to do her utmost for Dai. But it seems that hypocritical London society would rather send an innocent poet to the gallows than expose the shocking truth about one of their own.

Nevertheless, it’s the season of miracles and Claudine finally sees a glimmer of hope—not only for Dai but for a young woman she befriends who is teetering on the brink of a lifetime of unhappiness. Anne Perry’s heartwarming new holiday novel is a celebration of courage, faith, and love for all seasons."

=== December ===

Title: Merry Market Murder

Author: Paige Shelton

#5 in the Farmer's Market series set in rural South Carolina

ISBN: 9780425252352  

Publisher: Berkley

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Jam and preserve maker Becca Robins is excited about the extra business that the Ridgeway Christmas Tree Farm is bringing to the market this holiday season. But when a competing tree farmer, Reggie Stuckey, arrives with a truck full of trees, angrily barking that he has exclusive selling rights at the market, Becca finds herself pining for more goodwill toward men.

After Reggie is found with a tree stake in his chest, she wonders when the Christmas tree business turned so deadly. Now Becca has to use the only clues she has to the killer’s identity—mysterious ornaments that begin to show up in her stall—to hook a sinister Scrooge who will go to any lengths to drive home a point…"

Title: Ten Lords A-Leaping

Author: C.C. Benison

#3 in the Father Christmas series set in a village in England

ISBN: 9780385344470

Publisher: Delacorte Press

Hardcover, 512 pages

Synopsis: "Although Father Tom Christmas serves his little church in enchanting Thornford Regis with a glad and faithful heart, he never expects to find himself skydiving to raise money for it. Nor, safely back on the ground, to see two of the other divers leap from the plane, then tangle in a midair punch-up and begin falling to the earth.

To say that there is tension between the men in question—Oliver, the 7th Marquess of Morborne, and his brother-in-law Hector, the 10th Earl of Fairhaven—would be an understatement. But the trouble among this ancient landed family really began a generation ago, when a marquess divorced his first spouse to marry his brother’s wife, fathering in his two marriages a viper’s nest of arrogant young aristocrats. Now they have all turned up for the show to witness this shocking event in the sky.

Thankfully the men land safely, but death will not be slighted. Much to Father Tom’s dismay, he later discovers Lord Morborne lying deceased on castle grounds. Rumors of bigamy, art forgeries, and upstairs/downstairs intrigue fly. So do whispers of unvicarly behavior between Tom and Oliver’s beautiful half-sister, Lady Lucinda. In fact, the vicar may be headed for a very hard landing of his own.

C. C. Benison gives a virtuoso performance in this gripping new puzzle, a compelling and wise holiday mystery with the irresistible allure of hot tea and warm scones on a cold winter’s day."

Hmmm... I feel a reading spell coming on! How about you?