Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

First Line: Summer Merriweather slipped off her flip-flops, allowing the sand's warmth to comfort the bottom of her feet like it had thousands of times before.

Shakespearean scholar Summer Merriweather has returned to Brigid's Island, North Carolina, to attend her mother's funeral, settle the estate, sell her mother's house and embarrassing romance-themed bookstore, Beach Reads, and get back to her real life. But when she stops by the bookstore and discovers threatening notes that were sent to her mother saying, "Sell the bookstore or die," she knows there's something rotten going on, and it must be dealt with.

Was Summer's mother murdered? The police don't want to hear about it, so Summer and her Aunt Agatha start their own investigation with the help of the Beach Reads book club. What Summer didn't realize is just how long the list of suspects is.

The groundwork has been laid for a very interesting second book in this new Beach Reads cozy series, and I am tempted to read it, which is somewhat of a miracle since I spent most of Little Bookshop of Murder greatly disliking the main character. 

Summer is a hoity-toity Shakespearean scholar who's much too good for her mother's taste in "worthless" romance novels, no matter how popular or essential the bookstore has become to so many people. She's so scared of spiders that she sleeps with a special blanket and a mask that's supposed to cover all facial orifices so no eight-legged beasties can get in. This young woman has to be exhausted because she's spent her entire life rebelling against her mother, Hildy, and everything Hildy stands for. And may I also say that I thought Summer shows absolutely no class in wearing flip-flops to her mother's funeral? Maybe it's just me.

If we're talking characters in this book, my favorite is Mr. Darcy, Hildy's old African grey parrot. I wouldn't mind giving him a new home no matter how many feathers the old bird sheds. As for the mystery? Little Bookshop of Murder isn't a whodunit, the killer is rather obvious from the start. No, this is a why-dunit, and I've often found that deducing why someone is killing people is much more interesting than the person's identity.

Since some of Summer's quirks are explained and resolved, and since the author has set up book two so well, I'll probably be visiting Brigid's Island again. But I'm giving her fair warning: give up that literary snob business. You're much better than that, woman.

Little Bookshop of Murder by Maggie Blackburn

eISBN: 9781643854397

Crooked Lane Books © 2020

eBook, 299 pages

 

Cozy Mystery, #1 Beach Reads mystery

Rating: B

Source: Net Galley

May 2019 New Mystery Releases!

After attending the event for Ragnar Jónasson last week at The Poisoned Pen, I have the urge to attend the Iceland Noir Festival next year in Reykjavik-- even though it's scheduled for November when it's dark 24/7. Everything's cheaper because no tourists go to Iceland then. The Northern lights. Ian Rankin. Anthony Horowitz. Louise Penny. Ann Cleeves. (With more authors to come.) Can you blame me for wanting to go? I don't think Denis is too keen on the idea, but you never know. And this is all because I went to see Ragnar Jónasson, an author whose books I decided to sample because I'm always on the lookout for something new!

Speaking of being on the lookout for something new, here are my picks for the best in new crime fiction being released throughout the month of May. (Covers and synopses courtesy of Amazon.) Hopefully, I've chosen a title or two that tickles your fancy. Let's take a look!

=== May 7 ===

Title: The Woman in the Blue Cloak

Author: Deon Meyer

Standalone Novella set in South Africa

160 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Early on a May morning in the depth of South Africa’s winter, a woman’s naked body, washed in bleach, is discovered on a stone wall beside the N2 highway at the top of Sir Lowry’s Pass, some thirty-five miles from Cape Town. The local investigation stalls, so the case is referred to Captain Benny Griessel and his colorful partner Vaughn Cupido of the Hawks―the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations. The woman proves to be Alicia Lewis, an expert in old Dutch Masters paintings specializing in the recovery of valuable lost art. Discovering the two men she had contacted before coming to South Africa reveals what she was seeking―a rare painting by Carel Fabritius, Rembrandt’s finest student, not seen since it disappeared from Delft in 1654. But how Lewis died, why, and at whose hand shocks even the two veteran detectives."

Title: The Scent of Murder

Author: Kylie Logan

#1 in the Jazz Ramsey series set in Ohio.

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "The way Jazz Ramsey figures it, life is pretty good. She’s thirty-five years old and owns her own home in one of Cleveland’s most diverse, artsy, and interesting neighborhoods. She has a job she likes as an administrative assistant at an all-girls school, and a volunteer interest she’s passionate about―Jazz is a cadaver dog handler.

Jazz is working with Luther, a cadaver dog in training. Luther is still learning cadaver work, so Jazz is putting him through his paces at an abandoned building that will soon be turned into pricey condos. When Luther signals a find, Jazz is stunned to see the body of a young woman who is dressed in black and wearing the kind of make-up and jewelry that Jazz used to see on the Goth kids back in high school.

She’s even more shocked when she realizes that beneath the tattoos and the piercings and all that pale makeup is a familiar face.

The lead detective on the case is an old lover, and the murdered woman is an old student. Jazz finds herself sucked into the case, obsessed with learning the truth." 

Title: The Stone Circle

Author: Elly Griffiths

#11 in the Dr. Ruth Galloway series set in England.

368 pages

Synopsis: "DCI Nelson has been receiving threatening letters. They are anonymous, yet reminiscent of ones he has received in the past, from the person who drew him into a case that’s haunted him for years. At the same time, Ruth receives a letter purporting to be from that very same person—her former mentor, and the reason she first started working with Nelson. But the author of those letters is dead. Or is he?

The past is reaching out for Ruth and Nelson, and its grip is deadly."

=== May 8 ===

Title: The Jean Harlow Bombshell

Author: Mollie Cox Bryan

#1 in the Classic Star Biography mysteries set in New York City.

336 pages

Synopsis: "Justine Turner is a world-famous biographer of Hollywood stars. She's also Charlotte Donovan's overbearing boss. So it comes as no surprise to Charlotte when Justine requests an emergency meeting related to her latest in-progress biography. It is a surprise, though, when Justine up and dies before their urgent discussion can begin.

In the wake of such a tragedy, all Charlotte wants to do is finish the Jean Harlow biography that Justine had started. Instead, she finds herself in grave danger―stalked both online and in person by a drop-dead Jean Harlow look-alike. Together with police sergeant Den Brophy, Charlotte uncovers shocking revelations. But will these revelations be enough to catch the killer?"

=== May 14 ===

Title: The Satapur Moonstone

Author: Sujata Massey

#2 in the Perveen Mistry historical series set in 1920s India.

360 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "India, 1922: It is rainy season in the lush, remote Sahyadri mountains, where the princely state of Satapur is tucked away. A curse seems to have fallen upon Satapur’s royal family, whose maharaja died of a sudden illness shortly before his teenage son was struck down in a tragic hunting accident. The state is now ruled by an agent of the British Raj on behalf of Satapur’s two maharanis, the dowager queen, and her daughter-in-law.

The royal ladies are in a dispute over the education of the young crown prince, and a lawyer’s counsel is required. However, the maharanis live in purdah and do not speak to men. Just one person can help them: Perveen Mistry, Bombay’s only female lawyer. Perveen is determined to bring peace to the royal house and make a sound recommendation for the young prince’s future, but she arrives to find that the Satapur palace is full of cold-blooded power plays and ancient vendettas. Too late, she realizes she has walked into a trap. But whose? And how can she protect the royal children from the palace’s deadly curse?"

Title: Disappearing Earth

Author: Julia Phillips

Standalone set on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia.

272 pages

Synopsis: "One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls--sisters, eight and eleven--go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community, with the fear and loss felt most deeply among its women.

Taking us through a year in Kamchatka, Disappearing Earth enters with astonishing emotional acuity the worlds of a cast of richly drawn characters, all connected by the crime: a witness, a neighbor, a detective, a mother. We are transported to vistas of rugged beauty--densely wooded forests, open expanses of tundra, soaring volcanoes, and the glassy seas that border Japan and Alaska--and into a region as complex as it is alluring, where social and ethnic tensions have long simmered, and where outsiders are often the first to be accused.

In a story as propulsive as it is emotionally engaging, and through a young writer's virtuosic feat of empathy and imagination, this powerful novel brings us to a new understanding of the intricate bonds of family and community, in a Russia unlike any we have seen before."

=== May 21 ===

Title: Deception Cove

Author: Owen Laukkanen

#1 in the Neah Bay thriller series set in Washington state.

384 pages

Synopsis: "Former US Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life a new widow, with little more to her name than a falling-down house, a medical discharge for PTSD, and a loyal dog named Lucy. The only thing she actually cares about is that dog, a black-and-white pit bull mix who helps her cope with the devastating memories of her time in Afghanistan.

After fifteen years -- nearly half his life -- in state prison, Mason Burke owns one set of clothes, a wallet, and a photo of Lucy, the service dog he trained while behind bars. Seeking a fresh start, he sets out for Deception Cove, Washington, where the dog now lives.

As soon as Mason knocks on Jess's door, he finds himself in the middle of a standoff between the widow and the deputy county sheriff. When Jess's late husband piloted his final "fishing" expedition, he stole and stashed a valuable package from his drug dealer associates. Now the package is gone, and the sheriff's department has seized Jess's dearest possession-her dog. Unless Jess turns over the missing goods, Lucy will be destroyed.

The last thing Mason wants is to be dragged back into the criminal world. The last thing Jess wants is to trust a stranger. But neither of them can leave a friend, the only good thing in either of their lives, in danger. To rescue Lucy, they'll have to forge an uneasy alliance. And to avoid becoming collateral damage in someone else's private war, they have to fight back -- and find a way to conquer their doubts and fears."

Title: The Island

Author: Ragnar Jónasson

#2 in the Hidden Iceland police procedural series.

352 pages

Synopsis: "Autumn of 1987 takes a young couple on a romantic trip in the Westfjords holiday―a trip that gets an unexpected ending and has catastrophic consequences.

 

Ten years later a small group of friends goes for a weekend in an old hunting lodge in Elliðaey. A place completely cut off from the outside world, to reconnect. But one of them isn't going to make it out alive. And Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir is determined to find the truth in the darkness.

Ragnar Jonasson burst onto the American scene with Snowblind and Nightblind, the first two novels in the Ari Thor thriller series, and the praise was overwhelming. With The Darkness, he launched a new series featuring a completely new sleuth, Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdottir of the Reykjavik Police department. The Island is the second book in this series."

Title: Cari Mora
Author: Thomas Harris
Standalone thriller set in Miami, Florida.
320 pages

Synopsis: "Twenty-five million dollars in cartel gold lies hidden beneath a mansion on the Miami Beach waterfront. Ruthless men have tracked it for years. Leading the pack is Hans-Peter Schneider. Driven by unspeakable appetites, he makes a living fleshing out the violent fantasies of other, richer men.

Cari Mora, caretaker of the house, has escaped from the violence in her native country. She stays in Miami on a wobbly Temporary Protected Status, subject to the iron whim of ICE. She works at many jobs to survive. Beautiful, marked by war, Cari catches the eye of Hans-Peter as he closes in on the treasure. But Cari Mora has surprising skills, and her will to survive has been tested before.

Monsters lurk in the crevices between male desire and female survival. No other writer in the last century has conjured those monsters with more terrifying brilliance than Thomas Harris. Cari Mora, his sixth novel, is the long-awaited return of an American master."

=== May 28 ===

Title: Murder at Morrington Hall 

Author: Clara McKenna

#1 in the Stella and Lyndy historical series set in England.

304 pages

Synopsis: "Spring, 1905:  Free-spirited like the Thoroughbreds she rides across the Kentucky countryside, Stella takes adventure by the reins when she’s asked to attend a mysterious wedding in rural England. But once she arrives at the lush Morrington Hall estate, her cold and ambitious father confesses that he won’t only give away his best racehorses as gifts—he has also arranged to give away his daughter as bride to the Earl of Atherly’s financially strapped son . . .

Stella refuses to be sold off like a prized pony. Yet despite a rough start, there’s something intriguing about her groom-to-be, the roguish Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst. The unlikely pair could actually be on the right track with each other . . . until they find the vicar who was to marry them dead in the library.

With culture clashes mounting between families, a scandalous murder case hangs over Morrington Hall. Now, Stella and Lyndy must go from future spouses to amateur sleuths as they team up to search for the truth—and prevent an unbridled criminal from destroying their new life together right out of the gate..."

Title: The Sentence Is Death

Author: Anthony Horowitz

#2 in the Daniel Hawthorne P.I. series set in England.

384 pages

Synopsis: "'You shouldn’t be here. It’s too late ...'

These, heard over the phone, were the last recorded words of successful celebrity-divorce lawyer Richard Pryce, found bludgeoned to death in his bachelor pad with a bottle of wine—a 1982 Chateau Lafite worth £3,000, to be precise.

Odd, considering he didn’t drink. Why this bottle? And why those words? And why was a three-digit number painted on the wall by the killer? And, most importantly, which of the man’s many, many enemies did the deed?

Baffled, the police are forced to bring in Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his sidekick, the author Anthony, who’s really getting rather good at this murder investigation business.

But as Hawthorne takes on the case with characteristic relish, it becomes clear that he, too, has secrets to hide. As our reluctant narrator becomes ever more embroiled in the case, he realizes that these secrets must be exposed—even at the risk of death..."

All I can say about the new crime fiction being released in May is WOW. A new book by Thomas Harris, the man who changed how I thought with his book Red Dragon! New books by Anthony Horowitz, Sujata Massey, Elly Griffiths, and Ragnar Jónasson-- all of whom have made my annual Best Reads list! And none of the others are slackers by any stretch of the imagination. I'm in a dizzy tizzy, thinking of all the wonderful reading I have ahead of me.

Now... how about you? Which books on my list are on your own Must Read lists? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Assault and Beadery by Mollie Cox Bryan

First Line: "How did we let ourselves get involved with this?" Cora Chevalier whispered to best friend and business partner, Jane Starr.

Cora Chevalier isn't happy about being coerced into painting the backdrops for the latest production of the local theatre group, especially since she and best friend Jane Starr have their first-ever Crafty Moms' Escape Weekend coming up. The theater group always seems to be "one more thing" it wants the two women to do for them. But when Stan Herald, the obnoxious director, is found dead and their friend Zee is arrested, Cora knows that there is one more thing she must do before the final curtain comes down: find the real killer.

Author Mollie Cox Bryan has a knack for choosing and describing crafts that makes me want to head for the nearest store to buy up all the necessaries and start to work. After reading Assault and Beadery, I now want to take up beading. 

Aided by two characters from the author's Cumberland Creek cozy series, Cora and Jane have their work cut out for them in a very well-plotted mystery that will keep readers guessing. There are so many people with so many secrets and hidden pasts and agendas that Cora wonders if she should also run background checks on all the people attending their retreats as well as the teachers-- but she's not really serious. However, that passing thought does highlight one of the things I like about this series: Bryan lets readers see the business side of running a small craft retreat.

Like any cozy series worth its salt, the cast of characters is first-rate. Cora Chevalier spent many years running a shelter for the victims of abuse. She's seen more of the dark side of human nature than most people have, and she made the conscious decision to leave that life and do something that would not only help people but bring herself joy. But she cannot deny the very basic part of her nature that wants to help those in need. It's not an accident that her last name is Chevalier, which is French for "knight". Her empathy, her compassion, has made her a knight in shining armor for people in trouble.

To leaven Cora's nature, there are two other characters. Victim of domestic abuse and mother of a small daughter, Jane Starr is the very practical and logical one in the business and friendship. Her life has taught her to be cautious, and this is something that Cora needs during her murder investigations. The third character is the older woman, Ruby, whose son is a lawyer who's proven invaluable in these cases. Ruby is a local and a hard worker, but she's a gossipmonger and is a bit too abrasive for me to like her much-- but who says we have to like everyone?

Good setting, good crafts, good mysteries, good characters. That's what you get in Mollie Cox Bryan's Cora Crafts series. Give it a try!
 

Assault and Beadery by Mollie Cox Bryan

eISBN: 9781496716453

Kensington Books © 2018

eBook, 320 pages

Cozy Mystery, #4 Cora Crafts mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley


 

September 2018 New Mystery Releases!

While autumn is looming in the headlights for most of the rest of you, September is still the province of summer here in the Sonoran Desert. I like it like that-- it means I'm still out in the pool with my books and cold drinks.

But when I'm not in the pool, I'm inside checking on new books to add to my list. Here are my picks of the best new crime fiction being released during the month of September. Hopefully, I've chosen a title or two that you'll add to your own lists.

I've grouped them according to their release dates, and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon. Let's take a look at all the lovely new books!

=== September 4 ===

Title: Gold Dust

Author: Reavis Z. Wortham

Series: #7 in the Red River historical series set in Texas in the late 1960s.

300 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books. 

Synopsis: "As the 1960s draw to a close, the rural northeast Texas community of Center Springs is visited by two nondescript government men in dark suits and shades. They say their assignment is to test weather currents and patterns, but that's a lie. Their delivery of a mysterious microscopic payload called Gold Dust from a hired crop duster coincides with fourteen-year-old Pepper Parker's discovery of an ancient gold coin in her dad's possession. Her adolescent trick played on a greedy adult results in the only gold rush in North Texas history. Add in modern-day cattle-rustlers and murderers, and Center Springs is once again the bulls-eye in a deadly target.

The biological agent deemed benign by the CIA has unexpected repercussions, putting Pepper's near-twin cousin, Top, at death's door. The boy's crisis sends their grandfather, Constable Ned Parker, to Washington D.C. to exact personal justice, joined by a man Ned left behind in Mexico and had presumed dead. The CIA agents who operate on the dark side of the U.S. government find they're no match for men who know they're right and won't stop. Especially two old country boys raised on shotguns.

But there's more. Lots more. Top Parker thought only he had what had become known as a Poisoned Gift, but Ned suffers his own form of a family curse he must deploy. Plus, there are many trails to follow as the lawmen desperately work to put an end to murder and government experimentation that extends from their tiny Texas town to Austin and, ultimately, to Washington, D.C. Traitors, cattle-rustlers, murderers, rural crime families, grave robbers, CIA turncoats, and gold-hungry prospectors pursue agendas that all, in a sense, revolve around the center of this small vortex called Center Springs.

Gold Dust seems to be fiction, but the truth is, it has already happened."

Title: Death at Sea

Author: Andrea Camilleri

Series: a collection of short stories about the early career of Inspector Salvo Montalbano set in Sicily.

288 pages

Synopsis: "Set on the Sicilian coast, a collection of eight short stories featuring the young Inspector Montalbano.

In 1980s Vigàta, a restless Inspector Montalbano brings his bold investigative style to eight enthralling cases. From jilted lovers and deadly family affairs to assassination attempts and murders in unexpected places, Death at Sea is the perfect collection to escape into Andrea Camilleri's unforgettable slice of Sicily." 

Title: Depth of Winter

Author: Craig Johnson

Series: #14 in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series set in northern Mexico.

304 pages

Synopsis: "Welcome to Walt Longmire's worst nightmare. In Craig Johnson's latest mystery, Depth of Winter, an international hit man and the head of one of the most vicious drug cartels in Mexico has kidnapped Walt's beloved daughter, Cady, to auction her off to his worst enemies, of which there are many. The American government is of limited help and the Mexican one even less. Walt heads into the one-hundred-and-ten-degree heat of the Northern Mexican desert alone, one man against an army."

Title: Field of Bones

Author: J.A. Jance

Series: #18 in the Sheriff Joanna Brady series set in Cochise County, Arizona.

400 pages

Synopsis: "Sheriff Joanna Brady’s best intentions to stay on maternity leave take a hit when a serial homicide case rocks Cochise County, dragging her into a far-reaching investigation to bring down a relentless killer in this chilling tale of suspense from New York Times bestselling author J. A. Jance.

This time Sheriff Joanna Brady may expect to see her maternity leave through to completion, but the world has other plans when a serial homicide case surfaces in her beloved Cochise County. Rather than staying home with her newborn and losing herself in the cold cases to be found in her father’s long unread diaries, Joanna instead finds herself overseeing a complex investigation involving multiple jurisdictions.

Filled with the beloved characters, small-town charm, vivid history, intriguing mystery, and the scenic Arizona desert backdrop that have made the Joanna Brady series perennial bestsellers, this latest entry featuring the popular sheriff is sure to please J. A. Jance’s legion of fans."

Title: Secret Undertaking

Author: Mark de Castrique

Series: #7 in the Buryin' Barry series about an ex-cop back home in Gainesboro, North Carolina to run the family funeral home.

300 pages

Synopsis: "Towns like Gainesboro, North Carolina, may be small but go big on local traditions. When funeral director and part-time deputy sheriff Barry Clayton and his childhood nemesis, Archie Donovan, Jr., unite to create a fundraising float in Gainesboro's annual Apple Festival Parade, what could go wrong? With Archie involved - anything!

First, the Grand Marshal, NC Secretary of Agriculture Graham James, is attacked by a gunman and Barry's Uncle Wayne is critically wounded in the melee. The assailant is killed. Then, when the body of a convenience store owner is discovered less than an hour later with the gunman's food stamp card in his wallet, the case escalates. Two men dead. What is the connection?

Barry and Sheriff Tommy Lee Wadkins swiftly learn their small town offers no protection against big-time crime. The body count rises as the scope of their homicide investigation crosses into the realm of the U.S. Marshals and their secretive Witness Protection Program. To penetrate its walls, Barry and Tommy Lee resort to a most unlikely ally: Archie. Is the insurance agent, generally a victim of his own hare-brained schemes, capable of breaking the case, or will Archie find a way to become another of its casualties?

The trio's secret undertaking into a convoluted conspiracy becomes a fight for survival in a world filled with betrayals where it's impossible to know which people to trust." 

Title: Wild Fire

Author: Ann Cleeves

Series: #8 in the Shetland Island police procedural series set on the Shetland Islands of Scotland.

416 pages

Synopsis: "Wild Fire is the much-anticipated final entry in Ann Cleeves's beloved Shetland series, which is now a hit television show starring Douglas Henshall.

The betrayal of those closest burns most of all . . .

Hoping for a fresh start, an English family moves to the remote Shetland islands, eager to give their autistic son a better life.
But when a young nanny's body is found hanging in the barn beside their home, rumors of her affair with the husband spread like wildfire. As suspicion and resentment of the family blazes in the community, Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate. He knows it will mean his boss, Willow Reeves, returning to run the investigation, and confronting their complex relationship.

With families fracturing and long-hidden lies emerging, Jimmy faces the most disturbing case of his career." 

=== September 11 ===

Title: Burning Ridge
Author: Margaret Mizushima
Series: #4 in the Timber Creek K-9 series set in Colorado.
279 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Colorado’s Redstone Ridge is a place of extraordinary beauty, but this rugged mountain wilderness harbors a horrifying secret. When a charred body is discovered in a shallow grave on the ridge, officer Mattie Cobb and her K-9 partner Robo are called in to spearhead the investigation. But this is no ordinary crime—and it soon becomes clear that Mattie has a close personal connection to the dead man.

Joined by local veterinarian Cole Walker, the pair scours the mountaintop for evidence and makes another gruesome discovery: the skeletonized remains of two adults and a child. And then, the unthinkable happens. Could Mattie become the next victim in the murderer’s deadly game?

A deranged killer torments Mattie with a litany of dark secrets that call into question her very identity. As a towering blaze races across the ridge, Cole and Robo search desperately for her—but time is running out in Margaret Mizushima’s fourth spine-tingling Timber Creek K-9 mystery, Burning Ridge."

Title: A Borrowing of Bones
Author: Paula Munier
Series: #1 in the Mercy & Elvis series set in Vermont.
352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "After their last deployment, when she got shot, her fiancé Martinez got killed and his bomb-sniffing dog Elvis got depressed, soldier Mercy Carr and Elvis were both sent home, her late lover’s last words ringing in her ears: “Take care of my partner.”

Together the two former military police—one twenty-nine-year-old two-legged female with wounds deeper than skin and one handsome five-year-old four-legged Malinois with canine PTSD—march off their grief mile after mile in the beautiful remote Vermont wilderness.

Even on the Fourth of July weekend, when all of Northshire celebrates with fun and frolic and fireworks, it’s just another walk in the woods for Mercy and Elvis—until the dog alerts to explosives and they find a squalling baby abandoned near a shallow grave filled with what appear to be human bones. 

U.S. Game Warden Troy Warner and his search and rescue Newfoundland Susie Bear respond to Mercy’s 911 call, and the four must work together to track down a missing mother, solve a cold-case murder, and keep the citizens of Northshire safe on potentially the most incendiary Independence Day since the American Revolution.

It’s a call to action Mercy and Elvis cannot ignore, no matter what the cost."

Title: Hitting the Books
Author: Jenn McKinlay
Series: #9 in the Library Lovers cozy series set in Connecticut.
304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "When a stack of library materials is found at the scene of a hit and run, library director Lindsey Norris finds herself dragged into the investigation as the police try to link the driver of the stolen car to the person who borrowed the books. Before Lindsey can delve into the library's records, the victim of the hit and run, Theresa Houston, suffers another "accident" and the investigation shifts from driver negligence to attempted homicide.

A clue surfaces in the confiscated library materials that could crack open the case and it is up to Lindsey to piece it all together. But things are not as they seem in the sleepy town of Briar Creek and when the driver of the stolen car turns up dead, Lindsey, her staff, and her library friends have to hit the books before the murderer gets the last word..."

=== September 18 ===

Title: A Forgotten Place

Author: Charles Todd

Series: #10 in the Bess Crawford historical series set in Wales.

368 pages

Synopsis: "The fighting has ended, the Armistice signed, but the war has left wounds that are still agonizingly raw. Battlefield Nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and the Welsh patients worry her. She does her best to help them, but it’s clear that they have nothing to go home to, in a valley where only the fit can work in the coal pits. When they are released, she fears that peace will do what war couldn’t—take their lives.

Their officer, Captain Williams, writes to describe their despair and his own at trying to save his men. Bess feels compelled to look into their situation, but the Army and the clinic can do nothing. Requesting leave, she quietly travels to Wales, and that bleak coal mining village, but she is too late.

Captain Williams’ sister tells Bess he has left the valley. Bess is afraid he intends to kill himself. She follows him to an isolated, storm-battered peninsula—a harsh and forgotten place where secrets and death go hand in hand. Deserted by her frightened driver, Bess is stranded among strangers suspicious of outsiders. She quickly discovers these villagers are hiding something, and she’s learned too much to be allowed to leave. What’s more, no one in England knows where she is.

Why is there no Constable out here? And who is the mysterious Ellen? Captain Williams and his brother’s widow are her only allies, and Bess must take care not to put them at risk as she tries to find answers. But there is a murderer here who is driven to kill again and again. And the next person in his sights is Simon Brandon, searching for Bess and unaware of his danger. . . ."

Title: Lethal White

Author: Robert Galbraith

Series: #4 in the Cormoran Strike private investigator series set in England.

656 pages

Synopsis: "When Billy, a troubled young man, comes to private eye Cormoran Strike's office to ask for his help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child, Strike is left deeply unsettled. While Billy is obviously mentally distressed, and cannot remember many concrete details, there is something sincere about him and his story. But before Strike can question him further, Billy bolts from his office in a panic.

Trying to get to the bottom of Billy's story, Strike and Robin Ellacott-once his assistant, now a partner in the agency-set off on a twisting trail that leads them through the backstreets of London, into a secretive inner sanctum within Parliament, and to a beautiful but sinister manor house deep in the countryside.

And during this labyrinthine investigation, Strike's own life is far from straightforward: his newfound fame as a private eye means he can no longer operate behind the scenes as he once did. Plus, his relationship with his former assistant is more fraught than it ever has been-Robin is now invaluable to Strike in the business, but their personal relationship is much, much trickier than that."

=== September 25 ===

 

 

Title: Assault and Beadery

Author: Mollie Cox Bryan

Series: #4 in the Cora Crafts cozy series set in North Carolina.

320 pages

 

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

 

Synopsis: "All of Cora Chevalier’s dreams are coming true. Since moving to Indigo Gap, North Carolina, the busy crafting maven has been blessed with a great boyfriend, a lovely home, and a booming craft retreat business. But on the eve of her first Crafty Mom’s Escape Weekend, tragedy strikes again in Indigo Gap. This time, it’s curtains for Stan Herald, the disagreeable director of the local theater group, who’s murdered on the opening night of their new production. Worse, Cora’s friend Zee is accused of the crime.

Cora is determined to prove her friend’s innocence, but Zee’s mysterious past is making that difficult. And with a list of suspects longer than a double spool of satin cording, getting a bead on the real culprit won’t be easy. With her friends Jane and Ruby at her side, Cora must string together the clues and solve Stan’s murder before the killer gives an encore performance." 

Wow-- Can you believe how many marvelous books are being released during September?!? Ann Cleeves' last Shetland Island mystery. Craig Johnson is bringing Walt down to my neck of the woods, and I'm always in the mood for a new Joanna Brady mystery. There are so many of my favorite authors here, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to a brand-new one, Paula Munier. Her book, A Borrowing of Bones, sounds really good, and I can't wait to read it.

How about you? Will September put a strain on your book-buying budget? Which books are the ones you simply cannot resist? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Macramé Murder by Mollie Cox Bryan

First Line: The bride resembled a mermaid princess in her sparkling white-blue outfit.

Cora Chevalier and her cohorts have taken a break from their own crafting business to teach classes at the Sea Glass Island Craft Retreat in South Carolina. Cora's boyfriend Adrian has also come along, and when she isn't teaching or participating in other crafting classes, she's hoping this time with Adrian will help strengthen their relationship. 

When they arrive, Cora and Adrian encounter a stunning beach wedding and blissful newlyweds, but the next day the bride is found dead, and Cora is in shock-- even more so when Adrian is a suspect in the woman's murder. With locals believing Adrian is the killer, there's only one thing Cora can do-- find the real murderer herself.

I continue to enjoy this mystery series with its emphasis on crafts and murder. Cora is the type of character I really like (even though she suffered from a few too many panic attacks in this book)-- she's smart and compassionate, and the years she spent being in charge of a shelter for abused women gives her a different perspective on the human race. Her former career also taught her not to behave as though she's a trained police officer. Cora is primarily a businesswoman who hires teachers for her craft retreats; she isn't the Martha Stewart type who can run any sort of class she puts her mind to, so I was puzzled when I learned that she was teaching at this South Carolina retreat. When I found out what her class was all about, it made perfect sense-- and I'll let you find out what it was for yourself.

I was happy to see that Cora and her friends were in South Carolina. This avoids the old Cabot Cove Syndrome nicely, and-- let's face it-- if you found out people kept getting bumped off at a craft retreat you were thinking of going to... would you go? Probably not, unless you believe yourself to be Miss Marple reincarnated.

I enjoy the craft retreat setting and the characters, and I also enjoy trying to solve the mysteries. The mystery in Macramé Murder is complex, and I didn't have it all figured out before the reveal, which is always a good thing. Speaking of "good things" (didn't Martha Stewart used to do that?), that sums up Mollie Cox Bryan's cozy series perfectly, and I hope you give it a try.
 

Macramé Murder by Mollie Cox Bryan

eISBN: 9781496704696

Kensington Books © 2017

eBook, 352 pages

Cozy Mystery, #3 Cora Crafts mystery

Rating: B+

Source: Net Galley

August 2017 New Mystery Releases!

As always, summer is running through my fingers as quickly as the proverbial sands through an hour glass, and one thing that I've noticed is that I've been more easily distracted. As a result, I'm at least a dozen books behind my normal reading pace at this time of year. I tend to be a competitive person if I'm not careful, so falling behind means that a part of me wants to drop everything and concentrate on reading to get myself back on track. Another part of myself tells me to cool it; that I'm allowed to take it a bit easy once in a while.

I may be behind in the total number of books I've read, but that doesn't prevent me from keeping track of new mysteries coming out. The following are my picks of the new crime fiction being released during the month of August. The books are grouped by release date and have information that you'll need to help you add them to your Must Read lists. Book covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon. 

=== August 1 ===

Title: Shadow Girl

Author: Gerry Schmitt

Series: #2 in the Afton Tangler police procedural series set in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Leland Odin made his fortune launching a home shopping network, but his millions can’t save his life. On the list for a transplant, the ailing businessman sees all hope lost when the helicopter carrying his donor heart is shot out of the sky.

Now with two pilots dead and dozens injured, Afton Tangler, family liaison officer for the Minneapolis Police Department, is drawn into the case. As she and her partner investigate family members and business associates, whoever wants Leland dead strikes again—and succeeds—in a brazen hospital room attack.

The supposedly squeaky clean millionaire has crossed the wrong person—and she’s not finished exacting her revenge. The case explodes into an international conspiracy of unbridled greed and violence. And as Afton gets closer to unearthing the mastermind behind it, she gets closer to becoming collateral damage..." 

Title: Murder in Disguise

Author: Mary Miley

Series: #4 in the Roaring Twenties historical mystery series.

240 pages

Synopsis: "Employed by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, Jessie Beckett has a busy time as Script Girl for Pickford-Fairbanks Studios. Yet she also has a reputation as a skilled amateur sleuth. So when a projectionist is shot dead and his grieving widow asks Jessie if she can find out who killed him, Jessie is determined to find the killer and his motive. But who was the mysterious man in the red coat who fired three shots at Joe Petrovitch? And how could he enter and leave a crowded theatre without being noticed? To find the answers, Jessie must delve into the dead man’s past and uncover dark secrets from another continent and another era. As she is to discover, the past has a long reach..."

Title: A Tangled Yarn

Author: Betty Hechtman

Series: #5 in the Yarn Retreat cozy series set on the northern California coast.

304 pages

Synopsis: "Casey Feldstein has her hands full with preparations at the Vista Del Mar hotel on the scenic Monterey Peninsula as another yarn retreat begins. The retreaters will be thrown for a loop this time, learning the trendy art of arm knitting and finger crocheting. 

But not everyone is enthusiastic about trying something new, and Casey is forced to come up with an alternative craft for her less adventurous pupils. Things go from worst to worsted when a travel writer from a neighboring retreat group is found dead in his room among a sea of feathers. When one of the owners of Vista Del Mar pleads for help, Casey gets hooked into the case and must unravel a delicate skein of secrets to catch a killer." 

Title: On Her Majesty's Frightfully Secret Service

Author: Rhys Bowen

Series: #11 in the Royal Spyness historical mystery series

304 pages

Synopsis: "In the new Royal Spyness Mystery from the New York Times bestselling author of Crowned and Dangerous, Lady Georgiana Rannoch juggles secret missions from the Queen, Darcy, and her mother. But it’s all in a day’s work when you’re thirty-fifth in line to the British Crown.

When Darcy runs off on another secret assignment, I am left to figure out how to travel to Italy sans maid and chaperone to help my dear friend Belinda, as she awaits the birth of her baby alone. An opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way—my cousin the queen is in need of a spy to attend a house party in the Italian lake country. The Prince of Wales and the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding. 

What luck! A chance to see Belinda and please the queen as I seek her permission to relinquish my claim to the throne so I can marry Darcy. Only that’s as far as my good fortune takes me. I soon discover that Mummy is attending the villa party and she has her own secret task for me. Then, Darcy shows up and tells me that the fate of a world on the brink of war could very well depend on what I overhear at dinner! I shouldn’t be all that surprised when one of my fellow guests is murdered and my Italian holiday becomes a nightmare..."

Title: Tahoe Payback

Author: Todd Borg

Series: #14 in the Owen McKenna thriller series set in Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada.

352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When a man tells Tahoe Detective Owen McKenna that his girlfriend disappeared, McKenna wonders if the woman got cold feet and ran away. But when she turns up murdered on Fannette Island with red roses in her mouth, McKenna discovers that she used a scam charity to steal millions.

A second victim is found with a tennis ball crammed into his mouth. A third has military medals in his cheeks. McKenna suspects that these victims also ran fraudulent charities.

While McKenna investigates the murders, his girlfriend Street Casey has reason to believe that her ex-con father, who's jumped parole, wants revenge for her testimony that put him in prison decades ago.

It appears that the victims are all payback targets of a vigilante killer. McKenna finds lots of potential suspects. But he can't link any of them to the crimes. What he doesn't know is that both he and his girlfriend are about to face someone who wants them very dead..."

=== August 8 ===

Title: The Paris Spy

Author: Susan Elia MacNeal

Series: #7 in the Maggie Hope historical series set in World War II Paris, France

321 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Maggie Hope has come a long way since serving as a typist for Winston Churchill. Now she’s working undercover for the Special Operations Executive in the elegant but eerily silent city of Paris, where SS officers prowl the streets in their Mercedes and the Ritz is draped with swastika banners. Walking among the enemy is tense and terrifying, and even though she’s disguised in chic Chanel, Maggie can’t help longing for home.

But her missions come first. Maggie’s half sister, Elise, has disappeared after being saved from a concentration camp, and Maggie is desperate to find her—that is if Elise even wants to be found. Equally urgent, Churchill is planning the Allied invasion of France, and SOE agent Erica Calvert has been captured, the whereabouts of her vital research regarding Normandy unknown. Maggie must risk her life to penetrate powerful circles and employ all her talents for deception and spycraft to root out a traitor, find her sister, and locate the reports crucial to planning D-Day in a deadly game of wits with the Nazi intelligence elite."

Title: Hunting Hour

Author: Margaret Mizushima

Series: #3 in the Timber Creek K-9 police procedural series set in Colorado

320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Deputy Mattie Cobb is in a dark place and has withdrawn from Cole Walker and his family to work on issues from her past. When she and her K-9 partner Robo get called to track a missing junior high student, they find the girl dead on Smoker’s Hill behind the high school, and Mattie must head to the Walker home to break the bad news. But that’s only the start of trouble in Timber Creek because soon another girl goes missing―and this time it’s one of Cole’s daughters.

Knowing that each hour a child remains missing lessens the probability of finding her alive, Mattie and Robo lead the hunt while Cole and community volunteers join in to search everywhere. To no avail. It seems that someone has snatched all trace of the Walker girl from their midst, including her scent. Grasping at straws, Mattie and Robo follow a phoned-in tip into the dense forest, where they hope to find a trace of the girl’s scent and to rescue her alive. But when Robo does catch her scent, it leads them to information that challenges everything they thought they knew about the case."

=== August 15 ===

Title: The Rat Catchers' Olympics

Author: Colin Cotterill

Series: #12 in the Dr. Siri Paiboun historical series set in 1980 Moscow, Russia

288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "1980: The People’s Democratic Republic of Laos is proud to be competing in its first-ever Olympics. Of course, half the world is boycotting the Moscow Summer Olympic Games to protest the Soviet Union’s recent invasion of Afghanistan, but that has made room for athletes from countries that are usually too small or underfunded to be competitive—like Laos.

Ex-national coroner of Laos Dr. Siri Paiboun may be retired, but he and his wife, Madame Daeng, would do just about anything to have a chance to visit Moscow, so Siri finagles them a trip by getting them hired as medical advisers to the Olympians. Most of the athletes are young and innocent village people who have never worn running shoes, much less imagined anything as marvelous as the Moscow Olympic Village. As the competition heats up, however, Siri begins to suspect that one of the athletes is not who he says he is. Fearing a conspiracy, Siri and his friends investigate, liaising in secret with Inspector Phosy back home in Laos to see if the man might be an assassin. Siri’s progress is derailed when a Lao Olympian is accused of murder. Now in the midst of a murky international incident, Dr. Siri must navigate not one but two paranoid government machines to make sure justice is done."

Title: Dog Dish of Doom

Author: E.J. Copperman

Series: #1 in the Agent to the Paws cozy series set in New York and New Jersey

304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Kay Powell wants to find that break-out client who will become a star. And she thinks she’s found him: His name is Bruno, and he has to be walked three times a day.

Kay is the Agent to the Paws, representing showbiz clients who aren’t exactly people. In fact: they're dogs. Bruno’s humans, Trent and Louise, are pains in the you-know-what, and Les McMaster, the famous director mounting a revival of Annie, might not hire Bruno just because he can’t stand them.

This becomes less of an issue when Trent is discovered face down in Bruno’s water dish, with a kitchen knife in his back. Kay’s perfectly fine to let the NYPD handle the murder, but when the whole plot seems to center on Bruno, her protective instincts come into play. You can kill any people you want, but you’d better leave Kay’s clients alone."

=== August 29 ===

Title: Death by His Grace

Author: Kwei Quartey

Series: #5 in the Darko Dawson police procedural series set in Ghana.

272 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Accra, Ghana: Katherine Yeboah’s marriage to Solomon Vanderpuye is all the talk of Accra high society. But when it becomes apparent that Katherine is infertile, Solomon’s extended family accuses her of being a witch, hounding her until the relationship is so soured Solomon feels compelled to order Katherine out of the house they shared. Alone on her last night there, Katherine is brutally murdered by an intruder.

Chief Inspector Darko Dawson of the Ghanaian federal police has personal as well as professional reasons to find the killer fast: Katherine was the first cousin of his wife, Christine, who is devastated by the tragedy. As Darko investigates, he discovers that many people close to Katherine had powerful motives to kill her, including Solomon, her husband; James Bentsi-Enchill, her lawyer and ex-lover; and her filthy rich pastor, Bishop Clem Howard-Mills. In order to expose the truth, Darko must confront the pivotal role religion plays in Ghana—and wrestle with his old demons the investigation stirs up."

Title: Glass Houses

Author: Louise Penny

Series: #13 in the Armand Gamache police procedural series set in Quebec, Canada.

400 pages

Synopsis: "When a mysterious figure appears in Three Pines one cold November day, Armand Gamache and the rest of the villagers are at first curious. Then wary. Through rain and sleet, the figure stands unmoving, staring ahead.

From the moment its shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Québec, suspects the creature has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.

Months later, on a steamy July day as the trial for the accused begins in Montréal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November, from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache’s own conscience is standing in judgment."

Title: A Knit Before Dying

Author: Sadie Hartwell

Series: #2 in the Tangled Web cozy series set in Connecticut.

288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Shop owner Josie Blair is finally settling into the pace of living in Dorset Falls, Connecticut. Between running Miss Marple Knits, jumpstarting a blog, and handcrafting items with the help of her knitting pals, Josie’s too preoccupied to worry about her past in New York. And thanks to Lyndon and Harry, the owners of the brand-new antique shop next door, she has another project in her midst—repurposing a box of vintage crocheted doilies adorned with the most curious needlework . . .

But before Josie can formally welcome her neighbors, she discovers Lyndon on the floor of his shop stabbed to death by a rusty old pair of sheep shears. Police have pinned Harry as the killer, but Josie isn’t so sure. Now, she’s lacing up for another homicide investigation—and no eyelet or stitch can go unexamined, lest she herself becomes ensnared in the criminal’s deadly design . . ."

Title: Macramé  Murder

Author: Mollie Cox Bryan

Series: #3 in the Cora Crafts cozy series set in North Carolina.
352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "As the head of a bustling crafting retreat, Cora Chevalier could use a break of her own. So she and her creative cohorts temporarily swap small-town Indigo Gap for the Sea Glass Island Craft Retreat, where they teach classes and create beachy crafts like shell mosaics and sea glass chimes. Cora and her boyfriend Adrian are enchanted by their surroundings—especially the stunning wedding and blissful newlyweds they encounter on the beach. But awe becomes shock when the bride turns up dead the next day . . .

The woman’s death appears to be the result of a severe jellyfish sting. But when it’s revealed that she was murdered and Adrian becomes a suspect, Cora must hitch the real culprit to the crime—and fast. Because it just might take everything she has to crack a case more twisted than her most complex macramé knot!" 



Another month with an embarrassment of riches, eh? I'll let you in on a little secret: as I've been devouring my advance reading copies, I've added a title or two from this list to my Best Reads of 2017!

Which titles made it to your own wish lists? Which covers did you find the most striking? Inquiring minds would love to know!