Speaking of blistering heat, I just have to shake my head at some people. The temperatures have been over 130°F in Death Valley, and adults with small children have been lining up in the blazing sun to have their photos taken by the park temperature gauge. Hopefully, none of them break down. Services are few and far between in that area (I've been there and NOT in summer), and I'd bet the farm that many of them didn't pack any water or other necessities just in case.
Sensible me, with my ice water and stacks of books, decided to look for new books. You know. In case those stacks start running low. The following are my picks of the best new crime fiction being released in the month of August. I've grouped them by their release dates and the covers and synopses are courtesy of Amazon.
Let's see if you've already been tempted by some of my picks... or if I managed to add new ones to your list!
=== August 1 ===
Title: Evergreen
Author: Naomi Hirahara
Series: #2 in the Japantown historical series set in post-World War II California.
312 pages
Synopsis: "It’s been two years since Aki Ito and her family were released
from Manzanar detention center and resettled in Chicago with other
Japanese Americans. Now the Itos have finally been allowed to return
home to California—but nothing is as they left it. The entire Japanese
American community is starting from scratch, with thousands of people
living in dismal refugee camps while they struggle to find new houses
and jobs in over-crowded Los Angeles.
Aki is working as a nurse’s aide at the Japanese Hospital in Boyle Heights when an elderly Issei man is admitted with suspicious injuries. When she seeks out his son, she is shocked to recognize her husband’s best friend, Babe Watanabe. Could Babe be guilty of elder abuse?
Only a few days later, Little Tokyo is rocked by a murder at the low-income hotel where the Watanabes have been staying. When the cops start sniffing around Aki’s home, she begins to worry that the violence tearing through her community might threaten her family. What secrets have the Watanabes been hiding, and can Aki protect her husband from getting tangled up in a murder investigation?"
Aki is working as a nurse’s aide at the Japanese Hospital in Boyle Heights when an elderly Issei man is admitted with suspicious injuries. When she seeks out his son, she is shocked to recognize her husband’s best friend, Babe Watanabe. Could Babe be guilty of elder abuse?
Only a few days later, Little Tokyo is rocked by a murder at the low-income hotel where the Watanabes have been staying. When the cops start sniffing around Aki’s home, she begins to worry that the violence tearing through her community might threaten her family. What secrets have the Watanabes been hiding, and can Aki protect her husband from getting tangled up in a murder investigation?"
=== August 3 ===
Title: The Killing Place
Author: Kate Ellis
Series: #27 in the DI Wesley Peterson police procedural series set in England.
400 pages
Synopsis: "November. With the tourist season well and truly over in South
Devon, Detective Inspector Wesley Peterson is looking forward to a
quieter month in the CID. But when a man is shot dead on Bonfire Night,
he finds he has a disturbing murder case on his hands.
The body of Patrick North was found in woodland connected to Nesbaraton Hall, a grand estate dating back to the eighteenth century. North worked for the Smithson family who now own the estate. The family are away on holiday, however when an anonymous letter threatening to abduct the Smithson son is uncovered, Wesley fears North's death might have been collateral damage in a kidnap plot.
Meanwhile, archaeologist Dr Neil Watson discovers a hidden grotto on land that was once part of the Nesbaraton estate. Evidence of past rituals and the shocking discovery of a skeleton raise questions about strange occurrences, past and present, on the land.
Then, just when Wesley's team seem to be making progress in their investigation, a resident of the nearby village is killed in a near-identical shooting to North's. A race is on to find the ruthless killer, before they strike again . . .
Whether you've read the whole series, or are discovering Kate Ellis's DI Wesley Peterson novels for the first time, this is the perfect page-turner if you love reading Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths."
The body of Patrick North was found in woodland connected to Nesbaraton Hall, a grand estate dating back to the eighteenth century. North worked for the Smithson family who now own the estate. The family are away on holiday, however when an anonymous letter threatening to abduct the Smithson son is uncovered, Wesley fears North's death might have been collateral damage in a kidnap plot.
Meanwhile, archaeologist Dr Neil Watson discovers a hidden grotto on land that was once part of the Nesbaraton estate. Evidence of past rituals and the shocking discovery of a skeleton raise questions about strange occurrences, past and present, on the land.
Then, just when Wesley's team seem to be making progress in their investigation, a resident of the nearby village is killed in a near-identical shooting to North's. A race is on to find the ruthless killer, before they strike again . . .
Whether you've read the whole series, or are discovering Kate Ellis's DI Wesley Peterson novels for the first time, this is the perfect page-turner if you love reading Ann Cleeves and Elly Griffiths."
Title: Day's End
Author: Garry Disher
Series: #4 in the Paul Hirsch police procedural series set in Australia.
368 pages
*UK Release
Synopsis: "Constable Paul Hirschausen's rural beat in the low hills of South
Australia is wide. Daybreak to day's end, dirt roads and dust. Every
problem that besets small towns and isolated properties, from unlicensed
driving to arson.
But now, just as Hirsch has begun to feel he knows the fragile communities under his care, the isolation and fear of the pandemic have warped them into something angry and unrecognisable. Hirsch is seeing stresses heightened and social divisions cracking wide open. His own tolerance under strain; people getting close to the edge.
Today he's driving an international visitor around: Janne Van Sant, whose backpacker son went missing while the borders were closed. They're checking out his last photo site, his last employer. A feeling that the stories don't quite add up.
Then a call comes in: a roadside fire. Nothing much - a suitcase soaked in diesel and set alight - but two noteworthy facts emerge. Janne knows more than Hirsch about forensic evidence. And the body in the suitcase is not her son's."
But now, just as Hirsch has begun to feel he knows the fragile communities under his care, the isolation and fear of the pandemic have warped them into something angry and unrecognisable. Hirsch is seeing stresses heightened and social divisions cracking wide open. His own tolerance under strain; people getting close to the edge.
Today he's driving an international visitor around: Janne Van Sant, whose backpacker son went missing while the borders were closed. They're checking out his last photo site, his last employer. A feeling that the stories don't quite add up.
Then a call comes in: a roadside fire. Nothing much - a suitcase soaked in diesel and set alight - but two noteworthy facts emerge. Janne knows more than Hirsch about forensic evidence. And the body in the suitcase is not her son's."
Title: Kill for Me Kill for You
Author: Steve Cavanagh
Standalone thriller set in New York City
368 pages
*UK Release
Synopsis: "One dark evening in New York City, two strangers meet by chance.
Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realise they have so much in common.
They both feel alone. They both drink alone.
And they both desperately want revenge against the two men who destroyed their families.
Together, they have the perfect plan.
If you kill for me, I'll kill for you..."
Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realise they have so much in common.
They both feel alone. They both drink alone.
And they both desperately want revenge against the two men who destroyed their families.
Together, they have the perfect plan.
If you kill for me, I'll kill for you..."
=== August 8 ===
Title: Dead and Gone
Author: Joanna Schaffhausen
Series: #3 in the Detective Annalisa Vega police procedural series set in Chicago
336 pages
Synopsis: "For Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega, Sam Tran’s death
presents an ominous puzzle. The ex-cop turned PI is found hanging from a
cemetery tree with a message across his chest that suggests someone
holds a murderous grudge against the police. Annalisa suspects the real
answer lies in one of Tran’s open cases. She believes he stumbled on a
dark secret during his investigations and someone killed him to keep him
quiet. Her own family harbors plenty of secrets, something Annalisa is
reminded of when her brother turns out to be one of Sam’s last clients.
Vinny Vega hired Tran to find a dangerous stalker on his daughter’s college campus. Now Sam is dead and the stalker remains at large, with Annalisa’s niece Quinn firmly in his sights.
To protect Quinn, Annalisa begins tracing Sam’s steps back through his open cases, which include not only the campus stalker but also a brutal double homicide from twenty years ago. Did Sam finally find the killer? Did he uncover the stalker’s identity? Annalisa must figure out which secret got Sam killed, and fast, or someone else will die. Every move she makes brings her closer to the truth of Sam’s death, and closer to a murderer who will stop at nothing to remain free."
Vinny Vega hired Tran to find a dangerous stalker on his daughter’s college campus. Now Sam is dead and the stalker remains at large, with Annalisa’s niece Quinn firmly in his sights.
To protect Quinn, Annalisa begins tracing Sam’s steps back through his open cases, which include not only the campus stalker but also a brutal double homicide from twenty years ago. Did Sam finally find the killer? Did he uncover the stalker’s identity? Annalisa must figure out which secret got Sam killed, and fast, or someone else will die. Every move she makes brings her closer to the truth of Sam’s death, and closer to a murderer who will stop at nothing to remain free."
=== August 10 ===
Title: Death of a Lesser God
Author: Vaseem Khan
Series: #4 in the Persis Wadia historical series set in 1950s Bombay, India
368 pages
Synopsis: "Can a white man receive justice in post-colonial India?
Bombay, 1950
James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father forces a new investigation into the killing.
The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case, the brutal murder of an African-American G.I. during the Calcutta Killings of 1946.
Are the cases connected? And if Whitby didn't murder Mazumdar, then who did?"
Bombay, 1950
James Whitby, sentenced to death for the murder of prominent lawyer and former Quit India activist Fareed Mazumdar, is less than two weeks from a date with the gallows. In a last-ditch attempt to save his son, Whitby's father forces a new investigation into the killing.
The investigation leads Inspector Persis Wadia of the Bombay Police to the old colonial capital of Calcutta, where, with the help of Scotland Yard criminalist Archie Blackfinch, she uncovers a possible link to a second case, the brutal murder of an African-American G.I. during the Calcutta Killings of 1946.
Are the cases connected? And if Whitby didn't murder Mazumdar, then who did?"
=== August 22 ===
Title: Dead Mountain
Authors: Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Series: #4 in the archaeologist Nora Kelly series set in New Mexico
400 pages
Synopsis: "In 2008, nine mountaineers failed to return from a winter
backpacking trip in the New Mexico mountains. At their final campsite,
searchers found a bizarre scene: something had appeared at the door of
their tent so terrifying that it impelled them to slash their way out
and flee barefoot to certain death in a blizzard. Despite a diligent
search, only six bodies were found, two violently crushed and
inexplicably missing their eyes. The case, given the code name “Dead
Mountain” by the FBI, was never solved.
Now, two more bodies from the lost expedition are unexpectedly discovered in a cave, one a grisly suicide. Young FBI Agent Corrie Swanson teams up with archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate what really happened on that fateful trip fifteen years ago—and to find the ninth victim. But their search awakens a long-slumbering evil, which pursues Corrie and Nora with a vengeance, determined to prevent the final missing corpse from ever coming to light."
Now, two more bodies from the lost expedition are unexpectedly discovered in a cave, one a grisly suicide. Young FBI Agent Corrie Swanson teams up with archaeologist Nora Kelly to investigate what really happened on that fateful trip fifteen years ago—and to find the ninth victim. But their search awakens a long-slumbering evil, which pursues Corrie and Nora with a vengeance, determined to prevent the final missing corpse from ever coming to light."
=== August 29 ===
Title: A Château Under Siege
Author: Martin Walker
series: #16 in the Bruno Chief of Police series set in the south of France
304 pages
Synopsis: "The town of Sarlat is staging a reenactment of its liberation from
the British in the Hundred Years War when the play’s French hero, Brice
Kerquelin, is stabbed and feared fatally wounded. Is it an unfortunate
prop malfunction—or something more sinister? The stricken man happens to
be number two in the French intelligence service, in line for the top
job. Bruno is tasked with the safety of the victim’s daughters, Claire
and Nadia, as well as their father’s old Silicon Valley buddies,
ostensibly in town for a reunion. One friend from Taiwan, a tycoon in
chip fabrication, soon goes missing, and Bruno suspects there may be a
link to the French government’s efforts to build a chip industry in
Europe—something powerful forces in Russia and China are determined to
scuttle. Wading through a tangle of rivalries and secrets, Bruno begins
to parse fact from fiction—while also becoming embroiled in some
romantic complications, and, of course, finding time to put together
some splendid meals."
=== August 30 ===
Title: The Sunset Years of Agnes Sharp
Author: Leonie Swann
Series: #1 in the Agnes Sharp humorous mystery series set in England
360 pages
*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.
Synopsis: "It has been an eventful morning for Agnes Sharp and the other
inhabitants of Sunset Hall, a house share for the old and unruly in the
sleepy English countryside. Although they have had some issues
(misplaced reading glasses, conflicting culinary tastes, decreasing
mobility, and gluttonous grandsons), nothing prepares them for an
unexpected visit from a police officer with some shocking news. A body
has been discovered next door. Everyone puts on a long face for show,
but they are secretly relieved the body in question is not the one
they’re currently hiding in the shed (sorry, Lillith).
It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their laps. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbor, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two (old) birds with one stone (cold killer).
With their plan sorted, Agnes and her geriatric gang spring into action. After all, everybody likes a good mystery. Besides, the more suspicion they can cast about, surely the less will land on them. To investigate, they will step out of their comfort zone, into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stairlifts, inept criminals, the local authorities, and their own dark secrets."
It seems the answer to their little problem with Lillith may have fallen right into their laps. All they have to do is find out who murdered their neighbor, so they can pin Lillith’s death on them, thus killing two (old) birds with one stone (cold killer).
With their plan sorted, Agnes and her geriatric gang spring into action. After all, everybody likes a good mystery. Besides, the more suspicion they can cast about, surely the less will land on them. To investigate, they will step out of their comfort zone, into the not-so-idyllic village of Duck End and tangle with sinister bakers, broken stairlifts, inept criminals, the local authorities, and their own dark secrets."
One thing's for certain: there's some good reading coming up during the month of August! Did any of my choices strike your fancy? Which ones? Inquiring minds would love to know!
