Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates

First Line: Gunna stamped the snow from her boots and flinched as the overpowering heat of the hotel's lobby hit her like a slap in the face.

Sergeant Gunnhildur Gísladóttir of the Reykjavik Police has been called to one of the city's nicest hotels to check into the death of an older man found tied to a bed in one of the rooms. It looks to be a plain old garden variety heart attack in the midst of a bit of extramarital hanky panky, and there are absolutely no signs of criminal activity. However, the more Gunna looks around, the more she senses that there's more to the man's death than meets the eye. Given the go-ahead by her boss, she begins to dig deeper, but the investigation turns very deadly very quickly.

Chilled to the Bone is an intricately plotted novel that moves like an Indy car racer from the second Gunna sinks her teeth into the investigation. From a woman doing a bit of discreet prostitution to insure her family's survival, to a very bad guy back home in Iceland after being released from prison in another country, to a missing laptop and very nervous government officials,  Quentin Bates has crafted a tale that will keep readers piecing clues together until its conclusion.

But this book is much more than a clever story-- it has a central character who's rapidly become one of my very favorites. Gunna Gísladóttir juggles her professional and personal lives with practicality, intelligence, and a much-needed sense of humor. On the job, she inspires confidence in those around her with her self-deprecating air of calm and no-nonsense. She has an unerring intuition as she works her investigations, and fortunately she's got a boss who lets her run with it. When the terrier-like woman finally calls it a night and goes home, she seldom seems to get the peace and quiet she deserves, and it's due mostly to her son, Gísli. Gísli has a job on a fishing boat. Instead of a girl in every port, he has girls in one port... and they seem to be getting pregnant and showing up on Gunna's doorstep while he's off to sea. It's easy to see why she needs a sense of humor! Above and beyond all this, Bates lets us see that Gunna has secrets in her past, and he's being very slow in revealing them.

Chilled to the Bone, liberally laced with laughter and menace, can easily be read as a standalone, but if you crave strong characterizations, I would suggest that you begin at the beginning (Frozen Assets) so you won't miss a bit of Gunnhildur Gísladóttir. This woman is a keeper.

Chilled to the Bone by Quentin Bates

ISBN: 9781616953300

Soho Crime © 2013

Hardcover, 320 pages

Police Procedural, #3 Gunnhildur Gísladóttir

Rating: A

Source: publicist 

December 2013 New Mystery Releases!

It's extremely difficult for me to believe that the last month of 2013 is staring me right in the face. I've almost got my Christmas decorating done, and I'm still cruising down Denial. Yikes!

Be that as it may, new mystery releases have an added significance at this time of year because I know that I'm not the only bookaholic who thinks books are the very best gifts to give (and to receive).

Here's my list of crime fiction that's being released during the month of December. I've grouped them by their release dates, and I've included all the information you need to find them at all your favorite "book procurement locations." The book synopses are courtesy of Amazon. Happy reading!

=== December 1 ===

Title: Secondhand Stiff

Author: Sue Ann Jaffarian

#8 in the Odelia Grey series set in southern California

ISBN: 9780738718880

Publisher: Midnight Ink

Paperback, 312 pages

Synopsis: "Thanksgiving with her fault-finding mother has Odelia Grey stewing in her own juices. But her husband’s cousin Ina—who shows up to dinner alone with ugly bruises—clearly has it worse. Things quickly go downhill after Odelia’s mother decides to extend her visit a few extra days to attend a storage auction with Ina, who owns a consignment shop. The day of the auction, the thrill of bargain hunting gives way to tragedy when Ina’s husband is found inside a storage locker—dead."

=== December 2 ===

Title: The Gods of Guilt

Author: Michael Connelly

#5 in the Mickey Haller series set in Los Angeles, California

ISBN:  9780316069519

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Hardcover, 400 pages

Synopsis: "Mickey Haller gets the text, "Call me ASAP - 187," and the California penal code for murder immediately gets his attention. Murder cases have the highest stakes and the biggest paydays, and they always mean Haller has to be at the top of his game.

When Mickey learns that the victim was his own former client, a prostitute he thought he had rescued and put on the straight and narrow path, he knows he is on the hook for this one. He soon finds out that she was back in LA and back in the life. Far from saving her, Mickey may have been the one who put her in danger.

Haunted by the ghosts of his past, Mickey must work tirelessly and bring all his skill to bear on a case that could mean his ultimate redemption or proof of his ultimate guilt."

== December 3 ===

Title: The Vanishing Thief

Author: Kate Parker 

#1 in the Victorian Bookshop series set in nineteenth century London

ISBN: 9780425266601

Publisher: Berkley Trade

Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Georgia Fenchurch appears to be an unassuming antiquarian bookseller in Victorian London, but the life she leads is as exciting as any adventure novel. For Georgia is a member of the Archivist Society, a secret association of private investigators led by the mysterious Sir Broderick.

When a frantic woman comes to Georgia claiming that her neighbor, Nicholas Drake, has been abducted by the notorious Duke of Blackford, Georgia and the Archivist Society agree to take the case. But Drake is no innocent—he is a thief who has been blackmailing many of the leading members of London society. To find Drake and discover who is behind his abduction, Georgia and her beautiful assistant, Emma, will have to leave the cozy confines of their bookshop and infiltrate the inner circles of the upper crust—with the help of the dashing but dubious Duke of Blackford himself.

But the missing thief and his abductor are not the only ones to elude Georgia Fenchurch. When she spies the man who killed her parents years ago, she vows to bring him to justice once and for all…at any cost." 

Title: The Sayers Swindle

Author: Victoria Abbott

#2 in the Book Collector series set in New York state

ISBN: 9780425255292 

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Jordan Kelly is delighted to make money tracking down rare and valuable mystery novels for her employer, Vera Van Alst, an avid collector and the most difficult woman in  Harrison Falls, New York. But now her boss’s complete set of Dorothy Sayers is missing, and finding them may lead Jordan to a murder suitable for Sayers’s esteemed sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey…

When Jordan manages to locate her boss’s missing books, they are in the possession of Randolph Adams, an elderly man in a nearby town. Offering a valuable Hemingway first edition as an incentive, Jordan thinks she’s about to seal the deal—but some of Randolph’s relatives think he should hold out for more.

Then the entire family disappears—and a dead body shows up.  It’s up to Jordan to collect the clues—and make sure a killer gets booked." 

Title: Scandal at Six

Author: Ann Purser

#13 in the Lois Meade series set in England

ISBN: 9780425261767

Publisher: Berkley Hardcover

Hardcover, 336 pages

Synopsis: "Spring has arrived in Long Farnden and with it, a mysterious infestation. Lois Meade’s daughter has found her village store overrun by insects and reptiles. And Lois has no time to stop and smell the roses, if she’s to stay one step ahead of the creepy crawlies.

As Lois looks into the invasion, she becomes embroiled in yet another 'ferretin’ case,' as her husband would say. Her investigation leads her to Robert Pettinson, a seemingly unhinged zookeeper, and his nephew. The two of them are knee-deep in illegal trade, and they don’t take kindly to Lois poking her nose into their business.

Lois enlists the help of her faithful cleaner Dot Nimmo and police inspector Hunter Cowgill to discover more about Pettinson and a suspicious death at the zoo. And death is in store for more people, if Lois doesn’t put the killer behind bars soon…"

Title: Home for the Homicide

Author: Jennie Bentley

#7 in the Do-It-Yourself mystery series set in Maine

ISBN:  9780425260494

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Avery Baker was a big city textile designer, until she inherited her aunt’s old Maine cottage and found her true calling—home renovation. But she never expected her latest job would come to such a bone-rattling dead end...

For Avery and her husband Derek, renovating the Craftsman Bungalow was like stepping back in time. The quaint old home was just as its original owners had left it—from the beautiful butler’s pantry to the surprisingly exquisite ribbon tile. But it’s the attic that yields the most heart-stopping surprise.

In a discreetly hidden antique crate, Avery finds a clue to a decades-old missing persons case. As Avery works on the house and delves deeper into the sinister story, it becomes clear that someone very crafty wants the Craftsman home’s secrets to stay that way!" 

Title: Staged to Death

Author: Karen Rose Smith

#1 in the Caprice De Luca Home Stager series set in Pennsylvania

ISBN: 9780758284846

Publisher: Kensington

Mass Market Paperback, 384 pages

Synopsis: "Caprice DeLuca stages houses for high-end clients. When she discovers a body in the castle-mansion she staged to sell and starts asking questions, she finds herself in danger. On the way to solving the murder, Caprice's large Italian family helps and hinders. She also finds romance with Dr. Seth Randolph. But does her brother's partner, attorney Grant Weatherford, care about her, too? Or is he just worried she'll get herself killed and her family will blame him?Enjoy solving the mystery with Caprice, cook along with her, see her find homes for the stray animals she protects, be a part of the De Luca family..."  

Title: Home for the Haunting

Author: Juliet Blackwell

#4 in the Haunted Home Renovation series set in northern California

ISBN: 9780451240705

Publisher: Signet

Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages

Synopsis: "San Francisco contractor Mel Turner is leading a volunteer home renovation project, and while she expects lots of questions from her inexperienced crew, she can’t help asking a few of her own—especially about the haunted house next door…the place local kids call the Murder House.

But when volunteers discover a body while cleaning out a shed, questions pile up faster than discarded lumber. Mel notices signs of ghostly activity next door and she wonders: Are the Murder House ghosts reaching out to her for help, or has the house claimed another victim?

Now, surprised to find herself as the SFPD’s unofficial “ghost consultant,” Mel must investigate murders both past and present before a spooky killer finishes another job."

Title: Chilled to the Bone

Author: Quentin Bates

#3 in the Gunna Gisladottir police procedural series set in Iceland

ISBN: 9781616953300

Publisher: Soho Crime

Hardcover, 320 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When Sergeant Gunnhildur Gísladóttir of the local police force is called in to investigate the death of a man found tied to a bed in one of Reykjavík's nicest hotels, she finds no sign of criminal activity but suspects there may be more to the case than meets the eye. Could the death of the shipowner be related to a local gangster’s recent return to Iceland after many years abroad?

What begins as a straightforward case for Gunnhildur soon explodes into a dangerous investigation, involving a discreet bondage society that ruthless men will go to violent extremes to keep secret."

Title: Leave Tomorrow Behind

Author: Judy Clemens

#6 in the Stella Crown series set in Pennsylvania

ISBN: 9781464202049

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Paperback, 250 pages

Synopsis: "She’s back! Tattooed, hard working, and often crabby dairy farmer and biker Stella Crown is hot—both in temperature and temperament. Her sister-in-law is a nag, her fiancée Nick is ill, and her bank account is in the red. But when a local country star turns up dead at the county fair, where Stella's teenage employee Zach is an exhibitor, things turn from hot to ugly.

Stella wasn’t friends with the victim. In fact, she’d only seen her from a distance. But seeing how Stella was the one to dig her out from her deathbed in the calf barn’s manure pile, the cops are on her like flies on…well…honey.  Why on earth would Stella want to kill a young singer she’d never spoken to? She’d much rather kill the annoying helicopter dad in the fair’s dairy barn. Or the fifty percent fake girl in the Lovely Miss Pennsylvania Pageant. Or her banker.

Sick to death of annoying cops and entertainment folks, Stella figures the only way to get her life back is to aim law enforcement in the right direction. If that means having to endure a manicure with her soon to be sister in law at the dead singer’s favorite salon, or stopping by the recording studio to check out the talent, Stella figures there could be worse things. Can’t a simple farm girl just get married in peace?"

=== December 31 ===

Title: Plain Murder

Author: Emma Miller

Debut mystery

ISBN:  9780758291721

Publisher: Kensington

Paperback, 272 pages

Synopsis: "In this unique mystery debut, a shallow grave is found on a Pennsylvania farm, and one woman straddling the Amish and outside worlds must uncover a killer--and create a life on her own terms. . . 

Fifteen years after leaving her Old Order Amish life, Rachel Mast has returned to Stone Mill, Pennsylvania. Corporate success didn't bring true happiness, but Rachel also knows she can never be Amish again. Instead she runs a B&B and tries to help her community in ways they can't help themselves. 

But now a gruesome discovery has been made on her Uncle Aaron's cow pasture--the body of prominent Englisher businessman Willy O'Day. Aaron refuses to hire a lawyer, trusting his innocence, and his faith, to see him through. Rachel isn't so sure, especially given the long public feud between the two men. Her relatives won't speak to the police, but they will talk to Rachel--if she puts on a skirt and bonnet. Rachel knows emotions and entanglements run as complicated in the Amish world as outside it. But as she delves deeper to clear Aaron's name, she discovers secrets that put her own life in danger. . ."


Well, those are my picks for December. Which ones look like good gifts to you-- either to give or to receive? Inquiring minds would love to know!

Frozen Assets by Quentin Bates

Title: Frozen Assets
Author: Quentin Bates
ISBN: 9781569478677
Publisher: Soho Crime, 2011
Hardcover, 330 pages
Genre: Police Procedural, #1 Officer Gunnhildur mystery
Rating: B
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: Water gurgled between the piles of the dock and the car's tyres juddered over the heavy timbers.

It's an open-and-shut case: the young man was drunk, stumbled off the dock late at night, and drowned. But Police Sergeant Gunnhildur wonders why on earth he'd get drunk in Reykjavik and then drive a hundred miles to fall into the harbor in her town and drown? Resources are tight, and although she's advised to stop looking into this death, Gunnhildur is nothing if not stubborn. The further she digs, the more she finds-- and the information and clues are leading all the way to Iceland's business and banking communities.

While Gunnhildur and her team investigate, a rookie crime journalist attaches himself to her in an attempt to get a scoop, and everyone in the country is wondering who's dishing all the dirt at Skandalblogger.com. When a second murder occurs, Gunnhildur knows she and her team must move even faster to catch a very wily killer.

Bates makes the landscape and weather of Iceland a brooding character in Frozen Assets. The economy, which worsens daily, highlights Iceland's precarious situation as a small country with very limited resources.

The secondary characters (with the exception of two spoiled rich sisters) are a bit two-dimensional, but the two main characters certainly aren't. The killer is ruthless and very, very smart if a bit arrogant. Having heard Officer Gunnhildur referred to as "the fat policewoman" once, he continues to dismiss her as such-- even when he discovers that she's more than a match for him.

Gunna is the single mother of two children. Her thirteen-year-old daughter is still in school while her nineteen-year-old son is working as a deckhand on a fishing boat. The reader knows that she's a bit out of the ordinary right from the start when she insists that the young man's death is not a case of accidental drowning, and then when the case is given to another policeman who wants to pin the death on his favorite suspect. As soon as she sees which way the wind is blowing, she refuses to have any part in it.

When Gunna knows she's right, she will not back down, regardless of whose face she has to get into, what she has to say, or how many hours she has to work. She's good at thinking on her feet, and she does an excellent job of running the investigation and keeping everyone focused and looking in the right directions. The best part of this book was watching the battle of wits between Gunna and the killer.

If there was any one thing that disappointed me in reading this book, it was that I found the tone to be curiously dispassionate. I found it difficult to become fully engaged in the story. That is a minor quibble however, as there is plenty to like in Frozen Assets. I'm looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Officer Gunnhildur, and I won't have to wait long. The second book in the series, Cold Comfort, just became available this week.

Frozen Assets at Amazon.

Frozen Assets at The Book Depository.

Frozen Assets at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

January 2012 New Mystery Releases!

With Denis working nights, I was prepared to end a quiet evening with writing a couple of blog posts and going to bed to read. Normally there's just a bunch of hooting and hollering around midnight, and that's it. Not this year.

The festivities began at 8 PM with a neighbor's sound system that had glasses rattling in the kitchen cupboards and the fillings in my teeth vibrating. By 2 AM, that sound system stopped and the next-door neighbors' new karaoke machine took over. By 4 AM they were reduced to inebriated giggles, and I could get some sleep after having not accomplished much besides hanging onto my sanity.

Now that all's quiet (still) this afternoon, I get a chance to share with you the crime fiction I'm eagerly awaiting this month. The books are grouped by release dates, and I've included the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite book spots. Here's to a brand-new year of reading!

===January 1===

Title: Queen Without a Crown

Author: Fiona Buckley

Series: #9 in the Ursula Blanchard historical series set in 16th century England

ISBN: 9781780290140

Publisher: Creme de la Crime

Hardcover, 240 pages

Synopsis: "The ninth gripping murder mystery to feature Ursula Blanchard, special aide to Elizabeth I - November, 1569. Happily married to her third husband, Hugh Stannard, lady-in-waiting Ursula Blanchard is hoping to give up her undercover work for Queen Elizabeth l in order to enjoy domestic bliss. But when Hugh unwittingly endangers possession of his ancestral home, Ursula is forced to take on a seemingly hopeless – but handsomely paid – private assignment, which the Queen spots is the perfect cover for a covert investigation into a group of rebel barons plotting to put Mary, Queen of Scots on the English throne."

===January 3===

Title: One Perfect Shot

Author: Steven F. Havill

Series: #18 in the Posadas County series set in New Mexico

ISBN: 9781590589564

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Paperback, 250 pages

Synopsis: "When a county employee is found shot to death in sun-drenched daylight while sitting in his county road grader, Undersheriff Bill Gastner is faced with puzzling questions. The simplest explanation--that an errant bullet from a careless target shooter's rifle blew out Larry Zipoli's brains--is soon discarded as inconsistencies surface. The fatal bullet shows no rifling marks, and investigation reveals that the shooter walked directly toward the road grader, in full view of the victim--who did nothing to defend himself. In addition to the demands of the investigation, Gastner learns that Sheriff Eduardo Salcido has hired a new deputy without discussing the matter with his undersheriff. And Gastner learns that the new hire is destined to be the first female road patrol deputy in the history of Posadas County. Thus begins Gastner's relationship with Estelle Reyes, whose shrewd observations shed important light on a crime that rattles all kinds of skeletons lurking in Posadas County closets."

Title: Cell 8

Authors: Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom

Series: #3 in the Detective Inspector Ewert Grens series set in Stockholm, Sweden

ISBN: 9781402787157

Publisher: SilverOak

Hardcover, 376 pages

Synopsis: "In Ohio, seventeen-year-old John Meyer Frey rots on Death Row for the brutal murder of his girlfriend. The victim's father hungers for revenge, while a prison guard is torn by compassion for the young man. When Frey unexpectedly dies of heart disease before he either receives his just punishment or achieves redemption, the wheels of justice grind to a halt.

Six years later, on a ferry between Finland and Sweden, a singer named John Schwarz viciously attacks a drunken lout harassing a woman, leaving the man in a coma. The Stockholm police arrest Schwarz for aggravated assault, but when Grens learns that the assailant has been living in Sweden under a false identity, he begins to suspect that something darker and more complex underlies the incident. Following his intuition, Grens launches an investigation that spans from Sweden to the United States and reveals a startling connection between the Frey and Schwarz cases.

Featuring a multi-layered plot with a killer twist, Cell 8 takes readers on a gripping, page-turning journey that explores the devastating repercussions of the death penalty as well as the fallout from the conflicting desires for public justice and private retribution."

===January 10===

Title: The House at Sea's End

Author: Elly Griffiths

Series: #3 in the Dr. Ruth Galloway series set in Norfolk, England

ISBN: 9780547506142

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Hardcover, 384 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Elly Griffiths’s Ruth Galloway novels have been praised as “highly atmospheric” (New York Times Book Review), “remarkable” (Richmond Times-Dispatch), and “gripping” (Louise Penny). Now the beloved forensic archeologist returns, called in to investigate when human bones surface on a remote Norfolk beach. 

 

Just back from maternity leave, Ruth is finding it hard to juggle motherhood and work. The presence of DCI Harry Nelson—the married father of her daughter, Kate—does not help. The bones turn out to be about seventy years old, which leads Nelson and Ruth to the war years, a desperate time on this stretch of coastland. Home Guard veteran Archie Whitcliffe reveals the existence of a secret that the old soldiers have vowed to protect with their lives. But then Archie is killed and a German journalist arrives, asking questions about Operation Lucifer, a plan to stop a German invasion, and a possible British war crime. What was Operation Lucifer? And who is prepared to kill to keep its secret?"

Title: Cold Comfort

Author: Quentin Bates

Series: #2 in the Police Sergeant Gunna Gisladottir series set in Iceland.

ISBN: 9781616950545

Publisher: Soho Crime

Hardcover, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Officer Gunnhildur, recently promoted from her post in rural Iceland to Reykjavík’s Serious Crime Unit, is tasked with hunting down escaped convict Long Ommi, who has embarked on a spree of violent score-settling in and around the city. Meanwhile, she’s also investigating the murder of a fitness guru in her own city-center apartment. As Gunna delves into the cases, she unearths some unwelcome secrets and influential friends shared by both guru and convict. Set in an Iceland plagued by an ongoing financial crisis, Gunna has to take stock of the whirlwind changes that have swept through the country—and the fact that at the highest levels of power, the system’s endemic corruption still leads, inevitably, to murder."

Title: The Night Swimmer

Author: Matt Bondurant

Standalone

ISBN: 9781451625295

Publisher: Scribner

Hardcover, 288 pages

Synopsis: "In a small town on the southern coast of Ireland, an isolated place only frequented by fishermen and the occasional group of bird-watchers, Fred and Elly Bulkington, newly arrived from Vermont having won a pub in a contest, encounter a wild, strange land shaped by the pounding storms of the North Atlantic, as well as the native resistance to strangers. As Fred revels in the life of a new pub owner, Elly takes the ferry out to a nearby island where anyone not born there is called a “blow-in.” To the disbelief of the locals, Elly devotes herself to open-water swimming, pushing herself to the limit and crossing unseen boundaries that drive her into the heart of the island’s troubles—the mysterious tragedy that shrouds its inhabitants and the dangerous feud between an enigmatic farmer and a powerful clan that has no use for outsiders. 


The poignant unraveling of a marriage, the fierce beauty of the natural world, the mysterious power of Irish lore, and the gripping story of strangers in a strange land rife with intrigue and violence—The Night Swimmer is a novel of myriad enchantments by a writer of extraordinary talent."

===January 17===

Title: The Rope

Author: Nevada Barr

Series: #17 in the Anna Pigeon series set in and around Lake Powell, Arizona.

ISBN: 9780312614577

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 368 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books.

Synopsis: "Anna Pigeon's first case—this is the story her fans have been clamoring for...this is where it all starts.

In The Rope, the latest in Nevada Barr’s bestselling novels featuring Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr gathers together the many strings of Anna’s past and finally reveals the story that her many fans have been long asking for. In 1995 and 35 years old, fresh off the bus from New York City and nursing a broken heart, Anna Pigeon takes a decidedly unglamorous job as a seasonal employee of the Glen Canyon National Recreational Area. On her day off, Anna goes hiking into the park never to return. Her co-workers think she’s simply moved on—her cabin is cleaned out and her things gone. But Anna herself wakes up, trapped at the bottom of a dry natural well, naked, without supplies and no clear memory of how she found herself in this situation.

As she slowly pieces together her memory, it soon becomes clear that someone has trapped her there, in an inescapable prison, and no one knows that she is even missing. Plunged into a landscape and a plot she is unfit and untrained to handle, Anna Pigeon must muster the courage, determination and will to live that she didn’t even know she still possessed to survive, outwit and triumph.

For those legions of readers who have been entranced over the years by Park Ranger Anna Pigeon’s strength and determination and those who are new to Nevada Barr’s captivating, compelling novels, this is where it all starts."


Hopefully you're as eager to get your hands on some of these books as I am!