The Promise by Robert Crais

First Line: The woman stood in the corner of the dimly lit room, hiding in shadows like a fish in gray water.

Elvis Cole and Joe Pike are the kind of men who keep their promises. Whatever it takes. When Elvis is secretly hired to find a grief-stricken mother, he finds himself at a house in Echo Park containing a desperate fugitive and a secretive criminal who will stop at nothing to continue his murderous ways.

LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and Maggie track the fugitive to the same house and come face-to-face with Mr. Rollins, who's just killed the man Maggie was tracking. One of Mr. Rollins' rules is to never leave a witness alive-- and Scott is the only person who can identify him.

Scott and Maggie have been targeted by Rollins. Elvis Cole has been targeted by the LAPD. (That pesky vow of secrecy.) There's only one way to survive: Elvis and Joe must join forces with Scott and Maggie to put an end to Mr. Rollins and to find the missing woman.

Robert Crais's Suspect was one of my best reads in 2015, and Scott and Maggie were the main reasons why I read The Promise. (I stopped reading the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike novels before Crais hit his stride.) I found this book to be another page-turner just when I was in the mood for lots of action.

All in all, I thought there needed to be a bit more from Mr. Rollins because his threats to Scott and Maggie really ratcheted up the anxiety levels. But that could've been a slippery slope. Although Scott and Maggie's scenes really played up the dog's intelligence and training, readers tend to be very touchy when danger to animals is concerned. (Almost better for the human characters to come to harm!) 

Yes, I was fully engaged in reading this book and rooting for the good guys. I would love to give it my highest rating, but when all is said and done, the characterizations fell a bit short for me. Joe Pike seemed to be an afterthought, and Elvis's wit and wisecracks were missing. Even Scott seemed subdued. Only Maggie earned all her kibble. However, The Promise still ranks high as a thriller.
   

The Promise by Robert Crais

ISBN: 9780399161490

G.P. Putnam's Sons © 2015

Hardcover, 416 pages

Private Investigator, #16 Elvis Cole and Joe Pike mystery

Also features Scott James and Maggie

Rating: A-

Source: Purchased at The Poisoned Pen.  


 

I Have Robert Crais Covered!

Lately I've been luxuriating in sitting by the fireplace, within sight and touch of many of my favorite Christmas decorations, and reading whatever strikes my fancy. A thoroughly decadent and completely enjoyable way to spend the days leading up to Christmas.

That's just the afternoons, though. In the evenings I can be found in the family room with my knitting needles clacking away at full speed. But I can knit, solve a mystery on television, and think about the blog all at the same time. (Now... I'm not a spinster, and I don't live in St. Mary Mead, so don't think I spend my off hours in an Agatha Christie novel!)

This week while working on a scarf, I decided to compare the US and UK covers of the book I'd just finished reading: Robert Crais's The Promise. Let's take a look, shall we?

The US Cover

The words are what jump out at you from this one, and I'm told that this is the future of book covers. With so many books being purchased online, bold colors and more geometric shapes are what show up better on computer screens of all shapes and sizes. If this is indeed true, I'm going to miss the more "graphic rich" covers. 

The author's name and the book title are the two most important things on the US cover. In the small print you can see that Crais is the "#1 New York Times-Bestselling Author of Suspect," and that this is "An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel." 

There's lots of scary, shady things going on in The Promise, and that's indicated in the darkness of the graphic. Beyond the hills are the bright lights of Los Angeles, and there's the silhouette of a dog on the street. It's the dog that encouraged me to read this book. Crais's Suspect featuring LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his partner, a German Shepherd former war dog named Maggie, made that book one of my best reads this year. Knowing that they are also in The Promise sealed the deal. I'm glad that Maggie is on the cover.

I have to admit that there isn't a lot to this cover. I think the publisher believes all Robert Crais's fans need are his name and the title. Sometimes this really works for me. Sometimes there's just something about a simple cover that says, "All you need is the author's name and the title. This book is good. It doesn't need fancy pictures to sell it."  


The UK Cover

By comparison, the UK cover is almost flowery. But you can tell that Crais is a big deal on the other side of the pond, too. The stand-out parts of the cover are his name and the book title. You also see that he's "The Sunday Times Bestseller," that this is "An Elvis Cole and Joe Pike Novel," and a little teaser that says, "He said he'd find her. Now he'll stop at nothing."

But take a look at how much more of the graphic is allowed to show on the UK cover. The palm trees, mountains, and distant lights of Los Angeles. And there's Maggie. I can't tell what she's sitting at the side of. A road? A beach? Whatever it is, this graphic doesn't really work for me. For one thing, Maggie needs to be a bit bigger. (Does the UK publisher believe a bigger Maggie would scare off all the cat-loving readers?)


The Verdict

I actually prefer the US cover this time. The font used for the author's name and the book title are bolder and stand out much better compared to the one used on the UK cover.  And although I can't see much of it, I prefer the graphic on the US cover as well. The darkness highlights the very real danger in the book, while the graphic on the UK cover looks a bit bland. Maggie could just be sitting there waiting to play a game of fetch with Scott for all I can tell.


What Say You?

Which cover do you prefer? US? UK? Neither one? Too close to call? Inquiring minds would love to know!


    

  

November 2015 New Mystery Releases!

Hard to believe that the end of the year is staring us in the face, isn't it? Wow-- I've never had a year go by so fast!

November is the beginning of the busiest time of year for most of us. I was in retail for most of my working life, and may I just say that I'm glad I got out of it before retailers decided that they had to be open on Thanksgiving? For much too long we've all been treated like nothing but walking wallets. I escape most of this insult and insanity by creating a Christmas wonderland in my own home and sitting by the fire with some good books. 

Books have always been my drug of choice, and November certainly has a bumper crop of new crime fiction. My list is longer than usual because I didn't want to ignore new-to-me authors just so I could include all the tried-and-true. Besides, you and those you buy gifts for deserve plenty of New Mystery Goodness to choose from, don't you? Like always, my choices are grouped by release dates and have all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite book procurement locations. Synopses are courtesy of Amazon. Happy Reading! 

=== November 3 ===

Title: A Specter of Justice

Author: Mark de Castrique

Series: #5 in the Sam Blackman Private Investigator series set in Asheville, North Carolina

ISBN: 9781464204722

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Hardcover, 252 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When private detective Sam Blackman agrees to help his partner and lover, Nakayla Robertson, conduct a fundraiser for orphaned twin boys, he does so to ease his conscience. The boys' parents were killed in a courtroom shootout where Sam was the key witness against the twins' father. The charity event, a nighttime ghost tour of the legendary haunted sites of Asheville, North Carolina, seems harmless enough. Sam only has to tell the story of a grief-stricken woman who hanged herself from an old, arched stone bridge. “Helen, come forth,” he cries. Sam and his tour-goers expect the actress playing Helen's ghost to walk toward them from the bridge's dark recesses. Instead, her body tumbles from overhead and dangles at the end of a noose. Someone has reenacted the legend with deadly authenticity. When a second murder mimics another old ghost tale, the police fear a macabre serial killer is on the prowl. But the case isn't Sam's to solve. Then, a tidal wave of evidence begins to point to one man --Sam's friend, defense attorney Hewitt Donaldson. Sam and Nakayla, firmly believing in Donaldson's innocence, must not only prove it, but halt a murderer seemingly bent on retribution. Does the killer's motivation rise from the present, or is Team Donaldson dealing with some specter from the past?" 

Title: The Puffin of Death

Author: Betty Webb

Series: #4 in the Gunn Zoo series set in Iceland

ISBN: 9781464204166

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Paperback, 258 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "California zookeeper Theodora Bentley travels to Iceland to pick up an orphaned polar bear cub destined for the Gunn Zoo’s newly installed Northern Climes exhibit. The trip is intended to be a combination of work and play. But on day two, while horseback riding near a picturesque seaside village, Teddy discovers a man lying atop a puffin burrow, shot through the head. The victim is identified as American bird-watcher Simon Parr, winner of the largest Powerball payout in history. Is Teddy a witness―or a suspect? Others include not only Parr’s wife, a famed suspense novelist, but fellow members of the birding club Parr had generously treated to their lavish Icelandic expedition. Hardly your average birders, several of them have had serious brushes with the law back in the States. Guessing that an American would best understand other Americans, police detective Thorvaald Haraldsson grudgingly concedes her innocence and allows Teddy to tag along with the group to volcanoes, glaciers, and deep continental rifts in quest of rare bird species. But once another member of the club is murdered and a rockfall barely misses Teddy’s head, Haraldsson forbids her to continue. She ignores him and, in a stunning, solitary face-off with the killer in Iceland’s wild interior, concludes an investigation at once exotic, thrilling, and rich in animal lore." 

Title: All Men Fear Me

Author: Donis Casey

Series: #8 in the Alafair Tucker historical series set in 1917 Oklahoma

ISBN: 9781464204708

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Paperback, 312 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "The U.S. has finally entered the First World War and scheduled the first draft lottery. No one in Boynton, Oklahoma, is unaffected by the clash between rabid pro-war, anti-immigrant "patriots" and anti-conscription socialists, who are threatening an uprising rather than submit to the draft. Alafair Tucker is caught in the middle when her brother, a union organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World, pays her a visit. Rob Gunn is fresh out of an internment camp for participants in an Arizona miners’ strike. He assures Alafair that he's only come to visit family, but she's not so sure. More unsettling, Alafair's eldest son enlists, and a group calling itself the “Knights of Liberty” vandalizes the farm of Alafair’s German-born son-in-law. Alafair’s younger son, 16-year-old Charlie, is wildly patriotic and horrified by his socialist uncle. With his father's permission Charlie takes a part-time war job at the Francis Vitric Brick Company. Soon several suspicious machine breakdowns delay production, and a couple of shift supervisors are murdered. Everyone in town suspects sabotage, some blaming German spies, others blaming the unionists and socialists. But Charlie Tucker is sure he knows who the culprit is and comes up with a plan to catch him red-handed. And then there is old Nick―a mysterious guy in a bowler hat who's been hanging around town." 

Title: Crowned and Moldering

Author: Kate Carlisle

Series: #3 in the Fixer-Upper cozy series set in northern California

ISBN: 9780451469212

Publisher: NAL

Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages

Synopsis: "When Mac Sullivan—famous thriller writer and Shannon’s new beau—first moved to Lighthouse Cove, California, he bought the historic lighthouse mansion that the town is named after. Mac needs help cleaning up the place, and Shannon is more than happy to get her handywoman hands on the run-down Victorian.

But during demolition, a grisly discovery is made among the debris—the bones of a teenage girl who went missing fifteen years ago. Locals had always assumed Lily Brogan ran away from her difficult life, but it seems her troubles followed her to the grave. If Shannon has any chance of getting her renovation back on track, she’ll need to tackle the cold case. But with new suspects coming out of the woodwork every day, she’ll have to be careful to pry the right secrets and clues from the poor girl’s problematic past…" 

Title: A Likely Story

Author: Jenn McKinlay

Series: #6 in the Library Lover's cozy series set in Connecticut

ISBN: 9780425260746

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Hardcover, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Delivering books to the housebound residents of the Thumb Islands, just a short boat ride from the town of Briar Creek, library director Lindsey Norris has befriended two elderly brothers, Stewart and Peter Rosen. She enjoys visiting them in their treasure-filled, ramshackle Victorian on Star Island until she discovers that Peter has been killed and Stewart is missing. Now she's determined to solve a murder and find Stewart before he suffers his brother's fate." 

Title: The Crossing

Author: Michael Connelly

Series: #20 in the Harry Bosch series set in California. (Also includes Mickey Haller.)

ISBN: 9780316225885

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Hardcover, 400 pages

Synopsis: "Detective Harry Bosch has retired from the LAPD, but his half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, needs his help. A woman has been brutally murdered in her bed and all evidence points to Haller's client, a former gang member turned family man. Though the murder rap seems ironclad, Mickey is sure it's a setup.

Bosch doesn't want anything to do with crossing the aisle to work for the defense. He feels it will undo all the good he's done in his thirty years as a homicide cop. But Mickey promises to let the chips fall where they may. If Harry proves that his client did it, under the rules of discovery, they are obliged to turn over the evidence to the prosecution.

Though it goes against all his instincts, Bosch reluctantly takes the case. The prosecution's file just has too many holes and he has to find out for himself: if Haller's client didn't do it, then who did? With the secret help of his former LAPD partner Lucy Soto, Harry starts digging. Soon his investigation leads him inside the police department, where he realizes that the killer he's been tracking has also been tracking him." 

Title: Writing All Wrongs

Author: Ellery Adams

Series: #7 in the Books by the Bay cozy series set in North Carolina

ISBN: 9780425270844

Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime

Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "After Olivia and Chief Rawlings enjoy a brief honeymoon on Palmetto Island, they’re joined by the rest of the Bayside Book Writers for the Coastal Carolina Crime Festival. The festival’s highlight is Silas Black, celebrity screenwriter and television producer, who is currently working on a popular television show in North Carolina.

As the festival gets under way, a trickster seems to be bringing famous local ghost stories to life. But when the body of a woman close to Black is found on the beach, Olivia and her friends must deduce who on the island could resort to murder—before the sands of time run out for someone else…" 

Title: Miss Ruffles Inherits Everything

Author: Nancy Martin

Series: #1 in the Sunny McKillip cozy series set in Texas

ISBN: 9780312573744

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "Rich and flamboyant Honeybelle Hensley, the most colorful character in Mule Stop, Texas, dies a suspicious death and enrages the whole town by leaving her worldly fortune to the most undeserving recipient-her dog. The incorrigible Miss Ruffles is a Texas Cattle Cur, not a cuddly lapdog, and when Honeybelle was alive, Miss Ruffles liked nothing better than digging up Honeybelle's famous rose garden after breakfast, chasing off the UPS man before lunch and terrorizing the many gentleman callers who came knocking at cocktail hour. 

But now Miss Ruffles is in danger, and it's up to Sunny McKillip, the unwilling dogsitter, to keep her safe. Sunny is new to Texas, and sometimes she feels as if she's fallen into an alien world. If it isn't the pistol-packing football fans and the sweet-talking, yet ruthless ladies of the garden club who confound her, it's the rowdy rodeo hounds and the tobacco-spitting curmudgeon at Critter Control who have her buffaloed. With a killer on the loose and a cowboy lawyer keeping a suspicious eye on her every move, Sunny needs all the help she can get understanding how Texans think. There's more to Honeybelle's death than meets this Yankee's eye, and Sunny has Miss Ruffles to protect, too. It's a bucking bull ride of an adventure for Sunny, and if she's not careful she might just get killed . . . or her heart lassoed." 

Title: Recipes for Love and Murder
Author: Sally Andrew
Series: #1 Tannie Maria mystery set in South Africa
ISBN: 9780062397669
Publisher: Ecco
Hardcover, 432 pages

Synopsis: "A bright new talent makes her fiction debut with this first entry in a delicious crime set in rural South Africa—a flavorful blend of The #1 Ladies Detective Agency and Goldie Schulz series, full of humor, romance, and recipes and featuring a charming cast of characters.

Tannie Maria (Tannie meaning Auntie, the respectful Afrikaans address for a woman older than you) is a middle-aged widow who likes to cook—and eat. She shares her culinary love as a recipe columnist for the local paper—until The Gazette decides its readers are hungrier for advice on matters of the heart rather than ideas for lunch and dinner.

Tannie Maria doesn’t like the change, but soon discovers she has a knack—and a passion—for helping people. Of course she shares her recipes and culinary advice whenever she can! Assisting other people with their problems, Tannie Maria is eventually forced to face her own issues, especially when the troubles of those she helps touch on the pain of her past, like a woman desperate to escape her abusive husband.

When the woman is murdered, Tannie Maria becomes dangerously entwined in the investigation, despite the best efforts of one striking detective determined to keep her safe. Suddenly, this practical, down-to-earth woman is involved in something much more sinister than perfecting her chocolate cake recipe . . ."

Title: Death Takes Priority
Author: Jean Flowers
Series: #1 in the Post Office cozy series set in Massachusetts
ISBN: 9780425279106
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "After caring for her dying aunt and being dumped by her fiancé, Cassie Miller decides to return to her small hometown in the Berkshires to lick her wounds and live in the house where she was raised. Leaving behind her managerial position in the Boston main postal office, Cassie trades in her tailored suits and high heels for the comfortable blue shirt and red, white, and blue striped scarf of the Postmaster for North Ashcot, Massachusetts.

Everything is business as usual until Cassie arrives at work one day to find that someone has broken into the post office building. The only items stolen: stacks of telephone books. Who steals phone books? Two days later, the body of an unidentified man is found in the woods. And when the handsome antiques dealer she just had lunch with is taken into custody, Cassie is suddenly drawn into the case. With a crime enveloped in mystery, she needs to track the killer—before another victim’s fate is sealed in the dead letter office…" 

=== November 5 ===

Title: Smoke and Mirrors
Author: Elly Griffiths
Series: #2 in the Stephens and Mephisto historical series set in 1950s England
ISBN: 9781784290269
Publisher: Quercus
Hardcover, 352 pages

*UK Release

Synopsis: "Brighton, winter 1951.

Pantomime season is in full swing on the pier with Max Mephisto starring in Aladdin, but Max's headlines have been stolen by the disappearance ­­of two local children. When they are found dead in the snow, surrounded by sweets, it's not long before the press nickname them 'Hansel and Gretel'.

DI Edgar Stephens has plenty of leads to investigate. The girl, Annie, used to write gruesome plays based on the Grimms' fairy tales. Does the clue lie in Annie's unfinished - and rather disturbing - last script? Or might it lie with the eccentric theatricals who have assembled for the pantomime?

Once again Edgar enlists Max's help in penetrating the shadowy theatrical world that seems to hold the key. But is this all just classic misdirection?" 

=== November 8 ===

Title: A Body to Spare

Author: Sue Ann Jaffarian

Series: #10 in the Odelia Grey cozy series set in California

ISBN: 9780738718866

Publisher: Midnight Ink

Paperback, 336 pages

Synopsis: "Odelia Grey’s relaxing day of errands is ruined when she finds a body folded like an origami crane in the trunk of her car. And it’s not just any dead body—it’s the corpse of Zach Finch, a young man who had been kidnapped eight years earlier. But why was he put in Odelia’s car? Where has Zach been all these years?

With her name at the top of the suspect list, Odelia and her husband, Greg, are determined to find answers. They’ll do whatever it takes to uncover the truth, even if they have to give the slip to an arrogant FBI agent and delve into the dangerous world of contract killers." 

=== November 10 ===

Title: The Promise

Author: Robert Crais

Series: #16 in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike series set in California. Also features LAPD K-9 Officer Scott James and his German Shepherd, Maggie.

ISBN: 9780399161490

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Hardcover, 416 pages

Synopsis: "When Elvis Cole is secretly hired to find a grief-stricken mother, he's led to an ordinary house on a rainy night in Echo Park.  Only the house isn't ordinary, and the people hiding inside are a desperate fugitive and a murderous criminal with his own dangerous secrets.

As helicopters swirl overhead, Scott and Maggie track the fugitive to this same house, coming face-to-face with Mr. Rollins, a killer who leaves behind a brutally murdered body and enough explosives to destroy the neighborhood.  Scott is now the only person who can identify him, but Mr. Rollins has a rule:  Never leave a witness alive.

For all of them, the night is only beginning.

Sworn to secrecy by his client, Elvis finds himself targeted by the police even as Mr. Rollins targets Maggie and Scott.  As Mr. Rollins closes in for the kill, Elvis and Joe join forces with Scott and Maggie to follow a trail of lies where no one is who they claim -- and the very woman they promised to save might get them all killed." 

=== November 11 ===

Title: Scalp Dance

Author: Lu Clifton

Series: #1 in the Sam Chitto police procedural series set in Oklahoma

ISBN: 9781432831295

Publisher: Five Star

Hardcover

Synopsis: "This mystery mingles Choctaw culture, science, and murder and features Lieutenant Sam Chitto of the Oklahoma Choctaw Tribal Police. A series of seemingly unrelated incidents come together to help solve a mysterious case involving beheaded men, but he is forced to make a decision that could not only challenge his personal code of ethics but also cost a man his life."  

=== November 24 ===

Title: Yarned and Dangerous

Author: Sadie Hartwell

Series: #1 in the Tangled Web cozy series set in Connecticut

ISBN: 9781617737176

Publisher: Kensington

Paperback, 288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Josie Blair left Dorset Falls twelve years ago in hopes of making it big in New York City. But after earning an overpriced master’s degree and getting fired by a temperamental designer, she finds herself heading back to her hometown. Her great-uncle was injured in a car accident, and newly unemployed Josie is the only person available to take care of him. Uncle Eb’s wife didn’t survive the crash, so Josie is also tasked with selling the contents of her Aunt Cora’s yarn shop. But the needling ladies of the Charity Knitters Association pose a far bigger challenge than a shop full of scattered skeins…

Miss Marple Knits is one of the few businesses still open in the dreary downtown. Josie can’t imagine how it stayed open for so long, yet something about the cozy, resilient little shop appeals to her. But when one of the town’s most persnickety knitters turns up dead in a pile of cashmere yarn, Josie realizes there’s something truly twisted lurking beneath the town’s decaying façade…" 

What a loaded month for new crime fiction! I'm just about to dive into Sadie Hartwell's Yarned and Dangerous, and I have to admit that I absolutely love the name of the yarn shop: Miss Marple Knits. Isn't it perfect?

Which titles in this particular line-up caught your eye? Inquiring minds would love to know!

April 2015 New Mystery Releases!

While spring may finally be showing its pretty little head in some parts of the world, in others-- like the Sonoran Desert-- it's been here for a while. In fact, it's heating up, so it's time to hit the trail and get some adventures in before the egg-frying heat knocks on the door. 

Me? Sure, I'll get some of those adventures under my belt, but when egg-fryin' time comes, y'all know where I will be: in my swimming pool, in the shade, with a cold drink and a good book!

The following are my picks from the new crime fiction being released during the month of April. They are grouped by release date, and I've included all the information you'll need to find them at all your favorite "book procurement" sites. Synopses are courtesy of Amazon.  Happy Reading!

=== April 1 ===

Title: Green and Pleasant Land

Author: Judith Cutler

Series: #6 in the Fran Harman police procedural series set in England

ISBN: 9780727884657

Publisher: Severn House

Hardcover, 224 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Newly-retired, ex-Chief Superintendent Fran Harman and her partner Mark have volunteered to assist West Mercia police in reinvestigating an unsolved crime. Twenty years ago, a car was found abandoned on an isolated road running through the Wyre Forest, its hazard lights still flashing, the passenger door open. In the back, were two child seats. One was empty; in the other lay a desperately ill baby. Neither the baby’s mother nor the elder child were ever seen again.

Where had Natalie Foreman been and where was she heading? As they question those who knew the missing woman, Fran and Mark uncover worrying discrepancies and mistaken assumptions underlying the original police investigation. In their new role as civilians in a police world, they find themselves encountering hostility and resentment from some of those they question – and it’s clear that more than one key witness is not telling them the whole truth." 

=== April 7 ===

Title: Demise in Denim
Author: Duffy Brown
Series: #4 in the Consignment Shop cozy series set in Savannah, Georgia
ISBN: 9780425274705
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When Reagan Summerside turned the first floor of her old Victorian home into a consignment shop, she never imagined she’d be harboring a fugitive in her attic. But after a dead man is found in a bathtub and local lawyer Walker Boone is accused of doing the dirty deed, she suddenly has a new houseguest.

Having the lawyer who took her to the cleaners in her divorce settlement—and who has been getting under her skin ever since—in close proximity is enough to drive Reagan to distraction. For the sake of her sanity—and Walker’s freedom—they need to put their heads together to find out who is trying to get the lawyer out of the picture . . ."

Title: Blood Sweep
Author: Steven F. Havill
Series: #20 in the Posadas County police procedural series set in southwestern New Mexico
ISBN: 9781464203879
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 306 pages

Synopsis: "Gifted fifteen-year-old Francisco Guzman has become an internationally renowned concert pianist, touring the world under the auspices of his music conservatory. That gives his mother, Posadas County Undersheriff Estelle Reyes-Guzman, plenty of reason to worry--and that's magnified when she learns that he's in Mexico’s crime-ridden Mazatlan for a concert series where he may be the target for scam artists and kidnappers. Estelle’s worries go from bad to worse when her uncle—a man she didn't know existed—surfaces in an attempt to mend family ties and leaves a trail of corpses in his wake. Estelle’s attempts to glean family history—the story of her childhood in Tres Santos over the border—from her adopted mother, a woman now in her nineties, go nowhere. Meanwhile, escalating events put Sheriff Bobby Torrez in jeopardy, as they do newly wealthy rancher Miles Waddell and his pet project, the multi-million dollar theme park, NightZone, set high on a county mesa. Just when his sage advice might be most useful, former sheriff and family friend Bill Gastner takes a dive—in the shadows of his own garage. Now his far-flung family is added to the mix of people and events astir in the boot heel of New Mexico."  

Title: A Fright to the Death
Author: Dawn Eastman
Series: #3 in the Family Fortune cozy series set in western Michigan
ISBN: 9780425264485
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "After their flight to Mexico is cancelled, Clyde and her detective boyfriend, Mac, end up snowed in with their families at a supposedly haunted hotel. Clyde’s tarot card reading mother, Rose, is making dire predictions for the weekend, and self-proclaimed pet psychic Aunt Vi is enchanted by the legend of the hotel’s ghost—until the power goes out and a body turns up.

With a hotel full of stranded suspects, Clyde will have to draw on all her skills—both the police ones she’d rather forget and the psychic ones she’d rather ignore—to solve the bone-chilling mystery before someone else gets iced…" 

Title: The Readaholics and the Falcon Fiasco
Author: Laura DiSilverio
Series: #1 in the Readaholics Book Club cozy series set in Colorado
ISBN: 9780451470836
Publisher: NAL
Mass Market Paperback, 336 pages

Synopsis: "Amy-Faye has always loved her idyllic Rocky Mountain town of Heaven, Colorado. Her event-planning business is thriving, her fellow book-obsessed Readaholics are great, and her parents live only a few blocks away. But lately her hometown has felt a little less heavenly. First, she agrees to plan a wedding without realizing the groom is her ex-boyfriend. Then, Ivy, one of her fellow Readaholics, dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances.

The police rule Ivy’s death a suicide by poisoning, but Amy-Faye and the remaining Readaholics suspect foul play. Amy-Faye soon discovers that Ivy was hiding dangerous secrets—and making deadly enemies. Taking a page from her favorite literary sleuths, Amy-Faye is determined to find the real killer and close the book on this case. But finding the truth could spell her own ending…" 

=== April 8 ===

Title: Snake Pass

Author: Colin Campbell

Series: #4 in the Resurrection Man series

ISBN: 9780738743462

Publisher: Midnight Ink

Paperback, 264 pages

Synopsis: "Jim Grant is one of the best cops in Yorkshire, but the tactics that earn him respect from his fellow officers have drawn the scrutiny of the brass. And when a discipline and complaints inspector feels he’s gone too far after a particularly righteous bust, Grant is put on suspension.

Stopping at an all-night diner to flirt with his favorite waitress helps ease Grant’s mind—until a couple of goons with baseball bats show up. Never one to leave a damsel in distress, Grant takes matters into his own hands.

And that’s when all hell breaks loose." 

=== April 14 ===

Title: Every Fifteen Minutes

Author: Lisa Scottoline

Standalone

ISBN: 9781250010117

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Hardcover, 448 pages

Synopsis: "Dr. Eric Parrish is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit at Havemeyer General Hospital outside of Philadelphia. Recently separated from his wife Alice, he is doing his best as a single Dad to his seven-year-old daughter Hannah. His work seems to be going better than his home life, however. His unit at the hospital has just been named number two in the country and Eric has a devoted staff of doctors and nurses who are as caring as Eric is. But when he takes on a new patient, Eric's entire world begins to crumble. Seventeen-year-old Max has a terminally ill grandmother and is having trouble handling it. That, plus his OCD and violent thoughts about a girl he likes makes Max a high risk patient. Max can't turn off the mental rituals he needs to perform every fifteen minutes that keep him calm. With the pressure mounting, Max just might reach the breaking point. When the girl is found murdered, Max is nowhere to be found. Worried about Max, Eric goes looking for him and puts himself in danger of being seen as a "person of interest" himself. Next, one of his own staff turns on him in a trumped up charge of sexual harassment. Is this chaos all random? Or is someone systematically trying to destroy Eric's life? New York Times best selling author Lisa Scottoline's visceral thriller, Every Fifteen Minutes,brings you into the grip of a true sociopath and shows you how, in the quest to survive such ruthlessness, every minute counts." 

=== April 21 ===

Title: Ghost Image

Author: Ellen Crosby

Series: #2 in the Sophie Medina photojournalist series based in Washington, DC

ISBN: 9781451659375

Publisher: Scribner

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "When freelance photojournalist Sophie Medina finds Brother Kevin Boyle, a Franciscan friar and controversial environmentalist, dead in the magnificent gardens of a Washington, DC monastery, she is sure her friend was murdered. Shortly before he died, Kevin told Sophie he was being stalked, possibly because he uncovered a botanic discovery potentially worth millions of dollars. Left with few clues to his secret, Sophie is determined to figure out who killed Kevin.

Beginning with a key that leads to a priceless original seventeenth-century encyclopedia of plants, Sophie leaps into an international treasure hunt following a trail that begins in the US Capitol and eventually leads to London and the English countryside. Before long Sophie suspects Kevin’s murderer may have been someone who knew him well. With time running out and a suspect list that includes the world’s leading botanical experts and political royalty from both sides of the Atlantic, can Sophie solve the two-hundred-year-old mystery before Kevin’s killer finds her?

A tale of greed and betrayal involving politicians, diplomats, European royalty, and a century-old monastery, Ghost Image is filled with political intrigue, history, and an international high-stakes race against a killer that will keep you guessing until the very last page." 

Title: The Bone Tree

Author: Greg Iles

Series: #5 in the Penn Cage series set in Natchez, Mississippi

ISBN: 9780062311115

Publisher: William Morrow

Hardcover, 816 pages

Synopsis: "Greg Iles continues the electrifying story begun in his smash New York Times bestseller Natchez Burning in this highly anticipated second installment of an epic trilogy of blood and race, family and justice, featuring Southern lawyer Penn Cage.

Former prosecutor Penn Cage and his fiancée, reporter and publisher Caitlin Masters, have barely escaped with their lives after being attacked by wealthy businessman Brody Royal and his Double Eagles, a KKK sect with ties to some of Mississippi’s most powerful men. But the real danger has only begun as FBI Special Agent John Kaiser warns Penn that Brody wasn’t the true leader of the Double Eagles. The puppeteer who actually controls the terrorist group is a man far more fearsome: the chief of the state police’s Criminal Investigations Bureau, Forrest Knox.

The only way Penn can save his father, Dr. Tom Cage—who is fleeing a murder charge as well as corrupt cops bent on killing him—is either to make a devil’s bargain with Knox or destroy him. While Penn desperately pursues both options, Caitlin uncovers the real story behind a series of unsolved civil rights murders that may hold the key to the Double Eagles’ downfall. The trail leads her deep into the past, into the black backwaters of the Mississippi River, to a secret killing ground used by slave owners and the Klan for over two hundred years . . . a place of terrifying evil known only as “the bone tree.”

The Bone Tree is an explosive, action-packed thriller full of twisting intrigue and deadly secrets, a tale that explores the conflicts and casualties that result when the darkest truths of American history come to light. It puts us inside the skin of a noble man who has always fought for justice—now finally pushed beyond his limits.

Just how far will Penn Cage, the hero we thought we knew, go to protect those he loves?" 

Title: A June of Ordinary Murders

Author: Conor Brady

Series: Debut historical set in Victorian Dublin, Ireland

ISBN: 9781250057563

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Hardcover, 400 pages

Synopsis: "In the 1880s the Dublin Metropolitan Police classified crime in two distinct categories. Political crimes were classed as "special," whereas theft, robbery and even murder, no matter how terrible, were known as "ordinary."

Dublin, June 1887: The city swelters in a long summer heat wave, the criminal underworld simmers, and with it, the threat of nationalist violence is growing. Meanwhile, the Castle administration hopes the celebration of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee will pass peacefully. Then, the mutilated bodies of a man and a child are discovered in Phoenix Park and Detective Sergeant Joe Swallow steps up to investigate. Cynical and tired, Swallow is a man living on past successes in need of a win. With the Land War at its height, the priority is to contain special crime, and these murders appear to be ordinary--and thus of lesser priority. But when the evidence suggests high-level involvement, and the body count increases, Swallow must navigate the treacherous waters of foolish superiors, political directives, and frayed tempers to solve the case, find the true murderer, and deliver justice." 

=== April 28 ===

Title: The Children Return

Author: Martin Walker

Series: #7 in the Bruno Chief of Police series set in southwestern France

ISBN: 9780385354158

Publisher: Knopf

Hardcover, 336 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "When an undercover agent tracking domestic jihadists is found murdered, it’s troubling enough for Bruno’s beloved village. But when this is followed by the return of Sami, a local autistic youth thought lost to Islamic extremism, provincial St. Denis suddenly becomes a front line in the global war on terror. Abducted and exploited for his technological genius in Afghanistan, Sami has used his talents to gather invaluable stores of al-Qaeda intel—but as an international tribunal descends to begin an exhaustive debrief, it becomes clear Sami’s former handlers are far from ready to relinquish him. Now the same jihadists who killed the agent aim to silence Sami, and as the eyes of the intelligence world turn toward his case, Bruno must scramble to track down the terrorists before they exact their own justice.

As if things aren’t complicated enough, Bruno finds himself contending with the mixed, alluring signals of one of the high-ranking U.S. intelligence officers on Sami’s case, even while juggling the affections of his neighbor and sometime lover. Add to that a member of the tribunal with dangerous skeletons in his closet, the mysterious history of two Jewish siblings who claim to have been sheltered locally from the Nazis during World War II, and a high-profile philanthropist whose presence in St. Denis seems to be attracting attention from the jihadists, and it’s all almost enough to absent Bruno from the village’s wine festival. " 

Title: Bitter Creek

Author: Peter Bowen

Series: #14 in the Gabriel Du Pré series set in Montana

ISBN: 9781497676589

Publisher: Open Road Media

Paperback

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books

Synopsis: "Lieutenant John Patchen has come to Montana to persuade Chappie Plaquemines, his former gunnery sergeant in Iraq and the son of Gabriel Du Pré’s girlfriend, to accept the Navy Cross. First, however, Du Pré and Patchen must find the wounded marine, who was last seen drinking heavily in the Toussaint Saloon. They locate him soon enough, disheveled and stinking of stale booze, but a sobering visit to a medicine man’s sweat lodge reveals a much greater mystery: the unsolved case of a band of Métis who were last seen fleeing from General Black Jack Pershing’s troops in 1910 before disappearing.

Strange voices within the sweat lodge speak of a place called Bitter Creek, where the Métis encountered their fate. To find it, Du Pré tracks down the only living survivor of the massacre, a feisty old woman whose memories may not be as trustworthy as they seem. But when Amalie leads Du Pré to Pardoe, an out-of-the-way crossroads north of Helena, he senses that they are about to uncover long-buried secrets. Discouraged by the US military, their lives threatened by locals whose ancestors may have played a role in the murders, Chappie, Patchen, and Du Pré bravely pursue the truth so that the victims of a terrible injustice might finally rest in peace."  

Title: The Promise

Author: Robert Crais

Series: #16 in the Elvis Cole and Joe Pike private investigator series set in Los Angeles

ISBN: 9780399161490

Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons

Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "When Elvis Cole is hired to locate a woman who may have disappeared with a stranger she met online, it seems like an ordinary case—until Elvis learns the missing woman worked for a defense contractor and was being blackmailed to supply explosives components for a person or persons unknown.

Meanwhile, in another part of the city, LAPD officer Scott James and his patrol dog, Maggie, enter an abandoned building to locate an armed and dangerous thief, only to discover far more than they expected: The fugitive is dead, the building is filled with explosives, and Scott and Maggie are assaulted by a hidden man who escapes in the chaos, all as a bloodied Joe Pike watches from the shadows.

Soon, Scott and Maggie find themselves targeted by that man, and, as their case intertwines with Elvis and Joe’s, joining forces to follow the trail of the missing woman as well. From inner-city drug traffickers to a shadowy group of Afghan war veterans with ties to a terrorist cell, the people they encounter on that trail add up to ever-increasing odds, and soon the four of them are fighting to find the woman not only before she is killed . . . but before the same fate happens to one of them." 

April is filled with winners, isn't it?  Some of my favorite authors along with some intriguing new ones... yes, it's a good month for mysteries! I have to admit that the one I'm most excited about is Peter Bowen's Bitter Creek. The last Gabriel Du Pré book was written in 2006, and I've missed that character a lot. I'm looking forward to reconnecting!

What about all of you?  Which books found their way onto your wish lists? Inquiring minds would love to know!