June/July, 2019

New and Forthcoming in Hardcover

Acampora, Lauren. Paper Wasp (Grove, 26.00) June. When her high-school friend finds success in Hollywood, a woman with artistic gifts and an almost obsessive interest in a cult director moves to Hollywood and the dark friendship and twisted ambition of the two women leads to tragedy in a debut that will remind you of Patricia Highsmith.

Alger, Cristina. Girls Like Us (Put, 26.00) July. An FBI agent returns home to Long Island when her estranged father dies suddenly and is asked by his police colleagues to look into a pair of local homicides, the murders of two Latina women, but the more she investigates, the more she realizes that her father should have been the prime suspect.

Ashdown, Isabel. Beautiful Liars (Ken, 26.00) July. A London television celebrity with a new show investigating cold cases decides to investigate the disappearance of her childhood friend years before and soon uncovers facts that conflict with her memories.

Armstrong, Kelley. Wherever She Goes (STM, 27.99) June. When a single mother sees a little boy being taken from the park against his will, she reports it to the police, but when no one steps forward to report a child missing, she is doubted and dismissed, so she decides that she herself will find the boy in a standalone thriller.

Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity and the Heart of Gold (Png, 26.00) June. At a Christmas party at the local Manor, Lori and the guests find a chapel and within the chapel, a hidden compartment hiding a glittering treasure including a solid-gold heart, but it takes the help of Aunt Dimity to explain the mystery and bring Christmas spirit to the village of Finch.

Atkins, Ace. The Shameless (Put, 27.00) July. Sheriff Quinn Colson is asked by two New York-based reporters about the twenty-year-old suicide of a teenager when they discover that all the files are missing, but Quinn is wrapped up in trying to stop the crime syndicate run by the truck-stop madam, trafficking in drugs, stolen goods, and women in Tibbehah County—and using the political system to do it.

Atkins, Lucy. The Night Visitor (LB, 16.99) June. A successful historian with a perfect family and a television show will go to any lengths to protect her life from the timid housekeeper of a Sussex mansion who discovered the Victorian diary of a pioneering woman surgeon upon which the historian’s latest biography is based in a noir thriller.

Atkinson, Kate. Big Sky (LB, 28.00) June. PI Jackson Brodie investigates the death of a woman who was fatally bludgeoned to death after he saves her husband from jumping off a cliff along the Yorkshire coast in the fifth in this excellent, well-written series.

Avon, Joy. Sweet Tea and Secrets (CL, 26.99) June. Callie decides she wants to really light up the Fourth of July celebration at her great-aunt’s Victorian tearoom by solving a celebrity’s decades-old disappearance, but after one of the villagers turns up dead, she realizes that some secrets are dangerous to reveal.

Baker, Jo. The Body Lies (RH, 25.95) June. A young writer and single mother who has left London to teach creative writing at a university in the remote countryside is horrified and appalled when one of her students begins turning in work that blurs the lines between fiction and reality, with a heroine who resembles her—and whose story does not end well.

Berenson, Laurien. Bite Club (Ken, 26.00) July. Melanie agrees to train a bulldog for a shy member of her reading group, but when he is found murdered, she must find a killer before the police accuse her of murder.

Billingham, Mark. Their Little Secret (Atl, 26.00) June. DI Thorne and DI Tanner investigate the suicide of a woman who was the victim of a conman preying on vulnerable women, but the discovery of the body of a young man in a nearby seaside town takes the case in unexpected avenues.

Bourland, Barbara. Fake like Me (GC, 28.00) June. A young painter takes over the studio space of a talented, upcoming young artist who drowned herself at an elite artist’s retreat, but soon she begins to wonder what really happened to the woman in a mystery that is also a satire of the contemporary art scene.

Brockman, Cambria. Tell Me Everything (Ball, 27.00) July. Six students at an elite New England college become fast friends from their first weeks at school, but one of them has a troubling, secret past, and by Senior Day, her attempts to maintain her secret lead to murder in a debut mystery.

Brown, Rita Mae. Whiskers in the Dark (Ball, 28.00) June. Harry and her four-legged friends are on the hunt for a killer when they believe that the person on trial for murder is not guilty, and they also must investigate ghostly doings at the National Beagle Club.

Buckhanon, Kalisha. Speaking of Summer (IPS, 26.00) July. When her twin sister disappears from the rooftop of their Harlem brownstone, a woman tries to find out the truth as she becomes obsessed with the stories of murdered women and the men who kill them.

Campbell, Michele. A Stranger on the Beach (STM, 27.99) July. After a bitter and public fight with her husband, a wealthy woman has revenge-sex with a bartender, but what for her is a fling, for him becomes an obsession with her, her family, and her wealth—and then her husband is murdered and she is the main suspect.

Candlish, Louise. Those People (Brk, 26.00) June. When a loud, rude couple move into a well-maintained community in suburban London, their antics disrupt the placid neighborhood—and then a murder occurs—in a novel of domestic suspense.

Carlisle, Kate. The Book Supremacy (Brk, 25.00) June. While on her honeymoon in Paris, Brooklyn discovers a first edition James Bond novel, but when she lends it to a friend of her husband to display in his spy shop, she begins to wonder after two murders appear to be connected to the valuable book.

Castillo, Linda. Shamed (STM, 26.99) July. Police Chief Kate Burkholder investigates the death of an elderly woman and the abduction of her young granddaughter in a case that may be motivated by revenge for past secrets.

Clark, Martin. The Substitution Order (RH, 27.95) July. A disbarred Virginia attorney working in a sandwich shop must figure out how to keep himself out of jail when a mysterious man “invites” him to join in a multimillion dollar scheme. I loved this—convincing, sympathetic characters, a wonderfully clever twisted plot, and a great dog.

Clark, Tracy. Borrowed Time (Ken, 26.00) June. Former Chicago cop turned PI Cass Raines is hired to look into the drowning death of the scion of a wealthy family found dead by his yacht, but when she discovers that the victim was terminally ill, she is almost ready to close the case—except for all the unanswered questions that remain. An interesting series featuring an African-American female PI.

Clifford, Joe. Rag and Bone (Ocean, 26.95) June. A handyman in New Hampshire hears of a fire at a rehab farm and believes that it has some relation to the death of his brother in the fifth in this gritty series.

Ciment, Jill. The Body in Question (RH, 24.95) June. When two jurors in a high-profile murder case of a wealthy teenager accused of murdering her toddler brother begin an affair, they agree to abide by the rules and not discuss the case, but when the judge receives a note revealing the affair the verdict is called into question and a media storm ensues.

Connolly, Sheila. Killer in the Carriage House (STM, 26.99) July. Kate Hamilton’s plan to turn her Maryland hometown into a Victorian-themed tourist attraction is running afoul of lack of money in the town’s coffers, but her attempt to find treasure in the trove of old documents from a local mansion turns up a dead body instead in the second in this cozy series.

Cooper, Ellison. Buried (STM, 26.99) July. An FBI neuroscientist is assigned to the case when an off-duty agent and his cadaver dog fall into a sinkhole filled with human bones in Shenandoah National Park, and when it turns out that some of the bones are recent, they must hunt for a psychopathic serial killer who may have abducted a woman and her young child.

Coulter, Catherine. Labyrinth (SS, 27.99) July. In the latest in the FBI series, Sherlock literally loses her mind over a case that’s more twisted than anything she’s ever experienced.

Crais, Robert. A Dangerous Man (Put, 28.00) June. When Joe Pike rescues a young bank teller from two men who abduct her, he expects that the story is over, but the men are murdered shortly after posting bail and the young woman disappears, so Joe and Elvis are left wondering if she was a victim or a perp.

Crouch, Blake. Recursion (RH, 27.00) June. The development of a new technology to preserve intense memories and relive them may have the unintended consequence of creating a “false memory syndrome,” where people have intense memories of a life they never lived, and a man who witnesses a suicide caused by the syndrome begins investigating. Crouch is a favorite of mine because he combines science and suspense so well.

Cussler, Clive and Robin Burcell. The Oracle (Put, 29.00) June. The Fargos search for a missing ancient scroll that carries a powerful curse, a search that becomes more critical when they and the young students at their school in Nigeria are taken hostage by someone hunting for the scroll.

Dams, Jeanne M. A Dagger before Me (SH, 28.99) June. American ex-pat Dorothy Martin and her husband are invited to the christening of the son of Sir Edwin Montcalm, but the jeweled dagger to be used in the ceremony is missing and later found beside the body of a dead woman.

Dickson, Allison. The Other Mrs. Miller (Put, 26.00) July. A bored and lonely housewife in an upscale neighborhood—the heiress to a fortune left by her father, about whom more and increasingly toxic allegations of sexual abuse surface-- becomes obsessed with her new neighbors—but soon begins to worry that someone is spying on her.

Dimberg, Kelsey Rae. Girl in the Rearview Mirror (HC, 26.99) June. A young woman takes the job of nanny in the household of a prominent political family in Phoenix and is very happy as part of the attractive family, but when a young woman approaches her asking her to pass on a message to her employer, she uncovers a web of deceit.

Doiron, Paul. Almost Midnight (STM, 27.99) July. Maine game warden Mike Bowditch must protect a friend whose just been released from prison from a criminal gang who come after him and his family, while at the same time hunting for the murderer of a wild wolf.

Dunnett, Kaitlyn. Clause & Effect (Ken, 26.00) July. Freelance book editor Mikki is asked by the town’s historical society to rewrite the script of the play written for the bicentennial celebration twenty-five years ago, but the discovery of a mummified body found during construction proves to be that of the playwright, who disappeared just before the play was performed.

Dyer, Ashley. The Cutting Room (HC, 26.99) June. London detectives are drawn in to a case where a fiendish psychopath is creating gruesome tableaux of dead bodies, using social media to promote his macabre works of “art.”

Fargo, Layne. Temper (SS, 27.00) July. A Chicago actress lands the part of a lifetime in a play directed by a famously difficult director, but it is his assistant and the theater’s co-founder who may represent the graver threat in a noir novel of rivalries and the blurring of the line between reality and illusion. I liked this a lot.

Frear, Caz. Stone Cold Heart (HC, 26.99) July. London police constable Cat Kinsella investigates the death of an Australian woman after a party, and when the chief suspect’s alibi is contradicted by his wife, she must dig further to find out which one is telling the truth.

Galligan, John. Bad Axe County (SS, 26.00) July. The interim sheriff of a Wisconsin county must find a missing girl during an ice storm and it soon becomes clear to her that someone is planting clues for her to find, clues that lead not only to the missing girl, but also to the murderer of her parents fifteen years before.

Gerard, Anna. Peach Clobbered (CL, 26.99) July. In the first of a charming new cozy series, a divorcée who buys a B&B in a small Georgia town must find the killer of a man in a penguin suit whose body is found in an alley in a case filled with nuns, penguins, and greedy developers.

Goldin, Megan. The Escape Room (STM, 26.99) July. As part of a team-building exercise, a team of high-flying Wall Street traders are locked in an elevator and told to figure out how to free themselves, but teamwork breaks down immediately so they cannot solve the clues that will allow them to escape—and worse they must figure out which of them is a killer—in a suspenseful debut.

Goldman, Matt. The Shallows (STM, 26.99) June. Minneapolis PI Nils Shapiro is hired by the widow when her husband’s body is found tied to a fishing dock, and while everyone wants him to investigate, someone wants to stop him before he discovers the truth.

Gordon, David. The Hard Stuff (Mys, 26.00) July. In the second in this funny, hard boiled series, strip-club bouncer Joe Brody is asked by a group of NYC’s mob bosses to arrange a heist of opioids from dealers who are in fact an al-Qaeda splinter group.

Harding, Robyn. The Arrangement (SS, 27.00) July. A struggling NYC art student is persuaded by a friend to become an escort, but she finds herself becoming obsessed with the successful older man she is seeing in a twisty tale of adultery, dark desires, and murder. I really liked this.

Heath, Jack. Just One Bite (HC, 26.99) June. A former FBI consultant now working in the body-disposal business for a crime lord stumbles across the body of a missing college professor, and then another, and soon realizes that a serial killer is at work in Houston, so when the FBI calls him in again, he is ready to help in a queasily-funny thriller for fans of Dexter.

Herron, Mick. Joe Country (Soho, 26.95) June. In the latest Slough House mystery, one of the “slow horses” is asked by the widow of a colleague to find her missing teenaged son, an investigation that soon turns into a deadly game of blackmail, treachery, and skullduggery in the freezing Welsh countryside. I absolutely love this series—it’s smart, funny, and with an ensemble cast of convincing characters.

Holahan, Cate. One Little Secret (CL, 26.99) July. When three racially-diverse upscale families rent a Hamptons beach house, things end in the murder of one of the wives, a case investigated by the sole female black detective on the force, who finds plenty of motives while dealing with racism and sexism in the department.

Howe, Katherine. The Daughters of Temperance Hobbes (HH, 28.00) June. A New England history professor whose research is concentrated on women and magic in colonial America has kept secret her connection to an ancestor tried as a witch and her true magical powers—until her fiancé is in danger from a centuries-old curse.

Jackson, Joshilyn. Never Have I Ever (HC, 26.99) July. In a domestic suspense thriller a wife and mother with a perfect life and a perfect family welcomes a new neighbor to the local book club, but the new addition somehow knows a secret from her past, a secret that could destroy her life, and threatens to make her pay.

James, Miranda. The Pawful Truth (Brk, 26.00) July. When librarian Charlie decides to take a course in medieval history, he and his Maine Coon cat don’t realize that academics can be murder when a fellow student is found dead after arguing with the professor.

Jones, Sandie. The First Mistake (STM, 27.99) June. In a psychological thriller a woman with a perfect life—two lovely children, a loving second husband, a thriving business—makes friends with woman who becomes someone she can share her thoughts with, but when her husband begins behaving strangely, she begins to wonder if her trust is misplaced.

Kantaria, Annabel. I Know You (CL, 26.99) June. An American living in the London suburbs joins a book club and begins to make friends, but soon she feels uncomfortable because her friends’s posts on social media have enticed a watcher who is learning way too much about them.

LaCorte, Ellen. The Perfect Fraud (HC, 26.99) June. When two women meet by chance—one a fraudulent psychic and the other a woman whose young daughter suffers from an undiagnosed stomach ailment—the meeting sets in motion a series of events that change their lives irrevocably in a debut thriller with a paranormal element.

Lepionka, Kristen. The Stories You Tell (STM, 26.99) July. When her brother becomes a suspect in the disappearance of a young woman who worked at a dance club, PI Roxane Weary investigates and finds that all the employees of the club have gone AWOL, leaving behind a dead cop.

Littlefield, Sophie and Lauren Gershell. That’s What Frenemies Are For (Ball, 27.00) July. A New York socialite feels her star is fading, so she decides to turn the new elite fitness craze into her hot new thing and works to turn the instructor into a fitness guru, but things don’t turn out as planned—in fact they turn deadly—and she finds herself ostracized by her friends.

Lovesey, Peter. Killing with Confetti (Soho, 27.95) July. Bath detective Peter Diamond is put in charge of security for the wedding of the son of the Deputy Chief Constable and the daughter of a notorious crime lord, leaving prison just in time to give the bride away: of course, the question arises of how well our hero can avert tragedy and send the happy couple off on their honeymoon.

Masterman, Becky. We Were Killers Once (STM, 27.99) June. When a recently-released convict decides to come after a confession in the possession of a prison chaplain, a confession that puts him in the company of the killers of the Holcomb, Kansas family killed in 1959 and reveals the murder of another family that remains unsolved, he doesn’t realize that his quest will put him up against the priest’s wife, retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn, who knows how to kill as well. Signing.

McCaw, Robert. Off the Grid (Ocean, 26.95) July. In a debut set on Hawaii’s Big Island, the detective chief investigates the gruesome deaths of two loners, an unidentified couple living off the grid, in a case that turns into an international political nightmare.

McKinty, Adrian. The Chain (Hach, 28.00) July. A diabolically-plotted thriller about a man who receives a phone call saying that his son has been kidnapped and will not be released until he kidnaps another child and convinces this child’s parents to kidnap another child, and on, and on, otherwise his son will be killed: he has become part of a chain.

Mina, Denise. Conviction (Mull, 27.00) June. An English housewife who faithfully listens to a true-crime podcast is horrified when she realizes that the most recent crime involving a sunken yacht and a murdered family involves someone from her own buried past, and she thinks she knows what happened, but unfortunately the killer thinks she knows as well.

Miranda, Megan. The Last House Guest (SS, 26.99) June. A summer visitor and a local girl from an idyllic coastal village in Maine develop an unlikely friendship that lasts until the visitor commits suicide, but her friend decides to investigate to clear up the subtle suspicion she feels is directed at her. I really liked this—and everything else Miranda has written.

Orr, Jill. The Ugly Truth (IPS, 25.95) June. In the third in this comic series a young obituary writer for the newspaper in a small Virginia town is assigned the obit for a murder victim who was universally bad, and while digging for something good to say about him, she uncovers a connection to the death of a lobbyist’s wife.

Patterson, James and Candice Fox. The Inn (Hach, 28.00) July. A retired Boston cop buys a rundown seaside inn filled with a reclusive assortment of guests, but when the head of a criminal gang moves in and brings violence in his wake, the innkeeper must fight back by convincing the residents that they must band together to fight the evil or die separately.

_____. and David Ellis. Unsolved (LB, 28.00) June. A young ambitious FBI agent is faced with a shocking new case where a string of deaths screams murder, but the victims all appear to have been killed by accident—and there’s no relation among them.

Petrova, Daniela. Her Daughter’s Mother (Put, 26.00) June. A woman unexpectedly meets the “anonymous” egg donor who has made her motherhood possible and they become friends, but when the young woman disappears mysteriously, it becomes clear that there are secrets in her past that change everything.

Phillips, Helen. The Need (SS, 26.00) July. When a paleo-botanist and young mother confronts a masked intruder in her house, she falls through an existential rabbit hole that reveals the dualities of motherhood in a work of feminist speculative fiction. This scared me to death.

Proud, James. History’s Weirdest Deaths (SS, 12.99) June. The perfect gift for the father who appreciates the bizarre—a collection of stories of the strangest deaths from ancient times to the present.

Quinn, Holly. A Crafter Hooks a Killer (CL, 26.99) June. When she finds the bestselling author scheduled for a book signing at her craft shop murdered holding a copy of book with “the end” scrawled across it, Sammy joins forces with her cousin and sister to find the killer and uncover the connections to the death of her friend.

Quinn, Spencer. Heart of Barkness (STM, 25.99) July. Chet and Bernie are drawn into a case that deals with old border-town secrets when they go to hear a former headliner country music singer at a local bar, a case that begins when a $100 bill is stolen out from under Chet’s nose.

Reardon, Bryan. The Perfect Plan (Dut, 26.00) June. When his unstable brother abducts one of his campaign aides, a gubernatorial candidate struggles to diffuse the situation, but the reality is far from what it appears in a novel of dark secrets and twisted relationships beneath a perfect suburban veneer.

Ripley, Nathan. Your Life is Mine (SS, 27.00) June. A woman whose cult-leader father was a mass-murderer returns home when her mother is murdered and it appears by followers of her father in a chilling novel of psychological suspense.

Robotham, Michael. Good Girl, Bad Girl (SS, 27.00) July. A criminal psychologist is called in to determine if an unidentified young woman found in a secret room after a terrible crime is ready to be released as an adult, but he finds her a difficult patient because she has the ability to know when people are lying to her.

Rosenfelt, David. Bark of Night (STM, 27.99) July. When a man leaves off a young, healthy French bulldog to be euthanized, Andy Carpenter agrees to take it to the Tara Foundation, but after it turns out that the little bulldog’s real owner has been murdered, Andy and the gang must hunt for a killer.

Roy, Lori. Gone Too Long (Dut, 27.00) June. Two women battle to survive a century’s worth of hate in the South, bound together by one woman’s Klan-leader father.

Sager, Riley. Lock Every Door (Dut, 26.00) July. A woman takes a job apartment sitting at an elegant and mysterious apartment building in Manhattan and soon makes friends with a woman her own age, but when her friend disappears, she begins investigating the dark history of the building, and finds herself in danger as well in a wonderfully atmospheric and cleverly-plotted novel of suspense. I liked this.

Scott, J. Todd. This Side of Night (Put, 26.00) July. In the third in the series set in the Texas borderlands, a war among the cartels spills across the border when Sheriff Cherry finds five dead men by the side of the Rio Grande, and the DEA begins investigating his own deputy, America Reynosa.

Seale, C.L. Blindsided (CL, 26.99) July. A woman encounters the man she had accused years earlier of the murder of her high-school friend, and terrified that he is out for revenge and fearing that she is being stalked, flees only to find herself stranded in a snowstorm, saved by an enigmatic stranger.

Silva, Daniel. The New Girl (HC, 28.99) July. Gabriel Allon is called in when a mysterious girl attending an exclusive Swiss school is kidnapped.

Spencer, Sally. Dead End (SH, 28.99) June. While DI Monica Paniatowski remains in a coma, her colleagues continue to visit and discuss the cases they’re working on, not realizing that she can hear them although she is unable to speak, so when they discuss the discovery of a decomposing male body that’s been mutilated to hide its identity, she realizes that there is a connection with a case she worked on four years earlier, but she is helpless to tell them.

Stringer, Jay. Marah Chase and the Conqueror’s Tomb (Peg, 25.95) July. The first of a new series featuring an adventuress who retrieves large archaeological treasures who is co-opted by a British spy to help find the tomb of Alexander the Great, which supposedly contains a weapon of incredible power that is the target of Islamic terrorists.

Talley, Marcia. Tangled Roots (SH, 28.99) July. Hannah Ives and her sister discover that they are one-quarter Native American, so Hannah begins to investigate her ancestry, but the discovery of a body sends her from genealogical sleuthing to real-life sleuthing.

Thor, Brad. Backlash (SS, 27.99) June. U.S. agent Scott Horvath is taken hostage by a foreign government in this gripping thriller.

Vandelly, T. Marie. Theme Music (Dut, 26.00) July. A woman whose family was slaughtered by her father when she was an infant returns to buy her family home hoping to learn more about what happened, but it appears that her family is calling her back in a supernaturally-tinged debut novel of psychological suspense.

Walker, Caroline Louise. Man of the Year (SS, 26.00) June. A twisty debut with a highly unreliable narrator, a doctor with a beautiful house, a new wife, and a good life in Sag Harbor who offers his son’s college roommate a place to stay for the summer—an offer that turns fatally wrong. I liked this.

Wendig, Chuck. Wanderers (DelRey, 28.99) July. An apocalyptic novel with well-drawn characters and a fast-paced narrative that deals with the effects of a deadly pandemic that has people sleepwalking without being able to wake toward an unknown goal in a country ravaged by divisive politics, religious intolerance, and the deadly effects of climate change.

Williams, Rachel DeLoache. My Friend Anna (SS, 27.00) July. The true story of the con-woman who persuaded sophisticated New Yorkers that she was a German princess and who hired a stylist to dress her for her trial. You can’t make this stuff up in our age of conmen, grifters, and fake news.

Woods, Stuart and Parnell Hall. Skin Game (Put, 28.00) June. A new Teddy Fay adventure set in Paris.

Zentner, Alexi. Copperhead (Vik, 26.00) July. A high-school athlete must deal with the fact that his stepfather is being released from prison and the intense conflict he feels about a man who has helped his mother, him, and his brothers, but who is an unrepentant white supremacist in a novel about loyalty, guilt, and split-second decisions that haunt one’s life.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Reprint

Alexander, Ellie. The Pint of no Return (STM, 7.99) July.

Atkins, Ace. The Sinners (Put, 9.99) July.

Baldacci, David. Saving Faith (Hach, 9.99) July. Reissue.

Barrett, Lorna. Poisoned Pages (Brk, 7.99) July.

Beaton, M.C. Dead Ringer (STM, 7.99) July.

Berenson, Laurien. Ruff Justice (Ken, 7.99) June.

Castillo, Linda. A Gathering of Secrets (STM, 9.99) June.

Child, Lee. Past Tense (BDD, 9.99) May.

Connolly, Sheila. Murder at the Mansion (STM, 7.99) June.

Cooper, Ellison. Caged (STM, 7.99) May.

Flynn, Vince. The Third Option (Pkt, 9.99) July. Reissue.

Gardiner, Meg. Into the Black Nowhere (Dut, 9.99) July.

Greenlaw, Linda. Bimini Twist (STM, 7.99) June.

Grisham, John. The Reckoning (BDD, 9.99) June.

James, Miranda. Claws for Concern (Brk, 7.99) June.

Johansen, Iris. Vendetta (STM, 9.99) July.

Parker, T. Jefferson. Swift Vengeance (Put, 9.99) July.

Patterson, James. Texas Ranger (Hach, 9.99) July.

Patterson, James and Richard DiLallo. The Store (Hach, 9.99) July.

Rutger, Michael. The Anomaly (GC, 7.99) June.

Scott, J. Todd. High White Sun (Put, 9.99) June.

Sefton, Maggie. Dyeing up Loose Ends (Brk, 7.99) June.

Silva, Daniel. The Other Woman (HC, 9.99) June.

Thor, Brad. Spymaster (SS, 9.99) May.

Wolfe, Jennifer. Watch the Girls (GC, 7.99) July.

Woods, Stuart. A Delicate Touch (Put, 9.99) July.

____. Desperate Measures (Put, 9.99) July.

New and Forthcoming in Paperback Original

Blackwell, Juliet. Bewitched and Betrothed (Brk, 7.99) July. Vintage-store owner Lily must use all her supernatural abilities to survive an onslaught of relatives, save San Francisco from a magical menace, and make it to the altar on time.

Blake, Bethany. Something Borrowed, Something Mewed (Ken, 7.99) June. Daphne has stayed out of the wedding plans for her sister’s upcoming nuptials, except for agreeing to sit the wedding planner’s cat, but when the wedding planner is found strangled by a garter—both borrowed and blue—she must find a killer and help plan the big day.

Brecher, Christin. Murders no Votive Confidence (Ken, 7.99) July. When a candle that she made for a fancy Memorial-Day wedding is used to murder the bride’s uncle, candle maker Jessica is worried that her new business may be waning rather than waxing, so she investigates to shine a light on the truth in the first of a new series set on Nantucket.

Cahoon, Lynn. Sconed to Death (Ken, 7.99) June. Cat agrees to help out baker Deedee who’s in a batch of trouble when a celebrity chef is found dead in her bakery and she’s worried that the police will get the half-baked idea that she’s responsible.

Cass, Laurie. Booking the Crook (Brk, 7.99) July. When bookmobile librarian Minnie and her rescue cat Eddie find the body of a patron lying dead in her snow-covered driveway, they vow to find a killer before someone else checks out.

Conte, Cate. The Tell Tail Heart (STM, 7.99) July. When a celebrity author is murdered during a writing retreat to Daybreak Island—and then an eccentric woman shows up at the cat café claiming that Maddie’s cat is hers—Maddie begins to wonder if this isn’t a coincidence.

Day, Maddie. Strangled Eggs and Ham (Ken, 7.99) July. When a real-estate developer with plans to build a resort tower on a scenic hill in Brown County, IN is found dead, Robbie must take time away from her growing business at her country store to help her activist aunt from spending time in the county jail—for murder.

Delaney, Devon. Guilty as Charred (Ken, 7.99) July. Sherry is being interviewed on local TV after winning a cook-off, when she hears that a local woman has been found dead in the community garden, so she takes time off from organizing an Independence Day event to find a killer.

Dratch, Dana. Seeing Red (Ken, 7.99) June. Alex’s new beau, the owner of a Victorian B&B, asks for her help when his father disappears, but after she discovers a body in the basement and a “reproduction” Renoir in the library, she begins to wonder how much of a simple innkeeper he is.

Flower, Amanda. Toxic Toffee (Ken, 7.99) July. When a rabbit farmer dies in front of her and his pet bunny, Amish candy-maker Bailey investigates, especially when it’s discovered that he was poisoned by a piece of toffee.

Griffin, J.M. Left Fur Dead (Ken, 7.99) July. In the first of a new series featuring a woman who rescues and rehabilitates injured/abused rabbits, she investigates the death of a woman whose body she finds near her farm with the help of her telepathic rabbit Bun.

Hollon, Cheryl. Down in Flames (Ken, 7.99) July. When a pedestrian is killed in a hit-and-run accident in front of her glass shop, Savannah investigates after she discovers that the victim worked at her boyfriend’s pub.

Smith, Karen Rose. Murder with Cucumber Sandwiches (Ken, 7.99) June. Daisy must investigate when a restaurant critic known for his bitter reviews dies of a seizure after leaving the Tea Garden with a to-go order.

Young, Kate. Southern Sass and Killer Cravings (Ken, 7.99) June. After the death of her mother, a woman returns to her Georgia hometown to help her sister run the family diner only to have a customer regular drop dead of poison and her sister led off in handcuffs in the first of a new series with a slight paranormal touch.

New and Forthcoming in Quality Paperback

Abbott, Megan. Give Me Your Hand (LB, 16.99) July. Two women who were unlikely friends in high school until a life-changing secret destroyed their relationship are locked in a competition for a high-level scientific position, a competition that might destroy them both.

Adams, Jane A. Fakes and Lies (SH, 17.95) June. Naomi Black, a blind former police detective, is asked by a friend to help investigate the death of an artist and successful forger despite the fact that the police view the death as natural causes, in a case involving the murder of a gallery owner and the theft of his paintings.

Alexander, Rebecca. A Shroud of Leaves (RH, 14.95) July. Sage Westfield’s first case of forensic archaeology has her investigating the murder of a teenaged girl on the grounds of a stately home—a place where a girl disappeared mysteriously twenty years before, and which the locals say is cursed. I loved the first of this series.

Atherton, Nancy. Aunt Dimity and the Kings Ransom (Png, 15.00) July. Lori Shepherd is forced by a sudden storm to take refuge at an ancient inn with a history of ties to smugglers, but strange noises in the night cause her to think the inn may be haunted, despite the fact that Aunt Dimity reminds her that not all ghosts are harmful.

Baker, Shannon. The Desert behind Me (Severn River, 15.95) June. A former New York cop, now volunteering with a Pima County ranger group, investigates the disappearance of a teenaged girl, seeing a connection to the brutal murder of her own daughter years ago—even though the killer is dead, in a standalone noir set in southern Arizona. Highly recommended.

Bell, David. Layover (Brk, 16.00) July. A man who travels for business meets a beautiful woman during an airport layover, and feels a strong connection to her, but after they part, he sees that she is on television as a missing person, and decides to investigate why she would leave her life. Nicely twistily plotted.

Berry, Flynn. A Double Life (Vik, 16.00) July. A London doctor is obsessed with finding answers decades after the murder of her nanny and attack on her mother, according to police committed by her titled father who disappeared without a trace, so she begins tailing some of his posh friends and befriends the daughter of one of them in her search for clues. I loved this novel based on the real-life case of Lord Lucan.

Boland, Shalini. The Secret Mother (LB, 12.99) June. When a woman comes home, she finds a little boy in her kitchen who claims that she is his mother, and after she calls the police, they suspect her of kidnapping him, and then she finds out that her husband has a secret….

Bradden, Mary Elizabeth. Lady Audley’s Secret (ML, 16.00) June. The reprint of a Victorian classic about a woman who will lie, steal, and even kill to get what she wants that was shocking in its time and still great fun in ours.

Brett, Simon. The Liar in the Library (IPS, 14.00) June. A wonderful cozy set in the sleepy coastal village of Fethering, where two friends join forces to find the killer of a sleazy writer with roaming hands.

Burke, James Lee. Feast Day of Fools (SS, 16.00) June. The reissue of a Hackberry Holland mystery set on the Texas-Mexico border.

Burton, Tara Isabella. Social Creature (RH, 16.00) June. A woman who barely scrapes by in NYC tending bar and working as an SAT tutor is hired by a wealthy woman to tutor her younger sister, but soon she becomes BFFs with the woman and must find a way to maintain the friendship and the lifestyle that comes with it. I loved this.

Cannon, Joanna. Three Things about Elsie (SS, 26.00) Aug. While an elderly woman awaits rescue having fallen in her flat, she thinks of her lifelong best friend, Elsie, and the secret that may destroy their friendship if it’s revealed. I liked this.

Carey, M. R. Someone Like Me (LB, 15.99) July. A woman who has devoted herself to lovingly caring for her family has another side to her personality, a side that is malicious and dark and will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Carpenter, Lea. Red, White, Blue (Knopf, 16.95) June. A literary thriller featuring a young woman grieving for her banker father who died the day before her wedding, and when she is contacted by a man who has information about her father’s life that she never knew, she becomes desperate to learn the truth about both his life and death. I loved this.

Carter, Ali. The Colours of Murder (IPS, 15.95) June. In the second in this cozy series, an American blonde is murdered during a house party at Fontaburn Hall, and pet portraitist Susie Mahl, in the area doing portraits of racehorses, decides to investigate after the success of her first sleuthing venture.

Chapman, Brenda. Turning Secrets (IPS, 17.99) June. The Ottawa major crimes unit investigates the death of a young single mother in a case that demonstrates how vulnerable young woman are exploited.

Cohen, Tish. The Summer We Lost Her (SS, 16.99) June. An outstanding novel of psychological suspense about a couple who must confront the rifts in their marriage and dark secrets from the past when their disabled young daughter goes missing. I really liked this.

Coleman, Patrick. The Churchgoer (HC, 16.99) July. A former Evangelical youth pastor in southern California finds himself drawn back into his former life when he befriends a young female drifter who disappears, and his search leads to a megachurch and the seedy side of the drug trade in a noir debut.

Cristensen, Kate. The Last Cruise (RH, 16.95) June. The final voyage of a mid-century ocean liner is a decadently luxurious retro cruise filled with martinis and sophisticated jazz with smoking allowed, but no cell phones, until the ship loses power at sea, the crew revolts, and it looks like the passengers may not survive to reach their destination.

Daniels, Natalie. Too Close (HC, 16.99) July. The forensic psychiatrist assigned to the case of a woman with dissociative amnesia, institutionalized after being accused of committing a heinous crime, but the closer she gets to her patient, the more she realizes that the patient’s experience mirrors her own life and marriage, making her doubt her own objectivity.

Delaney, JP. Believe Me (GRD, 15.95) June. An out-of-work British actress living in New York is asked by the NYPD to help lure a wealthy man suspected of murdering his wife and other women into a confession. This is a cleverly plotted novel of suspense with the most unreliable of narrators. I enjoyed this.

Doiron, Paul. Stay Hidden (STM, 17.99) June. Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch has a case of murder when a woman thought to be shot accidentally by a deer hunter was, in fact, not, a case complicated by the fact that the supposed victim turns up a day later ready to solve “her” murder.

Doucette, J.L. On a Quiet Street (IPS, 16.95) July. When the fiancée of a prominent attorney is found murdered, the main suspect disappears also, so the police call in a psychologist who uncovers that the perfect couple’s lives were not so perfect after all.

Dunnett, Kaitlyn. Crime and Punctuation (Ken, 15.95) June. In the first of a new series a recent widow moves to her childhood hometown in the Catskills while working as a freelance editor, but when the young author of a mystery set in the area is murdered—the same way as the victim in her novel—she must find a killer who wants to close this new chapter of her life.

Fesperman, Dan. Safe Houses (RH, 16.95) June. In 1979 in West Berlin during the Cold War, a low-level CIA agent overhears a coded conversation that puts her in the crosshairs of a ruthless and powerful man in the agency, and her unceasing efforts to discover what it all means has ramifications in the present day when a family is murdered on a Maryland farm. Fesperman is great and I loved this.

Galbraith, Robert. Lethal White (GC, 18.99) June. PI Cormoran Strike and his new partner Robin Ellacott agree to investigate when an emotionally disturbed young man claims to have witnessed a murder when he was a child, but the investigation proves difficult with few clues and the passage of time.

Gaylin, Alison. Never Look Back (HC, 16.99) June. A podcast producer comes to believe that a woman who was part of a bloody killing spree while a teenager in 1976 and who died in a fire along with her partner is in fact alive forty years later, living in suburbia and his quest to bring her to justice leads to a NYC film columnist in a novel of suspense. Gaylin is great.

Gordon, David. The Bouncer (Per, 16.00) July. A bouncer in a strip club in Queens becomes involved with the Feds when he becomes a person of interest in a hunt for a group of terrorists. I really loved this funny, suspenseful caper.

Gould, Howard Michael. Last Looks (Dut, 16.00) July. A former LAPD detective who has become a hermit living in the woods is lured into taking the case of an actor whose wife is found dead, after his former girlfriend and the network make him an offer he can’t refuse in a fun debut thriller that skewers Hollywood culture. I really liked this.

Griffin, Laura. Her Deadly Secrets (SS, 16.00) July. A Houston PI is reporting to legal client when the meeting ends in a bloodbath, and, not trusting the police to find the killer, she decides to investigate on her own.

Hardacker, Vaughn C. My Brother’s Keeper (Sky, 16.99) July. A retired detective vows to find his brother’s killers in a case that takes him into the world of New England’s most notorious drug kingpins.

Harvey, Michael. Pulse (Ecco, 16.99) July. A suspense novel set in 1970s Boston where a Harvard athlete is murdered in an alley and the homicide detectives are shocked when his younger brother knows all about the crime, causing them to investigate the past of the two brothers, a dark story of murder, sordid characters, and metaphysical conspiracies. I loved this for its compelling characters and twisty plotting.

Hoag, Tami. The Boy (Dut, 16.00) July. When a young boy is murdered in front of his terrified mother suspicion quickly turns to her as a convicted felon, but the husband-and-wife team of detectives assigned to the case begin to believe that the disappearance of the boy’s sometime babysitter could be linked to the murder.

Houston, Victoria. Dead Big Dawg (SS, 16.99) June. In the latest in this funny series set in the Northwoods, Loon Lake police chief Lew investigates the murder of a Chicago industrialist and his wife at their summer home.

Howells, Debbie. Her Sister’s Lie (Ken, 15.95) July. When her estranged older sister dies unexpectedly, a woman must come to terms with the lies that bound them together—and forced them apart—in a novel of psychological suspense.

Hummel, Maria. Still Lives (Per, 16.95) June. When a controversial artist notorious for her self-portraits as famous murder victims fails to show up for the opening of her show at a Los Angeles museum, an editor at the museum finds herself drawn in to the investigation, particularly after her ex, the artist’s new boyfriend, becomes one of the suspects. I really liked this for its depiction of the avant-garde art scene.

Iles, Greg. True Evil (SS, 18.00) June. The reissue of an early mystery where a doctor is pulled into a ring of terrifying secrets in his Mississippi hometown.

Immergut, Debra Jo. The Captives (HC, 16.99) June. A prison psychologist is shocked to discover that his patient, convicted of committing a shocking crime is his high-school crush, a fact that she decides to use to her advantage, and perhaps effect her escape from her intolerable situation.

Ireland, Sandra. Bone Deep (SS, 16.00) June. A retired academic working on a collection of folktales hires an assistant to help her with her work and live with her in her cottage near an ancient water mill, but both women are hiding secrets and the local legend of two long-dead sisters points to conflict in a gothic mystery.

Jakubowsky, Maxim, ed. Invisible Blood (RH, 14.95) July. A collection of fifteen brand-new crime stories including a new Jack Reacher.

Joy, David. The Line that Held Us (Put, 16.00) July. When a man accidentally kills another while deer hunting, he realizes that he has shot a member of a family known for their violent and vengeful ways, so he covers up the killing with the help of his best friend, but the consequences reverberate through his life in a powerful country noir.

Kamal, Sheena. It all Falls Down (HC, 15.99) July. When she meets an old friend of her deceased father who indicates that he may still be alive, PI Nora Watts leaves Vancouver for Detroit to investigate, but a high-profile suicide in Vancouver ties her to an opiate ring.

Kara, Leslie. The Rumor (Ball, 17.00) June. When a woman repeats the rumor that a notorious murderess newly released from prison has resettled in their small seaside village, the repercussions sow fear and suspicion and place the source of the rumor and her family in the crosshairs of a killer.

Keller, Julia. Bone on Bone (STM, 17.99) July. Newly released from prison after confessing to the murder of her abusive father, former West Virginia prosecutor Bell Elkins focuses on the shooting murder of a banker that initially appears to be related to his drug-addicted son. This character-driven series is superb.

Kepnes, Caroline. Providence (RH, 17.00) June. A mash-up of love story, mystery, and supernatural featuring a young man who is kidnapped and held captive by his crazed-scientist, substitute teacher, and when he escapes he finds that he has an uncontrollable power that endangers anyone he loves.

King, Stephen, ed. Flight or Fright (SS, 17.00) June. A collection flight-based horror stories. If you weren’t a nervous flier, you will be after reading this.

____. The Outsider (SS, 16.00) June. When the body of a young boy is found, a Little League coach is arrested for the murder despite his alibi, but did he really do it? Is he an innocent victim or a monster?

LaPlante, Alice. Half Moon Bay (SS, 17.00) July. A woman devastated by the death of her teenaged daughter moves to the seaside town of Half Moon Bay where she tries to start her life anew, but a series of murders of young girls in the area focusses the attention of the townspeople on her. I loved this.

Laurin, Nina. The Starter Wife (GC, 14.99) July. A woman believes that her marriage to a college professor whose wife committed suicide is fated to be—until she reads an email that makes her think that he may have killed is first wife in a thriller with a great plot twist.

Liebert, Emily. Pretty Revenge (SS, 16.00) July. A woman who feels that her life has been destroyed by another woman, a glamorous socialite with a perfect marriage and a thriving business, vows to avenge the wrongs she has suffered, because only she knows the dark secret the other woman is concealing.

Logan, T.M. Lies (STM, 16.99) July. In a psychological thriller, a man discovers that his wife is having an affair with her best friend’s husband, and when the husband disappears after an altercation, the man must hunt for him to save himself from murder charge, and then realizes that everything he thought he knew about his life is lies.

Lundrigan, Nicole. Hideaway (Vik, 17.95) July. A manipulating and controlling woman takes advantage of her son’s running away from home to force her husband to return to the family, using their young daughter as a pawn in her machinations in a novel of psychological suspense.

MacDonald, Patricia. The Girl in the Woods (IPS, 14.00) July. In a gripping novel of psychological suspense, a woman hears her sister’s deathbed confession dealing with the death of her best friend fifteen years before, a confession that makes clear that the man convicted of the crime is innocent—and the killer is still out there.

Mackay, Niki. I, Witness (LB, 13.99) June. A woman who pled guilty to the murder of her best friend and served six years in prison for the crime asks for help from the arresting officer, now a PI, when she is released—because she is innocent, in a debut novel of suspense.

Marshall, Laura. Three Little Lies (GC, 15.99) June. When her roommate goes missing, her friend of many years is worried, and when long-buried secrets are revealed she worries for both of them in a novel of psychological suspense.

Massey, Gale. The Girl from Blind River (Per, 15.99) July. A gritty country-noir debut about a girl who is in debt to her crooked uncle and must help him dispose of a body only to find her younger brother accused of murdering the relative of a powerful local judge.

McCafferty, Keith. A Death in Eden (Vik, 16.00) July. Montana fishing guide and sometimes PI Sean Stranahan is hired to guide a fishing party down the Smith River, the site of a proposed new copper mining project vehemently opposed by environmentalists, and he discovers that two of the party, while on opposite sides of the issue, share a dark history.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Quiet Side of Passion (RH, 15.95) June. Isabel Dalhousie finds herself ensnared in domestic problems when she sees the mother of her son’s friend in the company of an unscrupulous man and wonders if she should intervene.

Mejia, Mindy. Leave no Trace (SS, 16.99) July. A language therapist is charged with establishing a connection with a boy who reappeared after being presumed dead ten years ago on a camping trip with his father finds that they have a non-professional connection related to her past.

Moore, Jonathan. Blood Relations (HMH, 14.99) June. A San Francisco PI is hired by a wealthy woman whose daughter is found dead in an alleged suicide, but while researching her life he comes across a conspiracy to keep the truth of the young woman’s life and death hidden.

Moore, Syd. Strange Tombs (IPS, 14.95) June. The Essex Witch Museum investigators are called in when one of a group taking a course in suspense and mystery writing at old Ratchett Hall is found dead clutching the stone finger of a tomb effigy, and it takes all of their knowledge of folklore, magic, and mystery to find the solution. This is a charming paranormal series.

Mosley, Walter. John Woman (Per, 16.00) July. A suspenseful story of a man who transforms himself into a history professor at a southwestern university, but whose past involving a hideous crime may catch up with him. This is a thriller that is also a novel of ideas.

Oates, Joyce Carol. The Triumph of the Spider Monkey (Hard Case, 9.95) July. A reissue of a novel dealing with the Manson killings, written in the 1970s.

Orczy, Baroness. The Old Man in the Corner: The Teahouse Detective (Pushkin, 12.95) June. A reissue of the classic stories from the Golden Age, featuring a young reporter who meets an elderly gentleman in a tea shop with an uncanny ability to solve crimes. Great fun.

Overton, Hollie. The Runaway (Hach, 15.99) July. An LAPD psychologist must find her runaway foster daughter, who has been dragged back to the streets by the one person she cannot afford to lose.

Patterson, James and Bill Clinton. The President is Missing (LB, 17.99) June. A suspenseful political thriller set over three days filled with insider detail.

Penny, Louise. Kingdom of the Blind (STM, 16.99) June. Gamache is on suspension from the Sûreté du Québec, but he manages to become embroiled in another murder when he and psychologist-turned-bookseller Myrna are enlisted to be executors of a stranger’s will and one of the beneficiaries turns up dead.

Perks, Heidi. Her One Mistake (SS, 16.00) July. In a debut novel of psychological suspense, a child goes missing at a school fair, and the mother who was caring for her must tell her best friend that she lost her only child, but despite the emotional trauma, the two woman must find a way to work together in order to find the missing child.

Preston, Douglas. Talking to the Ground (SS, 17.00) June. The reissue of a classic travel book detailing the author’s travels through Navajo country on horseback, which combines natural history, Navajo history, and the difficulties of travelling on horseback. If you love the southwest as much as I do, you’ll love this.

Reid, Iain. Foe (SS, 16.00) July. A philosophical thriller set in the near future about a couple living on an isolated farm who must adjust when the husband is chosen to travel far away, and someone will take his place on the farm. You’ll want to read this in one sitting.

Retsky, Allan. Vanished in the Dunes (Ocean, 16.00) June. A Wall Street trader fired for irregularities and on the verge of losing his wife doesn’t think things can get worse—until he agrees to take a beautiful woman on a tour of the elegant community in the Hamptons where he lives.

Ritz, Susan Z. A Dream to Die For (IPS, 16.95) July. A woman who belongs to a cult that believes in precognitive dreams finds the body of the cult leader and becomes the main suspect in his death.

Robertson, L.F. Next of Kin (RH, 14.95) June. Death-Row attorney Janet Moodie takes the case of a woman convicted of hiring her daughter’s boyfriend to murder her husband, and Moodie is soon convinced of the woman’s innocence and equally convinced that the woman is keeping quiet in order to protect someone, but who?

Rosenfelt, David. Rescued (STM, 16.99) June. Andy Carpenter is torn about defending the man accused of murdering the driver of a truck transporting over 70 dogs from the South to the more rescue-friendly north—especially because the accused is the ex-fiancé of his wife.

Sandford, John. Rules of Prey (Put, 9.99) June. A trade paper reissue of the first in the Lucas Davenport series.

Sandlin, Lisa. The Bird Boys (Cinco Puntos, 16.95) July. In the second in this series set in Texas in the 1970s parolee Delpha Wade and her PI boss are hired by a man to find his long-lost brother, but it soon becomes clear that the man is not who he says he is and that one of the brothers is a killer. I love this series for its humanity and its humor.

Shaffer, Andrew. Hope Rides Again (Quirk, 14.99) July. Obama and Biden meet up again in Chicago and must find Barry’s stolen Blackberry in a case that leads to murder and uncovering a dangerous conspiracy. The first of these was great fun.

Silver, Mitch. The Bookworm (Peg, 16.95) June. When a skeletal hand is found in a London construction dating back to WWII, a Russian historian investigates a mystery that dates back to 1940 and Hitler’s decision to attack the Soviet Union and is part of a present-day conspiracy between the nefarious Russian president and the newly-elected U.S. president in a timely thriller.

Smith, Martin Cruz. Nightwing (SS, 16.00) June. A reissue of one of my favorite horror novels ever—and it’s set in Arizona. Do not read this when you’re alone!

Stage, Zoje. Baby Teeth (STM, 16.99) July. A creepy thriller about a stay-at-home mom who really doesn’t know what to do with her child who refuses to speak, has increasingly violent tantrums, loves her daddy obsessively, and sees her mommy as an impediment.

Steinhauer, Olen. The Middleman (STM, 18.00) June. A thriller that begins when hundreds of people around the U.S. get a call, leave behind their belongings, and disappear as part of a cult organized by a social justice revolutionary who believes that the only way to change the political system is through assassinations. I really loved this.

Straley, John. Baby’s First Felony (Soho, 16.95) June. Criminal defense investigator Cecil Younger finds himself with a load of cash, a freezer full of drug-stuffed fish, and a kidnapped daughter, so he turns to the misfit gang of clients to help him out in a funny mystery set in Sitka, Alaska.

Stroby, Wallace. Some Die Nameless (Mull, 16.00) July. A former mercenary who was part of a force that put a ruthless South American dictator in power and an investigative journalist are brought together by a homicide in Philadelphia that reveals a twenty-year-old political conspiracy, making them the targets of a ruthless assassin.

Truhen, Aidan. The Price You Pay (RH, 16.95) June. A cocaine dealer who has led a violence-free existence is shocked when his elderly neighbor is killed execution style, and he realizes that someone is out to get him, specifically a shadowy assassination group including a former associate. I really liked this very-noir noir.

Tynes, Natasha. They Called Me Wyatt (IPS, 16.00) June. When a Jordanian student in Maryland is murdered her consciousness survives mysteriously in the body of a three-year-old boy, but he has a medical procedure that quiets her voice until twenty years later, when he finds himself obsessed with the murder of a Jordanian student in a literary fantasy.

Verdon, John. White River Burning (Per, 16.95) July. Retired NYPD detective Dave Gurney is called in when the upstate town of White River explodes in racial violence on the anniversary of the killing of a black motorist by police, violence that leads to first the killing of a police officer, and then further killings that may be retaliation. Verdon is absolutely great, a huge favorite of mine.

Walbert, Kate. His Favorites (SS, 15.00) June. A teenaged girl who feels responsible for the death of her friend in an accident enrolls in a private school where she is comforted by a teacher—in all the wrong ways—and the school fails to protect her in a relevant and devastating story.

Walker, Nico. Cherry (RH, 16.95) June. A college dropout enlists in the army in 2003 and becomes a medic in Iraq where he becomes addicted to opioids, and after he returns home, reunited with his girlfriend, he finds that the only way to maintain his habit and keep his PTSD in check is to rob banks in a brilliant and imaginative debut.

Ward, J.R. Consumed (SS, 16.00) June. A former firefighter turned arson investigator must find a killer who is setting a series of fires in her Massachusetts town before he makes her his next victim.

Wilson, Carter. The Dead Girl in 2A (Source, 15.99) July. A man who recognizes his seatmate on a flight from Boston to Denver—but can’t remember from where—is surprised that both of them suffer from memory problems, and when she tells him that she is considering suicide, he decides to save her in a case that is tied to a memory research clinical trial.

New and Forthcoming in International Mysteries

Black, Cara. Murder in Bel-Air (Soho, 27.95) June. When her mother disappears Paris PI Aimée LeDuc discovers that the last person she talked to has been found murdered with a large amount of money in her possession in a case involving post-colonial Franco-African politics.

Brabazon, James. The Break Line (Brk, 9.99) July. A debut thriller set in Sierra Leone, where a British intelligence operative is sent to hunt for a terrorist leader, but what he finds is someone who is slaughtering innocent villagers, and it just may be the British ally.

Cercas, Javier. The Imposter (RH, 17.00) July. Spain’s most famous Holocaust survivor, a man whose experience of the concentration camps led to speeches, interviews, and awards from the government, in 2005 was revealed to be a fraud who had never been near a camp much less in one. Cercas attempts to solve the enigma of this man and also the ways people—and governments--allow themselves to be duped.

Clifford, Aoife. Second Sight (Peg, 25.95) July. A lawyer returns to her hometown in Australia partly to see family and a friend and also because she wants to put together a class-action suit against the local electric company for causing a fatal bushfire, but when she sees a fight involving someone she remembers from childhood, it triggers memories of the disappearance of her best friend in 1996.

Cotterill, Colin. Don’t Eat Me (Soho, 15.95) July. Laotian coroner Dr. Siri investigates when the body of a woman is found showing signs of having been gnawed on, in a case that involves predators both four-footed and two-footed.

Dahl, Alex. The Heart Keeper (Brk, 16.00) July. A Norwegian woman whose daughter drowned and whose heart was transplanted into the body of another young girl decides to befriend the girl and her family as a way of staying close to her daughter in a riveting novel of psychological suspense.

Disher, Garry. Under the Cold Bright Lights (Soho, 26.95) July. A standalone featuring a former Melbourne homicide detective who comes out of retirement to work on four cold cases, including the case of a doctor may have gotten away with the murder of his first two wives.

Domini, John. The Color inside a Melon (IPS, 16.95) June. When a Somali immigrant is murdered in Naples, a refuge from Mogadishu, the successful owner of an art gallery married to a Neapolitan, decides to investigate and soon finds himself in way over his head.

Edvardsson, M.T. A Nearly Normal Family (Celadon, 26.99) June. When a recent high-school graduate stands accused of murdering a shady businessman fifteen years her senior, her pastor father and her attorney mother must come to grips with a crime that is destroying their family in a Swedish legal thriller.

Eekhaut, Guido. Purgatory (Sky, 25.99) July. A veteran Brussels police inspector remains in Amsterdam where he has been sent, but he returns to his home country when seven charred bodies are found in the Belgian Ardennes in a case that suggests a macabre ritual in the second of this best-selling Euro-crime series.

Faldbakken, Matias. The Waiter (SS, 24.99) Oct. A debut novel by a Norwegian writer about a waiter in a formal European restaurant whose well-ordered world is turned upside down when a beautiful guest upsets the balance. I really liked this off-beat gem.

Giolito, Malin Persson. Beyond All Reasonable Doubt (RH, 16.99) June. When a Swedish lawyer is encouraged by her former professor to free an innocent man, she agrees to appeal the case of a doctor convicted of murdering a fifteen-year-old girl, but as she works on the case she becomes more and more conflicted as to whether her client should be freed.

Giono, Jean. A King Alone (NYRB, 14.95) June. A never-before translated classic French detective story set in a small Alpine village in the mid-nineteenth century where an enigmatic detective is sent to investigate the mysterious disappearance of several villagers.

Holmén, Martin. Slugger (Pushkin, 14.95) July. Ex-boxer, ex-con Harry Kvist vows to find a killer when his friend is found dead, and his investigation leads him to Nazi Germany in the third in the trilogy set in Stockholm in 1936.

Holt, Anne. In Dust and Ashes (SS, 17.00) June. In the tenth and final book in the Hanne Wilhelmsen series, she investigates a miscarriage of justice at the behest of her friend, and finds that the murder of a woman fifteen years before has connections to the suicide of a right-wing blogger.

Jacobs, Ryan. The Truffle Underground (RH, 16.00) June. The fungus that turns anything into a gourmet delight is also the cause of a criminal underground of intrigue, sabotage, and crime in this delightful combination of food and crime in the French countryside.

Kamali, Marjan. The Stationery Shop (SS, 27.00) June. In Tehran in 1953, an idealistic young woman falls in love with a young man, but the night before their wedding, he disappears in the chaos of a coup d’état that changes Iran’s future, and it is sixty years later that they meet again in a novel of love, reconciliation, and the quirks of fate.

Karjel, Robert. After the Monsoon (HC, 16.99) July. Swedish detective Ernst Grip is sent to the Horn of Africa when a Swedish army lieutenant dies suddenly, but solving the mystery of the man’s death plunges him into a world of intrigue, greed, and dark dealings where it’s hard to distinguish the good guys from the bad.

Kracht, Christian. The Dead (FSG, 17.00) July. A prizewinning novel of movies, murder, and Nazis, where a Swiss filmmaker is hired in the early 1930s to make a movie in Japan about the far reach of Hitler’s empire, but he is planning to create a film that will show the dangers of the rise of Nazism with the help of his Jewish friends.

Matthews, Owen. Black Sun (BDD, 26.95) July. In the first of a new series set in the USSR in 1961, a military policeman must solve the murder of a young scientist at a nuclear testing facility as quickly possible before the detonation of a bomb while running into bureaucratic roadblocks at every turn.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Second-Worst Restaurant in France (RH, 25.95) July. Scottish cookbook writer Paul Stuart goes to visit his cousin living in a small village in the French countryside, renowned for having a truly terrible restaurant, and while trying to improve the gastronomic level, he stumbles on some family secrets.

Musso, Guillaume. The Reunion (Hach, 28.00) July. Three prep-school friends reunite 25 years after the disappearance of one of their group of friends who was thought to have run off with her teacher, but the demolition of a wall in one of the school buildings will reveal a secret that the three have been keeping for all these years.

Nesbo, Jø. Knife (RH, 27.95) July. Harry Hole returns to the Oslo police department assigned to the cold case department, but he is obsessed with a rapist/murderer he arrested once, now being released from prison.

Nieh, Daniel. Beijing Payback (Ecco, 26.99) July. A man is shocked by a letter he finds after his father is murdered, a letter that reveals that his father was secretly part of a crime syndicate formed under China’s communist years, and he vows to find his father’s killer, no matter how dangerous it may be.

Righetto, Matteo. Soul of the Border (SS, 25.00) June. A novel of revenge and corruption set in nineteenth-century Italy where a young woman braves the mountainous Italian-Austrian border to discover what happened to her father who disappeared on a trip smuggling tobacco into Austria.

Ruiz Zafón, Carlos. Labyrinth of the Spirits (HC, 18.99) June. In the finale of the cycle of books dealing with the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, an investigator in Barcelona is asked to solve one last case before she leaves her job, the mysterious disappearance of the Minister of Culture, a case with ties to the cruelty and corruption of the Franco regime.

Shimada, Soji. Murder in the Crooked House (Pushkin, 14.95) June. A fiendishly clever locked-room mystery by the Japanese master of the detective story.

Simenon, Georges. Maigret and the Tramp (Png, 13.00) June and Maigret’s Anger (Png, 13.00) July. Two more reissues of the classic series.

Slepikas, Alvydas. In the Shadow of Wolves (IPS, 24.95) July. A debut Lithuanian novel set during WWII about the “wolf children,” orphaned and starving, who were forced into the forests of East Prussia to escape the advancing armies.

Walker, Martin. The Body in the Castle Well (RH, 25.95) June. When the body of a young American graduate student is found in the well of a local castle, Bruno investigates the past of the Resistance hero and art historian with whom she was staying, a man who became fabulously wealthy selling art that she suggested might have been falsely attributed. An excellent charming series.

_____. A Taste for Vengeance (RH, 16.00) June. Bruno must investigate when a British tourist signed up for a culinary course fails to arrive, and discovers a tangled web of relationships between the missing woman, her husband, and the Irishman she was travelling with.

Zander, Joakim. The Friend (HC, 16.99) June. A young Swedish diplomat newly stationed in Beirut falls obsessively in love with a handsome young man who claims to be a war photographer working in Syria, but when an intelligence officer claims that his lover is a wanted terrorist, the diplomat doesn’t know who to believe.

Zepeda, Jorge. The Black Jersey (RH, 27.00) June. When a series of violent “accidents” occur during the Tour de France, a French-Colombian cyclist with a military background is asked by the authorities to help with the investigation from the inside, but it soon becomes apparent that with each passing day and each new accident both the pool of potential winners as well as the pool of suspects is dwindling.

New and Forthcoming in Historical Mysteries

Alexander, Tasha. Uneasy Lies the Crown (STM, 17.99) July. When the dying Queen Victoria hands her diplomat husband a cryptic note, he and Lady Emily investigate a series of murders that mimic the deaths of English kings, not sure if the murders are political or personal in the latest in this late Victorian series.

Anderson, Kent. Night Dogs (Mull, 16.99) June. A police officer in 1970s Portland patrols the meanest streets, unable to forget his experiences in Vietnam, but someone is prying into his service record and he must sacrifice everything for honor. This is a powerful, violent and lyrical novel. Highly recommended.

Ashley, Jennifer. Death in Kew Gardens (Brk, 15.00) June. When a neighbor who is known as a “China hand” is found murdered, a Chinese scholar is accused of the crime, but the young cook Kat is sure of his innocence in the third in this Victorian series.

Beaufort, Simon. Watchers of the Dead (SH, 28.99) July. In the second Victorian mystery a scientist at London’s Natural History Museum is found dead and the suspects are three members of a cannibalistic African tribe brought to be living museum exhibits and who disappeared at the same time the scientist was last seen alive, but two reporters covering the story uncover a series of murders of prominent men and a mysterious social club.

Bowen, Rhys. Four Funerals and Maybe a Wedding (Brk, 16.00) July. Georgie is taken aback when the queen decides to attend her wedding, turning a simple affair into a royal extravaganza, but first she must survive house-hunting, a task that makes her think someone wants her dead.

Burke, James Lee. The Jealous Kind (SS, 16.99) July. A coming of age novel set in 1950s Texas. Highly recommended.

Chaudhry, Mamta. Haunting Paris (RH, 25.95) June. Set in Paris is 1989, a recently widowed piano teacher discovers a letter to her husband about a girl he had been looking for since WWII, the daughter of his beloved sister who died at Auschwitz, and is compelled to take up the search. I absolutely loved this debut novel of love and family.

Clare, Alys. The Woman Who Spoke to Spirits (SH, 28.99) June. In the first of a new series set in 1880 London, a woman who has started a private enquiry agency is hired by a man whose wife, a spirit medium, claims to be warned by her spirit guides of impending danger, and it turns out that there is a link to a series of disappearances in Battersea.

Clark, Clare. In the Full Light of the Sun (HMH, 27.00) July. An art-history mystery set in Weimar-era Berlin and based on a real-life forgery scandal, this is the story of an art dealer with an impressive collection of van Gogh paintings, an aging art-expert with a knack for identifying forgeries, and a Jewish lawyer whose involvement in the scheme reflects the rising threats to his professional and personal life.

Cleverly, Barbara. Fall of Angels (Soho, 15.95) July. In the first of a new series set in 1920s Cambridge, a young policeman is in the audience when the trumpet soloist at a Christmas concert falls to her death at curtain fall, in what becomes the first of a series of murders of young women. I loved this for its strong re-creation of the time and its clever plotting.

Davis, Lindsey. A Capitol Death (STM, 27.99) July. Flavia Alba finds herself embroiled in a messy political case when the official in charge of organizing public triumphs for the Emperor Domitian is pushed to his death from the Tarpeian Rock above the Forum.

Dybek, Nick. The Verdun Affair (SS, 17.00) Aug. A novel about war and its effects on the survivors that moves from 1920s France to 1950s Hollywood that is also a love story between two Americans—one a former ambulance driver and the other a widow searching for her missing husband—who meet a German journalist in Italy where they go to meet an amnesiac patient, possibly the woman’s husband. I really liked this.

Ellroy, James. This Storm (Knopf, 29.95) June. When a body is found in Griffith Park in L.A. in 1942 the four-man homicide group assigned to the case come to realize that the dead man was involved somehow in numerous fifth column groups bent on destroying the U.S., and further that the investigation could end of showing the unit’s many ties to un-American groups.

Forry, Lauren A. Abigale Hall (SS, 15.99) June. In a debut Gothic mystery set in a crumbling country house in Wales after WWII, two orphaned sisters go to work for a mysterious man who takes them from London, and they discover that the house holds dark and dangerous secrets when supernatural events occur.

Fox, Margolit. Conan Doyle for the Defense (RH, 18.00) June. When a Jewish man was convicted of murdering an elderly woman on the flimsiest of evidence in London in 1908, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, became obsessed with the case and worked tirelessly to exonerate the man, who was finally released in 1927.

Freeman, Dianne. A Lady’s Guide to Etiquette and Murder (Ken, 15.95) June. In the first of a new series set in Victorian London, the American-born Countess of Harleigh is enjoying her widowhood when she learns of a series of burglaries plaguing the elite, and a murder causes her to worry that her younger sister’s debutante season could be ruined.

_____. A Lady’s Guide to Gossip and Murder (Ken, 26.00) July. When her friend is found murdered, the Countess of Harleigh is surprised, but she is shocked to discover that her friend may have been a blackmailer as well after she finds detailed notes on the indiscretions of the elite in her house.

Goldberg, Leonard. The Disappearance of Alistair Ainsworth (STM, 26.99) June. The daughter of Sherlock Holmes and the Watsons are asked to help free an English cryptographer who has been taken prisoner by the Germans who want to ferret out British plans for the Great War.

Greenburg, Martin, ed. Sherlock Holmes in America (SS, 16.99) July. A collection of short stories that bring the famous sleuth across the pond to America.

Hart, Elsa. City of Ink (STM, 18.99) July. Librarian Li Du, working in Beijing for Chief Inspector Sun, accompanies him to a murder site at a tile factory where the owner’s wife and a contract negotiator have been found with their throats slit, and, unconvinced that it was a crime of passion, Li Du investigates on his own in the third in this series set in eighteenth-century China.

Hlad, Alan. The Long Flight Home (Ken, 26.00) June. A novel set in 1940 featuring a British woman who trains homing pigeons and an American flier in the RAF who come together during a covert mission to airlift pigeons to occupied France so they can bring back information on German troop movements. Never let anyone call pigeons flying rats—they have been an important part of military operations all through history and are smart and affectionate creatures.

King, Laurie R. Island of the Mad (Ban, 17.00) June. When an old friend’s aunt fails to return from a supervised outing from Bedlam, the mental asylum, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes agree to look into the matter, which soon turns more serious when jewels are found missing.

Klein Ross, Helen. The Latecomers (Hach, 16.99) July. A young Irishwoman runs off to America with her lover in 1908, and after his death takes a job caring for the children in a wealthy New England household, but a mysterious death changes everyone’s life, and it’s not until five generations later that the dark secret is revealed.

Lawrence, Mary. The Alchemist of Lost Souls (Ken, 15.95) June. In the latest in this series set in Tudor London, Bianca is asked to investigate by her alchemist father after a dangerous substance disappears from his laboratory and people begin dying.

Lippman, Laura. Lady in the Lake (HC, 26.99) July. In 1966 Baltimore, a middle-class housewife leaves her stifling marriage to become a crime reporter and investigates the death of a young African-American woman, an investigation that leads back to the periphery of her old life.

MacNeal, Susan Elia. The Prisoner in the Castle (Ban, 16.00) July. Maggie Hope is being held captive in a remote Scottish castle with other SOE agents, when her fellow prisoners begin dying one by one, and she must discover which of the trained spies among them is a murderer before she becomes the next victim in the latest in this wonderful series set during WWII.

Mark, David. The Mausoleum (SH, 28.99) June. In a standalone mystery set in 1967, two women in the north of England meet at the graveyard in an isolated village and are stunned when the body of a man falls out of a mausoleum struck by lightning, but when the body disappears, the two investigate a mystery with ties to WWII.

Mason, Tim. The Darwin Affair (Algonquin, 27.95) June. A Victorian historical thriller about the assassination attempt against Queen Victoria in 1860, featuring the real-life policeman DI Charles Field and a host of eminent Victorians including Karl Marx and Charles Darwin.

Maxwell, Alyssa. Murder at Ochre Court (Ken, 15.95) July. Reporter Emma Cross is sent back to Newport to report on the debutante ball of a wealthy heiress who is electrocuted during her grand entrance, turning a society piece into a murder investigation.

McGuire, Tom. Steller’s Orchid (IPS, 15.95) June. In 1924 a naturalist travels to Alaska hunting for a rare orchid described in 1741 and never seen again, a quest that has tragic consequences.

McKenna, Clara. Murder at Morrington Hall (Ken, 26.00) June. When a Kentucky heiress goes to visit an aristocratic British family with her ambitious father in 1904, she soon realizes that she is to be the new wife to the financially-strapped heir, a match might not happen when the local vicar is found dead in the library in the first of a new late-Victorian series.

Meacham, Leila. Dragonfly (GC, 28.00) July. A fast-paced, suspenseful WWII espionage tale set in 1942 in Nazi-occupied Paris where five American spies are sent to gather information to assist Allied forces, and while they all work together at first, when one is captured, each is left alone to survive.

Montclair, Allison. The Right Sort of Man (STM, 26.99) June. Two women, one a spinster and one a war widow, open a matrimonial bureau in Mayfair in 1946, but their business barely gets off the ground when one of their clients is found dead and the man they had matched her up with becomes the police suspect in a charming debut and first of a series. Highly recommended.

Mosse, Kate. The Burning Chambers (STM, 27.99) June. In the first of a new series set in the last decade of the sixteenth century in France during the clashes between the Roman Catholics and the Huguenots, a young woman who works in her father’s bookshop receives a cryptic note in an envelope sealed with a distinctive aristocratic seal, but the dangers of the religious wars overshadow the personal danger she faces.

Purcell, Laura. The Poison Thread (Png, 16.00) June. When a wealthy woman meets a young seamstress in prison for murder, she cannot decide if the young woman is mad or possessed of a supernatural power to kill with a needle and thread in a creepy Victorian gothic tale.

Purser-Hallard, Philip. Sherlock Holmes—The Vanishing Man (RH, 14.95) June. Holmes and Watson investigate the disappearance of a self-proclaimed psychic from a locked room in front of witnesses.

Redmond, Heather. A Tale of Two Murders (Ken, 15.95) June. Charles Dickens is an amateur sleuth in a new series that finds the novelist investigating the death of a neighbor woman who may have been poisoned in a debut mystery set in Victorian London.

Rhys, Rachel. Fatal Inheritance (SS, 17.00) June. An English housewife inherits a house on the glamorous French Riviera from a stranger, but she must combat dangerous rivals to her fortune and her confining husband in an excellent mystery set in the 1940s. I loved this.

Rindell, Suzanne. Eagle and Crane (Put, 16.00) July. Two stunt pilots—one Japanese-American--in the Depression-Era West find their friendship strained after Pearl Harbor, and when one of the planes crashes with two bodies aboard, the consensus is that the Japanese flyer was helping his father escape from an internment camp, a view not held by the FBI agent assigned to the case.

Rosenstock, Martin, ed. Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Seven (RH, 14.95) July. Seven new novellas featuring Holmes and Dr. Watson.

Ryan, Jennifer. The Spies of Shilling Lane (RH, 27.00) June. Recently divorced and unhappy with village life, a woman travels to London during the Blitz to see her estranged daughter, but when she discovers that her daughter is missing she enlists the help of her landlord, a meek accountant to help her with the search—a search that soon proves dangerous when they uncover a group of British fascist traitors. I loved this charming espionage novel.

Saylor, Steven. The Throne of Caesar (STM, 18.99) June. Even though the reader knows the who and why of the murder, the latest Roman mystery featuring Gordianus the Finder set just days before the Ides of March remains suspenseful to the end as Gordianus agrees to help Cicero and Caesar investigate the truth of a soothsayer’s prophecy of doom.

Setterfield, Diane. Once Upon a River (SS, 17.00) July. A magical novel set in a village on the Thames where the appearance of the body of a young girl at the local bar changes life in the community after she mysteriously revives and is claimed by three unhappy families. I loved this.

Steinhagen, Jon. The Hanging Artist (SS, 11.99) June. A surrealist fantasy where Franz Kafka investigates a series of mysterious hangings in 1924 Vienna with the help of a giant talking cockroach.

Todd, Charles. A Forgotten Place (HC, 15.99) June. Bess Crawford travels to Wales after realizing the plight of Welsh veterans of the Great War, particularly amputees, who no longer can work in the coal mines, but she finds herself in a remote and isolated area with a murderer and no one to help.

Tremayne, Peter. Blood in Eden (SH, 28.99) July. When a farm family in an idyllic village is slaughtered, a stranger is accused of the crime and on the point of being lynched when Sister Fidelma arrives in time to save him, but now she must find the killer or the stranger may not survive for long.

Uhly, Steven. Kingdom of Twilight (LB, 16.99) July. A young Jewish woman in occupied Poland in 1944 shoots an SS officer and finds herself fleeing the advance of the Russian army with her newborn baby in a novel that shows the aftermath of violence on ordinary people in a world that is completely different from what they knew in the past.

Whitehead, Colson. The Nickel Boys (RH, 24.95) July. A powerful novel set in 1960s Florida where a young, college-bound black man is sent to a reformatory after a youthful mistake and must try to survive without giving up the ideals of his hero, Martin Luther King. The reformatory is based on a real, truly horrible place.

Wilson, Andrew. Death in a Desert Land (SS, 28.00, hc, 17.00, tp) July. Mystery writer Agatha Christie goes to Persia to investigate the death of an archaeologist at the famous site of Ur and finds herself confronting Mrs. Woolley, another archaeologist. Christie was in fact married to archaeologist Max Mallowan and spent time at the excavation of Ur.

Of Special Interest

Clues Unlimited is changing its hours through the summer: 11:00-6:00 Wednesday through Saturday, 12:00-4:00 on Sunday. Also, we will be closed from July 4 through July 9, reopening Wednesday, July 10. Have a safe and happy holiday.

Enjoy the long, hot Tucson summer with a glass of iced tea and a mystery!

Chris and Cappy