Monday, March 24, 2025

Tuesday Tomorrow

Blood on Her Tongue by Johanna Van Veen
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 368Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
""I'm in your blood, and you are in mine..."

The Netherlands, 1887. Lucy's twin sister Sarah is unwell. She refuses to eat, mumbles nonsensically, and is increasingly obsessed with a centuries-old corpse recently discovered on her husband's grand estate. The doctor has diagnosed her with temporary insanity caused by a fever of the brain. To protect her twin from a terrible fate in a lunatic asylum, Lucy must unravel the mystery surrounding her sister's condition, but it's clear her twin is hiding something. Then again, Lucy is harboring secrets of her own, too.

Then, the worst happens. Sarah's behavior takes a turn for the strange. She becomes angry...and hungry.

Lucy soon comes to suspect that something is trying to possess her beloved sister. Or is it madness? As Sarah changes before her very eyes, Lucy must reckon with the dark, monstrous truth, or risk losing her forever."

Could it be vampires? I think vampires.

Gothictown by Emily Carpenter
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In an immersive Southern Gothic with echoes of Shirley Jackson's The Lottery and Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn, a restauranteur lured by pandemic-era incentives moves her family to a seemingly idyllic small town in Georgia, only to discover a darkness lurking beneath the Southern hospitality and sun-dappled streets...

Welcome to gentle Juliana, where you can have it all...if you pay the price.

The email that lands in Billie Hope’s inbox seems like a gift from the universe. For $100, she can purchase a spacious Victorian home in Juliana, Georgia, a small town eager to boost its economy in the wake of the pandemic. She can leave behind her cramped New York City rental and the painful memories of shuttering her once thriving restaurant and start over with her husband and her daughter. Plus, she'll get a business grant to open a new restaurant in a charming riverside community laden with opportunity. It seems like a dream come true…or a devil's bargain.

A few phone calls and one hurried visit later, and Billie, Peter, and six-year-old Meredith are officially part of the Juliana Initiative. The town is everything promised - two hours northwest of Atlanta but a world away from city living, a "gentle jewel" with weather as warm as its people. Between settling into their lavish home and starting her new restaurant, Billie is busy enough to dismiss any troubling signs...

But Billie's sleep is marred by haunting dreams, and her marriage with Peter is growing increasingly strained. Meanwhile the town elders, all descended from Juliana's founding families, exert a level of influence that feels less benevolent and more stifling day by day.

There's something about "Gentle Juliana" - something off-kilter and menacing beneath that famous Southern hospitality. And no matter how much Billie longed for her family to come here, she's starting to wonder how, and if, they'll ever leave.

For readers of Stacy Willingham, Sarah Langan, Ashley Winstead, and Jess Lourey, a bewitchingly foreboding story about sacrifice, privilege, family, guilt, and the vengeful ghosts of a haunted past - from the bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls."

I really like this new and interesting take on what has become pandemic literature.

The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree by India Hayford
Published by: A John Scognamiglio Book
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Disguised by a name she found on a tombstone and accompanying a Vietnam vet she met in a graveyard, an unconventional young snake-handler who talks to the dead returns to the ghosts of her childhood home in 1967 Arkansas...

Readers of Delia Owens, Barbara Kingsolver, Kelly Mustian, and Quinn Connor will be captivated by this haunting Southern debut about found family, folk magic, the long shadow of trauma, the salvation of human connection, and the transcendent beauty of nature.

Genevieve Charbonneau talks to ghosts and has a special relationship with rattlesnakes. In her travels, she's wandered throughout the South, escaping a mental hospital in Alabama, working for a Louisiana circus, and dancing at a hoochy-kootch in Texas. Now for the first time in a decade, she's allowed her winding path to bring her to the site of her grandmother's Arkansas farmhouse, a place hallowed in her memory.

She intends only to visit briefly - to pay respects to her buried loved ones and leave. But a chance meeting with a haunted young Vietnam vet reconnects her with the remnants of a family she thought long gone, and their union becomes a catalyst for change and salvation. An abused woman and her daughters develop the courage to fight back, a ghost finds the path away from life, and a sanctimonious predator becomes the prey. In the process, Genevieve must choose between her longing for meaningful connection after years as an outsider and her equally excruciating impulse to run.

Written by a naturalist and set on the land where her family roots stretch back two centuries, The Song of the Blue Bottle Tree is a haunting story about letting go and the things we leave behind, the power of names, and the ties that bind. It is both harrowing and triumphant, a visceral Southern debut as otherworldly and beautiful as it is unflinching and wry."

When roots run deep.

I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins
Published by: Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A propulsive YA novel in verse that blends the contemporary magic of Jandy Nelson with the simmering feminist rage of Laurie Halse Anderson's Shout.

As far back as anyone can remember, the women of the Strand family have been magical.

Their gifts manifest when they each turn fifteen, always in different ways. But Nell Strand knows that her family's magic is a curse. Her mother's age changes every day; she's often too young to be the mother Nell needs. Her older sister bleeds music and will do anything to release the songs inside her. Nell sees the way magic rips her family apart again and again.

When Nell's own magic arrives in the form of ladybugs alighting on the keys of her beloved piano, the first thing she feels is joy. The ladybugs are a piece of her, a harmless and delicate manifestation of her creativity. But soon enough, the rest come. Thick-shelled glossy beetles that creep along her collarbone when her piano teacher stares at her. Soft gray moths that appear and die alongside a rush of disappointment. Worst of all are the wasps. It doesn't matter how deep she buries her rage, the wasps always come. Nell will have to decide just how much of herself she's willing to lock away to stop them - or if she can find the strength to feel, no matter the consequences.

An intense, emotional read simmering with rage and magic, I Am the Swarm is a captivating YA novel in verse that beautifully speaks to the complicated nature of growing up as a girl."

Damn, I'd hate to have my emotions literally tied to wasps.

The Keeper of Lonely Spirits by E.M. Anderson
Published by: Mira Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this mesmerizing, wonderfully moving queer cozy fantasy, an immortal ghost hunter must confront his tragic past in order to embrace his found family.

Find an angry spirit. Send it on its way before it causes trouble. Leave before anyone learns his name.

After over two hundred years, Peter Shaughnessy is ready to die and end this cycle. But thanks to a youthful encounter with one o' them folk in his native Ireland, he can't. Instead, he's cursed to wander eternally far from home, with the ability to see ghosts and talk to plants.

Immortality means Peter has lost everyone he's ever loved. And so he centers his life on the dead - until his wandering brings him to Harrington, Ohio. As he searches for a vengeful spirit, Peter's drawn into the townsfolk's lives, homes and troubles. For the first time in over a century, he wants something other than death.

But the people of Harrington will die someday. And he won't.

As Harrington buckles under the weight of the supernatural, the ghost hunt pits Peter's well-being against that of his new friends and the man he's falling for. If he stays, he risks heartbreak. If he leaves, he risks their lives."

Them folk are dangerous for sure. Just read a book about them

Kindred Spirits at Harling Hall by Sharon Booth
Published by: Boldwood Books Ltd
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 362 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first in a delightfully warm, cosy and romantic new series with a fantasy twist, for fans of the BBC series Ghosts.

Can Callie give some needy ghosts their happy-ever-afterlife, while making Rowan Vale her own forever home?

When cash-strapped single mum Callie visits the beautiful Cotswold village of Rowan Vale on a school trip with her daughter, she is enchanted. It's run as a living museum, with a steam railway, vintage teashop, Elizabethan manor house and old water mill allowing tourists to see history in action.

But there's more to Rowan Vale than meets the eye...

To Callie's surprise, the owner of the village, elderly Sir Lawrence Davenport, requests a meeting with her. It appears Callie has been observed talking to several villagers she shouldn't be able to see - as they're ghosts.

Sir Lawrence then makes an astonishing offer: to sell Callie the whole estate for a tiny sum, if she agrees to protect the village's present tenants and make sure the headstrong ghosts are represented too.

With a spectral lord of the manor and his imperious wife, a naughty 1940s schoolgirl and the man who once taught William Shakespeare among them, it seems Callie's role as owner wouldn't be easy.

And that's without the added complication of Lawrie's disinherited grandson, the gorgeous Brodie.

Rowan Vale and Callie may need each other. But is this a match made in heaven or hell?

Fans of the BBC's Ghosts, or books by Lucy Jane Wood, Laurie Gilmore and Heidi Swain will love this heart-warming and magical novel."

Oh, but think of the money should could make proving exactly who Shakespeare was!

A Wager at Midnight by Vanessa Riley
Published by: Zebra
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The stakes are high in this dazzling and diverse Regency romance, in which a clever duke has made a wager with the now-widowed Viscountess who is the love of his life: To win a second chance with her, he will find husbands for her two sisters - or resign himself to a life of longing in this enchanting tale from award-winning author Vanessa Riley.

Scarlett Wilcox is willing to live out her life as a spinster if it means being able to continue her medical research to help a friend in need. After all, few husbands would tolerate her dressing as a man to attend lectures at the Royal Academy of Science. If the Duke of Torrance finds her such a specimen, she'll agree to a marriage in name only, much to the dismay of her elder sister, the Viscountess.

When she's unmasked at a lecture on ophthalmology, Scarlett prepares to be disgraced, but she's saved by Trinidadian-born physician Stephen Carew who claims her as a cousin. Dedicated to caring for his community, Stephen has no wish to marry a frivolous and privileged lady, no matter how many fall for his disarming accent and seductive charm. But Scarlett proves the opposite of any he's ever met before. Yet the pressure to marry blinds them both to the chemistry growing between them, pitting their brilliant minds against their reluctant hearts - as the Duke and Viscountess await with bated breath to see who will win...A Wager at Midnight."

How about the Duke of Tolerance, amiright? 

The Lady Sparks a Flame by Elizabeth Everett
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Lady with a past. A man with ambition. A romance far from London society that might bridge their divides.

Lady Phoebe Hunt never anticipated returning from exile. A fatal choice drove her from England, but the death of her father - and the revelation of his debts - has brought her home. Once she settles her father's estate, she will return to America, where she has reinvented herself. There's no reason to remain, not even for one gravitationally challenged but deliciously tempting entrepreneur: Sam Fenley.

Samuel Fenley is all ambition. Rising from shop boy to wealthy investor, he's left knocking on doors that open only for those with a title. Unless he buys the damned door itself - and the estate that goes with it. Sam offers to relieve Phoebe of her burdens, but is her crumbling mansion all Sam wants? Or is it the Lady herself?

When threats from Phoebe's past spark new dangers, Sam and Phoebe discover that neither is what the other expected. Standing on the edge of disaster, the disgraced Ice Queen will have to decide if she wants to forge through life alone, or let an unlikely hero melt her heart."

Come on, new money and old falling for each other, who doesn't love that?

Miss Austen Investigates: A Fortune Most Fatal by Jessica Bull
Published by: Union Square and Co.
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A witty, engaging murder mystery featuring Jane Austen as an intrepid sleuth - the second installment in the Miss Austen Investigates series.

1797: A broken-hearted Jane Austen travels to Kent to look after her brother Neddy's children and further her writing. She soon realizes it's imperative she uncovers the true identity of a mysterious young woman claiming to be a shipwrecked foreign princess before the interloper can swindle Neddy's adoptive mother out of her fortune and steal the much-anticipated inheritance all the Austens rely on."

So, I guess we've sticking with this cover design. I thought it was cute on the first, now it's just too repetitive. 

The Whitechapel Widow by Emily Organ
Published by: Storm Publishing Ltd
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 414 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"London hunts the Ripper. A widow hunts her husband's killer.

London, 1888. While Jack the Ripper's reign of terror grips the city, Emma Langley's world shatters when her husband is found murdered in Whitechapel. But grief is quickly overshadowed by a startling discovery: William Langley was not the man she thought she knew.

As panic fills London's streets, Emma delves into her husband's secret life, uncovering a web of lies that stretches from glittering society drawing rooms to the seedy gambling dens of the East End. Aided by Penny Green, a former reporter with a nose for trouble, Emma follows a trail of blackmail and corruption.

But exposing her husband's killer could make her the next victim and in the shadows of gaslit streets, a murderer waits, ready to strike again...

From the bestselling author of Penny Green comes a spellbinding new Victorian mystery series introducing Emma Langley."

I think Emma is safe from Jack the Ripper and any other killer as she's being proudly "introduced."

Homicide in the Indian Hills by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Intrepid American newlywed Jane Wunderly learns that tigers aren't the only dangers lurking in 1920s India, when a murder in a popular resort town threatens to destabilize the local government and undermine the resistance movement for Indian self-rule...

Ooty, 1927: Accompanying Mr. Redvers on an assignment to Ootycamund to quell revolutionary rumblings, Jane finds there's more than meets the eye to India's Queen of Hill Stations. Ooty's lush tea plantations and tranquil gardens barely conceal its secrets - scandalous affairs, political sabotage, and a mounting anti-colonial movement. Even Redvers intends to subvert his official mission in Ooty, by arranging a series of clandestine meetings with local resistance leaders. But it's not until the shocking death of a British national that Jane and Redvers are truly drawn into Ooty's deepest shadows.

Jane's suspicions that the death is more than a tragic accident are soon confirmed, but word of a murder could stoke Ooty's simmering tensions into a full boil. Navigating corrupt local officials, festering personal vendettas, and a complicated network of bureaucratic entanglements that lead to the top tiers of government, Jane and Redvers edge closer to the truth…and its deadly consequences. Someone is willing to spill blood to protect their interests, will Jane become just another of Ooty's darkest secrets?"

Gotta support local authors! It helps when they're this good.

The Secret Detective Agency by Helena Dixon
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 264 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Meet Miss Jane Treen - the coffee-drinking cat lover dressed head to toe in tweed, who just happens to be a secret super sleuth!

London, 1941: Miss Jane Treen is at her desk, strong black coffee in hand and fluffy ginger cat by her side, when her top-secret government work is interrupted by an urgent call to Devon. A woman has been found dead in a lake in a place where she shouldn't have been. Jane needs to gather the clues and find the killer before someone else from the agency gets hurt...

Shy and handsome code-breaker Arthur Cilento is bewildered by the arrival of the efficient Miss Treen and her cat Marmaduke. She bursts into his life unexpectedly, forcing him out of his comfort zone. Placed at his country home to unravel the mystery, together, the reluctant colleagues huddle near the warmth of a crackling fire to piece together the murderous puzzle at hand.

In the sleepy Devon village, someone is hiding something: but is it the busybody vicar and his sister, the dutiful housekeeper and her secretive son, the stern librarian, or someone else altogether? And who were the people with the woman in the lake on the day she died?

No sooner have Arthur and Jane have drawn up a list of suspects, than a parcel reveals a clue that sends them in hot pursuit of a coded diary stashed in a village church. But as the heavy wooden door slams behind them and a key turns in the lock, one thing is sure: they need to unravel the truth and crack this code before the killer decides their number is up...

But if they can catch the culprit in time, might this unusual pair become the finest crime solving partnership since Sherlock and Watson hung up their hats...?

If you love twisty crime novels, top-secret intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Helena Dixon's totally gripping cozy novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright!"

Personally I'm glad knowing she took her cat with he. That fluffy ginger couldn't be left behind in the Blitz!

The Other People by C.B. Everett
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A group of strangers gathered at a mysterious country house are in a race against time to stop a serial killer in this twisty, high-concept thriller that combines Agatha Christie with Shutter Island.

Ten strangers.

An old dark house.

A killer picking them off one by one.

And a missing girl who's running out of time...

And then there was one.

Ten strangers wake up inside an old, locked house. They have no recollection of how they got there. In order to escape, they have to solve the disappearance of a young woman. But a killer also stalks the halls of the house and soon the body count starts to rise. Who are these strangers? Why were they chosen? Why would someone want to kill them? And who - or what - lurks in the cellar?

Forget what you think you know.

Because while you can trust yourself, can you really trust The Other People?"

Give that cover art I'd say really horrific giant eyes lurk in the cellar.

Saltwater by Katy Hays
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"On glittering Capri, anything can be a mirage. And no one holds a grudge like family.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Cloisters comes an electrifying thriller about an opulent family retreat to Italy that's shattered by the resurfacing of a decades-old crime.

In 1992, Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah's death is ruled an accident. And every year, the family returns to prove it's true. But on the thirtieth anniversary of Sarah's death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them - the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died.

Haunted by the specter of that night, the legendary Lingate family unity is pushed to a breaking point, and Helen seizes the opportunity. Enlisting the help of Lorna Moreno, a family assistant, the two plot their escape from Helen's paranoid, insular family. But when Lorna disappears and the investigation into Sarah's death is reopened, Helen has to confront the fact that everyone who was on Capri thirty years ago remains a suspect - her controlling father, Richard; her rarely lucid aunt, Naomi; her distant uncle, Marcus; and their circle of friends, visitors, and staff. Even Lorna, her closest ally, may not be who she seems.

As long-hidden secrets about that night boil to surface, one thing becomes clear: Not everyone will leave the island alive."

First question, when did the aunt start being rarely lucid? Could she be hiding something!?!

A Lesson in Dying by Ann Cleeves
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Before Shetland and Vera, Ann Cleeves wrote the Inspector Ramsay series featuring a talented, brilliant detective - now in print for the first time in the US.

Who hung the headmaster in the playground on the night of the school Halloween Party?

Almost everyone in Heppleburn either hated or feared the viper-tongued Harold Medburn. Inspector Ramsay is convinced it was the headmaster's enigmatic wife but Jack Robson, school governor and caretaker, is determined to prove her innocence.

With the help of his restless daughter Patty, Jack digs into the secrets of Heppleburn, and uncovers a cesspit of lies, adultery, blackmail and madness..."

First time in the US unless your mother made you order them from England for her. Just saying...

The Deathly Grimm by Kathryn Purdie
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In this spellbinding sequel to Kathryn Purdie's bestselling dark fairy tale, Clara and Axel must return to the forest - and its monsters - if they have any hope of finally breaking the curse on their village.

Emerging from the shadows of the Forest Grimm, Clara and Axel return to their village, the one place they can be safe behind the forest's border. But when the woods begin luring villagers into the forest, it becomes clear that the darkness they battled was merely a whisper of the true horror lurking there.

Burdened by unsettling visions and bound by a love as perilous as the cursed woods that call to them, Clara and Axel must once again enter the forest to unearth the sinister secret at its heart. As they fight murderous woodsmen wielding riddles sharp as blades, spectral maidens who threaten to drag them into an eternal dance, and phantoms able to use the very essence of the forest against them, Clara and Axel realize the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't break the curse once and for all, they may not have a home to return to..."

Yeah, don't go back into the forest. Flee!

Elphie by Gregory Maguire
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"What happened to young Elphaba before her witchy powers took hold in Wicked? Almost 30 years after the publication of the original novel, for the first time Gregory Maguire reveals the story of prickly young Elphie, the future Wicked Witch of the West - setting the stage for the blockbuster international phenomenon that is Wicked: The Musical.

Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West, will grow to have a feisty and somewhat uncompromising character in adult life. But she is always a one-off, from her infancy; Elphie is the riveting coming-of-age story of a very peculiar and relatable young girl.

Young Elphie is shaped and molded by the behaviors of her promiscuous mother, Melena, and her pious father, Frex. She suffers ordinary childhood jealousies when her sister, saintly Nessarose, and brother, junior felon Shell, arrive. She first encounters the mistreatment of the Animal populations of Oz, which live adjacent to but not intertwined with human settlements, haunted by a Monkey and receiving aid from Dwarf Bears. She thrashes through her first bruising attempts at friendship, a possible lifeline from her tricky family life. And she gleans the benefits of an education, haphazard though it must be - until she arrives at the doors of Shiz University, about to meet the radiant creature that is Galinda.

Elphie is destined to be a witch; she bears the markings from childhood - most evidently in her green skin but more obscurely and profoundly in her cunning and perhaps amoral behaviors, as she seeks to make do, to slip by, to sneak out, to endure, and to aspire."

I mean, the new cover art direction is fine... I just wish it matched the series as a whole, not the reprints.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi flies you to the moon with his most fantastic tale to date: When the Moon Hits Your Eye.

The moon has turned into cheese.

Now humanity has to deal with it.

For some it's an opportunity. For others it's a moment to question their faith: In God, in science, in everything. Still others try to keep the world running in the face of absurdity and uncertainty. And then there are the billions looking to the sky and wondering how a thing that was always just there is now... something absolutely impossible.

Astronauts and billionaires, comedians and bank executives, professors and presidents, teenagers and terminal patients at the end of their lives - over the length of an entire lunar cycle, each get their moment in the moonlight. To panic, to plan, to wonder and to pray, to laugh and to grieve. All in a kaleidoscopic novel that goes all the places you'd expect, and then to so many places you wouldn't.

It's a wild moonage daydream. Ride this rocket."

Freak out. Far Out. In Out.

The Legendary Scarlett and Browne by Jonathan Stroud
Published by: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The death-defying conclusion to the "audacious," "razor-sharp," and "raucous" exploits of the notorious outlaws Scarlett and Browne from the bestselling author of Lockwood and Co., Jonathan Stroud.

Throughout their lawless careers, Scarlett McCain and Albert Browne have gotten out of trouble by shooting first, then running away. Now that's no longer an option.

In this non-stop thrill-ride of a novel, we witness Albert's return to the terrifying Stonemoor prison, follow Scarlett's search for her long-lost brother, see a town besieged by the cannibal Tainted, and join the final confrontation against the cruel forces of the Faith Houses.

Along the way, our rebellious anti-heroes will have to face up to the secrets of their past, and accept the challenge of shaping a better future."

Damn I love Jonathan Stroud!

Play or Perish by Paige Andrews and John Peragine
Published by: Sterling and Stone
Publication Date: March 25th, 2025
Format: Kindle, 282 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Cursed objects. Ruthless collectors. A world of haunted treasures.

Shondra Henry wasn't looking for trouble, but it found her anyway. A paranormal encounter at a college party exposes her to a world of spirits and haunted artifacts she can't seem to shake. In the aftermath, she discovers her connection to the spirit world might be deeper than she thought.

Searching for answers about a mysterious box, the evil it contained, and what it might have to do with her missing uncle, Shondra becomes drawn into the shadowy underworld where arcane relics are bought, sold, and fought over in high-stakes estate auctions.

Before she knows it, Shonda finds herself working with a team dedicated to tracking and destroying cursed artifacts against an organization that would rather exploit them for power.

When a board game turns deadly, Shondra has a choice: play by the rules or break them.

She better choose carefully, because once you enter the world of haunted artifacts, you don’t leave unscathed."

Jumanji meets Warehouse 13.

Friday, March 21, 2025

Book Review - Cyril Hare's An English Murder

An English Murder by Cyril Hare
Published by: Faber and Faber
Publication Date: 1951
Format: Paperback, 240 Pages
Rating: ★★★
To Buy

This will be Viscount Warbeck's last Christmas. Which is why he's invited those near and dear to him to Warbeck Hall, rumored to be the oldest inhabited house in Markshire. Which is why Dr. Wenceslaus Bottwink, a survivor of the Third Reich and the concentration camps, is visiting the house; not because he's near or dear, but because of the history within the walls and the manuscripts. To think, letters from the reign of George III with magnificent marginalia! He is perusing just such a document when the butler, Briggs, informs him of the Viscount's wishes. Dr. Bottwink had assumed that this holiday season would be more circumspect at Warbeck Hall given the circumstances, but these are a dying man's wishes, so guests are coming! Just a few members of his lordship's family. There's Sir Julius Warbeck, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Warbeck's first cousin, and his securty detail, James Rogers, Lady Camilla Prendergast, a niece of her late ladyship's first husband, Mrs. Carstairs, whose father was the rector of the parish and was practically raised in Warbeck Hall, and the son and heir, Robert Warbeck, whose arrival leads Dr. Bottwink to ask a favor of Briggs. Because Briggs has informed Dr. Bottwink that he has been placed for the duration with the family party, which Dr. Bottwink is loath to have happen. He wishes to eat with Briggs and his daughter Susan rather than the son of his host because Robert is the leader of a Fascist organization, The League of Liberty and Justice. Though Robert's antisemitic views are also abhorred by Sir Julius and Mrs. Carstairs, Dr. Bottwink knows that this is not a man he could take a meal with. Though Lady Camilla has a soft spot for Robert. Even if lately he has been cold to her. With so many tensions right from the start it's a wonder they make it through tea and dinner, but it is Lord Warbeck's dying wish, so they all try to get along. They bury their hatred and carry on. As the bells ring out Christmas Day Robert proposes a a toast hinting that he has a secret to be revealed. A secret that won't pass his lips as he drops down dead. Dr. Bottwink is sure it's potassium cyanide poisoning and suggests the police are called. Which is when they realize they are on their own. They are snowed in and the lines are down. It would be logical for James Rogers to head the investigation as he's a sergeant at the Met. But it's obvious he's in over his head and Dr. Bottwink worries that being Jewish and a foreigner that he will be the scapegoat. Therefore it is up to this historian to catch a killer before he or she strikes again! The marginalia will have to wait.

When reading books from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, any informed reader knows that there are bound to be outmoded ways of thinking that were common back then. Or at least outmoded to those who aren't alt-right. I am of course talking about racism and antisemitism. And these outdated viewpoints aren't relegated to murder mysteries written in the early to mid twentieth century, just look to Mark Twain and the controversy about the bowdlerized edition of Huckleberry Finn which was re-released with the n-word removed. I don't believe in censorship, and I believe it's important to read books as they were written because it's a reflection of the time period and our culture just as much as it is a story. Changing that text, bowdlerizing it, changes it's impact and is done to make people feel better. We have to be willing to feel uncomfortable and try to continually be doing better. Literature is a reflection of us and our times, if you feel uncomfortable, perhaps you should look into why and try to change what you can in the world. This problem though is exacerbated within the Golden Age of Detective Fiction because of the five big name authors, Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Josephine Tey, and Margery Allingham, while they all have been known to have dated viewpoints, Dorothy L. Sayers is an out and out antisemite. Many people I know revere Dorothy L. Sayers as the pinnacle of writing. But I came to her late, I was thirty-four years old when I first read her, which is far too old to brush any objections under the carpet. When you read something as a kid or during your formative years, you can embrace it without fully understanding it and then it just becomes a part of your DNA, which explains why so many people can turn their backs on J.K. Rowling but still read Harry Potter. All this is to say that while this book is from 1951, firmly in the wider circle of the Golden Age, I was so pleasantly surprised by the lack of cringe. I didn't have to wince as Nazis walked across the pages, because they were, rightfully, the bad guys! I know that having this book come out after World War II contributed to Nazis being evil and there being a sympathetic Jewish lead, but, seriously people, we did not need a world war to know right and wrong. And yes, I am glaring at Dorothy L. Sayers. We need more Dr. Bottwinks and less Robert Warbecks. Which is why I like this book so much. It gets it.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Book Review - Francis Duncan's Murder for Christmas

Murder for Christmas by Francis Duncan
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: 1950
Format: Paperback, 352 Pages
Rating: ★★★★
To Buy

Businessman Benedict Grame bought Sherbroome House from the impoverished Melvin family as a country retreat despite muttered oaths from the local villagers that one day the Melvins would return. Every Christmas he holds a lavish traditional holiday celebration, a true old-fashioned Christmas, where it's an honor to be chosen to attend. These festivities aren't for the locals or the children of the village who would get the most out of it, but the elite. The select few. Those invited must embrace the holiday spirit, with Grame himself even donning the costume of Father Christmas to decorate the tree with everyone's presents on Christmas Eve. Grame has a childlike glee in his playacting with his guests indulging him. The snowstorm brewing will add the final touch to Grame's Christmas trimmings. Mordecai Tremaine is honored to be one of two new additions to the year's guest list. Tremaine would describe himself as an ex-tobacconist who is now rather a social parasite who met Grame through mutual friends. With the inclement but festive weather forcing all the guests to be housebound Tremaine takes a turn about Sherbroome House to met his fellow inmates. On each introduction there arises in him his love of mystery and romance. Who is this person? What is their heart's desire. For the ward of Grame's oldest friend, Jeremy Rainer, Denys Arden, it is clear her heart's desire is Roger Wynton. As a lover of romance novels, this thrills Termaine's heart. But he sees a problem, Rainer is an odd overprotective man who cancelled his plans to go to the States for the holiday season to stay at Sherbroome House and definitely has plans for Denys that don't involve Roger. Then there's the family, "Uncle" Gerald Beechley who loves an inappropriate joke, and Grame's sister Charlotte who behaves like a sour maid with a dark secret whom Tremaine had seen the day previously in Calnford having tea, which she denies. The party is rounded off with Rosalind Marsh who runs a curio shop and paints, Austin Delamere who is an exhausted statesman, neighbors Mr. and Mrs. Napier, the stunning Lucia Tristam, who is possibly a widow with her eyes set on either Benedict or Jeremy, and Professor Ernest Lorring, the other "new" guest and a scientist. Of course Grame's secretary, Nicholas Blaise, is also present. As Tremaine settles in for a long winter's nap he spies Father Christmas on the terrace below him, at first wondering if it is a dream, a fantasy, but of course it is his host setting out to decorate the Christmas tree. The landscape is a three dimensional Christmas card or a shop window, an illusion. An illusion that brought menace when a cloud passed overhead. Malignity and terror were abroad with an expectant atmosphere. When a scream pierces the night Tremaine realizes this is what he'd been expecting. But the body under the tree not being Grame is unexpected. Was the wrong man killed? And will the killer strike again?

Murder for Christmas is a delicious festive work from the Golden Age of Detection. I read a lot of murder mysteries set during the holiday season and rarely has one stood out for such a strong sense of place and an amazing kicker of a conclusion, which any of those other reviewers who marked this book as DNF were robbed of. Seriously, I don't get people who give up early on books, I understand our time on this planet is limited but a book can surprise you in the very last few pages and totally change your view of what came before. And while I was enjoying my entire time at Sherbroome House, damn. But I'm getting ahead of myself because first I wanted to talk about it's sense of place. I don't know if you're like me but I kind of have stock images of country houses in my head. Unless great detail is gone into then they're all basically set in the same place in my mind. Perhaps this is because I watch so many British murder mysteries and they use the same locations over and over again or perhaps it's because back when I used to play MMORPGs every pub was literally the same, which has spilled over into my reading. Literally every pub is the same from Westeros to Temerant. Or, in an egregious example, how in City of Heroes all quests were in office buildings and each and every office building was the same and it ended up being so repetitive that I quickly stopped playing that game despite the fact that I could fly. But Sherbroome House? Damn. I think I could draw this house with the description that Francis Duncan wrote and despite the whole murder aspect, I want to go to there. I want to be in that library with those shelves stacked with books and that golden glow of the tree with the presents hanging from it. I mean, I could do without the corpse, but I can work around that. There's a uniqueness to this place. It felt so real, not just a simulacrum or composite of other houses. This place is as real as the house I'm sitting in right now and I have to applaud the author for that. So few actually succeed at this task. But really, it's the ending that deserves the standing ovation. So, while this book was originally published in 1950 and reprinted in 2017 I'm still giving a spoiler warning because, well, it's the nice thing to do. And yes, sometimes I am not nice and spoil books I hate on purpose without warning, but this isn't one of them. So the big reveal is that these lavish old-fashioned Christmas house parties are mandatory on the part of the participates because Grame is blackmailing them all. This is enforced glee. And while I know many people have a love/hate relationship with the holidays, I personally am the opposite of a scrooge. I'm all about the tree and the trimmings and the baking and the books. So to me, taking something that is supposed to be full of joy and making people do a pantomime of partying is like so deliciously evil I just can't. Francis Duncan is a genius for this perversion of tradition. Well done sir. Well done.

Monday, March 17, 2025

Tuesday Tomorrow

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The phenomenal fifth book in the Hunger Games series!

When you've been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch's name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He's torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who's nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he's been set up to fail. But there's something in him that wants to fight...and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena."

I didn't think I'd love The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as much as I did, so, here's hoping this book surprises me as well. I can't wait to read it.

Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From debut author Emily Yu-Xuan Qin comes a snarky urban fantasy novel inspired by Chinese and First Nation mythology and bursting with wit, compelling characters, and LGBTQIA+ representation.

Readers of Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, and Ben Aaronovitch will devour this gory story - and the sweet-as-Canadian-maple-syrup sapphic romance at its monstrous heart.

Tam hasn't eaten anyone in years.

She is now Mama's soft-spoken, vegan daughter - everything dangerous about her is cut out.

But when Tam's estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox, and an ensemble of old enemies.

The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she's falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That's just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.

Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can't hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can't help but wonder...

Do monsters even deserve happy endings?

With worldbuilding inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada, LGBTQIA+ representation, and a sapphic romance, Aunt Tigress is at once familiar and breathtakingly innovative."

I can see the reason why this book is getting Ben Aaronovitch comparisons, which I love, but it's also so uniquely itself.

The Hymn to Dionysus by Natasha Pulley
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A timely reimagining of the story of Dionysus - Greek god of ecstasy, revelry, and ruin - and a captivating queer love story for readers of The Song of Achilles and Elektra.

Raised in a Greek legion, Phaidros has been taught to follow his commander's orders at all costs. But when Phaidros rescues a baby from a fire at Thebes's palace, his commander's orders cease to make sense: Phaidros is forced to abandon the blue-eyed boy at a temple, and to keep the baby's existence a total secret.

Years later, struggling with panic attacks and flashbacks, Phaidros is enlisted by the Queen to find her son, Thebes' young crown prince, who has vanished to escape an arranged marriage. The search leads him to a blue-eyed witch named Dionysus, whose guidance is as wise as the events that surround him are strange. In Dionysus's company, Phaidros witnesses sudden outbursts of riots and unrest, and everywhere Dionysus goes, rumors follow about a new god, one sired by Zeus but lost in a fire.

In The Hymn to Dionysus, bestselling author Natasha Pulley transports us to an ancient empire on the edge of ruin to tell an utterly captivating queer love story about a man needing a god to remind him how to be a human."

I'm always here for whatever Natasha Pulley writes, but this, damn. And look at that amazing cover.

A Gentleman's Offer by Emma Orchard
Published by: Boldwood Books Ltd
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 322 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The gorgeous and spicy new romance from Emma Orchard, perfect for everyone waiting for their next Bridgerton fix!

June, 1817
Sir Dominic De Lacy - one of the season's most eligible gentlemen - has recently proposed marriage... to a woman he scarcely knows. But his father's choice for him, Miss Maria Nightingale, seems amiable, and at 29, Dominic cannot live the life of a bachelor forever. He hopes he can provide a happy future for her as they learn to care for each other.

Maria, however, has other ideas. Midway through their engagement celebrations, she confesses to Dominic that she is not Maria at all, but her identical twin sister, Margaret. Maria has disappeared, and Margaret's been persuaded to take her place until she's found - and for that she needs Dominic's help. The pair quickly find they make a formidable team, but with just three weeks to avoid the biggest scandal of the season, time is against them.

But even if they find Maria, can they really hope the wedding will happen? Because, as they are starting to realise, chemistry can't be arranged - and Sir Dominic might just be engaged to the wrong Miss Nightingale..."

Eh, just live as your twin sister forever if it means happiness and you're not actually keeping a secret from your husband... 

Sweet Home Alabarden Park by T.J. O'Shea
Published by: Bella Books
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 362 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Fiona Turner is about to face two, equally impossible challenges: repair a deteriorating, centuries-old estate in time to host the Queen of England, and turn an all-American farmer into a proper English duchess.

Fresh off a painful divorce, Fiona seizes the opportunity to renovate Alabarden Park and assist its new duchess, Alice Stewart - an effervescent, unpretentious American whose open attraction to Fiona intrigues and unsettles her. As their mutual feelings grow stronger, the professional distance Fiona put between them begins to crumble.

Now, Fiona is faced with two new, equally impossible challenges: keep Alice out of her battered, broken heart, or risk everything and let her in."

Let her in!

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Fall in love with the brand new spring romance set in Dream Harbor, from the bestselling author of The Pumpkin Spice Cafe and The Cinnamon Bun Book Store.

As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it's suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.

Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless... Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is a cozy romantic mystery with a single dad and found family dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!"

I mean, the Gilmore Girls vibes are strong, just look at the pen name Melissa McTernan chose, she literally made herself a Gilmore girl... 

The Bane Witch by Ava Morgyn
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Practical Magic meets Gone Girl in Ava Morgyn's next dark, spellbinding novel about a woman who is more than a witch - she's a hunter.

Piers Corbin has always had an affinity for poisonous things - plants and men. From the pokeweed berries she consumed at age five that led to the accidental death of a stranger, to the husband whose dark proclivities have become… concerning, poison has been at the heart of her story.

But when she fakes her own death in an attempt to escape her volatile marriage and goes to stay with her estranged great aunt in the mountains, she realizes her predilection is more than a hunger - it's a birthright. Piers comes from a long line of poison eaters - Bane Witches - women who ingest deadly plants and use their magic to rid the world of evil men.

Piers sets out to earn her place in her family's gritty but distinguished legacy, all while working at her Aunt Myrtle's cafe and perpetuating a flirtation with the local, well-meaning sheriff to allay his suspicions on the body count she's been leaving in her wake. But soon she catches the attention of someone else, a serial killer operating in the area. And that only means one thing - it's time to feed.

In Ava Morgyn’s dark, thrilling novel, The Bane Witch, a very little poison can do a world of good."

Do you have to be born a Bane Witch or can you apprentice to become one?

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Inspired by a true literary mystery, New York Times bestselling author of the mesmerizing The Secret Book of Flora Lea returns with the sweeping story of a legendary book, a lost mother, and a daughter's search for them both.

In 1927, eight-year-old Clara Harrington's magical childhood shatters when her mother, renowned author, Bronwyn Newcastle Fordham, disappears off the coast of South Carolina. Bronwyn stunned the world with a book written in an invented language that became a national sensation when she was just twelve years old. Her departure leaves behind not only a devoted husband and heartbroken daughter, but also the hope of ever translating the sequel to her landmark work. As the headlines focus on the missing author, Clara yearns for something far deeper and more insatiable: her beautiful mother.

By 1952, Clara is an illustrator raising her own daughter, Wynnie. When a stranger named Charlie Jameson contacts her from London claiming to have discovered a handwritten dictionary of her mother's lost language. Clara is skeptical. Compelled by the tragedy of her mother's vanishing, she crosses the Atlantic with Wynnie only to arrive during one of London's most deadly natural disasters - the Great Smog. With asthmatic Wynnie in peril, they escape the city with Charlie and find refuge in the Jameson's family retreat nestled in the Lake District. It is there that Clara must find the courage to uncover the truth about her mother and the story she left behind.

Told in Patti Callahan Henry's lyrical, enchanting prose, The Story She Left Behind is a captivating novel of mystery and family legacy that captures the profound longing for a mother and the evergreen allure of secrets."

I love literary mysteries!

A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.

With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter's agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He's her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.

Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood's sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don't see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?

As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it's a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke..."

A little Rear Window vibe.

The Orphanage by the Lake by Daniel G. Miller
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A MISSING GIRL. AN ORPHANAGE FILLED WITH SECRETS.

Hazel wants a new life.

She's thirty years old, single, and her private investigation business is months away from folding.

Her luck takes a turn when Madeline Hemsley, a mysterious socialite, pays Hazel a visit with an offer too enticing to resist. An orphan girl has disappeared from a children's home - The Orphanage by the Lake, as the locals call it - and Madeline wants Hazel to find her.

At first glance, it appears to be a standard runaway case, but as Hazel plunges into the investigation, she finds signs of something more: unexplained blood stains, cryptic symbols, sinister figures shadowing her every move. The more she digs, the more she realizes that The Orphanage by the Lake holds terrifying secrets, and even worse...

...so does Madeline.

Fans of Freida McFadden's The Housemaid, Charlie Donlea's The Girl Who Was Taken, and Karin Slaughter's Pretty Girls will love this twisty, suspenseful thill-ride."

I mean, if you have something to hide, perhaps going into a business of uncovering secrets isn't the wisest move...

Pomona Afton Can So Solve a Murder by Bellamy Rose
Published by: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A spoiled heiress must investigate her grandmother's death in order to gain back her trust fund, all while discovering how to be her own person and maybe even in falling in love in this rom-com meets murder mystery.

When Pomona Afton, Upper East Side hotel heiress, stumbles out of a gala and upon the scene of her grandmother's murder, her first thought is that the society queen won't be missed for her kind, cookie-baking ways. In fact, she was mean, greedy, and paranoid - so paranoid that she secretly slipped a clause into her will mandating that, should she die an unnatural death, all the family assets get frozen. And if the "unnatural death" isn’t explained? Those accounts stay frozen.

Practically overnight, Pomona is locked out of her penthouse with no other option than to move in with a roommate: Gabe, the irritable (yet handsome) son of her former nanny. Not only is his apartment cramped, but it doesn't even have a doorman. Or a chef! Pom needs someone to solve this murder, like, yesterday, so she can get her trust fund back.

And Gabe? He needs this murder solved because that's the only way his mother, who toiled for the Afton family for years, will ever get the retirement money she deserves. As Pom's family clams up, blocking the police at every turn, Pom quickly realizes that if she wants her glamorous life back, she's going to have to put on her big-girl Manolos and do it herself…with the help of Gabe, who she's falling for more and more by the day.

Can Pomona Afton (who previously couldn't solve a crossword in the bath on a hungover Sunday) actually solve this murder? And if she does return to her former life of luxury, will it be worth the possibility of losing Gabe?"

The real question, is there a time limit on solving the murder to unfreeze the assets?

The Library Game by Gigi Pandian
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Library Game, Tempest Raj and Secret Staircase Construction are renovating a classic detective fiction library that just got its first real-life mystery.

Tempest Raj couldn't be happier that the family business, Secret Staircase Construction, is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Known for enchanting architectural features like sliding bookshelves and secret passageways, the company is now taking on a dream project: transforming a home into a public library that celebrates history's greatest fictional detectives.

Though the work is far from done, Gray House Library's new owner is eager to host a murder mystery dinner and literary themed escape room. But when a rehearsal ends with an actor murdered and the body vanishes, Tempest is witness to a seemingly impossible crime. Fueled by her grandfather's Scottish and Indian meals, Tempest and the rest of the crew must figure out who is making beloved classic mystery plots come to life in a deadly game.

Multiple award winning author Gigi Pandian masterfully weaves wit and warmth in the Secret Staircase Mysteries. Readers will delight in the surprises Secret Staircase Construction uncovers behind the next locked door."

Oh, I know there's a risk I could be murdered, but can I get an invite to the dinner and escape room?

The Bookseller by Tim Sullivan
Published by: Head of Zeus - An Aries Book
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"SOMEONE'S ABOUT TO TURN THEIR LAST PAGE...

THE SETTING
The body of a bookseller is discovered, lying in a pool of blood in his Bristol bookshop. Police have one question: how did the man meet such a violent, murderous end in this peaceful place?

THE CONFLICT
DS Cross's ability to dismiss red herrings is challenged by a worrying development in his personal life. Hopelessly distracted, he needs to rely on those around him in a way he has never been comfortable doing before.

THE MURDER PLOT
It may be a quiet profession, but it's full of passionate, ambitious characters who know the value of a rare book. Their extensive reading means they also know how to get away with murder.

But is that enough to fool the tenacious DS George Cross?

Perfect for fans of MW Craven, Peter James, and Joy Ellis, this is the seventh book in the bestselling series, which can be read in any order."

I think DS Cross has a lot to learn about books and booksellers... 

The Writer by James Patterson and J.D. Barker
Published by: Little, Brown and Company
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call: How fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West?

In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She's covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room.

Every book in the apartment's floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow.

"This is you?" Shaw asks the woman. "You're a writer?"

​ Only one person knows the ending to this story. Is it the victim or the killer?"

So much yes to this, especially the apartment building's name!

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite
Published by: Tordotcom
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 112 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Becky Chambers meets Miss Marple in this sci-fi ode to the cozy mystery, helmed by a formidable no-nonsense auntie of a detective.

A mind is a terrible thing to erase...

Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty's most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.


Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn't hers - just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship's detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.

Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor - and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting - knows more than she's letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work - and if so, they've had three hundred years to perfect their schemes...

Told through Dorothy's delightfully shrewd POV, this novella is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series's next installment."

Stuart Turton does Altered Carbon.

The Martian Contingency by Mary Robinette Kowal
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mary Robinette Kowal returns to Mars in this latest entry to the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Lady Astronaut series.

Years after a meteorite strike obliterated Washington, D.C. - triggering an extinction-level global warming event - Earth's survivors have started an international effort to establish homes on space stations and the Moon.

The next step - Mars.

Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, lands on the Red Planet, optimistic about preparing for the first true wave of inhabitants. The mission objective is more than just building the infrastructure of a habitat - they are trying to preserve the many cultures and nuances of life on Earth without importing the hate.

But from the moment she arrives, something is off.

Disturbing signs hint at a hidden disaster during the First Mars Expedition that never made it into the official transcript. As Elma and her crew try to investigate, they face a wall of silence and obfuscation. Their attempts to build a thriving Martian community grind to a halt.

What you don't know CAN harm you. And if the truth doesn't come to light, the ripple effects could leave humanity stranded on a dying Earth..."

I mean, I meteorite obliterating Washington, D.C. sounds nice right now.

Twice as Dead by Harry Turtledove
Published by: CAEZIK SF and Fantasy
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 294 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Rudolf Sebestyen is missing, and Marianne Smalls is involved in an illicit affair with the shady Jonas Schmitt. Both cases converge when Dora Urban, Rudolf's beautiful and mysterious half-sister, and Lamont Smalls, Marianne's suspicious husband, hire Jack Mitchell, a hard-drinking, chain-smoking private investigator. Dora wants Jack to uncover what happened to her brother, while Lamont seeks proof of his wife's infidelity.

But Dora is a vampire, in a city teeming with creatures of the night.

As Jack dives deeper, he discovers that both cases are linked to vepratoga - a dangerous new drug spreading through Los Angeles. Twice as Dead is brimming with vampires, wizards, zombies and zombie dealers, the Central Avenue jazz scene, an exclusive after-hours club, adultery, a New England ghost who prefers Southern California's warmer clime, corrupt cops and politicians, spying rats, and a smart-mouthed talking cat.

When Jack's home is burned to the ground, the strands of his investigations culminate in a showdown at a tire factory, where even the reliefs on the walls are not what they seem. In this unique noirish urban fantasy set in postwar Los Angeles, Jack finds more adventure, danger, and romance than he ever imagined - and learns that success may come at too high a price."

I've always had Harry Turtledove on my radar, but since I started following first on Twitter and now on Bluesky I'm a huge fan!

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
Published by: S and S/Saga Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians is a chilling historical horror novel tracing the life of a vampire who haunts the fields of the Blackfeet reservation looking for justice.

A diary, written in 1912 by a Lutheran pastor is discovered within a wall. What it unveils is a slow massacre, a chain of events that go back to 217 Blackfeet dead in the snow. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life over a series of confessional visits. This is an American Indian revenge story written by one of the new masters of horror, Stephen Graham Jones."

Yes to revenge for those who deserve it the most.

The Loneliness of Horses by Andrea Thalasinos
Published by: 12 Willows Press
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Kindle, 394 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In The Loneliness of Horses, Andrea Thalasinos weaves a captivating multigenerational saga that transcends time and geography. Set against the rugged backdrop of Nova Scotia and the deserts of northern Arizona, this novel explores the profound connections between two women, centuries apart, whose lives are dramatically reshaped by their fierce love for horses. Amid themes of displacement, resilience, and enduring bonds with nature, Thalasinos crafts a narrative that is as much about finding one's place in the world as it is about the unspoken kinship between humans and animals. A testament to courage and the pursuit of freedom, the story delves into the heart of what it means to stand up for one's beliefs and the intricate web of life that connects us all. Andrea's rich background in sociology and her deep engagement with animal welfare illuminate every page, offering a compelling and deeply insightful story."

My friend Mike did the book cover!

Still Waters and Wild Waves by Angela Harding
Published by: Sphere
Publication Date: March 18th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Featuring over 50 original illustrations of dramatic seascapes and reflective rivers, alongside photography of the stunning places that inspired the artwork, Angela Harding's beautiful new book captures the waters that move us.

'A blue-green sketchbook sits at the edge of my studio desk. It is covered in decorative paper that is now frayed and tattered. These marks are evidence of its travels, as far north as Shetland and as far south as the Isles of Scilly. Of days at sea and cycling across moorland. It has sat beside me on beaches and cliff tops, on small island planes and huge ferries, on trains and bicycles. Going to places of old that I have revisited many times, as well as new destinations long lived in my imagination. Some of the pages are stained with Scottish rain and spilt coffees. This sketchbook holds scribbles and memories that tell the tales of still waters and wild waves. Its pages are a record of a printmaker's journey and they are at the heart of this book.'

In this gorgeous book, Angela takes readers with her on her travels across rivers and seas, featuring beautiful paintings and prints, pages from Angela's personal sketchbooks and stunning photos. It is a joyful celebration of water and wildlife across Britain - perfect for art admirers and nature lovers everywhere."

I adore Angela Harding's artwork and can't wait to own this book.

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