Tuesday Tomorrow
The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Miller
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In this irresistible and thrilling debut novel, a former antique hunter investigates a suspicious death at an isolated English manor, embroiling her back in the dangerous world of tracking stolen artifacts.
What antique would you kill for?
Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate - sent just days before his death - Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.
Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast's weekend. But not all is as it seems. It's clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?"
An isolated English manor having an antiques weekend? YES!
The Holy Terrors by Simon R. Green
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 192 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Six people locked in a haunted hall...Cameras watching their every move...And then someone dies...This first in a spine-tingling new paranormal mystery series from New York Times bestselling British fantasy author Simon R. Green will make you doubt your judgement - and believe in ghosts!
Welcome to Spooky Time, the hit TV ghost-hunting show where the horror is scripted...and the ratings are declining rapidly. What better way to up the stakes - and boost the viewership - than by locking a select group of Z-list celebrities up for the night in The Most Haunted Hall in England (TM) and live-streaming the 'terrifying' results?
Soon Alistair, a newly appointed Bishop, actress Diana, medium Leslie, comedian Toby, and celebrity chef Indira are trapped inside Stonehaven town hall, along with June, the host and producer of the show. The group tries to settle in and put on a good show, but then strange things start happening in their hall of horrors.
What is it about this place - and why is the TV crew outside not responding? Are they even on air? Logical Alistair and intuitive Diana attempt to keep the group's fears at bay and rationalize the odd events, but there are things that just can't be explained within reason...Can the pair stop a cold-blooded would-be killer - even if it's come from beyond the grave?
This locked-room mystery with a paranormal twist is classic Simon R. Green, featuring his trademark humour and imagination, irresistible characters, and thoroughly entertaining plotting."
I mean, how else but by adding a dash of the paranormal can you up the locked-room story? Bravo!
The Road from Belhaven by Margot Livesey
Published by: Knopf Publishing Group
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From the New York Times best-selling author of The Flight of Gemma Hardy, a novel about a young woman whose gift of second sight complicates her coming of age in late-nineteenth-century Scotland.
Growing up in the care of her grandparents on Belhaven Farm, Lizzie Craig discovers as a small child that she can see into the future. But her gift is selective - she doesn't, for instance, see that she has an older sister who will come to join the family. As her "pictures" foretell various incidents and accidents, she begins to realize a painful truth: she may glimpse the future, but she can seldom change it.
Nor can Lizzie change the feelings that come when a young man named Louis, visiting Belhaven for the harvest, begins to court her. Why have the adults around her not revealed that the touch of a hand can change everything? After following Louis to Glasgow, though, she learns the limits of his devotion. Faced with a seemingly impossible choice, she makes a terrible mistake. But her second sight may allow her a second chance."
I'm all about second sight and it's complications.
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
Published by: Del Rey Books
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A Holmes and Watson-style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett.
In Daretana's greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead - killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire's borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it's a death both terrifying and impossible.
Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana's brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior - but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana's mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire's greatest detective.
As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he's barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra - and wonders how long he'll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
By an "endlessly inventive" (Vulture) author with a "wicked sense of humor" (NPR), The Tainted Cup mixes the charms of detective fiction with brilliant world-building to deliver a fiendishly clever mystery that's at once instantly recognizable and thrillingly new."
Take what is standard and add a twisted tree.
The Absinthe Underground by Jamie Pacton
Published by: Peachtree Teen
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Moulin Rouge meets Holly Black in a thrilling sapphic friends-to-lovers romantasy!
This lavish and decedent LGBTQ+ fantasy romance will leave fans of Divine Rivals and Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries utterly enchanted!
After running away from home, Sybil Clarion is eager to embrace all the freedom the Belle Époque city of Severon has to offer. Instead, she's traded high-society soirées for empty pockets. At least she has Esme, the girl who offered Sybil a home, and if either of them dared, something more.
Ever since Esme Rimbaud brought Sybil back to her flat, the girls have been everything to each other - best friends, found family, and secret crushes. While Esme would rather spend the night tinkering with her clocks and snuggling her cats, Sybil craves excitement and needs money. She plans to get both by stealing the rare posters that crop up around town. With rent due, Esme agrees to accompany - and more importantly protect - Sybil.
When they're caught selling a poster by none other than its subject, Maeve, the glamorous girl invites Sybil and Esme to The Absinthe Underground, the exclusive club she co-owns, and reveals herself to be a Green Faerie, trapped in this world. She wants to hire thieves for a daring heist in Fae that would set her free, and is willing to pay enough that Sybil and Esme never have to worry about rent again. It's too good of an offer to pass up, even if Maeve's tragic story doesn't quite add up, and the secrets could jeopardize everything the girls have so carefully built.
Jamie Pacton, author of The Vermilion Emporium, dazzles in this whimsical and daring romantic fantasy. Fans of Fae lore, slow-burn sapphic pining, and decadently magical worlds will find The Absinthe Underground as ensorcelling as a fairy delight."
I love the real history of the Belle Époque intermingled with fantasy and fairies.
That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf by Kimberly Lemming
Published by: Orbit
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Cheesemaker Brie has the world's worst luck in love, which is how she ends up falling for a lactose intolerant werewolf, in this raunchy, laugh-out-loud rom-com fantasy by the genre's freshest new voice, Kimberly Lemming.
Brie's never been particularly coordinated...or lucky. Who else would accidentally throw a drink at someone's head only to miss entirely and hit a stranger behind them? And who else would have that stranger fall madly in love with them because it turns out that the drink she threw was a love potion? Yeah, probably just Brie....
Running her cheese business and dealing with a pirate ship full of demons that just moved into town was hard enough. Now on top of it, she has to convince a werewolf that she's not really his fated mate. Though even she's got to admit...having a gorgeous man show up and do all her chores while telling her she's beautiful isn't the worst thing to happen to a girl."
I love this new cozy fantasy genre that's emerging.
To Woo and to Wed by Martha Waters
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The final installment in the "hilarious and steamy" (PopSugar) Regency Vows series follows the heir to a dukedom and a young widow, once very much in love, as they reunite years later to fake an engagement for the benefit of her sister.
West, the Marquess of Weston, and Sophie, Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell, have lately been spending a considerable amount of time together. But West and Sophie are not new acquaintances. In fact, years ago, they had once been nearly engaged until West's almost fatal curricle accident and his meddling father threw them off course.
Now recently widowed, Sophie has put aside all thoughts of romance. But when her widowed sister, Alexandra, mentions a fondness for an earl, Sophie realizes that she may be holding her sister back. Alexandra won't move forward with an engagement until Sophie, too, settles down again, and so Sophie approaches West with a plan. They will announce their engagement and break things off once Alexandra is happily married. It'll be simple. After all, it's not like she is going to fall for West a second time, not when Sophie has sworn not to risk her heart again."
Sigh, Regency Romance!
I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang
Published by: Scholastic Press
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Unforgettable, snarky, and romantic, I Hope This Doesn't Find You is Never Have I Ever meets To All the Boys I've Loved Before if Lara Jean wrote hate emails instead of love letters.
Sadie Wen is perfect on paper: school captain, valedictorian, and a "pleasure to have in class." It's not easy, but she has a trick to keep her model-student smile plastered on her face at all times: she channels all her frustrations into her email drafts. She'd never send them of course - she'd rather die than hurt anyone's feelings - but it's a relief to let loose on her power-hungry English teacher or a freeloading classmate taking credit for Sadie's work.
All her most vehemently worded emails are directed at her infuriating cocaptain, Julius Gong, whose arrogance and competitive streak have irked Sadie since they were kids.
"You're attention starved and self-obsessed and unbearably vain...I really hope your comb breaks and you run out of whatever expensive hair products you've been using to make your hair appear deceptively soft..."
Sadie doesn't have to hold back in her emails, because nobody will ever read them...that is, until they're accidentally sent out.
Overnight, Sadie's carefully crafted, conflict-free life is turned upside down. It's her worst nightmare - now everyone at school knows what she really thinks of them, and they're not afraid to tell her what they really think of her either. But amidst the chaos, there's one person growing to appreciate the "real" Sadie - Julius, the only boy she's sworn to hate..."
This is literally my worst nightmare. Not that I'm sitting around writing bad things about people, just that there will be wires crossed with technology and something I don't want someone to know will be outed.
Lenny Henry by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Published by: Frances Lincoln Ltd
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 32 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy best-selling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Sir Lenny Henry, the multi-talented comedian, actor, writer and activist.
Ever since he was small, Lenny Henry wanted to be a comedian. At home in Dudley, England, he would pretend to be the characters he watched on TV, copying scenes from his favorite shows to entertain his six brothers and sisters. But life wasn't always easy, and at school, Lenny found himself the subject of racist bullying - until he figured out a way to beat the bullies using humor. This was when he realized he had a gift: he could make people laugh. He shot to fame aged 16 and the following decades were full of great successes, such as his hugely popular TV show The Lenny Henry Show.
Lenny co-founded the charity Comic Relief in response to a terrible famine in East Africa. Over 25 years later, Lenny and the charity remain committed to creating a just world, free from poverty, and have raised millions of pounds. An actor, a comedian, an author, and a champion of inclusivity, Lenny is a much-loved figure whose story encourages us to keep smiling."
And the thing is, unlike in the United States, Comic Relief in England is amazing and funny.
Queens of London by Heather Webb
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: February 6th, 2024
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Maybe women can have it all, as long as they're willing to steal it.
1925. London. When Alice Diamond, AKA "Diamond Annie," is elected the Queen of the Forty Elephants, she's determined to take the all-girl gang to new heights. She's ambitious, tough as nails, and a brilliant mastermind, with a plan to create a dynasty the likes of which no one has ever seen. Alice demands absolute loyalty from her "family" - it's how she's always kept the cops in line. Too bad she's now the target for one of Britain's first female policewomen.
Officer Lilian Wyles isn't merely one of the first female detectives at Scotland Yard, she's one of the best detectives on the force. Even so, she'll have to win a big score to prove herself, to break free from the "women's work" she's been assigned. When she hears about the large-scale heist in the works to fund Alice's new dynasty, she realizes she has the chance she's been looking for - and the added bonus of putting Diamond Annie out of business permanently.
A tale of dark glamour and sisterhood, Queens of London is a look at Britain's first female crime syndicate, the ever-shifting meaning of justice, and the way women claim their power by any means necessary, from USA Today bestselling author Heather Webb."
Everybody is getting on the Alice Diamond trade!
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