strange and random happenstance

The It Girl by Ruth Ware
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 432 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the "claustrophobic spine-tingler" (People) One by One returns with an unputdownable mystery following a woman on the search for answers a decade after her friend’s murder.

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends - Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily - during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April's death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

"The Agatha Christie of our generation" (David Baldacci, #1 New York Times bestselling author) proves once again that she is "as ingenious and indefatigable as the Queen of Crime" (The Washington Post) with this propulsive murder mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat."

The IT beach read of the summer is here!

We Lie Here by Rachel Howzell Hall
Published by: Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A woman's trip home reveals frightening truths in a twisty novel of murder and family secrets by the New York Times bestselling author of And Now She's Gone and These Toxic Things.

TV writer Yara Gibson's hometown of Palmdale, California, isn't her first choice for a vacation. But she's back to host her parents' twentieth-anniversary party and find the perfect family mementos for the celebration. Everything is going to plan until Yara receives a disturbing text: I have information that will change your life.

The message is from Felicia Campbell, who claims to be a childhood friend of Yara's mother. But they've been estranged for years - drama best ignored and forgotten. But Yara can't forget Felicia, who keeps texting, insisting that Yara talk to her "before it's too late."

But the next day is already too late for Felicia, whose body is found floating in Lake Palmdale. Before she died, Felicia left Yara a key to a remote lakeside cabin. In the basement are files related to a mysterious tragedy, unsolved since 1998. What secrets was Felicia hiding? How much of what Yara knows about her family has been true?

The deeper Yara digs for answers, the more she fears that Felicia was right. Uncovering the truth about what happened at the cabin all those years ago will change Yara's life - or end it."

Proving that you should always listen when someone says "before it's too late."

The Woman in the Woods by Lisa Hall
Published by: HQ
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"She's out there. Waiting for you.

A haunting read about witchcraft and superstition from Lisa Hall...

Is her family in danger?

When Allie moves to a quaint old cottage with her husband, it's their dream home. Nestled in the village of Pluckley, it seems a perfect haven in which to raise their two children. But Pluckley has a reputation. It's known as England's most haunted village. And not long after the birth of their new son, Allie begins to notice strange things...

What's the flash of white she sees moving quickly through the woods to the back of their house? And what's the strange scratching noise coming from the chimney?

As Allie discovers more about the history of their new home, she uncovers a story of witchcraft and superstition, which casts a long shadow into the present day. And not everything is as it seems. Her family might well be in danger, but it's a danger none of them could have foreseen...

Bestseller Lisa Hall's The Woman in the Woods is full of creeping unease and nerve-wracking tension, and will have readers on the edge of their seats..."

Aw yeah, haunted villages!

They Drown Our Daughters by Katrina Monroe
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"If you can hear the call of the water,
It's already far too late.

They say Cape Disappointment is haunted. That's why tourists used to flock there in droves. They'd visit the rocky shoreline under the old lighthouse's watchful eye and fish shells from the water as they pretended to spot dark shapes in the surf. Now the tourists are long gone, and when Meredith Strand and her young daughter return to Meredith's childhood home after an acrimonious split from her wife, the Cape seems more haunted by regret than any malevolent force.

But her mother, suffering from early stages of Alzheimer's, is convinced the ghost stories are real. Not only is there something in the water, but it's watching them. Waiting for them. Reaching out to Meredith's daughter the way it has to every woman in their line for generations - and if Meredith isn't careful, all three women, bound by blood and heartbreak, will be lost one by one to the ocean's mournful call.

Part queer modern Gothic, part ghost story, They Drown Our Daughters explores the depths of motherhood, identity, and the lengths a woman will go to hold on to both."

Gothic ghost story? Yes please.

Wake the Bones by Elizabeth Kilcoyne
Published by: Wednesday Books
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The sleepy little farm that Laurel Early grew up on has awakened. The woods are shifting, the soil is dead under her hands, and her bone pile just stood up and walked away.

After dropping out of college, all she wanted was to resume her life as a tobacco hand and taxidermist and try not to think about the boy she can’t help but love. Instead, a devil from her past has returned to court her, as he did her late mother years earlier. Now, Laurel must unravel her mother’s terrifying legacy and tap into her own innate magic before her future and the fate of everyone she loves is doomed.

Elizabeth Kilcoyne's Wake the Bones is a dark, atmospheric debut about the complicated feelings that arise when the place you call home becomes hostile."

Haven becomes horrifying!

The Haunting of Crimshaw Manor by Mark E. Drotos
Published by: BHC Press
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 266 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Every town has a mystery. The Crimshaw family were once the caretakers of the prestigious Strathmore Estate. After the great blizzard of 1868, the townspeople found Elizabeth Crimshaw's body hanging from the banister. Her young son and husband were declared missing and never found. Every town has a legend.The locals say they have seen Elizabeth's ghost and that the manor is haunted. Others claim to have heard a woman's scream and have witnessed strange lights and shadow people.Some mysteries are better left unsolved.What really happened to the promising Crimshaw family? Are the rumors surrounding the family true? Intent on investigating these claims, Stephen Davenport, adjunct professor of Paranormal Studies at Strathmore University, along with students from the school's paranormal investigations club begin a weekend investigation.What they find confirms their beliefs in the paranormal-and challenges them to simply stay alive."

I love paranormal investigations that go really really wrong.

Peril at the Exposition by Nev March
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Captain Jim Agnihotri and his new bride, Diana Framji, return in Nev March's Peril at the Exposition, the follow up to March's award-winning, Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay.

1893: Newlyweds Captain Jim Agnihotri and Diana Framji are settling into their new home in Boston, Massachusetts, having fled the strict social rules of British Bombay. It's a different life than what they left behind, but theirs is no ordinary marriage: Jim, now a detective at the Dupree Agency, is teaching Diana the art of deduction he’s learned from his idol, Sherlock Holmes.

Everyone is talking about the preparations for the World's Fair in Chicago: the grandeur, the speculation, the trickery. Captain Jim will experience it first-hand: he's being sent to Chicago to investigate the murder of a man named Thomas Grewe. As Jim probes the underbelly of Chicago’s docks, warehouses, and taverns, he discovers deep social unrest and some deadly ambitions.

When Jim goes missing, young Diana must venture to Chicago's treacherous streets to learn what happened. But who can she trust, when a single misstep could mean disaster?

Award-winning author Nev March mesmerized readers with her Edgar finalist debut, Murder in Old Bombay. Now, in Peril at the Exposition, she wields her craft against the glittering landscape of the Gilded Age with spectacular results."

I am ALL about the Chicago World's Fair!

Death and the Conjuror by Tom Mead
Published by: Mysterious Press
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A magician-turned-sleuth in pre-war London solves three impossible crimes.

In 1930s London, celebrity psychiatrist Anselm Rees is discovered dead in his locked study, and there seems to be no way that a killer could have escaped unseen. There are no clues, no witnesses, and no evidence of the murder weapon. Stumped by the confounding scene, the Scotland Yard detective on the case calls on retired stage magician-turned-part-time sleuth Joseph Spector. For who better to make sense of the impossible than one who traffics in illusions?

Spector has a knack for explaining the inexplicable, but even he finds that there is more to this mystery than meets the eye. As he and the Inspector interview the colorful cast of suspects among the psychiatrist’s patients and household, they uncover no shortage of dark secrets - or motives for murder. When the investigation dovetails into that of an apparently-impossible theft, the detectives consider the possibility that the two transgressions are related. And when a second murder occurs, this time in an impenetrable elevator, they realize that the crime wave will become even more deadly unless they can catch the culprit soon.

A tribute to the classic golden-age whodunnit, when crime fiction was a battle of wits between writer and reader, Death and the Conjuror joins its macabre atmosphere, period detail, and vividly-drawn characters with a meticulously-constructed fair play puzzle. Its baffling plot will enthrall readers of mystery icons such as Agatha Christie and John Dickson Carr, modern masters like Anthony Horowitz and Elly Griffiths, or anyone who appreciates a good mystery."

Will this fill the Elly Griffiths Magic Men hole in my life?

Classic Monsters Unleashed edited by James Aquilone
Published by: Black Spot Books
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 443 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Stories of famous monsters in a new horror anthology edited by James Aquilone and featuring Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, and many others.

Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Bride of Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dr. Moreau, the Headless Horseman, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, the Wicked Witch of the West - they're all here, in this collection of horror short stories that reimagine, subvert, and pay homage to our favorite monsters and creatures.

Written by the biggest names in the genre - including Joe R. Lansdale, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Morton, Owl Goingback, Richard Christian Matheson, Seanan McGuire, Maurice Broaddus, Dacre Stoker, Linda D. Addison, Alessandro Manzetti, Tim Waggoner, John Palisano, Mercedes M. Yardley, Lucy A. Snyder, Gary A. Braunbeck, Rena Mason, and Monique Snyman.

And monstrously illustrated by Colton Worley and Mister Sam Shearon."

It's like B-Movie schlocky fun in book form!

We Have Always Been Here by Lena Nguyen
Published by: DAW
Publication Date: July 12th, 2022
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This psychological sci-fi thriller from a debut author follows one doctor who must discover the source of her crew's madness...or risk succumbing to it herself.

Misanthropic psychologist Dr. Grace Park is placed on the Deucalion, a survey ship headed to an icy planet in an unexplored galaxy. Her purpose is to observe the thirteen human crew members aboard the ship - all specialists in their own fields - as they assess the colonization potential of the planet, Eos. But frictions develop as Park befriends the androids of the ship, preferring their company over the baffling complexity of humans, while the rest of the crew treats them with suspicion and even outright hostility.

Shortly after landing, the crew finds themselves trapped on the ship by a radiation storm, with no means of communication or escape until it passes - and that’s when things begin to fall apart. Park’s patients are falling prey to waking nightmares of helpless, tongueless insanity. The androids are behaving strangely. There are no windows aboard the ship. Paranoia is closing in, and soon Park is forced to confront the fact that nothing - neither her crew, nor their mission, nor the mysterious Eos itself - is as it seems."

And when this is made into a movie sci-fi staple Grace Park will play Grace Park right?

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chicago World's Fair, Classic Monsters Unleashed, Elizabeth Kilcoyne, Gothic, Grace Park, Katrina Monroe, Lena Nguyen, Lisa Hall, Magic Men, Mark E. Drotos, Nev March, Rachel Howzell Hall, Ruth Ware, Tom Mead

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse
Published by: Pamela Dorman Books
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"You won't want to leave...until you can't.

Half-hidden by forest and overshadowed by threatening peaks, Le Sommet has always been a sinister place. Long plagued by troubling rumors, the former abandoned sanatorium has since been renovated into a five-star minimalist hotel.

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge - there's something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

Elin is under pressure to find Laure, but no one has realized yet that another woman has gone missing. And she's the only one who could have warned them just how much danger they are all in..."

I was recently reading some letters of Dorothy Parker's about her stay in a TP Sanatorium in the Alps helping out some friends, and the place sparked a Gothic curiosity in me, and then I read about this upcoming book and everything clicked into place! 

The Last Tiara by M.J. Rose
Published by: Blue Box Press
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller M.J. Rose comes a provocative and moving story of a young female architect in post-World War II Manhattan, who stumbles upon a hidden treasure and begins a journey to discovering her mother's life during the fall of the Romanovs.

Sophia Moon had always been reticent about her life in Russia and when she dies, suspiciously, on a wintry New York evening, Isobelle despairs that her mother's secrets have died with her. But while renovating the apartment they shared, Isobelle discovers something among her mother's effects-a stunning silver tiara, stripped of its jewels.

Isobelle's research into the tiara's provenance draws her closer to her mother's past-including the story of what became of her father back in Russia, a man she has never known. The facts elude her until she meets a young jeweler, who wants to help her but is conflicted by his loyalty to the Midas Society, a covert international organization whose mission is to return lost and stolen antiques, jewels, and artwork to their original owners.

Told in alternating points of view, the stories of the two young women unfurl as each struggles to find their way during two separate wars. In 1915, young Sofiya Petrovitch, favorite of the royal household and best friend of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, tends to wounded soldiers in a makeshift hospital within the grounds of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and finds the love of her life. In 1948 New York, Isobelle Moon works to break through the rampant sexism of the age as one of very few women working in a male-dominated profession and discovers far more about love and family than she ever hoped for.

In M.J. Rose's deftly constructed narrative, the secrets of Sofiya's early life are revealed incrementally, even as Isobelle herself works to solve the mystery of the historic Romanov tiara (which is based on an actual Romanov artifact that is, to this day, still missing)-and how it is that her mother came to possess it. The two strands play off each other in finely-tuned counterpoint, building to a series of surprising and deeply satisfying revelations."

You say Romanovs, I say hell yes!

Valentino Will Die by Donis Casey
Published by: Poisoned Pen Press
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Paperback, 208 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"WHO IS TRYING TO KILL THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVER?

Though Bianca LaBelle, star of the wildly popular silent movie serial "The Adventures of Bianca Dangereuse," and Rudolph Valentino, the greatest screen idol of all time, have been friends for years, in the summer of 1926 they are making their first picture together, a steamy romance called Grand Obsession. One evening after dinner at Bianca's fabulous Beverly Hills estate, a troubled Rudy confesses that he has received anonymous death threats. In a matter of days, filming comes to an abrupt halt when Rudy falls deathly ill. Could it be poison?

As Rudy lies dying, Bianca promises him that she will find out who is responsible. Was it one of his many lovers? A delusional fan? Or perhaps Rudy had run afoul of a mobster whose name Bianca knows all too well? She calls on P.I. Ted Oliver to help her investigate the end of what had seemed to be the charmed life of Valentino."

Oh, a juicy and interesting mystery that Valentino died not as we thought!

Shadows of the White City by Jocelyn Green
Published by: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The one thing Sylvie Townsend wants most is what she feared she was destined never to have - a family of her own. But taking in Polish immigrant Rose Dabrowski to raise and love quells those fears - until seventeen-year-old Rose goes missing at the World's Fair, and Sylvie's world unravels.

Brushed off by the authorities, Sylvie turns to her boarder, Kristof Bartok, for help. He is Rose's violin instructor and the concertmaster for the Columbian Exposition Orchestra, and his language skills are vital to helping Sylvie navigate the immigrant communities where their search leads.

From the glittering architecture of the fair to the dark houses of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods, they're taken on a search that points to Rose's long-lost family. Is Sylvie willing to let the girl go? And as Kristof and Sylvie grow closer, can she reconcile her craving for control with her yearning to belong?"

If I could time travel the Chicago World's Fair would be high on my list. Thankfully I can do this via an armchair thanks to writers like Jocelyn Green.

The Umbrella Lady by V.C. Andrews
Published by: Gallery Books
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A young girl who has lost her father finds herself at the mercy of a mysterious woman who is not quite what she seems in this atmospheric and unputdownable novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the Flowers in the Attic series turned into popular Lifetime movies.

Left on a train platform in an unfamiliar village, little Saffron Faith Anders is certain her father will return shortly, just like he promised. She holds out hope even as the hours pass and the station grows dark. When a strange old woman with a large umbrella approaches and inquiries about her situation, Saffron doesn’t immediately trust the imposing do-gooder, but with the chances of her father returning growing ever slimmer, she agrees to rest at the old woman’s house.

Her stay was supposed to be for a few minutes, hours at most, but soon, Saffron soon realizes she has been confined to a house of dark secrets and is now at the mercy of the enigmatic Umbrella Lady. One minute grandmotherly and the next wickedly cruel, she shears Saffron’s hair, burns all the clothes she had in her suitcase, and pretends that the photo of a young girl hanging on her bedroom wall is no one in particular. When strange letters arrive from Saffron’s father, claiming that he will send for her shortly, hope returns to her young heart. But Saffron soon discovers that those who claim to love you will often hurt you the most...."

Sounds deliciously classic V.C. Andrews!

Murder in the Belltower by Helena Dixon
Published by: Bookouture
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Kindle, 263 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Kitty Underhay’s hymn book is open...at murder.

Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace - aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched – is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction.

The police are happy to conclude that Miss Plenderleith met her unfortunate end on a patch of ice, but Kitty isn’t convinced this was a case of bad weather and worse luck. And when the Reverend Crabtree fails to show for tea the next day, she heads to the church to speak to him. But she arrives to find the clergyman hanging from the bell rope, dead.

With Matt seemingly wrapped up with his alluring Austrian, Kitty must solve the case on her own. But as she snoops into parish affairs, she makes some less-than-saintly discoveries. Just who has broken the sixth commandment? Meanwhile the killer is preparing a churchyard grave for Kitty, and she’ll have to use all her wits to avoid falling in...

An addictive, absorbing and completely unputdownable Golden Age cozy murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss."

I love all mysteries evoking the Golden Age of detection!

Low Expectations by Stuart Everly-Wilson
Published by: Text Publishing
Publication Date: February 2nd, 2021
Format: Kindle
To Buy

The official patter:
"I begin to record the history of it all, because if I don’t I will explode, leaving nothing to tell of me but a pile of ash. In this history I will try to leave nothing out, but I will also be careful not to incorporate any extraneous unnecessary shit. Like objectivity. Objectivity is for those who don’t have a point to make, or a side to take. There is only one side to this story and that’s mine.

1975, Western Sydney.
A street where neighbours keep an eye on everyone else’s business.
A boy and his mum - and a family secret, barely hidden.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:01 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alps, Chicago, Chicago World's Fair, Donis Casey, Dorothy Parker, Great Expectations, Helena Dixon, Jocelyn Green, M.J. Rose, Romanovs, Sarah Pearse, Stuart Everly-Wilson, V.C. Andrews, Valentino, White City