Showing posts with label Joanna Davidson Politano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joanna Davidson Politano. Show all posts

Monday, April 14, 2025

Tuesday Tomorrow

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage
Published by: Hyperion Avenue
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first novel in the all-new Golden Girls Cozy Mystery Series!

When Dorothy's obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf - themed wedding Rose is hosting.

Things are heating up, and not just because of Blanche's hot flashes. Rose's cousin is eloping to Miami, and Rose is playing host. If she can't balance the groom's family's snobbery against the traditional St. Olaf wedding week guidelines, her hometown may never accept her cousin again!

Dorothy quickly realizes she needs a date with whom she can exchange wedding-related wisecracks. Turning to a newfangled VHS dating service, she believes she's found the ideal conversationalist. Unfortunately, what looks good on TV can actually be a total jerk in real life. It seems she'll just have to enjoy the company of Sophia, Blanche, and whomever Blanche has targeted for a hookup.

As the Girls all pitch in, Rose is thrilled that the tea-and-fish-themed kickoff event is perfect, not a herring out of place. That is until Dorothy's date is found dead - face-planted in an otherwise scrumptious-looking cheesecake. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, the four besties must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It's up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!"

WHY HAS NO ONE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE!?! Seriously brilliant. Like a perfect cheesecake.

The Murder Show by Matt Goldman
Published by: Forge Books
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Murder Show is a pulse-racing novel about secrets, old friends, and how the past never leaves us by New York Times bestselling and Emmy Award winning author Matt Goldman!

Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with The Murder Show, a television crime drama that features a private detective who solves cases the police can't. But after his pitch for the fourth season is rejected by the network, he returns home to Minnesota looking for inspiration.

His timing is fortunate - his former classmate Ro Greeman is now a local police officer, and she's uncovered new information about the devastating hit and run that killed their mutual friend Ricky the summer after high school. She asks Ethan to help her investigate and thinks that if he portrays the killing on The Murder Show, the publicity may bring Ricky's killer to justice.

Ethan is skeptical that Ricky's death was anything but a horrible accident, but with the clock running out on his career, he's willing to try anything. It doesn't take long for them to realize they've dug up more than they bargained for. Someone is dead set on stopping Ethan and Ro from looking too closely into Ricky's death  - even if keeping them quiet means killing again..."

I love the kernel of truth in Matt Goldman's stories. Here it's that he moved home to Minnesota after fleeing Hollywood.

One death at a Time by Abbi Waxman
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A cranky former actress teams up with her Gen Z sobriety sponsor to solve the murder that threatens to send her back to prison in this dazzling new mystery novel from the USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill.

When Julia Mann, a bad-tempered ex-actress and professional thorn in the side of authority, runs into Natasha Mason at an AA meeting, it's anything but a meet-cute. Julia just found a dead body in her swimming pool, and the cops say she did it (she already went to jail for murder once, so now they think she's making a habit of it). Mason is eager to clear Julia's name and help keep her sober, but all Julia wants is for Mason to leave her alone.

As their investigation ranges from the Hollywood Hills to the world of burlesque to the country clubs of Palm Springs, this unconventional team realizes their shared love of sarcasm and poor life choices are proving to be a powerful combination. Will secrets from their past trip them up, or will their team of showgirls, cat burglars, and Hollywood agents help them stay one step ahead? Are dead piranhas, false noses, and a giant martini glass important clues or simply your typical day in Los Angeles? And will they manage to solve the crime before they kill each other, or worse, fall off the wagon? Trying to keep it simple and take it easy is one thing - trying to find a murderer before they kill again is a whole other program."

Here for sarcasm and poof life choices! 

The French Honeymoon by Anne-Sophie Jouhanneau
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Paris Apartment meets A Simple Favor in an unputdownable thriller about a honeymoon gone horribly wrong.

Sometimes, Paris is a terrible idea.

This is not how she imagined it, any of it. Taylor Quinn arrives at her honeymoon suite in the City of Love alone, sans suitcase, but with wads of stolen cash. When she catches a glimpse of newlyweds Cassie and Olivier enjoying their happily ever, she can't tear her eyes away. And Cassie makes their antics easy to follow as she reveals every detail of their picture-perfect trip on social media. Taylor's obsession builds as she tracks their every move. This was the kind of life she was supposed to be living, this was the marriage she should have had, this was the honeymoon she dreamed of.

The illusion is shattered when she overhears a heated argument between Cassie and Olivier, which reveals that they're not the lovestruck couple they pretend to be. But Cassie and Olivier have agendas of their own and Taylor can't see the danger in getting in the middle of this until it's too late. And now, no one will get out of Paris unscathed."

I am very much obsessed with A Simple Favor right now as I await the sequel, so thankfully The French Honeymoon is here to temporarily fill the gap.

The Penford Manor Murders by Fiona Veitch Smith
Published by: Embla Books
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: eBook, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"It's open season at Penford Manor! But someone has murder in their sights...

At Penford Manor, the guests are arriving to celebrate the start of the grouse-hunting season: lords and ladies, barons and baronesses, a Member of Parliament - and chemistry graduate turned detective, Miss Clara Vale, an old friend of the family. But Clara is no ordinary guest: she's secretly investigating a blackmail plot against Lady Penford herself.

Someone in the house is already up to no good, but when the body of a local trade unionist is found in the grounds, Clara's case gets even more complicated because a clue left by the body links it to the blackmail note.

Who has discovered Lady Penford's secret? Can Clara and her trusted assistant Bella work together to find the murderer? And what do the cornflowers which keep popping up everywhere mean?

Amidst the glittering dresses and sparkling conversation of society, Clara must find the truth - before the killer acts again!

The perfect Golden Age cosy mystery for fans of Helena Dixon, Agatha Christie and Verity Bright won't want to miss this!"

Is it weird that I know none of my local hunting season dates but know when grouse seasons starts in England?

Who Will Remember by C.S. Harris
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The macabre murder of a prominent nobleman throws an already unsettled London into chaos in this electrifying new historical mystery by the USA Today bestselling author of What Cannot Be Said.

August 1816. England is in the grip of what will become known as the Year Without a Summer. Facing the twin crises of a harvest-destroying volcanic winter and the economic disruption caused by the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the British monarchy finds itself haunted by the looming threat of bloody riots not seen since the earliest days of the French Revolution. Amidst the turmoil, a dead man is found hanging upside down by one leg in an abandoned chapel, his hands tied behind his back. The pose eerily echoes the image depicted on a tarot card known as Le Pendu, the Hanged Man. The victim - Lord Preston Farnsworth, the younger brother of one of the Regent's boon companions - was a passionate crusader against what he called the forces of darkness, namely criminality, immorality, and sloth. His brutal murder shocks the Palace and panics the already troubled populace.

Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, learns of the murder from a ragged orphan who leads him to the corpse and then disappears. At first, everyone in the dead man's orbit paints Lord Preston as a selfless saint. But Sebastian quickly realizes that the man had accumulated more than his fair share of enemies, including Major Hugh Chandler, a close friend of Sebastian's who once saved his life. Sebastian also discovers that the pious Lord Preston may have been much more dangerous than those he sought to redeem.

As dark clouds press down on the city and the rains fall unceasingly, two more victims are found, one strangled and one shot, with ominous tarot cards placed on their bodies. The killer is sending a gruesome message and Sebastian is running out of time to decipher it before more lives are lost and a fraught post-war London explodes."

Technically they didn't know it was caused by a volcano until later...

The Eights by Joanna Miller
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"They knew they were changing history.
They didn’t know they would change each other.


Following the unlikely friendship of four women in the first female class at Oxford, their unshakeable bond in the face of male contempt, and their coming of age in a world forever changed by World War I.

Oxford, 1920. For the first time in its one-thousand-year history, Oxford University officially admits female students. Burning with dreams of equality, four young women move into neighboring rooms in Corridor 8. Beatrice, Dora, Marianne, and Otto - collectively known as The Eights - come from all walks of life, each driven by their own motives, each holding tight to their secrets, and are thrown into an unlikely, unshakable friendship.

Dora was never meant to go to university, but, after losing both her brother and her fiancé on the battlefield, has arrived in their place. Politically-minded Beatrice, daughter of a famous suffragette, sees Oxford as a chance to make her own way - and some friends her own age. Otto was a nurse during the war but is excited to return to her socialite lifestyle in Oxford where she hopes to find distraction from the memories that haunt her. And finally Marianne, the quiet, clever daughter of a village pastor, who has a shocking secret she must hide from everyone, even her new friends, if she is to succeed.

Among the historic spires, and in the long shadow of the Great War, the four women must navigate and support one another in a turbulent world in which misogyny is rife, influenza is still a threat, and the ghosts of the Great War don't always remain dead."

Grumble grumble, it's suffragists not suffragette, unless you want to use it as a slur.

The Curious Inheritance of Blakely House by Joanna Davidson Politano
Published by: Fleming H. Revell Company
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A clever young woman, a contested will, and an estate that does not easily give up its secrets.

It is 1901 when clockmaker and tinker Sydney Forrester receives a most unusual inheritance. Blakely House, the island estate of an estranged uncle she's never met, seems almost alive, revealing and hiding its secrets at will. It is filled with remarkable inventions, including an intriguing unfinished automaton Sydney is itching to get her skilled hands on.

The estate is also home to a number of peculiar people - including two men intent on removing this interloper from the island. Convinced that Sydney has something to do with their uncle's death, the late master's nephews contest the will and work against their cousin at every turn.

Sydney finds a sometimes-ally in the estate's butler, an ex-adventurer who ran aground on the island years ago. But when a mysterious man washes ashore with a stunning surprise that upsets everything, Sydney must prove she has inherited the late master's brilliance as well as his property - or someone else will."

Automaton!?! Run. Run now.

American Spirits by Barb Rosenstock
Published by: Calkins Creek
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"CAN THE DEAD TALK TO THE LIVING? Discover the astonishingly true story of Maggie, Kate, and Leah Fox - the Civil War-era sisters and teen mediums who created the American séance.

A real-life ghost story for young adult readers interested in the supernatural, American history, and women's rights!

Rap. Rap. Rap. The eerie sound was first heard in March of 1848 at the home of the Fox family in Hydesville, New York. The family's two daughters, Kate and Maggie, soon discovered that they could communicate with the spirit that was making these uncanny noises; he told them he had been a traveling peddler who had been murdered. This strange incident, and the ones that followed, generated a media frenzy beyond anything the Fox sisters could have imagined. Kate and Maggie, managed (or perhaps manipulated) by their elder sister Leah, became famous spirit mediums, giving public exhibitions, and advising other celebrities of their day.

But were the Fox sisters legitimate? In the years that followed their rise, the Civil War killed roughly 1 in 4 soldiers, increasing the demand for contacting the dead. However, media campaigns against the sisters gathered steam as well...

This thrilling and mysterious true story from veteran author Barb Rosenstock (Caldecott Honor winner) will spark teens' interest in American history, encourage media literacy, and reveal insights into the Civil War era, fake news, and women's rights."

Um, a family can't have two daughters and then a third elder sister... The family has three daughters. The number is three.

The Night Eaters Book 3: Their Kingdom Come by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
Published by: Abrams Comicarts
Publication Date: April 15th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Their Kingdom Come - by the New York Times bestselling and award-winning creative team Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda - is the epic conclusion to the Eisner-winning graphic novel horror trilogy The Night Eaters. The thrilling conclusion to the critically acclaimed, award-winning Night Eaters trilogy!

What happens when you and your twin accidentally trigger the apocalypse while trying to defend your family from an evil warlock? Well, Milly and Billy are about to find out.

Los Angeles has been decimated by the Ting twins and the hole they've accidentally torn in the fabric of the universe. But that's not all...across the world things are...changing. The long-separated realities of Earth and the magical world have collided with disastrous results. Milly and Billy are desperate to set things straight, but Keon and Ipo know better - some things can't be undone. The final war for the fate of our world has begun.

In Their Kingdom Come, the New York Times bestselling creative team Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda return to conclude their epic tale of magic and monsters, demons and demigods, and the capricious, incontrovertible power of luck."

If you are know an acolyte of Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda, I have a book for you!

Monday, August 19, 2019

Tuesday Tomorrow

Finding Lady Enderly by Joanna Davidson Politano
Published by: Revell
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Raina Bretton is a rag woman in London's east end when a handsome stranger appears in a dank alley and offers her a glittering smile and a chance for adventure. Rothburne Abbey has a unique position for her, one that will take her away from her hardscrabble life and give her a chance to be a lady. Things she could only dream of might be coming true. But some dreams turn out to be nightmares.

Though Raina has traded squalor for silk and satin, something about the abbey is deeply unsettling. As she wrestles with her true identity, the ruin, decay, and secrets she finds at the heart of the old mansion tear at her confidence and threaten to reveal her for who she really is. Only one man stands between her and the danger that lurks within - and only if he decides to keep her biggest secret hidden."

This sounds like a more Gothic version of Fingersmith and I'm sold! 

The Zepplin Deception by Colleen Gleason
Published by: Avid Press
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 318 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mina Holmes and Evaline Stoker return in their final - and most exciting - adventure together.

It’s a cold, blustery day in January of 1890 when Mina Holmes receives an invitation to Evaline Stoker’s wedding. The two young women - partners and occasionally friends - haven’t spoken for nearly two months, since the events at the Carnelian Crow.

Shocked, Mina is still looking at the invitation when constables from Scotland Yard begin pounding on her front door. They’ve arrived to arrest her for the murder of a man she’s never even heard of.

Meanwhile, Evaline has her hands full with wedding plans (boring) and an overbearing sister who wants to manage her every move - including a dizzying array of social activities. In the midst of all this, she receives an invitation to visit Lady Isabella Cosgrove-Pitt, a most villainous woman.

With Pix in jail, Mina being hunted by Scotland Yard, and Evaline dining with the murderous Lady Isabella what more can possibly go wrong?

Plenty. And when the mysterious black zeppelin appears once again in the night sky, things are about to get even more dangerous for Miss Stoker and Miss Holmes."

Their final adventure has FINALLY arrived. Though if I were you I'd go over to Colleen's website to order it...

The Warlow Experiment by Alix Nathan
Published by: Doubleday
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"An utterly transporting and original historical novel about an eighteenth-century experiment in personal isolation that yields unexpected - and deeply, shatteringly human - results.

Herbert Powyss lives in an estate in the Welsh Marches, with enough time and income to pursue a gentleman's fashionable investigations and experiments in botany. But he longs to make his mark in the field of science - something consequential enough to present to the Royal Society in London. He hits on a radical experiment in isolation: For seven years a subject will inhabit three rooms in the basement of the manor house, fitted out with rugs, books, paintings, and even a chamber organ. Meals will arrive thrice daily via a dumbwaiter. The solitude will be totally unrelieved by any social contact whatsoever; the subject will keep a diary of his daily thoughts and actions. The pay: fifty pounds per annum, for life.

Only one man is desperate to apply for the job: John Warlow, a semi-literate laborer with a wife and six children to provide for. The experiment, a classic Enlightenment exercise gone more than a little mad, will have unforeseen consequences for all included."

Don't you just NEED to know the consequences? I know I do! 

A Shadowed Livery by Charlie Garratt
Published by: Sapere Books
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 261 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The first book in a page-turning historical mystery series! Perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Philip Kerr and Andrew Taylor.

War is on the horizon...

Warwickshire, England, 1938.

While Hitler and Chamberlain are preparing to sign the Munich agreement, the murderer of a Jewish shopkeeper is being hanged in Birmingham.

After witnessing the execution, Inspector James Given, who brought the killer to justice, is surprised to find he has been taken off the investigation to pursue something completely different.

Grovestock House, owned by the wealthy Barleigh family has witnessed a triple death.

With the terrible events neatly written off as a murder and a double suicide, Given is supposed to tidy up a few loose ends with the help of local constable, John Sawyer.

But Given is sure there is more to the case than meets the eye.

What dark secrets were the Barleigh family hiding? Could there be another killer involved?

And how will Given react when he is forced to confront the ghosts of his past...?

A Shadowed Livery is an intriguing historical mystery - a traditional British investigation set in England immediately before the Second World War."

A time of change, a true event, and perfect for fans of Agatha Christie? Perfect summer read in my book.

The Paper Bark Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
Published by: Constable
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Su Lin is doing her dream job: assistant at Singapore's brand new detective agency. Until Bald Bernie decides a 'local girl' can't be trusted with private investigations, and replaces her with a new secretary - pretty, privileged, and white. So Su Lin's not the only person finding it hard to mourn Bernie after he's found dead in the filing room. And when her best friend's dad is accused, she gets up to some sleuthing work of her own in a bid to clear his name.

Su Lin finds out that Bernie may have been working undercover, trading stolen diamonds for explosives from enemy troops. Was he really the upright English citizen he claimed to be?

Meanwhile, a famous assassin commits his worst crime yet, and disappears into thin air. Rumours spread that he may be dangerously close to home.

Beneath the stifling, cloudless Singaporean summer, earthquakes of chaos and political unrest are breaking out. When a tragic loss shakes Su Lin's personal world to its core, she becomes determined to find the truth. But in dark, hate-filled times, truth has a price - and Su Lin must decide how much she's willing to pay for it."

I hope you love a different kind of detective story as much as I do! 

Turning Darkness into Light by Marie Brennan
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Marie Brennan's Turning Darkness Into Light is a delightful fantasy of manners, the heir to the award-winning Natural History of Dragons series, a perfect stepping stone into an alternate Victorian-esque fantasy landscape.

As the renowned granddaughter of Isabella Camherst (Lady Trent, of the riveting and daring Draconic adventure memoirs) Audrey Camherst has always known she, too, would want to make her scholarly mark upon a chosen field of study.

When Lord Gleinheigh recruits Audrey to decipher a series of ancient tablets holding the secrets of the ancient Draconean civilization, she has no idea that her research will plunge her into an intricate conspiracy, one meant to incite rebellion and invoke war. Alongside dearest childhood friend and fellow archeologist Kudshayn, Audrey must find proof of the conspiracy before it’s too late."

Anyone else as over the moon as I am that we have more dragon tales by Marie Brennan?

Snow, Glass, Apples by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran
Published by: Dark Horse Books
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 64 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:

"A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by New York Times bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran!

A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren't so happily ever after.

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula award-winning, and New York Times bestselling writer Neil Gaiman (American Gods) comes this graphic novel adaptation by Colleen Doran (Troll Bridge)!"

That Erté-esque cover is TO DIE FOR!

Tidelands by Philippa Gregory
Published by: Atria Books
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The #1 New York Times bestselling author and “one of the great storytellers of our time” (San Francisco Book Review) turns from the glamour of the royal courts to tell the story of an ordinary woman, Alinor, who cannot bear to conform to the life that lies before her.

Midsummer’s Eve, 1648, England is in the grip of a civil war between renegade king and rebellious parliament. The struggle reaches every corner of the kingdom, even the remote tidelands - the marshy landscape of the south coast.

Alinor, a descendant of wisewomen, trapped in poverty and superstition, waits in the graveyard under the full moon for a ghost who will declare her free from her abusive husband. Instead, she meets James, a young man on the run, and shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marsh, not knowing that she is leading disaster into the heart of her life.

Suspected of possessing dark secrets in superstitious times, Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her out from her neighbors. This is the time of witch mania, and Alinor, a woman without a husband, skilled with herbs, suddenly enriched, arouses envy in her rivals and fear among the villagers, who are ready to take lethal action into their own hands.

It is dangerous for a woman to be different."

I love nothing more that Philippa Gregory and her cunning women! 

The Deaths and Afterlife of Aleister Crowley by Ian Thornton
Published by: Unbound
Publication Date: August 20th, 2019
Format: Kindle, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Aleister Crowley, also known as the Great Beast, is one of the most reviled men in history. Satanist, cult leader, debauched novelist and poet, his legacy has been harshly contested for decades.

Crowley supposedly died in 1947, but in Ian Thornton's new novel, set in the present day, the Great Beast is alive and well and living in Shangri-la. Now over 130 years old, thanks to the magical air of his mystical location, he looks back on his life and decides it is time to set the record straight.

For Crowley was not the evil man he is often portrayed as. This was just a cover to hide his real mission, to save the twentieth century from destroying itself and to set humanity on the road to freedom and liberty.

The Death and Afterlife of Aleister Crowley is an epic novel that will make you see this notorious figure in a completely new light, as he encounters an impressive cast of real-life characters including Timothy Leary, The Beatles, Princess Margaret, Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock."

If you don't know who Aleister Crowley is, where have you been? You must immediately catch up my reading this book and watching Strange Angel.

Monday, July 30, 2018

Tuesday Tomorrow

Murder at Ochre Court by Alyssa Maxwell
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the summer of 1898, reporter Emma Cross investigates a shocking death among the bright lights of Newport's high society...

After a disappointing year as a society columnist for the Herald and staying with her more well-heeled Vanderbilt relatives in New York City, Emma has returned to the salty air, glittering ocean vistas, and grand stately mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, more determined than ever to report on hard news.

But for now she’s covering the social event of the season at Ochre Court, a coming-out ball designed to showcase Cleo Cooper-Smith, who will be literally on display, fittingly as Cleopatra, in an elaborate tableau vivant. Recently installed modern electricity will allow Miss Cooper-Smith to truly shine. But as the deb ascends to her place of honor, the ballroom is plunged into darkness. When the lights come back on, Cleo sits still on her throne, electrocuted to death.

Quickly establishing that the wiring was tampered with, Emma now has a murder to investigate. And the array of eligible suspects could fill another ballroom—from a shady New York real estate developer to a neglected sister and the mother of a spurned suitor. As Emma begins to discover this crime has unseen connections to a nefarious network, she puts her own life at risk to shine a light on the dark motives behind a merciless murder."

Oh, I was already sold, but a tableau vivant has me extra excited! 

A Rumored Fortune by Joanna Davidson Politano
Published by: Revell
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Tressa Harlowe's father did not trust banks, but neither did he trust his greedy extended family. He kept his vast fortune hidden somewhere on his estate in the south of England and died suddenly, without telling anyone where he had concealed it. Tressa and her ailing mother are left with a mansion and an immense vineyard and no money to run it. It doesn't take long for a bevy of opportunists to flock to the estate under the guise of offering condolences. Tressa knows what they're really up to. She'll have to work with the rough and rusticated vineyard manager to keep the laborers content without pay and discover the key to finding her father's fortune--before someone else finds it first.

Award-winning author Joanna Davidson Politano welcomes readers to Trevelyan Castle, home of the poorest heiress in Victorian England, for a treasure hunt they'll not soon forget."

A treasure hunt in a castle? Yes please!

A Tale of Two Murders by Heather Redmond
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"On the eve of the Victorian era, London has a new sleuth...

In the winter of 1835, young Charles Dickens is a journalist on the rise at the Evening Chronicle. Invited to dinner at the estate of the newspaper's co-editor, Charles is smitten with his boss's daughter, vivacious nineteen-year-old Kate Hogarth. They are having the best of times when a scream shatters the pleasant evening. Charles, Kate, and her father rush to the neighbors' home, where Miss Christiana Lugoson lies unconscious on the floor. By morning, the poor young woman will be dead.

When Charles hears from a colleague of a very similar mysterious death a year ago to the date, also a young woman, he begins to suspect poisoning and feels compelled to investigate. The lovely Kate offers to help—using her social position to gain access to the members of the upper crust, now suspects in a murder. If Charles can find justice for the victims, it will be a far, far better thing than he has ever done. But with a twist or two in this most peculiar case, he and Kate may be in for the worst of times..."

Ever since I read Terry Pratchett's Dodger I've been interested in a young Charles Dickens and his work at the Evening Chronicle. 

The Quiet Side of Passion by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Pantheon
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Isabel Dalhousie grapples with complex matters of the heart as she tries to juggle her responsibilities to friends, family, and the philosophical community.

With two small boys to raise, a mountain or articles to edit for the Review of Applied Ethics and the ever-increasing demands of her niece, Cat, who always seems to need a helping hand at the deli. Isabel barely has any time for herself. Her husband, Jamie, suggests acquiring extra help, and she reluctantly agrees. In no time at all, Isabel and Jamie have a new au pair, and Isabel hires an intelligent assistant editor to share her workload. Both women, though, have romantic entanglements that threaten to interfere with their work, and Isabel must decide how best to navigate this tricky domestic situation. Should an employer ever inject herself into her employees’ affairs?

Meanwhile, Isabel makes the acquaintance of Patricia, the mother of her son Charlie’s friend Basil. Isabel tries to be supportive, especially given that Patricia is raising her son on her own, without the help of his father, a well-known Edinburgh organist also named Basil. But when Isabel sees Patricia in the company of an unscrupulous man, she begins to rethink her assumptions. Isabel must once again call on her kindness and keen intelligence to determine the right course of action, at home, at work, and in the schoolyard."

And now for some Isabel Dalhousie...

Shadow's Bane by Karen Chance
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: July 31st, 2018
Format: Paperback, 624 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Half-human, half-vampire Dorina Basarab is back--and facing her biggest challenge yet in the next urban fantasy in the New York Times bestselling series.

Dorina Basarab is a dhampir--half-human, half-vampire. As one of the Vampire Senate's newest members, Dory already has a lot on her plate. But then a relative of one of Dory's fey friends goes missing. They fear he's been sold to a slaver who arranges fights--sometimes to the death--between different types of fey.

As Dory investigates, she and her friends learn the slavers are into something much bigger than a fight club. With the Vampire Senate gearing up for war with Faerie, it'll take everything she has to defeat the slavers--and deal with the entirely too attractive master vampire Louis-Cesare...."

I've been in need of a good urban fantasy series...

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