Tuesday Tomorrow
Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito
Published by: Liveright Publishing Corporation
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 208 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Virginia Feito's Mrs. March was hailed as "a brilliant debut...[by] a writer who keeps pace with the grandees she invokes" (Sarah Ditum, Guardian) - from Daphne Du Maurier and Shirley Jackson to Patricia Highsmith. Now, Feito returns with her "silver-polish sentences and her eerie psychological acumen" (Constance Grady, Vox) to unleash an entirely new antihero on us all.
Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess - she'll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate's dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family - Mr. Pounds can't keep his eyes off Winifred's chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband's wandering gaze. Compounded with her disdain for the entitled Pounds children, Winifred finds herself struggling at every turn to stifle the violent compulsions of her past. French tutoring and needlework are one way to pass the time, as is admiring the ugly portraits in the gallery...and creeping across the moonlit lawns....
Patience. Winifred must have patience, for Christmas is coming, and she has very special gifts planned for the dear souls of Ensor House. Brimming with sardonic wit and culminating in a shocking conclusion, Victorian Psycho plunges readers into the chilling mind of an iconic new literary psychopath."
Virginia Feito is SO a Buffyverse fan with characters named Winifred, Drusilla, and Andrew!
Isola by Allegra Goodman
Published by: Dial Press
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A young woman and her lover are marooned on an island in this breathtaking saga, an epic story of love, faith, and defiance from the bestselling author of Sam.
Heir to a fortune, Marguerite is destined for a life of prosperity and gentility. Then she is orphaned, and her guardian - an enigmatic and volatile man - spends her inheritance and insists she accompany him on an expedition to New France. Isolated and afraid, Marguerite befriends her guardian's servant and the two develop an intense attraction. But when their relationship is discovered, they are brutally punished and abandoned on a small island with no hope for rescue.
Once a child of privilege who dressed in gowns and laced pearls in her hair, Marguerite finds herself at the mercy of nature. As the weather turns, blanketing the island in ice, she discovers a faith she'd never before needed.
Inspired by the real life of a sixteenth-century heroine, Isola is the timeless story of a woman fighting for survival."
Damn, having a guardian is seriously the worst.
A Poisoner's Tale by Cathryn Kemp
Published by: Union Square and Co.
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The legendary figure of notorious seventeenth-century Italian poisoner Giulia Tofana, thought to be the first female serial killer in history, is brought to life in this feminist retelling.
Palermo 1632: Giulia is thirteen when she learns her mother's greatest secret: Teofania makes an undetectable, slow-acting, lethal poison - Acqua Tofana - which she uses to free the broken and abused women of Palermo. Now Teofania wants to pass her recipe on to her daughter, and Giulia soon realizes that in a time when women have no voice, justice is sometimes best served in a cup of wine or broth.
Rome, 1656: Years later, within the alleys and shadows of the Eternal City, Giulia forms her own circle of female poisoners, who work together under the guise of an apothecary shop to sell poison to women in need.
But even in a time of plague, when death looms over the city, it doesn't go unnoticed that the men of Rome are starting to fall like flies. And with the newly elected pope determined to rid the city of witches and heretics, Giulia is more vulnerable than ever. How far is she willing to go to continue her mother's legacy?
Weaving together the stories of the women Giulia helped, the men she killed, and those who wanted her dead, this is a tale of magic, secrets, vengeance, and sin in the back streets of Rome - and, ultimately, a fight for power."
Just poison the pope. It would solve some problems...
Junie by Erin Crosby Eckstine
Published by: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister's ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.
Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master's daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie.
When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie's life, she commits a desperate act - one that rouses Minnie's spirit from the grave, tethered to this world unless Junie can free her. She enlists the aid of Caleb, the guests' coachman, and their friendship soon becomes something more. Yet as long-held truths begin to crumble, she realizes Bellereine is harboring dark and horrifying secrets that can no longer be ignored.
With time ticking down, Junie begins to push against the harsh current that has controlled her entire life. As she grapples with an increasingly unfamiliar world in which she has little control, she is forced to ask herself: When we choose love and liberation, what must we leave behind?"
Plantations have the worst ghosts.
Under the Same Stars by Libba Bray
Published by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From New York Times-bestselling author Libba Bray comes an evocative and groundbreaking young adult historical mystery that examines truth, rebellion, reconciliation, and what must be sacrificed for a better world.
It was said that if you write to the Bridegroom's Oak, the love of your life will answer back. Now, the tree is giving up its secrets at last.
In 1940s Germany, Sophie is excited to discover a message waiting for her in the Bridegroom's Oak from a mysterious suitor. Meanwhile, her best friend, Hanna, is sending messages too - but not to find love. As World War II unfolds in their small town of Kleinwald, the oak may hold the key to resistance against the Nazis.
In 1980s West Germany, American teen transplant Jenny feels suffocated by her strict parents and is struggling to fit in. Until she finds herself falling for Lena, a punk-rock girl hell-bent on tearing down the wall separating West Germany from East Germany, and meeting Frau Hermann, a kind old lady with secrets of her own.
In Spring 2020, New York City, best friends Miles and Chloe are in the first weeks of COVID lockdown and hating Zoom school, when an unexpected package from Chloe's grandmother leads them to investigate a cold case about two unidentified teenagers who went missing under the Bridegroom's Oak eighty years ago."
The hook is the disappearance for me.
An Excellent Thing in a Woman by Allison Montclair
Published by: Severn House
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The owners of The Right Sort Marriage Bureau are back, and more determined than ever to bring love matches to the residents of Post-WWII London...so something as trivial as a murder investigation isn't going to stop them!
London, 1947. Spirited Miss Iris Sparks and ever-practical Mrs Gwendolyn Bainbridge are called to action when Gwen's beau Salvatore 'Sally' Danielli is accused of murder!
Sally has taken a job at the BBC studios at Alexandra Palace, but when the beautiful Miss JeanneMarie Duplessis - one of the Parisian performers over for a new variety show - is found dead in the old theatre, a number of inconvenient coincidences make him Suspect No:1.
Just days earlier, Miss Duplessis had arrived at The Right Sort, desperately looking for a husband - any husband - to avoid having to return to Paris. As the plot thickens, Iris is pulled back into the clandestine circles she moved in during the war and it soon becomes apparent that to clear Sally's name, she and Gwen would need to go on the hunt for a killer once more!
Those who enjoy reading Kerry Greenwood's Phryne Fisher mysteries and Dorothy Sayers will adore this warm and witty historical mystery!"
I think there's quite a gap between Phryne Fisher and Dorothy Sayers... Just saying...
The Meadowbrook Murders by Jessica Goodman
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of They Wish They Were Us and The Counselors, comes a page-turning murder mystery set at a prestigious New England boarding school about the importance - and price - of telling the truth.
Secrets don't die.
It's the first week of senior year at Meadowbrook Academy. For Amy and her best friend Sarah, that means late-night parties at the boathouse, bike rides through their sleepy Connecticut town, and the crisp beginning of a New England fall.
Then tragedy strikes: Sarah and her boyfriend are brutally murdered in their dorm room. Now the week Amy has been dreaming about for years has turned into a nightmare, especially when all eyes turn to her as the culprit. She was Sarah's only roommate, the only other person there when she died - or so she told the police to cover for her own boyfriend's suspicious whereabouts. And even though they were best friends, with every passing day, Amy begins to learn that Sarah lied about a lot of things.
Liz, editor of the school newspaper and social outcast, is determined to uncover the truth about what happened on campus, in hopes her reporting will land a prestigious scholarship to college. As Liz dives deeper into her investigation, the secrets these murdered seniors never wanted out come to light. The deeper Liz digs, the messier the truth becomes - and with a killer still on campus, she can't afford to make any mistakes.
The Meadowbrook Murders is a gripping mystery about the inextricable way power, privilege, and secrets are linked, and how telling the truth can come at a deadly price."
There's nothing more deliciously dark academia than a murder mystery at an elite school in New England.
The Department by Jacqueline Faber
Published by: Oceanview Publishing
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 350 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Some secrets we keep even from ourselves.
Philosophy professor Neil Weber can't think of one good reason to get up in the morning. His wife has left him, his academic research has sputtered, and the prospect of tenure is more remote than ever.
Until Lucia Vanotti disappears.
A college student at Neil's Southern university, Lucia has a secret of her own - one that haunts her relationships and leads to reckless, destructive behavior. When Neil is drawn into the mystery of her disappearance, he finds new energy, purpose, and relevance. But at what cost? Each clue pulls him deeper into Lucia's dark past, but also into the hidden lives of his closest friends and colleagues.
What has driven Lucia to risk everything? And why does Neil, a professor who hardly knew her, care so deeply about finding her? From campus classrooms to sex dens to backwoods hideaways, The Department reveals the world through the dual perspectives of Lucia and Neil as they descend into obsession, delusion, and the dangerous terrain of memory - uncovering the traumas that drive them to behave in ways they never could have predicted or imagined."
Cathartic crime solving!
Mugshots by Jordan Thomas and Chris Matthews
Published by: Mad Cave Studios
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 152 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Brighton, UK. 2008. The kidnapping of a young woman starts a chain of events that will set con artists, gangsters, killers, and corrupt police on a collision course of violence. Meet John Bannan, self-proclaimed bastard and loving uncle, in this tale of family trauma, betrayal, murder, and revenge that threatens to bring the city's whole underworld down."
Just look at the gorgeous cover! Damn. I wish I was that talented.
The Crime Brulee Bake Off by Rebecca Connolly
Published by: Shadow Mountain
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"An unexpected romance. A haunting mystery. Pastries to die for.
When Claire Walker is selected to be a contestant on the immensely popular cooking show, Britain's Battle of the Bakers, she is thrilled. She can't wait to spend eight enchanting weeks baking at the picturesque estate of Blackfirth Park. She can almost smell the fresh pastries wafting through the air as she and her fellow contestants use historical equipment to bring pre-1900s recipes to life. If she can win the fifty thousand pounds, she'll be able to ditch her teaching job and launch her baking career.
The Viscount of Colburn, Jonathan Ainsley, is the custodian of Blackfirth Park and an eligible bachelor. With his family's income dwindling, he reluctantly agrees to host the entire production team, but he refuses to participate since he's had enough of single women who see him as nothing more than a potential conquest. But when a contestant is found dead soon after filming begins, Jonathan is forced to get involved. To make matters worse, the baker's death is eerily similar to the legendary death of the tenth Viscountess of Colburn two hundred and fifty years earlier, which sends rumors racing through the estate.
Even as suspicion falls on some of the bakers, a decidedly different kind of heat begins to simmer between Claire and Jonathan. If they are to have any hope of a future romance, they must first solve the mystery before the show gets canceled or someone else falls prey to the Blackfirth Park ghost."
Historical recipes AND a ghost!?! This is definitely a new twist on what I refer to as the GBBO inspired cozy mysteries subgenre.
Bodies of Art, Bodies of Labour by Kate Beaton
Published by: University of Alberta Press
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 68 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Bodies of Art, Bodies of Labour by Kate Beaton, award-winning author of Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands and Hark! A Vagrant, explores connections between class, literature, and art from Cape Breton Island. In this thought-provoking book, Beaton addresses the often overlooked impact of class on the Canadian arts scene. The book highlights the reality that people from poor or working-class backgrounds face significant barriers to becoming artists, limiting their ability to share their stories and contribute to the collective culture. This lack of representation in art, music, and literature can empower or stereotype, edify or diminish, or worse, erase entire communities. Beaton emphasizes that if working-class and poor people do not write themselves into stories, others will, often with damaging results. Drawing on examples from work published about Cape Breton, Beaton sheds light on the portrayal of working-class lives. She juxtaposes this with her personal experiences, her family's stories, and the inspiring work of other Cape Bretoners. Despite economic hardships, her community has long valued and created art: art for no money, for each other, for themselves, for memory, for joy. Bodies of Art, Bodies of Labour thoughtfully examines personal and working class legacies, celebrating the authenticity and power of truly seeing ourselves and each other in the art that we create."
I will read anything that Kate Beaton does, but this is something more special, bring to the forefront the story of those marginalized.
A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera
Published by: Canary Street Press
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 432 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"He's not like other dukes...
Paris, 1889
Physician Aurora Montalban Wright takes risks in her career, but never with her heart. Running an underground women's clinic exposes her to certain dangers, but help arrives in the unexpected form of the infuriating Duke of Annan. Begrudgingly, Aurora accepts his protection, then promptly finds herself in his bed.
New to his role as a duke, Apollo César Sinclair Robles struggles to embrace his position. With half of society waiting for him to misstep and the other half looking to discredit him, Apollo never imagined that his enthralling bedmate would become his most trusted adviser. Soon, he realizes the rebellious doctor could be the perfect duchess for him. But Aurora won't give up her independence, and her secrets make her unsuitable for the aristocracy.
When dangerous figures from their pasts return to threaten them, Apollo whisks Aurora away to the French Riviera. Far from the reproachful eye of Parisian society, can Apollo convince Aurora that their bond is stronger than the forces keeping them apart?"
I always find it interesting that the woman is the one who must give up everything for the man... Time to flip the script?
The Stormborne Vine by Tilly Wallace
Published by: Ribbonwood Press
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Kindle, 273 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Determined spinster vs carnivorous wallflower...
In a corner of rural England, Fern Oakby makes a living through her knowledge of botany. An unusual case erupts during a storm when a Boston ivy turns monstrous and...carnivorous.
However, the solution is not as simple as hacking down the exceedingly rare and hungry plant. The storm also gave life to an origami dragon and bound it to the vine. When a lonely woman pleads with Fern to save the tiny dragon, she is forced to confront a profound question - what defines the value of a life?
In a world where ancient magic lingers, every life - no matter how small or strange - holds immeasurable worth. As Fern races against time to unravel dark secrets at the estate, the vine continues to grow. She must find a way to destroy it before it spreads or snatches more lives. Nor, as she discovers, is the little dragon the only life in need of saving...
Start a brand new cozy fantasy series from the author of Manners and Monsters. Set in Regency England, explore a world that celebrates friendship and where magic and nature intertwine."
Regency Magic! Muppet arm flail!
The Rose Bargain by Sasha Peyton Smith
Published by: HarperCollins
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 400 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Vying for the hand of one brother.
Falling in love with the other.
A new Victorian-inspired romantasy, perfect for fans of Bridgerton, The Selection, and The Cruel Prince.
London, 1848 - For four hundred years, England has been under the control of an immortal fae queen who tricked her way onto the throne. To maintain an illusion of benevolence, Queen Mor grants each of her subjects one opportunity to bargain for their deepest desire.
As Ivy Benton prepares to make her debut, she knows that not even a deal with the queen could fix what has gone wrong: Her family's social standing is in shambles, her sister is a shadow of her former self, and Ivy's marriage prospects are nonexistent. So when the queen announces a competition for Prince Bram's hand, Ivy is the first to sign her name in blood. What a bargain can't fix, a crown certainly could.
Ivy soon finds herself a surprising front-runner - with the help of an unexpected ally: Prince Bram's brother, the rakish Prince Emmett, who promises to help Ivy win his brother's heart...for a price. But as the season sweeps Ivy away, with glittering balls veiling the queen's increasingly vicious trials, Ivy realizes there's more at stake than just a wedding. Because all faerie bargains come with a cost, and Ivy may have discovered hers too late.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Haven comes a tale that will leave readers eager to bargain for a sequel."
Oh, no, I'm smart enough not toe bargain for a sequel. No faerie bargains for me.
The Curios Kitten at the Chibineko Kitchen by Yuta Takahashi
Published by: Penguin Books
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Paperback, 192 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Your table awaits at the Chibineko Kitchen, where a soul-nourishing meal in the company of the resident kitten will transport you back in time to reunite with departed loved ones - for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and The Midnight Library.
In a remote seaside town outside of Tokyo, Kotoko makes her way along a seashell path, lured by whispers of an enigmatic restaurant whose kagezen, or traditional meals offered in remembrance of loved ones, promise a reunion with the departed. When a gust of wind lifts off her hat, she sees running after it a young man who looks like her recently deceased brother. But it's not her brother; it's Kai, the restaurant's young chef, who returns her hat and brings her to the tiny establishment, where he introduces her to Chibi, the resident kitten, and serves her steaming bowls of simmered fish, rice, and miso soup - the exact meal her brother used to cook for her. As she takes her first delicious bite, the gulls outside fall silent, the air grows hazy, and Kotoko begins a magical journey of last chances and new beginnings."
But what if the departed loved one you want to reunite with is also a cat?
The Bones Beneath My Skin by T.J. Klune
Published by: Tor Books
Publication Date: February 4th, 2025
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author T.J. Klune - a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.
There's nothing more human than a broken heart.
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he's been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.
With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family's summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It's not.
Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn't exactly as she appears.
Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her."
I mean, obviously she's special, she's named after Darth Vader!
Skagboys by Irvine Welsh
Beautiful Lies by Clare Clark
Hiss and Hers by M.C. Beaton
The Diviners by Libba Bray
The Raven by Maggie Stiefvater
This summer George R R Martin is back in the news for FINALLY writing the 5th installment of his epic of Westeros, A Song of Fire and Ice. I remember a day back in November of 2006 when he said, oh, six months tops... six long years later... but back to that day six years ago. So, freak that I am, I preordered the book from Amazon UK, because the book was coming out a few weeks earlier. I had it shipped to my friend Jess in New York because I was going to be visiting her at the time, plus, quicker to ship to New York than Wisconsin. I lugged that book from New York to DC and through Ohio. I read it on trains and buses and in cars. I read and read and read so that I would be ready for his talk when he came to Madison in November. Ironically, his talk was spoiler free, so, there goes all that planning for nothing, but at least I could say how much I loved the book right? So, on the day of the signing little did I know that they where handing out numbers starting at 8AM. In I walk for the 7PM talk around 5. Thinking, oh, this is great, I'll be all early and get a low number. Low number ha! First off, my friend who was going to go with me was sick, so I was on my lonesome. Then I had to pick up his book for him so that I could get MY book signed (I don't think he's ever paid me to this day). And then I realized, wow, no chairs. I stood in the B section of the YA books overlooking the podium. Good place as places go, but... no chair. I remember idly flipping through Libba Bray's A Great and Terrible Beauty. I think once Martin finally took the floor he did a reading, I really don't remember much of the talk. I remember him going into detail about how to correctly pronounce the characters names, but other than that... I seem to have completely blanked on everything else he said.
Welcome to Bordertown edited by Holly Black and Ellen Kushner
Something Deadly This Way Comes by Kim Harrison
The Vampire Narcise by Colleen Gleason
Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
The Warlock by Michael Scott
