strange and random happenstance

The Secrets of Hartwood Hall by Katie Lumsden
Published by: Dutton
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A gripping and atmospheric debut that is at once a chilling Gothic mystery and a love letter to Victorian fiction.

Nobody ever goes to Hartwood Hall. Folks say it’s cursed...

It;s 1852 and Margaret Lennox, a young widow, attempts to escape the shadows of her past by taking a position as governess to an only child, Louis, at an isolated country house in the west of England.

But Margaret soon starts to feel that something isn't quite right. There are strange figures in the dark, tensions between servants, and an abandoned east wing. Even stranger is the local gossip surrounding Mrs. Eversham, Louis's widowed mother, who is deeply distrusted in the village.

Lonely and unsure whom to trust, Margaret finds distraction in a forbidden relationship with the gardener, Paul. But as Margaret's history threatens to catch up with her, it isn't long before she learns the truth behind the secrets of Hartwood Hall."

Oh, so Gothic! A widow turned governess, a secret affair, an abandoned win, yes yes yes!

Emily Goes to Exeter by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Blackstone Publishing
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 178 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The New York Times bestselling Traveling Matchmaker series begins with a Regency tale of seductive subterfuge - from the author of the Agatha Raisin novels.

A dead employer's legacy of five thousand pounds allows spinster Hannah Pym to resign from housekeeping and find adventure traveling the English countryside by coach. But the adventure soon finds Miss Pym traveling with Miss Emily Freemantle, a spoiled, violet-eyed beauty fleeing an arranged marriage to a rake she has never met. When Emily's darkly handsome betrothed boards their stage, Miss Pym is certain the girl was rash to bolt from this aristocratic catch So, as soon as the travelers repair to an inn, Miss Pym begins her matchmaking. Although Lord Ranger Harley complains he'll not marry an ungrateful minx, Miss Pym suspects once she's marshaled the couple into sharing intimate household chores, all romantic knots will be untangled."

I am SO glad they are reissuing this series by M.C. Beaton, originally not published under that name, because they were impossible to find stateside.

The Magician's Daughter by H.G. Parry
Published by: Redhook
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the early 1900s, a young woman is caught between two worlds in H. G. Parry's spellbinding tale of miracles, magic, and the adventure of a lifetime.

Off the coast of Ireland sits a legendary island hidden by magic. A place of ruins and ancient trees, sea salt air, and fairy lore, Hy-Brasil is the only home Biddy has ever known. Washed up on its shore as a baby, Biddy lives a quiet life with her guardian, the mercurial magician Rowan. A life she finds increasingly stifling.

One night, Rowan fails to return from his mysterious travels. To find him, Biddy must venture into the outside world for the first time. But Rowan has powerful enemies - forces who have hoarded the world’s magic and have set their sights on the magician’s many secrets.

Biddy may be the key to stopping them. Yet the closer she gets to answers, the more she questions everything she’s ever believed about Rowan, her past, and the nature of magic itself."

Keep an eye on my blog for more H.G. Parry!

Nightbirds by Kate J. Armstrong
Published by: Nancy Paulsen Books
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 480 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In a dazzling new fantasy world full of whispered secrets and political intrigue, the magic of women is outlawed but four girls with unusual powers have the chance to change it all.

The Nightbirds are Simta's best-kept secret: Girls with a unique and powerful magic they can gift with just a kiss. Some would kill to possess them; the church would kill them outright. But protected by the Great Houses, the Nightbirds are well-guarded treasures.

As this Season's Nightbirds, Matilde, Æsa, and Sayer will spend their nights bestowing their gifts to well-paying clients. Once their season is through, they're each expected to marry a Great House lord and become mothers to the next generation of Nightbirds before their powers fade away. But as they find themselves at the heart of a political scheme that threatens not only their secrets, but their very lives, their future suddenly becomes uncertain.

When they discover that there are other girls like them and that their magic is far more than they were told, they see the Nightbird system for what it is: a gilded cage. Now they must make a choice - to remain kept birds or take control, remaking the city that dared to clip their wings."

Anyone else getting magical Hunger Games vibes? With perhaps a touch of Carnival Row?

The Foreign Exchange by Veronica G. Henry
Published by: 47north
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 287 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A Vodou priestess turned amateur sleuth investigating a ritual murder is embroiled in an insidious case of corruption that reaches beyond the shadows of New Orleans.

After solving a crime blamed on Vodou in New Orleans's French Quarter, Vodou priestess turned amateur detective Reina Dumond has returned to her benevolent work as a healer. But when her friend and enigmatic client Evangeline "Vangie" Stiles comes to her for a spell, Mambo Reina quickly realizes what Vangie really needs is a sleuth.

Something is amiss in the Stileses' marriage. Five thousand dollars has inexplicably appeared in the bank account Vangie shares with her scam-artist husband, Arthur, and she smells trouble. So does Reina. Especially when her investigation into Arthur's likely new con leads to murder. Considering the manner of death and the signs on the victim's body, Reina recognizes it for what it is: ritual magic of the vodouisant kind.

As Reina digs deeper, she encounters a conspiracy exploiting vulnerable youth - one of whom may have abilities just like hers. With the help of her friends Darryl and Tyka, Reina must hone her ever-evolving skills to uncover a mystery that reaches further than she imagined."

Thanks to AMC and Anne Rice I am ALL about New Orleans at the moment.

The Angel Maker by Alex North
Published by: Celadon Books
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the New York Times bestselling author of The Whisper Man and The Shadows comes a dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.

Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.

Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future."

English countryside and a serial killer with powers? This is right up my alley.

Delicious Monsters by Liselle Sambury
Published by: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 512 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The Haunting of Hill House meets Sadie in this evocative and mind-bending psychological thriller following two teen girls navigating the treacherous past of a mysterious mansion ten years apart.

Daisy sees dead people - something impossible to forget in bustling, ghost-packed Toronto. She usually manages to deal with her unwanted ability, but she's completely unprepared to be dumped by her boyfriend. So when her mother inherits a secluded mansion in northern Ontario where she spent her childhood summers, Daisy jumps at the chance to escape. But the house is nothing like Daisy expects, and she begins to realize that her experience with the supernatural might be no match for her mother's secrets, nor what lurks within these walls...

A decade later, Brittney is desperate to get out from under the thumb of her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at "Miracle Mansion" allowed her to see the error of her ways. But Brittney knows that's nothing but a sham. She decides the new season of her popular Haunted web series will uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the mansion ten years prior and finally expose her mother's lies. But as she gets more wrapped up in the investigation, she'll have to decide: if she can only bring one story to light, which one matters most - Daisy's or her own?

As Brittney investigates the mansion in the present, Daisy's story runs parallel in the past, both timelines propelling the girls to face the most dangerous monsters of all: those that hide in plain sight."

Dual timelines? Ghosts? Hauntings? Yes!

She Is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"This house eats and is eaten...

A House with a terrifying appetite haunts a broken family in this atmospheric horror, perfect for fans of Mexican Gothic.

When Jade Nguyen arrives in Vietnam for a visit with her estranged father, she has one goal: survive five weeks pretending to be a happy family in the French colonial house Ba is restoring. She's always lied to fit in, so if she's straight enough, Vietnamese enough, American enough, she can get out with the college money he promised.

But the house has other plans. Night after night, Jade wakes up paralyzed. The walls exude a thrumming sound while bugs leave their legs and feelers in places they don't belong. She finds curious traces of her ancestors in the gardens they once tended. And at night Jade can't ignore the ghost of the beautiful bride who leaves cryptic warnings: Don't eat.

Neither Ba nor her sweet sister Lily believe that there is anything strange happening. With help from a delinquent girl, Jade will prove this house - the home they have always wanted - will not rest until it destroys them. Maybe, this time, she can keep her family together. As she roots out the house's rot, she must also face the truth of who she is and who she must become to save them all."

Sometimes a good haunting is what's needed for the truth to be set free and for you to find yourself.

Marvelous by Molly Greeley
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A mesmerizing novel set in the French royal court of Catherine de' Medici during the Renaissance, which recreates the touching and surprising true story behind the Beauty and the Beast legend, from the acclaimed author of The Clergyman's Wife and The Heiress.

1547: Pedro Gonzales, a young boy living on the island of Tenerife, understands that he is different from the other children in his village. He is mercilessly ridiculed for the hair covering his body from head to toe. When he is kidnapped off the beach near his home, he finds himself delivered by a slave broker into the dangerous and glamorous world of France's royal court. There "Monsieur Sauvage," as he is known, learns French, literature, and sword fighting, becoming an attendant to the French King Henri II and a particular favorite of his queen, the formidable Catherine de' Medici. Queen Catherine considers herself a collector of unusual people and is fascinated by Pedro…and determined to find him a bride.

Catherine Raffelin is a beautiful seventeen-year-old girl whose merchant father has fallen on hard times and offers up his daughter to Queen Catherine. The queen will pay his debts, and his daughter will marry Monsieur Sauvage.

Catherine meets Pedro for the first time on their wedding day. Barely recovered from the shock of her father's betrayal, she soon finds herself christened "Madame Sauvage" by the royal courtiers, and must learn to navigate this strange new world, and the unusual man who is now her husband.

Gorgeously written, heartbreaking and hopeful, Marvelous is the portrait of a marriage, the story of a remarkable, resilient family, and an unforgettable reimaging of one of the world’s most beloved fairy tales."

Oh a Fairy Tale reimaging with Catherine de' Medici!?! You can't give me this book fast enough.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 880 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The stunning, standalone prequel to the New York Times bestselling The Priory of the Orange Tree.

In A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon sweeps readers back to the universe of Priory of the Orange Tree and into the lives of four women, showing us a course of events that shaped their world for generations to come.

Tunuva Melim is a sister of the Priory. For fifty years, she has trained to slay wyrms - but none have appeared since the Nameless One, and the younger generation is starting to question the Priory's purpose.

To the north, in the Queendom of Inys, Sabran the Ambitious has married the new King of Hróth, narrowly saving both realms from ruin. Their daughter, Glorian, trails in their shadow - exactly where she wants to be.

The dragons of the East have slept for centuries. Dumai has spent her life in a Seiikinese mountain temple, trying to wake the gods from their long slumber. Now someone from her mother's past is coming to upend her fate.

When the Dreadmount erupts, bringing with it an age of terror and violence, these women must find the strength to protect humankind from a devastating threat."

If you're like me and haven't quite gotten around to reading The Priory of the Orange Tree, good news, this is a prequel!

Barbarian's Prize by Ruby Dixon
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: February 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The next novel in the international publishing phenomenon the Ice Planet Barbarians series, now in a special print edition with a bonus original novella!

Tiffany doesn't care about all the attention she's getting from the alien men, but there is one particular hunter she can see herself with - if only she can find a way to move forward from the past....

It's hard being the most popular girl on the ice planet. The alien men are falling all over themselves to impress me in the hopes that I'll take them to my furs. But they don't know my secrets. And they don't realize that behind my smile, I just wish they'd take their courting presents and their competitions for my affection and go away. I want to be left alone. But on a planet where women are a scarcity, that won't be happening.

If I had to choose a mate...it'd be someone with a gorgeous blue body, big horns, and the most intense gaze ever. Someone who knows the truth of what happened to me and why I don't like attention. Patient, handsome Salukh knows my secrets. He knows why I have nightmares and why I don't trust anyone. He's willing to let me "experiment" with him. I can use him. Take what I need from him to work through my trauma. He's been a good friend and the best shoulder to cry on.

There's one small problem.

When it comes to us, he doesn't just want to be my friend. He wants to be my forever. And day by day, he's getting harder to resist...."

But Salukh could be the one!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Alex North, Carnival Row, Gothic, H.G. Parry, Kate J. Armstrong, Katie Lumsden, Liselle Sambury, M.C. Beaton, Molly Greeley, Regency, Ruby Dixon, Samantha Shannon, Trang Thanh Tran, Veronica G. Henry

How The Dead Speak by Val McDermid
Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Val McDermid is an award-winning, crime-writing powerhouse, and now she returns to her explosive, thrilling series featuring psychological profiler Tony Hill and ex-DCI Carol Jordan in her latest How The Dead Speak.

With Tony behind bars and Carol finally out of road as a cop, he’s finding unexpected outlets for his talents in jail and she’s joined forces with a small informal group of lawyers and forensics experts looking into suspected miscarriages of justice. But they’re doing it without each other; being in the same room at visiting hour is too painful to contemplate. Meanwhile, construction is suddenly halted on the redevelopment of an orphanage after dozens of skeletons are found buried in the grounds. Forensic examination reveals they date from between twenty and forty years ago, when the nuns were running their repressive regime. But then a different set of skeletons are discovered in a far corner, young men from as recent as ten years ago.

When newly promoted DI Paula McIntyre discovers that one of the male skeletons is that of a killer who is supposedly alive and behind bars - and the subject of one of Carol’s miscarriage investigations - it brings Tony and Carol irresistibly into each other’s orbit once again. A shocking, masterfully plotted novel that will leave readers breathless, How The Dead Speak is McDermid at her best and a can’t miss read long-time fans and new readers alike."

Anyone else missing Wire in the Blood and Tony and Carol as much as me? No!?! Well, then, I'm not talking to you!

A Madness of Sunshine by Nalini Singh
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 352 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh welcomes you to a remote town on the edge of the world where even the blinding brightness of the sun can’t mask the darkness that lies deep within a killer...

On the rugged West Coast of New Zealand, Golden Cove is more than just a town where people live. The adults are more than neighbors; the children, more than schoolmates.

That is until one fateful summer - and several vanished bodies - shatters the trust holding Golden Cove together. All that’s left are whispers behind closed doors, broken friendships, and a silent agreement to not look back. But they can’t run from the past forever.

Eight years later, a beautiful young woman disappears without a trace, and the residents of Golden Cove wonder if their home shelters something far more dangerous than an unforgiving landscape.

It’s not long before the dark past collides with the haunting present and deadly secrets come to light."

Because everyone should be obsessed with new Zealand, like me and Stephen Colbert.

Ever Dark: The Haunting of Hanna Blake by Eva Simmons
Published by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle, 261 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Hanna might be her name.
The burning house might have been her home.
The bodies might be her family.

If only she could remember.

Hanna doesn't remember anything from before the night she was found. But when Jax and Asher Mahlum blow into town with a photo that ties to her past, she realizes the dead can only stay silent so long. Jax is covered in death, and Asher won’t let Hanna forget she has a price to pay for the night she was discovered. Soon, bodies start piling up in Garland, and Hanna has a nagging feeling that she may have something to do with it. Only one thing is for sure. There’s something dark inside Hanna, and it wants out."

And I know you need to know about the darkness!

Echoes Among the Stones by Jaime Jo Wright
Published by: Bethany House Publishers
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 386 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mystery begins to follow Aggie Dunkirk when she exhumes the pasts secrets and uncovers a crime her eccentric grandmother has been obsessing over. Decades earlier, after discovering her sisters body in the attic, Imogene Flannigan is determined to find justice. Two women, separated by time, vow to find answers...no matter the cost."

Family secrets that turn deadly are my kind of secrets.

Thin Ice by Paige Shelton
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"First in a new series set in Alaska from beloved author Paige Shelton, Thin Ice will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is on the run - she’s doing the only thing she could think of to keep herself safe. Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, she had become the subject of a fanatic’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days by her kidnapper, Levi Brooks, Beth managed to escape, and until he is captured, she's got to get away. Cold and remote, Alaska seems tailor-made for her to hideout."

At this time of year I go through severe Northern Exposure withdrawal and yearn for Alaska. Thankfully this year I have a fix! 

Bryant and May: The Lonely Hour by Christopher Fowler
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The brilliant Arthur Bryant and John May take the late, late shift in a cat-and-mouse hunt with a killer who preys on his victims at the same time every night - the lonely hour of 4 A.M.

When a man is found hanging upside down inside a willow tree on Hampstead Heath, surrounded by a baffling assortment of occult objects, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. Was this a botched satanic ritual pulled off by bored teenagers, a gang initiation, or the work of a mastermind with grander intentions? Bryant and May set off in search of answers and are soon reminded that London is a city steeped in blood and magic.

When another body is pulled from the river at dawn, it becomes clear that a killer lurks in the night. To catch him, the PCU switches to graveyard shifts, but the team still comes up short. As they explore a night city where the normal rules do not apply, they’re drawn deeper into a case that involves murder, arson, kidnapping, blackmail, loneliness, and bats.

May takes a technological approach, while Bryant goes in search of his usual academics and misfits for help, for this investigation reveals impossibilities at every turn. How do you stop a killer who appears not to exist? Luckily, impossibilities are what the Peculiar Crimes Unit does best."

Anyone else really miss the old cover designs?

Laetitia Rodd and the Case of the Wandering Scholar by Kate Saunders
Published by: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"M. C. Beaton meets Miss Marple in the second book in the Laetitia Rodd Mysteries, which sees Kate Saunders's Victorian detective on the hunt for a missing Oxford academic.

In 1851, private detective Laetitia Rodd is enjoying a well-earned holiday when she gets an urgent request for her services. Mrs. Rodd's neighbor Jacob Welland is a reclusive, rich gentleman dying of consumption, and he wants Mrs. Rodd to find his brother, who has been missing for fifteen years.

Joshua Welland was a scholar at Oxford, brilliant, eccentric, and desperately poor when he disappeared from the university. Friends claim to have seen him since, in gypsy camps and wandering around the countryside. But the last sighting was ten years before-when Joshua claimed to be learning great secrets from the gypsies that would one day astound the whole world.

Mrs. Rodd travels to Oxford and begins to search for the wandering scholar. But as she investigates, Mrs. Rodd discovers something dark-and extremely dangerous-lurking in the beautiful English countryside.

For readers of James Runcie, Alexander McCall Smith, and M. C. Beaton, Laetitia Rodd and the Mystery of the Wandering Scholar is a delightful new mystery about Victorian England and an indomitable female detective."

They had me at Oxford. I can NEVER have enough Oxford. 

The Penmaker's Wife by Steve Robinson
Published by: Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 255 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In Victorian England, a mother is on the run from her past - and the truth about what she did.

Birmingham, 1880. Angelica Chastain has fled from London with her young son, William. She promises him a better life, far away from the terrors they left behind.

Securing a job as a governess, Angelica captures the attention of wealthy widower Stanley Hampton. Soon they marry and the successful future Angelica envisaged for William starts to fall into place.

But the past will not let Angelica go. As the people in her husband’s circle, once captivated by her charm, begin to question her motives, it becomes clear that forgetting where she came from - and who she ran from - is impossible.

When tragedy threatens to expose her and destroy everything she’s built for herself and William, how far will she go to keep her secrets safe? And when does the love for one’s child tip over into dangerous obsession?

Alias Grace meets Peaky Blinders in this tale of obsession, ambition and murder in Victorian England."

Was this description written just for me with the Alias Grace meets Peaky Blinders mashup?

Murder, She Encountered by Peg Cochran
Published by: Alibi
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle
To Buy

The official patter:
"A gutsy Manhattan socialite encounters murder and corruption at the World’s Fair in this captivating historical cozy mystery for readers of Victoria Thompson, Susan Elia MacNeal, and Rhys Bowen.

New York City, 1939. A rising star at the Daily Trumpet, Elizabeth “Biz” Adams has been sent to the World’s Fair - billed as the “World of Tomorrow,” a look toward a brighter future even as the drumbeats of war grow louder - to cover a robbery. What she stumbles upon instead is a dead woman, dumped into the Aquacade’s pool with a nylon stocking wrapped around her neck.

Elizabeth snaps a photo as the police arrest Joey Dorman, a gentle young hot dog vendor who made no secret of his obsession with the murder victim. Even though she’s thrilled that her photo makes the front page, the fear and confusion evident on Joey’s face are haunting. So Elizabeth vows to prove his innocence - or his guilt - with her partner at the Daily Trumpet, Ralph Kaminsky. Meanwhile, her romance with Detective Sal Marino is heating up, and Elizabeth is more determined than ever to follow her heart.

But when Kaminsky’s efforts to expose the real killer land him in the hospital, Elizabeth is forced to continue the investigation on her own. And as she tries to narrow down the long list of suspects, she discovers a dark secret running through the Fair - a secret some would kill to protect."

I read a book earlier this year that wasted the World's Fair setting, so THANKFULLY I have another book to set this right! 

The Festival Murders by Mark McCrum
Published by: Black Thorn
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Kindle, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Bryce Peabody is ready to give a scandalous talk at the annual literary festival in the pretty English town of Mold-on-Wold. Scathing in his reviews and unseemly in his affairs, Bryce is known to have many enemies. So when he is discovered dead in his hotel room festival-goers are desperate to know what happened. Could one of the numerous writers he insulted have taken revenge? Or perhaps one of his scorned lovers? As more festival-goers meet their ends, Francis Meadowes is drawn into a role he knows only from his own fiction; that of amateur detective."

If you're in a Midsomer Murders state of mind... 

Brewed Awakening by Cleo Coyle
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi awakens on a bench in Washington Square Park, she has no idea she's been missing for days, or that her friends and family have been frantic with worry. Now that she's back, everyone is overjoyed, including a handsome NYPD detective who claims to be her fiancé. But to Mike Quinn's crushing distress, Clare doesn't remember him, or much of anything about the last fifteen years of her life.

Clare's missing memory is tied to a crime she witnessed. An acquaintance of Clare's elegant employer - and fellow member of an exclusive Gotham circle known as "The Ladies Who Brunch" - invited Clare to her posh hotel to sample gourmet wedding cakes. After their indulgent tasting, they headed to the parking garage, where a camera captured a masked figure with a gun confronting the hotel heiress with Clare looking on. Did the kidnapper take Clare, too? The camera went dark, just like Clare's memory. Soon authorities grow suspicious. Is Clare really a victim? Or merely acting like one? Evidence is mounting that she set the woman up.

To clear her name, Clare must find a way to reclaim her memories and rescue the heiress before this high-stakes crime ends in tragedy. Otherwise, instead of walking down the aisle, Clare may find herself perp-walking to prison as an accomplice to kidnapping and murder."

And now for some cozy mysteries! 

Beating About the Bush by M.C. Beaton
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"When private detective Agatha Raisin comes across a severed leg in a roadside hedge, it looks like she is about to become involved in a particularly gruesome murder. Looks, however, can be deceiving, as Agatha discovers when she is employed to investigate a case of industrial espionage at a factory where nothing is quite what it seems.

The factory mystery soon turns to murder and a bad-tempered donkey turns Agatha into a national celebrity, before bringing her ridicule and shame. To add to her woes, Agatha finds herself grappling with growing feelings for her friend and occasional lover, Sir Charles Fraith. Then, as a possible solution to the factory murder unfolds, her own life is thrown into deadly peril. Will Agatha get her man at last? Or will the killer get her first?"

One of my friends thinks that M.C. Beaton's books are now being ghostwritten. Discuss!

The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith
Published by: Anchor
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The latest book in Alexander McCall Smith's popular 44 Scotland Street series is a sheer delight.

Summer has come to Scotland Street. The long days have prompted its denizens to engage in flights of fancy. Some, like the Duke of Johannesburg’s plan to create a microlite seaplane, are literal flights, and some, like the vain Bruce Anderson’s idea of settling down with one of his many admirers, are more metaphorical.

With the domineering Irene off pursuing academic challenges, Stuart and Bertie are free to indulge in summer fun. Stuart reconnects with an old acquaintance over refreshing peppermint tea while Bertie takes his friend Ranald Braveheart Macpherson to the circus. But their trip to the big top becomes rather more than the pleasant diversion they were hoping for.

Once again, Scotland Street teems with the daily triumphs and challenges of those who call it home, and provides a warm, wise, and witty chronicle of the affairs in this corner of the world."

Life in a Cold Climate by Laura Thompson
Published by: Pegasus Books
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 444 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"New York Times bestselling author Laura Thompson turns her eye to the iconic and enigmatic Nancy Mitford.

Nancy Mitford was, in the words of her sister Lady Diana Mosley, “very complex.” Her highly autobiographical early work, the biographies and novels of her more mature French period, her journalism, and the vast body of letters to her family, to friends such as Evelyn Waugh, and to the great love of her life, Gaston Palewski, all tell an intriguing story.

Drawing from these, as well as conversations with Mitford’s two surviving sisters, acquaintances, and colleagues, prizewinning author Laura Thompson has fashioned a portrait of a contradictory and courageous woman. Approaching her subject with wit, perspicacity, and huge affection, Thompson makes her serious points lightly, eschewing clichés about the eccentricities of the Mitford clan. Life in a Cold Climate is full of the sound of Mitfordian laughter; but also tells the often paradoxical and complex story beneath the smiling and ever-elegant façade."

Enigmatic? I don't think that's a word I'd EVER apply to Nancy...

The Clergyman's Wife by Molly Greeley
Published by: William Morrow Paperbacks
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"For everyone who loved Pride and Prejudice - and legions of historical fiction lovers - an inspired debut novel set in Austen’s world. Charlotte Collins, nee Lucas, is the respectable wife of Hunsford’s vicar, and sees to her duties by rote: keeping house, caring for their adorable daughter, visiting parishioners, and patiently tolerating the lectures of her awkward husband and his condescending patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Intelligent, pragmatic, and anxious to escape the shame of spinsterhood, Charlotte chose this life, an inevitable one so socially acceptable that its quietness threatens to overwhelm her. Then she makes the acquaintance of Mr. Travis, a local farmer and tenant of Lady Catherine..."

I was lucky enough to win an ARC of this earlier this year, so be sure to check it out for yourself Janeites! 

Wicked Hour by Chloe Neill
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Paperback, 368 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In the second pulse-pounding novel in the USA Today bestselling Heirs of Chicagoland series, vampire Elisa Sullivan gets drawn into the shifting sands of Pack politics.

Vampires were made, not born - until Elisa Sullivan came along. As the only vampire child in existence, she grew up with a heavy legacy, and tried to flee her past. Then circumstances drew her back to Chicago, and she stayed to keep it safe. With shifter Connor Keene, the only son of Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, at her side, she faced down a supernatural evil that threatened to destroy Chicago forever.

After the dust from the attack has settled, Elisa is surprised when Connor invites her to a usually private Pack event in the north woods of Minnesota, and by the warm welcome she receives from some of Connor’s family, even though she's a vampire. But the peace doesn't last. The shifters tell tales of a monster in the woods, and when the celebration is marred by death, Elisa and Connor find themselves in the middle of a struggle for control that forces Elisa to face her true self - fangs and all."

I love Midwest Urban Fantasy. Can NOT get enough!

Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer
Published by: MCD
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 336 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts presents a City with no name of its own where, in the shadow of the all-powerful Company, lives human and otherwise converge in terrifying and miraculous ways. At stake: the fate of the future, the fate of Earth - all the Earths.

A messianic blue fox who slips through warrens of time and space on a mysterious mission. A homeless woman haunted by a demon who finds the key to all things in a strange journal. A giant leviathan of a fish, centuries old, who hides a secret, remembering a past that may not be its own. Three ragtag rebels waging an endless war for the fate of the world against an all-powerful corporation. A raving madman who wanders the desert lost in the past, haunted by his own creation: an invisible monster whose name he has forgotten and whose purpose remains hidden."

After seeing Anhilation, I can not get VanderMeer's world out of my head! And I'm not alone, look at the write up in Entertainment Weekly right now! 

Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
Published by: Henry Holt and Co.
Publication Date: December 3rd, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 416 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"After battling the impossible, Zélie and Amari have finally succeeded in bringing magic back to the land of Orïsha. But the ritual was more powerful than they could've imagined, reigniting the powers of not only the maji, but of nobles with magic ancestry, too.

Now, Zélie struggles to unite the maji in an Orïsha where the enemy is just as powerful as they are. But when the monarchy and military unite to keep control of Orïsha, Zélie must fight to secure Amari's right to the throne and protect the new maji from the monarchy's wrath.

With civil war looming on the horizon, Zélie finds herself at a breaking point: she must discover a way to bring the kingdom together or watch as Orïsha tears itself apart.

Children of Virtue and Vengeance is the stunning sequel to Tomi Adeyemi's New York Times bestselling debut Children of Blood and Bone, the first title in her Legacy of Orïsha trilogy."


Not sure I like the new cover approach...because the cover was the ONLY thing my book club could agree on as being any good...

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Chloe Neill, Cleo Coyle, Eva Simmons, Jaime Jo Wright, Jeff Vandermeer, Kate Saunders, M.C. Beaton, Mark McCrum, Molly Greeley, Nalini Singh, Nancy Mitford, Paige Shelton, Peg Cochran, Steve Robinson, Val McDermid