strange and random happenstance

One by One by Ruth Ware
Published by: Gallery/Scout Press
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Turn of the Key and In a Dark Dark Wood returns with another suspenseful thriller set on a snow-covered mountain.

Getting snowed in at a luxurious, rustic ski chalet high in the French Alps doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world. Especially when there’s a breathtaking vista, a full-service chef and housekeeper, a cozy fire to keep you warm, and others to keep you company. Unless that company happens to be eight coworkers…each with something to gain, something to lose, and something to hide.

When the cofounder of Snoop, a trendy London-based tech startup, organizes a weeklong trip for the team in the French Alps, it starts out as a corporate retreat like any other: PowerPoint presentations and strategy sessions broken up by mandatory bonding on the slopes. But as soon as one shareholder upends the agenda by pushing a lucrative but contentious buyout offer, tensions simmer and loyalties are tested. The storm brewing inside the chalet is no match for the one outside, however, and a devastating avalanche leaves the group cut off from all access to the outside world. Even worse, one Snooper hadn’t made it back from the slopes when the avalanche hit.

As each hour passes without any sign of rescue, panic mounts, the chalet grows colder, and the group dwindles further...one by one."

Agatha Christie does corporate retreats! 

The Darkest Tide by Ann Cleeves
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 384 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From Ann Cleeves - New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of the Vera and Shetland series, both of which are hit TV shows - comes the stunning new Vera Stanhope novel, The Darkest Evening.

On the first snowy night of winter, Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope sets off for her home in the hills. Though the road is familiar, she misses a turning and soon becomes lost and disorientated. A car has skidded off the narrow road in front of her, its door left open, and she stops to help. There is no driver to be seen, so Vera assumes that the owner has gone to find help. But a cry calls her back: a toddler is strapped in the back seat.

Vera takes the child and, driving on, she arrives at a place she knows well. Brockburn is a large, grand house in the wilds of Northumberland, now a little shabby and run down. It’s also where her father, Hector, grew up. Inside, there’s a party in full swing: music, Christmas lights and laughter. Outside, unbeknownst to the revelers, a woman lies dead in the snow.

As the blizzard traps the group deep in the freezing Northumberland countryside, Brockburn begins to give up its secrets, and as Vera digs deeper into her investigation, she also begins to uncover her family’s complicated past."

I know I can't be the only one who dreams of inhabiting Vera's world and hanging out with her...especially at a grand house with a storm brewing outside!

Sanctuary by V.V. James
Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 464 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A suspenseful debut that twists Big Little Lies with Practical Magic in a dark mystery of four women, a wicked secret - and an investigation that shakes their Connecticut town to the core.

Sanctuary is the perfect town...to hide a secret.

When young Daniel Whitman is killed at a high-school party, the community is ripped apart. The death of Sanctuary's star quarterback seems to be a tragic accident, but everyone knows his ex-girlfriend Harper Fenn is the daughter of a witch - and she was there when he died.

V.V. James weaves a spellbinding tale of a town cracking into pieces and the devastating power of a mother's love. Was Daniel's death an accident, revenge - or something even more sinister?

As accusations fly, paranoia grips the town, culminating in a witch-hunt...and the town becomes no sanctuary at all."

Yes, I was sold once Practical Magic was mentioned, everything else is icing on the cake! 

Nobody Knows But You by Anica Mrose Rissi
Published by: Quill Tree Books
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 224 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The nail-bitingly intense story of a summer at camp that ends in a disturbing death - and depicts a powerful friendship that won’t ever be forgotten. Perfect for fans of One of Us Is Lying and Broken Things.

Kayla is still holding on to Lainie’s secrets.

After all, Lainie is Kayla’s best friend. And despite Lainie’s painful obsession with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, and the ways he has tried to come between them, friends don’t spill each other’s secrets. They don’t betray each other’s trust.

The murder at the end of the summer doesn’t change all that.

Besides - Kayla knows that the truth is not the whole story."

Anyone else hoping this has serious Scream vibes?

Basketful of Heads by Joe Hill
Published by: DC Comics
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 184 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"#1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill asks, "With a cursed Viking axe, what can you accomplish?" and June Branch is ready to answer!

June Branch visits her boyfriend, Liam, on Brody Island for a relaxing last weekend of summer. After an escaped group of criminals breaks into the house that June and Liam are watching, Liam is taken by them. June grabs a strange Viking axe and flees from the intruders. When one of the attackers finds her, she swings the axe and takes off his head, which rolls away and begins to babble in terror.

For June to uncover the truth, she'll need to hear the facts straight from the mouths of her attackers, with...or without their bodies attached.

Collects issues #1-7."

I have been reading all the individual issues of Hill House Comics from day one and  Basketful of Heads by eponymous Joe Hill is easily on of the best. The humor, the horror, the eighties, the references to Jaws, I love it all! 

The Mimosa Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu
Published by: Constable
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Mirza, a secretive neighbour of the Chens in Japanese Occupied Singapore, is a known collaborator and blackmailer. So when he is murdered in his garden, clutching a branch of mimosa, the suspects include local acquaintances, Japanese officials - and his own daughters.

Su Lin's Uncle Chen is among those rounded up by the Japanese as reprisal. Hideki Tagawa, a former spy expelled by police officer Le Froy and a power in the new regime, offers Su Lin her uncle's life in exchange for using her fluency in languages and knowledge of locals to find the real killer.

Su Lin soon discovers Hideki has an ulterior motive. Friends, enemies and even the victim are not what they seem. There is more at stake here than one man's life. Su Lin must find out who killed Mirza and why, before Le Froy and other former colleagues detained or working with the resistance suffer the consequences of Mirza's last secret."

I hope everyone else is loving this series as much as I am.

A Deception at Thornecrest by Ashley Weaver
Published by: Minotaur Books
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"The stylish, charming next novel in Ashley Weaver's Edgar-nominated Amory Ames mystery series, set in 1930s England, A Deception at Thornecrest.

"Thornecrest looked beautiful in the evening light. One would never imagine the turmoil that had just occurred within its walls."

Amory Ames is alone at her country house Thornecrest, enjoying her last few weeks of peace and quiet as she prepares for the imminent arrival of her baby. Her husband, Milo, is in London on business, and Amory is content to catch up on her correspondence, organize the nursery, and avoid the well-meaning if rather overbearing company of the ladies in the village as they prepare for the Springtide Festival. But then a woman appears on her doorstep, claiming to be another Mrs. Ames, Milo’s wife.

Amory's marriage has had its ups and downs in the past, but her faith in her husband has been restored, and Milo has been nothing but thrilled about becoming a father. Though the alleged second Mrs. Ames seems earnest, Amory is convinced she must be mistaken, a belief that Milo confirms upon his homecoming. However, when another unexpected visitor arrives at Thornecrest, secret identities and whirlwind romances appear to be becoming par for the course.

It's not until the day of the festival, when Milo's stable hand Bertie is found dead, that the strange characters appearing in town begin to seem more sinister, and Amory is determined to uncover the killer in the crowd."

A country house in 1930s England, AKA my happy place, even or should I say, especially with a few murders. 

The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea
Published by: Harper Perennial
Publication Date: September 8th, 2020
Format: Paperback, 400 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Shortlisted for the Historical Writers Association Debut Crown Award.

In the tradition of Jane Eyre and Rebecca - The Glass Woman by Caroline Lea in which a young woman follows her new husband to his remote home on the Icelandic coast in the 1680s, where she faces dark secrets surrounding the death of his first wife amidst a foreboding landscape and the superstitions of the local villagers.

Rósa has always dreamed of living a simple life alongside her Mamma in their remote village in Iceland, where she prays to the Christian God aloud during the day, whispering enchantments to the old gods alone at night. But after her father dies abruptly and her Mamma becomes ill, Rósa marries herself off to a visiting trader in exchange for a dowry, despite rumors of mysterious circumstances surrounding his first wife’s death.

Rósa follows her new husband, Jón, across the treacherous countryside to his remote home near the sea. There Jón works the field during the day, expecting Rósa to maintain their house in his absence with the deference of a good Christian wife. What Rósa did not anticipate was the fierce loneliness she would feel in her new home, where Jón forbids her from interacting with the locals in the nearby settlement and barely speaks to her himself.

Seclusion from the outside world isn’t the only troubling aspect of her new life - Rósa is also forbidden from going into Jón’s attic. When Rósa begins to hear strange noises from upstairs, she turns to the local woman in an attempt to find solace. But the villager’s words are even more troubling - confirming many of the rumors about Jón’s first wife, Anna, including that he buried her body alone in the middle of the night.

Rósa’s isolation begins to play tricks on her mind: What - or who - is in the attic? What happened to Anna? Was she mad, a witch, or just a victim of Jón’s ruthless nature? And when Jón is brutally maimed in an accident a series of events are set in motion that will force Rósa to choose between obedience and defiance - with her own survival and the safety of the ones she loves hanging in the balance."

I rarely feature books that are being issued in paperback after a hardcover release, but I'm making an exception, because HOW COULD I HAVE MISSED THIS BOOK!?! Everything I love! Jane Eyre, Rebecca, Iceland!

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Anica Mrose Rissi, Ann Cleeves, Ashley Weaver, British Country House, Caroline Lea, Graphic Novel, JAWS, Joe Hill, Ovidia Yu, Practical Magic, Ruth Ware, Scream, Shetland, Tuesday Tomorrow, V.V. James, Vera

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.

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Aleister Crowley, Alix Nathan, Charlie Garratt, Colleen Doran, Colleen Gleason, Dragons, Hitchcock, Ian Thornton, Joanna Davidson Politano, Marie Brennan, Neil Gaiman, Ovidia Yu, Philippa Gregory, Strange Angel

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Published by: Imprint
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 528 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Face your demons...or feed them.

Nikolai Lantsov has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country’s bloody civil war - and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, the young king must find a way to refill Ravka’s coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.

Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren’t meant to stay buried - and some wounds aren’t meant to heal.

Enter the Grishaverse with this new novel from #1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo."

Back to Ravka!!!

A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer
Published by: Bloomsbury YA
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 496 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"In a lush, contemporary fantasy retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Brigid Kemmerer gives readers another compulsively readable romance perfect for fans of Marissa Meyer.

Fall in love, break the curse.

It once seemed so easy to Prince Rhen, the heir to Emberfall. Cursed by a powerful enchantress to repeat the autumn of his eighteenth year over and over, he knew he could be saved if a girl fell for him. But that was before he learned that at the end of each autumn, he would turn into a vicious beast hell-bent on destruction. That was before he destroyed his castle, his family, and every last shred of hope.

Nothing has ever been easy for Harper. With her father long gone, her mother dying, and her brother barely holding their family together while constantly underestimating her because of her cerebral palsy, she learned to be tough enough to survive. But when she tries to save someone else on the streets of Washington, DC, she's instead somehow sucked into Rhen's cursed world.

Break the curse, save the kingdom.

A prince? A monster? A curse? Harper doesn't know where she is or what to believe. But as she spends time with Rhen in this enchanted land, she begins to understand what's at stake. And as Rhen realizes Harper is not just another girl to charm, his hope comes flooding back. But powerful forces are standing against Emberfall... and it will take more than a broken curse to save Harper, Rhen, and his people from utter ruin."

I'm a sucker for fair tale retellings.

The Wolf in the Whale by Jordanna Max Brodsky
Published by: Redhook
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 560 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"A sweeping tale of clashing cultures, warring gods, and forbidden love: In 1000 AD, a young Inuit shaman and a Viking warrior become unwilling allies as war breaks out between their peoples and their gods-one that will determine the fate of them all.

"There is a very old story, rarely told, of a wolf that runs into the ocean and becomes a whale."

Born with the soul of a hunter and the spirit of the Wolf, Omat is destined to follow in her grandfather's footsteps-invoking the spirits of the land, sea, and sky to protect her people.

But the gods have stopped listening and Omat's family is starving. Alone at the edge of the world, hope is all they have left.

Desperate to save them, Omat journeys across the icy wastes, fighting for survival with every step. When she meets a Viking warrior and his strange new gods, they set in motion a conflict that could shatter her world...or save it."

All the wonderful myths of the North!

The Frangipani Tree Mystery by Ovidia Ya
Published by: Constable
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"First in a delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, introducing amateur sleuth SuLin, a local girl stepping in as governess for the Acting Governor of Singapore.

1936 in the Crown Colony of Singapore, and the British abdication crisis and rising Japanese threat seem very far away. When the Irish nanny looking after Acting Governor Palin's daughter dies suddenly - and in mysterious circumstances - mission school-educated local girl SuLin - an aspiring journalist trying to escape an arranged marriage - is invited to take her place.

But then another murder at the residence occurs and it seems very likely that a killer is stalking the corridors of Government House. It now takes all SuLin's traditional skills and intelligence to help British-born Chief Inspector Thomas LeFroy solve the murders - and escape with her own life."

Everything about this book screams to me that it will be a new favorite series!

The Plotters by Un-su Kim
Published by: Doubleday
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"From the novelist dubbed "the Korean Henning Mankell" (The Guardian) comes a fantastical crime novel set in an alternate Seoul where assassination guilds compete for market dominance. Perfect for fans of Han Kang and Patrick deWitt.

Behind every assassination, there is an anonymous mastermind - a plotter - working in the shadows. Plotters quietly dictate the moves of the city's most dangerous criminals, but their existence is little more than legend. Just who are the plotters? And more important, what do they want? Reseng is an assassin. Raised by a cantankerous killer named Old Raccoon in the crime headquarters "The Library," Reseng never questioned anything: where to go, who to kill, or why his home was filled with books that no one ever read. But one day, Reseng steps out of line on a job, toppling a set of carefully calibrated plans. And when he uncovers an extraordinary scheme set into motion by an eccentric trio of young women - a convenience store clerk, her wheelchair-bound sister, and a cross-eyed librarian - Reseng will have to decide if he will remain a pawn or finally take control of the plot.

Crackling with action and filled with unforgettable characters, The Plotters is a deeply entertaining thriller that soars with the soul, wit, and lyricism of real literary craft."

Yes, the Henning Mankell comparison is what drew me to this book...

Death Prefers Blondes by Caleb Roehrig
Published by: Feiwel amd Friends
Publication Date: January 29th, 2019
Format: Hardcover, 448 Pages
To Buy

The official patter:
"Teenage socialite Margo Manning leads a dangerous double life. By day, she dodges the paparazzi while soaking up California sunshine. By night, however, she dodges security cameras and armed guards, pulling off high-stakes cat burglaries with a team of flamboyant young men. In and out of disguise, she’s in all the headlines.

But then Margo’s personal life takes a sudden, dark turn, and a job to end all jobs lands her crew in deadly peril. Overnight, everything she’s ever counted on is put at risk. Backs against the wall, the resourceful thieves must draw on their special skills to survive. But can one rebel heiress and four kickboxing drag queens withstand the slings and arrows of truly outrageous fortune? Or will a mounting sea of troubles end them - for good?"

Recommened to me by Johnnie Cakes from Murder By The Book, and he's never wrong in his recs! 

Posted by Miss Eliza at 12:00 AM 0 comments  

Labels: A Curse So Dark and Lonely, Caleb Roehrig, Death Prefers Blondes, Jordanna Max Brodsky, King of Scars, Leigh Bardugo, Ovidia Yu, Ravka, The Frangipani Tree Mystery, The Plotters, The Wolf in the Whale, Un-su Kim