Get ready for another great month, full of must-read mysteries and thrillers!
To kick off the month, we’ve got two versions of the August Reading Guide—the basic version, which you’re currently reading, and a premium version that also has reviews of all the below books, along with other additional information. You can see that here.
As always, we’ve selected a few titles that we’re especially excited about, and this month’s Featured Selections are: Last Seen by J.T. Ellison, Declared Hostile by Jack Stewart, We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter, and Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
Happy Reading!
Tuesday, August 5th
Thomas & Mercer
From New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison comes a twisted psychological thriller about the bonds of family and the disconnect between memory and the truth.
Come here. Come closer.
Halley James knows her marriage is over. But she’s not prepared for the rest of her life to fall apart too.
No one can hear you. No one can help you.
She just lost her job at the forensics lab. Her dad needs emergency surgery. But the biggest blow comes back home in Marchburg, Virginia, where she discovers her mother didn’t actually die in a car crash. Her mom was murdered—and her father lied about it all these years.
I have nothing to hide from you. Are you hiding something from me?
Since she was six years old, it’s been Halley and her dad. Now, she doesn’t know what to believe. Desperate for the truth, Halley chases down a lead in Brockville, Tennessee. But all there is not as it seems. Brockville’s utopian charm hides a chilling darkness. And Halley’s search for answers threatens to expose an unspeakable reality.
Declared Hostile by Jack Stewart
Severn River Publishing
A treasonous plot. Clandestine actors. World order hanging in the balance.
Elite NCIS investigator Emmy “Punky” King, seasoned in global espionage, uncovers the edges of an intricate international conspiracy following the arrest of a U.S. Marine. Relying solely on her sharp intuition, she starts peeling back layers of a complex mystery that links the U.S. president to a clandestine corporation. As she navigates the corruption, Punky finds herself deep in an escalating game that threatens more than just national security.
Halfway across the world in Eastern Europe, Colt Bancroft and the Black Ponies are thrust into a high-stakes mission to prevent nuclear weapons from falling into the hands of rogue Russian operatives. But when their operation spirals into chaos following an ambush by an unexpected adversary, Colt finds himself navigating the deadly terrain of enemy territory, fighting for survival.
Although separated by continents, their missions are fatally intertwined. Colt must battle against overwhelming odds while Punky races against time to uncover the traitor behind it all―both unaware that if either fails, the world will plunge into chaos.
From Jack Stewart, former US Navy Top Gun instructor pilot, comes Declared Hostile, the intense fourth installment in the acclaimed Battle Born series. This riveting narrative is a must-read for fans of Tom Clancy and Dale Brown, packing high-stakes action and intricate conspiracy into every chapter.
The Housewarming by Kristin Offiler
Thomas & Mercer
In a haunting novel of psychological suspense, a summer getaway gone wrong rips apart a group of lifelong friends, thrusting their story into the true crime spotlight—and potentially their secrets, too.
For five friends vacationing on Block Island, it was a summer to remember. How could they forget it when only four made it back to the mainland?
Now, half a decade after Zoe Gilbert’s unsolved disappearance, Callie Sutter invites estranged friends Meg, Tess, and Lindsey—the last to see Zoe on that fateful trip—to reunite on the anniversary of the mystery that tore them apart. Back on Block Island, Callie reasons, they can come together again, memorialize Zoe, allay old resentments and recriminations, and put the past to rest. But it won’t be so easy. Patricia Adele, a true crime podcaster who once made a name for herself by casting suspicion on Zoe’s surviving friends all those years ago, is most eager for the reunion. She’s resurfaced with a book proposal claiming to expose them all as cold-blooded liars and conspirators in a crime once and for all.
Driven by self-preservation, the women must reckon with their long-held secrets and shared history if they’re to find out what really happened to Zoe on that hot August day. But will the truth set them free or condemn them all? No one is prepared to find out.
Out of the Woods by Gregg Olsen
Thomas & Mercer
From a girl’s abduction by a serial killer to the harrowing aftermath—a gripping and heart-wrenching true-crime story by Gregg Olsen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of If You Tell.
In May 2005, authorities discovered the Groene family murdered in their Idaho home. The family’s youngest members—eight-year-old Shasta and her brother, nine-year-old Dylan—were nowhere to be found.
As a community prayed for their return, Shasta and Dylan were already miles away in the woods of Montana at the hands of serial killer Joseph Edward Duncan. After a harrowing forty-eight day ordeal, Shasta was rescued. In many ways, her survival story was only beginning.
In the following years, while Shasta struggled to outrun her trauma, a pattern of self-destructive behavior shadowed her like an ever-worsening thunderstorm. She still had hope buried deep inside. Every bit as much as the little girl who had been held captive in the woods. This would be an all-new battle for Shasta. And she was determined not to lose.
Out of the Woods is the haunting and intimate true-crime story of one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history—and a young woman’s journey to reclaim her life in its wake.
The Devil’s Advocate by Steve Cavanagh
Atria Books
This high-octane legal thriller from the international bestselling author of Kill for Me, Kill for You will “make your palms sweat and your blood run cold” (The Times, London) as it follows a highly successful lawyer who is hiding a deadly secret.
He’s won every trial…because he’s behind every murder.
Ambitious District Attorney Randal Korn lives to watch prisoners executed. Even if they are not guilty.
An innocent man, Andy Dubois, faces the death penalty for the murder of young girl. Korn has already fixed things to make sure he wins a fast conviction. The one thing Korn didn’t count on was Eddie Flynn.
Slick, street smart, and cunning, the former con artist and now New York lawyer has only seven days to save an innocent man against a corrupt system and find the real killer.
In a week the judge will read the verdict, but will Eddie be alive to hear it?
The Dead Come to Stay by Brandy Schillace
Hanover Square Press
A delightful new cozy crime novel from the award-winning author of the “twisty, engaging, and thoroughly unexpected” (Deanna Raybourne) The Framed Women of Ardemore House
An amateur autistic sleuth. A wry English detective. A murder case that thrusts them both into the wealthy world of the rare artifacts trade…
Jo Jones can’t seem to catch a break. Trading in city life for the cozy, peaceful hills of North Yorkshire to take over her family estate should have been a chance for a “fresh start.” Instead, she’s been driven further into the past than she thought possible — and not just her own. The estate property is littered with traces of ancestors that Jo never knew existed, including the mysterious woman in a half-destroyed painting – and hints about Jo’s late uncle, who may hold the key to her cryptic family history. Then there’s the gossipy town politics Jo must constantly navigate as a neurodivergent transplanted American… And of course, the whole murder business.
When prickly town detective James MacAdams discovers a body in the moors with coincidental ties to Jo Jones, they’re forced to team up on the case. The clues will lead them into the wealthiest locales of Yorkshire, from sparkling glass hotels to luxury property sites to elite country clubs. But below the glittering surfaces, Jo and MacAdams discover darker schemes brewing. Local teens, many of them international refugees, are disappearing left and right, and each case is somehow linked to a shady architectural firm — which also happened to employ the dead man from the moor-side ditch.
What begins as bizarre murder case quickly plunges them both into the blackmarket world of rare artifacts and antique trading… and a murderer who will do anything to cover it up.
The Midnight Hour by Eve Chase
Ballantine Books
In this thrilling, richly woven novel that spans from bustling London streets to the boulevards of Paris, a woman with a dark family secret tries to turn back the hands of time before it’s too late.
“A wonderful twisty novel of family and secrets—the perfect summer read.”—Kate Morton, bestselling author of Homecoming
Notting Hill, London: One May evening, seventeen-year-old Maggie Parker’s mother walks out of their front door and doesn’t return. With her little brother in tow, desperate to find their mother, Maggie is drawn into a labyrinthine world of secondhand shops and shadowy figures, far from the grand townhouses in her comfortable neighborhood.
As Maggie struggles to maintain a stable life for herself and her brother, she befriends Wolf, another young person also living on his wits alone. But can he help solve the mystery of her mother’s disappearance—or will her growing feelings for him just cause her further pain, upending her life even more? When she discovers that her beloved house now holds a dangerous new secret, and Wolf is involved, Maggie, heartbroken, makes her escape.
Twenty-one years later, in her Paris apartment, Maggie gets a phone call that shatters her hard-won new life. While in London, the incoming owner of the Parkers’ old Notting Hill house is excavating the basement, unaware of what might lie beneath—and the clock starts ticking on buried secrets.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Horror meets coming-of-age in this thrilling novel in which forgotten Cold War mysteries make a terrifying reappearance, from a writer Stephen King has called “a master.”
On a clear October day, the American skies empty after hundreds of pilots refuse to fly, triggering a complete ground stop as authorities seek to explain an act of baffling coordination that the pilots insist was anything but planned. The pilots received disturbing, middle-of-the-night calls from their mothers, and each mother had a simple and urgent request: do not fly today.
There are a few concerning elements to the calls. None of the mothers remember making them—and some of the mothers are dead.
While the nation’s military chiefs and artificial intelligence experts mobilize in search of answers, a sixteen-year-old girl named Charlie on the coast of Maine watches a strange, silvery balloon drift across the water and toward her home—a place she loathes. Her father’s dream of opening a craft brewery on an old airfield has been a disaster, and all she wants is an escape back to Brooklyn.
She’s about to get much more than that.
Her new home is ground zero for a story that begins at a remote naval base in Indiana during the winter of 1962, when a physicist named Martin Hazelton discovered something extraordinary—and deadly. All Hazelton wanted was time to seek an explanation, but pressure from both American and Russian actors forced him into a perilous race.
Moving between the two characters and timelines, Scott Carson deftly weaves Cold War espionage with contemporary terror in a story that explains why #1 New York Times bestseller Joe Hill has declared himself “a fan for life.”
Jenny Cooper Has a Secret by Joy Fielding
Ballantine Books
In this riveting psychological thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of All the Wrong Places, a dementia patient reveals a deadly secret—and one woman must decide whether to believe her.
Reeling from her husband’s death and best friend’s dementia diagnosis, seventy-six-year-old Linda Davidson feels lost and alone. Her beloved daughter Kleo and son-in-law Mick have moved into her house to keep her company, but the constant bickering quickly turns their presence into yet another worry on Linda’s long list.
Eager to escape the tension at home, Linda goes to visit her friend at Legacy Place, a memory care facility for the elderly, where she meets Jenny Cooper, a ninety-two-year-old dementia patient who makes a shocking confession: she kills people.
Linda dismisses the so-called secret as the confusion of an ailing mind, but Jenny seems strangely lucid during their visits as she recounts stories of her many victims—mostly men who hurt her. Then a fellow patient at Legacy Place dies. Everyone else sees it as the natural death of a sick old man, but Linda can’t help but wonder: is there any chance Jenny’s telling the truth?
Knopf
Two Misfits. One Mission. Zero Back-Up. • When a high-stakes heist goes wrong, an ex-CIA operative and a special operations pilot find themselves in the middle of a game of espionage and survival as they navigate a treacherous web of deception and shifting loyalties in a globe-spanning, action-packed thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of 2034.
“Move Sheepdogs to the top of your list!”—Jack Carr, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“A thriller and comedy in one, it’s a wild ride.”—Harlan Coben, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Skwerl and Cheese are down on their luck and about to find themselves tangled in the heist of their lives. Skwerl, once an elite member of the CIA’s paramilitary unit, was cast out after a raid gone wrong in Afghanistan. Big Cheese Aziz, a former Afghan pilot of legendary skill, now works the graveyard shift at a gas station.
Recruited into a shadowy network of “sheepdogs,” they embark on a mission to repossess a multi-million-dollar private jet stranded on a remote African airfield. But as they wind through a labyrinth of lies and hidden agendas, they discover that nothing is as it seems. Their contact vanishes, their handler’s motives are suspect, and the true source of their payday remains a mystery.
With the stakes skyrocketing and the women in their lives drawn into the fray, this unlikely spy duo find themselves deep in the underbelly of modern war and intelligence.
From the jungles of Kampala to the glitz of Marseille, they’ll need to be as cunning as they are bold to survive in a game where the line between the hunters and the hunted is razor-thin.
The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
St. Martin’s Press
New from Sarah Pekkanen, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of House of Glass and co-author of The Wife Between Us.
A shocking psychological thriller about the complex bonds of sisterhood―and what happens when they are stretched to the breaking point, The Locked Ward “will leave you guessing until the very end” (Jeneva Rose, bestselling author of The Perfect Marriage).
Some doors should never be opened.
Was it bitter, all-consuming jealousy? Pathological sibling rivalry? Pure insanity?
Whatever the cause―and everyone has a theory―it’s the Crime of the Decade when glamorous Georgia Cartwright, who was adopted as a newborn, is accused of killing the biological daughter of her wealthy, Southern family.
Georgia is locked in a psychiatric institution where the most violent offenders are held while she awaits trial. The only words she whispers when her estranged twin sister Amanda visits are, “I didn’t do it. You’ve got to get me out of here.”
Amanda doesn’t trust Georgia, but she can’t abandon her in a place so eerie and menacing that it seems to exist in another dimension. Is Georgia the victim of a powerful family that’s so depraved murder is the least of their crimes? Or is Amanda being led down a path of madness into the web of a master manipulator?
Tuesday, August 12th
Kingfisher Seven by Shawn Klomparens
Thomas & Mercer
After a cutting-edge rocket explodes on launch, intelligence expert and former spy Jake Moran sets out on a high-stakes mission to find the truth in order to save the operation…and countless lives.
When ex-intelligence officer Jake Moran is hired by Kingfisher Aerospace to assist with a high-profile mission, he expects a standard rocket launch. But what he gets is far from routine—the Kingfisher Seven rocket explodes in spectacular and very public fashion. And billionaire owner Helena Nash wants answers.
The explosion forces Jake and his team at Cascadia Information Systems to pivot from monitoring weather satellites to gathering intelligence. The clock is ticking, and it’s up to them to find out what—or who—brought down the rocket.
Their investigation uncovers a plot that could destroy not only Kingfisher but the entire private aerospace industry. And Jake’s past holds the key. His history of not-quite-aboveboard tactics has earned him a long list of enemies, all with an eager eye for revenge.
Armed with covert tech, Jake and his team race to neutralize the threat. But if they can’t pinpoint the source in time, a nation could face a whole new kind of terror.
We Are All Guilty Here by Karin Slaughter
William Morrow
The first thrilling mystery in the new North Falls series from Karin Slaughter, New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Girls and the Will Trent Series.
Welcome to North Falls—a small town where everyone knows everyone. Or so they think.
Until the night of the fireworks. When two teenage girls vanish, and the town ignites.
For Officer Emmy Clifton, it’s personal. She turned away when her best friend’s daughter needed help—and now she must bring her home.
But as Emmy combs through the puzzle the girls left behind, she realizes she never really knew them. Nobody did.
Every teenage girl has secrets. But who would kill for them? And what else is the town hiding?
“Karin Slaughter’s new series starts with a book that is a knock-out punch… My God. Sign me up for more.” — Dervla McTiernan, #1 internationally bestselling author of What Happened to Nina?
Just Another Dead Author by Katarina Bivald
Poisoned Pen Press
The pen is mightier than the sword—but both are deadly in the wrong hands
When mystery author Berit Gardner agrees to attend a writer’s conference in the idyllic French countryside, she dreams of basking in the sun and nurturing budding talent. But her vacation takes a dark turn when the keynote speaker—a notorious literary titan known for his biting critiques—drops dead at the end of her lecture. As whispers of foul play swirl, Berit quickly realizes she’s stepped into a tangled web of jealousy, betrayal, and long-held grudges.
Enter the French commissaire, who is less than thrilled to have a curious author meddling in her investigation. But as the suspects pile up—each with their own motive for wanting the egotistical writer dead—she reluctantly recognizes Berit’s sharp instincts could crack the case wide open. With a colorful cast of authors, agents, and aspiring writers all hiding secrets, the stakes rise higher with every clue uncovered.
To make matters worse, a tenacious young journalist vows to outsmart Berit and solve the mystery first, placing herself in the killer’s sights. Now, Berit must navigate a maze of deceit and danger while trying to keep the ambitious reporter safe. With time running out and the killer lurking in the shadows, can Berit unravel the truth before her own story ends in tragedy?
A Killer Getaway by Sienna Sharpe
Sourcebooks Landmark
Falling in love can be murder…
No one in Lily Lennox’s life can understand why, for each of the past five summers, she has left her successful business behind to work a lifeguarding job at the exclusive Riovan Wellness Resort on a sun-soaked Caribbean Island.
Fortunately for her, they also aren’t aware of the mysterious deaths that occur on the island every time she’s there. You see, Lily has a secret. She’s determined to make toxic people pay for the damage they do – and she’s very good at getting away with it.
But this summer, there’s a problem in the form of a very attractive guest, Daniel Black, who is asking a few too many inconvenient questions. Hoping to lead him off her trail, Lily decides to keep her enemy close, but as their attraction grows into something much deeper, Lily’s plans start to unravel. Because Daniel is set on finding the murderer – and Lily plans to get away with it – no matter what.
The Diary of Lies by Phillip Miller
Soho Crime
Fearless freelance reporter Shona Sandison might be about to get her biggest scoop yet—if she can make it to the end of the investigation alive.
The third installment of the Shona Sandison Investigations is perfect for fans of Ian Rankin, John le Carré, and Denise Mina.
In a post-COVID Britain, investigative reporter Shona Sandison is seeking meaning and the next big story; her reclusive contact inside the government has promised her something huge, but she has no idea what kind of danger she’s in. Meanwhile, her old journalist friend Hector Stricken has taken on a position in communications for a new state agency, where he stumbles across a sinister, top-secret project code-named Grendel. Finally, an aging former MI6 director now living in seclusion grieves for his murdered son and ponders revenge.
Little do they know they are caught in the web of a dark conspiracy at the heart of the United Kingdom, facing a rot so deep that the only way to cure it may be to cut it out—or burn the whole thing down. Written in beautiful, immersive language and peopled with iconic characters grappling with issues far larger than themselves, Philip Miller’s new mystery depicts the reality of the ongoing fight against state oppression.
Knife in the Back by Karen Rose
Berkley
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose comes another “intense, complex, and unforgettable”* novel.
Officer Naomi Cranston was framed for stealing cocaine from the evidence locker and coerced—through threats to her young son—into not fighting the charges. After five years in prison, she has tried to put the ordeal behind her, but the crooks who framed her have returned, this time demanding she move drugs along with her flower shop’s deliveries. They threaten her son once again, but this time she’s not capitulating quietly. She hires Broussard Investigations to protect her and her son, to prove her innocence, and to put the real bad guys away.
As a former cop, Burke Broussard is well aware of the corruption in the New Orleans police department. He had always believed Naomi Cranston to be guilty and isn’t inclined to take her case. Until he sits down to listen to her side of things. Until he sees her tortured innocence written all over her beautiful face…
A relationship born amid an investigation is a fragile thing. Will it survive the danger and the threats? Will it survive the truth?
Kiss Her Goodbye by Lisa Gardner
Grand Central Publishing
A New York Times bestselling author returns with the latest installment in the addictive Frankie Elkin series, in which Frankie is called to Tucson, Arizona, to find a missing Afghan refugee, whose friend suspects she is in grave danger—before it is too late. “Timely and completely gripping.” (Louise Penny, New York Times bestselling author)
Recent Afghan refugee and young mother Sabera Ahmadi was last seen exiting her place of work three weeks ago. The local police have yet to open a case, while her older, domineering husband seems unconcerned. At the insistence of Sabera’s closest friend, missing persons expert Frankie Elkin agrees to take up the search just in time for a video of Sabera to surface—showing her walking away from the scene of a brutal double murder.
Frankie quickly notes there’s much more to the Ahmadi family than meets the eye. The father Isaad is a brilliant mathematician, Sabera a gifted linguist, and their little girl Zahra has an uncanny ability to remember anything she sees. Which given everything that has happened during the girl’s short life, may be a terrible curse.
When Isaad also disappears under mysterious circumstances and an attempt is made on Zahra’s life, Frankie realizes she must crack the code of this family’s horrific past. Someone is coming for the Ahmadis. And violence is clearly an option.
When everything is on the line, how far would you go to protect the ones you love? Frankie is about to find out.
She Didn’t Stand a Chance by Stacie Grey
Poisoned Pen Press
The desert heat can be deadly. But nothing kills like a cold heart.
Gertie hasn’t seen her siblings since she was a toddler. Now, she’s back at the family home she barely remembers, summoned there to witness the reading of her father’s will. Shockingly, Gertie stands to inherit a substantial portion of the family business and her father’s prized Palm Springs home. And no one is more surprised—and angry—about Gertie’s inclusion in the will than her sisters and brothers.
Trapped in a remote house that doesn’t feel like home with siblings that don’t feel like family, Gertie is isolated in more ways than one. And when she discovers that her father may have been murdered, and a member of the household staff dies not long before she has a near-deadly accident of her own, she realizes she’ll be lucky to get out of this unexpected family reunion alive.
A suspenseful read that feels just as suffocating as the dry California air in which it is set, She Didn’t Stand a Chance takes readers on a wild journey of jealousy, lies, and family secrets with deadly consequences.
Atlantic Monthly Press
For fans of Jack Reacher, Tanya Scott’s debut thriller introduces readers to Luke Harris, a man trying to move beyond his criminal past but finds himself forced back into his old life and a deadly battle to survive
When Jack Quinlan’s mother dies of a drug overdose, it’s not his father that raises him, but Gus—a ruthless crime boss who sees Jack for what he is: a whip-smart kid with untapped potential. It doesn’t take long for Gus to forge Jack into a weapon.
But Jack was also self-aware enough to know where this sort of life was going to lead him. When the time was right, he got out. Or so he thought.
Seven years later, Jack is now Luke Harris, a regular guy putting himself through college and aiming for a real job and a real future. Falling in love. But Jack’s past isn’t so easily forgotten, and the bodies in his closet won’t forgive him.
When Luke’s newfound life collides with Gus’s underworld, survival becomes a deadly game. Luke must resurrect his dormant skills and confront the demons that threaten to consume him.
Tuesday, August 19th
Death at the Village Christmas Fair by Debbie Young
Boldwood Books
Preorder the BRAND NEW page-turning instalment in Debbie Young’s BESTSELLING cozy crime series
It’s been a busy year for Alice Carroll, with her Curiosity Shop opening for business, and not one but two murders shaking things up in her quaint Cotswold village. She’s looking forward to her first countryside Christmas, complete with a traditional Christmas Fair and Santa Run.
But her hopes for innocent festive fun are thwarted when one of the Santa Runners steals something from her mum’s knitting stall. His festive outfit makes him hard to spot, until he’s found fatally injured outside the village hall with the stolen item.
Despite what the police say, Alice suspects there’s more to his murder than meets the eye. She’s determined to solve the mystery – including why, once more, a stranger thought something from her Curiosity Shop was worth killing for.
With the help of her charming neighbour Robert Praed, can Alice find the killer before the bells ring out this Christmas?
Murder in Hollywood by Millicent Binks
Bookouture
Lights, camera, action and… murder?
Opal Laplume’s star is on the rise when she gets a job making costumes for Hollywood’s biggest talkie star, Jane Margeaux. But when Jane is fatally shot on set by a prop gun, and security guard Augusto finds a bullet missing from his pistol, it falls to Opal to save her favourite new friend from a wrongful murder accusation.
Opal soon discovers that Jane had a list of enemies as long as the train on her designer gown. Jane’s co-star Betty envied her rise to fame, but did her jealousy take a deadly turn? Jane’s loyal assistant Virginia was overworked and underpaid. Did she get Jane out of the way to get ahead at the studio? Or did Jane’s fortune-hunting husband Carey see an opportunity to inherit his wife’s jaw-dropping Sunset Boulevard mansion?
Just when Opal thinks she’s found her prime suspect, a crew member is found dead in the California desert with a briefcase stuffed full of movie scripts. And a close look at the director’s cut of Jane’s latest picture reveals a secret message hidden in plain sight. Soon, Opal will find that Jane was hiding the biggest secret in Hollywood – one truly worth killing for.
Can Opal keep her English cool among the Tinseltown drama and crack the case before it’s a wrap for the entire crew?
Grab a first-row seat to this fabulous and utterly charming Golden Age whodunnit full of glamour, intrigue and murder set in 1930s Hollywood. Fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright won’t be able to put this down!
Tuesday, August 26th
The Color of Death by Trey Gowdy
Harper Influence
From the number-one New York Times bestselling author and FOX News host Trey Gowdy comes a dark mystery debut about a murder in a small South Carolina town. Assistant DA Colm Truesdale must pick up the pieces of his own life in order to solve the case.
Following the death of his wife and daughter, Colm Truesdale is left mentally scarred. After time off, and with no desire to return to the courtroom, Truesdale is brought back into the investigation of the murder of a young woman who ran a beauty salon outside of town. When a page from her appointment book goes missing, and then the crime scene burns down, it’s up to Colm to untangle the web of deception that implicates a powerful judge and his family.
Taking readers inside the cat-and-mouse psychology of a killer and the assistant district attorney who must catch him, this thrilling fiction debut from bestselling author Trey Gowdy and celebrated author Christopher Greyson will keep you guessing until the very last page
Beyond Midnight by Ian K. Smith
Amistad
In the fifth installment of the Ashe Cayne series the smooth Chicago private eye stumbles into the city’s internecine (and deadly) world of politics.
The death of immigrant Juaquin Escobar has been ruled an accidental drowning in Lake Michigan. The only problem is he never drinks and never swims. When the CPD informs his nephew Ivan Ramirez and closes the case he refuses to believe it’s true.
Convinced of foul play Ivan is referred to Ashe Cayne by his friend and socialite Penny Packer. After agreeing to take the case on pro bono he quickly discovers that things are not always what they seem. As Ashe investigates, he learns that Juaquin was last seen getting into a white van belonging to a heating and cooling company before he disappeared.
Retracing Juaquin’s steps leads Ashe straight into a web of secrets and lies that anyone would do anything to escape—even murder.
Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library by Amanda Chapman
Berkley
Book conservator Tory Van Dyne and a woman claiming to be Agatha Christie on holiday from the Great Beyond join forces to catch a killer in this spirited mystery from Amanda Chapman.
Tory Van Dyne is the most down-to-earth member of a decidedly eccentric old-money New York family. For one thing, as book conservator at Manhattan’s Mystery Guild Library, she actually has a job. Plus, she’s left up-town society behind for a quiet life downtown. So she’s not thrilled when she discovers a woman in the library’s Christie Room who calmly introduces herself as Agatha Christie, politely requests a cocktail, and announces she’s there to help solve a murder— that has not yet happened.
But as soon as Tory determines that this is just a fairly nutty Christie fangirl, her socialite/actress cousin Nicola gets caught up in the suspicious death of her less-than-lovable talent agent. Nic, as always, looks to Tory for help. Tory, in turn, looks to Mrs. Christie. The woman, whoever or whatever she is, clearly knows her stuff when it comes to crime.
Aided by an unlikely band of fellow sleuths —including a snarky librarian, an eleven-year-old computer whiz, and an NYPD detective with terrible taste in suits—Tory and the woman claiming to be her very much deceased literary idol begin to unravel the twists and turns of a murderer’s devious mind. Because, in the immortal words of Miss Jane Marple, “murder is never simple.”
Tomlinson’s Wake by Randy Wayne White
Hanover Square Press
From New York Times bestselling author Randy Wayne White, the latest thriller following Doc Ford and his perilous journey into Mesoamerica after a world-shattering earthquake threatens his squad’s safety—and all of their lives
In the wake of a killer hurricane, Doc Ford’s best friend, Tomlinson, insists that he died when his beloved sailboat hit a reef off the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. He now lives to tell the tale, but only because he was brought back to life—temporarily—by a runaway orphan who is the direct descendent of the last king of the ancient Mayan people.
Corrupt politicians want the child out of the picture before he catalyzes a revolution among the Indigenous population. But the boy, a charismatic twelve-year-old, has gone underground with the help of Tomlinson and a network of street urchins. They’re all on the run and in the crosshairs when Ford arrives and picks up his friend’s trail. This is not his first trip to the most dangerous country in Mesoamerica, and no one is better equipped to deal with flesh traffickers, paramilitary killers, an archaeologist addicted to sex and a homicidal giant known locally as Iron Baby.
Their spiritual home on Sanibel Island, Dinkin’s Bay Marina, has already suffered the death of one key member, and Ford is determined not to burden that quirky little family with yet another funeral wake. What no one is prepared for, however, is a cataclysmic earthquake that hits the area with the impact of a meteor that nearly destroyed all life on earth more than sixty million years ago.
Murder in Paris by Helena Dixon
Bookouture
Freshly baked baguettes and strong coffee, a moonlit walk beneath the twinkling lights of the Eiffel tower, sunset over the rooftops… and oh là là! A murder in the French capital? This is one for Kitty Underhay!
Paris, 1937.Kitty Underhay, with a croissant in hand and her handsome husband Matt by her side, is soaking up the delightfully Parisian charms of the French capital. Kitty attends a fashion show, where she is enamoured by the dazzling gowns but the afternoon takes a very sour turn when one of the models, Simone Belliste, is found dead with a pair of razor sharp tailoring scissors nearby…
Kitty and Matt are determined to work out who could be behind the murder. They perch in tiny cafés on cobblestone streets, deliberating who would do such a thing. Simone had many admirers, including a wealthy older Englishman who had been wooing her and a handsome young Frenchman who was besotted with her. But she was also surrounded by glamorous designers, competitive models, and a jealous younger sister… and nobody is without motive.
Just as Kitty and Matt are jotting down their list of suspects, they receive a call: Simone’s sister Nathalie has been attacked, and her valuable folder of dressmaking patterns is missing. Can they unravel the secrets surrounding the two sisters? Or will they be next in line…?
The Break-In by Katherine Faulkner
Gallery/Scout Press
After killing an intruder in self-defense, a wealthy London mother must unravel a terrifying mystery filled with twists and turns, from the author of the “deliciously twisted thriller” (People) The Other Mothers.
Alice, a professional mother of one, is hosting a playdate with friends at her upscale London home when a disturbed man breaks in. With her child in the next room, Alice panics and kills him—an act later ruled to have been in self-defense.
Everyone tries to encourage Alice to move on with her life—but with strange comments appearing online, a mysterious phone call telling her all is not as it seems, and her husband, nanny, and friends behaving strangely, Alice finds herself drawn to the mystery of who her intruder really was. As she digs deeper, she discovers a trail of dark secrets that spiral closer to home than she ever could have imagined.
Thomas & Mercer
A wife’s search for her husband’s true identity spirals into a nightmare of fear and paranoia in a twisting novel of psychological suspense by the Edgar Award–winning author of Or Else.
Only ten days into their marriage, Imogen and Lev Carmichael are on a honeymoon cruise in the Mediterranean when Imogen suspects her husband of being unfaithful. Amid the recriminations, denials, and rage, Lev falls overboard into the water. It’s a miracle he’s found alive. And with no memory of what pushed him—and Imogen—over the edge.
Back home among family and friends, Imogen and Lev are finally starting to readjust. As terrified as Imogen is of Lev’s memories returning, it’s her suspicions of infidelity that get the best of her. Then, searching for clues, she discovers a woman from Lev’s past he never told her about…a woman who has been missing for years. More alarming is that Imogen soon has reason to believe that Lev remembers more than he’s letting on. But why would he lie?
The man Imogen loved, married, and trusted is a man she’s now beginning to fear. And she must decide how far she’s willing to go to uncover the truth.
Thomas & Mercer
In her dramatic debut, author K.T. Konkoly delivers a bold legal thriller following a tough young lawyer who leaves her thriving practice in New York City behind when a family crisis calls her home.
Kari Sharpe never expected to return to Maine. Law school and the Navy JAG Corps pulled her out of the dead-end Maine promised for her future. But Kari’s past turns out to be hard to escape. When her last living relative spirals out of control, Kari gives up everything to save him.
Leaving her position as partner in a prestigious Manhattan law firm, Kari struggles to build a new law practice in Maine. Unfortunately, her name means nothing in Portland—nothing good. The Sharpe family curse is a shackle she can’t shake as she grapples with her brother’s addiction.
When a string of brutal murders rocks the coastal city, Kari is called upon by the navy for help. A sailor stationed on board a newly built ship at the famed Bath Iron Works shipyard is accused of murdering a local woman. The city is up in arms, demanding the sailor’s conviction. Adding fuel to the fire, her client is the son of Somali immigrants. Kari digs in for the fight of her life to prove he’s innocent…and deliver justice. Now she doesn’t know if she will ever leave Maine.
Praised as “One of the hardest working, most thoughtful, and fairest reviewers out there” by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline, Ryan Steck has “quickly established himself as the authority on mysteries and thrillers” (Author A.J. Tata). Steck also works full-time as a freelance editor in addition to running TRBS. He is the author of FIELDS OF FIRE, which #1 New York Times bestselling author Jack Carr says “will leave you speechless and begging for more,” LETHAL RANGE, OUT FOR BLOOD, GONE DARK, and TED BELL’S MONARCH. For more information, follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and BookBub. For even more content and book news, subscribe to The Real Book Spy Substack!
This really expanded my understanding of the topic.