This is not a complaint. It’s an explanation. I love sharing Treasures in My Closet with you, but it’s really time-consuming to write this. It takes hours over the weekend before the post. So, I still have 150 pages to read in the book that was planned for today. I’m not tied to anyone’s schedule except my own, so I’m switching them around. Treasures is posted today with a book review of a just-released book scheduled for tomorrow. In the meantime, I know you’ll find a treasure or two here.

I wonder why publishers think August is such a great month for publication. Sure, kids go back to school, but that doesn’t mean working people, including parents, have any more time to read. Maybe they think it’s because August is long and hot, and everyone wants to hole up in the air conditioning. Ha! Some of us still work. Anyways, wait until you see all the terrific books coming out in August, the treasures in my closet. Or, as Kevin Tipple says, I’m opening up the vault. Enjoy! And, let me know what books you’re anticipating that I didnt’t mention.

Whatever month Louise Penny releases an Armand Gamache novel, if I already have a copy, I lead with it. And, I won’t tell you much about The Madness of Crowds. I haven’t read it yet, and I don’t want to know too much before I read it. But, it’s my pick for August. Armand Gamache is back is Three Pines. When Chief Inspector Armand Gamache finds his holiday with his family interrupted by a request to provide security for a visiting professor giving a lecture, he finds her agenda so repulsive he begs the university to cancel. He’s accused of censorship and intellectual cowardice. And her views lead to arguments, and a madness. (Release date is Aug.. 24.)

in Sarah Adlakha’s debut novel, She Wouldn’t Change a Thing, thirty-nine-year-old Maria Forssmann wakes up in her seventeen-year-old body. She knows she wants to get back to her home, her job, and most important, her family. But, she also knows that, in only a few weeks, a devastating tragedy will strike her husband’s family. Can she change time and still keep what it’s given her? (Release date is Aug. 10.)

A Scone of Contention is the latest Key West Food Critic mystery by Lucy Burdette. Key Zest food critic Hayley Snow and her groom, police detective Nathan Bransford, chose Scotland for their long-delayed honeymoon. But, they’re joined by Nathan’s family as well as octogenarian Miss Gloria. Nathan’s sister, Vera, takes the women on a whirlwind tour of some of Scotland’s iconic mystic places, but the trip takes a deadly turn when a woman claims she was was poisoned and a tourist tumbles to his death. Hayley isn’t convinced Vera and her friends are totally innocent when it comes to the man’s death. Now, she fears her honeymoon might end with another murder. (Release date is Aug. 10.)

Ellen Byron’s Cajun Kiss of Death opens with a wedding celebration, but by Valentine’s Day there’s murder in the air. A celebrity chef plans to open a Cajun-inspired restaurant, but someone on his team seems to be trying to sabotage the established restaurants in Pelican, Louisiana. When the chef is killed just before the restaurant opens, there are a number of suspects, including those local chefs and restaurant owners. Even Maggie Crozet’s own mother is a suspect because someone stole one of her prized recipes. Maggie had planned February to lead to a special Valentine’s Day present for her new husband. Instead, she’s investigating a murder. (Release date is Aug. 10.)

The Secret Staircase is Sheila Connolly’s third and final Victorian Village Mystery. It’s a good stopping point, but readers will always regret that this didn’t become a long-running series. Kate Hamilton has exciting plans for the Barton Mansion. It’s the centerpiece of her plans to turn Asheboro, Maryland into a historical Victorian Village. When she finds a body in a hidden staircase in the mansion, though, it might just derail all of her plans. (Release date is Aug. 24.)

I liked Jen J. Danna’s first NYPD Negotiator novel, Exit Strategy. Now, in Shot Caller,, NYPD detective Gemma Capello is called to Rikers Island where a prison riot threatens to become a bloodbath. The longer the inmates remain in control, holding corrections officers hostage, the greater the risk. Navigating assumptions on all sides, Gemma desperately tries to stop the body count from rising. The last novel was a story with non-stop action. This one sounds as if it will be the same. (Release date is Aug. 31.)

Here’s what sounds like a powerful debut, Ash Davidson’s Damnation Spring. It’s the story of a Pacific Northwest logging town and the threats that could derail its way of life. For generations, Rich Gundersen’s family has chopped a livelihood out of the redwood forest along California’s rugged coast. Now Rich and his wife, Colleen, are raising their young son near Damnation Grove. But logging is dangerous work, and Rich wants better for his son, Chub, so when he gets the chance to buy 24-7 Ridge, a special grove, he buys it, without telling his wife he spent all their savings. But, Colleen, a midwife, has lost several babies, as have other women. Now, she’s searching for answers, suspecting the herbicides the logging company has used for decades. Her search could unravel Rich’s plants for the 24-7, their marriage, and divide the town in two. (Release date is Aug. 3.)

No Grater Crime is the latest Country Store Mystery by Maddie Day, set in South Lick, Indiana. Robbie Jordan, owner of Pans ‘N Pancakes, a cafe and country store, has been having problems ever since she met the owners of an antique shop opening across the street. Pricey items vanish from shelves; a fully equipped breakfast food truck starts lingering around the area each morning, and loyal diners mysteriously fall ill. When an elderly man dies after eating an omelet, Robbie must temporarily close down and search for a killer with plans for running her out of business. (Release date is Aug. 24.)

Michelle Gable, author of A Paris Apartment, now brings us The Bookseller’s Secret. It’s a novel of Nancy Mitford, In 1942 London, she’s recvoering from a devastating loss, estranged from her husband, and has given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue to make headlines with their controversial politics. Desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. She enjoys the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends. But, when a mysterious french officer insists that she has a story to tell, she must decide if picking up the pen and revealing all is worth the price she might pay. Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript by Nancy Mitford. For one woman, the search will not only reveal a new side to Nancy Mitford, but provide a link to the past and present. (Release date is August 17.)

I’m going from Nancy Mitford in war-time London to small town Maine in Halloween Party Murder. Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross all have stories in this collection. In Meier’s “Halloween Party Murder”, Tinker’s Cove’s newest residents Ty and Heather Moon turn their Victorian house into a haunted house to raise money for charity. But, journalist Lucy Stone digs into their past when Heather overdoses and Ty is accused of her murder. In “Death of a Halloween Party Monster”, Food and Cocktail columnist Hayley Powell’s Halloween bash features people dressed as their favorite movie monster. But, when Boris Candy’s bludgeoned costumed corpse is found, Hayley investigates. In Barbara Ross’ “Scared Off”, three teenage girls having a sleepover on Halloween get spooked by high schoolers who crash the house for a party. But, no one expected a crasher like Mrs. Zelisko, the elderly third floor tenant found dead in the backyard, dressed as a ghost. (Release date is Aug. 31.)

While I’m not a fan of Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train, readers might want to know about her latest novel, A Slow Fire Burning. When a young man is found gruesomely murdered on a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women in particular. Laura is the troubled one-night stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is the grief-stricken aunt. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor who found the bloodied body but is keeping secrets from the police. How long can secrets smolder before they explode into flame? (Release date is Aug. 31.)

Naomi Hirahara takes readers to 1944 Chicago to reveal a part of history that most of us don’t know, the fate of Japanese Americans after their release from mass incarceration camps during World War II. Clark and Division finds twenty-year-old Aki Ito and her parents released from Manzanar and resettled in Chicago. But, they arrive the day after Aki’s beloved older sister, Rose, was killed by a subway train. The police call it suicide, but Aki can’t accept that her sister would have killed herself the day before the family arrives. She knows there is more to the story than suicide or an accident. (Release date is Aug. 3.)

Miranda James’ fourteenth Cat in the Stacks mystery, What the Cat Dragged In, may be my favorite in the series. Charlie Harris is surprised to inherit his grandfather’s farm years after the man’s death. When Charlie and his Maine Coon cat, Diesel, go to check out the place, Diesel finds a skeleton in the attic. Charlie discovers family stories and connections he never knew about in the course of the investigation. (Release date is Aug. 31.)

June in New York City brings a wave of violence in Michele Weinstat Miller’s debut novel, Gone by Morning. First, sixty-six-year-old ex-madam Kathleen is almost killed when a suicide bomb goes off in a subway station. Then, a woman is brutally murdered. One of Kathleen’s tenants in her apartment building, Emily, saw the woman get into a car in front of the building. Emily makes a mistake, though, using her position as a deputy press officer at city hall to find out more information about the dead woman. Now, Emily is on the radar of a powerful man, someone who eventually discovers a link between Kathleen and Emily. I’ve read this one. Although it’s a little clunky at times, it’s a riveting debut with an intriguing conclusion. (Release date is Aug. 10.)

I’m looking forward to Julie Murphy’s rom-com, If the Shoe Fits. And, it’s just perfect that a Cinderella take-off, the first “Meant to Be” novel, is published by Disney’s new Hyperion line. Cindy graduated with a degree in shoe design, but she’s working for her stepmother, the executive producer of America’s favorite reality show. When a spot on the show needs filling, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her career. Turns out being the only plus-size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body-positivity icon for women everywhere. What she doesn’t expect is that she just might find inspiration and love in the process. Ultimately, Cindy learns that if the shoe doesn’t fit, maybe it’s just time to design your own. (Release date is Aug. 3.)

AJ Pearce follows up Dear Mrs. Bird with Yours Cheerfully, an uplifting novel set in London during World War II. Following the departure of the formidable Henrietta Bird from Woman’s Friend magazine, things are looking up for Emmeline Lake as she becomes a young wartime advice columnist. When the Ministry of Information calls on Britain’s women’s magazines to help recruit female works to the war effort, Emmy is thrilled to step up. But when she meets a young mother who shows her the very real challenges that women war workers face, Emmy must confront a dilemma between fulfilling her duties and standing by her friends. (Release date is Aug. 10.)

Be My Ghost is the first in Carol J. Perry’s Haunted Haven Mystery series. (It reminds me of E.J. Copperman’s Haunted Guesthouse series.) Maureen Doherty, along with her golden retriever Finn, head to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Maureen worked as a sportswear buyer for a department store for years, but now the store has closed. Timing is perfect to learn she’s inherited an inn in Haven, Florida, from a woman she doesn’t remember. It’s the chance for a new start, but not only are most of the residents long-time residents, there are some who are also ghosts. And, she might need help from some of them when she finds a body on the porch of the inn. There’s plenty of room for more discoveries in future books. (Release date is Aug. 31.)

Of course, I’m going to try Freya Sampson’s The Last Chance Library. Lonely librarian June Jones has never left the sleepy English village where she grew up. Shy and reclusive, the twenty-eight-year-old would rather spend her time buried in books than venture out into the world. But when her library is threatened with closure, June emerges from her shell to fight for her beloved local library, and the the efforts and support of an eclectic group of library patrons, she discovers life-changing friendships along the way. (Release date is Aug. 31.)

The past and present collide in Jonathan Santlofer’s novel, The Last Mona Lisa, a story of art theft, forgery, and murder. In August 1911, The Mona Lisa is stolen by museum worker Vincent Peruggia. During its two-year absence from the Louvre, replicas of the painting are created and sold as the original by a notorious duo of con artists. Several of these forgeries remain at large, prompting more than one art historian to speculate that the museum might well be displaying a fake. Now, in the present, artist and art professor Luke Perrone hunts for the truth behind his infamous ancestor, Peruggia. His search attracts a number of people from an INTERPOL detective to unscrupulous art collectors and thieves. The novel explores the secrets of the 1911 theft and the dark underbelly of today’s art world. (Release date is Aug. 17.)

In Steven Tingle’s debut, Graveyard Fields, he might just introduce one of the most inept private detectives ever. Davis Reed deals with anger, alcohol, and anxiety, trying to cope with Xanax. After a physical fight with his brother-in-law, a cop, Reed escapes to a mountain cabin in Cruso, North Carolina, befriending the deputy who rents it to him. He’s planning to write a nonfiction account of a B-25 bomber that crashed on Cold Mountain. He’s getting nowhere when he finds a ring of keys on a mountain path. His curiosity leads to obsession, and some of the strangest, at times funniest, scenes in a crime novel. (Release date is Aug. 10.)

Here are the other books I have with August releases. I just can’t review everything, but I’m sure there are treasures here that you might want to read.

Alexander, Jennet – I Kissed a Girl (8/3)
Bell, Marcella – The Wildest Ride (8/10)
Coes, Ben – The Island (8/17)
Cohen, Octavius – Jim Hanvey, Detective (8/10)
Delaney, Deon – Double Chocolate Cookie Murder (8/24)
Dennison, Hannah – Danger at the Cove (8/17)
Eaton, J.C. – Railroaded for Murder (8/24)
Florio, Gwen – The Truth of It All (8/10)
Fogarty, Kalyn – What We Carry (8/10)
Garza, Amber – Where I Left Her (8/24)
Gideon, Melanie – Did I Say You Could Go (8/3)
Graham, Brandon – Half Dead (8/10)
Grossberg, Blythe – I Left My Homework in the Hamptons (8/17)
Halle, Karina – The Royals Next Door (8/31)
Heller, Peter – The Guide (8/24)
Keown, Audrey – Dust to Dust (8/10)
Lange, Tracey – We Are the Brennans (8/3)
Lefteri, Christy – Songbirds (8/3)
Laurie, Victoria – Coached in the Act (8/31)
Maxwell, Alyssa – Murder at Wakehurst (8/31)
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Velvet Was the Night (8/17)
Mott, Jason – Hell of a Book (8/10)
Sanders, Angela M. – Seven-Year Witch (8/24)
Schaffert, Timothy – The Perfume Thief (8/3)
Slimani, Leila – In the Country of Others (8/10)
Warburton, Sarah – You Can Never Tell (8/10)
Winstead, Ashley – In My Dreams I Hold a Knife (8/3)