Today, I’m leading off the August releases with my personal pick. But, Louise Penny’s eleventh Chief Inspector Gamache novel would be my personal pick no matter what month it came out. I’m prejudiced, though.

In The Nature of the Beast, Penny introduces us to a nine-year-old boy who cries wolf, making up stories of invasions in Three Pines. When the boy disappears, though, the villagers, including the now-retired Gamache, realize one of the boy’s tall tales might be true. It’s a story that leads to murder, to an old crime, to betrayal, and to an old poet. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

Journalist and former Parade editor-in-chief, Janice Kaplan, writes of one year being grateful in The Gratitude Diaries. On New Year’s Eve, she vows to take a year to be grateful and look at the bright side of everything. As she gets advice from psychologists, academics, and writers, she takes readers on her journey. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

The second nonfiction entry is Alex Kershaw’s Avenue of Spies. The author tells the true story of an American doctor and his family in Paris, and their heroic espionage efforts during the Second World War. As the war raged, all three Jacksons were drawn deeper into the Resistance, although almost every building on their exclusive residential block had been commandeered by the Nazis. And, when their secret was finally discovered, they were forced to undertake a dangerous journey across the war-torn continent. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

Sophie Littlefield’s The Guilty One is a novel about the damage people can do to each other, and the resilience they find in themselves. Maris’ world was shattered when her daughter was murdered, presumably at the hands of the young woman’s boyfriend. Now, Maris herself holds a man’s life in her hands. At the other end of the phone is the boyfriend’s father. He’s standing on the Golden Gate Bridge, poised to jump, if Maris tells him to. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

James Marrison introduces us to a new police inspector in his debut novel, The Drowning Ground. Chief Inspector Guillermo Downes, a native of Argentina, now heads up the police department in the English Cotswolds. When a young girl disappears, the second girl in two weeks to go missing, Downes makes a rash promise to the child’s mother to find her no matter what. Ten years later, the promised is still unfulfilled. And, then a local man, once suspected of killing is wife, is found dead. And, the dead man might have a connection to those missing girls. (Release date is Aug. 25.)

The Intruder is Hakan Ostlundh’s crime novel about betrayal and dark secrets. The Andersson family is being sent scary letters without a sender’s name. Gotland policeman Fredrik Broman and his colleagues take the threats seriously, but they don’t rule out a tasteless joke. When the threats escalate, and the couple’s daughter disappears, all doubts vanish. And, the disappearance is only the beginning. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

Blind psychiatrist Mark Angelotti is faced with his most troubling case yet in Lynne Raimondo’s  Dante’s Dilemma. Asked to evaluate the estranged wife of a slain University of Chicago professor, he’s forced to help the prosecution. And, his evidence all but convicts her. When a tip connects the case to another suspected murder and evidence that she may not be guilty, Angelotti discovers someone will do anything to guarantee that she takes the fall. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

Inspector Alan Banks returns in Peter Robinson’s In the Dark Places. It’s a double mystery. Two young men have vanished, and the investigation leads to two troubling clues in two different locations. And, then a freak truck accident leads to the discovery, not only of the driver’s body, but also of a body that was dead before the crash. As snow falls, the body count rises in Banks’ complex case. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

James Sie’s debut novel is Still Life Las Vegas. Walter Stahl’s life will always be marked by the day his mother disappeared when he was five, driving off, never to return. Even though he never even saw a picture of her, twelve years later he continues to watch for her in the groups of tourists he caters to in his dead-end job along the Vegas Strip. Then, as he searches for clues as to her disappearance, he’s forced to face the truth about himself and his family history. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

 Here’s an unusual viewpoint. Bradley Somer’s Welcome to the Fishbowl features a goldfish named Ian. Longing for adventure, Ian escapes his bowl and finds himself plummeting twenty-seven stories toward the street below. As he descends, he witnesses the lives of the Seville on Roxy residents, each facing a decision that will affect the course of their lives. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

Denise Grover Swank’s first Rose Gardner mystery is being re-issued in hardcover. Twenty-Eight and a Half Wishes introduces the employee of the DMV. She’s had plenty of visions, but this one is unique. She’s seen herself dead, but her overbearing momma winds up murdered instead of Rose, making Rose the prime suspect. With her death looming, Rose lists twenty-eight things she wants to accomplish before her vision comes true. And, as things get worse, she realizes she has bigger things to worry about than her list. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

Former Sports Illustrated reporter and editor Bill Syken’s fiction debut, Hangman’s Game, is set in the world of pro football. Nick Gallow lost his starting position as a college quarterback, turning himself into a punter who made it to the pros. But, after five years, his career no longer looks bright. But, he’s unexpectedly thrust back in the spotlight when he witnesses the murder of the new all-star draft pick. Nick doesn’t plan to get involved until a second attack hits closer to home, and the police go after the wrong man. Nick finds himself driven by the chance to be a hero again. (Release date is Aug. 18.)

Brian Thiem brings his experience, twenty-five years with the Oakland Police Department, to his debut novel, Red Line. When a teenager from a wealthy suburb outside of Oakland, CA is dumped at an inner city bus stop, homicide detective Matt Sinclair catches the case. It’s his first since being dumped to desk duty for a bust that went south. It’s the worse kind of case, and it only gets worse as the bodies start to pile up – first at the same bus bench, then around the city. Sinclair is unable to link the victims to each other, and the killer is just getting started. (Release date is Aug. 11.)

And, the last novel is Gabriel Urza’s All That Followed. Auriga, a quiet town in Spain’s northern Basque Country, has more secrets than residents. Five years after the kidnapping and murder of a young local politician, but, now the townspeople want answers. Everyone knows who pulled the trigger five years earlier, but is the young man behind bars truly to blame. The story peels back the layers of a crime complicated by history, love, and betrayal. (Release date is Aug. 4.)

I know which books I’m anticipating in August. Which ones do you want to read?