I only have six December releases to share with you! My editor at Library Journal agreed with me that December offers very little. I already read more January releases than this. If you have any titles to add, please do.
Jess Armstrong’s second Ruby Vaugh mystery is The Secret of the Three Fates. American heiress Ruby Vaughn still hasn’t entirely forgiven her octogenarian employer and housemate Mr. Owen for bringing the occult into their lives during her recent trip to Cornwall. He claims their journey to Manhurst Castle in the Scottish Borders is simply to appraise and acquire illuminated manuscripts for their rare books shop, however when Ruby discovers there are no manuscripts and receives news of a séance to be held that very night, she begins to grow suspicious about the true reason why they have come. The Great War left grieving families willing to sacrifice anything for the chance to say goodbye to a lost loved one. Mr. Owen is no exception. He is desperate to speak to his son, but he doesn’t want to face the spirits alone. When the séance―hosted by a trio of mediums billing themselves as The Three Fates―goes awry, Mr. Owen’s secrets begin to unravel, threatening to reveal a history that he has been running from for half his life. Something Ruby knows all too well how to do. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
I always enjoy the light mystery collections from Carlene O’Connor, Peggy Ehrhart and Liz Ireland. This year’s collection is Irish Soda Bread Murder. Each of the novellas feature the authors’ signature characters in a deadly St. Patrick’s Day treat. (Release date is Dec. 24.)
Here’s the blurb for Orlando Murrin’s Knife Skills for Beginners. The Maid meets Knives Out with a dash of Top Chef in the debut locked room culinary mystery set in a London cooking school by Masterchef semi-finalist and cookbook writer Orlando Murrin.“Some people are natural dancers, others marvelous in bed, but—not wishing to boast—I’m good with a knife. Most chefs are.” The Chester Square Cookery School in the heart of London offers students a refined setting in which to master the fine art of choux pastry and hone their hollandaise. True, the ornate mansion doesn’t quite sparkle the way it used to—a feeling chef Paul Delamare is familiar with these days. Worn out and newly broke, he’d be tempted to turn down the request to fill in as teacher for a week-long residential course, if anyone other than Christian Wagner were asking. Christian is one of Paul’s oldest friends, as well as the former recipient of two Michelin stars and host of Pass the Gravy! Thanks to a broken arm, he’s unable to teach the upcoming session himself, and recruits Paul as stand-in. The students are a motley crew, most of whom seem more interested in ogling the surroundings (including handsome Christian) than learning the best ways to temper chocolate. Yet despite his misgivings, Paul starts to enjoy imparting his extensive knowledge to the recruits—until someone turns up dead, murdered with a cleaver Paul used earlier that day to prep a pair of squabs. (Release date is Dec. 24.)
I love the cover of P.J. Nelson’s Booked for Murder. It’s the first Old Juniper Bookstore Mystery. Madeline Brimley left small town Georgia many years ago to go to college and pursue her dreams on the stage. Her dramatic escapades are many but success has eluded her, leaving her at loose ends. But then she gets word that not only has her beloved, eccentric Aunt Rose passed, but she’s left Madeline her equally eccentric bookstore housed in an old Victorian mansion in the small college town of Enigma. But when she arrives in her beat-up Fiat to claim The Old Juniper Bookstore, and restart her life, Madeline is faced with unexpected challenges. The gazebo in the back yard is set ablaze and a late night caller threatens to burn the whole store down if she doesn’t leave immediately. But Madeline Brimley, not one to be intimidated, ignores the threats and soldiers on. Until there’s another fire and a murder in the store itself. Now with a cloud of suspicion falling over her, it’s up to Madeline to untangle the skein of secrets and find the killer before she herself is the next victim. (Release date is Dec. 10.)
I picked up Trouble Island by Sharon Short for two reasons. It’s set on an island in Lake Erie, and my hometown is on that lake. In addition, Sharon Short also writes as Jess Montgomery. Many miles from anywhere in the middle of Lake Erie, Trouble Island serves as a stop-off for gangsters as they run between America and Canada. The remote isle is also the permanent home to two women: Aurelia Escalante, who serves as a maid to Rosita, lady of the mansion and wife to the notorious prohibition gangster, Eddie McGee. In the freezing winter of 1932, the women anticipate the arrival of Eddie and his strange coterie: his right-hand man, a doctor, a cousin, a famous actor, and a rival gangster who Rosita believes murdered their only son. Shortly after the group of criminals, celebrities, and scoundrels arrive, Rosita suddenly disappears. Aurelia plans her getaway, going to the shore to retrieve her box of hidden treasures, but instead finds Rosita’s body in the water. Someone has made sure Aurelia was the one to find her. An ice storm makes unexpected landfall, cutting Trouble Island off from both mainlands, and with more than one murderer among them. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
Lilian West’s suspense novel, Pretty Dead Things, has two timelines. 2024. Recently-engaged city girl Cora is new to the small town of Hickory Falls. Still adjusting to the change in pace, she’s delighted when she stumbles upon a quaint estate sale. Drawn in by the knickknacks, she buys a jar of colorful baubles and is surprised to find two rings at the bottom of the jar. When she innocently sets out to find the original owner of the rings, she instead stumbles upon a decades-old mystery.
1953. Clarity Grey should’ve known better than to get involved with a married man, but their connection went too deep to ignore. When he divorces his wife for her, they marry, and she gets the family life she’s always dreamed of, with a new stepdaughter and a child of her own. But just as suddenly, her new life slips out of her hands when she simply vanishes, never to be seen or heard of again.
Clarity is labeled as flakey and a homewrecker, so nobody in town takes her disappearance seriously–until Cora, seventy years later. (Release date is Dec. 10.)
Is there anything here you want to read? Or, do you have some December book releases to mention? Please do!
