Not quite as many books coming out in December, but most of us don’t have enough time to read then, anyways. Check out this month’s Treasures in My Closet.
Alice Blanchard, author of Darkness Peering, launches a series with Trace of Evil. Burning Lake, NY has a past similar to Salem, Massachusetts, and now they’re capitalizing on it. Natalie Lockhart, a rookie detective there, is haunted by her sister’s murder. As a rookie, she has the task of looking into nine cold cases, the murders of transients. But, the murder of a beloved schoolteacher has consequences for all of those cases. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
Nine Elms is the first Kate Marshall thriller by Robert Bryndza. Kate Marshall was a promising young detective when she caught the notorious Nine Elms serial killer. But that case turned into a nightmare as Marshall was traumatized, betrayed, and publicly vilified, and her career ended in scandal. Fifteen years later, she’s a lecturer at a small English university, but she’s still haunted by the earlier events. Then, a copycat killer takes up the work of his idol. (Release date is Dec. 1.)
Even the back of the ARC says author W.H. Cameron is actually Bill Cameron. As W.H. Cameron, he’s the author of Crossroad. On a desolate road in the Oregon high desert, an apprentice mortician stumbles upon a horrific car crash with three bodies. Then, she finds a fourth body, that of a newborn girl. And, Melisende Dulac doesn’t know if the infant was even part of the accident. It’s a case finds Dulac caught up in treachery, long-buried secrets, and growing menace. (Release date is Dec. 10.)
J.T. Ellison takes readers into the secretive world of a prep school in Good Girls Lie. The Goode School is a prestigious boarding school for daughters of the rich and influential. It accepts only the best and the brightest, and prepares girls for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities. But, the arrival of a stranger, and the death of a popular student means the truth about cruelties, secret societies and dubious behavior can no longer be ignored. (Release date is Dec. 30.)
Private investigator Amos Walker returns in Loren D. Estleman’s When Old Midnight Comes Along. Walker is hired by Francis X. Lawes, a mover and shaker in Detroit politics to prove his wife, Paula, who disappeared six years earlier, is dead. Lawes wants to remarry without having to wait for the seven-year-declaration-of death rule to kick in. But, the police still consider Lawes the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance, and a police officer was killed soon after that investigation. Amos Walker has a number of questions. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
There’s an unusual premise for Tarryn Fisher’s The Wives. Imagine that your husband has two other wives that you’ve never met. None of you have met, and, because of this unusual arrangement, you can see your husband only one day a week. Then, one day you find an appointment reminder for “Hannah”. You know she’s another one of the wives, and you track her down, and become a friend. Then, one day she shows up with telltale bruises, and you realize she’s being abused by her husband. Who is also your husband. (Release date is Dec. 30.)
Shatter the Night is the latest Detective Gemma Monroe mystery by Emily Littlejohn. Monroe drops in to visit an old friend, retired Judge Caleb Montgomery, at his law office. He confides he’s been receiving anonymous threats. As Gemma strolls to her car afterwards, an explosion at Caleb’s office shatters the night. As Gemma and her team eliminate suspects and motives, more keep appearing. Then another man is killed. (Release date is Dec. 10.)
Alexander McCall Smith’s latest 44 Scotland Street novel is The Peppermint Tea Chronicles. Summer has come to Scotland Street, where the neighborhood teems with the daily triumphs and challenges of those who call it home. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
Treachery is S.J. Parris’ latest historical thriller featuring Giordano Bruno, heretic, philosopher, and spy. In August, 1585, Sir Francis Drake is preparing to launch a daring expedition against the Spanish when a murder abroad his ship changes everything. Bruno agrees to hunt for the killer, but as he tracks a murder through the dangerous streets, he uncovers a conspiracy that threatens the future of England itself. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
I’m a big fan of D.M. Quincy’s Atlas Catesby mysteries. Murder at the Opera is the third one set in Regency London. As Atlas Catesby leaves Covent Garden with Lady Lilliana, a notorious courtesan is shot dead. Catesby is eager to blame the death on his former brother-in-law, but he believes in truth, and Catesby’s nephew begs him to prove to prove the man’s innocence. Catesby investigates in the world of theater and dissolute wealthy young men. (Release date is Dec. 10.)
I loved Paige Shelton’s Thin Ice, a departure from her cozy mysteries. Beth Rivers is known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild. It’s that identity that caught the attention of a crazed fan who kidnapped her. After her escape, and a brain injury, Beth flees to a remote small town in Alaska. It’s there she finds an interesting group of residents, and a murder that she fears might be connected to her. (Release date is Dec. 3.)
Darcie Wilde’s Rosalind Thorne mysteries are Regency-set historical inspired by Jane Austen’s novels. And Dangerous to Know finds Rosalind ensconced in Melbourne House, where she’s posing as Lady Melbourne’s confidential secretary. Lady Melbourne asked her to recover missing letters, a correspondence between Lord Byron and Lady Melbourne’s daughter-in-law, Lady Caroline Lamb. But, Rosalind has a second task. An unidentified woman was found dead in the courtyard of Melbourne House, and Bow Street runner Adam Harkness wants to her help solve that murder. (Release date is Dec. 31.)
Here are some other December releases you might want to try.
Nellums, Eliza – All That’s Bright and Gone (12/10)
Shepard, Sara – Reputation (12/3)
Walters, Damien Angelica – The Dead Girls Club (12/10)
Watkins, Eileen – Gone, Kitty, Gone (12/31)
Note: Michelle Birkby’s The House at Baker Street, a 2017 release, is being released by a different publisher, Felony & Mayhem, as All Roads Lead to Whitechapel. (12/30) Reviewed here in 2017. http://bit.ly/2xMXW8b
