December ended on a slow note, and January 20234 isn’t starting out much better, if the Treasures in My Closet are any indication. I’ve actually read more April releases already than I have January ones. And, only one of the January books stands out for me. I hope you have something to add! Let us know if you have a treasure or two waiting in the wings.

Blurbs mention Gillian Flynn and A.J. Finn in discussing Matthew Blake’s debut thriller, Anna O. Anna Ogilvy was a budding twenty-five-year-old writer with a bright future. Then, one night, she stabbed two people to death with no apparent motive—and hasn’t woken up since. Dubbed “Sleeping Beauty” by the tabloids, Anna’s condition is a rare psychosomatic disorder known to neurologists as “resignation syndrome.”Dr. Benedict Prince is a forensic psychologist and an expert in the field of sleep-related homicides. His methods are the last hope of solving the infamous “Anna O’”case and waking Anna up so she can stand trial. But he must be careful treating such a high-profile suspect—he’s got career secrets and a complicated personal life of his own.As Anna shows the first signs of stirring, Benedict must determine what really happened and whether Anna should be held responsible for her crimes. (Release date is Jan. 2.)

Tara Isabella Burton’s Here in Avalon is a “modern-day fairy tale about two sisters who fall under the spell of an underworld cabaret troup that might be a dangerous cult.” Cecilia gets involved with the Avalon: a cultish-sounding cabaret troupe—one that appears only at night, on a mysterious red boat that travels New York’s waterways—and soon vanishes: one of a growing number of suspicious disappearances among the city’s lost and loneliest souls. The only way Rose can find Cecilia is by tracking down the Avalon herself.But as Rose gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, the Avalon works its magic on her, too. And the deeper she goes into the Avalon’s underworld, she more she begins to question everything she knows about her own life, and whether she’s willing to leave the real world behind. (Release date is Jan. 2.)

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan has an unusual setting and premise. It’s the story of a Malayan motehr who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during World War II – and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family. Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fuijwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction—and she will do anything to save them. (Release date is Jan. 2.)

Radiant Heat is Sarah-Jane Collins’ debut novel. It’s the story of Alison KIng, who survives an Australian bush fire, only to discover she’s still in danger. The wildfire that devastated the Victoria countryside Alison calls home sets in motion a chain of events that threatens to obliterate the carefully constructed life she is living. When Alison emerges from her sheltering place, she spots a soot-covered cherry red car in her driveway, and in it, a dead woman. Alison has never met Simone Arnold in her life . . . or so she thinks. So what is she doing here? (Release date is Jan. 23.)

Eve Ronin is back in Lee Goldberg’s enjoyable Dream Town. Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang—all while her life is being turned into a fictional cop show directed by her estranged father. (Release date is Jan. 16.)

I haven’t read Derek B. MIller’s The Curse of Pietro Houdini yet, but this premise has possibilities. The blurb says, “a vivid, thrilling and moving World War II tale where enemies becomes heroes, allies become villains, and a child learns what it means to become an adult. August, 1943. Fourteen-year-old Massimo is all alone. Newly orphaned and fleeing from Rome after surviving the American bombing raid that killed his parents, Massimo is attacked by thugs and finds himself bloodied at the base of the Montecassino. It is there in the Benedictine abbey’s shadow that a charismatic and cryptic man calling himself Pietro Houdini, the self-proclaimed “Master Artist and confidante of the Vatican,” rescues Massimo and brings him up the mountain to serve as his assistant in preserving the treasures that lay within the monastery walls. But can Massimo believe what Pietro is saying, particularly when Massimo has secrets too? Who is this extraordinary man? When it becomes evident that Montecassino will soon become the front line in the war, Pietro Houdini and Massimo execute a plan to smuggle three priceless Titian paintings to safety down the mountain. They are joined by a nurse concealing a nefarious past, a café owner turned murderer, a wounded but chipper German soldier, and a pair of lovers along with their injured mule, Ferrari. Together they will lie, cheat, steal, fight, kill, and sin their way through battlefields to survive, all while smuggling the Renaissance masterpieces and the bag full of ancient Greek gold they have rescued from the “safe keeping” of the Germans. (Release date is Jan. 16.)

Nishita Parekh’s The Night of the Storm is a debut. It’s a locked-room thriller about a multigenerational Indian American family marooned in a house with a murderer during Hurricane Harvey in Houston. Single mom Jia Shah is already having a rough week: her twelve-year-old son, Ishaan, has just been suspended from school for getting in a fight. Still reeling from the fallout of her divorce—their move to Houston, her family’s disapproval, the struggle to make ends meet on her own—now Jia is worried about Ishaan’s future, too. Now, their apartment complex is under a mandatory evacuation order. She heads to her sister’s house, supposedly safer, on higher ground. When other relatives show up at the house, it’s a recipe for disaster. As the storm escalates, tensions rise quickly, and soon someone’s dead. Was it a horrible accident or is there a murderer in their midst? With no help available until the floodwaters recede in the morning, Jia must protect her son and identify the culprit before she goes down for a crime she didn’t commit—or becomes the next victim. . . . (Release date is Jan. 16.)

Thomas Perry introduces a new character in Hero. Justine Poole takes her job seriously providing security for wealthy and high-profile Hollywood stars. When she prevents a brazen robbery at the Beverly Hills home of two of her clients―killing two of the five armed robbers in the process―she is initially lauded in the media as a local hero. But the spotlight soon puts her in the crosshairs of the crime kingpin behind the burglaries. Unable to stand the embarrassment of his lackeys having been defeated by a lone woman, Mr. Conger puts in a call to the one man who can make his problems disappear. Known for his swiftness and subtlety, Leo Sealy will kill anyone for a price. But Sealy isn’t prepared for just how quick and resourceful Justine can be. So begins a cat and mouse game between two people who know more about how to take down one’s enemies than anyone else in the business. Justine finds herself up against both a hardened killer and a fickle media landscape that can just as soon turn on her as celebrate her in this high-stakes thriller. (Release date is Jan. 16.)

Lee Goldberg’s Dream Town is the standout in this list for me. What about you? Are there titles that resonate with you? Or, do you have something else to recommend for January?