Summer will be half over when these books start to come out. I’ll admit, my personal choices from the July Treasures in My Closet are limited. You might find fewer titles annotated than on the list below. Don’t forget to check it out. And, let us know what you’re anticipating in July.
Macarons Can Be Murder is Rose Betancourt’s series debut. Living in Paris, Kentucky, and having a sidekick cat named Pepe le Pew gives Marci Beaucoup’s life a certain je ne sais quoi. Combining her love of baking and France, Marci opened La Belle Patisserie to bring her small Southern hometown a bit of French flair and lots of croissants. Everything is sunshine and macaronsat the bakery until her landlord calls to tell her she’s selling the property. Marci’s relieved to hear that if the top bidder, an enchanting Frenchman named Antoine Dubois, gets the property, he’ll renew her bakery’s lease. Charmed by Antoine, Marci figures this development isn’t half bad and sees a handsome new landlord in her future—but then Antoine’s estranged ex-girlfriend Kelly turns up dead in front of her bakery. (Release date is July 11.)
Bruge Borgos’ The Bitter Past is also a debut. Porter Beck is the sheriff in the high desert of Nevada, north of Las Vegas. Born and raised there, he left to join the Army, where he worked in Intelligence, deep in the shadows in far off places. Now he’s back home, doing the same lawman’s job his father once did, before his father started to develop dementia. All is relatively quiet in this corner of the world, until an old, retired FBI agent is found killed. He was brutally tortured before he was killed and clues at the scene point to a mystery dating back to the early days of the nuclear age. If that wasn’t strange enough, a current FBI agent shows up to help Beck’s investigation. (Release date is July 18.)
We’re heading back to Seattle’s Pike Place Market with Leslie Budewitz’ Between a Wok and a Dead Place. Pepper Reece, owner of the Spice Shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, loves a good festival, especially one serving up tasty treats. So what could be more fun than a food walk in the city’s Chinatown–International District, celebrating the Year of the Rabbit? But when her friend Roxanne stumbles across a man’s body in the Gold Rush, a long-closed residential hotel, questions leap out. Who was he? What was he doing in the dust-encrusted herbal pharmacy in the hotel’s basement? Why was the pharmacy closed up—and why are the owners so reluctant to talk? (Release date is July 18.)
If you’re a fan of Linda Castillo’s Kate Burkholder, you’ll look forward to reading An Evil Heart. On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning? The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people―both English and Amish―who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case. Aden Karn was funny and hardworking and looking forward to marrying his sweet fiancé, Emily. All the while, Kate’s own wedding day to Tomasetti draws near… (Release date is July 11.)
If you remember Nina George’s The Little Paris Bookshop, you’ll recognize the background of her latest novel, The Little Village of Book Lovers. In Nina George’s New York Times bestseller The Little Paris Bookshop, beloved literary apothecary Jean Perdu is inspired to create a floating bookstore after reading a seminal pseudonymous novel about a young woman with a remarkable gift. The Little Village of Book Lovers is that novel. In a little town in the south of France in the 1960s, a dazzling encounter with Love itself changes the life of infant orphan Marie-Jeanne forever. As a girl, Marie-Jeanne realizes that she can see the marks Love has left on the people around her—tiny glowing lights on the faces and hands that shimmer more brightly when the one meant for them is near. Before long, Marie-Jeanne is playing matchmaker, bringing true loves together in her village. As she grows up, Marie-Jeanne helps her foster father, Francis, begin a mobile library that travels throughout the many small mountain towns in the region of Nyons. She finds herself bringing soulmates together every place they go—and there are always books that play a pivotal role in that quest. However, the only person that Marie-Jeanne can’t seem to find a soulmate for is herself. She has no glow of her own, though she waits and waits for it to appear. Everyone must have a soulmate, surely—but will Marie-Jeanne be able to recognize hers when Love finally comes her way? (Release date is July 25.)
Victoria Gilbert kicks off her Hunter and Clewe mystery series with A Cryptic Clue. Sixty-year-old Jane Hunter, forced into early retirement from her job as a university librarian, is seeking a new challenge to keep her spirits up and supplement her meager pension. But as she’s about to discover, a retiree’s life can bring new thrills—and new dangers. Cameron “Cam” Clewe, an eccentric 33-year-old collector, is also seeking something—an archivist to inventory his ever-expanding compendium of rare books and artifacts. Jane’s thrilled to be hired on by Cam and to uncover the secrets of his latest acquisition, a trove of items related to the classic mystery and detective authors. But Jane’s delight is upended when a body is discovered in Cam’s library. The victim, heir to a pharmaceutical fortune, was the last in line of Cam’s failed romances—and now he’s suspect number one. (Release date is July 11.)
Crook o’Lune is the latest reprint of E.C.R. Lorac’s mysteries. It all began up at High Gimmerdale with the sheep-stealing, a hateful act in the shepherding fells above the bend in the Lune River―the Crook o’ Lune. Then came the fire at Aikengill house and with the leaping of the flames, death, disorder, and dangerous gossip came to the quiet moorlands. Visiting his friends, the Hoggetts, while searching for some farmland to buy up ahead of his retirement, Chief Inspector Robert Macdonald’s trip becomes a busman’s holiday when he is drawn to investigate the deadly blaze and the deep-rooted motives behind the rising spate of crimes. (Release date is July 11.)
The town is all abuzz when a murder occurs in Jennie Marts’ debut cozy mystery, Take the Honey and Run. As a successful mystery author, Bailey Briggs writes about murder, but nothing prepares her for actually discovering the dead body of the founder of her hometown of Humble Hills, Colorado. Bailey grew up at Honeybuzz Mountain Ranch and was raised by her beekeeping grandmother, Blossom Briggs, aka Granny Bee, and her two eccentric sisters, Aster and Marigold—which is why she drops everything to come home and help Granny Bee after a bad fall. A broken foot doesn’t stop her grandmother from ruling The Hive, her granny’s book club, or continuing to prepare and package her bee-inspired products. But when Bailey’s grandmother’s infamous “Honey I’m Home” hot spiced honey turns out to “bee” the murder weapon and her granny is now the prime suspect, Bailey has no choice but to use her fictional detective skills to help solve the murder and “smoke out” the real culprit. (Release date is July 18.)
The Lady from Burma is Allison Montclair’s fifth Sparks & Bainbridge mystery. In the immediate post-war days of London, two unlikely partners have undertaken an even more unlikely, if necessary, business venture – The Right Sort Marriage Bureau. The two partners are Miss Iris Sparks, a woman with a dangerous – and never discussed – past in British intelligence and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a war widow with a young son entangled in a complicated aristocratic family. Mostly their clients are people trying to start (or restart) their lives in this much-changed world, but their new client is something different. A happily married woman has come to them to find a new wife for her husband. Dying of cancer, she wants the two to make sure her entomologist, academic husband finds someone new once she passes. Shortly thereafter, she’s found dead in Epping Forest, in what appears to be a suicide. But that doesn’t make sense to either Sparks or Bainbridge. At the same time, Bainbridge is attempting to regain legal control of her life, opposed by the conservator who has been managing her assets – perhaps not always in her best interest. When that conservator is found dead, Bainbridge herself is one of the prime suspects. Attempting to make sense of two deaths at once, to protect themselves and their clients, the redoubtable owners of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau are once again on the case. (Release date is July 25.)
Spencer Quinn, author of the Chet and Bernie books, launches a new series with Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge. Mrs. Loretta Plansky, a recent widow in her seventies, is settling into retirement in Florida while dealing with her 98-year-old father and fielding requests for money from her beloved children and grandchildren. Thankfully, her new hip hasn’t changed her killer tennis game one bit. One night Mrs. Plansky is startled awake by a phone call from a voice claiming to be her grandson Will, who desperately needs ten thousand dollars to get out of a jam. Of course, Loretta obliges―after all, what are grandmothers for, even grandmothers who still haven’t gotten a simple “thank you” for a gift sent weeks ago. Not that she’s counting. By morning, Mrs. Plansky has lost everything. Law enforcement announces that Loretta’s life savings have vanished, and that it’s hopeless to find the scammers behind the heist. First humiliated, then furious, Loretta Plansky refuses to be just another victim. In a courageous bid for justice, Mrs. Plansky follows her only clue on a whirlwind adventure to a small village in Romania to get her money and her dignity back―and perhaps find a new lease on life, too. (Release date is July 25.
Check out these Treasures as well.
Ahmed, Jamila – Every Rising Sun (7/18)
Brown, Pierce – Light Bringer (7/25)
Craven, M.W. – Fearless (7/11)
Day, Jamie – The Block Party (7/18)
Djuna – Counterweight (7/11)
Dunn, T.M. – Her Father’s Daughter (7/18)
Everlee, Jess – A Rulebook for Restless Rogues (7/11)
Fluke, Joanne – Pink Lemonade Cake Murder (7/25)
Garcia, Cristina – Vanishing Maps (7/18)
Goldberg, Leonard – The Wayward Prince (7/11)
Greene, Katherine – The Woods Are Waiting (7/11)
Griffiths, Rachel Eliza – Promise (7/11)
Hannah, Darci – Murder at the Pumpkin Pageant (7/25)
Harris, Terah Shelton – One Summer in Savannah (7/4)
Irwin, Sophie – A Lady’s Guide to Scandal (7/11)
Klein, Libby – Mischief Nights Are Murder (7/25)
Leland, Andrew – The Country of the Blind (7/25)
Mendelson, Charlotte – The Exhibitionist (7/4)
Milas, John – The Militia House (7/11)
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia – Silver Nitrate (7/18)
Narozny, Chris – Not By Blood (7/18)
Osborne, Cayce – I Know What You Did (7/18)
Russo, Richard – Somebody’s Fool (7/25)
Silver, Elizabeth L. – The Majority (7/11)
Sims, Laura – How Can I Help You (7/18)
Soria, D.L. – Thief Liar Lady (7/11)
Swann, Christopher – Never Back Down (7/18)
Sylva, Tasha – The Guest Room (7/11)
Tanabe, Karin – The Sunset Crowd (7/4)
Winning, Josh – Burn the Negative (7/11)
Oh, heck. It’s June already and July books are coming!
That Nevada desert book sounds interesting to me. Of course, I have the Castillo on my hold list already.
More July releases:
4 David Rosenfelt, FLOP DEAD GORGEOUS (Andy Carpenter)
10 James Patterson & James L. Born, OBSESSED (Michael Bennett)
11 Sujata Massey, THE MISTRESS OF BHATIA HOUSE Perveen Mistry)
11 Brad Thor, DEAD FALL (Scot Harvath)
18 Daniel Silva, THE COLLECTOR (Gabriel Allon)
18 Brandon Webb & John David Mann, BLIND FEAR (Finn; this is on my list)
18 Lindsey Davis, FATAL LEGACY (Flavia Albia)
25 Michael Koryta, AN HONEST MAN
25 Laura Lippman, PROM MOM
25 Stuart Woods & Brett Battles, OBSESSION (Teddy Fay)
They’re just flooding in, Jeff! The Castillo was excellent. I liked The Bitter Past, too.
I must admit I am more looking forward to the June books by S. A. Cosby and Chris Offutt and Lee Goldberg than the July books overall.
I agree, Jeff. Many of the July releases don’t excite me. But, S.A. Cosby & Chris Offutt! Oh, yes.
Good morning, Lesa. I’ve read a few of the books on your list. Jeff has mentioned a couple more on my TBR list. I would only add: Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon and A Game of Lies by Clare Mackintosh, a follow-up to The Last Party.
You had a terrific May of reading, Margie. I saw your post on Facebook. Looked great!
Oh, goodie, Treasures! Thank you, Lesa. As usual, there are a couple I am looking forward to.
And I’m sending you the Savannah one, Kaye!
Thank you!! 😘
Very tempting! I trying to read through the last books in my last bookcase. A mixed group that I have not counted, and 38 cozies to go1!
Oh, Carol. I always try to tempt readers to add to the TBR pile!
Thanks for the shout-out, Lesa! I admit, this may be my favorite cover in the series. The dog!
The dog is great, Leslie! But, I love the Asian influences on the cover – the blossoms in the jar, etc. Great cover.
The British Library is putting out a lot of books by E.C.R. Lorac. I have only read one of them and my husband has two or three. Maybe I will find some at the book sale in September.
The Lady from Burma sounds good. Do you think that series needs to be read in order?
Tracy, Although I haven’t read the series, a friend has, and she loves it. But everything she says indicates you should start at the beginning.
Thanks, Lesa, I will keep that in mind.
I am really looking forward to the new Victoria Gilbert book. I have really enjoyed her Blue Ridge series. Anticipating also, How Can I help you by Laura Sims and The Sunset Crowd by Karin Tanabe
I think you’ll like the characters in the new Victoria Gilbert, Katherine.