Poor April, the lost month. Now, it’s May 1, and time to discuss the June Treasures in My Closet. Most readers know publication dates have been changed, and publishers aren’t sending out as many ARCs. I don’t know how much longer there will be treasures to talk about. I’m sure these are not all the June releases, just what I’ve received. Feel free to comment and tell us what you’re anticipating in June. And, I can only say these dates were correct when I worked on the blog post this week. I can’t promise the release dates haven’t changed.

Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers, now brings readers the story of twin sisters, once inseparable, in The Vanishing Half. The Vignes sisters are identical, but as adults, even their racial identities are different. One sister lives with her black daughter in their southern hometown. The other lives across country, secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. But, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen when their own daughters’ storylines intersect? (Release date is June 2.)

Juliet Blackwell’s The Last Curtain Call is the most recent title in her Haunted Home Renovation series. Have you met Mel Turner, the ghost-whispering contractor who specializes in historic houses? She also specializes in haunted houses. This time, she’s working on two projects. One is the renovation of a San Francisco Art Deco movie palace, the Crockett Theatre. Mel’s also renovating an old house for her fiance and herself. After Mel meets the ghost in her own house, she realizes there might be a connection to the Crockett and a couple murders. (Release date is June 30.)

The Finders by Jeffrey B. Burton introduces an unusual cadaver dog, a golden retriever named Vira, and her trainer, Mace. Even before Vira starts work, she attacks a man. Mace discovers Vira senses something wrong about the man, and he finds a woman imprisoned in a house. But, when they free that woman, Vira and Mace also unleash a serial killer who targets Mace as his next victim. (Release date is June 30.)

The synopsis of Julie Clark’s The Last Flight sounded a little familiar, and then one of the blurbs mentioned Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train. In The Last Flight, Claire has a wealthy husband with a promising political career. He also has a temper, and he’s not above using his staff to track Claire. But, Claire has a plan. She met a woman named Eva at an airport bar, another woman who seems desperate to flee. At the last minute, they switch tickets. Eva travels to Puerto Rico as Claire. But, when that plane crashes, Claire has one option, assume Eva’s identity, and Eva’s secrets. (Release date is June 23.)

Victoria Gilbert kicks off A Booklover’s B&B mystery series with Booked for Death. Charlotte Reed, a widow, inherits her great-aunt’s Chapters Bed-and-Breakfast in Beaufort, North Carolina. Charlotte continues her aunt’s practice of hosting book groups, until a rare book dealer is murdered during a celebration of Golden Age mystery author Josephine Tey. When the dealer’s daughter accuses Charlotte of killing her father to shut him up about her aunt’s secrets, Charlotte works with her neighbor and members of a local book club to find the truth. (Release date is June 9.)

The latest is Leonard Goldberg’s Daughter of Sherlock Holmes mystery series is The Art of Deception. Someone is breaking into art galleries and private homes to slash valuable paintings of women. When Joanna and the Watsons are called in to solve the case, they discover the canvases have been slashed, but not the backing. It seems the criminal may be looking for something hidden behind the portraits. When two art restorers, the primary suspects, end up dead, Joanna’s plan to snare the criminal becomes essential to saving lives and paintings. (Release date is June 16.)

Did you know Sue Grafton’s father, C.W. Grafton, wrote mysteries long before she did? The Rat Began to Gnaw the Rope is his book, released as one of the new series, Library of Congress Crime Classics. Gil Henry is the youngest partner in a small law firm. So when an attractive young woman walks into his office and asks him to investigate the value of the stock she inherited from her father, he thinks nothing of it – until someone makes an attempt on this life. Soon Gil is embroiled in scandal, subterfuge, and murder. He’s beaten, shot, and stabbed, as colleagues and enemies try to stop him from seeing the case through. (Release date is June 2.)

Callie Hutton’s first Victorian Book Club mystery, A Study in Murder, was just fun. In Bath, England, in 1890, mystery author Lady Amy Lovell was very happy to break her engagement to Ronald St. Vincent when she received a letter with shocking news about her fiance. But, he turns up to see her on a day she’s expecting a visit from a fellow member in the Bath Mystery Book Club, Lord William Wethington. She’s shocked to find St. Vincent murdered in her library, and even more upset when the police point to her as the primary suspect. Lady Amy and Lord Wethington launch their own investigation to clear her name, and they stir up all kinds of trouble. (Release date is June 9.)

It all started with one little lie. But, in Elizabeth Kay’s novel, it becomes Seven Lies. Jane has a secret. She loathes her best friend’s husband. But, when Marnie asks her if she likes him, Jame tells her first lie. But, if Jane had told the truth, Marnie’s husband might be alive. Seven Lies is Jane’s confession of the truth – her truth. (Release date is June 16.)

Harper Kincaid debuts a bookbinding mystery series with To Kill a Mocking Girl. Quinn Victoria Caine is back in her hometown of Vienna, Virginia, starting her new life as a bookbinder in her family-owned bookshop, Prose & Scones. Even when she bumps into her ex, Scott, and her former nemesis, Tricia, now engaged, it doesn’t mean she want to find Tricia dead. But, half the town seems to think Quinn did it. (Release date is June 9.)

Since I’ve read a couple of the books on the list already, Heather Lende’s Of Bears and Ballots might be the book I’m most eager to read. Lende is the author of several books about her life in Alaska, books I’ve loved. Now, she tells of running for office in Haines, Alaska. Her entire campaign for assembly member cost less than $1,000, and she won. Together with the author, we witness the nittty-gritty of small town politics, and how the polarizing national politics of our era play out in one small Alaska town. (Release date is June 30.)

The Blues Don’t Care by Paul D. Marks is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year. Set in 1940, it introduces Bobby Saxon who desperately wants to be a white piano player in an all swing band at the famous Club Alabam. But, Bobby has two strikes against him. He’s white. And, Bobby was born Roberta Saxon, and knows that a woman will never be accepted as a musician. Enough to handle? When one of the band members is arrested for killing someone on a gambling ship, Bobby is promised a permanent spot in the band if he proves the man guilty or innocent. (Release date is June 1.)

The blurb for Megan Miranda’s latest novel, The Girl from Widow Hills, says, “She was rescued, but never safe.” Arden Maynor was just six years old when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm. There were search parties and vigils as people prayed for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. Arden became famous. Her mother wrote a book. There were fans, letters, and stalkers. Eventually, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye, becoming Olivia Meyer. But, as the twentieth anniversary approaches, Olivia fears she’s being watched, and begins to sleepwalk again. Then, one night, she jolts awake in her yard, finding a corpse at her feet. It’s a man she knows from her previous life, when she was Arden Maynor. (Release date is June 23.)

If you’re a fan of crime fiction, you really don’t need to know much more than the author and title of the next book – Sara Paretsky’s Love & Other Crimes: Stories. It’s a collection of crime and detective short stories, many featuring detective V.I. Warshawski, including a brand-new V.I. story. (Release date is June 30.)

I’m looking forward to Karen Robards’ The Black Swan of Paris. Paris, 1944. Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smoke screen. An unwilling darling to the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance. When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, the resistance movement is tasked with silencing her. Although Genevieve and her mother are estranged, she’s willing to navigate the perilous crosscurrents of Occupies France in order to save her mother’s life. (Release date is June 30.)

I loved Sarah Stewart Taylor’s The Mountains Wild. It joins two other novels on my list of favorites so far this year. Best of all, it’s a series debut. Police detective Maggie D’arcy returns to Ireland where her cousin, Erin, went missing twenty-three years earlier. Now, another woman is missing, and Detective Roland Byrne calls to say they’ve found a clue that Erin left behind. (Release date is June 23.)

True crime fans might be interested in Kali White’s novel, The Monsters We Make. It’s a family drama based on the 1980s Des Moines Register paperboy kidnappings that shattered a midwestern town. It’s August 1984, and paperboy Christopher Stewart has gone missing. Hours later, Sammy Cox, another paperboy, hurries home from his own route, hiding a terrible secret. Sammy’s seventeen-year-old sister worries about him, but sees an opportunity for an award-winning essay, a scholarship, and a ticket out of town. Officer Dale Goodkind can’t believe he’s caught another paperboy kidnapping. This time, he vows it won’t go unsolved. (Release date is June 9.)

Check out these other treasures as well.

Addison, Esme – A Spell for Trouble (6/9)
Albert, Annabeth – Conventionally Yours (6/2)
Carter, A.F. – All of Us (6/2)
Elias, Michael – You Can Go Home Now (6/23)
Goldberg, Nicola Maye – Nothing Can Hurt You (6/23)
Humphreys, Richard – Under Pressure: Living Life and Avoiding Death on a Nuclear Submarine (6/2)
Knowles, Mike – Running from the Dead (6/2)
Lansky, Sam – Broken People (6/9)
McPhee, Martha – An Elegant Woman (6/2)
Orr, Jill – The Full Scoop (6/9)
Page, Nora – Read or Alive (6/9)
Rockaway, Kristin – She’s Faking It (6/30)
Steiner, Susie – Remain Silent (6/2)
West, Catherine Adel – Saving Ruby King (6/16)