Oh, my gosh! The quantity of books coming out in June. Wait until you see all the books from my closet. Or, as Kevin Tipple refers to it, “The Vault of Knowledge and Treats”. So, here are the treats!

My husband was one of those conspiracy theorists when it came to John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and he read every book on the subject. So, in honor of Jim, I’m including Kennedy’s Avenger by Dan Abrams and David Fisher. Millions of eyewitnesses watched Jack Ruby shoot Lee Harvey Oswald on live television. How exactly does one defend a man who was seen pulling the trigger in front of millions? This is the story of one of the most publicized criminal trials in history. (Release date is June 1.)

Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray bring us The Personal Librarian. It’s the little-known story of Belle de Costa Greene, J.P. Morgan’s personal librarian. She became one of the most powerful women in New York, despite the dangerous secret she kept in order to make her dreams come true. She was forced to hide her true identity and pass as white in order to leave a lasting legacy, the rare manuscripts, books and artwork of the Pierpont Morgan Library. (Release date is June 29.)

I told my sister that Connie Berry’s The Art of Betrayal is her best Kate Hamilton mystery yet. The American antiques dealer is handling a antiquities shop in Suffolk, England, while a friend recuperates. When she accepts a rare Chinese piece from a recluse, she doesn’t expect the woman to be stabbed and die on the stage during the village’s May Fair that night. Once again, Kate connects the legends of the past with a current crime. (Release date is June 8.)

I’m looking forward to sampling Jamie Brenner’s novel, Blush. For decades, the Hollander Estates winery has been the premier destination for lavish parties and romantic day trips on Long Island. But three generations of women have felt shut out of the family business. Behind the scenes, the family business is suffering, and there are threats of a sale. But, when Vivian Hollander’s granddaughter uncovers journals from a book club Vivian once ran, the women realize the “trashy” book club might hold the key to their fight for the vineyard, as well as for the life and love they’ve wanted all along. (Release date is June 22.)

I’m a fan of Jeffrey B. Burton’s Mace Reid K-9 mysteries, and The Keepers is a page turner. Mace Reid and his cadaver dogs are called to search Washington Park in the middle of the night, but the body and the secrets behind the murder put Mace, his friend, Chicago Police Department officer Kippy Gimm, and the dogs right in the middle of the dirties of Chicago politics. (Release date is June 29.)

Here’s a summer book for you, Beck Dorey-Stein’s Rock the Boat. Kate Campbell’s life in Manhattan doesn’t work out as she expected, so she returns to Sea Point, the small town where she grew up. Miles Hoffman, “The Prince of Sea Point” returns to prove to his mother he’s capable of taking over the family business. He also promised his best friend Ziggy Miller to help with his financial problems. The three friends return just as the town’s identity is threatened when a developer tries to cash in on Sea Point’s potential. (Release date is June 29.)

Look at that cover! In Matt Dun’s Pug Actually, a wise pug named Doug is determined to play Cupid to fix his beloved owner’s love life. Doug wants his rescuer, Julie, to be happy. Doug loves her unconditionally, and is loyal, two things that can’t be said for her married lover. But, Julie is afraid, afraid to end up like her eccentric neighbor. Newly divorced Tom is perfect for Julie. Everyone can see it, except Julie and Tom. Now, it’s up to Doug to help them get over their initial animosity. (Release date is June 29.)

It’s not easy to summarize Laurie Frankel’s One Two Three. Seventeen years ago, the tiny own of Bourne made national news when its water turned green and was declared unfit for use. The three teenage Mitchell triplets grew up watching their mother’s fight for justice because it was too late for the town, and for them. And, just when it seems as if life will go on the same forever, the first moving truck anyone has seen in years pulls up. And, a new student enrolls in the school. He’s smart, handsome, and the sworn enemy of the Mitchell family. In a town where nothing ever changes, suddenly everything does. (Release date is June 8.)

Daryl Wood Gerber’s second Fairy Garden Mystery is A Glimmer of a Clue. Courtney Kelly is the owner of a garden shop, as well as an amateur sleuth. She sees her friend, Wanda, get in a fight with a nasty local art critic, and Courtney has to break up the fight with a garden hose. When the art critic ends up stabbed with a letter opener from one of Courtney’s fairy gardens, and Wanda is standing over her, the death still might not be what it appears. (Release date is June 29.)

Wolf Kill, the first Sam Rivers mystery by Cary J. Griffith has been reedited and reprinted. The riveting thriller tells of a wildlife biologist who left town as a teenager escaping an abusive father, who only returns twenty years later when he hears the man is dead. Sam changed his name, became everything his father hated, a man who protects wildlife, but he comes back to his Minnesota hometown to fulfill a promise to his dead mother. But, there are secrets there, and the special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is just the man to track down rumors of wolves, and maybe the worst predator the area has seen. I liked this one. (Release date is June 15.)

In Cheryl Hollon’s Draw and Order, Appalachian artist and local guide Miranda Trent takes a close-knit group of rock climbers up the challenging Battleship Rock Trail to paint and sample moonshine. But, the outing is cut short when they discover a skeleton. The bones belong to Miranda’s cousin, and a former classmate of her group of rock climbers. (Release date is June 29.)

Readers who loved Alka Joshi’s The Henna Artist will want to pick up the sequel, The Secret Keeper of Jaipur. Henna artist Lakshmi arranges for her protege, Malik, to intern at the Jaipur palace in a tale rich in character, atmosphere, intrigue and lavish storytelling. (Release date is June 22.)

On Monday, Elizabeth Letts’ The Ride of Her Life is heading to my friend, Donna. Subtitled “The True Story of a Woman, Her Horse, and Their Last-Chance Journey Across America”, it’s a story from the 1950s. In 1954, sixty-three year old Maine farmer Annie Wilkins embarked on an impossible journey. She had no money, no family, she had just lost her farm, and her doctor had given her only two years to live. But Annie wanted to see the Pacific Ocean before she died. She bought a cast-off ex-racehorse named Tarzan, donned men’s pants, and headed south in mid-November to begin her trek across country. (Release date is June 1.)

Murder at Keyhaven Castle is the third Stella and Lyndy mystery by Clara McKenna. Set during the Edwardian era’s “Million Dollar Princess’ phenomenon, wild-hearted Kentuckian ex-at Stella Kendrick and her wedding to Viscount “Lyndy” Lyndhurst is the talk of England – and the focus of a deadly mystery. (Release date is June 29.)

2020 wasn’t always the best year for books in series. Somehow, I missed the second book in the Dublin Driver mystery series. Death of an Irish Mummy is Catie Murphy’s third one featuring Limo driver Megan Malone. American-born Cherise Williams believes herself to be heir to an old Irish earldom, and she’s come to Dublin to claim her heritage. Megan’s boss has no qualms about overcharing the brash TExas transplant for their limo services. Megan chauffeurs Cherise to the ancient St. Michan’s Church, where the woman intends to get a wee little DNA sample from the mummified earls. But before she can desecrate the dead, Cherise Williams is murdered. Then, Megan’s boss becomes the Garda’s prime suspect. (Release date is June 29.)

Some months, one book stands out. Chris Offutt’s The Killing Hills is one of the best books I’ve read this year. If you’re a fan of beautiful writing, strong characters who are at home in their setting, you must read this book. Mick Hardin, a veteran now working as an Army CID agent, returns home to the hills of Kentucky. Although his wife is pregnant, they’re not talking, so he has time to help his sister, the local sheriff, with her murder investigation. The “suspicious death exposes the loyalties and rivalries of a deep-rooted and fiercely private community in the Kentucky backwoods. But, Mick, who grew up there, is the perfect one to investigate in this unforgettable powerhouse of a novel. (Release date is June 15.) I loved it. Because I read a .PDF, I have my own copy on order.

Because I only had a .PDF of this next book, and was eager to get to The Killing Hills, I missed alphabetizing Mary Miley’s The Mystic’s Accomplice. It’s a fascinating mystery of Chicago during Prohibition, rich with characters, mobsters, speakeasies and spiritualism. After Maddie Pastore’s young husband was shot down, she needed to make a living for herself and her young son, so she agrees to act as a shill for a medium one night. She quickly realizes she can research customers, help the medium, and make a living. But, she begins to suspect that someone may intend to kill one of the customers. Miley incorporates actual characters into this enjoyable mystery. (Release date is June 1.)

Kelly Rimmer’s The Warsaw Orphan is for all of those readers who have been gorging on World War II novels that feature courageous women. Inspired by the real-life story of a woman who saved thousands of Jewish children during the war, Author Kristin Harmel calls it “a heartbreaking and hopeful story of family, duty, love, salvation, and resistance” set in wartime Poland. (Release date is June 1.)

Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of one of my favorite books from last year, The Mountains Wild, brings back Maggie D’arcy in A Distant Grave. Maggie and her daughter were already planning a vacation in Dublin when a murder investigation may delay their trip. But, the victim himself is from Ireland. With no clues as to why he was in the United States, Maggie combines her trip with questions about the victim and his past. Then, she’s called back home, and finds the case has strange connections to her job as a police detective. It’s an investigation that ends in tragedy. (Release date is June 22.)

How could I pass up the chance to read a mystery featuring a disgraced Ohio State quarterback turned PI? An Empty Grave is Andrew Welsh-Huggins latest Andy Hayes mystery. Andy is reluctant to take the case, but his new client pushes him. In 1979, a high-profile burglar shot a cop, was apprehended, and then disappeared without ever being prosecuted. Forty years later, after the wounded cop’s suicide, his son, Preston Campbell, is convinced there’s been a cover-up that allowed his father’s attacker to go free. As the case gets more convoluted, and there are mentions of the Cold War and spies, Andy wonders what he’s gotten himself into. (Release date is June 15.)

There are so many other June releases in my closet that I could go on and on. You’ll just have to check the list below. Let me know what books you’re anticipating!

Allen, J.D. – Body Zoo (6/8)
Arnett, Kristen – With Teeth (6/1)
Diangelo, Robin – Nice Racism (6/29)
Doan, Amy Mason – Lady Sunshine (6/29)
Doiron, Paul – Dead by Dawn (6/29)
Emezi, Akwaeke – Dear Senthuran (6/8)
Galligan, John – Bad Moon Rising (6/29)
Gould, Heywood – Drafted: A Memoir of the ’60s (6/21)
Hall, Kerstin – Star Eater (6/22)
Henderson, Danielle – The Ugly Cry (6/8)
Henkin, Joshua – Morningside Heights (6/15)
Imamura, Natsuko – The Woman in the Purple Skirt (6/8)
Mackintosh, Clare – Hostage (6/22)
Mendez, Paul – Rainbow Milk (6/8)
Miles, Terry – Rabbits (6/8)
Moore, Kate – The Woman They Could Not Silence (6/22)
Murphy, Sara Flannery – Girl One (6/1)
Oluseyi, Hakeem and Joshua Horwitz – A Quantum Life (6/15)
Ray, Eleanor – The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton (6/8)
Redman, Eric – Bones of Hilo (6/8)
Steadman, Catherine – The Disappearing Act (6/8)
Taylor, Brandon – Filthy Animals (6/22)
Thomson, Rupert – Barcelona Dreaming (6/1)
Tran, Ly – House of Sticks (6/1)
Tucker, Karen – Bewilderness (6/1)
Vernon, P.J. – Bath Haus (6/15)
Wahrer, Caitlin – The Damage (6/15)
Williams, Jen – A Dark and Secret Place (6/8)
Wise, A.C. – Wendy, Darling (6/1)

Brodie, Emma – Songs in Ursa Major (6/22)