I have an odd selection of books, and a smaller one, for June. I suspect publishers think readers are caught up in graduations, weddings and vacations. They may be right. In my family, it’s the big birthday party. There’s still a pile of books. What ones did I miss that you’re waiting to read?

I’m kicking off the list with the book that excites me the most, Mary Kay Andrews’ Road Trip. A road trip novel set in Ireland! What more could I want? Linda and I even have luncheon tickets to see her when she comes to town in June. Pack your bags for a summer journey shaped by family secrets, long-buried history, and charming men with Irish accents.
Maeve and Therese Dunigan haven’t spoken in years. Raised under the same roof in Savannah, the two sisters could not be more opposite―Maeve the rule follower, Therese the unapologetic rebel. But when their mother’s death pulls them back together, they inherit more than just grief: a mysterious painting that may be worth millions…if it’s real.
Determined to uncover the truth―and desperately in need of the money―the sisters set out on a journey to Ireland, tracing their family’s roots and the origins of the portrait. What begins as a search for answers soon becomes something deeper―a reckoning with the past, as they uncover secrets that span generations and reshape everything they thought they knew about their family.
With tensions simmering, the two hit the road and find themselves on twisty lanes, in colorful villages, at local pubs, and with handsome men whose gift of the gab is surpassed only by their charm. I’ll go! (Release date is June 2.)

You’ll have to wait until the end of the month for the sixteenth Mike Bowditch mystery, Storm Tide by Paul Doiron. Game Warden Mike Bowditch investigates a series of brutal killings during a life-changing year. When the magnificent home of entrepreneur Brian Malloy mysteriously goes up in flames, Maine game warden Mike Bowditch tries to pull Malloy’s burning body from the fire but is too late. Malloy was suspected of murdering his young, illegitimate son. Now it looks like someone else has delivered a verdict. Miles away, on a lonely stretch of icy railroad track, the body of Axl Deming, once accused of a brutal rape, is found literally cut in half. Though the two murders seem unrelated, a cryptic text from an unknown number draws Bowditch to the scene—and hints at a chilling connection. (Release date is June 30.)

Jaclyn Golds’ thriller is The Last Time We Saw Her. Ten years ago, a teenage summer camper on an Azore island disappeared while searching for a rumored treasure. Now, the long-buried truth of what happened to her and the long-lost gold threatens the lives of her friends. (Release date is June 16.)

A heartbroken romance novelist is forced to address her writer’s block in Kirsty Greenwood’s Romantic Hero. Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can’t write a single word. The last thing Gertie needs is more drama—like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless. River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he’ll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she’ll finish the novel, and, surely, he’ll return to whatever world he rode in from. But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming. (Release date is June 16.)

I just started David Housewright’s McKenzie series, but the twenty-third book, Fear the Reaper, is due out in June. After taking down a man wielding an AR-15 a small town winery, Rushmore McKenzie has to find out who, if anyone, was the shooter’s target before he, or someone else, tries again. Once a police detective in St. Paul, Minnesota, Rushmore McKenzie, after becoming an unexpected millionaire, now is an unlicensed private investigator, doing the occasional investigative favor. Off on a weekend getaway to northwestern Wisconsin, McKenzie, with a group of five, including his childhood friend and current police detective Bobby Dunston, stop off at a local winery. When a man walks up carrying an AR-15, which he raises, props the butt against his shoulder, and sights down the barrel – but before he can do anything, Bobby Dunston yells ‘gun’ and he and McKenzie take the man down. The would-be shooter was arrested, and normally, that would be the end of it. But Wisconsin is an open carry state and the police can’t prove that the gunman was intended to do anything. But it does appear that he might have been looking for one specific target. And, if so, that person is not out of danger. Now, before the gunman is released, McKenzie decides to find out who was the real target and why, before it is too late. (Release date is June 23.)

I love the cover of June Patrick’s The Valencia Expat Club. The Kindle edition is already out, but the print edition is due out in June. One Italian Summer meets Eat, Pray, Love in this heartwarming novel following a recent divorcee’s escape to Spain where delicious food, romantic adventures, and the transformative magic of starting over leads her to reconnect with family, forge new friendships, and rediscover herself. Dahlia Delaney’s marriage just imploded, her friend group picked a side (not hers), and her fancy San Francisco life now fits into a single suitcase. Armed with a broken heart, a freelance marketing gig, and one blurry childhood memory of her abuela’s garden, she impulsively hops on a flight to Valencia, Spain, to reconnect with distant family—and maybe herself. But Valencia isn’t just sunny plazas and sangria. There’s her chaotic new job at a quirky expat bar, a family she barely knows but who embrace her like she’s always belonged, and a brooding American bar owner who’s frustratingly attractive and entirely too familiar. (Release date is June 16.)

I liked Carol J. Perry’s Witch City Mysteries, but she ended that series. Now, in a spooky series spin-off, she launches the Wicked Salem mysteries with It’s About Time. Lee Mondello and her detective husband have plenty of experience solving crimes in Salem, Massachusetts—and now Lee’s Aunt Ibby is starting a sleuthing career of her own in the witch city…Nothing can spoil the mood at a one-year-old’s birthday celebration like the cops arriving—but it’s not because the party got too rowdy. Instead, Detective Pete Mondello has a search warrant for a tenant’s apartment. When Lee’s aunt Ibby leads the police to Josh Alper’s locked door, she’s surprised to learn that her renter has redecorated . . . with what appear to be masterpieces stolen from a museum back in 1972. The paintings may be found, but Alper—an artist involved with a shady, cult-like group—is officially missing. So Ibby and her pals, who hold weekly watch parties of their favorite show, Midsomer Murders, decide to jump in and do some real-life sleuthing using the skills they’ve learned from DCI Barnaby. Ibby, a semi-retired librarian, may be in her sixties, but her tech skills are top-notch . . . and with some help from her friends Betsy and Louisa, as well as O’Ryan the clairvoyant cat, that spells trouble for any criminals in Salem. (Release date is June 30.)

I can only hope that Ashley Poston’s The Someday Garden is almost as good as The Dead Romantics, a novel I loved. The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside. When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place. And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside. This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer. Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more. (Release date is June 16.)

Lisa See’s latest novel is Daughters of the Sun and Moon. It’s the story of three Chinese women whose unexpected friendship helps them survive and, despite the odds, thrive, in the turmoil of post-Civil War Los Angeles. In 1870, three Chinese women arrive in the small, dusty, and violent pueblo of Los Angeles. Dove, the bound-footed daughter of an imperial scholar, is entrancing and innocent. These characteristics should bring her great rewards, beginning with her arranged marriage to a much older merchant. Petal, the big-footed daughter of peasants, has grown up hungry and with dirt between her toes. In a moment of desperation, Petal’s father sells her to buy money for rice seed, and she is loaded onto a ship to the Gold Mountain—America—where she is once again sold. Moon is married to a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine. She is educated, speaks fluent English, and has been endowed with a face of great beauty, yet her failed footbinding as a child has left her with a limp that lessens her value in the eyes of many. (Release date is June 9.)

An undercover journalist goes to expose an exclusive psychological wellness clinic where women go to recover from heartbreak, with dire consequences, in this creepy thriller, The Break-Up Retreat by Camilla Sten. Welcome to Himlafall Clinic, where we use revolutionary therapy techniques to heal you from heartbreak. Whether you are going through a devastating breakup, or can’t seem to stop picking the wrong partners, we are here to help you change your life, once and for all…Isobel Anderssen has heard rumors. Nestled deep in the Swedish woods, there is a retreat. Primarily aimed at helping women who have gone through devastating break-ups, the Himlafall Clinic is meant to heal your mind and help you move on. Sometimes people are never heard from again. Armed with a fake story and a contraband phone to record interviews, Isobel is ready to expose Himlafall’s founder and get closure for the families of missing loved ones. But when she gets there, nothing goes to plan. Her contact is missing. The founder, Dr. Martina Hastings, knows how to get under Isobel’s skin in ways she didn’t anticipate. And all the while, the ghosts of the missing haunt her at every turn. It is clear something is going wrong at Himlafall, and Isobel must uncover the truth, before she disappears once and for all. (Release date is June 9.)

Philip Marlowe meets Redwall in this superior adult noir tale Green City Wars by Adrian Tchaikovsky, where all the characters are animals, fighting for survival in the city underneath the humans. In the solar cities of the future, the humans relax in the sun and the animals work in the shadows. Genetically engineered Little Helpers, serving humanity—unseen, unheard. Meet Skotch. Raccoon, PI—yours for a few buttons as long as the job isn’t too illegal, whatever that means. A mouse has gone missing. Normally this wouldn’t raise any hackles, nor any alarms, but this mouse has something that everyone seems to want, though nobody appears particularly eager to say what that something is. The fee is good—perhaps too good. Certainly not something Skotch can easily turn down. If only Skotch can work out where the mouse is hiding, what he’s hiding, and why his secrets are upsetting a lot of animals caught up in the Green City wars. (Release date is June 23.)

Andrew Welsh-Huggins’ Rescue Me is an Andy Hayes novella. Although Welsh-Huggins says he started writing this book a while ago, unfortunately, it’s still timely. Private eye Andy Hayes confronts his personal prejudices and assumptions when an unorthodox case comes his way. Tim Watkins is a young drag artist performing under the name Tiara Treatwell and facing online abuse and in-person stalking from anti-LGBTQIA crusaders. While Andy suspects the attacks are connected to a protest outside a drag story hour Tim attended weeks earlier in suburban Columbus, he has no direct evidence of a link. Tim’s concerns unfold against a groundswell of right-wing activism in the Ohio Statehouse, led by a failed state senate candidate who insists his opponent, a Somali American woman, stole the election. Bail bondsman Otto Mulligan―Tim’s cousin and Andy’s closest friend―persuades Tim it’s in his best interest to accept Andy as bodyguard and escort until they can figure out who is behind the threats. Tim, who is Black and queer, is reluctant to work with Andy, dismissing him as an insensitive and macho ex–football star. Andy doesn’t do himself any favors by acknowledging he’s never attended a drag performance or even bothered to learn anything about the culture. As Tim and Andy’s relationship is tested, Tim comes under attack by a pair of masked assailants, and only with the help of a concerned passerby does Andy manage to save both their lives. (Release date is June 9, but Amazon Prime members can get free delivery on May 6.)

New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams returns with The Missed Connection, an intensely romantic, deliciously sexy tale about a woman searching for her handsome seatmate on a European flight—and the unexpected places her hunt for love leads her. Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she’s always casting—at happy hour, the grocery store, everywhere. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn’t do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time. On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha’s seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly—but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide! The international manhunt to find Seat F begins. Meanwhile Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime—who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways. (Release date is June 9.)

Mystery, a road trip, romance, noir, thrillers. A little of everything in June. What appeals to you? What June releases did I miss?