It’s hard to top that list of yesterday’s June releases. So, I’ll kick today’s list off with Dean Koontz who is starting a new series with a character that excites him.
In The Silent Corner, Koontz introduces Jane Hawk, an FBI agent gone rogue, at least in the eyes of the agency. She’s devastated by loss, fueled by fury, and driven to stand alone against a terrifying conspiracy. “She’s a woman on a mission who will meet any threat, take any risk, to avenge her family and destroy a corrupt cabal with singularly evil intentions.” Koontz said Jane enthralls him, and he’s finished a second novel featuring her. (Release date is June 20.)
I’ve already read Michael Logan’s Hell’s Detective. It’s for those of us who love Simon R. Green’s graphically violent suspense novels. Kat Murphy is a private detective in Hell, Lost Angeles, where every night Torments visit the residents, reminding them why they are in Hell. When the city’s Chief Administrator needs help, she asks Kat to retrieve a stolen box. In return, Kat’s Torment is called off. But, she suffers from a new one when she discovers an old friend in her search. (Release date is June 13.)
It’s been nine years since Francine Mathews’ last Merry Folger mystery. She returns in Death on Nantucket. Now, Merry’s father has retired as police chief, and she juggles her feelings for the new one while investigating the death at Spencer Murphy’s island home, a famous correspondent whose family isn’t quite as enthralled with him as the rest of the country is. Oh, and she’s making wedding plans as well. (Release date is June 6.)
Mary Alice Monroe takes readers back to Primrose, the house on Isle of Palms in Beach House for Rent. Cara Rutledge rents the house to Heather Wyatt, a young artist who suffers from social anxiety. But, when Cara’s life comes crashing down around her, and she wants to return, Heather won’t allow her to break the lease. Instead, she makes her an unusual offer. (Release date is June 20.)
Somehow I missed Howard Owen’s Willie Black mysteries. The Devil’s Triangle is the sixth one featuring the Richmond newspaper reporter. The night police reporter searches for answers when a plane crashes into a popular bar during Happy Hour. Rumors include terrorists, but Black’s a little doubtful. (Release date is June 30.)
In Jacquelyn Vincenta’s The Lake and the Lost Girl, a poet, Mary Stone Walker, disappears from her house in 1959. Everyone wonders if the troubled woman fled, or did her life end that night? Sixty years later, Lydia Carroll’s husband is fixated on the local mystery, and his obsession threatens to destroy their marriage. Lydia knows she can only heal the mystery by solving the mystery of Walker’s disappearance. (Release date is June 6.)
Lisa Wingate’s Before We Were Yours is inspired by a true story. Two families, generations apart are forever changed by a heartbreaking injustice. In Memphis, 1939, twelve-year-old Rill Boss and her four younger siblings enjoy their life on a Mississippi River shanty boat. But, when their father rushes their mother to the hospital one night, Rill is left in charge, until strangers arrive, tear them away and hand them over to Georgia Tan, the cruel director of Memphis’s Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanages. Rill fights to keep her family together. In the present day, a federal prosecutor is part of a wealthy family. When she returns home to help her father through a health crisis, a chance encounter compels her to to search through her family’s long hidden history on a journey that could lead to tragedy. (Release date is June 6.)
James W. Ziskin’s Ellie Stone mysteries have been frequent award nominees. In Cast the First Stone, he sends the upstate New York journalist to Hollywood where she’s to cover the movie debut of a local young man. But Tony Eberle disappeared just after the film’s producer is murdered. Ellie has no story unless she can track down Eberle or find the real killer. (Release date is June 6.)
If your TBR pile isn’t large enough, here’s the list of June releases, the Treasures in My Closet, that I did not discuss.
Perennials by Mandy Berman
The Space Between the Stars by Anne Corlett
Mad by Chloe Esposito
Quiet Until the Thaw by Alexandra Fuller
The People We Hate at the Wedding by Grant Gender
Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory
The City Always Wins by Omar Robert Hamilton
The Party by Robyn Harding
Secrets of Southern Girls by Haley Harrigan
He Said, She Said by Erin Kelly
Modern Gods by Nick Laird
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle
Dear Cyborgs by Eugene Lim
Swimming Home by Mary-Rose MacColl
Down Among the Sticks and Bones by Seanan McGuire
Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy
The Map That Leads to You by J.P. Monninger
The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues by Edward Kelsey Moore
Before Everything by Victoria Redel
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
In the Shadow of Alabama by Judy Reene Singer
Shark Drunk by Morten Stroksnes
The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor
A French Wedding by Hannah Tunnicliffe
How to Survive a Summer by Nick White
The Fortune Teller by Gwendolyn Womack
Wow! You weren't kidding when you said there'd be a lot of books in June. I'm looking forward to Kate Carlisle's new entry in her bibliophile series. And more!
No, I wasn't kidding at all, Sandie. Lots and lots of books to choose from in June.
Wow!! I've read Mary Alice Monroe's book and loved it. She's a favorite and never disappoints. There are several here that sound interesting!
I've read Mary Alice Monroe's book, too, Kaye. Terrific, wasn't it?
June is going to be a busy month for me, and what I need is to be able to hide away and only read. Thanks for showing us all these amazing books we have to look forward to, Lesa!
Another month where my closet looks entirely different than yours!
Forever and an Death by Donald Westlake
The Spy Across The Table by Barry Lancet
Use of Force by Brad Thor
Trap the Devil by Ben Coes
Death of a Bachelorette by Laura Levien
Kathy, I know what you mean!
Isn't it interesting, Glen, to see what books are different?
The Space Between the Stars and that new Monninger book look enticing too. Good thing summer evenings are made for extra reading time!
Maybe this new series will get me reading Koontz again. It sounds interesting.