It’s hard to believe it’s time to talk about May book releases already. Now that winter’s over, the year can start slowing down. I don’t want to rush it. However, I do have a small selection of titles for you to check out.

Mary Kay Andrews can be counted on for the summer beach read. This year, it’s Sunset Beach. Drue Campbell is out of a job, down on her luck, and her estranged father, Brice, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. He’s remarried, to Rue’s eighth-grade frenemy, Wendy, and the couple offer Drue the job from hell. But, Drue also learns she’s inherited her grandparent’s beach bungalow in sleepy Sunset Beach. She screens calls for her father’s law firm, and, when a suspicious death exposes possible corruption at the law firm, Drue turns unwitting investigator. Summer romance, a missing persons case, and a cottage to rehab. Summer at Sunset Beach. (Release date is May 7.)

The fifth Cat Latimer cozy mystery by Lynn Cahoon is Sconed to Death. Cat’s about to host a writers’ retreat for cozy mystery authors, so she doesn’t need the owner of a local bakery to stir up trouble. When a celebrity chef dies in the bakery, though, Cat just has to poke around a little. (Release date is May 28.)

Game of Bones is Carolyn Haines’ latest Sarah Booth Delaney mystery. When a ritually murdered corpse is discovered at the new-found Native American temple site in the middle of Sunflower County, Mississippi, suspicions fall on the archaeology crew, especially the leader, Dr. Frank Hafner. Hafner does the only logical thing. He hires the Delaney Detective Agency to clear his name. It’s a race against time as victims pile up, and Sarah Booth’s resident ghost points to the coming Crow Moon as the time of maximum danger. (Release date is May 14.)

Owen Laukkanen’s Deception Cove is a thriller about a widowed ex-Marine, a solitary ex-convict, and the rescue dog who changes both their lives. Former U.S. Marine Jess Winslow reenters civilian life with little more than a falling down house, a medical discharge for PTSD, and a dog, Lucy, trained to help her cope with the crippling memories of her time in Afghanistan. But, her late husband, Ty, left her a pile of trouble, beginning with a corrupt deputy sheriff who wants a package Ty allegedly stole. He takes Lucy as collateral, threatening to destroy her. But when Mason Burke, an ex-convict shows up at Jess’, he’s there to help. He’s the one who trained Lucy, and he’s teaming up with Jess to rescue the dog. (Release date is May 21.)

In The Yankee Widow, Linda Lael Miller of the complexities and heartbreak families experience as men took up arms in the Civil War. Caroline is the young wife of Jacob, who are raising their daughter on a farm outside Gettysburgh. When Jacob joins the Northern army, no one anticipates he will not return. When Caroline gets news that he’s wounded and has been taken to Washington, D.C. with his regiment, she’s determined to find her way there and navigate the thousand of other wounded soldiers to find him. (Release date is May 7.)

Tim Hennessy edited the latest collection from Akashic Books, a publisher who specializes in noir anthologies. Milwaukee Noir is dark and gritty, as it should be, with stories by Jane Hamilton, Reed Farrel Coleman, Nick Petrie, and Larry Watson, among others. (Release date is May 7.)

I loved Clare O’Dononhue’s first World of Spies mystery, Beyond the Pale. Breaking the Dance takes married professors Hollis and Finn Larsson to Argentina in a convoluted mystery that is bleaker and sadder than the previous one, a reflection of the atmosphere in Argentina. This time, the Larssons are kidnapped, mistaken for a couple who are assassins, and they’re expected to complete an assignment for a mysterious boss. (Release date is May 8.)

Julie Orringer’s novel The Flight Portfolio is “based on the true story of Varian Fry, a young New York journalist and editor who recognized the darkness descending over Europe and felt called upon to help. In 1940 he flew to Marseille to head the Emergency Rescue Committee, with three thousand dollars in his pocket and a clear mandate: to protect artists and writers from being deported to Nazi concentration camps, and to send the intellectual treasure of Europe overseas, mainly to the United States. He procured false passports, secured visas both real and false, sought out escape routes through the Pyrenees Mountains and on ships – and every day made shattering choices about whom to save.” (Release date is May 7.)

The Body in the Wake by Katherine Hall Page is the twenty-fifth Faith Fairchild mystery. Faith is at Sanpere Island in Penobscot Bay, Maine for the summer. Her husband’s writing in a friend’s place across the island, so she has time to spend with her female friends, planning a wedding, and investigating murder. It’s a summer of great joy and great pain as reality hits close to home. (Release date is May 5.)

I haven’t read Scott Pelley’s memoir yet, Truth Worth Telling, but I hope to get to it soon. The 60 Minutes correspondent and former anchor of the CBS Evening News, writes as a witness to events that changed our world, from 9/11 to Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the back jacket, it “offers a resounding defense of free speech and a free press as the rights that guarantee all others”. (Release date is May 21.)

Girl Gone Missing is the second Cash Blackbear mystery by Marcie R. Rendon, and it’s worth reading even if you haven’t read the first one. In the late 1960s, Cash is a Native American who has aged out of the foster system and abusive homes. Now, she’s attending college. But, she dreams of a blonde girl who is calling for help, and then a second one, just when several young blonde women have disappeared from school. (Release date is May 14.)

Chronologically, David C. Taylor’s Night Watch is the second in the Michael Cassidy series. Cassidy, a New York City police detective juggles several cases involving strange deaths in the Cold War era. A hansom cab driver dies in Central Park. A biochemist jumps from a hotel window. Cassidy’s brother, a TV journalist, disappears, and Cassidy himself is targeted by an assassin. It’s a strange, frightening book. (Release date is May 1.)

Wendy Wax uses a wedding dress passed down through generations to bring together three women who were once best friends in My Ex-Best Friend’s Wedding. Secrets, a friendship torn apart, and the realities of life after marrying the handsome prince are all elements in this novel. (Release date is May 14.)

In Kate White’s latest Bailey Weggins mystery, Such a Perfect Wife, a wife and mother disappears when out on her morning jog. An online crime magazine asks Bailey to cover the case, and she’s the one who discovers the woman’s body. And, other bodies. Terrific book with an ending I didn’t see coming. (Release date is May 7.)

The other treasures in my closet are listed below.

Abrams, Dan – Theodore Roosevelt for the Defense (5/21)
Allen, Jason – The East End (5/7)
Casares, Oscar – Where We Come From (5/21)
Cep, Casey – Furious Hours: Murder, Fraud, and the Last Trial of Harper Lee (5/7)
Correa, Armando Lucas – The Daughter’s Tale (5/7)
Lee, Jing-Jing – How We Disappeared (5/7)
Phillips, Tom – Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up (5/7)
Ramos, Joanne – The Farm (5/7)
Roper, Richard – How Not to Die Alone (5/28)