I have almost fifty titles with May release dates. At least that’s how it appears before I start looking them up. That pile will be slightly smaller with release dates postponed, or pushed up. And, I won’t be able to discuss all of them. I’ll pick the ones that interest me, or might be of interest to a large number of readers. Tomorrow, at the end of the post, I’ll list the books I wasn’t able to summarize. It looks like we have some fun books for May!

Let’s hope Dale Brown doesn’t have visions of the future. In Price of Duty, Brad McLanahan and his Scion team must arm themselves with the most advanced technological weaponry for a fight against the Russian President who wants to conquer the globe. (Release date is May 16.)

It’s Always the Husband is Michele Campbell’s debut, a domestic thriller. In college, Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny are inseparable. They swore they’d always be there for each other, despite their differences. Twenty years later, their friendship takes a deadly turn. When one of them dies under mysterious circumstances, will everyone assume that “it’s always the husband”? (Release date is May 16.)

Authors have been writing contemporary versions of Shakespeare’s classics for Hogarth Shakespeare. Tracy Chevalier takes on Othello in New Boy. She sets it in a 1970s suburban D.C. schoolyard with eleven-year-olds in a story of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying, and betrayal. (Release date is May 16.)

Mystery author Rachel Goldman thought she created Duffy Madison for her mystery series about a man who investigates missing persons cases. But, there’s a real Duffy Madison who is a consultant on missing persons cases, and he insists Rachel created him with her first book. Now, in E.J. Copperman’s second book in the Mysterious Detective series, Edited Out, Rachel and the real Duffy Madison search for the man Duffy might have been before he became Rachel’s character. Make sense? It’s a fun, wacky story. (Release date is May 9.)

Alan Drew introduces Detective Ben Wade and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt in a thrilling suspense novel, Shadow Man. Wade returned to his hometown of Rancho Santa Elena in California, searching for a quieter life and trying to save his marriage. But, when the community finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer, Wade and Betencourt team up, risking their lives to save the town from a psychotic killer and a long-buried secret. (Release date is May 23.)

How can I resist a nonfiction account of archivists and librarians fighting to save manuscripts from al-Qaeda? Charlie English brings us The Storied City: The Quest for Timbuktu and the Fantastic Mission to Save Its Past. Part of the story is the account of the late eighteenth century race as explorers tried to reach the fabled city, failing time after time. But, Timbuktu had riches that were more than rumors. The city was a medieval center of learning. When al-Qaeda-linked jihadists surged across Mali in 2012, a team of librarians and archivists joined forces to spirit the manuscripts into hiding. (Release date is May 2.)

Sally Mott Freeman’s The Jersey Brothers is a true story of the Second World War. Three brothers, all navy men, are at the epicenter of three of World War II’s most crucial moment. Bill is picked by FDR to run the first Map Room. Benny is the gunnery and anti-aircraft officer on the USS Enterprise, one of the only carriers to escape Pearl Harbor, and, by the end of 1942, the last one left in the Pacific to defend against the Japans. Barton, the youngest, is shuffled off to the Navy Supply Corps because his mother wants him out of harm’s way. But, that plan backfires when Barton is sent to the Philippines and listed as missing in action after a Japanese attack. Now it’s up to Bill and Benny to rescue him. (Release date is May 9.)

Escape to Nantucket in Michelle Gable’s The Book of Summer. Inside the faded pages of the Cliff House guest book live the spellbinding stories of its female inhabitants. When physician Bess Codman returns after four years, Cliff House is about to fall into the sea. As she packs up the house, she rediscovers the guest book that tells her grandmother’s story from the eve of World War II, and stories of the other women who came to Cliff House. (Release date is May 9.)

Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train, now brings us Into the Water. A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier int he summer, a teenage girl met the same fate. They are not the first women lost to the dark waters, but their deaths disturb the river and its history, dredging up secrets. Left behind is a lonely fifteen-year-old girl, and her mother’s sister, a fearful woman who was dragged back to the place she deliberately ran from. It’s the story of “one family drowning in secrets”. (Release date is May 2.)

I already read Annie Hogsett’s debut mystery, Too Lucky to Live, and it’s just fun. Allie Harper jumps to help a blind man who was startled when a woman in a Hummer leaned on her horn. Allie and Thomas Bennington III end up back at her place for dinner, until he’s shocked to hear that night’s winning lottery numbers. He’s won millions, but it’s the start of a madcap problem as the two go on the run from some not-so-pleasant characters who want a share of the winnings. It’s a terrific start to a new series. (Release date is May 2.)

Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, has had terrific reviews so far. The back jacket suggests it for readers o A Man Called One and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Eleanor struggles with appropriate social skills, and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. But, her highly structured life changes when she meets Raymond, the bumbling IT guy from her office. When the two save an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue each other from the lives they’ve been living. (Release date is May 9.)

G-Man is the tenth book in Stephen Hunter’s Bob Lee Swagger series. In 1934, John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Pretty Boy Floyd were household names. But, the new U.S. Bureau of Investigation, soon to be known as the FBI, wanted Baby Face Nelson. They recruited the most talented gunman of the time, Charles Swagger, World War I hero and sheriff of Polk County, Arkansas. Eighty years later, when Charles’ grandson Bob Lee Swagger decides to sell the family homestead, they uncover a steel case that once belonged to Charles. Now, Bob Lee wants to find out about the grandfather he never knew. And, someone else shares his obsession with Charles Swagger. (Release date is May 16.)

Helena Kelly’s biography, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical, is a reassessment of the life and work of Jane Austen that makes clear how Austen has been misread for the past two centuries. It reveals her as a writer who deftly explored forbidden subjects of her time – slavery, poverty, feminism, the Church, evolution, among others. (Release date is May 2.)

Readers who liked Kevin Kwan’s Crazy Rich Asians will be waiting for Rich People Problems. Nicholas Young hears that his grandmother, Su Yi, is on her deathbed, and he rushes to her side only to find the entire Shang-Young clan has convened from all corners of the globe to stake claim to their matriarch’s fortune, and her estate in Singapore. It’s the story of “a family torn apart by fortune, an ex-wife driven psychotic with jealousy, a battle royal fought through couture-gown sabotage, and the heir to one of Asia’s greatest fortunes locked out of his inheritance.” (Release date is May 23.)

The last book for today is Edan Lepucki’s Woman No. 17, “A sinister, sexy noir about art, motherhood, and the intensity of female friendships. Set in the posh hills above Los Angeles, it tells of writer Lady Daniels who takes a break from her husband, but needs someone to help with her young son if she’s going to finish her memoir. S., a magnetic young artist, cares for Lady’s young son, and keeps an eye on her teenage one. Eventually, Lady and S. will move closer to each other as they both threaten to harm the things they hold most dear. (Release date is May 9.)

Are any of these books tempting you? If not, come back tomorrow to see if there’s something more appealing.