Treasures are a day early because we do “What Are You Reading?” on Thursdays. There’s a ton of November book releases, so I need to jump right in. I hope there’s a book or two that will appeal to you. Let me know, and let me know what I missed.
The Mark of Moriarty is the sequel to Jack Anderson’s The Return of Moriarty. Disgraced socialite Viola Bellman is found barefoot in a snowy New York alleyway. There is no sign of how she got there, and she is too traumatized to speak. The only clue is the twelve-word note scribbled in the King James Bible she’s clutching: “The Arcane Society of New York holds close the fortune you seek.” But what is the Arcane Society? The puzzle intrigues young Dr. Clara Mendel. She decides to join the Sabel Club, whose members are devoted to solving the riddle of Viola Bellman. Clara takes Viola on as her first official patient and is determined to help her speak again—with or without the assistance of her old sparring partner, Professor James Moriarty. But when Moriarty returns and the Arcane Society strikes, Clara must fight to protect her friends and patient. In the mounting chaos, she also faces a disturbing question: Is she more like James Moriarty than she’d like to believe? (Release date is Nov. 10.)
I’m not a fan of vampires, but for those who are, Elena Armas launches a new series with Alma Vampires. An unsuspecting heiress with a target on her back must enlist the protection of a vampire whose wealth and secrets rival her own, in a brand-new paranormal romance series. Valle Cepeda’s life changes drastically over the course of a winter break, when she goes from being an Ivy League scholarship student one day to inheriting a fortune from the mother she’s never met by the next. The fate of Alma, a coveted fashion empire, is now in Val’s hands. Hadrian Cruz presents himself as a calculating, self-serving player in the game of who takes over Alma, but that isn’t his true aim. A blood debt that chains him to a hundred-year-old wound is finally being collected, and it involves Val. (Release date is Nov. 17.)
Jess Armstrong’s latest Ruby Vaughn historical mystery is The Lost Souls of Saint Oda’s. 1923. American heiress Ruby Vaughn hoped the new year would bring less murder and far less of the occult, allowing her to spend her days at the rare book shop she runs alongside her octogenarian employer, and exploring her fledgling romance with Ruan Kivell, the intriguing folk healing Pellar she met in Cornwall. But fate often has other plans. Ruby has long believed her entire family died when the Lusitania sank in 1915, however when her solicitor brings news that her mother inexplicably survived the catastrophe and he believes he’s found her in a Belgian hospital just across the channel, Ruby dares not hope it’s true. For if there’s one thing Ruby Vaughn knows, it is that hope is the surest way to a broken heart. With trepidation, Ruby and Ruan set off for Belgium with a simple task―to go to the hospital at Saint Oda’s priory, find her mother, and bring her home. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
A couple people have already mentioned the sixth Her Majesty the Queen Investigates book, Death on the Royal Yacht by S.J. Bennett. 1966, Caribbean Sea. The Queen is touring the islands of the West Indies aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia. Her schedule is packed with official visits, but when her new diary secretary, young Pamela Sinclair, is found dead in her cabin, the whole trip threatens to be thrown off course. (Release date is Nov. 17. Or, Oct. 20, according to Amazon. Who knows?)
If you liked Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays the Rent, you’ll want to pick up Is It too Late to Make a Run For It? by Judi Dench and Brendan O’Hea. They take us on a heartfelt and hilarious tour of her extraordinary life and career. From growing up in York and being miffed at not getting the part of Mary in the school Nativity play, to playing before sold-out houses on Broadway and in London’s West End, she’s done it all. She walked the red carpets of Hollywood, turned James Bond’s M into the most astute, unflinching Head of MI6 anyone could ever have imagined, and won an Oscar, a Tony, Golden Globes, Oliviers, and BAFTAs along the way. Yet despite the accolades, she has been accompanied by doubt. From the movie producer who said she had “everything wrong” with her face, to the theatre director who advised her against doing sitcom. Is it any wonder she leaves a bag by the rehearsal room door in case she has to make a run for it? (Release date is Nov. 3.)
Midnight in the House of Commons is the sixteenth Charles Lenox mystery by Charles Finch. In the spring of 1881, Lenox is caught up in the whirl of London life when his brother arrives to tell him that there’s been a murder in the House of Commons. Robert Baddeley, a charismatic, womanizing Member, has been found poisoned in the hallowed chamber itself. Suspicion immediately falls on the women in his life, including his wife and mistress, but as Lenox digs deeper, he realizes that there were more than a few people who might have wanted Baddeley dead. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
Amanda Flower launches a new series with The First Ladies’ Guide to Murder. 1894, Washington: This is not the kind of homecoming Nellie Grant hoped for. The only daughter of former President Ulysses S. Grant, Nellie has left England after being granted a divorce from her abusive husband. She plans to hide away with her three children at the home of her mother, Julia Dent Grant. However, Julia, the unofficial queen mother of Washington’s elite, has other ideas—and convinces Nellie to attend a White House dinner in honor of the current president, Grover Cleveland. The lavish event turns somber when First Lady Frances Cleveland discovers that her prized Tiffany brooch is missing. Young maid Kitty Thorn is accused of theft and dismissed on the spot. The next morning, Kitty is found drowned, her death ruled a suicide. Frances calls upon Nellie and Julia to implore them for help. She doesn’t believe Kitty stole the brooch—or committed suicide. She believes Kitty was framed and murdered. (Release date is Nov. 24.)
Fans of Jane Austen might want to pick up Jane Austen’s The Watsons As Continued by Claudia Gray. The unsung heroine of Jane Austen’s unfinished novel The Watsons is a privileged girl living with her wealthy aunt and uncle absent any meaningful contact with her birth family. Then her life abruptly gets turned upside down: Her uncle dies, and her aunt remarries unwisely, which means she must return to Wiltshire and rejoin the greater Watson clan. There, she becomes an object of desire for the most eligible bachelor in the county, the proud Lord Osborne . . . but her own fascination alights upon Mr. Howard, the local clergyman. In the hundred pages Austen wrote before abandoning the novel, she asks: Can the youngest Watson sister afford to neglect the fortunes of her struggling family to truly follow her heart? (Release date is Nov. 17.)
Here’s the description of The Three Lives of Mary Sutton by Allyson Johnson. For fans of Marie Benedict and Rachel Beanland, this debut novel shows a grittier side of the Gilded Age as two young women struggle to find their own way in 1880s New York, where the cards are stacked in favor of men. In 1878, young Mame Sutton escapes her oppressive father through a quick marriage to the charming stage manager of a New York theatre, while her younger sister Lizzie makes the same escape by eloping with a young Jewish jeweler. Which sister has made the better choice? (Release date is Nov. 10.)
This might be blasphemous, but sometimes I like Craig Johnson’s story collections more than his novels. We’ll see. His forthcoming book is Have Courage: Longmire Stories. Walt Longmire, sheriff of Absaroka County, investigates a series of eccentric small-town crises in fifteen holiday-inspired stories. An old dog mysteriously escapes the animal shelter night after night. A deputy deploys an unexpected diversion during a hostage standoff. The baby Jesus vanishes from a nativity scene. And Walt faces one of his most challenging assignments yet: caring for a 150-year-old sourdough starter, while apprehending a seven-year-old suspect with the diction of a 1930s gumshoe. With a foreword by Longmire actor A Martinez, Have Courage is a gripping and open-hearted holiday collection—rich with the humor, humanity, and irresistible high jinks of Craig Johnson’s Absaroka County. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
The Body in the Bath is Ragnar Jonasson’s third Helgi mystery. As snow blankets Reykjavík and Christmas approaches, young detective Helgi is looking forward to a quiet holiday―until those plans are torn away in a flash. One month after his girlfriend Aníta is killed in a car accident, he returns to work in Reykjavík, haunted by loss and rage. The driver―Helgi’s ex-girlfriend Bergþóra, a violent alcoholic whose abuse he kept secret―insists Aníta’s death was an accident and walks free. To escape his mounting despair, Helgi throws himself into the unsolved disappearance of his predecessor, Hulda, a retired officer long presumed dead. But as he follows the traces she left behind, the lines between her past and his present begin to blur . When Bergþóra is later found lifeless in her bath, suspicion falls squarely on Helgi. With his own colleagues turning against him, can he uncover the truth in time? (Release date is Nov. 10.)
Romantasy is so hot nowadays, so of course there’s at least one title here, Drown the Bones by Alexandra Kennington. The spare heir must work with an enemy prince to discover who murdered her twin in this gripping slow-burn romantasy. As the younger twin, Merridan has never minded being the “spare” to the Rothian royal throne. She knows her brother, Von, will be an excellent king, and she’d rather devote her time to the Goddess, faithfully using her magic to send deceased spirits from the holy lake to the Afterworld. When the unthinkable happens and her brother is murdered, she is certain their rival kingdom, Nova, is to blame. After all, they worship a false deity and use their magic to toy with necromancy. But when the Goddess halts the investigation of Von’s death, Merridan takes matters into her own hands, performing a forbidden Novian ritual to attempt to speak to her brother’s ghost. The last thing Merridan expects is to raise the wrong ghost. Now she’s bound to Phoenix Darragon, the arrogant crown prince of Nova—who was murdered the same night as Von. The prince makes Merridan a deal: if she takes his spirit to Nova to be resurrected, he will help her find her brother’s killer. But uncovering the truth about the murderer means discovering Phoenix’s secrets, too. As the attraction between Merridan and the prince becomes undeniable and the threat of war builds, she must decide whether finding the truth is worth its cost if it means her beloved relationship with the Goddess is changed forever. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
I’m always excited when I get the chance to try a debut crime novel such as Ty Landers’ Baby Queen. For lovers of Ozark or Breaking Bad, a page-turning debut involving an Alabama family business, a dead body, a dogged investigator, and three generations of women who are forced to confront the secrets, betrayals, and buried crimes that haunt their family. When a queen bee can no longer do her job, the worker bees will kill her, producing a new baby queen. perfectly preserved but very dead body is found in a barrel of honey, and the town of Noccalula, Alabama, will never be the sameNatalie Link has inherited the family honey farm from her beloved grandmother Lana, who raised Nat after her mother ran off to Los Angeles chasing stardom. But it turns out Nat has no idea what Lana has been hiding in the hives. Is Nat up to running what turns out to be a business enterprise of questionable repute? Suddenly she is caught between her grandmother’s very frightening partners and the ex-cop with a grudge who’s been looking into her family since she was a kid. Bob Sauk torpedoed his once promising law enforcement career chasing a lead he couldn’t prove. He has always believed that Lana Link was a murderer. Will he finally get the chance to prove he was right all along? And what happens when Nat’s Hollywood star mom returns to town after twenty-five years? (Release date is Nov. 17.)
Conspiracy Theory is Phillip Margolin’s latest thriller. Five years ago, Gloria Hale, the President’s wife, was assassinated by a lone gunman, who was himself killed in a shoot out with a security guard while trying to escape. At the same time and hotel, a young lawyer, Marsha Hart, disappears in the chaos after the shooting, only to have her murdered body turn up a few days later, her murder never solved. Michael Harris is a D. C. area lawyer with a second career as a novelist, but after a very successful debut, his subsequent legal thrillers have been less and less successful. With one more book due under his contract and desperate to revive his flagging career, Harris is stumbles across the voluminous research done by a recently deceased former Secret Service agent obsessed with proving that the First Lady’s assassination was a conspiracy. Thinking he might be able to turn one of these wildly unlikely theories into his next book, Harris begins to look into the matter. He doesn’t turn up anything but his inquiries might have set something into motion – leading to another murder, a fire destroying the original evidence, and an attempt assault of Harris himself. This might be a coincidence or Harris may well be the next target in an increasingly deadly conspiracy. (Release date is Nov. 17.)
Even after reading the description of Rebecca McKee’s novel, Mr. Mendlebee’s Pandimensional Literary Repository (and Yarn), I’m not sure what it’s about. But, it sounds whimsical. Stick your nose in these books and they just might bite. Living at the center of the universe, Mr. Mendlebee’s Pandimensional Literary Repository (and Yarn) is home to lost things, forgotten objects, and dark and dangerous items best left unseen. With help from the yeti-like Book Keeper, wizened Yarn Weaver, fish-out-of-water clerk, and Muriel the cat, the seaside store keeps the universe spinning as it should while opening its doors only to those who need it most, with one caveat: Once you’ve visited, you may never return. But when Violet, repository resident and personal friend to Mr. Mendlebee, starts seeing ghosts, the store allows its first repeat customer: Rachel, a young woman who may be the key to unlocking the secrets hiding within Mr. Mendlebee’s. Haunted by an echoing knock that sounds from nowhere, the bookstore’s staff enlists Rachel’s help to discover what’s rotten at the heart of the repository. As they do, these misfits and magical mavericks form a bond as solid as steel and as true as their hearts. But will their little community be enough to save the bookstore… and the world? Because Mr. Mendlebee’s is coming undone, and won’t stop until the truth is out. (Release date is Nov. 17.)
Remember when I had all those books about bookstores? My current obsession seems to be witches, but, it is that time of year. I’ve been waiting for Jenn McKinlay’s Witches of Questionable Intent. Thanks to her training as a librarian and her newfound magical abilities, Zoe Ziakas thinks she has a handle on her job at the Museum of Literature safeguarding the secret collection of enchanted tomes known as the Books of Dubious Origin. But when Jasper Griffin—the colleague she’s been crushing on—reports that their most volatile acquisition, The Book of Shadows, has been stolen, Zoe’s carefully cataloged world unravels. This isn’t just any magical text. It carries unquestionable power, twisting truth into illusion and turning allies into enemies. Once its power is unleashed, no one can trust what they see or who they are. To track down the book, Zoe, Jasper, and the rest of the BODO team plunge into a perilous hunt that takes them from shadowy midnight markets to demon-infested streets, all while wrangling an unpredictable hellhound puppy. But when the thief begins to invoke the book’s darkest spells, Zoe faces an impossible challenge: How does she stop a curse that can rewrite reality itself? (Release date is Nov. 10.)
Danica Nava’s Sunflower Season sounds as if it could be a Hallmark movie. Drained by her high-pressure tech job, June Walker finds an escape in homesteading videos and the fantasy of a quieter life. When she finally hits her breaking point, she does the only reasonable thing: She quits her job and buys a crumbling sunflower farm in rural Oklahoma, where she grew up.June thought her biggest challenge in restoring Sunshine Farm would be the rotting fences but soon comes to the crushing realization that “positive vibes” are not a business plan. Nothing, however, tests her resolve quite like running into her first love, the boy she left behind after her world imploded when she was seventeen. She’s back for a fresh start, not to unpack old heartbreaks. Noah Abbott never left Love County. Between his family, his job with the local fire brigade, and a town that knows him inside and out, he has everything he needs—except answers. So when June Walker returns as the new owner of Sunshine Farm, Noah is determined to find out why the girl who once meant everything to him vanished without a word. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
A Warning to the Curious is the third Dee and Lao mystery by John Shen Yen Nee and SJ Rozan. A missing shipment of weapons for China and the murder of an aspiring scientist kick-start a madcap dash through the world of seances, prizefighting, cutting-edge technology, Holmesian cameos, and many disguises. London, 1924. Judge Cheng Gao Shang has been sent by Sun Yat Sen’s government to look into the death of Dee Ren Jie, the larger-than-life investigator who had kept the local Chinese community safe. But Dee isn’t dead; he’s hiding out with his friends Lao She and Sergeant Hoong while keeping a close eye on Cheng’s activities. Has Cheng actually come to London to track down a shipment of arms covertly sent from England, intended for Sun Yat Sen as he attempts to unify China? (Release date is Nov. 10.)
Nenna Noon brings us a “spicy witchy romance”, To Vex & To Hex. BOOKS. MAGIC. ROMANCE. Lucy Ansari has a magical life. Literally ― she’s a witch, managing a perfect little bookshop. And whenever she’s a little lonely, she turns to Charles ― her beloved, ageing boss ― to keep her company. Disaster strikes when Charles breaks his hip: his prickly (and gorgeous) grandson Grayson arrives. The English professor from Dublin has never bothered to visit before, but now he’s determined to look after Charles and his bookshop, and Lucy’s ideal life is thrown into disarray. But Grayson is as stubborn as he is handsome, and he’s set on winning Lucy over, one way or another. As sparks fly between them, Lucy and Grayson may find themselves spellbound by more than just magic… (Release date is Nov. 3.)
I’m rooting for the success of Alice Openshaw’s debut, On the Killer’s Trail. After all, it’s a police procedural written by a former librarian. Thirty-one-year-old Police Sergeant Penny Maclean has fallen into a routine at work. Speaking at school assemblies, chasing runaway dogs—it’s all beginning to feel stale. So when the popular wife of a local doctor is found dead on Halloween night, Penny jumps at the chance to investigate. But the more she knows, the more unsettled she becomes. She and the murdered woman have a lot in common; they even share a love of rural life and animals. Still, unremarkable as the victim’s life appears at first glance, Penny can’t shake the feeling that the woman had a secret. After all, Penny has her own complicated past. As she hunts the killer, Penny unearths secrets that pull her into the dark side of rural Maine. She only knows one thing for certain—she must discover the truth before the chain of violence claims another victim. (Release date is Nov. 17.)
I’m going to start the summary of Sara Paretsky’s Bad Company with the concluding sentence of the summary. In a powerful novel about love, power, corruption, aging, trust…and revenge, Bad Company reaffirms Sara Paretsky place as one of the pre-eminent crime writers of our time. To all appearances, Lily Sedako is an ordinary retiree―a seventy-something single woman living in Chicago, her days filled with the routine tasks of normal life. But underneath that exterior, lies a remarkable past. A former CIA field agent, she spent her career in various Central Asian countries, most notably in Hayalistan, a former USSR territory. But everything went sideways when Lily’s connections to the mountain tribes resulted in her being moved to a new post and Rani, the tribal leader and first democratically elected President was removed, presumed killed, in a coup.All of this is long behind her when she receives an anonymous package containing a magazine with an article about Hayalistan―an article with a previously unknown photo showing Lily in the background. This was no mistake―someone out there is trying to expose Lily, after more than two decades, for reasons unknown. Even worse, the magazine story casts doubt on everything she believed to be true about her time in Hayalistan.
Lily is determined to find out who is behind this and, even more important, the truth of what really happened so long ago. As word of her investigation reaches the CIA, the company knows that they must silence her but Lily is no one’s pawn, even now. Using hard won skills and personal connections from her former life, Lily takes on the unwise, and perhaps impossible task of fighting back against the powerful forces aligning against her. (Release date is Nov. 10.)
The next couple books are two of my most anticipated books of the month. Begin with the first in Nora Roberts’ new trilogy, Birth of the Witch. Niamh McShane was born a witch and died a witch in the same moment, at the tender age of thirteen. A victim of the madness that spread from Salem Town to her home on Piety Island, in her last hours she found comfort from the weavers imprisoned alongside her, who saw within her light and power and gave her some of their own. More than three hundred years later, on the same island, Neve McShane wakes with excitement on her thirteenth birthday and unwraps gifts from her aunts: sneakers, an iPhone, and a stunning antique pendant. Then she receives something else: a revelation that will change her life. Astonished, Neve learns that her aunts’ abilities go beyond simple kitchen magic and the potions they sell in their shop. Their tales of past lives aren’t just whimsical fantasies. They are witches, and so is she. Their lives–past and present–are bound together by that pivotal day centuries ago. Now Neve has been tasked with stopping a growing darkness. To prepare for the dangerous enemy that awaits, Neve hones her skills and searches for clues to aid her in her quest. And at night, she dreams of a young man from Ireland whose eyes met with hers for a fateful moment, centuries ago. (Release date is Nov. 17.)
And, of course, I’m waiting for John Scalzi’s Monsters of Ohio. Welcome to Richland, Ohio. Things aren’t great. The town’s biggest employer is closing shop, and Richland’s on the brink. It’s where Mike Boyd, with his own set of problems, finds himself returning to after decades away. He’s not planning to stay. But Richland has other plans for Mike, his old friend Dave, and a newcomer Andi. They’re caught in a swirl of local troubles, private equity, executive theft… and something extremely weird involving Jeremy Keller’s prize cow. Welcome to Richland. Leave your expectations behind. Bring a tarp. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
The Voices of the Dead is Nicola Upson’s twelfth Josephine Tey mystery. London, 1941. In the aftermath of the Blitz, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose supervises the transportation of the National Gallery’s most precious paintings to their new sanctuary in the slate mines of north Wales. Vacationing in the area is Josephine Tey as well as Noel Coward—who is preparing his defiant new play, in which Margaret Rutherford plays a clairvoyant. But when a woman’s grave is discovered amid the debris of a collapsed roof in the mines, Archie and Josephine are plunged into a forty-year-old mystery. As secrets emerge, a new death threatens to tear apart the close-knit Welsh community. In this thrilling novel, no one is immune to the voices of the dead, and there will be no rest until they are heard. (Release date is Nov. 10.)
Rae Wilde’s Happily Ever After the Murders is described as “The Golden Girls meets Bonnie and Clyde and Thelma and Louise in this thrilling novel about two elderly women who go on the run to cover up a double murder they committed four decades ago.” Ida and Jean got away with murder. Settling into their golden years in late ’90s Rockaway, New York, Ida and Jean’s biggest problems are HOA squabbles, grown kids who don’t visit enough, and staying in the closet as a lesbian couple for fear of being ostracized. But when the electrical lines in their backyard need replacing, the women know that digging up the ground will unearth their long-held secret: the bodies of their late husbands buried under the rosebushes. After their attempts to keep the electrical company from digging take a deadly turn, the lovers go on the run, launched into a cross-country adventure―with their cat, Frankie, in tow. To escape the law, they’ll need to outwit quirky midwestern locals, mend frayed relationships with their adult children, and shake off the detective that’s hot on their trail. But if Ida and Jean can pull it off, they’ll find their freedom in the place that has always represented their best shot at coming out and finally living their authentic lives together: San Francisco, California. (Release date is Nov. 3.)
What do you think? Is there anything here that you want to read? As for me, I better just get used to feeling overwhelmed.
