It’s time for another pile of Treasures in My Closet. Let’s check out October’s forthcoming books.

In Ellie Alexander’s Beyond a Reasonable Stout, Leavenworth, Washington has just concluded the Oktoberfest celebration. But, no one is celebrating election season. One of the council members wants to turn the town dry, a town that depends on craft brewers and the German culture celebrations. A killer seems to object to the man’s plans, though. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Connie Berry’s A Dream of Death was one of the best mysteries I read this year. Now, she takes her antiques dealer Kate Hamilton to the quaint English village of Long Barston for Christmas in A Legacy of Murder. She wants to spend it with her daughter, Christine, but when several of Christine’s fellow interns at Finchley Hall end up dead, Kate spends more time with Detective Inspector Thomas Mallory as she tries to clear her daughter’s name. (Release date is Oct. 8.)

When you think of nonfiction and humor, do you think of Bill Bryson? His latest book is The Body: A  Guide for Occupants. It’s a head-to-toe tour, a manual for everyone. (Release date is Oct. 15.)

Colin Butcher’s nonfiction book is on my must-read list. How can I resist Molly: The True Story of the Amazing Dog Who Rescues Cats? It’s the story of Butcher and Molly, the man-and-dog team behind the United Kingdom Pet detective Agency. Colin Butcher, a veteran of the Royal Navy and longtime police officer, wore down and left to start his own detective agency, specializing in helping reunite people with their missing pets. When he found a young black cocker puppy, inexperienced and stubborn. But, she was trained by the top canine behavioral experts at Medical Detection Dogs. Now, Molly can find missing cats, and she’s been wildly successful. (Release date is Oct. 8.)

Private investigator Aaron Gunner handles one of his most heartbreaking cases in Gar Anthony Haywood’s Good Man Gone Bad. He can’t accept that his cousin Del shot his wife and daughter, and then turned the gun on himself. Aaron has to dig into Del’s life to discover family secrets. (Release date is Oct. 15.)

Here’s an exciting novel for book and library lovers. A.J. Hackwith’s The Library of the Unwritten is the first in a new fantasy series. Claire is the head librarian of the Unwritten Wing, a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists of organizing books, and keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters. When a hero escapes from his book and goes in search of its author, Claire must track and capture him. But, a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifying angel Ramiel attacks Claire and her assistants, convinced they hold the Devil’s Bible, which is enough to ignite an all-out war between Heaven and Hell, with Earth in the middle. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Annie Hogsett’s latest mystery is The Devil’s Own Game. When a sniper targets a blind man at the Cleveland Museum of Art, it’s a wake-up call for Allie Harper and Tom Bennington. They believe the bullet was meant for Tom, who had been speaking with the man minutes earlier. Although he won the Mondo Mega Jackpot, the couple have been targets ever since. And, it’s only getting worse. (Release date is Oct. 15.)

In Susan Isaacs’ standalone, Takes One to Know One, Corie Geller is bored in her new life as a wife of a judge. As an FBI agent, she used to work undercover investigating terrorists. Is it because she’s bored that she suspects a man from her lunch group of being more than a packaging designer? Pete seems to have traits Corie recognizes in herself, suspicious behavior. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Although I never read Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge, I know readers will want to know about the sequel, Olive, Again. Strout portrays the cantankerous retired math teacher in old age, in a series of thirteen linked stories. (Release date is Oct. 15.)

In Can’t Judge a Book by its Murder, author Amy Lillard introduces readers to the women of a small town book club in Sugar Springs, Mississippi. Bookstore owner Arlo Stanley isn’t excited about her high school class reunion, but when she has the chance to host a bestselling author who is back for it, she is pleased. Then, the author is found dead outside her store, and Arlo’s best friend is questioned for the murder. (Release date is Oct. 29.)

Blowout: Corrupted Democracy, Rogue State Russia, and the Richest, Most Destructive Industry on Earth is Rachel Maddow’s investigation into the gas and oil industry. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Head to San Francisco with private investigator Cape Weathers in Tim Maleeny’s Boxing the Octopus. An armored car drives off a crowded pier and sinks to the bottom of San Francisco Bay. By the time divers find the wreck, the cash is gone, along with the driver. Vera Young, whose boyfriend was the driver, swears he is innocent, but Weathers warns her the man is either guilty, or dead. Weathers can’t quite wrap his arms around this latest case. (Release date is Oct. 22.)

In Strangers at the Gate, Agatha-award winning author Catriona McPherson asks how well we ever know the people around us. Finn and Paddy move from their home in the city to a small town, and it feels as if everything has fallen into place. Paddy’s a partner in a local law firm, and Finn has a full-time job as a deacon. And, Paddy’s boss even offers him the use of a gate house on his property. But, Finn hears strange noises, and then the couple find the bloody bodies of Paddy’s boss and his wife. And, the murders only add to the couple’s tension. (Release date is Oct. 22.) – Also watch for a guest post from McPherson in early November.

Nicolas Meyer, author of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution, brings us The Adventure of the Peculiar Protocols: Adapted from the Journals of John H. Watson, M.D. In January, 1905, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are summoned by Mycroft, Holmes’ brother. An agent of the British Secret Service has been found floating in the Thames, carrying a manuscript smuggled into England at the cost of her life. It seems to be the minutes of a meeting of a secret group intent on world domination. The two men travel from Paris into the heart of Tsarist Russia on the Orient Express, as they attempt to trace the origins of the explosive document. It’s a task that challenges Holmes as never before. (Release date is Oct. 15.)

Cilka’s Journey is the latest novel by Heather Morris, author of the bestselling The Tattooist of Auschwitz. It’s based on the true story of Cilka Klein. Cilka is just sixteen when she’s taken to Auschwitz-Birkenan Concentration Camp in 1942, where the commandant immediately notices how beautiful she is. Forcibly separated from the other women prisoners, Cilka quickly learns that power equals survival. When the war is over, and the camp liberated, Cilka is charged as a collaborator, and sent to a Siberian prison camp. There, in a land of death and tenor, she discovers a strength she never knew she had. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

I have great hopes for JoJo Moyes’ novel, The Giver of Stars. It’s based on the true story of the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky. Set during the Great Depression, a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library. Alice Wright signs on, and finds an ally in Margery, a smart-talking, self-sufficient woman. The Giver of Stars tells what happens to them, the men they love, and the enormous job they undertake. (Release date is Oct. 8.)

This book could have probably gone into the list at the bottom, but what librarian can resist The NewYork Public Library’s Peculiar Questions and Practical Answers?  It’s “A Little Book of Whimsy and Wisdom”, with illustrations by Barry Blitt. (Release date is Oct. 22.)

Hard to believe, but most Christmas novels are released in October. That includes David Rosenfelt’s latest Andy Carpenter mystery, Dachshund Through the Snow. Lawyer Andy Carpenter and his wife, Laurie, have a new Christmas tradition. They answer wishes on the tree at the local pet store. One wish leads Andy to young Danny, who wants a coat for his mother, a sweater for his dachshund, Murphy, and the safe return of his missing father. But, Danny’s father is on the run for a murder from fourteen years earlier, one that Danny’s mother swears he didn’t commit. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

A House of Ghosts by W.C. Ryan is one of my favorite books this year. During World War I, an armaments manufacturer holds a party at his mansion on an isolated island. He invites two spiritualists, hoping to contact his two sons, lost in the war. One guest, and one man thrust into the party, are there to find a German spy. And, Kate Cartwright, the guest sent from the intelligence service, sees ghosts better than either of the “experts”.  (Release date is Oct. 1.)

James Sallis’ Sarah Jane is a powerful, beautifully written, unforgettable story. Sarah Jane Pullman recounts her life in simple straightforward fashion. However, it’s not easy to determine if she’s telling all the details of her troubled life. There’s an ambiguous ending to this remarkable book. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Virgil Flowers is back in John Sandford’s Bloody Genius. That’s probably all I really need to say for those of us who are fans of Flowers. This time, he’s sent to a university where a professor ends up dead, a man who has been leading the fight between two academic departments. Not quite the usual scene for Flowers. (Release date is Oct. 1.)

Bess Crawford is back in Charles Todd’s A Cruel Deception. As the British close up hospitals and reassign nurses after the war, Bess heads to Paris to look for a missing young man. He’s disappeared although he was supposed to be attending the peace talks. (Release date is Oct. 22.)

If none of these books catch your eye, maybe some of the others on the list will. These are the ones I didn’t have time or space to summarize. Enjoy the October releases!

Julia Armfield – Salt Slow (10/8)
Raymond Benson – Blues in the Dark (10/8)
Seth Berkman – A Team of Their Own (10/1)
Paula Brackston – Secrets of the Chocolate House (10/22)
Stella Cameron – Trap Lane (10/1)
W. Bruce Cameron – A Dog’s Promise (10/15)
Hannelore Cayre – The Godmother (10/15)
Judy Christie & Lisa Wingate – Before and After (10/22)
Cixin Liu – Supernova Era (10/22)
Warren C. Easley – No Way to Die (10/1)
Shamini Flint – The Beijing Conspiracy (10/1)
Amaryllis Fox – Life Undercover: Coming of Age in the CIA (10/15)
Guy Fraser-Sampson – What Would Wimsey Do? (10/25)
Jake Hinkson – Dry County (10/1)
Kirstin Innes – Fishnet (10/15)
Holly Jackson – American Radicals (10/8)
Gary Janetti – Do You Mind If I Cancel? (10/22)
Dietrich Kalteis – Call Down the Thunder (10/15)
Sophie Kinsella – Christmas Shopaholic (10/15)
Bob Kroll – Fire Trap (10/15)
Tara Laskowski – One Night Gone (10/1)
Deborah Levy – The Man Who Saw Everything (10/15)
Dudley Lynch – A Fragment Too Far (10/1)
Jenn Lyons – The Name of All Things (10/29)
Mathea Morais – There You Are (10/22)
Kelly Simmons – Where She Went (10/1)

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These are only the October releases I have. What October books are you anticipating?