Happy New Year! I’m not really rushing 2020, but it’s time to kick off the January Treasures in My Closet. I’ve read a few of the mysteries already, so I can vouch for several of them. Here’s to a Happy New Year of reading!

The fourteenth book in the Lady Emily series is Tasha Alexander’s In the Shadow of Vesuvius. When Lady Emily finds a body hidden in plain sight amongst the ruins of Pompeii, she sets in motion a chain of events that ties her future to the fate of another woman, one whose body lay undisturbed for almost two thousand years. The police call the murder the work of local gangsters, but when Lady Emily launches her own investigation, too many people have secrets, and they’re not happy with her. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Isabel Allende’s A Long Petal of the Sea is an epic novel that spans decades and crosses continents, following two young people as they flee the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War in search of a place to call home. In the late 1930s, when fascists topple the Spanish government, hundreds of thousands flee. Among them is Rosa, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, they unite in a marriage neither desire, and embark on a ship bound for Chile. They embrace their exile as the rest of the world erupts in world war. The two face trials and joy, as they await the day they might return home. (Release date is Jan. 21.)

Kim Taylor Blakemore’s historical novel, The Companion, is set in 1855 in New Hampshire. They say she’s a murderess. She claims she’s innocent. But Lucy Blunt has been known to tell lies. She’s set to hang for a double murder. Murderess or victim? Only Lucy knows the truth. In the shadow of the gallows, Lucy reflects on the events that led to her bitter downfall, from the moment she arrived at the rambling Burton mansion looking for work to the grisly murders. With her execution looming closer, Lucy’s allies fight to have her sentence overturned. But how much of her story can we trust? Lucy’s been know to tell lies. (Release date is Jan. 14.)

Maura Donovan has been in Ireland for about a year now in Sheila Connolly’s Fatal Roots. She doesn’t know much about the property she inherited, so when some grad students ask to explore fairy forts on her property, she’s curious. So curious that she’s the one who finds a body buried on her property. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

In Dark Truths, A.J. Cross introduces criminologist Will Traynor in the first in a new forensic mystery series. Detective Inspector Bernard Watts and his team want to know why someone would stab a young woman to death when she was on her daily run, and then take her head. When a discovery at the crime scene links the present murder to a past crime, criminologist Will Traynor is brought in. Watts isn’t convinced Traynor will bring anything new to investigation, but he’s about to be proved wrong. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Vicki Delany’s latest Sherlock Holmes Mystery Bookshop mystery is There’s a Murder Afoot. Gemma Doyle and her friends travel to England for a Holmes convention. For Gemma, it’s a chance to visit her parents. But, her father, Henry, a retired Scotland Yard detective, spots his brother-in-law who disappeared thirty years earlier. When that disreputable man ends up dead, and a dazed Henry is found standing over him, Gemma and her friends team up to save her father from prison. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Bound for Murder is the latest Blue Ridge Library Mystery by Victoria Gilbert. Sunny Fields, mayoral candidate and library director Amy Webber’s best friend, adores her grandparents, who ran a commune in the 1960s. But, it wasn’t all peace and love there, as the town discovers when a body is uncovered on the property. Rumors and innuendos could derail the campaign if Amy doesn’t do a little research into the past. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

C.M. Gleason’s Murder at the Capitol is an excellent historical mystery set in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the Civil War. When a man is found hanging from a crane under the Capitol dome, President Lincoln’s investigator, Adam Speed Quinn, teams up with journalist wannabe Sophie Quinn and Dr. George Hilton to find a killer. Multiple murders, blackmail, violence and spies are all part of this surprising story. (Release date is Jan. 28.)

Spitfire is a debut mystery by M. L. Huie. Livy Nash was a tough spy during World War II, but her war ended with betrayal and the execution of the man she loved. Now, she spends her days proofreading a demeaning advice column, and her nights drinking alone. Then, she meets Ian Fleming, a man with an agent of his own. He sends Livy back to France to track down the traitor who killed the man she loved. But, the game has changed, and there are spies all over Paris. Now, she’ll have to learn to fight a new war. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Fans of Miranda James’ Cat in the Stacks will welcome Careless Whiskers, the latest book that takes readers behind the scenes at a college theater production. Librarian Charlie Harris attends the dress rehearsals because his daughter, Laura, is starring in a play at Athena College. But, she makes no secret of the fact that she hates her leading man. When he dies on stage, Laura is a suspect, but Charlie won’t rest until he clears his daughter’s name. (Release date is Jan. 21.)

Jess Lourey says she writes about secrets, and there certainly are a number of them in Unspeakable Things. Inspired by a true story, a small town in Minnesota in the 1980s wasn’t as safe as it appeared. Thirteen-year-old Cassie McDowell knows her family life isn’t normal, with a father she fears, and parents who have swinger parties. But, there’s something wrong in town, too. Boys have disappeared, and returned different, until one boy doesn’t come back after he’s taken. (Release date is Jan. 1.)

What do I read when I’m not reading mysteries? I’m going to try Andrew David Macdonald’s When We Were Vikings. Zelda is a twenty-one-year-old Viking enthusiast who lives with her older brother, Gert. Zelda has a few rules to help her live, but when she finds out that Gert has resorted to some questionable – and dangerous – methods to make enough money to keep them afloat, Zelda decides to launch her own quest. “Her mission: to be legendary. It isn’t long before Zelda finds herself in a battle that tests the reach of her heroism, her love for her brother, and the depth of her Viking strength. (Release date is Jan. 28.)

Liz Moore’s Long Bright River is about two sisters who travel the same streets, but their lives couldn’t be more different. Then one of them goes missing. In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kayce, is an addict who lives on the streets. The other, Mickey, walks those same blocks on her police beat. They don’t speak anymore, but Mickey never stops worrying about her sister. Then Kacey disappears at the same time that a mysterious string of murders begins in Mickey’s district. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

In Ann Napolitano’s Dear Edward, a young boy loses everything, but discovers there are still reasons for hope. One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark, headed for LA. Halfway across the country, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. (Release date is Jan. 6.)

The Woman in the Veil is the fourth in Laura Joh Rowland’s Victorian Mystery series. In London,J une 1890, Sarah Bain and her friends Lord Hugh Staunton and Mick O’Reilly are crime scene photographers for the Daily World newspaper. One night, they’re called to the bank of the Thames to photograph a murdered woman whose face was slashed. But, as Sarah takes photographs, she finds the woman is still alive. The case of “Sleeping Beauty” becomes a sensation, and people step up to identify her. Is she the wife of an artist, a stepdaughter, or the mother of a little girl? When “Sleeping Beauty” awakens, she has amnesia, but does recognize one of the parties. When one of the claimants is murdered, though, Sarah and her friends become murder suspects. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Michael Wiley returns to Chicago as a setting with Trouble in Mind, the book that introduces PI Sam Kelson. Kelson was shot in the head as a cop, and now he suffers from disinhibition. He can’t keep silent or tell lies when questioned. When he accepts a case to check on a woman’s brother, he finds himself set up for murder. And, he just gets in deeper because someone is out to get him. (Release date is Jan. 7.)

Ellie Stone, “girl reporter” heads to Florence, Italy in August 1963 in James W. Ziskin’s Turn to Stone. Ellie’s in Italy to accept a posthumous award for her late father’s academic work. She’s invited to spend a weekend outside Florence with some of the scholars. But, a suspected rubella outbreak leaves the ten friends quarantined with little to do but spin tales and gorge themselves on the Tuscan food and wine. But, the summer break takes a menacing turn when the man who organized the symposium is fished out of the Arno, dead. As long-buried secrets rise to the surface, Ellie has to determine if one of her new friends is a killer. (Release date is Jan. 21.)

Here are some other books you might want to check out.

Chen, Mike – A Beginning at the End (Jan. 14)
Dornbursh, Jennifer Graeser – Secret Remains (Jan. 7)
Dorsey, Tim – Naked Came the Florida Man (Jan. 7)
Kristof, Nicholas & Sheryl WuDunn – Tightrope (Jan. 14)
Pittman, Craig – Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther (Jan. 21)
Yaffa, Joshua – Between Two Fires (Jan. 14)
Yoon, Paul – Run Me to Earth (Jan. 28)