While most bloggers
are discussing their favorite books of 2016 – and certainly we are not immune
to doing that as well – Dru Ann, Kristopher, and I have decided to focus our
attention on the future. Our most recent Triple Post below will share with our
followers some of the books we are most looking forward to in the coming
months.  By traveling to each of our three blogs, readers will discover
nine new titles to add to their ever-growing to-be-read mountains.  

Not wanting to lose
sight of the holiday season, we have also each included a seasonally-themed
book from the past that we think readers might enjoy delving into as the hustle
and bustle of the month ahead begins.

But most of all, we just want to thank you for reading our blogs
and hope that the books we have suggested over the past year have helped to add
enjoyment to your day-to-day lives. If you have suggestions for Triple Post
themes for 2017, do let us know.


I selected Deborah Crombie’s The Garden of Lamentations for my post. Release date is Feb. 7.

At Bouchercon, the annual mystery convention, Deborah Crombie talked a little about her seventeenth book to feature Duncan Kincaid and Gemma Jones. But, the best description of The Garden of Lamentations comes from Crombie’s website, since I don’t have a copy of the book yet. I’m eagerly awaiting the February release.


Here’s what Crombie’s website says. “On a beautiful morning in mid-May, the body of a young woman is found in one of Notting Hill’s private gardens. To passersby, the pretty girl in the white dress looks as if she’s sleeping. But Reagan Keating has been murdered, and the lead detective, DI Kerry Boatman, turns to Gemma James for help. She and Gemma worked together on a previous investigation, and Gemma has a personal connection to the case: Reagan was the nanny of a child who attends the same dance studio as Toby, Gemma and Kincaid’s son. Gemma soon discovers that Reagan’s death is the second tragedy in this exclusive London park; a few months before, a young boy died in a tragic accident. But when still another of the garden’s residents meets a violent end, it becomes clear that there are more sinister forces at play. Boatman and Gemma must stop the killer before another innocent life is taken.

As Gemma begins to see a solution to her case, she realizes she holds a child’s fate in her hands. Can she do the right thing? And can Kincaid rely on his friends, both inside and outside the Scotland Yard force, to stand beside him as he faces the deadliest challenge of his career?


*****
Dru Ann Love chooses Echoes in Death by J.D. Robb. Release date is Feb. 7.

As NY Lt. Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Roarke are driving home, a young woman – dazed, naked, and bloody – suddenly stumbles out in front of their car. Roarke slams on the brakes and Eve springs into action.


Daphne Strazza is rushed to the ER, but it’s too late for her husband Dr. Anthony Strazza. A brilliant orthopedic surgeon, he now lies dead amid the wreckage of his obsessively organized town house, his three safes opened and emptied. Daphne would be a valuable witness, but in her terror and shock the only description of the perp she can offer is repeatedly calling him “the devil”…


While it emerges that Dr. Strazza was cold, controlling, and widely disliked, this is one case where the evidence doesn’t point to the spouse. So Eve and her team must get started on the legwork, interviewing everyone from dinner-party guests to professional colleagues to caterers, in a desperate race to answer some crucial questions:


What does the devil look like? And where will he show up next?


*****
Kristopher Zgorski selects The Drifter by Christine Lennon, with a Feb. 21 release date.

In the publisher’s blurb on this novel it is described as Megan Abbott meets M. O. Walsh, so that is enough for it to shoot high on my anticipation list.  Southern Gothic with a modern-twist, this tale of female friendship, sisterhood, and sorority secrets seems poised to be an impressive debut for Christine Lennon.


*****
Although we’re all looking forward to books with February release dates, I’m looking to the past for my Christmas mystery selection.

Professor Shandy was sick and tired of the annual Christmas illumination in his neighborhood. So, he ordered a company to put up the most outlandish decorations they could, and he left town to escape the hullabaloo. But, he felt guilty when he returned home. And, he felt even worse when he found the head of the illumination committee dead in his house. While campus security was eager to call it an accidental death, Shandy and his best friend, the victim’s husband, both suspect murder.


*****


Thanks again for stopping by the blog today. Please journey over to BOLOBooks and Dru’s Book Musings to see what’s on their anticipated lists, including titles I selected for both blogs.