Searching for something to read? Check out some of the new titles releasing the week of October 25 – 31 with three debut series. I hope a few of these books take you on a reading adventure!
OCTOBER 26
Heart of a Killer by Christopher Seto (Traditional Mystery)
Criminology student Theo Chan has learned one important lesson: there’s no such thing as a simple job. So when he and his enigmatic employers, Primrose and Teebin, are sent to a remote mountain lodge to quietly prevent an art theft, Theo knows trouble is inevitable. Format: Digital, Print
OCTOBER 27
The Dead Don’t Tell by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson (Private Investigator Mystery)
Private investigator Jenna Wyatt walked away from undercover work years ago. But when GBI Agent Sierra Malone—her friend and former colleague—is found dead during a covert operation inside Atlanta’s affluent Morningside neighborhood, Jenna knows the case won’t solve itself. Sierra was embedded in a high-end prostitution ring operating from luxury Airbnb rentals, serving some of the city’s most powerful men. Now she’s gone, the investigation is stalled, and someone wants it buried. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Murder Over Pumpkin Spice by Lyla Blue (Cozy Mystery)
Welcome back to Silver Pines—where pumpkin spice is practically a food group, every coffee shop has a line out the door, and one grand opening is about to make headlines for all the wrong reasons. Autumn is in full swing, bringing sweater weather, colorful mountains, and the return of everyone’s favorite seasonal flavors. Format: Digital, Print
Hard Candy Christmas by Susan M. Boyer (Private Investigator Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Ten days before Christmas, the whole Talbot clan turns out at Charleston International to send Blake, Poppy, and the kids off to Italy. Then SLED agent Sonny Ravenel walks in with news that stops the merriment cold: Frank Talbot stands accused of murder. The shock sends Frank to the ICU. Format: Digital, Audio
A Christmas Killing In Deed by Catherine Bruns (Cozy Mystery)
Real estate agent and super sleuth Cindy York is excited to end the year on a positive note by closing on a luxurious Victorian style mansion just before Christmas. Both she and her best friend/boss, Jacques Forte, are counting on the deal to provide some much-needed merry money for the holidays. Format: Digital, Print
Death Down the Aisle by Colleen Cambridge (Historical Mystery)
Phyllida is delighted to receive an invitation to the wedding of her friend Dr. John Bhatt. It’s a chance to get to know his fiancée, Emily Hartparker, and to explore Coatesworth Manor—the grand seaside estate that belongs to Emily’s distant relatives. Coatesworth is now managed by Lady Artemis Coatesworth and offers ample space for a celebration. But it’s soon clear that some of the guests have intentions beyond cheering on the happy couple. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
An Unlucky Visitor by Joanna Cannon (Cozy Mystery)
Margaret thinks her time is up…Things have been hard since her husband Derek died, and they never got over the disappearance of their daughter, Jeanie, all those years ago. With his support, it seemed like everything would be okay—okay enough, that is. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Hollow by Michael Connelly (Police Procedural)
When Harry Bosch was eleven years old, his mother was murdered and he became a ward of the state, housed in MacLaren Children’s Center, a notorious facility where abuse was rampant. Decades after its closure, a lawsuit has resulted in a massive settlement for former residents. But when Bosch’s half-brother, defense attorney Mickey Haller, brings him word that Harry is entitled to part of it, Bosch says he doesn’t want the money. He wants justice. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Peril in Peckham by Christina Crane (Cozy Mystery)
Then someone paints ARTS YARD = ARTISTS OUT across the Victorian brick wall overnight. By Thursday, the poet who opened the festival is dead. Baz Adams – spoken-word star, artisanal moustache, a fixie with no brakes – rides into the path of a number 37 bus. Everyone says it was an accident. But the driver keeps saying he was already swerving before she hit him. Format: Digital, Print
Cold Case Conspiracy by Lena Diaz (Police Romance)
Working through idyllic Mystic Lake’s mountain of unsolved cases, Detective Chris Collier takes on another local mystery. Geologist Mallory Braxton doubts the company line that her missing coworker is “just busy”; the circumstances of how she vanished seem related to Chris’s work. But the expert tracker isn’t sure he can trust the secretive scientist…or what was supposedly witnessed by victims before they died. Chris and Mallory soon discover that the evidence of murders and disappearances is serious and that real-life dangers could threaten their future…and the world’s. Format: Digital, Print
Whines & Whiskeys by Tobi Doyle (Cozy Mystery)
Wanda Atkins never expected her small-town pub to become ground zero for murder and mayhem. To save Atkinsville, she’ll need every ounce of potion, patience, and paranormal sass she can muster. She thought she had life in Atkinsville figured out. She inherited enough Prohibition-era whiskey to fund her cozy pub, she sells potions on the side to curious locals, and her ability to talk to ghosts—though awkward at times—keeps her useful, not infamous. Format: Digital, Print
Death by Red Velvet Latte by Alex Erickson (Cozy Mystery)
At Krissy’s Death by Coffee bookstore café in Pine Hills, Ohio, she’s trying out a new red velvet latte, which she also plans to serve at her wedding along with the red velvet cake a local baker is making. But with the wedding only weeks away, the baker has to cancel due to health reasons. What should have been a cakewalk turns into a last-minute scramble. Krissy and her fiancé Paul meet with two competing cake decorators at the same time, who seem more interested in going at each other than baking her cake. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Ranger in Pursuit by R. Barri Flowers (Police Romance)
After witnessing a police officer gunned down by a drug trafficker, Leighton Lacorte is ripped from the life she knows. But her new identity is at risk when she’s relocated to a remote national park terrorized by a serial killer. Deeper danger lies in her attraction to Law Enforcement Ranger Hudson Ortega, who suspects that the green-eyed beauty calling herself Nicolette Kittle is hiding something. With time running out, Hudson must uncover her secrets and stop two desperate criminals from silencing the woman he’s sworn to protect at all costs. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
A Classic Case of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber (Cozy Mystery)
In the charming town of Bramblewood, not far from Asheville, Allie’s preparing for a special seasonal soiree: a literary-themed dinner party that’s a tribute to Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. It’ll take place at the Amber Lantern, the quaint inn recently opened by her best friend’s mother, Noeline—and the holiday spirit has even led a Scroogelike local businessman to lend his prized first edition of the nineteenth-century novella for the event. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Joy to the Bones by Carolyn Haines (Cozy Mystery)
Still reeling from the discovery that her parents’ deaths, decades ago, might not have been an accident, Private Investigator Sarah Booth Delaney doesn’t know who to believe anymore. Her best friend and business partner, Tinkie, purposefully kept her in the dark; her lover, Coleman, intentionally lied to her; and her meddlesome ghost-turned-spiritual-guide, Jitty, kept more secrets than she can count. Now, even the people Sarah Booth once trusted more than anything are suspect. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
To Fetch A Killer by Cindy Kirk (Cozy Mystery)
When the town dog, Jory, discovers a discarded mask, he leads Penelope Penrose to a respected member of the community collapsed in a quiet hallway. What appears to be a tragic medical emergency soon becomes a murder investigation. Format: Digital, Print
The Killing of a Chestnut Tree by Oliver K. Langmead (Traditional Mystery) *first book in a new series*
Everyone in England knows Havelock Harper, the celebrated consulting detective from the papers. But if any of them read his private files, they would discover secrets that must never reach the public eye—extraordinary cases, impossible crimes, and a committed love affair with his formidable companion Major Sebastian Wright. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Bad Seed by Karen MacInerney (Cozy Mystery)
When a fire guts Buttercup’s historic Old Masonic Lodge, Lucy Resnick’s quiet November goes up in smoke—especially when the teenage son of one of her dearest friends becomes the prime suspect. But searching the wreckage turns up a grisly surprise: a skull hidden beneath the hundred-year-old building. And old bones aren’t the only thing lurking underground. Format: Digital, Print
Murder at Pellhurst Pond by Clara McKenna (Historical Mystery)
When a hot air balloon lands near Morrington Hall, it draws the attention of Stella and Lyndy as well as others, including Quentin Lockyear, son-in-law of Reuben Woodridge, a recluse who is suspected of murdering his wife. Quentin is keen to invest in aeronautic ships and automobiles, and invites Stella and Lyndy to Woodridge’s estate, Exbury Lodge. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Wounded Warrior K-9 by Julie Miller (Police Romance)
A roadside bomb ended Daniel Travis’s career in the Marines, sending him back home with scars, nightmares and a one-eyed service dog. Pirate helps the wary vet connect with sweet, capable ER nurse Polly Cooper, beginning a relationship that’s making Daniel feel something close to whole again. When Polly reveals that she’s being threatened by a stalker, Daniel’s protective instinct flares. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Bury the Wren by Carlene O’Connor (Traditional Mystery)
Dingle is a town steeped in folklore, where old traditions like Wren Day linger like mist on the Kerry mountains. On the day after Christmas, St. Stephen’s Day, the wren boys—local lads from competing neighborhoods—paint their faces and dress in straw garb to march through town. In times past, the tiny body of a wren would be displayed during the parade. According to legend, the little bird deserved to die for betraying St. Stephen’s hiding place to his enemies. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
Murder in the Upper Crust by Mindy Quigley (Cozy Mystery)
Chef Delilah O’Leary is going where no deep dish pizza chef has gone before: a swanky wellness retreat, where she’s agreed to cater for a crowd of the who’s who. Instead of cashing a fat check for an easy gig, though, she encounters a diabolical plot with more layers than one of her signature pies. Format: Digital, Print
Resurrection Kill by Laura Joh Rowland (Historical Mystery 1950s)
Dr. Claire Kendall is a psychiatrist-in-training at Resurrection Kill Hospital, a luxurious private and isolated mental institution for the wealthy. But under her mask of professionalism, Claire has a secret: She was a patient at the hospital when she was fourteen. Format: Digital, Print
The Bone Woman by Paige Shelton (Traditional Mystery)
The desert runs through Hazel Dylan’s marrow. She grew up on the edge of The Wild, an untamed expanse outside her hometown of Black Vulture, Arizona. She became fascinated with bones as a child while observing her taxidermist father, Wilmot, until he disappeared without a trace decades ago. Now, after years of study and countless cases, she’s known as the Bone Woman. She can read the dark stories that bones tell. Format: Digital, Print, Audio
The Well-Guarded Truth by Kari Lee Townsend (Fantasy Cozy Mystery)
Lyra Wells wants one uncomplicated autumn — woodsmoke in the meadow, lanterns along the square, and a WishFest that runs exactly the way she planned it. As Guardian of the ancient well and chair of the festival, she’s learned to manage a great deal. What she isn’t managing — and isn’t telling anyone — is that the magic she’s carried for three hundred years has started to flicker. Format: Digital, Print
Montana Christmas Danger by Danica Winters (Police Romance) *first book in a new series*
Traci Malcolm is in shock when cowboy Jackson Miller finds her in the snowy woods crouched over a severed arm. From the tattoo, she recognizes it as her mother’s. The lovely teacher has been estranged from both her parents for years, but this discovery has her reeling. Jackson is instantly drawn to Traci, and is compelled to comfort her. When her father is also found murdered, Traci comes under suspicion by the police. Though she and Jackson barely know one another, their powerful attraction draws them together…as danger closes in. Format: Digital, Print
OCTOBER 28
A Fatal Affair: The Murder of Helen Grier by Amanda Capper & Judy Penz Sheluk (True Crime)
On October 28, 1937, at a remote cabin in the Algoma District of Northern Ontario, the body of 28-year-old Helen Grier was discovered by her lover, Vernon Spencer. The cause of death was a bullet to the brain. Format: Digital, Print
Note: in some cases, print and/or audio releases for digital titles will be forthcoming.
Publication date subject to change