Published 7-13 February 2022

I'm expanding on my monthly listing. These are the 6 books published between 7 and 13 February 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.

This is a trial set of posts for February so I'd love some feedback as to whether they're useful, and/or encourages you to seek out titles that a basic list doesn't. So far the feedback has been very positive. I think I'll have to stick with weekly lists for these type of posts, as there's too many titles for one post.

 

Amphlett, Rachel - A Lethal Deception (ebook only) #11 Detective Kay Hunter

When a brutal attack on a business owner is followed by a suspicious death, the police first suspect the beginning of a new underworld drugs war.

Then a second victim is found dead, and the truth starts to look like something much worse.

With the death toll rising and her career under scrutiny from the media and her own superiors, Kay Hunter is running out of time to unravel the deadly secrets hiding behind ruthless ambition and treachery.

But Kay isn’t going to give up easily.

Because this time, the first victim is closer to home…

Cole, Stephanie - Evil Under the Tuscan Sun #3 Tuscan Cooking School Mystery

When a wealthy New York philanthropist pays top dollar for a private, four-day ziti workshop, Nell Valenti wants everyone at the Orlandini cooking school focused on the task at hand. But complications abound when Nell's boyfriend Pete Orlandini rushes to Rome for an unexpected business trip, Chef Orlandini is more preoccupied with a potential spot on an American cooking show than preparing for the workshop, and an uninvited woman sneaks into the villa to inspect Pete's olive grove. The last disturbance proves deadly, and when the woman's body is found in the grove, Nell must investigate before her hopes for the workshop, like the olives, are crushed. Nell now has another item on her checklist - keep the Orlandinis out of trouble and the wealthy ziti-lovers happy while she looks into the stranger's past. When Nell discovers that for one of the Orlandinis, at least, the murder victim was not such a stranger after all, she'll learn that when a detective goes digging in Italy, she d better be ready for truffle.

Davies, Emma - Death in Disguise #1 Francesca Eve, Shropshire

Francesca Eve thought she was prepared for anything at the events she caters for in her pretty little Shropshire village. Missing canapes? No problem. Burnt brownies? A piece of cake… But a dead body? Now that’s a recipe for disaster.

Francesca is nervous about catering her first ever murder mystery party, but it’s clear from the clink of champagne flutes and piles of empty plates that the evening is a roaring success. The guests look spectacular in their disguises, whispering and giggling as they try to identify who killed beautiful young Becky. But days later the game takes a sinister turn when Becky is found poisoned, and all the signs point to the culprit being a party guest.

From the woman having an affair to the guest hiding her true identity, everyone had a secret – and it turns out that Becky knew them all. As Fran finds herself centre-stage in a real-life murder mystery, the finger of suspicion points at each guest in turn. And Fran starts to wonder, were any of these secrets dangerous enough to kill for?

Then the body of a second guest is found, and it becomes clear a deranged killer is going off-script. It seems anyone who was involved in the game that night is in their sights, even Fran. Can she unmask the murderer before the final curtain falls?

A page-turning cozy mystery packed with twists. If you love Clare Chase, M.C. Beaton and The Thursday Murder Club you’ll absolutely adore this unputdownable whodunnit.

Glister, Tim - A Loyal Traitor #2 Richard Knox, MI5 Agent, London, 1966

Duty or honour. Which would you betray?

It's 1966. London is swinging, and the Cold War is spiralling.

Clear cut lines have faded to grey areas. Whispers of conspiracies are everywhere. Spies on both sides of the iron curtain are running in circles, chasing constant plots and counterplots. And MI5 agent Richard Knox is tired of all of it.

But when Abey Bennett, his CIA comrade in arms, appears in London with a ghost from Knox's past and a terrifying warning that could change the balance of power in the Cold War for good, he has to fight to save the future.

He must also face an agonising choice: who will he believe, and who will he betray – his duty to his country or his loyalty to his friends?

Hood, D K - Don't Look Back - Kane and Alton Short Read

Jenna Alton was once an FBI agent who would stop at nothing to put those who hurt the innocent behind bars. An addictive short-read about how she became Black Rock Falls’ most loved sheriff.

He grabs at her hair, pulling hard. She doesn’t scream like he wants her to. Instead, she grits her teeth and waits for her chance to escape. Then she runs harder than she has ever run in her life. As she hears his angry footsteps gaining on her, she prays that she makes it out of there alive…

Undercover FBI agent Jenna Alton has been playing wife to dangerous criminal husband Michael Carlos for four years. Tonight she plans to make her escape. But as she gathers her belongings together, she hears something that stops her in her tracks – he’s taken a young girl called Mandy, and she’s being held somewhere close. Jenna knows what she must do – find the child and get her to safety – even if it means risking her own life.

As Michael hosts a party at their secluded home, Jenna pretends to play his doting wife, whilst desperately searching for Mandy. She takes a deep breath as she walks past her husband’s office door. If he catches her, he’ll kill her.

Jenna’s already sacrificed so much, but innocent lives will be lost if she doesn’t leave the house tonight. With the clock ticking, can Jenna save the innocent little girl and get them both out alive?

An absolutely unputdownable 150-page read from USA Today bestselling author D.K. Hood. If you’re a fan of Lisa Regan, Melinda Leigh and Kendra Elliot, you will love this gripping read.

Jansson, Susanne - Winter Water tr. Rachel Willson-Broyles

Martin, who has always been drawn to the ocean, moves his wife Alexandra and their two young children move to his family's idyllic summer cottage in the picturesque island village of Orust, on the west coast of Sweden. Martin begins to cultivate a mussel farm, where he soon runs into trouble with the locals.

One January weekend, when Martin is distracted by a ringing phone, he discovers that in those few moments, his young son has gone missing and his little red bucket is bobbing in the waves. Though his body is never found, it's ruled an accidental drowning. Martin's grief is all-consuming as he falls into a deep depression, withdrawing from his family and community.

When former police photographer Maya Linde arrives to Orust, she learns of the little boy's disappearance and decides to do some investigating of her own. Martin and Maya grow closer as they learn the hidden truths of this town and the locals who have always mythologized the ocean.

Together they make a macabre discovery: other children have tragically died in the these waves, all on the same day in January, all in the exact same spot, though decades apart. Can it really be a coincidence, or is the ocean luring the children into its depths? As Maya and Martin grapple with a threat far greater than they ever imagined, they soon realize that the truth is actually much stranger than fiction . . .

Set against a backdrop of the whispering ocean, Winter Water is an atmospheric and gripping suspense novel of the nature of grief and the many acts is can make us capable of.