I've expanded on my
monthly listing. These are the 17 books published between 1 and 10 April 2022. Blurbs and covers taken from Amazon.
Ace, Cathy - The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes (ebook only) #12 Welsh-Canadian Professor Cait Morgan, Criminologist
Guests
of honor at the opening of a swish new restaurant in Arizona, Welsh
Canadian criminal psychologist sleuth Cait Morgan, and her retired-cop
husband Bud Anderson, are looking forward to living in the lap of luxury
for a week.
But an unexpected death at the desert retreat puts more than a wrinkle in their plans. Is the Faceting for Life
movement, of which their host is a devotee, just a harmless framework
for life-affirming activities, or a façade for a cult where no one is
quite who they appear to be?
In the twelfth Cait Morgan Mystery,
Cait and Bud arrive at their remote destination keen to relax and
indulge, only to discover that Cait might have – for the first time in
her life – truly met her match. And her adversary’s agenda? Well, it’s
anything but restful…indeed, it’s both wicked, and deadly.
Alderson, Jennifer S - Death by Gondola #8 Lana Hansen, Tour Guide
Tour guide Lana Hansen is having the time of her life leading a
Carnevale-themed trip in Venice, Italy. Her merry group loves exploring
the city’s rich artistic and cultural heritage together, as well as
sampling the sumptuous cuisine the island city is famous for.
Their
invitation to a masquerade ball, complete with historical costumes and
fancy masks, should be the culmination of a perfect week. Yet when the
guest of honor is bludgeoned to death, all eyes are on the
partygoers—including Lana and her group! Was it an environmental
protester, a corporate rival, or a disgruntled business associate that
did him in? Or could someone have another reason to want the cruise ship
executive dead?
Things go from bad to worse when Lana’s
boyfriend, Alex, unexpectedly knocks on her hotel room door and shares a
shocking secret—one that gets him arrested for murder! Can Lana sleuth
out the real killer’s identity before her partner’s visit to the
Floating City becomes permanent?
Allen, Jo - Death on a Monday Night (ebook only) #8 DCI Jude Satterthwaite, Lake District
An ex-convict. A dead body. A Women’s Institute meeting like no other…
It’s
an unusually challenging meeting at the Wasby Women’s Institute, with
local resident and former drug-dealer Adam Fleetwood talking about his
crimes and subsequent rehabilitation…but events take a gruesome turn
when prospective member Grace Thoresby is discovered murdered in the
kitchen.
The case is particularly unwelcome for
investigating officer DCI Jude Satterthwaite. Adam was once his close
friend and now holds a bitter grudge, blaming Jude for landing him in
jail in the first place. To complicate things further, the only thing
keeping Adam from arrest is the testimony of Jude’s former girlfriend,
Becca Reid, for whom he still cares deeply.
As Jude
and his colleague and current partner, Ashleigh O’Halloran, try to pick
apart the complicated tapestry of Grace’s life, they uncover a web of
fantasy, bitterness and deceit. Adam is deeply implicated, but is he
guilty or is someone determined to frame him for Grace’s murder? And as
they close in on the truth, Jude falls foul of Adam’s desire for
revenge, with near-fatal consequences…
A traditional detective mystery set in Cumbria.
Amphlett, Rachel - The Last Super (ebook only) #Case Files
Larry’s been the supervisor of the apartment block for as long as the tenants can remember.
And he knows all their secrets…
The Last Super forms part of the Case Files series of short crime stories from USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett.
Bailey, Elizabeth - The Unwanted Corpse #8 Lady Fan
What do you do when a dead body lands on your doorstep…?
1794, England
When a body is unceremoniously dumped outside her home, Lady Ottilia Fanshawe is once more drawn into a murder case.
Ottilia
is recovering from the birth of her first child and her husband, Lord
Francis Fanshawe, is worried that she has finally taken on more than she
can handle.
But Ottilia will not be diverted. Motherhood has
always been her deepest desire, but solving crimes is her passion. And
she is determined to balance both.
No one in her household
recognises the dead man, and yet a note was left with Lady Fan’s name on
it. Clearly, someone wants her to investigate the crime, but why?
Who is the dead man? Why was he killed?
And what led to him being dropped at Lady Fan’s door…?
Davis, Lindsey - Desperate Undertaking #10 Flavia Albia, the adopted daughter of Marcus Didius Falco
Rome, the very end of December. The Field of Mars is packed with
monuments, none more beautiful than Domitian's new Odeon and Stadium.
But the area has been overtaken by ugly events: elaborately staged
murders. Someone bears a spectacular grudge against the theatrical
community, and intends to get revenge in the most spectacular way
possible. The killer's method is to re-enact bloody scenes from the
gruesome side of popular theatre, where characters in plays really die
on stage.
A figure from the past wants Flavia Albia's father to
investigate, but Falco is out of Rome for the holidays. Albia seizes the
commission. And begins to regret doing so almost immediately. 'The
undertaker did it!' the first victim croaks before expiring. This seems
to make no sense, because surely people are already dead when they go to
their funeral?
Though there is a serial killer at large, the
authorities would prefer a cover-up but Albia is driven to discover what
is going on. How much blood must be shed before the mania ends? And
could her own family be on the list for a frightful stage death?
De Gregorio, Concita - The Missing Word tr. Clarissa Botsford
“Like Truman Capote’s
In Cold Blood, De Gregorio takes a true story and reveals what life cannot. Extraordinary.”–GraziaIrina’s
life with her husband and her twin daughters is orderly. An Italian
living in Switzerland, she works as a lawyer. One day, something breaks.
The marriage ends without apparent trauma, but on a weekend seemingly
like any other, the girls’ father takes Alessia and Livia away with him.
They disappear.
A few days later the man takes his own life. Of the girls, there is no trace.
Concita
De Gregorio takes the unadorned, terrible facts of this true story and
embodies the protagonist’s voice. In a narrative that is fast and
urgent, she unravels these traumatic events to tell the story of a
mother bereft of her children – a state for which there is no word.
An urgently told story and a fierce portrait of a woman in all her frailty and courage, The Missing Word
delves deep into Irina’s thoughts and memories as she grasps at the
shreds of truth and, piece by piece, stitches her life back together.
Harris, C S - When Blood Lies #17 Sebastian St. Cyr, Regency England
March, 1815. The Bourbon King Louis XVIII has been restored to the
throne of France, Napoleon is in exile on the isle of Elba, and
Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, and his wife, Hero, have traveled to
Paris in hopes of tracing his long-lost mother, Sophie, the errant
Countess of Hendon. But his search ends in tragedy when he comes upon
the dying Countess in the wasteland at the tip of the Àle de la Cit©.
Stabbed - apparently with a stiletto - and thrown from the bastions of
the island's ancient stone bridge, Sophie dies without naming her
murderer. Sophie had been living in Paris under an assumed name as the
mistress of Mar©chal Alexandre McClellan, the scion of a noble Scottish
Jacobite family that took refuge in France after the Forty-Five
Rebellion. Once one of Napoleon's most trusted and successful generals,
McClellan has now sworn allegiance to the Bourbons and is serving in the
delegation negotiating on behalf of France at the Congress of Vienna.
It doesn't take Sebastian long to realize that the French authorities
have no interest in involving themselves in the murder of a notorious
Englishwoman at such a delicate time. And so, grieving and shattered by
his mother's death, Sebastian takes it upon himself to hunt down her
killer. But what he learns will not only shock him but could upend a
hard-won world peace.
Hewitt, J M - The Other Son
She saved her son once. Would she do the same again?
Sara
and her family needed a fresh start after a tragedy that ruined many
lives. They have found peace since arriving at their new home in the
Kielder Forest National Park twelve months ago. That is, unless you
count the dark cloud that has settled over them, and the crippling
tension behind closed doors. Sara tries to pretend everything is normal,
but in reality she is haunted by a devastating truth about one of her
children.
Travis has
a reputation as a counsellor skilled at helping troubled teens. He has
been watching Sara. He sees her fragility, and believes that he can fix
her and her eldest son. Like his mother, Scott
barely speaks, and has a look in his eye that hints at unimaginable
trauma. If Travis could only get close to Sara she would see that he can
protect her, and put an end to their suffering.
Yet
below the surface, Sara is anything but weak. No matter what, she won't
give up on her child. And when she is cornered, she will go to extreme
lengths to protect her most precious boy.
Kent, Christobel - In Deep Water
One wrong step and you're in deep water.
Sukie
has had enough of not putting herself out there. She has had enough of
her mother thinking so very little of her timid daughter. On a whim, she
accepts an offer to go to a Greek island for the weekend with Jake, a
man she has barely begun dating. If that isn't putting herself out here,
she doesn't know what is.
Heather is at the airport when she
sees a young woman with an older man - and immediately she understands
that the woman is in danger. Because in fifteen years, Heather hasn't
been able to forget what Jake did to her. And the next thing she knows,
she's buying a plane ticket and following them.
What should have
been a perfectly pleasant weekend away quickly descends into something
much darker. As these two women come ever closer to each other - and to
Jake - it becomes increasingly unclear who will walk away from the
weekend with their life.
Mitchell, Dreda & Carter, Ryan - Say Say Her Name
In this chilling thriller from the bestselling authors of
Spare Room, one woman just wants the truth about who she really is. But she’s not the only one looking…It’s
twenty years since Eva, a biracial woman, was adopted as an
eight-year-old, and Cherry and Carlton ‘Sugar’ McNeil have always been
the only parents she’s wanted or needed. But when she’s dealt the double
blow of Cherry’s death and her own suspension from work, Eva decides
it’s time to discover who she was before she was theirs.
Against
Sugar’s advice, Eva joins a DNA database, desperate for a match that
will unlock her identity. And when a positive hit comes, she’s excited
to learn there are relations out there who might hold the key. But the
closer Eva gets to uncovering her past, the more it appears someone is
trying to stop her finally finding the truth…
As she
continues to dig, Eva is drawn into a dark and merciless underside to
society, where black women disappear without a word. Names erased from
history, no search parties, no desperate pleas for their return. Once,
someone tried to save Eva from all this. Someone wanted a better life
for her. But now that she’s torn down the facade of her life, has she
come too far to be spared again?
Perry, S W - The Rebel's Mark #5 Nicholas Shelby, Elizabethan Era
Elizabeth's
reign is reaching its winter and England's old adversaries are fading.
But in a world on the brink of change, showing any weakness can be
fatal...
1598. Nicholas
Shelby, unorthodox physician and reluctant spy for Robert Cecil, has
brought his wife Bianca and their child home from exile in Padua.
Welcome at court, his star is in the ascendancy. But he has returned to a
dangerous world.
Two old enemies are approaching their final
reckoning. England and Spain are exhausted by war. In London, Elizabeth
is entering the twilight of her reign. In Madrid, King Philip of Spain
is dying. Perhaps now is the time for one last throw of the dice.
Elizabeth
has seen off more than one Spanish attempt at invasion. But still she
is not safe. In Ireland, rebellion against her rule is raging. And if
Spain can take Ireland, England will be more vulnerable than ever.
When
England's greatest living poet, Edmund Spenser, sends Robert Cecil an
enigmatic and mysterious plea for help from his Irish fastness, Cecil
dispatches Nicholas to investigate. Soon he and Bianca find themselves
caught up not just in bloody rebellion, but in the lethal power-play
between Cecil and the one man Elizabeth believes can restore Ireland to
her, the unpredictable Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex. Rowley, Mark & Derbyshire, David - The Sleep of Reason
Co-written by one of the UK's leading counter-terrorism experts, The Sleep of Reason is a tense and compelling thriller about toxic politics and the radicalisation of young men.A brutal massacre at a theme park leaves eight dead and triggers a wave of extremist violence across Britain.
On
the trail of the killer is Detective Superintendent SOPHIE GABRIEL, who
must confront her past as she races to stop rival Islamist and neo-Nazi
terror groups bringing a deadly campaign of violence to Britain’s
streets.
As community tensions rise, the coalition
government appears to be exploiting the crisis for its own ends. In the
midst of a political and media whirlwind, Gabriel and her team must stop
a ruthless terrorist attack that could leave hundreds dead.
Smith Alex - Jaw Breaker #9 DCI Robert Kett, Norfolk
After the horrors of their last case, DCI
Kett and the rest of Norfolk Constabulary’s Extreme Crime Task Force are
in need of a break.
And that’s just what they think
they’re getting when Superintendent Clare takes them on a team building
exercise in the middle of a quiet Norfolk village.
But
what was supposed to be a weekend of recovery and fun soon becomes
something much more sinister, when two local men turn up dead—poisoned
by a horrific new designer drug nicknamed Jaw Breaker.
Kett
and the team find themselves dragged into the middle of a bloody civil
war between gangs, cultists, coppers and some very angry locals.
Not to mention a ghost...
And they learn that R&R doesn’t always stand for Rest and Relaxation. Sometimes it’s all about Revenge and Retribution.
Sutherland, Jacqueline - The Coffin Club
Some people would kill for a second chance. Kat
is rebuilding her life. After losing her husband in a tragic accident,
moving to the countryside is her chance to start again.
Encouraged
by her new and only friend Ginny, Kat joins New Horizons, dubbed the
Coffin Club by its members. And that’s how she meets Nico. Instantly
drawn to each other, Nico seems like Kat’s perfect match. He is kind,
caring, handsome and, most importantly, a father to five-year-old
Magdalena. This could be Kat’s shot at the one thing she has always
wanted: to be a mother.
BUT SOMETIMES BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR…
Tait, Victoria - Fake Death (ebook only) #1 Dotty Sayers Antique Mystery, Cotswolds
One dead body. Multiple identities. Can an amateur sleuth see through the charade before she becomes a tragic victim?
Young
military widow, Dotty Sayers, is delighted with her new job at an
auction house in Britain’s picturesque Cotswolds. She reluctantly
agrees to take part in a Remembrance parade, to commemorate her husband
and his fallen comrades, but she’s shocked to learn that after the event
an unknown soldier is found dead.
Dotty assists the police and
appraises objects found at the victim’s house, but rather than
identifying the deceased, she discovers numerous personas. When a
suspect is arrested, and Dotty is asked to look after his British blue
cat, she realises appearances can be deceiving. Can she track down the
real culprit and prevent an innocent man from being imprisoned?
Can Dotty unmask the killer without putting her own life at risk?
Watson, F J - Dark Hunter
The
year is 1317, and young squire Benedict Russell has joined the
English-held garrison of Berwick-upon-Tweed after the spectacular
Scottish victory at Bannockburn three years earlier.
Serious
and self-doubting, he can’t wait for his time there to come to an end.
Living on the disputed territory between Scotland and England is a
precarious existence, and as the Scots draw ever closer and the English
king does nothing to stop them, Benedict finds himself in a race against
time to solve the brutal murder of a young girl and find the traitor
who lurks within Berwick’s walls.
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