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Friday, April 08, 2022

Published 1-10 April 2022

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
 
 
 
 
 

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.”–Grazia

Irina’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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