December's Forthcoming Books

There's a reason December isn't a big publishing month.  It's hard to find enough time to read.  I do have a stack of Christmas books, but they're all November releases.  In fact, I only have four December releases at home.  So, I'll combine the treasures in my closet with December's forthcoming books.  Let me know if I missed a December title you're waiting to read!

I'll start with the four books in my closet.  Bedeviled Eggs is the latest Cackleberry Club Mystery by Laura Childs.  The three widows who own the Cackleberry Club cafe are getting ready for Halloween, but somebody is already playing nasty tricks.  There's a murderer running loose in Kindred, and Suzanne, Toni, and Petra have to "sniff out one bad egg." 

Melissa Ford is the award-winning author of the blog, Stirrup Queens.  Now, she turns to fiction with Life from Scratch, about a woman who teaches herself to cook after a painful divorce.  There are a few complications when she starts to blog about life, lost love, and fried eggs.

I seldom read extremely graphic crime fiction, but I make an exception for Leighton Gage's Chief Inspector Mario Silva books.  Gage shows us the violent side of Brazil in these police procedurals.  In Every Bitter Thing,  Silva is called in to investigate when the son of Venezuela's Foreign Minister is found dead in his apartment in Brasilia.  But, there's more than one death.  There's a chain of victims, all passengers on a flight from Miami to Brazil.

Libby Fischer Hellmann's Set the Night on Fire takes readers back to the turbulent days of Chicago in the 1960s.  Lila Hilliard doesn't understand why someone is trying to kill her.  Her family home goes up in flames, with her father and brother trapped inside.  She's threatened and attacked by a man on a motorcycle.  As she tries to discover who would want to kill her, she uncovers information about her father's past in Chicago during the late 1960s.

And, outside of the books in my closet, I only see three other December releases to mention.  Tami Hoag's Secrets to the Grave is the sequel to Deeper Than the Dead.  Everyone knew of artist Marissa Fordham, but no one really knew her.  When she's found murdered, it's up to Sheriff's Detective Tony Mendez to solve the case while protecting her daughter from a killer.  He calls on teacher-turned- child advocate Anne Leone for help.  But, it seems that Marissa Fordham never existed.   

Stephen Hunter brings back Marine Corps Master Sniper Bob Lee Swagger in Dead Zero.  He's in Afghanistan hunting down an AWOL sniper determined to complete his last mission.

And, Dean Koontz has a companion to The Darkest Evening of the Year.  A man and his Belgian shepherd are on a cross-country road trip, meeting all kinds of memorable characters in a suspenseful novel, What the Night Knows.

It's just a short list.  I think the publishers know we're going to be busy in December.  And, I already have a stack of a dozen Christmas books.  So, what are you looking forward to in December?