Started Early, Took My Dog is the tantalizing title of Kate Atkinson's latest. Retired police detective Tracy Waterhouse finds her quiet life interrupted when she burdened with a young child. At the same time, another former detective who rescues an abused dog also learns a life lesson.
Dr. Bill Brockton returns in Jefferson Bass' The Bone Yard. This time, an investigation uncovers a series of shallow graves on the grounds of a former reform school for boys in Florida.
Maeve Binchy's latest novel is Minding Frankie. Noel is shocked to learn a former girlfriend is dying and pregnant with a child she claims is his. How will he, a recovering alcoholic, take care of a baby by himself. Family and friends jump in to help, and, when a social worker decides the child belongs in a foster home, the town comes together to convince her she's wrong.
I mentioned Rhys Bowen's forthcoming book when she moderated an event at the Poisoned Pen. Bless the Bride finds Molly Murphy about to marry, but she agrees to work on one last case before the wedding. It's a case that takes her to New York's Chinatown.
What do you do when you reluctantly agree to investigate when a family member is accused of murder, but you can't turn up proof she's innocent? Joe Pickett has that problem in C.J. Box' Cold Wind. His mother-in-law is accused of murdering a billionaire, and he can't find much to prove she's innocent. Then, another rancher is murdered.
Meg Waite Clayton's new book is The Four Ms. Bradwells. Four women have been friends since law school, supporting each other through highs and lows. A reunion turns into a nightmare when a secret they kept for 31 years is revealed in Senate confirmation hearings for the one waiting for a judicial appointment. It could change their lives forever.
Live Wire is Harlan Coben's fifth Myron Bolitar book. Bolitar always fantasized about a voluptuous woman walking into his office, and asking for help. It's too bad the former tennis star standing in front of him has a ring on her finger, is eight months pregnant, and her husband is missing.
If you're a fan of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next, you'll be pleased to see One of Our Thursdays is Missing. The real Thursday has retired, but BookWorld needs a heroine like her when all out Genre war breaks out. So, they turn to the written Thursdays, asking her to pretend to be the real one, and serve as their peace emissary.
Boston homicide detective D.D. Warren returns in Lisa Gardner's Love You More. D.D. knows her latest crime scene will attract the press. The woman who killed her abusive husband was a cop. But, what really bothers Warren is the couple's missing child.
James Grippando's Afraid of the Dark appears to be a complex story. Sgt. Vince Paulo held his best friend's daughter as she died, naming her killer. Then Paulo himself was blinded for life. While defending the accused killer on a terrorist charge, his defense lawyer questions his guilt in the killing. The killer could still be out there.
Like Fairstein, Lisa Jackson turns to the church for a crime scene in Devious. New Orleans Detectives Rick Bentz and Reuben Montoya find the body of a nun at St. Marguerite's Cathedral. The prime suspect is a priest, but as more nuns are murdered, the detectives know they have a monster on their hands.
Once again, Jonathan Kellerman brings Detective Milo Sturgis and psychologist Alex Delaware together in Mystery. Sturgis calls on Alex to help when he discovers a mutilated body, but Delaware recognizes the victim as a woman he had met just two nights earlier. As the two men uncover layers of secrets, it appears that the case may never be solved.
The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party is the latest book in Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. The author combines a number of stories, beginning with Precious Ramotswe's attempt to retrieve her old white van, still in use somewhere.
James Patterson and Neil McMahan collaborated on Toys. Hays and Lizeth are elites, endowed at birth with the most advanced genetic enhancements. They have a perfect world, except for humans. Now, Hays must fight to save humans from extinction.
Jodi Picoult's novels are always about contemporary issues. Sing You Home is about Zoe, a woman whose marriage falls apart following the loss of her unborn child. When she falls in love with another woman, trouble begins when they decide to use the frozen embryos from Zoe's marriage in order to start a family.
The latest Maisie Dobbs novel is Jacqueline Winspear's A Lesson in Secrets. In 1932, when Maisie discovers she's under surveillance by Scotland Yard's Special Branch, a meeting leads to an undercover job. It seems they suspect activities are being conducted at Cambridge University by the up-and-coming Nazi party. It's a pivotal chapter in Maisie's life.
March looks great. I could go on-and-on with other books, but these appear to be some of the hottest titles. Don't forget to place your holds at your local public library, or pre-order the books from your favorite bookstore. And, let me know what I missed.
