September's Hot Titles

Barbara Peters from Poisoned Pen Bookstore warned me there are tons of crime novels due out in September. When you see this formidable list of September possibilities, you might be as intimidated as I am. Just because kids are back in school doesn't mean we have THAT much more time to read. In fact, some of us have no more time to keep up than we ever did. So, my motto for September? Keep reading! Here are some titles that might catch your eye.

Rhys Bowen kicks us off with her latest Royal Spyness mystery, Naughty in Nice. Her Majesty the Queen sends Lady Georgiana to Nice on a secret assignment to recover the Queen's stolen snuff box. She meets Coco Chanel who asks Georgie to model her latest fashion. Before the fashion show is over, she finds herself involved in murder.

Robert B. Parker fans will have the chance to find out if Michael Brandman can successfully take over the Jesse Stone series with Killing the Blues. Police Chief Jesse Stone teams up with Sunny Randall to solve the case when a high-ranking crime figure is found dead in Paradise Beach.

Lethal by Sandra Brown finds Honor Gillette caught up in a nightmare situation when she rushes from the house to help a sick man, only to come face-to-face with a man accused of murdering seven people the night before.

James Lee Burke is a favorite in the mystery community. He brings back Sheriff Hackberry Holland in Feast Day of Fools. When the town drunk witnessed a man being tortured to death, he reluctantly told the sheriff. That's when Hack realized a serial killer had returned.

Did you ever wonder about Jack Reacher's past? In The Affair, Lee Child finally reveals why Reacher started walking and became a revered vigilante hero.

I'm a fan of Margaret Coel's books. In her second novel to feature journalist Catherine McLeod, The Perfect Suspect, Catherine looks for the real killer of a candidate for governor. His estranged wife is arrested, but an anonymous caller claims she saw the real killer, but is afraid to go to the police.

My late husband loved Jackie Collins' Lucky Santangelo novels. Only in the last year of his life did I get him to read women authors, but he always read Collins. Goddess of Vengeance brings back Lucky, although a billionaire businessman is determined to take everything from her in a battle for power.

Detective Charlie Parker returns in John Connolly's The Burning Soul. He becomes involved in a web of deceit when a young girl goes missing, and people in town have secrets they're trying to keep.

Linda Howard's latest suspense novel is Prey, featuring a woman who has a camping/tour guide company. The adventure turns dangerous when she goes on a trip with a businessman and his client.

Arnaldur Indridason's Operation Napoleon sounds intriguing. In 1945, a plane carrying Germans and Americans crashed in Iceland, but one man left for help, carrying a briefcase secured to his wrist. Decades later, the U.S. is trying to cover up an operation to retrieve a plane from a glacier in Iceland. Their activities are threatened when one man disappears without a trace, leaving his sister with questions.

The Pirate King is the latest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell's employer sends her to investigate criminal activities surround Ffyette Films, currently filming a pirate movie in Lisbon and Morocco. The set is dangerous, possibly deadly for Mary, since the director has cast actual pirates in some of the roles.

Jake Lassiter returns in Paul Levine's Lassiter. When Amy Larkin returns to the Everglades, she's looking for her sister who vanished twenty years earlier. She seeks help attorney Jake Lassiter, the last person to see Krista alive.

There's a tangled web of lies for Detective Inspector Alex Morrow to unravel in Denise Mina's The End of the Wasp Season. When a millionaire kills himself, few people care. But, the murder of a young woman leaves a community stunned. It's that second case that is assigned to the pregnant investigator.

Spencer Quinn brings back one of my favorite pair of detectives, Chet and Bernie, in The Dog Who Knew Too Much. It's Bernie who was invited to be the keynote speaker at a P.I. convention, but the man in charge actually has plans for Chet. Meanwhile, the duo has been hired to find a kid who is missing from a wilderness camp.

Ruth Rendell's former Chief Inspector Wexford is called in to help in a grisly case after a man pulls back the cover of a manhole in his backyard, and discovers the skeletons of four people who had been entombed there for the last twelve years. It's The Vault.

Homicide cop Eve Dallas' latest case is New York to Dallas by J.D. Robb. Eve returns to the city she's named for, plunging back into nightmares from her childhood where a man has escaped from Rikers, determined to continue abducting young women, and planning to get revenge on Eve, the woman who stopped him ten years earlier.

In S.J. Rozan's Ghost Hero, P.I. Lydia chin has been asked to track down paintings supposedly painted by Chau Chun, known as the Ghost Hero. Despite the fact Chau has supposedly been dead for twenty years, someone else is looking for those same paintings.

Here's the debut novel I'm anticipating, Edward Lazellari's Awakenings. A New York City cop and a washed-up photographer have only one thing in common. They both suffer from amnesia. But now, their forgotten pasts are about to catch up with them as otherworldly magic collides with modern times.

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OK, brace yourself. The Christmas novels will start appearing in September this year. Here are four possibilities for holiday reading.

Heather Graham's An Angel for Christmas brings two strangers into the lives of the MacDougal family, a family who never has experienced a joyous Christmas


1225 Christmas Tree Lane is this year's holiday novel by Debbie Macomber. Life in Cedar Cove is full of surprises for Beth Morehouse. First, someone leaves a basket of puppies on her doorstep. Then, her daughters invite their dad, Beth's long-divorced husband, to their home for Christmas.


A Lawman's Christmas is a McKettricks of Texas novel by Linda Lael Miller. When Blue River, Texas' town marshal dies, it leaves the town without protection, and Dara Rose Nolan without a husband and father for her daughters. They can't survive on her income, and they'll have to move out of the house so the new marshall, Clay McKettrick, can move in.

I'll admit I loved Sherryl Woods' Chesapeake Shores Christmas, so I'm looking forward to the return of the O'Briens in An O'Brien Family Christmas. Laila Riley had once been involved with Matthew O'Brien, but broke it off. She's be invited to join the family for a holiday in Dublin, but she's not sure she can risk her heart again.

So, September will bring some hot titles, some favorite authors and characters, and a sleeper or two. Which books do you hope to pick up at your favorite bookstore or public library?

July's Hot Title

Let's discuss the books that might be hot in July. If I missed something in this post or my Treasures in My Closet post, let me know. Tell me what books you're excited about reading in July.

Here's one you might not have heard about, but it's been discussed by librarians and publishers. The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb is a novel by Melanie Benjamin. Mercy Lavinia Warren Bump, better known as Mrs. Tom Thumb, tells her own story of public triumphs and personal tragedies.

Jim Butcher's Ghost Story is the book I'm anticipating. Without revealing much for those who didn't read the last book, this thirteenth book in the series finds Harry Dresden without magic to help him, hunted by several dark spirits, while still trying to help his friends. (This book was originally scheduled for earlier publication, then postponed, so it might sound familiar to you.)

Tom Clancy and Peter Telep team up for Against All Enemies in which a CIA agent and his team must infiltrate Mexican drug cartels to uncover a terrorist plot against the U.S.

Escape is Barbara Delinsky's latest novel, the story of a woman who was not happy with anything in her life, so she left work, packed her bags, and took off for a New Hampshire town, hoping to change her life.

Can Felix Francis successfully take over his father's writing? He tries in Dick Francis's Gamble. Foxy Foxton, a former jockey witnesses a friend's murder at the Grand National races, and begins to question whether it was a case of mistaken identity or something more sinister.

Here's another book with a great deal of prepub buzz. Under the pseudonym Paul Harper, David Lindsey gives us Pacific Heights. Two women, wives of powerful men, are having affairs with the same man, some who is able to play out their untold fantasies without them telling him. When that gets a little creepy, they discover they go to the same therapist. That brings Detective Marten Fane into the case.

John Hart's latest novel is Iron House, the story of two orphaned brothers separated at a young age. Twenty years later, when one is a seasoned killer, they reunite to solve the mystery of their shared past.

Greg Hurwitz' latest thriller is You're Next. Mike was abandoned by his father at age four, and raised in foster care. He's happily married with a child and a thriving business until something from his past threatens his family. Since the police are no help, he turns to an old friend for protection.

Iris Johansen fans will want her new book in the Eve Duncan series, Quinn. Joe Quinn fell in love years earlier with Duncan, but her desire to find her missing daughter took priority. Can CIA agent Catherine Ling outsmart Duncan's first love to help Eve and Quinn?

Special Agent Maggie O'Dell is back in Alex Kava's Hotwire. When an evening of drug-fueled fun for a group of teens ends in an explosive light show with some teens apparently electrocuted, and the survivors marked for elimination, O'Dell's investigation lands her in the middle of a conspiracy.

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Dominion by Eric Van Lustbader brings back Jason Bourne. While on a mission to kill a Colombian drug lord, Bourne learns he's been targeted for death by a secret international cabal.

Fantasy readers might want George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons, a story that ushers in a new era for the history of the Seven Kingdoms. It's the fifth book in the Song of Ice and Fire series.

I'm a big fan of Anne Rivers Siddons' books. Burnt Mountain, her latest, is about a woman who fell in love at summer camp in Georgia, and then experienced her first heartbreak. Years later, married to a man who becomes distant, Thayer confronts dark secrets about her mother, her first love, and her husband.D

Daniel Silva brings back master art restorer Gabriel Allon in Portrait of a Spy. Allon must deal with a terrorist attack in Covent Garden in Paris, one that he could not prevent.

Chevy Stevens, author of the popular Still Missing, returns with Never Knowing. A  woman about to be married is quite happy, by wants to know about her birth parents. A search reveals hurtful and shocking results, and the knowledge that some questions are better left unanswered.

So, what July books are you going to order from your favorite bookstore or place on hold at your local library? July is definitely a hot month for books.

June's Hot Titles

There are so many terrific June books that are already in my closet that I don't know if I'll have time to pick up many of these hot titles. But, some of them might be the ones you're waiting to read. So, I'll pass along the titles. You can order them now at your local bookstore, or place holds at your favorite public library.

Mary Kay Andrews kicks off the list with Summer Rental. Three women, best friends since Catholic grade school, find themselves in their mid-30s, looks for a change in life.

The theme for June seems to be summer. David Baldacci's One Summer tells of a terminally ill  man who tries to prepare his family for his death. When his wife dies before he does, killed in a car accident, the children are split up and sent to live with relatives. Reuniting for the summer, Jack has to figure out how to rebuild their lives as a family.

Long Gone is Alafair Burke's first standalone. After being out of work for months, Alice loves her new job managing a new art gallery, until the morning she arrives and finds the gallery stripped bare and a dead man on the floor.

Jan Burke brings back Irene Kelly in Disturbance. The sons of a serial killer are now master criminals, planning to spring their father from prison and then kill the person they blame for putting him there, investigative journalist Irene Kelly.

Here's a combination - Jeffery Deaver and James Bond. Deaver brings James Bond back in Carte Blanche, a cat-and-mouse game that roams from the Balkans to London and then Africa, with all the plot twists readers expect from Deaver.

Robert Dugoni will be appearing for Authors @ The Teague at the end of June. His latest novel is Murder One, bringing together two attorneys who are recovering from tragedies. David Sloane's wife was murdered, and Barclay Reid's daughter died from an overdose. Now, Barclay is on a crusade against the drug traffickers. When one turns up dead, Barclay is accused, and David takes the case.

Stephanie Plum is back in Janet Evanovich's Smokin' Seventeen. The bail bonds office goes up in flames, bodies appear in the vacant construction lot, and one of Stephanie's old flames returns to town. Just a day in the life of the New Jersey bounty hunter.

In Joseph Finder's Buried Secrets, a hedge fund titan needs help. His daughter has been kidnapped, and buried underground. If the kidnapper's demands aren't met, she'll be allowed to die, with her death streamed live on the internet.

If you prefer your June reading a little less crime ridden, there's Dorothea Benton Frank's Folly Beach. Cate Cooper returns to her old hometown when her husband dies, leaving her with no money and no peace of mind. Can you go home again?

Steve Hamilton, who just won the Edgar Award for The Lock Artist, brings us Misery Bay, an Alex McKnight novel. Two months after a young man's suicide, McKnight's attempt to find answers turns into a nightmare of violence and bloody revenge, along with a race to catch a killer.

Alexander McCall Smith fans will welcome The Dog Who Came in From the Cold. It's the story of Freddie de la Hay, a Pimlico terrier who lives in a crumbling mansion block called Corduroy Mansions, along with a motley crew of residents.

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge team up for Now You See Her. Two years earlier, Jeanine Fournier appeared to have the perfect life with a police-officer husband, and their first child on the way. Then, she uncovered a secret that caused her to run for her life and change her identity.

Marcus Sakey's latest is The Two Deaths of Daniel Hayes. Here's the blurb. "The man had a life anyone would envy. The trouble was, when he awoke on the beach, alone, naked, cold, and tired, the only thing he could remember about it was a woman's face. He had no idea who he was, or where he was going. All he knew was that if he found her, he would find himself.

Sarah Strohmeyer's Kindred Spirits actually belongs in my Treasures in My Closet post, but I thought it was a July release. It's about The Ladies' Society for the Conservation of Martinis, formed by four young mothers so they could meet once a month, as an outlet. When circumstances tear them apart, they are only brought together again by tragedy.

Scott Horvath is on a list of Americans deemed too dangerous to be roaming when the former President of the United States sets in place a plan to destroy America. It's Brad Thor's Full Black.

And, I'll end with another story of four women, Jennifer Weiner's Then Came You. Four total strangers come together, and struggle to make a family. But, their plans are thrown into disarray when one woman becomes a widow.

So, what did I miss? What's not here or in my closet that you're waiting to read in June? Let us know!

May's Hot Titles

Thank heavens May doesn't have quite as many hot titles as April did. I have the feeling I'm never going to catch up. But, here are some of the titles that might be hot in May. Preorder them now from your favorite bookstore, or place them on hold at your local library.

In Lawrence Block's A Drop of the Hard Stuff, newly sober Matthew Scudder puts his recovery and his life on the line to investigate when a childhood friend is gunned down.

Hiss of Death is the latest Mrs. Murphy mystery by Rita Mae Brown and Sneaky Pie Brown. Mary Minot "Harry" Haristeen becomes ill, so it's up to cats Mrs. Murphy and Pewter, along with the Corgi, Tucker, to find the villain behind a murder close to home.

Jim didn't read many women writers. He was a little prejudiced until I pushed him to read  some thriller writers such as Tami Hoag and Lisa Gardner. But, for some reason, he always found time for Jackie Collins' Lucky Santangelo novels. Goddess of Vengeance finds Lucky trying to save her family, love, and life when a billionaire businessman plans to take everything from her.

Patrick Dewitt's The Sisters Brothers has had some pre-pub buzz. Hired guns Eli and Charlie Sisters have a difficult time killing their latest mark. Along the way, Eli begins to question why he kills and whom he kills for.

Spider Web is Earlene Fowler's latest Benni Harper mystery. When a local festival is ruined by the shooting of a cop by someone with a grudge against the police, Benni fears for her police chief husband, and others who might get caught in the crossfire. Earlene Fowler will be joining Carolyn Hart for an Authors @ The Teague appearance on Monday, May 9 at 10:30 AM.

Fans of Sookie Stackhouse will be pleased to see Charlaine Harris' Dead Reckoning. When the bar Sookie works at is firebombed, much of the town suspects local anti-shifters. Sookie suspects otherwise, but she's too preoccupied with her love interest, Eric Nortman, to pay attention to the twisted activities happening.

Jo Nesbo brings Oslo police detective Harry Hole back in The Snowman. A young boy names Jonas can't find his mother, but there's a snowman with Jonas' mom's scarf around its neck in the front yard, a snowman that wasn't there before. When someone sends an odd letter to Harry, it appears that the culprit wants to play a game.

I'm going into mourning once I finish Sixkill, Robert B. Parker's last Spenser novel. I read  all forty Spenser books, including his YA one. Spenser forms an alliance with an actor's Native American bodyguard in order to investigate when the actor is accused of rape and murder. I'm going to miss Spenser.

James Patterson and Maxine Paetro join forces for Tenth Anniversary, the latest Women's Murder Club book. Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates the brutal bating of a teenage girl and the kidnapping of her baby, while Assistant D.A. Yuki Castellano prosecutes the biggest case of her career.

In Thomas Perry's The Informant, a professional killer who betrayed the Mafia is threatened when a Mafia hit team catches up with him, so he turns to Elizabeth Waring, an official with the Organized Crime Division of the Justice Department, offering her a deal.

Lucas Davenport is back in John Sandford's Buried Prey. When the bodies of two girls are found beneath an old house, Davenport remembers the kidnapping, and the death of the kidnapper. Now, with the case reopened, he's once more involved in the investigation.

Karin Slaughter's Fallen takes Special Agent Faith Mitchell into a case she doesn't want to visit. The agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation finds her four-month-old daughter in a tool shed, her mother gone, and a bloody handprint on the door to her mother's home. Faith might not know her mother as well as she thought.

Pumped for Murder is the latest in Elaine Viets' Dead-End Job mystery series. Helen Hawthorne is in for the workout of her life when she takes a job at a gym to check out a client's husband. Soon, her workout schedule must accommodate a murder investigation.

Did you find something you want to read in the May selections? What did I miss?

Don't forget to order your copies at the public library or your favorite bookstore.

February's Hot Titles

Yesterday, I previewed the February book releases I already have in my closet.  Today, I'll mention some of the other February book releases.  If I missed any February titles that you're waiting to read, let me know.

 Nancy Atherton's latest cozy mystery, Aunt Dimity and the Family Tree, kicks off the list.  When Fairworth House is renovated, a mysterious family tree is uncovered.  Aunt Dimity is called on for guidance as to Fairworth House's shadowy past.

Police Constable Hamish Macbeth has to deal with murder and rumors after a body is found stuffed in the chimney of a villager's home in M.C. Beaton's Death of a Chimney Sweep.

One of my favorite young sleuths returns in Alan Bradley's A Red Herring Without Mustard, featuring Flavia de Luce.   Flavia comes to the rescue of a Gypsy woman charged with abducting a child, drawing from her knowledge of poisons and gypsy lore.

When a woman's daugther dies in a canoeing accident, and her body is never recovers, she continues to see her daughter from time to time.  Is it just that she refuses to accept her death?  Or is Marcy's daughter really still alive?  It's Joy Fielding's Now You See Her.

Everyone's favorite bakery owner/sleuth returns in the latest Hannah Swensen mystery, Devil's Food Cake Murder by Joanne Fluke.  When a visiting minister is found face down in a plate of devil's food cake with a bullet in his head, Hannah's investigation reveals that the dead preacher wasn't what he appeared.

Judith Jance sets her latest mystery, Fatal Error, in Yavapai County, Arizona, where a murder leaves a trail of broken hearts and many suspects.  Ali Reynolds, media relations officer for the Yavapai Sheriff's Dept., tries to prove a close friend is innocent, only to put herself in a killer's path.

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund should be popular with readers who appreciate Scandinavian crime fiction.  Crime reporter Annika Bengtzon investigates when a journalist is murdered in a northern Swedish town, suspecting the death is linked to an attack on a n isolated air base. 

Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child finds Gideon handling his first assignment as a rogue operative, finding a Chinese scientist to steal the plans he's carrying for a new weapon of mass destruction.

J.D. Robb's Treachery in Death turns into an investigation of dirty cops, possibly guilty of corruption and murder.  It's up to Det. Eve Dallas, her partner, Peabody, and Eve's husband, Roarke, to prove it.

On Borrowed Time is David Rosenfelt's latest crime novel.  When Richard and his fiancee, Jennifer, are involved in a wreck, he's knocked unconscious, and she disappears.  But, not only is she gone, her existence can't be confirmed by the police or anyone in Richard's life.

Charlie Fox returns in Zoë Sharp's new thriller, Fourth Day.  Five years earlier, Thomas went inside a cult to gather evidence that its leader, Randall Bane, was responsible for his son's death.  When Charlie and her partner, Sean, go to get him out, they discover Thomas might not want to leave, and Randall easily pinpoints Charlie's weaknesses.

In Though Not Dead by Diana Stabenow, Kate Shugak inherits her uncle's estate, along with a letter saying, "Find my father."  Easier said than done, and within three days, Kate has been shot at, hit on the head, and run off the road.

Randy Wayne White's latest is Night Vision.  The manager of a trailer park, working for the syndicate, will do whatever he's told to develop the park.  When a teen girl sees him kill someone, her only hope for survival is Doc Ford.

I'll wrap up this list of forthcoming novels with a few debut novels.  Maybe one of these authors will become the next author whose books are anxiously awaited.  Good luck to all of them!

In Sara J. Henry's Learning to Swim, Troy Chance jumped in to save a boy she  saw thrown into Lake Champlain from the rear of a ferry.  Then she learned he had been kidnapped, and was part of a bizarre, bloody plot.

Darynda Jones' debut novel is First Grave on the Right.  Charley sees dead people, and sometimes helps them go into the light.  She can even handle the murder victims who want Charley to bring their killers to justice before they move on.  But, what about the Entity who has followed Charley all her life?

I mentioned Michael David Lukas' novel, The Oracle of Stamboul, when I discussed possible books for book clubs.  Elenora Cohen's birth in 1877 fulfills a prophecy by a former king of the Ottoman empire.  She would grow up to charm a sultan and change the course of an empire's history.

One Rough Man is Brad Taylor's first Pike Logan thriller.  The unit called Taskforce was essential, but illegal.  They had been commissioned at the highest level of the U.S. government, and built around top operators from various intelligence and Special Forces' agencies.  Pike Logan was the most successful operator in this unit, until a personal tragedy changed his outlook.  Now, he must avert an attack planned by two men who controlled a powerful weapon.

February promises cozy mysteries, thrillers, and some interesting debuts.  I hope you find a book or two here to entice you.  What are you waiting to read?  Let me know, and let me know what I missed.  Happy Reading!

January Treasures in My Closet and Hot Titles

December is so crowded with books and contests that the listing of January's forthcoming books is a day late.  But, I promise an enticing list of January releases, starting with the treasures in my closet.

Frozen Assets marks the launch of a new mystery series by Quentin Bahes.  Set in the small fishing village of Hvalvik, Iceland, it follows Gunna Gunnhildur as she investigates a murder, while a rookie crime beat journalist follows Gunna.

Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter, brings us The Lake of Dreams, the story of a woman who returns home to upstate New York only to discovery a collection of heirlooms that reveals a new family history.

What librarian would be able to resist Katie Fforde's new romantic comedy, Love Letters?  While helping to organize a literary festival, Laura is sent to Ireland to persuade a reclusive author to come out of hiding.  The blurb calls this, "An irresistible tale of love and literature and the quest for a happy ending." 

In Falling More Slowly, Peter Helton introduces Detective Inspector Liam McLusky, freshly transferred to Bristol after an injury.  He has no time to settle in before catching a case in which explosive devices disguises as everyday objects are being left across Bristol, maiming or killing people.  He has to find out a killer, while also navigating internal politics in his new job.

The Poison Tree is a psychological thriller by Erin Kelly.  This debut alternates between the present and past as it tells the story of a summer in the 1990s when sex, alcohol, and excess turned deadly.

Michael Koryta brings us another supernatural thriller, The Cypress House.  Mix together a man who sees death coming in the a trace of smoke in people's eyes, a hurricane, and relentless suspense.  When Arlen Wagner tries to warn fellow passengers on a train, only one person believes him, and they abandon the train.  Their journey strands them at the Cypress House, an isolated boardinghouse, directly in the path of a hurricane, and something even deadlier.

It's hard to resist a book that includes the quote, "Books are not luxuries.  They are meat and drink for the mind."  Andrew Taylor's The Anatomy of Ghosts takes readers back to England in 1786.  John Holdsworth, a bookseller and novelist, is offered a commission to catalogue an extensive library, but first he must find Lady Anne Oldershaw's son, Frank, committed to a home for the mentally unstable after claiming he saw a ghost.  As Holdsworth investigates, he's drawn deep into the secretive Cambridge community in this suspenseful thriller.

Inspector Ian Rutledge returns in Charles Todd's A Lonely Death.  Three men were murdered in a Sussex village, and Scotland Yard is called in.  All three were soldiers who survived World War I, only to be garroted in a small town two years later.  Before Rutledge can even investigate, a fourth man ends up dead.

Jill Paton Walsh brings back Dorothy L. Sayers' characters, Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane in The Attenbury Emeralds.  In 1921, Lord Peter Wimsey recovered the Attenbury Emeralds, launching his detective career.  Thirty years later, Attenbury's grandson asks for help in a new mystery surround the family's emeralds.

If those treasures in my closet haven't enticed you, maybe a few of these other forthcoming books will.  How about the charming cover of Blaize Clement's Cat Sitter Among the Pigeons?  Dixie Hemingway's latest cat sitting job finds her dealing with con artists who aren't afraid to kill.  But, those con artists are movers and shakers in Dixie's town.

Joe Pike and Elvis Cole are drawn into a dangerous case in Robert Crais' The Sentry.  Their investigation reveal two people who fled from Hurricane Katrina aren't who they seem to be, and a vengeful force from their past is catching up with them. 

My review of Lisa Genova's Left Neglected appeared earlier this month, but the book actually comes out in January.  A woman's life is changed forever following an accident that leaves her with a brain injury called Left Neglect.

Following an ambush in Afghanistan, Sean Dillon is charged with discovering if an American or allies were responsible for the massacre in Jack Higgins' The Judas Gate.

The Amlingmeyer boys, "Big Red" and "Old Red," are in Chicago in 1893 to compete with some of the world's most famous detectives at the World's Columbian Exposition.  But the competition has just started when a murder occurs, and the boys investigate in Steve Hockensmith's World's Greatest Sleuth.

In Alice Hoffman's The Red Garden, a mysterious garden where only red plants grow is at the center of lives in the town of Blackwell.  The truth can be found in that garden by those who dare to look.

Unwritten Laws is Greg Iles' new thriller.  Penn Cage's father has been accused of murder, and every time Penn tries to do something to defend him, shocking secrets are revealed, leaving Penn to question whether he really knew his father at all.

In John Lescroart's Damage, the conviction of the Curtlee family heir changed a detective's life forever.  Now, he's been released following a new trial, and tragedies begin to happen to others who were involved in his conviction. 

Brad Meltzer takes readers into hidden history in The Inner Circle.  When an archivist tries to impress a woman, taking her into a secret vault where the President of the U.S. reviews classified documents, they find trouble when they discover a hidden 200-year-old dictionary that once belonged to Washington. 

When an ATF agent, working undercover, stops communicating with everyone except his wife, Charlie Hood wonders if he's gone deeper undercover, or if he's suffered a break with his mission in T. Jefferson Parker's The Border Lords.

Does anyone doubt that James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge will have another bestseller with Tick Tock?  Detective Michael Bennett is called to investigate when a bomb in New York proves to be a deadly warning.

Here's a book that might not be on your radar, but I'm looking forward to it.  Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's U.S. debut is The Storyteller of Marrakesh.  Each year, Hassan gathers people in the city square to share recollections of a young foreign couple that disappeared years earlier.  Are people sharing in a storytelling ritual or covering up a crime?

Clara and Mr. Tiffany is Susan Vreeland's latest historical novel.  It's the story of Clara Driscoll, head of Louis Comfort Tiffany's women's division, who came up with the idea for the Tiffany lamp, and brought the company financial success. 

Deborah Rodriguez, who brought us Kabul Beauty School, has her first novel, A Cup of Friendship.  Sunny, an American living in Kabul, runs a coffee shop, where she hears so many stories.  But, she gets caught up in the life of a young woman from a remote village who was kidnapped and left pregnant and alone on the city streets. 

So, what did I miss that you're planning to read in January?  What entices you on this list?  It might still be December, but January promises to kick off 2011 with great books.

October's Hot Book Titles

Someone complained that the books for September weren't exciting.  They definitely can't say that about October's book releases.  There's a slew of enticing titles that month.  Place your holds at the library now, or order them from your favorite bookstore.

Kick off the list with a favorite author, Jim Butcher.  Side Jobs collects for the first time shorter works by Butcher about the adventures and cases of Harry Dresden and his allies.  I'm always ready for another story about the only wizard in the Chicago Yellow Pages.

Have you discovered Kathryn Casey?  The Killing Storm brings back Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong.  As a hurricane looms in the Gulf, Armstrong looks for a missing child whose mother's odd reaction leads some to wonder if she wasn't involved in his disappearance.  Realistically, Armstrong juggles two cases at the same time.

Everyone's favorite, Jack Reacher, returns in Lee Child's Worth Dying For.  He's on the wrong side of a local clan that has terrified an entire Nebraska county, but he's staying.  He's there to solve a decades-old missing child case.

In Michael Connelly's The Reversal, defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to serve as a prosecutor for a high-profile retrial of a child killer.  Haller agrees, providing he gets LAPD Detective Harry Bosch as his investigator.

Word on the street is that Tom Franklin's Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter is hot.  It's the story of a white man, Larry, and his black childhood friend, Silas.  Torn apart as young men, when Larry was suspected in the disappearance of a young girl, twenty years later, when another girl disappears, Silas must investigate.

I know this is my own personal weakness. I can never remember which is which, Nicholas Evans and Richard Paul Evans, although the second one tends to write more Christmas stories.  It doesn't help that they both have novels out at the same time.  Nicholas Evans' is The Brave.  In Montana, Tom lives alone, estranged from his son Danny, now serving in Iraq.  But, when Danny is charged with murder his father will fight to save him.   Richard Paul Evans' brings another Christmas story of hope, love, and faith, Promise Me.

In American Assassin, Vince Flynn tells the story of a college student recruited into the CIA.  But, before becoming a CIA super-agent, Mitch Rapp trained for his first assassination mission - to kill the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am flight 103 attack, a tragedy that's personal for Rapp.

Inspired by John Grisham's The Innocent Man, a nonfiction book about a man who spent eleven years on Death Row before DNA proved him innocent, Grisham's novel, The Confession imagines the real killer's thoughts as he watched an innocent person arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for a crime he committed.

Carolyn Hart's ghost, Bailey, faces her toughest case yet in Ghost in Trouble.  On behalf of Heaven's Department of Good Intentions, she has to manage a recalcitrant charge, a fraudulent medium, a mother's heartbreak, ,and old passions.

It's been a few years since Jan Karon had a book out.  In the Company of Others is a Father Tim novel.   He and Cynthia travel to Ireland to do genealogical research.  While staying at the Conor family's country lodge, they find themselves in the middle of a mystery involving family secrets.

In John Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor, Russian money launderer, Dina, agrees to become an informant in exchange for a safe house in England, after one of his closest colleagues is assassinated.

Djibouti is Elmore Leonard's new book, the story of a documentary film maker who heads to Djibouti to cover a story on modern-day pirates.  Once they start filming, they find more than they bargained for.

Sharon McCone is recovering from a gunshot wound to the head in  Marcia Muller's Coming Back.   She's feeling especially useless when her friend from physical therapy goes missing, and she has to depend on her friends and co-workers to help her solve the disappearance.  The investigation soon proves to be the most dangerous case she's ever worked on.

It's sad to think of Painted Ladies as the last Spenser novel by Robert B. Parker.  Spenser is hired to act as a bodyguard during a ransom exchange, but the ransom money is taken as Spenser fails to protect his client.  The painting held for ransom is still gone, but now Spenser is personally motivated to investigate the true story.

Here's the October debut novel I want to read, Todd Ritter's Death Notice.  Here's the description.  "Perry Hollow, Pa., has never had a murder while Kat Campbell has been sheriff.  Everyone's shocked when the body of farmer Winnick is found in a homemade coffin.  Even more frightening is that the obit writer for the local newspaper got advance notice of the man's death, and they learn that Winnick isn't the killer's first victim."

In Greg Rucka's The Last Run, Tara Chace wants out of the Special Section. Then word is received that the nephew of the late Ayatollah wants to defect, and Chace is pulled back into service as part of the extraction team.

And, the nonfiction title I'm looking forward to reading is Lisa Scottoline's My Nest Isn't Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space, written with her daughter Francesca Scottoline Serritella.  It's another collection of true life stories in which the authors spill their family secrets.

Connie Willis' All Clear picks up where the previous book, Blackout, left off.  Three young historians from the year 2060 travel back in time to Great Britain during WWII.

Are you waiting for Christmas books?  Lisa Kleypas' is Christmas Eve at Friday Harbor.  Friends and family begin matchmaking when Halle

Anne Perry's annual Christmas book is A Christmas Odyssey.  As Christmas approaches, Henry Rathbone and his friends search pubs, brothels and opium dens to find a missing son.

Donna VanLiere tells the story of the 80-mile journey of a carpenter and a peasant girl to a barn where she gives birth to a child, in her book The Christmas Journey.

The Mischief of the Mistletoe is Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation Christmas book.  Her friend, Jane Austen, warned Arabella about becoming a teacher.  But, she doesn't anticipate trouble when she accepts a position at Miss Clemson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies.  But, it's exactly what she finds when she accepts a cryptic note in French.

(Oh, and I think October's book color is blue.)

So, between the Book Treasures in My Closet, and the hot titles for October, what did I miss?  What books are you anticipating for October?

September's Hot Titles

September seems so far away to be talking about book releases that month, but it will be here before we know it.  You'll want to order your books now from your favorite bookstore or public library.  So, here are some titles that may be hot next month.

As a former Ohio resident, I find Lisa Black's Trail of Blood intriguing.  In the 1930s, a madman nicknamed the Torso Killer terrorized Cleveland.  Now, forensic scientist MacLean recognizes the pattern with a body, and launches an investigation.

 In Rhys Bowen's latest Royal Spyness book, Royal Blood, Lady Georgiana represents the royal family at a wedding in Transylvania, and has to try to save the festivities when she finds the bride with blood running down her chin, and a wedding guest poisoned.

Fans of the TV series, Castle,  might be waiting for the sequel to Heat Wave by Richard Castle.  Naked Heat continues the story of NYPD homicide detective, Nikki Heat, who along with reporter Jameson Rook, tracks a killer, while trading insults and innuendos.

Margaret Coel's Wind River Reservation series is one of my favorites.  In The Spider's Web, attorney Vicki Holden believes a woman is innocent of killing her boyfriend, an Arapaho, and sets out to prove it, finding herself on the opposite side of the investigation from Father O'Malley.


I gave up on Janet Evanovich, and haven't read Sizzlin' Sixteen.  But, she has a new Diesel novel due out in September, Wicked Appetite.  Diesel partners with a pastry chef in historic Salem as he looks for a collection of priceless relics representing the Seven Deadly Sins.

Ken Follett kicks off his new Century Trilogy with the first book, Fall of Giants.  The book follows the fates of five families, American, German, Russian, English and Welsh as they move through the early twentieth century, through World War I, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's rights.


Vermilion Drift is William Kent Krueger's latest Cork O'Connor mystery.  Cork is hired to head security at the Vermilion One Mine, but, on his first day on the job, he finds a secret room with six murder victims inside, who appear to have been there for decades.

Jeffry Lindsay brings back Dexter in Dexter is Delicious.  The serial killer who only kills bad people investigates the disappearance of a teenage girl who's been keeping company with a group of Goths who call themselves vampires.  His investigation reveals something worse.

So, are you ready for the first Christmas book of the year?  Debbie Macomber's Call Me Mrs. Miracle allows Mrs. Miracle to play matchmaker while she's working in the toy department of a family-run store in New York City.  She meets a woman who she thinks would be a perfect match for the store owner's son.

This time, James Patterson teams up with Hoard Roughan for Don't Blink.  Reporter Nick Daniels didn't realize he had accidentally captured a key piece of evidence when a mob lawyer was killed while dining at Lombardo's Steak House.  He probably shouldn't have started his own investigation.

I've been waiting for Louise Penny's Bury Your Dead.  It might be Winter Carnival time in Quebec City, but it's no vacation for Chief Inspector Gamache.  He's recovering from an investigation gone wrong in Three Pines.  But, before there's trouble between the English and the French, he has to offer his help when a historian's search for the remains of the founder of Quebec ends in murder.

Chet (the dog) and his owner, Bernie, end up dealing with people involved in the illegal international trade of exotic animals when the take on the case of a missing circus elephant and its trainer.  It's Spencer Quinn's To Fetch a Thief.

Lydia Chin has been kidnapped in S.J. Rozan's On the Line, and it's up to her occasional partner Bill Smith to follow a wild goose chase while he uncovers the kidnapper's identity.

Nicholas Sparks brings us Safe Haven.  One of Audrey's cherished memories is of the summer she and a best friend spent in Italy.  Renee fell in love with a local boy, but ended the affair to go home, marry and have a family.  Now, Audrey's dying, and Renee finds a surprise when she goes to see her friend.

In Stuart Woods' Santa Fe Edge, attorney Ed Eagle has a client connected to his past, one that could put Ed in danger.

And, I'll end the September hot titles with two debut novels that have potential.  Toby Ball's The Vaults uncovers a radical program called The Navajo Project.  Three men join together to expose this radical program for punishing murderers, but a group of wealthy businessmen and a corrupt mayor don't want the secret uncovered.


The Damage Done is Hilary Davidson's debut novel.  Lily fled to Spain to escape her drug-addicted younger sister, Claudia, but returned to New York when Claudia is found dead in her bathtub.  But, Lily discovers the woman in the morgue isn't Claudia, and her sister has disappeared.

Did you find any books that excite you?  Am I missing a title you're waiting for in September?  Let me know!