Saturday, September 01, 2012

September 2012 New Mystery Releases!

I can already see (and feel) that summer is beginning to pack its bags and head south for the winter, but I'm going to continue reading in my favorite spot in the pool for as long as I can. I figure I can get a few books from this month's list read before the water's too cold!

It was murder trying to prune the list down to a manageable size; I hate leaving anyone out! There are some excellent books in store for us in September, and (after grouping them by release dates) I've included all the information you'll need to find them at your favorite book spots. Hopefully, I've chosen a title or two that tickles your fancy. Which of these are on your own wish lists?

=== September 1 ===

Title: Watching the Ghosts
Author: Kate Ellis
Series: #4 in the Joe Plantagenet series set in present-day North Yorkshire, England
ISBN: 9781780290270
Publisher: Creme de la Crime
Hardcover, 240 pages

Synopsis: "DI Joe Plantagenet investigates a house with a disturbing past in the fourth of this popular police procedural series. Boothgate House has a sinister past. Once an asylum for the insane, serial killer Peter Brockmeister was sent there on his release from prison in 1978. Three years later, it closed, and Brockmeister died in mysterious circumstances. Solicitor Melanie Hawkes is investigating the suspicious events when her young daughter is kidnapped. Meanwhile, Boothgate House resident Lydia Brookes is burgled. And why is a paranormal researcher fascinated by the building’s basement? As Joe uncovers the appalling truth, he faces an evil that threatens those closest to him – and puts his own life in jeopardy."

=== September 4 ===

Title: Wall-to-Wall Dead
Series: #6 in the Do It Yourself Home Renovation series set in Maine
ISBN: 9780425255568
Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime
Mass Market Paperback, 304 pages

Synopsis: "Avery Baker never thought she’d leave Manhattan, until she inherited her aunt’s old Maine cottage and found her true calling—home renovation. But when Avery goes to work restoring a condominium, she discovers it’s another condo owner who’s been condemned... 

Avery and her partner, Derek, are fixing up a cute little condo in homey Waterfield, Maine, hoping for a quick turnaround and some extra money. It seems like a simple project—and Avery is looking forward to using her big-city experience with small spaces.

But they didn’t expect to have their every move watched by the resident busybody in the condo, Hilda Shaw, who loves snooping on everyone’s comings and goings. When the busybody becomes a dead body, Avery suspects foul play. Soon she’s doing some snooping of her own—and it seems everyone in the complex has a secret. Could one of them be worth killing for? Avery needs to work fast, before someone decides to fix her...for good.

Title: Last Wool and Testament
Author: Molly MacRae
Series: #1 in the Haunted Yarn Shop series set in Tennessee
ISBN: 9780451237828
Publisher: Signet
Mass Market Paperback, 352 pages

Synopsis: "Molly MacRae spent twenty years in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Upper East Tennessee, where she managed the Book Place, an independent bookstore; may it rest in peace. Before the lure of books hooked her, she was curator of the history museum in Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest town. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine for more than twenty years, and she has won the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction. MacRae lives with her family in Champaign, Illinois, where she connects children with books at the public library.

Coming in September 2012 - Last Wool and Testament, first in a new, light paranormal, mystery series from Signet starring Kath Rutledge, a textile preservationist, who inherits her grandmother's wool shop in Blue Plum, Tennessee, and also ends up with a depressed ghost on her hands. Think of it as the series that puts the woo-woo in wool.

Title: Face of the Enemy
Series: #1 in the New York in Wartime series set in New York City during World War II
ISBN: 9781464200311
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 250 pages

Synopsis: "December, 1941: With New Yorkers painfully aware of their vulnerability after the Pearl Harbor attack, the FBI prowls the city snatching up Japanese residents. Tension increases for a sensitive Japanese artist when she’s accused of murder as well as espionage. Is Masako Fumi guilty? Or a victim of racial paranoia? Nurse Louise Hunter is outraged and vows to help her friend.



Title: The Other Woman
Series: #1 in the Jane Ryland series set in Boston
ISBN: 9780765332578
Publisher: Forge Books
Hardcover, 416 pages


Detective Jake Brogan is investigating a possible serial killer. Twice, bodies of unidentified women have been found by a bridge, and Jake is plagued by a media swarm beginning to buzz about a 'bridge killer' hunting the young women of Boston. 


Title: More Than Sorrow
Author: Vicki Delany
ISBN: 9781590589854
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Hardcover, 250 pages

Synopsis: "Once, Hannah Manning was an internationally-renowned journalist and war correspondent. Today, she’s a woman suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Haunted by her memories, Hannah goes to her sister’s small-scale vegetable farm in Prince Edward County, Ontario to recover and spend time with her ten-year-old niece, Lily.

Hannah retreats into the attic full of boxes and moldy letters that have accumulated for more than two centuries. As she reads about the original settlers of this land, she is increasingly drawn to the space beneath the old house.

More than carrots, potatoes, soups and jams are down in the dark, damp root cellar. Hannah experiences visions of a woman emerging from the icy cold mist. Is the woman real?


Title: Seven Days
Author: Deon Meyer
Series: #3 in the Benny Griessel series set in Capetown, South Africa
ISBN: 9780802120359
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "A police officer is shot dead. The next day, one of his colleagues is as well. Then the South African police receive an email threatening an additional cop killed each day until a cold case is solved. Inspector Benny Griessel is charged with reopening the file on the murder of Hanneke Sloet, an ambitious lawyer stabbed to death in her luxury apartment. There’s no apparent motive and no leads, just a set of nude photographs and a burly ex-boyfriend with a rock-solid alibi. Then more policemen are shot and the pressure mounts. Can Bennie solve the case and stay sober?

Featuring the fantastic characters from Deon Meyer’s Thirteen Hours, which won the Barry Award for Best Thriller in 2011, Seven Days is another gripping adventure from a masterful writer at the top of his game.

=== September 5 ===

Title: A Door in the River
Author: Inger Ash Wolfe
Series: #3 in the Hazel Micallef series set in Ontario, Canada
ISBN: 9781605984209
Publisher: Pegasus
Hardcover, 288 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books*

Synopsis: "Stinging deaths aren't uncommon in the summertime, but when Henry Wiest turns up stung to death at an Indian reservation, Detective Hazel Micallef senses not all is as it seems.  And when it turns out the 'bee' was a diabolical teenaged girl on a murder spree with a strange weapon, a dark and twisted crime begins to slowly emerge.  The questions, contradictions, and bodies begin to mount, as two separate police forces struggle to work together to save the soul of Westmuir County."

=== September 8 ===

Title: Hide and Snoop
Series: #7 in the Odelia Grey series set in southern California
ISBN: 9780738718897
Publisher: Midnight Ink
Paperback, 288 pages

Synopsis: "A merger at Odelia Grey’s law firm has put her job in jeopardy, and her new icy-cold boss, Erica Mayfield, has it in for her. The humiliation doubles when Erica dumps her three-year-old niece with Odelia and disappears for the weekend. The nerve! Primed for a confrontation, Odelia impulsively goes to her boss’s house in the middle of the night—and finds Erica’s sister murdered. Before she knows it, Odelia’s madcap misadventure to prove her own innocence ends up in a cuddly cradle of crime."

=== September 18 ===

Title: Lucky Stuff
Series: #8 in the Jane Wheel series set in Illinois
ISBN: 9780312643034
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Hardcover, 320 pages

Synopsis: "Officially divorced, antiques picker and private investigator Jane Wheel finally faces the reality that she needs to sell her house, which means clearing out her extensive—and beloved—antique collection. While it’s a daunting task, the preemptive move proves worthwhile when her house sells in one day. Finding herself suddenly homeless, Jane heads to her hometown, Kankakee, Illinois, to find that it, too, has been turned upside down.

Lucky Miller, a little-known comedian, is staging what he calls a comeback. It’s all part of his plan to break into showbiz by making it seem like he’s always been a big name. Suspicious of what Lucky’s trying to prove and why he’s chosen to prove it in Kankakee, Jane’s mother, Nellie, hires Jane to investigate. But why does Nellie care? Lucky would sure like to know, so he, too, calls on Jane to find out. Still, Nellie may be the least of his problems when a driver on his crew turns up dead hours after claiming that Lucky tried to kill him.

=== September 25 ===

Title: Murder in the Rue Dumas
Series: #2 in the Verlaque and Bonnet series set in Aix-en-Provence, France
ISBN: 9780143121541 
Publisher: Penguin Books
Paperback, 304 pages


With Marine’s help—and that of her plucky mother—Verlaque uncovers a world that proves more complicated than university politics, and doing his best to keep his love life with Marine above water.

Title: Talking to the Dead
Series: #1 in the Fiona Griffiths series set in Wales
ISBN: 9780345533739
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Hardcover, 352 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books*




Title: A Lack of Temperance
Series: #1 in the Hattie Davish historical series set in Arkansas
ISBN: 9780758276346
Publisher: Kensington
Paperback, 304 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books*

Synopsis: "Have typewriter will travel...and track down dead bodies. Not the usual motto for a Victorian private secretary and certainly not what Miss Hattie Davish has in mind when she responds to the latest summons for her services.  On the eve of the 1892 Election, Hattie arrives in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, a booming health spa and vacation resort, hoping to hike the hills, botanize and placate the demands of her newest high-society employer.  Yet her employer is missing, and this idyllic Ozark village is being plagued by a league of temperance women attacking saloons with hatchets and bricks, a city council candidate fighting in the streets and a trail of cryptic death threats.  With her reputation and life on the line, Hattie will put more than her trusty typewriter to the test."

Title: Big Maria
Author: Johnny Shaw
ISBN: 9781612184395
Publisher: Thomas and Mercer
Paperback,384 pages

*Upcoming review on Kittling: Books*



Unfortunately a meth-dealing biker wants a piece, a trigger-happy AWOL soldier wants to play chicken in a live minefield, two stubborn burros want to go home, a starving mountain lion wants his dinner, and the US Army wants to rain on our heroes’ parade with real bombs.

When you’re all out of crazy ideas, you’ve got to try the stupid ones."

So... how'd it go? Did you add as many books to your wish list as I did to mine? Which ones in particular are you looking forward to? Inquiring minds want to know!


  1. Well, what a wonderful list! They all appeal but especially Last Wool and Testament and A Lack of Temperance. Will jot those down on my 'find' list.

    1. That line about putting the woo-woo in wool has stuck with me!

  2. Cathy - Wow, what a list of great releases! I want the Meyer and the Delany in particular; my mouth's watering already. I don't think I'm going to tell my credit card company about this, though... ;-)

  3. I won a set of Deon Meyer books the other day so I'm really looking forward to reading them!

  4. I've been reading a few mysteries set in South Africa and this new one looks very good! Enjoy all your books!

  5. Fantastic list! I simply must try the "series that puts the woo-woo in wool." LOL and Jane Wheel and A Lack of Temperance and........

    1. I've been with Jane Wheel since the beginning. I love her books!

  6. Too many books, too little time--and besides it's football season. Can't decide whether I want to run out and read all these or start writing one of my own!

