Reading right now:

            “In Bitter Chill” by Sarah Ward. Like many crime novels, Ward’s debut is all about secrets and lies in a small town. After two children (Rachel Jones and Sophie Jenkins) were kidnapped in 1978, Sophie is never seen again. Over thirty years later, Sophie’s Mother is found dead which brings the old kidnapping back into the limelight. Two local detectives are assigned the job of reopening the case to see if modern police methods can bring to light any new leads. When a teacher from Rachel’s past is also found dead, the door opens to the past letting in new dangers and fear. 

                       

On hold right now:

            “Dark Reservations” by John Fortunato. This debut novel won the Tony Hillerman Prize before it was even published. It’s gotten rave reviews and centers on Joe Evers who is a Special Agent for the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Southwest Navajo territory. Evers is mourning his wife’s death and bungled his last investigation, but he is given another chance. Teamed up with Navajo Tribal Officer Randal Bluehorse, they are charged with investigating the case of Congressman Arden Edgerton who disappeared 20 years ago, but whose bullet riddled car has recently reappeared on the reservation. 

Other mysterious things:

            Debut novels are full of possibility. Each time I pick one up, I’m hoping to find another David Baldacci. Hoping to find an author that I will love and want to read for the next 20 or 30 years or even longer. Each month new authors debut into the mystery genre field, each hoping to be around for a very long time. In October, Annie Dalton adds “The White Shepherd” to the list of hopefuls. Dalton’s serial killer novel is set in Oxford and while it isn’t her first book (since she is known for Young Adult novels), it is the first in the new Anna Hopkins’ dogwalking mystery series. Nonfiction author Meera Lester is branching out into the cozy mystery field with “A Beeline to Murder.” After an injury sidelines her career as a police officer, Abby Mackenzie decides to become a farmer. After finding a local pastry chef dead, Abby is recruited by the dead man’s brother to try to find out if what the police are calling a suicide is really a murder. Ava Marsh’s “Untouchable” features a high-class escort named Stella who investigates a fellow call girl’s death when the police aren’t interested. In Robert L. Palmer’s “The Survivors,” Psychologist Cal Henderson faces the horror of his childhood by trying to prove that his mother didn’t murder his father and two brothers and wound his childhood friend 25 years ago. Lisa Sandlin’s “The Do-Right” is her first full length novel and features Delpha Wade who went to prison for killing one of the men who raped her. After her release in 1973, she takes a job in Beaumont, Texas, as a secretary in a detective agency which is just the start to a new life—a life full of danger, excitement, and friendship. “We Dream of Water” by Srdjan Smajic takes place after Katrina destroys Jimmy Petrovich’s life until Jimmy’s given new hope when writer Ron Dan offers Jimmy a job. Jimmy’s new job is to find out all the secrets of a legendary saxophone player so that Ron Dan can expose all those secrets. Edgar Award winner for best first novel “Murder at the Brightwell” by Ashley Weaver is an historical mystery set in 1930s London,