With “The Art of Racing in the Rain” coming out as a movie, we are all reminded of the importance of dogs in our lives and more and more in our reading. Cats have played a large part in several mystery series and now dogs are showing up as important characters in books.

Reading right now:

Alex Kava’s fifth book in the Ryder Creed series just came out. “Desperate Creed” continues the story of Creed’s work with K-9 rescue dogs. While Creed searches for survivors in storm torn Alabama, his partner, Hannah Washington, receives a call from a desperate friend who witnessed a murder and is running for her life. Unfortunately for her she runs into the storm and finds even more danger.

On hold right now:

“The Dog Who Knew Too Much” by Krista Davis is the sixth book in the Paws and Claws series. Holly Miller and her Jack Russell terrier run an inn in dog friendly Wagtail, Virginia and sometimes solve murders.

Margaret Mizushima’s Timber Creek K-9 series continues with the fifth book in the series “Tracking Game.” Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, work together in Timber Creek, Colorado to solve two murders in her latest novel.

Laurien Berenson 24^th novel in her Melanie Travis series is “Here Comes Santa Paws.” Poodles abound in Berenson’s novels, as does murder.

If there is a corgi in your life, you will love Mildred Abbott’s series called the Cozy Corgi mysteries. “Meddlesome Money” is the 13^th book in the series. 

Other Mysterious Things:

One of my favorite fabulously funny and entertaining mystery series is David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter series. Andy Carpenter loves dogs and spends more time with his dog than on cases. “Bark of the Night” just came out in July and “Dachshund Through the Snow” comes out in October. In March of next year, Rosenfelt is introducing a new series which is a spin off featuring Andy’s wife who is a former cop. Laurie Carpenter plans to open an investigation firm with her former police partner and his German shepherd K-9 partner. 

As the years pass, authors that wrote huge bestsellers fall by the wayside. Some sadly die and sometimes readers just get tired of an author. Fighting to stay on top has to be a constant battle. It is impressive when an author continues year after year to have readers watch anxiously for their next book to come out and make them big bestsellers. You never know when an author is going to break through and be the next big thing. David Baldacci is one of those authors that continues to stay on top of the game while writing books for adults, children, and young adults. His latest book came out in July and was a stand alone novel (“One Good Deed”). The second book in his FBI agent Altee Pine series appears in November. Other bestselling authors with new books out this month include: Sandra Browns’ “Outfox,” James Patterson’s “The Inn,” CJ Box’s “Bitterroots,” Robert Crais’ “The Dangerous Man,” and Stuart Woods’ “Contraband.” So who are the new bestselling authors whose names may not be so familiar? Here are some ideas.

Reading right now:

Ruth Ware’s “The Turn of the Key” is this English author’s fifth psychological twisty mystery. My suggestion regarding her books is don’t read them while you are home alone. Her latest revolves around a nanny who is accused of murdering her young charge. What seemed like the perfect job, becomes the perfect nightmare.

On hold right now:

JP Delaney’s third book is “The Perfect Wife.” A wife wakes up five years after a terrible accident almost takes her life. She remembers nothing least of all her husband. Somehow she doubts that the story he tells about their life together is the truth.

R.H. Herron’s debut novel “Stolen Things” looks like it could be huge. This unique novel revolves around a 911 police dispatcher who one day takes a call from her daughter who has been drugged and left in the home of a pro football player with the body of his trainer who was beaten to death. In trying to uncover the truth, this headstrong mother uncovers shocking truths about her teenage daughter and the police department she calls home.

Don’t miss Shari Lapena’s latest called “Someone We Know.” This is her sixth novel and does a great job in representing the psychological thriller. One reviewer called this trend in mystery novels “suburban paranoia” which is a perfect description of a popular sub-genre of mystery novels which revolves around home, family, and shady neighbors. I love the basis of this novel which centers around a teenager breaking into his neighbor’s homes stealing their secrets which results in murder.

Other Mysterious Things:

“The Silent Patient” by Alex Michaelides came out of nowhere in February to be a huge first novel. Once more it’s a psychological thriller and if you haven’t read it yet, you should. It’s about a famous artist who kills her husband and refuses to speak for five years. A forensic psychotherapist is assigned to dig into the case to uncover the shocking truth behind the murder.

It is frustrating to read a great book and have to wait for the author to write their next book, especially if it is a series. Certain authors put out a new book every year and some write even faster. Unfortunately, there are those authors who take years between novels. Over the next few months, several authors that you may have read years ago have finally completed another book.

Reading right now:

Award winning author, Lisa Sandlin wrote the first book in her Delpha Wade series “The Do-Right” in 2015. Four years later, the second book in her series is finally making an appearance. After getting out of prison for killing one of the men who tried to rape her, Delpha Wade’s job choices were few until she got a job with PI Tom Phelan. The second novel, “The Bird Boys,” continues their partnership.

On hold right now:

“Wall Street Heat” by Phillip Jennings once more launches CIA agents Gerard Finnegan Gearheardt and Jack Armstrong back out into the world of international spies. In 2005 and 2007, Jennings wrote two books in his Gearheardt and Armstrong series. Finally, after 12 years, Jennings has added a new book to this series called “Wall Street Heat.” These are not really mysteries, but are definitely thrillers with a twist. The books are insanely comic and the first book (“Nam-a-Rama”) which took place in Vietnam was called a “combination of Catch 22 and Apocalypse Now.” The second book had our heroes messing with Cuban/Mexican relations in “Goodbye Mexico.” If you’re a little crazy and want to try something unusual, these books are for you.

Rene Denfeld has taken only two years to write the second in her Naomi Cottle series, but two years seems a long time when you are waiting for a new favorite. Denfeld’s first book introduced a fascinating woman who finds missing children when the police have given up the search called “The Child Finder.” The second “The Butterfly Girl” continues her search for those who need her the most.

John Galligan’s fly fishing mystery series ended in 2011 and eight years later he has finally written another book called “Bad Axe County.” This could easily be a start to a new series about the first female sheriff in rural Bad Axe County, Wisconsin, taking over as sheriff to find the job takes her places she never anticipated going including closer to finding out about the death of her parents over twenty years ago. Hopefully it won’t take him another eight years to write the next book.

Kerry Greenwood may be best known for her 1920s series featuring Phryne Fisher. I wish I could say that she is adding to that series with a new book, but that’s not to be. What she has added to is her Corinna Chapman series with “The Spotted Dog” being the seventh in the series. The last in the series was “Cooking the Books” which came out eight years ago. After eight years, it may be hard to pick up the character again and remember what happened before. But knowing Greenwood’s books, it is probably worth it.

Other Mysterious Things:

Michael Crichton has been dead since 2008, but like many authors these days that isn’t stopping him from continuing to write. In 1969, Crichton made a tremendous splash with “The Andromeda Strain” and now, 50 years later, comes a sequel to that technothriller called “The Andromeda Evolution.” Crichton and Daniel H. Wilson have writer’s credit on this new book. Wilson’s Science Fiction books have included the Robo series which started with “Robopocalypse” in 2011 and continued with “Robogenesis” in 2014. In November, we’ll see if this sequel has as big a influence on our culture as did “The Andromeda Strain.”