Reading right now:

            “Deadline” by John Sandford. Hard to believe that this is already the eighth Virgil Flowers thriller, but it is. This time around Flowers is after a dognapping ring supplying medical labs until he gets a call from Lucas Davenport about a dead reporter and finds himself investigating a whole school board to find the killer or killers.

On hold right now:

            “Blood of the South” by Alys Clare. This sixth book in the medieval mystery series continues the adventures of apprentice healer Lassair and her partner Rollo.

Other Mysterious Things:

            I’m always looking for a debut mystery author who might be the next big thing: the next David Baldacci, the next James Patterson, or the next Lee Child. Every new author brings fresh hope that twenty years from now, we will still be reading their books and loving them. A few new mystery authors throwing their hats in the ring for the next big thing include: Andrew Brown, Holly Brown, C.J. Carpenter, Steph Cha, Joel Decker, and E.R. Dillon.

            In Andrew Brown’s “Coldsleep Lullaby,” South African Detective Eberard Februarie investigates the death of the daughter of a prominent conservative activist. The book has been called compelling and chilling. Holly Brown’s “Don’t Try to Find Me” has been compared to “Gone Girl.” Brown’s debut novel revolves around a family’s use of social media to try to find their fourteen-year-old runaway daughter. C.J. Carpenter’s new series launched with “Never Alone” which centers around NYPD detective Megan McGinn. Steph Cha’s main character is Juniper Song, an amateur sleuth in Los Angeles. The new series opened with “Follow Her Home” and the second in the series came out in August, 2014, with “Beware, Beware.” Her books have been called compelling and the third book in the series should be available some time in 2015 (“The Surrogate”). “The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair” by Joel Dicker looks fascinating and takes on the murder of a teenaged girl in 1975 and the solution 33 years later. Another new series by E.R. Dillon introduces Deputy Kyle Shaw who solves crimes in 1297 (first book “Ayrshire Murders”).