Waiting On Wednesday (179) @searlesbooks @MarinerBooks

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Her Last Affair
John Searles
Mariner Books, March 2022
Mystery, Psychological Suspense

From the publisher—

Every marriage has its secrets….

Skyla lives alone in the shadow of the defunct drive-in movie theater that she and her husband ran for nearly fifty years. Ever since Hollis’s death in a freak accident the year before, Skyla spends her nights ruminating about the regrets and deceptions in her long marriage. That is, until she rents a cottage on the property to a charming British man, Teddy Cornwell….

A thousand miles away, Linelle is about to turn fifty. Bored by her spouse and fired from her job when a questionable photo from her youth surfaces on social media, her only source of joy is an on-line affair with her very first love, a man she’s not seen in nearly thirty years, Teddy Cornwell…

While in New York City, Jeremy, a failed and bitter writer, accepts an assignment to review a new restaurant in Providence. Years ago, Providence was the site of his first great love and first great heartbreak—and maybe, just maybe, he’ll look her up when he’s back in town…

Why am I waiting so eagerly? John Searles has been on my need-to-try list for quite a while and this seems like a good place to start, especially since it’s a standalone. I’m intrigued by the ages of these main characters because this kind of story is so often told about much younger players and Mr. Searles is apparently acknowledging the fact that emotions and the potential for love and betrayal don’t just fade away as we get older. On the other hand, there’s a real sense of menace here and I’m so looking forward to that :-).

Waiting On Wednesday (178)

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Nine Lives
Peter Swanson
William Morrow, March 2022
Mystery, Traditional, Thriller

From the publisher—

If you’re on the list, someone wants you dead.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Eight Perfect Murders comes the heart-pounding story of nine strangers who receive a cryptic list with their names on it—and then begin to die in highly unusual circumstances.

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke—until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list.

First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor, and they’re located all over the country. So why are they all on the list, and who sent it?

FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next…

Why am I waiting so eagerly? Any Agatha Christie reader will immediately catch the similarity to her And Then There Were None although this doesn’t take place on a remote island. In fact, the events don’t even occur in the same state. and I can’t wait to see what Mr. Swanson has done with this riff on Agatha.

Waiting On Wednesday (177) @DianeKellyBooks @StMartinsPress

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Batten Down the Belfry
A House-Flipper Mystery #4
Diane Kelly
St. Martin’s Paperbacks, March 2022
Mystery, Cozy

From the publisher—

Here is the church, here is the steeple…

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck have successfully flipped houses, but this is the first time they’ve attempted to renovate a house of worship. Still, the colorful stained glass in the country church has caught Whitney’s eye, and she’d love to breathe new life into the abandoned building. What’s more, the place has perfect acoustics. Could the worship hall be reborn as an entertainment venue with its parsonage repurposed as a pre-show bistro?

Open the doors, and see all the trouble.

The owner of the horse farm next door has asserted a legal claim to the church property, rendering their title uncertain. If that’s not bad enough, while rehabbing the church, Whitney’s cat Sawdust discovers a bombshell in the bell tower―the body of the man who’d delivered their beautiful new replacement windows. What transpired in the spire? Who rang the man’s bell and why?

The steeple is keeping its secrets and, when a second body turns up, things become even less clear. Can Whitney help Detective Collin Flynn solve the crimes before someone else is sent to meet their maker?

Why am I waiting so eagerly? I’ve been a fan of all things HGTV for several years now and the housing market in the last year or two has been  a wild roller coaster ride with flippers apparently making out like bandits. This seems like the perfect time to try Ms. Kelly’s series and, having read some of her other books, I expect I’ll like this a lot. BTW, this is one of the best cozy titles I’ve seen in a while 😄.

Waiting On Wednesday (176) @mollyharperauth

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Calling
Sorcery and Society #3
Molly Harper
NYLA Publishing, March 2022
Fantasy, Magic, Young Adult

From the author—

After discovering and rescuing a group of magical Changelings just like herself, Sarah Smith must now figure out what to do with the unruly children–and how to keep them and the rest of the magical world safe!

Having left the structure of Miss Castwell’s Institute for the Magic Instruction of Young Ladies behind, Sarah and her two best friends, Alicia and Ivy, hide out with the Changeling children in the countryside while they try to formulate a plan. They have no weapons, no guidance, and the Mother Book is gone. They only have each other and the creeping threat of Miss Morton’s revenant army on the horizon…

New alliances must be forged, and old friends provide what support they can, but the trio wonders who they can truly trust. They are searching for the mysterious artifact that may prove to be the undoing of the undead, after all! As the rest of magical society prepares for what they think is the highlight of Lightbourne’s endless party season, Sarah, Alicia, and Ivy throw themselves headlong into planning for the night that holds their last chance to protect the safety of the entire magical world!

Join the ladies of Miss Castwell’s in this adventurous tale of magic, mystery and, occasionally, young romance!

Why am I waiting so eagerly? Molly Harper is one of my very favorite authors, beginning with the Southern Eclectic series (excruciatingly funny and some of the best in contemporary Southern fiction IMHO) and a scattering of titles from her other series. I’ve never tried the Sorcery and Society series, though, so this seems like the perfect time to check it out even if it is the third volume. Besides, while I’m really picky about the fantasy I read, magic and changelings and quasi-Victorian gaslamp settings definitely ring my chimes and, best of all, I’ll be able to get it in audio 😄.

Waiting On Wednesday (175) @StephenKing @RichardChizmar @CemeteryDance

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

Gwendy’s Final Task
The Button Box #3
Stephen King and Richard Chizmar
Cemetery Dance, February 2022
Dark Fantasy, Supernatural, Thriller

From the publisher—

When Gwendy Peterson was twelve, a mysterious stranger named Richard Farris gave her a mysterious box for safekeeping. It offered treats and vintage coins, but it was dangerous. Pushing any of its seven colored buttons promised death and destruction.

Years later, the button box entered Gwendy’s life again. A successful novelist and a rising political star, she was once again forced to deal with the temptation that box represented.

Now, evil forces seek to possess the button box and it is up to Senator Gwendy Peterson to keep it from them. At all costs. But where can you hide something from such powerful entities?

In Gwendy’s Final Task, “horror giants” (Publishers Weekly) Stephen King and Richard Chizmar take us on a journey from Castle Rock to another famous cursed Maine city to the MF\\\-1 space station, where Gwendy must execute a secret mission to save the world. And, maybe, all worlds.

Why am I waiting so eagerly? Well, Stephen King 😃. Though you can’t tell it by what I say about his books, I don’t actually obsess over ALL his work, just 98% of it. This trilogy is, IMHO, overlooked and/or underrated, maybe because it comes from a specialty publisher, but I loved the first two books and I think the collaboration with Richard Chizmar has a lot to do with its impact. I also greatly appreciate the ultimate heroine determined to save the world in a classic good versus evil tale—I’m just very sorry this will be the last installment.

Waiting On Wednesday (174) @WendyCorsiStaub @WmMorrowBooks

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

The Other Family
Wendy Corsi Staub
William Morrow Paperbacks, February 2022
Mystery, Psychological Thriller

From the publisher—

The watcher sees who you are…and knows what you did. 

It’s the perfect home for the perfect family: pretty Nora Howell, her handsome husband, their two teenage daughters, and lovable dog. As California transplants making a fresh start in Brooklyn, they expected to live in a shoebox, but the brownstone has a huge kitchen, lots of light, and a backyard. The catch: its previous residents were victims of a grisly triple homicide that remains unsolved.

Soon, peculiar things begin happening. The pug is nosing around like a bloodhound. Nora unearths a long-hidden rusty box in the flowerbed. Oldest daughter Stacey, obsessed with the family murdered in their house, pokes into the bloody past and becomes convinced that a stranger is watching the house. Watching them.

She’s right. But one of the Howells will recognize his face. Because one of them has a secret that will blindside the others with a truth that lies shockingly close to home—and to this one’s terrifying history.

Why am I waiting so eagerly? The synopsis here made me think of one of the shows on the true crime tv channels for no good reason since all that programming is fact-based. Maybe a Lifetime movie? Wherever this feeling is coming from,  I guess I’m getting a visual vibe, certainly not a bad thing. I just know that I’m being pulled in by what appears to be a complex, intriguing story and I am so there 😁, aren’t you?

Waiting On Wednesday (173) @lisalutz @randomhouse

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly event that
spotlights upcoming releases that I’m really
looking forward to. Waiting On Wednesday
is the creation of Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week’s “can’t-wait-to-read” selection is:

The Accomplice
Lisa Lutz
Ballantine Books, January 2022
Mystery, Psychological Thriller

From the publisher—

Everyone has the same questions about best friends Owen and Luna: What binds them together so tightly? Why weren’t they ever a couple? And why do people around them keep turning up dead? In this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Passenger, every answer raises a new, more chilling question.

Owen Mann is charming, privileged, and chronically dissatisfied. Luna Grey is secretive, cautious, and pragmatic. Despite their differences, they form a bond the moment they meet in college. Their names soon become indivisible—Owen and Luna, Luna and Owen—and stay that way even after an unexplained death rocks their social circle.

They’re still best friends years later, when Luna finds Owen’s wife brutally murdered. The police investigation sheds light on some long-hidden secrets, but it can’t penetrate the wall of mystery that surrounds Owen. To get to the heart of what happened and why, Luna has to dig up the one secret she’s spent her whole life burying.

The Accomplice brilliantly examines the bonds of shared history, what it costs to break them, and what happens when you start wondering how well you know the one person who truly knows you.

Why am I waiting so eagerly? I first “met” Lisa Lutz some years ago with her series, The Spellman Files. I still think they were some of the funniest, most entertaining private eye books I’ve ever read and I was a bit alarmed when the author turned to standalones and then to a darker kind of crime fiction. But wait! It turned out Lisa Lutz can write the heck out of more than one kind of mystery story and I’m just as hooked on her more recent work as The Spellman Files. Most interestingly, I’m never quite sure just what I’m going to find in her novels and that’s part of what makes them so enticing. Now, with The Accomplice, it seems a roller coaster ride is coming my way but one thing I can be sure of is a strong woman character will be front and center. I can barely wait!