AstroLit: A Bibliophile’s Guide to the Stars by McCormick Templeman

Nov 142023
 

AstroLit is a cosmic voyage through the lives and works of literary giants from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries. Renowned literary history scholars McCormick Templeman and Rachel Feder bring the twelve signs of the zodiac to glimmering life by analyzing the astrological influence of over fifty illustrious writers’ sun signs on the shape and depth of their work.

Each of the twelve sections focuses on a particular zodiac sign, featuring profiles of three celebrated authors, analyzing their works and lives through the prism of their astrological sign. You’ll uncover connections between writers’ signs and their realms of creative influence, including the Capricornian ambition of Edgar Allan Poe and Zora Neale Hurston, the Sagittarian influence on William Blake’s The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and the Taurean gothiness evident in Mary Wollstonecraft’s work. Each chapter also includes writing advice and reading recommendations for readers, no matter your sign.

A delight for both astrology and book lovers, AstroLit is a gratifying exploration of classic literature and a playful way for readers and astrology lovers to learn something new about their favorite authors.

It Takes Monsters by Mandy McHugh

Oct 172023
 

Victoria Tate has had enough of her controlling, incompetent husband Warren. But planning the perfect murder is more difficult than she expected. When the social event of the year, an over-the-top costume ball, is rescheduled for the date she has selected for her crime, Victoria has to scramble to make sure she will still be able to follow through. But even hours of listening to crime podcasts cannot prepare her for the next wrench that is thrown into her plans: Warren turns up dead by someone else’s hand.

Now Victoria finds herself at the center of a murder investigation in which she is actually innocent. The real killer taunts her, making it clear that they knew what she was planning all along. With the police closing in and her neighbors turning on her, Victoria stands to lose everything she had hoped to gain from Warren’s death, unless she can figure out who wanted her husband dead—and why. It turns out that Warren was better at keeping secrets than she ever could have guessed. But which secret is the one that led to his death? And even if she can find the answers, does Victoria have what it takes to confront a real murderer?

In this twisty thriller from the author of Chloe Cates Is Missing, danger comes from both the monsters among us and the monsters that lurk inside us.

Review: It Takes Monsters by Mandy McHugh

Oct 102023
 

Booklist: McHugh’s dark, disturbing, and twisty sophomore thriller (after Chloe Cates Is Missing, 2022) features rich and privileged characters that readers will love to hate. When Victoria Tate’s husband, Warren, steals her family’s company out from under her and begins to control her life, she decides she is done with him. This time, he has gone too far, and she will not be told what to do. Victoria plans the perfect murder, but someone knows her intentions and beats her to it. After Warren’s gruesome death, Victoria becomes the focus of an investigation into a crime of which she is innocent. Taunted by cryptic texts from someone named X, Victoria must figure out who set her up before she loses everything. As a true-crime aficionado, she relies on her vast knowledge and attempts to solve the mystery herself. McHugh’s biting sarcasm and witty humor take center stage in this fast-paced domestic-suspense story full of secrets, lies, and betrayals.

Deal: W.A. Simpson

Sep 122023
 

Author of TINDERBOX and TAROTMANCER, WA Simpson’s THE HATTER’S DAUGHTER, the third in the Riven Isles Series, which follows a magical woman as she teams up with the Prince of Hearts in Wonderland against the infamous Rot, to Don D’Auria at Flame Tree Press, by Anne Tibbets. (world English)

Sweet Little Lies by Karin Nordin

Sep 082023
 

Sisters Lexie and Amber used to share everything, including their dream of getting out of their small town. Born only ten months apart, they once thought they couldn’t be closer.

They were wrong.

Fifteen years ago, Amber was brutally murdered in the woods, and Lexie’s high-school boyfriend was sentenced to death for her killing. Lexie is still stuck in the town she dreamed she’d leave, and everyone thinks she knew more about the night of the killing than she told.

Problem is, they’re right.

Now the execution is just days away, and the town has breathed a sigh of relief. But old secrets are finally being uncovered, and it’s clear not everyone wants the truth to be told.

And time is rapidly running out…

Tarotmancer by W.A. Simpson

Jun 132023
 

Following Tinderbox, the acclaimed first title in the The Tales of the Riven Isles, the story of magic and revenge continues with Tarotmancer. Harper holds the Gift of Divination. Red is the infamous Reynard the Fox, fugitive shapeshifter. When his past finds him Red is taken to the Kingdom of Vale within Underneath so he can pay for his crimes and Harper is taken as hostage. With the Rot drawing on the hatred of the citizens, including Harper she realizes she must put her feelings aside and save Red from the punishment of the Cesspit. As the Rot continues to grow, all must take control of their emotions and join to protect Vale.

I Didn’t Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks

May 232023
 

A murder at a suspense writer convention makes everyone a suspect―especially the victim’s literary rivals.

Murderpalooza, the premier thriller writers conference, is meant to be an exciting celebration of the genre and its preeminent writers. But when bestselling author and industry favorite Kristin Bailey is found dead in her hotel room, four rival authors―a midlister, an egomaniac, a has-been, and a newbie―also get targeted by an anonymous social media account and wonder if they’re next.

First, they find themselves bonding to try to find out who’s behind it. As the account taunts them, it slowly reveals secrets that each of them have connected to Kristin―secrets that make them a suspect in each other’s eyes. Soon, they are turning on each other and silently accusing each as a killer. With time running out until the awards ceremony where the social media account has promised a big reveal, the only thing they know for sure is that no one is better at both creating and solving a mystery than the people who write them for a living.

Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River by Emily J. Edwards

May 022023
 

1950, New York. Viviana Valentine–Girl Friday turned partner to New York’s top investigator, Tommy Fortuna–is drawn into a sordid new case when Buster Beacon, a wealthy man of science, beckons them to a party at his mansion north of the city. There, Buster entertains blue-blooded friends as well as investors keen to make a dollar on the many advancements made in his home laboratory, but he’s been hearing strange noises in the night coming from his expansive estate, and he doesn’t know who to trust.

Once Viviana and Tommy arrive, the party is snowed in. And suddenly, there is a dead body and nowhere to hide. Who killed the disguised federal agent in their midst? And how have details from the top-secret lab become public? Once chomping at the bit to be brought into this mysterious life, Viviana wonders if she’s ready for the risks that come with the territory—risks that rise treacherously high as the killer targets the next victim.

Set in the gritty, noir world of 1950 New York City, Emily J. Edwards’s Viviana Valentine Goes Up the River packs all the elements mystery fans love: an irresistibly clever protagonist, a posh cast of heroes and villains, and a murder case that could defy even the most seasoned investigator.

Review: Bitter Medicine by Mia Tsai

Mar 292023
 

The New York Times: I’ve saved the sweetest book for last. BITTER MEDICINE by Mia Tsai, centers on Elle, a descendant of the Chinese god of healing who makes magical glyphs for a fairy bureaucracy and secretly pines for Lucien, a handsome, half-elf agent. When the glyphs work too well, saving Luc’s life but revealing Elle’s existence to the dangerous family members she’s running from, she and Luc will have to atone for the sins of their pasts while working out what they truly mean to each other.

There are so many joys in this paranormal. The wealth of languages, mythologies, religions and magicks are a weight that balances the emotional tenderness. Healing magic, rather than fighting magic, takes center stage — and without spoiling things too much, it’s also one of the rare paranormals to feature a heroine who loses rather than gains power. Tsai does not flinch from this grief: “The overhead lights cast her shadow, faint and watery, across her threshold, and that’s how she imagines she looks: magic-less and broken, a ghostly husk of herself.” In a subgenre that so often makes supernatural power the answer to problems, how refreshing to find one that says being mortal — being human, and happy, and safe — is purpose enough.

Review: I Didn’t Do It by Jamie Lynn Hendricks

Mar 152023
 

Publishers Weekly: This brisk, funny thriller from Hendricks (It Could Be Anyone) begins at Murderpalooza, an annual New York City conference for writers of genre fiction. When Kristin Bailey, a nominee for the coveted Thriller of the Year award, is found dead in her hotel room, the Twitterverse runs rife with speculation. Shortly after Kristin’s death, four other conference attendees (who narrate the novel on a rotating basis) start receiving menacing tweets from a burner account that threatens to leak secrets that could end their personal relationships, careers, and possibly their lives. The group decides to band together for protection, but each new tweet breeds distrust and fear as the truth about Kristin’s killing slowly comes to light. Hendricks’s plotting is impeccable, and she knows precisely when to jump perspectives for maximum suspense. Her humor, too, is razor-sharp: she has fun taking shots at the anxieties and unchecked egos of writers at all stages of their career (“Is it really narcissism if I know I have it? Or just an overinflated ego,” one character wonders).

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