Book previews, book round-ups, Recommendsday

Recommendsday: Summer of Sequels

Something slightly different for this week’s recommendsday, because it’s a bit of a preview type thing. There are a lot of books coming out this summer that are sequels to books that I’ve really enjoyed, and per my rules, I probably won’t be able to review them, because: spoilers. So today I thought I’d flag them now – while I’m still excited about them and before any of them have the chance to disappoint me)!

First of all, and all ready in the shops, is Displeasure Island by Alice Bell, a follow up to last year’s Grave Expectations. I was hoping for a sequel to that – but for some reason this one had gone completely under my radar until I spotted it in the airport bookshop the other weekend! It came out at the start of May, and sees Claire and her friends off on holiday on a remote Irish island, where the hotel is double booked, there are fighting ghost pirates and – per the blurb – Claire is fighting off “anxious And Then There Were None vibes” even before a murder. This sounds like a lot of fun and I’m probably going to end up picking it up at some point.

Out yesterday in the US and who knows when in the UK is The Guncle Abroad, the sequel to Steven Rowley’s The Guncle, which I loved when I read it and started me off on buying all of Rowley’s books (except Lily and the Octopus because I think that’s going to be way too sad). The sequel finds us rejoining Patrick as he heads to a family wedding in Italy, in a very different place professionally from where he was at the start of the first book. He’s also nearly fifty, and out of favour with the kids, who a struggling to adapt to their new normal.

Next up, and out in a couple of weeks is How to Solve Murders Like a Lady by Hannah Dolby. This is a second book featuring Violet Hamilton, after last summer’s No Life for a Lady. This finds Violet hard at work as a lady detective, but when the body of a woman is found on the beach, her efforts to investigate are thwarted at every turn for some reason. The first in this series has been consistently in Kindle Unlimited for the last few months, so it may be that this one is too at some point in the near future.

And of course there are lots of longer running series that have fresh books out this summer, but I’m sticking to the actual sequels today, so that’s your lot.

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Book previews, books

Out this Week: New Anthony Horowitz

Well technically only this week if you’re in the US – it was last week for those of us in the UK. Anyway all that really matters is that mid April sees the release the fifth in Anthony Horowitz’s incredibly meta murder mystery series in which a fictionalised version of himself keeps getting mixed up in murders while working with a former police detective. I’ve already started this and I do really like this series, although of his two meta series I do prefer Magpie Murders, but I get that those are much harder to make into more than a couple of books, so I’ll definitely take this!

Book previews, books

Out this week: Fresh Vinyl Detective!

After a nearly two year wait (in which Cartmel released a book in the same universe but with a different cast) we finally have a new Vinyl Detective book. And as I said in my anticipated sequels post, this one is about the dance music scene which should be fun – because Him Indoors did a lot of clubbing in this era so I’m looking forward to seeing what I recognise from the stories that I’ve heard!

Book previews, books

Out this week: A Grave Robbery

We’re a few week behind the US but it’s It’s that time again – the latest Veronica Speedwell has come out in the UK. My love of Deanna Raybourn’s writing is well known here – after all I’ve written an about it Veronica, her Lady Julia series and Killers of a Certain Age (which is getting a sequel). Anyway, this is book nine in the Speedwell series – I have been saving book eight so I think I can read that now – but I always look forward to seeing what she and Stoker are up to.

Book previews

Out This Week: Mona of the Manor

I was hoping the picture for this post would be from an Armistead Mapin in conversation event, but I missed it on Monday night because work have sent me to a different continent, although by the time you read this I should be nearly home. Anyway, this is the tenth Tales of the City novel, you know I love this series and that I’ve been looking forward to forward to filling in the gaps and finding out what Mona was uptown in England in the 1980s. Hopefully my copy will have arrived at my parents house while I’ve been away!

books

Out this week: Right on Cue

I’ve had a bit of a moment over the last year about romances with celebrities, especially ones with normal (or normal-ish) people too. And this looks like another one and it came out this week. This features a former actress turned screenwriter who is persuaded back in camera to play the lead when her latest project hits a standstill. Then the leading man changes – to the man Emmy blames for the end of her acting career the first time, blockbuster hero Grayson West. But the two of them are going to have to work together to save both of their careers. Sounds like it’s got potential doesn’t it!

books

Out this week: New Mary Russell mystery

There’s a new Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mystery out this week! It’s been three years since Castle Shade came out, but in the world of Mary and Sherlock The Lantern’s Dance picks up straightaway- as they arrive in the south of France to visit Damian Adler after the events in Transylvania. That’s what the blurb tells me – and what the first few pages of the Kindle sample suggest, but I’m not sure how much more I dare read without risking buying it, and we all know the pile is huge right now and kindles of new release hardbacks are expensive. Anyway per the blurb, Damian and his family are missing and while Sherlock leaves to hunt for them, Mary remains behind and discovers crates of memorabilia and a secret to decode within. How will I resist buying this? Probably by telling myself that if I read this now I’ll have to wait years for the next one…

Book previews, books

Out this week: To Woo and to Wed

I think this is the first of the books I mentioned in my anticipated sequels post to come out into the world. This promises a widowed heroine who arranges a fake engagement so that her sister will feel that she’s able to marry, and they’ll call it off once her sister is happily married. Except the engagement is to someone that she was almost engaged to when she was younger – so what could possibly go wrong… Doesn’t that sound great? I’m resisting the urge to buy it already!

Book previews, books

Out today: Knife Skills for Beginners

It’s new book Thursday again and I’ve got a new murder mystery to mention. This features chef who gets roped in to teach a residential cookery course in Belgravia. But when someone ends up dead on the first night Paul needs to solve the mystery himself so he doesn’t get blamed. I’m well underway in this and I’m enjoying it so far – and Orlando Murrin is a cookery writer and chef himself so it has recipes and some of them look really good!