If I had Aladdin’s lamp and the usual three wishes, the first would always be, ‘Give me the first day of June.’ ~ Gladys Taber
We’re All in This Together
from the publisher: Stand-up is all well and good, but observational humor that’s funny and warm may work best in books. And Tom Papa, whose loyal audiences are packed with “date night” couples of all ages, has perfected the form. In We’re All In This Together, Papa’s thirty-seven short essays tackle these universal American topics.
This collection of touching and funny essays will make you chuckle and want to remember some of your own teenage shenanigans. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (June 6, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 256 pages
ISBN-10: 1250280095
Killingly
from the publisher: Massachusetts, 1897: Bertha Mellish, “the most peculiar, quiet, reserved girl” at Mount Holyoke College, is missing. As a search team dredges the pond where Bertha might have drowned, her panicked father and sister arrive desperate to find some clue to her fate or state of mind. Bertha’s best friend, Agnes, a scholarly loner studying medicine, might know the truth, but she is being unhelpfully tightlipped.
The description seems exactly like something I would enjoy but the writing was stylized in a way that I found distracting. But for another reader, it might be just right. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Soho Crime (June 6, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 360 pages
ISBN-10: 164129437X
Speak of the Devil
from the publisher: New Year’s Eve, 1999. Seven women are gathered in a hotel room at midnight; a man’s head sits in the center of the floor. They all had a motive to kill Jamie Spellman. They all swear they didn’t. But in order to protect one another, they have to find out who did. Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer. Marking the debut of an extraordinary new talent, Speak of the Devil explores the roles into which women are cast in the lives of terrible men…and the fallout when they refuse to play pretend for one moment longer.
The dead guy in question really is a piece of work. It becomes increasingly clear why he was done in, and the reader is kind of cheering for whomever the murderer ends up being.
Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Minotaur Books (June 13, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 304 pages
ISBN-10: 1250886937
Unnatural Ends
from the publisher: Sir Lawrence Linwood is dead. More accurately, he was murdered—savagely beaten to death in his own study with a mediaeval mace. The murder calls home his three adopted children: Alan, an archeologist; Roger, an engineer; and Caroline, a journalist. But his heirs soon find that his last testament contains a strange proviso—that his estate shall go to the heir who solves his murder.
The book has tons of historical details and is trying to fit within the Golden Age of Crime formula.
Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Inkshares (June 20, 2023)
Language: English
Paperback: 402 pages
ISBN-10: 1950301060
The Art Thief
from the publisher: One of the most remarkable true-crime narratives of the twenty-first century: the story of the world’s most prolific art thief, Stéphane Breitwieser. Carrying out more than two hundred heists over nearly eight years—in museums and cathedrals all over Europe—Breitwieser, along with his girlfriend who worked as his lookout, stole more than three hundred objects, until it all fell apart in spectacular fashion.
The concept is captivating though the style can be hard to get into. Make sure you are in the right mood for this one. Read via NetGalley.
Publisher: Knopf (June 27, 2023)
Language: English
Hardcover: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 0525657320