From The Booking Desk:

If you are local to the MD/DC/VA area, don’t forget that I will be speaking about my favorite Fall crime fiction releases this coming Saturday, October 20th at 3pm at that Light Street Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. I would love to see you there!

This week’s list of books to be on the look out include some names that should be familiar to you. Good stuff with great variety.

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Ragnar Jonasson – The Darkness (Minotaur, Hardcover, $27.99, 10/16/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Ragnar Jonasson is one of a short list of authors who have reached immediately must-read status for me. The spoiler-free BOLO Books review of The Darkness ran back when it was originally released in the UK – simply because I couldn’t wait. But now that it will be easier for my US readers to get a copy, I wanted to highlight it again. This is an incredible start to a new series that it going to be quite unlike any other crime fiction series you have read before. That sounds like hyperbole, but really, this series is utterly unique and watching how the future books unfold will be fascinating for long-time fans of the genre.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Spanning the icy streets of Reykjavik, the Icelandic highlands and cold, isolated fjords, The Darkness is an atmospheric thriller from Ragnar Jonasson, one of the most exciting names in Nordic Noir.

The body of a young Russian woman washes up on an Icelandic shore. After a cursory investigation, the death is declared a suicide and the case is quietly closed.

Over a year later Detective Inspector Hulda Hermannsdóttir of the Reykjavík police is forced into early retirement at 64. She dreads the loneliness, and the memories of her dark past that threaten to come back to haunt her. But before she leaves she is given two weeks to solve a single cold case of her choice. She knows which one: the Russian woman whose hope for asylum ended on the dark, cold shore of an unfamiliar country. Soon Hulda discovers that another young woman vanished at the same time, and that no one is telling her the whole story. Even her colleagues in the police seem determined to put the brakes on her investigation. Meanwhile the clock is ticking.

Hulda will find the killer, even if it means putting her own life in danger.

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Sharon Bolton – The Craftsman (Minotaur, Hardcover, $27.99, 10/16/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Sharon Bolton writes books that are utterly compelling and this is without a doubt her best one yet. Creepy, atmospheric, and shocking! It a stand-alone, so if you haven’t read Bolton before, now would be an excellent time to give her a try. Just be sure to keep the doors locked and the lights lit.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Sharon Bolton returns with her creepiest standalone yet, following a young cop trying to trace the disappearances of a small town’s teenagers.

Florence Lovelady’s career was made when she convicted coffin-maker Larry Grassbrook of a series of child murders 30 years ago in a small village in Lancashire. Like something out of a nightmare, the victims were buried alive. Florence was able to solve the mystery and get a confession out of Larry before more children were murdered., and he spent the rest of his life in prison.

But now, decades later, he’s dead, and events from the past start to repeat themselves. Is someone copying the original murders? Or did she get it wrong all those years ago? When her own son goes missing under similar circumstances, the case not only gets reopened… it gets personal.

In master of suspense Sharon Bolton’s latest thriller, readers will find a page-turner to confirm their deepest fears and the only protagonist who can face them.

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Donna Andrews – Lark! The Herald Angels Sing (Minotaur, Hardcover, $24.99, 10/16/2018)

BOLO Books Comments:

Very few series are worthy of having a 24th book, but Donna Andrews and her series protagonist, Meg Langslow show no signs of slowing down – and fans couldn’t be happier. These books are always on the lighter and funnier side of things, but there is something comforting about the holiday novels within the collection. Read this one to get yourself in the holiday mood and then pick up a few extras as holiday gifts for the upcoming season.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Away in a manger, asleep on the hay, Meg Langslow finds a little gift.

For four previous Christmases, New York Times bestselling author Donna Andrews has delighted readers with holiday mysteries, full of Christmas cheer and starring her quirky characters. Now she gives us another hilarious new adventure in her award-winning Meg Langslow series with Lark! The Herald Angels Sing.

It’s Christmastime in Caerphilly and Meg, full of holiday spirit, is helping out with the town’s festivities. While directing a nativity pageant and herding the children participating in it, she finds a surprise in the manger: a live baby.

A note from the mother, attached to the baby girl’s clothes, says that it’s time for her father to take care of her—and implicates Meg’s brother, Rob, as the father. And while a DNA test can reveal whether there’s any truth to the accusation, Rob’s afraid the mere suspicion could derail his plan to propose to the woman he loves. Meg quickly realizes it’s up to her to find the baby’s real identity.

She soon discovers that the baby—named Lark according to the fateful note—may be connected to something much bigger. Something that eventually puts a growing number of Meg’s friends and family in danger. And before long, Meg realizes she can’t fix things single-handedly. Meanwhile, a war is brewing between Caerphilly and its arch-rival Clay County—and it’s not a snowball fight. Can Meg bring everyone together in time for the holidays?

As in her previous Christmas mysteries, Andrews continues to write “firmly in the grand tradition of Agatha Christie’s Christmas books” (Toronto Globe and Mail) with a book that will put cozy lovers everywhere in a holly jolly mood.