From The Booking Desk:

Coming off of this weekend’s Malice Domestic convention, I wasn’t sure I was going to have the time or energy to get a BOLO post up. But there are too many great books out this week, so I can’t let the opportunity to mention them pass me by. I guess I am a bit obsessive. Happy shopping!

Liv Constantine – The Last Time I Saw You (Harper, Hardcover, $26.99, 05/07/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

The BOLO Books review of The Last Time I Saw You ran last week, so hopefully everyone pre-ordered this one. Like The Last Mrs. Parrish, this is domestic suspense with clever twists, intriguing characters, and a plot to keep everyone reading.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Dr. Kate English has it all. Not only is she the heiress to a large fortune; she has a gorgeous husband and daughter, a high-flying career, and a beautiful home anyone would envy.

But all that changes the night Kate’s mother, Lily, is found dead, brutally murdered in her own home. Heartbroken and distraught, Kate reaches out to her estranged best friend, Blaire Barrington, who rushes to her side for the funeral, where the years of distance between them are forgotten in a moment.

That evening, Kate’s grief turns to horror when she receives an anonymous text: You think you’re sad now, just wait. By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll wish you had been buried today. More than ever, Kate needs her old friend’s help.

Once Blaire decides to take the investigation into her own hands, it becomes clear that all is not as it seems in Baltimore high society. As infidelity, lies, and betrayals come to light, and tensions rise to a boiling point, she begins to alienate Kate’s friends and relatives with her relentless, accusatory questions, as she tries to find Lily’s killer. The murderer could be anyone—friend, neighbor, loved one. But whoever it is, it’s clear that Kate is next on their list. . .

In The Last Time I Saw You, Liv Constantine takes the lightning pace of The Last Mrs. Parrish and raises the stakes, creating an exquisitely tension-filled and absorbing tale of psychological suspense in which innocent lives—and one woman’s sanity—hang in the balance.

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Juliet Grames – The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna (Ecco, Hardcover, $27.99, 05/07/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

The epic story of an everyday family, this novel is more literary than mystery, but given Juliet’s background and knowledge of the community from her Soho Press work, it’s no surprise that there are many “mysteries” within this lyrical, mystical, and gorgeous novel. This could very well become the book everyone is reading this year. Don’t miss it.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

For Stella Fortuna, death has always been a part of life. Stella’s childhood is full of strange, life-threatening incidents—moments where ordinary situations like cooking eggplant or feeding the pigs inexplicably take lethal turns. Even Stella’s own mother is convinced that her daughter is cursed or haunted.

In her rugged Italian village, Stella is considered an oddity—beautiful and smart, insolent and cold. Stella uses her peculiar toughness to protect her slower, plainer baby sister Tina from life’s harshest realities. But she also provokes the ire of her father Antonio: a man who demands subservience from women and whose greatest gift to his family is his absence.

When the Fortunas emigrate to America on the cusp of World War II, Stella and Tina must come of age side-by-side in a hostile new world with strict expectations for each of them. Soon Stella learns that her survival is worthless without the one thing her family will deny her at any cost: her independence.

In present-day Connecticut, one family member tells this heartrending story, determined to understand the persisting rift between the now-elderly Stella and Tina. A richly told debut, The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna is a tale of family transgressions as ancient and twisted as the olive branch that could heal them.

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Katherine Hall Page – The Body in the Wake (William Morrow, Hardcover, $25.99, 05/07/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

If you saw the composite sketch of Katherine Hall Page a few week’s ago, you no doubt know how big a fan I am. This is one of the best in this long running series. Since it is not always the case with this series, fans will want to know that Faith Fairchild is front-and-center this time out. Any time I get to spend with Faith is time that I cherish. I’ve been recommending this series to those looking for some escapist work to avoid the modern-day’s depressing news.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Amateur detective and caterer Faith Fairchild is at her Penobscot Bay, Maine cottage preparing for a summer wedding, when she stumbles across . . . another body in this 25th entry in the beloved mystery series.

For the first time in years, Faith Fairchild has time for herself. Her husband Tom is spending days on the other side of the island using a friend’s enhanced WiFi for a project; their son, Ben, after his first year in college, is studying abroad for the summer; and their daughter Amy is working at the old Laughing Gulls Lodge, now a revamped conference center.

Faith is looking forward to some projects of her own. Her friend Sophie Maxwell is also spending the summer on Sanpere Island, hoping for distractions from her worries that she isn’t yet pregnant. And the daughter of Faith’s good friend Pix Miller is getting married to a wonderful guy . . . with a less-than-wonderful mother. Between keeping Sophie’s spirits up and Pix’s blood pressure down, Faith has her hands full.

And that’s before a body with a mysterious tattoo and connections far away from small Sanpere Island appears in the Lily Pond. Once again, Faith will get to the bottom of this strange case—and whip up a delicious blueberry buckle on the side.

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Mollie Cox Bryan – The Jean Harlow Bombshell (Midnight Ink, Paperback, $15.99, 05/08/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

Mollie Cox Bryan manages to blend the past and present in interesting ways in this launch to a new series. There’s nothing like Hollywood of yesteryear and Bryan research skills shine with a plot that is filled with fascinating details. A fast-paced read with a fresh new heroine to lead readers on this journey.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

When it comes to writing Golden Age Hollywood biographies, the pen is deadlier than the sword

Justine Turner is a world-famous biographer of Hollywood stars. She’s also Charlotte Donovan’s overbearing boss. So it comes as no surprise to Charlotte when Justine requests an emergency meeting related to her latest in-progress biography. It is a surprise, though, when Justine up and dies before their urgent discussion can begin.

In the wake of such a tragedy, all Charlotte wants to do is finish the Jean Harlow biography that Justine had started. Instead, she finds herself in grave danger―stalked both online and in person by a drop-dead Jean Harlow look-alike. Together with police sergeant Den Brophy, Charlotte uncovers shocking revelations. But will these revelations be enough to catch the killer?