From the Booking Desk:

This week is jam-packed with excellent book releases. You have already seen my reviews of Alex Segura’s Miami Midnight and Lisa Lutz’s The Swallows – two of the best books of the year and both are available this week. Tomorrow will see a special launch day review of The Hidden Things by Jamie Mason. Adding those to the hot titles listed below, there is literally something for everyone coming to a bookstore near you this week.

Steve Cavanagh – Thirteen (Flatiron, Hardcover, $26.99, 08/13/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

I ran the BOLO Books Review of Thirteen back when the book was released in the UK. If you haven’t read Steve Cavanagh yet, you are truly missing out. Thirteen is the perfect place to jump in to see the extreme talent this author possesses – it won’t be long before you read them all and anxiously await the next release.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

It’s the murder trial of the century. And Joshua Kane has killed to get the best seat in the house – and to be sure the wrong man goes down for the crime. Because this time, the killer isn’t on trial. He’s on the jury.

But there’s someone on his tail. Former-conman-turned-criminal-defense-attorney Eddie Flynn doesn’t believe that his movie-star client killed two people. He suspects that the real killer is closer than they think – but who would guess just how close?

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Liz Milliron – Heave Has No Rage (Level Best, Paperback, $16.95, 08/13/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

Liz Milliron’s Laurel Highland novels launched last year with the wonderful Root of All Evil and now she is back with another mystery that is even better. The story begins with a John Doe case before multiple threads begin to intertwine in unexpected ways. Jim must deal with the dead body at the site of a possible arson, while Sally finds herself in the crosshairs of a dangerous stalker. Milliron writes a tightly-coiled plot with evocative language that readers can easily sink into. With Heaven Has No Rage, she stakes her claim for a long-running series featuring these flawed, but loveable, characters.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

State Trooper Jim Duncan’s quiet overnight shift turns deadly when fire destroys a ski lodge at a local resort and the first responders find a man’s body inside. What starts as a suspicious accident quickly becomes sinister when the autopsy proves the victim is not the man who rented the cabin. Jim’s left with three questions. Who is John Doe? Why was he at the ski lodge? And who hated him enough to kill him? Assistant Public Defender Sally Castle, still reeling after the events of several months earlier, tries to bury her feelings of guilt and fear in her work. When an anonymous note from a secret admirer arrives at the courthouse, she brushes it off as an empty threat. As the missives, each one darker than the last, continue to arrive at her office as well as her home, Sally is forced to review all of the possibilities. Is the letter writer a person from her legal past? Or is the threat closer to home?As the questions multiply, Jim and Sally are thrown into a race to find a murderer as well as a stalker…before Sally ends up facing more than an unwanted pen pal.

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Ellen Hart – Twisted at the Root (Minotaur, Hardcover, $26.99, 08/13/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

Jane Lawless returns in the latest in Ellen Hart’s iconic series. This time out, Jane finds herself re-working a case her father was previously involved with in order to free an innocent man and allow him to properly grieve the death of his husband. If you look up the definition of comfort read in the dictionary, Ellen Hart’s work would represent the epitome of that for me. Jane Lawless is one of my favorite crime fiction heroines and I can always count on Hart to provide strong mystery elements wrapped in an easy to read style.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Everyone thought Rashad May and Gideon Wise were happily married. That is, until Rashad was convicted of his husband’s murder.

Four years later, Rashad’s brother contacts Ray Lawless – Minnesota private investigator Jane Lawless’s father and the original defense attorney on the case – with potential evidence of a wrongful conviction. When the case is reopened, Jane and her father must work together to attain justice for a grieving widower.

Who actually killed Gideon and why? There are suspects and motives galore, and Jane must discover the truth. She must also track down her missing brother, Peter, who was involved in the original trial, and who might be hiding secrets of his own.

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Benjamin Stevenson – Trust Me When I Lie (Sourcebook, Paperback, $15.99, 08/13/2019)

BOLO Books Comments:

The public’s fascination with true crime documentaries lies at the core of this solidly-written debut from Australia. Benjamin Stevenson finds a unique way into the phenomenon that shines a light on the risks involved when “public opinion” over-rides evidence and investigation.

Jacket Copy (Publisher’s Description):

Producer Jack Quick knows how to frame a story. So says Curtis Wade, the subject of Jack’s new true crime docuseries, convicted of a young woman’s murder four years prior. In the eyes of Jack’s viewers, flimsy evidence and police bias influenced the final verdict…even though, off screen, Jack himself has his doubts.

But when the series finale is wildly successful, a retrial sees Curtis walk free. And then another victim turns up dead.

To set things right, Jack goes back to the sleepy vineyard town where it all began, bent on discovering what really happened. Because behind the many stories he tells, the truth is Jack’s last chance. He may have sprung a killer from jail, but he’s also the one that can send him back.