From Edgar Award–winning author Steve Hamilton, An Honorable Assassin is another terrifying thriller featuring the unstoppable Nick Mason.
He was released from federal prison to a second life as an unwilling assassin, serving a major Chicago crime lord until the day he finally won his freedom.
But that freedom was a lie.
Now Mason finds himself on a plane to Jakarta, promoted to lead assassin for a vast shadow organization that reaches every corner of the globe. This time, there’s only one name on his list: Hashim Baya—otherwise known as the Crocodile—international fugitive and #1 most wanted on Interpol’s “Red Notice” list. Baya is the most dangerous and elusive criminal Mason has ever faced.
And for the first time in his career … Mason fails his mission. Baya gets away alive.
There’s only one thing he can do now: to save himself, his ex-wife, and his daughter, he must make this mission his life, hunting down the target on his own. But Mason isn’t alone in his search, because for Interpol agent Martin Sauvage, apprehending Baya has become a personal vendetta. Sauvage is a man just as haunted as Mason. And just as determined.
Never have the stakes been so high, the forces surrounding him so great. Sauvage wants Baya in prison. Mason needs him in a body bag. Assassin and cop are on a five-thousand-mile collision course, leading to a brutal final showdown—and the one man in the world who can finally show Nick Mason the way to freedom.
My Thoughts
I’ve not read the earlier entries in the Nick Mason series, but that didn’t matter one bit with this powerhouse of a book. Fans of high-octane, action-adventure stories will gravitate to this tale of an anti-hero who kills (bad) people for a living but still clings to some semblance of his humanity.
What sets this apart from your garden variety adventure novel is Hamilton’s writing. His command of language and description results in a vivid and well-plotted tale.
My first experience reading Hamilton’s work was The Lock Artist which was on my “Best Of” list for 2010. Now that I know there are other Nick Mason books, I’ll be adding those to my TBR list for sure.
Fans of Robert Crais, Nick Petrie, and Tom Clancy will certainly enjoy this one. Recommended.
A Note from the Publisher
Steve Hamilton is the two-time Edgar Award–winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Alex McKnight series (with over a million copies sold), the Nick Mason series, and the stand-alone novel The Lock Artist. Two of his novels have been named New York Times Notable Books of the Year, and he’s one of only three authors in history to win Edgar Awards for both Best First Novel and Best Novel. Other major awards include the Shamus, the Barry, the AMA Alex Award, and the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger for Best Thriller. He was born and raised in the Detroit area and attended the University of Michigan, where he received the prestigious Hopwood Award for Fiction.
Publication Date: August 27, 2024 Published By: Blackstone Publishing Thanks to the Publisher for the review
The day that Christopher saved a drowning baby griffin from a hidden lake would change his life forever. It’s the day he learned about the Archipelago—a cluster of unmapped islands where magical creatures of every kind have thrived for thousands of years, until now. And it’s the day he met Mal—a girl on the run, in desperate need of his help.
Mal and Christopher embark on a wild adventure, racing from island to island, searching for someone who can explain why the magic is fading and why magical creatures are suddenly dying. They consult sphinxes, battle kraken, and negotiate with dragons. But the closer they get to the dark truth of what’s happening, the clearer it becomes: no one else can fix this. If the Archipelago is to be saved, Mal and Christopher will have to do it themselves.
Katherine Rundell’s story crackles and roars with energy and delight. It is brought vividly to life with more than 60 illustrations, including a map and a bestiary of magical creatures.
Two kids race to save the world’s last magical place in the first book of a landmark new fantasy series, from “a writer with an utterly distinctive voice and a wild imagination.” (Philip Pullman, author of The Golden Compass)
“An instant classic from one of the most gifted storytellers of our time, Impossible Creatures is an astonishing miracle of a book.” —Katherine Applegate, Newbery Medal Winner for The One and Only Ivan
My Thoughts
This absolutely brilliant fantasy novel for middle graders and up will surely become a favorite for kids just cutting their reading teeth on complex stories. Rundell has built a magnificent world of unicorns, griffins, and other fantastical beasts and crafted an intricate plot that takes the reader on an unforgettable journey.
The prose is accessible enough for young readers, but the plot is layered enough to hold the interest of older readers and adults. Not to mention, Rundell is a very accomplished storyteller. Her use of language is smooth and clever, with sentences that make you want to read them over and over to enjoy the beauty of the language. I found myself reading aloud – to myself – just to hear the cadence of the language.
This will create plenty of young fantasy fans who will easily graduate to Naomi Novik and Katherine Arden. Wonderful stuff. Plus, Rundell also has a non-fiction book coming out about real endangered animals which, taken together, could make an excellent reading experience.
Publication Date: September 10, 2024 Published By: Random House Children’s, Knopf Books for Young Readers Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
An evocative and charming novel full of secrets and mystery, from the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop
In a quiet village in Ireland, a mysterious local myth is about to change everything…
One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life.
In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets – secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.
With a taste for the magical in everyday life, Evie Woods’s latest novel is full of ordinary characters with extraordinary tales to tell.
My Thoughts
What a lovely story!
The dual-time storytelling works beautifully here as we follow Sarah and Oran in the present as they learn about Anna and Harold in the past. There’s some suspension of disbelief needed here as we follow Sarah’s unexpected journey from NYC to Ireland and her discovery of Anna’s diary. However, every good story requires that suspension and it’s not hard to do here.
Woods spins a gentle but gripping tale of past small village intrigue with a modern tale of a woman examining her life and wondering how she got so off track. This will appeal to fans of Susanna Kearsley and those who enjoy dual-time stories.
Years ago Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.
When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.
As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and Alex suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her.
My Thoughts
This is one of my few 5 star reads this year and it is spectacular!
This is a book full of tension that twists you up and an ingenious plot driven by a protagonist who alternately frustrates the hell out of you then has you pumping your hand in the air yelling “go girl!” Every character is well-developed and plays their part to perfection.
Maxwell perfectly blends the murder of Francis Keen with the dark, dark secret of Alex’s past, driving the story forward at breakneck speed.
A very nearly perfect book.
Publication Date: August 13, 2024 Published By: Atria Books Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
Currently in development as a TV series from Amazon MGM Studios, a story of a thrilling hunt around the globe, pitting nation against nation, as ancient myths of a lost continent prove all too real—the latest novel in the bestselling Sigma Force series from James Rollins, #1 New York Times master of international thrillers
The execution of a Vatican archivist within the shadow of the Kremlin exposes a conspiracy going back three centuries—to the bloody era of the Russian Tsars. Before his murder, he manages to dispatch a coded message, a warning of a terrifying threat, one tied to a secret buried within the Golden Library of Tsars, a vast and treasured archive that had vanished into history.
As combative forces race for the truth behind this death and alarming discovery, Sigma Force is summoned to aid in the search—not only for this missing trove of ancient books, but to follow a trail far into the Arctic, to search for the truth about a lost continent and a revelation that could ignite a global war. But Sigma Force has its own difficulties at home after an explosive attack on the National Mall—one aimed at the heart of their covert agency—has left them vulnerable and exposed.
The growing conflict—both on Russian soil and deep in the Arctic—will reignite a centuries-old war between the newly resurgent Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican, while sabers rattle across the nations of the Arctic Circle, threatening to turn those icy seas into a fiery conflagration.
Facing enemies on all sides, it will be up to Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force to unravel a mystery going back millennia—and uncover the truth about a lost civilization and an arcane treasure that could save the planet…or destroy it.
My Thoughts
James Rollins never fails to provide a pulse-pounding, nail-biting adventure. He is at the top of his game with Arkangel, which has nudged The Last Odyssey out of place in the list of my favorite Rollins novels.
Here, members of the Sigma Force team face treacherous demons from their past but also race once again to save the world, this time in the Arctic. One of the things that makes Rollins’ novels much more than the usual action-adventure story is his blend of storytelling, myth, and meticulous research, and he is at the top of his game here.
The incorporation of another aspect of Greek myth – the Hyperboreans – hooked me immediately. Merriam Webster defines them this way:
In ancient Greek mythology, the “Hyperboreoi” were a people who lived in a northern paradise of perpetual sunshine beyond the reaches of the god of the north wind. Their name located them within the Greek world; it combined the prefix “hyper-,” meaning “above,” and “Boreas,” the Greek name for the north wind.
If you grew up devouring mythological texts, you will most certainly enjoy this book. Just so, so good.
Publication Date: August 6, 2024 Published By: William Morrow Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
One unidentified skeleton. Three missing men. A village full of secrets.
The best-selling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna brings us a sparkling—by turns funny and moving—novel about a young American woman turned amateur detective in a small village in Southern Italy.
Calabria, 1960. Francesca Loftfield, a twenty-seven-year-old, starry-eyed American, arrives in the isolated mountain village of Santa Chionia tasked with opening a nursery school. There is no road, no doctor, no running water or electricity. And thanks to a recent flood that swept away the post office, there’s no mail, either.
Most troubling, though, is the human skeleton that surfaced after the flood waters receded. Who is it? And why don’t the police come and investigate? When the local priest’s housekeeper begs Francesca to help determine if the remains are those of her long-missing son, Francesca begins to ask a lot of inconvenient questions. As an outsider, she might be the only person who can uncover the truth. Or she might be getting in over her head. As she attempts to juggle a nosy landlady, a suspiciously dashing shepherd, and a network of local families bound together by a code of silence, Francesca finds herself forced to choose between the charitable mission that brought her to Santa Chionia, and her future happiness, between truth and survival.
Set in the wild heart of Calabria, a land of sheer cliff faces, ancient tradition, dazzling sunlight—and one of the world’s most ruthless criminal syndicates—The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia is a suspenseful puzzle mystery, a captivating romance, and an affecting portrait of a young woman in search of a meaningful life.
My Thoughts
I always enjoy and appreciate a well-written story, and The Lost Boy of Chionia is certainly that.
This is a complex and layered story featuring a fairly remarkable character in Franca, or the maestra of this remote Italian village. I found the story slow to start, but the author clearly relished the opportunity to describe the isolated environment and its inhabitants which shape the story as it really gets going. The meandering pace is the only thing keeping me from really loving this book. I picked it up, put it down, picked it up, put it down so many times. But, I kept at it and was rewarded with a story that unfolded into one of the most interesting tales I’ve read this summer.
Grames is very, very good at writing characters where their true natures are sort of peeled back gradually. She clearly relished the opportunity to build a microcosm of a world in Santa Chionia – a village so remote that its residents might as well be on another planet. Agatha Christie based so much of her work on the premise that evil can exist anywhere, even in the tiniest village, and Grames writes that concept very well indeed.
If you like mysteries without the gore and that make you think, you’ll enjoy this.
Publication Date: July 23, 2024 Published By: Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage & Anchor Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
It takes a lot for Salem locals to get excited about their historic Massachusetts town being known as “the witch city.” But when a major studio arrives to shoot a witchcraft-themed movie, folks go Hollywood. For WICH-TV’S program director and chief documentary-maker, Lee Barrett, however, the project may come complete with a real-life death scene.
Between documenting the progress of the movie, corralling starstruck autograph seekers and fans, and managing unmanageable traffic on Salem’s narrow streets, Lee and her police detective husband, Pete Mondello, are beyond busy. Even Lee’s best friend, River North, tarot card reader and practicing witch, gets in on the action, landing a job as a stand-in and body double. But it only takes one interview for Lee to realize that the male and female leads—whose roles include torrid love scenes—despise each other. Yet the problem is short-lived, literally . . .
When the gorgeous lead actress is found dead on a set staged to replicate the room where suspected witches were tried in 1692—and her on-screen lover, in full costume, is discovered sound asleep in her trailer—the hunt is on for a killer on the loose. Nevertheless, the producer decrees “the show must go on!” Now, even with help from River, Lee’s Aunt Ibby, and O’Ryan, a remarkably clairvoyant gentleman cat, sorting out a witch’s brew of secrets, sorcery, and special effects might turn Lee’s documentary into her own final act.
My Thoughts
This newest entry in Perry’s Witch City cozy mystery series includes all the usual characters and fun plot. It’s a simple, enjoyable reading experience that fans of the series will race through in one sitting. Pretty much what series fan expect.
Usually I have no complaints about Carol Perry’s books, which are always full of likable characters and satisfying mysteries. Here, though, I found the newly married Lee to be annoyingly uncertain about most everything. Not sure why that grated on me so, but it feels a lot like the tension has gone out of the Lee/Pete relationship, rendering it kind of boring, although the big reveal at the end promises some interesting new developments. I’ll still continue to read the series and hope this one was just a blip.
Publication Date: August 20, 2024 Published By: Kensington Publishing Thanks to Netgalley for the review copy
‘All is secrecy. All is lies… Does anyone tell us the truth here?’
Scotland, 1691. Hooded figures have been seen in the woods and the dead have been wrenched from their resting place under the cover of darkness and their graves desecrated. A body is found floating in the River Clyde and a Duchess is determined to find answers.
John MacKenzie’s latest case takes him and his loyal assistant Davie Scougall to Hamilton Palace to discover the truth behind the curious drowning of local woman Bethia Porterfield. The kirk and sheriff have pronounced a verdict of self-murder, but the Duchess is unconvinced, and every soul connected to the case is guarding secrets of their own.
Despite mounting pressure to leave the West, MacKenzie and Scougall must navigate the murky waters of the Clyde, where nothing is as it seems, to uncover the truth – was Bethia’s death an accident, a suicide, or part of something much more sinister?
My Thoughts
Fans of historical mysteries will thoroughly enjoy this clever and sometimes heart-wrenching story set in late 17th century Scotland. I say heart-wrenching because the treatment of the woman whose death prompted the investigation is horrifying. This is not a “cozy” mystery but a hard-hitting and well-researched historical novel.
I had not read earlier entries in this series by Douglas Watt, but was easily able to read this as a stand-alone story. Watts is a very capable writer and the scenes and characters leapt off the pages for me. I will be looking up the earlier entries in the John MacKenzie series and adding them to my TBR pile.
To be sure, this is not a book for the faint of heart. There are some startling and graphic imagery and actions described here, historically accurate to the late 17th century. If you enjoy hard-boiled crime fiction with an historical setting, this is for you.
Publication Date: July 30, 2024 Published By: Luath Press Thanks to BookSirens for the review copy
A. N. Horton is a two-time award-winning author living in Nashville, TN with her husband, children, and moderately chunky Corgi. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, baking more cookies than her family can eat, and plotting crimes against her characters. Best known for crafting characters that steal her readers’ hearts as much as they shatter them, A. N. Horton is a cross-genre writer.
You write a blend of romance and fantasy. Tell us why you’ve chosen to tell the stories you’ve published.
For me, I love a brand new world. I love the idea of creating a universe that is not bound by the physical or natural laws of our own. I love the idea of magic and mystery and the development of cultures and species. My stories tend to cross genre boundaries, bringing romance and mystery into fantasy and sci-fi so you might find yourself reading about falling in love in a new world or engage in political espionage against the gods. I like to let my imagination run wild and challenge the normal tropes. You won’t find too many damsels in distress in my writing, either. One of my biggest motivations is writing heroines who can stand on their own two feet and have intellectual strength as well as spiritual and physical. And, as I always say, I write the story that I would want to read.
Do you have a favorite reference book or website?
I actually have several references I use while writing but the ones I use the most, I would say, are The Emotion Thesaurus by Becca Puglisi and wordhippo.com which is a new website I’ve found that is a thesaurus specifically for writers. It has helped me drastically in saving the time I usually spend staring at my computer trying to think of the right word or scrolling through a traditional thesaurus for the word with the right feeling behind it.
What are your favorite and least favorite things about interacting with your readers?
I always love interacting with my readers. Just hearing that someone took the time to read anything I wrote is such an honor, whether what they have to say is positive or negative. I have mostly had positive interactions with my readers and they are a fantastic community who are very supportive. They’re the type of readers who, once they find a new author they love, they champion that author’s work better than I ever possibly could myself and I am so appreciative of every reader that finds their way to my book. My favorite thing is probably reading the reviews. I love to read what people thought of my book. My least favorite thing is probably how difficult it is to interact. It’s quite hard to pierce the noise of the publishing industry to reach new readers in the first place but then, once I do, I’m limited in how often I can respond due to social media’s restraints meant to identify bots. But I always thoroughly enjoy it when a reader reaches out as I’m always thrilled to hear from them!
Do you have a favorite genre that you read? Why or why not?
I do! It is, unsurprisingly, fantasy. And all types of fantasy. I can swing from an epic, thousand page, fantasy to a light, romantic urban fantasy and enjoy both stories immensely. But, even though fantasy is my favorite, I have very eclectic tastes when it comes to genre and I’m open to pretty much anything. I’ve also got a soft spot for a cheesy rom com every now and then and enjoy historical fiction and mysteries as well. I am obsessed with trying to predict twists before they happen and am always eager to see which authors can fool me as I support them in their work.
For a fiction writer – Are there certain tropes that you are just OVER? Why or why not?
Yes, several. Though I hesitate to mention them because I know I’ll get some backlash for it. I will say that, just because these tropes aren’t for me, doesn’t mean that they won’t be someone else’s all-time favorite and no judgment! I would never yuck someone else’s yum. But for me, accidental pregnancies, third act breakups, and age gap are just not something I enjoy. I don’t necessarily need a happy ending and I’m just tired of vampire/werewolf romances.
Why do you write?
Because I love it. Even when it definitely doesn’t love me back. Writing is hard. We spend years developing worlds, plots, and characters which are then picked apart by editors and reviewers before making it to readers. But, even if just one person reads my story and falls in love with it just as much as I have, it’s all worth it. We suffer for our art but it’s worth it in the end.
Does it matter to you if your readers dislike your characters?
It does. It probably shouldn’t but I pride myself on crafting relatable characters who make my readers feel real emotion. So if I miss the mark on that, I take it quite personally. My stories tend to be more character-driven and I often write in first person because I feel that it gives the reader a better connection to the world and plot. If my narrative character, therefore, ends up as an annoyance, then I’ve failed.
Do you ever write characters based on real people?
Most of my main characters are females who project the strong feminine archetype that I wish I could be. In Seren, we have the thoughtful academic who harbors a brilliance that transcends the physical realm of her world. In Adrian, we have the unwilling rebel who keeps fighting even when very powerful people back her into a corner. And in Nori, from a work-in-progress I hope to reveal soon, we have the nurturing idealist who sacrifices everything to save her people. They are all flawed. They all have their traumatic backstories and emotional wounds which they are slowly healing from. But I would like to think that each of them also serve an ideal that I aspire to. As for my other characters, I will confess that some of the love interests share certain personality traits with my husband. Most notably would be their senses of humor and their resilience. And some of my side characters are based on friends I’ve known and people I’ve met but very loosely. For the most part, they are their own.
How important is historical accuracy in fiction?
I would say I’m far more lenient than most about this but it truly depends on what the book is billing itself as. If it states it’s a story about a spy in World War 2, I would expect that spy to have an extensive knowledge of true and accurate facts regarding WWII since that is what the story is about. However, if the book claims to be a historical romance in or around the regency period, I’m far more lenient because it isn’t about a specific place, person, or event. I read to escape the world so I am happy to suspend belief for the purposes of a sweeping historical romance. I have had readers argue with me, however. I think that if someone is that bothered by historical inaccuracy, they might want to consider nonfiction. Though I do encourage authors to do the proper research while writing, sometimes things are missed. We are not writing this in the 1800s and sometimes mistakes are made.
Do you hide Easter eggs in your narrative?
So many that I wonder if I’m even being subtle anymore. In my original award-winning series, I would foreshadow quite a bit and make early references to characters who would later have their own story. Now, in my fantasy world, I’m planting some new seeds as well and am eagerly awaiting my readers to see if they can spot any connections.
Your Amazon profile mentions two intriguing things: your “moderately chunky corgi” and baking cookies. Will you share a picture of your pup and a favorite cookie recipe?
Of course! For the cookies, I always get rave reviews when I bake these Old-Fashioned Pumpkin Cookies. They are soft and light with a deliciously spiced fall taste. Highly recommended now that fall is rapidly approaching! As for my corgi…her name is Tallulah, though we call her “Tully” and she’s four years old but just as rambunctious as ever. She loves playing with my kids and barking at everything that moves. I say “moderately chunky” because the vet recently put her on a diet and she is definitely not pleased.
Horton is currently promoting book one of her Immortal Plane series, All That Falls. She has just finished book two and will be searching for ARC readers in the near future. If you’re interested in being an early reader, sign up for her newsletter at https://authoranhorton.ck.page/deebdc9b8c
When Stefanie and Thomas meet in Bermuda for time alone away from the demands of the Artifact Retrieval Team that Thomas heads, their romantic rendezvous is waylaid after an archaeologist requests their help to recover an emerald bracelet that’s been stolen from his site.
Thomas is reluctant, but Stefanie can’t resist the lure of buried Spanish treasure. Then one of the archaeologists is murdered, and they find themselves on the suspect list. Spanish gold isn’t the only thing uncovered. Secrets can be deadly, and Stefanie and Thomas must find the killer before it’s too late.
My Thoughts
The third entry in Monnin’s Intrepid Traveler Mystery series, Death in St. Georges, is an appealing story featuring a pair of characters who have it all together. Stefanie and Thomas are a charming pair of amateur detectives who magnanimously step into a mystery on the tropical island they’ve retreated to for a much needed vacation. It’s clear the pull of the mystery is part of what keeps them together.
The plot is an enticing mix of the thrill of archaeological discovery, local lore, and plain old human greed. Stefanie and Thomas are a great team, playing off each others’ strengths and always there for each other. The end is especially fraught with danger as the pair battle a hurricane as they place the final pieces of the puzzle on the table.
Monnin is an imaginative and skilled writer, and this story has made me a fan. Recommended!
Book Details:
Genre: Traditional Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: May 14, 2024 Number of Pages: 264 ISBN: 9781685126483 (ISBN10: 1685126480) Series: An Intrepid Traveler Mystery Series, Book 3 Book Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | BookShop.org | Goodreads
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M. A. Monnin is the author of the Intrepid Traveler Mystery series, including Agatha Best First Novel finalist DEATH IN THE AEGEAN. Her 3rd in the series, DEATH IN ST. GEORGE’S, came out May 2024. She also writes the St. Killian, PI and the Hawk Hathaway, Time Traveling Troubleshooter short stories. Mary’s short stories have appeared in Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and numerous anthologies. A member of ITW, MWA, SinC, and SMFS, an avocational archaeologist and USAF veteran, Mary is a trustee of the Kansas City Archaeological Society and treasurer of Mid-America Romance Authors. She lives in Kansas City, MO.
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