Ozark Dogs and the Way of the Bear: Mystery Previews, Apr. 2023, Pt 1 | Prepub Alert

Mystery from big-name authors and rising stars. 

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Allen, Samantha Jayne. Hard Rain. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Annie McIntyre Mysteries, Bk. 2). Apr. 2023. 352p. ISBN 9781250863812. $27.99. MYSTERY/PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR

In Allen’s LJ-starred, Tony Hillerman Prize–winning Pay Dirt Road, Annie McIntyre returned home to Garnett, TX, and was swept up in her family’s private eye firm. Here, she’s got her own case: find the savior who pulled a woman from the floodwaters that had engulfed the town before being swept away himself. Instead, she discovers a shooting victim and begins to wonder whether her Good Samaritan is actually a killer. With a 40,000-copy first printing.

Bannalec, Jean-Luc. The Body by the Sea. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Brittany Mystery, Bk. 8). Apr. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250840974. $26.99. MYSTERY/INTERNATIONAL

In his latest outing, Commissaire Georges Dupin is investigating a murder really close to home: Doctor Chaboseau has been pushed to his death from his appartement above L'amiral, the commissaire’s favorite restaurant. With nearly all his staff off-duty owing to the extended Pentecost weekend, the commissaire has plenty of scurrying to do in picturesque Ville Bleue (“Blue Town”), home to three magnificent harbors. With a 30,000-copy first printing.

Cranor, Eli. Ozark Dogs. Soho Crime. Apr. 2023. 312p. ISBN 9781641294539. $26.95. MYSTERY/CRIME

Cranor follows up his debut, the Peter Lovesey–winning Don’t Know Tough, with another gritty Arkansas-set mystery. Ozark junkyard owner Jeremiah Fitzjurls has been taking care of granddaughter Joanna since his son’s murder conviction, and all’s well until the Ledfords, a nasty bunch of meth-dealing white supremacists, come visiting. They seek payback for an injury done them back when by the Fitzjurls family, and Joanna is the price. Based on real-life events in the author’s hometown.

Harris, C. S. Who Cries for the Lost. Berkley. (St. Cyr Mystery, Bk. 18). Apr. 2023. 368p. ISBN 9780593102725. $27. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

In When Blood Lies, last in the enduringly popular series starring Sebastian St. Cyr, Viscount Devlin, St. Cyr traveled to Paris to unearth disturbing secrets about his past. Now he’s back in 1814 London, confronting fishy doings along the fish-stinky Thames, though no more plot details are available.

Hillerman, Anne. The Way of the Bear. Harper. (Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel). Apr. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780062908391. $28.99. lrg. prnt. CD. MYSTERY/POLICE PROCEDURAL

An experienced paleontologist is found frozen to death inexplicably close to his car in Utah’s Bear Ears National Park, which borders the Navajo Nation, and Navajo Nation Police officers Jim Chee and Bernadette Manuelito are trying to figure out what happened. Their caseload is amplified by continuing violence, suggestions of illicit fossil hunting, and a disappearance during a ferocious snowstorm. With a 100,000-copy first printing.

Perry, Anne. The Fourth Enemy: A Daniel Pitt Novel. Ballantine. (Daniel Pitt, Bk. 6). Apr. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9780593359129. $28.99. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

Daniel Pitt’s law firm is fighting public perception when it launches a fraud case against rich philanthropist Malcolm Vayne, with Daniel’s police officer friend Ian providing important evidence and Daniel named as second prosecutor. When a key witness is found dead, forensic scientist Miriam fford Croft, Daniel’s new wife, discovers more evidence against Vayne, and her kidnapping drives Daniel and the plot to the suspenseful end readers expect of the New York Times best-selling Perry.

Shelton, Paige. Fateful Words: A Scottish Bookshop Mystery. Minotaur. St. Martin’s. (Scottish Bookshop Mystery, Bk. 8). Apr. 2023. 304p. ISBN 9781250789532. $26.99. MYSTERY/COZY

With her boss mysteriously out of town on business, Delaney takes charge of his annual literary tour around Edinburgh. It’s just her luck that on the first night the inn manager falls to his death (or was maybe shoved), an event followed by the disappearance of a guest. Now she’ racing around the city, trying to figure out what happened. Following The Burning Pages; with a 30,000-copy first printing.

Thomas, Will. Heart of the Nile: A Barker & Llewelyn Novel. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. Apr. 2023. 320p. ISBN 9781250864901. $27.99. MYSTERY/HISTORICAL

In 1893 London, a volunteer at the British Museum discovers a large, heart-shaped ruby buried in a mummy, and further investigation suggests that the mummy might be Cleopatra’s. The next morning, the ruby has vanished and so has the volunteer, whose body is found bobbing in the Thames. Whom to call in but the redoubtable team of private enquiry agents Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn? With a 30,000-copy first printing.

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Barbara Hoffert

Barbara Hoffert (bhoffert@mediasourceinc.com, @BarbaraHoffert on Twitter) is Editor, LJ Prepub Alert; winner of ALA's Louis Shores Award for reviewing; and past president, awards chair, and treasurer of the National Book Critics Circle, which awarded her its inaugural Service Award in 2023.

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