It’s the last week of book releases for the month of August. This week’s releases have an influx of thrillers and mysteries, pointing us more toward fall vibes. Summer and beach reads tend to be heavy on romance releases, but we’ve still got a romance option for fans of the genre. Here are the new book releases for August 27, 2024.
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The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams (Dove Pond Series, Book 4)
by Karen Hawkins
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Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Gallery Books
A brand new novel in the “sometimes whimsical, often insightful, always absorbing” (Shelf Awareness) Dove Pond series that follows a gifted historian investigating the mystery of a love story lost to time.
When an antique tin of love letters is found hidden in her family home, noted historian Tay Dove rushes home to Dove Pond to investigate. Tay is still reeling from a romantic betrayal, so she’s relieved to refocus her energies on her latest project: a biography of her great-great-grandmother Sarafina, a star reporter who began her career in Dove Pond in the late 19th century before abruptly leaving town.
Tay believes the letters could be the key in solving what happened, but they only add to her questions—especially when they reveal a forbidden love affair with William Day, a wild youth who took part in a notorious train robbery. Some answers might be found in eighty-year-old Rose Day’s bookshop, which doubles as a town archive, but Rose is curiously resistant to give Tay access. Just when Tay thinks she’s reached a dead end, she finds an unlikely ally in Rose’s grandson, Luke, a fellow puzzle lover. Together, they set out to uncover what really happened all those years ago…and find the truth behind a love story that could be more precious than gold.
Perfect for fans of Alice Hoffman and Sarah Addison Allen, The Bookshop of Hidden Dreams proves that adventure is always waiting to be found, especially within the pages of a book.
The Dark Wives: A Vera Stanhope Novel (Vera Stanhope, Book 11)
by Ann Cleeves
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Genre: Mystery, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Minotaur Books
As New York Times bestseller Ann Cleeves’s beloved Vera series explodes in popularity in print and on TV, this stunning eleventh book explores the web of secrets surrounding a young man’s death.
The man’s body is found in the early morning light by a local dog walker in the park outside Rosebank, a home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater. The victim is Josh, a staff member, who was due to work the previous night but never showed up.
DI Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate the death, with her only clue being the disappearance of one of the home’s residents, fourteen-year-old Chloe Spence. Vera can’t bring herself to believe that a teenager is responsible for the murder, but even she can’t dismiss the possibility.
Vera, Joe and new team member Rosie Bell, are soon embroiled in the case, and when a second connected body is found near the Three Dark Wives monument in the wilds of the Northumberland countryside, superstition and folklore begin to collide with fact. Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, and the dark secrets in their community that may be far more dangerous than she could have ever believed possible.
Daydream (Book 3: The Maple Hills Series)
by Hannah Grace
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Genre: Romance
Publisher: Atria Books
The third in the New York Times bestselling Maple Hills series follows fan-favorite Henry and a bookish fellow student who come up with a plan to help them both overcome their respective challenges in a difficult year.
When his procrastination lands him in a difficult class with his least favorite professor, Henry Turner knows he’s going to have to work extra hard to survive his junior year of college. And now with his new title of captain for the hockey team—which he didn’t even want—Henry absolutely cannot fail. Enter Halle Jacobs, a fellow junior who finds herself befriended by Henry when he accidentally crashes her book club.
Halle may not have the romantic pursuits of her favorite fictional leads, but she’s an academic superstar, and as soon as she hears about Henry’s problems with his class reading material, she offers to help. Too bad being a private tutor isn’t exactly ideal given her own studies, job, book club, and the novel she’s trying to write. But new experiences are the key to beating her writer’s block, and Henry’s promising to be the one to give them to her.
They just need to stick to their rule book.
Oh, and not fall in love.
The House on Graveyard Lane (Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mysteries, 4)
by Martin Edwards
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Genre: Mystery
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
“I want you to solve my murder,” said the woman in white.
Rachel Savernake gave a sardonic smile. “Quite a challenge.”
The woman in white―surreal artist Damaris Gethin―has invited a select group to the opening of her exhibit “Artist in Crime,” held in the eerie subterranean Hades Gallery. As costumed models reenact famously violent deaths, the artist herself portrays Marie Antoinette on the day of her execution, complete with a guillotine on the stage. It’s not a prop; within ten minutes of Rachel’s promise to solve Damaris’s future murder, the artist slips her neck into the collar of the device and the very real blade sends her head rolling at the feet of her horrified audience.
As everyone reels from the shock, Rachel quickly learns that Damaris herself accomplished the deed with the push of a button―a suicide. So then why did she ask Rachel to solve her “murder?”
Keen for the hunt, Rachel begins sniffing around the other invited guests, including a former lover with shady financial dealings, his widowed sister-in-law, and her has-been songwriter friend. Meanwhile, crime reporter Jacob Flint―also in attendance, in hopes of meeting celebrated French beauty Kiki de Villiers, allows his fascination with her to endanger his own life when a ruthless gangster returns to London, looking to take back what’s his.
Equal parts thriller and whodunit, THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE leads Rachel and Jacob into a viper’s pit of suspects, each sneakier and more venomous than the last.
Red River Road
by Anna Downes
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Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Anna Downes’s extraordinary next thriller Red River Road follows a woman desperate to discover what happened to her sister on a solo road trip through the Australian outback.
Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, just three weeks into a solo vanlife trip, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads, and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her.
Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they?
And then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best―and only―chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe in this wild, beautiful, and perilous place.
Anna Downes takes us on a twist-filled journey into the dark side of solo female travel, in this gripping novel that explores what drives us to keep searching for those we have lost, the family bonds that can make or break us, and the deception of memory.
That Librarian: The Fight Against Book Banning in America
by Amanda Jones
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Genre: Memoir
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
“Amanda Jones started getting death threats, all for standing up for our right to read . . . but she’s not stopped fighting against book bans, or stopped advocating for access to diverse stories.”-Oprah Winfrey, in a speech at the 2023 National Book Awards
“Amanda Jones clearly outlines how we got here, who’s leading this false charge against qualified educators, media specialists, and authors-and most importantly, explores the steps we all must take to make the voice of truth and reason louder than their caterwauling.”-Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Part memoir, part manifesto, the inspiring story of a Louisiana librarian advocating for inclusivity on the front lines of our vicious culture wars.
One of the things small town librarian Amanda Jones values most about books is how they can affirm a young person’s sense of self. So in 2022, when she caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGTBQ+ references, discussions of racism, and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing.
Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedo, and a porn-pusher; she has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. Her decision to support a collection of books with diverse perspectives made her a target for extremists using book banning campaigns-funded by dark money organizations and advanced by hard right politicians-in a crusade to make America more white, straight, and “Christian.” But Amanda Jones wouldn’t give up without a fight: she sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.
Mapping the book banning crisis occurring all across the nation, That Librarian draws the battle lines in the war against equity and inclusion, calling book lovers everywhere to rise in defense of our readers.
Then Things Went Dark
by Bea Fitzgerald
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Genre: Murder Thriller
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
For fans of Rachel Hawkins with a salacious reality show edge, Then Things Went Dark follows a cast of hot-headed contestants competing to prove themselves to an audience of millions…but with eyes following you everywhere, how can you hide your motive to kill?
The first episode is waiting…are you ready to watch?
No murder has ever had more witnesses…
Six people land on a desert island ready to make their reality show debut. The contestants are suitably glamorous and dramatic – and they’re also hungry to prove themselves. The stakes are high and with millions of viewers watching, losing is not an option. But three weeks and eighteen episodes later, five of the six contestants sit in a Portuguese police station, and none of them are winners.
Because twelve million people were watching when Rhys Sutton died on camera, and someone must pay for the crime.
The best friend, the rival, the girlfriend, the lover, and the sworn enemy are left standing. And of course, no-one is talking. But how do you keep secrets when the world has been watching? Especially when, just a day before his murder, Rhys was the most hated man on television.
The Trials of Lila Dalton
by L.J. Shepherd
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Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
“A wonderfully ambitious book that never runs out of ideas or surprises.” ―Stuart Turton, bestselling author of The Last Murder at the End of the World and The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
I look up to find twelve strangers staring back at me… and I realize I’m the one they’re waiting for.
Lila Dalton has no memory of how she came to be in this courtroom; no memory of how she got to the courthouse at all, or why she’s facing a jury who seems to be waiting for her. The man on trial is accused of mass murder, and she’s his lawyer, but she can’t remember any details of the case. She can’t remember anything… Stranded on an island in the Atlantic Ocean where the most serious crimes are tried, Lila has to prove her client’s innocence if she wants to go home. But how can she solve this case when she’s not sure she can trust anything around her, including her own memory?
The Trials of Lila Dalton is a twisty, unexpected locked-room mystery that follows one woman’s race against time to find a killer, clear her own name, and escape the island that threatens to keep her trapped forever.
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