September Treasures in My Closet

I have some very interesting book treasures in my closet that are scheduled for September release. This month, they're not all crime fiction. It's quite a mixed stack, so it will be interesting to see which ones interest readers.

In September, Jeffrey Archer returns to the storytelling genre that made him a bestselling author. Only Time Will Tell kicks off a new series, a multigenerational saga. It's the story of the Clifton family, a story that spans the last one hundred years. Only time will tell if Archer can bring back the popularity of the epic family saga. Time, and you. This coming Thursday night, I'm going to offer readers the chance to win five copies of this book. Five of you will have the chance to preview the September release.

Floors by Patrick Carman is a mystery adventure for middle-grade readers, but I'm a sucker for a good story, no matter who the target audience. Readers can check-in at the magical Whippet Hotel, where the owner has gone missing, and it's up to Leo Fillmore, the janitor's son, to follow the clues, solve the puzzles, and save the day.


The Blood Royal is the ninth installment in Barbara Cleverly's mystery series featuring Scotland Yard detective Joe Sandilands. In 1922, Sandilands is given the task of not only running CID, but also the Special Irish Branch. He's juggling Irish terrorism and high-profile assassination attempts when he locks horns with a Russian princess running a spy network. When an assassination attempt succeeds, Joe has to discover who is behind the violence, the Irish or the Russians.

Damage Control is Denise Hamilton's latest suspense novel, a story of teenage friendship and adult lives. Maggie Silver is asked to take on her toughest client in a PR firm, a Senator from California whose young, female aide has been found murdered. Maggie's job is to prevent a scandal and run damage control, but her job is complicated by her ties to Paxton's family. His daughter was her best friend in high school. It's a story that combines murder, celebrity, spectacle, and friendship. And, Denise Hamilton will be appearing for Authors @ The Teague on Sept. 15 to discuss the book.

Agatha Award-winning author G.M. Mailliet introduces a new sleuth in Wicked Autumn. Max Tudor is a former MI5 agent turned Anglican priest. Max found his own peaceful world at St. Edwold's, in the idlyllic traditional English village of Nether Monkslip. But when an unpopular woman dies, Max suspects murder rather than an accidental death.

Erin Morgenstern's novel, The Night Circus, already has the book world buzzing. It's a debut set within an enchanted circus at the turn of the nineteenth century with dueling magicians, and a powerful love story.

In Yankee Doodle Dixie, author Lisa Patton sends her heroine from Whistlin' Dixie in Nor'easter, Leelee Satterfield, back home to Memphis, where she's ready to pick up where she left off. This time, though, she's a single mom opening a restaurant, and forced to prove herself again. Fortunately, she has three close friends to pepper her with advice and peach daiquiris. Watch for this book on Thursday night. If you don't want to win Jeffrey Archer's new book, take a chance on winning this one.

In September, Brian Selznick, creator of the Caldecott Medal Winner, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, returns with a book that weaves together two stories, one in words, which takes place in 1977, and other in pictures, which takes place fifty years earlier in 1927. In Wonder Struck, he weaves back and forth between the two until the stories come together in a visually stunning book.

Champagne for Buzzards is Phyllis Smallman's fourth book in the Sherri Travis series. Bartender Sherri Travis doesn't do country, and she's not happy with the seven-foot snakes and nasty horses on a ranch in Florida's ranch country. She really isn't happy when she encounters psychotic neighbors, and finds a dead man in the back of her pickup.

Kelli Stanley brings back Miranda Corbie in City of Secrets, the sequel to City of Dragons. When Pandora Blake is murdered at San Francisco's 1940 World's Fair, and her body marked with an anti-Semitic slur, Miranda is soon entangled in a web of deceit and betrayal. Once again, Stanley recreates the noir atmosphere of 1940s San Francisco.

In Lisa Tucker's latest novel, The Winters in Bloom, a family discovers that it's only when the walls between the present and past crumble that the future can bloom. When Michael Winter disappears from his own backyard, his parents embark on a journey of time and memory to reveal secrets that may have caught up with them.

Theresa Weir's The Orchard is another book that's causing buzz, but it's a memoir. Grand Central Publishing calls it, "Silent Spring, set on a farm in the Midwest." Theresa Weir found life with her young husband on the family farm to be far more difficult than she expected. But, when the dangerous chemicals used on farms proved to take a toll on the land and the people who tend it, she and her husband fought to save ground that had been in the family for generations.

Simon Wood will be appearing for Authors @ The Teague on Sept. 21. In Did Not Finish, Wood takes  readers into a world of vehicle insurance fraud, organized crime, and murder. No one paid too much attention when Derek Deacon threatened to kill his championship rival, Alex Fanning. But, when Fanning dies after making contact with Deacon's car during a race, a conspiracy ensues. Rookie driver Aidy Westlake and his team push for the truth, with so many others pushing against them.

There are so many books in my closet that I want to read in September. And, most of them seem to be coming out on September 13. So, I'm apologizing right up front. I can't review everything on September 12 or 13. I'm looking forward to reading these books. But, just wait until you see some of the other hot titles for September. Check them out tomorrow.