by Matt Lubbers-Moore
This is a call to action! Libraries and books by LGBTQ+ authors are under attack. In North Carolina during Pride month, one library was under assault by the racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and transphobic Proud Boys during their Drag StoryTime event. Parents had to escort their children out a backdoor so that they would not be inundated with hateful speech. Thank goodness for the librarians who stood in front of the programming doors so that the Proud Boys, escorted by police, could not gain entry. Sadly this was not the only occurrence as another group of Proud Boys stormed a library in San Lorenzo, California, as well.
In other news, a local library located near me has the local community so upset because the Patmos Library had Gender Queer in its adult graphic novels that they began calling, emailing, and coming into the library to insult, accuse, and threaten the library director who ultimately resigned. The interim director resigned as well. This was a horrible time for the library as they are also asking for their millage to be passed. It failed by over 800 votes (63% voted No). Since the group got their way, they are now informing the library that it has a list of books it wants removed including authors that are LGBTQ+ and by people of color. The library has stated it will not back down by removing these books from their collection. A Gofundme, created by a citizen of the Jamestown Township, has already reached over $100,000 to help the library stay open another year (their budget is $245,000/year). My own village voted to approve our library millage by only 49 votes.
We are living in an age when intellect, knowledge, and reading are derogatory words, and actions by a very small, but very vocal, community is enforcing their beliefs over the entire community. Please attend your library board meetings and make a short speech about supporting your local library. It can be as simple as “Thank you to the Library Board, the Library Director, and the staff of X Library, for all you do. I support the X library. Thank you.”
On with the books!
Van Alone by Patrick Doyle
Out September 1, 2022
Giovanni Russo has forged a very particular life. Working in the world of rare books, he’s independent, self-sufficient, and alone. Withdrawn, but combative, he engages in personal relations only to do business and, on occasion, have sex. His aloofness draws people in. Good for business, he says to himself. Good for sex. Of course, someone so enigmatic is asking for trouble. Following his father’s sudden death, he inherits the family home, a modest place with no redeeming features other than the roomfuls of memorabilia left by his grandfather. Seeing the house as a chance to further consolidate his very private life, Van moves in. But there’s a catch. The will stipulates that neither the house nor anything in it can be sold, displaced, or otherwise moved for twenty-five years. There’s a notarized list. One evening, while moving his books out of the building where he works to his new home, there’s a power failure and, from the darkness, Maurice appears. He’s burglarized at both home and work, but nothing’s missing. But Van has no time for therapy. Somebody wants something he has, and they’re willing to do anything to get it.
Real Bad Things by Kelly J. Ford
Out September 1, 2022, Thomas & Mercer
When Jane Mooney’s violent stepfather, Warren, disappeared, most folks in Maud Bottoms, Arkansas, assumed he got drunk and drowned. After all, the river had claimed its share over the years. When Jane confessed to his murder, she should have gone to jail. That’s what she wanted. But without a body, the police didn’t charge her with the crime. So Jane left for Boston—and took her secrets with her. Twenty-five years later, the river floods and a body surfaces. Talk of Warren’s murder grips the town. Now in her forties, Jane returns to Maud Bottoms to reckon with her past: to do jail time, to face her revenge-bent mother, to make things right.
Falcon’s Favor by Dana Fraedrich
Out September 6, 2022, Goat Song Publishing
Falcon Smoke’s image graces posters all over the city, touting him as the shining new hope for Springhaven. Yet every time Falcon sees those pictures of himself, he feels like more of a sham. He tries to lead by example as a good and just Enforcer, but it’s hard to do right within a broken system. The cost of his fame has forced Falcon to leave his family home and move into a small house he can only afford with the help of another young gent by the name of Keene. A handsome and self-confident man, Keene fills their new home with wonderful aromas of his delicious tea blends and the scrumptious meals he makes for his catering clients. Their home is robbed and knowing that involving the Enforcers means condemning the perpetrators to a lifetime of imprisonment and torture, Falcon and Keene decide to solve the case themselves.
Murder at Sunset by B. K. Asbury
Out September 6, 2022
Summer is in full swing at the Jersey shore town of Oceanview, and Matt, between his jam packed pizzeria and his assistant going through a break up, barely has a moment to breathe, let alone help his boyfriend Ty rehearse for the upcoming summer play. And he certainly doesn’t have time for his mystery loving landladies, Bernice and Ethel Spinster, voicing their suspicion that their elderly neighbor’s death from a severe allergic reaction was nothing less than a nefarious murder plot. And while Ty naturally dismisses it as a tragic accident, Matt reluctantly agrees. That is, until plans are discovered that her greedy grandson intends on tearing down a large portion of the idyllic Main Street and the Wharf, to put up a tacky shopping mall, all thanks to an inheritance now coming his way.
Murder at Union Station by David S. Pederson
Out September 13, 2022, Bold Strokes Books
Phoenix, May 6, 1946. Close to midnight in the Union Station baggage room, the air is hot, still, and thick. The eleven forty-five Golden State Limited to Los Angeles is approaching rapidly when the baggage handler, Alfred Brody, notices a stray hound dog sniffing around one of the steamer trunks. The horrific discovery of a body inside the trunk can mean only one thing: there’s a murderer among them.
I’m the Girl by Courtney Summers
Out September 13, 2022
All sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis wants is everything, but the poverty and hardship that defines her life has kept her from the beautiful and special things she knows she deserves. When she stumbles upon the dead body of thirteen-year-old Ashley James, Georgia teams up with Ashley’s older sister Nora, to find the killer before he strikes again. Their investigation throws Georgia into a glittering world of unimaginable privilege and wealth—and all she’s ever dreamed. But behind every dream lurks a nightmare, and Georgia must reconcile her heart’s desires with what it really takes to survive. As Ashley’s killer closes in and their feelings for one another grow, Georgia and Nora will discover when money, power, and beauty rule, it’s not always a matter of who is guilty but who is guiltiest–and the only thing that might save them is each other.
Aces Wild by Amanda DeWitt
Out September 13, 2022, Peachtree Teen
Some people join a chess club, some people play football. Jack Shannon runs a secret blackjack ring in his private school’s basement. What else is the son of a Las Vegas casino mogul supposed to do?
?Everything starts falling apart when Jack’s mom is arrested for their family’s ties to organized crime. His sister Beth thinks this is the Shannon family’s chance to finally go straight, but Jack knows that something’s not right. His mom was sold out, and he knows by who. Peter Carlevaro: rival casino owner and jilted lover. Gross. Jack hatches a plan to find out what Carlevaro’s holding over his mom’s head, but he can’t do it alone. He recruits his closest friends—the asexual support group he met through fandom forums. Now all he has to do is infiltrate a high-stakes gambling club and dodge dark family secrets, while hopelessly navigating what it means to be in love while asexual. Easy, right?
The Language of Dead Flowers by Charlotta Amelia Poe
Out September 27, 2022, Dreamspinner Press LLC; First Edition,First
Many people are born with magic. Tao’s happens to be the kind that will get them killed. ?Tao never had a choice about their power. Unfortunately, necromancy is punishable by death. No one can ever know the truth, but it’s fine—they can handle it. They keep their head down, make friends at the tattoo studio where they work, and stay out of trouble. Then trouble finds them and turns their quiet life upside down. Tao stumbles onto the scene of a crime, a crime where someone committed murder and then brought the victim back to life, and meets a boy who slips through their carefully constructed defenses, all in the same day.
Feeling Badly by Ripley Hayes
Out September 30, 2022
Jamila, a young homeless woman, has disappeared from the streets of Manchester.Teema gets a bizarre message asking for her help, hinting that Jamila holds the secret to Teema’s birth. Teema’s never known where she came from, and she told herself that she didn’t care. She’s slowly getting her life together after losing her girlfriend, her job, and being accused of murder. The last thing she needs right now are more secrets and lies. Then Jamila is found, dead, with a letter to Teema in her pocket.
Other Releases:
The River had Teeth by Erica Waters, Out September 13, 2022 (YA)
The Old Place by Bobby Finger, Out September 15, 2022 (Literary)
Murdered on Halloween by Daisy Landish, Out September 20, 2022 (Cozy)
One Vote for Murder by S. C. Wynne, Out September 28, 2022 (MM Romance)
Man of Carnage by Nicholas Bella, Out September 29, 2022 (MM Romance)
Check out other mystery articles, reviews, book giveaways & mystery short stories in our mystery section. And join our mystery Facebook group to keep up with everything mystery we post, and have a chance at some extra giveaways. Be sure to check out our new mystery podcast too with mystery short stories, and first chapters read by local actors. A new episode goes up next week.
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