Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for January 2024
Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.
So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of crime fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some November books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.
Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have hardboiled mysteries, cozy mysteries, holiday mysteries, animal mysteries, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, 1950s mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, adventure thrillers, gothic thrillers, noir, police officers, FBI agents, private investigators, amateur sleuths, ex-cons, heists, kidnapped teenagers, kidnapped cats, suspicious suicides, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting housekeepers, murder and mayhem in London, Minneapolis, Florida, Hawaii, Brighton, the Côte d’Azur, the Caribbean and much more.
As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.
And now on to the books without further ado:
With her wedding day rapidly approaching, all Kitty Worthington wants is a fun seaside holiday with her loved ones. But some are at outs with each other, the weather’s not promising, and someone gets murdered. Again.
Brighton 1924. The pleasant vacation Kitty Worthington envisioned is not going well. Disagreements and altercations between those dear to her all too soon scuttle her plans. Determined to enjoy some fun in the sun, she heads to the shore with her fiancé, Chief Detective Inspector Robert Crawford Sinclair. But before they can dip their toes in the surf, they stumble across the body of a wealthy socialite. In their beach hut, of all places.
As bad luck would have it, Kitty’s intended is soon assigned the case. After all, he’s not only present, but experienced at solving murders of the elite. Although reluctant to become involved in the investigation, Kitty agrees to help. And soon, so do her family and friends.
But finding the murderer won’t be easy. The woman was roundly disliked. Did the milquetoast husband kill her? Or was it the much put upon stepdaughter? And what about the shady stepson in debt up to his ears?
With a raging storm bearing down on them, there’s no time to lose. Witnesses and suspects are all jumping ship. And if that weren’t enough, the Worthingtons' beloved basset hound soon goes missing. Is it the murderer's ploy or an unfortunate coincidence? Whatever the reason, they must discover the killer before all is lost.
Suspicion. Lies. Murder. Barbara Hollis didn’t expect to encounter any of these in small town life. With a murky past to hide from, moving to quiet little Cobbsville was supposed to be a perfect escape. But a neighbor who has her own dangerous secret to conceal soon becomes as big a threat as the crazed lunatic who is setting fire to houses around town…
Even as a terrible new doubt surfaces against her brother, Barbara is intrigued by an attractive new acquaintance who happens to be the local mayor. But will one more distraction prove welcome … or deadly?
Once again, Smith and Bea are back to London and back to their regular lives. Smith’s niece is off to school and the couple is back to work.
Only Bea switched back to Vi’s house for her employment, so she can be near her daughters while she works, and all is going well.
In the bitter cold, nearly alone at Vi’s home, Bea discovers an unseasonable and un-Londonlike snowfall. She’s stuck. And, she’s not alone.
A riveting Riviera murder!
Antibes 1926
Penelope “Pen” Banks and friends have finally made it to the Côte d’Azur, settling into a beautiful villa in Antibes. After only one week it’s been perfect weather, beautiful scenery, welcoming French locals, and a fashionable set of American expats with whom to socialize.
The only fly in the ointment is the odious Mrs. Vera Tynehook. With her belittling words, acerbic nature, and ruthless lack of consideration for others, she has managed to make an enemy of almost everyone.
It’s enough for Penelope to wonder why so many attend the parties she hosts, no matter how swanky they are. She soon learns they all have a bit of fun at the hostess’s expense. But what happens when a night of harmless teasing ends in Vera’s murder?
There are too many suspects to count, especially when the police reveal the surprising nature of her death.
It’s the perfect time to enjoy the winter snow.
Unfortunately, there are things brewing in Sweetwater Falls that neither coffee nor hot cocoa can solve…
It’s Founders Day in the once idyllic town, as well as the beginning of the festive holiday season.
Contrary to the beautiful scenery, being the sheriff of Sweetwater is not quite as cozy as Spenser Song imagined. Nor did she think she would meet her match with her grumpy neighbor turned confidant, Ryker Makawi. When her evening out with Ryker is interrupted by the daughter of one of the town’s most powerful families. Spenser gathers her forces and launches a hunt for the supposed missing matriarch of the Gilchrist clan. It’s a hunt that grows increasingly strange with little making sense and even less being what it seems.
When her body is uncovered in a surprising way. The list of suspects is long.
Nothing and nobody are what they appear to be and when the finger pointing starts, Spenser doesn’t know who to believe. As she peels back the layers of the Gilchrist family, the answers she uncovers are far from what she expected them to be.
It’s wintertime in Sweetwater Falls and the bodies are falling like snow.
Will Spenser, with Ryker’s aid, solve the chilling case before the blizzard of chaos buries the whole town?
The day Ivy Morgan-Harker has been dreading is here and the woman she helped send to prison is back in Shadow Lake…and she’s not acting like herself.
Ava Moffett returns to town just in time to be swept up in the death of a local woman, who had no ties to the area before recently taking over the hardware shop with her husband. Poison is the cause of death, but who doled it out?
If the death wasn’t bad enough, Ivy and her husband Jack have another problem. It seems their daughter Olive is sensing things that Ivy herself can’t see, which means Shadow Lake’s top witch might be falling behind.
Ivy wants nothing more than to live a happy life and help her friends. Ava’s revenge might make that impossible, though.
Prepare yourselves, because Ivy’s past is threatening her future, and this just might be the one fight she can’t win.
Deadly Grand Prix racing. Daring deep dives. Double-crossing diamond thieves.
When dive boat operators AJ Bailey and Reg Moore are hired to explore a newly discovered wreck on the island of Bonaire, the treacherous depths are not the only danger they face.
With hidden ties leading back to a fledgling Formula One Grand Prix team from 1970, the two exhilarating timelines build to a thrilling climax with a twist leaving AJ and Reg fighting for their lives.
Book fifteen in this bestselling series takes AJ and her mentor Reg out of their Cayman Islands comfort zone and plunges them into a wild adventure in another beautiful Caribbean paradise.
Georgie joins the party!
Georgie invites Stella to come stay at her aunt’s bee farm for the week. It’s a vacation, right?
All is fun and games until the local gardener is murdered and Aunt Penelope is taken to jail as the suspect. No one can believe sweet Penelope has been arrested, especially Stella. But Georgie confesses her aunt has a strange past.
A past that’s apparently revisited the small bee farm. And Stella and Georgie can’t boot him out!
Hadley Hunter came to Moonstone Bay to find herself. That included finding her passion in life. She just didn’t think it would involve becoming mayor.
She has no qualifications, other than being a powerful witch.
Half the town is rooting against her.
The other half is just sitting back to see what happens.
Only a handful of people are rooting for her, but they’re the only ones who matter.
When a body appears on the beach, one that’s been stabbed in the back and surrounded by curse runes in blood, Hadley finds her attention split. She might be the new mayor, but she’s also interested in what killed a former member of the power-hungry DDA.
The investigation involves old grudges, hidden files, a new witch in town, and the island’s biggest secret. Hadley isn’t ready for any of it, but she’s not going to have a choice.
Someone on the island is trying to keep dark information from coming to light, and it’s going to put them all in danger.
So, brace yourselves, because the new mayor is about to face a very old problem. Can she solve the case and keep the island safe? That’s anybody’s guess, but the odds are stacked against her.
A cat hunt at Christmas on Maui…
I'm Kat Smith, Secret Service agent turned postmaster sleuth in the small town of Ohia on Maui, and I'm dealing with my first private investigation at the holidays: Lady Sapphire, a pedigreed feline expecting her first litter on Christmas, has been stolen from her elderly owner. My hot pilot boyfriend Mr. K and I are up to our eyeballs in cozy mystery motives when we discover that Tiki, my beloved stray, has also disappeared.
Now the hunt is personal, and I'll leave no furball unturned to bring these cats home.
The river reveals its secrets...
Amateur sleuth Augusta Peel is showing a friend the sights of London when their boat trip on the River Thames is cut short. A body has been found adrift in a rowing boat.
The circumstances are puzzling. Scotland Yard takes on the case and Augusta makes some enquiries of her own. But since Detective Inspector Philip Fisher’s resignation, she no longer has a contact at the Yard to help her.
Could the murder be linked to a series of accidents at a factory? And who was behind an attack on a young woman a few weeks previously? A breakthrough comes when the Yard asks for assistance, but Augusta has already made an enemy who’s determined to make life difficult for her.
Philip’s new detective agency is getting off the ground. And although he’s happy to help Augusta, a lady in distress is causing a distraction…
“Don’t look back. There’s someone out there that will save us all.”
When an unexpected call from FBI agent Bella Walker takes Ava James on a red eye flight to Hawaii waters.
Nothing could have prepared her for the surprising mysteries that lie hidden in the Jurassic World-like landscape.
After the 17-year-old, Kelly Winters went missing in Florida, Ava James worked tirelessly on the case only to reach a dead end.
She had lost hope of finding the truth behind Kelly’s mysterious disappearance.
Until she received a shocking call.
In the middle of the Oahu rainforest, physically battered, but with an unbreakable determination,
Kelly Winters pushed her body to the limit to escape her captors.
Upon hearing the young girl’s story, Ava makes a promise to Kelly that she will follow through until all the other victims are found.
While Ava and Bella unravel the case, they find it linked to a huge trafficking network that has spread its seeds everywhere.
From everyday men to Capitol Hill to Japan to the Middle East.
The case could mean career suicide or even an untimely death.
The stakes are higher than ever. There are enemies to be found in even the police precincts.
This conspiracy is bigger than she could have ever imagined, and no person could save her from the bones that she would unearth...
Johnny Dillon took his life. His wife Cora wants to know why. The Northtown cops don’t care; they closed the case as a suicide. The M.E. hasn’t got any answers for the discrepancies Ray Jarvi discovered in the autopsy report and from what Johnny’s wife told him about the days leading up to his decision to take his life.
This is the beginning of an investigation for private investigator Ray Jarvi, who follows a twisting path of corruption and vice in his rust-belt town on the shores of Lake Erie to help her find some resolution to the worst day in her life. Like a medieval play between warring devils and angels battling for a soul, he must deal with a variety of Northtowners who play one part or the other on his journey to find those answers. Getting past one obstacle only leads to another—and another. Before long, Jarvi does not know whom to trust. He realizes nothing in his town is what it appears to be and that there are some dangerous people who like it that way.
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