The Assassin of Venice.
By Alyssa Palombo.
June 2024. 320p. Crooked Lane, $29.99 (9781639107872); e-book (9781639107889).
Valentina Riccardi is a much-sought-after courtesan providing conversation, companionship, and sex to men in the upper echelon of Venetian society. Valentina is also an assassin. Because of her access to these men, she is uniquely positioned to cause them harm. Approached years ago by Ambrogio Malatesta of the Council of Ten to provide intelligence, she is eventually assigned to assassinate Venice’s enemies. She gladly does it, as she is a passionate supporter of her adopted home. Valentina was born Maria Angelina, daughter of a prosperous and pious Roman family. Forced to flee Rome, she will do anything to keep her new home of Venice safe. But the dying words of one of her targets make Valentina question her dealings with Malatesta. The actions of her lover, another of Malatesta’s assassins, further convince Valentina that something is amiss. She needs to use all her money, influence, and charm to keep herself and her loved ones safe. Shifting from young Maria in 1527 to Valentina in 1538, this is a tense, sexy work of historical fiction and political intrigue. —Lynnanne Pearson
Between This World and the Next.
By Praveen Herat.
June 2024. 368p. Restless, $28 (9781632063670); e-book (9781632063687).
The year is 1998 and Joseph Nightingale, aka Fearless, is a burnt-out war photographer from the UK dealing with grief. He is invited to stay in Cambodia, where he meets Song, an 18-year-old Cambodian woman trapped in a life of violence and fear hoping to be reunited with her twin sister. Their paths cross unexpectedly when Song chooses to help Fearless, which becomes the catalyst that changes both of their lives forever. After Song disappears, Fearless decides to uncover the truth, which leads him into a world of sex trafficking, corruption, betrayal, power, and greed. In this international thriller, Praveen Herat writes a page-turner that will keep readers questioning who to trust, when the characters should take action, how to decide who is good or bad, and how far the two main characters will go to overcome their pasts and confront their demons. Although heavy in its subject matter, love and found family lie at the story’s core. —Alejandra Santana
The Birthday Girl.
By Sarah Ward.
June 2024. 336p. Printers Row/Canelo, paper, $12.99 (9781667207353).
In the first installment of Ward’s Mallory Dawson series, readers are transported to the captivating yet eerie setting of Eldey Island in the Welsh Sea. Mallory, a former detective turned night manager at the island’s hotel, finds herself amidst a group of wealthy guests stranded by a brutal storm. One by one, guests fall victim to mysterious deaths, leading Mallory to confront a chilling revelation: among them lurks the notorious Birthday Girl, who made headlines as a child by poisoning her friends at her own birthday party. The story is told through the various perspectives of Mallory and guests Beth, Charlotte, and Mona, one of whom is the presumed poisoner. Despite the guessability of the killer’s identity, Ward’s locked-room mystery thrives on the atmospheric allure and haunting history of the island, which becomes as much a character as any other. Birthday Girl sets a promising foundation for the Mallory Dawson series, leaving readers eager to follow Mallory’s further sleuthing as she unravels mysteries amidst the ethereal Welsh landscapes. —Margaret Howard
The Black Spectacles.
By John Dickson Carr.
June 2024. 272p. Poisoned Pen, paper, $15.99 (9781464216329); e-book (9781464216336).
Everything you could ever want in a Golden Age of Detective Fiction novel is in this British Library Crime Classics republication of John Dickson Carr’s 1939 mystery—a country-house setting, a quiver of suspects bristling with motives, and an absolute stumper of a murder puzzle. All this is masterminded by Carr, whose many awards include two Edgars and the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award and who is recognized as the preeminent practitioner of the locked-room and the impossible-crime mysteries. Here we have two open-room murders. The first is a one-room village sweet shop with boxes spiked with strychnine candy open on the counter. The second is a staged event at a dinner party at a country estate in the same village. The title refers to the lord of the manor’s taunt that his guests could not see a murder even if it took place right before their eyes in an extraordinarily well-lit room. He has everyone watch the action closely as a person in disguise enters the room. Tragedy follows, and Carr’s series amateur detective, the Oxford don Dr. Gideon Fell, is summoned to question the guests and to untangle the physical and psychological vagaries of the staged murder. Mystery writer and critic Martin Edwards provides a fascinating introduction. —Connie Fletcher
Bodies to Die For.
By Lori Brand.
June 2024. 354p. Blackstone, $26.99 (9798212191234).
Gemma, a bodybuilder and personal trainer with an online business that has made her a social media superstar, is in Tampa for Bikini Olympia. Winners of the cutthroat competition will go on to lucrative contracts and sponsorships. Ashley is at Bikini Olympia too, but for a very different reason. She’s struggled with her weight for decades and has slipped in as part of a radical, clandestine
