March has already been a busy month for me and it's barely even started. Whew! I'm heading to the U.K. on Sunday for a two-week sightseeing/family history trip (mostly the latter), so this is the only TTT you'll see here this month, sadly. I'll get back into it in April, I promise. In the meantime, I'll leave you with my Spring TBR list (next week's topic) since I'm not feeling this week's prompt, which is: Top Ten Books I'm Worried I Might Not Love As Much the Second Time Around. 

This fun, weekly blog event is hosted by the lovely Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Be sure to click on over to her blog and give it some love.

1. Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong (available May 7, 2024)—I'm a huge fan of Armstrong's Rockton/Haven's Rock series, but her A Rip in Time books are actually my favorites. This one is the third installment in the series, which features a modern-day homicide detective who gets thrust back in time to Victorian Scotland, where she helps solve crimes while trying to figure out how to return to her own time. In this book, Mallory and her undertaker landlord investigate a murder that occurs during a mummy unwrapping.

Since this series is set in Edinburgh, the city I will be flying in and out of, it will be the perfect read for my airplane ride. Maybe I'll save it for the trip home, after I do a ghost tour in the city!

2. Where There's Smoke by E.B. Vickers—This YA novel concerns Calli, an 18-year-old girl who has graduated from high school and lost her father, all in the last week and a half. Grieving the only parent she had left, she finds purpose in helping a young girl who shows up at her house bruised, beaten, and scared out of her mind. When the police come knocking, asking about a missing child from a neighboring town, Calli finds herself caught up in a quest for truth and justice that will expose shocking secrets about her small community and people she's known all her life who she maybe doesn't really know at all.

3. The American Daughters by Maurice Carlos Ruffin—When an enslaved girl stumbles upon a secret society of spies run by a free Black woman, she finds purpose in helping to undermine the Confederacy. At the same time, she is on a journey to reunite with her beloved mother, an enslaved woman from whom she has been tragically separated.

4. The Hunter by Tana French—I'm a big Tana French fan and I'm always excited when a new book from her is announced. This is the second book in her Cal Hooper series. In this installment, Cal is immediately put on alert when the absent father of a teenager he's been mentoring shows up in town with suspicious motives. How far will Cal go to protect the people he cares about?

5. What Happened to Nina? by Dervla McTiernan—McTiernan is another of my favorite crime writers. Her newest is a standalone mystery featuring a young couple—Simon and Nina—who go on a Vermont vacation together, from which only Nina returns. Desperate to find out what happened to their daughter, Nina's family plies the police for answers, while Simon's wealthy family rushes in to protect him from suspicion. What happened to Nina? Is Simon to blame? Finding the truth might just tear them all apart.

 

6. Swimming in a Sea of Stars by Julie Wright—In this YA novel, a teen girl is attending school for the first time since she tried to kill herself. Everyone thinks they know what happened. They don't. As she floats through the halls, keeping her secrets to herself, she encounters several other students who are hiding their own doubts and insecurities. As painful as it might be, sharing their truths might be the first step to all of them finding the courage and understanding they all need to move forward.

7. A Novel Disguise by Samantha Larsen—The first installment in a new historical mystery series, this one introduces Miss Tiffany Woodall, a spinster who's pretending to be her dead half-brother in order to find the diamond pin that could save her from financial ruin. Things get complicated when a body is found, among other puzzling mysteries. It's up to Tiffany to figure out what in the world is going on in hers.

8. In the Lonely Hours by Shannon Morgan (available July 23, 2024)—This gothic mystery doesn't come out until the summer, but I have an e-ARC I can't wait to read. Also set in Scotland, it's about a woman who is shocked to discover she's inherited an old castle from a relative she's never heard of. When she and her teen daughter move in, they're quite unsettled to find out that it's full of ghosts and mysteries aplenty. As they dig into the edifice's dark past, they unwittingly put themselves in danger, especially as trapped as they are on a remote island...

9. Everyone on This Train is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson—I enjoyed Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone, so I'm excited to read this sequel. Our intrepid author of how-to guides for mystery novelists has been invited to a writing conference via a train packed with other authors. When one of them is murdered, it's up to him to find out whodunit.

10. The Mystery of Locked Rooms by Lindsay Currie (available April 2, 2024)—This middle-grade puzzler sounds like tons of fun. It's about three kids who are determined to find a treasure that is rumored to be hidden inside an old, abandoned funhouse. As they solve riddles and other clues, they start to feel as if they're in the ultimate escape room, one that has been set up just for them. It's impossible, isn't it? What exactly is going on and how are they going to win this game that is getting gradually more unnerving?

There you go, ten books I hope to read this summer. Have you read any of them? What did you think? How about you? What's on your Spring TBR list? I'd truly love to know. Leave me a comment on this post and I will gladly return the favor on yours.