Barton, Fiona. Talking to Strangers. Berkley. Aug. 2024. 400p. ISBN 9781984803078. $29. M

Best-selling and multi-best-booked Barton offers another Detective Elise King police procedural, after Local Gone Missing. King is called into to investigate when a woman, on multiple dating apps, is murdered on Valentine’s Day. Is a killer stalking the apps? Reporter Kiki Nunn also wants to find out.

Lalli, S.C. The Plus One. Morrow. Aug. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780063226319. pap. $18.99. M

Radhika Singh and Raj Joshi are murdered on the eve of their huge wedding at a luxury resort in Cabo. Shay Kapoor is in attendance as a plus one; she is dating Raj’s best friend, Caleb. By his side as chaos, and the police, descend, she starts to see the clues and untangle all the lies. The best-selling Lalli (Are You Sara?) gets a 75K-copy first printing.

Meyer, Nicholas. Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell. The Mysterious Pr. Aug. 2024. 284p. ISBN 9781613165331. $26.95. M

The Gold Dagger Award winner for the buzzy The Seven-Per-Cent Solution returns with his next Sherlock Holmes pastiche, sending Holmes and Watson across the Atlantic during WWI in hopes of stopping the dangerous plans of one of Holmes’s enemies, a German spymaster.

Sands, Stella. Wordhunter. Harper. Aug. 2024. 256p. ISBN 9780063345300. pap. $18.99.M

A true-crime author makes her crime fiction debut with this novel about books and language (complete with sentence diagrams and quotes) and a missing girl. The case is solved by the way suspects use language and involves emails, tweets—and ransom notes.

Taylor, Sarah Stewart. Agony Hill. Minotaur. Aug. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9781250826626. $28. M

Starting a new series set in the 1960s, Taylor (of the Sweeney St. George and Maggie D’arcy series) brings Bostonian Franklin Warren to Bethany, VT, as a new state police detective. His first case is a puzzler: did Hugh Weber kill himself, or is there a murderer loose in this small, secret-filled town?

Vassell, Charlotte. The In Crowd. Doubleday. (Detective Inspector Caius Beau, Bk. 2). Aug. 2024. 432p. ISBN 9780593685976. $28. M

The second in the rompy, contemporary, Agatha Christie–esque Detective Inspector Caius Beau series, following The Other Half, sees Caius Beauchamp’s evening at the theater interrupted when a dead body is discovered. Two cold cases complicate matters further, as do politics and a duke-in-waiting.

Wright, Snowden. The Queen City Detective Agency. Morrow. Aug. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9780062963581. $30. M

Wright (American Pop) gets a 100K-copy first printing for this Southern noir as he introduces cop-turned-P.I. Clementine Baldwin. In a down-at-the-heels town, an affiliate of the Dixie Mafia is found dead. His mother wants answers. She hires Baldwin, who enters the crime-laden Queen City—and the crosshairs.

Forthcoming Series Titles

Andrews, Donna. Between a Flock and a Hard Place. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Meg Langslow Mystery, Bk. 35). Aug. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250894083. $28. M

Berenson, Laurien. Pumpkin Spice Puppy. Kensington Cozies. (Melanie Travis, Bk. 30). Aug. 2024. 224p. ISBN 9781496750624. $22.95. M

Childs, Laura. Peach Tea Smash. Berkley. (A Tea Shop Mystery, Bk. 28). Aug. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593201015. $29. M

Cleeves, Ann. The Dark Wives. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Vera Stanhope, Bk. 11). Aug. 2024. 384p. ISBN 9781250836847. $29. M

Kellerman, Jonathan Jesse Kellerman. The Lost Coast. Ballantine. (Clay Edison, Bk. 5). Aug. 2024. 368p. ISBN 9780525620143. $30. M

Krueger, William Kent. Spirit Crossing. Atria. (Cork O’Connor, Bk. 20). Aug. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9781982179243. $28.99. M

Matheson, Nadine. The Kill List. Hanover Square: Harlequin. (Inspector Anjelica Henley, Bk. 3). Aug. 2024. 400p. ISBN 9781335455055. $30. M

Maxwell, Alyssa. Murder at Vinland. Kensington. (Gilded Newport Mystery, Bk. 12). Aug. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781496736215. $27. M

Pryor, Mark. A Blood Red Morning. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Henri Lefort Mystery, Bk. 3). Aug. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250330604. $29. M

Quartey, Kwei. The Whitewashed Tombs. Soho Crime. (Emma Djan Investigation, Bk. 4). Aug. 2024. 340p. ISBN 9781641295888. $27.95. M

Quinn, Spencer. A Farewell to Arfs. Forge. (A Chet & Bernie Mystery, Bk. 15). Aug. 2024. 272p. ISBN 9781250331809. $27.99. M

Reichs, Kathy. Fire and Bones. Scribner. (Temperance Brennan, Bk. 23). Aug. 2024. 288p. ISBN 9781668050927. $27.99. M

Schaffhausen, Joanna. All the Way Gone. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Detective Annalisa Vega, Bk. 4). Aug. 2024. 352p. ISBN 9781250904140. $29. M

Smith, Ian K. Eagle Rock. Amistad: HarperCollins. (Ashe Cayne, Bk. 4). Aug. 2024. 336p. ISBN 9780063253759. $24. M

Tracy, P.J. City of Secrets. Minotaur: St. Martin’s. (Detective Margaret Nolan, Bk. 4). Aug. 2024. 304p. ISBN 9781250334350. $28. M

Walker, Martin. A Grave in the Woods. Knopf. (A Bruno, Chief of Police Mystery, Bk. 17). Aug. 2024. 320p. ISBN 9780593536629. $29. M