Firsts on the 1st: New Series Characters Being Introduced in August 2009 Mysteries

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books recently updated its list of August 2009 hardcover mysteries as well put up new August paperbacks on The Mystery Bookshelf. In this post, which we're calling Firsts on the 1st, we're introducing readers to new series characters who will make their debut during August.

— ◊ —

Title: Hemingway Deadlights
Author: Michael Atkinson
Series Character: Ernest Hemingway
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway turns amateur sleuth in this hard-boiled series that mixes fact with fiction, set during the author's later years in Key West, Florida.

His first case: It is 1956 and Ernest Hemingway has spent much of the year at his home in Key West, hiding from tourists and autograph hunters. But a friend’s sudden death rouses Papa from his idyll. To say that the cause of death is suspicious is to put it lightly. It’s not every day that a part-time smuggler is impaled on a harpoon.

— ◊ —

Title: Sew Deadly
Author: Elizabeth Lynn Casey
Series Character: Tori Sinclair
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Yankee Tori Sinclair has just moved to the tiny town of Sweet Briar, South Carolina, where she is the new librarian and is active in the sewing circle.

Her first case: Tori's been so busy adding a children’s corner to the library, winning over the women of the sewing circle, and trying to forget her cheating ex that she hasn’t had time to even baste together a pillow, never mind pay attention to the local gossip. Then she finds the town sweetheart dead at her back door, and everything else falls by the wayside. Everyone believes the police investigator, who’s just fixin’ to link Tori to the murder in a love triangle gone bad through a handsome third-grade teacher. To clear her name, Tori will have to rely on her new sewing sisters and stitch together the truth–or else she’ll be darned.

— ◊ —

Title: A Slice of Murder
Author: Chris Cavender
Series Character: Eleanor Swift
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Eleanor Swift owns a pizzeria in Timber Ridge (NC) called A Slice of Delight. She has a sassy and occasionally married sister, Maddy, and her ex-boyfriend, Kevin Jurley, is the town's police chief.

Her first case: Not too much happens in the sleepy little town of Timber Ridge, North Carolina -- which is fine with pizza-purveyor extraordinaire Eleanor Swift. The spunky owner of A Slice of Delight is trying to mend her broken heart and could use a little quiet time. But when a late night delivery customer turns up dead, she's in for just the opposite.

— ◊ —

Title: Devil's Trill
Author: Gerald Elias
Series Character: Daniel Jacobus
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Daniel Jacobus is a blind, reclusive, crotchety violin teacher living in self-imposed exile in rural New England. He spends his time chain-smoking, listening to old LPs, and occasionally taking on new students, whom he berates in the hope that they will flee.

His first case: Daniel Jacobus is drawn back into the world he left behind when he decides to attend The Grimsley Competition at Carnegie Hall. The young winner of this competition is granted the honor of playing the Piccolino Stradivarius, a uniquely dazzling three-quarter-size violin that has brought misfortune to all who possessed it over the centuries. But the violin is stolen before the winner of the competition has a chance to play it, and Jacobus is the primary suspect. He sets out to prove his innocence and find the stolen Piccolino Strad.

— ◊ —

Title: A Bad Day for Sorry
Author: Sophie Littlefield
Series Character: Stella Hardesty
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Stella Hardesty dispatched her abusive husband with a wrench shortly before her fiftieth birthday. A few years later, she’s so busy delivering home-style justice on her days off, helping other women deal with their own abusive husbands and boyfriends, that she barely has time to run her sewing shop in her rural Missouri hometown.

Her first case: When young mother Chrissy Shaw asks Stella for help with her no-good husband, Roy Dean, it looks like an easy case. Until Roy Dean disappears with Chrissy’s two-year-old son, Tucker. Stella quickly learns that Roy Dean was involved with some very scary men, as she tries to sort out who’s hiding information and who’s merely trying to kill her. It’s going to take a hell of a fight to get the little boy back home to his mama, but if anyone can do it, it’s Stella Hardesty.

— ◊ —

Title: Bundle of Trouble
Author: Diana Orgain
Series Character: Kate Connolly
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: First-time mother Kate Connolly, on leave from her job as an office manager, takes on the role of private investigator to bring in a little extra cash. After all, the hours are flexible, she can bring the baby along on stake-outs, and if you’re going to be up all night anyway, you might as well solve some crimes!

Her first case: Kate receives a disturbing phone call telling her that a body has been pulled from San Francisco Bay, and the police think it may be her brother-in-law. Now, in addition to trying to solve the mystery of how one six-pound baby can generate ten times her weight in laundry, Kate finds herself in the middle of a murder investigation with multiplying victims. And when her husband is detained in connection with the crimes, Kate must crack the case faster than you can say “diaper rash” to keep her little family together.

— ◊ —

Title: Whack 'N' Roll
Author: Gail Oust
Series Character: Kate McCall
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Kate McCall is a 60ish widow and crime and punishment junkie who lives at Serenity Cove Estates, a retirement community for "active" adults. She loves playing a dice game called Bunco, and her bi-monthly Bunco group is known as the "Bunco Babes".

Her first case: Kate and her friends discover a severed arm in a Wal-Mart bag while playing golf. Armed with The Complete Idiots Guide to Forensics, Kate sets out to solve the crime--much to the chagrin of Sheriff Sumter Wiggins. Along the way, Kate enlists the help of the Bunco Babes; together they are a force to be reckoned with as they eliminate possible victims then zero in on "persons of interest."

— ◊ —

For a list of more mysteries scheduled for publication during August, please visit our New Mysteries home page. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf where you can discover a library of new mysteries, also updated with August 2009 releases.

Please visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

Return to Mystery Books News ...