Continuing with January

Wow - this will be a short month for this blog. Probably one more after this one and then - off till the new year. Let's see how far I get today.

I don't know how many people read George Pelecanos. He has won awards for his hard boiled, gritty, kind of dark suspense and has written for the television series The Wire. If you like Michael Connelly, you could give him a try. On January 6th, he comes out with The Martini Shot, his first group of short stories and a novella. The title is a film reference to last shot of the day and is the lead story. Most of these stories deal with adults reminiscing about troubled youth - some very affecting.

Scott Blackwood has See How Small coming out on January 20th. This is not a crime/suspense story although it does revolve around the murder of three teenage girls who were tied up and then set on fire in a Texas ice cream shop. It is really about how this crime effects the parents, friends and witnesses of the event. Told in snippets of narratives jumping back and forth in time, it is an emotional read.

Uncle Janice comes out on January 6th and is by Matt Burgess. It follows Janice Itwaru who is an "uncle" (an undercover narcotics officer) for NYPD. Janice is working toward making detective when the work comes down that a quota has been instituted. Janice works toward trying to decide who the biggest criminals are - the drug dealers or her bosses. Dark and desperate while presenting a fresh take on a cop novel. If you liked Elmore Leonard, give it a try.

Jan Ellison's debut novel, A Small Indiscretion, arrives on January 20th. It focuses on Annie Black and wife and mother whose son has been in a horrible accident and lies in a coma. The story moves back and forth in time between Annie's youth in London and Paris and her current life in San Francisco. It focuses on how 'small indiscretions' of her past come back to effect her present. If you like Liane Moriarty, you might want to try this one.

Rebecca Scherm has a debut coming on January 22nd that has critics buzzing - Unbecoming. Grace from a small town in Tennessee, plans an art theft and gets two men to do the job. When the two men get arrested and sent to jail, Grace, changes her name and escaped to the outskirts of Paris as an antique restorer. The two men are released and Grace is sure they are after her. Are they? The psychological twists and the deeply flawed characters might remind you of Gillian Flynn so although it is not another Gone Girl if you like that type of story, give it a try.

The last one is another debut novel, One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis, arrives on January 27th. The work was published in the UK and hit the top of their bestsellers list. It is also in the Gone Girl genre. Emily Coleman is a lawyer with a husband and a son, suddenly she runs away and becomes Cat Brown. She lives in the seedy part of London in a group home and parties till all hours. The mystery is - why - what did she run from? The answer comes, but not till the end.

OK - there you have some brand new names to try. Enjoy.