by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@teachingtheapocalypse)
As is often the case as the year ends, December will be a relatively quiet publishing month, but there are still a few books coming out that I cannot wait to read!
Cormac McCarthy's Stella Maris (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - December 6th
Description from Publisher:
"1972, BLACK RIVER FALLS, WISCONSIN: Alicia Western, twenty years old, with forty thousand dollars in a plastic bag, admits herself to the hospital. A doctoral candidate in mathematics at the University of Chicago, Alicia has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and she does not want to talk about her brother, Bobby. Instead, she contemplates the nature of madness, the human insistence on one common experience of the world; she recalls a childhood where, by the age of seven, her own grandmother feared for her; she surveys the intersection of physics and philosophy; and she introduces her cohorts, her chimeras, the hallucinations that only she can see. All the while, she grieves for Bobby, not quite dead, not quite hers. Told entirely through the transcripts of Alicia’s psychiatric sessions, Stella Maris is a searching, rigorous, intellectually challenging coda to The Passenger, a philosophical inquiry that questions our notions of God, truth, and existence."
Why I want to read it: Cormac. McCarthy. Need I say more? Actually, I still have several of his books to read, including The Passenger, so it might be a little while before I get to this one, but I'm so excited to see it coming out!
Keigo Higashino's A Death in Tokyo (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - December 13th
Description from Publisher:
"In this mind-bending sequel from the international bestselling author Keigo Higashino, Tokyo Police Detective Kaga finds himself forced to try and makes sense of a most unusual murder.
"In the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo an unusual statue of a Japanese mythic beast – a kirin – stands guard over the district from the classic Nihonbashi bridge. Late at night, the body of a murdered man, stabbed in the chest, is found on the bridge, under the statue of the winged beast. However, that was not the crime scene – the man was killed a few hundred feet away and his body moved to that position. The same night, a young man named Yashima is injured in a car accident attempting to flee from the police. Found on him is the wallet of the murdered man. The two have no known connection.
"Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga is assigned to the team investigating the murder – and must bring his skills to bear to uncover what actually happened that night on the Nihonbashi bridge. Why was the murder victim moved? What, if any, connection is there between the murdered man and Yashima, the young man caught with his wallet? Kaga’s investigation takes him down dark roads and into the unknown past to uncover what really happened and why."
Why I want to read it: This looks like a captivating read. Although this is outside of my typical genres, I've found I enjoy mysteries and thrillers the best when they feature the same protagonist going on different investigations. I'd love to read both more works in translation and more books set in Japan, so this one caught my attention.
Scarlett St. Clair's Queen of Myth and Monsters (Libro.fm) - December 20th
Description from Publisher:
"Is their bond strong enough to withstand all the forces looking to destroy them? From fan-favorite Scarlett St. Clair, the USA Today bestselling author of the Hades x Persephone series, comes a dark vampire fantasy filled with danger, myths, monsters, and insatiable romance
"Isolde, newly coronated queen, has finally found a king worthy of her in the vampire Adrian. But their love for each other has cost Isolde her father and her homeland. With two opposing goddesses playing mortals and vampires like chess pieces against one another, Isolde is uncertain who her allies are in the vampire stronghold of Revekka.
"Now, as politics in the Red Palace grow more underhanded and a deadly blood mist threatens all of Cordova, Isolde must trust in the bond she’s formed with Adrian, even as she learns troubling information about his complicated past."
Why I want to read it: This one sounds fascinating, and I really want to read more fantasy books in 2023. I also love books that incorporate characters from myths, and I've been wanting to try one of Scarlett St. Clair's books!
Maureen Johnson's Nine Liars (Bookshop.org | Libro.fm) - December 27th
Description from Publisher:
"Stevie Bell solved the case of Truly Devious, and now she’s taking her detecting skills abroad when she becomes embroiled in a mystery from 1990s England. Another pulse-pounding and laugh-out-loud stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.
"Senior year at Ellingham Academy for Stevie Bell isn’t going well. Her boyfriend, David, is studying in London. Her friends are obsessed with college applications. With the cold case of the century solved, Stevie is adrift. There is nothing to distract her from the questions pinging around her brain—questions about college, love, and life in general.
"Relief comes when David invites Stevie and her friends to join him for study abroad, and his new friend Izzy introduces her to a double-murder cold case. In 1995, nine friends from Cambridge University went to a country house and played a drunken game of hide-and-seek. Two were found in the woodshed the next day, murdered with an ax.
"The case was assumed to be a burglary gone wrong, but one of the remaining seven saw something she can’t explain. This was no break-in. Someone’s lying about what happened in the woodshed.
"Seven suspects. Two murders. One killer still playing a deadly game."
Why I want to read it: As I've shared several times this year, I absolutely loved (and compulsively read!) the Truly Devious series and cannot wait to get back to Stevie Bell and her friends. This one will be at the top of my TBR stack for the new year. Can't wait!
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