Capri, the Eighties and a Follow Up to a Best-seller
Some upcoming book releases you should know about
2025 is shaping up to be another stellar year for complicated female protagonists in the thriller genre. Three books, all slated for publication on March 25, are no exception. And all three writers have delivered atmospheric settings and twisty plots to go along with their compelling characters. I recommend all three. You will find a link to preorder each one, if you choose. (I don’t make anything from your order, but by choosing to shop through Bookshop.org, you support independent booksellers!)
Saltwater
By Katy Hays
An uber-rich family with wealth stemming from questionable deeds; a private getaway on the exclusive island of Capri; hot summer nights; hand-selected staff with their own agendas; and the thirtieth anniversary of a suspicious accident that killed the mother of a three year old girl. Saltwater, the twisty thriller by Katy Hays, has all this and more. Hays includes all the atmosphere of a Hitchcock film and a locked room mystery. Told by multiple narrators with flashbacks to the days leading up to the death of Sarah Lingate on the treacherous cliffs of the island interspersed with the explosive plans of her daughter Helen to uncover who among her family and close associates might have killed Sarah, the plot careens to its wild ending through the suffocating heat of Capri, the playground of the ultrawealthy.
Saltwater will be published March 25, 2025 and is available for preorder.
I Would Die for You
By Sandie Jones
Secret October was the hottest band coming out of England in the 1980s, and they had throngs of die-hard fans to prove it. But a terrible tragedy ended their meteoric rise to fame and sent Nicole Forbes running as far as she could go. When a mysterious woman tracks her down in California where she lives with her husband and young daughter asking her what she knew about the tragedy, Nicole’s new life is in danger of exploding in a manner worthy of a music video.
Told in dual point of view with two timelines, Jones weaves a tight story of suspense that manages to capture the boundless energy and excess of the eighty’s music scene; and her plot is fueled by the parallels between the obsession of superfans and the desperation of a mother in search of her lost daughter.
I Would Die for You is available March 25, 2025 and is available for preorder.
The Unlucky Ones
By Hannah Morrissey
In her fourth installment to the Black Harbor series, Hannah Morrissey delivers all the supercharged atmosphere, complex characters and twisty, propulsive plot her readers have come to expect and more. Hazel, the police transcriber from the first installment Hello, Transcriber, returns to Black Harbor to find out who killed her ex-husband. Her reasons for returning are complex, her connection to her abuser difficult to completely sever, but, perhaps more complicated is the potential for more material for her writing career. Or maybe she returned because of Sergeant Nikolai Kole, her former lover.
The Unlucky Ones is an immersive, edge of your seat thrill ride, expertly paced and plotted to keep you up late, turning those pages. The ending is both surprising and satisfying. I highly recommend this book.
The Unlucky Ones is available for preorder now to ship March 25, 2025.
Happy reading!
Eileen