Mystery, Mayhem, Music, and Marriage: January New Releases

Mystery and Suspense to Keep You Up at Night

Murder on the Moor: If you haven’t read any of Julianna Deering’s Drew Farthering Mysteries, you’re missing out. Drew, an English gentleman, and his wife Madeline receive an invitation to an old classmate’s country estate—located on the English moors.

The reason for the invitation? A mystery involving the murder of a well-loved vicar. Drew quickly finds his suspects and starts trying to prove them guilty. Madeline cautions him to not judge so quickly.

Foggy days, quarrels with the neighbors, unexpected deaths, and a giant dog (but not the Hound of the Baskerville’s) complicate matters. If you love Sherlock Holmes, you’ll love Drew Farthering.

Deering does a great job of keeping the story firmly in the time period and letting readers glimpse what life was like in England between the two wars.

In Still Life, the second in the Chesapeake Valor Series, Dani Pettrey weaves a tense tale without loosing any threads. Avery, the main protagonist, comes from a rough background, but she has discovered a new life in Christ. Regardless, she worries that her past will keep her from enjoying a future with the man she loves.

The Chesapeake Valor series has multiple protagonists—a core group of friends from college—that appear in each story. The unique cast of characters and danger from every side keeps the reader turning pages late into the night.

An added bonus: if you watched the last season of Survivor, Gen X vs. Millennias, you’ll recognize the cover model.

A Historical Treat That Makes You Think

Tamara Alexander crafts another winner in A Note Yet Unsung. The beautiful story has well-developed characters who struggle with secrets from their pasts that might prevent them from finding happiness in the future.

Rebekah Carrington possesses incredible talent as a musician in a time period when women had no practical outlet for their musical talents. Tate, aka, Nathaniel T. Whitcomb, struggles to hide his humble beginnings as he nurtures Nashville’s first orchestra. Casual observers might assume that he came from old money—but they would be wrong.

A Note Yet Unsung, the third installment in the Belmont Mansion Series, features the Belmont Mansion and its owner, Adelicia Acklen Cheatham as Rebekah’s new employer. The other books in the series also feature the mansion and its owner, but the reader does not need to read the other books in order to enjoy this story.

Along the way, readers come to understand the fact that if God gifts us with a talent, we have a responsibility to use it to glorify HIM, not ourselves—even if it means stepping outside of our comfort zone.

Non-Fiction that Reads Like Fiction

One of my favorite books so far this year releases tomorrow—Katharina & Martin Luther. Michelle DeRusha does a marvelous job telling their story and placing it in the proper historical context. I came away with a renewed appreciation for not only what Luther did for the Reformation of the Catholic church, but what he did to reform marriage.

You can find the complete review on yesterday’s blog post.

Q4U: What great books (new or new-to-you) have kept your attention in January?