I'm planning to read 5 full length books in October, plus 4 short stories for book club. There are 5 short stories but one of them I've already read twice, so I probably won't reread it again.
Reading for NetGalley-
Grim Folk Tale (The Unorthodox Chronicles #4) by James J. Butcher
Grimsby, a junior Auditor in the government-sanctioned, magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, must do all he can to fight for the innocent in this riveting urban fantasy.
When a magical illness begins to afflict children in Boston, the Department of Unorthodox Affairs tasks junior Auditor Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby with uncovering the source and—together with his partner, the grizzled veteran Huntsman Mayflower—putting a stop to it by any means necessary.
But their efforts to determine the origin of the spreading malady are soon complicated by the emergence of ancient and strange beings that Grimsby and Mayflower have never encountered before. To uncover the truth, they will have to turn to old acquaintances and allies and delve deep below Boston, into the city of monsters that lies beneath, and travel to the unfathomable reality of the Elsewhere.
Burdened by his own troubles, both past and present, it will take all Grimsby’s skill, iron, and no shortage of magic to stop this apparent plague and save those who have been afflicted.
Assuming it’s not already too late.
Reading with The Mystery Book Club-
The Vanished Sister (Lady Sherlock #9) by Sherry Thomas
Charlotte Holmes—aka Sherlock Holmes—becomes entangled in a puzzling missing person case that hits close to home for her beloved Mrs. Watson in this Victorian-set mystery from the USA Today bestselling author of A Ruse of Shadows.
It’s been three years since Charlotte Holmes struck a decisive blow against Moriarty's operations in Britain, three years of relative calm and benign developments. In a buoyant mood, everyone gathers at Lord Ingram's seaside cottage in North Devon for what promises to be a perfect summer holiday. Until Mrs. Watson receives an invitation from Mrs. Carstairs, her long-estranged sister, to attend a house party nearby.
Mrs. Carstairs has married spectacularly well. She is the mistress of a great manor, a doyen of all domestic arts, and still an unforgettable beauty. Now she clamors for a reconciliation with her sister. Mrs. Watson does not trust Mrs. Carstairs's motives. Yet she cannot help but feel tremors of the old admiration for this once-beloved sister.
Then Mrs. Carstairs disappears without a trace. The next day a woman is discovered floating on the waves, her build and coloring matching those of Mrs. Carstairs. But her husband insists that the corpse fished out of the Bristol Channel cannot be his wife. So where is the real Mrs. Carstairs? Would she have purposely dragged Mrs. Watson into a murder investigation? Or was it Sherlock Holmes's involvement that she needed from the very beginning?
Cold Evidence (Cass Leary #10) by Robin James
A murder so brutal, only a monster could have committed it. The accused had no motive. But there’s a mountain of evidence against him.
A decorated war hero, Ty Chapman has built his dream life in the quiet lakeside community of Delphi, Michigan. He has a beautiful wife. A baby on the way. Everything to live for. He’s the last person anyone would suspect of beating a local handyman to death behind a seedy motel. But when two credible witnesses see him running from the crime scene, hands bloodied, the police believe they have him cold.
There has to be a reason for the killing. But the prime suspect won’t talk. Not even to his lawyer.
Cass Leary is Delphi’s top defense attorney. In Ty Chapman, she’s finally got a client who can afford her. Only Ty goes mute anytime she tries to get his side of the story. All she has is a parade of character witnesses who swear Ty isn’t capable of such a heinous act.
The more Cass delves into the mystery, the more questions she has about the victim. Only most of what she learns is inadmissible in court and Ty still won’t tell her what really happened in those woods. If that weren’t enough, Cass gets a call that her former mob boss has gone missing and the FBI thinks she’s the key to finding him. Their timing couldn’t be worse as Cass heads into the courtroom to argue for Ty Chapman’s future.
Will Cass’s fight win her client’s freedom or expose an even more shocking truth?
The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan
For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally bestselling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.
First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.
They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.
They think I’m working hard to impress them.
They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.
They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.
Pick it for me book-
Deadline (Blood Trails #1) by Jennifer Blackstream
As a witch with a dark past, Shade Renard knows the Otherworld isn’t always successful at policing itself. Humans don’t believe in magic anymore, and their ignorance renders them easy prey. So when an FBI contact hires her to consult on a possible haunting in a missing person case, Shade seizes the opportunity to see justice done.
The investigation takes an unexpected turn when an undead crime lord shows up on her doorstep. A bold thief stole the vampire’s little black book of secrets—and he’ll pay a lot more than an FBI consulting fee to get it back. To collect, Shade will have to confront a rogue sorceress—or two, a vengeful wizard, and a lethally seductive fey, with only her wits, her growing magic, and a sarcastic pixie familiar. Success means bringing a killer to justice and taking the first step to redemption. Failure means a war between humans and the Otherworld.
No pressure.
Magic, murder, and mayhem will excite and delight you. Expect no sleep until the last page turns…
Reading for Book Club-
The White Ship by H.P. Lovecraft
A lighthouse keeper named Basil Elton engages upon a peculiar fantasy in which a bearded man piloting a mystical white ship is found sailing upon a bridge of moonlight. Elton joins the bearded man on this ship, and together they explore a mystical chain of islands unlike anything that can be found on Earth.
Zero Hour by Ray Bradbury
Mink and the neighborhood kids are hard at work outside all day, playing a game called Invasion. Or at least that's what her mom thinks. Throughout the day, the mother continues to have strange encounters with Mink as she talks about her friend, Drill.
Classic Short Story by Ray Bradbury, the master of science fiction whose imaginative and lyrical evocations of the future reflected both the optimism and the anxieties of his own postwar America.
An Infinity of Karen by Lawrence Watt-Evans
About a man looking for his true love across different realities.
We're reading this story from the anthology Crosstime Traffic. This is my pick and it's the second story I've picked for book club from this anthology. I really do enjoy this author's stories.
I don't have covers for the other two stories. They aren't listed on Goodreads at all.
Here are the links to both stories.
After the Last Ride- https://reedsy.com/short-story/l2knug/
Man on the Moon-
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escape-pod/id73329293?i=1000618813148
