My plan this month is to try and tick off some of my hardback fiction. I generally buy paperbacks, but every now and again something comes along that I can’t wait to read. So here’s to ticking a few off the list and clearing some shelf space.

The Antique Hunter’s Guide to Murder by C. L. Miller

This is one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I have been lucky enough to be gifted a copy of the book and been invited to be part of the blog tour.

What it’s about?

What antique would you kill for?

Freya Lockwood is shocked when she learns that Arthur Crockleford, antiques dealer and her estranged mentor, has died under mysterious circumstances. She has spent the last twenty years avoiding her quaint English hometown, but when she receives a letter from Arthur asking her to investigate—sent just days before his death—Freya has no choice but to return to a life she had sworn to leave behind.

Joining forces with her eccentric Aunt Carole, Freya follows clues and her instincts to an old manor house for an advertised antiques enthusiast’s weekend. But not all is as it seems. It’s clear to Freya that the antiques are all just poor reproductions and her fellow guests are secretive and menacing. What is going on at this estate and how was Arthur involved? More importantly, can Freya and Carole discover the truth before the killer strikes again?

The Cloisters by Katy Hays

This was a gift from my match on Twitter’s Christmas Book Swap. The cover is stunning and some of the reviews are fantastic so this is definitely one I am looking forward to.

What it’s about?

On the wheel of fortune, who will emerge on top… and who will die?

When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she hopes to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval and Renaissance art.

There she is drawn into a small circle of charismatic but enigmatic researchers, including Patrick Roland, the museum’s mercurial curator who specializes in the history of tarot; Rachel Mondray, Patrick’s beautiful curatorial associate and sometime muse; and Leo Bitburg, the gardener who nurtures the museum’s precious collection of medicinal and poison plants.

Relieved to have left her troubled past in rural Washington behind her, Ann longs for the approbation of her colleagues and peers and is happy to indulge their more outlandish theories, only to find that their fascination with fortune-telling runs deeper than academic obsession. Patrick is determined to prove that ancient divination holds the key to the foretelling of the future. And when Ann stumbles across a breakthrough in the form of a mysterious and previously-believed lost deck of 15th-century Italian tarot cards, she finds herself at the centre of a dangerous game of power, toxic friendship and ambition.

Then there is an unexpected and devastating death, and suddenly everyone becomes a suspect. As the game being played within the Cloisters spirals out of control, Ann must decide if the tarot cards can not only teach her about the past, but also about her future.

Just Between Us by Adele Parks

Last year I went to a book event host by the lovely folks at Chorleywood Bookshop featuring Ruth Ware, Claire Mackintosh and Adele Parks. Of course I had to pick up some signed copies while I was there!

What’s it about?

Lost. Missing. Murdered?
How do you find a woman who didn’t exist?

Kylie Gillingham’s disappearance has gripped the nation: the woman with a shocking secret – married to two men at the same time – is missing, presumed dead. And both her husbands are suspects.

DCI Clements knows the dark side of human nature and that you can’t presume anything when it comes to crimes of the heart. Until a body is found, this scandalous and sad case remains wide open.

Stacie Jones lives a quiet life in a small village, shielded by her father from any upsetting news as she recovers from illness.

But when these two very different worlds collide, can anyone ever rebuild their lives in the wake of tragedy?

Have a great month of reading!

E x