I've been really fortunate of late to get some good review copies in the mail and in a couple of cases I will be reading to be part of an upcoming blog tour or two. One book is still en route but will be a perfect addition to my reading Japan project. The other is a book I have fallen into quite happily as it is a charming first mystery by a British author, so, right up my alley. Rule Brittania by Alec Marsh is set in mid-1930s England and features a Cambridge historian who falls into a murder mystery. So far it has this wonderful slightly madcap feel to it with a very visual sensibility. The chemistry between the characters really draws you in and has me turning the pages quickly. It is due to be published in September by the indie publisher Accent Press (which I see has a slew of interesting-looking mysteries I think I need to explore further).
I know I have mentioned Rebecca Alexander and her newest Sage Westfield mystery, which was published earlier this month. I couldn't wait to get my hands on it, but then I got wrapped up in a few other books (notably an Elly Griffiths/Ruth Galloway mystery whose heroine is also a forensic achaeologist), but I am ready now to jump into A Shroud of Leaves. I needed a little palate change before picking up another novel about forensics. This second novel is about the discovery of a girl's body on the same plot of land where another teenager went missing two dacades earlier, but was never found. Titan Books passed this one on to me.
I must admit I went directly to New Vessel Press and asked for a galley of Ronit Matalon's And the Bride Closed the Door, when I saw the announcement. As it is getting closer to the October publishing date I think it must be safe to start reading. It is a slender novel by an important Israeli author who shortly passed away after this book was published in Israel, where it won the Brenner Prize. Aside from having an interest in literature from the region I was intrigued by the plot in which a young bride locks herself in her bedroom on her wedding day and refuses to go through the ceremony.
I'm waiting anxiously for one other book published by another small/indie press, (I am very fond of these small presses which don't get as much attention as they deserve, I think). You'll be hearing more about all these books in the coming weeks or so.