Back in 2017, I read an ARC of M. L. Rio‘s excellent If We Were Villains (which seems to get a new edition every few months). Ever since finishing it, I have been periodically checking to see if the author has a new book on the way. And the wait if almost over! Flatiron Books recently announced the author’s hotly-anticipated next book, a novella: Graveyard Shift. Due out in September, here’s the synopsis:
A story about a ragtag group of night shift workers who meet in the local cemetery to unearth the secrets lurking in an open grave.
Every night, in the college’s ancient cemetery, five people cross paths as they work the late shift: a bartender, a rideshare driver, a hotel receptionist, the steward of the derelict church that looms over them, and the editor-in-chief of the college paper, always in search of a story.
One dark October evening in the defunct churchyard, they find a hole that wasn’t there before. A fresh, open grave where no grave should be. But who dug it, and for whom?
Before they go their separate ways, the gravedigger returns. As they trail him through the night, they realize he may be the key to a string of strange happenings around town that have made headlines for the last few weeks — and that they may be closer to the mystery than they thought.
M. L. Rio’s Graveyard Shift is due to be published by Flatiron Books in North America and Wildfire in the UK, on September 24th.
Also on CR: Review of If We Were Villains
In a couple of weeks, Forge Books are due to publish Extinction, the latest thriller by best-selling author Douglas Preston. A thriller that is “in the Michael Crichton mode”, it “explores the possible and unintended dangers of the very real efforts to resurrect the woolly mammoth and other long-extinct animals.” To whet readers’ appetite for the book, we have an excerpt to share — comprised of the first two chapters! Before we get to that, though, here’s the synopsis:
A satisfying, twisty tale
Solve the murder to save what’s left of the world.
This summer, Rob Hart returns with Assassins Anonymous, a novel S. A. Cosby has described as “The best kind of thriller… Suspenseful, sentimental, and ultimately redemptive.” I haven’t had the chance to read any of Hart’s other novels, yet (despite thinking they all sound very interesting), but I think this one sounds especially interesting. It’s due out in June, to be published by 
Janice Hallett returns with another excellent epistolary mystery
The next novel from Madeline Ashby is Glass Houses. Pitched as a “near future whodunit for fans of Glass Onion and Black Mirror“, it certainly sounds intriguing. Due to be published in August, by 
Today, 
Lucas Davenport & Virgil Flowers team up to crack an unsolvable case…
An intriguing, quirky serial killer mystery
Civilian Reader 