Last month I wrote about some of the books I’ll be bringing on vacation, when my mornings are spent writing and the rest of each day is a mix of swimming, reading, hiking, reading, eating blueberry pie and reading.

If you missed last month’s post, here’s the link: https://mainecrimewriters.com/2026/06/16/books-im-dying-to-read/

As promised, below are more previews of the books in my stack. Two of my favorite novelists are releasing new books on August 4 and I have both on pre-order.

♦   YOU’LL BE SORRY by Lisa Gardner promises to be another riveting read. I’m not sure she’s ever written a book that doesn’t grab you by the hand and pull you in with relatable characters, non-stop action and plots that are kind of crazy, but somehow never seem contrived. YOU’LL BE SORRY is a standalone about the new owners of a house inhabited three decades ago by a family (parents and four kids) who disappeared, leaving only bloody footprints behind. The home’s new owners think they can breathe new life into the derelict place, unaware they’re blowing on embers still too hot to touch. Set in New Hampshire, in a small town with a new police chief, YOU’LL BE SORRY also features a dog who senses things humans have missed over the past thirty years. This book is going to keep me awake late into the night. I just know it.

Lisa will be one of the co-Guests of Honor (with Joseph Finder) at the New England Crime Bake in November. It’s the 25^th anniversary of the annual regional gathering of the New England crime writing community, and among other things, Lisa will be teaching a Master Class called Character Boot Camp on Friday afternoon. FMI and to register go to https://www.crimebake.org/event/2026CrimeBake/summary

♦          ALL WE HIDE by Robyn Gigl is the first in a new series featuring police Lieutenant Lauren Kelly, who’s winding up her detective career at a District Attorney’s office in New Jersey after coming out as transgender. Having been exiled by her bosses to the dreaded cold case unit, Lauren uses her skills and insight to piece together the facts behind the murder of her former high school classmate, trans sex worker Sherry Darling. She also figures out who covered it up, which puts her at tremendous risk.  All of Robyn’s novels (she’s the author of the acclaimed Erin McCabe thrillers) are peopled with marvelous characters. In ALL WE HIDE, they include a Dad with Alzheimer’s, and ex-wife for whom Lauren still has feelings and a daughter who is as dear to her as life itself. Having read Robyn’s Erin McCabe books more than once, I expect nothing less from this gifted, powerful writer, who I’m lucky to count as a friend.

And BTW, Robyn also will be at Crime Bake in November, where she’ll sit on a panel on “Building and Keeping Tension” with MCW’s own Rob Kelley and David Heska Wanbli Weiden, the author of . . .

♦           WISDOM CORNER, the much anticipated follow up to WINTER COUNTS, which introduced the world to Virgil Wounded Horse, who people on South Dakota’s Rosebud Indian Reservation turn to when the justice system doesn’t deliver. In WISDOM CORNER Virgil is back, still trying to shed his vigilante past. But when his good friend and mentor, venerated healer Jerome Iron Shell is murdered, he gets pulled back into the criminal world on the reservation. In WINTER COUNTS, David showed himself to be a writer unafraid to probe the underlying causes and emotional costs of the violence that propelled the narrative. I expect WISDOM CORNER will showcase this talent again. An enrolled citizen of the Sicangu Lakota nation, David writes with authority and heart.  I cannot wait to read this new book.

As noted above, David also will be at Crime Bake in November, sitting on a panel with Robyn Gigl and Rob Kelley.

♦          6 DAYS by Jule Selbo, another MCW colleague, will be out on August 5.  This is the fifth book in an addictive series featuring former cop, now private investigator Dee Rommel, whose serious injury while a member of the Portland PD doesn’t slow her down one bit. Dee is tough, savvy, intuitive, and very funny. So is her boss, Gordy Greer. Their mutual respect anchors Dee when she needs backup, but her courage and willingness to go it alone with bad guys is what keeps me reading. At Crime Bake in November, Jule, who also is an accomplished screenwriter, will be part of a panel called “From Book to Screen” alongside co-Guest of Honor Joe Finder, among others.

♦          HARD AS A HEADSTONE by Richard J. Cass marks the return of Ardmore Theberge, a former Army CID investigator now a meticulous land surveyor who lives by a code that is Maine to its core. In HARD AS A HEADSTONE, Ardmore discovers the body of Janey Nightingale in a cemetery she was fighting to protect from a rapacious corporation seeking to relocate the graves in order to exploit the valuable aquifer beneath the earth. Ardmore made his first appearance in THE LAST ALTRUIST, his first Portland-set novel. If you haven’t read it, you might consider doing so before picking  up HARD AS A HEADSTONE, which will be out on September 1.

Like almost everyone else mentioned in this post, Dick will be at Crime Bake in November, sharing insights about strong protagonists on a panel titled “Main Character Energy.”

♦          THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY by Elizabeth Strout is a must-read for me because I read one of her books each summer while on vacation. It’s a pleasurable rite, like having blueberry pie for breakfast every day.  THE THINGS WE NEVER SAY is not a crime novel, and Elizabeth will not be at Crime Bake, but it’s a book I’m looking forward to because (a) she gets New England 100% and (b) her prose is so beautiful it can summon tears.

This novel is about a high school history teacher in Massachusetts who is moved to excavate his own emotional world and his connections with other people. So in one sense, it’s a book about mystery, the hidden truths we hold in our hearts and are hesitant to reveal, even to ourselves.

As I said last month, whatever you do this summer (swim, hike, nap, dance, eat pie) do keep reading, and if you’re inclined to share what’s on your summer reading list, please let us know in the comments section.

Brenda Buchanan sets her novels and short stories in Maine. Her three-book Joe Gale series features a contemporary newspaper reporter with old-school style who covers the courts and crime beat at the fictional Portland Daily Chronicle. Brenda’s short story, “Means, Motive, and Opportunity,” was included in the anthology Bloodroot: Best New England Crime Stories 2021 and received an honorable mention in Best American Mystery and Suspense 2022.  Her story “Cape Jewell,” appeared in Snakeberry: Best New England Crime Stories 2025. “Crime of Devotion” was included in Murder Most Senior, an anthology released this spring at the Malice Domestic conference and her story “Links in the Chain” will be published in the anthology The Lines We Cross, which will launch at Bouchercon this coming October.