Feeling Fall …ish

As we all wait faithfully for our five minutes of fall, here are some fantastic finds for your next great read. Our October festival of new books by Texas authors has just what you’re looking for to fascinate you, flood you with all the ‘feels’, fortify your soul, or fill a quiet evening.  

 

 

The Art of Farming

T.D. Motley

August 26, 2024

 

The Art of Farming celebrates a symbiosis of plants, humans, dogs and livestock, with wildlife cousins on the fringes.

 

A retired art teacher, Sam, markets herbs and produce, aided by his lovely 'sidekick' Annie, and a handful of local after-school teens. A scheming donkey named Sol is this charming story's formidable antagonist.

 

 

 

Just Say Neigh!: A Hetta Coffey Mystery, Book 16

Jinx Schwartz

September 25, 2024

 

HETTA COFFEY IS A SASSY TEXAN WITH A SNAZZY YACHT, AND SHE'S NOT AFRAID TO USE IT! Fall is coming, as is the cruising season in Mexico's beautiful Sea of Cortez. Hetta can't wait to return to the Hetta C, her catamaran in Puerto Penasco, Mexico. She and her cousin, Blue, impatiently wait in San Diego's cool climes for the yearly magical temperature drops in the Sea, but not before they get caught up in a severe injustice to horses occurring near Juarez, just south of El Paso. So what are three Texan horse lovers supposed to do? Nothing? Not no, but NEIGH! NOPE! NOT A CHANCE! Join them for exciting, thrilling adventures and laughs as they take on rustlers, smugglers, and criminals on both sides of the border. The Stakes are high!

 

 

 

The Enemy Between Us

Lisa Harris

October 1, 2024

 

Lies filled with half-truths—especially when you want to believe them—are the easiest to believe. After her husband’s murder, Riley Bishop is working to put the pieces of her life back together, but there is one lie she never imagined being true. It’s going to take everything in her to survive what happens next. Book three in a fast-paced psychological thriller series that starts with The Lies We Believe.

 

 

 

A Hush at Midnight

Marlene M. Bell

October 1, 2024

 

A manipulator. A fatal plan for revenge.

 

Award-winning author of the Annalisse series, Marlene M. Bell, brings distant friends together in the rural South only to have one of them become the victim of a brutal crime of passion.

 

Once celebrated for her show-stopping pastries and irresistible desserts, former celebrity chef Laura Harris is now making headlines for a far darker reason.

 

Laura has been accused of murder. How could this petite chef have brutally smothered the beloved small-town matriarch, World War II ferry pilot veteran, Hattie Stenburg? Hattie wasn't just a pillar of the community; she was Laura's confidant and mentor. The shocking twist? Hattie’s will contained recent changes, bypassing next-of kin and leaving her entire fortune and historic estate to Laura.

 

 

 

 

Tilghman: The Legendary Lawman and the Woman Who Inspired Him

Howard Kazanjian & Chris Enss

October 1, 2024

 

Lawman, buffalo hunter, Indian fighter, rancher horse breeder, saloon keeper, politician…even a movie maker. His name was Bill Tilghman and of all the heroes of the Old West he was one of the last, one of the most heroic, and a legend in his own time. Tilghman is about his life and the woman who memorialized his adventures.

 

The book Tilghman is not only the story of a man—it’s a colorful, exciting history of the last days of the Western frontier. It’s also the story of a woman, desperate to hold onto her family and honor the life of the man she loved so dearly.

 

 

 

Wesley Women: Texas Wesleyan in the 1910s

Risa Brown

October 1, 2024

 

Fort Worth, 1911 Change in the Wind

 

Tumult found its way to Polytechnic, the little college on the hill in Fort Worth during the 1910s. Survival depended on a new vision and new energy, and few in Texas thought the college would make it. Yet a determined group of women took on the challenge, led by some dedicated men, and the birth of a college for women materialized. The fledgling school faced the same daunting conditions everyone faced from a worldwide war and epidemic. Would the women be strong enough to endure those conditions and save their college?

 

 

 

The Troubling Death of Maddy Benson

Terry Shames

October 2, 2024

 

Everyone knows everyone in a small town like Jarrett Creek. So Chief of police Samuel Craddock is perplexed when he receives a call from a woman asking the police to rescue her sister.

 

Who is Maddy Benson? Maddy said she had to get away, but she didn't get far. When Craddock finds her just off the highway, she's already dead, shot in the head. And as he learns more about the mysterious Maddy and the real reason behind her recent move to Jarrett Creek, his career is plunged into jeopardy. Can he unravel a terrible knot of lies, threats, dangerous politics and shocking secrets to reveal the truth behind the troubling death of Maddy Benson?

 

 

 

Wildwood Healer

Linda Broday

October 8, 2024

 

Secrets, lies, and danger hide deep in the Piney Woods of East Texas during the Depression of 1930.

 

Sicily Rossi is a healer and knows the power of plants that grow in the woods. She fights the deep-set ways of the starving backward people and the rage of a vicious wife-beater. She must save the young girl from a life of torment, and soon--before the raging drunk of a husband destroys everyone and everything in his path.

 

While pondering the problem, she finds a teenage boy living in the woods. He proves to be very beneficial in her quest to find a way of feeding the hungry town. But how can they succeed when the man destroys as fast as they build?

 

 

 

An Unfinished Marriage: A Novel

Cindy Bonner

October 10, 2024

 

Sarah Glasser has always been a good girl, striving for perfection in her life with husband, Adam, and their sons. A good mother: she volunteers at the school. A good wife: she runs their household precisely. When Adam comes home late from a business meeting, drunk and agitated, asking for a divorce, Sarah is shaken by thoughts of an unknown life altered from the one she has cultivated.

 

While the collapse of a marriage is a tried-and-true plot, the characters in An Unfinished Marriage are complex and relatable. With humor lightening the drama, the layers of the story peel away to reveal familiar feelings of devotion, betrayal, selfishness, and the complicated love between women and men, parents and children, and friends who sometimes become enemies.

 

 

 

The Widow’s Savior

Ian Griffin

October 10, 2024

 

Margaret Wood is known for her grace, beauty, and fashion in Bennett Town, Texas. As she waits for the war to end, she receives a notice that her husband, Joseph Wood, died on D-Day in France. Margaret must raise their 15-year-old son, William, alone. Joseph’s brother Henry, a wounded war veteran, provides a helping hand. The small town embraces the Wood family in their time of grief. As time passes, the town’s ugliness surfaces. Margaret comes head-to-head with Earl Bennett, whom the town is named after. As the conflict grows and Earl becomes more ruthless, the town shuns the Wood family. The strain on Margaret and her family intensifies until someone unexpected arises to become The Widow’s Savior.

 

 

 

The Nine Lives of Tito d’Amelia

Ettore Farrattini Pojani

October 11, 2024

 

This is the first English-language version of an award-winning Italian novel, The Nine Lives of Tito d'Amelia. The book is a love story about a cat, a family, and an Italian town. Mixing fiction with fact, Nine Lives recounts the history of the town of Amelia, Italy, at nine points in its existence. In fact, Amelia is considered the first organized city of central Italy, and is four centuries older than Rome. The author, Ettore Farrattini Pojani, uses the multiple lives of a cat named Tito as the way to span the ages. (The author is the heir of the Farrattini noble family, which stretches back into Umbrian history, and whose family palazzo is in Amelia, north of Rome.) Tito's first life occurs in pre-historic Umbria, and his ninth is in the future. Tito's mission throughout all nine of his lives is to help the town and the family to succeed. Originally published in Italy in 2022, this first English-language version is being published by Bayou City Press in Houston, Texas, and includes additional drawings, maps, lists of characters, a listing of foreign words and special terms, and notes on sources.

 

 

 

Beyond the Abyss

Brenda O'Quin

October 12, 2024

 

This book is about the journey through and beyond the depths of the Abyss caused by the murder of my 17-year-old son and his 16-year-old girlfriend. If you are ever faced with something similar, this will be a solace to help heal, encourage, and aid in your understanding of the path and obstacles you may face. This book is about hope. I’ll share with you the road map for navigating the maze of complex grief compounded by violence. The courts, medical examiners, probation, and parole systems are the potholes you may encounter along the way. The families who share your experience, however, are the most caring, loving, and compassionate people in the world--not despite their journey, but because of it.

 

 

 

In the Mad Mountains: Stories Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft

Joe R. Lansdale

October 15, 2024

 

Ten-time Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba Ho-tep) returns with this wicked short story collection of his irreverent Lovecraftian tributes. Knowingly skewering H. P. Lovecraft’s paranoid mythos, Lansdale embarks upon haunting yet sly explorations of the unknown, capturing the essence of cosmic dread.

 

 

 

Richard Coke: Texan

Rosser Coke Newton, Sr.

October 15, 2024

 

Richard Coke played one of the most crucial roles in Texas history. His leadership of his beloved Texas still resonates today – 150 years after he became governor. Richard Coke: Texan weaves a rich mosaic of real people and events that immerses the reader in the life and times of Richard Coke.

 

 

 

Skies of Fire

Lindsey Pogue

October 15, 2024

 

After an asteroid knocks the moon off its axis, scientists warn of Earth’s destruction. But as the years tick by, life continues mostly unchanged, and everyone falls into a false sense of security.

 

Ava is no stranger to loss, heartache, and the struggle to survive. Working two jobs while taking care of a sickly woman she owes her life to, it’s all she can do to keep her head above water, let alone prep for “the end.”

 

Knox is country boy royalty and infamous for holding a grudge. His mother is dead, his father’s a tyrant, his brother has abandoned him, and Ava is to blame for all of it. But as fire engulfs Texas, Ava and Knox must rely on each other to survive.

 

 

 

The Two Terrors of Tulelake

WM Gunn

October 15, 2024

 

Ichiro Hisakawa and his family were part of the American culture – living the American Dream – until February 19, 1942, when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that branded them. Taken from their homes and stripped of their citizenship due to their ancestry, they endured deplorable conditions in the “relocation camps”. Typhus ran rampant through the camp, and riots were a daily occurrence. And for the first time, America was scornful. Life was difficult and the Hisakawa family did their best to endure it all. 16-year-old Ichiro wasn’t prepared for the betrayal, murder, and escape that was waiting for him, and a new friend, Bobby King, a sixteen-year-old from 2017.

 

 

 

Determined: A Second Chance Romantic Suspense

Marsha R. West

October 18, 2024

 

Divorced, fifty-seven-year-old real estate developer Holly Grant and her sisters are determined to use the trust fund from their parents to build a tiny home project  for people who’ve recently been homeless.

 

Barrett Armstrong, president of a nearby homeowner association doesn’t want “those people” living across from his neighborhood, and he will do anything to prevent the land’s development. Anything. Even murder.

 

Dan Morgan, Holly’s long-time friend and lawyer, has feelings for her which are moving past friendship. Because of her past experiences as an abused spouse, she might not be ready for a change in their relationship. Should he remain silent to maintain their friendship or risk everything for the chance at real love? When danger strikes, will he be able to keep her safe?

 

 

 

Stone of Lust

Margaret Izard

October 21, 2024

 

She finds true love in the past, but is his love worth risking her future?

 

She dreams of a Viking warrior with Fae-blue eyes and a God-like body that makes her heart pound like no other. Trying to save her kidnapped sister-in-law, Ainslie follows her back to the Vikings of Scotland, where she faces the very man who has haunted her dreams.

 

When Jarl, Rannick MacRaghnaill meets the alluring Warrior Woman who helped steal his warship, she dresses in clothing so strange that every curve teases his senses. But is she, as she claims, a woman from the future or an irresistible lying thief?

 

She’d risk her life to save her sister-in-law. He’d risk his honor to win her heart.

 

 

 

A Noble Bargain

Jan Sikes

October 22, 2024

 

The year is 1948 and folks in the sawmill town of Crossett, Arkansas, work hard and play hard. Oliver Quinn does both. Oliver is the son of Irish immigrants who firmly believe in pursuing the American dream. His deepest desire is to play major league baseball. He only needs one chance to prove himself.

 

Rose Blaine is living in a nightmare where dreams don’t exist. She’s suffered for years at the hands of her violent moonshiner father and his partner. During a brutal attack, she must fight back or die. The aftermath is devastating.

 

Fueled by desperation, Rose strikes a life-changing bargain with Oliver. If he’ll take her and her brother to St. Louis, Missouri, she’ll introduce Oliver to her uncle, a baseball legend.

 

 

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

There are so many Texas-connected books publishing this month that we couldn’t feature all of them. The following books also publish in October:

 

CHILDREN'S, MIDDLE GRADE, & YOUNG ADULT BOOKS

The Altruistic Crime Lord by Sarah Noffke & Michael Anderle

Apple Black: Rumble Trials by Odunze Oguguo

The Art Thieves by Andrea Rogers

Creep It Under Wraps by Adrianna Cuevas

The Hero Twins and the Magic of Song by David Bowles

Hurricane Rescue by Rekha S. Rajan

Jackrabbit Jewel and the Butterfield Overland Stagecoach by Trey Armstrong

Lupita's Brown Ballet Shoes by Steena Hernandez

Merlin's Apprentice: Warrior Rising by Susan McCauley

Please Be My Star by Victoria Grace Elliott

Rosie's Wild Ride by Paige Murray; Illustrated by Kristen Humphrey

Royal Spy Institute 2: Five and Chance by Elise Hennessey

Sally's Lament by Mari Mancusi

Shadow Keeper by L.B. Carter

When Black Girls Dream Big by Tanisia Moore; Illustrated by Robert Paul Jr.

 

MYSTERY / HORROR

After the People Lights Have Gone Off by Stephen Graham Jones

Black Mass by Mark A. Daniel

Bone Cold by Kathryn Casey

Claws by Timothy Gene Sojka

A Corgi Conundrum by M. Alfano

Covert Past by Mary Alford

Crafting a Getaway by Barbara Emodi

Death and Eggnog by Nova Walsh

Detention by Carolyn Johnson

Fudgy Christmas Murders by Nancy Coco

Haunted Hearts by Lucas Mangum

Her Forgotten Shadow by Pamela Fagan Hutchins

It Came from Del Rio by Stephen Graham Jones

An Itch of Secrecy by Christa Nardi

The Life and Death of Rose Doucette by Harry Hunsicker

The Long Trial of Nolan Dugatti by Stephen Graham Jones

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

Murder Among the Pyramids by Sara Rosett

Murder in Autumn by Sanhita Mukherjee

A New Lease on Death by Olivia Blacke

Owl Be Enchanted by Leanne Leeds

The Residency by Kayla Frederick

Rutter Industries by Carolyn Johnson

The Seventh Floor by David McCloskey

Snow is Falling, Cocoa is Calling by Kimberly Montpetit

Sterling City by Stephen Graham Jones

Three Miles Past by Stephen Graham Jones

Zombie Bake-Off by Stephen Graham Jones

 

NONFICTION 

3...2...1...We're On The Air by Robert Steinfield

Abandoned South Texas by Teresa Nordheim

The Abercrombie Age by Myles Ethan Lascity

Ay Tú! Critical Essays on the Life and Work of Sandra Cisneros by Sonia Saldívar-Hull and Geneva M. Gano

Best Lake Hikes: Texas by Jamie Fleck

Bill Hobby: A Life in Journalism and Public Service by Don Carleton and Erin L. Purdy

Books are Made Out of Books by Michael Lynn Crews

Colonizing Ourselves by José Angel Hernández

David Crockett in Texas by Allen J. Wiener

Feminism, Tradition and Change in Contemporary Islam: Negotiating Islamic Law and Gender by Shehnaz Haqqani

Francisco Amangual, Trustee of the Presidio by Roland Rodríguez

Here, Now: Essays by Michelle Suzanne Mirsky

Historic Tales of Victoria, Texas by Tamara Joy Diaz

I Know About a Thousand Things by Ann Alejandro, edited by Marion Winik and Naomi Shihab Nye

Letters from Love's Battlefield by Kathryn M. Lackey

Lost in Austin by Alex Hannaford

The Making of a Physician by Lisa Johnson

Mary Virginia Carson: Pioneer in Capturing Rock Art with Watercolors by Marise McDermott

Murder on the Largo by Eleanor Williams

No One Gets to Fall Apart by Sarah LaBrie

The Novel Blueprint by Melissa Bourbon

One National Family: Texas, Mexico, and the Making of the Modern United States, 1820–1867 by Sarah K. M. Rodríguez

Our Connected Lives: Caring for Cancer Patients in Rural Texas by Fazlur Rahman

Powerful Inquiry by Donna J. Micheaux and Jennifer L. Parvin

Spectacular Women of Architecture & Design Texas by Jolie Carpenter Berry

The Water Cries: Uncovering the Slave Auction Houses of Galveston, Texas by Anthony Paul Griffin

 

OTHER FICTION

After Image by Jaime deBlanc

Against the Stars by Angela Castillo

The Big Dry by Patrick Dearen

The Bookbinder's Daughter by Lynn Dean

Bounties and Changes by Michael Anderle

Cactus Cradle by Heather Renee May

Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan

Echoes of Us by Jay Jordan-Lake

The Edge of Nowhere by William W. Johnstone and JA Johnstone

Embroiled by Bridget E. Baker

Get Your Gun by Chuck Buda

Gurdon Marion by Phil Yokom

Hate Follow by Erin Quinn-Kong

How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund? by Anna Montague

Hungry Heart by P.G. Forte

In Between Pastures by Sequoyah Branham

The Last Wagon Train by William W. Johnstone and JA Johnstone

The Librarian and the Magician by Brian Yansky

A Matter of Choice by JB Phillips

New Testaments: Stories by Dagoberto Gilb

On a NASA Flight to Heaven by D. Seth Horton

The Registration Rewritten by Madison Lawson

The Royal Gambit by Mallory Wanless

Shadows of Prejudice by Isabel Campbell and Michael Anderle

Trailing the Money Gun by Katelyn Rae

The Witches of El Paso by Luis Jaramillo

An Unexpected Hero by Rhett C. Bruno and Jaime Castle

 

POETRY

An Authentic Life by Jennifer Chang

A History of Echoes by Rod Carlos Rodriguez

 

ROMANCE

Arranging Ayra by Kailin Gow

Assigned to Protect by Melanie D. Snitker

Brutal Bargain by Laurelin Paige

Bull Moon Rising by Ruby Dixon

Christmas Beach Reunion by Lori Wilde & Cassidy Grace

Christmas with the Texas Cowboy by Sinclair Jayne

Coming Home to Paradise by Carolyn Brown

A Courtship for the Amish Spinster by Vannetta Chapman

The Cowboy Billionaire's Deception by Sylvia McDaniel

A Cowboy to Remember by Stella Bagwell

The Cowboy Who Worked Late by Liz Isaacson

The Cowboy's Christmas Wish by Kristine Lynn

A Cowgirl's Thanksgiving Kiss by Amy Vastine

Critical Strike by Janie Crouch

A Dark and Secret Magic by Wallis Kinney

Deadly Christmas Cipher by Stacy Angell Curtis

Deserving Maisy by Susan Stoker

The Duke's Guide to Winning a Lady by Alexa Aston

Eclipse by Kat Kinney

Examining Their Bond by Jenna Brandt

Fa-La-La-La Faking It by Teri Wilson

Finding Forever by Kathryn Kaleigh

Fool Me Twice by Issa Marie

A Fortune Thanksgiving by Michelle Lindo-Rice

Gage by Kathy Ivan

Harrison Hyde and the Runaway Bride by Maggie Shayne

Her Texas Cowboy Protector by Janalyn Knight

Hometown Girl by Merrillee Whren

Ice, Ice...Maybe? by Ginny Sterling

John's Purpose by Laura Domino

Little Spark of Flame by Clio Evans

Lone Star Hostage by Delores Fossen

Love is for the Birds by Diane Owens Prettyman

Mated for Christmas by Terry Spear

Midnight Masquerade by Nichole Rose

Midnight Snack by Kat Baxter

Midnight Treat by Loni Ree

Mysterious Teacher by Kailin Gow

One Special Christmas by Amanda Cabot

A Perfect Christmas Dance by Lori Wilde

A Perfect Christmas Romance by Lori Wilde

Perfect Enough by Kelly Elliott

Perfect Fit by Clare Gilmore

Restored by Faith by Katherine E. Hamilton

The Sheriff's Baby by Delores Fossen

Sheriff's Valor by Dorothy Wiley

Silos and Sabotage by Jo Grafford

Skye Travels Airborne by Kathryn Kaleigh

Spirits of the Heart by Kathryn Kaleigh

Stealing Hope by Angel S. Vane

Stein House by Myra Hargrave McIlvain

Targeted at Rescue Ranch by Barb Han

Texas Cowboy Flame by Rebecca Crowley

A Witchy Situation by Bella Pursell

 

 

Want to make sure your forthcoming Texas-connected titles are included in our feature? Email us at Publicity@LoneStarLiterary.com with the details!

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