Fabulous Books to Be Released this Fall!

by Paula Gail Benson

This fall a number of great authors are making their debuts or continuing their publishing success with some fabulous reads for the season. I selected the following four to highlight because of my connections with each writer: Yasmin, Tara, and Hank have become close personal friends and Wanda and I are both attorneys and graduates of Lori Rader Day’s instruction at the Yale Writers’ Workshop. I hope you’ll have a chance to check out each of these novels. I know I’m looking forward to reading them all! 

Yasmin Angoe

Yasmin Angoe is the Secretary for my local Palmetto Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the 2020 Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland award winner. Her debut novel, Her Names Is Knight, will be released in November 2021. The story features Nena Knight, who was stolen from her Ghanaian village as a child and has become an assassin for the Tribe, a powerful business syndicate. After saving a life while on assignment, Nena hopes to take a new life direction, but then she discovers a new Tribe council member is the man who destroyed her village, murdered her family, and sold her into captivity. She cannot begin anew without taking him down first. Not only is Yasmin looking forward to the launch of her novel, but also she is anticipating working with Endeavor Content and Ink Factory who have purchased the rights to develop Nena’s story into a series.

Tara Laskowski

Crimereads calls Tara Laskowski: “A lyrical new voice in the world of gothic storytelling and suspense.” Tara’s novel One Night Gone won the Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards as well as being nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark award, Left Coast Crime award, Strand Critics award, and Library of Virginia Literary award. Her new book, The Mother Next Door, will be released on October 12, 2021, and tells the story of the Ivy Five, a group of four neighborhood moms who plan the annual Halloween block party. When a new mom moves in, the group invites her to make them five once more, but then they start receiving anonymous messages threatening to expose secrets of the past. New York Times bestselling author Andrea Bartz says The Mother Next Door is “a witty, wicked thriller packed with hidden agendas, juicy secrets, and pitch-perfect satire of the suburban dream.”

Wanda M. Morris

Wanda M. Morris, a corporate attorney based in Atlanta, Georgia, has her first novel, All Her Little Secrets, debuting on November 2, 2021. Her protagonist, Ellice Littlejohn, a corporate attorney in Atlanta, finds her boss dead in his office, but rather than notifying the authorities, Ellice leaves. She’s protecting a number of secrets from her past, including those of a younger brother who has been at odds with the law. New York Times and International Bestseller Karen Slaughter praises the novel as “a brilliantly nuanced but powerhouse exploration of race, the legal system, and the crushing pressure of keeping secrets. Morris brings a vibrant and welcome new voice to the thriller space.”

Hank Phillippi Ryan

Phenomenal USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan is the winner of five Agathas as well as the Anthony, Macavity, Daphne du Maurier, and Mary Higgins Clark awards for her fiction and 37 Emmys for her broadcast journalism. Hank’s latest stand alone novel, Her Perfect Life, tells the story of Lily Atwood, a beloved television reporter who has fame, fortune, a seven-year-old daughter, and an apparently perfect life. Lily depends on an anonymous source. When the source begins telling Lily secrets from her own life, Lily fears someone is out to destroy her. Rachel Howzell Hall, Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and Anthony, ITW, and Lefty award nominee, said, “I loved this book! Reading Hank Phillippi Ryan’s Her Perfect Life made me paranoid--who’s watching me, who’s lying to me, who’s hiding from their prior life? My nerves were shredded by the time I reached the last chapter of this big-hearted page turner.”

Welcome fall and hooray for these new fun reads!