SUSPENSE SISTERS: My Reading Wish List for 2023

Happy New Year, Everyone!

As a reader, I’m very excited about the new romantic suspense novels that are coming out this year! There are so many good ones, but I thought I’d start by naming a few that are on my wish list for this year beginning with the one I am currently reading, Critical Threat, (Extreme Measures Book #3) by Lynette Eason, which came out January 3rd.

Have you read it yet?

Here’s the blurb:

FBI Special Agent Grace Billingsley tracks serial killers, using her skills as a psychiatrist and behavioral analyst to get dangerous people off the street and safely behind bars. But prison psychiatrist Sam Monroe knows that just because a killer is incarcerated doesn't mean they're not a threat. His own father, Peter, is a serial killer--in prison but certainly not out of Sam's life, as much as he wishes he was.

When bodies start showing up with Peter's MO, Sam and Grace are both called in to consult. They've met before--and though Grace thought they'd made a real connection, Sam ghosted her. They'll have to get past the awkwardness and mistrust to solve this case--especially because it's about to get personal.

USA Today bestselling author Lynette Eason doesn't give you time to catch your breath in this breakneck race to stop a serial killer.

Coming March 7, 2023, Under Fire (Defend and Protect Book #3) by Lynn H. Blackburn.

USSS Special Agent Zane Thacker has landed his dream assignment protecting the president of the United States. When the president plans a fundraiser at the exclusive estate of a political supporter in Raleigh, Zane is thrilled to be working again with Special Agent Tessa Reed, his best friend--and the woman he desperately wishes could be more.

Though Tessa almost lost everything, she battled her demons and came out on the other side healthy and healed. But when her role as the liaison between the Raleigh office and the president's protective detail wrenches her past back into the present, her greatest failure threatens to come to light.

Zane refuses to let Tessa go through this alone. But can he stand by the woman he loves and protect the president from a mounting threat at the same time?

Sparks fly as award-winning romantic suspense writer Lynn H. Blackburn closes out her Defend and Protect series with this explosive tale of secrets kept, lies exposed, and relationships restored.

A brand new series begins on August 2^nd from Susan Sleeman with Shadow of Deceit: (Shadow Lake Survival - Book 1)

When returning to her past threatens her life and a murder occurs…

When Mia Blackburn returns to Shadow Lake to inherit her uncle’s property, she doesn’t expect a threatening warning before she even reaches the rustic resort. And when a fire traps her in the burning barn that very day, she fears she won’t get out alive. Just in time, Ryan Maddox, her ex-boyfriend and Shadow Lake Survival owner, rescues her from the deadly blaze. She’s thankful for his rescue, but after their tumultuous breakup, he’s the last person she wants to see.

Will she be the next victim?

Despite the threatening warning and her residual feelings for Ryan, Mia won’t let anyone scare her from the rustic resort before she fulfills the terms of her uncle’s will and inherits the property. Ryan insists on keeping a close eye on her, and soon Mia feels safer and closer to Ryan than ever before. Yet the threats haven’t stopped, and soon Mia’s inheritance includes a murder, and she could be the next victim.

And Nancy Mehl has a new book coming out on July 11^th entitled Cold Pursuit, from her new series Ryland & St. Clair.

Ex-FBI profiler River Ryland still suffers from PTSD after a case that went horribly wrong. Needing a fresh start, she moves to St. Louis to be near her ailing mother and opens a private investigation firm with her friend and former FBI partner, Tony St. Clair. They're soon approached by a grieving mother who wants them to find out what happened to her teenaged son who disappeared four years ago. River knows there's almost no hope the boy is still alive, but his mother needs closure, and River and Tony need a case, no matter how cold it might be.

But as they follow the boy's trail, which gets more complicated at every turn, they find themselves in the path of a murderer determined to punish anyone who gets in his way. With a killer on the loose set on finishing the job he started, will River be pulled back into her tormented past or finally face the demons that haunt her?

With her trademark blend of page-turning thrills and intricate plots, Nancy Mehl delivers a spine-tingling thriller that will keep readers up all night.

I’ve had the privilege of reading Elizabeth Goddard’s Cold Light of Day (Missing in Alaska Book #1) coming February 7, 2023, and Counter Attack (Pearl River Series) by Patricia Bradley coming May 16, 2023. They are both amazing books that will keep you glued to the pages.

Here’s the blurb for Cold Light Of Day by Elizabeth Goddard:

Police Chief Autumn Long is fighting to keep her job in the quiet Alaska town of Shadow Gap when an unexpected string of criminal activity leaves her with a wounded officer, unexplained murders, and even an attack on her own father. Despite her mistrust of outsiders, she turns to Grier Brenner, a newcomer who seems to have the skills and training Autumn needs to face this threat to her community.

Grier is in Alaska for the same reason so many others are--to disappear--when Chief Long enlists his help. He emerges from the shadows and proves his mettle, but his presence in her life could be a deadly trap for them both. If his secret is exposed, all will be lost. And he's not sure even Autumn could save him.

As the stakes rise and the dangers increase, Autumn and Grier must rely on each other to extinguish the deadly threats.

And Counter Attack by Patricia Bradley:

A brand new heart-stopping series from a USA Today bestselling author

No sooner has Alexis Stone been sworn in as the interim sheriff for Russell County, Tennessee, when a serial killer dubbed the Queen's Gambit Killer strikes again--this time in her hometown. Pearl Springs is just supposed to be a temporary stop along the way to Alex's real dream: becoming the first female police chief of Chattanooga. But the killer's calling card--a white pawn and a note with a chess move printed on it--cannot be ignored.

Pearl Springs chief of police Nathan Landry can't believe that his high school sweetheart Alexis (he refuses to call her Alex) is back in town, and he can't help wanting to protect the woman he never stopped loving. But as the danger mounts and the killer closes in, can Nathan come through on the promises he makes to himself to bring a killer to justice before it's too late.

Well, that’s just the beginning of my 2023 wish list. I know there will be other books added soon enough.

For a chance to win a $10.00 Amazon Gift Card, tell me what’s on your wish list for romantic suspense in 2023? I’ll announce the winner during our next visit.

Until then,

Happy Reading!

Mary Alford

www.maryalford.net