Spend less time searching for good reads and more time reading as I watch for newly-released genre fiction in the Kindle Store so you don't have to. Outstanding new releases in mystery and suspense fiction include:

Gun Games: A Decker/Lazarus Novel by Faye Kellerman. William Morrow, 2012. Print Length: 389 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman, the son of a troubled former friend, into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep - witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools. Gregory’s mother, Wendy, refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen - evidence that propels him to launch a full investigation with his trusted team, Sergeant Marge Dunn and Detective Scott Oliver. But the case becomes darkly complicated by the suicide of another Bell and Wakefield student - a death that leads them to uncover an especially nasty group of rich and privileged students with a predilection for guns and violence..." - Publisher.

Affairs of Steak by Julie Hyzy. Berkley, 2012. Print Length: 304 p. Amazon customer rating: 5 stars (4 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Assigned to work with her arch nemesis, Peter Everett Sargeant, the White House Sensitivity Director, Ollie must find a venue for an event to honor the Secretary of State. Instead they find one of the First Lady’s assistants and the Chief of Staff, both murdered — and Ollie and Peter may have witnessed the killer making his getaway. News reports suggest that the assistant and Chief of Staff were having an affair, but no one on the staff believes the rumor. Now, with their jobs - and their lives - in jeopardy, Ollie and Peter must depend on each other to learn who killed their colleagues and why - before they become the next victims of a merciless assassin with a secret agenda..." - Publisher.

Breakdown by Sara Paretsky. Putnam, 2012. Print Length: 450 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (5 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is the fifteenth novel in Paretsky's V. I. Warshawski series that began with Indemnity Only.

"Carmilla, Queen of the Night, is a shape-shifting raven whose fictional exploits thrill girls all over the world. When tweens in Chicago's Carmilla Club hold an initiation ritual in an abandoned cemetery, they stumble on an actual corpse, a man stabbed through the heart in a vampire-style slaying. The girls include daughters of some of Chicago's most powerful families: The grandfather of one, Chaim Salanter, is one of the world's wealthiest men; the mother of another, Sophy Durango, is the Illinois Democratic candidate for Senate. For V. I. Warshawski, the questions multiply faster than the answers. Is the killing linked to a hostile media campaign against Sophy Durango? Or to Chaim Salanter's childhood in Nazi-occupied Lithuania? As V.I. struggles for answers, she finds herself fighting enemies who are all too human." - Publisher.

The Innocent: A Vanessa Michael Munroe Novel by Taylor Stevens. Crown, 2011. Print Length: 353 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (31 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Eight years ago, a man walked five-year-old Hannah out the front doors of her school and spirited her over the Mexican border, taking her into the world of a cult known as The Chosen. For eight years, followers of The Prophet have hidden the child, moving her from country to country, shielding the man who stole her. Now, those who’ve searched the longest know where to find her. They are childhood survivors of The Chosen, thirty-somethings born and raised inside the cult who’ve managed to make lives for themselves on the outside. They understand the mindset, the culture within that world, and turn to Vanessa Michael Munroe for help, knowing that the only possibility of stealing Hannah back and getting her safely out of Argentina is to trust someone who doesn’t trust them, and get Munroe on the inside." - Publisher.

Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke. Mulholland Books, 2011. Print Length: 388 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (57 reviews). Kindle edition $7.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Dave Robicheaux was once a Louisiana homicide cop. Now he's trying to start a new life, opening up a fishing business and caring for his adopted girl, Alafair. Compared to Louisiana, Robicheaux thought Montana would be safe - until two Native American activists suddenly go missing. When Robicheaux begins investigating, he is led into the dark world of the Mafia and oil companies. At the same time, someone from his past comes back to haunt him. Someone who was responsible for Robicheaux's flight from New Orleans - someone who brutally murdered his wife - and now is after young Alafair." - Publisher.

The Confession by Charles Todd. William Morrow, 2012. Print Length: 352 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (44 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book fourteen in the Ian Rutledge series that began with A Test of Wills.

"Declaring he needs to clear his conscience, a dying man walks into Scotland Yard and confesses that he killed his cousin five years earlier during the Great War. When Inspector Ian Rutledge presses for details, the man evades his questions, revealing only that he hails from a village east of London. With little information and no body to open an official inquiry, Rutledge begins to look into the case on his own. Less than two weeks later, the alleged killer’s body is found floating in the Thames, a bullet in the back of his head. Searching for answers, Rutledge discovers that the dead man was not who he claimed to be. What was his real name - and who put a bullet in his head?" - Publisher.

Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith. Grand Central Publishing, 2012. Print Length: 481 p. Amazon customer rating: 3 stars (12 reviews). Kindle edition $12.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled.

"Leo Demidov is no longer a member of Moscow's secret police. But when his wife, Raisa, and daughters Zoya and Elena are invited on a 'Peace Tour' to New York City, he is immediately suspicious. Forbidden to travel with his family and trapped on the other side of the world, Leo watches helplessly as events in New York unfold and those closest to his heart are pulled into a web of political conspiracy and betrayal-one that will end in tragedy...haunted by the need to find out exactly what happened on that night in New York, Leo takes matters into his own hands. It is a quest that will span decades, and take Leo around the world - from Moscow, to the mountains of Soviet-controlled Afghanistan, to the backstreets of New York - in pursuit of the one man who knows the truth: Agent 6." - Publisher.

1222 by Anne Holt. Scribner, 2011. Print Length: 338 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 1/2 stars (6 reviews). Kindle edition $11.99 Text-to-Speech: Disabled. This is book eight of the author's Hanne Wilhelmsen mystery series and the first volume of the series to be translated into English.

"A train on its way to the northern reaches of Norway derails during a massive blizzard, 1,222 meters above sea level. The passengers abandon the train for a nearby hotel, centuries-old and practically empty, except for the staff. With plenty of food and shelter from the storm, the passengers think they are safe, until one of them is found dead the next morning. With no sign of rescue, and the storm continuing to rage, retired police inspector Hanne Wilhelmsen is asked to investigate. Paralysed by a bullet lodged in her spine, Hanne has no desire to get involved. But she is slowly coaxed back into her old habits as her curiosity and natural talent for observation force her to take an interest in the passengers and their secrets. When another body turns up, Hanne realizes that time is running out. - Publisher.

The Cat Sitter's Pajamas: A Dixie Hemingway Mystery by Blaize Clement. Minotaur Books, 2012. Print Length: 273 p. Amazon customer rating: 4 stars (1 review). Kindle edition $11.99. Text-to-Speech: Enabled. This is book seven in the author's Dixie Hemingway Mysteries series that began with Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter.

"Dixie Hemingway, no relation to you-know-who, accepts a job taking care of famous linebacker Cupcake Trillin’s cats, Elvis and Lucy, while he’s away. But what seems like an easy job turns scary when Dixie finds a celebrity fashion model in Cupcake’s house. The woman refuses to leave AND she also claims to be Cupcake’s wife. But Dixie has met Cupcake’s wife, and this woman certainly isn’t her. Soon, Dixie is spun into the world of counterfeit high fashion. When a valuable list of fake merchandise sellers goes missing, the criminals go after Dixie. Once again, what started as a simple cat-sitting job has turned into a mess that only Dixie can solve." - Publisher.
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