Tantalizing Tales — June 2026 — Part Two

Happy Men’s World Cup season, dear readers! I do not, alas, have any books related to the beautiful game in this week’s tantalizing pile but I do have several that could tempt me to look away from my TV screen for a second… or more likely fill the empty time between these already wonderful and infuriating matches!

First up, we have C B Everett’s The Final Chapter, a metafictional book-within-a-book thriller that’s certain to delight fans of both puzzles and high concept mysteries like myself!

A decade ago, a bestselling, critically acclaimed author suddenly disappeared. Now, a manuscript purporting to be his final novel has unexpectedly resurfaced. Trouble is, it’s nothing like his other books. Instead of a moving work of literary genius, this new novel is an espionage thriller filled with seemingly stereotypical James-Bond-esque characters and situations.

Bewildered, his publisher calls in the author’s best friend for help contextualizing the novel in the missing writer’s larger oeuvre. C B Everett (!) is also an author, but he’s just as baffled by this strange book as everyone else is. The more he reads, however, the more he begins to recognize details from the life that he and his missing friend had actually shared. Could his friend have coded real world secrets into the manuscript before abruptly disappearing? Soon, C B will be wondering how well we can really know our friends — and even ourselves — as he’s plunged into a life-threatening web of intrigue.

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Next up is Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Take Me To Your Leader, a humorous departure from his usually hard stance against the validity of Unidentified Flying Objects actually being spacecraft piloted by extraterrestrials.

Subtitled Perspectives On Your First Alien Encounter, this lighthearted look at potential interactions with alien species doesn’t do a complete 180 from his long held views but does approach the idea with humor, wit and rock solid science. Drawing from his own lifelong fascination with the subject — as well as years of immersion in history, pop culture and astrophysics — this book uses the universal laws of physics to imagine what extraterrestrials might actually look like, how they would travel between worlds, and how they might make first and subsequent contact. It also speculates as to what aliens might think of humanity, and provides helpful etiquette tips on how we humans should behave in turn.

Dr Tyson answers questions about UFO sightings (spoiler alert: he debunks most of them) and talks about the historical impact of the idea of alien visitations, in addition to their viability. It’s a logic-based approach that doesn’t take itself too seriously, ensuring that the book remains accessible for anyone who’s ever wondered “are we alone out here?” while looking at the night sky.

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Asia Mackay is back with the sequel to her witty dark comedy A Serial Killer’s Guide To Marriage. In the exciting new Self Help For Serial Killers, our anti-heroes Hazel and Fox have decided that they can indeed have it all, a happy family life and the satisfaction of murdering bad people included.

Unfortunately, their ambitions are hampered by a domineering school mum acquaintance who’s constantly on Hazel’s case, and by Fox’s own performance anxiety after a botched kill. The couple are trying everything — including therapy — to successfully get through this rough patch together, but the strain of raising good kids while also dispensing vigilante justice is starting to show.

Things only get worse when a dangerous international organization manages to track them down to their cozy home in suburbia. Soon, their desire for work-life balance will turn into a struggle for basic survival as they do everything in the manual — self-help or otherwise — to protect their little family.

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Another murder mystery series returns with Martin Edwards’ Hemlock Bay, the latest in the excellent Rachel Savernake novels. These books are the first in decades to include a Cluefinder, a section listing out the multiple hints (in this case 47!) in the narrative, to help readers solve the puzzles along with our intrepid sleuth.

And puzzles there are aplenty! Mild-mannered accountant Basil Palmer is still grieving the death of his wife when he decides to murder Louis Carson, the man he’s convinced is responsible for his agony. Trouble is, he doesn’t know anything about his intended victim, only that he’ll be able to find Louis somewhere in the new seaside resort of Hemlock Bay.

Meanwhile, a fortune teller has told reporter Jacob Flint that he’s had a vision of a murder that will soon occur in the same area. Jacob is skeptical, but decides to inform his detective friend Rachel Savernake, just in case. Intrigued, Rachel travels to the coast, and is seemingly prepared when a murder does occur. But the case is more fiendish than she expected, as she (alongside readers at home!) untangles the clues and sifts through alibis to figure out who’s truly responsible for the crime at the heart of this fairplay whodunnit.

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We leave England altogether for our next novel, landing in the Western Hemisphere and on the shores of Costa Rica for Ari Tison’s first novel in prose Together We See. This pulse-pounding, multiple viewpoint Young Adult murder mystery was inspired by the stories of real-world Indigenous activists who’ve been attacked, gone missing and even died in their fight to protect their ancestral lands.

Ulá Dominguez is a Bribri American teenager whose estranged land-activist father has mysteriously perished while on their Native territory in Costa Rica. Desperate to uncover the truth, she travels from where she lives with her mother in Wisconsin, reuniting with her brother Kabék to investigate. The siblings soon find themselves pitted against illegal loggers, settlers and corrupt elements in the local government. Their few allies include the handful of family and friends still living in Bribri, as well as a young journalist named Ian, whose activities may have already placed him in the crosshairs of the powerful and deadly.

The more Ulá learns about her father and his activities, the more danger and betrayal she discovers. She’s still coming to terms with her own strained relationship with her dad, her heritage and her identity. How far will she be willing to go in order to find justice for him and, ultimately, peace for herself?

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Finally, we have a book from late last year that I’m still desperately trying to fit into my reading schedule, Tod Goldberg’s Only Way Out. I adored his collection of short stories The Low Desert so much that, oh hey, they actually name check me in the Bookshop blurb! That makes me feel kinda famous, even if the way they quote me has me using the word “stories” way too much, lol.

Ahem, anyway. Down-on-his-luck lawyer Robert Green has a foolproof plan. With the help of his brilliant and amoral sister Penny, he’ll steal the contents of three hundred safe deposit boxes and sail off to safety in South America. Unfortunately, it’s his getaway van that sails off of a slippery mountain road just outside the dying resort town of Granite Springs, seemingly unnoticed by anyone except for local cop Jack Biddle.

Jack has a ton of problems himself, including a mountain of gambling debts even steeper and more dangerous than the one that claimed Robert’s life. When Jack goes to investigate the crashed vehicle, he finds Robert’s corpse… and millions of dollars in opportunity. All he has to do is clean up the site and get rid of the body. But Penny is already in Granite Springs, and won’t wait long to start looking for her missing brother. When ex-con Mitch Diamond enters the picture, all three embark on a twisting journey of cat and mouse (and cat? Or mouse?) to secure the bag for good.

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All of these books are either available or available for pre-order now, so let me know if you’re able to get to them before I do, dear readers! I’d love to hear your opinions, and see if that will spur me to push any of them higher up the mountain range that is my To Be Read pile.

And, as always, you can check out the list of my favorite books in my Bookshop storefront linked below!