Toast to the New Year

Ring in the New Year with one of these novels inspired by spirits (without the hangover).

Happy New Year!

Midnight Champagne by A. Manette Ansay. Wedding guests offer opinions and predictions about the future of the new bride and groom--April Liesgang and Caleb Shannon, who have known each other for just three months--in a novel about the the complexities of love.

Whiskey Sour by J.A. Konrath. Struggling with a broken relationship, credit card bills, the FBI's inaccurate profiling computer, and a band of street thugs, Chicago Police lieutenant Jacqueline Daniels works on a serial murder case alongside her binge-eating partner, Herb. First in the Jack Daniels mysteries series.

The Martini Shot by Peter Craig. Aging action-film star Charlie West is forced to confront his demons when his illegitimate teenage son shows up in search of the father he never knew.

The Merlot Murders: a Wine Country Mystery by Ellen Crosby. Returning to her Virginia vineyard home after the unexpected death of her father, Lucie Montgomery is dismayed by her father's gambling debts, and discovers that someone had a lot to gain from her father's death and the sale of his winery.

Vodka Neat: a Faith Zanetti Thriller by Anna Blundy. Moscow correspondent Faith Zanetti is in trouble with the local authorities when her estranged husband, a Russian black marketeer, confesses to a murder that had taken place when they were married, and the police think that she had been his accomplice in a crime that she cannot recall because she had been drinking the night of the killing.