Welcome to Auntie M’s summer roundup. Before the leaves start to turn in earnest, here are a stack of books for your reading pleasure to end the summer season:

Stephen Leather’s Spider Shepherd series have made the author one of the UK’s most successful thriller writers. In Tall Order, he’s putting his photographic memory to good use in the Met’s SuperRecognizer Unit but chomping for action.

Being able to spot faces better than a computer should be enough to keep him busy. But a suicide bombing occurs at a football stadium, and Spider soon finds himself caught up in what can only be termed a silent revenge mission.

Soon Spider is teamed up with the only person who can identify the man behind this attack, a ruthless terrorist who’s already been blamed for an American airliner crash. Teaming up with Navy SEAL Dean Martin, who can recognize the terrorist, Saladin, the two set off to track the terrorist and his cell on the Afghanistan/Pakistan line.

With his consistent action scenes, Leather creates a fast-forward tale. A gripping entry in this dependable series.

An avid dog lover, Auntie M has long been a fan of David Rosenfelt’s Andy Carpenter Mysteries. He returns with Rescued, where the defense lawyer finds himself doing less and less lawyering in order to work more on his rescue, The Tara Foundation.

But it’s no surprise to readers when he finds himself involved in a murder case, but with a surprsing twist: the defendant, accused of the murder of the driver carrying dogs from the South to a rescue in the Northeast, hits too close to home.

The accused murderer is Andy’s wife’s old fiance`, Dave Kramer. And worse, he’s admitted he killed the victim, but claims it was in self-defense. One thing ex-cop Laurie is certain of is that Dave Kramer needs a good defense lawyer. Over to Andy . . .

With his trademark humor keeping things on track, Rosenfelt has created a nice duo with Andy and Nick and their extended family and friend–and don’t forget the dogs.

Carola Dunn’s 23rd Daisy Dalrymple Mystery, The Corpse at the Crystal Palace, finds the amateur sleuth trying to entertain her young cousins. It’s 1928, after all, and there’s plenty to take them to, including the Crystal Palace, once Daisy finds out her own nanny has never been there.

Things happen quickly when Nanny Gilpin visits the first ladies ‘convenience’ room and doesn’t return. When Daisy goes to see where she is, she instead finds the another woman dressed as a nanny–only this one is dead.

To make things worse, her own nanny is found unconscious, and has amnesia as to how she became that way, and why she would abandon Daisy’s 3 yr-old twins.

With DCI Alec Fletcher on board, and Daisy helping, the husband-and-wife duo are certain to get to the bottom of this mess.

The sixth Flavia Albia mystery, Pandora’s Boy, contains all of Lindsey Davis’ attention to historic detail, wrapped up in a mystery.

Ancient Rome comes alive, filled with betrayals. It’s a difficult situation when Flavia’s new case is brought to her attention by heer husband’s ex-wife, who is unhappy to be there in the first place.

After a young girl is poisoned, Flavia sets her investigative eyes on the most likely person to have poison, local witch Pandora. Supposedly plying her trade in beatuy products, the same herbals can often be used in more dangerous ways.

It’s a tale of brutality and betrayals that will have devastating effects close to home for Flavia.

For fans of the first century, that era comes alive.

David Bell’s Somebody’s Daughter offers a race against time when a young girl goes missing. That timed pressure ratchets up the suspense in this well-written tale.

When Michael Frazier’s ex-wife shows up unexpectedly, the last thing he expects is for her to tell him her young missing daughter is also his.

It’s a bittersweet moment because Michael and his wife, Angela, have been experiencing fertility issues. As the Frazier’s each become involved in searching for missing Felicity, the pressure rises.

It doesn’t help that Michael lost a sister when she was young, and he’s blamed himself for her death since.

As the hours pass, secrets held for years will be forced into the open, while a young girl’s life dangles in the balance.

With short chapters and alternating narrators to add to the tension, readers will find it difficult to know whom to trust as the story unravels.