Late summer is upon us — the perfect time to settle in with a good mystery novel. This season there are many new titles to choose from, some by familiar authors like Donna Leon and John Dickson Carr, and others by newer voices like Wanda Morris, Iris Mwanza and Delia Pitts.

1. ‘A Refiner’s Fire,’ by Donna Leon

In Leon’s 33rd Commissario Guido Brunetti novel, Brunetti must try to save two of his co-workers. One colleague faces a blackmail demand because she walked a teen home in the middle of the night after he was arrested — and then released — for his role in a street fight. You don’t need to have read the other books in the series to appreciate this deeply layered mystery.

2. ‘What You Leave Behind,’ by Wanda M. Morris

Deena Wood’s life is a mess. Her beloved mother has died, she’s lost her high-powered Atlanta law job, and her marriage has imploded. As a result, she’s been forced to move back to Brunswick, Ga., to live, at age 39, with her father and new stepmother. Hoping for a fresh start, Wood finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a land-grab effort by unscrupulous developers who try to scare her away. Morris’s exceptional mystery illuminates a troubling nationwide trend where developers use a legal theory called “heirs’ property” to scoop up, at bargain prices, land jointly owned by many family members — by persuading just one owner to sell their share.

3. ‘The Lion’s Den,’ by Iris Mwanza

It’s October 1990, and rookie lawyer Grace Zulu is trying to find justice for her 17-year-old client. Wilbess “Bessy” Mulenga has always been attracted to men and was earning money as a dancer and escort at a gay bar in Lusaka, Zambia, when he was arrested. Zulu finds that the police have beaten her client, and when she protests, Zulu is roughed up. Undeterred, she uses every possible legal strategy to gain Bessy’s freedom, unearthing corruption that leads to the highest levels of government.

4. ‘Trouble in Queenstown,’ by Delia Pitts

Evander “Vandy” Myrick, a former cop, is a perfect fit for her new career as a private eye in her hometown of Queenstown, N.J. The job change also is a way to cope with her enduring heartbreak over the accidental death of her 19-year-old daughter. Business is slow until the mayor’s nephew, Leo Hannah, asks her to follow his wife, Ivy, to find out if she is having an affair. Myrick accepts, seeing a chance to make some money and gain politically connected contacts. Soon after she starts the job, however, Ivy is murdered, and things quickly spiral out of control.

5. ‘The Black Spectacles,’ by John Dickson Carr

In this reissue of a 1939 classic whodunnit, Detective Inspector Andrew MacAndrew Elliot is dispatched by his Scotland Yard superior to the town of Sodbury Cross to see if he can dig up any new clues in a case involving the death of a child who was poisoned by chocolates from the local sweet shop. As Elliot arrives in the town, another Sodbury Cross resident, businessman Marcus Chesney, has just been murdered — also by poisoning. What is the link between the two deaths? Elliot calls in Scotland Yard consultant Gideon Fell, renowned for his ability to solve impenetrable cases. Best known for his ingenious locked-room mysteries, Carr offers a different type of sleight-of-hand puzzle in this book, presenting illusion layered on illusion, all cunningly designed to mislead the characters — and readers — until the very end.