Click on the titles below to search the catalog

Abu-Jaber, Diana. Birds of paradise.
After a five year absence, an eighteen-year-old runaway returns to her family in Miami to deal with the guilty secret that caused her to flee.

Airgood, Ellen. South of superior.
Michigan women

Albert, Susan Wittig. The tale of Castle Cottage.
Beatrix and William’s impending nuptials are delayed when the remodeling of their future home, Castle Cottage, causes more problems than anticipated in the latest installment of a series that incorporates events from the life of Beatrix Potter and her beloved characters.

Allan, Christa. The edge of grace.
Family relationships/Christian Fiction

Allison, Will. Long drive home.
Impulsively veering his car into the path of a reckless driver, Glen Bauer inadvertently kills a young man and constructs an elaborate cover story, a situation that is complicated by police suspicions, agonizing guilt, and his seven-year-old daughter’s witness to the crash.

Archer, Jeffrey, Only time will tell.
The Clifton chronicles; v. 1. “From the popular author of Kane and Abel and A Prisoner of Birth comes the story of one family across generations, across oceans, from heartbreak to triumph. The epic tale of Harry Clifton’s life begins in 1920, with the words, “I was told that my father was killed in the war.” A dock worker in Bristol, Harry never knew his father, but he learns about life on the docks from his uncle who expects Harry to join him at the shipyard once he’s left school. But then his unexpected gift wins him a scholarship to an exclusive boys’ school, and his life will never be the same again. As he enters into adulthood, Harry finally learns how his father really died, but the awful truth only leads him to question who was his father? Is he the son of Arthur Clifton, a stevedore who spent his whole life on the docks, or the first-born son of a scion of West Country society, whose family owns a shipping line? This introductory novel in The Clifton Chronicles includes a cast of colorful characters and takes us from the ravages of the Great War to the outbreak of the Second World War, when Harry must decide whether to take up a place at Oxford or join the navy and go to war with Hitler’s Germany. From the docks of working-class England to the bustling streets of 1940 New York City, Only Time Will Tell takes readers on a journey through to future volumes, which will bring to life one hundred years of recent history to reveal a family story that neither the reader nor Harry Clifton himself could ever have imagined”– Provided by publisher.

Arnaldur Indriason, Operation Napoleon.
Military History in Iceland

Banks, Russell. Lost memory of skin. [WAKEFIELD AUTHOR]
This is a novel that illuminates the shadowed edges of contemporary American culture with startling and unforgettable results. Suspended in a strangely modern day version of limbo, the young man at the center of this morally complex new novel must create a life for himself in the wake of incarceration. Known in his new identity only as the Kid, and on probation after doing time for a liaison with an underage girl, he is shackled to a GPS monitoring device and forbidden to live within 2,500 feet of anywhere children might gather. With nowhere else to go, the Kid takes up residence under a south Florida causeway, in a makeshift encampment with other convicted sex offenders. Barely beyond childhood himself, the Kid, despite his crime, is in many ways an innocent, trapped by impulses and foolish choices he himself struggles to comprehend. Enter the Professor, a man who has built his own life on secrets and lies. A university sociologist of enormous size and intellect, he finds in the Kid the perfect subject for his research on homelessness and recidivism among convicted sex offenders. The two men forge a tentative partnership, the Kid remaining wary of the Professor’s motives even as he accepts the counsel and financial assistance of the older man. When the camp beneath the causeway is raided by the police, and later, when a hurricane all but destroys the settlement, the Professor tries to help the Kid in practical matters while trying to teach his young charge new ways of looking at, and understanding, what he has done. But when the Professor’s past resurfaces and threatens to destroy his carefully constructed world, the balance in the two men’s relationship shifts. Suddenly, the Kid must reconsider everything he has come to believe, and choose what course of action to take when faced with a new kind of moral decision. In this novel the author examines the indistinct boundaries between our intentions and actions. It probes the zeitgeist of a troubled society where zero tolerance has erased any hope of subtlety and compassion, a society where isolating the offender has perhaps created a new kind of victim.

Black, Lisa, Defensive wounds. [SUSPENSE]
Theresa MacLean series; bk. 4.

Bockoven, Georgia. The year everything changed.
In March 2000, attorney Lucy Hargreaves sends letters to four women. In the note, she says she represents Jessie Patrick Reed, who claims to be their biological father that none of them ever met or new existed. He is dying and would like to meet them in his home in Sacramento.

Bohjalian, Chris, The night strangers.
From the bestselling author of The Double Bind, Skeletons at the Feast, and Secrets of Eden, comes a riveting and dramatic ghost story. In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts. The home’s new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, had to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain after double engine failure. Unlike the Miracle on the Hudson, however, most of the passengers aboard Flight 1611 died on impact or were drowned. The body count? Thirty-nine, a coincidence not lost on Chip when he discovers the number of bolts in that basement door. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself wondering about the women in this sparsely populated White Mountain village, self-proclaimed herbalists, and their interest in her fifth-grade daughters. Are the women mad? Or is it her husband, in the wake of the tragedy, whose grip on sanity has become desperately tenuous? The result is a powerful ghost story with a palpable sense of place, an unerring sense of the demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply. The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead.

Bradley, Jane, You believers. [SUSPENSE]
Missing persons

Brandman, Michael. Robert B. Parker’s Killing the blues. [MYSTERY]
With summer just weeks away, Chief of Police Jesse Stone is pretty tense–and not just because Paradise, MA, is gearing up for the tourists. Stone finds himself dealing with car thefts, then murder, then someone who’s come to town to remind him of his not-so-happy past as an L.A. cop. Fans mourning Parker’s death will be happy to see that Brandman, who has written and produced numerous TV movies based on Parker’s novels, has picked up where the best-selling author left off.

Briscoe, Joanna. You.
Dora Bannan hopes for a new life when she moves her husband and their three children to the wild moorland. She finds a job teaching music at a progressive school, where she also enrolls the children. When the school’s elegant art teacher offers Dora a seductive alternative to her domestic routine, Dora finds that real change is far from easy. Sensual, unnerving, and gripping, Briscoe examines the lives we think we want, the choices we can’t unmake, and the loves and losses we never forget.

Brown, Sandra, Lethal. [SUSPENSE]
After Honor Gillette is visited by Lee Coburn, a suspected murderer seeking a valuable object that Honor’s late husband left behind, they find themselves running from the FBI and untangling a web of corruption and depravity.

Bruen, Ken. Headstone. [MYSTERY]
Galway private investigator Jack Taylor confronts an evil coterie named Headstone, who have committed a series of random, insane, violent crimes in Galway, Ireland.

Burke, James Lee, Feast day of fools. [MYSTERY]
Interviewing an alcoholic Native American who witnessed a murder along the Texas-Mexico border, Sheriff Hack Holland and his deputy, Sam Tibbs, recognize the work of serial killer Preacher Jack Collins in an investigation that is assisted by the enigmatic Anton Ling.

Cameron, W. Bruce. Emory’s gift.
In 1974, when thirteen-year-old Charlie Hall’s mother dies and his father retreats into silent grief, Charlie finds himself drifting, nearly friendless, through a northern Idaho junior high school but when a grizzly bear saves his life, Charlie forms an unusual friendship that changes his life.

Carlson, Melody. The Christmas shoppe.
Christian Fiction

Castle, Richard. Heat rises. [MYSTERY]
“In the third book of the New York Times bestselling Nikki Heat series, following HEAT WAVE and NAKED HEAT, Richard Castle’s new thrilling mystery continues the story of NYPD Homicide Detective, Nikki Heat. Tough, sexy, professional, Nikki Heat carries a passion for justice as she leads one of New York City’s top homicide squads. In what’s sure to be another smash sensation by blockbuster author Richard Castle, readers will once again follow Nikki Heat and hotshot reporter Jameson Rook as they trade barbs and innuendos all while on the trail of a murderer!– Provided by publisher.

Child, Lee. The affair: a Reacher novel. [SUSPENSE]
Carter Crossing, Mississippi. 1997. A lonely railroad track. A crime scene. A coverup. A young woman is dead, and solid evidence points to a soldier at a nearby military base. But that soldier has powerful friends in Washington. Reacher is ordered undercover–to find out everything he can, to control the local police, and then to vanish.

Cline, Ernest. Ready player one. [SCIENCE FICTION]
“An exuberantly realized, exciting, and sweet-natured cyber-quest. Cline’s imaginative and rollicking coming-of-age geek saga has a smash-hit vibe.”–Booklist, starred review. “Ready Player One takes place in the not-so-distant future–the world has turned into a very bleak place, but luckily there is OASIS, a virtual reality world that is a vast online utopia. People can plug into OASIS to play, go to school, earn money, and even meet other people (or at least they can meet their avatars), and for protagonist Wade Watts it certainly beats passing the time in his grim, poverty-stricken real life. Along with millions of other world-wide citizens, Wade dreams of finding three keys left behind by James Halliday, the now-deceased creator of OASIS and the richest man to have ever lived. The keys are rumored to be hidden inside OASIS, and whoever finds them will inherit Halliday’s fortune. But Halliday has not made it easy. And there are real dangers in this virtual world. Stuffed to the gills with action, puzzles, nerdy romance, and 80s nostalgia, this high energy cyber-quest will make geeks everywhere feel like they were separated at birth from author Ernest Cline.”–Chris Schluep, Amazon Best Book of the Month.

Coelho, Paulo. Aleph. [FANTASY]
Aleph marks a return to the author’s beginnings. In a frank and surprising personal story, one of the world’s most beloved authors embarks on a remarkable and transformative journey of self discovery. Facing a grave crisis of faith, and seeking a path of spiritual renewal and growth, he decides to start over: to travel, to experiment, to reconnect with people and the world. On this journey through Europe, Africa, and Asia, he will again meet Hilal, the woman he loved 500 years before, an encounter that will initiate a mystical voyage through time and space, through past and present, in search of himself. Aleph is an encounter with our fears and our sins; a search for love and forgiveness, and the courage to confront the inevitable challenges of life.

Coes, Ben. Coup d’Etat. [SUSPENSE]
“Wanting only a peaceful, obscure life, Dewey Andreas has gone to rural Australia, far from turbulent forces that he once fought against. But powerful men, seeking revenge, have been scouring the earth looking for Dewey. And now, they’ve finally found him – forcing Dewey to abandon his home and to fight for his life against a very well armed, well trained group of assassins. Meanwhile, a radical cleric has been elected president of Pakistan and, upon taking power, sets off a rapidly escalating conflict with India. As the situation spins quickly out of control, it becomes clear that India is only days from resorting to a nuclear response, one that will have unimaginably disasterous results for the world at large. With only days to head this off, the President sends in his best people, including Jessica Tanzer, to do whatever it takes to restore the fragile peace to the region. Tanzer has only one viable option – to set up and execute a coup d’etat in Pakistan – and only one man in mind to lead the team that will try to pull off this almost unimaginable task in the nerve-wrackingly short time frame, Dewey Andreas. If, that is, Jessica can even get to Dewey and if Dewey can get out of Australia alive..”– Provided by publisher.

Collins, Jackie. Goddess of vengeance. [SUSPENSE]
Running a high-profile casino and hotel complex that ruthless billionaire Armand Jordan is plotting to take from her, Lucky engages in a power struggle against him, while Bobby becomes inadvertently involved in best friend Frankie’s drug problems.

Connolly, John, The burning soul: a thriller. “Randall Haight has a secret: He is a convicted murderer, a man with the blood of a young girl on his hands. He has built a new life for himself in the small Maine town of Pastor’s Bay, but someone has discovered the truth about him. He is being tormented by anonymously sent reminders of his crime. He wants private detective Charlie Parker to make them go away. But another girl has gone missing, this time from Pastor’s Bay itself, and her family has its own secrets to protect. Now, in a town built on blood and shadowed by old ghosts, Parker must unravel a twisted history of violence and deceit involving the police and the FBI, a doomed mobster and his enemies, and Randall Haight himself. Because Randall is telling lies. . . . “–Publisher’s description.

De los Santos, Marisa. Falling together.
Female friendship reunion

Delaney, Edward J., Broken Irish.
“Set in the late 1990′s in Boston, a time when even the local Catholic Church is party to a scandal that threatens to unravel, this novel moves with the pace of a thriller, but delves more deeply into its lives. This engrossing novel about corruption and redemption gives sympathetic voice to the voiceless and offers an unflinching look at the workings of a community in the throes of change” — p. [4] of cover.

Delsol, Wendy. The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls.
The McCloud Home for Wayward Girls was once a haven for unwed mothers. Now it is a bed-and-breakfast that Ruby runs with her daugher Jill. When Jill’s fourteen-year-old daughter searches for the identity of her father, she sets in motion events that will test the bonds of the family. And then Jill agrees to host the wake of the town matriarch. But the convergence of people and memories reveals a shocking family secret.

Dill, Stuart. Murder on music row: a music industry thriller.
Nashville suspense

Doornebos, Karen. Definitely not Mr. Darcy. [SMART FUNNY WOMEN]
Chloe Parker, a thirty-nine-year-old divorced mother and lifelong member of the Jane Austen Society, auditions for a Jane Austen-inspired reality dating show set in 1812 and competes with eight women to snare Mr. Wrightman, the heir to a gorgeous estate, along with a $100,000 prize.

Enright, Anne, The forgotten waltz.
During a snowstorm, Gina Moynihan reminisces the string of events that brought her the love of her life, Sean Vallely, and recalls their affair.

Feehan, Christine. Dark predator: a Carpathian novel. [ROMANCE]
Hunter of the undead and master executioner Zacarias De La Cruz returns to Peru where he finds betrayal, vengeance, and the consequences of his family’s bloody legacy.

Frazier, Charles, Nightwoods.
Charles Frazier’s, the author of National Book Award winning Cold Mountain, new novel envisions a late 1950s North Carolina through the eyes of Luce, a single woman who must care for the quiet twins of her murdered sister, Lily.

Ghosh, Amitav. River of smoke. [HISTORICAL FICTION]
In this sequel to Sea of Poppies: “The Ibis, loaded to its gunwales with a cargo of indentured servants, is in the grip of a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal; among the dozens flailing for survival are Neel, the pampered raja who has been convicted of embezzlement; Paulette, the French orphan masquerading as a deck hand; and Deeti, the widowed poppy grower fleeing her homeland with her lover, Kalua. The storm also threatens the clipper ship Anahita, groaning with the largest consignment of opium ever to leave India for Canton. And the Redruth, a nursery ship, carries “Fitcher” Penrose, a horticulturist determined to track down the priceless treasures of China that are hidden in plain sight: plants that have the power to heal, or beautify, or intoxicate. All will converge in Canton’s Fanqui-Town, or Foreign Enclave: a tumultuous world unto itself where civilizations clash and sometimes fuse. It is a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite the Opium Wars. Spectacular coincidences, startling reversals of fortune, and tender love stories abound. But this is much more than an irresistible page-turner. The blind quest for money, the primacy of the drug trade, the concealment of base impulses behind the rhetoric of freedom: in River of Smoke the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries meet, and the result is a consuming historical novel with powerful contemporary resonance. Critics praised Sea of Poppies for its vibrant storytelling, antic humor, and rich narrative scope; now Amitav Ghosh continues the epic that has charmed and compelled readers all over the globe”– Provided by publisher.

Graham, Lorna. The ghost of Greenwich Village.
A young woman moves to Manhattan seeking romance and excitement, only to find that her apartment is haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Beat Generation writer in need of a rather huge favor.

Grozdinski, Nikolai. Wunderkind.
Russian Piano Prodigy

Halpern, Adena. Pinch me. [SMART FUNNY WOMEN]
“‘Never marry a man unless he’s short, bald, fat, stupid, and treats you badly.’ That is the advice that twenty-nine-year-old Lily Burns has heard her entire life from her grandmother Dolly and her mother, Selma. Despite this, when she meets Gogo, the handsome, successful pediatrician who treats her like a queen, she has no choice but to let her heart take over. When she agrees to marry him, Dolly and Selma are inconsolable. They decide it’s time to tell her the truth: their family is cursed. If she marries for love, there will be unimaginable consequences.”–P. [4] of cover.

Harbach, Chad. The art of fielding.
“At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big-league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended.”–from publisher’s description.

Hoffman, Alice. The dovekeepers. [HISTORICAL]
A tale inspired by the tragic first-century massacre of hundreds of Jewish people at Masada presents the stories of a hated daughter, a baker’s wife, a girl disguised as a warrior, and a medicine woman who keep doves and secrets while Roman soldiers draw near.

Holmes, Gina. Dry as rain.
Christian Fiction Marriage

Howard, Linda, Prey. [SUSPENSE]
Montana wilderness guide Angie Powell wants nothing to do with ex-soldier Dare Callahan, especially as she blames him for her failing business. But she has to put her feelings to one side when they are suddenly thrust together to stop an animal with a thirst for blood–of a human variety.

Jordan, Hillary, When she woke. [SCIENCE FICTION]
In the future, abortion has become a crime as a series of events threatens the existence of the United States. One woman wakes up to discover that her skin color has been changed to red as punishment for having the procedure done. Now she must embark on a dangerous journey in order to find refuge from a hostile and threatening society.

Kagen, Lesley. Good graces.
Sisters in Wisconsin

King, Laurie R. Pirate king: a novel of suspense featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes.

Kleier, Michele and Sabrina. Hot property.
NY Real Estate

Knight, India, Comfort and joy. [SMART FUNNY WOMEN]
Family reunions

Lamb, Cathy. The first day of the rest of my life.
Terrified of her traumatic past becoming public, renowned life coach Madeline O’Shea, who has inspired thousands of women, discovers that the worst thing that can happen is the one thing she desperately needs.

Lawrence, Mark, Prince of thorns. [FANTASY]
After witnessing the murder of his mother and brother and leading a band of bloodthirsty thugs, Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath returns to his father’s castle and his birthright, but faces treachery and dark magic once he arrives. Broken empire trilogy; bk. 1.

Lawrenson, Deborah. The lantern. [ROMANCE]
Drawn to an older man, Eve embarks on a whirlwind romance that soon offers a new life and a new home–Les Genevriers, an old house in a charming hamlet amid the fragrant lavender fields of Provence. Their relationship becomes strained, however, as Dom grows quiet and distant and Eve feels a haunting presence. The more reluctant Dom is to tell her about his past, the more Eve is drawn to it–and to the mysterious disappearance of his beautiful ex-wife.

LaZebnik, Claire Scovell. Families and other nonreturnable gifts. [SMART FUNNY WOMEN]
Boston families

Liss, David, The twelfth enchantment. [HISTORICAL FICTION]
Lucy Derrick, a young Regency woman of good breeding and poor finances, is warned by a beautiful stricken man not to marry Mr. Olson, the local mill owner. Soon it becomes clear that there is more at stake than her own happiness–and that she is caught between two forces, one ancient and one modern.

Macomber, Debbie. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane.
“The people of Cedar Cove know how to celebrate Christmas. Like Grace and Olivia and everyone else, Beth Morehouse expects this Christmas to be one of her best. Her small Christmas tree farm is prospering, her daughters and her dogs are happy and well, and her new relationship with local vet Ted Reynolds is showing plenty of romantic promise. But– someone recently left a basket filled with puppies on her doorstep, puppies she’s determined to place in good homes. That’s complication number one. And number two is that her daughters Bailey and Sophie have invited their dad, Beth’s long-divorced husband, Kent, to Cedar Cove for Christmas. The girls have visions of a mom-and-dad reunion dancing in their heads. As always in life–and in Cedar Cove–there are surprises, too. More than one family’s going to have a puppy under the tree. More than one scheme will go awry. And more than one romance will have a happy ending!” — from author’s web site.

Magson, Adrian. Tracers: a Harry Tate novel. [SUSPENSE]
Baghdad terrorism; bk.2

Margolis, Sue. A catered affair. [ROMANCE]
Tallulah’s grandmother, Nana Ida, wants her granddaughter to have a big Jewish wedding although Tallulah and her fiance would prefer a small wedding. After months of planning the groom doesn’t doesn’t show up. So Nana Ida gets busy with matchmaking and Tallulah discovers that happiness doesn’t always come in the form of the perfect doctor and that real love doesn’t require a catered affair.

Marrow, Nicole “Coco” & Laura Hayden. Angel.
Debut effort about angels by Ice T’s model wife.

Mason, Bobbie Ann. The girl in the blue beret. [HISTORICAL FICTION]
An American World War II pilot shot down in Occupied Europe returns to his crash site decades later and finds himself drawn back in time to the brave people who helped him escape from the Nazis.

Mayor, Archer. Tag man. [MYSTERY]
“Across Brattleboro, Vermont, rich people (some with dark secrets) are waking up in their high security, alarm-equipped homes to find a Post-it note
stuck to their bedside tables reading, “You’re it.” There is little sign of disturbance anywhere, nothing stolen (that anyone admits,) and only a bit of expensive food eaten as a signature. The Press loves the story and dubs the burglar the Tag Man. But who is he? And what’s he actually doing? In fact, he’s quickly running for his life, for what he discovers in one of these houses appears to be proof of a heinous string of murders. But is it? Joe Gunther, struggling to recover from a devastating personal loss, leads his VBI team to untangle the many conflicting pieces of evidence, while the burglar himself struggles for survival in the no-man’s-land between the police and the villains. With no one knowing what to believe, or who to trust, with Tag Man running for his life in a way he never imagined possible, as no one knows who’s watching as they sleep, or who truly did what, the Tag Man is critically acclaimed author Archer Mayor at his very finest”– Provided by publisher.

McCrumb, Sharyn, The ballad of Tom Dooley: a ballad novel. [HISTORICAL FICTION]
A story inspired by a true crime made famous by the Kingston Trio’s folk song recording re-imagines the events surrounding the murder of North Carolina mountain girl Laura Foster and the hanging of her lover, Tom Dula, in a meticulously researched account that reveals additional information that may prove Dula’s innocence.

McDermid, Val. Trick of the dark. [MYSTERY]
‘Death is a hollow drum whose beat has measured out my adult life.’ So writes Jay Macallan Stewart in her latest volume of memoirs. But nobody has ever asked whether that has been by accident or design. Nobody, that is, until Jay turns her sights on newly-wed and freshly-widowed Magda Newsam. For Magda’s mother Corinna is an Oxford don who knows enough of Jay’s history to be very afraid indeed. Determined to protect her daughter, Corinna turns to clinical psychologist Charlie Flint. But it’s not the best time for Charlie. Her career is in ruins. Pilloried by the press, under investigation by her peers, she’s barred from the profiling work she loves. What Corinna’s asking may be her last chance at redemption. But as Charlie digs into the past and its trail of bodies she starts to realise the price of truth may be more than she wants to pay.

Meyer, Deon. Trackers. [MYSTERY]
Lemmer, a highly skilled bodyguard with a violent, criminal past, has settled into a quiet life in Loxton, South Africa, where the rural tranquility has helped to calm his explosive temper. When a wealthy farmer asks for his help in smuggling a pair of rare black rhinos out of Zimbabwe (where they are murdered for their horns), he has a hard time saying no. Before he knows it, Lemmer is on a small airplane, zipping across the border, an airsickness bag in his hand and a military-grade shotgun at his feet. Soon, he will regret the trip very much.

Mileti, Meredith. Aftertaste: a novel in five courses.
“In Aftertaste, Meredith Mileti dishes up a smart, gripping novel rich with the right ingredients – an honest telling of love, anger, forgiveness and the binding power of food.

Miller, Linda Lael. A lawman’s Christmas: a McKettricks of Texas novel. [ROMANCE]
The sudden death of the town marshal leaves Blue River, Texas, without a lawman, and Dara Rose Nolan without a husband or income, until Clay McKettrick comes to town. When they say “I do” to a marriage of convenience, the temporary lawman’s wish is to make Dara Rose his permanent wife.

Mills, Kyle, Robert Ludlum’s The Ares decision. [SUSPENSE]
Covert-One series

Mina, Denise. The end of the wasp season. [MYSTERY]
When a notorious millionaire banker hangs himself, his death attracts no sympathy. But the legacy of a lifetime of selfishness is widespread, and the carnage most acute among those he ought to be protecting: his family. Meanwhile, in a wealthy suburb of Glasgow, a young woman is found savagely murdered. The community is stunned by what appears to be a vicious, random attack. When Detective Inspector Alex Morrow, heavily pregnant with twins, is called in to investigate, she soon discovers that a tangled web of lies lurks behind the murder. It’s a web that will spiral through Alex’s own home, the local community, and ultimately right back to a swinging rope, hundreds of miles away.

Mitchard, Jacquelyn. Second nature: a love story.

Morgenstern, Erin. The night circus. [FANTASY]
Waging a fierce competition for which they have trained since childhood, circus magicians Celia and Marco unexpectedly fall in love with each other and share a fantastical romance that manifests in fateful ways. MA writer’s debut.

Morris, Mary McGarry. Light from a distant star.
Child witness to a murder

Neggers, Carla. Saint’s gate. [SUSPENSE]
When Emma Sharpe is summoned to a convent on the Maine coast, it’s partly for her art crimes work with the FBI, partly because of her past with the religious order. At issue is a mysterious painting depicting scenes of Irish lore and Viking legends, and her family’s connection to the work. But when the nun who contacted her is murdered, it seems legend is becoming deadly reality.

Neville, Stuart, Stolen souls. [MYSTERY]
Ireland

Novack, Sandra. Everyone but you: stories.

Patterson, James, Kill me if you can. [SUSPENSE]
A poor art student in New York City discovers a duffel bag full of diamonds in the chaos during an attack at Grand Central Station and is pursued by the Ghost, an assassin who had murdered the bag’s owner.

Penny, Louise. A trick of the light. [MYSTERY]
Investigating a murder at a solo artist’s Quebec village home, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team encounter deceptive nuances in the art world that distort every clue they find with tales of duality and broken hearts. Bk.7 in the series.

Rendell, Ruth, The vault: an Inspector Wexford novel. [MYSTERY]
Former Chief Inspector Wexford returns from retirement to solve a most unlikely case: the mystery of who killed the three people whose corpses were last seen at the bottom of a coal hole in A Sight for Sore Eyes (1999). In the decade since Franklin Merton left St. John’s Wood in 1998, Orcadia Cottage has changed hands twice by the time Martin Rokeby, who wants to make room for an amphora his wife Anne found in Florence, pulls up a manhole cover in his backyard and shines a light down a dark shaft to reveal not only the three victims from the author’s earlier tale but a fourth, much more recently dead than the others but equally beyond identification. Det. Supt. Thomas Ede, of Cricklewood, is getting nowhere with the case, so he invites Reg Wexford, who’s retired to Hampstead Heath, to join him as an unpaid consultant. Accompanying Ede and his sergeant, Lucy Blanch, on interviews, he ventures several guesses as to the identities of the dead: Merton’s vanished second wife, Harriet? The young man seen driving an Edsel and heard calling himself Keith Hill? His uncle, from whom he may have taken his name and much more? Orcadia neighbor Mildred Jones’s cleaner Vladlena, who memorably burned the shirt of her then husband Colin? He watches as he is proved right or wrong, but does not simply watch, for trauma and tragedy are about to visit Wexford’s own family in equally unnerving ways.

Richman, Alyson. The lost wife. [HISTORICAL FICTION]
During the last moments of calm in prewar Prague, Lenka, a young art student, and Josef, who is studying medicine, fall in love. With the promise of a better future, they marry–only to have their dreams shattered by the imminent Nazi invasion. Like so many others, they are torn apart by the currents of war.

Riggs, Ransom. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. [MYSTERY]
Orphange

Robb, J. D. New York to Dallas. [SUSPENSE]
When a monster named Isaac McQueen–taken down by Eve back in her uniform days–escapes from Rikers, he has two things in mind. One is to pick up where he left off, abducting young victims and leaving them scarred in both mind and body. The other is to get revenge on the woman who stopped him all those years ago.

Rozan, S. J. Ghost hero. [MYSTERY]
Lydia Chin/Bill Smith; bk.11

Ryder, Brandi Lynn. In malice, quite close.
Years after staging her kidnapping and death to run away with the heir to a renowned art collection, Karen finds her carefully constructed world falling apart when their daughter discovers the truth and brings about Karen’s reunion with her sister.

Sandford, John, Shock wave. [SUSPENSE]
Virgil Flowers

Savage, Michael, Abuse of power. [SUSPENSE]
Forced into freelance work after a radical watchdog group’s smear campaign, former prominent war correspondent Jack Hatfield ignores FBI warnings to stay away when he stumbles on a large-scale terrorist plot.

Schappell, Elissa. Blueprints for building better girls: fiction.
“From the acclaimed author of Use Me, eight provocative and darkly funny linked stories that explore the commonly shared, but rarely spoken of experiences that build girls into women and women into wives and mothers, mapping America’s shifting cultural landscape from the late 1970s to the present day”– Provided by publisher.

Schwartz, John Burnham. Northwest corner.
California family relationships

Shors, John, Cross currents.
Brothers in Thailand

Smith, Haywood, Wife-in-law.

Steel, Danielle. Happy birthday.
“Valerie Wyatt is at the top of her game–she has parlayed her talent for entertaining and home decorating into a multimedia empire, and her name is synonymous with class and exquisite taste. And yet, though she has achieved enviable professional success, her ambition and hard work have given her little room for a personal life. She is divorced, and though she has a strong relationship with her daughter, she finds herself alone as her 60th birthday approaches. Valerie’s daughter, April, is also a dynamo in her chosen field. A top-notch chef, she owns her own restaurant–a cozy place that dishes up both comfort food and rare delicacies. The restaurant is a smashing success, and April devotes herself to it body and soul. Like her mother, she values professional success more than romance, and she cannot find any room for a man in her life as her 30th birthday grows nearer. The closest she has come to a relationship in years is an ill-advised one night stand. Jack Adams is a famous former NFL player, who is now an immensely successful sportscaster. He is also an incorrigible womanizer, who makes a habit of bedding models who are half his age. Nearing age 50 he begins to wonder if his wild ways still suit him, or if it’s finally time to grow up. These three driven professionals share the same birthday. And this year, the day that they share will prove to be one that changes their lives forever. Their birthday will set into motion a dramatic series of events–danger, adventure, laughter, heartbreak, and joy…and, ultimately, the most fulfilling “birthday gift” of all”– Provided by publisher.

Stern, Steve, The frozen rabbi. [FANTASY]
How does a nineteenth-century rabbi from a small Polish town end up in a freezer in a suburban Memphis home at the end of the twentieth century? And what happens when a teenage boy thaws him out and miraculously brings him back to life?

Strobel, Alison. Composing Amelia.
Can a brand-new marriage withstand the weight of generations-old baggage? Newlyweds Amelia and Marcus Sheffield are recent college grads, trying to stay afloat in LA while searching for their dream jobs. Marcus hopes to become a mega -church pastor. Amelia has an esteemed music degree, and longs to play piano professionally. The Sheffields are clearly city people. But when a small town church offers Marcus a job, the couple’s dedication to their dreams and each other is tested.

Thompson, Janice A. Hello, Hollywood! [ROMANCE]
Athena Pappas is the head writer on one of the most popular sitcoms in television history. But when Vegas comedian Stephen Cosse is brought in to beef up the show’s suddenly sagging ratings, she starts to worry about her job. Sparks fly as the competition–and attraction–between the two writers heats up. Athena has never had a problem scripting the romances of her characters. So why is her own love life so hard to script? Backstage pass; bk. 2

Toyne, Simon. Sanctus. [SUSPENSE]
When a man performs a dangerous, symbolic act on the mountain known as the Citadel, a Vatican-like city-state that towers above the city of Ruin in contemporary Turkey, a deadly chain of events is set in motion that could destroy the certainties of modern life.

Toynton, Evelyn, The Oriental wife.
Immigrants NYC

Tucker, Lisa. The Winters in bloom. [SUSPENSE]
“Together for over a decade, Kyra and David Winter are happier than they ever thought they could be. They have a comfortable home, stable careers, and a young son, Michael, whom they love more than anything. Yet because of their complicated histories, Kyra and David have always feared that this domestic bliss couldn’t last – that the life they created was destined to be disrupted. And on one perfectly average summer day, it is: Michael disappears from his own backyard. The only question is whose past has finally caught up with them: David feels sure that Michael was taken by his troubled ex-wife, while Kyra believes the kidnapper must be someone from her estranged family, someone she betrayed years ago”–Publisher’s description.

Wallace, Nicolle. It’s classified. [SUSPENSE]
President Charlotte Kramer, the nation’s first female president, returns for her second term after re-election and Tara Meyers is now Vice President of the United States. For Tara, making the transition from the New York Attorney General’s office to working on the national level by President Kramer’s side creates issues that blur the line between personal and professional. After botching a live television interview that gets everyone in D.C. clamoring for her resignation, she attempts to redeem herself by wading headlong into a sensational terror investigation. Unfortunately, Tara’s leading role in the case puts her in the cross-hairs of an edgy public with questions about the White House’s role in the plot–and what the administration did or didn’t do to keep the country clear from danger.

Ward, Jesmyn. Salvage the bones.
Enduring a hardscrabble existence as the children of alcoholic and absent parents, four siblings from a coastal Mississippi town prepare their meager stores for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina while struggling with such challenges as a teen pregnancy and a dying litter of prize pups.

Watson, S. J. Before I go to sleep.
An amnesiac attempts to reconstruct her past by keeping a journal and discovers the dangerous inconsistencies in the stories of her husband and her secret doctor.

Wilson, Kevin, The family Fang.
Performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang dedicated themselves to making great art. But when an artist’s work lies in subverting normality, it can be difficult to raise well-adjusted children. Just ask Buster and Annie Fang. For as long as they can remember, they starred (unwillingly) in their parents’ madcap pieces. But now that they are grown up, the chaos of their childhood has made it difficult to cope with life outside the fishbowl of their parents’ strange world. When the lives they’ve built come crashing down, brother and sister have nowhere to go but home, where they discover that Caleb and Camille are planning one last performance– their magnum opus– whether the kids agree to participate or not. Soon, ambition breeds conflict, bringing the Fangs to face the difficult decision about what’s ultimately more important: their family or their art. The novel displays a keen sense of the complex performances that unfold in the relationships of people who love one another.

Windle, Jeanette. Freedom’s stand. [SUSPENSE]
Christian Fiction

Woods, Sherryl. An O’Brien family Christmas. [ROMANCE]
While celebrating the holidays in Dublin, Ireland, the O’Briens are in an uproar over matriarch Nell’s rekindled romance with an old flame, while playboy Matthew O’Brien must convince Laila Riley, an older woman burned by love, to take a chance on him.

Woods, Stuart. Son of Stone: a Stone Barrington novel. [SUSPENSE]
After an eventful trip to Bel-Air and a reunion with his sophisticated (and very wealthy) former love, Arrington Calder, Stone Barrington is back in New York, and he’s looking to stay closer to home and cash in on his partnership at Woodman & Weld. But Arrington has other plans for Stone…including introducing him to the child he fathered many years ago”– Provided by publisher.

Categories: Book Buzz,Booklists,Library News,New Fiction