Bantam 6/27/2023. New paperback. On sale 6/27/23. Pre-order today! Store pick: Newly minted British secret agent Emma Makepiece has 12 hours to convince a young doctor (the son of a Russian nuclear physicist who gave Russian secrets to the British) that his life is in danger. For some reason, after years of living peacefully in London friends and colleagues of his mother are being killed and the British are sure that she is the real target and that they will use Michael to get to her. What ensues is a 12-hour run through London ? literally, they ran for most of the book ? through a city with ... View More...
Bantam 1/2/2024. New paperback. On sale 1/2/24. Pre-order today! Store pick: Ashley Flowers is the host of a #1 true crime podcast and she has used that experience to craft a terrific story of crime, investigative journalism, and what families will do to protect those they love. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
Kensington 12/27/2022. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: All the Dark Places has everything I like about a mystery. There are chapters from alternating characters which slowly build up the suspense. Molly?s chapters slowly reveal her troubled past and her relationship with her murdered husband and the current threat to her safety. Rita?s chapters slowly introduce possible suspects, and there are a lot of them, and what the police are doing to rule them out. This is a great debut that is both domestic suspense and police procedural, and I hope the beginning of a series with Rita ... View More...
Kensington 11/28/2023. New paperback. On sale 11/28/23. Pre-order today! Store pick: All the Dark Places has everything I like about a mystery. There are chapters from alternating characters which slowly build up the suspense. Molly?s chapters slowly reveal her troubled past and her relationship with her murdered husband and the current threat to her safety. Rita?s chapters slowly introduce possible suspects, and there are a lot of them, and what the police are doing to rule them out. This is a great debut that is both domestic suspense and police procedural, and I hope the beginning of a ser... View More...
Flatiron 6/6/2023. New hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: Only Cosby?s beautiful prose could make a dark story about the racist south so enjoyable. The mystery ? who killed and mutilated 7 young black children and who is now killing anyone who may know who he is ? holds the book together, but the real story is about Titus and his struggles with a past that still haunts him and about him trying to do the best job he can for everyone as the first black sheriff in his small hometown, even though he knows half of the town hates him. -Nancy M., store volunt... View More...
Poisoned Pen Press 1/31/2023. New paperback. Store pick: And There He Kept Her was a dark and gritty police procedural and thriller that shows us the true nature of evil, but which shone because of Ben Packard. Ben is the acting sheriff, who came to the small, northern MN town he used to spend summers in as a child to escape demons of his own. While he is working hard to discover what happened to two missing teens, one of whom is the daughter of his cousin, he also slowly reveals why he left the big city to come back to this rural town, which also holds a mystery related to his past. I look f... View More...
Celadon Books 2/28/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: Spine tingling, creepy, and full of evil, Angel Maker should be a slow and deliberate read for several reasons. It contains some interesting and thought provoking philosophical/religious ideas that I had never heard of ? those of Determinism. The way these ideas were presented required a lot of thought and reflection. The storyline involved a lot of people and a lot of action over different timelines which also required a lot of going back and re-reading. And finally it was so intense at times that a time to calm down an... View More...
William Morrow 10/25/2022. New paperback. Store pick: Anywhere You Run is not an easy read because it reveals the reality of what it was like being black in the south in the sixties at the start of the civil rights movement. But it is a beautifully written story of two Black sisters and the decisions they make, right or wrong, which shape their lives and their futures. It is powerful, intense, and heartbreaking but also a story of hope and change and one we should not forget. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
Bantam 6/6/2023. New paperback. Store pick: A beautiful mansion and gardens in Northern CA that was once a commune in the early seventies is one of the main characters in this police procedural in which Detective Raquel Laing is trying to link bones just unearthed when a statue is moved to the serial killer known as the Highwayman. Dual timelines take you back and forth between the hippie days of San Francisco and the present time where the estate is now part of a public trust and opened to visitors daily. A terrific mystery featuring a complicated and dedicated detective who doesn?t play by ... View More...
Henery Press 4/16/2019. New paperback. The author is local and can personalize books. Store pick: A wonderful escape from reality to fun and frivolity, and, oh yes, it would not be a Brie Hooker novel without murder and mayhem. When some members of the local religious cult barge into Brie's first Goat Yoga class, it's just a matter of time before the bodies start dropping. Brie can't work fast enough to solve this mystery, as she attempts to salvage her reputation? all the while, tending the goats, entertaining two handsome beaus, and renovating Summer Place, her dream B&B. Hang on tight?... View More...
Ecco 4/16/2019. New paperback. Store pick: This is a thriller of the highest order. While the story and setting is unlike your typical action thriller, it is one that grabs hold of you and simply won't let go. For anyone who enjoys a Lee Child or Nelson DeMille read, this is one that should be on your 'must read' list. The pacing of the story and development of Rice Moore, the main character are such that you will have a hard time putting this one down. The book is less about plot twists and surprises than it is the gradual unfolding of a complex and compelling character who is both approach... View More...
Atlantic Monthly Press 1/10/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: A spine chilling crime thriller set in Auckland NZ. It shows the history of injustices to the Mauri people and how those injustices continue in the present. It is a look at how the history has affected Hana Westerman, a female Mauri detective, who has risen in the ranks thanks partly because she toed the blue line 18 years earlier in action during a peaceful Mauri protest. This is a look at privilege, prejudice,family and choices against the background of a search for a serial killer. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
Stella Maris Books 4/11/2023. New paperback. The author is local and can personalize books. Store pick: Susan Boyer has once again used her unique gift of words to introduce us to a whole new set of characters and to another charming area of the Low Country. Hadley Cooper is a PI with a lot of baggage, mainly because her mother died when she was 17 and only then did she find out who her father was (and he didn?t know she existed) and that she had a half-brother only two days younger than she. Big Trouble on Sullivan?s Island is a great name for this start to a fabulous new series of Carolina ... View More...
Stella Maris Books 4/11/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. The author is local and can personalize books. Store pick: Susan Boyer has once again used her unique gift of words to introduce us to a whole new set of characters and to another charming area of the Low Country. Hadley Cooper is a PI with a lot of baggage, mainly because her mother died when she was 17 and only then did she find out who her father was (and he didn?t know she existed) and that she had a half-brother only two days younger than she. Big Trouble on Sullivan?s Island is a great name for this start to a fabulous ne... View More...
Stella Maris Books 4/11/2023. New paperback. The author is local and can personalize books. Store pick: Susan Boyer has once again used her unique gift of words to introduce us to a whole new set of characters and to another charming area of the Low Country. Hadley Cooper is a PI with a lot of baggage, mainly because her mother died when she was 17 and only then did she find out who her father was (and he didn?t know she existed) and that she had a half-brother only two days younger than she. Big Trouble on Sullivan?s Island is a great name for this start to a fabulous new series of Carolina ... View More...
G.P. Putnam's Sons 4/11/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Ruby is a licensed therapist, so she understands and rationalizes that while she has killed three people, she is not a sociopath. She is a kind and loving and empathetic human being. Perhaps because she is such a kind and caring person, she has convinced herself that she has done nothing wrong because the three people she killed were truly vile and evil. But she is now suspected of killing her husband ? a person she loved and who was a kind and caring person. I loved every minute of this cleverly written book. The story is told from Rub... View More...
Lion Publishing 5/10/2016. New paperback. Author is local and can personalize. Store pick: Journalist Branigan Powers begins looking into the ten-year-old unsolved murder of a wealthy resident of Grambling, GA for an article planned to coincide with the anniversary of the murder. The clients of a homeless mission run by her childhood friend Liam become an important source of information but when two homeless are killed weeks apart in hit-and-run accidents Brannigan begins to fear that she has awakened a murderer. The Cantalope Thief is an insightful look into the life of the homeless and ho... View More...
Forge Books 5/31/2022. New paperback. Store pick: Set in Beaufort, SC Carolina Moonset is a story about love, family, friendship, and murder in a small town. A murder that took place over 50 years ago and a murder that takes place in current time. Marshall Green left Beaufort to go to IL to college and remained in IL after marrying and finishing med school. Other than family vacations he had not spent much time in Beaufort since he was in high school. He returned to Beaufort with his wife to live in his old family home when he was diagnosed with dementia at age 70. When his son Joey comes to ... View More...
Berkley 1/10/2023. New hardcover. in Brand New jacket. Store pick: The setting for City Under One Roof (literally a 205 unit high rise with infirmary, police department, etc. all under one roof) in an isolated area of Alaska that has been cut off from the outside world due to an avalanche in the tunnel which is the only road in or out is only part of what makes this debut novel such a page turner. The mystery, which involves a hand and foot washing up on a beach, and a head found buried in a barn definitely gets your attention. But, best oi all are the cast of quirky characters all with backg... View More...
Simon & Schuster 5/23/2023. New paperback. Store pick: Closer by Sea was mesmerizing. I could not put down this amazing coming-of-age story that also included a mystery, some thrilling suspense scenes, and a spectacular look at life in a small Newfoundland fishing village in early 1990?s at the end of its life as a fishing village. It was obvious that the author, who grew up in a similar village, cares deeply for the environment and the sea. Perfect for fans of William Kent Kreuger's This Tender Land. -Nancy M., store volunteer View More...
