HPL -- New Fiction

New novelist, Thomas Kaufman, joins veterans Spindler, Picoult, and Bowen on the new book shelves.

2010-03-19T09:09:00.001-06:00

Erica Spindler.
Blood vines
When Alexandra Owens travels to Sonoma, California, to unearth her mysterious past, she finds herself racing to discover the connection between her terrifying visions and a string of ritualistic murders.

Gunnery Sgt. Jack Coughlin, USMC Ret., with Donald A. Davis.
Clean kill
Just as Gunnery Sergeant Kyle Swanson is about to deal with foreign operatives bent on assassinating Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in order to sabotage a peace agreement, his old nemesis, Juba, resurfaces to exact revenge on the man that nearly took his life.

Eric Flint and K.D. Wentworth.
The crucible of empire
A novel cowritten b a two-time Nebula Award finalist is the sequel to The Course of Empire, a book about a warlike people working with their alien invaders to face and even greater threat.

Thomas Kaufman.
Drink the tea
After he takes on the 25-year-old case of his best-friend's missing daughter, private investigator Willis Gidney is accused of murder and thrown in jail, a bad start to a case that will pit him against a ruthless corporation, a two-faced congressman and a young woman desperate to conceal her past.

David Carkeet.
From away
Making his way home from Vermont after a one-night-stand gone wrong, model-train specialist Denny Braintree is mistaken for a missing local and hesitantly assumes a new personality before he is wrongly accused of murdering his would-be lover.

Jodi Picoult.
House rules
Unable to express himself socially but possessing a savant-like knack for investigating crimes, a teenage boy with Asperger's Syndrome is wrongly accused of killing his tutor when the police mistake his autistic tics for guilty behavior.

Rhys Bowen.
The last illusion
Harry Houdini's wife hires Irish immigrant private investigator Molly Murphy to uncover the truth behind the on-stage death of a magician's assistant in order to clear Houdini's name and find the person truly responsible for the death.

Susan Wilson.
One good dog
After Adam March has a nervous breakdown that causes him to lose his job, his wife and the life he has worked so hard to achieve, he must fulfill a community-service obligation at a soup kitchen, where he meets Chance, a pit bull bred for fighting who ends up being Adam's best shot at redemption.

Dan Simmons follows Custer's ghost in the body of a Sioux warrior with paranormal talents in his new "historical novel with a supernatural slant."

2010-03-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

Dan Simmons.
Black Hills
Ceremoniously attending the battlefield death of General George Armstrong Custer at Little Bighorn, a young Sioux warrior invokes the general's spirit, who haunts the Native American with visions of the pasts and futures of legendary historical figures.

Joanne Fluke.
Apple turnover murder : a Hannah Swensen mystery with recipes
When baker Hannah Swensen steps out of her comfort zone during a massive fund-raising event, she gets more than she bargains for when the show's host--and ex-lover of both her and her younger sister--is found dead holding one of Hannah's delectable pastries in his hand.

Nancy Atherton.
Aunt Dimity down under
Devastated to learn that her beloved neighbors, Ruth and Louise Pym, are dying, Lori Shepherd agrees to their request that she find their long-lost brother in New Zealand, a search that unravels complicated family secrets.

Jessica Conant-Park & Susan Conant.
Cook the books
Reeling from her breakup with her boyfriend Josh, Chloe Carter works as an assistant cookbook writer in Boston, until the mysterious death of one of Josh's friends brings him back into her life, in this Gourmet Girl Mystery with recipes.

David Corbett.
Do they know I'm running?
Coming of age in a California immigrant town, 18-year-old Roque is entreated by his war vet brother to retrieve his deported uncle, an effort that relies on dangerous gangs that control the path between El Salvador and the U.S. border.

Gabrielle Zevin.
The hole we're in
Roger and George Pomeroy's struggles with financial troubles lead to a series of poor choices that affect their three children, especially Patsy, the youngest, who will spend her life fighting to overcome the decisions' consequences.

Peter Bognanni.
The house of tomorrow
Homeschooled teenager Sebastian Prendergast is forced by his grandmother's stroke to venture out of his geodesic dome habitat and befriends a chain-smoking teen who introduces him to pop culture through the punk band they form together.

Kate White.
Hush
After a coworker with whom she has a one-night stand is murdered the next day, Lake Warren lies to police due to her entanglement in a custody battle for her children, a lie that leads the police to scrutinize her and someone to leave dangerous clues on her doorstep.

Anne Bishop.
Shalador's lady : a black jewels novel
Lady Cassidy, the Rose-Jeweled Queen of Shalador, comes out of hiding to restore her throne and prove her ability to rule, but is wary of the visions of the Black Widows, who see danger on the horizon.

Laura Childs.
The teaberry strangler
Theodosia Browning discovers the body of the local map store owner in an alley behind her tea shop, and is alarmed by Detective Tidwell's theory that she was the intended victim.

Find familiar favorites on the new fiction shlelves this week -- and a few new authors who might become favorites

2010-02-26T08:56:00.001-07:00

Dana Stabenow.
A night too dark : a Kate Shugak novel
When a man believed to have committed suicide reappears from the wilderness, Aleut private investigator Kate Shugak and Trooper Jim Chopin struggle to identify the remains of a mysterious victim, a case that is complicated by political factors at the local gold mine.

Adriana Trigiani.
Brava, Valentine
When Valentine Roncalli discovers a long-lost shoe design, a family secret unravels that helps her take control of the company from a conniving relative, but first she seeks the counsel of her ex-fiancGe, Bret Fitzpatrick, to help re-boot the business.

J.D. Robb.
Fantasy in death
Investigating the bizarre murder of a millionaire video game maven within a locked room, NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is baffled by a lack of suspects and the victim's demise in spite of his considerable resources.

Paula Reed.
Hester
Widowed Hester Prynne travels with her wealthy heiress daughter to England in search of a quiet life only to land in the inner circle of power-hungry Oliver Cromwell, who wishes to harness Hester's ability to recognize the sins and hypocrisy of others.

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.
Matthew's story : from sinner to saint
Disappointing his family with his choice to become a tax collector, Levi abandons his initial calling to become a priest and begins questioning the nature of his existence after hearing rumors about a man who is reputed to be the prophesied Messiah.

James Grippando.
Money to burn : a novel of suspense
Presents a story of greed and murder set in the high-stakes atmosphere of New York's Wall Street

Robert B. Parker.
Split image
Overwhelmed by a double homicide involving a mob hit, a high-ranking crime figure, and twin mafia wives, Jesse Stone increasingly succumbs to alcoholism before agreeing to assist fellow investigator Sunny Randall on a seemingly unrelated case.

Katharine McMahon.
The crimson rooms
Haunted by the death of her World War I soldier brother, struggling attorney Evelyn Gifford is astonished to learn that her brother fathered a child with a young nurse, a situation that is complicated by a case involving a wrongfully convicted veteran.

Have some fun with Jaffarian's new mystery or try the first in a new series by the Gears

2010-02-19T09:18:00.002-07:00

Connie Willis.
Blackout
Stranded in the past during World War II, three researchers from the future investigate period behavior and seek each other out in a shared effort to return to their own time.

W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear.
Coming of the storm
A first entry in a new series by the Golden Spur Award-winning authors of People of the Raven traces the first contact between Native Americans and Europeans in 1539 as viewed by Chickasaw trader Black Shell, who witnesses the brutal progress of Hernando de Soto's military.

Sue Ann Jaffarian.
Corpse on the cob : an Odelia Grey mystery
Our favorite plus-sized heroine is back! Trouble grows faster than a corn crop in July when Odelia reunites with her long-lost mom in a corn maze at the Autumn Fair. For starters, there's the dead body in the cornfield. Then there's her mom crouched beside the corpse--with blood on her hands ...

Joyce Carol Oates.
A fair maiden
Approached by an elegant older gentleman while babysitting in Bayhead Harbor, sixteen-year-old Katya Spivak is entranced by his sophisticated home and eventually agrees to pose for his newest painting before realizing that he may have a hidden agenda.

Michael Palmer.
The last surgeon
Working in a mobile clinic while struggling with the challenges of PTSD, veteran doctor Nick Garrity searches for a missing war buddy and finds himself pitted against a terrifying psychopath who is disguising some of his kills as suicides.

Don DeLillo.
Point Omega
Jim Finley, a young filmmaker, attempts to convince Richard Elster, a former secret war advisor, to tell his story on film, an endeavor complicated by the arrival of Richard's daughter from New York and a devastating event that throws everything into question.

Julie Compton.
Rescuing Olivia
Contentedly spending time with a secretive woman until she disappears following a motorcycle crash, Anders is wrongly blamed for the accident and resolves to expose hidden truths from her past, an effort that rekindles his own troubles and places his life in danger.

Adam Haslett.
Union Atlantic
A property rights battle between young banker Doug Fanning and retired teacher Charlotte Graves is marked by Charlotte's bank-president brother, Charlotte's tenacious grip on sanity, and a troubled high school senior.

Lori Lansens.
The wife's tale
Having gained weight and anxieties throughout her twenty-five-year marriage, Mary Gooch is dismayed when her husband fails to return home, a situation that compels Mary to locate and fight for him while combating unhealthy habits.

Peter Straub, Parnell Hall, & Kristin Hannah are just a few favorite authors with new books out this month.

2010-02-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

Bernard Cornwell.The burning land
After breaking with King Alfred of Wessex and joining the Danes and the Vikings in hopes of reclaiming Bebbanburg, warlord Uhtred switches sides again after Alfred's daughter pleads with him to take command of the Mercian army and protect Britain from being conquered.

Peter Straub.A dark matter
Years after a 1960s religious guru's clandestine activities with his most fervent acolytes results in a grisly murder, a man struggles to make sense of what happened to his wife and friends by writing a book for which he asks former followers to relive their experiences

Tim Green.False convictions
Working with a charity organization dedicated to freeing wrongly convicted prisoners, defense attorney Casey Jordan assists an indigent man who was victimized by a corrupt small-town court, a case that turns unexpectedly violent

Robert Stone.Fun with problems :stories
A volume of short works by the National Book Award-winning author of Dog Soldiers includes the stories of a screenwriter's decades-long affair with a drug-addicted actress, a Silicon Valley executive who receives an unwelcome guest and a scuba diver who guides uneasy newlyweds to a point of no return.

Tim Dorsey.Gator a-go-go
After a Miami crime gang ruins his spring break by targeting a snitch's son, drug-addled Serge A. Storms and his equally bloodthirsty deputy, Coleman, aim to track down the gang members and take them out.

Billy Lombardo.The man with two arms
Driven to perfect an unprecedented ambidextrous ability by his dedicated father, baseball pitcher Denny skyrockets into the major leagues and breaks numerous records before an unscrupulous reporter misrepresents Denny's father's character.

Parnell Hall.The Puzzle Lady vs. The Sudoku Lady : a Puzzle Lady mystery
After she accidentally frames her nemesis--Minami, the Sudoku Lady--for a murder at which a Sudoku puzzle was left at the scene, Cora Felton must clear her rival's name and trap the real killer, in a mystery that includes four Sudoku puzzles and two crossword puzzles.

Chris Bohjalian.Secrets of Eden
Haunted by the final words of a newly baptized congregation member who was subsequently murdered by her husband, the Reverend Stephen Drew abandons his pulpit to spend time with an author who writes best-selling books about angels.

Kristin Hannah.Winter garden
Reunited when their beloved father falls ill, sisters Meredith and Nina find themselves under the shadow of their disapproving mother, whose painful history is hidden behind her rendition of a Russian fairy tale told to the sisters in childhood.

Enjoy some suspense from Kay Hooper, Jack Higgins, & Noah Boyd this week.

2010-02-05T07:14:00.000-07:00

Kay Hooper.Blood ties :a Bishop / Special Crimes Unit novel
When part of a murdered body is discovered on a running trail in a sleepy Tennessee town, three agents from the FBI's elite Special Crimes Unit are dispatched to investigate and discover an unearthly series of killings.

Noah Boyd.The bricklayer
The FBI recruits Steve Vail, an agent it has just fired, to solve a brilliant and deadly extortion plot where a group called Rubaco Pentad is killing human targets one by one unless the bureau gives them cash, with the dollar amount and body count escalating each time the agency doesn't pay up.

Marian Keyes.The brightest star in the sky
Seven neighbors in a Dublin townhouse find their lives entangled by the visitation of a sassy and prescient spirit that causes them to rethink their relationships, careers and values.

Joan Hess.Merry wives of Maggody :an Arly Hanks mystery
After local golf instructor Tommy Ridner wins a premier bass-fishing boat by hitting a hole-in-one in a golf tournament, only to be found dead later, Sheriff Arly Hanks must take on the case just as the cut-throat golf tournament begins anew.

Jasper Fforde.Shades of grey :the road to High Saffron
Color Control Agency employee and House of Red member Eddie Russett experiences discontent with his limited vision when he meets Gray Nightseer Jane, who suggests that their color-blind world was brought about by a disaster that nobody is allowed to acknowledge.

Louise Erdrich.Shadow tag
After she discovers that her husband has been reading her diary, Irene America turns it into a manipulative farce, while secretly keeping a second diary that includes her true thoughts about her shaky marriage, its affect on her children, and her struggles with alcohol.

Sandi Ault.Wild penance
After witnessing a dramatic death in the Gorge, Jamaica Wild examines a secret, ancient religious group that reenacts Jesus' crucifixion and practices excessive penance, but is warned not to investigate too closely when someone makes an attempt on her life.

Jack Higgins.The wolf at the door
When several members of an elite intelligence unit are murdered by an unknown assailant with formidable resources, Sean Dillon finds his life in danger upon attempting to obtain evidence proving that an old nemesis is the killer.

Check out "Deep Creek", a historical thriller of the Old West by a new writing team while you're trying to keep warm this winter.

2010-01-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

Carl Weber
Big girls do cry
When plus-sized beauty Isis and her sister, Egypt, start a new chapter of the Big Girls Book Club in Richmond, Virginia, they discover that drama follows them everywhere as they deal with family issues, scandalous new members, and betrayal.

Dana HandDeep Creek
Investigating the discovery of more than 40 murdered Chinese gold miners in a 19th-century Idaho territory lake, lawman Joe Vincent teams up with an ambitious company researcher and a metis mountain guide to track the killers across the Pacific Northwest.

Robin Hobb
Dragon keeper
Trader's wife Alise and 16-year-old Thymara must join the caravan traveling up the toxic and inhospitable Rain Wild River, with the aim of relocating weakened dragons from outside their home town of Cassarick to the long-lost city of Kelsingra.

Wallace StrobyGone til November
After Deputy Sara Cross discovers that her ex-partner fatally shot a man during a routine traffic stop and the details do not support his story that the man had pulled a gun, Sara must follow the truth no matter where it leads in order to protect herself and her son.

Claire SeeberLullaby
After Jess Finnegan's new husband and their eight-month-old son disappear during a trip to the Tate Museum, the police launch a massive manhunt and Jess discovers that the people closest to her are not what they seem.

William BoydOrdinary thunderstorms
After a chance meeting with a stranger leads Adam Kindred to lose his home, family, friends, job, and reputation, the London police and a hired killer are after him, and Adam joins the army of the missing who live underground as he tries to sort through his life.

Blaize ClementRaining cat sitters and dogs
Despite the efforts of Lieutenant Guidry--Dixie Hemingway's on-again, off-again boyfriend--to find a missing girl who may be a witness to a murder, Dixie finds that she must go it alone to confront criminals who will stop at nothing to get what they want.

Lindsey DavisRebels & traitors
When Gideon Jukes and Juliana Lovell, who are on opposite sides of the English Civil War, meet during one of the era's most crucial events, they share a mutual attraction, but endless plots, strange alliances, and shadows from the past threaten to tear them apart.

Chris KnopfShort squeeze
After one of Southampton real estate lawyer Jackie Swaitkowski's clients attempts to evict his sister-in-law from his own home, he turns up dead, and Jackie finds herself working on something more dangerous than real estate.

G.A. McKevettWicked craving
Helping out her good friend Detective Sergeant Dirk Coulter, voluptuous P.I. Savannah Reid is hot on the trail of a shady weight loss therapist who tricked his patients into losing their money instead of their weight, and who supposedly killed his wife Maria.

Marion Zimmer Bradley & Carol Berg add new books to the fantasy shelves.

2010-01-22T09:08:00.000-07:00

Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross.
Hastur Lord
Regis Hastur, lord of the most powerful of the domains in Darkover, struggles to protect his world from becoming a military base for the new federation being created by the technologically advanced Terran Empire

Anne Tyler.
Noah's compass
Preparing to retire early from an unfulfilling teaching job that supplanted his dream of becoming a philosopher, Liam Pennywell struggles to remember missing memories of the night before he awoke in the hospital with a head injury, an effort that leads to unexpected discoveries.

Daniel Suarez.
Freedom
After the outbreak of a brutal civil war in the American Midwest stemming from the Daemon's civilization-rebuilding activities, reluctant Daemon operative Pete Sebeck leads a small band of enlightened humans in an effort to protect the new world order.

Lou Berney.
Gutshot straight
When ex-con Charles "Shake" Bouchon frees Gina, a housewife he is supposed to deliver to a sleazy 400-pound strip-club owner, he and Gina soon have the Armenian mob on their tail and they must flee to Panama while toting religious artifacts that are just as valuable to the thugs as Gina is.

Paul Adam.
Paganini's ghost
After an unsavory art dealer is found dead in his hotel room, violinmaker Giovanni Castiglione must search for an instrument once owned by famed violinist Niccolßo Paganini--and solve a mystery that has gone unanswered for over a century.

Kaki Warner.
Pieces of sky
Unprepared for the hardships of the Wild West, English authoress and milliner, Jessica Thornton, sets out in search of her brother, and must put her life in the hands of the rough rancher Brady Wilkins after her stagecoach crashes.

David Malouf.
Ransom
A reimagining of the story of Priam's effort to claim the slain body of his son finds the grief-stricken Achilles striking out against Hector after the death of Patroclus during the siege of Troy, an act that invokes a passionate bereavement in the king and ultimately results in a powerful confrontation.

Carol Berg.
The spirit lens : a novel of The Collegia Magica
Librarian and failed student of sorcery Portier de Savin-Duplais is asked by the King of Sabria to investigate an attempted murder with disturbing magical implications in the first book of a new fantasy trilogy.

Spencer Quinn.
Thereby hangs a tail : a Chet and Bernie mystery
A follow-up to Dog On It finds the human-and-canine investigative team endeavoring to rescue an abducted show dog, a case that is complicated by reporter Susie Sanchez's disappearance and Chet's separation from Bernie.

based on an idea by Jeffery Deaver.
Watchlist : a serial thriller
Jeffery Deaver helms a collaborative effort by 21 thriller writers--including Lee Child, Lisa Scottoline and Joseph Finder--that includes two novellas--The Chopin Manuscript, in which Harold Middleton discovers that a score by Chopin holds a deadly secret, and its sequel The Copper Bracelet, which finds Harold drawn into a plot that could lead to a nuclear war.

Robert Crais, Lauren Willig, & John Lescroart have new novels on the library shelves

2010-01-15T08:29:00.001-07:00

Robert Crais
The First Rule: A Joe Pike NovelElvis Cole's taciturn partner, Joe Pike, investigates an attack on former associate Frank Meyer, a one-time mercenary whose family has been murdered by a professional hit crew and who police suspect has been keeping a dangerous secret.

Melanie Benjamin
Alice I Have Been
Octogenarian Alice, who as a child inspired Lewis Carroll's famous Wonderland character, looks back on a life marked by an implacable mother, her halcyon days in Oxford and the sons who went off to war.

Lauren Willig
The Betrayal of the Blood Lily
Sent to India to weather the scandal of her hasty marriage, Lady Penelope finds herself in the treacherous court of the Nizam of Hyderabad, where she encounters freedom and deception before her athletic talents draw the attentions of Captain Alex Reid and a dangerous spy.

Amy Greene
Bloodroot
A tale told from myriad viewpoints follows a family from the Great Depression to the present, describing the experiences of a wild young mountain girl, her protective grandmother, the men who love her and the children who struggle to manage her untamed legacy.

John Burdett
The Godfather of Kathmandu
Struggling to focus on a promotion-making case while studying under an exiled drug-pushing Tibetan lama, Thai police detective Sonchai Jitplecheep finds his efforts complicated by a new appointment, his battle for control of an illegal network and a captivating Tantric practitioner

Beth Hoffman
Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt
Relegated to the care of an eccentric great-aunt after her mentally unbalanced mother's accidental death, 12-year-old CeeCee is quickly surrounded by the strong women and cultural elements of her new Savannah community

John Lescroart
Treasure Hunt
Released from desk work when a high-profile San Francisco activist is murdered, Hunt Club private investigator Mickey Dade discovers that the victim was involved in suspicious deals that also implicate the beautiful Alicia Thorpe

Former veterinarian James Rollins brings us another thriller full of enthralling science and adventure.

2010-01-08T08:20:00.000-07:00

James Rollins.
Altar of Eden
Pregnant veterinarian Maura Kelly, along with U.S. Marshall Jack Menard and two neurobiologists, risks everything, including the life of her unborn child, to unravel the mystery of a smuggler's cache of mutated animals, a puzzle that involves fractal intelligence, stem-cell research, and a secret history of the Book of Genesis.

Cynthia Eden.
Eternal hunter
Trying to hide her supernatural gift--and her identity as an Other--Assistant DA Erin Jerome, when an Other rogue begins "gifting" her bloody corpses, must team up with a bounty hunter who, a shape-shifter himself, dares her to reveal her true nature.

Jim Harrison.T
The farmer's daughter
From the author of Legends of the Fall and The English Major comes a collection of three novellas, in which the title novella depicts a home-schooled 15-year-old girl whose youth meets unexpected brutality, after which she must draw on her reserves to make herself whole.

Orson Scott Card.
Hidden empire
A sequel to the best-selling Empire finds Captain Cole becoming increasingly concerned about new U.S. President Averell Torrent's tough-handed foreign policy stance, a perspective that causes him to be targeted and prompts his investigation into the president's role in an assassination plot.

Douglas Preston.
Impact
Wyman Ford and a team of scientists must figure out how to destroy an alien doomsday weapon aimed at Earth, and the only tools at their disposal are the a handful of weaponless machines-- the Mars Orbiter, a lander and a few satellites--not much to work with, especially since they only have 60 hours to save the planet.

Charles de Lint.
Muse and reverie
A latest anthology of tales set in the "Newford" universe finds the culture of an everyday North American city transformed by magical elements nested in between its people and places.

Bridie Clark.
The overnight socialite
In a modern retelling of "Pygmalion," Lucy Ellis wants to be a fashion designer but ends up in retail, until just-dumped anthropologist Wyatt Hayes transforms her into the next "it" girl to prove himself, and soon they must confront the aristocracy.

Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck.
The sweet by and by
With her wedding only days away and only her faith to get her through the chaos, Jade Freedom Fitzgerald must contend with the sudden arrival of her wild sister and hippie mother, the latter of which is seeking reconciliation before she succumbs to a deadly illness, in a story written by a multi-platinum country music star.

Start the New Year with a new Jayne Ann Krentz or Richard Doetsch novel.

2009-12-31T07:39:00.000-07:00

Jayne Ann Krentz.
Fired up
After nightmares and blackouts signal the presence of a family curse, Jack Winters seeks the Burning Lamp in hopes of preventing his transformation into a monster, enlisting the help of Chloe Harper, an alluring private investigator with special powers.

Richard Doetsch
13th Hour
A tale told in reverse finds an innocent man sitting in jail after being accused of his wife's murder and given an opportunity by a stranger to go back in time to discover what happened, an opportunity that poses a painful dilemma.

Jude Deveraux
Days of Gold
After a failed attempt to reclaim Edilean Talbot's family gold, Angus McTern is accused of kidnapping and theft and must flee 1766 Scotland with Edilean and find refuge in the growing American colonies.

Tami Hoag.
Deeper than the dead
A California town is rocked to its core when two boys and a girl stumble upon a murder victim, drawing Special Agent Tony Mendez into a search for a psychopathic serial killer called "The See No Evil Killer," but as his probe continues, he realizes that the killer may be the father of one of the boys and enlists the aid of their teacher, Anne Navarre, to uncover the truth.

Orson Scott Card
Hidden Empire
Captain Cole becomes increasingly concerned about new U.S. President Averell Torrent's tough-handed foreign policy stance, a perspective that causes him to be targeted and prompts his investigation into the president's role in an assassination plot.

Stephen Hunter
I, Sniper
Bob Lee Swagger fights to clear the name of a fellow soldier-in-arms and faces off against one of his most ruthless adversaries yet, a sniper whose keen intellect and pinpoint accuracy rivals his own.

Jasper Fforde
Shades of Grey
Color Control Agency employee and House of Red member Eddie Russet experiences discontent with his limited vision when he meets Gray Nightseer Jane, who suggests that their color-blind world was brought about by a disaster that nobody is allowed to acknowledge.

Mike Resnick.
Starship-- flagship
Wilson Cole, the crew of the starship Theodore Roosevelt and their ragtag armada must find a way past the Republic's Navy if they are to infiltrate the planet Deluros VIII and overthrow the government, a conundrum compounded by the fact that a new threat looms on the horizon.

Dominick Dunne.
Too much money
A sequel to People Like Us finds writer Gus Bailey witnessing the disappearance of the old-money society that once occupied him and investigating the murder of one of the world's wealthiest men, an effort that is sabotaged by the man's calculating wife and schemers within Gus's own set.

Relax after Christmas with the new J.A. Jance or Ed Gorman mystery.

2009-12-18T07:27:00.000-07:00

J.A. Jance.
Trial by fire
Taking a media relations position with the Yavapai County Police Department, former television journalist Ali Reynolds investigates a subdivision fire and the identity of an injured amnesiac woman, a case that unleashes a family drama and a remorseless killer.

Ed Gorman
Ticket to ride
Struggling with his father's illness and the end of a relationship, small-town Iowa lawyer Sam McCain witnesses the return of his community's first Vietnam casualty while reuniting with old friends at a Labor Day party that is shattered by a double murder.

Drew Karpyshyn.
Darth Bane : dynasty of evil : a novel of the Old Republic
A latest entry in the best-selling series that began with Path of Destruction and Rule of Two finds Darth Bane suffering the effects of using the dark side, doubting his apprentice for her apparent lack of ambition and pursuing an artifact with the power of granting immortality.

India Edghill
Delilah
Raised to be a priestess to the Five Cities ruling Canaan, a rebellion-wary Delilah sets out to capture reluctant Israelite warrior Samson, who falls in love with Delilah and forces the young priestess to question her heart and loyalties

Laurell K. Hamilton.
Divine misdemeanors
Refusing the throne of faerie in order to protect her unborn twins, Merry withdraws with her bodyguards to Los Angeles before encountering unexpected dangers from the factions of the faerie courts and her own worshipers.

Alexander McCall Smith.
La's orchestra saves the world
A stand-alone work by the author of the Isabel Dalhousie series finds divorcee Lavender fleeing World War II London and organizing an amateur orchestra that includes a talented Polish refugee who rekindles long-buried feelings

Angela Hunt.
Let darkness come
Working on a case that could make or break her career, attorney Briley Lester, defending a society wife accused of killing her abusive husband--the scion of one of the city's wealthiest and most influential families--stumbles upon a tragic, shocking secret that could prove her client's innocence.

Colleen McCullough, Sydney Miner.
Too many murders :a Carmine Delmonico novel
In 1967, the town of Holloman, Connecticut, the home of armaments giant Cornucopia, chief of detectives Carmine Delmonico investigates a dozen murders that may be connected to a spy passing Cornucopia's secrets to the Russians.

Berry, Zahn, & Crichton add some adventure to the new book shelves.

2009-12-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Steve Berry.
The Paris vendetta
Awakened by a housebreaking stranger who is revealed to be a friend of Henrik Thorvaldsen and the father of a young man he once tried to save, Cotton Malone flees with the intruder when they are pursued by a shadowy organization that is hiding a dangerous Napoleon-era secret.

Laura Lippman.
In big trouble
Tess Monaghan has learned to survive the streets of Baltimore, first as a reporter and most recently as a private detective, but when she investigates the disappearance of a musician she once loved and lost, she will confront painful truths from her past, and evidence of a new and deadly killer stalking the city

Dean Koontz.
Breathless
Isolating himself in the Colorado Rockies, craftsman Grady Adams encounters a pair of beautiful furred animals that challenge everything he and a local veterinarian understand about the natural world, a discovery for which they are targeted by government forces.

Timothy Zahn.
Cobra alliance
Just as most people are thinking that the Cobra warriors--a guerilla force whose weapons are surgically implanted--are not worth their high cost, from the shadows of the universe comes a new menace, one that even the formidable Cobra warriors may not be able to defeat.

James Patterson.
I, Alex Cross
Determined to capture the psychopath responsible for murdering his niece, Alex Cross discovers that the young woman was among a dangerous group of people and was not the only one to have disappeared.

Harry Turtledove.
Liberating Atlantis
Frederick, a descendent of the family that founded the first settlement in Atlantis, must work as a slave when he is unable to prove his lineage, and becomes the leader of a revolutionary army of freedom fighters.

Lee Goldberg.
Mr. Monk in trouble
America's favorite obsessive-compulsive detective is back in a new original tale in the series based on the popular TV show.

Michael Crichton.
Pirate latitudes
English Captain Charles Hunter and his crew of ruffians sail from colonial Jamaica to infiltrate a Spanish-controlled island, commandeering the galleon El Trinidad and its fortune in gold after a bloody battle, but Hunter and his crew have plenty of danger and adventure ahead of them, in this 17th-century swashbuckling tale found among the late author's files after his passing.

Grafton's Kinsey Millhone is back. Get comfortable and settle in to enjoy another great mystery.

2009-12-04T07:13:00.001-07:00

Sue Grafton.
U is for undertow
Hired by a preppy college dropout to discern the fate of a four-year-old girl who disappeared more than twenty years earlier, Kinsey Millhone investigates the young man's sketchy memories about a burial scene he believes he discovered at the age of six.

David Poyer.
The crisis : a Dan Lenson novel
Assigned to improve an undisciplined patrol craft squadron in the Red Sea, Naval Commander Dan Lenson and his Tactical Analysis Group find themselves at the head of a humanitarian mission in famine-stricken northern Africa, where a young jihadist coordinates a violent insurgency.

Fern Michaels.
Deadly deals
After spending Thanksgiving with their loved ones on Big Pine Mountain, the ladies of the Sisterhood prepare to assist attorney Lizzie Fox in breaking up an illegal baby selling ring.

Jim Butcher.
First lord's fury
Legendary man of war and the rightful First Lord of Alera, Gaius Octavian must save his world from eternal darkness, and stand against the savage Vord in the Calderon Valley.

Joseph Wambaugh.
Hollywood moon
In the wake of reports about a young man who has been attacking women, LAPD cops Flotsam and Jetsam encounter a suspicious pair of individuals with ties to a deadly, high-tech organization that pits its own con artists against one another.

Cassandra Clark.
The red velvet turnshoe
A tale set against a backdrop of the Black Death and Hundred Years' War finds brave nun Abbess Hildegard searching for the sacred Cross of Constantine in order to safeguard the English crown.

Mick Herron.
Smoke & whispers
When a body is hauled from the River Tyne, Sarah Tucker heads North for a closer look. She identifies the dead woman as private detective Zoe Boehm, but putting a name to the corpse only raises further questions. Did Zoe kill herself, or did one of her old cases come looking for her? Why was she wearing a jacket a murderer had stolen years before?

Alice Munro.
Too much happiness : stories
Nine new short works include the stories of a grieving mother who is aided by a surprising source, a woman's response to a humiliating seduction, and a nineteenth-century Russian GemigrGe's winter journey to the Riviera.

David Weber & Eric Flint.
Torch of freedom
As the slave masters of Mesa plot against the Star Empire of Manticore and the newly liberated slave planet of Torch, secret agent Anton Zilwicki investigates a wave of mysterious assassinations, and a young security officer hired by Torch official and suspect.

James Hime.
Where armadillos go to die
Retired Texas Ranger Jeremiah Spur becomes the only investigator interested in determining the fate of a missing restaurant owner whose promising invention has been targeted by venture capitalists and an NFL star.

Take a Break From Shopping With a New Christmas Novel

2009-11-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Garrison Keillor.
A Christmas blizzard
A wealthy and depressed man bound for Christmas in the tropics is abruptly summoned home to North Dakota to visit an ailing aunt, arriving just in time to be trapped there by a blizzard. By the author of Pilgrims: A Novel of Lake Woebegon.

Donna VanLiere.
The Christmas secret
Working long hours to make ends meet while struggling to protect her young children from their manipulative father, Christine Eisley saves the life of an elderly department-store employee and sets in motion a difficult series of events that leads her to a new relationship

Linda Lael Miller.
A Creed country Christmas : a Montana Creeds novel
In 1910, in the untamed Montana wilderness, schoolteacher Juliana Mitchell, disowned for her refusal to marry, discovers that she is no longer averse to marriage when she meets widowed rancher Lincoln Creed, who is searching for a governess for his young daughter.

Cleo Coyle.
Holiday grind
Coffeehouse manager and head barista Clare Cosi and her NYPD detective boyfriend discover the snowy body of a man dressed up in a Santa suit, and become convinced the death was more than a mugging gone awry.

Heather Graham.
Home in time for Christmas
When she rescues a man claiming to be a patriot soldier sentenced to death by British authorities, Melody Tarleton takes the stranger to her parents' house, where a little Christmas magic, some enchanted petals, and ancient potions take them on an unimaginable adventure.

Kate Jacobs.
Knit the season : a Friday Night Knitting Club book
Dakota Walker--along with her father, her grandparents and her mother's best friend, Catherine--visits her Gran for the Christmas holidays in Scotland, where the family members reminisce about Dakota's mother, Georgia, from Georgia's childhood to her blissful time as a doting new mom, in a story that takes place a year after the best-selling Knit Two.

Emily Brightwell.
Mrs. Jeffries and the yuletide weddings
Inspector Witherspoon and his staff find their preparations disrupted for the Yuletide wedding of Betsy and Smythe when they discover the murder of a middle-aged spinster by someone hoping to make it look like a random crime.

T. D. Jakes.

Jennifer Chiaverini.
A quilter's holiday : an Elm Creek quilts novel
The Elm Creek Quilters are home for the holidays, during which days spent hand-stitching heartfelt gifts for loved ones brings forth the true spirit of generosity and kindness, especially when Gwen gifts a quilt project to her mentor's bone-marrow donor.

Thomas Kinkade and Katherine Spencer.
A wish for Christmas
Cape Light residents reflect on their past and future during the Christmas holiday, including David, recently returned home after serving in Afghanistan to find his widowed father remarried, and Lillian who comes to the aid of a friend in need.

Wally Lamb.
Wishin' and hopin' : a Christmas story
A holiday novella focuses on a feisty parochial school fifth grader named Felix Funicello as Christmas approaches in 1964, then looks forward from the past to the present to measure what America has gained and what it has lost.
The memory quilt : A Christmas story for our times
A grandmother learns 10 life lessons from the story of Jesus's birth in the Bible, inspiring her to create quilts for children at a local shelter, in a first Christmas story from the best-selling author of Reposition Yourself: Living Life without Limits.

Shaara's New "No Less than Victory" Concludes His WWII Trilogy

2009-11-20T08:47:00.001-07:00

Jeff Shaara.
No less than victory : a novel of World War II
A conclusion to the trilogy that includes The Rising Tide and The Steel Wave imagines the Battle of the Bulge from the perspectives of Eisenhower, Patton, Churchill, Hitler and an assortment of young soldiers.

Katherine Hall Page.
The body in the sleigh : a Faith Fairchild mystery
Faith Fairchild looks for a connection between the death of Norah, a teenage drug addict whose body was found in an antique sleigh, and the discovery of a newborn baby boy in the manger in spinster Mary Bethany's barn on Christmas Eve.

Geoffrey Chaucer ; translated and adapted by Peter Ackroyd.
Canterbury tales
A prose translation of the classic 14th-century poem seeks to retain Chaucer's vigorous and bawdy style while rendering its contents more accessible to modern readers, in a version that places an emphasis on the humanity of key characters.

Mark Arsenault.
Loot the moon
Former journalist and beaten-down gambler Billy Povich returns in the sequel to the acclaimed Gravewriter only to find himself targeted by a killer who doesn't like Billy's meddling in a case involving the murder of Superior Court Judge Gilbert Harmony.

Sarah Jane Stratford.
The midnight guardian : a millennial novel
Remembering the devastation of World War I on the vampire communities, ancient vampires break their policy against interfering in human affairs upon the outbreak of World War II but find the Nazi war machine more formidable than anticipated.

Steven F. Havill
Red, green, or murder
Former Posadas County Sheriff Bill Gastner, now a New Mexico Livestock Inspector, is enjoying a day on Herb Torrances. But Bill soon finds himself ferrying a broken cowpuncher in the back of his SUV, headed out to meet an ambulance.

Jeri Westerson.
Serpent in the thorns : a Crispin Guest medieval noir
After the French king's courier is killed by a crossbow in a tavern, a barmaid seeks the assistance of fourteenth-century detective Crispin Guest, who soon finds himself the prime suspect in the murder, one that could draw France and England into war.

Peter Mayle.
The vintage caper
When the exclusive wine collection of a rich Hollywood lawyer is stolen by a cultivated thief, former lawyer and connoisseur Sam Levitt follows leads from Bordeaux to Provence while receiving assistance from a beautiful French colleague

Daniel Judson.
The violet hour
The Shamus Award-winning author of The Poisoned Rose offers the tale of Caleb Rakowski, who works at, and lives above, his friend Eric Carver's body shop and shelters his pregnant friend from an abusive husband, only to learn the truth about Eric and be propelled into a world of trouble over the course of Mischief Night, Halloween, and the Day of the Dead.

Penny Vincenzi.
Windfall
A best-selling tale in Britain follows the experiences of doctor's wife Cassia Fallon, whose unexpectedly large inheritance causes her to question her marriage, future, and sensible lifestyle before she starts wondering about the negative influence of her good fortune on her beliefs.

Check Out Gregory Maguire's Little Match Girl: "Matchless: a Christmas story"

2009-11-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Gregory Maguire.
Matchless : a Christmas story
The best-selling author of the Wicked Years series reimagines the Hans Christian Anderson tale "The Little Match Girl," intertwining the title character's tale with that of Frederik, whose own yearnings are a catalyst for a better future for himself and his family, in a book that suggests transcendence and the permanence of spirit.

William G. Tapply.
Dark tiger
A fishing guide who woke up in a hospital seven years ago with unexplained talents and no memories, Stoney Calhoun is visited by a mysterious stranger who promises to solve Stoney's problems if he will investigate a staged murder/suicide pact.

Jess Walter.
The financial lives of the poets
Matt Prior is losing his job, his wife, and his house, and he's about to lose his mindùuntil he discovers a way that he might just possibly be able to save it all ... and have a pretty damn great time doing it, in a comic and heartfelt novel from a National Book Award nominee.

Richard Belzer with Michael Black.
I am not a psychic!
A first novel by the actor best known for his portrayal of detective John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit presents the story of a television actor whose dinner with a friend culminates in a street brawl, a tabloid scandal, and his friend's disappearance.

Barbara Kingsolver.
The lacuna
Presents the story of a man's search for safety in the grinding jaws of two nations, at a moment when the entire world seemed bent on reinventing itself at any cost. This book provides a story of identity, connection with our past, and the power of words to create or devastate.

Reginald Hill.
Midnight fugue : a Dalziel and Pascoe mystery
In novel set during a single October day, Andy Dalziel investigates the seven-year disappearance of Gina Wolfe's husband, a former detective who may either be in a fugue state or fleeing suspicion over leaks in a case he was working, in a mystery that is further complicated by loan shark Goldie Gidman and two henchmen from his past who are shadowing Gina.

Elmer Kelton.
Other men's horses
Setting out to arrest a trader accused of killing a horse thief, young Texas Ranger Andy Pickard finds the case complicated by the trader's honor-bound nature, a situation that makes Andy wonder if he is fighting on the right side.

Bill Willingham
Peter & Max : a Fables novel
Long ago, in the deepest dark of the Black Forest, two brothers - Peter Piper and his older brother, Max - encounter ominous forces that change them both irreparably.

Steven F. Havill.
Race for the dying
Arriving in early twentieth-century Washington only to suffer a life-changing accident, young doctor Thomas Parks endures a painful convalescence during which he discovers that his supervising physician is perpetuating a fraudulent mail-order diagnosis business.

Cindy Woodsmall.
The sound of sleigh bells
Mourning the death of her fiancT, Beth Hertzler's heart is filled with remorse and loneliness, until she discovers a large, intricately carved scene of Amish children playing in the snow, and when her beloved Aunt Lizzy sees the changes in her niece, Lizzy hunts down the artist, Jonah, determined that Beth meet the man with the hands that create healing art.

Robb, Grisham, & Baldacci Have New Books on the Shelves

2009-11-06T09:38:00.000-07:00

Emily Arsenault.
The broken teaglass
Engaging in office flirtation and amateur sleuthing to alleviate the boredom of their jobs as dictionary updaters, Billy Webb and Mona Minot discover that someone has been lacing their dictionary files with clues to a long-unsolved murder

Peter Ackroyd.
The casebook of Victor Frankenstein
An unlikely friendship between a pair of nineteenth-century Oxford students including researcher Victor Frankenstein and poet Percy Bysshe Shelly is marked by disparate religious beliefs that lead to Victor's grisly experimentations with corpses.

Patrick F. McManus.
The double jack murders : a sheriff Bo Tully mystery
After an escaped murderer sets his sights on Sheriff Bo Tully, the man that put him behind bars, Bo heads north to investigate the disappearance of two gold miners, in hopes of flushing out the escapee as well.

John Grisham
Ford County : stories
The author returns to Ford County, Mississippi--the setting of his popular first novel, "A Time to Kill"--in a surprising collection of stories.

J. D. Robb
Kindred in death
Investigating the brutal murder of her new captain's sixteen-year-old daughter, Lieutenant Eve Dallas believes she is closing in on the perpetrator only to encounter a series of teasing clues that suggest the identities of several possible suspects.

Carolyn Hart
Merry, merry ghost
When a determined heir moves to block a wealthy woman's attempt to include her newly discovered grandson in her will, it is up to good-intentioned ghost Bailey Ruth Raeburn to protect a little boy, foil a murderer, and save Christmas.

James Swain
The night monster : a novel of suspense
Witnessing the violent kidnapping of his daughter's basketball teammate, abduction specialist Jack Carpenter recognizes the snatcher from an unsolved case and sets out to rescue the girl before it is too late.

Christopher Moore
Paying back Jack
Agreeing to follow a Thai politician's "minor wife" to document her activities, private investigator Vincent Calvino wonders at his shady client's tragic past and is unwittingly swept up in a vengeance plot for which he narrowly avoids being framed for murder.

Sharon Fiffer
Scary stuff
The author of Hollywood Stuff offers a new mystery where, while visiting California, antique picker and associate detective Jane Wheel becomes embroiled in two cases involving her family, one of eBay-related mistaken identity involving her brother, and another that deals with her parents' friend being attacked at home.

David Baldacci
True blue
Fresh out of prison, disgraced ex-cop Mason "Mace" Perry, along with the help of her police chief sister, aids Roy Kingman, a lawyer trying to track down the killer of one of his law partners, all while a U.S. attorney looks for any reason to put Mace back behind bars

Eileen Goudge Tells About Family Bonds -- Lost & Re-found

2009-10-30T09:14:00.000-06:00

Eileen Goudge.
Once in a blue moon
Separated in childhood and sent to foster homes after their neglectful mother's imprisonment, sisters Lindsay and Kerrie Ann are reunited in adulthood and help each other through the fiercest battles of their lives despite their differences.

Nora Roberts.
Bed of roses
Florist Emma Grant cannot find Mr. Right, until her passion grows for someone who has been in front of her the whole time, Jack Cooke, an architect that works closely with her and her colleagues at Vows wedding planning

Michelle Cameron.
The fruit of her hands : the story of Shira of Ashkenaz
A tale based on the life of the author's thirteenth-century ancestor finds Shira, the wife of a famous medieval Jewish rabbi and scholar, rescued from a wrongful imprisonment and blossoming under previously restricted intellectual challenges before seeking refuge from increasing anti-Semitic beliefs.

Haywood Smith.
Ladies of the lake
Spending a summer together in the hopes of inheriting their grandmother's lake estate, four sisters share old rivalries and new understandings while struggling with respective challenges in the areas of finance, marriage, and boundaries.

Kate Grenville.
The lieutenant
Daniel Rooke was always an outsider. Daniel could only hope - against all the evidence - that he would one day find his place in life. By 1788, Daniel has become Lieutenant Rooke, astronomer with First Fleet as it lands on the unknown shores of New South Wales. But the place where they have landed will prove far more revelatory than the night sky.

Janet Skeslien Charles.
Moonlight in Odessa
A tale inspired by the Russian mail-order bride industry finds young engineer Daria landing a secretary job at a foreign firm and redirecting her licentious boss toward a more willing mistress before taking work with a matchmaking agency, through which she meets an American teacher who fails to attract her as strongly as an irresponsible mobster.

Patricia Cornwell.
The Scarpetta factor
Kay Scarpetta offers her services pro bono to the New York City medical examiner's office, in addition to her duties as CNN's senior forensic analyst, which seems to trigger a series of unsettling events, including an apparent death threat.

Sheramy Bundrick.
Sunflowers
Nineteenth-century French prostitute Rachel Courteau becomes drawn to one of her newest clients, Vincent Van Gogh, and a true relationship blossoms until outside pressures threaten the safe haven they have created.

Terry Pratchett.
Unseen academicals : a novel of Discworld
While Archchancellor Ridcully, at the request of benevolent tyrant Lord Ventinari, scrambles to compose a capable football team from the unathletic rabble at Ankh-Morpork's Unseen University, handsome yet lazy Trev falls for dim yet pretty kitchen maid Juliet, and hopes his friend Nutt's friendship with the cook, Glenda, will help him win romance.

Lisa Patton.
Whistlin' Dixie in a nor'easter
Leaving her beloved Memphis to help her husband's pipe dream of running a Vermont inn, southern belle Leelee Satterfield discovers numerous unanticipated challenges and is forced to apply her southern-style wits in the wake of a cruel swindle.

Marcia Muller & Michael Connelly Among Favorite Authors With New Books on the Library Shelves

2009-10-22T11:53:00.001-06:00

Stuart MacBride.
Blind eye
DCI Logan McRae investigates the torture and murder of several businessmen from the Polish community in Aberdeen, Scotland, trying to discern whether it is truly a hate crime or instead a veiled gangland turf war.

Michelle Moran
Cleopatra's daughter
A tale inspired by the lives of the children of Cleopatra and Marc Antony finds Selene, her twin Alexander, and their younger brother Ptolemy sent to Rome to be raised by a formidable family rival after the deaths of their parents.

Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt
Dracula : the un-dead
sequel cowritten by Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew and based on the original author's handwritten notes takes place twenty-five years later and finds Van Helsing's morphine-addicted protégé obsessed with countering evil forces and Quincey Harker learning disturbing truths about his parents' dark secrets in the wake of several murders.

John Saul.
House of reckoning
Outcast by an injury sustained from her father, foster child Sara Crane befriends a former mental patient and her art teacher and soon creates paintings of long-ago violent crimes committed by the inmates of a local asylum.

John Irving.
Last night in twisted river
In a story spanning five decades, a twelve-year-old boy in New Hampshire mistakes the constable's girlfriend for a bear, leading to an unfortunate accident that forces the boy and his father to become fugitives pursued by the constable, with their only help coming from a fiercely libertarian logger,

Marcia Muller.
Locked in
Fully conscious but locked in an unresponsive body after being shot by an unknown assailant, private investigator Sharon McCone lies in a hospital bed desperately struggling to communicate and solve the mystery of the attack.

Deborah Crombie.
Necessary as blood
A young mother has gone missing, and only Scotland Yard's Superintendent Duncan Kincaid and his partner, Gemma James, can stop a vicious killer and protect the child whose fate hangs in the balance.

Michael Connelly.
Nine dragons
Investigating the shooting death of a Chinese liquor store owner, detective Harry Bosch identifies a suspect as a Los Angeles member of a Hong Kong triad only to have his daughter go missing, a situation that prompts his high-stakes search across the Pacific.

Vince Flynn.
Pursuit of honor
In a new thriller featuring CIA superagent Mitch Rapp, fearless Americans must risk their lives for their country's security, fighting a covert war that can never be discussed, even with their own political leaders.

Annelise Ryan.
Working stiff
A first installment in a new series finds wisecracking nurse-turned-coroner Mattie Winston leaving her unfaithful husband only to find herself implicated in the murder of his girlfriend, a situation for which she struggles to clear her name before falling for a handsome detective.

Get In the Holiday Mood With New Novels from Susan Wiggs & Richard Paul Evans

2009-10-18T11:27:00.002-06:00

Susan Wiggs.
Lakeshore Christmas
When Maureen Davenport, a prim and proper librarian, is forced to direct Avalon's annual holiday pageant with Eddie Haven, a recovering former child-star who hates Christmas with a passion, she prays for a Christmas miracle.

Richard Paul Evans.
The Christmas list
The best-selling author of The Christmas Box and Grace returns with a new heartwarming novel for the holiday season, a story of hope, love, and faith.

Val McDermid.
Beneath the bleeding
Recovering in the hospital after the city of Bradfield's star soccer player is poisoned and several are killed in a stadium explosion, Dr. Tony Hill tries to make sense of the case, which is complicated by the fact that his usual ally, DCI Carol Jordan, has been pushed to the margins of the investigation by intelligence services.

Tracie Peterson.
Dawn's prelude
When newly widowed Lydia Sellers discovers that she is the sole recipient of her husband's fortune, her adult stepchildren battle to regain the inheritance for themselves, and, determined to put the memories of a painful past behind her, Lydia travels to join her aunt in Alaska, where the unexpected awaits her.

Christi Phillips.
The Devlin diary
When a Trinity College history professor is found murdered with a torn page of a seventeenth-century diary in his hand, fellow Claire Donovan and historian Andrew Kent believe his death may be linked to a series of unsolved killings in 1670s London.

Jessica Fletcher & Donald Bain.
A fatal feast : a murder, she wrote mystery
Suffering from writer's block with both her novel's deadline and Thanksgiving fast approaching, Jessica Fletcher and her friend, Scotland Yard Inspector George Sutherland, stumble upon the body of a man with a carving knife stuck in his chest.

Mercedes Lackey.
Gwenhwyfar : the white spirit
Gwenhwyfar, the King's daughter, chooses the path of the Warrior, but is called upon by the Ladies of the Well to become Arthur's queen, and faces temptation, trechery, intrigue, and betrayal.

Joanne Fluke.
Plum pudding murder : a Hannah Swensen mystery
When Larry Jaeger, the owner of the Crazy Elf Christmas Tree Lot, is murdered, bakery owner Hannah Swenson, during the busiest time of the year, must sift through a wealth of suspects before a murderous Scrooge strikes again.

Laura Childs.
Tragic magic
Scrapbook shop owner Carmela helps her friend renovate an old mansion in New Orleans into a crafty haunted house for tourists, but finds herself investigating a series of murders when a flaming body comes crashing through the window.

Kerry Greenwood.
Trick or treat : a Corinna Chapman mystery
Greenwood's Melbourne baker deals with a competitor bakery, her boyfriends gorgeous ex-girlfriend, and a strange outbreak of madness which seems to be centered on her street.

William Bernhardt & Diana Gabaldon Have New Novels on the Library Shelves

2009-10-11T11:16:00.000-06:00

William Bernhardt.
Capitol offense
Accused of murdering a police officer he held responsible for the tragic death of his wife, Professor Dennis Thomas implores high-profile lawyer Ben Kincaid to defend him, a case during which the intrepid attorney is pitted against an ambitious DA and a dangerous conspiracy.

Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa.
Daughters of the stone
A tale spanning five generations of a family of African-Puerto Rican women finds mute seamstress Fela working in colonial Puerto Rico and drawing on her tribal beliefs to enable the birth of a daughter who becomes a powerful curandera.

Diana Gabaldon.
An echo in the bone
While Jacobite Jamie Fraser reluctantly participates in the American rebellion with a foreknowledge of the fledgling country's victory, his time-traveling wife, Claire, worries about the ultimate price of the war while struggling to safeguard her family

Peggy Webb.
Elvis and the grateful dead
When two Elvis impersonators meet their maker during the annual Elvis festival, Callie Valentine Jones must come to the aid of her cousin Lovie--a 190-pound bombshell who has had more boyfriends than the King had hits--when she becomes the prime suspect.

Joe Pernice.
It feels so good when I stop
In this funny and irreverent debut novel by the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and front man of The Pernice Brothers, a modern Everyman struggles to learn how to love, want, choose, and commit all on his own terms.

Nick Hornby.
Juliet, naked
Ending her relationship with a man who turns out to be in love with a reclusive singer, Annie initiates an e-mail friendship with the musician that reveals their mutual loneliness, his concerns about his young son, and his plans to release an acoustic version of his most successful album

Alexander McCall Smith.
The lost art of gratitude
Encountering high-flying financier Minty Auchterlonie while attending a birthday party, Isabel learns of Minty's complicated monetary troubles and wonders if the ambitious woman is perpetuating a fraud, a situation that is further complicated by a plagiarism battle with Professor Dove and Cat's problematic new man.

Norb Vonnegut.
Top producer : a novel of dark money, greed, and friendship
In the wake of a man's graphic murder in front of hundreds of party-goers

Margaret Atwood.
The year of the flood
When a natural disaster predicted by God's Gardeners leader Adam One obliterates most human life, two survivors trapped inside respective establishments that metaphorically represent paradise and hell wonder if any of their loved ones have survived.

Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski Confronts Tough Reality in Chicago Politics, Business & Her Own Family in "Hardball".

2009-09-27T11:08:00.000-06:00

Sara Paretsky.
Hardball
Hired to track down a man who has been missing for forty years, V.I. Warshawski inadvertently unearths old skeletons from Chicago's history and her own family, a situation marked by a young cousin she has never met and the untimely death of a nun.

J.P. White.
Every boat turns south
Publishers Weekly says "This stylish debut novel from poet White (The Salt Hour) brings to mind John D. MacDonald's Florida noirs, but with a modern sensibility."

James R. Benn.
Evil for evil
A Billy Boyle World War II Mystery

Beverle Graves Myers.
Her deadly mischief : a Tito Amato mystery
Returning to the stage singing the lead role at the Teatro San Marco, Tito Amato is the only person who saw Zulietta Giardino pushed to her death from a fourth-tier box.

Richard Bach.
Hypnotizing Maria
"An exploration of deep spiritual and philosophical issues through the eyes of a pilot"--Provided by publisher.

Jacquelyn Mitchard.
No time to wave goodbye
In a book that revisits the family featured in the author's best-selling The Deep End of the Ocean, the Cappadora family is once again in peril after adult son Vincent's acclaimed film about the families of abductees leads to Beth Cappadora once again leading her family in search of the truth that can save a life.

Ann Cleeves.
Red bones : a thriller
In the aftermath of a young archaeologist's discovery of human remains that may be modern, Jimmy Perez is called in to investigate a case that is further complicated by the subsequent murder of an elderly woman.

Shandi Mitchell.
Under this unbroken sky
Out of prison, Theo Mykolayenkos tirelessly clears his untamed land on the 1938 Canadian prairie and begins to heal himself; his wife, Maria; his children; and his sister, Anna; but soon Anna's rogue husband, the scheming Stefan, returns, stirring up rancor that will end in tragedy.

Sheldon Russell.
The yard dog
Assigned to security work at a German POW camp in Oklahoma, a disillusioned Hook Runyon and his moonshiner sidekick, Runt, stumble on the dead body of a coal picker and uncover a dangerous conspiracy involving Nazi prisoners and stolen art.

Symbologist Robert Langdon returns in Dan Brown’s new thriller, “The Lost Symbol”

2009-09-20T11:05:00.000-06:00

Dan Brown.
The lost symbol
The eagerly awaited follow-up to the best-selling The Da Vinci Code once again features Robert Langdon and weaves five years of the author's research into the story's twelve-hour timeframe, in an exhilarating thriller that is full of surprises.

Thad Carhart.
Across the endless river
A tale inspired by the life of Sacagawea's son traces his birth during the Lewis and Clark expedition and youth as a ward of William Clark through his travels in Europe, where he is introduced to a profoundly different culture, has a passionate affair, and reevaluates his life on the frontier.

Jim Kelly.
Death wore white
Rookie detective Peter Shaw and his veteran partner investigate the murder of a truck driver stranded in a blizzard, and end up reviewing the failed child abuse charge brought about by Peter Shaw's father, who was also a detective, years before.

Gerald Elias.
Devil's trill
Living in self-imposed exile while berating his students, blind violin instructor Daniel Jacobus attends a Carnegie Hall competition where a cursed Stradivarius is stolen and an old nemesis is brutally murdered, a situation that forces Daniel to prove his innocence for both crimes.

Andrea Kane.
Drawn in blood
Former FBI agent Sloane Burbank's father witnessed a crime that has now come back to haunt him and Sloane must either betray his secret or withhold the information from the man she loves, former colleague Derek Parker, in a sequel to the best-selling author's novel Twisted.

Charles Todd.
A duty to the dead
World War I nurse Bess Crawford promises Lieutenant Arthur Graham that she will carry his dying request to his brother, a request that is treated with skepticism, leading Bess to carry it out herself and put her own life at risk for Arthur's sake.

James Landis.
The last day
Returning to his New Hampshire home after his tour of service in Iraq, an army sniper has a profound religious experience through which he recalls the role of his faith in influencing the time he spent in an adversarial country and his growing appreciation for its culture.

Tracy Kiely.
Murder at Longbourn
Dumping her boyfriend and her unhealthy lifestyle on New Year's, Elizabeth Parker accepts her aunt's invitation to host a murder-mystery party only to see the festivities shattered by an unscripted killing that is further complicated by a childhood nemesis's scheme.

Seanan McGuire.
Rosemary and rue
Retreating into the human world after being rejected by her Faerie family, half-fae changeling Toby finds her anonymity compromised by the murder of a high-profile countess who binds her to investigate, a situation that forces Toby to resume her fae position among dubious companions.

Aaron Elkins.
Skull duggery
While on vacation in Mexico, skeleton detective Gideon Oliver is called in to determine the cause of death on two sets of suspiciously misidentified remains.

Nicholas Sparks is Back With a Story of Love, New & Lasting

2009-09-14T10:33:00.000-06:00

Nicholas Sparks.
The last song
Her teenage life turned upside-down by her parents' divorce and her father's relocation out of state, Ronnie Miller remains bitter three years later when her mother urges her to spend a summer with her father, a concert pianist who is quietly immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church

Marcus Sakey.
The amateurs
Four friends with dreams for a better life go too far with a plan to change their situation, and to save their own lives, they've had to take the lives of others, causing tensions to flare as things unravel and forcing each to wonder which is more dangerous: the men coming after them or their best friends?

Deon Meyer ; translated from the Afrikaans by K.L. Seegers.
Blood safari
Emma Le Roux hires a personal security expert when her believed-dead brother is named as a suspect in the murders of five people, a situation that exposes her to political tensions, corruption, and life-threatening violence.

Freda Warrington.
Elfland
When the passage to the Other World fails to open on the designated Night of the Summer Stars due to great danger in the realm, Aetherials Auberon and Rose form a forbidden alliance to breach the gates.

Amit Chaudhuri.
The immortals
Trained in the classical idiom but teaching popular modern songs to wealthy clients whose lifestyle he covets, voice teacher Shyam Lal of 1980s Bombay accepts his star pupil's sixteen-year-old child, Nirmalya, as a student of Indian classical music, an undertaking that poses unexpected consequences.

Carolina De Robertis.
The invisible mountain
Follows the story of the fiercely independent women of the Firielli family as their lives, relationships, and the pursuit of their dreams take them from Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo and the United States.

Thomas Harlan.
Land of the dead
When a weapon of the Old Ones, from the time of the First Sun, is discovered in a region of space, archeologist Gretchen Anderssen must investigate, and then tame or destroy it, to keep it from the hands of opposing powers.

Jane Lindskold.
Nine gates
Brenda Morris discovers that she is a member of the Chinese Zodiak, possessing some powers of the Rat, and must work with the Thirteen Orphans to rescue the Four Guardians of the Land Between, who are under magical attack.

Kate Ledger.
Remedies
Simon Bear, a respected doctor, and Emily Bear, a partner in a PR firm, excel in their professional lives, but have hit a rut in their marriage after a devastating loss fifteen years ago, a situation that is further complicated when a lover from Emily's past resurfaces and forces her to examine her marriage anew.

Kat Richardson.
Vanished : a Greywalker novel
Private Investigator Harper Blaine discovers she can bridge the world between the living and the paranormal after a near-death experience, and becomes Greywalker, taking on a case for vampires and delving into the mysteries of her own dark past.

Two Feisty, Aging Brothers Settle Their Differences in Casares “Amigoland”

2009-09-03T10:01:00.001-06:00

Oscar Casares.
Amigoland
Encouraged in his senior years by a good-natured housekeeper to make amends with the brother with whom he has shared a long estrangement, Don Celestino secretly liberates Don Fidencio from a nursing home and embarks on a journey to Mexico to investigate a family legend at the heart of their dispute.

Sophie Littlefield.
A bad day for sorry
Running a sewing shop in rural Missouri while helping battered women to escape from abusive environments, salty Stella Hardesty assists a woman whose ne'er-do-well husband has run off with their two-year-old, a situation for which Stella must risk her own life to recover the boy.

Amanda C. Gable.
The Confederate general rides north
A 1968 summer road trip between an impulsive mom and her Civil War-buff eleven-year-old daughter poses unexpected challenges to the young girl's faith in her mother and her loyalty to the south when it raises her awareness of her family and the history she reveres.

Kenneth Abel.
Down in the flood
Investigating an embezzlement case when his world is decimated by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans prosecutor Danny Chaisson struggles to secure his family's safety while endeavoring to keep his suspects from using the disaster to escape. By the author of Cold Steel Rain.

Brigid Pasulka.
A long, long time ago and essentially true
Half a century after the marriage of her Polish grandparents is marred by World War II and a painful tragedy, Beata recreates their journey to KrakGow, where she encounters a youth culture torn between the city's past and future.

David Rosenfelt
.New tricks
Advocating on behalf of an adorable puppy whose owner was brutally murdered during a custody fight, Andy Carpenter realizes that the pup poss
esses a dangerous secret that several people are resorting to violence to obtain.

L. Jagi Lamplighter.
Prospero lost
Surviving with her family members for 400 years after the events of The Tempest, sorcerer's daughter Miranda enlists her siblings in a search for their missing father after receiving a warning about ancient demons who would harness their powers.

Boris Akunin ; translated by Andrew Bromfield.
Sister Pelagia and the red cockerel
In the wake of a messianic Jewish sect leader's murder aboard a steamer bound for Jerusalem, Sister Pelagia discovers that the victim was set up as a decoy while the real target tries to evade enemies, a situation that prompts her investigation throughout the Russian forests and Jerusalem's most holy sites.

Martha Moody.
Sometimes mine
Holding her other loved ones at a distance to safeguard herself from the disappointments that marked her early adulthood, cardiologist Genie Toledo shares a platonic relationship with a man with whom she once had a decade-long affair, a friendship that deepens when she learns he is terminally ill.

Karin Fossum ; translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund.
The water's edge
When a couple discovers the body of a boy and sees a man limping away from the scene, Inspectors Konrad Sejer and Jakob Skarre make inquiries throughout the community of Solberglia and find the case complicated by another boy's disappearance and the couple's marital tensions.

The Nitwitts of Second Creek, MI, Helping True Love in “A Piggly Wiggly Wedding”

2009-08-30T11:01:00.002-06:00

Robert Dalby.
A Piggly Wiggly wedding
When the impending nuptials of seventy-one-year-old Mayor Hale Dunbar and the widow Gaylie Lyons are threatened by the bride-to-be's disapproving grown children, the Nitwitts plan a welcome for the children designed to garner their approval. By the author of Kissing Babies at the Piggly Wiggly.

Priscilla Royal.
Chambers of death
When a groom is brutally butchered in the stable and the cook accused of his murder, Prioress Eleanor and her faithful friend, Brother Thomas, can't help investigating what they soon see is a convenient rush to judgment by the local sheriff in this medieval mystery. As the death toll mounts, they discover any number of suspects among the manor's household.

Karen Marie Moning.
Dreamfever
Atlanta suburb resident MacKayla Lane discovers her ability to see into the realm of the Fae after the devastating murder of her sister and attracts the unwanted attention of Seelie, vampire, and human assassins.

Mark de Castrique.
The Fitzgerald ruse
The theft of a F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript may be part of an attempt to maintain secrecy of an American fascist organization that flourished in the 1930s—or it may be rooted in the immediate past, as rogue Blackwater mercenaries come after the loot they imagine former U.S. military CID officer, Sam Blackman, stole from them.

Robert Ferrigno.
Heart of the assassin
In a near-future world decimated by nuclear bombs, the Islamic-occupied nations that once comprised the United States struggle with religious fundamentalism, while retired shadow warrior Rakkim Epps endeavors to unite the Islamic Republic with the Bible Belt.

Alia Yunis.
The night counter
Fatima Abdullah tries to tie up the loose ends of her crazy family, including finding a wife for her openly gay grandson and teaching Arabic to her pregnant teenage great-granddaughter, all while under surveillance by two bumbling FBI agents.

Sijie Dai ; translated from the French by Adriana Hunter.
Once on a moonless night
From the author of the bestselling Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress comes the story of the search for an ancient silk scroll inscribed with a lost Buddist sutra, and one woman's search for her lost love.

Susan Shapiro.
Speed shrinking
In advance of her TV interview to tout her book on conquering sugar addiction, Julia Goodman seeks solace in cupcakes after her therapist and best friend move and while her husband is away filming a television pilot, prompting her to see eight new therapists in eight days to help shrink back her anxiety, and her waistline, before her big close-up.

Jonathan Tropper.
This is where I leave you
The mourning period after their father dies brings each of the family members to unexpected epiphanies about their own lives and each other.

Joseph Finder.
Vanished
After an assault leaves his estranged brother nowhere to be found and his sister-in-law in a coma, security investigator and ex-intelligence agent Nick Heller is forced to seek help even from his despised convict father as Nick contends with one of the most powerful and secretive corporations in the world, an endeavor which may get him and everyone he's trying to protect killed.

Brian Haig & Christopher Reich Have New Thrillers on the Library Shelves

2009-08-23T11:07:00.001-06:00

Christina Baker Kline.
Bird in hand
While Alison blames herself for a devastating car accident, her estranged husband fantasizes about Alison's best friend, Claire dreams of a different life in spite of a successful career, and Ben envies Alison's seemingly idyllic marriage.

Carole Nelson Douglas.
Cat in a topaz tango : a Midnight Louie mystery
Feline gumshoe Midnight Louie has his paws full when a killer strikes the set of a week-long Las Vegas charity dance event, and Temple Barr must resurrect her teen persona to ensure the safety of her fiance and future step-daughter.

John Farris.
High bloods
Lycan Control agent Rawson monitors and controls the Hollywood area werewolf population, but must discover whatùor whoùis causing them to change when the moon is not full, before full-scale disaster strikes

Brian Haig.
The hunted
Rendered one of Russia's wealthiest men for his entrepreneurial talents, Alex Konevitch ill-advisedly hires the KGB's former deputy director to handle his corporate security and subsequently loses his company before fleeing with his wife to America, where he struggles for survival amid false accusations and a contract on his head.

Thomas Pynchon.
Inherent vice
Reluctantly investigating a kidnapping threat against his ex-girlfriend's billionaire beau, Doc Sportello tackles a bizarre tangle of nefarious characters before stumbling on a mysterious entity that may actually be a tax shelter for a dental group.

David Golemon.
Leviathan
In a latest installment in a best-selling series that includes Legend, brutal attacks on ships throughout the world prompt an investigation by a secret U.S. organization that struggles to outmaneuver the descendant of a mad genius who captains an advanced undersea vessel capable of destroying the human race.

Colin Cotterill.
The merry misogynist
Dr. Siri Paiboun, the only medical examiner in Laos in 1978, realizes that he is dealing with a serial killer when he discovers that the murder of a beautiful young woman who was tied to a tree and strangled resembles similar murders in the countryside.

Christopher Reich.
Rules of vengeance
Rendered a fugitive when he is wrongfully implicated in a terrorist attack that interrupted his secret rendezvous with his dishonored spy wife, Doctors Without Borders physician Jonathan Ransom struggles to clear his name while searching for his wife, only to discover that he may be a pawn in an international plot.

Margaret Maron.
Sand sharks
Anticipating a much-needed summer vacation, Judge Deborah Knott travels to Virginia to join her husband and son only to stumble on a murder scene involving one of her colleagues, a situation that is further complicated by a second murder and growing suspicions that Deborah is a target.

Sandra Brown.
Smash cut
Hired by a woman who believes that the accidental shooting of her Atlanta businessman friend was actually orchestrated by the victim's depraved nephew, famed defense lawyer Derek Mitchell comes to realize that the nephew is a psychotic movie buff who enjoys acting out favorite violent film plots.

Stieg Larsson, the author of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” has a new novel on the library shelves.

2009-08-16T11:30:00.000-06:00

Stieg Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Reg Keeland.
The girl who played with fire
On the eve of the publication of a sex-trafficking expose, two reporters responsible for the magazine story are murdered, and the fingerprints on the murder weapon belong to Lisbeth Salander, a genius hacker, prompting the magazine's publisher, Mikael Blomkvist, to launch his own investigation to vindicate Lisbeth, just as she becomes the prey of a murderous hunt. From the author of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Joe Abercrombie.
Best served cold
Hiring an elite team of wealthy and powerful mercenaries to dispose of successful sibling rivals Monzcarro and Benna, the Grand Duke Orso of Styria fears he may have made a tactical error when Monzcarro survives and forges a gruesome plot to avenge her brother.

Faye Kellerman.
Blindman's bluff : a Decker and Lazurus novel
The stalwart investigative team of Peter Decker and Rina Lazarus tackles a case that has unsettling repercussions for their own lives.

Kathryn Casey.
Blood lines
Her suspicions roused by an overly orchestrated suicide scene involving a victim who had every reason to live, Texas Ranger Sarah Armstrong finds her investigation complicated by a second case involving a teen pop singer who is being stalked during her preparations for a rodeo event performance.

Susanne Alleyn.
The cavalier of the apocalypse
Aristide Ravel, a writer critical of the royal court in prerevolutionary Paris, discovers the body of a man accompanied by Masonic symbols, and his investigation of the crime leads him into a world of secret societies and scandal.

Susan Dunlap.
Civil twilight : a Darcy Lott mystery
When Darcy Lott's older brother John--a cop--is the prime suspect in a shocking murder, she puts her sleuthing skills to work by investigating the past of Karen Johnson, her lawyer brother's mysterious new client, who may hold the key to finding the real killer

Mike Carey.
Dead men's boots
Harboring guilt about the death of a fellow exorcist, Felix Castor investigates the work of a serial murderer whose methods are eerily similar to those of a killer believed to be long dead, a situation that is further complicated by a custody battle over the body of a possessed friend.

Rennie Airth.
Dead of winter : a John Madden mystery
During a blackout on the streets of London on a freezing evening in late 1944, a Polish girl, Rosa Nowak, is killed. For the police, their resources already stretched by war regulations and the thriving black market, this is a shocking and seemingly random crime. No one can find any reason why someone would want to murder an innocent refugee.

Stephen White.
The siege
The popular character Dr. Alan Gregory takes a backseat as his longtime friend, suspended Boulder police detective Sam Purdy, investigates a number of high-profile disappearances at Yale University that may have ties to a campus secret society.

Raymond L. Atkins.
Sorrow Wood
In the aftermath of a self-proclaimed witch's burning death in a sleepy Alabama town, the entire community is drawn into the investigation, which reveals a multitude of secrets including some that incriminate the local chief of police and his beloved wife.

Hockensmith’s Cowboys Use Holmes’ Deductive Reasoning to Solve Old-West Crimes

2009-08-09T11:18:00.001-06:00

Steve Hockensmith.
The crack in the lens
Journeying to San Marcos to resolve a tragedy from Old Red's past, Big Red and Old Red try to solve the murder of Old Red's fiancée, a ex-prostitute whose death was ignored by authorities and whose case is further complicated by a horse-stealing scheme.

Steven M. Thomas.
Criminal karma
Successfully breaking into a posh hotel room where he hopes to make a lucrative jewel heist, ethical thief Robert Rivers narrowly escapes an attempt on his life and embarks on a high-stakes plot to recapture the jewel, an effort marked by a cult leader, a crime cabal, and gunslingers. .

Lynda La Plante.
Deadly intent
Investigating the killing of a former murder squad colleague whose death proves to be only one of many, Detective Anna Travis is forced to put aside her personal feelings about her recent breakup with DCI Langton in order to track down one the most ruthless drug traffickers in the western world..

David Liss.
The Devil's company
The year is 1722. Ruffian for hire, ex-boxer, and master of disguise, Londoner Benjamin Weaver finds himself caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, pitted against Jerome Cobb, a wealthy and mysterious schemer who needs Weaver's strength and guile for his own treacherous plans. To save his friends and family from Cobb's reach--and more importantly to secure the welfare of England--Weaver must infiltrate the East India Company, navigate its warring factions, and uncover a secret plot of corporate rivals, foreign spies, and government operatives.

Mary Jane Clark.
Dying for mercy
TV host Eliza Blake and her colleagues are touring a historic New York estate when a body is discovered along with a clue in a stone fountain, causing Eliza and the home's owners to uncover even more clues and riddles; but someone his determined to keep one last secret and threatens the lives of Eliza and her crew. .

Suzanne Brockmann.
Hot pursuit
A sixth installment in the best-selling series that includes Gone Too Far finds troubleshooter Alyssa Locke protecting an old friend who is running for public office, a job that is complicated by family demands and the reemergence of the "Dentist" serial killer. .

Karen Rose.
I can see you
Having suffered a disfiguring injury during the events of Don't Tell, Evie Wilson reenters the world after restorative surgery but is linked to a string of suicides connected to the therapeutic Internet activities she pursued while shut in, a situation throughout which she assists homicide detective Noah Webster.

Donna Andrews.
Swan for the money : a Meg Langslow mystery
Volunteering to help her parents' latest venture in competitive rose cultivation, Meg Langslow encounters unexpected ruthlessness among the contestants and applies her sleuthing skills when the show's wealthy host is discovered murdered on her estate. .

Jennifer Niven.
Velva Jean learns to drive
Growing up in pre-World War II Appalachia, Velva Jean dreams of being a big-time singer in Nashville until she falls for Harley Bright, a handsome juvenile delinquent turned preacher, and soon she must choose between keeping her hard-won home and pursuing her dream of singing at the Grand Ole Opry.

Sarah Micklem.
Wildfire
A second book in the trilogy that began with the Locus Award-winning Firethorn finds the servant and lover of Sire Galan attempting to follow him into war, an effort during which a lightning strike garbles her speech, compromises her memory, and causes priests and soldiers to revere her as a prophet. .

Konrath’s Jack Daniels Matches Wits With Her Nemesis, a Serial Killer Out to Get Her

2009-08-02T11:23:00.000-06:00

J.A. Konrath.
Cherry bomb
A follow-up to Fuzzy Navel's cliff-hanger ending finds Lieutenant Jacqueline Daniels attending the funeral of the loved one who was killed at the end of the previous work and receiving a phone call from homicidal escapee Alex Kork, who reinitiates their deadly game of cat and mouse.

Anna Blundy.
Breaking faith
Preferring large-scale assignments to her investigation of a small plane bombing over a tiny Scottish village, dysfunctional war correspondent Faith Zanetti is haunted by realizations about the tragedy and begins to suspect that the truth is closer than she realized.

Zoë Klein.Drawing in the dustScorned for agreeing to help an Arab couple excavate allegedly haunted grounds under their house, archaeologist Page Brookstone finds what may be the tomb of the prophet Jeremiah, as well as the remains of a woman, and intriguing scrolls documenting their relationship.

Gaynor Arnold.
Girl in a blue dress : a novel inspired by the life and marriage of Charles Dickens
Recently widowed Dorothea Gibson examines her difficult life with a late, beloved, celebrity author during Queen Victoria's reign in this novel based on the real-life troubled marriage of Charles Dickens.

F.G. Cottam.
The house of lost souls
In an effort to save his student sister from the madness that is threatening the lives of guests at derelict Fischer House, Nick Mason teams up with Paul Seaton, a troubled man who escaped the house a decade earlier, and learns of an unspeakable crime that occurred at the house in the 1920s

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez.
The husband habit
Repeatedly falling for men who hide the truth about their marital status, New Mexico chef Vanessa Chavez takes a vow of celibacy after a run-in with an irate wife and resists the efforts of her friends to set her up before meeting a man who seems wrong for her in every way.

Heather Barbieri.
The lace makers of Glenmara
Fleeing for Ireland in the wake of a failed relationship, fashion designer Kate Robinson finds herself in a coastal Gaelic village and bonds with the members of a lace-making society, through whom she finds healing by listening to their stories of loss and suffering.

Sarah Dunant.
Sacred hearts
Condemned by sixteenth-century demands for lucrative dowries in order to marry, young Serafina is ripped from an illicit love affair and confined in an Italian convent, a situation against which she passionately rebels and reminds the convent's doctor ofher own unhappy early years.

Pat McIntosh.
The stolen voice : a Gil Cunningham murder mystery
In Sir William's remote part of Scotland it seems almost possible that a young boy could have been stolen away by the fairies and returned forty years later, no older - and if he isn't Davie Drummond, who is he? Gil and his wife Alys have been sent into Perthshire to investigate.

James Scott Bell.
Try fear
When a suspected drunk driver he was defending is murdered in a set-up that was staged to look like a suicide, L.A. lawyer Ty Buchanan takes the case of the chief suspect, the man's brother, and begins to uncover a corrupt network with ties to the highest levels of city power.

Kinsella’s Flapper Ghost Stirs Up the 21st Century in “Twenties Girl”

2009-07-26T11:18:00.000-06:00

Sophie Kinsella.
Twenties girl
Entreated by the bossy ghost of her great aunt to track down a missing necklace, Lara Lington finds her search challenged by her floundering start-up business, her best friend's defection, and her unfaithful boyfriend.

Jennifer Weiner.
Best friends forever
Addie Downs and Valerie Adler were close until a betrayal during their teen years drove them apart; but twenty years later, a terrified Val shows up on Addie's doorstep wearing a bloody coat, pushing them both into a wild adventure where they must rely on one another again.

Tanya Huff.
The Enchantment Emporium
Moving to Calgary to take over her late grandmother's junk shop, charm-caster Alysha Gale learns that she will be serving the fey community, which proves to be deeply troubled with problems that may be more than Alysha's family can solve.

Rob Stennett.
The end is now
Long-time family residents of a small midwest town, the Hendersons struggle with such difficulties as father Jeff's fears for his family's safety, mother Amy's stir-crazy certainty that God meant more for her life, son Will's perplexity over fifth grade, and daughter Emily's determination to be homecoming queen. By the author of The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher.

J. A. Jance.
Fire and ice : a Beaumont and Brady novel
Struggling to solve a series of murders in which young women were wrapped in tarps and set on fire, a breakthrough in the case sends Seattle investigator J.P. Beaumont to Sheriff Joanna Brady's jurisdiction in Arizona as the sheriff works on her own puzzling case.

Steve Martini.
Guardian of lies : a Paul Madriani novel
Paul Madriani investigates the case of a woman accused of murder and a million-dollar heist, a trial that will unravel a conspiracy involving rare coins, an ex-CIA agent, a former Soviet scientist, and a missing nuclear device being prepared for a trip to the U.S.

Katherine Howe.
The physick book of Deliverance Dane
Forced to set aside her Ph.D. research in order to help the settling of her late grandmother's abandoned home, Connie Goodwin discovers a hidden key among her grandmother's possessions that is linked to a darker chapter in Salem witch trial history.

James Lee Burke.
Rain gods
Starting a new life as the sheriff of a dried-out, broken-down border town in south Texas, Hackberry Holland is drawn into a murder investigation when nine dead prostitutes are dug up in the desert, forcing him to focus on something other than his own demons.

Elizabeth Adler.
There's something about St. Tropez
Brought together by a rental scam for which they arrive at the same small seaside hotel, five international vacationers including television detective Mac Reilly, his girlfriend Sunny, and their intrepid canines find themselves sorting out the lives of the victims, a situation that is further complicated by an international art heist, a murder, and a haunting.

Joe R. Lansdale.
Vanilla ride
Best friends and freelance troublemakers Hap Collins and Leonard Pine assist an old friend in rescuing his daughter from an abusive drug dealer, and wind up enraging the Dixie Mafia.

P.T. Deutermann’s Urban Detective Doesn’t Have Much Luck Finding Peace in the Country

2009-07-19T11:10:00.001-06:00

P.T. Deutermann.
Nightwalkers
Seeking more peaceful pastures in North Carolina, Cam Richter buys a 700-acre plantation and immediately finds himself the target of a killer. As he tries to find out why someone wants him dead, Cam deals with all the entanglements of a place suddenly alive with secrets of a bloody past.

Robert K. Tanenbaum.
Capture
New York District Attorney Butch Karp and his wife Marlene Ciampi doubt the claims of a famous Broadway producer that the death of a rising starlet, who died in his penthouse apartment, was suicide, at the same time they are trying to find their daughter, who has been kidnapped by a shadowy group called the Sons of Man.

Tarquin Hall.
The case of the missing servant : from the files of Vish Puri, India's "most private investigator"
A first installment in a new series by the author of To the Elephant Graveyard introduces mustachioed Vish Puri, a respectable family man who styles himself as India's forefront private investigator and who runs background checks for prospective brides and grooms until more sensational cases take him into India's increasingly divergent communities.

China Miéville.
The city & the city
Inspector Tyador BorlGu must travel to Ul Qoma to search for answers in the murder of a woman found in the city of BesGzel.

Craig Johnson.
The dark horse
Believing that confessed murderer Mary Barsad is not guilty of shooting her husband in the head after he set fire to their barn and killed her horses, Sheriff Walt Longmire goes undercover as an insurance investigator and discovers an unfriendly town that has something to hide.

Greg Iles.
The devil's punchbowl
A deep river pit in Natchez, Mississippi, reputed to be the hiding spot for Jean Lafitte's hidden treasure and a dumping ground for numerous murder victims, becomes the site of a dangerous showdown for Penn Cage, in a tale beset by racial tension, betrayals, and illicit sex.

Jane Stanton Hitchcock.
Mortal friends
Her investigative tendencies roused by a murder on her favorite jogging path, Reven Lynch connects with enigmatic detective Gunner, who believes that the murderer is a high-society person hiding in plain sight, a suspicion for which Reven counsels Gunner on society dynamics. By the Edgar-nominated author of Trick of the Eye

Sarah Strohmeyer.
The penny pinchers club
Shopaholic Kat discovers her husband's secret bank account and embarks on a drastic cost-cutting mission that unites her with an eccentric club of like-minded individuals, who pump their own gas and retrieve dinner from grocery-store Dumpsters.

Vikas Swarup.
Six suspects
When Vivek "Vicky" Rai, the son of the Home Minister of Uttar Pradesh, is killed at a party celebrating his acquittal on a murder charge, the police investigate six suspects attending the party who had guns in their possession.

Nancy Thayer.
Summer house
Follows the lives, loves, and fortunes of three generations of headstrong women as they convene at their Nantucket homestead where they are forced to come to terms with their life choices and the meaning of family.

Romance & Suspense Come Together in Nora Roberts New Thriller

2009-07-12T11:10:00.000-06:00

Nora Roberts.
Black Hills
Childhood sweethearts Cooper Sullivan and Lil Chance are reunited when Coop leaves New York to assist his aging grandparents on their South Dakota ranch, but Coop must come to Lil's aid when the unsolved killing of a hiker is linked to vandalism at Lil's wildlife refuge.

Linda Howard.
Burn
Newly wealthy after winning the lottery, Jenner Redwine is taken hostage by a menacing stranger during a charity cruise on a luxury liner, endangering both Jenner's life and the life of her ally and confidante, shy heiress Sydney Hazlett.

Catherine Asaro.
Diamond star
Rock singer Del, son of the Ruby Dynasty, undeniably had talent, and was rapidly rising from an unknown fringe artist to stardom. But, with his life entangled in the politics of three interstellar civilizations, whether he wanted that or not, talent might not be enough. And that factor might have much more effect than his music on the lives of trillions of people on the thousands of inhabited worlds across the galaxy.

Phillip Margolin.
Fugitive
Defending Charlie, a petty con man and former fugitive who hid in Africa for twelve years after being falsely implicated in the murder of a congressman, criminal lawyer Amanda Jaffe struggles to prove the man's innocence while endeavoring to protect him from a vengeful African dictator.

Mike Lawson.
House secrets
After Joe DeMarco is asked by the speaker of the House to probe the apparent accidental death of a reporter who was trailing presidential hopeful Senator Paul Morelli, his investigation spirals out of control as dirty secrets and divided loyalties threaten and freelance operatives, a sinister chief of staff, and characters from Joe's New York past come out of the woodwork.

John Connolly.
The lovers
Stripped of his license in the wake of a police investigation into his own past, private investigator Charlie Parker unofficially looks into the suspicious death of his father, who reportedly committed suicide after shooting two teens, a case with ties to a troubled woman on the run, an ambitious would-be writer, and a couple intent on Charlie's death.

Rhys Bowen.
Royal flush
Sent home to Castle Rannoch in the wake of an employment scandal, Lady Georgiana becomes a companion to a divorcTe who would seduce the prince of Wales, an assignment that serves as a front during her secret mission to help Scotland Yard prevent an assassination attempt.

Jacqueline Carey.
Santa Olivia
Loup Garron, the daughter of a man with superhuman strength and a human female, risks her freedom and the exposure of her ancestry when she fights for justice in her village as Santa Olivia, a patron saint.

T. Lynn Ocean.
Southern peril
Reluctantly agreeing to investigate a high-ranking judge's brother, Jersey Barnes finds herself embroiled in a long-standing DEA case involving a drug ring and wonders if she will ever be able to retire and settle down with one of her love interests. By the author of Southern Poison

Brandon Sanderson.
Warbreaker
Two sisters who are princesses have different destinies as one, Siri, marries the God King, and the other, Vivienna, tries to save her people with the help of Vasher, the Warbreaker, as they all contend with the special powers contained in BioChromatic magic.

Favorites Lescroart, Cherryh, and Deaver Have New Novels on the Library Shelves

2009-07-05T11:07:00.000-06:00

John Lescroart
A plague of secrets
The best-selling author of Betrayal puts Dismas Hardy back on the case as Maya Townshend, the beautiful San Francisco socialite and niece to the mayor, becomes embroiled in conspiracy, cover-ups, and tabloid-fueled controversy after the murder of two acquaintances.

C.J. Box.
Below zero
Shocked by a phone message that Sherry's believed-dead foster daughter may have survived the events of Winterkill, Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett becomes increasingly suspicious when subsequent calls are placed from locations where serious crimes have occurred.

C. J. Cherryh.
Conspirator : Foreigner # 10
Cajeiri, the son of Tabini-aiji, the leader of the Western Association, becomes a target of factions determined to destroy his father's rule and runs away to follow Bren Cameron, his human paidhi, to his country retreat.

Ridley Pearson.
Killer summer
Overseeing an annual wine auction that attracts high-competition connoisseurs from all over the country, Blaine County Sheriff Walt Fleming provides security for a trio of invaluable bottles that have been targeted by thieves, an assignment that turns deadly when a bomb is detonated at the auction's start.

Chris Grabenstein.
Mind scrambler : a John Ceepak mystery
Learning that a former crush, Katie, is happily employed as a magician's assistant, Sea Haven police officer Danny Boyle is shocked by Katie's subsequent murder and teams up with partner John Ceepak in a race against time to find the killer.

Lee Goldberg.
Mr. Monk and the dirty cop
When obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk is let go after the latest round of budget cuts, he will not stop investigating, even without pay, especially when Captain Leland Stottlemeyer is framed for the murder of another cop.

Kerry Greenwood.
Murder on a midsummer night : a Phryne Fisher mystery
Greenwood's Australian flapper investigates an apparent suicide and searches for the illegitimate heir to a fortune.

Jeffery Deaver.
Roadside crosses : a Kathryn Dance novel
When a troubled teenager is pushed over the edge by cyber-bullies, he plots a violent revenge for which he plants roadside crosses throughout the Monterey peninsula, a situation for which body-language expert Kathryn Dance and Monterey County Sheriff's Senior Deputy Michael O'Neil race against the clock to stop the youth from acting on his rage.

James Patterson & Maxine Paetro.
Swimsuit
Investigating the disappearance of a supermodel during a Hawaii photo shoot, reporter Ben Hawkins hopes to help the victim and gather material for his next best-seller but receives a shocking visit that compels him to make a dangerous deal.

Gregg Hurwitz.
Trust no one
Decades after a teenage indiscretion ends his stepfather's life and sends him into hiding, Nick Horrigan lives a quiet existence under the radar that is shattered by a terrorist's demand that Nick speak with him under the threat of a nuclear retaliation.

Coulter’s FBI Team Is Back and Working With a Seven-Year-Old Telepath

2009-06-28T10:45:00.000-06:00

Catherine Coulter.
Knockout
Traveling with her mother to Georgia in the aftermath of her father's death, seven-year-old telepath Autumn Backman discovers her own family's murderous activities, desperately contacts FBI agent Dillon Savich, and promptly disappears, a situation for which Savich launches a large-scale manhunt.

James Rollins.
The doomsday key : a upper case Greek letter "sigma" sigma force novel
The best-selling author of The Last Oracle and The Judas Strain presents a latest work in which the Sigma Force must solve a centuries-old secret involving coded prophecies about dark events leading to a future apocalypse

Thomas H. Cook.
The fate of Katherine Carr
Shattered by the unsolved murder of his eight-year-old son, travel writer George Gates is approached by a retired missing-persons detective and given a mysterious story left behind by a woman who disappeared twenty years earlier.

Janet Evanovich.
Finger lickin' fifteen
When Lula witnesses celebrity chef Stanley Chipotle literally losing his head, she and Stephanie must find the killer before Lula becomes the next victim, while Ranger asks for Stephanie's help to find out who is leaking client information from within his company.

Mary Kay Andrews.
The fixer upper
Reluctantly accepting help to refurbish a recently inherited Georgia family home after losing her public relations job, Dempsey Jo Killebrew is quickly overwhelmed by the enormity of the task, which is further hampered by a cantankerous squatter. By the best-selling author of Deep Dish.

Jacqueline Carey.
Naamah's kiss
The magic of her people nearly destroyed by a broken sacred oath generations earlier, young Moirin practices her fledgling powers of concealment while hiding her ability to sense the influence of foreign gods, a situation that eventually forces her to discover the truth of her heritage.

Lisa Gardner.
The neighbor
In the wake of a wife and mother's disappearance from her suburban home, an ensuing police investigation focuses on the missing woman's husband, whose suspicious behavior reveals cracks in their seemingly idyllic family life.

Anita Brookner.
Strangers
Resigned to bachelorhood in his London flat, retiree Paul Sturgis unexpectedly finds himself in two relationships, including one with a separated woman he met on a holiday trip to Venice and another with an ex-girlfriend, a situation that causes him to reevaluate his perspectives.

The Late John Updike Leaves Us With Reflections of Later Twentieth-Century America

2009-06-21T10:05:00.002-06:00

John Updike.
My father's tears : and other stories
A collection of short fiction from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author includes tales set in his native Pennsylvania, the New England suburbs, and foreign countries, all depicting different facets of the American experience from the Depression through the aftermath of 9/11.

Kerry Greenwood.
Devil's food : a Corinna Chapman mystery
Corinna Chapman has more than she can handle after her estranged hippie mother shows up at her bakery, her father disappears, and two of her employees may have been poisoned by herbal tea given to them by members of a mysterious cult.

Mari Strachan.
The Earth hums in B flat
A story of dark family secrets unraveled by the shrewd insight of twelve-year-old Gwenni Morgan, a child with an irrepressible spirit living in a Welsh village that is reluctantly entering the modern age.

Chris Knopf.
Hard stop
Sam Acquillo reluctantly returns to the world of corporate intrigue when persuaded by armed intruders to discreetly locate the missing mistress of an important person in the Hamptons--his former boss.

Robert Wilson.
The ignorance of blood
Helping to track down the bombers responsible for a terror attack in Seville, Inspector Jefe Javier Falcón finds the case further complicated by the suspicious death of a gangster, a drug and prostitution turf war, and a blackmail attempt on Falcón's best friend by Islamic extremists.

adaptation by Mark Powers
Jim Butcher's the Dresden files. Storm front. Volume one, The gathering storm
A modern-day mage and consultant to the Chicago police, wizard Harry Dresden finds his stale life suddenly enlivened when he is called to share his expertise in the investigation into a grisly double murder, a crime that reveals the presence of a rival who practices the darkest of black arts, in a graphic-novel adaptation of the best-selling novel.

Dean Koontz.
Relentless
Unable to let go of a poor review of his latest best-seller, novelist Cubby Greenwich endeavors to track down the reclusive critic only to trigger a terrifying chain of events that reveal the critic's sociopath tendencies as well as the violent nature of the critic's mother.

J.M. Hayes.
Server down
Half-Cheyenne shaman Mad Dog attends Yaqui tribal Easter ceremonies in Tucson, Arizona, where he is framed for the murder of a local policeman, while back in Kansas, Sheriff English investigates the bombing of Mad Dog's home.

Ron Carlson.
The signal
Their relationship troubled, Mack and his wife backpack through the woods of Wyoming to say goodbye, but instead receive a signal from a beacon that has fallen from the sky that leads them to an even darker place.

Alice Hoffman.
The story sisters
A family drama and coming of age story follows the lives of three sisters who create a magical world on their street to escape a tragedy that has changed them forever.

Connelly Brings Reporter Jack McEvoy Back to Find a Serial Killer

2009-06-14T11:22:00.000-06:00

Michael Connelly
The scarecrow
Pursuing a big story in anticipation of his imminent layoff, Los Angeles reporter Jack McEvoy investigates the murder confession of a teen drug dealer and realizes that the youth may be innocent, a discovery that pits him against a killer operating below police radar with an uncanny knowledge of his enemies.

Sally Koslow
The late, lamented Molly Marx
Her enviable life having ended, Molly Marx now finds herself led by an unorthodox guide in the afterlife, where she can observe the friends and family she left behind and, as she watches them try to investigate her mysterious end, Molly relives her past and learns the fates of those she cherished most (and least).

Wilbur Smith
Assegai
A latest installment in the best-selling Courtney Saga finds former soldier and big-game safari guide Leon Courtney catapulted into fame for his bravery during a Teddy Roosevelt hunting tour, for which he is recruited to gather intelligence about a rebellion plot against Britain.

Larry Bond
Cold choices
A follow-up to Dangerous Ground finds former naval pilot and submarine captain Jerry Mitchell on a reconnaissance mission deep in the Barents Sea and struggling to outmaneuver a surprise submarine attack that damages both vessels and strands them on the bottom of the ocean.

Megan McCafferty
Perfect fifths
Rushing to make her flight for a trip to the Caribbean for a wedding, Jessica Darling runs into her former boyfriend, Marcus Flutie, who she hasn't seen since she turned down his marriage proposal three years earlier, and wonders if this meeting wasn't by chance.

Lee Child
Gone tomorrow : A Reacher novel
Witnessing a suicide on a Manhattan subway, Jack Reacher finds himself targeted by the federal government and Al-Qaeda for his knowledge of a dangerous secret, a situation that leads to a dangerous chase through the streets of New York City.

James W. Huston
Marine One
After the president is killed when his official helicopter crashes on its way to a mysterious meeting in Camp David, Marine Corps reserve pilot and trial attorney Mike Nolan begins an investigation to discover the cause of the crash.

Ken Bruen
Sanctuary
Struggling with alcoholism and a close friend's health challenges, Jack Taylor initially disregards a strange letter that arrives containing the names of murder victims, until the subsequent addition of a child's name prompts Jack to identify a killer among his closest associates.

Raymond Khoury
The sign
When a scientific expedition is swallowed up by a shimmering sphere of light during a live CNN report, a devastated viewer in a dusty Egyptian bar recognizes the phenomenon, which is declared by some as proof of God's existence. By the author of The Last Templar.

Simon Beckett
Whispers of the dead
Struggling to prove himself after surviving an attempt on his life, Dr. David Hunter takes an assignment at an infamous anthropology research facility and is drawn into a bizarre murder investigation that is further complicated by secrets his colleagues seem to be protecting.

Sherlock Holmes Hunts for Jack the Ripper in Lyndsay Faye’s New Novel

2009-05-24T11:06:00.000-06:00

Lyndsay Faye.
Dust and shadow : an account of the Ripper killings by Dr. John H. Watson
A carefully researched vintage-style reimagining of the case of Jack the Ripper pits the nineteenth-century serial killer against Sherlock Holmes, who endeavors to identify and outmaneuver his adversary against a backdrop of their time and without modern technology.

Elizabeth Cunningham.
Bright dark Madonna
Maeve, the contrary Celtic Magdelen, continues her adventures in the early church as she journeys with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and raises their daughter.

Paulette Jiles.
The color of lightning
In post-Civil War Texas, ex-slave Britt Johnson, returning from a trip, discovers his family members murdered and kidnapped as a result of an Indian raid, and sets out to rescue his loved ones and seek revenge.

Jane Kirkpatrick.
A flickering light
Serving as an assistant in F.J. Bauer's Minnesota studio, fifteen-year-old Jessie Ann Gaebele gains a perfect education in the artistry and business of photography, but the eager young student is unnerved by a growing attraction to her married tutor

Ben Bova.
The immortality factor
When breakthroughs in stem-cell research open the possibility of enabling immortality, a pair of physician brothers stand on opposing sides of a debate between scientific progress and religious fundamentalism, a conflict that is further complicated by a remarkable woman who claims both of their hearts.

Natasha Mostert.
Keeper of light and dust
Hiding the truth about her identity as a magical warrior, Mia Lockheart shares a romance with a childhood friend unaware that she is being watched by a sinister adversary, a scientist and vampire who works to seduce Mia as part of a plan to make her boyfriend his next victim.

Deirdre Shaw.
Love or something like it
First novelist, Shaw follows a 30-year-old women through an ill-fated marriage and a rocky career in her continuing efforts to resolve her past and find her a future she can be happy in.

Jilliane Hoffman.
Plea of insanity
A young prosecutor works a high-stakes murder trial with deeply personal implications.

Mark T. Sullivan.
Triple cross
When his team is killed by a paramilitary force that has taken as hostages the A-list members of an elite resort, Mickey Hennessy, a former U.S. special agent, makes it out alive but resolves to risk his life in order to rescue his three children, who are among the hostages

David Stone.
The Venetian judgment
CIA "cleaner" Micah Dalton finds himself involved in a search for a traitor who is responsible for the death of Mildred Durant, an advisor to a NSA decryption team known as the Glass Cutters.

Loren Estleman & Robert Parker Have New Westerns on the Shelves

2009-05-17T11:18:00.001-06:00

Loren D. Estleman.
The branch and the scaffold
A tale based on the true story of the legendary Hanging Judge finds Isaac Parker inheriting a corrupt court and lawless territory in Fort Smith, Arkansas and enforcing severe punishments in his effort to bring order to the early American west.

Robert B. Parker.
Brimstone
Determined to locate a woman he loves who inexplicably ran off, hired gunman Virgil Cole, along with deputy Everett Hitch, makes his way across New Mexico and Texas before finding her in a brothel, a situation complicated by a religious man and saloon violence.

Elizabeth J. Duncan.
The cold light of mourning
When an unpopular self-made beauty goes missing on her wedding day, manicurist Penny Brannigan, an ex-patriate Canadian who has lived in the bride's North Wales market town for nearly twenty-five years, realizes that another woman had posed as the bride.

Gillian Flynn.
Dark places
After witnessing the murder of her mother and sisters, 7-year-old Libby Day testifies against her brother Ben, but twenty-five years later she tries to profit from her tragic history and admit that her story might not have been accurate.

Charlaine Harris.
Dead and gone
When the body of a were-panther is discovered in the parking lot of Merlotte's, Sookie Stackhouse feels compelled to discover the identity of the killer, but encounters a much greater threat to the human and undead communities of Bon Temps.

Elinor Lipman.
The family man
Reunited with his long-lost stepdaughter by an ex-wife's hysterical plea for help, gay lawyer Henry Archer allows the young woman to move into his basement, where she reluctantly poses as the girlfriend of a down-on-his-luck former sitcom star.

Keith Gilman.
Father's Day
Hired by a woman who needs help finding her runaway teenage daughter, former police officer and private investigator Louis Kline follows leads to Philadelphia, where he unexpectedly finds himself in the middle of a Chinese drug operation.

John Drake.
Flint & silver : a prequel to Treasure Island
A prequel to "Treasure Island" follows the adventures of Long John Silver and Joseph Flint as they first became friends, teaming up to terrorize Spanish ships, and then bitter enemies, fighting over their crew and treasure.

Jane K. Cleland.
Killer keepsakes
When the police suspect Josie's missing assistant Gretchen of murdering a man in her apartment, Josie investigates the case to clear Gretchen's name and uncovers surprises about Gretchen's past.

Robert Barnard.
The killings on Jubilee Terrace
When an actor from a daytime soap opera dies under suspicious circumstances, inspector Charlie Peace finds himself investigating suspects among a group of talented actors, including the show's jovial bartender and an assortment of extras who exchange unethical services for their roles.

Alan Bradley.
The sweetness at the bottom of the pie
Eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, begins her adventure when a dead bird is found on the doorstep of her family's mansion in the summer of 1950, thus propelling her into a mystery that involves an investigation into a man's murder where her father is the main suspect.

Laurie King is Back With a New Case for Sherlock Holmes & Mary Russell

2009-05-10T10:59:00.000-06:00

Laurie R. King.
The language of bees : a Mary Russell novel
Returning home after seven months abroad, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are met with a problem concerning one of Holmes's beehives and the reappearance of his estranged son, Damien, who needs their help in finding his missing wife and daughter.

Michael Gregorio.
A visible darkness
Prussian magistrate Hanno Stiffeniis investigates the grizzly murders of amber gathers by a serial killer at the bequest of the French who have overtaken his country and want to usurp it's amber wealth.

Mary Balogh.
At last comes love
When he is forced to marry or lose his inheritance, the notorious Duncan Pennethorne, Earl of Sheringford, tries to persuade the lovely and desperate Margaret Huxtable to be his bride, but she is put off by his reputation.

Parnell Hall.
Dead man's puzzle
Chief Harper comes to Cora Felton, asking her to solve a crossword puzzle found on the body of Old Man Overmeyer. Cora pokes into Overmeyer's death, hoping to prove he died of natural causes and soon learns the cranky hermit was the sole surviving memberof a forty-year-old stock pooling agreement.

Walter J. Boyne.
Hypersonic thunder : a novel of the jet age
A final installment in a trilogy inspired by the history of the aircraft industry follows the experiences of the Shannon family, whose lives become inextricably intertwined with global rivalries involving middle-eastern wars, the International Space Station, and hypersonic flight technology. By the author of Roaring Thunder.

Henning Mankell ; translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson.
Italian shoes
Haunted by memories of a terrible mistake made in the operating room, surgeon Welin is pulled from his self-imposed isolation to help an old love, thereby searching for redemption for himself.

Jane Haddam.
Living witness
Gregor Demarkian investigates the murders of several local women, who had filed a lawsuit against the town school board for including the theory of Intelligent Design in the school curriculum, evaluating both creationists and evolutionists as possible suspects.

Robert V.S. Redick.
The red wolf conspiracy
Scant years after a terrible war that shook empires, a 600-year-old ship sails for enemy lands and must deal with deadly assassins, treacherous mermaids, and monstrous slavers in order to deliver a young woman whose marriage will seal the peace.

Laila Lalami.
Secret son
A young Moroccan man discovers he is not the son of the man he thought of as his father and after finding his biological father, he struggles to renew his sense of identity in a new life amid tumultous culture.

Robert J. Sawyer.
WWW : wake
Receiving an implant to restore her sight, math genius Caitlin's life is changed in ways she could have never imagined when she suddenly begins to see a world beyond reality and an incredible realm that others cannot.

The Arcane Society, Miss Julia, & No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Return to the New Book Shelf

2009-05-03T11:20:00.001-06:00

Amanda Quick.
The perfect poison
Consulting on the investigation into a lord's murder, botanist Lucinda Bromley realizes that a poison can be traced back to her, prompting her to hire fellow Arcane Society member Caleb Jones to keep her name out of the investigation and to find the murderer, in a historical, romantic mystery, that has a dark conspiracy at its heart.

David Baldacci.
First family
Summoned by First Lady Jane Cox to rescue her niece from kidnappers, investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are pushed to the limit in a search that is hampered by the highest levels of government security and Michelle's personal demons.

Tahar Ben Jelloun ; translated by Linda Coverdale.
Leaving Tangier
As several expatriate Moroccans learn in Jelloun's latest, it doesn't matter how difficult life may be in the home country, a whole new set of difficulties waits in the promised land.

Louise Ure.
Liars anonymous
An acquitted murder suspect faces her past as she tries to solve a new crime in this new thriller by Shamus Award-winner, Ure.

Lynne Griffin.
Life without summer
tale told in alternating voices follows the experiences of bereaved mother Tessa who is swept up by an increasingly bleak search for answers after her beloved four-year-old daughter is killed in a hit-and-run accident, and her grief counselor, Celia, whose efforts to help Tessa are marked by painful family memories. A first novel.

Ann B. Ross.
Miss Julia delivers the goods
Learning that Hazel Marie is pregnant with twins and that the father, private investigator J. D. Pickens, has left town, Miss Julia summons the wayward man to solve a local theft in the hopes of reuniting the couple. By the author of Miss Julia Paints the Town.

Heather Graham.
Nightwalker
While in Vegas, Jessy Sparhawk, desperate for money, places a bet that changes her life forever when she, after collecting her winnings, is drawn into a murder investigation involving a gorgeous private investigator, an angry ghost, a casino magnate, and a ghost town called Indigo.

Sandra Dallas.
Prayers for sale
Drawn to the newly married seventeen-year-old Nit Spindle, who has moved to their small mountain Colorado town to escape the ravages of the Great Depression, octogenarian Hennie Comfort forges a friendship with the young woman based on shared hardships and secrets.

Alexander McCall Smith.
Tea time for the traditionally built
Precious Ramotswe tries to recover her trusty white van after her husband sells it and replaces it with a characterless modern vehicle, while The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency tries to discover if a local football team's games are fixed.

Thrity Umrigar.
The weight of heaven
Having lost their beloved only child to a sudden illness, Frank and Ellie Benton hope to rebuild their lives by accepting an unexpected job offer in India but find their new home compromised by Frank's misguided efforts to heal his grief through a friendship with a bright young boy.

Mary Higgins Clark Is Back With Another Heart-Rending Mystery

2009-04-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

Mary Higgins Clark.
Just take my heart
Criminology professor Emily advocates on behalf of a dangerously ill friend from childhood whose life can be saved by a heart transplant from an injured mutual friend, a situation that turns deadly when Emily discovers that the injured friend was not hurt accidentally.

F. Paul Wilson.
Aftershock & others : 19 oddities
A third collection of short works by the best-selling author of the Repairman Jack series features the Bram Stoker Award-winning title novelette and additional stories including "Aryans and Absinthe," "When He Was Fab," and "The November Game."

Alexis Wright.
Carpentaria
A tale inspired by the plight of the Australian Aborigines follows a clash between a powerful family, tribe leaders, and mobsters in a sparsely populated northern Queensland town, a conflict marked by the machinations of a religious zealot, a murderous politician, and an activist.

Christian Moerk.
Darling Jim
A reclusive aunt and her two nieces turn up dead and a young postal worker finds a diary in the dead letter office which offers clues about Jim Quick, a mysterious Irish storyteller, who had become obsessed with the aunt.

Brian Freeman.
In the dark
Jonathan Stride, a widower, is haunted by the death of his sister-in-law, who was beaten to death thirty years earlier, and from the author who is writing about the murder he learns secrets about his late wife that lead him to question his past life.

Alys Clare.
The joys of my life
May 1199. Abbess Helewise has been summoned by Queen Eleanor to discuss the building of a chapel at Hawkenlye Abbey. Meanwhile, Sir Josse d'Acquin is on the trail of a group of mysterious knights rumored to be devil worshippers. As Helewise heads for home, Josse follows his quarry to Chartres, where he meets the last person he expects: Joanna. And she has grave problems of her own

Tony Hays.
The killing way
When Merlin is implicated in the brutal murder of a young woman, his charge, Arthur, a young warrior who is favored to become the next king of Britain, finds his reputation at stake; a situation for which he turns for help to a wise man who blames Arthur for the death of his wife.

Anne Argula.
Krapp's last cassette
Hollywood screenwriter Alex Krapp is adapting the memoir of a child who has suffered unspeakable abuse and whose health is so precarious that they've never met, but when a reported suggests that the story is a fraud, Krapp hires the feisty and tough-talking Quinn to prove that the boy is real.

Georgina Harding.
The spy game
Years after their German refugee mother disappears on the same day the media releases a story about a spy family, Anna and her brother, Peter, struggle to sort out facts and lies about their mother's identity and wonder if she had a secret life. By the author of The Solitude of Thomas Cave.

Walter Jon Williams.
This is not a game
In a near-future world that is dominated by an alternate-reality game without boundaries, players find their real lives increasingly and violently overshadowed by the game and its escalating demands.

Favorites Carolyn Hart and Jim Butcher Have New Novels on the Shelves

2009-04-19T11:26:00.000-06:00

David A. Rollins.
A knife edge
Pulled off of a top secret research program for the US Department of Defense, Major Vin Cooper is asked to look into the death of a military buddy killed while making a routine parachute jump, but when the two cases collide, he finds himself on a new mission with the highest of stakes.

Philip Kerr.
A quiet flame : a Bernie Gunther novel
A fifth installment in a series featuring Bernie Gunther finds the detective fleeing to Per=n-era Argentina in the wake of wrongful accusations about his war criminal activities and reluctantly investigating the double case of a murdered girl and a missing banker's daughter; a situation with suspicious ties to an unsolved twenty-year-old case.

Rich Lowry & Keith Korman.
Banquo's ghosts
CIA agent Stewart Banquo recruits journalist Peter Johnson to assassinate an Iranian scientist, but when the plot fails, Banquo and Johnson turn their attentions to saving New York City from a nuclear terrorist attack and Johnson's daughter from kidnappers.

Martin Walker.
Bruno, chief of police
When the murdered body of an elderly French army soldier is found with a swastika carved into his chest, Benoit Courreges, the chief of police in a small French village in the South of France and affectionately nicknamed Bruno, turns his suspicions toward a tortured period of French history when the government turned on its own citizens to help the Germans wage war.

Carolyn G. Hart.
Dare to die : a death on demand mystery
When the arrival of a mysterious former Broward's Rock resident sparks a town-wide feud that pits neighbor against neighbor, Annie and Max Darling find their own circumstances affected by a murder that takes place at a pavilion party that the newcomer attends.

Spencer Quinn.
Dog on it : a Chet and Bernie mystery
Intrepid canine detective Chet accompanies his human police officer partner, Bernie, on a first assignment involving the disappearance of a teenage girl who ran with the wrong crowd, a case that is complicated by Bernie's dysfunctional personal life.

Conn Iggulden.
Genghis : bones of the hills
Brings the legendary warrior and conqueror a new challenge, this time from the west, as his viciously effective armies push deep into what is now Afghanistan and the Balkan states, and as his time grows short, he must seal his legacy and name the leader for the new generation.

Paul Levine.
Illegal
Fingered for a crime he didn't commit, brash lawyer Jimmy Payne goes on the most terrifying run of his life, from bloody Mexicali to the bullet-riddled San Joaquin Valley, and when he meets a foul-mouthed Mexican teenager in search of his missing mother, the unlikely duo attempt to find the woman against startlingly violent odds

Kyle Mills.
Lords of corruption
Josh Hagarty takes a position at a charity organization in Africa, but soon discovers it has ties to the country's genocidal dictator and he has become entangled in a billion-dollar worldwide conspiracy.

Jim Butcher.
Turn coat : a novel of the Dresden files
Accused of treason against the Wizards of the White Council, Warden Morgan goes in search of Harry Dresden in a desperate attempt to clear his name and stop the deadly punishment from taking place in this latest thrilling addition to the Dresden Files series.

Chiaverini Is Back With Another Glimpse of Women’s History and Mystery In Her Quilts Series

2009-04-13T07:31:00.003-06:00

Jennifer Chiaverini.
The lost quilter : an Elm Creek quilts novel
A continuation of The Runaway Quilt finds master quilter Sylvia Compson investigating her ancestry and discovering unexpected connections to a runaway slave and quilter who traveled the Underground Railroad to Elm Creek Farm before she was captured and returned to Virginia.

A.E. Roman.
Chinatown angel
Private investigator Chico Santana is hired by an eccentric family to find Tiffany, a Chinese American teenager who has disappeared, but when he surmises that a maid's suicide is really a murder and uncovers other suspicious events, his own life suddenlyis in danger.

Joyce Carol Oates.
Dear husband : stories
A volume of short works establishes a redefinition of family as marked by violence, in a collection that includes such titles as "Landfill," "Magda Maria," and "Suicide by Fitness Center."

Alan Brennert.
Honolulu
Journeying to 1914 Hawaii as a mail-order "picture bride," Korean-born Jin finds her hopes for education and a better life devastated by the realities of a rushed marriage to an embittered laborer; a situation throughout which she works to overcome limited opportunities and prejudice in order to improve circumstances for her fellow brides.

Emily Fox Gordon.
It will come to me
Ben, a professor of philosophy in the Humanities department of a large southern university, and his wife Ruth, a writer whose early literary success never quite blossomed into a career as a novelist, have settled into a dull routine of pot-luck dinners and endless committee meetings, until a celebrated young memoirist and her husband arrive on campus bringing with them the promise of rediscovery. A first novel

Harlan Coben.
Long lost
Contacted by a woman with whom he shared an affair years earlier, Myron Bolitar learns how she has been wrongfully accused of murdering her ex-husband, a situation that is further complicated by a long-hidden family secret.

Peter Rock.
My abandonment
Living with her father in an enormous nature preserve in Portland, Oregon, thirteen-year-old Caroline only merges with the civilized world once a week, when they venture into the city to buy groceries and attend church, but an encounter with a backcountry jogger derails their entire existence.

Kris Saknussemm.
Private midnight
Struggling with guilty secrets from his past, detective Birch Ritter is introduced to a mysterious woman who claims to have an almost supernatural capacity for understanding the inner motivations of men and who seductively tempts Ritter beyond his better judgment to uncover concealed evidence.

Michael Robotham.
Shatter
When Joe O'Loughlin fails to save a naked and distraught woman sobbing on a cell phone from jumping off a bridge into a flooded gorge below, he is shattered by the suicide, until her teenage daughter finds him and reveals that she never would have committed such a desperate act and that the answer to the mystery may lie with the voice on the other end of the phone.

Peter V. Brett.
The warded man
As darkness falls each night, the corelings rise, demons who well up from the ground like a hellish steam, and when young Arlen decides to brave the night roads and face the demons, he attempts something not dreamt of since ancient times: a stand against the night.

Korzenko’s “Devil’s Gold” Is One of Many New Suspense Novels

2009-04-07T14:59:00.007-06:00

Julie Korzenko.
Devil's gold
Chastised for not cooperating with the oil company giant New World Petroleum, zoologist Cassidy Lowell is reassigned from the jungles of the Niger Delta to Yellowstone National Park, where wolves are disappearing. Jake Anderson, Special Forces operative,is working within the shadows of Cassidy's organization, Zoological Environmental Bio Research Agency. An alarming genetic mutation of the parvovirus is discovered: CPV-19: human parvovirus merged with canine, and the virus is loose in Yellowstone. Murder, execution, and deadly helicopter rides lead Jake and Cassidy down a road rife with double-crossing and an underlying plot that forces them back to the Niger Delta.

Rhonda Pollero.
Fat chance
Buying her mother's ramshackle but affordable Palm Beach cottage, bored paralegal Finley Anderson Tanner discovers a dead body in her closet that the police quickly dismiss but Finley begins to suspect may be tied to something more nefarious, a suspicion that forces her to turn for help to handsome private investigator Liam McGarrity.

Ariana Franklin.
Grave goods
When the bodies of two people are discovered in the remains of an arson fire that destroyed Glastonbury Abbey, Adelia Aguilar, Mistress of the Art of Death, is ordered by Henry II to determine if one of the sets of bones belongs to the legendary Celtic savior Arthur.

Margit Liesche.
Hollywood buzz
Pucci Lewis steps in for her sister-WASP on a make-or-break documentary on Women Airforce Service Pilots, landing her in the middle of Hollywood stars, studio moguls, Washington bureaucrats, and a high-profile homicide.

Tom Cain.
No survivors : an Accident man novel
A follow-up to The Accident Man finds a broken Samuel Carver pursuing his lover, Alix, in an adventure during which he uncovers a messianic Texas billionaire's plot to trigger an international holy war by reactivating stolen Soviet nuclear bombs.

Solomon Jones.
Payback : the return of C.R.E.A.M.
Acquitted of being an accomplice in the murders of two drug dealers, thanks to the deathbed confession of her lover, Duane Faison, Karima "C.R.E.A.M." Thomas is confronted by an all-new tragedy when her mother is found dead, an apparent suicide, and joins forces with unlikely ally Captain Kevin Lynch in a dangerous quest to uncover the truth.

Howard Jacobson.
The act of love
In a dual tale that contrasts an antique bookstore owner's sexually obsessive marriage with a literary romance found on the shelves of his store, Felix Quinn becomes so enamored of his wife that he allows her to conduct an affair with another man. By the author of the Mighty Walzer.

David Hagberg.
The expediter
When a confrontation between the Chinese government and Kim Jong-Il over the assassination of an intelligence general escalates into nuclear threats, University of South Florida professor and special agent Kirk McGarvey is enlisted to prove that North Korea did not authorize the hit.

Ben Kane.
The forgotten legion
Born into first-century slavery under an abusive owner, twins Romulous and Fabiola are respectively sold into gladiator school and prostitution at the age of thirteen; a situation that separates them from their beloved mother and introduces Rabiola to one of the most powerful men in Rome.

Tim Gautreaux.
The missing
After World War I, Sam Simoneaux returns to New Orleans determined to leave mayhem and destruction behind, but when a little girl disappears from the department store where he works, he has no choice but to board a Mississippi excursion steamboat hoping to unearth clues somewhere along the river.

Jeffrey Rotter.
The unknown knowns
His marriage unraveling with his wife's increasing impatience with his obsessive underwater experiments, Jim Rath attracts the attention of homeland security in his pursuit of a mythical ancient aquatic race and shares an incrementally volatile rivalry with an equally delusional agent.

Lisa Lutz is Back With the Zany Spellman Clan in Another Fun Mystery

2009-04-03T15:58:00.002-06:00

Lisa Lutz.
Revenge of the Spellmans
A third installment in a series that began with The Spellman Files and Curse of the Spellmans finds Isabel pursuing therapy while trailing her newest client's errant wife, Rae facing skyrocketing expectations in light of her high SAT score, and Henry disrupting the family with a new love interest.

A.J. Hartley.
Act of Will
Fleeing his homeland after being accused of sedition, medieval actor and playwright Will Hawthorne finds himself in a distant land with a band of adventurers who are charged with investigating and defeating a ruthless army of mystical horsemen, a mission that tests Will's pragmatic beliefs.

Keith Donohue.
Angels of destruction
Margaret Quinn has never gotten over the loss of Erica, her runaway child, and when Norah, a nine-year-old girl who seems to materialize out of thin air, arrives one bitterly cold night on Margaret's doorstep, she is finally forced to confront her own past to explain this strange child's connection to her missing daughter.

Jack Coughlin, with Donald A. Davis.
Dead shot : a sniper novel
A follow-up to Kill Zone finds former marine sniper Kyle Swanson confronting a defected enemy sniper, Juba, who is working with a fringe terrorist organization that has created a devastating new weapon of mass destruction recently used by Juba to kill hundreds at a British royal wedding.

Earlene Fowler.
Love mercy
Living a solitary life as a writer for a regional magazine and pondering past events that ripped her family apart, Love Mercy Johnson gets a chance at redemption when her granddaughter unexpectedly arrives at her door and gives her the opportunity to heal old wounds.

Mary Robison.
One D.O.A., one on the way
When Jay's husband is diagnosed with a grave illness and returns home to the care of his parents in Louisiana, Jay--a location scout for a movie production company--struggles to stay on the good side of her husband's extended family. By the author of Why Did I Ever.

Bryan Gruley.
Starvation Lake : a mystery
When pieces from a fatal snowmobile accident that ended the life of a legendary youth hockey coach are discovered a decade later five miles from the scene, local paper editor and disgraced former hockey goalie Gus Carpenter hopes to salvage his reputation by attempting to solve the case.

William Dietrich.
The Dakota cipher : an Ethan Gage adventure
Hoping to return home after an unwise affair that ended with a bounty on his head, adventurer Ethan Gage teams up with grizzled Norwegian Magus Bloodhammer on a quest to find a legendary artifact that some believe possesses the power to control the weather; an endeavor for which he must locate a tribe of fair-haired Native Americans.

Todd Johnson.
The sweet by and by
Brought together by circumstance, five North Carolina women protect and provoke each other while they struggle with limited prospects, career ambitions, and vulnerable hearts. A first novel.

Sandi Ault.
Wild sorrow
After taking refuge during a storm in an abandoned Indian School where children were "Americanized" after being taken from their homes, BLM agent Jamaica Wild discovers the desecrated body of an elderly Anglo woman.