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Reviews

Reviews

by Kelley Armstrong - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Historical Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After slipping 150 years into the past, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson has embraced her new life in Victorian Scotland as housemaid Catriona Mitchell and has come to love her role as assistant to undertaker Dr. Duncan Gray and Detective Hugh McCreadie. Mallory, Gray and McCreadie are on their way to the Scottish Highlands for McCreadie's younger sister's wedding. When they arrive at the Cranston estate, Gray and Mallory decide to explore the castle and the surrounding wilderness. They discover that the groom, Archie Cranston, has set up deadly traps in the woods for the endangered Scottish wildcats, and they soon come across a cat who's been caught and severely injured. When one of the guests is murdered, they must work fast to uncover the murderer before another life is lost.

by Jeanine Cummins - Fiction

On her wedding day in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1968, Rafaela Acuña y Daubón has mild misgivings, but she marries Peter Brennan Jr. anyway in a blaze of romantic optimism. She has no way of knowing how dramatically her life will change when she uproots her young family to start over in the American Midwest, unleashing a fleet of disappointments. In the 1980s, against the backdrop of her mother’s isolation in St. Louis, Missouri, Rafaela’s daughter, Ruth, wants only to belong. Eager to fit in, Ruth lets go of her language, habits and childhood memories of Puerto Rico. It’s not until decades later when Ruth’s own daughter, Daisy, returns to San Juan that her mother and grandmother begin to truly reflect on the choices that have come to define their lives.

by Carl Hiaasen - Fiction, Humor, Mystery

Dale Figgo is a half-baked crusader with the rare distinction of being kicked out of the Proud Boys --- for being too dumb. His latest bad decision? Picking up a hitchhiker on a rainy afternoon while running an errand. That errand sets off a chain reaction involving Viva Morales, a clever, resilient newcomer to Fever Beach who's trying to rebuild her life post-divorce. She’s renting a room in Figgo’s apartment and working at the Mink Foundation --- a philanthropic front with something far darker beneath the surface. Circling them is Twilly Spree, a hotheaded environmentalist with a gift for over-the-top revenge. When dark money and twisted motives bring their worlds crashing together, Viva and Twilly become unlikely allies. Together, they uncover a tangle of corruption and conspiracy led by a plastic-surgery-loving billionaire couple and a clueless congressman with delusions of grandeur.

by Catherine Ryan Hyde - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Michael Woodbine was seven years old when a near-fatal fireworks accident scarred him and led to his placement in foster care. Now a college freshman, he is still trying to hide the effects of his trauma. When Michael signs up for a film class, he meets Robert Dunning, a teacher who wears his own scars unapologetically. Robert encourages Michael to make a documentary that explores body image and self-perception. Michael places an ad seeking people who feel unattractive and rejected by society. As he collects their stories --- and finally tells his own --- Michael feels more connected to the world than he ever has before. But he knows his journey of self-acceptance has one more obstacle: his crushing doubts about why his birth parents wouldn’t fight to keep him.

by Fredrik Backman - Fiction

Most people don’t even notice them --- three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that unexpectedly will be placed into 18-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it.

by Kristen Perrin - Fiction, Mystery

Present day: Annie Adams is just settling into life in Castle Knoll when local fortune teller Peony Lane shares a cryptic message only hours before being found dead inside the locked Gravesdown Estate. Annie has no choice but to delve into the dark secrets of her new countryside home in order to find out just what Peony Lane was trying to warn her about. 1967: Teenage Frances Adams, Annie’s great aunt, finds herself caught between two men. Ford Gravesdown is one of the only remaining members of a family known for its wealth and dubious uses of power. Archie Foyle is a local who can’t hold down a job and lives above the village pub. But when Frances teams up with Archie to investigate the car crash that killed most of Ford's family, it quickly becomes clear that this was no accident.

by Sarah Damoff - Fiction

Ryan and Lillian Bright are deeply in love, recently married, and now parents to a baby girl, Georgette. But Lillian has a son she hasn’t told Ryan about, and Ryan has an alcohol addiction he hasn’t told Lillian about, so Georgette comes of age watching their marriage rise and fall. When a shocking blow scatters their fragile trio, Georgette tries to distance herself from reminders of her parents. Years later, Lillian’s son comes searching for his birth family, so Georgette must return to her roots, unearth her family’s history, and decide if she can open up to love for them --- or herself --- while there’s still time.

by Matt Goldman - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Showrunner Ethan Harris had a hit with “The Murder Show,” a television crime drama that features a private detective who solves cases the police can’t. But after his pitch for the fourth season is rejected by the network, he returns home to Minnesota looking for inspiration. His former classmate, Ro Greeman, is now a local police officer, and she's uncovered new information about the devastating hit-and-run that killed their mutual friend, Ricky, the summer after high school. She asks Ethan to help her investigate and thinks that if he portrays the killing on “The Murder Show,” the publicity may bring Ricky's killer to justice. It doesn't take long for them to realize that they've dug up more than they bargained for. Someone is dead set on stopping Ethan and Ro from looking too closely into Ricky’s death --- even if keeping them quiet means killing again.

by Jennifer Weiner - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Cassie and Zoe Grossberg were once inseparable sisters and pop sensations, but they haven't spoken in two decades. After experiencing the dizzying highs of celebrity, they were driven apart one terrible night. Now in their 40s, Zoe is a suburban New Jersey mom, while Cassie lives off-grid in Alaska. But Zoe’s teenage daughter, Cherry, is desperate to reunite them and uncover the truth behind their estrangement. As long-buried secrets surface, the sisters must confront past choices and decide if they are open to forgiveness.

by Nicola Whyte - Fiction, Mystery

When a minor criminal is murdered in the smallest residential square in London, elderly heiress and landlady Celeste van Duren recruits two of her tenants to investigate. Her cleaner, Audrey, knows everyone and is liked by all, while failed writer Lewis is known by no one. He hates his job and his life, and he’s not that fond of Audrey either --- but Celeste is persuasive. As they hunt for clues in and around the Square, they discover everyone has something to hide, including their fellow residents. Audrey and Lewis must find a way to work together if they’re to find the killer in their midst. Assuming, of course, there’s just the one.