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Reviews

Reviews

by M. C. Beaton - Fiction, Mystery

Sergeant Hamish Macbeth is alarmed to receive a report from a woman in the small village of Cronish in the Scottish Highlands. She has been brutally attacked, and the criminal is on the loose. But upon further investigation, Hamish discovers that she was lying about the crime. So when the same woman calls him back about an intruder, he simply marvels at her compulsion to lie. This time, though, she is telling the truth. Her body is found in her home, and Hamish must sort through all of her lies to solve the crime.

by Mary Pat Kelly - Fiction, Historical Fiction

It’s 1903, and Nora Kelly falls for an attractive but dangerous man who sends her running back to the Old World her family had fled. She takes on Paris, mixing with couturiers, artists and "les femmes Americaines" of the Left Bank, such as Gertrude Stein and Sylvia Beach. But when Nora stumbles into the centuries-old Collège des Irlandais, a good-looking scholar, an unconventional priest and Ireland’s revolutionary women challenge her to honor her Irish blood and join the struggle to free Ireland.

by Tim Dorsey - Fiction, Humor

Ruthless at taking down the greedy banksters kicking people out of their homes, young lawyer Brook Campanella --- one of Serge Storms’ old flames --- lands a major class-action lawsuit and wins big. The opposition is determined to shut her down, and they’ll go to extreme lengths to do it. Luckily for her, Serge has been hired to do some investigative legwork on the case. There's nothing he likes better than saving a damsel in distress, especially when it means kicking a bunch of shyster butt.

by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

For John Quincannon, this is a first: searching a Chinatown opium den for his client's husband, missing in the middle of a brewing tong war set to ignite over the stolen corpse of Bing Ah Kee. Meanwhile, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, searches for the corpse of a millionaire, stolen from a sealed family crypt and currently being held for ransom. Is there a connection between the two body snatchers? Or is simple greed the answer to this one?

by Priya Parmar - Fiction, Historical Fiction

London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous, artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.

by Lalita Tademy - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Cow Tom, born into slavery in Alabama in 1810 and sold to a Creek Indian chief before his 10th birthday, possessed an extraordinary gift: the ability to master languages. As the new country developed westward, Cow Tom became a key translator for his Creek master and was hired out to US military generals. Cow Tom’s legacy lives on --- especially in the courageous spirit of his granddaughter Rose, who is inspired by her grandfather’s indelible mark of courage.

by Anita Diamant - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Eighty-five-year-old Addie Baum tells the story of her life to her 22-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.

by John Byrne Cooke - Entertainment, Music, Nonfiction

As a road manager and filmmaker, John Byrne Cooke helped run the Janis Joplin show --- and record it for posterity. Now, in ON THE ROAD WITH JANIS JOPLIN, Cooke reveals the never-before-told story of his years with the young woman from Port Arthur who would become the first female rock and roll superstar --- and depart the stage too soon.

by Neil Patrick Harris - Autobiography, Entertainment, Humor, Nonfiction, Performing Arts, Popular Culture

In this revolutionary, Joycean experiment in light celebrity narrative, Neil Patrick Harris lets you, the reader, live his life. And at each critical juncture of your life, you will choose how to proceed. You will decide whether to try out for “Doogie Howser, M.D.” and whether to spend years struggling with your sexuality. Choose correctly and you’ll find fame, fortune and true love. Choose incorrectly and you’ll find misery, heartbreak and a hideous death by piranhas.

by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

The FBI had one demand when they secretly teamed up Special Agent Kate O’Hare with charming con man Nicolas Fox --- bring down the world’s most-wanted and untouchable felons. This time it’s the brutal leader of a global drug-smuggling empire. The FBI doesn’t know what their target looks like, where he is or how to find him, but Nick Fox has a few tricks up his sleeve to roust this particular Knipschildt chocolate-loving drug lord.