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Reviews

Reviews

by Alexander McCall Smith - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Humor

Val Eliot is working on an English farm during the war when she meets Mike, a U.S. Air Force pilot stationed nearby. The two become close, and after Val rescues a border collie named Peter Woodhouse, who is being mistreated by his owner, she realizes the dog would actually be safer with Mike. Soon Peter Woodhouse settles into his new home on the air force base, and Val and Mike fall deeply in love. But when a disaster jeopardizes the future of them all, Peter Woodhouse brings Ubi, a German corporal, into their orbit, sparking a friendship that comes with great risk but carries with it the richest of rewards.

by Anne Hillerman - Fiction, Mystery

When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at a character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience, stumbled upon a human skeleton. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds to find the missing girl. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back --- and involved with Bernie’s sister, Darleen.

by Elizabeth George - Fiction, Mystery

The cozy, bucolic town of Ludlow is stunned when one of its most revered and respected citizens --- Ian Druitt, the local deacon --- is accused of a serious crime. Then, while in police custody, Ian is found dead. Did he kill himself? Or was he murdered? When Barbara Havers is sent to Ludlow to investigate the chain of events that led to Ian's death, all the evidence points to suicide. But Barbara can't shake the feeling that she's missing something. She decides to take a closer look at the seemingly ordinary inhabitants of Ludlow --- mainly elderly retirees and college students --- and discovers that almost everyone in town has something to hide.

by J. A. Jance - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After taking down the man responsible for his best friend’s death, Stuart Ramey thinks the case is finally closed. That is, until Stu finds himself left with a multimillion dollar fortune in Bitcoin in a desperate bid by Frigg, a rogue A.I. program created by the killer, to keep itself from being fully deactivated. To sort out his situation and take Frigg down for good, Stu enlists the help of Ali Reynolds and the rest of his cyber security colleagues at High Noon Enterprises. But they are not the only ones who know about Frigg’s existence. Graciella Miramar is the right-hand woman to El Pescado, the leader of a dangerous drug cartel, and she’ll do anything to get her hands on that program.

by Peter Carey - Fiction, Historical Fiction

Irene Bobs loves fast driving. Her husband is the best car salesman in southeastern Australia. Together they enter the 1954 Redex Trial, a weeks-long endurance contest of a car race that circles the entire continent. With them is their lanky, fair-haired navigator: deposed quiz show champion and failed schoolteacher Willie Bachhuber. If they win the Redex, the Bobs name alone will get them a dealership, and Willie will have recharged a life currently ground to a halt. But before any of that might happen, their official strip maps will lead them, without warning, out of the comfortable white Australia they know so well.

by James Grippando - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

When the body of Jamal Cousin, president of the preeminent black fraternity at Florida's flagship university, is discovered hogtied in the Stygian water swamps of the Suwanee River Valley, the death sets off a firestorm that threatens to rage out of control when a fellow student, Mark Towson, the president of a prominent white fraternity, is accused of the crime. Contending with rising political tensions, racial unrest and a sensational media, Townson’s defense attorney, Jack Swyteck, knows that the stakes could not be higher. The evidence against his client, which includes a threatening text message referencing "strange fruit" on the river, seems overwhelming. Then Jack gets a break that could turn the case.

by Alan Bradley - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, 12-year-old Flavia de Luce is struggling to fill her empty days. For a needed escape, Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, Flavia, an expert chemist with a passion for poisons, is ecstatic. Suddenly something grazes her fingers as she dangles them in the water. She clamps down on the object, which turns out to be a human head, attached to a human body. If anything could take Flavia’s mind off sorrow, it is solving a murder --- although one that may lead the young sleuth to an early grave.

by Alafair Burke - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When Angela met Jason Powell, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling. To her surprise, they married the following summer. Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married.

by M. C. Beaton - Fiction, Mystery

Driving home from a dinner party in the village of Sumpton Harcourt, Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, strain to see the road ahead --- and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town. An elderly spinster has been murdered --- and the villagers just can’t fathom who among them could commit such a crime. Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion (a little glad for the excitement, she must admit, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books). But when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation and, since the village happens to have its own coven of witches, her own life.

by Janet Evanovich - Fiction, Mystery

Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won’t let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it’s just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church, Stephanie knows that she’s the only one with a prayer of catching this killer. If all that’s not enough, Diesel is back in town. Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, isn’t pleased at this unexpected arrival nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie.