Editorial Content for The Enigma of Garlic: A 44 Scotland Street Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Reading a 44 Scotland Street novel, in this case THE ENIGMA OF GARLIC, is the next best thing to having Alexander McCall Smith stop by for a glass of sherry on an April afternoon. He arrives a few minutes before 4:00 with an armful of white daffodils, knotted with a blue cord, and we fuss for just a few minutes in the kitchen to find a delicate, cut glass vase. He centers the bouquet on the ornate walnut coffee table, sighs a bit as he sits down in one of our gray armchairs, and pours each of us a glass of fruity sherry. Read More
Teaser
It's the most anticipated event of the decade --- Big Lou and Fat Bob's wedding --- and everyone is invited! But the relative peace and tranquillity of 44 Scotland Street is about to be disrupted. Domineering Irene is set to return for a two-month stay, consigning young Bertie to a summer camp. Not content with that, she somehow manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her friend, the hagiographer Antonia Collie. And can a person really change, even after being struck by lightning? Bruce Anderson’s metamorphosis and new-found outlook on life is put to the test as he prepares to leave his creature comforts for the monastic simplicity of Pluscarden Abbey.
Promo
It's the most anticipated event of the decade --- Big Lou and Fat Bob's wedding --- and everyone is invited! But the relative peace and tranquillity of 44 Scotland Street is about to be disrupted. Domineering Irene is set to return for a two-month stay, consigning young Bertie to a summer camp. Not content with that, she somehow manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her friend, the hagiographer Antonia Collie. And can a person really change, even after being struck by lightning? Bruce Anderson’s metamorphosis and new-found outlook on life is put to the test as he prepares to leave his creature comforts for the monastic simplicity of Pluscarden Abbey.
About the Book
The latest installment in the charming and congenial 44 Scotland Street series finds all our favorite residents of Scotland's most celebrated address up to their usual hilarious hijinks.
It's the most anticipated event of the decade --- Big Lou and Fat Bob's wedding --- and everyone is invited! But the relative peace and tranquillity of 44 Scotland Street is about to be disrupted. Domineering Irene is set to return for a two-month stay, consigning young Bertie to a summer camp. Not content with that, she somehow manages to come between the enigmatic nun, Sister Maria-Fiore dei Fiori di Montagna, and her friend, the hagiographer Antonia Collie.
And can a person really change, even after being struck by lightning? Bruce Anderson’s metamorphosis and new-found outlook on life is put to the test as he prepares to leave his creature comforts for the monastic simplicity of Pluscarden Abbey. His house sitter, meanwhile, gets a little too comfortable in his new life and discovers that his talented employer's shoes are all too easy to slip into. With great taste comes great responsibility.
Alexander McCall Smith's delightfully witty, wise and sometimes surreal comedy spirals out in surprising ways in this new installment, but its heart remains where it has always been --- at the center of life in Edinburgh's New Town.
Audiobook available, read by Robert Ian Mackenzie
Editorial Content for Standing in the Shadows: A DCI Banks Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
I did not want STANDING IN THE SHADOWS to end. Not because of the intricate plotting or the twisty mystery, but because I knew I was holding in my hands Peter Robinson’s last DCI Banks novel. His recent passing not only left a hole in the world of literature, it led to a premature halt to one of the best mystery/thriller series in the business. Read More
Teaser
In November 1980, Nick Hartley returns home from a university lecture to find his house crawling with police. His ex-girlfriend, Alice Poole, has been found murdered, and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. The case quickly goes cold, but Nick cannot let it go. He embarks on a career in investigative journalism, determined to find Alice’s murderer --- but his obsession leads him down a dangerous path. Decades later, in November 2019, an archaeologist unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more contemporary than the Roman remains she is seeking. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the remains themselves. As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion.
Promo
In November 1980, Nick Hartley returns home from a university lecture to find his house crawling with police. His ex-girlfriend, Alice Poole, has been found murdered, and her new boyfriend is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. The case quickly goes cold, but Nick cannot let it go. He embarks on a career in investigative journalism, determined to find Alice’s murderer --- but his obsession leads him down a dangerous path. Decades later, in November 2019, an archaeologist unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more contemporary than the Roman remains she is seeking. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the remains themselves. As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion.
About the Book
The 28th twisting installment in the DCI Alan Banks mystery series that Stephen King calls “the best now on the market.”
In November 1980, Nick Hartley returns home from a university lecture to find his house crawling with police. His ex-girlfriend, Alice Poole, has been found murdered, and her new boyfriend, Mark Woodcroft, is missing. Nick is the prime suspect. The case quickly goes cold, but Nick cannot let it go. He embarks on a career in investigative journalism, determined to find Alice’s murderer --- but his obsession leads him down a dangerous path.
Decades later, in November 2019, an archaeologist unearths a skeleton that turns out to be far more contemporary than the Roman remains she is seeking. Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate, but there is little to be gleaned from the remains themselves. Left with few clues, Banks and his team must rely on their wits to hunt down a killer.
As the two cases unfurl, the investigations twist and turn to an explosive conclusion.
Audiobook available, read by Simon Vance
Editorial Content for The Fourth Enemy: A Daniel Pitt Novel
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
When Anne Perry wrote TWENTY-ONE DAYS, featuring Daniel Pitt as the lead character, I thought it was just going to be a stand-alone. I’m glad I was wrong. It was brilliant to use the son of Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, the stars of one of Perry’s most popular series, as the protagonist in his own story. Now, with the release of THE FOURTH ENEMY, we get to enjoy the sixth installment in a series that has become as indispensable as her others. Read More
Teaser
Working his way up at the London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named junior counsel on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his --- and the firm’s --- reputation. The trouble is that Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets and even deeper connections. Vayne’s philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel’s friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside Gideon Hunter, the new head of his firm, Daniel must find a way to prove that Vayne is guilty. Vayne’s trial reveals his deep political ambitions, and it heats up further when a crucial witness is found dead. When another witness is kidnapped, Daniel must set out on a rescue mission that puts his life --- and the case against Vayne --- in peril.
Promo
Working his way up at the London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named junior counsel on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his --- and the firm’s --- reputation. The trouble is that Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets and even deeper connections. Vayne’s philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel’s friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside Gideon Hunter, the new head of his firm, Daniel must find a way to prove that Vayne is guilty. Vayne’s trial reveals his deep political ambitions, and it heats up further when a crucial witness is found dead. When another witness is kidnapped, Daniel must set out on a rescue mission that puts his life --- and the case against Vayne --- in peril.
About the Book
Daniel Pitt is under pressure to prosecute a beloved philanthropist whose good deeds may hide dark --- and dangerous --- secrets, in this gripping mystery from New York Times bestselling author Anne Perry.
Working his way up at the London law firm fford Croft and Gibson, Daniel Pitt is named junior counsel on a fraud case with the potential to make or break his --- and the firm’s --- reputation. The trouble is, Malcolm Vayne, the man on trial, has deep pockets and even deeper connections. Vayne’s philanthropic efforts paint him a hero in the eyes of the public, but Daniel’s friend Ian, a police officer, has evidence to suggest otherwise. Nervously working alongside Gideon Hunter, the new head of his firm, Daniel must find a way to prove that Vayne is guilty.
Meanwhile, Daniel’s new bride, forensic scientist Miriam fford Croft, befriends Rose Hunter, Gideon’s wife, and the two become engrossed in the women’s suffrage movement. Miriam finds herself among women who are brave and determined enough to undergo hunger strikes and prison sentences. Vayne’s image is improved by his support of their cause, but Miriam is not deceived.
Vayne’s trial reveals his deep political ambitions, and it heats up further when a crucial witness is found dead. When another witness is kidnapped, Daniel must set out on a rescue mission that puts his life --- and the case against Vayne --- in peril.
Audiobook available, read by Samuel Roukin
Editorial Content for Dirty Laundry
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
The scandalous secrets, resentments and ambitions of three young mothers are hung out for all to see in DIRTY LAUNDRY, a tightly woven, multiperspective work of domestic suspense from debut author Disha Bose. Read More
Teaser
Ciara Dunphy seemingly has it all. But behind the filters, reality is less polished. Enter Ciara’s best friend, Mishti Guha. Discontent in a marriage arranged for her by her parents, she wants what Ciara has --- the ease with which she moves through the world. And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. But then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death. So if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry.
Promo
Ciara Dunphy seemingly has it all. But behind the filters, reality is less polished. Enter Ciara’s best friend, Mishti Guha. Discontent in a marriage arranged for her by her parents, she wants what Ciara has --- the ease with which she moves through the world. And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. But then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death. So if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry.
About the Book
She was the perfect wife, with the perfect life. You would kill to have it.
Ciara Dunphy has it all --- a loving husband, well-behaved children and a beautiful home. Her circle of friends in their small Irish village go to her for tips about mothering, style and influencer success --- a picture-perfect life is easy money on Instagram. But behind the filters, reality is less polished.
Enter Mishti Guha: Ciara’s best friend. Ciara welcomed Mishti into her inner circle for being...unlike the other mothers in the group. Discontent in a marriage arranged for her by her parents back in Calcutta, Mishti now raises her young daughter in a country that is too cold, among children who look nothing like her. She wants what Ciara has --- the ease with which she moves through the world --- and, in that sense, Mishti might be exactly like the other mothers.
And there’s earth mother Lauren Doyle: born, bred and the butt of jokes in their village. With her disheveled partner and children who run naked in the yard, they’re mostly a happy lot, though ostracized for being the singular dysfunction in Ciara’s immaculate world. When Lauren finds an unlikely ally in Mishti, she decides that her days of ridicule are over.
Then Ciara is found murdered in her own pristine home, and the house of cards she’d worked so hard to build comes crumbling down. Everyone seems to have something to gain from Ciara’s death, so if they don’t want the blame, it may be the perfect time to air their enemies’ dirty laundry.
In this dazzling debut novel, Disha Bose revolutionizes age-old ideas of love and deceit. What ensues is the delicious unspooling of a group of women desperate to preserve themselves.
Audiobook available, read by Chandrika Narayanan-Mohan
Editorial Content for A Living Remedy: A Memoir
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Nicole Chung’s debut memoir, ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW, explored her determination to better understand her adoption and locate her Korean birth family. In her latest book, A LIVING REMEDY, she looks with grace and grit at her upbringing in Oregon and how her American parents’ ideals, ethics and sincerity affected her as she matured and gained a new, occasionally painful perspective on her past. Read More
Teaser
Nicole Chung couldn’t hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast, no longer the only Korean she knew, she found community and a path to the life she'd long wanted. But the middle class world she begins to raise a family in looks very different from the middle class world she thought she grew up in. When her father dies at only 67, killed by diabetes and kidney disease, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of precarity and lack of access to health care contributed to his early death. And then the unthinkable happens. Less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as COVID-19 descends upon the world.
Promo
Nicole Chung couldn’t hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast, no longer the only Korean she knew, she found community and a path to the life she'd long wanted. But the middle class world she begins to raise a family in looks very different from the middle class world she thought she grew up in. When her father dies at only 67, killed by diabetes and kidney disease, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of precarity and lack of access to health care contributed to his early death. And then the unthinkable happens. Less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as COVID-19 descends upon the world.
About the Book
From the bestselling author of ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW comes a searing memoir of class, inequality and grief --- a daughter’s search to understand the lives her adoptive parents led, the life she forged as an adult and the lives she’s lost.
In this country, unless you attain extraordinary wealth, you will likely be unable to help your loved ones in all the ways you’d once hoped. You will learn to live with the specific, hollow guilt of those who leave hardship behind, yet are unable to bring anyone else with them.
When Nicole Chung graduated from high school, she couldn’t hightail it out of her overwhelmingly white Oregon hometown fast enough. As a scholarship student at a private university on the East Coast and no longer the only Korean she knew, she found a sense of community she had always craved as an Asian American adoptee --- and a path to the life she’d long wanted.
But the middle-class world she begins to raise a family in --- where there are big homes and college funds --- looks very different from the middle-class world she thought she grew up in, where paychecks have to stretch to the end of the week and there are no safety nets. When her father dies at only 67, killed by the kidney disease that took the life of his mother before him, Nicole feels deep grief as well as rage, knowing that years of financial instability and lack of access to health care contributed to his premature death. And then the unthinkable happens. Less than a year later, her beloved mother is diagnosed with cancer, and the physical distance between them becomes insurmountable as COVID descends upon the world.
Exploring the enduring strength of family bonds in the face of hardship and tragedy, A LIVING REMEDY examines what it takes to reconcile the distance between one life, one home and another --- and sheds needed light on some of the most persistent and tragic inequalities in American society.
Audiobook available, read by Jennifer Kim
Editorial Content for Life Sentence: The Brief and Tragic Career of Baltimore’s Deadliest Gang Leader
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Fans of HBO’s “The Wire” and the recent “We Own This City” will feel at home in the pages of Mark Bowden’s LIFE SENTENCE. It’s a gritty chronicle of the rampage of one young drug dealer through the streets of Bowden’s hometown of Baltimore in the second decade of this century, alongside a subtle indictment of a society that created the conditions in which his subject’s criminality had fertile soil to grow. Read More
Teaser
Sandtown is one of the deadliest neighborhoods in the world. It earned Baltimore its nickname Bodymore, Murderland, and was made notorious by David Simon’s classic HBO series “The Wire.” Drug deals dominate street corners, and ruthless, casual violence abounds. Montana Barronette was the leader of the gang “Trained to Go” (or TTG), and when he was finally arrested and sentenced to life in prison, he had been nicknamed “Baltimore’s Number One Trigger Puller.” After a string of murders are linked to TTG, three detectives set out to put Tana in prison for life. Now an acclaimed journalist who spent his youth in the white suburbs of Baltimore, Mark Bowden returns to the city with exclusive access to the FBI files and unprecedented insight into one of the city’s deadliest gangs and its notorious leader.
Promo
Sandtown is one of the deadliest neighborhoods in the world. It earned Baltimore its nickname Bodymore, Murderland, and was made notorious by David Simon’s classic HBO series “The Wire.” Drug deals dominate street corners, and ruthless, casual violence abounds. Montana Barronette was the leader of the gang “Trained to Go” (or TTG), and when he was finally arrested and sentenced to life in prison, he had been nicknamed “Baltimore’s Number One Trigger Puller.” After a string of murders are linked to TTG, three detectives set out to put Tana in prison for life. Now an acclaimed journalist who spent his youth in the white suburbs of Baltimore, Mark Bowden returns to the city with exclusive access to the FBI files and unprecedented insight into one of the city’s deadliest gangs and its notorious leader.
About the Book
In this unprecedented deep dive into inner-city gang life, Mark Bowden takes readers inside a Baltimore gang, offers an in-depth portrait of its notorious leader and chronicles the 2016 FBI investigation that landed eight gang members in prison.
Sandtown is one of the deadliest neighborhoods in the world. It earned Baltimore its nickname Bodymore, Murderland, and was made notorious by David Simon's classic HBO series "The Wire." Drug deals dominate street corners, and ruthless, casual violence abounds.
Montana Barronette grew up in the center of it all. He was the leader of the gang "Trained to Go" (or TTG), and when he was finally arrested and sentenced to life in prison, he had been nicknamed "Baltimore's Number One Trigger Puller." Under Tana's reign, TTG dominated Sandtown. After a string of murders are linked to TTG, each with dozens of witnesses too intimidated to testify, three detectives set out to put Tana in prison for life. For them, this was never about drugs: It was about serial murder.
Now an acclaimed journalist who spent his youth in the white suburbs of Baltimore, Mark Bowden returns to the city with exclusive access to the FBI files and unprecedented insight into one of the city's deadliest gangs and its notorious leader. As he traces the rise and fall of TTG, Bowden uses wiretapped drug buys, police interviews, undercover videos, text messages, social media posts, trial transcripts and his own ongoing conversations with Tana's family and community to create the most in-depth account of an inner-city gang ever written.
With his signature precision and propulsive narrative, Mark Bowden positions Tana --- as a boy, a gang leader, a killer and now a prisoner --- in the context of Baltimore and America, illuminating his path for what it really was: a life sentence.
Audiobook available, read by L.J. Ganser
Editorial Content for The Seaside Library
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
While THE SEASIDE LIBRARY is about the lengths to which friends will go to protect and support each other, it's not really about a library. The setting is Mariners Island, which Brenda Novak imagines off the coast of New England, where all three main characters grew up. Ivy, Ariana and Cam were best friends. When a tragedy occurred one summer, Ivy and Ariana lied to protect Cam. That lie grew and took on a life of its own over the next two decades. Read More
Teaser
Mariners Island is barely 10 miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community. When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone. Now, 20 years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew --- and everyone they thought they could trust.
Promo
Mariners Island is barely 10 miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community. When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone. Now, 20 years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew --- and everyone they thought they could trust.
About the Book
There are secrets that bring friends together, and others that drive them apart.
Mariners Island is barely 10 miles long, but when Ivy, Ariana and Cam were teenagers, it was their whole world. Beyond the pristine beaches and iconic lighthouse lies the beautiful old library that belongs to Ivy’s family. While that bound Ivy to the island as an adult, Ariana could not leave Mariners behind fast enough. The town holds too many…memories. Not only her unrequited feelings for Cam, but the tragedy that left a scar on the community.
When a young girl went missing, a teenage Cam was unthinkably the prime suspect. Ariana and Ivy knew he couldn’t have hurt anyone, and they promised to protect him --- even if it meant lying on his behalf.
Now, 20 years later, Ariana returns to Mariners just as new evidence emerges on the case, calling into question everything the three friends thought they knew --- and everyone they thought they could trust. What really happened that night? Over the course of one eventful summer, Ariana, Ivy and Cam will learn the truth --- about their pasts, their futures and the ties that still bind them as closely as the pages of a book.
Audiobook available, read by Amy McFadden
Editorial Content for Woman of the Year
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Darcey Bell’s debut novel, A SIMPLE FAVOR, was adapted into a film starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. While I missed her next two books, SOMETHING SHE’S NOT TELLING US and ALL I WANT, I can proudly state that her latest effort, WOMAN OF THE YEAR, is a solid read and an enjoyable psychological thriller. Read More
Teaser
Twenty years ago, gregarious Lorelei and mousy Holly became fast friends as students in the same college psychology seminar. Taught by an expert in control and human behavior, the two students also grew close to their charismatic professor. But in one twisted moment of gaslighting, their friendship flamed out and Lorelei’s once-promising future fell apart. Flash forward, Holly has everything Lorelei ever wanted, while Lorelei is a lonely cat lady. Now, Holly is even up for an award at a Woman of the Year ceremony, and Lorelei finally has the perfect opportunity to get the revenge she’s wanted for years. But she’s not the only person who has been obsessively following Holly’s career --- and when someone winds up dead, Lorelei realizes she may be in danger as well.
Promo
Twenty years ago, gregarious Lorelei and mousy Holly became fast friends as students in the same college psychology seminar. Taught by an expert in control and human behavior, the two students also grew close to their charismatic professor. But in one twisted moment of gaslighting, their friendship flamed out and Lorelei’s once-promising future fell apart. Flash forward, Holly has everything Lorelei ever wanted, while Lorelei is a lonely cat lady. Now, Holly is even up for an award at a Woman of the Year ceremony, and Lorelei finally has the perfect opportunity to get the revenge she’s wanted for years. But she’s not the only person who has been obsessively following Holly’s career --- and when someone winds up dead, Lorelei realizes she may be in danger as well.
About the Book
A deliciously twisty thriller about the dark side of female friendship and a revenge plot that gets a little out of hand from the New York Times bestselling author of the “intense, captivating, and astonishing” (New York Journal of Books) A SIMPLE FAVOR.
Twenty years ago, gregarious Lorelei and mousy Holly became fast friends as students in the same college psychology seminar. Taught by an expert in control and human behavior, the two students also grew close to their charismatic professor. But in one twisted moment of gaslighting, their friendship flamed out and Lorelei’s once-promising future fell apart.
Flash forward, Holly has everything Lorelei ever wanted, while Lorelei is a lonely cat lady. Now, Holly is even up for an award at a Woman of the Year ceremony, and Lorelei finally has the perfect opportunity to get the revenge she’s wanted for years. But she’s not the only person who has been obsessively following Holly’s career --- and when someone winds up dead, Lorelei realizes she may be in danger, too.
Audiobook available, read by Tavia Gilbert