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Editorial Content for Island of Thieves

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

Van Shaw is one of the more interesting characters inhabiting the crowded world of contemporary thriller fiction. Glen Erik Hamilton’s creation is the grandson of a legendary master thief. Shaw learned the trade and a great deal of wisdom at his grandfather’s side, and thus inherited more than tools and connections. This has not prevented him from getting into trouble but ultimately assists him in getting out of it. He needs all the help he can get in ISLAND OF THIEVES, the sixth and latest installment in this heralded series. Read More

Teaser

Van Shaw is hired to evaluate the safeguards for the art collection of eccentric business magnate Sebastien Rohner. Then Rohner reveals to Van the real reason he’s been recruited: to prevent another professional burglar from stealing the art. While questioning the bizarre nature of the job, Van accepts the lucrative offer and arrives at the island estate during an international summit that Rohner is hosting. Shortly after beginning his surveillance of Rohner’s highly secure gallery wing, he stumbles across the murdered body of one of the honored guests. Van knows that the homicide detectives on the case think he’s the prime suspect. To clear his name, he will have to uncover the hidden motive of corporate espionage at a global level, even with a band of killers on his tail.

Promo

Van Shaw is hired to evaluate the safeguards for the art collection of eccentric business magnate Sebastien Rohner. Then Rohner reveals to Van the real reason he’s been recruited: to prevent another professional burglar from stealing the art. While questioning the bizarre nature of the job, Van accepts the lucrative offer and arrives at the island estate during an international summit that Rohner is hosting. Shortly after beginning his surveillance of Rohner’s highly secure gallery wing, he stumbles across the murdered body of one of the honored guests. Van knows that the homicide detectives on the case think he’s the prime suspect. To clear his name, he will have to uncover the hidden motive of corporate espionage at a global level, even with a band of killers on his tail.

About the Book

When a new security gig turns into a setup, expert thief Van Shaw finds himself the prey in a cross-country pursuit --- in this electrifying sixth novel in Glen Erik Hamilton’s pulse-pounding and emotionally resonant thriller series.  

Van Shaw is hired to evaluate the safeguards for the art collection of eccentric business magnate Sebastien Rohner. Then Rohner reveals to Van the real reason he’s been recruited: to prevent another professional burglar from stealing the art. Rohner wants to set a thief to catch a thief.

While questioning the bizarre nature of the job, Van accepts the lucrative offer and arrives at the island estate during an international summit that Rohner is hosting. Shortly after beginning his surveillance of Rohner’s highly secure gallery wing, Van stumbles across the murdered body of one of the honored guests along the rocky shore. Wary of Rohner’s true intentions, Van knows the homicide detectives on the case --- and perhaps Rohner as well --- think he’s the prime suspect and will turn his life upside down in their search for proof.

Van begins to hunt for the killer himself, but scrutiny only digs his hole deeper, as one of Rohner’s own executives is then killed and the Seattle police find concrete evidence placing Van at the scene. With no other options, he goes on the run, alone and unaided. He’s hunted by the cops, the enraged Rohner and by a pair of psychopathic hitmen who chase Van from one coast to the next. To clear his name, Van Shaw will have to uncover the hidden motive of corporate espionage at a global level, even with a band of killers on his tail, determined to add Van to their growing list of victims.

Audiobook available, read by Stephen Mendel

Editorial Content for American Estrangement: Stories

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stuart Shiffman

People read in different ways. Some start one book, read it straight through to the end, and then move on to another title. Others keep several books juggling in the air simultaneously, which is my general pattern as I read both for pleasure and professionally. Normally my selection of books includes one short story collection for those moments when I would like to change the trajectory of my reading and take a break from the history, fiction and biography that generally occupy my time. Read More

Teaser

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as "a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain." His new collection of stories --- some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review and The Best American Short Stories --- is set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to readers of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles --- a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction --- even as they are battered by larger, often invisible, economic, political and racial forces of American society.

Promo

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as "a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain." His new collection of stories --- some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review and The Best American Short Stories --- is set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to readers of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles --- a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction --- even as they are battered by larger, often invisible, economic, political and racial forces of American society.

About the Book

Stories that capture our times by “a young author who has already established himself as a unique American voice” (Elle).

Saïd Sayrafiezadeh has been hailed by Philip Gourevitch as "a masterful storyteller working from deep in the American grain." His new collection of stories --- some of which have appeared in The New Yorker, the Paris Review and the Best American Short Stories --- is set in a contemporary America full of the kind of emotionally bruised characters familiar to readers of Denis Johnson and George Saunders. These are people contending with internal struggles --- a son’s fractured relationship with his father, the death of a mother, the loss of a job, drug addiction --- even as they are battered by larger, often invisible, economic, political and racial forces of American society.

Searing, intimate, often slyly funny, and always marked by a deep imaginative sympathy, AMERICAN ESTRANGEMENT is a testament to our addled times. It will cement Sayrafiezadeh’s reputation as one of the essential 21st-century American writers.

Audiobook available; read by David Bendena, Pete Cross, Mark Owen, Qarie Marshall, Stephen Prechtl and Lynch Travis

Editorial Content for The Ophelia Girls

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Megan Elliott

A mother and her teenage daughter grapple with sex, femininity and the lingering effects of trauma in Jane Healey’s thoughtful, seductive new novel, THE OPHELIA GIRLS. Read More

Teaser

In the summer of 1973, Ruth and her four friends were obsessed with pre-Raphaelite paintings. Drawn to the cold depths of the river by Ruth’s house, the girls pretend to be the drowning Ophelia, with increasingly elaborate tableaus. But by the end of that fateful summer, real tragedy finds them along the banks. Twenty-four years later, Ruth returns to the suffocating, once grand house she grew up in, the mother of young twins and 17-year-old Maeve. Joining the family in the country is Stuart, Ruth’s childhood friend, who is quietly insinuating himself into their lives and gives Maeve the attention she longs for. She is recently in remission, unsure of her place in the world now that she is cancer-free. Her parents just want her to be an ordinary teenage girl. But what teenage girl is ordinary?

Promo

In the summer of 1973, Ruth and her four friends were obsessed with pre-Raphaelite paintings. Drawn to the cold depths of the river by Ruth’s house, the girls pretend to be the drowning Ophelia, with increasingly elaborate tableaus. But by the end of that fateful summer, real tragedy finds them along the banks. Twenty-four years later, Ruth returns to the suffocating, once grand house she grew up in, the mother of young twins and 17-year-old Maeve. Joining the family in the country is Stuart, Ruth’s childhood friend, who is quietly insinuating himself into their lives and gives Maeve the attention she longs for. She is recently in remission, unsure of her place in the world now that she is cancer-free. Her parents just want her to be an ordinary teenage girl. But what teenage girl is ordinary?

About the Book

A mother’s secret past and her daughter’s present collide in this richly atmospheric novel from the acclaimed author of THE ANIMALS AT LOCKWOOD MANOR.

In the summer of 1973, Ruth and her four friends were obsessed with pre-Raphaelite paintings --- and a little bit obsessed with each other. Drawn to the cold depths of the river by Ruth’s house, the girls pretend to be the drowning Ophelia, with increasingly elaborate tableaus. But by the end of that fateful summer, real tragedy finds them along the banks.

Twenty-four years later, Ruth returns to the suffocating, once grand house she grew up in, the mother of young twins and 17-year-old Maeve. Joining the family in the country is Stuart, Ruth’s childhood friend, who is quietly insinuating himself into their lives and gives Maeve the attention she longs for. She is recently in remission, unsure of her place in the world now that she is cancer-free. Her parents just want her to be an ordinary teenage girl. But what teenage girl is ordinary?

Alternating between the two fateful summers, THE OPHELIA GIRLS is a suspense-filled exploration of mothers and daughters, illicit desire and the perils and power of being a young woman.

Audiobook available, read by Alix Dunmore

Editorial Content for Agatha Christie: First Lady of Crime

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Agatha Christie is the best-selling novelist of all time, but does this make her one of the best? If you are a longtime reader of Dame Agatha or have seen some of her movies and plays but never cracked open one of her novels, this collection of essays compiled by the late H. R. F. Keating is a great place to start. Read More

Teaser

Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews --- declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure --- and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie’s art itself; others explain the reasons for her success --- not just the books, but also in film and theater.

Promo

Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews --- declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure --- and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success. Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie’s art itself; others explain the reasons for her success --- not just the books, but also in film and theater.

About the Book

From Poirot to Miss Marple, from "The Mousetrap" to "Witness for the Prosecution," this a fascinating look at the life and work of Agatha Christie, the world's most successful and popular crime writer.

Agatha Christie was not only the most successful author of detective stories the world has ever known, she was also a mystery in herself, giving only the rarest interviews --- declining absolutely to become any sort of public figure --- and a mystery, too, in the manner in which she achieved her astonishing success.

Distinguished crime novelist (and acclaimed critic) H. R. F. Keating brings together a dozen noted writers from both sides of the Atlantic to throw light on the ever-intriguing Dame Agatha. Some essays analyze Christie’s art itself; some explain the reasons for her success --- not just the books, but also in film and theater.

The myriad of critical angles explored here are penetrating, affectionate, enthusiastic, analytical and even funny. Together, they give an almost unique insight into the life and work of the First Lady of Crime.

Includes essays by Sophie Hannah, H. R. F. Keating, Elizabeth Walter, Julian Symons, Edmund Crispin, Michael Gilbert, Emma Lathen, Colin Watson, Celia Fremlin, Dorothy B. Hughes, J. C. Trewin, Philip Jenkinson, William Weaver and Christianna Brand.

B. F. Skinner

Education is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.

Attribution

B. F. Skinner

John Lilly

In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true either is true or becomes true.

Attribution

John Lilly

September Bookaccino Live Event

The Husbands by Chandler Baker

August 2021

I enjoyed Chandler Baker’s WHISPER NETWORK, so I was looking forward to her new novel, THE HUSBANDS. There’s a lot of talk in this country about “the second shift,” the way that women typically take on more of the management and running of the household than men do, even when they have incredibly busy jobs. This book tackles that subject head on in a very interesting way.

Clark and Division by Naomi Hirahara

August 2021

CLARK AND DIVISION by Naomi Hirahara was one of the books that readers who attended July's "Bookaccino Live" event were most looking forward to reading --- and their anticipation is well founded.

Sarah Ban Breathnach

Every time we remember to say "thank you," we experience nothing less than heaven on earth.

Attribution

Sarah Ban Breathnach