Murder in the Manuscript Room by Con Lehane
Raymond Ambler, the curator of crime fiction at the New York
Public Library’s grand 42nd Street Library, has solved a crime or
two in his day. He is trying to gain
custody of the young grandson he just learned of, as his son is serving time in
state prison. Ambler is approached by
former NYPD cop and mystery author Paul Higgins who wants to donate his papers
to the library, but wants some of the papers to be kept under wraps. Shortly after, a young woman who has just
started working with Ambler and his colleague, sometimes date, Adele Morgan is
found murdered in Ambler’s office.
Ambler assumes that his pal homicide detective Mike Cosgrove will
investigate the case, but soon the Intelligence Division takes over and an
Islamic scholar who has been studying at the library, and with whom Adele has
struck up a friendship, becomes a person of interest. At the same time, Ambler is contacted by a
childhood friend who took the rap for the murder of a trucker’s union boss, he
believes his brother to have committed.
Now that the brother has died, Ambler’s friend wants to clear both their
names and maybe find the real murderer.
All of these events don’t seem related, but Ambler keeps an open mind
and before he knows it, pieces start to fall into place and his life is once
again at risk as he chases a killer.
There are so many disparate pieces to this mystery, it is hard to
believe they will all fall neatly into place, but neatly they do with plenty of
library lore and New York City history along the way; intelligent, thoughtful
characters add to this enjoyable mystery.
The Secret, Book, and Scone Society by Ellery Adams
Nora Pennington has come to Miracle Springs, North Carolina
to escape her previous life and to heal.
Living in a converted caboose and helping visitors to her bookstore
Miracle Books, select books to help them heal, Nora has achieved a sense of
satisfaction if not peace. The owner of the Gingerbread House, Hester, can bake
comfort into her custom-made scones, while June works at the spa with hot
springs, and Estella has her salon to pamper visitors. Shortly after a visiting businessman has a
consultation with Nora, her is found dead on the train tracks, a death the
police quickly rule a suicide. Though
Nora knew Neil only a short time, she cannot believe Neil committed suicide and
turns to the three other woman, as damaged as she, to band together in order to
figure out what really happened to Neil, bring a killer to justice, and in the
process, learn to trust each other, and to heal from the past, and forgive
themselves. This first book in a new
series will welcome readers to the world of Miracle Springs and the warm,
caring women who live there. There are
very few surprises to the murder investigation, though one revelation at the
end is startling, adding a little more interest. It is the setting and the four main
characters that add charm and warmth to this mystery.
Sweet Tea and Sympathy by Molly Harper
Chicago event planner Margot Cary has been fired after one
of her society galas goes spectacularly wrong control. Out of work with no hopes of getting an event
planning job in the country thanks to a viral You Tube video, Margot is
surprised when her great aunt Tootie invites Margot to the family compound in
Lake Sackett, Georgia to work in her estranged family’s funeral home/bait
shop. Margot has had no contact with the
McCready’s, including her father, since her mother moved from Lake Sackett with
Margot when Margot was a toddler.
Overwhelmed by her extended, gregarious family, and their small town
Southern ways, such as carbs, pork, and deep-frying everything, or knowing everyone’s
business before they know it themselves, Margot vows to lick her wounds and get
out of Lake Sackett as quickly as possible.
Slowly and surely, though, Margot realizes things aren’t all bad in Lake
Sackett: she likes her family, is getting to know her father, and has caught
the eye of the most eligible bachelor, elementary school principal Kyle Archer,
who as a widow with two young daughters, comes with his own set of issues. This first book in a new series welcomes
readers to Lake Sackett with eccentric, loving characters, and invites them to
sit and stay for a spell with a tall glass of sweet tea.
The Library at the Edge of the World by Felicity Hayes-McCoy
Hanna Casey returns from London to her hometown on Ireland’s
West Coast peninsula of Finfarran after more than twenty-years of marriage,
which she has just learned has been a farce, with her teenage daughter Jazz in
tow. Working as a librarian in Lissbeg,
Hanna remains embittered five years later, still in her childhood home under
the scrutiny of her nagging mother, Jazz now living in France, a flight attendant
who visits from time to time. Determined
to take her life back, Hanna decides it is time to restore the rundown cottage
left to her by her great aunt Maggie.
Upon hearing that the town may close Hanna’s beloved library, she finds
herself fighting a battle on a second front to keep what she considers the
center of the town and to convince the naysayers that a town without a library
is a town without a heart. Driving
around the coast in her mobile library gives Hanna plenty of time to think and
plenty of encounters with people who often irk and irritate her, but whom she
comes to realize depend on Hanna and her mobile library not just for reading
materials but for companionship and community. This heart-warming novel is
perfect for book groups or anyone who adores libraries and recognizes that they
are more than a collection of books…they are a collection of community.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
by Caroline Fraser
Using land records, letters, and diaries, this book provides
a detailed historical account of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the
time during which Laura Ingalls grew up and wrote about in her famed
autobiographical novels. This
fascinating book provides context for many of the events described in the
Little House books and Wilder's writings as well as dispels any myths that her
daughter Rose was a ghostwriter for the beloved series. Told in great detail is the story, so often
left untold, of Laura as a young bride, then young mother, and a woman who
moved her family around to survive, and who suffered many great losses during
her lifetime, but somehow managed to turn these near defeats into something
cherished by generations to come. This
is a masterful tribute to the legendary author as well as the gripping
historical account of America is sure to have wide appeal.
