New For May

Tiny Imperfections by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans

In her early twenties, Josie Bordelon thought she had it all: she was the runway darling of all the top fashion houses, until she got pregnant.  Not sure where to turn, she found herself back at her aunt Viv’s in San Francisco; Viv raised Josie when Josie’s mother dumped her on Viv’s door steps when Josie was four and Josie is determined not to make the same mistakes with Etta her mother, completely estranged from her sister and daughter, made wither.  Josie is the director of admissions at the most prestigious San Francisco private schools, Fairchild Country Day School where Josie went: she made good grades, was a track star, and more importantly, was black, making the Administration and Board of Trustees feel very diverse and progressive.  As admission season begins, Etta is a senior in high school, and a high level ballerina who wants nothing more than to go to Julliard; something Josie is dead set against, afraid Etta will end up like Josie did, no college degree, on Aunt Viv’s doorstep.  Between juggling over 500 applications for 36 kindergarten spots, and navigating Etta’s college applications, the last thing Josie has time for is a new relationship, but when Aunt Viv has a heart attack, that’s just what she finds in a most unexpected place.  This breezy, smart, sassy story is a new take on private school enrollment.  Josie and her best friend Lola dish every Tuesday in a no holds barred gripe session.  The women in this book are strong and independent and want to instill that in the next generation.  Readers will be anxious to read more about these characters.

Happy and You Know It by Laura Hankin

Claire was a musician on her way to stardom until her band unceremoniously dumped her; now she finds herself a playgroup musician for a group of Park Avenue elite infants.  Whitney, the alpha mommy and Instagram darling, is welcoming to Claire, and often includes her in the groups’ outings.  While some of the mommies are hard to get to know, Claire is drawn to Amara, a new-stay-at-home mommy who isn’t entirely comfortable in her new role; and there’s Gwen who, as a second time mommy, is full of helpful hints.  The closer Claire gets to the women, the more their veneer starts to come off, and the more secrets she uncovers, soon realizing these women’s lives are more than yoga, juice cleanses, and cute selfies.  Fun and breezy, with some unexpected twists, this novel is a different take on being a privileged toddler on the Upper East Side.

All My Mother’s Lovers by Ilana Masad

This assuredly written debut novel that explores love in all its many forms: familial love, the love between a mother and daughter, a young woman and her girlfriends, a mother, a woman, who finds the love missing from her life in other, unexpected places.  Maggie Krause is finding her way with her new girlfriend when she receives the news her mother has been killed in a car crash.  Maggie travels from her home in St. Louis back to California where she finds her brother and father unsure of what to do next.  Maggie is tasked with mailing letters her mother Iris wanted mailed upon her death, but Maggie decides to deliver the letters in person, curious about to whom they are written and why.  As she does, she learns about a variety of relationships her mother had, learns more about her parents’ relationship, and tries to understand why, in light of what she learns on her trip, her mother had a hard time accepting Maggie’s choices.  

Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency by Olivia Laing

This collection of essays is almost prophetic in its timely quest to answer the question: is art of any use to anyone in dire circumstances?   Laing’s conclusion is, yes.  Her essays are short and to the point, sometimes terse, but always keenly observed and aware, with carefully chosen words, and descriptive language, she tends towards isolation and solitude, favoring juxtaposing art with death, disease, and tragedy.  She looks for the oddity in human nature and society and connects it back to art, and to each person reading the essay with an unerring eye and a fresh conclusion.

Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett

This memoir tells the story of Jollett, the front man of the indie band Airborne Toxic Event, who was born into the Church of Synanon cult and who escapes with his mother and brother at a young age;  what follows is the story of learning a new world, meeting his grandparents, and living in an unfamiliar place and time. The present tense gives the story an immediacy and authenticity, with a childhood honesty that comes from living his first years sheltered from the world, as he finds his way and an inner strength in life through music.

The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine

Piper Reynard has arrived in Westport, Connecticut from the West Coast, and has something to hide.  She has opened a wellness center and sets her sights on handsome attorney Leo Drakos whose marriage is troubled.  Joanna has been in love with Leo for many years, has managed his house and cared for his children, Evie and Stelli, yet she realizes he is not returning her feelings, even after he emerges from a deep depression. When Joanna realizes that Piper is the cause of Leo’s well-being, she becomes determined to protect the family she has at all costs; Leo, however, is willing to let everything go for his new love.  Joanna, cast to the side, begins to look into Piper’s past and realizes that Leo and the children may be in real danger, but when she brings her concerns to Leo he dismisses her as jealous, and even her therapist considers Joanna on the brink of paranoia. Authors/sisters Lynne and Valerie, have laid out a twisty domestic thriller, though not as compelling and without the impact and well-developed characters as their first two novels. 

The Catherine House by Elizabeth Thomas

This debut novel is a gothic tale of an elite college tucked away in rural Pennsylvania. Incoming student Ines feels she has no place left to go: she has burned all of her bridges and knows she will have serious consequences if she returns home.  Her roommate Baby has come with a burning desire, bordering on obsession, to study plasma, a specialty of this school.  But there is something more sinister within these walls, the labyrinths and labs deep under the school, and the Restoration Center, a solitary confinement like area where you are stripped naked and left with only a deck of cards and a few books. Readers will find themselves frantically turning pages as they try to learn the secrets of Catherine House.  A strong debut for fans of Paul Tremblay and Alex North.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Friends and family of reality television star Will Slater and magazine publisher Julia Keegan gather on a remote Irish island in the North Atlantic to celebrate Will and Julia’s marriage.  Theirs is to be the first event at the recently purchased and restored Folly and every detail must be perfect from the dress, to the flowers, to the food and alcohol, and the guests.  The bridal party includes four of Will’s mates from school who are not as refined as Will would like them to be; Julia’s best man at the wedding is her longtime friend Charlie who has brought his wife Hannah; Julia’s lone official attendant is her waifish but stunning half-sister Olivia.  As the alcohol begins to flow freely, so do the secrets and before the end of the reception, someone is dead and almost everyone at the wedding has a motive or a secret to wish this person dead.  This sophomore book by Foley (The Hunting Party) once again features a remote location and a closed room murder, but to much greater success this time: the characters are well drawn, their motives seep slowly out as the weekend wears on, keeping tensions high, and by the end, no one is really sure who did the final knife plunge, but many are relieved it happened. 

The Paris Hours by Alex George

1927, Paris between the war was the city of ex-patriots and literary bohemians and literati, among them, Marcel Proust, who has told his maid Camille to burn his notebooks, which she did, save one, but who has now lost the surviving notebook and is desperate to find it.  Souren is a refuge from Armenia who performs unsettling puppet shows for children.  Artist Guillaume is at a lost for a muse, until he encounters Gertrude Stein with unusual results; journalist Jean-Paul keeps his painful past hidden by writing about the tragedies of others---when these four lives collide, the results will change everything for each of them and for so many others in surprising ways no one could expect.  The events unfold in the course of one single day, giving and immediacy, yet dreamlike quality, to the narrative.

The Children's Bible by Lydia Millett

This allegorical climate novel finds a group of bohemian adults renting a lakeside retreat one summer, bringing along a menagerie of children ranging in age from tween to seventeen.  Left to their own devices, the ringleader, and eldest, Evie, and the children create their own fun and adventures: they wait out a storm and flood in a farmhouse surrounded by animals as the group’s ire to their parents’ concern for the environment and climate change rises like the waters.  Evie’s younger brother Jack sees their escapades in terms of Biblical stories, in this narrative reminiscent of The Lord of the Flies, offering an ending with little hope, but much to think about and consider.

The Falling Woman by Richard Farrell

This debut novel tells the story of Erin, a cancer patient who has plateaued, but will never be in remission, whose plane explodes over Kansas while she is on the way to a cancer patient retreat; she is the only survivor and decides to walk away from her life and die quietly, rather than making her family grieve twice, they already think she is dead, and have them watch her die.  Charlie is the NTBS agent who is assigned to find Erin, and when he does, he sees life, including his own, from another perspective and makes difficult choices, ones that change everything.  Reading groups will find much to discuss in this philosophical novel, what do we owe our families, what do we owe ourselves, and how much control can we, and should we have over our own lives and fate. 

The Book of Rosy: A Mother’s Story of Separation at the Border by Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo

After she was shot in 2018 and her husband was murdered in Guatemala, Rosy fled to the United States with her two sons. After a harrowing eight-day trip in the back of a truck with other refugees, Rosy was separated from her sons, aged five and fifteen, at the border, detained for eighty-one days.  While detained in Arizona, her two sons were placed in foster care in the Bronx.  Schwietert Collazo, who started the Immigrant Families Together, to aid families, with the ultimate goal of reuniting parents and their children, helps Rosy tell not just her story, but the story of dozens of mothers separated from their children.  Ultimately, through much prayer, and considerable fund-raising on Immigrant Families Together’s part, Rosy was reunited with her children and is building a new life with them in their new country.

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

Lizzie has just accepted a job with a high-powered Manhattan law firm after her husband’s drinking problem caused an accident and resulted in a settlement against him.  Lizzie isn’t sure what to do about Sam, she thinks he has hit rock bottom, yet he continues to drink. She is near giving him an ultimatum when she receives a phone call from her law school buddy Zach: Zach is in Riker’s Island, arrested for assaulting an officer, but he believes being held more as a suspect in the death of his wife Amanda, who was found at the bottom of the staircase in their Park Slope brownstone.  Lizzie can’t believe Zach murdered his wife, but is not a criminal defense attorney, but her law firm gives the go ahead and she finds herself looking into her friend’s life, uncovering many secrets, all the while hiding her own as she tries to save Zach, Sam, and herself.  Fast-paced and intertwined with a security breach at the Brooklyn County Day school most of the neighborhood children attend, this twisty domestic drama examines marriages from all sides with a sharply drawn protagonist.

My Life as a Villainess: Essays by Laura Lippman

A collection of republished personal essays takes on the form of a memoir for Lippman, a best-selling crime fiction author. These mostly short essays, though some are longer and subdivided, traverse through Lippman’s childhood, her time as a newspaper reporter, as she beings her career as a novelist, writing the Tess Monaghan series and then her stand-alones, mostly set in Baltimore, all leading up to “Game of Crones” published previously online with over 100,000 unique views.  Honest, and sometimes self-deprecating, these essays offer insight into one of today’s most revered mystery authors. A tight little collection to be dipped into time and time again.

Quick Picks for May

The Last Flight by Julie Clark

Two women, two plane tickets, two women with secrets:  Claire and Eve meet by chance at an airport bar and decide at the last minute to switch tickets, Claire will take Eve’s flight to Oakland, and Eve will travel to Puerto Rico on Claire’s ticket.  The plane to Puerto Rico crashes leaving Claire with the chance to assume Eve’s identity and disappear from her controlling husband forever…but what secrets was Eve hiding and what are the consequence of her choice?

I, John Kennedy Toole by Kent Carroll and Jodee Blanco

A fictionalized account of the making of Toole’s Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece A Confederacy of Dunces, published after the author’s suicide. 

Ghosts of Harvard by Francesca Serritella

A first novel by the daughter of author Lisa Scottoline and co-authors of several best-selling essay collections featuring Cady, a Harvard freshman who tries to acclimate to college life as she tries to understand her brother’s suicide on the campus.  Eric suffered from schizophrenia and stopped taking his pills, spiraling downward.  As she further delves into Eric’s life, Cady too begins to hear voices and wonders if she too is schizophrenic or are the voices she is hearing ghosts and was Eric really as sick as he was diagnosed?

The Tourist Attraction by Sarah Morgenthaler

When Graham Barnett named his diner The Tourist Trap, he   never expected the Moose Springs, Alaska spot to become just that: a popular tourist destination and Graham would just rather not be bothered: until he meets Zoe Caldwell who save for over two year to spend two weeks on an Alaskan adventure.  Graham, immediately smitten, plays tour guide to Zoey and the two embark on some zany adventures and antics as their attraction to each other grows.  Fans of Northern Exposure will eat this book up.

The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner

One hundred and fifty years ago, Chawton was the final home of Jane Austen, one of England's finest novelists. Now it's home to a few distant relatives and their diminishing estate. With the last bit of Austen's legacy threatened, a group of disparate individuals come together to preserve both Jane Austen's home and her legacy. These people—a laborer, a young widow, the local doctor, a movie star, among others—could not be more different and yet they are united in their love for the works and words of Austen. As each of them endures their own quiet struggle with loss and trauma, some from losses incurred in the recent war, some from more distant tragedies, they rally together to create The Jane Austen Society. (From publisher)

All Adults Here by Emma Straub

When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she’d been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence? Astrid’s youngest son is drifting and unfocused, making parenting mistakes of his own. Her daughter is pregnant yet struggling to give up her own adolescence. And her eldest seems to measure his adult life according to standards no one else shares. But who gets to decide, so many years later, which long-ago lapses were the ones that mattered? Who decides which apologies really count? It might be that only Astrid’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most.  (from publishers).  For fans of Olive Kitteridge

Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson

In this bewitching debut novel, a sensitive teen, newly arrived in Alabama, falls in love, questions his faith, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don’t know what to make of a South pining for the past, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball, how to point a gun, and how to hide his innermost secrets. Max already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new, American friends—like their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy, and their locker room talk about girls. But he doesn’t expect the comradery—or how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles, Max feels like he’s “playing dress-up.” That is until he meets Pan, the school “witch,” in Physics class: “Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up.” Suddenly, Max feels seen, and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers, and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of the local church. The boys, however, aren’t sure whose past is darker, and what is more frightening—their true selves, or staying true in Alabama. (From publisher)

These Women  by Ivy Pochaoda

In her masterful new novel, Ivy Pochoda creates a kaleidoscope of loss, power, and hope featuring five very different women whose lives are steeped in danger and anguish. They’re connected by one man and his deadly obsession, though not all of them know that yet. There’s Dorian, still adrift after her daughter’s murder remains unsolved; Julianna, a young dancer nicknamed Jujubee, who lives hard and fast, resisting anyone trying to slow her down; Essie, a brilliant vice cop who sees a crime pattern emerging where no one else does; Marella, a daring performance artist whose work has long pushed boundaries but now puts her in peril; and Anneke, a quiet woman who has turned a willfully blind eye to those around her for far too long. The careful existence they have built for themselves starts to crumble when two murders rock their neighborhood.

Get Cozy with Kensington…

A Fatal Finale by Kathleen Marple Kalb

The first in a new series set in New York during the Gilded Age features opera singer Ella Shane, who plays the “trouser roles”, male parts played by females; both on and off the stage, Ella is assured and dramatic.  While she is playing the part of Romeo, her Juliet drinks real poison during the final scene, a death that is ruled a tragic accident, and Ella goes about her life until an English Duke arrives in Greenwich Village insisting the young woman was murdered, refusing to leave until he, with Ella’s help, learns the truth. 

Pulp Friction by Julie Anne Lindsey

Winnie Mae Montgomery saved her Granny’s apple orchard by building a cider shop and an event venue in Blossom Valley, Vest Virginia.  One of her first events is a wedding reception that doesn’t bode well for a happily ever after: the bride is unhappy, the groom drunk, and arguing with Winnie’s ex Hank who was making out with a bridesmaid.  Before the happy couple can leave in the honeymoon getaway truck, the groom is found dead, Hank the main suspect,  Sheriff Wise, with whom Winnie has a burgeoning relationship, warns Winnie off the case, but Winnie is certain she has an insider’s view and proceeds to follow the clues, no matter where they lead, in this fun, breezy who-dunnit.

Murder Can Confuse Your Chihuahua by Rose Pressey

Celeste Cabot is a favorite painter on the craft fair circuits, but she also has the uncanny knack of summoning ghosts with her paintings.  While looking for scenic views to paint while at a craft fair in North Carolina, her Chihuahua Van (after Van Gogh) leads her to the body of another vendor, Erica Miller, down by the river.  In spite of admonitions from her would-be boyfriends, FBI Detective Pierce Meyer and TBI Detective Caleb Ward, Celeste is certain she can solve the crime in much shorter order than the two of them.  The touch of supernatural and Van add lighthearted touches to this fledgling series.

New from William Morrow Books

***Please note: these books, and many more, can be found in HCL’s downloadable collection https://hclibrary.overdrive.com/

Magnolia Table: A Collection of Recipes for Gathering by Joanna Gaines

This second cookbook by HGTV host and founder of Magnolia Table and Silos Baking Co. (Texas) offers a new selection of recipes for fans, new and old.  Gaines covers the basics (for example: cracker crusts, homemade tortillas and noodles), offers suggestions for homemade spice mixes, before diving into Breakfast, Soups and Salads, Appetizers and Starters, Side Dishes (such as the Cauliflower “Couscous” ---grain free shown in picture), Dinner, and Desserts.  Each recipe that can be found at one of the restaurants Gaines (along with her husband Chip) founded is clearly marked.  Several recipes have anecdotes and tips, but readers who are not familiar with the Gaines’s success might welcome more backstory and anecdotal information.  The Gaines’s have a large family (four children) and are used to running a restaurant so many of the recipes make a lot; most are easy to scale, and many can be frozen for later use.  Clean and well-laid out, this book will be a favorite for home cooks, especially for her fan base.

The Forgotten Letters of Esther Durrant by Kayte Nunn

Shortly after World War II and the death of her son, Esther Durrant sinks into a deep depression; her husband commits her to an isolated mental asylum on an island off the coast of England.  Under the care of Dr. Richard Creswell, Esther begins to slowly heal, and take comfort on her small island.  Almost seventy years later, the island, Little Embers, is all but deserted when Rachel Parker, a marine biologist is ship-wrecked on the island and finds hidden love letters on the island and is determined to find the person to whom the letters were written.  When she crosses paths with Eve who is in London helping her grandmother write her memoirs, irrevocable events are set into motion that will reveal long-kept, long-hidden secrets.  For fans of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and The Chilbury Ladies’ Choir. 

The Silent Treatment by Abbie Greaves

This assured debut begins with Maggie taking a handful of sleeping pills and her husband Frank, who is playing chess in the next room, finds her only when their smoke detector goes off.  As Maggie lies in the hospital, her life in the balance, Frank tries to find the words to tell her why he hasn’t spoken to her in six months: he is carrying a tremendous burden and hopes the telling of their story, the telling of the reason fo his silence, will bring his wife, the love of his life, back to him.  Greaves’s pacing is perfect in this exquisitely painful portrait of a marriage that is as heartbreaking as it is life affirming. 

New for April

While the library is closed, you can still read and listen to your favorite books.

Check https://hclibrary.overdrive.com/ for downloadable titles. 

The New Husband by D. J. Palmer

Nina and her children Maggie and Connor are devastated when her husband Glen goes out fishing early one morning and doesn’t return.  Almost two years later, all that is ever found is his boat, blood in the bottom and Nina has begun dating Simon, a teacher at Maggie’s middle school.  The relationship moves along quickly and soon Nina and Simon buy a house together and try living as a family until Nina is once again a single woman.  Connor takes to Simon immediately, but Maggie thinks there is something evil about Simon and believes her dad is still alive.  Nina loves Simon but has had no closure of her marriage, especially as she slowly learns Glen had been keeping big secrets from her for the past two years.   Little by little, Nina realizes Simon in fact, may be too good to be true.  The more she and Maggie begin to investigate Simon, and the more controlling he becomes, the more Nina doubts everything she knew and knows in this complicated plotted, sometimes implausible domestic thriller.

The Golden Flea by Michael Rips

For almost two decades, a parking garage in Chelsea became a flea market every weekend.  Filled with treasures from mounted deer heads to antique jewelry, artwork and paintings, things visitors never knew they were looking for but find that they desperately need.  Among the tables, there were always treasures to be found, interesting characters, both vendors and customers.  Rips’s curiosity and passion for the next big find show through in this slice of New York past.

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel

Few people ever leave the aptly named rural Missouri Ozark town or Barren Springs and those who leave, rarely return.  Eve Taggert, waitress at the local dinner, is a single mother who has just been told by her brother Cal, a cop, that her only child, Junie, has been found murdered in the park along side of her best friend Izzy, whose mother Jenny did leave Barren Springs, only to return with her husband Zach.  Eve has kept her drug addicted, drug dealer mother as far from Junie as possible, but now finds herself looking to her for help in avenging Junie’s death.  Eve feels she has nothing left to lose and wants revenge and vengeance, not justice for her daughter, and confronts her violent ex-boyfriend, a meth-cooking bar owner, and many unsavory characters from her past until she beings to revisit her own secrets and realizes the key to Junie and Izzy’s deaths may be loser than she realizes.  As difficult as this is to read, it is even harder to turn away from.

He Started It by Samantha Downing

This darkly comic novel finds siblings Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan who have not kept in touch over the years, but must reconnect when their grandfather dies and leaves them with the promise of a substantial amount of money with the siblings take a road trip together, following the same path that they took with their grandfather almost twenty years ago. Oh, and they must stay out of jail as well.  Sounds easy enough.  Not so for these siblings and Eddie’s new wife Krista, Beth’s husband Felix, and the secrets the family has kept from just about everyone.  As the group begins their tour in the south and travels to the west coast they stop at many attractions, mostly featuring notorious people (who knew there were so many memorials to Bonnie and Clyde?), Beth relives the original trip when she was twelve and Portia was only six, the in-laws quickly grown restless, and the siblings remember why they have stopped talking to each other.  In each chapter, sometimes on each page, a new secret is revealed, another nugget that explains why the family basically doesn’t like each other, but their eyes are always on the prize, even to the last page with one last searing surprise for the family and readers.  A Library Reads title for April.

Privilege by Mary Adkins

The lives of three young women at “The Harvard of the South”, Carter University intersect with tragic consequences when one of them accuses Taylor Brand, a legacy whose parents are generous benefactors of the university, of sexual assault. Annie Stoddard, quiet and unassuming due to her legs that are scarred from a pre-high school accident, was the smartest girl in her public high school in Georgia and feels everyone can tell she doesn’t belong in her new environment.  Bea Powers planned to be a doctor, following in her now deceased mother’s footsteps, until she met Dr. Louis Friedman who encourages Bea to apply for Carter’s Justice Scholars Program.  Though Bea is accepted and very enthusiastic, as a biracial student she feels she stands out and becomes more curious than ever about her birth father whom she never knew.  Stayja York isn’t a student at Carter, but interacts daily with the students, as a barista at the coffee bar, watching and absorbing all the goings on, invisible to most students. A part-time nursing student, she tries her best to care for her mother and keep her younger cousin Nicole on track without going insane.  After Annie’s accusations the three women’s lives collide, each with a different take on what happened, each offering their own perspective, when taken together provide a clearer, honest look at young women trying to find their way in the world, learning who to trust.  Each narrative is distinctive and necessary, all culminating in a tragedy with which each woman must make peace.

Simon the Fiddler by Paulette Jiles

This follow up book to News of the World, Jiles’s National Book Award winner, stays in post-Civil War Texas, following fiddler Simon Boudlein with whom the Confederate Army finally caught up in the last months of the war.  Simon’s only concern is keeping his beloved fiddle safe, until he meets Doris, an Irish servant to a nasty Yankee captain.  Simon and his band of veterans travel the war-ravaged Texas countryside, trying to correspond with Doris, promising to her that he will buy land, send for her, and rescue her.  The exceptionally well-described post-war landscape with well-depicted characters helps to make up for the lackluster plot, which in spite of  typical complications, is clear will have a happy ending for Doris and Simon.

No Going Back by Sheena Kamal

This third novel finds Nora trying to stay one step ahead of the enemy she has made in Dao, the enforcer for the wealthy Zhang family who kidnapped Bonnie, the daughter Nora gave up for adoption and then rescued from the Zhangs.  Now crisscrossing from Detroit to Canada to Southeast Asia, Nora, with the help of unlikely allies Bernard Lam, an eclectic billionaire who has just lost his husband and ex-cop Jon Brazuca, finds that all roads lead back to her hometown of Vancouver where her past is about to catch up with her as she tries to keep Bonnie safe, and tries to keep both her daughter and her self alive.

Something She’s Not Telling Us by Darcey Bell

Charlotte appears to have the perfect life: a handsome, wealthy husband, a gorgeous downtown loft, a beautiful precocious daughter, Daisy, and a successful florist business. Her mother, with whom she and her brother have had a strained relationship, especially since her mother set house to the family home with Charlotte’s younger brother Rocco inside just before Charlotte left for college; her mother is now living in Oaxaca, Rocco has gone through rehab, and a string of less than appropriate girlfriends, though his current one, Ruth, may just be a keeper, or so Charlotte thinks at first.  The more time Ruth spends with Charlotte and Daisy, the more apprehensive Charlotte becomes, as Ruth seems to be very attached to Daisy, often pretending often times that she, Rocco, and Daisy, are a family.  The closer Ruth tries to get to Daisy and Charlotte, the more Charlotte hovers and tries to protect her daughter…and the secret she is keeping, a secret that Ruth intimates she knows.  When the unthinkable happens and Daisy is taken from school, Charlotte knows it was Ruth and knows that Ruth must have more secrets hidden than Charlotte does.  The narrative switches easily back and forth from present day and Daisy’s kidnapping, when Rocco first brought Ruth into their lives, and a recent trip to Mexico to celebrate Charlotte’s mother’s birthday, keeping tension high as readers try to guess whose secrets will unravel first and what the consequences will be. 

Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright

This dark comedic debut examines where politics, money, ambition, and humanity meet in this keenly observed, oh so timely tale.  Washington D.C. political consultant Andre Ross has pulled himself up, and has a record as a juvenile, but a reputation for being tough as nails and using edgy tactics to win campaigns, mentored by his boss, firm owner, Mrs. Fitzgerald, or so he thought.  After Dre goes too far in one campaign, Mrs. Fitzgerald sends him packing to South Carolina with a small amount of money and one assistant, her twenty-year-old grandson, and one last chance to prove himself.  Dre, an African American man, finds himself in Carthage County trying to convince the impoverished, God fearing people in this rural town to let an international conglomerate mine gold on their land, to the company’s benefit.  Dre knows he needs a local face to front he campaign and finds it in bar owner Tyler, who is easily swayed by the trappings and flash of his perceived importance, but it is his wife Chalene who becomes the lead on the campaign, naively thinking --- or maybe not, that if people like you, they will vote your way.  Dre and Chalene are tow very authentic voices, Dre conscious of his past, often feeling like an imposter, Chalene, pregnant with the family’s seventh child, quickly learning and asserting herself showing just how strong a woman she can be.  

Hid From Our Eyes by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

Reverend Clare Fergusson and Millers Kill, NY police chief Russ Van Alstyne are getting used to being new parents, Clare’s still new sobriety, and the chance that the voters may opt to have the police take of the MKPD leaving Russ without a job.  Russ gets called out on a report of a dead woman in a party dress on the road, no apparent cause of death, a tableau that eerily mirrors a death in 1952 and one from 1972 in which Russ was the suspect, neither of which have been solved.  Russ, with the help Reverend Clare in between shepherding her flock at St. Alban’s Church and taking care of their young son, races against the clock to solve all three murders before the big vote which is dividing their small town.  After several years’ absence, Russ and Clare will be welcomed back by longtime readers of this series as well as new readers; this mystery is rich in backstory and detail and Spencer-Fleming’s exacting writing should propel this book to the top of every mystery lover’s to-be-read list for this year.

The Compton Cowboys: A New Generation of Cowboys in Americas Urban Heartland by Walter Thompson-Hernandez

 In Compton, California, ten black riders on horseback cut an unusual profile, their cowboy hats tilted against the hot Los Angeles sun. They are the Compton Cowboys, their small ranch one of the very last in a formerly semi-rural area of the city that has been home to African-American horse riders for decades. To most people, Compton is known only as the home of rap greats NWA and Kendrick Lamar, hyped in the media for its seemingly intractable gang violence. But in 1988 Mayisha Akbar founded The Compton Jr. Posse to provide local youth with a safe alternative to the streets, one that connected them with the rich legacy of black cowboys in American culture. From Mayisha&;s youth organization came the Cowboys of today: black men and women from Compton for whom the ranch and the horses provide camaraderie, respite from violence, healing from trauma, and recovery from incarceration. The Cowboys include Randy, Mayisha's nephew, faced with the daunting task of remaking the Cowboys for a new generation; Anthony, former drug dealer and inmate, now a family man and mentor, Keiara, a single mother pursuing her dream of winning a national rodeo championship, and a tight clan of twenty-somethings--Kenneth, Keenan, Charles, and Tre--for whom horses bring the freedom, protection, and status that often elude the young black men of Compton.  (From the publisher)

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New for March...

Writers & Lovers by Lily King

Casey Peabody, who as a 14-year-old was a golfing champion, is now thirty-one years old, living alone in a small room in Boston, has just lost her mother, can’t get her novel written, is in massive debt from her undergraduate and graduate schools, and waiting tables at the Harvard Club.  As hopeless as it all sounds, Casey continues riding her banana bike to work each day and plodding away at her novel.  She begins to date a successful writer and one of his students at the same time, looking for some energy to continue propelling her forward.  In the hands of a less experienced author, this book might come across as cluttered and sentimental, but instead it is thoughtfully and beautifully written, often feeling that each word has been carefully chosen.  King is equally comfortable writing about working the front of a restaurant as she is writing about writers’ colonies and retreats, all of which comes together in this elegant story with a very happy, though somewhat trite and too comfortable, ending.

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Shay Miller is striking out on all sides: she lives in Manhattan, but in a friend’s apartment; sure, that friend is a terrific guy, but he he has no interest in Shay except as a friend.  A research analyst who loves statistics, Shay is having a hard time finding permanent work, and on the morning of a very promising interview, she witnesses a young woman throwing herself in front of a subway train.  Shay knows what it feels like to be lonely, but can’t imagine hurling herself off a subway platform.  She finds a necklace she believes to be the young woman’s and becomes obsessed with her and with the statistics surrounding her death.  Sisters Cassandra and Jane Moore, have it all: their own PR firm, a solid circle of friends, a glamorous life, and the ability to seemingly get whatever they want.  And they want Shay.  At first Shay is flattered that IT women want her in their elite circle until it becomes clear to Shay that they are after something else, but what does Shay have that they could possibly want?  This smart cat and mouse game will keep readers guessing until the very end.

Conspiracy of Bones by Kathy Reichs

It has been almost five years since the last Temperance Brennan novel, but it was well worth the wait.  A lot has happened to Tempe in the last five years, she has discovered she has a cerebral aneurysm and though she had surgery to keep it at bay, she fears it is interfering with her work and lifestyle.  The medical examiner, Tempe’s boss and friend, was killed, and the new medical examiner in Charlotte, North Carolina is Margot Heavner, who is very forthright in announcing she has no need for Tempe’s consultations and has no plans to call upon her expertise.  Tempe and Heavner go way back to a time when Tempe called her out after an interview.  As Tempe tries to regain her footing, she receives morgue photos of a faceless, handless, unidentified man; Tempe has no idea who sent them and doesn’t care for the way Heavner is handling the investigation and sets off on her own investigation, risking any chance she has of ever working in Charlotte again. With retired police detective Skinny Slidell at her side, Tempe sets out to identify the man, uncover the details in several missing, and abused children cold cases, and even manages to tie in a decades old ferry sinking.  Reichs deftly ties up all loose ends, and carefully interweaves each story into the other in this latest thriller that redefines Tempe Brennan while highlighting all the things readers, and now viewers, have come to love about her.

Gone by Midnight by Candice Fox

Crimson Lake, Australia, is where people often find themselves when they no longer fit into a traditional society.  Ted Conkaffey was a cop with a wife and a beautiful baby girl until he was accused of kidnapping and attacking a thirteen-year-old girl.  Though he was arrested, no charges were ever filed, but he continues to live his life under the stigma.  Little by little, his wife Kelly is letting Ted back into hers and their daughter’s lives, so much so that she will be entrusting Ted with their daughter while she goes to a conference for a week.  Amanda Pharrell is a young woman who, at the age of seventeen, became a convicted murder.  She has many odd behaviors, but she and Ted have formed and unusual PI partnership and have been successful in solving several crimes.  When a young boy goes missing from the hotel room where he and three of his friends are staying while their parents have dinner downstairs, his mother Sara, hires the unlikely pair to find her son.  The timing couldn’t be worse for Ted, but he knows a parent’s anguish.  As he and Amanda search alongside of the police, they run into some unsavory characters, and even turn to them to help locate the boy.  With strong characterizations, a rugged setting, and a tight plot, this series will appeal to fans of Jane Harper and C.J. Box.

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson

When he first became a bookseller, Malcolm Kershaw wrote a blog post about eight mysteries that he felt had the best murders.  Years later, someone is committing murders mimicking these murders and the FBI wants to know what Malcolm knows about them.  When an agent begins to get too friendly with Malcolm, including him in too much of her investigation, things take an even stranger turn as they chase a killer from Massachusetts to Maine, where nothing is what it seems to be, and no one knows who could be next.  This brilliantly plotted mystery pays homage to the great murders in classic mystery fiction, while spinning a web of deceit and intrigue making it hard to know what to believe and who to trust.  For fans of Anthony Horowitz and classic murder mysteries.  

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel

Patty Watts loved her daughter Rose Gold more than anything; how could she have poisoned her for so many years, keeping her so sick that could barely function without Patty; when Rose Gold figures out what has been going on, Patty is arrested for child abuse and sent to prison.  Now she is being released and Rose Gold has invited Patty to come and live with her and her infant son.  Patty is delighted to have her daughter back, and the baby is a bonus.  But from the beginning Patty feels uneasy about things: Rose Gold has purchased the house Patty grew up in, a house that holds terrible memories for Patty; other things begin not to add up and before long, Patty wonders if maybe Rose Gold learned too well from her mother.  Told in alternating narratives and in alternating time periods, Rose Gold and Patty’s stories unfold into something disturbing and diabolical from this debut author, a voice to watch in the crowded psychological thriller field. 

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore 

The women in this debut novel, set against the oil fields of 1976 Odessa, seek their own form of justice when a 14-year old girl, Gloria Ramirez is brutally assaulted; on the morning after Valentine’s Day, Gloria crawls her way to the porch of Mary Rose Whitehead, beaten and barely alive.  There doesn’t seem to be justice for women in this area of Texas, especially young women such as Gloria.  The women of the town form an alliance, protecting the young girl, and making sure the men of the town know that justice isn’t always something that is handed down in a court of law.  The narrative is told from various points of view, and explores many different social issues including race and class, issues that are still, sadly, relevant today.  How these women tell this story, and what they bring to it from their own lives, helps create a complete, if somewhat dark tale, but each provides strength to others, and ultimately to the community.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Everything is perfect---on schedule---in corporate lawyer Dannie Kohan’s life:  she has just landed the job of her dreams, has an apartment on Gramercy Square, and has just become engaged to David, the man with whom she is a perfect fit; then why on the night of her engagement does she dream of waking up five years later in a loft in Brooklyn with another man?  Over the next five years, Dannie and David continue living together, focusing on their careers, but never make time for marriage; all the while in the back of Dannie’s mind is her dream and that mysterious man.  Fast forward to June 2024: Dannie’s best friend Bella is back from Europe where she often lives a glamorous life with many lovers, and wants Dannie to meet her new boyfriend who turns out to be the man of Dannie’s dreams, literally.  When Bella introduces her boyfriend Greg, Dannie recognizes him as the man from her dream that was named Aaron, which is actually Greg’s first name.  Completely thrown off kilter, Dannie, who has told no one except her therapist about the dream isn’t sure what to do, especially when Bella announces she’s in love, and Greg is the one; when Bella receives unthinkable news, Dannie and Greg begin to form an alliance to help their friend.  While much of this sounds familiar, it feels fresh and new in Serle’s (The Dinner Party) capable hands, and there are some unexpected moments along the way.

Lady in Waiting: My Extraordinary Life in the Shadow of the Crown by Anne Glenconner

Lady Anne began her friendship with Queen Elizabeth II at an early age: she was a disappointment to her father as she was unable to inherit his estate, but quickly gained favor with the royal family as Maid of Honor at Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret until her death.  As a confident of the Princess, she was privy to many personal events in the lives of the Royals, including romantic entanglements, family troubles and illnesses, and traveling to many locations, meeting many celebrities, all the while keeping the confidence of the royal family, and still keeping her sense of self, in this fresh memoir that will appeal to royal watchers and fans of The Crown alike. 

My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Vanessa Wye is a sophomore at a boarding school in Maine and is having time making friends and finding her place; when her 42-year-old English teacher, Jacob Strane, begins showing her some extra attention she is flattered and eventually believes she is in love as their relationship turns sexual.  When their relationship is threatened to be exposed, Vanessa leaves Browick, but remains in touch with Strane.  Almost twenty years later, Vanessa is approached by a reporter who tells her another student of Strane has accused him of sexual abuse and she would like Vanessa to corroborate the accusations; Vanessa, still believing Strane was the love of her life, begins to think back to their relationship and sees things in a little bit of a different light.  This powerful debut is smartly written, will strike a chord with many, and start much debate and discussion.

On the Corner of Hope and Main by Beverly Jenkins

Henry Adams, Kansas, a town originally founded by freed slaves is the setting for the tenth in the “Blessings” series.  It is election time and Trent July has decided that after four years as mayor, it’s time for him to do something else, and husband and wife Barrett and Sheila Payne are each funning for the sea.  Town owner Bernadine Brown, you really can buy everything on eBay, is surprised to see her ex-husband out of work with the oil company he worked for, now campaign manager, just as her romance with Malachi July is heating up again.   Small town antics and pettiness get in the way of the election, but the town’s younger set straightens everyone out and by the end, the community is strong, relationships are mended, and Henry Adams has a new mayor.  While it’s not necessary to start at the beginning of the series, which features small town closeness, rivalries, friendships and all the complications that come with it all, a first visit to Henry Adams is sure not to be the last.

Precious You by Helen Monks Takhar

Forty-one-year-old Katherine Ross, the editor of a London magazine had a meteoric rise, but now she feels she is, at best stagnant, at worse, a dinosaur, especially when twenty-four-year-old Lily arrives as her new intern but is quickly given a lot of responsibility by her aunt, who is the new publisher of the magazine.  Instead of being able to take Lily under her wing, Katherine is reminded of what she once was and quickly becomes jealous as she sees Lily taking over much of her work, often publicly shaming Katherine, something Katherine feels may be intentional.  Before long, Lily has taken over many aspects of Katherine’s life, both at the magazine and in her personal life.  Told in alternating voices, secrets are exposed, plots revealed, all with irrevocable consequences for each woman in this tautly plotted debut thriller.

The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben

This stand-alone from Coben pairs the unlikely duo of Wilde, a man who lives mostly off the grid in the woods in Ramapo Mountain State Forest (NJ) with his best friend’s mother, attorney Hester Crimstein, to search for a missing teenage girl.  Wilde was found as a child in the woods, alone, but with very good survival skills, and unexpected language abilities for someone living in the woods; unable to locate any parents or family, Wilde was place in a foster home, and eventually adopted, becoming best friends with David Crimstein, who has since died, and is the godfather of David’s son Matthew.  Matthew reaches out to his grandmother, retired from a high-profile law firm, now a talk show attorney, still tough as nails, when his friend, bullied classmate Naomi Pine goes missing.  Matthew wants to keep Naomi’s disappearance as quiet as possible, but when Crash, Matthew’s friend and one of Naomi’s tormenters disappears, as does Naomi a second time after she reappears, it is more serious, especially with a ransom note demanding money and the appearance of a finger.  Crash’s father, a TV producer, has a long, possibly criminal connection, to a political candidate, complete with videotapes that could spell the end for everyone.  At a rapid pace, kaleidoscopic images give way to a clear picture of murder, political intrigue, and long help family secrets all leading up to an ending with several unexpected, and mostly unseen, surprises coming.

Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

Judy Vogel is lonely: she and her husband Gary are pretty much separated, owing in part to Gary’s high levels of anxiety, though they can’t afford to live separately and want to be in the house together for their 13-year-old son who has problems of his own and is in a Montessori middle school; her writing career stalled after one big picture book and a television deal, and her best friend is dying of cancer.  While cleaning out the basement, she finds the baby sling she never used for her son but begins using for her dog which offers her a little comfort, much in the same way that smoking pot helps calm Gary down.  Through couples’ therapy, puppet people staying at their house, and outright contempt at some of the things going on at Teddy’s school, Judy tries to hold it all together, struggles to make sense of it all, and keep her sense of humor all with a twenty pound sheltie strapped to her chest. 

The Bramble and the Rose by Tom Bouman

In northeastern Pennsylvania’s Wild Thyme Township, Henry Farrell is the law.  When a neighbor reports a headless body that has been mauled by a bear.  Farrell calls in support, including wildlife forensic specialist Mary Weaver, to help identify the man and learn if it was suicide, an accident, or murder.  The discovery of the head and learning the man was former law enforcement, leads everyone to the conclusion it was murder.  Henry has little time to investigate, however, as he becomes the prime suspect in his former lover’s murder and must hold his marriage together amidst the accusations.  His nephew Ryan’s disappearance adds to Henry’s list of things to do when all he’d prefer to be doing is fishing and solving neighborly disputes.  This is the third novel featuring the introspective Henry Farrell and the northern wonderland he calls home.  Well plotted with gorgeous prose, this series is a must for any mystery reader.

The Last Couple Standing by Matthew Norman

For over fifteen years, the Core Four, Megan and Terry, Sarah and Doug, Alan and Amber, and Mitch and Jessica have done everything together: graduate college, get married, have children, buy houses, socialize, and now divorce.  Mitch and Jessica are the last of their friends to remain married, but begin to feel the pressure of divorce, and decide to take a good hard look at their marriage and do something to shore it up before it’s too late.  Jessica thinks that having sex with other people might be just the ticket: they set up rules which include no repeats.  When Jessica begins to get in deeper than she expected, things get messy and she and Mitch wonder if things really were good before and all of this wasn’t necessary.  This tender, smart novel explores what goes into a marriage, and serves as a reminder that marriages take work and care to be fulfilling.  Funny dialogue and pop-culture references for the older crowd make this a fast-paced, enjoyable read.

The Return by Rachel Harrison

Elise, Julie, Molly, and Mae were best friends in college, and have remained close, though Elise and Julie share a special bond.  After Julie and her husband purchase a remote inn in Maine, she disappears.  After two years and a memorial service, her friends accept that Julie will not return; all except for Elise who knows she would feel it if Julie were no longer alive.  Two years to the day Julie disappears, she reappears and the friends decide to organize a girls’ weekend to reunite with their friend.  Once together, Elise knows there is something wrong with Julie: she doesn’t look anything like she used to, she has a voracious appetite, including for meat, something that Julie would never have eaten before she disappeared, and the more she eats, the more emaciated she becomes.  Over the weekend it becomes clear that the Julie they’ve gotten back is not the same Julie who left them: but where has she been and who or what has she become?  This horror story is elevated to a new level with the complexities of the women’s relationships and the fierceness with which Elise wants Julie back, and the lengths to which she is willing to go to make that happen.