HOME by Marilynne Robinson

FIC
Robinson

HOME is set in the same location as Robinson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel GILEAD but in a different household. Thirty-eight year old Glory Boughton has returned to her hometown to care for her dying father, Reverend Robert Boughton, and nurse her wounds after a broken engagement. Shortly after her arrival, her long-estranged older brother, Jack, appears at the doorstep. No one had heard from him in twenty years, his life unraveling in a haze of alcoholism, unemployment and bad decisions. Glory provides a mediating guidance between bad boy Jack and his traditional father. HOME is a moving novel, spiritual and focused on the healing power of families and faith.

THE LAZARUS PROJECT by Aleksandar Hemon

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HEMON
In 1908, Lazarus Averbuch, and Easter European immigrant, is shot and killed by the Chicago Chief of Police when he attempts to deliver a note at the chief's home. One hundred years later, Vladimir Brik, a Bosnian immigrant, investigates this act of violence by tracing Lazarus's journey from Russia where his family was the victim of an infamous pogrom.
Brik ends up in Sarajevo, which he has not visited since the war, only to be confronted by another act of violence.

AGATHA RAISIN AND THE VICIOUS VET by M.C. Beaton

FIC/MYS

BEATON, M.

This book is a delightful English "cozy," i.e. a mystery set in a quaint village. Agatha Raisin is not exactly the Miss Marple type, however. She has retired from her public relations company in London and settled down to the deceptively peaceful idyll of the Cotswolds.

She might be retired, but Agatha wouldn't be averse to a little romance and excitement. When a handsome new vet arrives in town, Agatha-true to her charmingly self-centered, vaguely dishonest self will try anything to get her claws into him. Whoops! He winds up dead!

CLOUDS WITHOUT RAIN: AN AMISH MYSTER by P.L. Gaus

FIC/MYS
GAUS
Professor Michael Branden is working undercover to investigate buggy robberies in the Amish community. He is in Amish dress and driving a buggy when he encounters a deadly accident between a police car, a tractor-trailer, and a buggy. An investigation reveals that this was not necessarily just an "accident."

Two of Professor Branden's friends are deeply affected by the incident, so he helps them unravel the mystery of what really happened. During their inquiry the Amish lifestyle is depicted in detail. The plot thickens as community members differ over a proposed land development scheme. Will these Amish abide by tradition, or embrace a more modern point of view?

A well-told engrossing story.

CONCOURSE by S.J. Rozan

FIC/MYS
ROZAN, S. J.
When a protege of his old mentor Bobby Moran is murdered while working as a security guard at a nursing home in the Bronx, PI Bill Smith investigates by going undercover, also as a security guard. Bill first calls in Lydia Chin to research what appear to be questionable business arrangements. When another guard is beaten to death and a doctor blown away, it becomes clear that more than one illegal operation is based at the nursing home.

DANGEROUS TO KNOW by Margaret Yorke

FIC/MYS

YORKE

Now that her daughters have grown, Hermione Brown is slowly beginning to excape from husband Walter's abusive hold over her life. Walter, however, is becoming increasingly "dangerous to know."

Something of a departure from Yorke's usual mysteries, this novel still retains the suspense and sharp characterizations her fans have come to expect.

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER by Julia Spencer-Fleming

FIC/MYS

Spencer-Fleming

Clare Fergusson, former army helicopter pilot, is the first Episcopal woman priest in small-town Miller's Kill, N.Y. Clare is having enough trouble with the cold weather and her conservative parishioners when she finds a baby abandoned in the church. This event brings police chief Russ Van Alstyne, a religious skeptic, to her door. Opposites are forced together when the baby's mother is found murdered. Since the policeman is married, both suppress the growing attraction between them. As this is the first in a series, their relationship is sure to be explored further.

NOT IN THE FLESH by Ruth Rendell

FIC/MYS

RENDELL
The discovery of skeletal remains by a truffle hunting dog draws Inspector Wexford into a difficult missing person investigation. When his assistant Mike Burden discovers another body in the basement of the deserted cottage on the property they must find the link between the two cases. A subplot involving genital mutilation among the immigrant Somali population of Kingsmarkham keeps this long-running series current.

L.A. REQUIEM by Robert Crais

FIC/MYS

CRAIS

The police think it premature to look for Frank Garcia's missing daughter so Frank ask Joe Pike, an ex-cop and old boyfriend of Teresa's, to find her. Joe and his fellow P.I., Elvis Cole, soon fear Frank's concerns are warranted. Their fears are realized when a couple of joggers find Teresa's body. It's clear to Elvis and Joe that the police are closing in on the wrong suspect. When that suspect is eliminated beyond doubt, the police again fix on the wrong man. This time, though, it's Joe.

This dark mystery ;is for readers who like their heroes bigger than life and who can tolerate considerable violence.

THE SPELLMAN FILES by Lisa Lutz

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LUTZ

In the hilarious tradition of Stephanie Plum, Isabel "Izzy" Spellman's adventures are laugh-out-loud-funny, but she has her own unique situation and voice, Izzy works for her own unique situation and voice, Izzy works for her dysfunctional family's PI business, and the Spellman family relationships are all too similar to their business transactions.

When Izzy's twelve-year -old sister Rae disappears, the family wonders if her obsession with "recreational" surveillance has gotten her into trouble and must use all its collective professional expertise to find her before it's too late.

BLACK and WHITE by Dani Shapiro

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SHAPIRO

Clara Brodeur is an adult now but has spent most of her life rebelling against her famous mother, photographer Ruth Dunne. She has been estranged from Ruth for 14 years, living in Maine with her husband and daughter.

One day she receives a phone call from her sister informing her of her mother's imminent death. Clara reluctantly returns to Manhattan to find her mother surrounded protectively by adoring interns and assistants. She realizes that she must come to terms with the past for the sake of her daughter and her own sanity.

The emotional scars of Ruth's questionable photographs of Clara, taken throughout her childhood, are slowly healed with the help of her family and the maturity that comes with age.

HONOR AMONG THIEVES by Jeffrey Archer

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ARCHER

Saddam Hussein has hired the Mafia and stolen the Declaration of Independence. He plans to burn it in front of reporters and the eyes of the world on the Fourth of July. Law professor and CIA agent Scott Bradely is to star in a scheme to recover the Declaration, hopefully with the help of Hannah Kopec, a Mossad agent and Bradley's former lover. Hannah, however, is heartbroken, believing she successfully assassinated Scott under orders from Mossad. Plots and counterplots interweave seamlessly, keeping the reader guessing. While nearly all of this story is wildly improbable, it is lots of fun, and Archer seems to write with tongue in cheek.

THE RITUAL BATH by Faye Kellerman

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KELLERMAN

Detective Peter Decker is sent to investigate a rape in the sheltered community of a Los Angeles yeshiva. He finds the Orthodox Jewish residents to be uncooperative, but the beautiful widow Rina Lazarus is helpful. The attraction between them complicates everything, especially when it seems the rapist's intended target was and still is Rina. The many details of Orthodox Jewish life are fascinating. This first book is a terrific start to the now-established series.

DEATH AND THE DEVIL by Frank Schatzing

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SCHATZING

In Early Medieval Cologne, a petty thief, Jacob the Fox, witnesses Gerhard Morart, Architect of the New Cathedral, being pushed to his death from its scaffolding. He has been seen by the murderer, a longhaired, seemingly superhuman man who is a professional assassin. Jacob is now his target for he must protect a larger conspiracy which reaches to the very top of Cologne's government. This book features non-stop action as well as interesting details of Medieval Life.

POSSESSIONS by Judith Michaels

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MICHAELS

When Craig Fraser doesn't return from his business trip, his plain wife Katherine, a stay-at-home mom, cannot believe he has fled from embezzlement charges, as his boss claims. Then Ross Hayward, who claims to be Craig's cousin, comes to Vancouver to tell her that Craig, who said he was an orphan, has a wealthy family in San Francisco from whom he also fled. A college friend of Katherine's offers her a job in San Francisco. As Katherine tries to make a new and independent life, she comes to know the Haywards and the missing Craig far better. Always pulled between her new life and the possibility of rebuilding what she had with Craig, Katherine must eventually make several painful choices. Possessions is for readers for enjoy novels about the rich and famous by such authors as Danielle Steel.

PEOPLE OF THE BOOK by Geraldine Brooks

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BROOKS

Hanna Heath, Rare Book Conservator, jumps at the change to work on the Sarajevo Haggadah. The book is an example of the earliest Jewish illuminated manuscripts, and Hanna traces its history using clues found in the book's binding. The trail leads through WWII-era Bosnia, late 19th century
Vienna, Venice during the Inquisition, and finally to the manuscript's creation around 1480 in Spain. The reader is privy to the Haggadah's secrets, though Hanna is not. She must cope with the newly-discovered identity of her father and the machinations of the art forgers.

ONE GOOD TURN by Kate Atkinson

FIC
Atkinson

This sequel to Case Histories features ex-cop Jackson Brodie, again becoming involved in a series of complex, inter-connected cases which begins with an incident of road rage in Edinburgh. Set amidst the Edinburgh Festival where
Jackson’s girlfriend Julia is appearing in a Fringe production, this is another dazzling thriller full of twists and surprises.

CARAMELO by Sandra Cisneros

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CISNEROS
This is the epic tale of the Reyes family as it moves from 1920s Mexico City to 1950s
Chicago. This multigenerational story of a working class immigrant family has as its center Lala Reyes as she grows from childhood to young adulthood. Lala is the youngest in a family of seven and the only girl who regularly makes the trip from Chicago to The Awful Grandmother’s house in Mexico. She gradually forms an uneasy bond with her grandmother,inheriting from her the family stories, legends, and scandals. The family members’ destinies include experiences in the U.S. military, blue collar jobs, poverty and homelessness. Despite the harsh struggle to survive, the family never loses sight of its culture and traditions.

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN by Lionel Shriver

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SHRIVER

Through dozens of letters written to her absent husband, Eva Khatchadourian tries to make sense of the events that have unfolded in her life. From the onset the reader knows that her son, Kevin, has committed a brutal crime —- he killed seven of his high school classmates, a cafeteria worker and a well-liked teacher. Eva visits him in prison though their relationship has never been close. She wonders

FAST WOMEN: A NOVEL by Jennifer Crusie

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Crusie

Romance — with elements of suspense and
adventure — is at the heart of this novel. If
you call dognapping an adventure. Heroine
Nell, just divorced from a cheating husband,
applies for a secretarial position at a detective
agency. After she fumbles a few investigations,
her life changes drastically when she uncovers
murder, blackmail and embezzlement.
Crusie blends humor and romance, the funny and
the serious in this antiquated detective story set
in historical Ohio. Despite Gabe and Nell’s daily
battles over trivial office matters, they fall in
love, fight some more and have mad passionate
sex. The fast-paced romance develops the plot
neatly with a predictable ending, allowing the
reader to sit back and enjoy.