For Adults
What's new for adults
To wed a wicked prince by Jane Feather
Feather follows her well-crafted debut (A Wicked Gentleman) with this second installment of her Cavendish Square trilogy. Livia Lacey, the enchanting and witty daughter of a vicar, has been enjoying the 1771 social whirl while living in the London home she inherited from a distant relative, but is surprised when Prince Alex Prokov of Russia ardently pursues her. Feather hints at Alex's steely nature even as she paints him as the consummate gentleman, especially during the sizzling high note of a secluded picnic together, the courtship's sizzling high note. After their marriage, Livia discovers hidden facets of her husband's personality and begins to suspect his motives for their marriage and for his stay in England. Feather slowly reveals Livia to be a most formidable heroine. (Apr.) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
City of thieves: a novel by David Benioff
Sister Pelagia and the black monk: a novel by Boris Akunin
Steer toward rock by Fae Myenne Ng
This eagerly awaited follow-up to Fae Myenne Ng's first novel, Bone, again addresses the issues of Chinese-American identity in this moving, unflinching yet sometimes witty story. Jack Moon Szeto enters San Francisco in 1952, falsely posing as the son of Yi-Tung Gold Szeto, a registered U.S. citizen. In return, Jack must pay Szeto by working for two years and marrying a fake wife. Employed as a butcher, Jack takes the younger Joice Qwan as his lover. Even though she becomes pregnant, Joice refuses to marry Jack. Despondent, Jack attempts to nullify his contract with Szeto before entering the INS's Chinese Confession Program and renouncing his false identity, resulting in Szeto's deportation, but not citizenship for Jack. Toward the end, the story shifts to Jack's congenial relationship with his spirited daughter Veda, whose growing mission is to protect Jack by making him a naturalized U.S. citizen. Ng's simple, sturdy yet poetic prose is juxtaposed against the clinical language of Jack's immigration documents; the result is a nuanced portrayal of two generations and the many challenges they face in their quest for security and fulfillment. (May) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Blood trail by C. J. Box
When an elk hunter is shot and gruesomely gutted in Box's solid eighth Joe Pickett novel (after 2007's Free Fire), Wyoming governor Spencer Rulon assigns Joe to the investigative team headed by Joe's nemesis, game and fish director Randy Pope. The authorities suspect a group led by antihunting activist Klamath Moore, but Joe thinks an enigmatic clue near the body points to a serial killer. As usual, Joe stands alone against official protocol, placing his career and life in peril by following his hunches. He persuades Rulon to release his pal, iconoclast Nate Romanowski, who's awaiting trial on spurious charges, to help him on the case. Writing beautifully about the mountain West and its people, Box takes care to present both sides of the controversial issue of hunting. The narrative alternates between the searchers and the killer, whose identity will keep readers guessing up to the surprising climax. Author tour. (May) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
In the mouth: Stories and novellas by Eileen Pollack
House on Fortune Street: a novel by Margot Livesey
The absorbing latest from Livesey (Homework) opens multiple perspectives on the life of Dara MacLeod, a young London therapist, partly by paying subtle homage to literary figures and works. The first of four sections follows Keats scholar Sean Wyman: his girlfriend, Abigail, is Dara's best friend, and the couple lives upstairs from Dara in the titular London house. While Dara tries to coax her boyfriend Edward to move out of the house he shares with his ex-girlfriend and daughter, Sean receives a mysterious letter implying that Abigail is having an affair, and both relationships start to fall apart. The second section, set during Dara's childhood, is narrated by Dara's father, who has a strange fascination with Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and shares Dodgson's creepy interest in young girls. Dara's meeting with Edward dominates part three, which mirrors the plot of Jane Eyre, and the final part, reminiscent of Great Expectations, is told mainly from Abigail's college-era point of view. The pieces cross-reference and fit together seamlessly, with Dara's fate being revealed by the end of part one and explained in the denouement. Livesey's use of the classics enriches the narrative, giving Dara a larger-than-life resonance. (May) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Blackman’s coffin: a Sam Blackman mystery by Mark De Castrique
Starred Review. At the start of this outstanding first in a new series from de Castrique (Final Undertaking), Sam Blackman, a feisty army vet who lost part of a leg in the current Iraq War, is in his last days of rehab at a V.A. hospital in Asheville, N.C., when he meets Tikima Robertson, a black woman and fellow amputee who invites him to apply for a job at her security firm. Soon after, Sam phones the firm and learns Tikima is dead. Sam speaks at Tikima's funeral, during which her apartment is ransacked. Tikima's sister, Nakayla, later finds that the intruders overlooked a diary from 1919 bookmarked with Sam's name and number. The diary vividly brings to life the intrepid journey of a white funeral director and the Robertson sisters' great-great-grandfather, Elijah Robertson, that ends in Elijah's murder. Suspecting a connection between the long-ago murder and Tikima's untimely drowning, Sam decides to investigate, but he must overcome hurdles of body and mind as he pursues the truth. A wealth of historical detail, an exciting treasure hunt and credible characters distinguish this fresh, adventurous read. (June) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Holy moly by Ben Rehder
Starred Review. Edgar-finalist Rehder's sixth Blanco County (Tex.) mystery (after 2007's Gun Shy) may be the best to date in this rollicking crime series. Soon after Hollis Farley, a backhoe operator clearing land for televangelist Peter Pastor Pete Boothe's controversial new religious complex, discovers an Alamosaurus skull, an arrow hits Farley in the back, and the fossil skull disappears. Whodunit and whotookit? Series regular Red O'Brien persuades his best friend and housemate, 300-pound Billy Don Craddock, to whom Farley had mentioned the valuable discovery, to court Farley's sister, Betty Jean, to see if she has the missing fossil. Other suspects include Vanessa, Pastor Pete's unfaithful wife; debt-ridden Alex Pringle, Pete's right-hand man; and Snake Sawyer, a convicted burglar who works for Darwin Parker, a dino-loving millionaire. Rehder's satirical take on greed, faith and foolishness moves at a swift clip, punctuated with dizzy twists and even bittersweet turns, like a good toe-tapping, country and western tune. (May) Copyright Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
