Kings of the Earth by Jon ClinchSynopsis
Following up Finn, his much-heralded and prize-winning debut whose voice evoked “the mythic styles of his literary predecessors . . . William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy and Edward P. Jones” (San Francisco Chronicle), Jon Clinch returns with Kings of the Earth, a powerful and haunting story of life, death, and family in rural America.
The edge of civilization is closer than we think.
It’s as close as a primitive farm on the margins of an upstate New York town, where the three Proctor brothers live together in a kind of crumbling stasis. They linger like creatures from an older, wilder, and far less forgiving world—until one of them dies in his sleep and the other two are suspected of murder.
Told in a chorus of voices that span a generation, Kings of the Earth examines the bonds of family and blood, faith and suspicion, that link not just the brothers but their entire community.
Vernon, the oldest of the Proctors, is reduced by work and illness to a shambling shadow of himself. Feebleminded Audie lingers by his side, needy and unknowable. And Creed, the youngest of the three and the only one to have seen anything of the world (courtesy of the U.S. Army), struggles with impulses and accusations beyond his understanding. We also meet Del Graham, a state trooper torn between his urge to understand the brothers and his desire for justice; Preston Hatch, a kindhearted and resourceful neighbor who’s spent his life protecting the three men from themselves; the brothers’ only sister, Donna, who managed to cut herself loose from the family but is then drawn back; and a host of other living, breathing characters whose voices emerge to shape this deeply intimate saga of the human condition at its limits.
Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith
Synopsis
A delightful new setting—London—a delightful new cast of characters, and one incredibly clever dog.
Corduroy Mansions is the affectionate nickname given to a genteel, crumbling mansion block in London’s vibrant Pimlico neighborhood, and the home turf of a new cast of captivating, quirky, and altogether McCall-Smithian characters. There’s the middle-aged wine merchant William, who’s trying to convince his reluctant twenty-four-year-old son, Eddie, to leave the nest; and Marcia, the restaurant propriatrix who has her sights set on William. There’s also the (justifiably) much-loathed member of Parliament, Oedipus Snark; his mother, Berthea, who’s writing his biography and loathing every minute of him; and his long-suffering girlfriend, Barbara, a literary agent who would like to be his wife (but, then, she’d like to be almost anyone’s wife). There’s the vitamin evangelist, the psychoanalyst, the art student with a puzzling boyfriend, and the Pimlico terrier, Freddie de la Haye, who can fasten his own seat belt and is almost certainly the only avowed vegetarian canine in London.
The comings and goings, the face-to-face and behind-the-back meetings and misses, the in and outs of neighborliness in all its unexpected variations—here is a new world for us to enter, filled with all the life, laughter, and humanity that we have come to expect from Alexander McCall Smith.
As Husbands Go by Susan Isaacs
Synopsis
A rare mix of wit, social satire, and suspense, along with characters who leap from the page to speak directly to the reader — a moving story about a love that just won't give up, As Husbands Go is the latest from critically acclaimed, bestselling author, Susan Isaacs.
Call her superficial, but Susie B. Anthony Rabinowitz Gersten assumed her marriage was great — and why not? Jonah Gersten, M.D., a Park Avenue plastic surgeon, clearly adored her. He was handsome, successful, and a doting dad to their four-year-old triplets Dashiell, Evan, and Mason. But when Jonah is found in the Upper East Side apartment of second-rate "escort" Dorinda Dillon, Susie is overwhelmed with questions left unanswered. It's bad enough to know your husband's been murdered, but even worse when you're universally pitied (and quietly mocked) because of the sleaze factor. None of it makes sense to Susie — not a sexual liaison with someone like Dorinda, not the "better not to discuss it" response from Jonah's partners. With help from her toughtalking, high-style Grandma Ethel who flies in from Miami, she takes on her snooty in-laws, her husband's partners, the NYPD, and the DA (is the person arrested for the homicide the actual perp, or just an easy mark for a prosecutor who hates the word "unsolved"?), as she tries to prove that her wonderful life with Jonah was no lie. Susan Isaacs brilliantly turns the conventions of the mystery on end as Susie Gersten, suburban mom, floral designer, and fashion plate, searches not so much for answers to her husband's death as for answers to her own life.
The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven: A Remarkable Account of Miracles, Angels, and Life beyond This World by Kevin Malarkey, Alex MalarkeySynopsis
In 2004, Kevin Malarkey and his six-year-old son, Alex, suffered a horrific car accident. The impact from the crash paralyzed Alex--and medically speaking, he could not survive. "I think Alex has gone to be with Jesus," a friend told the stricken dad. When Alex awoke from a coma -over two months -later, not only had the most severe of his spinal injuries been healed without medical intervention, but he had an incredible story to share. Of events at the accident scene and in the hospital while he was unconscious. Of the angels that took him through the gates of heaven itself. Of the unearthly music that sounded just terrible to a six-year-old. And, most amazing of all...of meeting and talking to Jesus. "The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven" is the true story of an ordinary boy's most extraordinary journey. As you see heaven and earth through Alex's eyes, you'll come away with new insights on miracles, life beyond this world, and the power of a father's love.
Ice Cold (Jane Rizzoli & Maura Isles Series #8) by Tess GerritsenSynopsis
In Wyoming for a medical conference, Boston medical examiner Maura Isles joins a group of friends on a spur-of-the-moment ski trip. But when their SUV stalls on a snow-choked mountain road, they’re stranded with no help in sight.
As night falls, the group seeks refuge from the blizzard in the remote village of Kingdom Come, where twelve eerily identical houses stand dark and abandoned. Something terrible has happened in Kingdom Come: Meals sit untouched on tables, cars are still parked in garages. The town’s previous residents seem to have vanished into thin air, but footprints in the snow betray the presence of someone who still lurks in the cold darkness — someone who is watching Maura and her friends.
Days later, Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli receives the grim news that Maura’s charred body has been found in a mountain ravine. Shocked and grieving, Jane is determined to learn what happened to her friend. The investigation plunges Jane into the twisted history of Kingdom Come, where a gruesome discovery lies buried beneath the snow. As horrifying revelations come to light, Jane closes in on an enemy both powerful and merciless — and the chilling truth about Maura’s fate.
Rules of Betrayal by Christopher Reich
Synopsis
The most riveting novel yet in Christopher Reich’s New York Times bestselling series—featuring Dr. Jonathan Ransom and his undercover-agent wife Emma, a dangerous woman with a mysterious past who has gone rogue in the high-stakes, serpentine world of international spies.
In 1980, a secret American B-52 crashes high in a remote mountain range on the Pakistan–Afghanistan border. Nearly thirty years later, and spanning locales from those peaks to New York City, a terrible truth will be revealed.
Jonathan Ransom returns as the resourceful doctor thrown into a shadowy world of double and triple agents where absolutely no one can be trusted. To stay alive, Ransom must unravel the mystery surrounding his wife—an enigmatic and lethal spy who plays by her own rules—and discover where her loyalties truly lie.
Rules of Betrayal is a masterfully plotted novel that cements Christopher Reich’s reputation as one of the most admired espionage thriller writers today.
The Search by Nora Roberts
Synopsis
To most people, Fiona Bristow seems to have an idyllic life — a quaint house on an island off Seattle’s coast, a thriving dog-training school, and a challenging volunteer job performing canine search and rescue. Not to mention her three intensely loyal Labs. But Fiona got to this point by surviving a nightmare.
Several years ago, she was the only survivor of a serial killer — a madman who stalked and abducted young women, strangled them, and left them buried with a red scarf on their bodies. As authorities were closing in on the Red Scarf Killer, he shot and killed Fiona’s cop fiancé and his K-9 partner.
On Orcas Island, Fiona has found the peace and solitude she needed to rebuild her life. Yet all that changes on the day Simon Doyle barrels up her drive, desperate for her help. He’s the reluctant owner of an out-of-control puppy, foisted upon him by his mother. Jaws has eaten through Simon’s house, and he’s at his wit’s end.
To Fiona, Jaws is nothing she can’t handle. Simon is another matter. A newcomer to Orcas, he’s a rugged and intensely private artist, known for creating exquisite furniture. Simon never wanted a puppy, and he most definitely doesn’t want a woman. Besides, the lanky redhead is not his type. But tell that to the laws of attraction.
As Fiona embarks on training Jaws and as Simon begins to appreciate both dog and trainer, the past tears back into Fiona’s life. A copycat killer has emerged out of the shadows, a man whose bloodlust has been channeled by a master with one motive: to reclaim the woman who slipped out of his hands. . . .
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Synopsis
Six years after the phenomenal success of The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger has returned with a spectacularly compelling and haunting second novel set in and around Highgate Cemetery in London.
When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leaves her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt; they only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers -- with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another.
The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery. They come to know the building's other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder; Marjike, Martin's devoted but trapped wife; and Robert, Elspeth's elusive former lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt's neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt, who can't seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.
Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry: about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life -- even after death.
Fortunate Harbor by Emilie Richards
Synopsis
Join five women connected only by their growing friendship and the road that runs like a lifeline between their cottages in a run-down Florida development called Happiness Key.
Tracy Deloche finally gets a chance to swap business for a romantic evening with Marsh Egan, but dinner goes cold when she spots her ex-husband prowling outside her cottage. CJ is supposed to be in prison and out of her life for good. Exactly what is this modern-day pirate seeking and what will it mean for Tracy's future?
Janya Kapur envies every pregnant woman she sees, but Rishi, her husband, is suddenly reluctant to talk about children. Is he disappointed in her inability to conceive? Their marriage was a contract between strangers. Can they ever hope for anything more?
Waitress Wanda Gray loses her job after new owners turn the Dancing Shrimp into a tapas bar. Wise neighbor Alice Brooks's suggestion that Wanda start her own business seems like a brilliant solution, until Wanda starts Pie War I with the owners of the local bakery.
When the empty cottage at Happiness Key is rented by single mother Dana Turner, everything seems perfect. With Alice volunteering to watch Dana's daughter while she works and Wanda's offer of a job, this spit of Florida Gulf Coast land should be a fortunate harbor for a mother and daughter who have moved far too often. Except for Dana's shocking secret.
As the women of Happiness Key struggle to discover the truth in time to help their new neighbor, their only weapon is friendship. But will friendship be enough?
Summer Dreams: Dual Image\Untamed by Nora Roberts
Synopsis#1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nora Roberts presents classic stories of two unlikely couples who choose…love!
Dual Image
Playing Booth DeWitt's cruel ex-wife in his semiautobiographical film is the chance of a lifetime for actor Ariel Kirkwood. Not only is it a giant boon for her career, but she also gets to work with the screenwriter himself. Since getting to know him, Ariel can't get the aloof, sexy Booth out of her mind. She'd love to be his real leading lady, but with each passing day he becomes more distant. Now Ariel must convince Booth to see her for the woman she is, not the one she was hired to portray….
Untamed
The circus is no place for a lawyer! But that's exactly where Keane Prescott finds himself, as the new owner of his late father's circus. Keane has no interest in the Big Top, until he meets Jovilette Wilder. She had a special bond with his father but has made it clear she wants Keane to leave her and her circus alone! Yet Jo is impossible to resist—at once graceful, fearless, commanding and about as unpredictable as the lions she tames. She just may be the best thing his father left him…but can he tame her wild heart before it's too late?
Work Song by Ivan DoigSynopsis
An award-winning and beloved novelist of the American West spins the further adventures of a favorite character, in one of the richest historical settings yet.
"If America was a melting pot, Butte would be its boiling point," observes Morrie Morgan, the itinerant teacher, walking encyclopedia, and inveterate charmer last seen leaving a one-room schoolhouse in Marias Coulee, the stage he stole in Ivan Doig's 2006 The Whistling Season. A decade later, Morrie is back in Montana, as the beguiling narrator of Work Song.
Lured like so many others by "the richest hill on earth," Morrie steps off the train in Butte, copper-mining capital of the world, in its jittery heyday of 1919. But while riches elude Morrie, once again a colorful cast of local characters-and their dramas-seem to seek him out: a look-alike, sound-alike pair of retired Welsh miniers; a streak- of-lightning waif so skinny that he is dubbed Russian Famine; a pair of mining company goons; a comely landlady propitiously named Grace; and an eccentric boss at the public library, his whispered nickname a source of inexplicable terror. When Morrie crosses paths with a lively former student, now engaged to a fiery young union leader, he is caught up in the mounting clash between the iron-fisted mining company, radical "outside agitators," and the beleaguered miners. And as tensions above ground and below reach the explosion point, Morrie finds a unique way to give a voice to those who truly need one.
Richly textured and incandescently human, Work Song is an enduring and quintessentially American story.
The Last Airbender 1 by David RomanSynopsis
At the South Pole, a lone water tribe village struggles to survive. Young waterbender Katara and her warrior brother Sokka rescue a mysterious boy named Aang, who is an airbender—a race of people no one has seen in a century. Soon, everyone discovers that Aang is the long-lost Avatar. Now it’s up to Katara and Sokka to make sure that Aang faces his destiny: to save the world!
The Seeker: A Novel by Ann Gabhart
Synopsis
Charlotte Vance is a young woman who knows what she wants. But when the man she planned to marry joins the Shakers—a religious group that does not marry—she is left dumbfounded. And when her father brings home a new wife who is young enough to be Charlotte's sister, it is more than she can bear. With the country—and her own household—on the brink of civil war, this pampered gentlewoman hatches a plan to avoid her new stepmother and win back her man by joining the Shaker community at Harmony Hill. Little does she know that this decision will lead her down a road toward unforeseen peace—and a very unexpected love.
Ann H. Gabhart brings alive the strikingly different worlds of the Southern gentry, the simple Shakers, and the ravages of war to weave a touching story of love, freedom, and forgiveness that sticks with readers long after they have turned the last page.
The Witness by Josh D. McDowell
Synopsis
From Monte Carlo to Morocco to Egypt and into Petra, Marwan Accad is pursued by authorities for murders he did not commit. Tracked by advanced intelligence-surveillance technology, his every location is eventually found out, thrusting those he loves into danger. Nurtured by a bitter past that equipped him with what he needed for his company to thrive, Marwan Accad never looks back. Yet the way forward promises only uncertainty, and living each day is a lie in which corruption and greed play in the lives of man. For whose lie is he going through all of this? Even as Marwan races against time to find his pursuers and their motives, he must grapple with what is beyond his life, with what is eternal.
206 Bones (Temperance Brennan Series #12) by Kathy Reichs
Synopsis
The #1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the Fox television hit, Bones, returns with a spectacular new Tempe Brennan novel.
There are 206 bones in the human body. Forensic anthropologists know them intimately, can read in them stories of brief or long lives and use them to reconstruct every kind of violent end. 206 Bones opens with Tempe regaining consciousness and discovering that she is in some kind of very small, very dark, very cold enclosed space. She is bound, hands to feet. Who wants Tempe dead, or at least out of the way, and why? Tempe begins slowly to reconstruct...
Tempe and Lieutenant Ryan had accompanied the recently discovered remains of a missing heiress from Montreal to the Chicago morgue. Suddenly, Tempe was accused of mishandling the autopsy — and the case. Someone made an incriminating phone call. Within hours, the one man with information about the call was dead. Back in Montreal, the corpse of a second elderly woman was found in the woods, and then a third.
Seamlessly weaving between Tempe's present-tense terror as she's held captive and her memory of the cases of these murdered women, Reichs conveys the incredible devastation that would occur if a forensic colleague sabotaged work in the lab. The chemistry between Tempe and Ryan intensifies as this complex, riveting tale unfolds. Reichs is writing at the top of her game.
Killer Summer (Walt Fleming Series #3) by Ridley Pearson
Synopsis
Sun Valley, Idaho – playground of the wealthy and politically connected – is home to an annual wine auction that attracts high rollers from across the country, and Blaine County sheriff Walt Fleming must ensure it goes on without a hitch. The world’s most elite wine connoisseurs have descended on Sun Valley to taste and bid on the world’s best wines, including three bottles said to have been a gift from Thomas Jefferson to John Adams. With sky-high prices all but guaranteed for these historic items, it’s no wonder a group of thieves is out to steal them. Walt is responsible for all the security for the glitzy event, the safety of the dignitaries, the auction site, and the wines themselves.
Walt is enjoying a rare afternoon of freedom, fly-fishing with his nephew Kevin, when a passing truck catches his eye – and his suspicions throw him headlong into the discovery of a complicated plan to steal the rare wine.
When a bomb explodes just as the auction revs up, the investigation explodes as well, pulling Walt in a dozen different directions. He is caught in the middle of a heist of epic proportions – and not the heist he had prepared for – orchestrated by the ingenious mind of Christopher Cantell, a man who seems to have prepared for everything, including the way Walt’s own sheriff’s office will react.
“In Sheriff Fleming, Pearson has created a likable, sympathetic protagonist, forever challenged by ferocious weather, a feisty citizenry, and feral criminal minds.” – Booklist (starred review) on Killer View
Knock Out (FBI Series #13) by Catherine Coulter
Synopsis
The first time she spoke to him was at midnight.
Seven-year-old Autumn Backman needed a hero. When she saw Special Agent Dillon Savich on TV after he’d brought down bank robbers in a Georgetown bank, she knew she’d found him. She called Savich, but she didn’t use the phone.
They were burying dead people in my daddy’s grave . . . they’re coming after us. Please help me.
Who’s they?
Blessed, he’s coming.
Ethan Merriweather, sheriff of Titusville, Virginia, a small mountain town near the Titus Hitch Wilderness, goes looking for a missing little girl. Soon after he finds her, Ethan realizes that Autumn has brought him a huge problem – a relentless madman who has the ability to control others simply by looking at them. And the madman is after her and her mom.
It’s Uncle Blessed, and he wants Autumn.
When Savich answers Autumn’s call, she tells him Blessed is from Bricker’s Bowl, Georgia. Savich and Sherlock go to Blessed’s home, learn about his brother, Grace, and meet their mother, Shepherd. Savich soon realizes the only way to stop Blessed is to “cut off the snake’s head.”
Back in Titusville, Ethan, Autumn, and her mother, Joanna, are forced to hide from Blessed and Grace in the wilderness. Ethan knows the brothers will never give up their insane pursuit for Autumn.
It’s a race to stop the madness, or the madness will destroy them all.
Hell's Gate by Stephen FreySynopsis
It’s fire season in Montana . . .A disillusioned litigator forges a new life in Big Sky Country and stumbles onto the toughest case of his career in this electrifying thriller from New York Times bestselling author Stephen Frey.
When lawyer Hunter Lee decides to turn his back on the New York City rat race that has made him rich but cost him his marriage, he escapes to beautiful but isolated Fort Mason, Montana. He befriends a Fire Jumper—one of an elite corps of firefighters—and gets a terrifying firsthand look at vast tracts of forest being reduced to ash in seconds. In this tiny town where everyone seems to have a secret, Hunter suspects these fires are anything but accidental. As he follows his instincts, Montana becomes a crucible where good and evil collide—and where one man, running from his past, must expose the guilty before he’s sacrificed to the inferno.
Game Over (Sisterhood Series #17) by Fern Michaels
Synopsis
With yet another successful assignment behind them, the ladies of the Sisterhood have enjoyed a relaxing break together and celebrated the wedding of Myra and Charles on Big Pine Mountain. But as soon as the newlyweds return from their shortened honeymoon, they are hit with some exciting yet unsettling news…
It seems their dear ally Lizzie Fox, recently ensconced as Chief White House Counsel, is rumored to be near the top of the short list for a soon to be vacated seat on the Supreme Court. While the Sisters are thrilled for Lizzie, they are concerned about her being ripped to shreds in the approval process, partly due to her connections with the Sisterhood. They also fear it will delay or even derail their long-awaited pardon promised to them by President Martine Connor. It will take a masterful plan, and loyal friends aiding them at every turn, for the Sisters to succeed in protecting Lizzie while securing their own freedom at last.
The Hostage (Great Chicago Fire Trilogy Series #1) by Susan WiggsSynopsis
Deborah Sinclair is a beautiful, accomplished young heiress with a staggering dowry. But her fortune does her no good when, one horrible night, Chicago is engulfed in flames.
Tom Silver will walk through fire to avenge a terrible injustice—and he may have to. But when he makes Deborah a pawn in his revenge, the heat of the inferno fades next to the attraction he feels for his captive. And the further he takes her from everything she's known, the stronger their passion grows, until it threatens to consume them both.
The Gunsmith #343: The Hunt for Clint Adams by J. R. RobertsSynopsis
The GUNSMITH goes gun to gun...
Five years ago, Clint Adams helped put lightning-quick gunfighter Jed Tarver behind bars without having to draw on the man. But now, the Gunsmith doesn't have a choice, because Tarver is out of jail and coming for him-ready or not.
Longarm #380: Longarm and the One-Armed Bandit by Tabor EvansSynopsis
LONGARM is asked to lend a hand. While undercover trying to bust up a smuggling ring, Deputy U.S. Marshal Custis Long is befriended by a one-armed man who wants his help robbing a bank south of the border.
