Fiction
Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson — Rose grew up with an abusive father and is now married to an abusive man. From time to time, she reminisces about her high school boyfriend, who always promised he’d kill her father for her. Then a tarot reader tells her she has two choices — her husband’s life, or her own — and she thinks maybe it’s time to go seek her old flame.
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan — We don’t always learn the real stories of the people we know in real life; one of the pleasures of fiction is that we often do learn all about the characters even if, as is the case in this novel about a former punk rocker turned burned-out music executive and his kleptomaniac secretary and the pasts that brought them to the present and the futures they will one day inhabit.
Perfect Reader by Maggie Pouncey — When Flora goes to help deal with her college president father’s estate after his death, she discovers that he has also made her his literary executor, and that he has left behind a collection of erotic poems — poems addressed to his heretofore unknown about lover, who now wants to become part of Flora’s life.
The Prison Ship by Peter Tonkin — Richard Mariner and his daughter are in London just before the 2012 Olympics when terrorists attack a harbor near the museum they are visiting. They escape and save a man’s life — only they learn, once the man has left, that he is an internationally sought terrorist.
Final Target by Steven Gore — Your basic cop gets shot and whilst recovering his private investigator pal tries to clear his name while fending off everyone from Ukrainian gangsters to the Russian mafia to the FBI.
Whiplash by Catherine Coulter — Husband and wife FBI team Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock investigate the case of a Senator who claims he’s being haunted by his dead wife and a murder case involving the makers of an experimental cancer drug, where they are ably helped by a new crime-fighting duo.
The Rule of Nine by Steve Martini — Paul Madriani’s arch-rival Liquida Muerta (aka the Mexecutioner) teams up with a terrorist bent on attacking the United States. Can the California lawyer stop them?
So Cold the River by Michael Koryta — When someone hires you for a job that seems easy for money that’s too good to be true, it’s usually turns out not to be a good thing — and indeed that’s just what unemployed film maker Eric Shaw finds when a family hires him to go to West Baden, Indiana to make a documentary about their patriarch, an aging local entrepreneur. In this case, the unexpected element is a supernatural one. The latest from Koryta has been favorably compared to Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth — A novel about the President’s vampire. No, really. In the world according to Farnsworth, the President has had a vampire sworn to protect him since the days of Andrew Jackson. Blood Oath, the first in a planned series, examines the adventures of the vampire in the present (fictional) day, but it’s really less a vampire novel than it is a political thriller. . . that just happens to have some paranormal elements.
The Spy by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott — The third adventure of Isaac Bell (after The Chase and The Wrecker) finds him looking into the mysterious deaths of US naval arms manufacturers in the days leading up to World War I.
The Bohemian Girl by Kenneth Cameron — In turn of the century England, expatriated American author General Denton is contact by a man who found a letter taped to the back of a painting he just bought — a letter from a woman asking for Denton’s help. A sequel to The Frightened Man. Recommended to Anne Perry fans.
Junkyard Dogs by Craig Johnson — The latest Walt Longmire mystery from our very own Craig Johnson.
Still Midnight by Denise Mina — And here’s one recommended by another Wyoming author, CJ Box, who writes “And although she’s getting better known, Denise Mina’s Still Midnight is a terrific showcase for her raw and brilliant characters and writing style. Mina is one of the few novelists who writes sentences so perfect I put the book down for a moment and say, ‘Damn, that was good.’” This novel involves two Glasgow lowlifes who try to kidnap a Muslim shopkeeper to make a quick buck and end up shooting his daughter in the process. Detective Sargent Alex Morrow tries to get to the bottom of it all.
Frankenstein: Lost Souls by Dean Koontz — Dean Koontz takes on the further adventures of Frankenstein’s monster. Need I say more?
The Anniversary Man by R.J. Ellroy — The Anniversary Man is a serial killer who replicates other murders on the anniversary of the date they took place. Serial killer survivor John Costello, reporter Karen Langley, and Detective Ray Irving of the NYPD are all after him, all for their own reasons.
The Passage by Justin Cronin — It’s the near future, and, as is often the case in the near future, the world is in shambles — war, terrorism, environmental disaster, and now a virus that, almost instantly, transforms most of humanity into destructive but nearly indestructible monsters. Among those spared are haunted FBI Agent Brad Wolgast and six-year-old Amy Harper Belafonte who must, somehow, find a way to save the remainder of humankind.
False Convictions by Tim Green — Dallas do-gooder attorney Casey Jordan takes on the case of a death-row inmate in New York after a philanthropist offers to make a $1 million donation to her free law practice. The inmate may well be innocent, but journalist Jake Carlson is not so sure about the philanthropist.
Bodily Harm by Robert Dugoni — Seattle attorney David Sloane is about to win a medical malpractice case in which a pediatrician is being held responsible for a child’s death — and then an eccentric toy designer comes forward and says that his toy, not yet done with safety testing, is actually the responsible party.
Robert Ludlum’s The Bourne Objective by Eric Lustbader — The latest adventures of Jason Bourne.
Box 21 by Anders Roslund and Borge Hellstrom — And here’s some Scandinavian crime fiction recommended by our own Craig Johnson. Line up for this gritty mystery set in the underworld of Stockholm if you liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo!
The Lion by Nelson DeMille — The fifth John Corey thriller finds the ex-NYPD detective turned special agent once again battling the Libyan terrorist who went after him in The Lion’s Game and who now, 18 months after 9/11, is going after the country.
Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker — Most guns found in Mexico come from the US, and in LA County Deputy Sheriff Charlie Hood’s latest outing, he’s sent to the border to try to help break up a particularly wicked cartel. This is another recommendation from CJ Box.
Insatiable by Meg Cabot — Meg Cabot (of The Princess Diaries). New York City. Vampires. Think Twilight, but with funny stuff.
Pray for Silence by Linda Castillo — Police Chief Kate Burkholder is sent to investigate the killings of an entire Amish family in a small Ohio town. A teenage daughter in the family had an affair with a non-Amish man; Kate left the faith herself after being raped by an Amish man when she was a teen. And she has a history, as well, with John Tomasetti, the detective from the city who has been sent to assist her.
Island Beneath the Sea by Isabel Allende, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden — Tété is a slave on a plantation in Haiti, where she has a complicated relationship with her master, the plantation owner. When rebellion erupts in Haiti, they flee with his child and hers to Cuba and then to New Orleans. A powerful new historical novel from Allende.
Broken by Karin Slaughter — When you’re a character in a thriller, returning home for Thanksgiving never turns out to be a peaceful time with your family — and this is true of Dr. Sara Linton who, while visiting home, is drawn into the investigation of the murder of a local college student. To further complicate matters, Sara still blames Detective Lena Adams, who is in charge of the investigation, for the death of her husband. And then she calls Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in for further assistance, and he has to try to sort out the mess.
Work Song by Ivan Doig — Morrie Morgan (from The Whistling Season) finds himself drawn into a miner’s strike in Butte, Montana in 1919 in this lively story of the old West.
The Liar’s Lullaby by Meg Gardiner — San Francisco forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett takes on the case of the suicide — or was it murder? — of the ex-wife of the President, now a country music star but still, apparently, on the radar of those interested in the fate of the United States.
In the Name of Honor by Richard North Patterson — Brian McCarran, an army lieutenant from a famous military family who has just returned from Iraq, shoots and kills his commanding officer, Joe D’Abruzzo, who was married to Brian’s childhood friend Kate. The man charged with defending him was himself about to retire from military service, but instead he finds himself in the midst of this riveting and complex trial.
Private: Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, London, Chicago, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Rome by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro — Private is the name of a global (as you might guess from the subtitle) investigative team run by a former Marine helicopter pilot. Expect the usual lightning-speed plot thriller from Patterson.
Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen — Medical examiner Maura Isles and a friend go off on a spur-of-the-moment skiing trip, get caught in a storm, and hole up in a recently (there are still meals on the tables) abandoned Wyoming town called Kingdom Come. Some days later, her charred remains are found, and her partner and friends come to Wyoming to investigate.
Nonfiction
Point, Click and Save: Mashup Mom’s Guide to Saving and Making Money Online by Rachel Singer Gordon — Just what it says — tips on harnessing the power of the internet to find coupons, deals, and more. The author has a blog at MashupMom.com.
The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson — Conversion narratives are always fascinating, and perhaps they are even more so when they involve someone converting to something — here, the Muslim faith — that is foreign to us, and that has often been portrayed as hostile in recent years. Wilson talks about her work as an English teacher in Cairo and what led her to convert and eventually to marry an Egyptian man.
James Bama Sketchbook: A Seventy-Year Journey, Traveling from the Far East to the Old West by James Bama — Sketchbooks from the artist (who now lives on the North Fork).
Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the People Who Cook by Anthony Bourdain — Rollicking good times (and food) with no holds barred from the author of The Nasty Bits and Kitchen Confidential.
Denial: A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern — Stern is a national security adviser, lecturer at Harvard, and expert on terrorism. In this memoir, she examines there heretofore unexamined roots of her own experiences with terror — a night when she was 15 years old and she and her younger sister were raped at gunpoint by an unknown intruder. The book earned starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.
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