April Titles Part 2

I spent last week at the PLA conference and I have a few titles to tell you about that interested me. On the plane on the way home, I read The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan. It comes out on April 3rd. An ocean liner explodes in the Atlantic - why, we do not know - but a young bride is placed in a lifeboat that is obviously overcrowded. One of the crew takes charge and assures them that rescue is at hand. Some wounded in the water try unsuccessfully to climb aboard. Strong personalities appear and as the days pass, hard decisions have to be made. Eventually, things become violent. When the few remaining are rescued, three of the women, including the young bride, are put on trial. We relive her journey through a journal that her lawyer asks her to write. An interesting examination of a life and death situation and the extremes some go to in order to survive.

Another title which had a lot of buzz was A Land More Kind Than Home by Wiley Cash which is due out on April 17th. Southern literary fiction about 2 brothers growing up in an evangelical town in the mountains of North Carolina. The older brother is mute and the younger tries to take care of him. The boys see something they are not suppose to and the event is catastrophic to their former life. A haunting tale of brotherly love and how love can overcome evil.

The last title I want to specifically talk about is Cloudland by Joseph Olshan. This title comes out on April 10th. A woman walking through the woods, finds a dead body and an investigation into a serial murder begins. This title takes place in rustic Vermont and the reader receives a very strong sense of place. The characters cause you to become invested in the mystery and the story is haunting and strongly written.

Books due out in April by well known authors are:
David Baldacci - The Innocent - April 17, 2012
Mary Higgins Clark - The Lost Years - April 3, 2012
Sandra Dallas - True Sisters - April 24, 2012
Iris Johansen - What Doesn't Kill You - April 17, 2012
Stephen King - The Wind Through the Keyhole: A Dark Tower Novel - April 24, 2012
Phillip Margolin - Capitol Murder - April 3, 2012
Amanda Quick - Crystal Gardens - April 24, 2012
Anne Perry - Dorchester Terrace: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel - April 3, 2012
Lisa Scottoline - Come Home - April 10, 2012
Anne Tyler - The Beginner's Goodbye - April 3, 2012

April Titles - Part 1

I will be gone to the Public Library Association meeting next week and hope to come back with lots of news about new titles arriving in the spring and summer. The entry for this week will begin with the titles that are arriving in April.

The first title that I'm excited about is Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. Lupton's first novel was Sister which I raved about in a prior post. Her second movel is due out on 4/24 and I have my name on the list for it. Grace tries to reach her daughter, Jenny, in a blazing school. She wakes up in the hospital badly burned along with her daughter and discovers that the fire was no accident but an attempt to end Jenny's life. The press in the U.K. have raved about the book calling it 'compulsive', 'compelling', 'searing' and 'extraordinary'. I can't wait to get my hands on it.

For cozy lovers, Rita Mae Brown & Sneaky Pie Brown are coming out with thier 20th title, The Big Cat Nap, on 4/3. Too many car accidents occur - is it extraordinarily bad luck or is something sinister going on. All Mary Minor "Harry" Harristeen's animal friends help her solve this one.

Eric Jerome Dickey's title that comes out on 4/17 is An Accidental Affair. Hollywood star Regina Baptiste's viral video starring a leading man causes her husband to physically assault him. Typical Dickey material for those who look forward to his next one.

Lastly, another thriller that looks like it will be the start of a series, The Professionals by Owen Laukkanen. Four unemplyed recent college grads turn to kidnapping to make some money. Unfortunately, they kidnap the wrong person and become the targets of both organized crime and the FBI. The beginning series stars are Kirk Stevens a veteran state investigator and Carla Windermere, a rookie investigator. Looks like a real promising start for a long run with the two.

More March Titles

Shelley Shepard Gray has written several of those very popular 'Amish novels'. This time, however, murder comes to Crittenden County, in Missing: The Secrets of Crittenden County, Book One released on March 20th. Everyone thought that Perry Borntrager had left for the 'world' but then his body is discovered at the bottom of a well. A detective from the 'world' comes to help the local sheriff investigate. What will it mean to the close knit Amish community?

For those who like historical mysteries, Jacqueline Winspear's latest entry in the Maisie Dobbs series comes out on March 27th, Elegy for Eddie. What had looked like a settled life for Maisie in the last novel is disrupted by an investigation into the death of a sweet, simple man called Eddie. Part of the charm of this series is the authentic atmosphere of London after World War I and the relentless movement towards World War II. There is a level of moral complexity here that is unusaul in a mystery and fascinating in a story.

M.J. Rose's The Book of Lost Fragrances comes out on March 13th. Jac L'Etoile, an heir to a French perfume company, is haunted by the past and psychotic episodes. She prefers reality but when her brother goes missing after telling her he has found a secret in the company archive, Jac returns to Paris to investigate the history of her family's company to try to find him. Separate characters try to find the path to a magical perfume that supposedly opens the door to reincarnation. Suspense with mysticism. I love the covers on M.J. Rose's books, they really evoke the feeling of the stories.

The rest of the ones that have caught my eye for March before we move on to April's entries:

Alex Dryden's The Blind Spy - ex-KGB colonel joins a private intelligence company to circumvent Putin's plan to return the Ukraine to Russia's sphere of influence.

Jodi Picoult's Lone Wolf - an estranged son returns to his comatose father and tries to convince his younger sister to pull the plug.

Joe R. Lansdale's Edge of Dark Water - three teenage friends plan to take the ashes of another friend to Hollywood. Raves about this one for it's character development and strong sense of place. A little mystery thrown in to the mix.

Things I'm Excited About

The first thing I am excited about is that Catch Me by Lisa Gardner (see Jan 26th blog) has made the New York Times bestseller list. I really like that book. It caught my interest, kept me reading, and I cared about the characters. There comes a point where you are unsure of the main character. You care about her and don't want her to be the murderer but......that possibility seems to become clearer. I'm glad to see that others agree with this title's appeal.

The next thing I am excited about is that Harlan Coben comes out with a new title, Stay Close, this month. Coben is one of my favorite authors. I particularly like his Myron Bolitar series but all of his stand alones are good reads. This one is no different. It has received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Raves about it call it a "masterful stand- alone"; and that " Coben writes with wit and irony, and his flair for exposing the frail balance point between order and chaos in our lives has never been stronger than in this suspenseful outing.” and that he " excels in descriptions of his characters’ tortured, ruminative inner lives." How can anyone not be drooling for the arrival of this title on March 20th. There are already reserves on this title but I have ordered multiple titles so get your name on the list. Coben has his fans in Columbus even though he is a Jersey boy and most of his novels take place in New Jersey. I love the fact that in all of his titles, you get to know the characters, the suspense is tremendous but he writes with humor so you'll experience some laughs too. Stay Close follows 3 individuals whose lives were affected by the disappearance of a local man 17 years before. When someone else disappears on the exact same day, things start happening. In many ways, this is an investigation of the eternal question "what if..." - what if I had done this instead of that; what if we had gone here instead of there. I'm really looking forward to this one and if you haven't become a Coben fan yet, try this one and see what you have been missing.

On to the March Titles

Another month with lots of titles being published. Today, I'll talk about 2 of the titles that I have reviewed in other places and give you a list of the popular authors who are producing work this month.

The first title is The Dog Who Danced by Susan Wilson.

Wilson‘s newest title after One Good Dog again pulls your heart strings. This dog is a Shetland sheepdog whose owner, Justine Meade, has taught the dog to dance. Justine, a divorced single mother, finds herself in Seattle, WA with only the dog (Mack) as her only constant.  When her stepmother calls to tell her that her father is dying, she doesn’t have the money for airfare. Justine pays a truck driver $300 to take Mack and her to Boston but he abandons her at a truck stop and leaves with her dog in the back seat. When he realizes he has the dog, he leaves it at the side of a road.  The story is told from multiple points of view – Justine’s, Mack’s, and a couple who find Mack.  Really this is a story about dealing with loss, accepting things you cannot change and moving on. If you love dogs and don't mind crying, try this title.

Then comes Poison Flower by Thomas Perry. Perry has not received the acclaim that he deserves for his mysteries. This one is in the Jane Whitefield series. Perry wrote the first five entries in the series in the years between 1995 and 1999. Then , in 2009, he returned to Jane. He says that it was interesting with the first 5 titles to see how Jane matured and grew. He said he would return to her when she had something new to say and he did. Now he returns again. Jane is a Native American 'guide'. She says that  "I show people how to go from places where somebody is trying to kill them to other places where nobody is." In other words she is a one woman witness protection unit and she does it well. In Poison Flower, she helps James Shelby escape from a guarded courtroom. He had been wrongly convicted of killing his wife. With his escape, the real killers kidnap Jane and are prepared to torture her for information on his location. Instead of helping someone escape, she is now confronted with her own escape. Extremely suspenseful. When they put it in the thriller category, they weren't kidding.

OK - now some quick March entries:

Richard North Patterson - Fall from Grace on March 20, 2012

C.J. Box - Force of Nature on March 20, 2012

Randy Wayne White - Chasing Midnight on March 6, 2012

Jonathan Kellerman & Michael Gaydos - Silent Partner : The Graphic Novel on Feb 28, 2012

Jonathan Kellerman - Victims : An Alex Delaware Novel also on Feb 28, 2012

More on March releases next week.

February Titles Part 2

There are so many books coming out this month that I couldn't cover them all in one post. To continue my list:

Alex Berenson issues The Shadow Patrol on February 21. A spy thriller featuring John Wells, Berenson's returning  undercover operative. This time, he is trying to find the American in Kabul, Afghanistan, who is responsible for the deaths in the CIA's Kabul Station.

Jennifer Chiaverini returns with Sonoma Rose: An Elm Creek Quilts Novel. The latest entry into this every popular quilting series is also out on the 21st. This title takes place during Prohibition and an abused wife, Rosa, flees her husband with her 4 children. They are trapped in a flooding canyon and rescued by Rosa's first love.

For those who read Southern fiction, Amy Franklin-Willis has The Lost Saints of Tennessee which is already on the shelf. Middle-aged Ezekiel leaves his mother and two daughters behind after his brother's death and a divorce, and takes to the road with his brother's aging dog and a copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Also on the shelves now is Defending Jacob by William Landay. A thriller featuring Andy Barber, an assistant district attorney in Massachusetts. His own son, Jacob, is accused of murder. What would a father do? Heavily talked about in publishing circles.

For those who enjoy historical romantic suspense, Lauren Willig offers the 9th in the Pink Carnation series, The Garden Intrigue. Augustus Whittlesby hides behind horrible poetry to do his spying. His poetry is so bad that the surveillance officers in Napoleonic France can't bear to read it. Seems there might be some humor in this also. This is out on February 16th.

Another literary work that is being talked about in a positive manner is The Healing by Jonathan Odell, out on the 21st. Grieving the death of her child, a plantation mistress, Amanda Satterfield, takes on a newborn slave child and raises her as her own. The story is really the child's to tell. Granada as Amanda Satterfield called her, or GranGran as she is called 75 years later has a story.The telling of her story, the history of the plantation and the town, to a young girl, bring both of them great strength and hope.

David Rosenfelt, the author of the Andy Carpenter novels that I love, has penned his first standalone, Heart of a Killer, due out on February 14th.. This title features Jamie Wagner, another lawyer who really doesn't like to practice the law, who is faced with a ethical dilemma. His client who is in jail, wants to donate her heart to her critically ill daughter. The prison system doesn't believe in suicide, so Jamie is left with trying to find a way to get her out of prison, so she can go through with her plan. A really good legal mystery that pulls your heartstrings at the same time. Rosenfelt deserves more attention.

Last in this list, before I turn towards March, is Michael Robotham's new book, Bleed for Me which will be available on the 27th of February. Psychologist Joe O'Loughlin finds 14 year old Sienna Hegarty on his porch covered with blood. Her father, a retired policeman, is discovered murdered back at their home. Did she or didn't she? Leave it to Joe to find out.

 

February Titles

There are quite a few authors who are coming out with new books this month. I'll let you know about several this week and cover more next time.

Dana Stabenow's new title coming February 14th is Restless in the Grave which brings together two characters from different series - Aleut private eye Kate Shugak and Alaska State Trouper Liam.  

Helen Tursten's title Night Rounds has one nurse dead and another missing after a hospital blackout. This is part of Tursten's Dectective Inspector Irene Huss series which takes place in Sweden. It also comes out on the 14th.

Betty Webb's title, Desert Wind,comes out on the 7th of February. This seventh book in the Lena Jones series exposes real life crimes, and the reason why high-ranking government officials want those crimes to remain under wraps.

Christina Alger, a former Goldman Sachs analyst whose father was a CEO  of Goldman Sachs, produces the novel The Darlings. Alot of people are watching this title. She certainly should know the environment that she writes about. A pink-slipped attorney accepts a job offer from his father-in-law as the head of the legal department for a hedge fund that ends up in trouble. This title arrives on Feb 16th.

Accidents of Providence by Stacia Brown is the February entry for historical fiction lovers. Brown was working on her dissertation when she developed the idea for this book taking place in Cromwell run England. A glove maker has an affair and a dead baby is found buried.

So Damn Lucky by Deborah Coonts follows Lucky O'Toole, the head of Customer Relations at a Vegas Strip resort, on another adventure. This time, a magician disappears. Lucky follows the clues. This one comes out at the end of the month.

Lisa Gardner's Catch Me, which I have already raved about, comes out on the 7th.

J. A. Jance's entry this month is Left for Dead and for Vince Flynn's fan club, his entry is Kill Shot. Both come out on the 7th also.

But the one I have put my name on is Trail of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz. I like my mysteries with some humor and Lutz has me rolling in the aisles. This is 5th in the series about a family private investigation firm in San Francisco. If you like Janet Evanovich, try Lisa Lutz. It is west coast instead of New Jersey but truely funny. The first in the series is The Spellman Files. Get ready to laugh.