The Last of January Before I Am Off

I am going to finish up January titles before I take off until the new year. Perhaps I can do some reading and come back with some more possibilities for you.

I am going to start out with a strange but delightful book by Emma Hooper. Hooper was written other things (nonfiction, short stories, poetry, etc) but Etta and Otto and Russell and James is her debut novel. It arrives on January 20th. Etta is an 82 year old woman who has begun to forget things. She lives with her husband Otto on a farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Otto has an old friend who is their next door neighbor, Russell. And James is a talking coyote. See, I told you it was strange. Emma has never seen the ocean and decides to walk the 2000 miles to see it. Oscar stays home and writes her letters he never mails. I found it delightful because it is really about their lives. One review said "This is a beautiful story with threads that weave together past and present as one, not unlike the way Etta experiences time."

This next book I had to buy because ..... well, because of the title and subject matter. Mobile Library by David Whitehouse is also out on January 20th. The story is about 12 year old Bobby Musku. Bobby is bullied at school and abused at home. His mother has left. His best friend is tragically injured. Bobby befriends a bullied neighborhood girl who had special needs. Her mother cleaned and took care of the mobile library. When the mother loses her job and Bobby is badly beaten by his father - they take off across England in the mobile library. A book that makes you redefine the meaning of family and one that stays with you after you close the cover.

OK - one more quirky book and then I will go back to bigger name authors, I promise. Brooke Davis has Lost and Found coming on January 22nd. Davis is an Australian author who wrote a PhD dissertation on grief and this eventually became the result. Basically it is about a 7 year old girl, Millie, whose father died and whose mother abandons her in a department store.  She is assisted in her search for her mother by Karl, a nursing home escapee and Agatha, a reclusive bitter woman in her seventies. The three of them form a search party of sorts but it is more about death, love, companionship and dealing with grief. Highly reviewed in Australia.

Breaking Creed by Alex Kava comes out on January 27th. This title is advertised as a new series with Ryder Creed. Creed, however, was introduced in Kava's 11th Maggie O'Dell title and O'Dell is in this one too. Regardless, Creed is a former Marine who trains dogs to be search and rescue or drug dogs. Creed is searching a vessel when they discover not drugs but humans. Creed helps a 14 year old girl escape who reminds him of his sister. She happened to be a mule for a drug cartel. Maggie O'Dell is investigating a series of murders when she uncovers a hit list with Creed's name on it. Is it too late?

Jayne Ann Krentz has Trust No One coming out on January 6th. Grace Elland is an assistant to a motivational speaker who she discovers dead in his bed. Something about the murder brings back bad memories of her past and she retreats to home. After an awkward blind date with Julius Arkwright, she discovers she is being stalked and she has to rely on Arkwright, who is an ex-marine. Can they find the person after Grace before that person manages to entrap her?

Lastly, No Fortunate Son by Brad Taylor comes out on Dec 30th. This is the 7th in the Pike Logan series. Logan and his partner, Jennifer Cahill, have been fired from the top secret counter terrorist unit, Taskforce, much to their shock and dismay. Then their former commander calls them with a request to find his missing niece. While investigating, they discover that there has been a series of kidnappings of high US officials children. The terrorists are threatening to kill the hostages one by one unless they counter terrorist actions. Who better than Logan to find the bad guys?

Enjoy the holiday season. I will be back in January.

Continuing with January

Wow - this will be a short month for this blog. Probably one more after this one and then - off till the new year. Let's see how far I get today.

I don't know how many people read George Pelecanos. He has won awards for his hard boiled, gritty, kind of dark suspense and has written for the television series The Wire. If you like Michael Connelly, you could give him a try. On January 6th, he comes out with The Martini Shot, his first group of short stories and a novella. The title is a film reference to last shot of the day and is the lead story. Most of these stories deal with adults reminiscing about troubled youth - some very affecting.

Scott Blackwood has See How Small coming out on January 20th. This is not a crime/suspense story although it does revolve around the murder of three teenage girls who were tied up and then set on fire in a Texas ice cream shop. It is really about how this crime effects the parents, friends and witnesses of the event. Told in snippets of narratives jumping back and forth in time, it is an emotional read.

Uncle Janice comes out on January 6th and is by Matt Burgess. It follows Janice Itwaru who is an "uncle" (an undercover narcotics officer) for NYPD. Janice is working toward making detective when the work comes down that a quota has been instituted. Janice works toward trying to decide who the biggest criminals are - the drug dealers or her bosses. Dark and desperate while presenting a fresh take on a cop novel. If you liked Elmore Leonard, give it a try.

Jan Ellison's debut novel, A Small Indiscretion, arrives on January 20th. It focuses on Annie Black and wife and mother whose son has been in a horrible accident and lies in a coma. The story moves back and forth in time between Annie's youth in London and Paris and her current life in San Francisco. It focuses on how 'small indiscretions' of her past come back to effect her present. If you like Liane Moriarty, you might want to try this one.

Rebecca Scherm has a debut coming on January 22nd that has critics buzzing - Unbecoming. Grace from a small town in Tennessee, plans an art theft and gets two men to do the job. When the two men get arrested and sent to jail, Grace, changes her name and escaped to the outskirts of Paris as an antique restorer. The two men are released and Grace is sure they are after her. Are they? The psychological twists and the deeply flawed characters might remind you of Gillian Flynn so although it is not another Gone Girl if you like that type of story, give it a try.

The last one is another debut novel, One Step Too Far by Tina Seskis, arrives on January 27th. The work was published in the UK and hit the top of their bestsellers list. It is also in the Gone Girl genre. Emily Coleman is a lawyer with a husband and a son, suddenly she runs away and becomes Cat Brown. She lives in the seedy part of London in a group home and parties till all hours. The mystery is - why - what did she run from? The answer comes, but not till the end.

OK - there you have some brand new names to try. Enjoy.

January Titles

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Now, in this short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, I am going to try to get in all of the January books that I think might be of interest. This week I will start with the bigger name authors. There are more than in December - but not what I would call alot. Therefore, there may be some names with which you are not as familiar. Maybe that means you will find some more authors that you like.

I happen to like Tim Dorsey. Maybe it's because I have lived in Florida and he is definitely a Florida author or maybe it is because he has won me over with humor. His series features Serge Storms, a pleasant serial killer - I know, I know but trust me, Storms is just that. A serial killer that you root for. Dorsey has Shark Skin Suite coming out on January 27th. Serge comes to the aid of an ex-girlfriend (Brook), current new attorney in foreclosure law. When it appears that Brook is getting ready to win and major class action lawsuit, the defendants become ready to take her down. Therefore, Serge is ready to get involved. Always a fun ride.

On January 20th, James Grippando gives us Cane and Abe. Grippando's work is always kind of twisty and dark. This one is no exception. Abe Beckham is Miami's Senior Trial prosecutor with his first wife dead and his second one gone missing, the FBI shows interest in him as the perpetrator of a series of murders by a man called The Slasher. Can Abe prove his innocence? Is he innocent? His friends and family begin to wonder.

Ever popular James Patterson teams with Maxine Paetro for the next in the 'Private' series. Private Vegas comes out on January 26th. Jack Morgan, based in the Private firm in Los Angeles, tracks 2 criminals to Vegas where he runs into Lester Olsen. Olsen is wining and dining attract young women and teaches them how to kill. How much trouble is Jack Morgan in?

If you are into contemporary romance, Maya Banks has In His Keeping coming our on January 27th. This is the second of the 'Slow Burn' series. Ariel was abandoned as a baby and raised by a wealthy couple in the lap of luxury. She was also kept isolated and protected because she had telekinetic powers. Now she is of age, she also has a stalker. Her parents hire a security specialist to keep her protects. Beau Devereaux almost immediately falls for Ariel. Will he have to pay with his life?

Charles Todd, the mother and son writing duo, has A Fine Summer's Day: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery coming out on January 6th. Anyone who enjoys literate, historical mysteries will love this (?these?) author/s. They write 2 series. One featuring Bess Crawford, a World War I nurse and this one featuring Detective Ian Rutledge. His past titles have been after World War I but this one gives his back story. Just a month or two before WWI was declared, Rutledge proposes to Jean and his marriage is part of his focus. Jean would like him to go to war to become a hero for her. He is chasing around trying to solve a string of murders that may lead him to a serial murderer. What decisions will he make?

Finally, Stuart Woods comes out with the next Stone Barrington book on January 6th. Insatiable Appetites is the 32nd in the series. An old nemesis comes into view while Stone is attempting to distribute the estate of an old friend. In the process, secrets are unearthed - some surprising and some scary. Can Stone keep his cool?

Hopefully one of these will catch your fancy for January.

Amazon's Top Ten for 2014

Amazon recently announced their top ten titles for 2014. In reviewing the titles, the editors at Amazon read nearly 500 works.

Number one on their list is Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. This is a debut novel about a family (the father is Asian and the mother Caucasian) living in 1970s Ohio. One of their daughter's is found dead in the middle of a lake. The book is about how and why she died but even more is about the people that make up the family and how the tragedy uncovers their division.

Two on the list is All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. This is the story of a blind French girl and a German orphan boy - both growing up during World War II. It has been called astonishing, enthralling, beautifully atmospheric and deeply moving. Doerr is a respected author who routinely gets good reviews but this one surpasses his efforts in the past.

Next comes a nonfiction work, In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides. In 1879, the editor of The New York Herald funded a naval expedition to explore the Arctic Ocean and hopefully find the North Pole which was thought to possibly be a temperate island. Obviously wooden ships don't deal well with ice packs and the ship sunk leaving the men 1000 miles north of Siberia. This work chronicles their  adventure. Said to be a historical "The Perfect Storm".

Another work of nonfiction is next, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs. This is a biography of an African-American man who managed to escape the slums of Newark via a scholarship to Yale University who could not escape the dangers of the streets when he returned home. Said to change the way we think about race, class and the meaning of friendship.

Fifth on the list is Redeployment by Phil Klay. This title recently (as in this week) won the National Book Award for fiction overcoming many well known authors. Klay was a Marine Captain who spent over a year in Iraq. The Dartmouth graduate came back and got his MFA on his return. He has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the New York Daily News. He says this book, a series of short stories about the experience of war and also of homecoming, is the only way he could work out his experiences in his head. The Washington Post said it is "one of the most compelling depictions to date of the Iraq war." The New York Times called it "the best thing written so far on what the war did to people's souls." All the critics seem to agree that this will be a classic.

Next on the list is Revival by Stephen King. Amazon says it is "the best kind of King book: a little horror, but mostly pitch perfect details about youth and faith and family." Over 50 years ago, a small boy meets the new minister and one can not imagine the things that occur in the future.  Called rich and disturbing and a masterpiece. I guess Amazon agrees.

The next is the last of the nonfiction works, Savage Harvest: A Tale of Cannibals, Colonialism, and Michael Rockefeller's Tragic Quest for Primitive Art by Carl Hoffman. Back in 1961, Michael Rockefeller disappeared in the jungle of New Guinea. No one has known what happened to him. Carl Hoffman retraced his steps and traveled to New Guinea and has come up with the answer. A fascinating tale.

Next comes Cristina Henriquez's The Book of Unknown Americans. The story takes place in an apartment building in Delaware and is told in alternating voices by it's residents. All of the residents are Spanish speaking immigrants but the main story features Mayor, a male teenager from Panama who has lived in the country since he was little and Maribel, a beautiful but brain injured girl whose family came from Mexico so she might be able to recuperate.

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty comes next. This was one was really a breakout title which made her a real name in the United States. The story of three women in Australia and the death at a school trivia night. Dazzling, humorous and hard to put down. It is hard not to like this kind of writing.

The last on the list is Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. An apocalyptic novel that follows the relationships among a troupe of traveling actors. How even after most of the population has died, there are those who travel around bringing Shakespeare to those that remain is somehow comforting. Called a compelling page-turner; a meditation on fragility and a cracked mirror that reflects both our lives and our hopes and fears.

Enjoy some of the above.

Other December titles

As I said last week, December is not a popular month for publishing. That does not mean that there are not good titles coming out, just that you have to look deeper to find them. It is also a month where titles by authors who have been published in other countries are hitting the U.S. market.

Ursula Archer is an example. She is a popular Austrian author who has specialized in teen and children's novels. Five is her first adult title and it comes out on December 9. This title combines geocaching with murder. Those unfamiliar with geocaching will appreciate the fact she does give basic information. It is a process where you enter GPS coordinates into your cell phone and then go searching for treasure. In this case, the treasure is pretty gruesome. This will be a series featuring DI Beatrice Kaspary who is investigating a dead body that has map coordinates tattooed on her feet. Said to be spine tingling.

Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart: A Peculiar Crimes Unit Mystery by Christopher Fowler comes out on December 2nd. This is the 11th in the series so the characters have already been developed ... and they are characters in many ways. If you like this series, you like whimsy, quirky and strangeness all mixed with a good does of social commentary. Here Bryant and May are assigned different cases. May is investigating the death of a teen, one of two teens saw a dead man rising from his grave. Bryant is sent to investigate who stole the ravens from the Tower of London. Apparently, legend has it that Britain will fall when the ravens disappear. The appearance of dead bodies increase as the two cases intertwine.

Rebecca James is an Australian author. Sweet Damage, her new title, arrives on December 2nd. This I have seen defined as a thriller, romantic suspense and a Gothic mystery. You will have to read it to find out what you think.Tim Ellison, a aimless surfer dude, finds a cheap room to rent in a beautiful old home where his task is to keep Anna London, the owner, connected to the outside world. Anna is agoraphobic and can't leave the house. Tim strange things start happening in the house at night. Tim becomes emotionally involved with Anna and then her past comes back to haunt them both.

Fifty Mice by director and screenwriter Daniel Pyne comes out on December 30th. Jay Johnson is nabbed from his normal humdrum life by the FBI and placed in Witness Protection on Catalina Island. He has no idea what they think he saw and can find no reason for it in his memory. Reviewers have said this is a "gut-wrenching psychological thriller that really messes with your brain." 

Lastly, Kazuaki Takano has Genocide of One coming out on December 2nd. This title has won awards in Japan and is his first introduction to the English speaking world. A 3 year old boy, Akili, is identified as the smartest being on the planet. He can perceive patterns and predict future events. However, emotionally, he is still a 3 year old. The President of the U.S., decides that this threat to humanity must be destroyed. Jonathan Yeager leads the international team assigned to take care of the task. Yeager has a sick child and is torn about his orders. Perhaps Aliki is the only hope for his son.

I hope there are a few here that interest you. They are all in the catalog so pick one or two to try.

December's Big Names - Not Many

December is not the most popular publishing month. At least not for the big name authors. November was bigger by far and January will be pretty big - but December - not so much. There are a few and I will include some relatively well known ones to round out the week.

Phillip Margolin, the lawyer/author from the northwest, has Woman with a Gun coming out on December 2nd. This is a departure for Margolin whose plots usually involve a young lawyer. This time, the plot features a young aspiring author who sees a photo in the museum and becomes obsessed with finding out the story behind it. She quits her job and moves to the area where the murder associated with the photo took place. Her investigation causes murders to begin again. Perhaps, from the reviews, more of a man's book but give it a try and see what you think.

Tess Gerritsen has another Rizzoli & Isles Novel coming out on December 30th, Die Again. Many have come to Gerritsen's series because of the television show which is a shame because Gerritsen has been writing 'can't put down' thrillers since 1996 and the Rizzoli & Isles series since 2001. Another interesting fact is the Gerritsen is actually a retired physician. Perhaps that makes you look slightly differently at her medical examiner character, Dr. Maura Isles. In this title, Rizzoli is investigating the death of a big game hunter found hanging upside down with the body of a white snow leopard in his apartment. The crime takes Rizzoli to Botswana where she discover it is tied to a deadly camping safari 4 years prior and sets her off after the lone survivor.

Jack Higgins has Rain on the Dead coming on December 30th. Two Chenchen mercenaries attempt to kill Jake Cazalet, the past president of the United States, while he was vacationing on Nantucket. Unfortunately for them, Sean Dillon, the black ops hero of many of Higgins works, and his partner Captain Sara Gideon were visiting.  The evening ended with both mercenaries dead. Dillon though wondered how they knew Cazalet would be there. Upon investigating, what he found, chilled him to the bone.

Cormac McCarthy has a screenplay that is being reprinted after almost 40 year, Gardener's Son. The title is coming on December 23rd. The film was broadcast on PBS in 1976 and received two Emmy Award nominations. It is the story of two Southern families, the mill owning Greggs and the mill employees, McElvoys.

Karen Robards specializes in romantic suspense. She is becoming more popular than Mary Higgins Clark. On December 2nd, Hush arrives. Riley Cowan discovers her estranged husband dead in his mansion, the police rule it a suicide. Riley, however, is convinced it was murder by an angry investor. Riley's father-in-law was guilty of a huge financial fraud which lost many investors retirement savings. Riley reunites with an old flame, Fin Bradley - an FBI agent, to track down the murderer before he can murder again.

Lastly, James W. Hall has The Big Finish coming out on December 2nd. Hall is an author who perhaps is not as well known. He is an award winning author and professor from Florida and many of his works take place there. He has written 18 novels and this is the 14th in the Thorn series. Thorn's son has gone underground hoping to make an ecological statement. Thorn receives a postcard from him asking for help. On his way to North Carolina, Thorn is intercepted by an FBI agent who tells him he is too late. He says that Thorn's son was an FBI informant and he has been executed when that was revealed. But....is that the truth????

Romances, Mysteries and Thrillers from Library Journal's Best of 2014 List

I promised you some genre titles from the Library Journal list and here they are. I am going to give you 4 of the romances; 4 of the mysteries and 4 of the thrillers (although I'm not sure I would have put one of them in that category).

ROMANCES

Sarah MacLean's Never Judge a Lady by Her Cover comes out in November! It is not even out yet and it made the list!!! Of course, keep in mind that all these people have read the book before publication in order to review it so I guess it is fair. This title also made the LibraryReads list and I just spoke of it last week. What I said was ". This is the 4th and last of The Rules of Scoundrels series, a very popular mass market paperback romance. Lady Georgiana's reputation is ruined before she has her first season by giving birth to an illegitimate child. She turns instead to London's dark side and becomes known as Chas, the founder of the city's most legendary gaming institution. Duncan West, a newspaper man, is intrigued and finds out everything. Will he publish his information or claim her heart?"

Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Heroes Are My Weakness came out in August. It made the August LibraryReads list. I blogged about it at that time saying "Annie - an actress who has turned to puppetering to try to make a living, is forces to an island off the coast of Maine in the dead of winter. Her mother has left her a cottage - that she needs financially in the worst way - if she stays there for 2 months. Also on the island is Theo - a teenage crush of Annie's who became one of her tormentors in her teen years. Now, a well known horror author, he presents a dark and threatening atmosphere. Hmmmmm - wonder what happens......."

Mary Jo Putney's Not Quite a Wife came out in August. James, Lord Kirkland and Laurel Herbert are married young but Laurel leaves James when he kills a possible assassin in front of her. 10 years later they have a chance encounter that turns passionate. Will they be able to stay together this time?

Mary Balogh's Only Enchanting came out this week. It is the fourth in her Survivor's Club series. Flavian, Viscount Ponsonby was injured physically in the was and emotionally when he came back to find his fiancee marrying his best friend. Now she is back and Flavian asks the first woman he finds acceptable to marry him. Agnes Keeping had fallen deeply in love with Flavian and agrees to his proposal but when she finds out why he proposed, she tries to run away. Who does Flavian really want?

MYSTERIES

Parker Bilal's Ghost Runner: A Makana Mystery came out last February. This is an interesting series placed in Egypt that features a former Sudanese policeman now turned private investigator. Makana is hired by a lawyer's wife to investigate possible adultery and ends up being hired by the lawyer to investigate who killed a young girl. The case takes him to a remote oasis in the Sahara on the border with Libya. Murders follow him. Very good sense of place here.

Frances Brody's Murder in the Afternoon: A Kate Shackleton Mystery came out in September. This is the third in the Kate Shackleton series. Shackleton is a WWI widow who has set herself up as a private investigator. One morning, she is presented by a woman claiming to be her sister (Kate was adopted) who wants her to find her missing husband. Her children went to get him for dinner and found him dead, by the time they went to get help, the body had disappeared. No one believes them except their mother. For those who like Maisie Dobbs.

Ed Lin's Ghost Month came out in July.  Jing-nan's parents died and left him their noodle shop burdened with heavy dead. His high school sweetheart, Julia, and he promised each other that after they went to America and made a life, they would marry but things didn't work out that way. Now he finds out that Julia was killed and he becomes deeply involved in finding out what really happened.

Peter May's The Lewis Man was originally published in 2011 but reprinted in September. This is the second of the critically acclaimed Lewis Trilogy. Fin Macleod has returned to the Isle of Lewis leaving behind his wife and career in the police force of Edinburgh. He is intent on restoring his parent's cottage when he is interrupted by the discovery of a body from a peat bog.

THRILLERS

Catherine Coulter & J.T. Ellison's The Lost Key came out in September. This is the second in the Brit in the FBI series. FBI Agent Nicolas Drummond and partner Mike Caine investigate a Wall Street stabbing death and discover there is more going on than meets the eye.

Robert Dugoni's My Sister's Grave will be coming out tomorrow, November 1. Tracy Crosswhite is a homicide detective with the Seattle police department. She has always questioned the facts about her sisters murder. She believes the wrong man was found guilty. She couldn't do anything without her sister's body though and now it has been found.

Hank Phillippi Ryan's Truth Be Told came out in October. This is the third in the Jane Ryland & Jake Brogan series. Ryland, the investigative reporter, is digging up information about a middle class family that is being evicted from their suburban home and learns some facts about a money making scheme. Meanwhile Brogan, the detective, has reasons to doubt a man's confession to a 20 year old murder.

Andy Weir's The Martian came out in September. This is the one that is maybe not a thriller although it is a thriller. Hmmm. Did that make sense? Anyway, we have it labeled as Science Fiction but there is no doubt that the plot is suspenseful and thrilling. The first man to walk on Mars damages his space suit during a dust storm and his crew leaves him behind on the surface, thinking him dead. He has no way to signal Earth that he is alive and even if he did - no one could get to him in time. How can her survive? 

OK there is your look at titles that make the genre list. Hope you find some that interest you.