Last May Post

I have this last posting to finish up the May titles I think you should know about so.....I better get going. It is going to be a mixture of genres this week.

Jo Nesbo has The Thirst coming out on May 9. This is the eleventh in the Harry Hole series. There has been some demand for this so I know we have readers. Nesbo is Norweigan and writes intricate, gritty crime novels usually around Oslo. Hole is troubled deatective who has a substance abuse problem.. I think we can honestly describe it as dark. Here, Hole is pulled into a criminal investigation when a serial murderer starts targeting Tinder daters. He finds the killer's MO very similar to his biggest advisary.

Phaedra Patrick has Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone coming out on May 16. Stone owns a small jewellery store in a small village. He has hit a dry spell and nothing is going right. He and his wife wanted children but have not had any. After continuous fights, his wife has moved out. His business is in decline and he is bored. Suddenly, his estranged brother's daughter shows up on his doorstep and moves into his house and his life. Looks like some changes are about to be made. Reviewers have loved this work. A novel about family and forgiveness with wonderful characters that grabs your attention and doesn't let go.

Katherine Heiny has her first novel, Standard Deviation coming out on May 23. Heiny has one published work of short stories. She said recently that she had started writing a few short stories and they were all about the same people. She wrote more and then she realized what she had written was a novel. So....don't expect a plot heavy work. Heiny though provides us with wonderful finely drawn quirky characters. One reviewer said that by page 5 she was hooked and by page 20, she didn't want it to end. Gives you an idea of how good this work it. It is about Graham and his wife, Audra and his ex-wife, Elspeth and his 10 year old son with Asperger's. It is really an examination of love, marriage, infidelity, and origami. Give it a try if you like books with strong characters.

Tracy Chevalier has New Boy coming out on May 15. This is part of the Hogarth Shakespeare series where different authors have transitioned one of Shakespeare's title to more modern times. Here, Chevalier uses Othello and places it in the 1970s Washington DC. A diplomat's son, Osei Kokote,  enters his fifth new school in five years and is befriended by the blonde and beautiful Dee. Well, Ian, another friend of Dee's, won't stand for a romance between the two. This series has become quite popular.

Gable, Michell has The Book of Summer coming out on May 9. Is that a title for a Beach Read or what! Physician Bess Godman comes to Nantucket to help her mother clean out their house, Cliff House, since is is perilously close to falling into the sea. Her mother refuses to leave. In the ensuing discussions, arguments and reflections, we learn the history ot the house and the family.

Finally, Jill Santopolo has The Light We Lost arriving on May 9. This is a debut that could be the love story of the summer. Lucy and Gabe meet as seniors at Columbia University and then meet again one year later. They feel that they were meant to be together but Gabes a photojournalist who is assigned to the Middle East and Lucy's career is in New York. Said to be a heart wrenching love story that the reviewer could not put down. One 5 star review said "This was a journey of love, choices, passion, dreams and desires, and how each of them impact two souls that were bound together." So if you want a love story - THIS one is it this summer.

OK - we move on to June next week - hope you enjoy.

More May Thrillers and Mysteries

Another week and there are even MORE thrillers to talk about - but I have thrown in some mysteries too. Sometimes the difference between thrillers and mysterious are in individuals minds so you can view and guess which are which.

Sarah Lotz has The White Road coming out on May 30. Simon Newman is an adrenaline junkie who films high octane experiences for viewing on a shared web page 'Journey to the Dark Side'. He arranges a guide to explore some dangerous caves and barely makes it out alive. Then he decides to conquer Mount Everest with filming of those who never made it back. When he comes across the remains of a tragic event ten years ago, danger is on his trail.

David Swinson has Crime Song coming out on May 2. This is his second in the Frank Marr series. Marr is a retired police detective that has a secret drug habit. Here, he is staking out a nightclub to track down a dealer that he can steal drugs from for his habit. When he returns, he finds his home has been broken into and things like his gun have been stolen. Then, he finds out the drug dealer has been murdered. Who do you think they will suspect?

Peter Blauner has Proving Ground coming out also on May 2. What is most interesting to me about this title is that some reviewers are fascinated with Lourdes Robles, a detective just off probation who is trying to solve a murder and others think the main interest is Nathaniel Dresden, a prosecuting attorney from Miami who is a Iraqi war veteran with PTSD. Nathaniel Dresden's father - a defense attorney from New York is murdered. Nathaniel comes to help his mother. He never got along with his father and had no relationship with him. Maybe he is involved with his death. I guess the only way to figure out who is the central figure in this possible series is by reading it.

Carolyn Haines has the seventeenth in her Sarah Delaney series, Sticks and Bones, coming on May 16. Sarah and friends are at a party when an unliked college classmate shows up in town. Frangelica 'Sister' McFee is in town for the filming of her hit memoir about the murder of her mother and brother. The production company has some questions and hires Sarah to look into the past event. Someone doesn't want the truth to be told.

Leif Persson has The Dying Detective coming out on May 23. Retired Swedish homicide detective Lars Martin Johansson is hospitalized after a stroke and heart problems. His doctor mentions an old cold case - the rape and murder of a nine year old girl. It is just the type of things that he can not resist trying to solve. Can he solve the case from his hospital bed with only a group of amateurs to help him? Said to have subtle, dark humor with Swedish cultural and political history information. Reviewers have loved it.

OK, there you go. Five more books to ponder. There are at least 3 of them that are on my list. How about yours?

LibraryReads For May

The LibraryReads list for May came out yesterday. This month the list has some titles that are my type of thing and some that aren't. Certainly though, the ones that aren't for me, must have been for somebody so....here they are.

The number one position is one that I do love. If you like Frederic Bachman, give this debut a try. Gail Honeyman has Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Eleanor is a totally socially inept woman who has a low paying office job during the week. During the weekend, she has frozen pizza and 2 bottles of vodka at home. No one taught her as a child how to have fun or how to interact. She is blunt - not knowing to soften some critical things she says. One day she and a new awkward IT guy are walking down the street when an older man collapses. They come to his aid and it changes everything.

The others in no particular order:

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore. This is a nonfiction work that critics have loved. During WWI, some 'lucky' women were able to obtain jobs painting clock and watch dials with a paint that contained radium. They were instructed to 'lip-point' their brushes. Often, they glowed from the radium dust. When they started suffering the results, the companies refused to take responsibility. This is the story of their struggle.

Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane. This was actually the first book I mentioned last week. It follows Rachel Childs who had an on-air mental breakdown and lived as a shut-in until......What happens shatters whatever calm she had achieved.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko. 11 year old Deming Gou's mother, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, disappears after leaving for her job at a nail salon. Deming is eventually adopted by two professors who attempt to make him over as 'an Amercan boy'. Deming - now named Daniel, is confused and feels like he belongs no where. As soon as he is old enough, he goes looking for his mother. A novel that explores the life of an immigrant and also the meaning of family.

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig. Another debut novel, this one focuses on Ginny Moon, an autistic girl who had a horrid home life and eventually is adopted into a warm and loving home. Strangely, all she wants to do is to go back to her abusive mother. Why? To take care of her 'Baby Doll'. Is she really leaving safety and love for a doll? Reviewers say this is a really original voice and very emotional.

Saints For All Occasions by J. Courtney Sullivan. This is a sweeping family saga about 2 Irish sisters who come to the United States in the 1950's. Something ends up separating them and they become estranged. Fifty years later, they come together at a funeral and we learn about the life they have led. One, a mother of 4 adult children and the other, a cloistered nun. For those that like family sagas.

White Hot by Ilona Andrews This is the second in the Hidden Legacy series. Andrews writes paranormal romance so if you like Patricia Briggs, you might want to give her a try. Here the action takes place in a world of magic. The two main characters (Nevada and Rogan) have a past and apparently, they have a future too. They are up against some heavy duty magic users here.

Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor. A newly divorced woman moves to a small Arizona town. Out walking one day, she discovers human remains in the wall of a dry ravine. Residents seem to think that it is probably Jess Winters, a teenage girl who disappeared 18 years ago. Many town residents go over the stories and rumors surrounding Jess. This patchwork seems to reveal the truth.

Astrophysics For People In A Hurry by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.  Tyson's writing style is very regular person friendly. It is clear and concise and if you want to understand the universe in which we live - this is the book for you.

Lastly, The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A. Flynn.Time travel and Jane Austen - how could those things possibly mix. They do here. Two people from the future use time travel to go back to Jane Austen's time, try to infiltrate her close friends, and find out if she does in fact have an unpublished novel "The Watsons". They are to steal it and bring it back to their time. Things get complicated - as these things always do. Read it to find out how.

OK - there you have the ten titles being published in May that library employees around the world voted as the best. See if there is one here that interests you.

May Thriller Titles

Let's see if I can do this month by genre. I know I have enough good thrillers coming this month to do this week and maybe more than one week. I also have lots of mystery titles so I should be able to do those two. Then maybe a mixed week for the rest. We start with thrillers..

Dennis Lehane has Since We Fell coming out on May 9. Dennis' thrillers tend to be darker and more disturbing than some. Here, a reporter, Rachel Childs, has a very public break down after a traumatizing case. She retreats into oblivion with only outings to a bar. She meets and marries a businessman and thing are looking up until she witnesses something that puts everything in doubt and starts her spiraling downward again.

Scott Turow has Testimony arriving on May 16. This could be considered the 10th of his Kindle County legal thrillers. Turow writes fast paced, intricately plotted legal thrillers with smart dialog and which usually deals with issues.  Here, Bill ten Boom throws everything away - wife, family, job - and decides to start again in Europe with the International Court of Justice. He is to investigate who wiped out a Bosnia town of 300 people ten years ago. In searching for the 'bad guys', he also learns some things about himself.

Dale Brown has Price of Duty coming out also on May 16. Brown writes fast paced techno thrillers so get ready for a wild ride. This is the twenty first in his Patrick McLanahan series although here, the hear is Patrick's son Brad. The Russian president begins his plan of taking over the globe with a cyber attack on Poland. Nearly all Polish bank accounts are erased. Panic all over Europe increases.Than, the Russian president directs attacks on the European power grid and remotely hijacks an airplane. Something MUST be done so Brad McLanahan is called upon to save the day.

Alan Drew has his second novel and first suspense title, Shadow Man, coming out on May 23. Drew's first literary work received critical praise. This work concerns a serial killer and a police detective, Ben Wade, out to catch him but it is also about a man looking back to a past he has tried to forget. Beautifully written with a strong sense of place, it features a series of murders and the supposed suicide of a high school star of the swimming team. He is compared to Dennis Lehane in Southern California.

Heather Gudenkauf has Not A Sound coming out on May 16. Gudenkauf, herself, has a hearing impairment so it makes sense that the main character in this work also has one. Amelia Winn was rendered deaf by an accident and loses her job and her family because of her depression. When she finally begins pulling herself through with the help of a hearing dog, she literally falls over a dead body. Will this start another downhill slide?

Steve Hamilton has Exit Strategy also coming out on May 16. This is the second in the Nick Mason series. It also has had the film rights purchased by Lionsgate. For those who have not read the first one, Nick Mason got a get out of Jail free card from a crime organization bigwig who was imprisoned with him. All he had to do, once her was out, was do some errands for the bigwig. Well, he got out. In this one, Nick is trying to figure out how to get out of the deal as the 'errands' have gotten more and more dangerous. Now he is suppose to find out where the 3 witnesses against the bigwig are and kill them. The three are in the Witness Protection Program and are hidden. Can Nick mange this one or find the right exit strategy first?

OK - there are some titles to think about this week. I'll be back next week with more.

Big Names in May

Here I am again and here is another month too. There are quite a few big name authors coming out with titles. May is a big publishing month as they believe people do more reading in the summer. So let's get started with the titles they hope you will be reading on vacation.

Clive Cussler has Nighthawk coming out on May 30. This is the fourteenth in the NUMA series. The most advanced aircraft disappears as it was coming back to earth carrying exotic material. This material must be stored near absolute zero or it could cause the apocalypse. While NUMA is searching, Russia and China are also looking to get the new technology.They do not know what it was carrying. Can NUMA save the world?

Next is an author who is probably NOT that well known - Paula Hawkins -  but her debut novel certainly will ring bells. She wrote The Girl on the Train. Will her second novel measure up? Only one way to tell. Into the Water comes out on May 2 Most reviewers seem to think this one is a better written book. Plot wise, it deals with a town near the river. People have died in that river and then one of them, who had become obsessed with the deaths and the river, jumps in and dies. Her estranged sister comes to take care of the daughter of the woman. What can they find out about the secrets of the town?

Ace Atkins may not be that well known but he was chosen to continue Robert B. Parker's Spenser series. Robert B Parker's Little White Lies comes out on May 2. Almost everyone agrees that Atkins does a good job with this series. Amazingly enough, this is the forty fifth tile in the Spenser chain. Here his permanent psychologist girlfriend passes Spenser a client who had been conned out of almost $300,000 by someone she met over the Internet. Can Spenser find him? Some of it takes place in Georgia too.

Now for the usual fare.

Michael Crichton has Dragon Teeth coming out on May 23. Now this is interesting because Crichton died in 2008. This work was not done by a ghost writer but is an original work that was recently discovered. Perhaps, according to some reviewers, this was a work he was keen on getting published but....money speaks. It is definitely NOT a Jurassic Park. It takes place in 1876 where there was a virtual war between paleontologists to find dinosaur bones.See what you think.

James Patterson has 16th Seduction coming out on May 1. This is obviously the sixteenth in the Women's Murder Club series. Fifteen months ago, live was good for Detective Lindsay Boxer. Now, things are not that way. Joe, her husband, betrayed her - the bomber they captured raises damning questions about Lindsay and she must find out what is going on. Plus, who can she trust?

Danielle Steel has Against All Odds arriving on May 2. This is Steel's third book this year. No idea how she does it. Here, a woman who was widowed early, raised her four children while managing a Soho resale shop. Her children are grown now and they keep making these mistakes. Will they ever settle down? Will she be able to not worry about them?

Lastly, someone who is made to read during the summer in the south, Dorothea Benton Frank has Same Beach, Next Year coming out on May 16. Two former lovers meet on the beach of the Isle of Palms near Charleston. They and their respective spouses form a close friendship that grows from year to year. Over 20 years they helped sustain each other through a deep friendship, meeting every summer at the same beach.

OK - that's it for this one. There has to be something to tempt you above. I hope so anyway. I'll be back next week with the lesser know folk. Have a great weekend.

April Titles

Another week and I am still here. I really don't foresee any long term absences in the near future so....I will be blogging weekly. I will try to finish up April but it is possible that next week might be a combination of April May. Let's see how many I can fit in.

Ross Armstrong is a classically trained English actor who has performed on stage and film. He decided to add novelist to the list. The Watchers is his debut and it comes out on April 25. The story is told in the first person through the eyes of Lily Gullick, a self proclaimed bird watcher (who actually spends her time spying on people). When an elderly woman turns up dead, Lily feels forced to investigate which makes the wrong people watch her.

Daniel Cole has Ragdoll coming out on April 4. This is another debut for those who like their suspense a little darker. This is the start of a series featuring Detective William Fawkes, aka the Wolf, who is rather contentious and just recently reinstated. He is called to the scene of a crime where a 'body' is found - it is made up of the body parts of 6 different victims. When Fawkes ex-wife, a journalist, gets anonymous pictures of the crime scene along with a list with 6 names and the date the killer is going to kill them - Fawkes takes special interest as his name in on that list.

Philip Kerr has Prussian Blue also coming out on April 4. I love Kerr and this is the twelfth in his Bernie Gunther series. Kerr writes a real noir gumshoe period piece in these titles. Gunther is a former Berlin homicide detective who was hiding out on the French Riviera in 1956 when a deputy head of the German Stasi found him and wants him to kill another agent. Bernie flees to Berlin and thinks back when a friend and he solved a murder at Hitler's  mountaintop retreat. Are these connected?

Lori Rader-Day has The Day I Died coming out on April 11. This tale features Anna Winger, a handwriting expert who can dell things about a person's character. Winger is called to the scene of a murder in her new hometown to check out a handwriting ransom note left at the scene where a young boy is also missing. She starts to wonder if the mother of the boy left the note to save the child from an abusive father - after all, Winger did the same thing. While she is forced to investigate, her own life and that of her 13 year old son, start to fall to pieces.

M.L. Rio, another debut author has If We Were Villains also coming out on April 11. Rio is another actor/author combination. Born in Miami, raised in North Carolina and graduated from UNC she also has a master's degree in Shakespeare Studies from King's College London and Shakespeare's Globe so....she knows what she is talking about in this tale. I will let her describe what this tale is about taken from her blog "I wrote a book called If We Were Villains. It's about seven young Shakespearean actors who make some really big mistakes. But more than anythings it's about loving books and words and storytelling, and if that's something you love, too, I think you might like it." I will add that one of the seven ends up dead and the story is told from the perspective of one of them who is getting out of prison 10 years later.

I am going to leave you with the final one that is by yet another debut author. I really loved this one although it isn't a mystery or suspense. Kate Eberlen has Miss You coming out on April 4. Tess has a brief meeting with Gus when both are traveling in Italy - Tess with her friend, Doll and Gus with his parents. Their story is told in alternating chapters as they both 'almost' meet. Their lives do not turn out has they had hoped - there is grief, betrayal, love and general incidents for both. From the first meeting in 1997 until they do in fact meet for real in 2013. Life happens. I found it a comforting and provocative story.

Enjoy, I'll be back next week.

I'm Back!

I was gone longer than expected. I am sorry about that - I tried hard but they just let me come back full time this week. Therefore, I have to quickly tell you all about the April titles as I only have 2 posts left to talk about them.

I am going to start with the big name authors who have titles coming out in April. Most of these you probably know about but just in case, I will fill you in.

David Baldacci has The Fix coming out on April 18. This is going to be the third in the Amos Decker series. Decker was a football player who became a detective who received a hard blow to his head which made his memory exceptional. Here, he witnesses a very confusing murder. Neither the victim or the killer seem to have any connection. When someone from the Defense Intelligence Agency tells him to get off the case, Decker has trouble following the order.

Steve Berry has The Lost Order coming out on April 4. His series features Cotton Malone who is a former federal agent who became a rare book dealer. Here, Cotton deals with the highly secret Knights of the Golden Circle who buried a lot of gold around the US. Somehow this is all connected to the Smithsonian Institution. There are those who want the gold for the money and those who want to keep it for it's historical significance. I think you know what side Cotton is on.

Mary Higgins Clark has All By Myself Alone also coming on April 4. Clark has always written the soft romantic suspense. In this work, Celia Kilbride escapes to a cruise ship when her husband-to-be is arrested right before the wedding. She was hired to lecture on her area of expertise, gems and jewelry. One of her friends on the cruise, Lady Emily Haywood, is murdered and her emerald necklace is missing. Who else could investigate?????

Jeffery Deaver has The Burial Hour coming on April 11. This is in his Lincoln Rhyme series. Rhymes, a quadriplegic, relies on Detective Amelia Sachs to be his legs. This work has an 8 year old girl witnessing the kidnapping of a businessman from NYC's Upper East Side. Then when a similar kidnapping occurs in Italy - police are stymied and call on Rhymes and Sachs.

Iris Johansen has No Easy Target coming on April 25. Margaret Douglas, an animal psychic, has appeared in prior works by Johansen but here, she has a story of her own. Douglas goes on the run from an enemy from her past but soon realizes that her strengths lie in hunting  - not escaping.

John Sandford has Golden Prey coming on April 25. Lucas Davenport has a new job - he is a U.S. Marshal who is free to investigate any case he wants. Occasionally, people high up might ask for his involvement but he is used to identify the handiwork of criminals. Now he is caught between a drug cartel and the criminals who stole from them.

Lisa Scottoline has One Perfect Lie coming out on April 11. I am not exactly sure what to say about this one. It follows a community's high school and baseball team. It involves 3 boys on the team and their families and a new assistant baseball coach/government teacher. It leads you down a path of a possible terror plot. I really like Scottoline as she often throws in those lines of humor when things get really dark. Get ready for a roller coaster ride, she can also pull your emotional strings.

Lastly for today, Stuart Woods has Fast and Loose coming out on April 18. It is another in the Stone Barrington series. This is actually the 41st in the series - that is quite a haul. Here Stone is enjoying an excursion on his yacht off the Maine coast when someone bumps into him - or rather his boat - literally. The people on the other boat are members of a prestigious family who can actually use his help. Stone delightfully assists them in their problem and gains an enemy who wants to blow up his house for his interference. Will Stone stand for that?

OK - I promise - no more absences for the foreseeable future. Enjoy.