Fiction Follies: September 2006

Fiction Follies is a monthly newsletter containing a selection of NEW fiction added to the collection of the Sutherland Shire Libraries. Click on the book title to reserve your copy.

New Mysteries
Saturday’s child by Ray Banks
A hard boiled British crime novel. The “hero” Cal Innes has just gotten out of Strangeways Prison and is struggling to stay on the right side of the law. For fans of the early Matt Scudder novels.

Cage of stars by Jacqueline Mitchard
Suspenseful, well written mystery about the difficult moral choices involved when a woman hunts down the killer of her two younger sisters.

Sour grapes by Marilyn Todd
The 12th Claudia Seferius Roman mystery. A fast moving historical mystery for readers who like the snappy style of Janet Evanovich or Sue Grafton rather than a mystery with authentic period detail.

The Chinese take out by Judith Cutler
This novel introduces a new heroine, Josie Welford, the widow of a notorious underworld criminal and recent licensee of the White Hart pub. Contains a contemporary feel in a typical English setting.

Hidden by Katy Gardner
British detective mystery thriller. A woman is savagely murdered while another meets and marries a stranger. Her new life is shattered when her daughter disappears. Could her new husband be involved with the disappearance and the earlier murder?

Punishment by Anne Holt
A killer is punishing women in the worst way. Abducting and murdering their children then returning their bodies with a note “you deserved this.” Set in Norway.

Black sheep by Arlene Hunt
The third book by “a unique voice in Irish crime fiction. Her dark and atmospheric stories perfectly capture the grimy underworld of Dublin and beyond” – from official website. When David Reid’s body is found in a Dublin canal his brother, unhappy with the findings of Dublin police, enlists the help of Investigators John Quigley and Sarah Kenny to find the answers. But David had a more complicated life than his brother realised.

Butcher by Campbell Armstrong
Glasgow Detective Lou Perlman is described by the publishers as making Taggart look cheerful. “Lou Perlman doesn’t do romance. He doesn’t do authority. He definitely doesn’t do housework. But he is in a class of his own." Daily Record, 15 July 2006.

Silent sleep of the dying by Keith McCarthy
Forensic mystery with lots of gruesome details. Should appeal to readers of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs as well as Robin Cook.

The merchant’s mark by Pat McIntosh
Historical murder mystery set in 15th century Scotland. Gil Cunningham’s friend is accused of murder when a box he receives contains a severed head. Good period detail.

New Thrillers

After the mourning by Barbara Nadel
England, 1940. The military police are looking for a gypsy they believe is a Nazi spy, while another gypsy girl is found stabbed to death after claiming to see a vision of the Virgin Mary.

Dance of death by John Case
Described in the synopsis as his “most diabolically chilling novel to date, as the very fabric of civilisation threatens to come apart in the hands of a brilliant madman…” Bent on revenge he decides to begin the apocalypse.

Flint’s code by Paul Eddy
Undercover Police woman Grace Flint tackles a dangerous assignment. She must infiltrate an East European money laundering operation. Ruthless, shocking, brilliant.

Copper kiss by Tom Neale
FBI agent Vincent Piper is back in London, determined not to screw up this time. But, the love of his life, high-class call girl, Celeste Young is in trouble. Her brother is putting together an online sex blog but one by one the call girls are being murdered.

Satan’s church by Cam Lavac
What if the Roman Catholic Church got it all wrong? What is the terrible mystery of The Prophecy, and why does the Vatican stop at nothing to try and destroy this document? Father Peter LeSarus and Sister Christina find themselves caught up in a desperate struggle to find the truth before it is lost forever.

New Family Sagas and Romance

Rainbow years by Rita Bradshaw
An unforgettable wartime saga in the bestselling tradition of Catherine Cookson.

Look for the silver lining by June Francis
Pregnant and facing the horrors of the Blitz alone, Nellie's life is in turmoil. But all that could be changed when a mysterious man she never thought to see again reappears in her life.

The lieutenant’s lover by Harry Bingham
This is a sweeping epic of adventure and enduring love, from Russia in revolutionary upheaval to the chaos of post-War Berlin. Misha is an aristocratic young officer in the army when the Russian revolution sweeps away all his certainties. Tonya is a nurse from an impoverished family in St Petersburg. They should have been bitter enemies; and yet they fall passionately in love.

Hush, little baby by Katherine Davies
Eira is alone. She loved Jack, but their relationship had to end - she could never have a baby with an alcoholic. Now she works in a quiet museum, in the middle of a park, desperately lonely and aching for someone to love. And one spring morning, she finds a baby in a box on the museum steps.

Lucky girl by Fiona Gibson
Stella has made sure her life couldn’t be further from her chaotic upbringing, until two noisy little girls move in next door bearing sticky gifts. But their friendship helps her to confront the truth about her own childhood and start living life to the full.

The second wife by Elizabeth Buchan
An irresistible story of love, grief and renewal that explores that nature of friendship and the bonds that grow strongest when stretched to breaking. For fans of Katie Fforde and Cathy Kelly.

Coming apart at the seams by Lucy Sweet
Glasgow isn't quite what Evie expected: snotty fashionista people, a volatile landlady and a gorgeous moody boy who's proving to be a complete distraction - none of this is part of the tailor-made plan.

Other New Fiction

The birthdays by Heidi Pitlor
A beautifully told debut in the tradition of Sue Miller about a unique family on the brink of a new generation.

Map of bones by James Rollins
A gripping and explosive novel of an ancient conspiracy to create a terrifying new world order out of the ashes of modern civilization. A combination of the exhilarating mysticism of The Da Vinci Code with the pulse-pounding action of a Tom Clancy thriller.

Material girl by Louise Kean
Original and funny take on modern life for fans of Marian Keyes.

Symphony by Jude Morgan
From the acclaimed author of Passion comes an audacious, brilliant and haunting novel in which the worlds of nineteenth-century theatre, of Romantic art and music, of revolutionary Europe, of inspiration and madness, are presented with the dazzle of a world-class orchestra. Symphony embodies the wild intensity of the lives of the actress Harriet Smithson and Hector Berlioz.

The religion by Tim Willocks
Violent, bloodthirsty and gripping depiction of the 14th century seige of Malta.

Mr midshipman fury by G. S. Beard
A brilliant sea-faring novel in the bestselling tradition of CS Forester and Patrick O'Brian.


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