Fiction Follies: November 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

The fields of grief by Giles Blunt
This is a terrifying psychological thriller in which a spate of suicides could just be the work of a serial killer. When John Cardinal's wife plummets to her death after losing her battle with depression, everyone is sure it is a tragic suicide - there's even a note. Everyone, that is, except Detective John Cardinal. Could somebody with a grudge have targeted his ex-wife? When more suspicious suicides are discovered it appears something more sinister is at work. Recommended for readers of John Connolly and Tess Gerritsen.

Going home by June Thomson
The 20th Jack Finch detective novel.

The imaginary gentleman by Helen Halstead
Lyme Regis, 1806: Laura Morrison, aged 30, meets Mr Templeton, with whom she has an instant rapport. After three chance meetings, he disappears and no one will confirm ever seeing him. Laura risks danger and disgrace to discover the truth. Information comes to light convincing her family she is deluded - the gentleman is imaginary. They conspire to force her to marry her cousin, Sir Richard Morrison, in the belief that marriage will cure her ills. Laura begins to doubt her own sanity, and agrees. The conspiracy begins to unravel...

Dread murder by Gwendoline Butler
A cleverly cunning and old-fashioned mystery that hides a gruesome murder behind its charming facade. Set in the court of King George IV. Light and easy to read.

Second son by Christy Kenneally
A far reaching web of evil touches everybody in a small Irish community. When the realize the extent of the corruption they unite for revenge.

The broken souls by Jack Kerley
It looked like an abattoir when they found the mutilated body of the young journalist inside her car. And if Carson Ryder and his partner had known what they were getting into, they would never have taken the case. Too late, what looks like the work of a lone madman spreads tentacles that wrap themselves round all sorts of strange areas. And it's not long before attention focuses on the city's most unlikely suspects: the wealthy family whose philanthropy has made them famous and influential.

New Romance and Family sagas

Fools fall in love by Freda Lightfoot
Patsy Bowman is a newcomer to the market. Riddled with insecurities, her impudence and cheek win her friends and enemies alike. But it is her curiosity that soon starts to unravel secrets the Higginson sisters would much rather keep hidden. Fat and jolly, Molly Poulson hasn't a care in the world until both her daughters fall in love with the wrong young man. Molly is determined they see the error of their ways, but the more she interferes, the more complicated it gets.

New historical fiction

Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
In a small school in Bougainville an eccentric teacher educates his children by reading from a copy of Dickens “Great Expectations”. The novel becomes a welcome escape from the war and destruction surrounding them

The Boleyn inheritance by Philippa Gregory
Another entertaining novel set in the reign of Henry VIII. The central characters are Anne of Cleves and Henry’s fifth ill-fated wife, Catherine Howard.

New Thrillers

The wrong man by John Katzenbach
An art history student is stalked by a psychopath. When attempts to scare him off fail the girl’s family embark on an ingenious but extreme plot to be rid of him. For readers of Michael Connelly and Nelson De Mille.

The seal by Adriana Koulias
It is the year 1307 and the ancient Order of the Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon is in danger. The King of France and Pope Clement V are plotting its destruction, scheming to appropriate the Order's most sacred relic: an ancient mystery encrypted on the ring seal of the Grand Master, Jacques de Molay. For readers of “The Da Vinci code”.

The overseer by Jonathan Rabb
In the summer of 1531 Medici soldiers working for Pope Clement VII tortured to death an obscure Swiss monk. What he would not reveal was the location of a simple manuscript, “On supremacy”, which far surpassed anything, imagined my Machiavelli. This has now fallen into the hands of cabal intent on ripping apart society and creating a terrifying new world order. Global intrigue and political conspiracy.

Equinox by Michael White
Two women are found dead, their bodies marked in strange ways. Stranger still, they seem to be replicating crimes that occurred in the 1600s. The journalist who discovers this link now becomes involved in a desperate race to stop the killer completing a series of ritual murders.

The patriot’s club by Christopher Reich
32 year old Wall Street Investment banker and his pregnant fiancé are on the run from a terrifying secret order of powerful politicians, lawyers and stockbrokers.

Other new fiction

Unstolen by Wendy Jean
Bethany Fisher's life has always been overshadowed by her missing brother. Four-year-old Michael was abducted when Bethany was a baby and no trace of him was ever found. Twenty years later, Bethany is a college graduate and has a small son of her own. But her life is thrown into turmoil one evening when her mother follows a man home from the supermarket and savagely beats him to death. What could have made this mild, middle-aged woman suddenly snap? Packing the emotional punch of "The Lovely Bones", this powerful novel explores how the comforting lies we tell ourselves can be ultimately more destructive than confronting difficult truths.

The soul by Tobsha Learner
Soul is a story of two women, across two eras, and their struggle with obsessive love and revenge. Part murder mystery, part psychological thriller, part commentary on genetics and human behaviour, sexual jealousy and betrayal, it is both provocative and unputdownable.

Mothers and sons by Colm Toibin
A sensitive and beautifully written meditation on the dramas surrounding this most elemental of relationships. Each of the nine stories focuses on a moment in which an unspoken balance shifts: in which a mother or son do battle, or experience a sudden crisis, thus leaving their conception of who they are subtly or seriously altered.

Daddy’s girls by Tasmina Perry
Serena, Cate, Camilla and Venetia have grown up in a world where money can buy you anything but love. Their father Oswald Balcon revelled in belittling his daughters, often bullying them to tears. Finally he is killed but did one of his daughters finally snap and kill him? Glamorous locations, sexy and sensational characters and an explosive plot keep you guessing until the final finger-scorching page.

Wife in the fast lane by Karen Quinn
From the author of “The Ivy chronicles” a funny, heartbreaking and absurd journey that will strike a chord with any one who has ever dared to dream of having it all.

Note : These descriptions are taken from the publisher’s summary.

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