Fiction Follies: February 2007

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

Dead cold by Louise Penny
Welcome to winter in Three Pines, a tiny and picturesque village in Quebec where the villagers are preparing for a traditional country Christmas, and someone is preparing for murder. This second Armand Gamache novel is described by Bernard Knight as a “magnificent read” with Armand becoming a latter day Hercule Poirot.

Skin and blister by Victoria Blake
When a student is found dead in his rooms at St Barnabas College, Oxford, it looks nothing more than an unfortunate suicide. A week later, when Sam Falconer's brother disappears, Sam begins to see a disturbing connection between the events. Then her mother receives a Catholic mass card, announcing that a funeral mass is to be said for their son. Sam begins desperately trying to trace her brother's last movements, attempting to locate the mysterious man he'd spent time with in the days before his disappearance

Orkney scroll by Lyn Hamilton
The tenth in Hamilton's witty Archaeological Mystery series has Toronto antique-store owner Lara McClintoch chasing an art nouveau writing cabinet from Canada to Glasgow to the Orkney Islands. The day after one of Lara's clients discovers that the rare Charles Mackintosh cabinet he purchased is a copy, Lara discovers the body of an antiques dealer, the one who sold her client the fake cabinet, with an axe in his skull.

Kill chain by Meg Gardiner
When Evan Delaney's father disappears, the cops think he's fled the country to avoid prosecution. But Evan is sure that Phil has been abducted or killed for reasons associated with his work for Naval Intelligence. As Evan hunts for clues, she is attacked by an armed man. The attacker ends up dead -- and turns out to be a federal agent. Now Evan is on the run, implicated in his murder. Then she is contacted by a sinister duo -- a Madam and gigolo mother-and-son-team who claim that Phil was mixed up in their very dirty business.

Unseen by Mari Jungstadt
The holiday island of Gotland is in the middle of a busy tourist season when the young woman is discovered murdered. Suspicion falls on her husband. Inspector Anders Knutas is hoping it will be a straight-forward case, but more out of an interest in protecting the tourist trade than any desire to see justice served.

Whiskey straight up by Nina Wright
Nearly drowning in an icy lake isn't Whiskey Mattimoe's favourite way to celebrate the season. Neither is finding the mayor dead at Magnet Springs' annual Ice Fishing Jamboree. And then there's the problem of locating Chester, her precocious eight-year-old charge, who has run away... Another rollicking Whiskey Mattimoe adventure.

New Thrillers

Spider light by Sarah Rayne
The dangerous thing about spider light is that it hides things - things you never knew existed. But once you have seen those things, you can never afterwards forget them... Antonia Weston has come to the sleepy market town of Amberwood in search of peace and anonymity after a shattering and all-too-public tragedy in her life. But shortly after her arrival, a series of disturbing incidents occur - incidents that eerily echo a past she is trying to forget. As Antonia struggles to re-build her life, she becomes increasingly fascinated by the macabre history surrounding her: the disused watermill, Twygrist, with its brooding darkness, and the now-vanished Latchkill Asylum.

Deep freeze by Lisa Jackson
Escaping to a deserted farm in Iowa to free herself from the pressures of fame, former movie star Jenna Hughes discovers that she is the victim of a vicious stalker turner serial killer who is murdering women who resemble her.

New Chick Lit and Romance

Love potions by Christina Jones
When aroma therapist Sukie Ambrose starts using her cottage garden as inspiration - and raw ingredients - for her products, she thinks she's just hit on a good way of saving money while offering her clients a way of de-stressing and relaxation. However, Sukie lives in a village where strange things have been known to happen... She discovers that her new improved lotions and potions are making her massages distinctly magical - and producing more star-crossed lovers than Shakespeare could ever dream of.

Kissing toads by Jemima Harvey
"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of an adequate income must be in want of a life. I woke up to singledom on the sort of grey November morning that would make the most carefree and cheerful person feel like hitting the Prozac."

Ladies who lunch by Linda Francis Lee
The Junior League of Willow Creek, Texas, is tres exclusive. Undesirables need not apply. Fredericka Mercedes Hildebrand Ware (Frede to her friends) is a member beyond reproach... until her life begins to unravel. When her husband betrays her, steals her money, and runs off to places unknown, it's something Frede would prefer to keep under wraps. The last thing she needs is to become fodder for the JLWC gossip mill. And to make matters worse, there's only one person in town who stands a chance at helping her get revenge - Howard Grout, a tasteless, gold-chain wearing lawyer who has bought his way into Frede's snooty neighbourhood.

The list by Aneva Stout
1. You will pick up this book because it has such a delightful, charming cover. But more likely your best friend will give it to you.
a. Because you're looking for Mr. Right,
b. or you found Mr. Right,
c. or you just lost Mr. Right, who wasn't Mr. Right anyway,
d. or it's your birthday.
e. And you own a cat.
2. You'll wonder why every sentence is numbered.
3. You'll say to yourself, who is this person?
Then you'll decide, I like this person.

The playground mafia by Sarah Tucker
Newly divorced Mum is looking forward to settling her children into their exclusive prep school. However she is not prepared for the vicious playground politics and battles created by the schools playground mafia – Mothers who won’t take no for an answer.

Real women don’t wear size 2 by Kelley St John
When the big three-oh comes and goes, Clarise Robinson finds she isn't all that disheartened with the curves life has thrown her way. As a matter of fact, she's learned to work with them. As head of the women's department at Eubanks Elegant Apparel, she's known for her style and her sass. Yes, the female once deemed "cautious" by her college buddies has unquestionably left that wallflower image behind to grasp a new label: "confidently curvy." But deep down, Clarise knows she's still holding back, still playing it safe, particularly when it comes to her best friend, boss, and secret fantasy, Ethan Eubanks. And now it's time to throw caution to the wind, to take off the gloves and, perhaps, everything else...

New Family Sagas

Nobody’s child by Valerie Wood
When Laura Page returns to the remote Holderness village of Welwick, it is to try and discover the mystery of her mother, Susannah's early life. Now a local property owner in Hull, Susannah never speaks of her childhood, when she was brought up with the terrible stigma of bastardy - of being nobody's child. Born into poverty, living in a tiny labourer's cottage with her father, Susannah's mother had caught the eye of the local landowner's son. She was his one and only great love, but when she died giving birth to their daughter, Susannah, he could not acknowledge his child but had to watch her growing up in hardship. As the years passed and Laura had begun to be curious about her mother's past, would she ever be reunited with the father she had scarcely known?

* Note : Descriptions of the books are taken mainly from the synopsis supplied by the publisher.

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