Fiction Follies: March 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

Cinnamon kiss by Walter Mosley
Described by Publishers Weekly as the superb 10th volume in the Easy Rawlins series. A gruesome murder takes place against the “summer of love” in 1966; while Easy is contemplating robbing an armoured car to raise money for his daughter’s desperately needed medical treatment. Received rave reviews for its gripping plot and convincing characterisation of the flaws and dilemmas of its main character.

The malice of unnatural death by Michael Jecks
The country's number one author of medieval murder mysteries brings us a riveting tale of murder and intrigue in the King's Court. It is 1324, and the kingdom is in uproar. Escaping from the Tower, Roger Mortimer - the King's most hated enemy - makes his way to France, and hires an assassin to murder the King.

The waxman murders by Paul Doherty
Sir Hugh Corbett is sent to negotiate with the holder if some important lost maps and documents. However instead of a meeting he finds a scene of murder and carnage. The valuable documents are not stolen. Sir Hugh must discover why such a vile and barbarous crime has been committed. An excellent medieval mystery set in 1300. For fans of Ellis Peters.

New Thrillers

Dream girl by Robert B. Parker
The 34th Spenser novel. A must for people who like hardboiled mysteries with nimble plotting and prose, wit and a character that detective readers can warm to. In this Spenser is enlisted to help an upmarket call girl operation. This all woman enterprise is being threatened by the heavies in organised crime. Can Spenser help the lady in distress?

Stalemate by Iris Johansen
A forensics based thriller for fans of Patricia Cornwell and Julie Garwood. In a departure from the earlier Eve Duncan thrillers Johansen has the character showing some fallible human traits. Here Eve finds herself attracted to a sleazy, amoral arms dealer who promises to help her solve the mystery of her seven year old daughters disappearance

Hot blood by Stephen Leather
Dan 'Spider' Shepherd is used to putting his life on the line. It goes with the turf when you're an undercover cop. Now working for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, Shepherd is pitting his wits against the toughest criminals in the country. But when the man who once saved his life is kidnapped in the badlands of Iraq, thrown into a basement and threatened with execution, Shepherd has to decide whether his loyalties lie with his country, his career, or his friend.

Shadow dance by Julie Garwood
An unexpected guest at a wedding warns that there is bad blood between the clans stemming from a long ago theft of a family treasure. Investigating these claims brings Jordan Buchanan danger, intrigue and romance.

New Fiction

Backward in high heels by Judith Kelman
If you want to get to know someone, divorce him - The day Maggie heard her husband's office had burned down, she was heartbroken. But actually, the disaster was worse than she thought. Harold wasn't in the building: he was in bed with a beautiful twenty-three-year-old graduate student. Now he's leaving her, and Maggie has to pull herself together. But who should she listen to? Her lawyer? Her overbearing mother? In the end the best advice comes from a most surprising source...

Love songs and lies by Libby Purves
Sally, Kate and Marienka. Three young women who meet as undergraduates in 1970s Oxford and share their romantically shabby canal side house with Max Bellinger -- clever, attractive, enigmatic Max. Sally -- our narrator --idolises Max, who is something of a homme fatale. But it is Max's wayward rock singer brother, Marty, who is to play the most important role in her life, when one of his songs (for which she provided the lyrics) becomes an unexpected hit. Although their paths diverge once they leave Oxford, Sally stays in touch with all the housemates and their lives remain interwoven throughout the momentous second half of the twentieth century.

New Romance

The loner by Josephine Cox
Devastated by the death of his mother and disappearance of his father, Davie flees his home town but is haunted by tragic memories. On the run Davie finally finds friendship. But is it safe to settle down or should he keep running. From one of Britains most popular writers.

New Fantasy

Envious gods by Geoff Gillan
An adventure set amongst a troupe of actors. Trouble is in store when one of the troupe decides to impersonate a god, because in this world the gods walk the earth and are jealous. Full of derring do sword play and adventure.

New Historical Fiction

Heart of oak by Alexander Kent
It is February 1818, and Adam Bolitho longs for marriage and a safe personal harbour. But with so much of Britain's fleet redundant, he knows he is fortunate to be offered H.M.S. Onward, a new 38-gun frigate whose first mission is not war but diplomacy, as consort to the French frigate Nautilus. Under the burning sun of North Africa, Bolitho is keenly aware of the envy and ambition among his officers, the troubled, restless spirits of his midshipmen, and the old enemy's proximity. It is only when Nautilus becomes a sacrificial offering on the altar of empire that every man discovers the brotherhood of the sea is more powerful than the bitter memories of an ocean of blood and decades of war.

An awkward commission by David Donachie
Another rip roaring sea adventure along the lines of Julian Stockwin and Alexander Kent.

Cape Farewell by Peter Tonkin
When Richard Mariner's tug Sisyphus is hit by a huge rogue wave off the Greenland coast, only superb seamanship and good luck save her. The vessels ahead of Sissy are not so fortunate and an ever-more desperate race begins as Sissy must pull the stricken submarine Quebec up towards the surface, and somehow keep her there as they battle towards their rendezvous with a rescue fleet at the southern point of Greenland the ominously named Cape Farewell...


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

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