Midnight In Peking by Paul French

 

January 8, 1937.  It is a cold and bitter night in the city of Peking.  The Chinese inhabitants are uneasy as the Japanese Army is inching its way ever closer to the city with its motto of kill and burn all.  The Foreign Legation of British, French and other countries has fewer and fewer inhabitants as they flee back to their own countries.  A young British girl, Pamela Werner, 19, is missing.  She left the night before to go skating with some friends and never returned.

But she is no longer missing.  Her body is found on the outskirts of the Legation near what is known as the Fox Towers. She has been brutally murdered and the body mutilated with its heart and other organs cut out and missing.  Pamela is the daughter of a former British consul.  The Peking police know that this will be a massive case with political implications.

Two detectives are assigned to the case.  Inspector Dennis is brought in from Shanghai to head up the British investigation while Inspector Han is in charge of the Chinese one.  Although they are to cooperate, it is soon clear that there are political forces which do not want the case solved as it may reflect poorly on the city and its inhabitants.  

There are multiple suspects.  Pamela's former headmaster has rumors of possible pediphile leanings.  A rickshaw operator has been found with a bloody rickshaw.  Pamela was dating many boys, both British and Chinese.  There is talk of a secret club of British men who run parties where young girls are paid to dance naked.  Who has killed Pamela and will the powers that be let the case be solved?

Paul French has discovered and written an in-depth exploration of this case.  He lived and worked in Shanghai for many years as a journalist and his writing skills are on full display.  The book won an Edgar Award for best nonfiction as well as a Crime Writers Dagger for nonfiction.  The case with its intricate layers of political maneuverings is fascinating for readers of true crime and is recommended for them.

Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguru

 

Klara is an AF or Artificial Friend.  She spends her days in the store window display waiting for a parent to choose her as a companion to their child. When Josie picks her from all the other AFs, Klara is excited.  She goes home with Josie and her mother and fits into the routine of the household.

Josie is pretty much always at home.  She is sickly perhaps as a result of being 'lifted' which is the term for genetic modification to give children advantages.  Klara, of course, being entirely artificial, is more intelligent but since she lacks the emotional responses of a human, filters everything through her logic base and misses much.  One example is that since Klara is solar powered, she believes that the sun is a god.  As Josie becomes sicker, Klara attempts to make a deal with the sun whom she believes can heal Josie.  She also doesn't get the emotional interactions between Josie and her mother or the mother and the neighbors.  Rick, the neighbor boy, is Josie's main friend outside of Klara.  He is not lifted and there is a stark difference between the anticipated futures for the two children.

This book is a Booker longlist nomination.  It is written in a very flat, unemotional way as that is the way that Klara, who is the narrator, views the world but which makes it more challenging for readers to engage with.  Ishiguru explores what artificial intelligence will mean for our world when humans are perhaps not needed to run things.  What will that mean for relationships and for the economy?  Will humans come to be seen as replaceable commodities?  Can a child be replaced by an artificial friend for those who can't have children?  There are lots of questions to ponder yet the unemotional narration makes it more difficult for readers to embrace this work.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

 

Mma Ramotswe has the life she has always imagined.  As a young girl she made some rash decisions that brought pain and grief into her life.  But after her beloved father died and left her some money, she has gotten her life back on track and done exactly what she has always dreamed of doing.  She bought a house and a shop and has opened the only ladies' detective agency in Botswana.

Mma Ramotswe wasn't sure if there was really a need for a woman detective but she is pleased to see that cases show up as soon as she opens the door for business.  Some are trifling such as finding a lost dog.  There are always women who want to know if their husbands are faithful and men wanting to know the same about their wives.  There are parents who want to be sure their children are on the right path and sadly, parents whose children are missing.  There are insurance fraud cases and even murders to solve.

Mma Ramotswe goes about her business in a common sense manner.  She considers what is the most likely solution and then figures out how to prove what she suspects.  She has a network of friends who can help, from mechanics to lawyers to policemen.  She is not necessarily going to tell the police about her cases but may handle them discreetly.  All in all, she is a successful detective.

This is the first novel in what went on to become a successful series for Alexander McCall Smith. At this time, there are twenty-two novels in the series with the last being published in the last year.  Mma Ramotswe is a favorite with readers with her common sense solutions and her philosophy of life.  Readers will find comfort in this African cozy mystery series.  

Towns Without Rivers by Michael Parker

 

Reka Speight and her brother Randall are determined to see more of the world than their rural town of Trent in Eastern North Carolina.  Born into a poor family with a mother who died early, siblings who grew up and moved right into Trent adulthood and an alcoholic father, these two of the children yearn for something more.  Life isn't easy and Reka has just emerged from a five year prison sentence.  She stood by while her wealthy boyfriend overdosed and his father demanded justice.  Reka didn't have any money and her defense was minimal so she ended up with the blame for the man's death.

Now that Reka is out she is willing to do anything to move on.  When she is offered the chance to go out to the Midwest to sell books door to door she jumps at it; in the early 1960's this is still a viable job.  She does this for a while then continues drifting, ending up in Montana.  In the meanwhile, Randall has gone to Norfolk to live with an older brother and work in the shipyards.  But he yearns for Reka and although he doesn't know exactly where she is, Randall hits the roads determined to find her. Reka finds love along the way but it isn't an uncomplicated situation.  Will Reka and Randall find each other again and will they make their way out of poverty to find happier lives?

This is Michael Parker's second novel and it is a great one.  Parker is a writer who deserves a much wider audience and is local to me, working and writing at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.  I've read almost all of his novels over the years and have never read a bad one.  His strength is character portrayal and those in the South will immediately recognize Reka and Randall as true representations of those found in the region.  He uses these two characters to explore what makes life worth living and the struggles most of us have reaching a satisfactory life.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Second Place by Rachel Cusk

 

M is a middle-aged woman, a writer with some small success.  She is living with her second husband, Tony, in the marshes of England in a remote location and her daughter has recently moved back home as well.  Surrounded by family, M should be happy but she feels that she is cut out for a more artistic life and that she needs inspiration.  While Tony was clearing their land, he finds a cottage which the couple sets up as their 'second place', somewhere they can invite guests.

M had admired the paintings of L, an artist who had been quite famous at one time but had now fallen into obscurity.  She invites him to come stay with them and is delighted when he agrees.  She imagines long talks with him and that his work will be reimagined and vibrant once more due to their location.  She sees herself as a patroness of the arts.

The first clue that things will not work out is on L's arrival.  Instead of coming alone, he arrives with a young woman with whom it is obvious he has a relationship.  It is obvious that the couple think little of M and Tony, believing more that they are gracing them with their company rather than feeling any gratitude.  L is interested in painting Tony and M's daughter but has no interest in M and seems to avoid her as much as possible.  This sets the stage for conflict between M and L, and between M and Tony as he tries to put his foot down on her behaviour.

This book has been nominated for the 2021 Booker Prize.  Rachel Cusk has a long history of writing awards including the Whitbread Award for First Novel and nominations for the Orange Prize, the Bailey Prize, the Giller Prize and others.  In this work, she explores the feelings of a middle-aged woman, someone whose first age of beauty has passed and who is working out what the rest of her life will be.  M is someone the reader will want to shake.  Her husband is caring and loving, his only thoughts to watch over her and protect her but M almost ignores him in her quest to become important to another man and to fulfill her expectations of being a patron of the arts.  Similarly, she isn't sure how to relate to her daughter and M's self-image can only be filtered through the thoughts and actions of those around her.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Edge Of The Chair edited by Joan Kahn

 

This is an older anthology of suspense stories from 1967.  It is an interesting mix with both fiction and nonfiction entries.  Authors include classic authors such as Alexander Pushkin, Ambrose Bierce, Harold Pinter, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, Graham Greene,Jack London, Ray Bradbury, Agatha Christie, Rudyard Kipling. Arthur Conan Doyle, William Faulkner, John Buchan. G.K. Chesterton, Guy de Maupassant and Dorothy Sayers.   

I had not heard of any of the true crime cases gathered here.  One in particular was of the story of an imposter claiming to be an escaped John Wilkes Booth.  The story he gave out was that he had escaped and come out West where he lived out his days.  There were many who believed in this story and only his death finally revealed the truth.

The Christie story, The Adventure Of The Clapham Cook, was another I had not read.  An undiscovered story by the grand dame of mystery is always an occasion to be savored.  Overall, although an older book, this was an anthology I enjoyed reading with its unique mix of fiction and nonfiction as well as the interesting and renowned mystery authors found here.  This book is recommended for short story mystery readers.

The Quiet Boy by Ben H. Winters

 

Jay Shenk is a small time lawyer, running his own firm.  He is generally a happy man, although he is a single parent to his adopted teenage son, Reuben, after the death of his wife.  When he hears about a medical injury to another teenage boy, he approaches the parents.  Wesley Keener, 16, hits his head in an accident at school.  At the hospital, the surgeons decide that he needs an emergency surgery to relieve the pressure of the bleed around his brain.  Although it is an emergency, it is a fairly routine surgery. But something goes wrong and Wesley never returns to himself.  Instead he is left a rambling wreck, a boy who incessantly paces in circles and gives no sign of recognizing anything or anyone.  Shenk sues the hospital and has hopes of a large settlement.  Reuben hears about the trial daily from his dad and goes to watch in the courtroom.  Although the doctors don't know what happened, Shenk finds an expert witness, Dr. Theresa Plieggi, who is sure she knows exactly what happens.

Fast forward ten years.  Shenk is still a lawyer but barely getting by.  He has never recovered financially or emotionally from the trial.  Wayne is the same, still pacing in endless circles.  Reuben is chopping vegetables in a restaurant.  Then Jay gets a call.  Richard Keener, Wayne's father, has been arrested for murder.  His victim was Theresa Plieggi.  Jay asks Reuben to help him find out what happened as the DA's office is trying the case as a death penalty case.  Reuben agrees although he doesn't feel qualified.  What he discovers brings up his greatest childhood fears as well as a reunion with Wayne's sister, Eve, who Reuben had a crush on.  Can Reuben find out what happened?

Winters has written a fascinating mashup of legal thriller, coming of age story and science fiction.   There are mystic underpinnings to what happened to Wayne a decade ago and a mysterious man who has haunted Reuben for years.  Although Jay is a prominent character and loveable, it is Reuben's story and quest.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction as well as science fiction.

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

 

Ariadne is born on Crete, the daughter of King Minos and half-sister to the beast, the Minotaur.  Her mother is driven mad by the birth of the Minotaur so Ariadne's childhood is spent mostly with her younger sister, Phaedra.  King Minos delights in the Minotaur although it's existence is proof of his being cucockled.  He is able to extract a terrible revenge from Athens for the murder of one of his sons.  Athens is condemned to send fourteen of their youth to be slain by the Minotaur periodically, seven men and seven maidens.  After several years of this horrific event, the Athens prince, Theseus, volunteers to be one of the victims.  

Ariadne and her sister Phaedra are both fascinated by Theseus.  His beauty and his tales of heroism attract them and when he promises to marry Ariadne she agrees to help him slay the beast.  With her help he is able to do so and then he, his crew and Ariadne sail off.  He marries her on an island but when she awakes, she has been left behind to perish, his love merely a trick.

But life is not done with the daughters of King Minos.  Ariadne has landed on the island owned by the god Dionysus and over time the two fall in love, are married and have a family.  Phaedra is married off to cement a relationship with another kingdom.  The kingdom is Athens and her husband is Theseus who lets her believe that he saw her sister killed during their escape.  After being married to him Phaedra realises that he is a vain man only concerned about his adventures and legends.  When the two sisters are reunited a seed is planted that plays out in tragedy.

This is a debut novel.  Jennifer Saint was a high school English teacher and her love of language and writing leaps from the pages.  The narrator is Barrie Krinik, who is considered one of the best voice actors currently working and her narration is perfect.  Most readers will only have heard the story of the Minotaur and perhaps of Theseus.  Saint brings the women who lived in this story come to life, exposing their weaknesses and strengths and the reality they constantly faced of living in a man's world, prey to men's desires and wishes.  Readers who liked Circe will also like this novel.  It is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those interested in mythology.

Hot Stew by Fiona Mozley

 

Soho is a changing neighborhood in London.  These days it is home to those who don't have anywhere else to go.  There are drug addicts, prostitutes, unemployed and struggling workers.  But neighborhoods are ever changing and there are those who think Soho is due for gentrification and a makeover.

Agatha is one of those who want things to change.  She is the recipient of a huge fortune from a father she never met, her mother having married an elderly man with a fortune who died during her pregnancy.  Agatha owns a building in Soho that with its central location, she believes would be the perfect place for condos.  The sticking point is that the inhabitants of her building don't want to leave.

Precious and Tabitha are two of those inhabitants.  They are sex workers by choice and this has been their home for many years.  They share the building with a group of homeless people and drug addicts in the basement, a restaurant, and other people struggling on the margins of life.  They are determined not to be pushed out and Precious starts a protest and movement to fight Agatha.  There are other characters.  There is a former enforcer for Agatha's father.  There is an actor who isn't sure he wants to be one.  There is a man pining for his ex-girlfriend who has inherited wealth he tires not to use.  There is a struggling magician who makes his living with tawdry tricks in bars and a woman who is so far gone that few notice when she disappears.  Together they struggle to maintain their precarious hold on life in the only place they know.

Fiona Mozeley's first novel, Elmet, was a Booker Prize finalist.  As in that novel, this second one is concerned with the ideas of ownership of property and what becomes of those pushed out by the constant pursuit of profit.  The characters are finely drawn although some are mysterious and remote and the novel raises questions of social justice and the rights of those less blessed with money and power.  It also explores the thoughts of those engaged in sex work and whether such work is sometimes a valid choice.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Girl A by Abigail Dean

 

She was known as Girl A.  She was the one who set herself and her siblings free from the house of horrors they were confined in.  She was the one who scrapped her flesh raw to escape from the chains, broke a window cutting herself on the glass and jumped from the roof shattering her leg but managing to get to the road and help.  Her real name was Lex Gracie and there were seven siblings in the family, the family where her father went mad and her mother did nothing to help.

The story exploded in the press and everyone knew their story.  The children required extensive medical and dental care, the starvation taking its toll on their bodies.  Having lost both their parents that day as the police took over, once the medical world released them the children were split up and adopted out to separate families.  It was felt that it would be best if the children didn't interact but tried to adjust to a different life and forget the horrors.

Grown now, Lex has finally returned to England.  Her mother has died in prison and someone has to deal with the death and the small estate.  Lex has grown up to be a problem solver, a high flyer in a corporation that arranges company mergers.  She is the best suited to deal with the legal implications left behind.  Other siblings have not dealt with the past as well as she.  One is a lecturer who uses the past as a springboard for fame.  Others have turned to religion or spent their lives in mental care.  Some of the youngest ones don't even know who they are.  As Lex talked with each of her siblings, she finds that their memories don't always jibe and each person remembers events differently or has different pieces of the puzzle.  Can she construct a whole picture from the memories they all have?

This is a debut novel.  Abigail Dean is a lawyer and former bookseller.  The novel explores the meaning of family when family goes awry.  The headlines regularly note cases such as these where a parent goes mad and power hungry and sets up elaborate rules with corresponding punishments for those who live with them.  It is heartbreaking to realize how many people, especially children, are captured in situations where their basic human needs are held against them and their days a long story of horror and deprivation.  The reader will come to know the mechanisms the siblings use to accept their pasts and to put the story together from the shifting memories each child has.  This book is recommended for readers of family relationships.

The Never Game by Jeffrey Deaver

 

The news article catches Colton Shaw's eye.  A nineteen year old girl has gone missing, possibly kidnapped on her way home.  Shaw makes a living finding people for rewards.  Sometimes they are children, sometimes senior citizens with memory issues.  Often they are criminals that law enforcement needs to be found.  He makes contact with the girl's father and is hired to find her.  Although he gets almost no cooperation from the police when he shares his ideas with them, Colton is able to find the girl and bring her home safely.

But things aren't over in Silicon Valley.  Another man is kidnapped and this one isn't as lucky.  Shaw finds him also but he has been killed.  Now the police are willing to listen and Shaw goes into high gear.  It becomes evident that the kidnappings are tied to a video game.  Shaw meets a gamer named Maddie who serves as his entree into the gamer world; a world he isn't a part of at all.  Shaw was homeschooled by a survivalist family on a large forested compound.  Survival he understands; computer gaming not so much.  A female police sergeant becomes Shaw's partner as they rush to find the culprit before more victims are killed.

This is the first in the Colton Shaw series and a New York Times Book Review Top 10 Crime Novel Of The Year.  To this date, there are three books in the series.  Colton is a fascinating character although Deaver makes it clear the reader hasn't been given all of his secrets yet.  His background makes him perfect for finding those who are missing as he knows how to track and survive in any situation.  Readers will find the pace fast and there is a twist that most won't see coming.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.

Madam by Phoebe Wynne

 

Things couldn't be going better for Rose Christie.  Only 26, she has just been hired to head up the classics department at the prestigious Caldonbrae Hall school for young women.  In fact, she is the only new hire for many years and in her interview was told the school looked forward to her innovative views.

The school is supportive.  Rose is given an apartment and even her mother's care, who is confined to a nursing facility, is taken care of.  All she has to do is plan and deliver her lectures.  She finds the girls strangely unprepared and they talk quite a lot about her predecessor who left quickly with no word on her current whereabouts.  The students seem to think that the stories of the Greek and Roman women Rose lectures about, who are strong and can serve as role models, are irrelevant.

Then things slowly start to turn.  Rose is aware of whispers among the staff when she enters a room.  The office staff are, by turns, surly or impudent.  Rose is given tasks that don't seem to match her job description.  There are secrets everywhere.  Girls disappear without warning or notice. Rose starts to get anonymous letters telling her she doesn't belong there but it is soon apparent, she can't leave unless the school wants her to.  There are big secrets being kept and when Rose learns them, she knows she must do her best to change things.

This is a debut novel and has garnered a lot of buzz with accolades such as 'One of the 75 Debuts To Discover In 2021' by Goodreads and 'Best Debuts Of 2021' by Parade.  It has a gothic feel and champions women's rights and challenges the male patriarchy.  Nathalie Buscombe is the narrator for those listening to the novel and she does a perfect job of portraying a naive woman who comes to realize she has made a glaring career mistake and now must fight for her life.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Coffinmaker's Garden by Stuart Macbride

 

Ash Henderson is no longer a Detective Inspector but he's still involved in crime.  These days, he's working with his friend and criminal profiler Alice to review cases and consult with the police.  But he hasn't really changed his focus or methods.  Ever since his own daughter was kidnapped and tortured to death, Ash has been full on set on catching serial killers by any means possible.

Ash discovers the lair of one such man.  Gordon Smith is an inoffensive man, always willing along with his wife to help with the care of children.  But what Ash and Alice find in his basement is a horror show that numbers over twenty victims.  Men, women, children.  Gordon wasn't picky.  The two are only able to retrieve the pictures Gordon had mounted before the entire house is swept off the cliff into the ocean in a storm.  

Of course, that's not the only case going on.  Crime rarely lets an investigator work on only one crime.  There is someone kidnapping and killing small boys, strangling them and leaving their parents to grieve for the rest of their lives.  Ash works with a new partner in the field, a beautiful woman DI who has a chip on her shoulder.  Can these crimes be solved before more killing occurs?

Stuart Macbride is one of my must-read authors.  This is the third book in the Ash Henderson series and readers can't help but cheer for him as he chases criminals while hiding his heart of gold.  The surrounding characters are always interesting and this one also has a dog for those who love their pets.  The action and pace is furious as event after event happens in breathtaking speed.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

 

Sarah Champlin is a painter in 1924 Paris, about to have her first exhibition.  But her plans are put on hold when she receives a telegram that her older sister, Ada, has been found dead in Carmel, California.  Sarah drops everything and travels to the town which is known as a gathering place for artists.

The inquest declared Ada's death a suicide but Sarah doesn't believe that.  Ada was a force and she was about to have her greatest artistic triumph ever.  Ada's personal life was also blooming and Sarah doesn't believe she would leave it all behind.  But if it wasn't suicide then it must be murder.  Who would want to kill Ada?

Unfortunately, there are more than one suspect.  There is her agent, whom Ada had recently fired.  She had also fired her assistant, a young painter who has secrets of her own.  There was a handsome rich suitor who was a sailor as well as an actor who was another suitor.  Sarah encounters secrets and motives everywhere she looks and doesn't know who to trust.  Can she discover the truth and give Ada back her reputation?

Although I have obviously heard of Carmel, I never knew it's history as a place where women artists gathered to make their art.  The reader will learn about many topics in this novel.  There is the history of women artists, the abalone divers of Japanese heritage, the discrimination those Japanese people encountered as well as the effects of Prohibition and the constraints women encountered in everyday life.  The author's own aunt was Ada Belle Champlin who served as the inspiration for this novel.  This novel is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

The Queen Of The Night by Alexander Chee

 

Lilliet Berne is born in the prairies of the United States.  When disease killed off all her family, she gets on a train and starts traveling. She ends up in Paris where she joins a circus as a gymnast on a horse, singing to entertain.  The crowds loved her. Soon, however, she ends up working as a prostitute to make ends meet.  There she meets a patron who becomes besotted with her, the tenor.  When he hears her sing he arranges for her to audition for the finest opera school but she is turned down.

Fleeing the tenor, she leaves again.  She ends up with a former opera singer who runs a school in Austria but soon the tenor shows up again.  Lilliet ends up working for the Empress as her wardrobe mistress and falls in love with a young composer.  But their love is not to be and soon she is back in Paris.  This time she is accepted at the opera school and soon she is the toast of the town.  

But one achievement escapes her.  The best divas have operas written exclusively for her.  When she is offered a script, she realizes that the new opera is the story of her life so far.  Who knows all her secrets?  As she attempts to find out, she ricochets between the man who is obsessed with her and the one she is obsessed with.  Will she find a happy life?

This novel gained great praise with honors like an NPR Best Book, an Indie Next Pick and a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice.  Readers may pick up suggestions of Charles Dickens with an intricate plot and tons of characters with full backstories and will learn about topics such as the opera, the brothels of Paris, the French revolution and the Franco-Prussian war.  Throughout, Lillibet is an enterprising woman who does whatever it takes to make her way in a man's world.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter

 

Delta Dawn is the in crowd's child photographer.  No birthday party is complete without Delta's photographs of it.  She has the knack of catching a child in delight and if not, she is a master at Photoshop and can create a wonderful memory that never really happened.  Delta loves rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous although she knows she is regarded as a servant not a friend.

When she is hired to shoot the eleventh birthday party of Natalie Straub, it is just another job to her.  That is, until she arrives and meets the parents, Amelia and Fritz.  Delta loves everything about the Straubs' lives.  The residence is gorgeous as the Straubs are architects and designers.  Amelia is compelling and beautiful, Fritz a handsome man.  She is also drawn immediately to Natalie.  She would love to get to know the family better.

A lucky occurrence makes this possible.  Amelia and Fritz need a babysitter short term and Delta volunteers.  Soon she is babysitting frequently and finding ways to make herself useful such as running errands.  She listens to Natalie and sympathizes with Amelia and her quest to have another child.  She does whatever it takes to get closer to the family, including starting to date a family friend.  Soon Delta manages to come up with a plan that will make her indispensable forever.  What could go wrong?

This is a debut novel for Mary Dixie Carter and she also serves as the narrator.  Her background is in journalism and her work has appeared in publications such as Time, The Economist and various newspapers.  The novel masterfully introduces suspense as the reader peels back the layers and realizes that anything Delta says is not necessarily true but a statement carefully crafted to serve an end just as she crafts images to reflect desires.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.

The Last House On Needless Street by Catriona Ward

 

Needless Street is a dead end street, the houses older and neglected.  The last house is particularly descript.  Ted lives there, a lonely man with no friends.  His daughter Laura is there off and on.  Outside of that, there is his cat, Olivia.  Ted has lived there his whole life.  His father disappeared somewhere along the line and his mother died years ago.  Ted is a huge man, who often drinks too much.  His size and slovenliness puts off everyone so his life is solitary.  

Ted is suspected by many of being involved in the disappearance of various young girls who have gone missing in the vicinity.  One of those girls was Lulu.  Now Lulu's sister, Dee, has moved in next door and tells Ted they should be friends.  What is her plan?  Is Ted involved in the disappearances?

This is a psychological thriller with horror overtones.  Nothing is quite what it seems.  Why is Lauren sometimes there and sometimes not and where does she go when she is gone?  How has Dee determined that Ted is the one with the answers about Lulu's disappearance?  Why can't Ted remember things like other people can?  

Catriona Ward was born in the United States but lives in England.  Her books have won several British horror awards.  The slow unpeeling of Ted's story will horrify and surprise readers and the final story will be quite different from earlier expectations.  This book is recommended for thriller and horror readers.

The Girl Before by J.P. Delaney

 

The apartment is amazing.  Right in the heart of London yet surprisingly affordable.  It's a miracle of efficiency and smart technology, built on a minimalist plan.  But not just anyone can move in.  In order to rent it, tenants must be approved by the firm that built it and the architect, Edward.  

There are rules that must be agreed upon by those who rent.  Rules about keeping things cleaned and put away.  Rules about no pets or children.  Rules about agreeing to answer questions whenever the technology decides it's time to.  Those who are accepted seem to fit a pattern.  The women all have a tragedy in their backgrounds and are looking for a new start.

Emma had been traumatized in a break in at her former apartment.  She reported to the police that she had been terrorized and raped by the criminals.  Jane has also had a recent tragedy.  Her pregnancy had ended not in a baby to bring home and raise but in a stillbirth.  The two women share another characteristic.  They each fall in love with Edward and are soon under his control.  Jane is curious about her predecessor, Emma.  She knows Emma died in the apartment at the bottom of the stone stairs.  Was it the accident the police wrote it off as?

J.P. Delaney has written an intriguing mystery that has already been sold as a series on BBC One and HBO Max.  The novel is told in the alternating voices of Emma and Jane and the truth slowly emerges.  It has touchpoints in the author's own life and history.  He has also written under the name Jonathan Holt.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Library Book by Susan Orlean

 

Susan Orlean has written a fascinating history of the Los Angles Public Library system.  The book uses an incident in 1986 when the biggest library fire in United States history occurred to serve as the focus.  The fire and its damage is extensively described along with the restoration efforts and the costs to restore the central library as a functioning organization.  There was a main suspect and she covers the investigation as well.

But outside of the fire, the LA library is a fascinating organization and Orlean covers those topics.  Readers learn about the origin of the library and the various head librarians that served over the years as the library grew and changed.  The myriad ways that libraries dissimilate information are explored as well as the services that libraries offer now.  The issues that libraries face such as the large homeless population that uses its services are covered.  Working conditions for library staff is a large issue that Orlean covers, along with the male/female ratio of librarians.  Library services in the electronic age are extensively covered.  She grew up with library trips with her mother being their favorite activity and her love of the library and all it offers is clear.

This book has garnered much praise.  It was a New York Times Notable Book in 2018 and a Washington Post Top 10 Book of the Year.  It was a pick of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club.  Orlean has been a staff writer at The New Yorker for many years and her books, which have been highly reviewed, are nonfictions on topics that catch her interest.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers and anyone who has ever enjoyed a trip to their local library.  

The Craftsman by Sharon Bolton

 

Florence Lovelady is a new policewoman in Lancashire, a small village up North from where she grew up. She is low man on the totem pole and rooms with the local undertaker as does another policeman who doesn't have his own home.  She usually does routine tasks like checking out car accidents or cases of shoplifting but today is different.  Today a little girl is missing.

It turns out that this is the third child to go missing in Lancashire and none have been found.  Then the last girl, Patsy, is found by Florence and things are worse.  For Patsy is found in a casket, buried alive in the local graveyard and she died a horrific death.  Has this been the fate of the other two children?

The village is horrified and the press is going nuts.  Flo is brought up in the ranks to work on the case as something this big needs everyone.  Against her better judgement, she shares the techniques and insights she has, something a new recruit is never expected to do.  Is there a sexual sadist on the loose?  There are also rumors of witchcraft in this small village and an active coven.  Are the children sacrifices?

Sharon Bolton is a Mary Higgins Clark Award winner and one of the leading suspense authors in England.  She is a master of the shock the reader doesn't see coming and her books are fast paced.  This book, told from the time of the events and then thirty years later when the murderer has died and Florence returns to Lancashire to attend his funeral is intriguing and a great introduction to this author if the reader isn't familiar with her.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.