Staff Picks Adult Fiction
September 2020
For Whom the Book Tolls: An Antique Bookshop Mystery, #1
by Laura Gail Black
Posted in: Adult Fiction
Booked for Death: a Book Lover’s B&B Mystery
by Victoria Gilbert
Posted in: Adult Fiction
August 2020
Conventionally Yours
by Annabeth Albert
Posted in: Adult Fiction
Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows
by Balli Kaur Jaswal
Nikki’s life is not working out the way her family would have liked. Instead of marrying a good Punjabi man and starting a family, Nikki is a college dropout living in a flat above a pub where she is employed. So when an ad for a teacher for an English Creative Writing class at the Punjabi temple in the town of Southall, Nikki jumped at the opportunity to have a respectable job to tell her family about, even though it was only 2 nights a week. Nikki was in for a big surprise when her first class was comprised of several Punjabi widows who didn’t want to write stories, they wanted to learn to write in English. The class grew interested in the storytelling aspect and soon each widow was sharing an erotic story with the class. If that’s not enough to grab your attention, mix in a mysterious death and possible murder, a rocky romance, a conservative group called The Brotherhood, and a lot of laughs. I highly recommend this title, particularly the audiobook version. Available as a physical copy, on Overdrive, and on Hoopla.
Recommended by: Brandi Smits, Youth Services Manager
Posted in: Adult Fiction
July 2020
Eight Perfect Murders
by Peter Swanson
Malcolm Kershaw is a quiet bookstore owner, widowed, and with few friends. But his quiet life is interrupted when a young woman with the FBI wants to ask him questions about an article he wrote years ago titled ‘Eight Perfect Murders.’ Someone is using this list of perfect crime books to commit murder and it just so happens that Malcolm knows the victims. Our narrator, Malcolm, does give up new information about his own personal, quiet life as the story progresses. And as he gives us those clues about his life, some good twists and turns follow which had me wondering ….who in his small group of acquaintances could be a murderer? Although the pace of the book was slow at first, it does pick up. I was glad I stuck with it to the finish because the ending was very thrilling and I have added ‘eight’ authors to my ‘to be read’ list. If you like Ruth Ware, I would recommend trying Peter Swanson.
Recommended by: Michelle Przekwas, Adult Services Shelver
Posted in: Adult Fiction
To Kill a Mocking Girl: A Bookbinding Mystery
by Harper Kincaid
Posted in: Adult Fiction
June 2020
Ninth House
by Leigh Bardugo
Alex Stern has a secret skill. She can see ghosts. For a while when she was a kid, she didn’t realize others couldn’t see the gray-tinted people roaming around. It got her in trouble and made her an outcast. Now her special skills are a perfect fit to join the Lethe, a group of people set to monitor the rituals of the secret society houses of Yale. The disappearance of her mentor, a suspicious murder, and a well-known ghost pull her deep into a world of magic, horror, and secrets. Bardugo is well-known for her YA novels in the Grisha universe, but this is her first novel for adults. Ninth House is a hefty first book in a series, but worth the read.
Recommended by: Brandi Smits, Youth Services Manager
Posted in: Adult Fiction
The Engineer’s Wife: a Novel
by Tracey Enerson Wood
Emily Warren marries Washington Roebling in the 1860s and her life becomes not what she planned. When Wash was put in charge of building the Brooklyn Bridge, the next 15 years of her life is consumed by that task. With the equipment available at the time and the depth the towers had to go into the ground, many of the workers suffered from what is now known as “the bends”, Wash became debilitated. Emily took over as the go between Wash and the site engineers. She became the acting chief engineer and project manager She studied engineering books and made suggestions to overcome obstacles. Many people did not trust a bridge “made” by a woman, so P.T. Barnum had his circus cross the bridge including Jumbo the elephant. Throughout her life, Emily stood up for her husband and herself. She later became involved in the women’s right to vote movement. This book has romance, intrigue, death, and suspense all wrapped up as tightly as the cables that hold the bridge.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Services Librarian I
Posted in: Adult Fiction
Memories of Glass
by Melanie Dobson
During WW II in Holland, friends Josie van Rees and Eliese Linden work with others to rescue hundreds of Jewish children from going to concentration camps with their families. The daring actions and courage displayed makes this book a page-turner. Alternating with present day America and Uganda, Ava Drake begins to suspect that her great-grandfather, William Kingston, had other activities in Holland during the war that were more than glass making. Working with Landon, a man she met in Uganda when she went to represent the Kingston Foundation, they try to uncover a family secret that some in the family will kill to keep hidden. An amazing story with an ending that is as heartwarming as it is heartbreaking. Available on Hoopla.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Adult Fiction
Three Wishes
by Liane Moriarty
Fans of Big Little Lies, The Husband’s Secret, or Nine Strangers may want to read this first novel written by the author. A funny, madcap, and sometimes sad story about three sisters, who are triplets, and their lives and loves right before their 34th birthday. This book will have you laughing and crying, so it is a perfect summer read. Also available on Hoopla and OverDrive.
Recommended by: Joan Stoiber, Youth Reference Librarian I
Posted in: Adult Fiction