Mysteries, suspense
10/2: Gone So Long by Andre Dubus III – An ex-con living a solitary life in seaside New England travels to a quaint Florida town in search of his estranged daughter. Continue reading “New Fiction Roundup – October 2018”
The last months of summer are usually a whirlwind of getting out of town. For some of us that means finding a pet sitter. Maybe it’s a friendly neighbor or a local boarder or maybe it’s you! This August I hung out for two weeks with two adorable cat brothers who act more like dogs than cats! They sneaked into grocery bags and even brought a bat in the house (thank goodness for vaccinations)! My other gig is in a few weeks with two older pups…and I’m starting to wonder what adventures they will bring! Have you had any adventures in pet sitting?
Curiosity Killed the Cat Sitter by Blaize Clement
“Clement’s assured cozy debut introduces an appealing heroine, 32-year-old Dixie Hemingway, who’s given up her stressful job as a sheriff’s deputy in Sarasota, Fla., to become a professional pet sitter. When Dixie calls early one morning on her latest client, a silver-blue Abyssinian named Ghost, she finds a dead man face down in the cat bowl. Continue reading “Adventures in Pet Sitting!”
9/4: The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory – When her boyfriend surprises her with a Jumbotron proposal at a baseball game, Nik says no, and is saved when a stranger steps in to whisk her away. That stranger is Carlos, and could there be a spark between the two?
9/4: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker – Set in the midst of literature’s most famous war, Barker imagines the events of The Iliad as experienced by the captured women living in a Greek camp in the final weeks of the Trojan War.
9/11: She Would Be King by Wayétu Moore – In a novel shot through with magical realism, Moore reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three characters who share an uncommon bond. A Peak Pick!
9/18: 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle – Agatha Christie meets Groundhog Day in this literary puzzle. Evelyn Hardcastle dies at a party Aiden Bishop is attending. Waking up the next morning, Aiden finds it is once again the morning of the party, only he is in the body of a different guest. He’ll inhabit 8 people on that day, until he can solve the crime. Continue reading “New Fiction Roundup – September 2018”
Sitting in the top right corner, the category Written by an author from another country could be vital to making bingo vertically, horizontally, or the elusive diagonal bingo. We’re here to help you get it filled. For inspiration, you could consult previous posts about intriguing African fiction, East Asian fiction, European fiction, Latin American fiction, or Australian mysteries from the past few years.
Continue reading “#BookBingoNW2018: Written by an author from another country”
2018 Summer Book Bingo is upon us, so let the booklists begin! This list will focus on that pesky category First In A Series. There are many, many beloved series out there, many of them in genre fiction. Hopefully there will be a little something for every reader here.
The Patrick Melrose novels by Edward St. Aubyn are a delightfully savage take on modern British aristocracy. Never Mind starts the series and is included in the omnibus edition of all 5 novels (Showtime is releasing a miniseries based on the novels starring Benedict Cumberbatch). For a lighter, shopaholic take on modern aristocracies, try Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan (also soon to be in film), a voyeuristic look into the lives of China’s uber rich from the perspective of Rachel Chu, the American Born Chinese protagonist and girlfriend to the heir of one of China’s richest families, the Youngs. If snarking about the fabulously rich isn’t your jam, Rachael Cusk stretches the novel to new shapes with Outline, Transit, and Kudos (forthcoming). The novels merge oral history with fiction as a recently divorced woman encounters and listens to the stories of strangers and friends while her apartment is being renovated. Finally, if you haven’t read Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan novels, starting with My Brilliant Friend, maybe this is the summer to check that off your list. Continue reading “#BookBingoNW2018: First in a Series”
