Fiction @ Wellington City Libraries

For fans of magic or magicians, in the setting of the carnival or a circus, here are some realist and magic-realist novels you might like to try:

The night circus : a novel / Erin Morgenstern.
“Debut author Morgenstern doesn’t miss a beat in this smashing tale of greed, fate, and love set in a turn of the 20th-century circus. Celia is a five-year-old with untrained psychokinetic powers when she is unceremoniously dumped on her unsuspecting father, Hector Bowen, better known as Le Cirque des Reves’ Prospero the Entertainer. Hector immediately hatches a sinister scheme for Celia: pit her against a rival’s young magician in an epic battle of magic that will, by design, result in the death of one of the players, though neither Celia nor her adversary, Marco, is informed of the inevitable outcome. What neither Hector nor his rival count on is that Celia and Marco will eventually fall in love. Their mentors-Marco’s mentor, Alexander, plucked him from the London streets due to his psychic abilities-attempt to intervene with little success as Celia and Marco barrel toward an unexpected and oddly fitting conclusion. Supporting characters-such as Bailey, a farm boy who befriends a set of twins born into the circus who will drastically influence his future; Isobel, a circus employee and onetime girlfriend of Marco’s; and theatrical producer Chandresh Christophe Lefevre-are perfectly realized and live easily in a giant, magical story destined for bestsellerdom. This is an electric debut on par with Special Topics in Calamity Physics. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

Water for elephants / Sara Gruen.Water for Elephants
“An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of “Riding Lessons.” “Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine (Rosie the Elephant).”Q”Parade.”" (Syndetics summary)

Mechanique : a tale of the Circus Tresaulti / Genevieve Valentine.
“Come inside and take a seat; the show is about to begin… Outside any city still standing, the Mechanical Circus Tresaulti sets up its tents. Crowds pack the benches to gawk at the brass-and-copper troupe and their impossible feats: Ayar the Strong Man, the acrobatic Grimaldi Brothers, fearless Elena and her aerialists who perform on living trapezes. War is everywhere, but while the Circus is performing, the world is magic. That magic is no accident: Boss builds her circus from the bones out, molding a mechanical company that will survive the unforgiving landscape. But even a careful ringmaster can make mistakes. Two of Tresaulti’s performers are entangled in a secret standoff that threatens to tear the circus apart just as the war lands on their doorstep. Now the Circus must fight a war on two fronts: one from the outside, and a more dangerous one from within.” (Syndetics summary)

The princess bride : S. Morgenstern’s classic tale of true love and high adventure / the “good parts” version, abridged by William Goldman.The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure
“In this 30th anniversary edition, Goldman frames the famous fairy tale with an “autobiographical” story; his father had abridged the book as he read it to his son. Now, Goldman is publishing an abridged version, interspersed with comments on the parts that had been cut out.” (Syndetics summary)

The prestige / Christopher Priest.The Prestige
“Two 19th century stage illusionists, the aristocratic Rupert Angier and the working-class Alfred Borden, engage in a bitter and deadly feud; the effects are still being felt by their respective families a hundred years later. Working in the gaslight-and-velvet world of Victorian music halls, they prowl edgily in the background of each other’s shadowy life, driven to the extremes by a deadly combination of obsessive secrecy and insatiable curiosity. At the heart of the row is an amazing illusion they both perform during their stage acts. The secret of the magic is simple, and the reader is in on it almost from the start, but to the antagonists the real mystery lies deeper. Both have something more to hide than the mere workings of a trick.” (Amazon.co.uk)

Nights at the circus / Angela Carter ; with an introduction by Sarah Waters.
“Angela Carter has influenced a whole generation of fellow writers towards dream worlds of baroque splendour, fairy tale horror, and visions of the alienated wreckage of a future world. In Nights at the Circus she has invented a new, raunchy, raucous, Cockney voice for her heroine Fevvers, taking us back into a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety.” (Amazon.co.uk)

Welcome to the latest Fiction Newsletter. We have selected some great new fiction that includes science fiction, murder mysteries, graphic novels, and shorts stories, being the other genre for this month. We are sure you will find many hours of reading entertainment among following.

Remember you can reserve items that are on issue to other patrons and you can suggest items you wish us to consider for purchase.

Library News

• Favourite non-fiction for 2011. Includes how to escape from a Butlins holiday camp…
• Favourite fiction for 2011
• Join us on Waitangi Day

Enjoy!

I’ve been ordering a lot of chick lit recently as it’s a perennially popular section of our fiction collection.  Covering broken relationships and new motherhood – classic chick lit themes – these two new books do so with humour.  Which I think is very important if you’re looking for something light and enjoyable to read!

Both are expected to arrive at the library fairly soon.

Pear shaped.
This is the first novel by Stella Newman and it is about two very important things – romance and food.  The heroine is a chef, who meets a bloke and I think you can guess the rest – it doesn’t all go to plan!  The story has been described as well written, funny and unputdownable.  Good reviews too.

Just another manic mum-day.
This is the second novel for Mink Elliott (we have her other book too).  It’s actually a follow-up to her previous book, using the same characters - Roxy and her small family.  In this story Roxy and family have just moved to Sydney and are finding it hard to settle in and adjust to the new home.  Roxy decides to open a cafe for mums, for her friends and to help her to find the support network she needs – just to add to her stresses!  Of course, it does all work out in the end – this is chick lit! – but Roxy is an enjoyable character and relatable mum.

Wellington City Libraries is pleased to announce that we will be hosting events for the temporary Literaturhaus running from 7th February to 11th February 2012.

These events include preschool story times, poetry readings, and two lunch-time events of short readings from current work by upcoming and established writers and translators, and will take place at the Central Library.

One of the highlights: on Wednesday 8th February at 6.15pm, well known Wellington writers, including Elizabeth Knox, Hinemoana Baker, Apirana Taylor and Fiona Kidman will give their unique take on Grimm-inspired themes.

This mobile literary festival has been arranged to celebrate New Zealand being guest of honour at the world’s largest book fair in Frankfurt later this year.

See Literaturhaus New Zealand for the full programme of events, and for events held in the Central Library (or at Clark’s Café), check out our Event Calendar

Andrew Miller has been awarded the Costa Book Awards 2011, Book of the Year for his novel Pure. Selected from the finalists in five categories – First Novel award, Novel award, Biography award, Poetry award and Children’s Book award – Andrew Miller received the prize of £30,000. This is his sixth novel, and is set in Paris in 1785 just before the French Revolution, with the narrative built around a young engineer, ordered to demolish Paris’s oldest cemetery (Saints Innocents Cemetery) and all that this entails, such as exhumation of the bodies buried there. (For background on the story, read this Guardian article, and this Wikipedia article about Paris’s Catacombs for some extra historical detail.)

Tiny sunbirds, far away by Christie Watson was awarded the Costa First Novel Award.

The shortlist for the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize has recently been announced. This award was established in 2007 and is presented annually to the best novel written either in English or translated, by an Asian author. The winner receives USD 30,000 and the translator, if there is one, USD 5,000.This year the judging panel selected twelve novels from ninety nominations for the long list and that was reduced to seven for the shortlist. The prize will be awarded to the winner on 15 March 2012. Previous winners include in 2009, Su Tong for The Boat to Redemption and in 2007, Jiang Rong for Wolf Totem.
We are highlighting five novels from the shortlist; all are great reads, with themes, style and structure as diverse as the nationalities of their authors.

The wandering falcon / Jamil Ahmad.
“A progression of stories featuring a character who is the protagonist of the novel but not of any of the stories. In the first, a young couple staggers into a military outpost on Pakistan’s western border, requesting refuge and receiving food and shelter for as long as you want to stay. Soon, a son is born; five years later, the couple’s tribesmen arrive. He shoots her dead; they stone him to death, and the boy is abandoned. His growth from small child to young man ready to take a wife strings the subsequent stories together. Intertribal pecking orders and protocols repeatedly lead to murderous violence, and the protagonist is left behind more than once again.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)
Jamil Ahmad was born in 1933 in Jalandhar. He was an official in the Pakistan Embassy in Kabul during the Soviet invasion in 1979. He now lives in Islamabad, Pakistan.

River of smoke / Amitav Ghosh.
“This is the second volume in the Ibis trilogy. The Ibis, loaded to its gunwales with a cargo of indentured servants, is in the grip of a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal; among the dozens flailing for survival are Neel, the pampered raja who has been convicted of embezzlement; Paulette, the French orphan masquerading as a deck hand; and Deeti, the widowed poppy grower fleeing her homeland with her love, Kalua. The storm also threatens the clipper ship Anahita, groaning with the largest consignment of opium ever to leave India for Canton. And the Redruth, a nursery ship, carries “Fitcher’ Penrose, a horticulturist determined to track down the priceless treasures of China that are hidden in plain sight: plants that have the power to heal, or beautify, or intoxicate. All will converge in Canton’s Fanqui-Town, or Foreign Enclave: a tumultuous world unto itself where civilizations clash and sometime fuse. It is a powder keg awaiting a spark to ignite the Opium Wars.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)
Amitav Ghosh was born in 1956 in Calcutta. He studied at Delhi and Oxford universities. His first novel, The Circle of Reason was published in 1986.

Please look after mom : a novel / Kyung-sook Shin ; translated from the Korean by Chi-Young Kim.
“Please Look After Mom” is the stunning, deeply moving story of a family’s search for their mother, and of the desires, heartaches, and secrets they discover she harbored within. Told through the piercing voices and urgent perspectives of a daughter, son, husband, and mother, it is at once an authentic picture of contemporary life in Korea and a universal story of family love.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk description)
Shin Kyung-Sook was born in South Korea in 1963. She worked in an electronics plant while attending night school. Her first novella was published in 1985 after graduating from the Seoul Institute of the Arts, as a creative writing major.

Dream of Ding village / Lianke Yan.
“Told through the eyes of a young boy who is killed by his family’s neighbours, this novel tells the tragic and shocking story of the selling of blood for much needed money in China’s Henan province The villagers were then infected with the AIDS virus as they were injected with plasma to prevent anaemia. Whole villages were wiped out in this way, with no responsibility taken or reparation made and nothing done to care for those left behind.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)
Yan Lianke was born in 1958 in Henan province, China, where the blood-contamination scandal occurred. He graduated from Henan University in 1985, and in 1991, he graduated from the People’s Liberation Army Art Institute with a degree in Literature. He is a prolific writer and has received many literary awards. He lives in Beijing.

The lake / by Banana Yoshimoto ; translated by Michael Emmerich.
“A young woman moves to Tokyo after the death of her mother, hoping to overcome her grief and start a career as a graphic artist. But she spends her time staring out of the window only to realise that there is a young man across the street staring out of his window too. They eventually embark on a hesitant romance, until she learns that he is the victim of a childhood trauma. Visiting two of his friends who live a monastic life beside a beautiful lake, she begins to piece together clues that reveal that his troubled past includes a bizarre religious cult.” – (adapted from Amazon.co.uk description)
Banana Yoshimoto is the pen name of Mahoko Yoshimoto. She was born in 1964 in Tokyo. She graduated from Hihon University’s Art College where she majored in literature. She has published 12 novels, the first published in 1986, with 8 being translated into English.

Mages, post-apocalyptia, space slaves, armies of aliens and bows and arrows. Escape into the fantastic with these new additions to our catalogue!

Perfect people / Peter James.
“When a young couple join a fertility programme run by a clinic in America they little suspect that the happy day that follows is the last day of mankind’s evolutionary supremacy. Mankind is facing its greatest challenge: obsolescence.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Citadel / John Ringo.
“The second novel in the new military science fiction series by a “New York Times”-bestselling author. Once the Earth has been freed, how can the former conquerors be kept from returning to reclaim the planet–or even destroy it?” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The hot gate / John Ringo.
“The fight to free the Earth from alien domination began in “Live Free or Die,” and continued in “Citadel.” Now Tyler Vernon and his troops aboard the gigantic battle station “Troy” face a desperate battle with the forces of galactic tyranny.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The High King of Montival : a novel of the change / S.M. Stirling.
“In this post-apocalyptic series chronicling a modern world without technology, Rudi Mackenzie returns to Montival in the Pacific Northwest, where he will face the legions of the Prophet. To achieve victory, he must assemble a coalition of those who had been his enemies a few months before and forge them into an army that will rescue his homeland.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Legacy of kings / Celia Friedman.
“The young peasant woman Kamala has proven strong and determined enough to claim the most powerful Magister sorcery for herself-but now the Magisters hunt her for killing one of their own. Her only hope of survival lies in the northern Protectorates, where spells are warped by a curse called the Wrath that even the Magisters fear.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Scholar / L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
“The scholar Quaeryt, friend of young King Bhayar, ruler of Telaryn, accepts a royal mission to journey to the land of Tilbor, conquered by Bhayar’s father ten years earlier, to assess the possibility of reducing the occupation forces. Concealing the fact that he is also an imager, a mage who can create mental images and endow them with material being, Quaeryt weathers pirates and a shipwreck on his journey to Tilbor. Once there, he faces more subtle political dangers as his suspicions grow concerning a conspiracy that could throw Telaryn into chaos. Set in the time before the events of the first book of the “Imager Portfolio” (Imager; Imager’s Challenge; Imager’s Intrigue), Modesitt’s latest addition to his fantasy saga focuses on the complex character of its hero, an unlikely combination of serious scholar and, when need be, ruthless opponent. The author excels in creating worlds that are believable down to the last detail and characters whose vitality expresses itself in actions that have resounding consequences. VERDICT Fans of the author’s “Recluce” novels and the works of Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind, and Raymond E. Feist should enjoy the elaborate world-building and believable characterizations.” – (adapted from Library Journal review)

The sacred band / David Anthony Durham.
“In a conclusion to the trilogy that includes The Other Lands, Queen Corinn masters spells found in the ancient Book of Elenet, while her younger brother embarks on a perilous mission to the Other Lands and her sister travels north to confront an invasion by the fearsome Auldek.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

Ashes of a black frost / Chris Evans.
“Musket and cannon, bow and arrow, and magic and diplomacy vie for supremacy once again in this all-new epic adventure from acclaimed author Evans. Packed with wit, high adventure, and political intrigue, “Ashes of a Black Frost” will hook readers on this bold and exciting series.” – (adapted from Syndetics summary)

Vengeance / Ian Irvine.
“In Cython’s underground slave camps, only the timid and obedient survive but Tali is neither of these. In Cython, having magic means the death penalty, and Tali’s gift is swelling out of her control.Though no slave has ever escaped, Tali must, for she has sworn to bring her mother’s killers to justice.” – (adapted from Syndetics Summary)

The kingdom of gods / N.K. Jemisin.
“Finally freed from their enslavement by the ruling Arameri, the gods and godlings of the world still find themselves influenced by the shifting loyalties, loves, and hates of mortals. When Sieh, the god of childhood, gives his friendship to two Arameri children, Shahar and her brother Dekarta, his godhood slips from him and changes the course of the world forever. Jemisin’s brilliant conclusion to her award-winning trilogy (after The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms; The Broken Kingdom) explores the human desire for the divine as well as the gods’ need for the mortals who worship them. VERDICT Masterly storytelling and compelling characters make this a standout selection for fantasy lovers.” – (adapted from Library Journal review)

This week’s choices are both due in early 2012 (February and March respectively) and are written by young, female American writers.  Snow Child is the debut novel of Alaskan Eowyn Ivey whilst Arcadia is Lauren Groff’s third publication – we have her other books here and here.  Both these books have been well received and glowingly reviewed!

Snow child : a novel.
“Here’s a modern retelling of the Russian fairy tale about a girl, made from snow by a childless couple, who comes to life. Or perhaps not modern-the setting is 1920s Alaska-but that only proves the timelessness of the tale and of this lovely book. Unable to start a family, middle-aged Jack and Mabel have come to the wilderness to start over, leaving behind an easier life back east. Anxious that they won’t outlast one wretched winter, they distract themselves by building a snow girl and wrap her in a scarf. The snow girl and the scarf are gone the next morning, but Jack spies a real child in the woods. Soon Jack and Mabel have developed a tentative relationship with the free-spirited Faina, as she finally admits to being called. Is she indeed a “snow fairy,” a “wilderness pixie” magicked out of the cold? Or a wild child who knows better than anyone how to survive in the rugged north? Even as Faina embodies a natural order that cannot be tamed, the neighborly George and Esther show Jack and Mabel (and the rest of us) how important community is for survival. VERDICT A fluid, absorbing, beautifully executed debut novel; highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 9/21/11.]-Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.” (Library Journal)

Arcadia.
“Groff’s dark, lyrical examination of life on a commune follows Bit, aka Little Bit, aka Ridley Sorrel Stone, born in the late ’60s in a spot that will become Arcadia, a utopian community his parents help to form. Despite their idealistic goals, the family’s attempts at sustainability bring hunger, cold, illness, and injury. Bit’s vibrant mother retreats into herself each winter; caring for the community literally breaks his father’s back. The small, sensitive child whose purposeful lack of speech is sometimes mistaken for slowness finds comfort in Grimms’ fairy tales and is lost in the outside world once Arcadia’s increasingly entitled spiritual leader falls from grace and the community crumbles. Split between utopia and its aftermath, the book’s second half tracks the ways in which Bit, now an adult (he’s 50 when this all ends, in 2018), has been shaped by Arcadia; a career in photography was the perfect choice for a man who “watches life from a good distance.” Bit’s painful experiences as a husband, father, and son grow more harrowing as humanity becomes increasingly imperiled. The effective juxtaposition of past and future and Groff’s (Delicate Edible Birds) beautiful prose make this an unforgettable read. Agent: William Morris Endeavor. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved” (Publisher Weekly)

The finalists for the Australian Romance Readers Awards for 2011 have been announced, and they include Nalini Singh, Nora Roberts (in various guises), and more. There are nine awards given every year (you can browse previous winners here) in various categories: paranormal romance, sci-fi/urban fantasy/futuristic romance, short romance, historical romance, contemporary romance, erotic romance, romantic suspense, favourite romantic continuing series, and finally, members’ favourite Australian romance author. (No cyberpunk romances this year, alas.)

Here are some of the finalists (in various categories):

Shattered sky / Helene Young.
“On a routine surveillance flight east of the Australian coast, Captain Lauren Bennett’s crew pick up a mayday call. A yacht is under fire. For the international smugglers operating below the radar of the navy and Border Watch, sinking a pleasure craft is just part of their day s work. Lauren has other ideas. As she pursues the men into the isolated country of Cape York, she ll need all the help she can get. That will mean joining forces with the cynical navy officer Callam Granger, who’s already shown his contempt for her. What will it take to convince him she’s right this time? Can they put aside their old animosities to outwit, outrun and ultimately out-fly the traffickers? Or will another death shatter Lauren’s life completely?” (Global Books)

River marked / Patricia Briggs.
“Car mechanic and shapeshifter Mercy Thompson senses that an evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River – one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help.” (Syndetics summary)

Archangel’s blade / Nalini Singh.
“In the intensely dark, violent, and romantic fourth Guild Hunter novel (after Archangel’s Consort), Singh focuses on the 1,000-year-old vampire Dmitri, lieutenant to the archangel Raphael, and Guild Hunter Honor, still recovering after a rogue vampire kidnapped and tortured her for two months. Assigned by the Guild to work with Dmitri toward solving the strange murder of a young vampire, Honor must confront the conflicting emotions he inspires, which intensify when the investigation bleeds into her past abduction and Dmitri vows revenge on her attackers. Their relationship develops explosively and becomes one of equals despite the centuries of age difference. Singh’s vampires, angels, hunters, and archangels engage in global power struggles within a complex larger story that new readers will find challenging. An engrossing narrative, vivid characters, and a well-imagined world mitigate those difficulties, resulting in a heart-pounding and strongly emotional read.” (Publishers Weekly)

Prince of Scandal / by Annie West.
“Prince… Ruling prince Raul, Prince of Maritz, is furious that an archaic law is forcing him to wed. But scandal and unrest has dogged this prince for years, and a marriage to recently discovered princess Luisa Hardwicke will help bring stability to the monarchy. Reluctant princess… Only Luisa is an outspoken, mud-splattered farm-girl, who isn’t going to come quietly! Even as she’s reluctantly transformed into polished perfection, Luisa challenges Raul at every turn – and he finds himself anticipating their wedding night with an excitement he never imagined he’d feel… ” (Amazon.co.uk)

The next always / Nora Roberts.
“Beckett has no trouble whatsoever talking to women. It’s just Claire who has him at a loss for words. It all began when Beckett fell hard and fast for Claire in high school, but Claire wound up marrying Beckett’s best friend, Clint. Now, more than a decade later, Claire, a war widow, is back in Boonsboro, building a new life for herself and her sons as the owner of the town’s bookstore. Even though renovating the local inn keeps Beckett busy, he still manages to bump into Claire at least once a day, and he still finds himself surprisingly tongue-tied. Finally, when Beckett offers Claire an early tour of the inn, it leads to an unexpected kiss. With the first impeccably written and richly emotional installment in her new contemporary romantic trilogy, Roberts delivers all the elements her readers enjoy, including a perfectly matched pair of protagonists and a plot spiced with danger, a touch of the paranormal, and deliciously tart humor. Readers will also relish the autobiographical dimension. The novel is set in Roberts’ hometown, Boonsboro, Maryland, in which she owns a restored inn and is the proprietor of Turn the Page bookstore.” (Booklist)

Magic slays / Ilona Andrews.
“Kate Daniels has quit the Order of Merciful Aid, but starting her own business isn’t easy. So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead asks for help with a vampire, Kate jumps at the chance. Unfortunately, this is one case where Kate should have looked before she leapt. Original.” (Syndetics summary)

This selection of new Murder Mysteries includes updates for Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, Sue Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum. Plus, three new Scandinavian mysteries, and a new instalment in Martin Walker’s Captain Bruno Courrèges mysteries (set in South-West France). Enjoy!

Red mist / Patricia Cornwell.
“Kay Scarpetta has arranged to meet an inmate at the high-security Georgia Prison for Women. The prisoner is a convicted sex offender and the mother of a vicious and diabolically brilliant killer. Against advice, Scarpetta is determined to hear this woman out – she believes she may hold some answers to the murder of her former deputy. But soon she finds connections to a string of grisly killings, including the slaughter of a Savannah family years earlier. She can see a pattern to these killings, but who is behind them and why?” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Slash and burn / Colin Cotterill.
“Dr Siri, off on what he calls a ‘therapeutic holiday’ in the mountains with his wife and friends and with the help of a little blackmail they are accompanying an American MIA team. Their mission is to discover what happened to a stoned airman downed ten years earlier. Could he have survived? Who is eliminating the last people to have seen him alive? And who, we ask, is lighting the fires that are shrouding the Friendship Hotel in smog? In the remote Plain of Jars, surrounded by a thousand tons of unexploded bombs, Siri and the morgue team have to discover who is the killer in their midst before they too become victims.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Burned / Thomas Enger ; translated from the Norwegian by Charlotte Barslund.
“A solitary tent is found to contain the body of a half-buried woman. She’s been stoned to death. There are lash marks across her back. One of her hands has been cut off. Two years earlier internet reporter Henning Juul lost his son, Jonas, in a domestic fire. As he returns to work, physically and emotionally scarred, Henning struggles to escape this past and to be taken seriously again as a reporter, by his colleagues, his ex-wife and the police. Told to cover the story of the woman in the tent, he finds an increasingly dangerous trail and, despite an early arrest, he is convinced that the story is more complex than the police think. “(adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Explosive eighteen / Janet Evanovich (Book on CD).
“Before Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 from Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, she’s flying back to New Jersey solo, and someone who sounds like Sasquatch is snoring in row 22. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead, in a garbage can, waiting for curbside pickup. His killer could be anyone. The FBI, the fake FBI, and guns-for-hire are all looking for a photograph the dead man was supposed to be carrying. Only one other person has seen the missing photograph, Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target, and she doesn’t intend to end up in a garbage can” (adapted from Syndetics summary).

The territory / Tricia Fields.
“At the end of State Road 170 and just past a ghost town lies Artemis, population 2500. The townspeople had sought out this remote corner of western Texas in hopes of living lives of solitude and independence. None of them realized that their small town would become a hot spot for Mexican drug runners, whose turf battles have turned both sides of the Rio Grande into a war zone. Still, many of the locals would rather take the law into their hands than get help from police chief Josie Gray, even when they’re up against a cartel’s private army. After arresting one of the cartel’s hit men and killing another, Josie finds her own life at risk for doing a job which many people would rather see her quit.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

“V” is for vengeance / Sue Grafton.
“Las Vegas, 1986. A young college graduate is murdered when he is unable to pay back a loan funded by notorious criminal Lorenzo Dante. Two years later private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds her-self assisting to apprehend a shoplifter, Audrey Vance, in a shopping centre. Events take a much darker turn when Audrey’s body is discovered beneath the Cold Spring Bridge, a local suicide spot. Unable to believe she took her own life, Audrey’s fiancé Marvin Striker hires Kinsey to investigate. It soon emerges that the shoplifter had become caught up in a much larger operation. Meanwhile Lorenzo Dante has begun to grow weary of his life in organised crime and frustrated with his violent and impulsive younger brother Cappi. As Kinsey’s enquiries reach a dramatic head, it becomes clear that she and Dante have one thing in common, they must be careful who they trust.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Vacuum / Bill James.
“After his son and wife were shot, Mansel Shale turned to God, leaving DCS Colin Harpur with a potential problem. Instead of keeping a grip on his profitable drugs empire, Shale, ravaged by sorrow and regret, has abandoned that business, leaving it in the hands of an assistant who is reputed to hallucinate about the Spanish Civil War.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The hidden child / Camilla Läckberg ; translated by Tiina Nunnally.
“Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother’s possessions. Haunted by a childhood of neglect, she resolves to dig deep into her family’s past and finally uncover the reasons why. Her enquiries lead her to the home of a retired history teacher. He was among her mother’s circle of friends during the Second World War but her questions are met with bizarre and evasive answers. Two days later he meets a violent death. Detective Patrik Hedström, Erica’s husband, is on paternity leave but soon becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. Who would kill so ruthlessly to bury secrets so old? Reluctantly Erica must read her mother’s wartime diaries. But within the pages is a painful revelation about Erica’s past. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband and newborn baby?” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)

Until thy wrath be past / Asa Larsson ; translated from the Swedish by Laurie Thompson.
“It is the first thaw of spring and the body of a young woman surfaces in the River Thorne in the far north of Sweden. Rebecka Martinsson is working as a prosecutor in nearby Karuna. Her sleep has been disturbed by haunting visions of a shadowy, accusing figure. Could the body belong to the ghost in her dreams? And where is the dead girl’s boyfriend, also reported as missing the previous winter? Joining forces once again with Police Inspectors Anna-Maria Mella and Sven-Erik Stalnacke, Rebecka is drawn into an investigation that centers on old rumors about a plane carrying supplies for German troops in 1943 that never arrived.” (adapted from Syndetics summary)

The crowded grave : an investigation by Bruno, Chief of Police / Martin Walker.
“Life in south-west rural France is not the sleepy idyll you might suppose. Local duck and goose farms are being attacked by animal rights protestors attempting to halt the production of foie gras. A senior policeman has been shot by terrorists believed to be the Basque Separatists of ETA. And if that weren’t enough, a group of students have just unearthed a ‘modern’ skeleton during a dig at one of the ancient sites of this famous region and home to pre-historic man, a dig that has brought an influx of foreigners to the Dordogne. It is up to Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges to get to the bottom of these seemingly unrelated events.” (adapted from Amazon.co.uk)