Only a handful of new books. There are lots more! But this has been a draft for a week.

Social Suicide, by Gemma Halliday (277 pages) – This is the second book in the Deadly Cool series.  It looks like it’s a kind of murder-mystery series, set in a highschool. Hartley Featherstone, jouralist, blogger, and detective finds the body of the person – apparently electrocuted while reading Twitter! – she’s meant to interview. It’s pleasing that there’s a new series that isn’t about the supernatural, actually!

First line: ‘You had to be incredibly stupid to get caught cheating in Mr. Tipkin’s class, but then again, Sydney Sanders was known for bet the only brunette blonder than Paris Hilton.‘

Mister Death’s Blue-Eyed Girls, by Mary Downing Hahn (330 pages) – Based on actual events experienced by the author, this is about the murders of two girl in 1950s Baltimore. The story is told from several points of view, and while the subject matter might be a little dark, the book’s ending is very satisfying.

First lines: ‘He opens his eyes. It’s still dark, way before dawn. He’d willed himself to wake at three a.m., and he’s done it.‘

Send Simon Savage : Return of the Black Death, by Stephen Measday (312 pages) – This is the second Simon Savage book (the first is here). Besides having the best of all names, Simon has the perfect DNA for work as a ‘temponaut’; a time-traveller working for The Time Bureau. He’s lost his family, and has to find them. And someone has transported the plague through time to the present, risking a pandemic of the Black Death.

First line: ‘1348, a harbour in Venice – Simon Savage had never seen so many rats in his life.‘

The Poison Diaries : Nightshade, by Maryrose Wood and the Duchess of Northumberland (279 pages) – This is the second book in a gothic-style trilogy set in the 18th Century. The books are inspired by the real Poison Garden that the Duchess of Northumberland herself has created and maintains in her castle. Anyway, in part 2 Jessamine learns that her true love, Weed (that’s his name), is still alive and maybe her father has something to do with it. She will do whatever she can to get him back! Especially with her new-found powers of horticulture and propogation.

First line: ‘I wake, as I usually do, to the sound of Weed’s voice.’

Never Fall Down, by Patricia McCormick (216 pages) – This is a fictionalised account of the true story of Arn Chorn-Pond, who grew up in Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge’s nightmarish rule of the country. He manages to survive by pretending to be able to play an instrument and then, later ordered to fight. After all the horror he witnessed he became an advocate for human rights and peace.

First lines: ‘At night in our town, it’s music everywhere. Rich house. Poor house. Doesn’t matter.‘