~The Rocky River Public Library Reader's Advisory Newsletter~

Volume 17, Issue 3 May/June 2002

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Coming Soon

Jean M. Auel
The Shelters of Stone: Earth’s Children
In this, the long-anticipated fifth installment of the “Earth’s Children” series, Ayla and Jondalar hike across Europe.

Mary Higgins Clark
Mount Vernon Love Story
In this latest effort by Mary Higgins Clark, George and Martha Washington’s romance continues after the Presidency ends.

William F. Buckley Jr. 
Nuremberg: The Reckoning
Buckley portrays the war crimes trials at Nuremberg after World War II from the perspective of a young German-American interpreter.

Harlan Coben
Gone for Good
When Will Klein’s girlfriend vanishes after a family member is killed, Klein begins to think it’s a conspiracy.

Jackie Collins
Deadly Embrace
Madison Castelli, star of bestselling Lethal Seduction, attempts to uncover her father’s mobster past.

Clive Cussler
Fire Ice
The hero from Serpent, Kurt Austin, returns to confront a deadly global plot.

Sara Donati
Lake in the Clouds
This new release is the latest long-awaited installment of Donati’s epic series that began with Into the Wilderness. 

Janet Evanovich
Hard Eight
In Evanovich’s latest Stephanie Plum mystery, Stephanie looks for a missing child while trying to keep her love life under control.

Lisa Gardner
The Survivors Club
A group of rape victims attempt to overcome their traumas together, until one of them takes revenge too far—and murders!

Julia Glass
Three Junes
This first novel, about a Scottish family, takes place during three successive summers.

Jane Green
Bookends
The author of Jemima J. takes another stab at social satire as four London friends are upended when the always-perfect Portia reenters their lives.

Barbara Hambly
Wet Grave
This new historical mystery by Hambly, the 6th Benjamin January, has January looking for Jean Lafitte’s treasure.

James Huston
The Shadows of Power
In Washington D. C., Ken “Rat” Rathman gets involved in international intrigue when an old roommate is challenged to a flying duel with an Algerian aircraft.

Marian Keyes
Angels
Meet Margaret Walsh, a prim and proper version of her sisters Claire and Rachel (in Watermelon). In Angels, Margaret runs away from home and heads to seedy Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Lowell
Running Scared
More powerful romantic/suspense from the creator of Moving Target.

Steve Martini
The Arraignment
A new suspense-filled legal thriller starring Paul Madriani. 

Larry McMurtry
Sin Killer
In the first of a new series, set in the early 1800s, the Berrybender family heads up the Missouri and into trouble.

Michael Palmer
Fatal
A young doctor encounters conspiracy at a local mine when he returns home to investigate some suspicious family deaths.

James Patterson
The Beach House
Law school student Jack Mullen doesn’t believe that his brother’s drowning death is an accident.

Mary Jo Putney
The Bartered Bride
In this 19th-century romance, an American merchant must resort to marriage in order to save a European woman from slavery in the East Indies.

Amanda Quick
Don’t Look Back
The duo from Slightly Shady return, and this time they are searching for a valuable bracelet that has disappeared after its owner’s murder.

Jeanne Ray
Step-Ball-Change: A Novel
Carolyn has everything—a long-term, happy marriage, a perfect job, and four successful children. Life is too perfect; expect trouble.

Kathy Reichs
Grave Secrets
Tempe Brenne, a forensic anthropologist, goes to Guatemala to investigate a decades-old massacre.

John Sandford
Mortal Prey
Lucas Davenport joins forces with a woman who once tried to kill him in Sandford’s newest thriller.

John Saul 
Midnight Voices
A widowed mother meets the man of her dreams, but the apartment he lives in is the stuff out of real nightmares.

Joanna Trollope
Girl From the South
London photographer Henry follows a girl from South Carolina home and becomes obsessed with all things Southern. 

Laura Zigman
Her
A couple’s wedding is disrupted when the man’s gorgeous ex-fiancé comes to town in Zigman’s latest contemporary romance.

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Mystery

Tucker Peak
Archer Mayor
Straight-shooting flatfoot Joe Gunther, now the head of the newly formed Vermont Bureau of Investigation, must investigate a string of robberies at Tucker Peak, a failing ski resort.

Plenty of action and intrigue in this 12th installation in the Joe Gunther series. A worthwhile, satisfying mystery. Gunther is a loyal and likeable lawman. Highly recommend.

Blood Sinister
Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
Detective Bill Slider and his capable staff investigate the murder of a controversial woman journalist known for her criticism of the police.

Excellent plotting and lively interaction among the characters provide another winner in this superb series.

Fault Line
Sarah Andrews
On the verge of hosting the Olympics, Salt Lake City is hit with a major earthquake and within hours Em Hansen is asked to put her special brand of detection skills to work investigating the murder of the state geologist.

A tense, action-packed, mystery. Good supporting characters. Best yet of the series. Highly recommend.

Romance/Romantic Suspense

To Trust a Stranger
Karen Robards
When a former beauty contest winner suspects her husband of cheating, she hires P. I. “Mac” McQuarry to follow him not knowing that Mac holds a grudge against her husband for getting him kicked off of the Charleston police force.

Another winner for Robards.Suspenseful, funny, and entertaining.Highly recommend.

The Promise in a Kiss: A Christmas Novel
Stephanie Laurens
Sebastian, the Duke of St. Ives, has never forgotten the kiss from a young woman at a French convent seven years ago. When he recognizes that same woman as Helena, the Comtess d’Lisle, who is now searching for a husband, he wants to marry her although she makes it clear that he would never make a suitable husband.

Witty dialogue and likeable characters. An enjoyable and entertaining read with a little mystery, intrigue and lots of romance. Recommend.

Summer Moon
Jill Marie Landis
When Kate Whittington arrives in Texas after believing that she has married a widower by proxy, she finds that her new husband has never heard of her and that he does not want a wife. However, he is forced to accept her after he is injured and needs help with his son.

This is the author’s hardcover debut. A beautiful, emotional read about finding love and starting over with new relationships. Highly recommend.

Thriller/Suspense

Seizing Amber
Jonathan Harris
When a woman is murdered after claiming that she has information about the “Amber Room,” a lost treasure of the Russian czars, chief of a U. S. intelligence agency, Isaiah Hawkins and his team try to find it to influence a political election in Russia.

A complex plot with a surprise ending. Interesting, multi-dimensional characters. Look forward to more by this author. Highly recommend.

Love Her Madly
Mary-Ann Tirone Smith
A high-profile death-row inmate, twenty-something ax-murderer Rona Leigh Glueck, is just ten days away from her execution in Texas, and the fearless FBI agent Poppy Rice will stop at nothing to prove her innocence.

A suspenseful and gripping novel. Agent Poppy Rice is slick, tough and irreverent—and the star of a hot new series by Smith. Highly recommend.

Killing the Shadows
Val McDermid
When professor Fiona Campbell is asked to consult on a police investigation after the initial findings point to a serial killer who is murdering popular crime writers, she begins to fear that her boyfriend, crime writer Kit Martin, might be next on the killer’s list.

A well-planned and well-plotted novel with suspense that builds throughout the book as the author adds emails, passages from the victims’ books, journal writings from the killer, and information on crime web sites to the storyline. Several grisly and gruesome murder scenes. Recommend.

Fiction/Historical Fiction

Almost
Elizabeth Benedict
An “almost” divorced, middle-aged woman must rethink her life and her priorities when her “almost” ex-husband dies suddenly and she feels responsible for his death.

A well-written and emotional read. An insightful and thoughtful read combining a little mystery with some tragedy and several humorous situations. Recommend.

The Journal of Mrs. Pepys: Portrait of a Marriage
Sara George
Elizabeth Pepys is the wife of celebrated diarist, Samuel Pepys, and this is her story.

An interesting look at the difference between what life could hold for a man and what it could hold for a woman in the 17th century. Though not always a happy story, it’s worth reading. Recommend.

The Treasure Box: A Novel
Penelope J. Stokes
A bitter spinster who has isolated herself from her family and friends finds her life transformed after purchasing a “magical” homemade treasure box from an antique shop.

An uplifting story about the healing power of faith. An excellent choice for those who like Richard Paul Evans.

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