August New Popular Books

The following new books have been added this month to the Popular Reading Collection located next to the circulation desk.   These books and any other titles currently checked out can be placed on hold.
See a staff member at the circulation desk for assistance.

 

Killer Instinct, by Joseph Finder
Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen
Blue Screen, by Robert Parker
Thriller, by James Patterson
Balzac & the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Sijie Dai
Black Order, by James Rollins
Twelve Sharp, by Janet Evanovich
Traitor, by Stephen Coonts
Vanishing Point, by Marcia Muller
Hit Parade, by Lawrence Block
Break No Bones, by Kathy Reichs
Coming Out, by Danielle Steel
Can't Wait to Get to Heaven, by Fannie Flagg
Angel's Fall, by Nora Roberts
Proof Positive, by Phillip Margolin



This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary 




Dark Assassin, by Anne Perry

It’s January of 1864 and we are in a bitterly cold London.  William Monk, formerly a private investigator, is now working for the Thames River Police as a superintendent—and trying to get his sea legs in more ways than one.  Having replaced a popular superintendent who died, William is also trying to earn the respect of the men he commands.  While on a river patrol at dusk, William and his squad witness a struggle between a young man and a woman on one of the London bridges.  As they watch, both the man and the woman tumble off the bridge.  By the time the patrol boat reaches them they are both dead.  William and his men are not sure what they have seen.  Did the woman commit suicide and drag the man with her?  Was the man trying to kill the woman and he lost his balance?   The woman, Mary Havilland, had just broken her engagement with the man.  Although her death is ruled a suicide, Monk decides to investigate and he finds out that Mary’s father had committed suicide several months earlier.  But, Mary strongly believed her father was murdered.  Now that Mary has also died suspiciously, maybe it’s time to take a second look at her father’s death as well.  This is an excellent addition to this long-running series featuring William and his wife, Hester, a nurse—and also starring the always fascinating Victorian London.

 
Capitol Murder, by William Bernhardt

Senate aide Veronica Cooper has been found murdered in the hideaway office of Todd Glancy, the senior senator from Oklahoma.  Several days earlier a secretly taped video of Veronica and the senator having sex had been released to the press.  After a brief investigation, with all the evidence pointing to the senator, he is arrested for Veronica’s murder.  Glancy quickly calls in the legal team of Ben Kincaid and his partner Christina McCall, Oklahoma’s finest.  Ben and Christina have a pretty hopeless case on their hands but there is one lead worth investigating that might be their only hope. Veronica had been friends with a small group of other young DC women leading wild personal lives and several of them have gone missing.  Ben’s investigator hits the trail—and his search will lead him to a strange and sinister cult the women had been involved with.  But, will he find any evidence to save Glancy from a guilty verdict?  This was just ok—although it had a strong finish.  Glancy was very unlikable and it was hard to care much about his fate.


Point Blank, by Catherine Coulter

FBI agent Ruth Warnecki has found an old Confederate map in a used book she bought.  The map shows where a shipment of gold was hidden in a cave near Maestro, Virginia.   Ruth decides to go into the cave in search of the gold and she makes it to the cavern where the map indicates the gold was hidden.  Then, she becomes disoriented and blacks out.  When she regains consciousness, she has been discovered on the property of Sheriff Dixon Noble and she has temporary amnesia with no recollection of who she is or what she was doing before her blackout.  She and Dix will team up to try to solve the mystery—which becomes even more critical when an attempt is made on her life.  Meanwhile, married FBI agents Savich and Sherlock are on the hunt for an old man and a young girl who are terrorizing the Washington, DC area—but they will also be involved in Ruth’s case, too.  This was pretty entertaining—helped by mostly likable and interesting characters.  While you are reading see if you can spot the glaring error regarding license plates.


Long Time Gone, by J. A. Jance

Jonas Beaumont has spent twenty years with the Seattle police department but now he is with the Washington State homicide investigation team—which seems to be called in on special homicides in the state.  Fifty years ago, a five year old girl, left home alone, looked out her window at the house next door and witnessed a murder.  The young girl became a nun and now, all these years later, her long-suppressed memory of the murder has surfaced—and Beau’s boss wants him to look into the murder since it involves a prominent Seattle family.  Beau has that long ago murder on his plate but at the same time he is also dealing with the murder of the former wife of his ex-partner at the Seattle police department.  All the evidence is pointing to his ex-partner but for Beau it’s all just a little too convenient.  Both mysteries combine to make this a very entertaining read and the Seattle setting was a nice change.






Back to the Library Home Page
Revised July 31, 2006

Comments to Bill McCleary