January 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.

 

More Twisted Collected Stories, by Jeffery Deaver
The Cat Who Had 60 Whiskers, by Lilian Jackson Braun
The Hunters, by W.E.B. Griffin
The Machiavelli Covenant, by Allan Folsom
Sliver of Truth, by Lisa Unger
Echo Park, by Michael Connelly
Shadow Dance, by Julie Garwood
Ravenscar Dynasty, by Barbara Taylor Bradford
Under Orders, by Dick Francis
Hannibal Rising, by Thomas Harris
What Came Before He Shot Her, by Elizabeth George



This Month's Great Escapes
by Bill McCleary  


Ricochet, by Sandra Brown

Duncan Hatcher, a Savannah police detective, has been working long and hard to put Robert Savich behind bars.  Savich, a local drug kingpin, has finally been put on trial for murder thanks to the detective’s efforts and Hatcher is just about to testify when the judge on the case, Cato Laird, declares a mistrial.  Hatcher goes slightly ballistic and ends up spending two days in jail for contempt of court.  Shortly after his release, Hatcher and his partner, DeeDee Bowen, are called to Judge Laird’s house late at night to investigate a shooting by Laird’s wife, Elise.  She has shot and killed a man who broke into their house.  Although it looks like Elise had interrupted a robbery attempt, several days later she tells Hatcher in private that she thinks her husband hired the man to break in and kill her.  Hatcher is skeptical and it doesn’t help that Elise is a former topless waitress.  Well, it does help in one way—Hatcher is immediately attracted to her and he’d like to believe her.  And, disliking the judge so much, Hatcher decides to get involved—in more ways than one.  This was a fast, entertaining read with a suspenseful finish.  Nicely done.


Break No Bones, by Kathy Reichs

Tempe Brennan is leading an archeological group of college students in a dig on an island near Charleston, South Carolina.  They are exploring an old Indian burial ground but what they find is a modern body, buried less than five years ago.  Since bones are about all that remain of the body and Tempe is a forensic anthropologist, she agrees to work with the local coroner, Emma Rousseau, who is also an old friend.  With only bones to work with, determining the identity of the body could be difficult.  Also visiting Charleston is Tempe’s estranged husband, Pete, a lawyer who is in town looking into the disappearance of the daughter of a client he represents.   A private investigator also looking for the girl has now gone missing as well.  Then, he turns up dead—with the same strange bone markings that Tempe discovered on the island corpse.   Soon after, another body surfaces in the ocean off the coast.  Could the cases all be related?  Lending a hand with the investigation is Tempe’s current boyfriend, Andrew Ryan, a policeman who is visiting from Canada.  With the three of them—Pete, Tempe, and Andrew--sharing a beach house, things are getting a little crowded—but very interesting--in Charleston.  This was an entertaining addition to this popular series.


Dead Wrong, by J. A. Jance

Sheriff Joanna Brady of Cochise County, Arizona, is pregnant and just days away from her expected delivery date.  She should be home relaxing but crime never sleeps and she has two serious cases on hers hands.  First, the murdered body of a male has been discovered in the desert and the victim’s fingers have all been cut off—someone doesn’t want his identity to be known.  When Joanna finally learns his name, Bradley Evans, it turns out that a very drunk Bradley had murdered his pregnant wife twenty some years ago and had been recently released from prison where he had been a model prisoner.   To add intrigue to the case, her long dead father had been the arresting officer all those years ago—and his recently discovered diaries indicate he always had his suspicions about Bradley’s guilt.  As Joanna and her deputies try to find Bradley’s killer, one of her animal control officers is viciously attacked and nearly killed.  Woefully understaffed, Joanna finds herself taking the lead in both of the cases despite her advanced pregnancy.  Can she solve the cases before the baby arrives?  I’m enjoying this series set in the Southwest and I like the character of Joanna Brady.


Lost City, by Clive Cussler

Kurt Austin, the young daredevil of NUMA’s Special Assignments Team, has two dangerous assignments that he is juggling.  First, he is sent to investigate a frozen body that has been discovered in a glacier in France.  The body appears to be that of a World War I era flier but he is found with an ancient helmet, the property of an immensely wealthy and secretive French family, the Fauchards.  The helmet holds the key to a fortune and the family will stop at nothing to get it back.  Meanwhile, a mysterious fast-growing ocean weed is threatening to get out of control and choke the Atlantic Ocean shipping lanes if it is not stopped.  When two of Kurt’s NUMA colleagues turn up missing during a submarine dive to explore the origin of the deadly weed, Kurt and his partner Joe Zavala must try to find out what happened to them.  The link to the two cases is the deadly Madame Racine Fauchard, assisted by her ruthless son, Emil.  Special Assignments, indeed! Kurt and Joe may have met their match this time.





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Revised Jan. 2, 2007

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