Brave, self-sacrificing; strong convictions; face challenges with determination, despite the odds against them.
First in series – Chicago Mystery featuring Cass Raines. Cass was a Chicago cop until the ego-driven actions of a bad cop forced her to shoot a young black kid. The incident didn’t cause her to resign – the commendation she received for her actions did. Now, she’s a private investigator still dealing with the… Read More Broken Places by Tracy Clark
Novik again depicts a fairytale Russian setting in this alternate take on Rumpelstiltskin. Miryem’s father is a tender-hearted moneylender who cannot bring himself to collect from his neighbors, even when his family is cold, hungry, and ill. Miryem takes up the task and discovers she has a colder heart than her father as well as… Read More Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Gus Murphy lives on Long Island – but not the trendy Hamptons end. A former cop, Gus’s life fell apart when his son suddenly died, his marriage crumbled, and his daughter is still struggling to cope. Now, he works as a driver for a mediocre hotel – friendless, purposeless, and essentially numb to the… Read More Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman
Picking up where A Gathering of Shadows left off, Lila Bard takes off after Kell who was lured to White London by Holland whose body is now controlled by Osaron, the shadow king. Kell is imprisoned and losing strength and power, causing Prince Rhy to struggle for his life back in Red London, effectively cutting short… Read More A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab
Kate Burkholder series #8 Just when you might think Linda Castillo would run out of ideas for creating trouble within the Amish community, she delivers a stunning situation with Chief Kate Burkholder right in the center. The death of a teenage girl gives new weight to the whispered rumors about an Amish community under the… Read More Among the Wicked by Linda Castillo
1st in series. In Quill, the annual Purge sends the Wanted children who obey rules and show intelligence to a military university and the Unwanteds who break the rules and show artistic abilities to their deaths. As soon as the Unwanteds are taken away, their families are expected to forget about them completely and immediately.… Read More The Unwanteds by Lisa McMann
An accomplished London botanist, Lucy Pickett, takes time off from research when she’s beckoned to Blackwell Manor by Kate, her beloved cousin. Recently married into the Blackwell family, Kate fears that the house is haunted but can’t convince her husband’s older brother, Lord Blackwell. Furthermore, Kate has been inexplicably ill and hopes that Lucy can… Read More Beauty and the Clockwork Beast by Nancy Campbell Allen
#12 in the Three Pines mystery series The writing is lyrical and beautiful, as always, as Armand Gamache takes on a new challenge, but the latest in the Three Pines series also features an intricately plotted and satisfying mystery. The camaraderie of the characters of Three Pines shines through, with humor lightening the darkness as… Read More A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Shades of Magic #2 Four months after the end of A Darker Shade of Magic, Lila has become part of the crew on what she thinks is a pirate ship, captained by Alucard Emery, a man with just as many secrets as Lila. In Red London, Kell and Rhy struggle with the aftermath of the… Read More A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
In Schwab’s world, there are four parallel Londons. The lands used to be connected by doors through which some people, and magic, could travel. After Black London’s greediness for magic became its destruction, the doors between lands were sealed. Kell, raised by the ruling family of Red London, does not know how he became one… Read More A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
