Joyce

Look! The great Canadian author Louise Penny can juggle not two but three different plots in one book successfully! Wow! It's a miracle! The always complex Chief Inspector Armande Gamache is front and center, trying to physically and emotionally recover from a mysterious trauma. But he's also trying to solve the murder of an archeologist who was trying to find the missing remains of the founder of Quebec. And, he's worried he may have made a mistake on his last case (A Brutal Telling) and orders his collegue back to Three Pines to further investigate. As Gamache makes peace with the past, he is better able to understand the present and see the future. Many authors could not pull off such a feat, but Penny hits everything note perfectly in this intricately constructed mystery. She's amazing!

Nesbo's third Harry Hole novel finds the tormented and tormenting detective at a low point in his life. A serial killer is placing red, star-shaped diamonds underneath his victim's eyelids and amputating a finger. Hole is paired up with his nemesis, police department "golden boy" Tom Waaler, whom Hole believes is corrupt. His boss and his girlfriend are at their wits-end with him. The stress accelerates the Oslo detective's drinking to dangerous levels to where he is in a stupor most of the time. Hole finds himself chasing justice and on the wrong side of the police. Comparisons to Sweden's author Steig Larsson are inevitable, but "Devil's Star" proves the comparisons are justified. In fact, Nesbo just may be the better writer.

Have yourself a zany, red-headed Christmas! This cheery Christmas cozy is the story of Bailey Ruth Raeburn, who is a very unusual detective. She and her husband died in the 1960s, and Bailey Ruth is sent from heaven in 2008 to be a guardian angel for a little boy who doesn't have many friends. There are red herrings a-plenty, charming characters, no sex or violence, and a plot that keeps you guessing. A funny, entertaining second installment in a series that promises to make you smile.

Joe Simpson and his climbing partner, Simon Yates, had just reached the top of a 21,000 foot peak in the Andes when Simpson lunged off an ice ledge, breaking his leg. Working against approaching darkness and a blizzard, Yates tries to lower his partner to safety, but is forced to cut the rope just before he would have been pulled to his own death. Consumed with guilt about abandoning his partner, Yates returns to base camp. The next three days are an ordeal for both men. Miraculously, Simpson survived the fall and his own story of getting down the mountain - hopping, hobbling, and finally crawling - is one I'll never forget. Even people who have never climbed a mountain will be swept up in this story of courage, survival and friendship.
---Joyce

Six years ago witness protection marshal Roland Larson did the unthinkable: he fell in love with a protected witness, Hope Stevens, whose testimony could put away several key members of the Romero crime family. When Stevens' plan to "cut and run" is ruined by both the mob and the government, she disappears into a new identity, taking with her sensitive information and a secret never shared with Larson. Now the Romeros have intercepted the WITSEC list from the Justice Dept. Hope Stevens is their primary target and the Romeros' full arsenal of resources is aimed at her. Larson must not only protect her but the seven thousand people on the list as well. Page for page, this novel delivers non-stop suspense. The characters are well-drawn, the dialogue is believable, and the plot is driven like a runaway locomotive. There are no explicit sex scenes and no bad language, just good suspense right to the heart-stopping end.
---Joyce

These twenty tales grew out of a series of radio programs for the BBC entitled Rare Books, Rare People. A rare book dealer in England since the 1980s, Gekoski shows that keeping the customer happy is challenging at any level. Sued by J. D. Salinger, harassed by Harold Pinter, berated by Ted Hughes, who sold his personal and passionately inscribed copy of Sylvia Plath's The Colossus for the money, Gekoski is obviously amused at his enviable role in these transactions. He remembers listing J. R. R. Tolkien's "DNA-enriched" college gown in his first catalog. He recalls buying a first edition of Lolita bearing Nabokov's signature drawing of a butterfly inside from Graham Greene. He and Greene consummate the sale with a few stiff drinks. The next day, Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist, interrupts Gekoski's hangover by offering to buy the book for a $10,000 profit. Entertaining and readable for laypeople and bibliophiles alike, I hope Gekoski has twenty more new tales to offer soon.
---Joyce

The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street is a sequel to 84; a travelogue of Haniff's long-awaited trip to England.
---Joyce

"The music and magic of words -- that's what A Word A Day is about." -- A Word A Day website mission statement

In this delightful encore to A Word A Day, Anu Garg, founder of the popular A Word A Day website (wordsmith.org), offers up an all-new collection of unusual, intriguing, and obscure words and anecdotes that will thrill linguaphiles everywhere. Another Word A Day continues to make the English language fun, and features chapters such as "Earls Who Became Words" to "What Does That Company Name Mean?" to "Discover the Theme III." Each entry includes a concise definition, etymology, and usage example. There is a quotation at the bottom of each page and interesting little sidebars scattered throughout.
---Joyce

German writer Robert Lohr's richly imagined debut novel is based on a 1770 historical event, when Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen created a chess-playing automaton to impress an Empress of Austria-Hungary. The soul of the "thinking machine" Tibor Scardenelli - Italian dwarf, chess genius, and devout Catholic - breathes excitement, humor and poignancy into a duel between man and technology. Full of period detail and texture, this book is as seductive as its cover art. --Joyce

This Seattle-based mystery master offers his 10th book featuring Aurelio Zen, the ever-cynical, brooding Italian investigator. Zen is called to bologna to investigate the murder to a much-hated soccer team owner found dead in his Audi, impaled on a Parmesan cheese knife. The colorful cast of characters in this caper include Zen's girlfriend (with whom he's feuding), a pair of lazy students, a bumbling gumshoe and a famous TV chef who can't cook. This book is not the dark neo-noir type that helped define the Aurelio Zen series, but it is brisk and sardonic and funny. Not recommended for a first time Aurelio Zen reader (try the 1st Zen mystery, Ratking), but for fans who know and love his style and appreciate the humor in Back to Bologna. --Joyce

The first in a series by the author who entertained readers with his Seattle-based Lou Boldt series, Killer Weekend has all the right elements - a down-to-earth hero, looming danger, and a back story to flesh out the characters. Eight years ago, Sun Valley, Idaho, sheriff Walt Fleming thwarted an attempt on Attorney General Elizabeth Shaler's life when he was a rookie. Shaler will now announce her candidacy for president at an Idaho resort. You will cheer for the overworked Fleming who must deal with a murder investigation, an animal cruelty case, protecting Elizabeth Shaler, and an ambitious, treacherous deputy who is sleeping with Fleming's ex-wife. --Joyce

This debut novel written by a doctor illustrates the many conflicts between patients, primary care physicians, health insurance companies, and hospital corporations. Dr Daniel Fazen is the honorable family practitioner forced to choose between profit and optimal patient care. Author Kerns delivers some of his salvos with wit and humor. This inside look at our health care system may inspire the hope that one person really can make a difference. --Joyce

Detective Simon Waterhouse and his female boss, Sergeant "Charlie" Zailer, are puzzled when a young man comes to the station house in Spilling, rural England, to confess to a murder. The real mystery is that the woman he claims to have killed is alive and well! Taunt with psychological suspense and interesting glimpses into the art world in Britain and it's colorful personalities, Hannah's dry sense of humor elevates this above the ordinary. Highly recommended for fans of English mystery.

Romance, hidden treasure, Pacific Northwest history - it's all here! Set in Bellingham, Washington, and the nearby islands, this debut novel takes the reader on a dual treasure hunt with roots in the rum-running Prohibition era. When Western University student Jean Bowen is hired to tame Alexandria MacKenzie's garden, she receives much more than a paycheck. A new beau, a local history lesson, oyster shucking and boating lessons, and the culmination of events that began decades before. This novel moves easily between the Prohibition era and the 1970's when Jean Bowen brings Alexandria MacKenzie's fascinating story full circle. It's suspenseful, interesting, fast moving and touching with lots of local color! Is Hollywood knocking?