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Never Never

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Never Never by James Patterson and Candice Fox
Who it’s for: Adults
Format: eBook, digital audiobook

Detective Harriet Blue never would have imagined that her brother would be arrested for murder.  She never would have anticipated the media onslaught.  And she never would have pictured herself utilizing her survival skills in the middle of the desolate Australian Outback, the Never Never.

Harriet Blue, better known as “Harry,” was reassigned temporarily.  Pop, her police chief, wanted her away from the investigation of her brother Sam.  As much as she wanted to clear Sam, Harry knew that her involvement would taint the process.

Soon Harriet was traveling down a dusty road towards a mining camp in the Never Never.   Seated next to her was a complete stranger, her temporary partner, Edward Whittacker.  “Call me Edward,” he said.  “Okay, Whitt.” she replied.  Harriet and Witt soon found out that more than one employee were missing from the Bandya Mine.  It seemed more than coincidence.  Had they wandered into the desert?  Did the Bilbies, local prostitutes, know more than they were telling? Were Richie and his gang dealing more than drugs?  Had the nomadic eco protesters elevated their opposition to murder?

In spite of the coarse lifestyle of the miners, I found myself drawn to Harriet Blue.  Tough and private from an unstable upbringing with her brother in the foster care system, Harry had honed her self-defense and detecting skills.  She was rough around the edges yet intelligent and a bit vulnerable inside.  I want to read more about Harry and see how her brother’s story unfolds.  I am also intrigued by the Australian setting.  And this book is the first book in a series!

Find it on OverDrive/Libby!

Long Road to Mercy

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Long Road to Mercy by David Baldacci
Who it’s for: Adults
Format: eBooks, digital audiobook

FBI agent Atlee Pine didn’t mind being in a small office in a small town in Arizona.  She often lifted weights or hiked alone.  She did mind not knowing: not knowing about her twin, Mercy.  After hypnosis, Atlee remembered a man who said, “eeny, meeny, miny, moe,” pointing from Atlee to Mercy.  He had chosen Mercy.  Twenty-nine years later, Atlee only had tattoos to remind her of her twin and of her mission to find out what happened to her sister.   Had convicted serial killer Daniel James Tor kidnapped and murdered Mercy?

Meanwhile, the corpse of a donkey was found in the Grand Canyon.  The animal’s belly was cut and bore the carved initials “JK”.  In addition, a Grand Canyon visitor named Benjamin Priest was missing.  He was last seen on a mule train heading down into the Grand Canyon.  Was there a connection between the killed donkey and the missing man?  And why was an FBI higher-up telling Atlee to watch her back?

If you like a fast-paced thriller, I recommend this story.  It’s the first book in a trilogy by David Baldacci, available on ebook and audiobook on Overdrive/Libby.

 

A Dangerous Act of Kindness

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A Dangerous Act of Kindness by LP Fergusson
Recommended for: Adults
Format: eBook

The dog bounded across the snowy field during a cold night in Britain.  Trailing behind on horseback, Millie called, “Gyp!  Come back!”   Gyp sniffed the ground and wound his way over to the barn.  Millie entered the shadowy structure.  She stopped short.  A man slumped against a bale, his arm at an odd angle.  With his other hand, he was pointing a gun directly at her.  Was this a German soldier?  Had he escaped the recent plane crash?  Locals had assumed he had died in the fire.  “Let me help you,” implored Millie.  “Help me?” responded her enemy.

Millie’s husband was dead.  She’d found him hanging at the end of a rope six months ago.  She wished she’d helped him before it was too late.

A snow storm was coming.  Could she aid this man without the knowledge of her neighbor, Hugh and her Land Girl, Brigsie?  Snow or not, the cows would need milking in the morning.  Brigsie would be by early to help.  And Hugh often came by too.  He would gladly become more than Millie’s friend if she gave him any encouragement.  Was she over her grief?

A Dangerous Act of Kindness is narrated by Millie, Hugh, and Lukas, the injured German.    The story reveals various perspectives of war, of love, and of forgiveness.  I was moved by the universal themes that cross culture and time.

Find it on OverDrive/Libby!

 

Mr. Churchill’s Secretary

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Mr. Churchill’s Secretary by Susan Elia MacNeal
Format: eBook, digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

Maggie was looking forward to graduate studies in math at MIT.  When her grandmother passed, Maggie had to return to the land of her birth: England.  She planned to sell her inheritance: a big old Victorian house. Yet, with the war underway, it was no time to sell. Instead, Maggie welcomed boarders and friends: Irish Chuck (Charlotte), ballerina Sarah, stylish Paige, and the “Ding-bell” twins, Annabelle and Clarabelle.  Slowly, Maggie would fix-up the aged house.

One night, a young woman missed her bus and so walked home. On the way, she was murdered. David, a personal secretary to Churchill, urged his friend Maggie to apply for the dead woman’s job. So, Maggie joined the typing pool in the Prime Minister’s office. She longed for a more mathematical challenge. Yet, soon she had her hands full. Someone set off a bomb in a nearby train station. Was it the IRA? Also, when Maggie found some dots and dashes in the newspaper, she suspected that she had stumbled on more than an ad. Could Maggie break the code? With terrorists and spies underfoot, could Maggie help her friends and homeland before it was too late?

For all who love historical stories of suspense, this is the ticket.  And it’s the first book in a series!

Find it on OverDrive/Libby!

Let Me Die In His Footsteps

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Let Me Die In His Footsteps by Lori Roy
Format: eBook, digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Adults

Would Annie Halloran go to the well?  In 1952, any fifteen and a half year girl who peered into a well that night would see the face of the man she’d marry.  Ryce Fulkerson rolled up on his rickety bike.  “Annie, will you come to the well at my house?”  “Maybe I’ll go to the well at the Baines’.  It’s closer.”  Yet nobody went near the Baines’ farm.  Old Mrs. Baines might wait with a shotgun.  All of the Baines boys had left town except for one.  That was Carl Joseph.  And he was hung, dead, and buried under the crossroads in town.

Waiting until nearly midnight, Annie crept out of bed.  “Annie?  Please take me,” begged Caroline, her sister.  “No, your turn’s next year.”  Annie left alone.  In her family’s lavender field, Annie struck a match and lit her candle.  Annie shone her small flame back towards the house.  “Ryce?”  Inadvertently, she tilted the candle.  Hot wax gutted the flame.  Wincing, Annie peered over the stone wall.  The Baines’ well was near.  “Do you want this?”  Caroline shone a flashlight.  Cursing, Annie retreated to the family barn.  At the entrance lay cigarette butts; one glowed orange.  Annie shuffled her foot to put it out.  “It’s almost time,” said Caroline, advancing up the rock fence.  “Don’t wake Mrs. Baines!”  They both peered down the well.  “Annie!  I see my future husband!”  Annie didn’t see anyone, except as they left, she saw a body sticking out from under a nearby bush.

Annie had blonde hair, black eyes, and a tall, slender build.  She looked nothing like Caroline or their mother Sarah.  Many said Annie resembled her mother’s sister, Juna, who had left town many years ago.  Would Aunt Juna return? Why did the Hallorans avoid the Baines?  Why was Joseph Carl hung?  And who was smoking by the barn that night?  Told by Sarah and Juna in 1936 as well as Annie in 1952, Let Me Die in His Footsteps is a suspenseful tale of traditions, secrets, and self-identification.

Find it on OverDrive/Libby!

Death Comes to Pemberley

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Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James
Format: eBook, digital audiobook
Who it’s for: Teens, Adults

Have you read Pride and Prejudice? Pride and Prejudice is the foundation of Death Comes to Pemberley.

Six years have passed. Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy have two young sons. Jane and Charles Bingley have twin girls and a son. Darcy’s sister Georgiana has “reached her majority.” Two men want to court Georgiana. One is Fitzwilliam, Darcy’s military cousin. The other is a young lawyer, Henry Alveston.

The Darcys, Bingleys, Fitzwilliam, and Alveston have just finished dinner at Pemberley. Fitzwilliam departs on horseback for some fresh air. A carriage careens to a stop in front of Pemberley. Elizabeth’s sister, Lydia, bursts out of the carriage, wailing that her husband, Wickham, is dead in the Pemberley forest. Elizabeth draws her sister inside to console her. Fitzwilliam returns. He commandeers the male guests and some servants to form a search party.

In the forest, they encounter George Wickham in a clearing, leaning over the bloodied body of his military companion, Martin Denny. “I killed him!” cries Wickham. Fitzwilliam and Darcy carry Denny’s lifeless body out of the forest on a stretcher. Alveston and a servant accompany Wickham back to Pemberley.

Lydia, Wickham, and Denny had traveled together in the carriage to deliver Lydia to Pemberley as an unexpected guest. Wickham, unwelcomed at Pemberley, would travel on with Denny. At the edge of the forest, Denny cried, “I won’t do it!” He jumped out of the carriage and plunged into the forest. Wickham ran after him. Shortly thereafter, Lydia heard gun shots from deep in the forest.

Did Wickham commit murder? Was Fitzwilliam’s horseback ride suspicious? What wouldn’t Denny do? Who else may have killed Denny? Death Comes to Pemberley spins a murder mystery that is true to the characters of Jane Austen’s novels. For all who love the works of Jane Austen as well as mysteries, this is a worthwhile read.

Find it on OverDrive/Libby!