You won't rue reading this book!

Today’s Book: Rosemary and Rue, Seanan McGuire


The plot: October “Toby” Daye, once both a Knight (who prefers to be called “Sir Daye”) and private detective, finds her life as a changeling infinitely more difficult when she tries to rebuild it fourteen years after being turned into a fish by a rival of her liege lord, Sylvester. Toby’s lost everything – her boyfriend, Cliff, who thought she was human; her daughter, Gillian, who is now 17 and angry, refusing to see her; and her lord, Sylvester, whom she’s been afraid to see since her return. She’s thrown back into the world of rites to royalty and magical mysteries when her “worst friend and best enemy,” Evening Winterrose, is found murdered in her warded home.

Why You’ll Love It: It’s a gripping mystery with a lot of urban fantasy thrown in to the mix, and as Toby delves into the dark side of her past and present (and maybe even future), you’ll learn about the world of the fullblooded fairies and the halfblooded changelings that inhabit the California coast. You’ll cheer for “Sir Daye” as she tries to find the murderer without getting murdered herself.


Who Will/Should Read It: Fans of any urban fantasy will do well here, but maybe the best audience for Toby’s mystery would be readers of Laurell K. Hamilton’s Merry Gentry series who find the graphic sex there a little too bawdy. Newcomer McGuire manages to get the point across with innuendo, rather than explicitness. There’s also a lot to like for devotees of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series; if you’re eagerly awaiting April’s “Changes,” pick this noirish novel up.

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Author Profile: Carl Hiaasen

A Florida journalist whose novels tend to mirror his concerns about the world and his home state, Hiaasen has been writing since the early 1980s. His first novel, Powder Burn (written with Bill Montalbano), thrusts the reader headlong into drug cartel and murder scandals, and the rest of his solo books, mostly thrillers, do the same. A little known fact – Hiaasen also wrote the book that became the movie Striptease with Demi Moore and Burt Reynolds.

Tourist Season
Hiaasen’s first solo novel features a man who goes swimming and returns in a suitcase, missing his legs and with a few nasty surprises, too. Private Eye Brian Keyes discovers that the dead man was the president of the Miami Chamber of Commerce – and that he was likely killed by a group of anti-tourist terrorists!
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Naked Came the Manatee
A book written by 13 different Miami-based authors starting with Dave Barry and ending with Carl Hiaasen, Naked Came the Manatee was printed as a serial novel in the Miami Herald’s Tropic magazine. Played like the literary game “Exquisite Corpse” or “Telephone,” the story twists, turns, murders, and beheads a wild cast of characters, not least of all is a manatee named “Booger.”
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Hoot
Hiaasen’s first young adult novel, Hoot tells the tale of Roy Eberhardt, a new kid at a middle school in Coconut Grove, Florida. He discovers, oddly enough, through being bullied, that there are endangered owls whose home will soon be built over by a pancake house. With help from tough girl Beatrice, Roy tries to save the owls. Like most of Hiaasen’s novels, there is a heavy focus on environmentalism.

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Skinny Dip
A satirical crime novel involving a pollution scam, an attempted murder, and a former swimming champ wife, Skinny Dip once again features recurring character Mick Stranahan, an ex-cop who first appeared in Hiaasen’s Skin Tight.
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Thanks to CB for this author suggestion!

Woodn't you like to read this book?

Today’s Book: In the Woods, Tana French

The plot: This mystery is a compelling mixture of 'whodunit' and psychological thriller. A 12-year-old girl is found murdered at a local archaeological dig in a suburb of Dublin. The case has some intriguing similarities to an unsolved case of over 20 years ago in which two of three children who were playing in the woods went missing one summer day and were never recovered. Two detectives are assigned to the current case: Detective Rob Ryan and his best friend, Cassie Maddox. Ryan and Maddox have personal problems of their own that get in the way of solving the current crime.

Why You’ll Love It: As a child, Ryan was the one that returned home in the unsolved case, and he continues to be traumatized by that event. Maddox helps him cover up his involvement for reasons of her own.

Who Will/Should Read It: Mystery lovers, fiction readers, and anyone who enjoys a gripping story.

Tana French has just written another book focusing on Detective Cassie Maddox called The Likeness.

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Thanks to KF for this review!

You Know You Should Read This Book!

Today's Book: No One You Know by Michelle Richmond

The Plot: Ellen has never resolved or recovered from the brutal murder of her older sister, a brilliant and exceptional mathematics scholar. After the murder Ellen confides in a professor who subsequently betrays her trust and sends Ellen into a spiral of guilt and regret. Twenty years later Ellen comes face to face with the man she assumes murdered her sister.

Why You’ll Love it: Richmond blends the traditional women’s fiction genre with a murder mystery that offers readers a thoughtful and slowly developing plot that never assumes or offers trite conclusions to the unsolved murder of Ellen’s sister.

Who Will/Should Read it: Anyone who has enjoyed books by Jodi Picoult, Chris Bohjalian, or Anna Quindlen will find this novel equally reminiscent in style and tone. Characters are complicated, motivations murky, and the plot moves to an unexpected but satisfying conclusion.

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