Tag: Mystery

ADULT FICTION

“A Girl Within A Girl” by Nanda Reddy — “This debut is a beautiful, if sometimes harrowing, exploration of one woman’s journey, not only from one country to another but through pain and trama. . . to a life built by her own grit and determination.” –Library Journal, starred review

“Alice, or the Wild Girl” by Michael Robert Liska — “Alice, or The Wild Girl takes the reader on a voyage from French Polynesia to the terminus of the American frontier, as it charts the unlikely bond that develops between an aging US naval commander and the lost, damaged girl he attempts to “civilize” as a way of alleviating his own loneliness and ennui. Steeped in period detail and layered with fascinating thematic threads, Michael Robert Liska’s bold tale examines existential questions about the nature of history, time, and identity, in a vanished America that is at once alien and strikingly like our own.” — Simon & Schuster

“Art of a Lie: A Novel” by Laura Sheperd-Robinson — “In 18th-century England, a widowed confectioner is drawn into a web of love, betrayal, and intrigue and a battle of wits in this masterful historical novel from the author of the “delicious puzzle-box of a novel” — The New York Times

“Coded Justice: A Thriller (Avery Keene)” by Stacey Abrams –“Through politics, fiction and her latest novel, Stacey Abrams aims to inspire action…. Avery Keene has unraveled international conspiracies and investigated mysteries involving the Supreme Court, but now she’s focused on what could be a deadly side of artificial intelligence.” —NPR

“It’s Not the End of the World” by Jonathan Parks-Ramage — “After the success of his debut modern gothic novel Yes, Daddy, Parks-Ramage returns with this new yarn chronicling the lives of queer men navigating homophobia, political opposition, a totalitarian government, and climate collapse in a futuristic world…This is a wild ride that spans a century in the life of two queer fathers in the future.” — Jim Piechota, Bay Area Reporter

“Show Don’t Tell” by Curtis Sittenfeld — “Utterly diverting . . . Sittenfeld’s worldview is more utopian than dystopian; Jane Austen-like, she treats her characters with humanity, even when their actions are cringe-inducing. . . . Sittenfeld is a sharp observer of social mores and an astute judge of character.”—The Los Angeles Times

“Something in the Woods Loves You” by Jarod K. Anderson — “…SOMETHING IN THE WOODS LOVES YOU tells the story of the darkest stretch of a young man’s life, and how deliberate and meditative encounters with plants and animals helped him see the light at every turn. Ranging from optimistic contemplations of mortality to appreciations of a single mushroom, Anderson has written a lyrical love letter to the natural world and given us the tools to see it all anew”–Baker & Taylor

“The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans — “[M]asterful is the pace at which Evans fills in the blanks of her protagonist’s life and the reminder that we’re each of us the mongrel sum of motley associations, showing different faces to different people and just trying to get by.”—Frank Bruni, The New York Times

“The Swallows of Kabul” by Yasmin Khadra — “Disturbing and mesmerizing, the beautifully written Swallows puts a human face on the suffering inflicted by the Taliban.” –San Francisco Chronicle

“While the Getting is Good” by Matt Riordan — “A modern day tragedy so believable that I asked the author, Matt Riordan, if it had been based upon a family history […] his prose style [conveys] a sense of lives caught up in the Great Depression.” —The Historical Novel Society

ADULT MYSTERY

“King of Ashes” by SA Cosby — “Cosby keeps things tense, making great use of the crematorium and freshening the genre with lofty philosophizing. . . Rarely has a crime fiction family been given a more bitter spin than this one. Another strong outing by a modern noir master.”―Kirkus, starred review

“We Are All Guilty Here” by Karin Slaughter — “This intense novel starts big and never lets up, as layer after layer is revealed and peeled away. Another suspenseful winner from Slaughter.” — Library Journal (starred review) on We Are All Guilty Here

ADULT BIOGRAPHY

“Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America” by Robert Reich — “In Coming Up Short, the former adviser to multiple presidents lays out all that’s wrong with the country and how we might get back on track….A full-throated…rallying cry to get things back to where they belong.”
—The Washington Post

“How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Molly Jong-Fast — “Grief and rage coincide with comedy and uptown-literati charm. . . . Reading How to Lose Your Mother, one senses that the mother got the very daughter she wanted, even if she had no idea what to do with her when she arrived.” —The New York Times

“North to the Future: An Offline Adventure Through the Changing Wilds of Alaska” by Ben Wiessenbach — “Weissenbach spins the immersive travel writing into a soulful meditation on the value of getting back to nature…[North to the Future] will transport readers.”  ―Publishers Weekly

“The Lucky Generation: Growing Up in Depression and War” by Allen Davis — “Hardwick, a rural, northern Vermont town of about 2,700 people in the throes of The Depression, was where and when Allen Davis grew up. His memoir, The Lucky Generation, focuses on his first 10-15 years. The book is a delightful, detailed story that draws out the strength of family and community, which gave him the foundation he needed to venture into the world and to return with comfort and knowledge the lessons of his youth remain relevant today. The book is a pleasure to read.” —Ross Connelly, Editor & Co-publisher The Hardwick Gazette, 1986-2017

ADULT NON-FICTION

“Empire of the Elite: Inside Conde Nast, The Media Dynasty That Reshaped America” by Michael M Grynbaum — “The newest entry in the small but mesmerizing genre you might call Condé lit…this reported saga doubles as a shrewd cultural history of the 20th century.” —New York Magazine

“Gifts from the Garbage Truck: A True Story about the Things We (Don’t)Throw Away” by Andrew Sarsen — “A reminder that we can discover beauty, joy, and worth from the materials right in front of us.” ― Horn Book magazine

“Invisible ADHD: Proven Mood and Life Management for Smart Yet Scattered Women” by Shanna Pearson — “If you’re ready to understand the ‘why’ behind the struggles that come with ADHD and, more importantly, the ‘how’ to move forward with confidence, this book is for you, and I encourage you to take this opportunity to learn from one of the best.” ― Dr. Daniel Amen

“It Was the Way She Said It: Short Stories, Essays and Wisdom” by Terry McMillan — “Terry McMillan . . . has assembled a collection of short stories and essays that portray candid vignettes of Black American life. With unflinching honesty and verve, McMillan writes stories that suck readers in from start to finish.”—Harper’s Bazaar

“Matrescence: On Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Motherhood” by Lucy Jones — “Wide-ranging and hugely ambitious…Marshalling memoir, science, sociology, and history, Jones argues that, outside of adolescence, there is no transformation as dramatic in a human’s life [as motherhood], in both its emotional and biological impacts.” —The New Yorker

“Perfect Victims and the Politics of Appeal” by Mohammed El-Kurd — “El-Kurd’s book offers a fresh, unapologetic, and powerful critique of mainstream modes of representation and the years of Palestinian politics of appeal that have only served to concede too much. It is an assertion of Palestinian dignity unshackled from the need for recognition, an insistence on a politics that does not hinge on the benevolence of an imagined audience.” ―Abdaljawad Omar, Mondoweiss

“Rehab: An American Scandal” by Shoshana Walter — “In this stunning debut investigation…Pulitzer finalist Walter shines a light on the ‘$53 billion per year’ network of mismanaged treatment centers…a horrific indictment of America’s profit-driven healthcare system.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Rot: An Imperial History of the Irish Famine” by Padraic Scanian — “A vigorous and engaging new study of the Irish Famine…Above all, Rot reminds us that the Great Hunger was a very modern event, and one shaped by a mindset that is now again in the ascendant.”―Fintan O’Toole, New Yorker

“Sound: Discovering Vibrations We Hear” by Olga Fadeeva — “Fadeeva’s work is chock-full of clear explanations, suggestions for experimenting with sound, elegant infographics, and rich vocabulary, all defined in context…Brimming with cogent insights, delightful visuals, and infectious wonder.” ―Kirkus Reviews (STARRED REVIEW)

“The Shape of Wonder” How Scientists Think, Work and Live” by Alan Lightman & Martin Rees — “[This] delightful new book. . . . [explores] the nature of science, examining the role of critical thinking, and looking at how scientific theories are created and revised as new evidence emerges.” —Physics World

BLUE/DVD MOVIES

“Lilo & Stitch (2025)”
“Nova: Dino Bird”
“Snow White (2025)”
“Wallace & Gromit: The Complete Cracking Collection”

BOARD BOOK

“On the Farm” by Max Walther

PICTURE BOOK

“Abner and Ian Get Inside” by Dave Eggers
“Cafe at the Edge of the Woods” by Mikey Please
“Earhart: The Incredible Flight of a Mouse Around the World” by Torben Kuhlmann
“Flora and the Jazzers” by Astric Sheckels
“Maple and Rosemary” by Alison James
“A Mischief of Mice” by Christie Matheson
“Sea Dog Rescue” by Astrid Sheckels
“We Go Slow” by Martahadessa Tallie
“Where the Deer Slip Through” by Katey Howes

JUVENILE FICTION

“Beyond Mulberry Glen” by Millie Florence — “An absorbing fantasy centered on a resilient female protagonist facing growth, change, and self-empowerment.” – Kirkus Reviews

“Murray Out of Water: A Stonewall Honor Novel-in-Verse About Self-Discovery, Inner Magic, and the Power of Friendship” by Taylor Tracey — “This lovely, moving novel in verse combines beautiful language with emotional honesty to create a resonant story of identity and growing up. A heartfelt examination of queer identity through the lens of one lovable kid.” — Kirkus Reviews

“The Library of Unruly Treasures” by Jeanne Birdsall — “A well-paced, original story with intriguing characters and intertwined threads of reality and magic.” —Booklist, starred review

“Troubling Tonsils! (Jasper Rabbit’s Creepy Tales!)” by Aaron Reynolds — “From the team behind the New York Times bestselling and Caldecott Medal–winning Creepy Carrots! and its sequels comes the first entry in a spin-off chapter book series in which Jasper Rabbit tells the story of a young marmot whose tonsils get the better of him.” — Amazon.com

JUVENILE MOVIES

“Lilo & Stitch (2025)”
“Snow White” by Rachel Zegler
“Wallace & Gromit: Complete Cracking Collection” by Wallace & Gromit

YOUNG ADULT FICTION

“All We Lost was Everything” by Sloan Harlow — “Part mystery, part thriller, part romance, River’s story is difficult to put down.” —Booklist

“The Maid and the Crocodile: A Novel in the World of Raybearer” by Jordan Ifueko — “The book contains thoughtful conversations around domestic abuse and labor inequities, the queer characters are well rounded and self-determined, and the romance, intimacy, and understanding of explicit consent are truly swoonworthy. A beautifully realized evergreen story about finding love and community.”―Kirkus Reviews

YOUNG ADULT NON-FICTION

“Shift Happens: The History of Labor in the United States” by J. Albert Mann — “Mann explores the often oppressive, abusive, and bloody history of labor conditions and the merciless rise of capitalism with wit, snark, and comprehensive context…. Riveting, enlightening, infuriating, and timely: compulsory reading.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

YOUNG ADULT GRAPHIC NOVEL

“Homebody: A Graphic Memoir of Gender Identity Exploration” by Theo Parish — “Across cool-toned pages blotted with highlights of pink is a palpable message that safety, self-love, and pride comes with defiantly building one’s sense of gender and self, an idea applicable to trans, nonbinary, and questioning youth, as well as any child impacted by cis/heteronormative expectations of gender.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

ADULT FICTION

“Godwin” by Joseph O’Neill – “The next Pelé’ or ‘the next Messi’ are words sure to ignite the fantasies of soccer fans anywhere. When tech writer Mark is contacted by his sports agent, half-brother Geoff, Mark leaves Pittsburgh to join him on a madcap adventure to find such a phenom: an African teenager known only as Godwin. O’Neill combines the brothers’ exploits with sharp observations about international business and issues like greenwashing and corruption that have tarnished the world’s game.” —Los Angeles Times

“My Friends” by Hisham Matar — “Dazzling . . . a personal, deeply felt work . . . tightly structured and controlled, looping back and forth through time and memory, building on itself in a process of gradual expansion and revelation.”—Toronto Star

“One Good Thing” by Georgia Hunter — “Epic, intimate, thrilling and beautiful. One Good Thing is a story of unbreakable friendship, of remarkable resilience, of how love and hope can shine through even the darkest, most unimaginable horrors. Stunning.” —Chris Whitaker, New York Times bestselling author of All the Colors of the Dark

“Onyx Storm” by Rebecca Yarros — “Get ready to fly or die in the breathtaking follow-up to Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from #1 New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.” Empyrean series, Publisher Annotation

“The Book of Love” by Kelly Link — “[The Book of Love] pushes our understanding of what fantasy can be.”—The New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2024

“The Most” by Jessica Anthony — “An expertly compressed, post-modern historical novella set over the course of a single, unseasonably warm day in November of 1957. Kathleen, a standout college tennis player, mother of two boys and wife to flagrantly handsome, aimless life insurance salesman, Virgil, decides to get into the pool in their Delaware apartment complex instead of going to church. And she won’t come out. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth carrying that poor little doomed Soviet space dog, Kathleen and Virgil hurtle toward each other, and toward a reckoning that will either shatter the smooth edifice of their marriage or transform it, at last, into something real”– Baker & Taylor

“There are Rivers in the Sky” by Elif Shafak — “There Are Rivers in the Sky explodes into a roaring journey through ecology and memory… genuinely moving.”—The New York Times Book Review

ADULT MYSTERY

“Black River” by Nilanjana Roy — “…Offering readers a gripping mystery and a sweeping state-of-the-nation saga, Black River stands as a searing critique of modern India, weaving an intricate narrative that captures the essence of a nation grappling with its own complexities and contradictions.” — Random House, Inc.

“The Oligarch’s Daughter” by Josephv Finder — “The excitement in The Oligarch’s Daughter comes from its ever-surprising plot, as Paul navigates a world where friends become foes, villains can be allies and the path to salvation runs through his own past.” — Wall Street Journal

“The Wolf Tree” by Laura McCluskey — “McCluskey is masterful at building suspense around a sense of place and a feeling of otherness. And George, fretfully uncomfortable in her skin and her partnership, is a prickly, vulnerable, completely engaging heroine with a cop’s instincts through and through, a stubborn streak that nearly gets her into trouble and the courage to risk herself in the quest for truth. Idealistic, maybe. But properly gothic as well.” —Kirkus

ADULT BIOGRAPHY

“Cold Crematorium” Reporting from the Land of Auschwitz” by Josef Debreczeni — “[Debreczeni’s] powers of observation are extraordinary. Everything he encounters in what he calls the Land of Auschwitz―the work sites, the barracks, the bodies, the corpses, the hunger, the roll call, the labor, the insanity, the fear, the despair, the strangeness, the hope, the cruelty―is captured in terrifyingly sharp detail…Debreczeni has preserved a panoptic depiction of hell, at once personal, communal and atmospheric.”
―New York Times (10 Best Books of 2024)

“I Heard Her Call My Name” by Lucy Sante — “Reading this book is a joy. Sante is funny and warm . . . I Heard Her Call My Name has much to say about the trans journey and will undoubtedly become a standard for those in need of guidance. But the book speaks to a wider audience, too: for anyone who needs to break out of their self-imposed ‘prison of denial,’ as Sante puts it, or to stop punishing themselves for wanting what they want.” —The Washington Post

“The Survivor: How I Survived Six Concentration Camps and Became a Nazi Hunter” by Josef Lewkowicz — In this memoir, Josef Lewkowicz shares a poignant and gripping account of his life, capturing the indomitable spirit and enduring soul—the neshama—of the survivor. It is a testament of the resilience of the human spirit and a tribute to those who defied the darkest moments of our history.” — Amazon.com

ADULT NON-FICTION

“Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis” by Jonathan Blitzer — “The new book every American needs to read before they vote . . . The masterstroke accomplishment of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here is the way that Blitzer weaves the gripping stories of refugees with the 45-year history of policymaking in Washington, where elected officials and key bureaucrats—some craven and nakedly political, others well-meaning—repeatedly fought the wrong wars and worried about the wrong things to spin the tangled web of policies that caused a humanitarian nightmare.” —Philadelphia Inquirer

“Lonely Planet’s Guide to Death, Grief’ and Rebirth” by Anita Isalska — ‘Organized around themes of celebration, commemoration, mourning, and offering, this book by journalist Isalska (Offbeat North America) shares themes, food practices, traditions, music, monuments, and burial practices, finding commonalities and differences in how cultures address death and their beliefs in what lies beyond. Three- to five-page entries with ample photos explore Mexico’s Dia de Muertos, Irish wakes, pet cemeteries, Lakota soul keepers, Swedish death cleaning, green burials, Papua New Guinea’s mummies, and more. VERDICT Fascinating, uplifting, and often beautiful coverage of a topic that touches everyone.” — Maggie Knapp. LIBRARY JOURNAL, c2024.

“Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist” by Liz Pelly — “Pelly has written a groundbreaking examination of the music-streaming giant Spotify and its effects on 21st-century music. . . . A provocative, insightful, disturbing, and well-researched indictment of Spotify, the music industry, and streaming platforms, which daily mine billions of data bits from listeners/viewers to maximize profits and churn out musical formulas. Highly recommended.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“Valcour: The 1776 Campaign That Saved the Cause of Liberty” by Jack Kelly — “Must reading for everyone interested in how a critical military campaign and pivotal battle on Lake Champlain set the stage for American victory in the War for Independence. Beautifully written, Valcour deserves and will command a wide readership. Highly recommended.” ―James Kirby Martin, author of the award-winning Benedict Arnold, Revolutionary Hero

“We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America” by Roxanna Asgarian — “Asgarian debuts with a comprehensive and searing look at systemic issues within the foster care and adoption systems . . . Emotional and frequently enraging, it adds up to a blistering indictment . . . Sensitive, impassioned, and eye-opening, this is a must-read.” ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

PICTURE BOOK

“Bear Snores On” by Karma Wilson
“Hush, Hush Forest” by Mary Casanova
“Jumper” by Jessica Lanan
“The Dark was Done” by Lauren Stringer
“The Young Teacher and the Great Serpent” by Irene Vasco
“This is a Story” by John Schu
“To Make” by Daneille Davis
“Vulture View” by April Sayre
“Who I Am” by Susan Verde

JUVENILE FICTION

“The Grace of Wild Things” by Heather Fawcett — “An inventive and fantastical reimagining of Anne of Green Gables—with magic and witches!—that explores found family, loss, and the power of a girl’s imagination, from the acclaimed author of The Language of Ghosts and The School Between Winter and Fairyland. — Amazon.com

“Will’s Race for Home” by Jewell Rhodes — “Ripe with historical facts and moments of high tension, this adventurous story reflects on the aftereffects of violence on soldiers and what life looked like for Black citizens following the conclusion of the Civil War. It’s an empowering read that never loses sight of Will’s profound exploration of adolescence.”―Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

JUVENILE GRAPHIC NOVELS

“Unicorn Boy” by Dave Roman — “The story zigzags between characters and mini-challenges, providing thrills even as Brian’s quest and Avery’s fate seem dire. Gentle throughlines emphasize the value of devoted friendship and the joy of understanding oneself through storytelling.” –Kirkus