Recreation

New Titles Fiction July 2013 (arrived in June 2013)

Adventure

Pharaoh, David Gibbins.
1351 BC: Akhenaten the Sun-Pharaoh rules supreme in Egypt until the day he casts off his crown and mysteriously disappears into the desert, his legacy seemingly swallowed up by the remote sands beneath the Great Pyramids of Giza. AD 1884: A British soldier serving in the Sudan stumbles upon an incredible discovery.
The Orpheus descent, Tom Harper.
Golden tablets buried in ancient times are now in museums. When a new one is found sinister things occur at the dig.
The people's will, Jasper Kent.
Part historical adventure/part vampire thriller. Fourth in this intriguing series.
The Shanghai factor, Charles McCarry.
A young American spy living in Shanghai aids a shadowy American agency known only as H.Q.
Black bear, Aly Monroe.
Fourth in series featuring British spy Peter Cotton has him waking in a private facility where he has been given at least three "truth drugs."
Traitor's gate, Michael Ridpath.
Conrad de Lancey has seen enough of evil: the shadow of fear on the faces of innocents; the roar of tanks through empty streets; the sudden lull before the slaughter begins. Franco's bloody insurrection taught this Englishman all about hell. Arriving in his mother's country, the now Nazi Germany, Conrad is sick at heart.
The informant, Andrew Rosenheim.
Political thriller set in L.A. in the 1940s with Special Agent James Nessheim investigating money paid into a L.A. bank by Russian Intelligence.
The serpent's tooth, Alex Rutherford.
The Moghul emperors are still controlling a quarter of the world's population but are now in their final times in the latest of the Empire of the Mogul.
The twelfth department, William Ryan.
Moscow 1937 and Captain Korolev, a police investigator, is there when a famous scientist is murdered. Gripping tale of a city under Stalin's Great Terror.
The doll, Taylor Stevens.
Latest case for dynamic information specialist Vanessa Michael Munroe.

American Fiction

Little women : an annotated edition, Louisa May Alcott ; edited by Daniel Shealy.
In this richly annotated, illustrated edition, Daniel Shealy illuminates the novel's deep engagement with issues such as social equality, reform movements, the Civil War, friendship, love, loss, and of course the passage into adulthood.
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, Anton DiSclafani.
Exiled to an equestrian boarding school in the South at the height of the Great Depression for her role in a family tragedy, strong-willed teen Thea Atwell grapples with painful memories while acclimating to the school's strict environment. Lively debut.
Man in the empty suit, Sean Ferrell.
Say you're a time traveller and you've already toured the entirety of human history. After a while, the outside world might lose a little of its luster. That's why this time traveller celebrates his birthday partying with himself. Every year, he travels to an abandoned hotel in New York City in 2071, the hundredth anniversary of his birth, and drinks twelve-year-old Scotch (lots of it) with all the other versions of who he has been and who he will be.
Heart like mine, Amy Hatvany.
Girl's father vanishes and twenty years later she wants to find him so that she can move on with her life.
You are one of them, Elliott Holt.
First rate debut about two American women, friends since the 1980s, and how the Soviet nation comes between them.
Sight reading : a novel, Daphne Kalotay.
Story of love, loss and music in four interwoven lives.
Snapper, Brian Kimberling.
Likeable debut about a messy love affair between a career birdwatcher and the small town he lives in. Very much in the amiable style of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon.
A girl like you, Maureen Lindley.
About a dark time in recent American history. The story of a girl whose American father is killed at Pearl Harbour. The girl and her mother are sent to a labour camp along with other Japanese-American citizens.
A constellation of vital phenomena, Anthony Marra.
In a Chechnya village a boy sees his father abducted by soldiers and goes off with his friend and neighbour. They meet up with a woman doctor who is struggling to keep her hospital going.
The comfort of lies, Randy Susan Meyers.
An affair between bright young student Tia and Nathan, a charismatic married sociology professor, ends when Tia becomes pregnant. After urging her to get rid of the baby, Nathan tells his wife, Juliette, about the affair and never sees Tia again.
Dear Lucy, Julie Sarkissian.
First novel about a girl sent off by her mother to live on a farm. When something happens to her only friend she sets off on a dangerous journey.
The engagements, J. Courtney Sullivan.
The story of four couples linked over several decades by one diamond ring, and the woman who launched the most famous diamond campaign in the world.
Golden boy, Abigail Tarttelin.
Max - perfect son, perfect friend, perfect crush for girls at his school. He has a secret - he is a hermaphrodite. There's been a lot of pre-publication hype in America over this fascinating and emotionally engaging first novel.
The patron saint of lost dogs, Nick Trout.
A heartwarming novel about a man who inherits his father's failing veterinary practice and the unlikely friendships, adventures, and second chances that develop as he tries to save it. The author is a veterinary surgeon.
The kings and queens of Roam, Daniel Wallace.
The story of two sisters and the legacy of the magical town where they live. A warm and inventive tale of family ties.
The silver star, Jeannette Walls.
Two motherless sisters Bean and Liz are shuttled to Virginia, where their Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that's been in their family for generations. When school starts in the fall, Bean easily adjusts and makes friends, and Liz becomes increasingly withdrawn. Then something happens to Liz and Bean is left to challenge the injustice of the adult world. A story of abuse but also of how people triumph over adversity.
Revenge wears Prada : the devil returns, Lauren Weisberger.
Sequel to The Devil Wears Prada.
A hundred summers, Beatriz Williams.
Returning to an idyllic Rhode Island oceanfront community for the summer of 1938, New York socialite Lily Dane is devastated by the appearance of her newly married ex-fiance and her former best friend.
Stoner, John Williams
William Stoner enters the University of Missouri at nineteen to study agriculture. A seminar on English literature changes his life, and he never returns to work on his father's farm. Stoner becomes a teacher. He marries the wrong woman. His life is quiet, and after his death his colleagues remember him rarely. This novel has had extraordinary success in Europe and was a number one bestseller in Holland!
The why of things, Elizabeth H. Winthrop.
Couple reeling from the suicide of the eldest daughter arrive at their holiday home only to find a truck crashed into their water-filled quarry and the driver drowned.

Australian fiction

This red earth, Kim Kelly.
1939 and a young woman accepts a marriage proposal to please her father but ends up in a war at home against drought as others in her family are at war abroad.
The sunshine years, Afsaneh Knight.
A funny and touching story of Generation X people who feel they have failed to live up to their dreams.
Other stories, Wayne Macauley.
Wayne Macauley's Other Stories collects a variety of short fiction that he has published in literary magazines over the past 18 years. Despite the work's lengthy gestation, these stories demonstrate an impressive unity of vision, as well as an extraordinary if uniquely Australian voice.
The odd angry shot, William Nagle.
The Odd Angry Shot is the seminal account of Australian soldiers in the Vietnam War. Brief and bracing, tragic yet darkly funny, it portrays a close-knit group of knockabout SAS fighters: their mateship, homesickness and fears; their practical jokes, drinking and fighting. The enemy is not just the Vietcong they've been sent to fight, but their superiors, the mud and torrential rain, and boredom.
Mr Chen's Emporium, Deborah O'Brien.
In 1872, seventeen-year-old Amy Duncan arrives in the Gold Rush town of Millbrooke, having spent the coach journey daydreaming about glittering pavilions and gilded steeples. What she finds is a dusty main street lined with ramshackle buildings. That is until she walks through the doors of Mr Chen's Emporium, a veritable Aladdin's cave, and her life changes forever.
The last thread, Michael Sala.
Pacific Regional Winner of 2013 Commonwealth Book Prize is a fictionalisation of the author's own life: from early years in Holland to growing up in 1980s Australia and the secrets that surround his estranged Greek father.
Three hours late, Nicole Trope.
Strong tale of a dysfunctional family where domestic violence and a broken marriage leave a child caught up in the middle.

British Fiction

The quarry, Iain Banks.
His last novel. Kit doesn't know who his mother is. What he does know, however, is that his father, Guy, is dying of cancer. Feeling his death is imminent, Guy gathers around him his oldest friends or at least the friends with the most to lose by his death.
Grace and Mary, Melvyn Bragg.
John visits his ageing mother Mary in her nursing home by the sea, and mourns the slow fading of her mind. Hoping to shore up her memory, he prompts her with songs, photographs and questions about the 1940s, when she was a young woman and he a child in a small Cumbrian town. A moving tale of the generations of Bragg's family.
Swimming at night, Lucy Clarke.
Katie's world is shattered by the news that her headstrong and bohemian younger sister, Mia, has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff in Bali. The authorities say that Mia jumped that her death was a suicide. Katie determines to find out what happened and why.
The greening, Margaret Coles.
Joanna, a Fleet Street journalist, chances upon the journal of the mysterious Anna Leigh. She is moved by Anna's compelling confessional about her life-changing encounter with Julian of Norwich an extraordinary woman from another age, who risked death at the stake to write a secret manuscript revealing the truth entrusted to her.
The Gamal, Ciaran Collins.
A socially impaired Ballyrona man narrates the story of two young lovers who don't fit into the insular world of a County Cork village.
Apple tree yard, Louise Doughty.
Scientist renowned in her field makes an irrational decision of getting into a reckless affair that spins out of control.
Going back, Rachael English.
1988 and Irish girls leave home for jobs in Boston in this tale of family, friendships and love. First novel from a well known Irish radio personality.
Chaplin and company, Mave Fellowes.
Odeline Milk, a strange young lady from the suburbs. A young lady with an obsession - you can guess what it is by the way she dresses: white collarless shirt, a waistcoat and billowing black trousers, the bowler hat. She's on her way to London, to make her name as a great mime artist. She hopes. And typical Odeline, she's arriving prepared. Quirky and likeable debut.
A Cornish affair, Liz Fenwick.
Family secrets abound when woman leaves her intended husband at the altar and seeks refuge in a mansion on the Cornish cliffs to catalogue their library.
The last to know, Mark Gartside.
A perfect family unit of couple and daughter are threatened when the wife's ex comes back and causes ructions.
The heart whisperer, Ella Griffin.
Claire Dillon still lives in the shadow of the past. On her thirty-third birthday, she gives herself a present: one year to change her future. Claire Dillon's mother had everything to live for: a husband, two children, and a successful medical practice. Then, at thirty-three, she died in a tragic accident - and it was Claire's fault.
Clever girl, Tessa Hadley.
Charts the dramatic and occasionally violent life of Stella, from her childhood as daughter of a single mother in a bedsit in Bristol.
The humans, Matt Haig.
One wet Friday evening, Professor Andrew Martin of Cambridge University solves the world's greatest mathematical riddle - then he disappears. When he is found walking naked along the motorway, he has become a strange character who hates everyone except a dog. Zany and original.
Dot, Araminta Hall.
Warm and heartbreaking tale of three generations of women from a sleepy Welsh village.
A cat, a hat, and a piece of string : stories, Joanne Harris.
Collection of short stories combining the everyday with the unexpected.
The hive, Gill Hornby.
Welcome to St. Ambrose Primary School. There's friendship, fights and feuds and that's just the mothers! Lively, funny and perceptive first novel.
The bookman's tale : a novel of obsession, Charlie Lovett.
A mysterious portrait ignites an antiquarian bookseller's search - through time and the works of Shakespeare - for his lost love. The Bookman's Tale is a former bookseller's sparkling novel and a delightful exploration of one of literature's most tantalising mysteries with echoes of Shadow of the Wind and A. S. Byatt's Possession.
TransAtlantic, Colum McCann.
The dates of 1845, 1919 and 1998 provide settings for stories that move between Ireland and America, the old world and the new.
Close my eyes, Sophie McKenzie.
It's been eight years since Geniver Loxley lost her daughter, Beth. Since that day, Gen has been floundering. While her husband Art builds his business reputation and their fortune, she can't let go of Beth. And then one day, everything changes. A strange woman shows up on Gen's doorstep, saying the very thing she longs to hear: that Beth is alive.
The death of bees, Lisa O'Donnell.
Fifteen-year-old Marnie and her little sister Nelly have just finished burying their parents in the back garden. Lennie, the old guy next door, has taken a sudden interest in his two young neighbours and is keeping a close eye on them. He soon realises that the girls are all alone, and need his help - or does he need theirs? Unusual mix of black comedy and dark family secrets.
Cooking with bones, Jess Richards.
A strange and magical novel in the vein of Angela Carter about two sisters and their lives in a small village.
The professor of truth, James Robertson.
21 years after his wife and daughter are killed in a plane bombing over Scotland, a university lecturer feels the man convicted is innocent.
The sea change, Joanna Rossiter.
Haunting and moving story of a mother and daughter, caught between a tsunami and a war.
The obituary writer, Lauren St John.
First adult novel by celebrated children's author, Lauren St John. Tale of a successful man who survives a train crash and appears to be writing obituaries in his sleep for people who will die later in the day.
The French postmistress, Julia Stagg.
Delightful tale in the "Chocolat" tradition about a postmistress, a mayor and others coming together in a small French village.
Black roses, Jane Thynne.
Berlin 1933 and an Anglo-German actress arrives to find film work. She becomes drawn into a circle of Nazi wives and then meets a British intelligence agent who gets her to use her acting skills as a spy.

Fiction from the rest of the World

My father's notebook, Kader Abdolah
On a holy mountain in the depths of Persia there is a cave with a mysterious cuneiform carving deep inside it. Aga Akbar, a deaf mute boy from the mountain develops his own private script from these symbols and writes passionately of his life. Dutch novel in translation.
Ten white geese, Gerbrand Bakker
Prizewinning Dutch novel about a woman who rents a remote farmhouse in Wales after leaving Amsterdam. On the farm are ten geese who, one by one, disappear.
The lullaby of Polish girls, Dagmara Dominczyk.
Debut by actress. Follows a trio of three girls, friends across decades and the Iron Curtain, from Communist Poland to adulthood in the US.
Carnival, Rawi Hage.
In the Carnival city two types of taxi drivers - spiders and flies - are followed, one lot waiting for calls and the others seeking them out. Canadian author's well reviewed new novel, shortlisted for various literary prizes.
And the mountains echoed, Khaled Hosseini.
Presents a story inspired by human love, how people take care of one another, and how choices resonate through subsequent generations. From the bestselling author of "The kite runner."
To kill a snow dragonfly, Sharad P. Paul.
Even as the snow falls existentially, the portends aren't good for Lobsang's family: a mole has appeared on his little sister Bhunchung's left cheek, foretelling that her husband will die an untimely death. Can the mole be removed? After all, Grandfather is a tantric lama with magical powers.
Lost luggage, Jordi Punti
Four brothers - sons of the same father and four different mothers - don't know of each other's existence and when they do discover the truth they learn the story of their father's life. Translated from the Spanish.
The son, Michel Rostain
Translated from the French. A man loses his son to meningitis and the whole family make their journey through grief. The story is seen through the eyes of the son.
The art of hearing heartbeats, Jan-Philipp Sendker
A touching love story set in Burma from the 1950s to the present with a New York lawyer disappearing and his daughter finding a love letter to a Burmese woman which makes her travel to the village where the woman lived to find the truth. Translated from the German.
The Devil's workshop, Jachym Topol
Czech novel, highly praised, about a young man growing up in a town with a sinister history of persecution and mass graves.

Graphic Novel

A game of thrones. Volume 2 : the graphic novel, George R.R. Martin ; adapted by Daniel Abraham.
No. 6. 1, Created by Atsuko Asano ; manga by Hinoki Kino ;
Very casual, Michael DeForge.
Culled from mini comics, online comics, and anthology contributions, "Very Casual" collects notable short stories from Michael DeForge's prolific oeuvre. Included are stories about litter gangs, meat-filled snowmen, righteous cops, beagle/human hybrids, and forest-bound drag queens.
John Constantine, Hellblazer. [5], Dangerous habits, Garth Ennis, Jamie Delano, writers ; William Simpson and others
After battling demions, elementals, and serial killers, John Constantine is betrayed by his own body. Years of chain smoking have led to lung cancer, and the Ruler of Hell has special plans for the soul of John Constantine.
My dirty dumb eyes : a film, Lisa Hanawalt.
"My Dirty Dumb Eyes" introduces Lisa Hanawalt as a first-rank cartoonist/humourist/stalker for an audience that likes its humour idiosyncratic, at times anthropomorphic or scatological, often uncomfortable, and always sharp witted.
Attack on Titan. 5, Hajime Isayama
In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi story, humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming mankind.
The ghost in the shell, stand alone complex. 4, Yes, Yu Kinutani,
Messages in a bottle : comic books stories, B. Krigstein ; edited and produced by Greg Sadowski.
Omamori Himari. 10, Milan Matra
The sacred blacksmith. [Volume 1], Isao Miura
Like her father and grandfather before her, Cecily Campbell has entered the knighthood and joined the ranks of the Knight Guards of Houseman. Eager to do her heritage proud and defend her city, Cecily rushes to the marketplace to stop a madman from terrorizing the populace.
Punk Rock Jesus, Sean Murphy
A reality TV show starring a clone of Jesus Christ causes chaos across the U.S. of the near future in "Punk Rock Jesus", a new graphic novel written and drawn by Sean Murphy, the acclaimed illustrator of "Joe the Barbarian" and "American Vampire"
Bakuman. 19, Decision and joy, Tsugumi Ohba
The twelve : a thrilling novel of tomorrow, J. Michael Straczynski
Yesterday's Men of Tomorrow today! Thought lost to the pages of time, a dozen Mystery Men from the "greatest generation" of World War II find themselves thrust into the morally-gray world of the 21st century!

Mystery

The king's deception, Steve Berry.
Eighth in the Cotton Malone series.
Atomic city, Sally Breen.
A woman on the run from her past arrives on the Gold Coast to make a new identity and a fortune. She and a shrewd croupier target fellow swindlers and run into real danger.
Murder by the book, Eric Brown.
London, 1955. When crime writer Donald Langham's literary agent asks for his help in sorting out 'a delicate matter', little does Langham realise what he's getting himself into. For a nasty case of blackmail leads inexorably to murder as London's literary establishment is rocked by series of increasingly bizarre deaths.
If you were here, Alafair Burke.
Manhattan journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenaged boy from the subway tracks when she discovers that the woman in the subway's video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend who disappeared without a trace a decade earlier.
Killer ambition, Marcia Clark.
Would you kill to protect your career? Los Angeles D.A. Rachel Knight finds out that someone in Hollywood definitely would.
Screwed, Eoin Colfer.
The bestselling children's writer with his second crime novel, a follow up to "Plugged" and dealing with New Jersey gangsters.
The kill room, Jeffery Deaver.
Lincoln Rhyme investigates the murder of an anti-American man assassinated by the U.S. government.
The confessions of Al Capone, Loren D. Estleman.
In 1944, an FBI junior agent is dispatched by J. Edgar Hoover to infiltrate Capone's organization, an effort that is compromised by Capone's haunted memories of prison and declining health.
The heist, Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
New series which asks: what's an FBI agent to do after she's caught the world's most wanted - and charming - con man? Partner up with him is the inevitable option.
Waiting for Wednesday, Nicci French.
The third novel in the "Frieda Klein" series.
The shadow tracer, Meg Gardiner.
Standalone thriller about a single mother whose job is tracking people and how she becomes the one tracked and on the run.
The gift of darkness, V. M. Giambanco.
25 years ago in Seattle three boys were kidnapped and only one returned. Some years later a family are murdered and Homicide Detective Alice Madison has to act to stop a psychopath and save lives.
Graveland, Alan Glynn.
On a bright Saturday morning, a Wall Street investment banker is shot dead while jogging in Central park. Hours later, one of New York's savviest hedge-fund managers is gunned down outside a restaurant. Investigative journalist Ellen Dorsey has hunch that they are connected, and when an attempt is made on the life of another CEO, her theory is confirmed.
Bricks and mortality, Ann Granger.
The third Cotswold mystery featuring Supt. Ian Carter and Inspector Jess Campbell.
The black country, Alex Grecian.
Scotland Yard's Murder Squad returns in a new historical thriller about murder in the coal district.
The lost abbot, Susanna Gregory.
The 19th chronicle of Matthew Bartholomew, historical mysteries set in medieval Cambridge.
Brothers' tears, J. M. Gregson.
Former Irish rugby player is shot dead and DCI Percy Peach investigates.
Dressed to kill, Patricia Hall.
It's 1963. A new band called the Rolling Stones is beginning to make its mark and the mini-skirt is coming into fashion. For young Liverpudlian photographer Kate O'Donnell, it's an exciting time to be in the capital especially as she's on secondment to an up-and-coming fashion photographer's studio.
The hanging, Lotte and Soren Hammer
More Sandinavian crime, this time from a brother and sister writing team with a story about five murdered men found hanging from the roof of a school gym.
The innocence game, Michael Harvey.
Standalone suspense thriller about a long-ago murder which may have resulted in a wrongful conviction, leading to the fact that a killer is still out there.
The asylum, John Harwood.
Gothic thriller about a woman in a Victorian asylum who insists that she had been mistaken for someone else and needs urgently to prove she is who she says she is.
Worthless remains, Peter Helton.
Chris Honeysett's latest assignment, babysitting TV archaeologist Guy Middleton during filming at an aging rock star's mansion near Bath, seems straightforward enough. It turns out to be anything but.
Bad monkey, Carl Hiaasen.
Florida Keys former cop Andrew Yancy works as a restaurant inspector so when a honeymoon couple find a severed arm he wants to get his badge back. Black comedy/thriller.
Dead man's time, Peter James.
A vicious robbery at a secluded Brighton mansion leaves its elderly occupant dying. And millions of pounds' worth of valuables have been taken. But, as Detective Superintendent Roy Grace, heading the enquiry, rapidly learns, there is one priceless item of sentimental value that the old woman's powerful family cherish above all else
Pray for the dying, Quintin Jardine.
Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner and the case of a public crime which leads him to the top echelons of government.
Sacrifice, Will Jordan.
Afghanistan, 2008. A Black Hawk helicopter carrying a senior CIA operative is shot down by a surface to air missile, its lone passenger taken hostage by a fanatical new insurgent group. Knowing this man holds information vital to the ongoing conflict, the CIA bring in Ryan Drake and his elite Shepherd team to find and rescue their lost operative.
Savage spring, Mons Kallentoft
A pleasant spring in a Swedish town has its peace shattered by a terrible explosion. Inspector Malin Fors investigates.
Joyland, Stephen King.
Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever. A pastiche of a hardboiled crime novel.
Angel baby, Richard Lange.
Woman escapes dismal life with her husband's money and sets out to find the daughter she left behind years earlier. Her husband is part of a tough drug cartel so escape will not be easy.
Dangerous refuge, Elizabeth Lowell.
Environmental conservancy advocate Shayne and big city cop Tanner join forces to uncover the truth behind Tanner's uncle's death. When Shaye becomes a killer's target, Tanner realises he'd give up anything to protect her including his life.
The devil's recruit, S.G. MacLean.
1635, Aberdeen. A girl lies dead in a frozen garden. A young man goes missing after a drunken brawl. A sinister cloaked figure watches from the shadows. The missing student, son of a Highland chief, is in Alexander Seaton's class. When the young man's companion turns up bruised and bloodied, suspicion mounts that he has murdered his friend.
The final curtain, Priscilla Masters.
Just back from her honeymoon, the last thing Detective Inspector Joanna Piercy wants deal with on her return to work is nuisance calls from an old lady ringing the police incessantly to report seemingly trivial incidents
Glacier murder, Trish McCormack.
Glacier guide sleuth Philippa Barnes investigates murder in Westland National Park. What do you do when you need to escape from your life? Vivien Revell didn't intend to die. She was conflicted and scared but also creative and clever. She should have been able to get away but years later Philippa discovers her mangled body in a crevasse on the Franz Josef Glacier.
Little green, Walter Mosley.
Surviving a near-fatal car wreck and cruising the streets of the Sunset Strip during the heyday of the late 1960s, Easy Rawlins investigates the disappearance of a young African-American, a case that is complicated by Rawlins's changing perspectives.
Crocodile tears, Mark O'Sullivan.
Strong Irish crime novel about a property tycoon murdered at the time of the Irish recession in 2010.
Natural causes, James Oswald.
A young girl's mutilated body is discovered in a sealed room. For newly appointed Edinburgh Detective Inspector Tony McLean this baffling cold case ought to be a low priority but he is haunted by the young victim and her grisly death. Meanwhile, the city is horrified by a series of bloody killings. 2nd in series.
Choke point, Ridley Pearson.
Journalist reveals existence of Dutch-based sweatshop enslaving girls and a private security firm investigates a crime organisation of an evil kind.
Carver's quest, Nick Rennison.
Fast paced and authentic Victorian set thriller featuring Adam Carver, amateur detective, and his Cockney sidekick Quint.
Sidney Chambers and the perils of the night, James Runcie.
1955 and Canon Sidney Chambers, likeable cleric and part time sleuth, returns in the second of a series.
Only the dead, Ben Sanders.
"When a failed witness protection operation ends in multiple homicides, evidence suggests the crime is linked to a series of violent robberies in Auckland City. For Detective Sergeant Sean Devereaux, solving the case is proving next to impossible. His own superiors in the police department are refusing to cooperate with his investigation. After Devereaux shoots a suspect in a botched surveillance job, he is forced to start providing the answers rather than demanding them. With his career on the line and old demons threatening to consume his very sanity, Devereaux is running out of time as he succumbs to a nightmare world of extreme brutality, where bad and desperate men stalk both sides of the legal divide"--Publisher's information.
No safe place, Jenny Spence.
A Melbourne woman catches a tram to work on an ordinary day but her neighbour is shot, mistaken for her, and a reclusive client is murdered. She flees to Sydney fearing for her life.
The healer, Antti Tuomainen
One man's search for his missing wife in a dystopian futuristic Helsinki where a strange serial killer known as "The healer" is at large.
Weirdo, Cathi Unsworth.
Twenty years ago, a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl named Corrine Woodrow was convicted of murdering one of her classmates. But now new forensic evidence indicates that Corrine didn't act alone, and Sean Ward a private investigator travels to the seaside town of Ernemouth, to try to discover what really happened all those years ago.
What lies within, Tom Vowler.
Psychological suspense tale about a family living in a remote Devon farmhouse and a young idealistic teacher who is attacked by one of her students.
The resistance man, Martin Walker.
Captain Bruno Courreges, chef de police in a Perigord region of France, on a new case.
Someone to watch over me, Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Fifth Thira Gudmundsdottir tale from Iceland's answer to Stieg Larsson.

New Zealand Fiction

The elbow stories, John Adams.
A self-important surgeon reveals peculiar tastes; regulars at a holiday park watch Sweetie and Cowboy fail at camping; unexpected feelings arise after a child is lost; traditional arranged marriages conflict with modern desires; a family falls apart when Auntie Pam contests Granddad's will - and much more.
Kaitiakitanga Pasifika, Cathie Koa Dunsford.
Kaitiakitanga Pasifika draws on the brilliance of the historical celestial navigation of the Pacific, evoking past voyages through contemporary navigational wayfinding using renewable energy. It draws together a visionary movement of indigenous Pacific people.
Bangs, Stevan Eldred-Grigg.
Meridee Bang is brought up in a house on Olivine Street with too many children and too little money. It's the 1960s and while The Patty Duke Show and I Love Lucy depict what life should be like, things are somewhat different in the Bang household. Christchurch vividly recreated.
Seventeen seas, Bronwyn Elsmore.
One ship, a handful of Kiwis, a few more Australians, and sixteen hundred Brits. Seventeen Seas tells their stories as they travel through ten countries, fifteen ports, over forty-six days.
In the Memorial Room, Janet Frame.
Draws on her own experiences at Menton in France as a Katherine Mansfield fellow as well as a clever social satire and a send up of the cult of the dead author.
Tough, Amy Head.
Set in Westland where the stories of people in the gold mining past and people living there now are told.
The writing class, Stephanie Johnson.
A compelling love story and an insightful writing manual...some of us are not satisfied with that one life, even if it is shared with many friends and relatives. Writers take what we learn of human nature and, fuelled by our longings for other existences and other times, forge new identities that can be as real as she is, sitting with her dog on the weathered step of the old house, stories that move us to tears or laughter.
Two girls in a boat, Emma Martin.
A woman hacks at a tree while her daughter chases her targets deep into the bush. A visitor walks up the path towards razor-topped gates. A man drives his nameless passenger towards a fractured city. At the reservoir, dark shapes move in the depths of the water. Traversing England, the Balkans, and New Zealand past and present, these stories trace the unexpected paths of people's lives.
Seacliff : a regular boy within, Susan Tarr.
Fictional retelling of the true story of Malcolm, a resident at Seacliff Mental Hospital in Hokitika.
The elusive language of ducks, Judith White.
Quirky and likeable tale about human relationships and a duck.

Romance

One heart to win, Johanna Lindsey.
Historical romance about a love that transcends a fifty year feud in the ranchlands of 1880s Montana.
The mystery woman, Amanda Quick.
Victorian setting with a paranormal twist. Romantic tale that is second in "Ladies of Lantern Street" series.
A home in Drayton Valley, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
When tragedy strikes on the prairie, throwing Tarsie and Joss into an unexpected arrangement, can they trust God with their dreams for the future?
A hopeful heart : a novel, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
Abel Samms wants nothing to do with the group of potential brides his neighbour brought to town. He was smitten with an eastern girl once and he got his heart broken. But there's something about quiet Tressa Neill and her bumbling ways that makes him take notice.
A whisper of peace, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
Ostracised by her tribe because of her white father, Lizzie lives alone in the mountains of Alaska. Clay is totally focused on his goal of being a missionary like his father until he meets a young, independent Indian woman with the most striking blue eyes he's ever seen.
Song of my heart, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
When Thad McKane, the new sheriff of Goldtree, Kansas, uncovers a connection between the crime he's investigating and singer Sadie Wagner, the woman he's courting, he wonders if she's as innocent as she seems.
When a heart cries, Kim Vogel Sawyer.
Samantha and Adam Klaassen started married life in the cozy little home built into the hill at the back of the Klaassen family farm. When they began looking forward to their own family, they knew they would need a real house with more room.

Saga & Historical

Ladies' night, Mary Kay Andrews.
Cut off from her palatial home and chequing account after an act of post-divorce rage Grace Stanton is forced to move in with her widowed mother and attend court and mandated group therapy. Grace bonds with three fellow patients who she helps plot respective pursuits of justice and closure.
If you were the only girl, Anne Bennett.
Their love crossed the class divide, but will it survive the ravages of war? When Lucy's father dies and her family is plunged into poverty, she is forced to take a job in service as a housemaid at Windthorpe House, home to the aristocratic Hetherington's, who lost three of their four sons in the Great War.
The wedding gift, Marlen Suyapa Bodden.
Moving tale set in the Deep South and told by Sarah, a young slave who's the daughter of the owner.
The workhouse girl, Dilly Court.
Circumstances force eight-year-old Sarah Scrase and her widowed mother Ellen to enter St Giles and St George's Workhouse in Bloomsbury. When Ellen dies in childbirth, an independent-minded, spirited Sarah falls foul of the workhouse master Trigg and his cruel wife. Sarah's ordeal seems to be over when philanthropist and sugar mill owner James Arbuthnot takes her into his home. But her wealthy benefactor reports Trigg and his wife. And blaming Sarah for their misfortune, in a fit of revenge the couple decide to take the law into their own hands.
Sweet salt air, Barbara Delinsky.
Charlotte and Nicole were once the best of friends, spending summers together in Nicole's coastal island house off of Maine. But many years, and many secrets, have kept the women apart.
The last original wife, Dorothea Benton Frank.
Experience the sultry Southern atmosphere of Atlanta and the magic of the Carolina Lowcountry in this funny and poignant tale of one audacious woman's quest to find the love she deserves.
Queen's gambit, Elizabeth Fremantle.
Debut novel set at the court of Henry VIII. Katherine Parr, recently widowed, falls for Thomas Seymour but the king is looking for a new wife and noone can refuse a royal proposal.
Call Nurse Millie, Jean Fullerton.
It's 1945 and, as the troops begin to return home, the inhabitants of London attempt to put their lives back together. For 25-year-old Millie, a qualified nurse and midwife, the jubilation at the end of the war is short-lived as she tends to the needs of the East End community around her.
The palace of curiosities, Rosie Garland.
Extraordinary first novel with a mix of history and magic realism that is reminiscent of Angela Carter. Set in Victorian London and following the fortunes of Eve, the lion-faced girl, and Abel, the flayed man.
War god, Graham Hancock.
Spanish conquest of Mexico is the basis for a story by the author of a number of New Age books.
The blood of gods, Conn Iggulden.
The fifth and final instalment of the Emperor series.
Appetite, Philip Kazan.
Florence 1466 where a man with a unique culinary talent thrives until his gift leads him into danger.
Brothers' fury, Giles Kristian.
Second in the English Civil War trilogy, sequel to "The bleeding land."
The secret life of James Cook, Graeme Lay.
A fictionalised account of Captain James Cook's early life, depicting in imaginative form Cook's early life and ambitions, his naval career in Canada and beyond and his marriage to Elizabeth and their family life.
Stalin's barber, Paul M. Levitt.
Avraham Bahar leaves debt-ridden and depressed Albania to seek a better life in, ironically, Stalinist Russia. A professional barber, he curries favour with the Communist regime, ultimately being invited to become Stalin's personal barber at the Kremlin, where he is entitled to live in a government house with other Soviet dignitaries.
Little white lies, Lesley Lokko.
Three rich glamourous women are on holiday at Martha's Vineyard when the child of one disappears.
My notorious life by Madame X, Kate Manning.
Historical saga about Axie Muldoon, later to become Madame de Beausaq, from orphan to respected midwife to "female physician" to what has left her standing accused in the docks.
The collector of lost things, Jeremy Page.
1845 and a researcher goes on an expedition to the Arctic to find remains of the now extinct Great Auk. Things on board become very troubled. Unusual blend of a love story and the tale of a quest.
The quarryman's bride, Tracie Peterson.
Second in the "Land of shining water" series.
Burnt Norton, Caroline Sandon.
Based on a real Cotswold family story, the story of two men who vie for a publican's daughter at the time of the 18th century building project of Burnt Norton.
A chain of thunder : a novel of the Siege of Vicksburg, Jeff Shaara.
In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path.
The twelve children of Paris, Tim Willocks.
Epic tale set in 1570s Paris when a man's wife disappears in the midst of a bloody massacre.

Science Fiction & Fantasy

The tyrant's law, Daniel Abraham.
Third in the "Dagger and the coin" fantasy series.
Finches of Mars, Brian Aldiss.
Colonists on Mars find that the women on Mars only ever give birth to stillborn children. Aldiss has stated that this will be his last science fiction
Beyond the mists of Katura, James Barclay.
Epic conclusion to the Auum trilogy with Auum and Takaar having to work together against a spell that could destroy the planet.
Earth afire : the First Formic War, Orson Scott Card and Aaron Johnston.
Second in the "First Formic War" series.
Abaddon's gate, James S. A. Corey.
Third in the Expense science fiction series.
The stranger's shadow, Max Frei
4th in the "Labyrinths of echo" series featuring the character called Max Frei. Frei himself is one of Russia's top fantasy/sf novelists.
The city, Stella Gemmell.
The widow of David Gemmell makes a debut in her own right. The City, an ancient and vast metropolis where the poor live in the sewers and inhabitants speculate on whether their emperor is a human or not.
Casino infernale, Simon R. Green.
A Shaman Bond and his witch girlfriend attend an annual gambling gala sponsored by a shady bank involved in supernatural crime in an attempt to bring it down.
Burdens of the dead, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, Dave Freer.
A Venetian siege on alternate-universe Constantinople finds Italian captain Benito Valdosta battling a magical manifestation of Hekate in order to save his daughter and destroy the fleets of the Chernobog, an effort that is complicated by Aidonus's resolve to claim the woman Benito loves.
Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey.
Latest in the "Elemental Masters" fantasy series.
Gameboard of the gods, Richelle Mead.
Bestselling YA author's adult debut. First in "Age of X" series set in a futuristic world where there is an investigation into ritualistic murders.
Limits of power, Elizabeth Moon.
Fourth in her fantasy epic series of action, betrayal, love and magic, "Paladin's legacy."
Raven Girl, Audrey Niffenegger.
Illustrated novella telling a dark fairytale about a postman who falls for an injured raven and together they create a raven girl trapped in a human body.
The lost, Vicki Pettersson.
A mashup of urban fantasy, paranormal romance and noir mystery featuring a private eye who was murdered fifty years ago.
The human division, John Scalzi.
The people of Earth now know that the human Colonial Union has kept them ignorant of the dangerous universe around them. For generations the CU had defended humanity against hostile aliens, deliberately keeping Earth an ignorant backwater and a source of military recruits. Now the CU's secrets are known to all. Other alien races have come on the scene and formed a new alliance an alliance against the Colonial Union. And they've invited the people of Earth to join them. For a shaken and betrayed Earth, the choice isn't obvious or easy. Against such possibilities, managing the survival of the Colonial Union won't be easy, either. It will take diplomatic finesse, political cunning and a brilliant "B Team," centered on the resourceful Lieutenant Harry Wilson, that can be deployed to deal with the unpredictable and unexpected things the universe throws at you when you're struggling to preserve the unity of the human race.
A conspiracy of alchemists, Liesel Schwarz.
A blend of urban fantasy, steampunk and paranormal romance. Impressive first novel.
Heart of obsidian, Nalini Singh.
Three distant races of supernatural beings sharing very different goals must fight their emotions and true natures when their uneasy coexistence starts to erode.