Recreation

New Titles Fiction December 2017 (arrived in November 2017)

Adventure

End game, David Baldacci.
Will Robie, highly trained assassin and the US government's most indispensable asset, is called to London. An imminent terrorist attack threatens the Underground and with the US next in line, Robie is the perfect choice to stop it before it begins. He knows he has one chance to succeed.
Typhoon fury, Clive Cussler and Boyd Morrison.
Juan Cabrillo and the crew of the Oregon are about to sail into a perfect storm of danger. Their mission? To stop a new world war. Hired to search for a collection of paintings worth half a billion dollars, Juan Cabrillo soon finds himself in much deeper waters when he discovers the vicious leader of a Filipino insurgency is using the paintings they seek to finance his attacks.
The Baltic gambit: an Alan Lewrie naval adventure, Dewey Lambdin.
January 1801, and Captain Alan Lewrie, Royal Navy, known as ""St. Alan the Liberator"" for freeing (stealing!) a dozen black slaves on Jamaica to man his frigate years before, is at last being brought to trial for it, with his life on the line. At the same time, Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Prussia are forming a League of Armed Neutrality, to Napoleon Bonaparte's delight, to deny Great Britain their vital exports, even if it means war.
The dead, Mark Oldfield.
Madrid, 1982: Comandante Leopoldo Guzmán has decided it is time to disappear. Franco is in his grave and there's no place in the new order for the one-time head of the dead dictator's secret police. But first Guzmán needs money. Luckily, blackmail has always come easily to him, after all, he knows where the bodies are.
The cull, Tony Park.
British business tycoon Julia Clyde-Smith will do anything to save Africa's endangered wildlife, including setting up an elite anti-poaching squad. Hiring Sonja Kurtz to head up the covert strike force, Julia gives the former mercenary whatever she needs to take down Africa's poaching kingpins.
Hereward, James Wilde.
1062, a time many fear is the End of Days. With the English King Edward heirless and ailing, across the grey seas in Normandy the brutal William the Bastard waits for the moment when he can drown England in a tide of blood. The ravens of war are gathering.

Fantasy

Ex libris: stories of librarians, libraries & lore, Paula Guran.
This captivating compilation of science fiction and fantasy short fiction showcases stories of librarians mysterious curators, heroic bibliognosts, arcane archivists, catalogers of very special collections and libraries: repositories of arcane wisdom, storehouses of signals from other galaxies, bastions of culture, the last outposts of civilization in a post-apocalyptic world.
Mageborn, Stephen Aryan.
It's been ten years since the battlemage war, where thousands died as mages sundered the earth and split the sky. Habreel believes eradicating magic is the only way to ensure a lasting peace. He will do anything to achieve his goal, even if it means murdering every child born with the ability.
The core, Peter V. Brett.
The war has begun. For time out of mind, bloodthirsty demons have stalked the night, culling the human race to scattered remnants dependent on half-forgotten magics to protect them. Two heroes arose-men as close as brothers, yet divided by bitter betrayal.
The fall of dragons, Miles Cameron; [maps by Steven Sandford].
The Red Knight's final battle lies ahead but there's a whole war still to fight first. He began with a small company, fighting the dangerous semi- mythical creatures which threatened villages, nunneries and cities. But as his power, and his forces, grew, so the power of the enemy he stood against became ever more clear.
Ka: Dar Oakley in the ruin of Ymr, John Crowley.
Dar Oakley, the first Crow in all of Crow history with a name of his own, was born two thousand years ago. He tells the story of his impossible lives and deaths to a man who has learned his language in this exquisite novel which unravels like a fireside fable.
Moonbreaker, Simon R. Green.
My name is Eddie Drood, aka Shaman Bond, the very secret agent. And I am a dead man walking. I've been poisoned by Dr. DOA. There is no cure, no treatment, no chance of a last-minute miracle. So all that is left to me and my love, Molly Metcalf, is to track down my killer and stop him before he can murder anyone else.
A pocketful of crows, Joanne M. Harris.
Following the seasons, A Pocketful of Crows balances youth and age, wisdom and passion and draws on nature and folklore to weave a stunning modern mythology around a nameless wild girl.
A plague of giants, Kevin Hearne.
Tallynd is a soldier who has already survived her toughest battle: losing her husband. But now she finds herself on the front lines of an invasion of giants, intent on wiping out the entire kingdom, including Tallynd's two sons, all that she has left.
False idols, Jon Hollins.
The Dragons who once ruled over the land are dead. The motley crew that stumbled through that revolution are rich and praised as saviors. Everyone gets to live happily ever after, right? Right? Well, it might have worked out that way if the dragons in Kondorra had been the only ones. If they hadn't been just the tip of the spear about to fall upon the whole world.
The trouble with twelfth grave, Darynda Jones.
Ever since Reyes Farrow escaped from a hell dimension in which Charley Davidson accidentally trapped him, the son of Satan has been brimstone-bent on destroying the world his heavenly Brother created. His volatile tendencies have put Charley in a bit of a pickle.
Apollyon: the Destroyer is unleashed, Tim LaHaye, Jerry B. Jenkins.
The continuing saga of the coming of the end of the earth, as the Fifth Judgment, Apollyon, leads his legions of scorpion-like locusts to plague the earth.
Assassin's price, L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
Six years have passed since the failed uprising of the High Holders, and Charyn, the rex's heir, has come of age and wants to learn to be an effective rex after his father. His father disagrees, so Charyn sets out to educate himself. But when privateers attack the rex's ships and threats escalate against the rex and his family, Charyn will realize that no one is safe--for an assassin stalks them all.
The mongrel mage, L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
In the world of Recluce, powerful mages can wield two kinds of magic; the white of Chaos or the black of Order. Beltur, however, has talents no one dreamed of, talents not seen in hundreds of years that blend both magics. On the run from a power hungry white mage, Beltur is taken in by Order mages who set him on the path to discover and hone his own unique gifts and in the process find a home.
City of eternal night, Kristen Painter.
Mardi Gras approaches, bringing with it hordes of tourits eager to see the real-life Faery Queen holding court atop her festival float. When the Queen is kidnapped, it's up to Augustine, the fae-blooded Guardian of the city, to rescue her before time runs out. But Augustine's mystifying protege, Harlow, complicates the task by unintentionally aiding the forces of evil, drawing danger closer with each step. The Queen might not be the first to die.
The demonists, Thomas E. Sniegoski.
It was supposed to be a simple exorcism, a publicity stunt to firmly establish John and Theodora's thriving paranormal investigation empire in the public eye. But something went wrong, leading to an on-air massacre that unleashed a malicious host of demons and left Theodora catatonic, possessed by countless spirits.
Destiny's conflict, Janny Wurts.
Lysaer's unstable integrity lies under threat of total downfall, and as his determined protector, Daliana will face the most frightening decision of her young life. Arithon, Master of Shadow, is marked for death and still hunted, when his critical quest to recover his obscured past entangles him in a web of deep intrigue and ancient perils beyond his imagining.

Fiction

Call me by your name, André Aciman.
Call Me By Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliffside mansion on the Italian Riviera. Unprepared for the consequences of their attraction, at first each feigns indifference.
The hidden keys, André Alexis.
Although the Green Dolphin is a bar of ill repute, it is there that Tancred Palmieri, a thief with elegant and erudite tastes, meets Willow Azarian, an aging heroin addict. She reveals to Tancred that her very wealthy father has recently passed away, leaving each of his five children a mysterious object that provides one clue to the whereabouts of a large inheritance.
In the midst of winter, Isabel Allende.
Richard Bowmaster, a 60-year-old human rights scholar, hits the car of Evelyn Ortega, a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala, in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor's house seeking help.
Aukati, Michalia Arathimos.
"Alexia is a law student escaping the Greek family that stifles her, and Isaiah is a young Maori returning home to find the family he's lost. Cut loose from their own cultures, they have volunteered to help Isaiah's Taranaki iwi get rid of the fracking that's devastating their land and water.
Tell tale, Jeffrey Archer.
Find out what happens to the hapless young detective from Naples who travels to an Italian hillside town to find out Who Killed the Mayor? and the pretentious schoolboy in A Road to Damascus, whose discovery of the origins of his father's wealth changes his life in the most profound way.
The death of the Fronsac, Neal Ascherson
This is an unforgettable recreation of life in wartime, and of the tragic fate of Poland in the 20th century: a novel about sabotage, betrayal, and the terrible sadness of exile. In 1940, during the Phoney War, a French destroyer blows up in the Firth of Clyde. The disaster is witnessed by Jackie, a young girl who, for a time, thinks she caused the explosion by running away that day from school.
The scandal, Fredrik Backman.
For most of the year it is under a thick blanket of snow, experiencing the kind of cold and dark that brings people closer together, or pulls them apart. Its isolation means that Beartown has been slowly shrinking with each passing year. But now the town is on the verge of an astonishing revival.
Class, Jenny Colgan [writing as Jane Beaton].
It's about love lives. Maggie has been dating Stan for years safe, comfortable and about as exciting as soggy toast. Can their relationship survive? Especially when Maggie meets David McDonald, her opposite number at the boys' boarding school over the hill. Every single girl in the school has a crush on him, but not Maggie, yet. It's about school lives.
Rules, Jenny Colgan [writing as Jane Beaton].
Maggie loves teaching English at beautiful Downey House but she is less keen on planning her wedding to dependable Stan. Instead, she's working on ignoring her crush on David McDonald, who teaches English at the local boys' school.
The Christmas guest, Daisy Bell.
A puppy for Christmas. A friend for life. When Teddy runs away from home a week before Christmas, he's far too excited to worry about what lies ahead. But all too soon Teddy realises just how cold and scary the world really is, and what was supposed to be the perfect adventure now seems like a terrible mistake.
Sixty seconds, Jesse Blackadder.
The Brennans; parents, Finn and Bridget, and their sons, Jarrah and Toby, have made a sea change, from chilly Hobart to subtropical Murwillumbah. Feeling like foreigners in this land of sun and surf, they're still adjusting to work, school, and life in a sprawling purple weatherboard, when one morning, tragedy strikes.
A Cornish gift, Fern Britton.
Christmas comes to the little village of Pendruggan and Cornwall's very own Mr Rochester, Piran Ambrose, discovers the true meaning of the festive season when even he can't resist the village celebrations. Meanwhile, best friends Penny and Helen are embarking on a stolen weekend of blissful indulgence but best laid plans often go awry and the ladies are in for a big surprise.
The Nam legacy: a novel, Carole Brungar.
"The Nam Legacy is an epic love story set during the 60's and 70's. When the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane drove parents crazy, teenagers found sexual freedom and peace slogans covered placards. When the Vietnam War abducted the nation's young men and sent them to fight in New Zealand's most controversial campaign.
The last ballad, Wiley Cash.
Twelve times a week, twenty-eight-year-old Ella May Wiggins makes the two-mile trek to and from her job on the night shift at American Mill No. 2 in Bessemer City, North Carolina.
Friend of my youth, Amit Chaudhuri.
A novelist named Amit Chaudhuri visits his childhood home of Bombay. The city, reeling from the memory of the 2008 terrorist attacks, weighs heavily on Amit's mind, as does the unexpected absence of his childhood friend Ramu, a drifting, opaque figure who is Amit's last remaining connection to the city he once called home.
The misfortune of Marion Palm: a novel, Emily Culliton.
A wildly entertaining debut about a Brooklyn Heights wife and mother who has embezzled a small fortune from her children's private school and makes a run for it, leaving behind her trust fund poet husband, his maybe-secret lover, her two daughters, and a school board who will do anything to find her.
The eternal city, Domenica de Rosa.
Gaby, the youngest of the de Angelis sisters, always secretly knew she was her father Enzo's favourite; so when Enzo dies on the day her own daughter is born, her life is turned upside down. In the emotional aftermath of the funeral, it emerges that her father has asked that his ashes be taken back his native city, Rome.
The difference, Justine Delaney Wilson.
On a January morning, Beth and Steve bring three-day-old Ismae home from the hospital. A little girl to complete their suburban family. Except Beth knows that Ismae is different, and that, as she gets older and stronger, her difference will become more obvious.
Dinner at the centre of the Earth, Nathan Englander.
Prisoner Z, held at a black site in the Negev desert for a dozen years has only his guard for company. How does a nice American Jewish boy from Long Island wind up an Israeli spy working for Mossad, and later, a traitor to his adopted country? What does it mean to be loyal, what does it mean to be a traitor, when the ideals you cherish are betrayed by the country you love?
Hot flush, Rosy Fenwicke.
Euphemia Sage, 53 years old, business consultant, wife and mother, watches in horror as her friend Jane is taken hostage. Her brand new super-powers untried and untested are no match for a gun. Unsure what to do next Euphemia has 24 hours to save Jane, but how?
The Christmas stocking and other stories, Katie Fforde.
Your cosiest Christmas yet; this collection contains six delightfully festive Katie Fforde short stories, including: Christmas in Disguise. When Jo's friend Andi asks if she'll stand in to cook Christmas lunch for her employer. Jo reluctantly agrees, wanting to help out her friend.
Not now but now: a novel, M.F.K. Fisher.
Follows the course of Jennie, a willful, wandering woman, a lovely enchantress calculating the havoc caused by her life of danger and license.
The betrayal, Kate Furnivall.
Could you kill someone? Someone you love? Paris, 1938. Twin sisters are divided by fierce loyalties and by a terrible secret. The drums of war are beating and France is poised, ready to fall. One sister is an aviatrix, the other is a socialite and they both have something to prove and something to hide.
The kites, Romain Gary.
Set in Normandy before and during the Second World War, The Kites is narrated by a young orphan Ludo Fleury, who is madly in love with Lila de Bronicki, a charming and self- absorbed Polish aristocrat. Despite the looming war, Ludo remains obstinately in love with Lila, and becomes involved in the Resistance.
Sodden downstream, Brannavan Gnanalingam.
Thousands flee central Wellington as a far too common 'once in a century' storm descends. Roads are closed and all rail is halted. For their own safety, city workers are told that they must go home early. Sita is a Tamil Sri Lankan refugee living in the Hutt Valley.
The wrong child, Barry Gornell.
22 of the 23 children in a rural village die in a disaster. By chance, the 'wrong' child, Dog Evans, lives. Crippled with survivors' guilt, his parents abandon Evans to a feral life at the margins. He is shunned by those left behind, for whom his presence is a daily insult, a reminder of unbearable loss.
Histories, Sam Guglani.
Histories is a hypnotic portrait of life in one hospital, over one week. In the corridors and consulting rooms, by the bedside, through the open curtain, we witness charged encounters within the emotional and physical world of medicine.
Stephen Florida, Gabe Habash.
Stephen Florida is a college wrestler in his senior season, fixated on winning his Championship fight: every practice, every match, is a step closer to greatness and a step further from sanity. Profane, manic, and tipping into the uncanny, it's a story of loneliness, obsession, and the drive to leave a mark.
The mistletoe matchmaker, Felicity Hayes-McCoy.
It's winter on the Finfarran peninsula and, as Cassie Fitzgerald, fresh from Toronto, is about to discover, there's more to Christmas on the west coast of Ireland than mistletoe and mince pies.
Short stories, Fred W. Heap.
This book contains stories not only of the West Riding people and traditions now gone, but also of the characters and traditions from what is a past New Zealand from the view point of the West Riding wool man in a new and different colonial world.
Keep you safe, Melissa Hill.
For single mum Kate O'Hara, there was no decision to make. Her daughter Rosie is one of a small percentage of Irish children with a disorder that prevents her from being vaccinated against measles. All Kate can do is hope that herd immunity keeps the disease at bay, and her little girl safe.
Seven days of us, Francesca Hornak.
It's Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew's elder daughter who is usually off saving the world will be joining them at Weyfield Hall, their aging country estate. But Olivia, a doctor, is coming home only because she has to.
The making of Christina, Meredith Jaffé
Interior designer Christina Clemente is caught off guard by an intense affair with her charismatic client. Jackson Plummer quickly becomes the cure to Christina's loneliness and a surrogate father to her young daughter Bianca.
Born to be trouble, Sheila Jeffries.
Running away from heartache and scandal, Tessa flees Cornwall to London in search of anonymity and freedom. Sleeping rough, scared and suicidal, she contemplates throwing herself in the river. Then she discovers the Samaritans and a volunteer, Dorothy, who patiently listens as Tessa pours out a lifetime of troubles.
The greatest gift, Rachael Johns.
Radio host Harper Drummond lives for her career. Every day she meets fascinating people doing extraordinary things, but has begun to wonder whether there could something more for her out there. She's financially secure, happily married to Samuel and has a great group of friends, what more could she want?
Jesus' son: stories, Denis Johnson.
Jesus' Son is a visionary chronicle of dreamers, addicts, and lost souls. These stories tell of spiralling grief and transcendence, of rock bottom and redemption, of getting lost and found and lost again.
All our secrets, Jennifer Lane.
A girl called Gracie. A small town called Coongahoola with the dark Bagooli River running through it. The Bleeders - hundreds of 'Believers' who set up on the banks of the river, who start to buy up the town and win souls. The River Children - born in the aftermath of the infamous River Picnic.
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and other stories, Nikolai Leskov.
An outsider from the literary establishment of his day, Nikolai Leskov is one of the most unique voices of nineteenth-century Russia, combining a profound religious spirit with a fascination for idiosyncratic characters, lurid crimes, comic absurdity and the joy of pure story.
Black Moses, Alain Mabanckou.
It's 1970, and in the People's Republic of Congo a Marxist-Leninist revolution is ushering in a new age. But over at the orphanage on the outskirts of Pointe-Noire where young Moses has grown up, the revolution has only strengthened the reign of terror of Dieudonn. Ngoulmoumako, the institution's corrupt director.
Christmas cakes & mistletoe nights, Carole Matthews.
Fay and Danny are madly in love and it's all Fay's ever dreamed of. But she left everything, including the delightful cake shop she used to run, to be with Danny on his cosy canal boat The Dreamcatcher. She soon finds out that making delicious cakes on the water isn't always smooth sailing!
Five-carat soul, James McBride.
An antiques dealer discovers that a legendary toy commissioned by Civil War General Robert E. Lee now sits in the home of a black minister in Queens. Five strangers find themselves thrown together and face unexpected judgment.
Suddenly one summer, Fleur McDonald.
When Brianna Donahue was three years old, her mother mysteriously disappeared while farming in Merriwell Bay, Western Australia. Even though she is presumed dead, her body has never been found. Committed to the family's farm, Brianna works the same land with her father Russell, while almost single-handedly raising her two children as her husband Caleb works as a fly-in fly-out criminal lawyer in Perth.
The tea gardens, Fiona McIntosh.
Spirited doctor Isla Fenwick is determined to work at the coalface of medicine in India before committing to life as a dutiful wife. With hopes of making a difference in the world, she sails to Calcutta to set up a midwifery clinic. There she will be forced to question her beliefs, her professionalism and her romantic loyalties.
Parting words, Cass Moriarty.
Daniel Whittaker has left some unusual instructions in his will: in order for his three children to get their share of the inheritance, they must hand-deliver twelve letters he has left with his lawyer. What significance did these strangers have to their father?
A question of blood, Karen Phillips.
A fourth-generation farmer with no one to inherit his farm; a daughter concerned about her aged father going to Antarctica; college kids pumping gas; a clash of cultures in Turkey; an office cleaner who discovers something unethical in a file.
The book of dirt, Bram Presser.
The Book of Dirt is a love story, a riveting survivors' tale, and a grandson's quest to learn about his grandparents' extraordinary lives.
The Christmas voyage, Deirdre Purcell.
It is Christmas on the Santa Clara cruise liner, and as the old ship sets sail from Barcelona, dramas big and small are unfolding within her graceful confines. There's Kitty Golden, beautiful ex-model and wife of New York financier Saul Abelson, some 25 years her senior.
Basket of deplorables: almost-true stories for a post-truth world, Tom Rachamn
A Manhattan party on election night. Liberal media types gather with big grins and high-end canapes to watch the Trump-Clinton results come in, expecting a smooth victory for Hillary. As the outcome shifts and they descend into panic, the host stands abruptly before her guests, confessing a shocking crime of years before.
The Zanzibar wife, Deborah Rodriguez.
Oman. The ancient land of frankincense, wind-swept deserts, craggy mountaintops and turquoise seas. A place where tales of evil spirits and eerie phenomena abound. Into this magical nation come three remarkable women, each facing a crossroad in her life.
Sourdough, Robin Sloan.
Lois Clary, a software engineer at a San Francisco robotics company, codes all day and collapses at night. When her favourite sandwich shop closes up, the owners leave her with the starter for their mouthwatering sourdough bread.
Dunbar, Edward St. Aubyn.
Henry Dunbar, the once all-powerful head of a global corporation, is not having a good day. In his dotage he hands over care of the corporation to his two eldest daughters, Abby and Megan, but as relations sour he starts to doubt the wisdom of past decisions.
To the back of beyond, Peter Stamm.
After returning from a pleasant holiday with his wife, Astrid, and their two children, Thomas leaves the house. He walks down the street, and he keeps on walking. At first Astrid asks herself where he's gone, and then when he's coming back, and finally whether he is even still alive.
The Christmas secret, Karen Swan.
Alex Hyde is the leaders' leader. An executive coach par excellence, she's the person the Great and the Good turn to when the pressure gets too much; she can change the way they think, how they operate, she can turn around the very fortunes of their companies.
An Irish country practice, Patrick Taylor.
Once, not too long ago, there was just a single Irish country doctor tending to the lively little village of Ballybucklebo: Doctor Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly. Now his thriving practice is growing by leaps and bounds.
Sisters, Lily Tuck.
An unnamed narrator lives with her new husband, his two teenagers and the unwelcome presence of his first wife, known only as she. Obsessed with her, our narrator, the second wife, moves through her days presided over by the all-too-real ghost of the first marriage, fantasising about how the first wife lives her life.
Papua, Peter Watt.
Two men, bitter enemies, come face to face on the battlefields of France. Jack Kelly, a captain in the Australian army, shows unexpected compassion towards his prisoner Paul Mann, a high-ranking German officer. Neither expect to see each other again. With the Great War finally over, both soldiers return home.
The wife, Meg Wolitzer.
A husband. A wife. A secret. Joe and Joan Castleman are on route to Helsinki, Joe is thinking about the prestigious literary prize he will receive and Joan is plotting how to leave him. For too long Joan has played the role of supportive wife, turning a blind eye to his misdemeanours, subjugating her own talents and quietly being the keystone of his success.
Sour heart: stories, Jenny Zhang.
These seven startling stories of family, femininity, sexuality and otherness will plunge you into the tender and chaotic hearts of narrators you won't easily forget.

Graphic novel

Jim Butcher's The Dresden files omnibus. Volume [2], Jim Butcher & Mark Powers.
John Constantine, Hellblazer. [16], The wild card, Mike Carey.
John Constantine, Hellblazer. [17], Out of season, Mike Carey.
Sex criminals. [4], Fourgy!, Matt Fraction, Chip Zdarsky.
East of West. [7], Jonathan Hickman.
Flashpoint, Geoff Johns.
Shutter. Volume 5, So far beyond, Joe Keatinge.
X-O Manowar. [Vol. 2], General, Matt Kindt, Doug Braithwaite, Diego Rodriguez.
Outcast. Volume 5, The new path, Kirkman & Azaceta.
Lone Wolf & Cub. Omnibus 11, Kazuo Koike.
Royal City. Volume 1, Next of kin, Jeff Lemire.
Overlord. 4, Kugane Maruyama.
Batman, the Dark Knight. Master race, Frank Miller & Brian Azzarello.
Providence. Act 2, Alan Moore.
Providence. Act 3, Alan Moore.
A bride's story. 9, Kaoru Mori.
Kill your boyfriend; Vimanarama, Grant Morrison.
Low. Volume 4, Outer aspects of inner attitudes, Rick Remender.
Seven to Eternity. [Vol. 2], [Ballad of betrayal], Rick Remender.
The art of the Simon and Kirby studio, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby
Nekogahara: stray cat samurai. 3, Hiroyuki Takei.
Grandville Noël: a fantasy, Bryan Talbot.
She-Hulk. [1], Deconstructed, Mariko Tamaki.
Sherlock. The blind banker, Steve Thompson
Aliens. Defiance. Volume 2, Brian Wood.

Historical

Island in the East, Jenny Ashcroft.
1897: twenty-year-old identical twins, Harriet and Mae, born from a scandalous affair, have spent their lives slighted by gossips. They've carried each other through the loneliness, believing that together they can survive anything.
Fools and mortals, Bernard Cornwell.
Fools and Mortals follows the young Richard Shakespeare, an actor struggling to make his way in a company dominated by his estranged older brother, William. As the growth of theatre blooms, their rivalry, and that of the playhouses, playwrights and actors vying for acclaim and glory, propels a high-stakes story of conflict and betrayal.
The queen's prophet, Dawn Patitucci.
Inspired by Velázquez's baroque masterpiece, Las Meninas, The Queen's Prophet is an imagined account of the dwarfess Maribarbola of Spain featured prominently in Velázquez's painting and her struggle for survival and self-determination at a time when dwarfs were kept by aristocracy as pets, prophets, and good luck charms.

Horror

Magda, S. E. England.
The dark and twisted community of Woodsend harbours a terrible secret one tracing back to the age of the Elizabethan witch hunts, when many innocent women were persecuted and hanged. But there is a far deeper vein of horror running through this village; an evil that once invoked has no intention of relinquishing its grip.
It devours!: a Welcome to Night Vale novel, Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor.
Nilanjana Sikdar is an outsider to the town of Night Vale. Working for Carlos, the town's top scientist, she relies on fact and logic as her guiding principles. But all of that is put into question when Carlos gives her a special assignment investigating a mysterious rumbling in the desert wasteland outside of town.
Devil's Day, Andrew Michael Hurley.
In the wink of an eye, as quick as a flea, The Devil he jumped from me to thee. And only when the Devil had gone, Did I know that he and I'd been one. Every autumn, John Pentecost returns to the farm where he grew up to help gather the sheep down from the moors for the winter.
The lost village, Neil Spring.
The remote village of Imber remote, lost and abandoned. The outside world hasn't been let in since soldiers forced the inhabitants out, much to their contempt. But now, a dark secret threatens all who venture near. Everyone is in danger, and only Harry Price can help.

Mystery

Deadlier: 100 of the best crime stories written by women, Chosen by Sophie Hannah.
Foreign bodies, Edited and introduced by Martin Edwards.
Today, translated crime fiction is in vogue, but this was not always the case. A century before Scandi noir, writers across Europe and beyond were publishing detective stories of high quality. Often these did not appear in English and they have been known only by a small number of experts.
All the world's a stage: the further adventures of Erast Fandorin, Boris Akunin.
Eliza Altairsky-Lointaine is the toast of Moscow society, a beautiful actress in an infamous theatre troupe. Her love life is as colourful as the parts she plays. She is the estranged wife of a descendant of Genghis Khan. And her ex-husband has threatened to kill anyone who courts her.
Little sister, Isabel Ashdown.
After sixteen years apart, sisters Jessica and Emily are reunited. With the past now behind them, the warmth they once shared quickly returns and, before long, Jess has moved into Emily's comfortable island home. Life couldn't be better.
Agatha Raisin and the witches' tree, M.C. Beaton.
Cotswolds' inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They strain to see the road ahead, and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt.
Trent intervenes: including 'The ministering angel': stories of crime, E. C. Bentley.
Twelve stories from the celebrated author of one of the most famous mystery classics ever written, Trent's Last Case. Philip Trent is an artist, a journalist, and an urbane unraveller of highly problematical crimes.
Bucket's list: a Charley Field Victorian mystery, Gary Blackwood.
December, 1853. Having found fame as the inspiration behind Inspector Bucket in Charles Dickens' recent bestselling serialization, Bleak House, former Detective Inspector Charley Field has set himself up as a private enquiry agent, so far without success.
The girl without a name, Sandra Block.
In what passes for an ordinary day in a psych ward, Dr. Zoe Goldman is stumped when a highly unusual case arrives. A young African American girl, found wandering the streets of Buffalo in a catatonic state, is brought in by police. No one has come forward to claim her, and all leads have been exhausted, so Zoe's treatment is the last hope to discover the girl's identity.
Deadly dance: a David Vogel mystery, Hilary Bonner.
The discovery of the partially-clothed body of a teenage girl in the heart of Bristol's red light district indicates a tragic yet familiar scenario. But this marks the start of a baffling murder investigation where nothing is as it first appears. Fourteen-year-old Melanie Cooke told her mother she was visiting a school friend.
The blind, A. F. Brady.
Sam James has spent years carefully crafting her reputation as the best psychologist at Typhlos, Manhattan's most challenging psychiatric institution. She believes if she can't save herself, she'll save someone else.
The hang man, Burton, Mary.
Julia Vargas is a cop with a mission. When she's not chasing down bad guys, Julia dedicates her time to investigating the Hangman serial killer; the same unsolved case that her father, Jim Vargas, was working on when he supposedly shot and killed himself three decades before.
The last move, Mary Burton.
An urgent call brings FBI agent Kate Hayden back to San Antonio, the scene of her violent past. A brutal new murder shows hallmarks of a serial killer nicknamed the Samaritan. Tricky part is, Kate already caught him. Did she make an error, or is it a copycat?
The midnight line, Lee Child.
Jack Reacher takes an aimless stroll past a pawn shop in a small Midwestern town. In the window he sees a West Point class ring from 2005. It's tiny. It's a woman cadet's graduation present to herself. Why would she give it up?
Every breath you take, Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke.
Laurie Moran's professional life is a success: her television show Under Suspicion is a hit, both in the ratings and its record of solving cold cases. But her romantic break from former host Alex Buckley has left her with on-air talent she can't stand, Ryan Nichols, and a sense of loneliness, despite her loving family.
Damaged, Martina Cole.
When the bodies of missing schoolgirls start turning up, former DCI Kate Burrows is dragged out of retirement. A new Grantley serial killer is in town and DCI Annie Carr turns to Kate for help.
Two kinds of truth, Michael Connelly.
Harry Bosch is back as a volunteer working cold cases for the San Fernando police and is called out to a local drug store where a young pharmacist has been murdered.
Something evil comes, A. J. Cross.
Dr Kate Hanson and the Unsolved Crime Unit are baffled as to motive when the body of a young man is discovered. When a body is discovered locked inside a church crypt, its throat torn out, the victim's identity is quickly established as 20-year-old Matthew Flynn, son of one of the city's leading entrepreneurs, who disappeared a year earlier.
The four horsemen, Gregory Dowling.
Tour guide Alvise Marangon thinks he knows Venice better than ever, but now finds himself ensnared by mysteries as obscure as the city and in many cases just as old. Certain that he is finally about to have his guide's license revoked after a tavern brawl, Alvise is instead dragooned into the service of Missier Grande, who has linked the death of one of his agents to a secret society known as the Four Horsemen.
Hardcore 24, Janet Evanovich.
Headless bodies have started appearing across town in Trenton, New Jersey. At first, it's just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. Then a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church. Stephanie Plum knows that she's the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.
In a cottage in a wood, Cass Green.
A strange encounter. Neve comes across a troubled woman called Isabelle on Waterloo Bridge late one night. Isabelle forces a parcel into Neve's hands and jumps to her death in the icy Thames below.
Death shall come, Simon R. Green.
Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny have been summoned to remote Cardavan House, home of the world's largest private collection of Ancient Egyptian artefacts, for the unveiling of George Cardavan's latest acquisition: a bone fide Egyptian mummy.
The vanishing box, Elly Griffiths.
Christmas 1953. Max Mephisto and his daughter Ruby are headlining Brighton Hippodrome, an achievement only slightly marred by the less-than-savoury support act: a tableau show of naked 'living statues'. This might appear to have nothing in common with DI Edgar Stephens' investigation into the death of a quiet flowerseller, but if there's one thing the old comrades have learned it's that, in Brighton, the line between art and life, and death, is all too easily blurred.
The Rooster Bar, John Grisham.
Law students Mark, Todd and Zola wanted to change the world; to make it a better place. But these days these three disillusioned friends spend a lot of time hanging out in The Rooster Bar, the place where Todd serves drinks. As third-year students, they realise they have been duped.
Beyond absolution, Cora Harrison.
Reverend Mother Aquinas must discover who murdered a much-loved priest in the third of this compelling new Irish historical mystery series. Ireland. 1925. Pierced through to the brain, the dead body of the priest was found wedged into the small, dark confessional cubicle.
Hardcastle's runaway, Graham Ison.
March, 1919. The commissioner of police at New Scotland Yard has a task for Divisional Detective Inspector Hardcastle of A Division: find Lily Musgrave, the missing daughter of Ausen Musgrave MP. Hardcastle, aided by Detective Sergeant Charles Marriott, discovers that the headstrong Lily provides risque entertainment for a number of ex-officers.
State secrets, Quintin Jardine.
Former Chief Constable Bob Skinner is long out of the police force but trouble has a habit of following him around. So it is that he finds himself in the Palace of Westminster as a shocking act befalls the nation. Hours before the Prime Minister is due to make a controversial statement, she is discovered in her office with a letter opener driven through her skull.
Mind game, Iris Johansen.
Scotland holds a treasure that Jane MacGuire has been hunting for years. But as she scours the highlands in search of it, she's plagued by dreams of a girl in danger; dreams she can't ignore no matter how hard she tries. Who is this girl, and what is she trying to tell Jane?
The Western Star, Craig Johnson.
Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of twenty-five armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive.
Killing season, Faye Kellerman.
Three years ago, fifteen-year-old Ellen Vicksburg went missing in the quiet town of River Remez, New Mexico. Ellen was kind, studious, and universally liked. Her younger brother, Ben, could imagine nothing worse than never knowing what happened to her, until, on the first anniversary of her death, he found her body in a shallow grave by the river's edge.
Survivor, Roberta Kray.
Lolly has always known her mum was different. Sometimes Angela Bruce was ill in a quiet sort of way, but other times she roamed the Mansfield estate shouting about whatever had wormed its way into her head that day. Either way, Lolly was on her own so she learned how to look after herself pretty quickly.
The burnings, Julian Lees.
When Australian Jillian Parker's scorched remains are discovered in her burnt-out car, Ruud Pujasumarta and his team are brought in to investigate what appears at first to be a routine homicide. But when Canadian citizen Anita Dalloway's charred body is found a few days later Ruud finds a banner unfurled by the corpse's feet.
Now we are dead, Stuart MacBride.
Detective Chief Inspector Roberta Steel got caught fitting up Jack Wallace that's why they demoted her and quashed his sentence. Now he's back on the streets and women are being attacked again. Wallace has to be responsible, but if Detective Sergeant Steel goes anywhere near him, his lawyers will get her thrown off the force for good.
After the fire, Henning Mankell.
Fredrik Welin is a seventy-year-old retired doctor. Years ago he retreated to the Swedish archipelago, where he lives alone on an island. He swims in the sea every day, cutting a hole in the ice if necessary. He lives a quiet life. Until he wakes up one night to find his house on fire.
Trace: a Joe Gunther novel, Archer Mayor.
The Vermont Bureau of Investigation (VBI) has been pulled onto three cases at the same time; meanwhile, VBI head Joe Gunther has to take time off to care for his ailing mother. Those cases are now in the hands of the individual investigators. Sammie Martens is assigned a murder case.
The unquiet grave: a novel, Sharyn McCrumb.
Lakin, West Virginia, 1930. Following a suicide attempt and consigned to a segregated insane asylum, attorney James P. D. Gardner finds himself under the care of Dr. James Boozer. Fresh out of medical school, Dr. Boozer is eager to try the new talking cure for insanity, and encourages his elderly patient to reminisce about his experiences as the first black attorney to practice law in nineteenth-century West Virginia.
Without a word, Kate McQuaile.
Lillian had phoned telling her to get Skype up and running. 'I have so much to tell you.' Then, the knock on the door. 'Sorry Orla, I'd better see who it is' she said. Orla waited. Seconds became minutes. She didn't know how long she waited before she realised that something terrible had happened.
The soldier's curse, Meg and Tom Keneally.
In the Port Macquarie penal settlement for second offenders, at the edge of the known world, gentleman convict Hugh Monsarrat hungers for freedom. Originally transported for forging documents passing himself off as a lawyer, he is now the trusted clerk of the settlement's commandant.
Apostle Lodge, Paul Mendelson.
Apostle Lodge looks out over the ocean, an award-winning mansion built by a renowned architect. Stark and minimal, its black opaque windows hide a terrible secret. As Colonel Vaughn De Vries investigates the depraved crime committed within its walls, he believes there may be more than one killer on the loose.
Portrait of a murderer: a Christmas crime story, Anne Meredith.
Adrian Gray was born in May 1862 and met his death through violence, at the hands of one of his own children, at Christmas, 1931. Thus begins a classic crime novel published in 1933, a riveting portrait of the psychology of a murderer. Each December, Adrian Gray invites his extended family to stay at his lonely house, Kings Poplars.
The redeemer, Jo Nesbo.
It is a freezing December night and Christmas shoppers have gathered to listen to a carol concert. Then a shot rings out and one of the singers falls to the floor, dead. Detective Harry Hole and his team are called in to investigate but have little to work with; there is no immediate suspect, no weapon and no motive.
The darkest day, Håkan Nesser.
It's December in the quiet Swedish town of Kymlinge, and the Hermansson family are gathering to celebrate father Karl-Erik and eldest daughter Ebba's joint landmark birthdays. But beneath the guise of happy festivities, tensions are running high, and it's not long before the night takes a dark and unexpected turn.
The people vs. Alex Cross, James Patterson.
Alex Cross has never been on the wrong side of the law, until now. Charged with gunning down followers of his nemesis Gary Soneji in cold blood, Cross is being turned into the poster child for trigger-happy cops who think they're above the law. Cross knows it was self-defence.
A Christmas return, Anne Perry.
As Charlotte Pitt's grandmother Mariah Ellison finds herself investigating a long-unsolved slaying, it becomes clear that grappling with intrigue and foul play runs in the family. A festive Christmas package left on Mariah's doorstep contains an ominous present, sparking memories of a twenty-year-old murder that shattered her friendship with the victim's widow.
Somebody at the door, Raymond Postgate.
In the winter of 1942, England lies cold and dark in the wartime blackout. One bleak evening, Councillor Grayling steps off the 6.12 from Euston, carrying GBP120 in cash, and oblivious to the fate that awaits him in the snow-covered suburbs.
The stranger, Melanie Raabe.
She doesn't know him. But he knows everything about her. Philip Petersen, a wealthy businessman, disappears without trace on a trip to South America. His wife, Sarah, is left to bring up their son on her own. Seven years later, out of the blue, Sarah receives news that Philip is still alive.
Chord of evil, Sarah Rayne.
A mysterious 1940s' portrait leads researcher Phineas Fox to uncover a devastating wartime secret in this chilling novel of suspense. Phineas Fox finds it impossible to refuse when his sport-loving neighbour Toby begs for his help in finding out what's happened to his cousin Arabella, who seems to have disappeared without trace.
Death at breakfast, John Rhode.
Victor Harleston awoke with uncharacteristic optimism. Today he would be rich at last. Half an hour later, he gulped down his breakfast coffee and pitched to the floor, gasping and twitching. When the doctor arrived, he recognised instantly that it was a fatal case of poisoning and called in Scotland Yard.
Edge of darkness, Karen Rose.
Homicide detective Adam Kimble is no stranger to battling demons. But Meredith Fallon is a different kind of weakness: one that could actually be good for him, if only he would let himself depend on her.
The student, Iain Ryan.
Do bad people look like good people, like friends and brothers and boyfriends and students, until they have their hands around your throat? All of these men standing around me, drinks in hand, backs to this screen smiling, laughing, flirting, and they look harmless.
Deep freeze, John Sandford.
Class reunions: a time for memories; good, bad, and, as Virgil Flowers is about to find out, deadly. Virgil knows the town of Trippton, Minnesota, a little too well. A few years back, he investigated the corrupt, and as it turned out, homicidal, local school board, and now the town's back in view with more alarming news: A woman's been found dead, frozen in a block of ice.
The last best friend, George Sims.
At 2pm on a Monday in 1966, Ned Balfour wakes in Corsica beside a beautiful woman. In the same instant, back in London, fellow art dealer and Dachau survivor Sam Weiss falls ten stories to his death.
The hit, Anna Smith.
Rosie Gilmour is hot on the trail of a ring of baby-sellers and people-traffickers. The problem is, her main suspect is a dead man. Or is he? A money-laundering accountant disappears in Romania. The hitman hired to disappear him is found dead in a Glasgow flat.
A casualty of war: a Bess Crawford mystery, Charles Todd.
Caring for an unstable soldier who believes his distant cousin is responsible for his injuries, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford investigates the patient's claims, only to find herself in unexpected danger.
Defender, G X Todd.
On the cusp of sleep, have we not all heard a voice call out our name? In a world where long drinks are in short supply, a stranger listens to the voice in his head telling him to buy a lemonade from the girl sitting on a dusty road. The moment locks them together.
And the fire came down, Emma Viskic.
Deaf since early childhood, Caleb Zelic is used to meeting life head-on. Now, he is struggling just to get through the day. His best mate is dead, his ex-wife, Kat, is avoiding him, and nightmares haunt his waking hours. But when a young woman is killed, after pleading for his help in sign language, Caleb is determined to find out who she was.
Trust me, Zosia Wand.
Who can you trust if you can't trust yourself? Lizzie lives in the Lake District with her partner, Jonty, and his teenage son, Sam. Though she's only ten years older than her stepson, somehow their set-up works. They're a unit, a family. But now Sam has become sullen and withdrawn, aggressive even, and Lizzie's sure something sinister is going on.
The other woman, Laura Wilson.
Shortly after Christmas, a message arrives at Sophie's house, scrawled across her own round robin newsletter: "He's going to leave you. Let's see how smug you are then, you stupid bitch". Perhaps she should ignore it, but she ignored the last one. And the one before that. Now it's time to take action.
Look for her, Emily Winslow.
Annalise Wood has haunted the town of Lilling near Cambridge for decades. She went missing in 1976 and while her body was found years later, her name and memory have been etched into the community. One girl who is especially interested in the case is Annalise Williams who believes that sharing a name with the dead girl has created a connection between them.
Quick & dirty, Stuart Woods.
When a slam-bang of a crime brings a beautiful new client into Stone Barrington's office, little does he know his association with her will pull him into a far more serpentine mystery in the exclusive world of art. It's a business where a rare find could make a career, and a collection, and mistakes in judgment are costly.

Romance

A Christmas miracle, Amy Andrews.
The family she's longed for, Lucy Clark.
Bound by the millionaire's ring, Dani Collins.
Undone by the billionaire duke, Caitlin Crews.
A spy's devotion, Melanie Dickerson.
Billionaire's baby bind, Katherine Garbera.
The sheikh's pregnant bride, Jessica Gilmore.
A proposal from the Italian count, Lucy Gordon.
Claimed for the Leonelli legacy, Lynn Graham.
Reunited with her surgeon prince, Marion Lennox.
A firefighter in her stocking, Janice Lynn.
Falling for her fake fiance, Sue MacKay.
Billionaire boss, holiday baby, Janice Maynard.
The tycoon's marriage deal, Melanie Milburne.
Claiming his secret royal heir, Nina Milne.
War flower, Mary-Anne O'Connor.
The virgin's shock baby, Heidi Rice.
Sleigh ride with the single dad, Alison Roberts.
Buying his bride of convenience, Michelle Smart.
Between the vines, Tricia Stringer.
The Shark Club, Ann Kidd Taylor.
His majesty's temporary bride, Annie West.
Whisked away by her Sicilian boss, Rebecca Winters.
The Italian's pregnant prisoner, Maisey Yates.

Saga

Plough the furrow, Margaret Dickinson.
Lincolnshire, 1910. Shunned by her own family, desperate for work and a place to stay, Esther Everatt walks through the night to Sam Brumby's farm, seeking the chance to earn her keep. Reluctantly, the old man takes her on.
Reap the harvest, Margaret Dickinson.
Following the disastrous floods of 1953, Ella Hilton is compelled to live at Brumbys' Farm with her grandmother, Esther, and is soon acutely aware of the mysterious surrounding her family's past. As Ella grows up and falls in love herself, the story of three generations of women, Esther, Kate and Ella, comes full circle and history seems destined to repeat itself in tragedy.
Sow the seed, Margaret Dickinson.
Lincolnshire, 1926. Kate Hilton is devastated when her mother tells her she is to be sent away to boarding school. For the more Esther tries to keep her from her childhood sweetheart Danny, the more determined she is to marry him.
The red coast, Di Morrissey.
After the upheaval which separated Jacqui Bouchard from her beloved son, she has finally settled in Broome, a magical remote town on the northwest coast of Australia. But when a proposed mining development is unveiled, the town begins to tear itself apart.
The pearl sister: CeCe's story, Lucinda Riley.
CeCe D'Aplièse has never felt she fitted in anywhere. Following the death of her father, the elusive billionaire Pa Salt, so-called by the six daughters he adopted from around the globe and named after the Seven Sisters star cluster, she finds herself at breaking point.
A question of trust, Penny Vincenzi.
In 1950s London, Tom Knelston is charismatic, charming, with a passion for politics and reform. He is a man with ambition and someone to watch. His wife Alice, a former nurse, shares his ideals. It seems they are the perfect match.

Science fiction

Secondborn, Amy A. Bartol.
On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode's eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she's to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.
Children of the fleet: Fleet School, Orson Scott Card.
The story of the Fleet in space, parallel to the story on Earth, told during the time that Peter Wiggin and Bean are consolidating the Hegemony on Earth. The terraformed Formic worlds are open to settlement by humans, and the International Fleet becomes the arm of the Ministry of Colonization, run by Hirum Graff.
Forbidden suns, D. Nolan Clark.
In the cold of space, the fire of revenge still burns. Aleister Lanoe has been on a mission since before he can remember. Honing his skills as a fighter pilot and commander through three centuries of constant warfare, he has never met a foe he cannot best.
2023: a trilogy, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.
Well we're back again, they never kicked us out, twenty thousand years of Shout Shout Shout. Down through the epochs and out across the continents, generation upon generation of the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu have told variants of the same story an end of days story, a final chapter story.
Emergence, Ken MacLeod.
The enemy is out in the open. The Reaction has seized control of a resource-rich moon. Now it's enslaving conscious robots and luring the Corporations into lucrative deals. Taransay is out in the jungle. Her friends are inside a smart boulder on the slope of an active volcano.
Austral, Paul McAuley.
The great geoengineering projects have failed. The world is still warming, sea levels are still rising, and the Antarctic Peninsula is home to Earth's newest nation, with life quickened by ecopoets spreading across valleys and fjords exposed by the retreat of the ice.
A man of shadows: a Nyquist mystery, Jeff Noon.
Below the neon skies of Dayzone where the lights never go out, and night has been banished - lowly private eye John Nyquist takes on a teenage runaway case. His quest takes him from Dayzone into the permanent dark of Nocturna.
Pariah, Jamie Sawyer.
The soldiers of the Simulant Operations Programme are mankind's elite warriors. Veterans of a thousand battles across a hundred worlds, they undertake suicidal missions to protect humanity from the insidious Krell Empire and the mysterious machine race known as the Shard.
The sea peoples: a novel of the Change, S. M. Stirling.
The spirit of troubadour Prince John, the brother of Crown Princess Órlaith, has fallen captive to the power of the Yellow Raja and his servant, the Pallid Mask. Prince John's motley band of friends and followers, headed by Captain Pip of Townsville and Deor Godulfson, must lead a quest through realms of shadow and dreams to rescue Prince John from a threat far worse than death.

WESTERN

Long rider, Colin Bainbridge.
Death on the Bozeman, Paul Bedford.
The dead, the dying and the damned, Matt Cole.
Blood feud, Bill Grant.
Legacy of a gunfighter, Terry James.
Hunting Harker, Greg Mitchell.
Spanish gold fever, Bill Sheehy.
A dark dawn in Texas, Richard Smith.
The Holmbury County Seat war, K. S. Stanley.
Lightning strike, Brent Towns.