Good Reads & Views

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
FIC Niffenegger

Henry is a chrono-displaced person. He suddenly finds himself in a past or future time in his life, and he has no idea how he got there or how he can get back to the present. He appears and reappears to his future wife when she is just a young girl. He even has the ability to meet himself at a different time in his life. His condition lends him certain privileges in seeing the future, but has its drawbacks as well. Henry’s wife, Clare, is constantly left behind to worry as Henry travels throughout time. A fascinating time-travel love story.

The Shanghai Tunnel by Sharan Newman
FIC Newman

Newman, known for her historical accuracy introduces a new character into 1860s Portland Oregon, in this departure from her Catherine LaVendeur series. Emily Stratton, the daughter of missionaries in China, is in San Francisco when her ship-captain husband dies. She accompanies his body back to the young town of Portland, and tries to make a home there. When she investigates her husband's suspect business practices, someone wants her to stop. She must find out who to save her new life and her son. Will appeal to readers of Dianne Day and Laurie R. King.

Music To Die For by Radine Trees Nehring
FIC Nehring

In her second "To die for" mystery, Nehring's sleuth, Carrie McCrite's weekend getaway turns into a tale of kidnapping, murder, arson, and family secrets. The story, set in the Arkansas Ozarks, comes alive with the author's insights into the area's culture and unique residents.

Jazz: A Novel by Toni Morrison
FIC Morrison

  Toni Morrison, was the first African American woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Jazz, written in 1992, tells the story about a married couple, the Traces, who are forced to confront their past misdeeds. Critics have described JAZZ as being “the most effective in its bluesy evocation of New York in the 1920’s” Snap your fingers when you read this fascinating book!

Shades of Blue by Bill Moody
FIC Moody

This is a mystery for jazz aficionados!  Moody is a professional jazz drummer in the San Francisco Bay area who teaches creative writing at Sonoma State University.  His series of mysteries featuring jazz pianist Evan Horne started with Solo Hand (1994) and Death of a Tenor Man (1995), with Horne drawn into investigations about the deaths of fellow musicians during a period when an injury to his arm forced a temporary hiatus to performing.  The fifth in the series, Looking for Chet Baker (2002), has Horne recuperated and performing in Amsterdam, where he is drawn into a search for a missing fictional musicologist who was researching the mysterious death of real-life blues trumpeter Chet Baker, who fell from a hotel window in Amsterdam in 1988.  Shades of Blue, the sixth in the series, has Horne being invited to record with a legendary drummer in New York City, while trying to resolve questions about the property in Hollywood Hills that he unexpectedly inherited from a supposed friend.  Much of the interest for some of us comes from the inside view of the life of a jazz musician.

The Zero Game by Brad Meltzer
FIC Mel

This suspenseful page-turner, already sold to Universal Pictures and earmarked for the director of Seabiscuit, concerns two thirty-something congressional aides who join a seemingly innocent, insiders’ wagering game in an effort to ameliorate boredom from their positions. Of course, nothing is as innocuous as presumed, and they trigger a vicious killer’s wrath that leads them on a cat-and-mouse chase to uncover secrets deep beneath the Dakota hills in an abandoned gold mine. Also by this author: The Millionaires, The First Counsel. Similar Fiction: Absolute Power and Total Control by David Baldacci.

The People’s Act of Love by James Meek
FIC Meek

Set in a remote Siberian village called Yasyk in 1919 during the Russian Revolution, this is an unusual and absorbing story based partly on historical events. Protagonists include Samarin, a former student and revolutionary who claims to have been taken along in an escape from a far northern prison camp without knowing that he was intended as a “pig” to be eaten when food was gone during the long walk to civilization; Matula, the commander of the remnants of a Czech Legion in Yasyk fighting on the side of the Tsar against the Reds; Anna Petrovna, the beautiful “widow” of a former hussar officer who turned religious fanatic and spiritual leader of a group of communal castrates who believed that they had become angels by burning the “keys to hell”; and Mutz, a subordinate Czech officer who saved Matula’s life in a battle but who loves Anna and is repelled by Matula’s escalating brutality.

How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed
FIC Medwed

The delightful tales of a 30-something woman named Abby, who comes into her inheritance: a chamber pot. When it turns out to be a priceless relic once owned by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Abby’s conniving stepsister attempts to claim ownership. Then Abby’s first true love, whose betrayal overwhelmed her some years before, returns to town. Throughout it all, Abby’s a fun person to spend time with. Recommended for fans of Elinor Lipman, Christina Bartolomeo, and Rita Ciresi.

Cereal Killer by G.A. McKevett
FIC McKevett

When two beautiful and successful plus-size fashion models die in what seem to be accidents, it's just all too coincidental for private investigator, Swannah Reid. There are plenty of suspects and Swannah is determined to find the killer, even if it means posing as a model herself. A tasty addition to this McKevett series.

Tularosa by Michael McGarrity
MYS McGarrity

Kevin Kerney was chief of detectives for the Santa Fe police department until his partner botched an arrest, which left Kerney’s knee permanently injured. Since leaving the police force, Kerney has kept to himself – until his former partner’s son goes AWOL from the Air Force, which draws Kerney back into work as an investigator. The first novel in this fine mystery series, whose New Mexico setting is lovingly evoked.