Suspense

Book Review : The White Lady

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It’s 1947 and Rose and her husband Jim Mackie flee to the quiet country English village of Kent with their three-year-old daughter Susie, in search of a life away from London and Jim’s family of ne’er-do-wells. When they are offered work and a place to live by a local couple, Rose thinks they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

A war-weary 41-year-old, former government operative, Elinor White is also looking to live out her days peacefully in Kent. Upon meeting newcomers, Elinor makes it her business to know their business. When she learns that the Mackie brothers have visited, threatening Rose and Susie if Jim doesn’t return to assist with their next big job, Elinor decides that violence against women and children just won’t do. Coming out of hiding, Elinor vows that she will protect the young family and uses her Home Office connections in to attempt to take on the dangerous and powerful London Mackies. Unfortunately, she may get more than she bargains for when events from her own past catch up to her along the way.

The White Lady by Jacqueline Winspear is a departure from her beloved Maisie Dobbs’ series. This mystery introduces readers to a deeply affected and damaged, yet likeable and intelligent character in Elinor White, a woman who began a life in espionage while still a teen in Belgium and who is conflicted about her need to commit violence in order to protect others.

Told through alternating time lines, The White Lady is emotional and suspenseful, well-researched historical fiction with plenty of twists that will keep you turning its pages. While the author has said this book is not the start a new series, this reader is left wishing for a bit more time spent with the fascinating Miss White.

Don’t believe me; investigate on your own! Place your hold on The White Lady today and see what you think.

-Carol

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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Here some of the new exciting releases for you to take a look at this week!

IDENTITY

A woman discovers her apartment broken into and her roommate dead after meeting a cold-hearted con artist at the bar where she works in the new novel from the number-one best-selling author of more than 230 novels.

LIAR!

Justice seekers who always have each other’s backs, siblings Luna and her brother Cullen set out to unravel a cold case connected to a mysterious armoire.

ROGUE JUSTICE

Asked by a fellow law clerk to look into his boss’s death, Supreme Court clerk Avery Keene, after another shocking murder, is led to a list of names – all judges on the FISA Court, also known as America’s “secret court” – and must race the clock to stop an unprecedented national crisis.

THE SENATOR’S WIFE

Hiring a health aide to give her the support and independence she needs after hip replacement surgery, DC philanthropist and Senator’s wife Sloane Chase, as weeks go by and she becomes sicker, suspects her seemingly perfect employee is plotting to steal her husband, her reputation and even her life.

FLASH POINT

To stop an unseen enemy from destroying the Campus, Jack Ryan Jr. is led to the South China Sea where he, after a midair collision serves as a flash point, must put the pieces of a conspiracy together to stop the world’s two remaining super powers from going to war.

SUMMER STAGE

Working together to ensure their summer production at a storied Block Island theater is a success, former aspiring playwright Amy Trevino, her daughter Sam and her brother, a well-loved Hollywood actor, must grapple with their desires for fame and fortune and discover what they really want out of life.

THE POISONER’S RING

In 1869 Edinburgh, modern-day homicide detective Mallory Atkinson, adjusting to her new life in Victorian Scotland as an undertaker’s assistant to Dr. Duncan Gray, investigates the case of a serial poisoner targeting men, and all signs point to the grieving widows, the latest of which is Gray’s older sister.

BRAVE THE WILD RIVER

The story of two pioneering female botanists and their historic 1938 boat trip down the Colorado River which led them to be the first to survey and catalog the plant life of the Grand Canyon.

I AM AYAH: THE WAY HOME

Shielding herself from the world behind the safety of her camera lens, photographer Ayah Fleming is pulled into the past when she returns home and uncovers the truth about her descendants with the help of a man who makes her long for a brighter future.

~Semanur

Book Review: Coronation Year

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It’s January of 1953 and in six months, Queen Elizabeth II will be crowned monarch. All hope to be witnesses. The 400-year-old Blue Lion Hotel is lucky to be on the route Her Majesty will be taking that day – especially since the hotel, left to Edie Howard by her parents who died in WWII, has been struggling financially for years. Edie’s greatest wish is that the celebration will help the hotel regain solvency.

As the months pass, the hotel begins to fill. New guests include James Geddes, a Scottish artist with Indian heritage hired to create a painting of the procession, and Stella Donati, a Holocaust survivor and photographer from Rome. The two, who face mistreatment as foreigners, quickly bond with the kind and generous Edie. And, when it becomes clear that someone is out to sabotage the success of the Blue Lion, Edie will be happy she has such good friends by her side.

Coronation Year by Jennifer Robson is an absorbing read –uplifting, well-researched historical fiction that mixes suspenseful drama with a bit of a mystery and romance. Post-war London comes to life, as realistic and likeable characters who lost everything during the war, learn to live and love again. Coronation Year is the perfect novel for those who couldn’t stop watching this weekend’s coronation of Charles III, or for anyone looking for a lovely story.

-Carol

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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In this week’s special picks there are new exciting detective, mystery, suspense, and many more genres for you to choose from! Enjoy!

The 23rd Midnight

When an obsessed maniac turns serial killer Evan Burke’s true-crime story into a playbook, adding some of his own gruesome touches, Detective Lindsay Boxer, who put Burke in jail, tracks this elusive suspect, who is determined to put an end to the Murder Club permanently.

The Wedding Planner

Signing up for several lavish affairs, in addition to her mother’s next marriage and her twin sister’s modest ceremony, wildly successful wedding planner Faith Ferguson grapples with private quarrels, unplanned pregnancies, family scandals, dark secrets and almost cancelled ceremonies, proving that there is more than one path to happily ever after.

The Bride Wore White

When she is kidnapped, drugged and wakes up in a bloodstained wedding dress next to a dead man, psychic Prudence Ryland, framed for murder, knows who the real killer is and finds an unexpected ally in Jack Wingate, a crime boss’s associate, who is the only one who believes her.

All the Days of Summer

A divorced empty-nester moves into a cottage on Nantucket and is irritated when her adult son arrives with his serious girlfriend and the two women must learn to overcome their differences to achieve the future they want.

The Half Moon

Longtime bartender Malcolm Gephardt realizes his dream of owning a bar, while his wife Jess, a lawyer struggling with fertility issues, wonders how to reshape her life, in a novel told over the course of one tumultuous week, laying bare the complexities of marriage, family, longing and desire.

Meet Me at the Lake

In desperate need of a lifeline, 32-year-old Fern Brookbanks finds it in the form of Will Baxter, who rescued her nine years ago, and, believing he is hiding something, but knowing he’s the only one who understands what she’s going through, wonders if she can do the same for him.

The Ferryman

A ferryman, gently shepherding people through the retirement process and, when necessary, enforcing it Proctor Bennet, of the Department of Social Contracts, receives a disturbing and cryptic message from his father, while The Support Staff, who keep Prospera running, organize a revolution that causes Proctor to question everything he once believed.

~Semanur

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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There are tons of new releases that come to our shelves every week. Here are some books we picked out for you!

Things I Wish I Told My Mother

When Laurie, a nomadic artist, surprises her mother, an elegant perfectionist, with a dream vacation to Paris, which brings an unexpected sparkle to her eyes, mother and daughter unpack a lifetime of secrets and hopes in the City of Light.

Dark Angel

Letty Davenport and her reluctant partner from the NSA infiltrate a hacker group called Ordinary People and discover someone within their circle has betrayed them and put them in danger, in the second novel of the series following The Investigator.

My Heart Will Find You

While caring for an elderly man during the pandemic, Etta Wilmont, every time she falls asleep, passes through the past and the present, discovering she has the power to make the lives of others better – and the chance to find a love to last a lifetime.

The Only Survivors

When a group of classmates reunite to mark the tenth anniversary of a terrible accident, one of the survivors disappears, casting fear and suspicion on the remaining individuals, and on the original tragedy itself.

The Trackers

Commissioned to create a mural representing Dawes, Wyoming, for their new Post Office, Val Welch, a painter in Depression-era America, stays with a wealthy art lover, his wife and a mysterious elder cowboy where he turns up secrets that could spark formidable changes for all of them.

The Fourth Enemy

While trying to prove Malcolm Vayne, a beloved philanthropist, is guilty of fraud, prosecutor Daniel Pitt must rescue his wife, a forensic scientist who has been kidnapped by one of Vayne’s crazed supporters, putting their lives and the case in danger.

The Seaside Library

Returning to touristy beach town where they grew up together, Ivy and Ariana, when a woman goes missing, find the circumstances similar to a crime from their childhood, placing them in a terrible situation since the person that may be responsible is the same one they lied for years ago.

Standing in the Shadows

In 1980, Nick Hartley, the prime suspect in the murder of his ex-girlfriend, sets out to find the truth, leading him down a dangerous path, while in 2019, Detective Superintendent Alan Banks and his team are called in to investigate skeletal remains and must hunt down a killer.

~Semanur

What We’re Reading Now

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Maame by Jessica George

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Jessica George’s Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong. Linnea 

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins 

 A strange, twisting novel that resists being pigeonholed into one genre. At its simplest, this is the tale of a girl and her adopted siblings trying to find their missing father. A little bit of horror, fantasy, and science fiction are mixed with metaphysical, philosophical ponderings for a truly excellent, one-of-a-kind reading experience. Shannon 

Looking for the Hidden Folk by Nancy Brown

Part memoir, part travelog, part call for conservation, part investigation into the study of belief on a material, spiritual, and conceptual level, Looking for the Hidden Folk is a book that defies sitting in a single genre. Author Nancy Marie Brown share her decades long love of Iceland by giving a historical and literal background along with her own travels and multiple visits. All of this is centered around the belief in elves. Brown takes multiple approaches to this topic but doesn’t offer a solid answer to emerge. This becomes a strength for the book, allowing readers to make their own decision or to maintain a solid position of ambiguity. A great read for someone who has visited/will visit Iceland. Greg 

 


Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey 

Vera Crowder always loved the house her father built. But the Crowder house was created to hide the secret life of a serial killer. Vera just happened to call him Dad. When her estranged mother Daphne calls to tell her she’s dying, Vera ends up back at the house where it all began. Now a twisted tourist attraction, the house has two occupants: Daphne and Duvall, an artist capitalizing on the family’s dark history. As Daphne packs up the place she once called home, she revisits the haunting moments shared inside the walls. This twisty horror novel gives new meaning to the phrase “home is where the heart is.” Melinda 

 


The Golden Spoon by Jessica Maxwell 

It’s the 10th season of Bake Week and six new amateur bakers have been selected to compete for The Golden Spoon. As before, they’ll gather under a big white tent in the mountains of Vermont on the grounds of Grafton Manor, family estate of legendary baker and host of the competition, Betsy Martin. Surprised by the addition of a co-host, supposedly to bring in younger viewers, Betsy is unhappy with how the season is going long before murder is committed. Quirky characters, fun pop culture references, and a few surprising plot twists, keep the pages turning. Readers who enjoy The Great British Bake Off and classic closed room mysteries should pick this one up asap! Stacey 

The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

I loved Sarah Penner’s book The Lost Apothecary so I am eager to crack open her latest The London Séance Society. It opens in 1873, where the unlikely pair of Vaudeline D’Allaire, a renowned spiritualist, and Lenna Wickes, a woman investigating her sister’s death, team up with the powerful men of London’s exclusive Séance Society to solve a high-profile murder. It’s sure to be a spooky and suspenseful read. Carol 

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The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels: In 1986, Brian, a gay man who has spent the last six years in NYC, comes home to Ohio. The story is about reconciliation, grief, acceptance, and home. 

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A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark: In 1912, Agent Fatma of the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, along with her girlfriend, Siti, must solve the murders of a secret brotherhood. The suspected murderer is Al-Jahiz, who opened the veil between the mystical and earthly realms 50 years ago and is now vowing to destroy the world because of it’s social oppressions. 

Scorched Grace by Margot Douaihy: Saint Sebastian’s School is targeted by a serial arson and it’s up to Sister Holiday, of the Sisters of the Sublime Blood, to solve the case. This punk rocker nun must do all of this while confronting her checkered past and not get caught smoking…. Christine 

Exalted by Anna Dorn

Emily, a jaded Instagram astrologer, becomes obsessed with a client after reading his “perfect” birth chart.  She pursues him romantically, with terrible consequences. In a parallel narrative, Dawn’s decades of unhinged dating behavior turn into a reputation that increasingly precedes her.  Nobody is who they want you to think they are in this dark satire about image, excuses, and taking all the bad advice we can get.  Annelise 

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

A psychological thriller about a desperate mother, Isabelle Drake, who’s son Mason has been missing for a year, taken from his crib while he was sleeping, and the case has never been solved. She hasn’t slept for more than minutes at a time since her son went missing, and she is beginning to lose her grip on reality and to wonder what really happened that night. Her marriage has fallen apart and a true-crime podcaster has come to town offering to interview her and help bring publicity to the case. However, Isabelle has secrets in her past that may not stand up to the scrutiny of a podcast. Isabelle is desperate to know what happened to Mason, but will her deepest fears be true? Sara

New Books Tuesday @ RRPL

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There are many exciting new book releases coming and you don’t want to miss it…

ON THE LINE by Fern Michaels

Undergoing a series of genetic tests to learn the cause of his sudden illness, rising star chef Mateo Castillo discovers his results threatening to uncover a dark secret that will expose his family to dangers in the past, while clouding the investigation into who is trying to hurt him in the present.

HANG THE MOON by Jeannette Walls

After encouraging her younger step-brother to participate in daredevil activities leads to an accident, Sallie Kincaid is cast out of her family, in the new novel from the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Glass Castle.

HER DEADLY GAME by Robert Dugoni

After a failed romance with a coworker, a Seattle prosecutor must return home to her family’s failing law firm to work for her father until she accepts a high profile case in which the prosecutor is her ex.

HISS & TELL by Rita Mae Brown

Harry, Susan and Fair investigate the suspicious deaths of three people found in Crozet with a deadly drug in their systems with the help of their feline sidekicks in the latest addition to the long-running series following Claws for Alarm.

THE PERFUMIST OF PARIS by Alka Joshi

In 1974, Paris perfumer Radha, on the cusp of a breakthrough, travels to India where she enlists the help of her sister and the courtesans of Agra, who use the power of fragrance to seduce, while finally confronting a past secret, which threatens her already vulnerable marriage.

LOYALTY by Lisa Scottoline

Set during the rise of the Mafia in 19th-century Sicily, this epic story of good vs evil follows four individuals a desperate lemon grower; an idealistic lawyer with a secret life; a new mother; and a reclusive goatherd under constant threat of being discovered as a Jews as their lives collide.

LOVE, HONOR, BETRAY by Mary Monroe

With their sham of a marriage in danger, Jessie and Hubert Wiggins, desperately trying to maintain their devout facade and respectable standing, must decide whether or not to reveal the person who might be behind the serial murders plaguing their town, which would risk their own web of lies being exposed.

~Semanur

Book Review: Exiles by Jane Harper

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It’s been a year since Kim Gillespie disappeared without a trace from a local festival in South Australia wine country’s Marralee Valley and the trail has run cold. The local police assume the woman walked away from her newborn baby daughter’s stroller before meeting with foul play.

Detective Aaron Falk was visiting friends Greg and Rita Raco at the time Kim disappeared, and a year later, he is in town again to celebrate the christening of their new son. Kim’s family – also relations of the Racos – are using the festival and gathering to reignite the search.

Aaron is drawn to life in Maralee Valley and its close-knit community, its beautiful landscape, and one local woman in particular. Kim’s friend Gemma Tozer has caught Aaron’s interest, but Gemma is still raw, having lost her own husband in a drunken hit and run accident whose driver was never found. As Aaron learns more about the intricacies of Kim Gillespie’s life, he uncovers fractured relationships with her one-time best friends — a group he suspects might be hiding something. Could the two unsolved crimes somehow be connected?

Exiles is a slow-burning mystery with excellent character development, a gorgeous setting and an oh-so-satisfying ending. Exiles is the third (and sadly, final) entry in Jane Harper’s expertly plotted Aaron Falk series. While it can be read on its own, for maximum enjoyment, start with The Dry, which introduces Falk, and follow his emotional character journey from its beginning.

-Carol