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The Private Patient by P.D. James
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Publisher: Knopf Canada Pub Date: Sep 16, 2008 ISBN-10: 0307397785 ISBN-13: 978-0307397782 Mystery
Check AvailabilityWhen the notorious investigative journalist, Rhoda Gradwyn, books into
Mr. Chandler-Powell's private clinic in Dorset for the removal of a
disfiguring, long-standing facial scar, she has every prospect of a
successful operation by a distinguished surgeon, a week's peaceful
convalescence in one of Dorset's most beautiful manor houses and the
beginning of a new life. She will never leave Cheverell Manor alive.
When Adam Dalgliesh and his team are called in to investigate the
murder - and a second death occurs - even more complicated problems
than the question of innocence or guilt arise. |
The Sorceress of Belmair by Bertrice Small
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Publisher: HQN Books
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
ISBN-10: 0373772955
ISBN-13: 978-0373772957
Romance
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Cinnia, sorceress of Belmair, expected to claim her rightful place as
ruler, not as the wife of a stranger chosen by Belmair's magical
guardian. But the enchantment that seals a marriage of power and
greatness soothes her wounded pride, allowing her to use her magical
gift to uncover the darkest secret of a bright planet whose young women
are inexplicably disappearing.
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Icing on the Cake by Laura Castoro
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Publisher: Mira Publication Date: January 1, 2007 ISBN-10: 0778324133 ISBN-13: 978-0778324133 Chick Lit
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When Liz Talbot's husband left her for a woman half her age, Liz put
all her passions into her bakery. The problem is that fad diets and
fitness crazes are ruining sales and she's barely staying afloat. Liz's
luck seems to be changing when her ex dies without changing his will,
leaving her the main beneficiary. Unfortunately one of the things she
inherits is the advertising agency she left behind to pursue her dream
of baking. Her partner? The newly widowed husband stealer--Brandi, with
a heart over the i.
As the new co-owner of Talbot Advertising, in the toilet since the
death of her ex (that's right, she's now the proprietor of two failing
businesses), Liz is more determined than ever to break out and make a
name for herself as an artisan baker extraordinaire, providing her
products can catch the eye of the Nabisco Food scout who is as elusive
as he is mysterious.
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Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante
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Publisher: Touchstone Publication Date: July 3, 2007 ISBN-10: 1416532196 ISBN-13: 978-1416532194 Mystery / Thriller
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Detective Inspector Anna Travis hasn't worked with DCI James Langton
since they teamed up to find a serial killer more than a year earlier.
At that time they had a brief fling and parted company unhappily when
Langton wouldn't commit to a long-term relationship. When they're
thrown together again on a murder case, Anna finds herself reattracted
to Langton but vows to keep her feelings hidden. Given the nonstop
demands of the case, that's not as difficult as she feared. The body of
a beautiful young woman is found, cut in half and drained of blood. The
autopsy reveals that the victim was tortured and brutalized before she
died, and even the hardened cops on the case are shocked. With the
killer still at large, comparisons are quickly made to the never-solved
Black Dahlia murder in Los Angeles 50 years earlier, prompting the "Red
Dahlia" moniker. When the case finally breaks open, it's the stuff of
nightmares. |
The Best Laid Plans by Terry Fallis
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Publisher: Emblem Editions Publication Date: September 5, 2008 ISBN-10: 0771047584 ISBN-13: 978-0771047589 Literary Fiction / Political Satire
Check AvailabilityThis book beat out work by Douglas Coupland and Will Ferguson to win the Stephen Leacock Award because
it is very, very good - a terrific Canadian political satire. Here's
the set up: A burnt-out politcal aide quits just before an election -
but is forced to run a hopeless campaign on the way out. He makes a
deal with a crusty old Scot, Angus McLintock - an engineering professor
who will do anything, anything, to avoid teaching English to
engineers - to let his name stand in the election. No need to campaign,
certain to lose, and so on. Then a great scandal blows away his
opponent, and to their horror, Angus is elected. He decides to see what
good an honest M.P. who doesn't care about being re-elected can do in
Parliament. The results are hilarious - and with chess, a hovercraft,
and the love of a good woman thrown in, this very funny book has
something for everyone.
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The Worst Thing I've Done by Ursula Hegi
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Publisher: Touchstone Publication Date: September 2, 2008 ISBN-10: 1416543767 ISBN-13: 978-1416543763
Literary FictionCheck AvailabilityAnnie, Jake and Mason-friends practically from the womb-have developed
a fraught dynamic sharply affected by competitiveness, attraction and
jealousy. The book's opening trauma-Mason's suicide-serves as a
springboard for Hegi to delve into the friends' tangled past: Mason and
Annie get married the same night Annie's father and very pregnant
mother die in a car wreck. The baby, Opal, survives, and the three
friends raise her. But festering attractions-Mason to Jake; Jake to
Annie-lead Mason to cross a line, Annie to want out of the marriage and
Jake to fail to act at a pivotal moment. Woven into the mix is the
post-WWII story of Annie's immigrant mother, Lotte, and her friend
Mechthild, who came to America from Germany to work as au pairs and
pretended to be Dutch to avoid persecution. Though a bumper crop of
tragedy weighs heavily on this controlled and articulate novel, Hegi ( Sacred Time)
is an accomplished storyteller; she inhabits different characters and
blends the past with the present to tell a rich story of love, death,
loyalty and survival. |
Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden
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Publisher: Penguin Canada Publication Date: September 2008 ISBN-10: 0670063630 ISBN-13: 978-0670063635
Literary FictionCheck Availability
Will Bird is a legendary Cree bush pilot, now lying in a coma in a
hospital in his hometown of Moose Factory, Ontario. His niece Annie
Bird, beautiful and self-reliant, has returned from her own perilous
journey to sit beside his bed. Broken in different ways, the two take
silent communion in their unspoken kinship, and the story that unfolds
is rife with heartbreak, fierce love, ancient blood feuds, mysterious
disappearances, fires, plane crashes, murders, and the bonds that hold
a family, and a people, together. As Will and Annie reveal their
secrets-the tragic betrayal that cost Will his family, Annie's
desperate search for her missing sister, the famous model Suzanne-a
remarkable saga of resilience and destiny takes shape. From the
dangerous bush country of upper Canada to the drug-fueled glamour of
the Manhattan club scene, Joseph Boyden tracks his characters with a
keen eye for the telling detail and a rare empathy for the empty places
concealed within the heart.
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The Retreat by David Bergen
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Publisher: McClelland & Stewart Publication Date: September 9, 2008 ISBN-10: 0771012535 ISBN-13: 978-0771012532 In 1973, outside of Kenora, Ontario, Raymond Seymour, an
eighteen-year-old Ojibway boy, is taken by a local policeman to a
remote island and left for dead. A year later, the Byrd family
arrives in Kenora. They have come to stay at "the Retreat," a commune
run by the self-styled guru Doctor Amos. The Doctor is an enigmatic man
who spouts bewildering truisms, and who bathes naked every morning in
the pond at the edge of the Retreat while young Everett Byrd watches
from the bushes. Lizzy, the eldest of the Byrd children, cares for her
younger brothers Fish and William, and longs for what she cannot find
at the Retreat. When Lizzy meets Raymond, everything changes, and Lizzy
comes to understand the real difference between Raymond's world and her
own. A tragedy and a love story, the novel moves towards a conclusion
that is both astonishing and heartbreaking. |
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff
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Publisher: Random House Publication Date: August 5, 2008 ISBN-10: 1400063973 ISBN-13: 978-1400063970 Mystery / Thriller
Check AvailabilityIt is 1875, and Ann Eliza Young has recently separated from her
powerful husband, Brigham Young, prophet and leader of the Mormon
Church. Expelled and an outcast, Ann Eliza embarks on a crusade to end
polygamy in the United States. A rich account of a family's polygamous
history is revealed, including how a young woman became a plural wife. Soon
after Ann Eliza's story begins, a second exquisite narrative unfolds-a
tale of murder involving a polygamist family in present-day Utah.
Jordan Scott, a young man who was thrown out of his fundamentalist sect
years earlier, must reenter the world that cast him aside in order to
discover the truth behind his father's death. And as Ann Eliza's
narrative intertwines with that of Jordan's search, readers are pulled
deeper into the mysteries of love and faith. |
The Year of Fog by Michelle Richmond
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Publisher: Bantam Discovery Publication Date: February 26, 2008 ISBN-10: 0385340125 ISBN-13: 978-0385340120 Mystery / Suspense
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Six-year-old Emma vanished into the thick San Francisco fog. Or into
the heaving Pacific. Or somewhere just beyond: to a parking lot, a
stranger's van, or a road with traffic flashing by. Devastated by
guilt, haunted by her fears about becoming a stepmother, Abby refuses
to believe that Emma is dead. And so she searches for clues about what
happened that morning-and cannot stop the flood of memories reaching
from her own childhood to illuminate that irreversible moment on the
beach. Now, as the days drag into weeks, as the police lose
interest and fliers fade on telephone poles, Emma's father finds solace
in religion and scientific probability-but Abby can only wander the
beaches and city streets, attempting to recover the past and the little
girl she lost. With her life at a crossroads, she will leave San
Francisco for a country thousands of miles away. And there, by the side
of another sea, on a journey that has led her to another man and into a
strange subculture of wanderers and surfers, Abby will make the most
astounding discovery of all-as the truth of Emma's disappearance
unravels with stunning force. |
The Comforts of a Muddy Saturday by Alexander McCall Smith
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Publisher: Knopf Canada Publication Date: September 23, 2008 ISBN-10: 0307396991 ISBN-13: 978-0307396990
Mystery
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Isabel's incandescent curiosity is piqued when she is asked to help a
professor of medicine who has been disgraced by allegations of
scientific fraud concerning a newly marketed drug. Would a doctor with
a stellar reputation make such a simple but grave mistake? If not, what
explains the tragic accident that resulted in the death of a patient?
An
investigation is in order, especially since a man's reputation is in
jeopardy, and a great deal of money is at stake for the pharmaceutical
company involved.
She's also occupied by the envy she feels in
the face of Jamie's new friendship with the composer-in-residence at
the University of Edinburgh. Whatever the case, whatever the solution,
Isabel's combination of spirit, smarts, curiosity, empathy and
unabashed nosiness guarantees a delightful adventure.
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Tsar: a Thriller by Ted Bell
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Publisher: Atria Publication Date: September 23, 2008 ISBN-10: 1416550402 ISBN-13: 978-1416550402
Spy / ThrillerCheck Availability
In bestseller Bell's rousing fifth thriller (after Spy),
Alex Hawke fights the leaders of a new and invigorated Russia, where
Vladimir Putin has been locked up in a lethal prison built over a
massive radioactive waste site. Evil mastermind Count Ivan Korsakov
(aka the Dark Rider) is determined to return Mother Russia to her
rightful place in the world order by reacquiring her former colonies,
after which he intends to conquer Europe and reign as the new tsar. The
only thing standing in his way is Hawke, who, as series fans well know,
is more than up to the task of thwarting those who try to take over the
globe. Life throws Hawke a curve when he finds himself falling in love
with the astoundingly beautiful Anastasia, who just happens to be
Korsakov's daughter. As always, Bell pulls out all the stops with
terrific action scenes, fiendish murders, diabolical villains, dramatic
rescues and all the cool weaponry the reader could possibly hope for.
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Obsession, Deceit & Really Dark Chocolate by Kyra Davis
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Publisher: Red Dress Ink
Publication Date: September 1, 2007
ISBN-10: 0373895534
ISBN-13: 978-0373895533
Chick Lit / Mystery
Check Availability
Sophie Katz's relationship with the irresistible and occasionally
insufferable P.I. Anatoly Darinsky is on the fritz when a friend
recruits Sophie's investigation skills to decode her possibly
two-timing husband's strange behavior. When Sophie shows up in a short,
red cocktail dress and her friend's hubby winds up dead, the loveable
would-be sleuth can't help but take on the job.Suddenly
plunged into a crazy world of campaign mudslinging, dirt-digging and
cover-ups, Sophie begins to uncover some pretty dirty secrets indeed-
involving a conservative congressional hopeful's involvement in the
Furry community, a group of people who dress up in mascot-size stuffed
animal costumes. Sex and politics, wouldn't you know?
Way
in over her head as usual, Sophie reluctantly-or not-so-reluctantly-
enlists the help of her two-time sidekick and ex-Anatoly. Together they
set out to determine who killed Eugene and why, and in the process
can't resist falling for each other-again? |
Indignation by Philip Roth
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Publisher: Renouf Pub Co Ltd Publication Date: September 18, 2008 ISBN-10: 067006906X ISBN-13: 978-0670069064 Roth's brilliant and disconcerting new novel plumbs the depths of the
early Cold War-era male libido, burdened as it is with sexual myths and
a consciousness overloaded with vivid images of impending death, either
by the bomb or in Korea. At least this is the way things appear to
narrator Marcus Messner, the 19-year-old son of a Newark kosher
butcher. Perhaps because Marcus's dad saw his two brothers' only sons
die in WWII, he becomes an overprotective paranoid when Marcus turns
18, prompting Marcus to flee to Winesburg College in Ohio. Though the
distance helps, Marcus, too, is haunted by the idea that flunking out
of college means going to Korea. His first date in Winesburg is with
doctor's daughter Olivia Hutton, who would appear to embody the
beautiful normality Marcus seeks, but, instead, she destroys Marcus's
sense of normal by surprising him after dinner with her carnal prowess.
Slightly unhinged by this stroke of fortune, he at first shuns her,
then pesters her with letters and finally has a brief but
nonpenetrative affair with her. Olivia, he discovers, is
psychologically fragile and bears scars from a suicide attempt-a mark
Marcus's mother zeroes in on when she meets the girl for the first and
last time. Between promising his mother to drop her and longing for
her, Marcus goes through a common enough existential crisis,
exacerbated by run-ins with the school administration over trivial
matters that quickly become more serious.... The terrible sadness of
Marcus's life is rendered palpable by Roth's fierce grasp on the
psychology of this butcher's boy, down to his bought-for-Winesburg
wardrobe. It's a melancholy triumph and a cogent reflection on society
in a time of war. |
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