Now that summer is over, the kids are back in school and the library has new books on the shelves for the avid reader. For the adults there are the usual mysteries and thrillers.
A Trick of the Light by Louise Penny – “Hearts are broken,” Lillian Dyson care fully underlined in a book. “Sweet relationships are dead.” But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow’s garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara’s solo show at the famed Musée in Montreal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Quebec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart. And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they’ve found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.
The Race by Clive Cussler – It is 1910, the age of flying machines is still in its infancy, and newspaper publisher Preston Whiteway is offering $50,000 for the first daring aviator to cross America in less than fifty days. He is even sponsoring one of the prime candidates-an intrepid woman named Josephine Frost-and that’s where Bell, chief investigator for the Van Dorn Detective Agency, comes in. Frost’s violent-tempered husband has just killed her lover and tried to kill her, and he is bound to make another attempt. Bell has tangled with Harry Frost before; he knows that the man has made his millions leading gangs of thieves, murderers, and thugs in every city across the country. He also knows that Frost won’t be only after his wife, but after Whiteway as well. And if Bell takes the case . . . Frost will be after him, too.
For the younger reader there are a wide variety of titles to choose from.
Chasing the Moon by Penny Chamberlain – With her mother in a tuberculosis sanatorium, Kit must spend the summer with her estranged father, whose mysterious nighttime activities and free-spending habits arouse her suspicions. Then a strange carnival boy enters the picture. He has an eerie way with a tarot deck that shakes Kit to the core. Still, something about him engages Kit, and, together, they embark on a headlong journey that will carry them from the dark waters south of Victoria to the “blind pigs” of Seattle. On the way, Kit will discover depths of insight she did not know she possessed, and will win for herself one of her dearest wishes.
Anna the Moonbeam Fairy by Daisy Meadows – Rachel and Kirsty can’t wait for their week at Camp Stargaze! They’ll get to roast marshmallows, tell spooky stories, and sleep in cool cabins. But when the Night Fairies’ magic goes missing, Rachel and Kirsty have another activity to add to their list — helping their fairy friends!