My LINKcat AccountThis week's book selections are unusual. First, no non-fiction titles arrived this week, so the entire list of new arrivals is fiction. Second, many of the selections available this week are mysteries. (Mystery fiction is a fairly recent genre appearing in the 1800s with Willkie Collins and Edgar Allen Poe and the Industrial Revolution, the urbanization of the population, the rise of crime and the resulting rise in professional policing and detectives. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes series helped define and popularize mysteries. The preceding is a hugely condensed synopsis and quite a simplification too.) Third, many of these mysteries have continuing characters -- such as Sue Grafton's Kinsey Milhone who has been with us since "A is for Alibi" and is now to "W" - and have become series. Fourth, two of this week's book have authors that died in 2010. Both Robert B. Parker and Dick Francis are no longer with us, but books are still being published using their names in the titles. Felix Francis is the son of Dick Francis and co-authored four books with him, so in a way, he is just carrying on the family business. Michael Brandman and Robert Parker collaborate on a number of screenplays which took the Spenser and Jesse Stone characters to the big screen (and/or TV screen) so Brandman has written with Parker and can imitate his style. Finally, you may notice that two of the titles this week "Dexter's Final Cut" and "The Final Cut" are quite similar. The funny thing about copyright law is that one of the things you can't copyright is the title of a work. This is why good catalogs allow searching by both title and author. With that, I will let you get on to the actual book selections. Enjoy!
New Non-Fiction
- None
New Fiction
The fountain of St. James Court, or, Portrait of the artist as an old woman / by Sena Jeter Naslund. When writer Kathryn Callaghan finishes her novel about painter Elisabeth Vigee-LeBrun, a French Revolution survivor despised for her sympathetic portraits of Marie Antoinette, she has a hard time leaving the 18th-century European world she has researched and returning to her own American life of 2012.
Sweet thunder : a novel / by Ivan Doig. After inheriting a fixer-upper, newlywed Morrie Morgan returns to 1920s Butte, Montana, to fight a rival newspaper and help the miners working for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in this latest Western from the author of "The Whistling Season".
Robert B. Parker's Damned if you do / by Michael Brandman. Police chief Jesse Stone uncovers a turf war between rival pimps after a young woman is found murdered in a shabby beach motel in this new mystery in the series following "Robert B. Parker's Fool Me Twice".
Second watch / by J.A. Jance. When a series of dreams take him back to his days in Vietnam, reminding him of people and events he hasn't thought about in years, J. P. Beaumont, recovering from knee replacement surgery, is plunged into one of the most mind-blowing mysteries he has ever faced.
Something borrowed, someone dead : an Agatha Raisin mystery / by M.C. Beaton. Hired by the Parish councilor of a small community in the Cotswolds hills to investigate the murder of a jolly widow, Agatha Raisin learns about the victim's penchant for keeping borrowed items in a case that is complicated by village secrets and a killer who would make Agatha a next target.
Thankless in death / by J.D. Robb. Lieutenant Eve Dallas investigates the holiday murder of her neighbors by their young adult son and must track him down before he strikes again in this new novel written by "New York Times" best-selling author Nora Roberts under a pseudonym.
W is for wasted / by Sue Grafton. Kinsey investigates two seemingly unrelated deaths, the first of a local, shady PI, the second a John Doe on the beach in this 23rd mystery in the best-selling alphabetic series from the author of "V is for Vengeance".
Styxx / by Sherrilyn Kenyon. A highly anticipated latest entry in the best-selling series that includes "Acheron" traces the story of the Dark-Hunter leader's powerful twin, who risks his life to prove his loyalty only to fall in love with a reluctant Atlantean goddess who resolves to pay back a debt at any cost.
Dexter's final cut : a novel / by Jeffry Lindsay. When an actor famed for losing himself in his characters performs research at the Miami Police Department and becomes fixated on Dexter Morgan, the blood-spatter analyst finds his every move shadowed and invasively analyzed in ways that make him fear exposure by the paparazzi.
Dick Francis's refusal / by Felix Francis. Retired investigator Sid Halley is lured back into the game exploring alleged race-fixing after the suspicious death of the chairman of the racing authority in this new novel from the co-author of "Dead Heath" and "Silks".
The edge of normal / by Carla Norton. Struggling to live a normal life a decade after escaping her kidnappers, Reeve LeClaire agrees to help her therapist throughout the rehabilitation of another rescued abductee only to discover that the girl is still being pursued by a ruthless predator.
The final cut / by Catherine Coulter. Chief inspector Nicholas Drummond of Scotland Yard investigates after the centerpiece of an exhibit of Crown Jewels is stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and his colleague is murdered in this mystery co-authored by two best-selling authors.