October 22, 2021

New Fiction

Closer Than She Knows by Kelly Irvin – Teagan O’Rourke has always loved murder mysteries.  In her job as a court reporter, she has written official records for dozens of real-life murders.  She’s slapped evidence stickers on crime scene photos.  She’s listened to hours of chilling testimony.  But she’s never known the smell of death.  And she never thought she might be a victim.  Until Now.  A young police office is murdered just inches away from her, and then a man calling himself a serial killer starts leaving Teagan notes, signing each with the name of a different murderer from her favorite mystery novels.  Panicked, Teagan turns to her friend Max Kennedy.  Max longs for more than friendship with Teagan, but he fears she’ll never trust someone with a past like this.  He wonders how much of God’s “tough love” he can take before he gives up on love completely.  And he wonders if he’ll be able to keep Teagan alive long enough to find out.  As Teagan, Max, and Teagan’s police office father race to track down the elusive killer, they each know they could be the next victim.  Desperate to save those she loves, Teagan battles fears that once haunted her in childhood.  Nothing seems to stop this obsessed murderer.  No matter what she does, he seems to be getting closer…

The Healing of Natalie Curtis by Jane Kirkpatrick – Classically trained pianist and singer Natalie Curtis can’t seem to recapture the joy that music once brought her.  In 1902, her brother invites her to join him in the West to search for healing.  What she finds are songs she’d never before encountered –the haunting melodies, rhythms, and stories of Native Americans.  But their music is under attack.  The US government’s Code of Offenses prohibits America’s Indigenous people from singing, dancing, or speaking their own languages.  Natalie makes it her mission not only to document these songs before they disappear but to appeal to President Teddy Roosevelt himself, who is the only man with the power to repeal the unjust law.

Her Every Move by Kelly Irvin – When a deadly bomb goes off during a climate change debate, librarian and event coordinator Jackie Santoro becomes the prime suspect.  Her motive, according to Detective Avery Wick: to avenge the suicide of her prominent father, who was accused of crimes by a city councilman attending the event.  Though Avery has doubts about Jackie’s guilt, he can’t exonerate her even after an extremist group takes responsibility for the bombing and continues to attack San Antonio’s treasured public spaces.  As Jackie tries to hold her shattered family together, she has no choice but to proceed with plans for the Catrina Ball, the library system’s biggest annual fundraiser.  But she also fears the event provides the perfect opportunity for the bomber to strike again.  Despite their mistrust, Jackie and Avery join forces to unmask the truth – before the death toll mounts even higher.

The keening by Anne Emery - There has been a guesthouse on the Tierney land in County Fermanagh for hundreds of years. Now Tierney’s Hotel is faced with a development that will block the hotel’s best feature, its view of Enniskillen Castle. But the project can be stopped if there are important historical artifacts buried on the property. Enter the archaeologists. Mick’s ancestor, Brigid Tierney, ran the guesthouse in the late 1500s. We see Brigid and Shane and their children at a lavish banquet at the castle, home of the ruling family, the Maguires. The wine and ale flow freely, the harpist plays, the bard recites the Maguires’ heroic deeds. But one woman has a sense of foreboding. Sorcha the prophetess sees harrowing times ahead. The Tudors of England are determined to complete their brutal conquest of Ireland. The morning after the banquet, Sorcha is found dead on a bed of oak leaves. And Shane is accused of the killing. His lawyer, Terence, conducts his defence on the hilltop that constitutes the court in 1595. Ireland has had a complex and at times woeful history, and we see that history being played out in the lives of the Tierneys, past and present.
In 2018, the dig commences on Mick Tierney’s land. Historical artifacts? Yes. But also a sheaf of prophecies. And a body ― a bogman ― four hundred years old.