November 25, 2022
New Fiction
The Family Game by Catherine Steadman – Harriet Reed, a novelist on the brink of literary stardom, is newly engaged to Edward Holbeck, the heir of a powerful family. And though Edward has long tried to sever ties with them, news of the couple’s imminent marital bliss has the Holbecks inching back into their lives. As Harriet is drawn into their lavish world, the family seems perfectly welcoming. So when Edward’s father, Robert, hands Harriet a tape of a book he’s been working on, she is eager to listen. But as she presses PLAY, it’s clear that this isn’t just a novel. It’s a confession. A confession to a grisly crime. A murder. And, suddenly, the game is in motion. Feeling isolated and confused, Harriet must work out if this is part of a plan to test her loyalty. Or something far darker. What is it that Robert sees in her? Why give her the power to destroy everything? This might be a game to the Holbeck family – but for Harriet, losing might prove deadly.
The Murder Book by Mark Billingham - Tom Thorne finally has it all. In Nicola Tanner and Phil Hendricks, Thorne has good friends by his side. His love life is newly reformed by a promising relationship and he is happy in the job he has devoted his life to. As he sets off hunting the woman responsible for a series of grisly murders, Thorne has no way of knowing that he will be plunged into a nightmare from which he may never wake. A nightmare that has a name. Thorne’s past threatens to catch up with him and a ruinous secret is about to be revealed. If he wants to save himself and his friends, he will have to do the unthinkable. Tom Thorne finally has a lot to lose.
The Cloisters by Katy Hays – When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a Gothic museum and garden renowned for its collection of medieval art and it enigmatic researchers: Patrick Roland, the charismatic curator specializing in the history of tarot; Rachel Mondray, Patrick’s brilliant curatorial associate; and Leo Bitburg, the gardener charged with cultivating the museum’s poisonous plants. Eager to escape her troubled past in rural Washington, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more childish theories, only to find that their fascination with ancient divination runs deeper than academic obsession. Patrick is determined to prove that medieval tarot holds the key to accurately telling the future. When Ann discovers a breakthrough in the form of a cryptic deck of fifteenth-century tarot cards, she finds herself at the center of a dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition. As their circle reaches its breaking point, Ann must decide if the tarot cards can teach her not only about the past but also the future.
New Non-Fiction
Sisters in Resistance by Tilar J. Mazzeo – In 1944, news of secret diaries kept by Italy’s foreign minister, Galeazzo Ciano, had permeated the public consciousness. What wasn’t reported, however, was how three women – a fascist leader’s daughter, a German spy, and an American socialite –risked their lives to ensure the diaries would reach the Allies, who would later use them as evidence against the Nazis at Nuremberg. In 1944, Benito Mussolini’s daughter, Edda, gave Hitler and her father an ultimatum: Release her husband, Galeazzo Ciano, from prison, or risk her leaking her husband’s journals to the press. To avoid the peril of exposing Nazi lies, Hitler and Mussolini hunted for the diaries for months, determined to destroy them. Hilde Beetz, a German spy, who deployed to seduce Ciano to learn the diaries’ location and take them from Edda. But the seducer became the seduced. Hilde converted and became a double agent, joining forces with Edda in an attempt to save Ciano from execution. When this failed, Edda fled to Switzerland with Hilde’s daring assistance, determined to keep Ciano’s final wish: to see the diaries published for use by the Allies. When American spymaster Allen Dulles learned of Edda’s escape, he sent in socialite Frances de Chollet, an “accidental” spy, and told her to find Edda, gain her trust, and, crucially, hand the diaries over to the Americans. Together, they succeeded in preserving one of the most important documents of WWII.