March 28, 2024
New Fiction
The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County by Claire Swinarski – Esther Larson has been cooking for funerals in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for seventy years. Known locally as the “funeral ladies,” she and her cohort have worked hard to keep the mourners of Ellerie County fed – it is her firm belief that there is very little a warm casserole and a piece of cherry pie can’t help. But, after falling for an internet scam that puts her home at risk, the proud Larson family matriarch is the one in need of assistance these days. Iris, Esther’s whip-smart Gen Z granddaughter, would do anything for her family and her community. As she watches her friends move out of their lakeside town onto bigger and better things, Iris wonders why she feels so left behind in the place she is desperate to make her home. But when Cooper Welsh shows up, she finally starts to feel like she’s found the missing piece of her puzzle. Cooper is dealing with becoming a legal guardian to his younger half sister after his beloved stepmother dies. While their celebrity-chef father is focused on his booming career and top ranked television show, Cooper is still hurting from a public tragedy he witnessed last year as a paramedic and finding it hard to cope. With Iris in the gorgeous Ellerie County, though, he hopes he might finally find the home he’s been looking for. It doesn’t seem like a community cookbook could possibly solve their problems, especially one where casseroles have their own section and cream of chicken soup mix is the most frequently used ingredient. But when you blend the can-do spirit of Midwestern grandmothers with the stubborn hope of a boy raised by food, plus a dash of long-awaited forgiveness – things might just turn out okay.
Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? By Nicci French – On the day of Alec Salter’s fiftieth birthday party, his wife, Charlotte, vanishes. Most of the small English village of Glensted is at the party for hours before anyone realizes she is missing. While Alec brushes off her disappearance, their four children – especially fifteen year old Etty – grow increasingly anxious as the cold winter hours become days and she doesn’t return. Then Etty and her friend Morgan find the body of Morgan’s father – and the Salters’ neighbor – Duncan Ackerley, floating in the river. The police conclude that Duncan and Charlotte were having an affair before he killed her and took his own life. Thirty years later, Morgan Ackerley returns to Glensted with his older brother to make a podcast on their shared tragedy with the Salters. Alec, stricken with dementia, is entering an elder care facility while Etty helps put his estate in order. But when the Ackerleys ask to interview the Salters, the entire town gets caught up in the unresolved cases. Allegations fly, secrets come to light, and a suspicious fire leads to a murder. With the podcast making national news, London sends Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor to Glensted to take over the investigation. She will stop at nothing to uncover the truth as a new and terrifying picture of what really happened to Charlotte Salter and Duncan Ackerley emerges.
Rainbow Black by Maggie Thrash - Lacey Bond is a 13-year-old girl in New Hampshire growing up in the tranquility of her hippie parents’ rural daycare center. Then the Satanic Panic hits. It’s the summer of 1990 when Lacey ’s parents are handcuffed, flung into the county jail, and faced with a torrent of jaw-dropping accusations as part of a mass hysteria sweeping the nation. When a horrific murder brings Lacey to the breaking point, she makes a ruthless choice that will haunt her for decades. As an adult, Lacey mimes a normal life as the law clerk of an illustrious judge. She has a beautiful girlfriend, a measure of security, and the world has mostly forgotten about her. But after a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster, the hysteria threatens to begin all over again.
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle - Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake. But as Jake and Daphnes story unfolds, Daphne finds herself doubting the paper’s prediction, and wrestling with what it means to be both committed and truthful. Because Daphne knows things Jake doesn’t, information that—if he found out—would break his heart.