January 24, 2025

New Fiction

The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight – Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Canada are hiding something from her.  She believes she’ll find the answer by retracing her father’s steps in Scotland, where an old friend of his – now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox – still lives.  When Lennox invites her to spend the weekend at his centuries-old estate, she meets his enveloping, seemingly perfect family, who charm her, baffle her with their Britishness, and do almost anything to make her feel welcome – apart from answering her questions.  As she continues pulling at the thread of her family’s secret, Pen falls in love for the first time while much of what she thought she knew falls apart.  Meanwhile, Pen’s best friend Alice, an aspiring actor, has come to Scotland for her own reasons.  She sees Edinburgh as her portal to the theatre.  The star of this year’s production, she’s making the most of the power she wields as an object of desire – until an affair with her tutor begins to slip from her control. 

The Note by Alafair Burke – May Hanover has always been so good.  Well-behaved, top of her class, a compulsive rule follower.  Raised by a first -generation Chinese single mother with high expectations, May didn’t have room to slip up.  But even good girls have secrets.  When May and her longtime friends Lauren and Kelsey plan a reunion getaway in the Hamptons, it’s meant to be a few days of sun and fun.  But after a drunken prank goes horribly awry, May finds herself at the center of an urgent police investigation – and begins to wonder whether her closest friends might be keeping some dangerous secrets of their own.  After all, it wouldn’t be the first time. 

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney - Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.
Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.
A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi - Six friends gather at a country house for a birthday weekend. They decide to play a game. All six names go in a hat. Choose two, and imagine one murdering the other.
Write it down. Type it up. Read it out. Points are given for making the murders sound convincing.
Of course, when given such a task, it’s only natural to use what you know.
Secrets. Grudges. Affairs. But once you’ve put it in a story, that secret is out.
So with each fictional murder, someone gets a motive for a real one.
Which leads to the most important question: When a real murder comes, will you be able to spot it in time?