Must Read Titles for Teens, Tweens, and Adults too!

Blood Beast by Darren Shan

Grubbs Grady has so far escaped the family curse, but when he begins to experience alarming symptoms at the onset of the full moon, he is scared that the jaws of fate are opening and about to swallow him whole.

He has cheated death, defeated demons, moved on with his life. But Grubbs is torn between the world of magic and his wolfen genes. Can he fight the beast inside or will he fall victim to his tainted blood?

Dark Calling by Darren Shan

I know it's ridiculous. Lights can't whisper. But I swear I heard a voice calling to me. It sounded like static to begin with, but then it came into focus, a single word repeated over and over. Softly, slyly, seductively, insistently.

"Come..."

The Disciples are being manipulated by beings older than time. Only Kernel Fleck knows that something is wrong. But he is in the grip of a creature who cares nothing for the fate of humanity. Voices are calling to him from the darkness and he's powerless to resist.

Kernel has already been to hell and back. Now he's about to go further...

The horrifying adventures continue with the ninth book in the gory and chilling Demonata series.

Demon Thief by Darren Shan

Kernel Fleck has always known he's weird. He sees lights. Strange, multi-colored patches of light swirling through the air. But it's not until a window opens into a demon world, with horrific consequences, that Kernel discovers his powers. 

As a Disciple, his mission is to hunt the viciously powerful Demonata, to the death...

Exposed by Susan Vaught

Chan Shealy’s got most things going right in her life—straight A’s, a shot at the regional majorette championships in baton twirling, and the best best friend a girl could wish for. But after the football quarterback spreads a vicious lie about her, and the whole school decides she’s too trashy for words, Chan begins to wonder if the only place she’ll find love is online. 

She’s careful. She follows all her parents’ rules, mostly anyway. A girl’s got to trust herself at a certain point, right? But what if your gut is telling you something that you’re just not hearing… until it’s too late?
From the moment Chan logs on and meets Paul, until the truth begins to show through, Susan Vaught sends readers on a fast-paced and gripping ride. Even when you know something bad will happen, you still might not see it coming…

Fake Boyfriend by Kate Brian

He's absolutely perfect.

If only he were real.

Lane and Vivi have had it with Isabelle Hunter's boyfriend, Shawn Littig (a.k.a. Sluttig). He is the only person who can turn their smart, confident best friend into a complete mess. When Shawn Sluttig cheats on and dumps Izzy just months before the prom she's been planning since the ninth grade, Lane and Vivi decide to take action.

With a few quick keystrokes, they create a MySpace page for "Brandon," the perfect guy to get Izzy out of her revolving-door relationship with Shawn. Too bad he's totally fake. Vivi's younger brother, Marshall, who they hire to be the "man" behind the profile, is way too into being Izzy's fake boyfriend. So they turn to cute, prep-school Jonathan to be the face of Brandon. But when Vivi falls for Jonathan, and Sluttig tries to wedge his way back into Izzy's prom picture, the whole plan starts to go south faster than you can say "fake boyfriend."

The Falconer's Knot by Mary Hoffman

Sixteen-year-old Silvano da Montacuto has wealth, good looks, a new hawk--and an infatuation with a merchant's wife. When a man is murdered in his town, Silvano's bloody dagger is found, and he is accused of the crime. For his own protection, he is sent to a Franciscan House, where he poses as a novice, or a young monk. There, he lays eyes on Chiara, a lovely novice at the nearby Abbey of the Poor Claires. Both Chiara and Silvano are put to work mixing paint pigments for a nearby basilica. But murder seems to have followed Silvano, and soon several other dead bodies turn up. 

Who is committing the crimes? Will a young man accused of multiple murders be able to clear himself? And what about the girl he adores?

Huge by James W. Fuerst

Life hasn’t been easy for Eugene “Huge” Smalls.

Sure, his IQ is off the charts, but that doesn’t help much when you’re growing up in the 1980s in a dreary New Jersey town where your bad reputation precedes you, the public school system’s written you off as a lost cause, and even your own family seems out to get you.

But it’s not all bad. Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett have taught Huge everything he needs to know about being a hard-boiled detective . . . and he’s just been hired to solve his first case.

What he doesn’t realize is that his search for the truth will change everything for him.

If I Love You, Am I Trapped Forever? M.E. Kerr

A wimp and a winner switch places in the school pecking order.

The Last Summer of the Death Warrior by Francisco Stork

One is dying of cancer. The other's planning a murder.

When Pancho arrives at St. Anthony's Home, he knows his time there will be short: If his plans succeed, he'll soon be arrested for the murder of his sister's killer. But then he's assigned to help D.Q., whose brain cancer has slowed neither his spirit nor his mouth. D.Q. tells Pancho all about his "Death Warrior's Manifesto," which will help him to live out his last days fully--ideally, he says, with the love of the beautiful Marisol. As Pancho tracks down his sister's murderer, he finds himself falling under the influence of D.Q. and Marisol, who is everything D.Q. said she would be;and he is inexorably drawn to a decision: to honor his sister and her death, or embrace the way of the Death Warrior and choose life.

Lord Loss by Darren Shan

Grubbs Grady has stiff red hair and is a little big for his age, which means he can get into R-rated movies. He hates history and loves bacon, rats, and playing tricks on his squeamish older sister. When he opts out of a family weekend trip, he never guesses that he is about to take a terrifying journey into darkness.

Hungry demons and howling werewolves haunt his waking nightmares... and threaten his life.

Rash by Pete Hautman

In the late twenty-first century Bo Marsten is unjustly accused of a causing a rash that plagues his entire high school. He loses it, and as a result, he's sentenced to work in the Canadian tundra, at a pizza factory that's surrounded by hungry polar bears. Bo finds prison life to be both boring and dangerous, but it's nothing compared to what happens when he starts playing on the factory's highly illegal football team. In the meantime, Bork, an artificial intelligence that Bo created for a science project, tracks Bo down in prison. Bork has spun out of control and seems to be operating on his own. 

He offers to get Bo's sentence shortened, but can Bo trust him? And now that Bo has been crushing skulls on the field, will he be able to go back to his old, highly regulated life? 

Ruined by Paula Morris

Rebecca couldn't feel more out of place in New Orleans, where she comes to spend the year while her dad is traveling. She's staying in a creepy old house with her Aunt Claudia, who reads Tarot cards for a living. And at the snooty prep school, a pack of filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city.

A gripping YA supernatural novel set in New Orleans.

Slawter by Darren Shan

Lights. Camera. Slawter!

Grubbs Grady and his half-brother Bill-E are thrilled to join their uncle Dervish as onset consultants for the newest movie by cult horror producer David A Hayms. Shot in a deserted town renamed Slawter, the demon-themed movie is to be Hayms's masterpiece. 

But as strange incidents disrupt the set, Grubbs begins to wonder whether more than filming is afoot.

Something, Maybe by Elizabeth Scott

Everyone thinks their parents are embarrassing, but Hannah knows she's got them all beat. Her dad made a fortune showcasing photos of pretty girls and his party lifestyle all over the Internet, and her mom was once one of her dad's girlfriends and is now the star of her own website. After getting the wrong kind of attention for way too long, Hannah has mastered the art of staying under the radar...and that's just how she likes it.

Of course, that doesn't help her get noticed by her crush. Hannah's sure that gorgeous, sensitive Josh is her soul mate. But trying to get him to notice her; wondering why she suddenly can't stop thinking about another guy, Finn; and dealing with her parents make Hannah feel like she's going crazy. Yet she's determined to make things work out the way she wants—only what she wants may not be what she needs...

Ten Cents A Dance by Christine Fletcher

With her mother ill, it’s up to fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski to support her family. But in the 1940s, the only opportunities open to a Polish-American girl from Chicago’s poor Yards is a job in one of the meat packing plants. Through a chance meeting with a local tough, Ruby lands a job as a taxi dancer and soon becomes an expert in the art of “fishing”: working her patrons for meals, cash, clothes, even jewelry. 

Drawn ever deeper into the world of dance halls, jazz, and the mob, Ruby gradually realizes that the only one who can save her is herself.  A mesmerizing look into a little known world and era.

What's New in Non-Fiction

American Sniper by Chris Kyle

American Sniper is the astonishing autobiography of SEAL Chief Chris Kyle, who is the record-holding sniper in U.S. military history. Kyle has more than 150 officially confirmed kills (the previous American record was 109), though his remarkable career total has not been made public by the Pentagon. Kyle shares the true story of his extraordinary decade-long career, including his multiple combat tours in Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) and elsewhere from 1999-2009. 

Kyle's riveting first-person account of how he went from Texas rodeo cowboy to expert marksman and feared assassin offers a fascinating view of modern-day warfare and one of the most in-depth and illuminating looks into the secret world of Special Ops ever written.

Best Stories from the Texas Storytelling Festival by Finley Stewart

Tall tales, Southeast humor, and wisdom tales highlight this volume from one of America's premier storytelling festivals.

Don't Squat With Yer Spurs On! a Cowboy's Guide to Life by Texas Bix Bender

Says the SOUTH BEND TRIBUNE, "This book is worthy of a book rustler." In the tradition of humorist Will Rogers, it takes a look at life through the eyes of the cowboy. 

It is filled with quips and quotes that represent the Code of the West, like: "Always drink upstream from the herd" and "The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it gets, the harder it is to swallow."

Joanne Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook: Hannah Swensen's Recipes from The Cookie Jar by Joanne Fluke

Joanne Fluke Invites You To Celebrate The Holidays With Hannah Swensen And All The Wonderful Folks Of Lake Eden, At The Annual Cookie Exchange. . .All-New Recipes Included
It's a picture postcard December in Minnesota. Pristine white snow is glistening in the winter sunlight, and Main Street is brimming with festive holiday decorations. Best of all, it's the day Hannah's mother, Delores Swensen, is holding her annual Holiday Cookie Exchange at the Community Center-catered by none other than The Cookie Jar. The whole Swensen clan, their friends, and members of "The Lake Eden Gossip Hotline," of which Delores is a founding member, have gathered for the delicious event. And as they share their favorite juicy tales of Lake Eden and its residents over coffee and dessert, they also share their favorite scrumptious cookie recipes-plus a mouth-watering menu of luncheon recipes, including:

Kiss My Grits Cookies, Peanut Butter & Jelly Pie, Norwegian Pizza, Minty Marvels, Double Chocolate Puffs

. . .plus all the recipes from "Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder" to "Carrot Cake Murder." Whether this is your first taste of Lake Eden, or you're back for another helping, you can now bring the irresistible flavors of The Cookie Jar into your very own kitchen

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by Ree Drummond


I'll never forget that night. It was like a romance novel, an old Broadway musical, and a John Wayne western rolled into one. Out for a quick drink with friends, I wasn't looking to meet anyone, let alone a tall, rugged cowboy who lived on a cattle ranch miles away from my cultured, corporate hometown. But before I knew it, I'd been struck with a lightning bolt . . . and I was completely powerless to stop it.

Read along as I recount the rip-roaring details of my unlikely romance with a chaps-wearing cowboy, from the early days of our courtship (complete with cows, horses, prairie fire, and passion) all the way through the first year of our marriage, which would be filled with more challenge and strife—and manure—than I ever could have expected.

This isn't just my love story; it's a universal tale of passion, romance, and all-encompassing love that sweeps us off our feet. It's the story of a cowboy.

And Wranglers.

And chaps.

And the girl who fell in love with them. 

Spooky Texas by S.E. Schlosser

Suitably, hauntings and paranormal happenings in the Lone Star state are larger than life. 

Included in this must-read collection are tales of the ghost lights of Marfa, the werewolf of Elroy, and the Devil's brand in the eternal roundup of El Paso. Your hair will stand on end as you read about the mysteries and lore in "Spooky Texas."

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by  David Sedaris

Featuring David Sedaris's unique blend of hilarity and heart, this new collection of keen-eyed animal-themed tales is an utter delight. Though the characters may not be human, the situations in these stories bear an uncanny resemblance to the insanity of everyday life.

In "The Toad, the Turtle, and the Duck," three strangers commiserate about animal bureaucracy while waiting in a complaint line. In "Hello Kitty," a cynical feline struggles to sit through his prison-mandated AA meetings. In "The Squirrel and the Chipmunk," a pair of star-crossed lovers is separated by prejudiced family members.

Walking the Choctaw Road by Tim Tingle

Oklahoma, or "Okla Homma," is a Choctaw word meaning "Red People." In this collection, acclaimed storyteller Tim Tingle tells the stories of his people, the Choctaw People, the Okla Homma. For years, Tim has collected stories of the old folks, weaving traditional lore with stories from everyday life. Walking the Choctaw Road is a mixture of myth stories, historical accounts passed from generation to generation, and stories of Choctaw people living their lives in the here and now.

The Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers selected Tim as "Contemporary Storyteller Of The Year" for 2001, and in 2002, Tim was the featured storyteller at the National Storyteller Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee.

Thrilling New Reads for Teens and Tweens (Part Two)

All Star Season by T.S. Yavin

Reuven is quiet and thoughtful. His younger brother Avi is outgoing and impulsive. As irritating as they can be to each other, the boys have two strong bonds-the solidity of their Jewish family life and their passionate love for baseball. As the book opens, Reuven, a pitcher, is desperately working for a spot on the end-of-season All-Star team, while happy-go-lucky Avi probably hasn't even thought that far ahead. Reuven is willing to ignore the advice of his parents and even involve his younger brother in his campaign to succeed. 

The tensions leading to the big game-and its surprise outcome-will satisfy all young baseball fans.

Angus MacMouse Brings Down the House by Linda Teitel

When a poor street mouse named Angus accidentally wanders onto the stage of the opera, he scares the soprano so much that she sings a record-breaking high note. Word gets out, and soon the soprano, Minnie McGraw, becomes world famous, and goes on tour with Angus as her secret. But things go wrong when Angus becomes famous in his own right and Minnie grows jealous. Minnie and Carlo, the scheming tenor, come up with a plan to mousenap Angus! 

Trapped in a cage backstage, Angus must escape in time to save the opera company from ruin.

The Birthday Storm by Sharon Draper

It's summer vacation, and Sassy and her family are headed to Florida to visit Grammy for her birthday. A huge celebration is planned at Grammy's beach house. Sassy can't wait
But the weather reports say a hurricane is swirling in the Atlantic, and could be coming right toward Grammy's town.

So much for family fun-everyone's too busy boarding up their houses and stocking up on food. To make matters worse, the local sea turtles' lives are threatened, there's no electricity, stores are closed, and there's no birthday cake.

Thanks to Sassy's sparkle sack, time spent in Florida turns into an unforgettable celebration that is a birthday party like no other 

Chiggers by Hope Larson

Abby is back at the same old camp she goes to every summer -- except for the fact that this summer, nothing is the same. Her friend Rose is a cabin assistant, her friend Beth is pierced, and now the only person who doesn't seem too cool for Abby is Shasta, the new girl.

Shasta:
1. who is one-eighth Cherokee.
2. who was struck by lightning.
3. whose Internet boyfriend is a senior in high school.
4. who can't do any activities because of various questionable ailments.
5. who is totally annoying to everyone but Abby.

Can Abby be friends with a girl who all her other friends can't stand? Especially when Shasta has secrets that she isn't even telling Abby?

Fortune’s Folly by Deva Fagan

Ever since her mother died and her father lost his shoemaking skills, Fortunata has survived by telling fake fortunes. But when she’s tricked into telling a grand fortune for a prince, she is faced with the impossible task of fulfilling her wild prophecy—or her father will be put to death. 

Now Fortunata has to help Prince Leonato secure a magic sword, vanquish a wicked witch, discover a long-lost golden shoe, and rescue the princess who fits it. If only she hadn’t fallen in love with the prince herself!

In the Doghouse by Lisa Banim

In the Doghouse (Lizzie McGuire Mystery #5): To raise money for an animal shelter, Lizzie starts her own dog-walking and dog-sitting business with her two best friends, Miranda and Gordo. The idea is such a good one that cheerleaders Kate and Claire are seriously jealous-since their own lame pom-pom fundraiser is a total failure. Then someone lets the dogs out of the McGuires' backyard, and Lizzie is really in the doghouse. She not only has to track down the missing dogs, but she's also got to track down the guilty party before he or she strikes again! 

Could it be her jealous rivals? Her toxic little brother's idea of a prank? Or what about those two neighbors who wouldn't stop complaining about the barking? Time for snoop dog McGuire to sniff out the truth of this doggone mystery!

King of Murder by Betsy Byars

Together with her best friend and reluctant sidekick, Meat, Herculeah Jones meets a famous mystery author, Mathias King, aka the Murder King. King's novels mirror gruesome, real-life murders, particularly A Slash of Life, which is about an unsolved local stabbing. Some people believe Mathias King isn't making up the details—could he actually be responsible for the crime? Herculeah's sure she can find out. But Meat seems too busy with his new girlfriend to give Herculeah much of a hand. 

Can Herculeah solve this mystery on her own, or will Meat's dating be this sleuth's downfall?

Make Way For Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes

Dyamonde Daniel may be new in town, but that doesn't stop her from making a place for herself in a jiffy. With her can-do attitude and awesome brain power she takes the whole neighborhood by storm. The only thing puzzling her is the other new kid in her class. 

He's awfully grouchy, but Dyamonde's determined to get to the bottom of his frowning attitude and make a friend. 

Readers will fall in love with Dyamonde Daniel, the spirited star of a new series by Nikki Grimes. 

Monster Madness by Dean Lorey


It's the monster hunters' last chance to stop an all-out monster war!

We're under attack! The last of the mega-monsters known as the Named are fighting their way into our world, and only a mysterious being known as the Guardian can help—but the Guardian is dying.

To save him, Charlie Benjamin and his friends from the Nightmare Academy must journey into the heart of a Hydra cave, through the spooky Bermuda Triangle graveyard, and across the treacherous, monster-filled San Diego Zoo. 

Mouth Moths by Douglas Evans

One of the four rules posted above the blackboard in the tall teacher's classroom is "Raise your hand to talk," but Paul can't seem to stop himself from just blurting out whatever he has to say--that is, until confetti-like moths begin fluttering around his face every time he opens his mouth. Not surprisingly--given the way things work at W. T. Melon Elementary School--there is a solution that Paul soon comes to learn.

And so it goes with Kimberly, who has a bad habit of cutting in line, and Zachary, who can't seem to stay put in his chair.

Operation Yes by Sara Holmes

Ready? Line UP! FALL IN! And you'll fall for this timely and generous novel set on an Air Force base during the Iraq War, about an amazing teacher and the students she inspires.

No one in her sixth-grade class knows quite what to make of Ms. Loupe, with her short hair, her taped square "stage" on the floor, and the interest in improvisational theatre. After all, their school is on an Air Force base--a place that values discipline more than improv. But her students soon come to love her fresh approach; and when her dear brother goes missing in Afghanistan, and Ms. Loupe herself breaks down, they band together to support their teacher. What starts as a class fundraiser expands into a nationwide effort for all injured troops, and an amazing vision of community and hope.

Pure Dead Brilliant by Debi Gliori

There’s trouble brewing at StregaSchloss!

When Signora Strega-Borgia invites some would-be witches to stay, weird things begin to happen. Pandora can’t resist the temptation of time travel. Titus picks up a strange—and deadly—computer virus. And it looks like they may have to trade in the family riches for a family curse.

Are they falling under the witches’ spell? Or is the ghost of the Strega-Borgias’ past coming back to haunt them all?

Pure Dead Wicked by Debi Gliori

Just when the Strega-Borgias think it’s safe to relax in their ancestral castle . . . it isn’t. 

First their roof collapses, forcing them into the Auchenlochtermuchty Arms–the only local hotel that will accomodate three mythical beasts and one crocodile. Then Titus accidentally creates 500 tiny naked pink clones. And 500 tiny naked pink clones are not easy to manage. But not surprisingly, this isn’t the biggest Strega-Borgia dilemma–there’s also a few evil contractors plotting to destroy their home forever. 

Perhaps the miniature kilted warriors arising from the spilled magic potion can help. 

Robot Riot! by Andy Griffiths

Robots are running amok in Northwest Southeast Central school! It all started as a harmless science experiment meant to prove whether or not the new girl in school was in fact a robot. But now a robot of a different kind is chewing up the hallways and causing panic not seen in this area since Schooling Around #3!

What are the students at Northwest Southeast Central going to do? RUN!

And what are readers going to do? LAUGH!

Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary

Ramona likes being big enough to be depended on, but does everything have to depend on her? If Mrs. Kemp didn't look after Ramona, her mother couldn't work full time. If her mother didn't work, her father couldn't return to college. 

Ramona does get to ride the school bus this year, and she's determined to enjoy the third grade and learning to read and write despite teasing from Danny the Yard Ape. 

If only she weren't still treated like a child sometimes!

Trouble Under Oz by Sherwood Smith

Big trouble is brewing in Oz Sinister clouds boil ominously over the Emerald City, Dorothy has gone missing, and there are rumblings of rebellion in the Nome Kingdom. So a desperate plea for help goes out from Princess Ozma to two resourceful sisters from Kansas through the magic snow globe that helped bring them to Oz once before. 


But the girls face troubles of their own at home, and only one of them can answer Ozma's call. It's up to Dori to prevent a war deep in the caverns of the Nomes, while Em tries to do the same between their parents. It's hard to say who has the tougher job. 

Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver

Thousands of years ago the land is one dark forest. Its people are hunter-gatherers. They know every tree and herb and they know how to survive in a time of enchantment and powerful magic. Until an ambitious and malevolent force conjures a demon: a demon so evil that it can be contained only in the body of a ferocious bear that will slay everything it sees, a demon determined to destroy the world.

Only one boy can stop it—12 year old Torak, who has seen his father murdered by the bear. With his dying breath, Torak’s father tells his son of the burden that is his. He must lead the bear to the mountain of the World Spirit and beg that spirit’s help to overcome it.

Torak is an unwilling hero. He is scared and trusts no one. His only companion is a wolf cub only three moons old, whom he seems to understand better than any human.

New York Times Best Seller List (5/27/2012)

FICTION BEST SELLERS

1      11th Hour by James Patterson

2      Deadlocked by Charlaine Harris

3      Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel

4      The Road to Grace by Richard Paul Evans
 
5      In One Person by John Irving

6      The Innocent by David Baldacci

7      Calico Joe by John Grisham

8      The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King
 
9      Home by Toni Morrison

10    The Witness by Nora Roberts

11    The Sins of the Father by Jeffrey Archer

12    Robert B. Parker's Lullaby by Ace Atkins
 
13    The Lost Years by Mary Higgins Clark

14    A Dog's Journey by W. Bruce Cameron

15    The Shoemaker's Wife by Adriana
 
16    The Family Corleone by Ed Falco

***************************   

NON-FICTION BEST SELLERS

1      The Passage of Power by Robert A. Caro

2      Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen

 
3      Screwed! by Dick Morris

4      Most Talkative by Andy Cohen
 
5      Prague Winter by Madeline Albright
 
6      Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly

7      Drift by Rachel Maddow

8      My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman
 
9      Service by Marcus Luttrell
 
10    Imagine by Jonah Lehrer

11    Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

12    Mrs. Kennedy and Me by Clint Hill

13    The President's Club by Nancy Gibbs
 
14    The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

15    Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson


16    Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson


Note: Titles highlighted in BLUE are currently available for checkout.
Titles highlighted in RED have been ordered and will be available for checkout soon.

Relax with an Audiobook

A Darker Place by Jack Higgins

A famous Russian writer and ex-paratrooper named Alexander Kurbsky is fed up with the Putin government and decides he wants to disappear into the West. He is under no illusions, however, about how the news will be greeted at home, having seen too many of his countrymen die mysteriously at the hands of the thuggish Russian security services, so he makes elaborate plans with Charles Ferguson, Sean Dillon, and the rest of the group known informally as the Prime Ministers private army for his escape and concealment.

It's a real coup for the West except for one thing: Kurbsky is still working for the Russians. The plan is to infiltrate British and American intelligence at the highest levels, and he has his own motivations for doing the most effective job possible. He does not care what he has to do or where he has to go . . . or who he has to kill.

A Far Country by Daniel Mason

Raised in a remote village on the edge of a sugarcane plantation, fourteen-year-old Isabel was born with the gift and curse of “seeing farther.” When drought and war grip the backlands, her brother Isaias joins a great exodus to a teeming city in the south. Soon Isabel must follow, forsaking the only home she’s ever known, her sole consolation the thought of being with her brother again. But when she arrives, she discovers that Isaias has disappeared.

Weeks and then months pass, until one day, armed only with her unshakable hope, she descends into the chaos of the city to find him.

The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

For years Helen Knightly has given her life to others: to her haunted mother, to her enigmatic father, to her husband and grown children. When she finally crosses a terrible boundary, her life comes rushing in at her in a way she never could have imagined.

Unfolding over the next twenty-four hours, this searing, fast-paced audiobook explores the complex ties between mothers and daughters, wives and lovers, the meaning of devotion, and the line between love and hate. It is a challenging, moving, gripping story, written with the fluidity and strength of voice that only Alice Sebold has.

Angels in the Gloom by Anne Perry

Angels in the Gloom is an intense saga of love, hate, obsession, and murder that features an honorable English family–brothers Joseph and Matthew Reavley and their sisters, Judith and Hannah.

In March 1916, Joseph, a chaplain at the front, and Judith, an ambulance driver, are fighting not only the Germans but the bitter cold and the appalling casualties at Ypres. Scarcely less at risk, Matthew, an officer in England’s Secret Intelligence Service, fights the war covertly from London. Only Hannah, living with her children in the family home in tranquil Cambridgeshire, seems safe.

Appearances, however, are deceiving. By the time Joseph returns home to Cambridgeshire, rumors of spies and traitors are rampant. And when the savagely brutalized body of a weapons scientist is discovered in a village byway, the fear that haunts the battlefields settles over the town–along with the shadow of the obsessed ideologue who murdered the Reavleys’ parents on the eve of the war. Once again, this icy, anonymous powerbroker, the Peacemaker, is plotting to kill.

Angels of Wrath: First Team by Larry Bond

Led by CIA agent par excellence Bob Ferguson, the Team pitches in to help the FBI investigate a radical group of zealots who want to create a “post-Christian” era by instigating a catastrophic showdown in Jerusalem. But Ferg and company soon discover the cult has strange connections to the Iraqi resistance and to a Syrian arms dealer. Enlisting the help of Thera Majed, a beautiful paramilitary and an expert on Middle eastern relations, the team breaks up to track each link. They seek to stop anything catastrophic from happening before the President arrives in Iraq for the next round of elections. Their quarries lead Team members into an immensely complicated world of fanatical terrorists, each potentially dangerous. . . but who among them is the next to strike? Uncertain of the most imminent threat, the Team finds that they have landed in the midst of an operation headed by Israel’s famous Mossad, and are ordered to cooperate with the Israelis . . . but are the Israelis cooperating with them? 

Unsure of their allies, the Team realizes that they are on the trail of two completely different attacks whose targets are thousands of miles apart. Both operations are intended to trigger a vast religious war. With the clock ticking down, can the team extinguish the spark of Armageddon? 

Blood Game by Iris Johansen

Eve Duncan returns in a thriller that pits her against the most evil mind she has ever encountered: a ruthless killer who taunts her with his every move…and who has a special affinity for blood. When a Georgia senator’s daughter is found murdered, and her body drained of blood, Eve Duncan is drawn into the web of Kevin Jelak—a serial murderer who is on Eve’s short list of killers who might know something about her missing daughter Bonnie. When a goblet of blood is found in Eve’s refrigerator, she knows the taunting is over…and the games have begun. 

As Eve and Jelak engage in a dance of death, Eve must call upon those she loves and trusts the most…even if it means bringing them into the game as well.

Dead Irish by John Lescroart (Dismas Hardy Series #1)

A ex-cop names his poison. For former San Francisco cop Dismas Hardy, Guinness Stout with Bass Ale is the drink of choice, but a straight Irish whiskey will do anytime. The news of young Eddie Cochran's death calls for a double. The cops think it's suicide, but even to a lapsed Catholic like Hardy, it sounds wrong. Doubts lead him back into the heart of the Little Shamrock, into memories of warm kitchens, cold churches, and sins unforgetten. 

Blood ties still bind Eddie's family--his beautiful mother, his pregnant widow, his hot-tempered brothers, his compassionate priest. But old secrets and raw angers gnaw at the fabric of their lives. And Hardy's insticts warn him-someone else is going to die.

Deadlock by Iris Johansen

Emily Hudson is an archeologist who travels the world in search of priceless artifacts from war-torn countries and other hot spots.    Her best friend and partner, Joel Levy, is always at her side—until one day, her entire crew is massacred and Joel and Emily are held captive. Victims of one of the most ruthless and evil human beings on earth.  For two weeks they try to survive, until Emily is the unwitting instrument in Joel’s demise. 

John Garrett has worked for the CIA, MI6, and whoever else needed his services.  Now, the CIA comes calling with a desperate mission for him: save Emily Hudson.  But their may be more to this job than they let him know.  And soon, his connection to Emily has him questioning everything he thought to be true.  Emily has vengeance on her mind.  Will Garrett aid her in getting revenge?  Can Emily help him get to the truth behind a bigger conspiracy?  Or will they both die trying…With lightning-fast pacing, plot twists and shocking betrayals, Iris Johansen is at the top of her game in this latest thriller.

Fantasy in Death by J.D. Robb (In Death Series #30)

Bart Minnock, founder of the computer- gaming giant U-Play, enters his private playroom, and eagerly can't wait to lose himself in an imaginary world, to play the role of a sword-wielding warrior king, in his company's latest top-secret project, Fantastical.

The next morning, he is found in the same locked room, in a pool of blood, his head separated from his body. It is the most puzzling case Eve Dallas has ever faced, and it is not a game. . . .

NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas is having as much trouble figuring out how Bart Minnock was murdered as who did the murdering. The victim's girlfriend seems sincerely grief-stricken, and his quirky-but-brilliant partners at U-Play appear equally shocked. No one seemed to have a prob­lem with the enthusiastic, high-spirited millionaire. Of course, success can attract jealousy, and gaming, like any business, has its fierce rivalries and dirty tricks-as Eve's husband, Roarke, one of U- Play's competitors, knows well. But Minnock was not naive, and quite capable of fighting back in the real world as well as the virtual one.

Eve and her team are about to enter the next level of police work, in a world where fantasy is the ultimate seduction-and the price of defeat is death. . . .

The 47^th Samurai by Stephen Hunter

In "The 47th Samurai, " Bob Lee Swagger, the gritty hero of Stephen Hunter's bestselling novels "Point of Impact" and "Time to Hunt, " returns in Hunter's most intense and exotic thriller to date.
Bob Lee Swagger and Philip Yano are bound together by a single moment at Iwo Jima, 1945, when their fathers, two brave fighters on opposite sides, met in the bloody and chaotic battle for the island. Only Earl Swagger survived.

More than sixty years later, Yano comes to America to honor the legacy of his heroic father by recovering the sword he used in the battle. His search has led him to Crazy Horse, Idaho, where Bob Lee, ex-marine and Vietnam veteran, has settled into a restless retirement and immediately pledges himself to Yano's quest.
Bob Lee finds the sword and delivers it to Yano in Tokyo. On inspection, they discover that it is not a standard WWII blade, but a legendary shin-shinto katana, an artifact of the nation. It is priceless but worth killing for. Suddenly Bob is at the center of a series of terrible crimes he barely understands but vows to avenge. And to do so, he throws himself into the world of the samurai, Tokyo's dark, criminal yakuza underworld, and the unwritten rules of Japanese culture.

Swagger's allies, hard-as-nails, American-born Susan Okada and the brave, cocaine-dealing tabloid journalist Nick Yamamoto, help him move through this strange, glittering, and ominous world from the shady bosses of the seamy Kabukicho district to officials in the highest echelons of the Japanese government, but in the end, he is on his own and will succeed only if he can learn that to survive samurai, you must become samurai. 

Hardball by Sara Paretsky

Chicago's unique brand of ball is sixteen-inch slow pitch, played in leagues all over the city for more than a century. But in politics, in business, and in law enforcement, the game is hardball.

When V. I. Warshawski is asked to find a man who's been missing for four decades, a search that she figured would be futile becomes lethal. Old skeletons from the city's racially charged history, as well as haunting family secrets-her own and those of the elderly sisters who hired her-rise up to brush her back from the plate with a vengeance. A young cousin whom she's never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign; a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence; and on the city's South Side, people spit when she shows up. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop, V. I. still takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.

Infected by Scott Sigler

Across America a mysterious disease is turning ordinary people into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, themselves, and even their own families.

Working under the government’s shroud of secrecy, CIA operative Dew Phillips crisscrosses the country trying in vain to capture a live victim. With only decomposing corpses for clues, CDC epidemiologist Margaret Montoya races to analyze the science behind this deadly contagion. She discovers that these killers all have one thing in common – they’ve been contaminated by a bioengineered parasite, shaped by a complexity far beyond the limits of known science.

Meanwhile Perry Dawsey – a hulking former football star now resigned to life as a cubicle-bound desk jockey – awakens one morning to find several mysterious welts growing on his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices . . . he is infected.

The fate of the human race may well depend on the bloody war Perry must wage with his own body, because the parasites want something from him, something that goes beyond mere murder.

The King of Torts by John Grisham

The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week.

As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life—that would make him, almost overnight, the legal profession’s newest king of torts...

Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich

New secrets, old flames, and hidden agendas are about to send bounty hunter Stephanie Plum on her most outrageous adventure yet!

MISTAKE #1

Dickie Orr. Stephanie was married to him for about fifteen minutes before she caught him cheating on her with her arch-nemesis Joyce Barnhardt. Another fifteen minutes after that Stephanie filed for divorce, hoping to never see either one of them again.

MISTAKE #2

Doing favors for super bounty hunter Carlos Manoso (a.k.a. Ranger). Ranger needs her to meet with Dickie and find out if he's doing something shady. Turns out, he is. Turns out, he's also back to doing Joyce Barnhardt. And it turns out Ranger's favors always come with a price...

MISTAKE #3

Going completely nutso while doing the favor for Ranger, and trying to apply bodily injury to Dickie in front of the entire office. Now Dickie has disappeared and Stephanie is the natural suspect in his disappearance. Is Dickie dead? Can he be found? And can Stephanie Plum stay one step ahead in this new, dangerous game? Joe Morelli, the hottest cop in Trenton, NJ is also keeping Stephanie on her toes-and he may know more than he's saying about many things in Stephanie's life. It's a cat-and-mouse game for Stephanie Plum, where the ultimate prize might be her life.

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

Myron Bolitar hasn't heard from Terese Collins since their torrid affair ended ten years ago, so her desperate phone call from Paris catches him completely off guard. In a shattering admission, Terese reveals the tragic story behind her disappearance--her struggles to get pregnant, the greatest moment of her life when her baby was born--…and the fatal accident that robbed her of it all: her marriage, her happiness and her beloved only daughter.

Now a suspect in the murder of her ex-husband in Paris, Terese has nowhere else to turn for help. Myron heeds the call. But then a startling piece of evidence turns the entire case upside down, laying bare Terese's long-buried family secrets…and the very real possibility that her daughter may still be alive.

In grave danger from unknown assailants in a country where nothing is as it seems, Myron and Terese race to stay a step ahead of Homeland Security, Interpol, and Mossad. Soon they are working at breakneck pace, not only to learn what really happened to Terese's long-lost little girl--but to uncover a sinister plot with shocking global implications.

Lover in the Rough by Elizabeth Lowell

Reba Farrall was lost--until a kindly old gentleman took her under his wing and helped heal her shattered spirit. Now her dearest friend is gone, leaving her with a doubting, broken heart...and half-interest in a California gem mine. But Chance Walker has burst into Reba's life--a daring adventurer who believes in nothing except the priceless uncut stones for which he searches the Earth. In the blistering heat of Death Valley--in the intoxicating presence of a jewel more exquisite than any he has ever seen--Chance must confront a dire peril that stalks the sad and sensuous beauty. 

For only he can save Reba Farrall from harm--and only she can teach him how to love.

Off Season by Anne Rivers Siddons

For as long as she can remember, they were Cam and Lilly--happily married, totally in love with each other, parents of a beautiful family, and partners in life. Then, after decades of marriage, it ended as every great love story does...in loss. After Cam's death, Lilly takes a lone road trip to her and Cam's favorite spot on the remote coast of Maine, the place where they fell in love over and over again, where their ghosts still dance. There, she looks hard to her past--to a first love that ended in tragedy; to falling in love with Cam; to a marriage filled with exuberance, sheer life, and safety-- to try to figure out her future.

It is a journey begun with tender memories and culminating in a revelation that will make Lilly re-evaluate everything she thought was true about her husband and her marriage.

R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton

Reba Lafferty was a daughter of privilege, the only child of an adoring father. Nord Lafferty was already in his fifties when Reba was born, and he could deny her nothing. Over the years, he quietly settled her many scrapes with the law, but he wasn't there for her when she was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the California Institution for Women. Now, at thirty-two, she is about to be paroled, having served twenty-two months of a four-year sentence. Nord Lafferty wants to be sure she stays straight, stays at home and away from the drugs, the booze, the gamblers." 

"It seems a straightforward assignment for Kinsey: babysit Reba until she settles in, make sure she follows all the rules of her parole. Maybe all of a week's work. Nothing untoward - the woman seems remorseful and friendly. And the money is good." But life is never that simple, and Reba is out of prison less than twenty-four hours when one of her old crowd comes circling round.

Resolution by Robert B. Parker

I had an eight-gauge shotgun that I’d taken with me when I left Wells Fargo. It didn’t take too long for things to develop. I sat in the tall lookout chair in the back of the saloon with the shotgun in my lap for two peaceful nights. On my third night it was different. I could almost smell trouble beginning to cook.After the bloody confrontation in Appaloosa, Everett Hitch heads into the afternoon sun and ends up in Resolution, an Old West town so new the dust has yet to settle. It’s the kind of town that doesn’t have much in the way of commerce, except for a handful of saloons and some houses of ill repute.  Hitch takes a job as a lookout at Amos Wolfson’s Blackfoot Saloon and quickly establishes his position as protector of the ladies who work the back rooms–as well as a man unafraid to stand up to the enforcer sent down from the O’Malley copper mine.

Though Hitch makes short work of hired gun Koy Wickman, tensions continue to mount, so that even the self-assured Hitch is relieved by the arrival in town of his friend Virgil Cole. When greedy mine owner Eamon O’Malley threatens the loose coalition of local ranchers and starts buying up Resolution’s few businesses, Hitch and Cole find themselves in the middle of a makeshift war between O’Malley’s men and the ranchers. In a place where law and order don’t exist, Hitch and Cole must make their own, guided by their sense of duty, honor, and friendship.

S if for Silence by Sue Grafton

S is for silence: the silence of the lost, the silence of the grave, the silence of oblivion.

Thirty-four years ago, Violet Sullivan put on her party finery and left for the annual Fourth of July fireworks display. She was never seen again. In the small California town of Serena Station, tongues wagged. Some said she'd run off with a lover. Some said she was murdered by her husband. But for the not-quite-seven-year-old daughter Daisy that she left behind, her absence has never been explained or forgotten.

Now, thirty-four years later, she wants the solace of closure.

In S IS FOR SILENCE, Kinsey Millhone's nineteenth excursion into the world of suspense and misadventure, S is for surprises as Sue Grafton takes a whole new approach to telling the tale. And S is for superb: Kinsey and Grafton at their best.

The Siege by Stephen White

As a lovely weekend approaches on the Yale campus it appears that a number of students?including the sons of both the secretary of the army and newest Supreme Court justice?may have gone missing. Kidnapping? Terrorism? The authorities aren?t sure. But the high-profile disappearances draw the attention of the CIA and the FBI's vaunted Hostage Rescue Team. Attention quickly focuses on the fortresslike tomb of one of Yale's oldest secret societies. Suspended Boulder police detective Sam Purdy soon finds himself in New Haven, where he is suddenly snared by an unlikely pair of Feds: FBI agent Christopher Poe and CIA analyst Deirdre Drake. When an unknown enemy starts releasing hostages, one by one, out of the building's front door to die, Sam, Poe, and Dee join together, desperately trying to solve the riddle of what is going on inside the windowless stone tomb on the edge of campus.

In The Siege, New York Times bestselling author Stephen White delivers a pulse-pounding thriller that begs the questions: What if the next terrorist threat has a different set of rules that exploits weaknesses we never knew we had? How should we respond? And what happens when one of us is asked to make an unimaginable sacrifice to protect our neighbors?

Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs

Can a single moment change your entire life?


International lawyer Sophie Bellamy has dedicated her life to helping people in war-torn countries. But when she survives a hostage situation, she remembers what matters most--the children she loves back home. Haunted by regrets, she returns to the idyllic Catskills village of Avalon on the shores of Willow Lake, determined to repair the bonds with her family.

There Sophie discovers the surprising rewards of small-town life--including an unexpected passion for Noah Shepherd, the local veterinarian. Noah has a healing touch for anything with four legs, but he's never had any luck with women--until Sophie.

Snowfall at Willow Lake speaks from the heart about all the loves that fill a woman's life, and all the ways that love is tested and made to grow. It's the story of what comes after a woman survives an unspeakable horror and finds her way home, to healing and redemption and a new chance at happiness.

T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton

In what may be her most unsettling novel to date, Sue Grafton's T is for Trespass is also her most direct confrontation with the forces of evil. Beginning slowly with the day-to-day life of a private eye, Grafton suddenly shifts from the voice of Kinsey Millhone to that of Solana Rojas, introducing readers to a chilling sociopath. Rojas is not her birth name. It is an identity she cunningly stole, an identity that gives her access to private caregiving jobs. The true horror of the novel builds with excruciating tension as the reader foresees the awfulness that lies ahead. The suspense lies in whether Millhone will realize what is happening in time to intervene.

Though set in the late eighties, T is for Trespass could not be more topical: identity theft; elder abuse; betrayal of trust; the breakdown in the institutions charged with caring for the weak and the dependent. It reveals a terrifying but all-too-real rip in the social fabric. Once again, Grafton opens up new territory with startling results.

Where Serpents Lie by T. Jefferson Parker

Terry Naughton, head of Orange County's Crimes Against Youth unit, faces the challenge of a lifetime when children are being kidnapped but released--and the people of Southern California are terrified for their safety. 

The cops don't know what the criminal wants, but they do know that his brand of psychotic behavior always escalates in scale.