The following are novels coming up in the next two months by a few of everyone’s favourite authors.
• Clive Cussler, The Gangster (March): The ninth Isaac Bell story pits the detective against the Black Hand in 1906. To curb their ever-expanding criminal activities, Bell is hired to form a Black Hand squad. So ubiquitous are they, Bell begins to suspect that many may be imitators, using the name for effect.
• Christine Feehan, Dark Promises (March): In number 29 in the Dark series about Carpathian vampires. Gabrielle’s fiancé Gary, once a gentle researcher, is now a fearless Carpathian warrior, and Gabrielle dreams only of an escape from the Carpathian Mountains. Meanwhile, Trixie Joanes has come to the mountains in search of her granddaughter, fearing she has been lured by some powerful evil force.
• Debbie Macomber, A Girl’s Guide to Moving On (March): In New Beginning number two, Leanne and Nicole, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, discoverer their husbands’ infidelities and leave their marriages, building new lives for themselves. But new romances raise issues for each of them.
• Fern Michaels, No Safe Secret (March): Molly’s affluent life and marriage to Tanner seem perfect to outsiders, and she has a wonderful daughter and twin stepsons she adores. But life with Tanner is demanding and underneath it all her secret past threatens to betray her.
• Wilbur Smith, Predator (March): Major Hector Cross, ex-SAS, has faced off against terrorists, pirates and arms dealers. Now in this action thriller, an old enemy resurfaces and Cross must act to save the world from his domination.
• Iris Johansen, Hide Away (April): In the 20th outing for forensic sculptor Eve Duncan, she is in a hospital bed in California when a threat arises to her lover and to the young girl they have sworn to protect, Cary Delaney. Even a retreat to the highlands of Scotland doesn’t allow them to elude their enemies.
• Laurie R. King, The Murder of Mary Russell (April): In the 14th Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes story, Mrs. Hudson, Holmes’ longtime housekeeper and Mary’s surrogate mother, unwittingly brings a threat into the household in the form of her son. Mary is apparently murdered and Holmes needs to work through his grief to solve the puzzle.
• Amanda Quick, Til Death Do Us Part (April): Calista Langley operates an “introduction” agency in Victorian London catering to those alone in the world. Now she is receiving gifts that threaten her life and she must turn to Trent Hastings, reclusive crime writer. As they examine files of rejected clients, it becomes clear that Calista’s secret past is the source of the threat.
• Nora Roberts, The Obsession (April): Naomi Bowes, following her father into the woods, sees him revealed as a serial killer. Years later, her stay in Sunrise Cove and its kindly residents, especially Xander Keaton, begin to force her to begin to open up again, but also awakens a threat from her past.
• John Sandford, Extreme Prey (April): In number 26 in a series, Lucas Davenport, no longer with the Minnesota State Police, joins his friend the governor’s presidential campaign. “Should be fun,” Lucas says, only to find the governor shadowed by a gunman who will kill anyone who gets in his way.
• Lisa Scottolini, Most Wanted (April): A wife and husband finding the husband infertile decide to use a donor. Happily pregnant, Christine is shocked to discover that a man being arrested for murder, seen on TV, bears a startling resemblance to the donor. Christine must investigate to find the truth.
You can put these titles on hold now at your local library to read them as soon as they are released.
--A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Martin Boughner works at Port Moody Public Library.
