April Fiction Blurbs 2015
Leather, Stephen - White Lies : The 11th Spider
Raj Chaudry, a British-born Pakistani working for
MI6, is seized and tortured by al-Qaeda
extremists in Pakistan. It's a blast from the past
for Shepherd, since he previously trained
Chaudry as an undercover agent in a terrorist
case where both narrowly escaped with their
lives. Determined to save his former apprentice,
Shepherd embarks on a rescue mission with SAS
and Pakistani Special Forces soldiers.
MacBride, Stuart - A Song For The Dying
Eight years ago, 'The Inside Man' murdered
four women and left three more in critical
condition - all of them with their stomachs slit
open and a plastic doll stitched inside. And
then the killer just ...disappeared. Ash
Henderson was a Detective Inspector on the
initial investigation, but a lot can change in
eight years. His family has been destroyed, his
career is in tatters, and one of Oldcastle's most
vicious criminals is making sure he spends the
rest of his life in prison. Now a nurse has
turned up dead on a patch of waste ground, a
plastic doll buried beneath her skin, and it
looks as if Ash might finally get a shot at
redemption , at earning his freedom, at
revenge.
Mcgowan, Claire - The Dead Ground
A stolen baby. A murdered woman. A
decades-old atrocity. Something
connects them all.
A month before Christmas, and
Ballyterrin on the Irish border lies under
a thick pall of snow. When a newborn
baby goes missing from hospital, it's all
too close to home for forensic
psychologist Paula Maguire, who's
wrestling with the hardest decision of
her life.
Then a woman is found in a stone circle
with her stomach cut open and it's clear
a brutal killer is on the loose.
As another child is taken and a pregnant
woman goes missing, Paula is caught up in the hunt for a killer no one
can trace, who will stop at nothing to get what they want
Mosse, Kate
- The Taxidermist’s Daughter
In a churchyard, villagers gather on
the night when the ghosts of those
who will die in the coming year are
thought to be seen. Here, where the
estuary leads out to the sea,
superstitions still hold sway.
Standing alone is the taxidermist's
daughter. At 17, Constantia Gifford
lives with her father in a decaying
house: it is all that is left of Gifford's
once world-famous museum of
taxidermy. The stuffed animals that
used to grace every parlour are out of fashion, leaving Gifford a disgraced
and bitter man.
The bell begins to toll and all eyes are fixed on the church. No one sees
the gloved hand pick up a flint. As the last notes fade into the dark, a
woman lies dead.
Nicholls, David - Us
Douglas Petersen understands his
wife's need to 'rediscover herself'
now that their son is leaving home.
He just thought they'd be doing their
rediscovering together.
So when Connie announces that she
will be leaving, too, he resolves to
make their last family holiday into
the trip of a lifetime: one that will
draw the three of them closer, and
win the respect of his son. One that
will make Connie fall in love with him
all over again.
The hotels are booked, the tickets
bought, the itinerary planned and
printed.
What could possibly go wrong?
Packer, Nigel - The Restoration Of Otto Laird
Elderly architect Otto Laird lives a
peaceful existence in Switzerland.
Once renowned for his radical and
controversial designs he now spends
his days communing with nature and
writing eccentric (and unposted)
letters to old friends. But his
charmed life is rudely interrupted
when he learns that one of his most
significant buildings, Marlowe House,
a 1960s tower block in south London
is to be demolished.
Purdy, Brandy - The Boleyn Bride
At sixteen, Elizabeth Howard envisions
a glorious life for herself as lady-inwaiting to the future queen, Catherine
of Aragon. But when she is forced to
marry Thomas Boleyn, a wealthy
commoner, Elizabeth is left to stagnate
in the countryside while her detested
husband pursues his ambitions. There,
she raises golden girl Mary, moody
George, and ugly duckling Anne—while
staving off boredom with a string of
admirers. Until Henry VIII takes the
throne. . .
Quick, Matthew - The Good Luck Of Right Now
For thirty-eight years, Bartholomew
Neil has lived with his mother. When
she gets sick and dies, he has no idea
how to be on his own. His redheaded
grief counselor, Wendy, says he needs
to find his flock and leave the nest. But
how does a man whose whole life has
been grounded in his mom, Saturday
mass, and the library learn how to fly?
Riordan, Rick - Blood Of Olympus
Though the Greek and Roman crewmembers
of the Argo II have made progress in their
many quests, they still seem no closer to
defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants
have risen-all of them-and they're stronger
than ever. They must be stopped before the
Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two
demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs
their blood - the blood of Olympus in order to wake.
Riordan, Rick - Percy Jackson And The Greek Gods
"If you like horror shows, blood baths, lying,
stealing, backstabbing, and cannibalism, then
read on, because it definitely was a Golden
Age for all that." Dramatic full-color
illustrations throughout by Caldecott Honoree
John Rocco make this volume-a must for
home, library, and classroom shelves-as
stunning as it is entertaining.
Roberts, Nora - The Collector: Life Can Change In a Heartbeat
When professional house-sitter Lila Emerson
witnesses a murder/suicide from her current
apartment-sitting job, life as she knows it takes a
dramatic turn. Suddenly, the woman with no
permanent ties finds herself almost wishing for
one. . . .
Rose, Karen - Closer Than You Think
Psychologist Faith Corcoran is desperate to
escape the stalker who’s made her life a
nightmare for the past year—desperate
enough to run to the one place that has been
her nightmare far longer. Both boon and bane,
her recent inheritance of her grandmother’s
old house in Cincinnati offers sanctuary in
which she can start her life anew, but requires
that she face the dark memories that still
resonate to this day. But she has no idea how
close to home her fears still are.
Russell, Rachel Renee - Dork Diaries: Dear Dork
When Nikki Maxwell discovers that her
arch-nemesis, Mackenzie, has started
writing a gossip column for the school
newspaper she's worried that Mackenzie
might be about to reveal some secret info
about Nikki's crush, Brandon, that she
knows he won't want the whole school to
find out about. To keep an eye on what
Mackenzie's up to, Nikki decides to join the
newspaper too, and somehow ends up
working as the advice columnist, Miss
Know-It-All. At first it's fun to answer all the letters from the kids at
school, but when Miss Know-It-All's inbox is suddenly overflowing with
pleas for guidance, Nikki feels in need of some help herself.
Russell, Rachel Renee - Dork Diaries
After a bump on the head in gym class on
April Fool’s Day, Nikki has a wild dream in
which she, her BFFs Chloe and Zoey, her
crush Brandon, and mean girl Mackenzie
all end up playing the roles of some
familiar classic fairy tale characters. Of
course, the stories don’t go quite as
expected—because they each have a very
special Dork Diaries spin!
Cannon, Luke - Killing Room
In this highly charged, psychological thrill ride
four strangers are recruited as volunteers in a
scientific research study. But they soon find that
they are pawns in a classified government
program to determine the breaking point of the
human mind. As the experiments are conducted
with each unwilling participant, the sterile white
room becomes a horrible nightmare where the
end game is survival itself.
McGrath, M.J - Bone Seeker
Edie Kiglatuk works as a summer school teacher
in the Canadian arctic. When one of her female
students is found dead in nearby Lake
Turngaluk, Edie enlists the help of Sergeant
Derek Palliser to pursue the case, promising the
girl’s Inuit family that they will uncover the
truth. Meanwhile, lawyer Sonia Gutierrez
investigates the toxicity of the lake and suspects
that there might be a larger conspiracy
involved.
Lette, Kathy - Courting Trouble
Tilly has the day from hell when she's sacked
from her barristers' chambers in the morning,
then finds her husband in bed with her former
best friend in the afternoon. She escapes to
her mother, Roxy - a sassy solicitor whose
outrageous take on men, work and family life is
the despair of her more conventional daughter.
Roxy comes up with a radical plan for their
future - they'll set up an all-female law firm
which will only champion women who have
been cheated, put upon, attacked, ripped off or
ruined by the men in their lives.
Salaman, Clara - The Boat
It was supposed to be the trip of a
lifetime...Johnny and his new bride Clem have
arrived in Turkey for a year's honeymoon.
Young, blissfully happy but poor, they are
surviving on love, luck and a spirit of adventure.
So when a boat appears out of a raging storm,
crewed by a bohemian couple who represent
everything Johnny and Clem want to be, they do
not think twice about stepping on board. But all
is not as it seems. And when they finally open
their eyes to the truth, the boat is in the middle
of the vast open sea...With echoes of The Beach, this is a hypnotic,
emotionally charged novel about two sweet young lovers who lose their
innocence in paradise.
Setterfield, Diane - Bellman & Black
As a boy, William Bellman commits one small
cruel act that appears to have unforseen and
terrible consequences.The killing of a rook with
his catapult is soon forgotten amidst the riot of
boyhood games. And by the time he is grown
with a wife and children of his own he seems
indeed to be a man blessed by fortune. Until
tragedy strikes and the stranger in black comes
and William Bellman starts to wonder if all his
happiness is about to be eclipsed. Desperate to
save the one precious thing he has left, he
enters into a bargain. A rather strange bargain with an even stranger
partner to found a decidedly macabre business.
Shafak, Elif - The Architect’s Apprentice
In 1540, twelve-year-old Jahan arrives in
Istanbul. As an animal tamer in the sultan’s
menagerie, he looks after the exceptionally smart
elephant Chota and befriends (and falls for) the
sultan’s beautiful daughter, Princess Mihrimah. A
palace education leads Jahan to Mimar Sinan, the
empire’s chief architect, who takes Jahan under
his wing as they construct (with Chota’s help)
some of the most magnificent buildings in history.
Yet even as they build Sinan’s triumphant
masterpieces—the incredible Suleymaniye and
Selimiye mosques—dangerous undercurrents begin to emerge, with
jealousy erupting among Sinan’s four apprentices.
Steele, Danielle - Pegasus
In a rich historical novel of family and World
War II, #1 New York Times bestselling author
Danielle Steel unfurls a powerful saga that
spans generations and continents. This is a
story of courage, friendship, and fate as two
families face the challenges of war . . . and the
magnificent stallion that will link them forever.
PEGASUS Nicolas von Bingen and Alex von
Hemmerle,
Swanson, Peter - The Girl With A Clock For A Heart
Already optioned for film, The Girl with a Clock
for a Heart is Peter Swanson’s electrifying tale
of romantic noir, with shades of Hitchcock and
reminiscent of the classic movie Body Heat. It
is the story of a man swept into a vortex of
irresistible passion and murder when an old
love mysteriously reappears
Tebbutt, Judith - A Long Walk Home: One Woman’s Story of Kidnap,
Hostage, Loss and Survival
This is the story of how, over a period of
one hundred and ninety-two days, I was
torn away from the life I knew and loved,
and dragged down to the depths of despair;
of how I endured enforced isolation and
near-starvation at the hands of Somali
pirates; and of how I made a choice to
survive by any and all means that I could
muster.
Torre, A.R - The Girl in 6E
My life is simple, as long as I follow the rules.
1. Don't leave the apartment.
2. Never let anyone in.
3. Don't kill anyone.
I've obeyed these rules for three years. But
rules were made to be broken
Williams, David - Ratburger
This story is of a little girl called Zoe. Things
are not looking good for Zoe. Her stepmother
Sheila is so lazy she gets Zoe to pick her nose
for her. The school bully Tina Trotts makes
her life a misery - mainly by flobbing on her
head. And now the evil Burt from Burt's
Burgers is after her pet rat! And guess what
he wants to do with it? The clue is in the title…
Williams, David - Billionaire Boy
Joe has a lot of reasons to be happy. About a
billion of them, in fact. You see, Joe's rich.
Really, really rich. Joe's got his own bowling
alley, his own cinema, even his own butler
who is also an orangutan. He's the wealthiest
twelve-year-old in the land. Yes, Joe has
absolutely everything he could possibly want.
But there's just one thing he really needs: a
friend...
Williams, David - Mr Stink
"Mr Stink stank. He also stunk. And if it was
correct English to say he stinked, then he
stinked as well..." It all starts when Chloe
makes friends with Mr Stink, the local tramp.
Yes, he smells a bit. But when it looks like he
might be driven out of town, Chloe decides to
hide him in the garden shed. Now Chloe's got
to make sure no one finds out her secret. And
speaking of secrets, there just might be more
to Mr Stink than meets the eye...or the nose.
Williams, David - The Boy In The Dress
Dennis was different. Why was he different,
you ask? Well, a small clue might be in the
title of this book...Charming, surprising and
hilarious - The Boy in the Dress is
everything you would expect from the cocreator of Little Britain.
Watson, Christie – Where Women Are Kings
Watson, Christie Elijah, seven years old, is
covered in scars and has a history of
disruptive behaviour. His adoptive mother
Nikki believes that she and her husband
Obi are strong enough to accept his
difficulties - and that being white will not
affect her ability to raise a black son. Elijah’
s birth mother Deborah loves her son like
the world has never known. Elijah think it’s
his fault they can’t be together. Each of
them faces more challenges than they
could have dreamed, but just as Elijah starts to settle in, a shocking event
rocks their fragile peace and the result is devastating
Webster, Nora - Colm Toibin
Widowed at forty, with four children and not
enough money, Nora has lost the love of
her life, Maurice, the man who rescued her
from the stifling world to which she was
born. And now she fears she may be drawn
back into it. Wounded, strong-willed,
clinging to secrecy in a tiny community
where everyone knows your business, Nora
is drowning in her own sorrow and blind to
the suffering of her young sons, who have
lost their father. Yet she has moments of
stunning empathy and kindness, and when she begins to sing again, after
decades, she finds solace, engagement, a haven—herself.