Fiction

Biloxi

Filed Under: Books Read

Biloxi

Biloxi by Mary Miller
Published by Liveright on May 21, 2019
Pages: 255
Format: hardback
Genres: Fiction, Southern, United States
See it @ Goodreads


Synopsis

Mary Miller seizes the mantle of southern literature with this wry tale of middle age and the unexpected turns a life can take.

Like her predecessors Ann Beattie and Raymond Carver, Mary Miller brings an essential voice to her generation. Building on her critically acclaimed novel, The Last Days of California, and her biting collection, Always Happy Hour, Miller slyly transports readers to her unapologetic corner of the South—this time, Biloxi, Mississippi, home to sixty-three-year-old Louis McDonald Jr. His wife of thirty-seven years left him, his father has passed—and he has impulsively retired from his job in anticipation of an inheritance check that may not come. In the meantime, he watches reality television, sips beer, and avoids his ex-wife and daughter. One day, he stops at a house advertising free dogs and meets overweight mixed-breed Layla. Unexpectedly, Louis takes her, and, newly invigorated, begins investigating local dog parks and buying extra bologna. Mining the absurdities of life with her signature “droll minimalist’s-eye view of America” (Joyce Carol Oates), Mary Miller’s Biloxi affirms her place in contemporary literature.

Kingdom of the Blind

Filed Under: Books Read

Kingdom of the Blind

Kingdom of the Blind by Louise Penny
Published by Minotaur Books on November 27, 2018
Series: Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #14
Pages: 400
Format: ebook
Genres: Canada, Cultural, Fiction, Mystery
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Synopsis

The entrancing new crime thriller featuring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, from number one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny

When Armand Gamache receives a letter inviting him to an abandoned farmhouse outside of Three Pines, the former head of the Sûreté du Québec discovers that a complete stranger has named him as an executor of her will.

Armand never knew the elderly woman, and the bequests are so wildly unlikely that he suspects the woman must have been delusional - until a body is found, and the terms of the bizarre will suddenly seem far more menacing.

But it isn't the only menace Gamache is facing. The investigation into the events that led to his suspension has dragged on, and Armand is taking increasingly desperate measures to rectify previous actions. As he does, Armand Gamache begins to see his own blind spots - and the terrible things hiding there.


Praise for the award-winning Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series:

'One of the most interesting detectives in crime fiction' The Times'Fascinating characters, a twisty plot and wonderful surprise endings' Ann Cleeves

'Wonderfully satisfying' Kate Mosse

The Shadows We Hide

Filed Under: Books Read

The Shadows We Hide

The Shadows We Hide by Allen Eskens
Published by Mulholland Books on November 13, 2018
Series: Joe Talbert, #2
Pages: 352
Format: Hardcover
Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense
See it @ Goodreads


Synopsis

In the highly-anticipated sequel to the national bestseller The Life We Bury, Joe Talbert returns to investigate the murder of the father he never knew, and to reckon with his own family's past.

MINNESOTA BOOK AWARD FINALISTBARRY AWARD FINALIST

Joe Talbert, Jr. has never once met his namesake. Now out of college, a cub reporter for the Associated Press in Minneapolis, he stumbles across a story describing the murder of a man named Joseph Talbert in a small town in southern Minnesota. Full of curiosity about whether this man might be his father, Joe is shocked to find that none of the town's residents have much to say about the dead man-other than that his death was long overdue. Joe discovers that the dead man was a loathsome lowlife who cheated his neighbors, threatened his daughter, and squandered his wife's inheritance after she, too, passed away--an inheritance that may now be Joe's. Mired in uncertainty and plagued by his own devastated relationship with his mother, who is seeking to get back into her son's life, Joe must put together the missing pieces of his family history -- before his quest for discovery threatens to put him in a grave of his own.