Monday October BCB - Death in Holy Orders by PD James

Product Description
From the award-winning master of literary crime fiction, a classic work rich in tense drama and psychological insight.

On the East Anglian seacoast, a small theological college hangs precariously on an eroding shoreline and an equally precarious future. When the body of a student is found buried in the sand, the boy’s influential father demands that Scotland Yard investigate. Enter Adam Dalgliesh, a detective who loves poetry, a man who has known loss and discovery. The son of a parson, and having spent many happy boyhood summers at the school, Dalgliesh is the perfect candidate to look for the truth in this remote, rarified community of the faithful–and the frightened. And when one death leads to another, Dalgliesh finds himself steeped in a world of good and evil, of stifled passions and hidden pasts, where someone has cause not just to commit one crime but to begin an unholy order of murder. . . .

There's No Place Like Here by Cecelia Ahern

Do you ever wonder where things go when they are missing? Sandy Shortt becomes obsessed with finding where missing things and people are. The obsession begins in childhood when her “frienemy” vanishes while out playing. Sandy becomes someone who cannot rest until every nook is searched if even the smallest item goes missing.

As an adult, Sandy’s job is finding missing people. She puts the same energy into finding families’ lost loved ones that she has always put into finding lost items. She is good at it and that gives families hope. Unfortunately, Sandy’s personal life has been affected by her childhood trauma and she keeps her family and the man she loves at arms length.

While jogging in an unfamiliar town, Sandy loses her way and finds herself in a place the inhabitants call, “Here”. She quickly recognizes some of the inhabitants as the missing people she has been looking for all her life. Once again, Sandy starts searching, but this time, she is searching for the way home.

Written by Angie Coburn

Iron Kissed by Patricia Briggs

For Mercedes Thompson, taking over a mechanic workshop of a fae by the name of Zee, living next door to the pack leader of the local werewolves and working on cars for the vampires, a quiet life is hard to come by.  Especially as Mercy isn't what you would call normal herself - she's a walker, having the ability to change, without a full moon, into a coyote.

Having used a weapon of the fae to help kill a demon vampire, Mercy has a debt to pay, and the fae are not ones to let her off lightly.  So, when several deaths on the fae reservation occur, Mercy is asked to put her nose to the test and sniff out what others might miss.  Finding the killer isn't a problem, but when her ex-boss and mentor, Zee, goes to confront him, someone has got there first and the police arrive just minutes later.  Now Zee has been charged for the murder of a human and the fae may just let him swing, but Mercy isn't about to let that happen, no matter the cost to herself.

This third crowd pleasing, paranormal mystery following Moon Called and Blood Bound is a well balanced novel.  Set in a believable world were humans have an uneasy truce with werewolves and the faery kind, having yet to discover the vampires that roam among them.  The troubled atmosphere among the races adds a realist aspect and detail as the story moves us fluently between the pack psychology, human legal proceedings and the fae mentality.

To reserve your copy from the JCLC catalog click here

My Cousin Rachel by Daphne Du Maurier

This gem of a novel full of mystery and suspense is set in Cornwall during the 1840s and is told by Philip Ashley. Orphaned at a young age, Philip’s care and training were given over to his young bachelor cousin, Ambrose, whom he adored.

At a doctor’s recommendation, Ambrose begins to spend his winters abroad in warm climes on the continent leaving Philip, his heir, to run the manor. One such trip takes him to Florence, were he meets a distant relative, Cousin Rachel.

Through his letters home, Philip, learns of Ambrose’s high regard for this woman and soon Rachel and Ambrose are married. After some financial business has been concluded they plan to journey back to Cornwall. The letters from Ambrose become confused and few and far between, calling Rachel “his torment”. Philip discovers that Ambrose’s father died of a brain tumor. Full of unease, afraid Ambrose is deathly ill and jealous of Ambrose’s new relationship, he goes out to Italy only to find Ambrose is dead and buried and Cousin Rachel has disappeared.

On returning home, He learns all has been left to him to be inherited on his 25th birthday, 6 months away and nothing to his Cousin Rachel. When Philip receives a letter from Rachel that she is in England and wishes to come to the house, Philip is hostile, but lets her come. He and his guardian provide Rachel with an allowance, and slowly Philip comes to like and even to love this mysterious woman. Putting aside Ambrose’s fears as the ravings of a dying man Philip becomes reckless with his inheritance, but after a disastrous birthday and an illness of his own Philip’s unease returns. How did Ambrose really die?

To request a copy from the JCLC catalog click here!

One For The Money by Janet Evanovich

Stephanie Plum, a recently laid-off lingerie buyer from New Jersey, has no job, no car and no furniture.  She does have a hamster, a deranged grandmother, and a love/hate relationship with a cop by the name of Joe Morelli.

When the chance to get out of her jobless rut presents itself in the form of filing for her cousin Vinnie’s bail-bond business, Stephanie is reluctant to take it, but she is desperate and goes by his office anyway, only to find that job is already gone.  So, she blackmails Vinnie into hiring her on as a bounty hunter on the $10,000 case.

Scrouging up money to buy a clapped-out Chevy Nova, a gun, some mace, and with a few tips from Ranger, one of the other bounty hunters, Stephanie is out to catch Joe Morelli, a cop accused of murder. Now, Morelli and Stephanie have some history.  Having grown up in the same neighbourhood with the heart throb, Stephanie had fallen for his charms, but the next time she ran into him, it was with a Buick.

Follow Stephanie as she navigates (and often falls prey to!) the pit falls of a first time bounty hunter.  If you are not put off by the crude language and some downright scary situations, this is an uproarious and suspenseful murder mystery. 

To request a copy from the JCLC catalog click here.

Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters

The year is 1138 and England is in the midst of civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Maud. But for now, the town of Shrewsbury has been left in an uneasy peace with both monarchs gathering their forces elsewhere.

Even so, plots are afoot within the Abbey town. Gervase Bonel, a wealthy landowner has bequeathed his land to the church and plans to live out his days in the sparse comfort of the abbey. So, when the man falls ill, it is the abbey’s herbalist and sometime detective Brother Cadfael who hurries to his aid. Cadfael is unprepared for what he finds for not only has Bonel been poisoned with monk’s hood oil but someone has used Cadfael’s own supply!

Confusion amounts over who was the intended victim as Bonel’s poisoned meat came from the Prior Richard’s own table, and even Cadfael himself is suspected for not only did the poison come from his laboratory, but the victim’s wife, Richaldis, was once Cadfael’s betrothed.

The obvious suspect is Bonel’s stepson, who has reason enough to commit the murder, but Cadfael is not convinced of the boy’s guilt and sets out to learn the truth of this deadly mystery.

Not into books? Then don’t miss the excellent TV series, starring Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael!