Preview Shelf by Janice Clauser

Library News and Notable New Books

Newly Requested Books to Request Online - This is a column of new books requested by Crawfordsville District Public Library patrons. Here's hoping the brief descriptions interest you enough to request them (which you can do online at www.cdpl.lib.in.us > "Search our catalogue"> "Place request").

Nevada Barr's 17th novel "Burn" takes place at the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Park; she always picks these settings for her plots. "The Lake Shore Limited" by Sue Miller is a playwright's story about an imagined terrorist's bombing of that particular train as it pulls into Union Station in Chicago. Another thriller is Iris Johansen's "Shadow Zone", the search for a mysterious lost city much like Atlantis deep in the Atlantic Ocean guarded by hundreds of dolphins. In regular and large print, James Patterson's "Private" the world's most powerful investigation firm, takes on three almost unsolvable crimes by using advanced forensic tools.

The next request "In the Name of Honor" by Richard Patterson tempts us thus: "Home from Iraq, a Lieutenant kills his commanding officer - was it self-defense or premeditated murder?" "The Search" by Nora Roberts shows a canine search-and-rescue volunteer, the only survivor of a serial killer, who finds peace on an island near Seattle, until she's again hunted down. "Live to Tell" by Lisa Gardner is about a Boston family murder, and how three women's lives are connected in unexpected ways as secrets emerge.

Carla Neggers' "The Whisper" begins with an archaeologist's night on a remote Irish island and continues in Boston with ancient rituals used in modern murder. "The Glass Rainbow" by James Burke tells about the murder of seven women in idyllic New Iberia, Louisiana. "Betrayed" by Robert Tanenbaum features an American Eagle on the cover; it begins when the demagogic founder of a Harlem mosque awaits trial in Manhattan.

Tess Gerritsen's "Ice Cold" is set in Kingdom Come, Wyoming, which visitors find suddenly abandoned when they're stranded in a blizzard during a ski trip. "The Perfect Someone" by Johanna Lindsey is billed as a seductive English adventure in which a detested marriage contract turns childhood enemies into passionate lovers. Susan Albert's Great Depression novel "The Darling Dahlias and the Cucumber Tree" features a back cover that says "The Darling Dahlias - the premier garden club of Darling, Alabama - cordially invite you to stop and smell the flowers, have a cup of tea, and solve a murder or two."

Terri Blackstock's "Predator" presents an online killer, so the victim's sister becomes an online persona to bait the criminal on the social network GrapeVyne, run by a college student. "The Lies We Told" by Diane Chamberlain tells of two physician sisters who become opposites after witnessing their parents' murders; the shy one must later save herself after her own hidden survival in another tragedy.

Other kinds of novels begin with "The Homecoming" by Dan Walsh, a World War II story of a widower and returning European Theater veteran who hires a nanny to attend his son, while he reluctantly travels to sell war bonds accompanied by Hollywood starlets. "Remember Me" by Laura Moore takes place on a Virginia horse farm, where a big city model returns after a family tragedy, to face an earlier love. Robyn Carr's "A Summer in Sonoma" shows four suffering friends seeking happier moments who suddenly need each other more than ever. Fern Michaels' "Game Over" follows the ladies of the Sisterhood who face a friend's challenge qualifying for a high government job.