DEVOURED by D. E. Meredith

 

 

In Victorian London, a wealthy woman is murdered and a packet of about-to-be-published letters is stolen.  The police call in an expert in the emerging science of forensics.  This debut mystery is full of atmosphere…is it the start of a new series?

Philip Roth: A Great American Author

 

During his long career, Roth has often set his novels in mid-twentieth-century New Jersey.  NEMESIS takes place there, during a polio epidemic.  A young playground director sees the disease ravage the children he cares for;  when he has the chance to escape the city, he is torn between self-protection and devotion to duty.  While telling a great story, Roth explores issues of guilt,  obligation,  and the effects of choice and chance.

NEMESIS is the fourth in a series of recent short novels by Roth;  separately or together they are powerful reading.

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IN SEARCH OF MERCY by Michael Ayoob

 

A troubled young man, living in gritty Pittsburgh, is offered a large sum of money to find an old-time actress.  This absorbing mystery by a first-time author won Best First Private Eye Novel, given by the Private Eye Writers of America.  Try it if you’re feeling noir.

813.54 Conroy, Pat: MY READING LIFE

 

 

The popular storyteller has mined the difficulties of his life for absorbing, often heart-tugging fiction (THE GREAT SANTINI, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, etc.)  In this engaging collection of essays, he describes the people and books that have influenced and inspired him.  (Yes, GONE WITH THE WIND is discussed!)

ALL IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS LOST by Lan Samantha Chang

 

The characters studying and teaching at a “famous writing school” include two gifted poets who become unlikely friends, and the professor, lovely and distant, who influences them both.  This beautifully written book has several themes, including the cost of ambition and the loneliness of the writing life.  Powerful and absorbing.

THE LONG SONG by Andrea Levy

 

Jamaica in the 1820s:  slaves worked on the sugar plantations until the behavior of the British plantation owners led to the rebellion of 1831.  July was a child then, but  she tells her story as an elderly woman, with occasional interruptions from her son.  July’s narrative voice is light-hearted, often funny and slyly satirical, which only highlights the sadness and horror of much of what she describes.  A terrific historical fiction by the author of SMALL ISLAND (another great read).

UNION ATLANTIC by Adam Haslett

 

In a leafy Massachusetts town, a rogue banker builds a monumental home.  His neighbor, a retired teacher, is enraged by the house’s tastelessness and by the fact that it was built on land originally donated to the town by her family.  The battle lines are drawn between old and new money.  A complication:  the bank may be in trouble, and the head of the Federal Reserve is the teacher’s brother.

This is a powerful book and a very timely story about our national financial situation.