More new books! Of All the Gin Joints written by Mark Bailey and illustrated by Edward Hemingway: True tales of celebrity hijinks are served up with an equal measure of Hollywood history, movie-star mayhem, and a frothy mix of forty cocktail recipes. Humphrey Bogart got himself arrested for protecting his drinking buddies, who happened to be a pair of stuffed… Read more

This one looks great! I can’t wait to dig in to The Ghost in the Electric Blue Suit by Graham Joyce: David, a college student, takes a summer job at a run-down family resort in a dying English resort town. This is against the wishes of his family . . . because it was at this resort where David’s biological father… Read more

Another great murder mystery from William Morrow, Ice Shear by M. P. Cooley: A small town cop’s murder investigation turns deadly when she uncovers a web of politics and drugs linked to an outlaw motorcycle gang in this gripping debut suspense novel for fans of Winter’s Bone, Frozen River, Breaking Bad, and Sons of Anarchy. As a cop on the night shift in Hopewell… Read more

I’ve loved every novel by Ian McEwan that I’ve read so far, so I am looking forward to The Children Act: Fiona Maye is a leading High Court judge who presides over cases in the family court. She is renowned for her fierce intelligence, exactitude, and sensitivity. But her professional success belies private sorrow and domestic strife. There is the lingering regret of her… Read more

More new titles! This isn’t a series I’ve followed, but I can always use a new series, right? So I’ve got the latest Sigma Force novel by James Rollins, The Sixth Extinction: A remote military research station sends out a frantic distress call, ending with a chilling final command:  Kill us all!  Personnel from the neighboring base rush in to discover… Read more

Here’s the latest new release to hit my bookshelves, Lighthouse Island by Paulette Jiles: In the coming centuries the world’s population has exploded. The earth is crowded with cities, animals are nearly all extinct, and drought is so widespread that water is rationed. There are no maps, no borders, no numbered years, and no freedom, except for an elite few.… Read more

Next on the new book parade, Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success: Entrepreneur and journalist Shane Snow (Wired, Fast Company, The New Yorker, and cofounder of Contently) analyzes the lives of people and companies that do incredible things in implausibly short time. How do some startups go from zero to billions in mere months? How did Alexander the Great,… Read more

I’ve got 3 new books to tell you about, all from the nice folks at Harper Collins. First up, The Bully of Order: Set in a logging town on the lawless Pacific coast of Washington State at the turn of the twentieth century, a spellbinding novel of fate and redemption—told with a muscular lyricism and filled with a cast of… Read more

This one looks intriguing! The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo: Li Lan, the daughter of a genteel but bankrupt family, has few prospects. But fate intervenes when she receives an unusual proposal from the wealthy and powerful Lim family. They want her to become a ghost bride for the family’s only son, who recently died under mysterious circumstances. Rarely practiced, a… Read more