Fabulous Fiction Firsts #810 - Her Father's Secrets

Sun, 07/03/2022 - 7:08pm by muffy

The Catch by Alison Fairbrother (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook).

24 year-old Ellie Adler, a reporter at a D. C. news website, is devastated by her father’s sudden death at 52.  A minor poet, James Adler was charismatic and beguiling, father of 4 from three different marriages, he “celebrated holidays out of season” during summer custody.  Being the eldest and shares his writerly interest, Ellie always believes her to be his favorite, until at the reading of the will. Ellie learns that instead of leaving her his prized possession - a baseball that holds emotional resonance for them both, he has left it to a total stranger. Angry and hurt, Ellie sets out to track down this L. M. Taylor. It turned out not to be the mysterious woman lurking at the funeral.  

“Meanwhile, Ellie begins questioning her relationship with her boyfriend, an older, married man… She also parlays a work assignment into an investigation of (L. M.) Taylor's osprey conservation on the Chesapeake Bay to learn more about him,” (Publishers Weekly) and his relationship to her father. 

“The importance of the baseball is linked to James’s most famous poem, “The Catch.” And in both the poem and the novel, the title’s meaning mutates as the truth about the baseball, and therefore her father, continues to unfold. “ (The New York Times)

BONUS FEATURE

The Cartographers * *  by Peng Shepherd (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is “wildly imaginative and totally mind-bending in the best possible way.” (BookPage)

It has been seven years since cartographer Nell Young spoke to her father Dr. Daniel Young after he fired her from The Map Collections at the New York Public Library where he was director, inexplacably over a cheap gas station highway map. Her reputation tarnished, Nell spends her days reproducing historical maps for collectors. But when Daniel is found dead in his office after hours, Nell discovers the same “junk” map hidden in a secret compartment, meant for her to find.  Online searches reveal that this particular map of an area in Upstate New York is not only rare (numerous copies lost & destroyed under mysterious circumstances) but is also extremely valuable and sought-after. She suspects the map is somehow related to her father’s death. For help, Nell turns to her ex, a fellow cartographer who now works for a tech giant. Over time, Nell also connects with the talented group of cartographers who were friends of her father and long-dead mother. 

"Cleverly imagined.... With an elaborately realized plot, fanatic cartographers, maps with surreal powers generated by phantom settlements (intentional errors), and many-faceted suspense, Shepherd contrasts science and art, obsession and love in a bedazzling metaphysical tale of lost and found." (Booklist)

 “Readers will be hooked and find their imaginations sparking as they turn the pages…A shimmering delight, full of wonder, danger, and marvel. Suggest to readers of Erin Morgenstern, who has a similar ethos, and Natasha Pulley, who, like Shepherd, well knows how to end a story.” (Library Journal)

 * *  = 2 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #809 - The Caper Novel

Thu, 06/23/2022 - 9:40pm by muffy

Soon to be a Netflix series, Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li  (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook), a cinematic Ocean’s Eleven meets The Farewell , is inspired by the true instances of Chinese antiquities vanishing from Western museums and collections, originally pilfered from China by British and French forces during the Second Opium War.

Art History senior Will Chen witnesses a brazen smash-and-grab at Harvard’s Art Museum. In the chaos, Will pockets a jade figurine, a slight-of-hand noticed by one of the thieves who leaves behind a business card. On offer: Wang Yuling, China's youngest billionaire will pay $50 million if Will would “recover” five Chinese zodiac fountainheads, looted from Beijing’s Old Summer Place from museums across the world. 

On his team: A con artist (and Will’s younger sister): Irene Chen, a public policy major at Duke who can talk her way out of anything. A thief: Daniel Liang,a premed student with steady hands (whose father is an FBI agent specializes in art crime) just as capable of lockpicking as suturing. A getaway driver: Lily Wu, an engineering major who races cars in her free time. A hacker: Alex Huang, an MIT dropout turned Silicon Valley software engineer. Their meticulous planning pays off - their first heist, in Sweden, is a success but could they continue to count on their luck? 

"The thefts are engaging and surprising, and the narrative brims with international intrigue. Li, however, has delivered more than a straight thriller here, especially in the parts that depict the despair Will and his pals feel at being displaced, overlooked, underestimated and discriminated against. This is as much a novel as a reckoning."  (New York Times Book Review)

BONUS FEATURE

Counterfeit : A Novel by Kirstin Chen (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook). For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, it’s an addictive tale about the high/low world of counterfeit luxury handbag.

Ava Wong, the quintessential model minority on the surface, is falling apart.  A Stanford grad, corporate attorney, married to a Harvard-trained surgeon and mother of a toddler, actually hates practicing law. Her husband Oliver is overworked and often absent while her son Henry’s tantrums push her to the breaking point. Enter Winnie Fang, Ave’s Stanford roommate who turns up unexpectedly after 20 years. The shy, awkward girl Ava once knew has been replaced with a confident woman of the world, dripping in luxury goods, and proposes an ingenious counterfeit scheme that involves importing near-exact replicas of luxury handbags, All she needs is a US citizen above suspicion, like Ave, to manage the business.  But when their spectacular success is threatened and Winnie vanishes, Ava is left to face the consequences. 

“Ava tells this story to a detective through her first-person perspective, explaining the whirlwind of events that led her into the mess. Chen's third novel is sly and subversive, an examination of motherhood and an incisive look at culture and class... A read-alike for Amelia Morris' Wildcat (2022), with a touch of crime.” (Booklist) 

 “A delightfully different caper novel with a Gone Girl–style plot twist.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #808

Tue, 06/14/2022 - 8:12pm by muffy

Remarkably Bright Creatures * * * by poet and short-story writer Shelby Van Pelt (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is “an irresistibly wonderful, warm, funny, heartbreaking first novel…” (Library Journal)

70 year-old Tova Sullivan works the night shift at Puget Sound's Sowell Bay Aquarium cleaning. Recently widowed and still grieving the disappearance of her son Erik 30 years ago, the quiet, solitary work suits her. Then she crosses path (literally) and saves Marcellus, the aged giant Pacific octopus: a 60 lbs, three-hearts, nine-brains escape artist, hopelessly tangled up during one of his midnight snack runs, and so begins an unlikely friendship.

Meanwhile in Modesto, CA, de-banded rock musician and unemployed handyman Cam(eron) Cassmore finds a Sowell High school class ring and a photograph among his mother’s possessions, and heads to Sowell to confront the father he never knew. Broke and homeless, Cam talks his way into being Tova’s temporary replacement while she is sidelined by a work related injury. As Tova takes Cam under her wings over the cleaning routine, it is the ever observant Marcellus who sees the obvious, and it will take every trick up his eight-tentacled sleeves to unearth the truth for Tova and Cam before time runs out. 

“As Van Pelt’s zippy, fun-to-follow prose engages at every turn, readers will find themselves rooting for the many characters, hoping that they’ll find whatever it is they seek. Each character is profoundly human, with flaws and eccentricities crafted with care. But what makes Van Pelt’s novel most charming and joyful is the tender friendship between species, and the ways Tova and Marcellus make each other ever more remarkable and bright.” (BookPage)

For fans of My Octopus Teacher. winner of the 93rd Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature.  Watch a trailer.

 * * * = 3 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #807

Tue, 05/31/2022 - 8:06am by muffy

The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray (pen name of YA author Amy Vincent) (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) will delight Agatha Christie-style country house mystery fans as well as Jane Austen devotees. 

The novel opens with a house party, thrown by Emma and Mr. Knightley (Emma) of Donwell Abbey. Among the guests are distant relatives and new acquaintances - Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy (Pride and Prejudice), newly-wed Marianne and Colonel Brandon (Sense and Sensibility), Anne and Captain Wentworth (Persuasion), and Fanny and Edmund Bertram (Mansfield Park). 

Very much not invited is Mr. Wickham, arriving at dinner along with a raging thunderstorm that good manners prevent the Knightleys from turning him out into the elements. This proves to be a great misfortune for Mr. Wickham who is soon found bludgeoned to death in Donwell Abbey’s gallery. Of course his sordid history with members of the house party makes for no end of suspects, and it falls to the two youngest guests to solve the mystery - young Juliet Tilney, the clever and resourceful daughter of Catherine and Henry Tilney (Northanger Abbey), and the Darcys’ eldest son Jonathan, as they investigate covertly alongside the amiable but rather unimaginative magistrate, Frank Churchill (Emma) who is convinced that the murder must have been committed by a vagrant or a servant.

“One of the book's surprising elements is Gray's decision to focus on Jonathan Darcy's personal habits, which today would put the young man on the autism spectrum. It's Jonathan's ability to see things differently that allows him and Juliet to take the lead as the tale's sleuths.” (Booklist) 

“Ms. Gray’s ability to extrapolate not only the relationships of these storied couples and their offspring makes for an astonishingly convincing and tremendously entertaining pastiche. Most importantly, all her conclusions make sense given what we already know of the characters. Written elegantly, with a keen eye for Regency detail as well as a deep knowledge and affection for Ms. Austen’s oeuvre, this is an entirely plausible continuation of the Austen canon that stands as a worthwhile read in its own right.” (Criminal Element) 

Readers might want to compare and contrast this novel with Death Comes to Pemberley (2011) by P.D. James, where Mr. Wickham gets his comeuppance under very different circumstances.

For further reading, do check out the Jane Austen Murder Mysteries, a series by YA author Tirzah Price. 

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #806

Sat, 05/28/2022 - 1:11pm by muffy

The winner of the 2022 Women’s Prize in Fiction AND The British Book Awards’ Book of the Year in Fiction, Sorrow and Bliss, * *  Meg Mason’s  U.S. debut, (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook), is at once “spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and tender.”

40-year-old Martha Friel, clever and beautiful, and once a brilliant writer, is now semi-employed, creating internet content. Once she lived in Paris but is now ensconced in an “executive estate”, a gated community in Oxford, where as far as she knows, she might be the only person without a PhD, a baby or both. And now that her husband Patrick decides to leave her, Martha is forced to return to her childhood home with her self-involved bohemian/artists parents where at 17, “a little bomb went off in her brain”, leaving her subject to rage, depression, suicidal impulses, and decades of what she sees as one useless medication after another. 

“Exploring the multifaceted hardships of mental illness and the frustrating inaccuracy of diagnoses, medications, and treatments, Sorrow and Bliss is darkly comic and deeply heartfelt. Much like the narrator of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Martha's voice is acerbic, witty, and raw…. Mason plots Martha's story in a nonlinear fashion, largely working backwards to highlight the highest and lowest points of her life.” (Booklist) 

“An incredibly funny and devastating debut. . . . enlivened, often, by a madcap energy. Yet it still manages to be sensitive and heartfelt, and to offer a nuanced portrayal of what it means to try to make amends and change, even when that involves 'start[ing] again from nothing.'” (The Guardian)

Will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney, Maria Semple, Lily King, and Ruth Hogan. Readers might also want to check out 10 Books To Read for Mental Health Awareness Month.

 * *  = 2 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #805

Tue, 05/17/2022 - 9:57am by muffy

"The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung 

Lessons in Chemistry * * * by Bonnie Garmus is by far, one the most enjoyable books I’ve read this year (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook).  Already translated into 34 languages, it is being developed into an Apple TV+ series, starring Brie Larson. 

"Set in 1960s California, after a violent encounter with her PH.D advisor, Elizabeth Zott was escorted off the UCLA campus, and landed at Hastings Research Institute as a research chemist, where she has a run-in with her super-star colleague Calvin Evans over some missing beakers. Twice nominated for the Nobel and highly recruited while still in his 20s, Calvin was awkward, arrogant, and tenacious. But to Elizabeth’s surprise, was also kind,  the only one to treat her as an equal, and there was true chemistry between them. 

Three years later, Elizabeth found herself a single mother and out of a job. An unlikely confrontation with a TV producer landed her as the host of America's most beloved TV cooking show, Supper at Six. 

“With the help of a forthright neighbor, a loyal TV producer, and an astute dog, Elizabeth forges a path that includes an unexpected hobby as a rower and her no-nonsense cooking show, in which she draws on her knowledge of chemistry. Indefatigable and formidable, Elizabeth pushes the bounds of how women and their work are perceived in this thoroughly engaging debut novel.” (Booklist) 

“Feminism is the catalyst that makes Lessons in Chemistry fizz like hydrochloric acid on limestone. Elizabeth Zott does not have ‘moxie’; she has courage. She is not a ‘girl boss’ or a ‘lady chemist’; she’s a groundbreaker and an expert in abiogenesis...To file Elizabeth Zott among the pink razors of the book world is to miss the sharpness of Garmus’s message. Lessons in Chemistry will make you wonder about all the real-life women born ahead of their time—women who were sidelined, ignored and worse because they weren’t as resourceful, determined and lucky as Elizabeth Zott. She’s a reminder of how far we’ve come, but also how far we still have to go.” (New York Times Book Review)

Listen to this delightful NPR interview with the author.

* * * = 3 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #804, Unlikely (and mostly reluctant) Sleuths

Sat, 04/30/2022 - 8:10pm by muffy

The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Toronto librarian Eva Jurczyk (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook)

Librarian Liesl Weiss at the rare books department of a large university is recalled from her well-earned sabbatical when the library director, Christopher Wolfe suffers a stroke, and is in a coma.  Now the interim director, Liesl discovers that a newly purchased priceless manuscript, a Plantin Polyglot Bible, is missing from a locked vault. Her attempts to bring in the police are repeatedly rejected by the president of the university. Then a female colleague goes missing and another rare book, a Peshawar manuscript that may include the very first use of a zero, is found to be a facsimile under unscheduled carbon dating. Liesl begins to suspect her trusted colleagues.

“Filled with characters that resonate, glimpses into the reality of libraries and academia, and enchanting descriptions of rare books, this debut from a librarian will captivate bibliophiles.” (Library Journal)

The Verifiers, * * *  “thoughtful, well-constructed debut” (Publishers Weekly) by Jane Pek, is one of the most anticipated mystery & suspense of 2022. (Electric Lit)  (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook). It has just been named by Kirkus Reviews as one of 32 Books That Celebrate Diversity.

Claudia Lin is the new hire at Veracity, a New York City dating detective agency - an ideal job for a lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen. Claudia’s job is to check information for clients who want to know whether the people they meet on online dating sites are telling the truth.  As Claudia notes, "Matching only fully succeeds if the dating platforms have access to accurate, complete information about the people on them. Problem is, people lie. All the time, especially on the Internet, and extra especially where anything with the potential for romance is concerned." 

Then her client Iris Lettriste is found dead, and the real Iris shows up, looking for answers. Despite warnings from her bosses to drop the case, Claudia decides to investigate.

“A cool, cerebral, and very funny novel…. Beautifully complemented by entertaining secondary characters that include Claudia’s artistic roommate, Max, and Lionel, Claudia’s sister’s boyfriend, Claudia is the seductive protagonist in a tale that delves into the dark heart of contemporary technology, not to mention the foibles of the human heart….With an inquisitive, clever, and curious narrator, this adventurous mystery is both scary and hilarious.” (Kirkus Reviews)

The Violin Conspiracy *  by Brendan Slocumb (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is “a galvanizing blend of thriller, coming-of-age drama, and probing portrait of racism ... This flawless debut will do for classical music what The Queen's Gambit did for chess.” (Booklist) 

The novel opens with Ray McMillian, a Black virtuoso violinist on the cusp of his biggest challenge yet - competing in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition that no American has won before, when he discovered that his violin had been stolen from his New York City hotel room.  It’s no ordinary violin -  the beat-up old fiddle, a gift from his grandmother, once belonged to his great-great-grandfather is actually a priceless Stradivarius.  Ray suspects the Marks family, descendants of the man who once enslaved his  great-great-grandfather, and assert that the instrument is rightfully theirs, and his own extended family who see it as their ticket to easy street. 

When the police, the FBI, and the insurance company's investigator hit dead ends, Ray will have to piece together the clues to recover his instrument, or come up with $5 million ransom demand. 

“This novel brings an unflinching eye to the sometimes-cutthroat world of classical music, its very white culture, and the challenges a talented young Black violinist might face in that world. But in Ray, a man who strives toward honor and kindness despite the racist acts (some of them violent) he endures, the story also finds its heart.” (Library Journal) 

“Such a page-turner . . . a musical bildungsroman cleverly contained within a literary thriller. . . Slocumb isn’t too different from his protagonist: a natural. He easily conjures the thrill of mastering a tough musical passage and the tinnitus-like torture of everyday racism.” (The New York Times)

A word about the audiobook - unless you are a trained musician, the classical pieces played throughout the recording are helpful and informative,  certain to enhance your listening pleasure.

 * = Starred review

 * * *  = 3 starred reviews

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #803, “I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”~ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

Fri, 04/01/2022 - 9:01am by muffy

The Unsinkable Greta James * * is YA author Jennifer E. Smith’s adult fiction debut (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook).

30-something indie rock musician Greta James is about to launch her high-stakes sophomore album. It has been 2 years since her career imploded on stage soon after her mother, Helen’s sudden death. Still grief-stricken, Greta reluctantly agrees to accompany her father, Conrad on the Alaskan cruise, planned by Helen to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.  While Helen had been Greta’s most  devoted fan, Conrad never supported Greta’s “impractical” career choice. Hoping to reestablish rapport, their time on board is prickly at best. In the end, the trip will prove to be a voyage of discovery for them both. 

In the meantime, Greta meets Ben Wilder, a Columbia history professor and a  Jack London aficionado who too, is quietly dealing with a personal tragedy, and between them, sparks fly.

“Author Smith has crafted a story about mothers and daughters, fathers and children, grief, happiness, and healing—and also about the music industry, hard work, dreams, and relationships both old and new. Readers of Evvie Drake Starts Over will enjoy this book. A well-told story with evocative prose that bare - and bears - the ragged emotions that accompany a journey to healing.”  (Kirkus Reviews) 

“Exploring themes of grief similar to Rebecca Serle's One Italian Summer (2022), but through the wholly different and beautiful setting of Alaska, Smith delivers a satisfying read for book clubs, adventure lovers, and musicians.” (Booklist)

In Sarah Grunder Ruiz’s debut, Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships * * (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook), “a touching, hilarious rom-com” (Publishers Weekly), Florida yacht stewardess Jo Walker is desperate to complete the remaining items on her 30-by-30 bucket list.  So far she’d manage a condo on the beach, a job that allows her to travel the world, until a family tragedy turns her life upside down.  Then, as she was about to head to Europe to check off more items on the list, her two nieces show up at her doorstep unannounced, with plans to stay the summer. They also insist on helping Jo complete the list in time.  

Item #5 (kiss a stranger) leads Jo to Alex Hayes, who doesn't stay a stranger for long. But things get complicated when Jo meets Alex’s daughter Greyson, and then he turns up as the new chef on “her” yacht.

“Ruiz captures the complexities of grief and guilt through many different lenses—loss of a parent, loss of a child, loss of a sibling, abandonment through death but also by choice—and tackles them all with sensitivity and skill. Readers are sure to fall for this heartwarming and emotional novel.” (Kirkus Reviews)

Float Plan, * YA author Trish Doller’s moving adult debut (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) follows a grieving woman who sets sail to find herself in this Caribbean island–hopping romance.

It has been 10 months since Anna Beck's fiancé, Ben Braithwaite, killed himself. As the date approaches for their Caribbean sailing trip, Anna impulsively goes to sea alone, in the sailboat he left her, intent to complete the itinerary they had so precisely planned together. But after a near collision Anna realizes she can't do it alone, so hires Keane Sullivan - ” a 30-year-old Long John Silver who's kind, sexy, ridiculously thoughtful, and goes to church on Sundays.” (Kirkus Reviews)  A former competitive sailor, now an amputee, Keane is also struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned.

“Doller expertly captures the tides of grief as Anna struggles with her sadness, guilt, and anger over Ben's death and confusion about her mounting feelings for the charming Keane…But it's not all gloom: the relationship between Anna and Keane is uplifting and convincing, and beautiful descriptions of their time at sea weave throughout. Doller's expert balance of the sweet and the serious make this touching romance a sure success.” (Publishers Weekly) 

BONUS FEATURE

An Accidental Odyssey by K.C. Dyer,  a sequel to Eighty Days to Elsewhere. When an unexpected phone call derails a young woman's wedding plans, it sparks an epic adventure around the modern-day Mediterranean.

Shocking news sends Gianna Kostas off on a wild journey halfway around the world in pursuit of her ailing-and nearly estranged-father, a Classics professor. In Athens, she learned that he is determined to retrace Odysseus's famous voyage, a journey her father is in no condition to take alone. 

When an unexpected job offer helps seal the deal, the journey is on. However, as Gia adventures-and eats-her way around the Mediterranean, she discovers that confronting epic storms and ripped surfer dudes might be the easy part. Along the way, as she uncovers family secrets, finds heartbreak, and learns more about a certain archeologist with secrets of his own, Gia discovers that fairy-tale endings might be messy and complicated, but they can happen anywhere.

* *  = 2 starred reviews

* = Starred review

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #802, Ode to the Big Apple

Tue, 03/15/2022 - 12:39pm by muffy

In a New York Minute *  (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook), is the debut romance by Kate Spencer,  the award-winning co-host of the podcast Forever35. 

“We were two strangers from different corners of the city, who were not meant to meet, much less enjoy each other’s company. But that had all changed…” Interior designer Franny Doyle just got laid off from her corporate job.  Boarding the Q train with her hands-full, her dress was ripped to shreds by the subway door, exposing more than she wanted to share with half of lower Manhattan. Then a handsome stranger offered her his (Gucci!) suit jacket and walked away before she could thank him. However, their encounter was caught and went viral online. Tagged as #SubwayQTs, Franny and “Hot Suit” Hayes Montgomery III, became the newest social media sensation. 

Hoping to jump start her own design business, Franny agreed to appear on TV with Hayes. It was clear immediately that they have nothing in common. But somehow, in a city of 8 million people, they kept running into each other, and much to their surprise, they enjoyed each other’s company.

“Spencer weaves a laugh-out-loud, endearing tale of friendship, family, and love through the honesty of her characters–– Franny’s best friends, Lola and Cleo, are standouts––and captures exactly what it’s like to feel lost and found in the big city… Franny and Hayes both have their flaws, but their moments of self-realization are appreciated and believable, and the romantic tension and words unspoken will leave you visibly swooning page after page. A charming love story that speaks to all the welcome surprises that await in New York City.“ (KIrkus Reviews)

 * = Starred review

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #801, Psychological Thriller Debuts

Sat, 02/26/2022 - 8:45am by muffy

Greenwich Park *  by British journalist  Katherine Faulkner (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) is a “twisty, fast-paced" debut thriller. (The Sunday Times, London)

Siblings Rory and Helen, now married to their best friends Daniel and Serene, are expecting.  When Rory, Serena and Daniel bailed on their first prenatal class, Helen met Rachel - a single mother-to-be who smokes, drinks, and was overly friendly. Nevertheless, Helen was drawn to her, being a bit lonely and insecure, allowing Rachel to insinuate herself into her life, and into their home. Then strange and troubling things started happening, and Helen began to suspect that it might be linked to a horrifying incident they witnessed as Cambridge students.

“There's a palpable sense of menace hanging over the story, which packs punch after shocking punch. An original and highly imaginative plot, combined with complex characters and a stunning conclusion, will shock even the most seasoned crime-fiction aficionado. An outstanding debut thriller. “ (Booklist)

Edgar Award Nominee for Best First Novel, Never Saw Me Coming * by Vera Kurian (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook) will appeal to fans of Gone Girl, Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, and Patricia Highsmith's Tom Ripley novels.  

Eighteen-year-old psychopath Chloe Sevre is one of seven students at a D.C. university receiving free tuition in exchange for participating in a Multimethod Psychopathy Panel Study. When not partying, attending mandated counseling, or participating in psychological experiments, Chloe is plotting - to kill Will Bachman, a fellow student and a childhood friend who cruelly hurt her. 

Then two of the study participants are murdered. Suddenly, it's not just about the boy she wants to kill, but the hunter picking off members of her program one at a time.
“Excellent pacing, sprightly narrative voices, and judicious dabs of wry humor make this a highly entertaining tale. Kurian's refreshingly different slant on psychopathy marks her as a writer to watch.“ (Publishers Weekly) 

In A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (also in downloadable eBook and audiobook), when Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls in her small town of Breaux Bridge, LA were murdered. By the end of the summer, her father had confessed and is serving 6 consecutive life sentences.

Now Chloe, a 32-year-old medical psychologist living in Baton Rouge, LA, is planning her wedding.  To deal with anxiety from her childhood trauma, Chloe secretly self-medicates. As the 20th anniversary of the killings approaches, a girl went missing. Shortly after, Lacey Deckler, one of Chloe’s patients also disappeared leaving their appointment. Chloe becomes convinced that another killer lurks in her life, and she begins to suspect people closest to her. 

“A great addition to any mystery/psychological thriller collection, with an unforgettable character haunted by her past in an authentic Louisiana setting, which ups the creep factor.” (Library Journal)

BONUS FEATURE

Readers might also want to check out  Catch Her When She Falls by Allison Buccola  (in eBook format, and also available in downloadable audiobook) 

10 years ago, high school senior Micah WIlkes’s boyfriend was convicted of murdering her best friend, Emily.  Now the owner of a popular coffee shop, Micah has moved on, happily coupled up with another old high school friend. 

But when reminders of her past begin appearing at her work and home, Micah begins to doubt what she really knows about Emily’s death. Questions raised on a true crime blog and in an online web sleuthing forum force her to reexamine her memories of that fateful night. 

* = Starred review