Laurie King writes a series featuring Sherlock Holmes and his wife(!)Mary Russell.  San Ramon/Danville picked her Locked Rooms as it's city read a couple of summers ago so lots of you may already be familiar with this series. I discovered it years ago and have watched it evolve into something I always look forward to reading.

The Language of Bees is the follow-up to Locked Rooms. The couple is once more at home in England but have no time to enjoy their homecoming. A visit by a young painter launches them into just the kind of puzzle Holmes and Russell enjoy solving. All of the action takes place in Britain but the detectives take diverse tracks. The conclusion find both of them in the Orkney Islands. Don't want to spoil the ending, but I will say it ends with a cliff-hanger.

The God of the Hive is the sequel and takes off right where the last book left off. Once more they are on separate paths but both find danger, new allies and a very dangerous new enemy! I stayed up late reading--this mystery does not disappoint. I was glad to read that Laurie King is working on a new Holmes and Russell novel.

Linda

This book has been generating a lot of talk in book circles. Justin Cronin is a well respected novelist. He usually writes what is described as literary fiction. This book, while still well written, is a departure for him.

The plot takes place in the not so distant future. In seeking a deadly new weapon for the war on terror, the U.S. genetically engineers a soldier that is not only difficult to kill and capable of quickly healing any damage done to it's body. Where this project goes terribly wrong is in using prisoners from death row as test subjects. These creatures with incredible power escape into the world with devastating consequences.

The book grabs your attention from the start and holds it to the last page. I imagine lots of people will be reading and talking about this one.

Linda

I just finished reading this book by Tom Rachman and I really enjoyed reading it. Each chapter is preceded by a headline from a newspaper. In fact I'd say the newspaper is a character in the book.

The chapters follow the stories of each staff member and end with a segment on the history of this paper as it begins, grows and finally declines. Tom Rachman has crafted a highly enjoyable read. The story of this paper represents the changes in the world of journalism and gently examines the lives of a group of people who have given so much of themselves to this calling and now find that all the rules have changed. I found it particularly interesting in light of the changes going on in the book world right now.

Linda

Sometimes I like quirky kinds of books. I've recently read books in two series that are unusual.

M.J. Rose writes mystery stories about a group of people who are dedicated to proving that reincarnation happen regularly. Because of this, the stories take place both in the present and in times past. There are recurring characters--those trying to find proof of reincarnation--and characters featured in just one of the three novels.

The first novel is The Reincarnationist. We first meet the recurring characters, members of the Phoenix Foundation, mostly psychiatrists. The character featured is a journalist who has been experiencing flashback to Ancient Rome and the temple of the Vestal Virgins.

The next book is The Memorist. This one is set in Vienna and features a young woman whose visions take back in time to the Indus Valley and the creation of a bone flute once hidden by Beethoven because of its dangerous ability to transport listeners to their past life.

The most recent title is The Hypnotist. The contemporary story takes place in New York. There are two character with flashbacks, one a girl of 7, the other an FBI agent. Their stories take them back to Ancient Greece then to Persia, to a statute of the Greek God Hypnos. The ownership of this statue is also an important part of the present day story-line.

I have enjoyed all of the books. I also think the books have become more interesting as the story continues to unfold.

Linda

Carolyn Parkhurst's new novel unfolds from the point of view of Olivia Frost, successful novelist and mother of rock star Milo Frost. As the story begins, Olivia is in New York City to deliver the manuscript of her new book. She feels it's a literary breakthrough. She has come back to each of her other published works and rewritten the ending. While standing in Times Square, she reads a new headline which states that her son has been arrested for murdering his girl friend. Though Olivia and Milo had been estranged for years, she flies to San Francisco to support him.

The book is riveting. We are drawn into the murder mystery but equally captivated by the story of Olivia and her son. The author uses the new manuscript to reveal the history of this relationship. It is an extremely well written novel, due out in hard cover this month.

Linda

I'm really glad Cutting For Stone is now in paper. This book is what I think of as a saga. It's the story of twin brothers who grow up in Ethiopia. The author has created memorable characters, people you care about. While the political situation in Ethiopia is the backdrop for most of the action, this is most definitely a story about people you won't easily forget. I hope you get the chance to read it then come in and talk about it.

Linda

We get to know Olive two ways.  We witness her interacting with people in her Maine hometown and by listening in on her thoughts.  Olive is a prickly woman, at times caustic in her comments and harsh in her judgments.  What emerges is a complex, fully realized human being.  The book is well written and Olive, ultimately is quite appealing in her humanness.

This book is part of a historical series that I love.
Ariana Franklin has set her novels in England during the reign of Henry II. The protagonist is Adelia Aguilar, a Sicilian woman who has studied medicine at that country's famous medical school.

Adelia has become an expert in examining dead bodies to find the clues to how they died. She is called "the Mistress of the Art of Death." She was sent to Henry by his cousin who is the king of Sicily to help find a serial killer. She does so well, Henry decides to keep her. At this time in England, a woman practicing medicine would be branded a witch and executed. Adelia has to pretend to be an interpreter for Mansur, an Arab who grew up in Sicily with Adelia. They pretend that he tells Adelia what to do. Few people know the truth.

There are now 4 books in this series, each blending fictional characters with those historical figures who populated this time period, including Henry's wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine.
Linda

Just as a painter uses color to bring out the light and shadows in a painting, so Gail Tsukiyama uses words to create the world inhabited by Hiroshi and Kenji.  The brothers orphaned as young children grow up in the home of their grandparent.  The backdrop for this sweeping story is the turbulent years of 1938-1966.  It's a compelling tale, beautifully told.

Irene Neirovsky was a Jewish novelist living in France when the Nazi army defeated the French army in 1940.  Suite Francaise is the first two sections of the novel she was unable to finish before she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz where she died.  The first section recounts the panic in Paris on the day before the Nazi army marched in to occupy that city.  She follows several groups of people who experience the chaos as people flooded the trains and roads in their desperate flight.  Part two examines the occupation in the French country-side--the uneasy acceptance of the French people of the German soldiers in the homes and running their villages.  It beautifully captures the feelings on both sides as they try to live in their new roles.  I am truly saddened by the knowledge that I will never know the rest of their stories.  The characters are well developed and you and I came to really care what happened to them.