Fiction Addiction (08/15/2024): Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers
Book Clubs

Fiction Addiction (08/15/2024): Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers

Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady—ah, lady of a certain age—who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy, oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her Gen-Z son is up to.
Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing—a dead man in the middle of her tea shop. In his outstretched hand, a flash drive. Vera doesn’t know what comes over her, but after calling the cops like any good citizen would, she sort of . . . swipes the flash drive from the body and tucks it safely into the pocket of her apron. Why? Because Vera is sure she would do a better job than the police possibly could, because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands. Vera knows the killer will be back for the flash drive; all she has to do is watch the increasing number of customers at her shop and figure out which one among them is the killer.
What Vera does not expect is to form friendships with her customers and start to care for each and every one of them. As a protective mother hen, will she end up having to give one of her newfound chicks to the police? […]

Fiction Addiction (01/18/2024): The Secrets of Wishtide
Book Clubs

Fiction Addiction (01/18/2024): The Secrets of Wishtide

For fans of Alexander McCall Smith and James Runcie’s Grantchester Mysteries, the first novel in a clever new crime series about Victorian London and an indomitable female detective.

Mrs. Laetitia Rodd, aged fifty-two, is the widow of an archdeacon. Living in London with her confidante and landlady, Mrs. Bentley, who once let rooms to John Keats, Laetitia makes her living as a highly discreet private investigator.

Her brother, Frederick Tyson, is a criminal barrister living in the neighboring village of Highgate with his wife and ten children. Frederick finds the cases, and Laetitia solves them using her arch intelligence, her iron discretion, and her immaculate cover as an unsuspecting widow. When Frederick brings to her attention a case involving the son of the well-respected, highly connected Sir James Calderstone, Laetitia sets off for Lincolnshire to take up a position as the family’s new governess—quickly making herself indispensable. But the seemingly simple case—looking into young Charles Calderstone’s “inappropriate” love interest—soon takes a rather unpleasant turn. And as the family’s secrets begin to unfold, Laetitia discovers the Calderstones have more to hide than most.

Introducing an irresistible new detective, the first book in the Laetitia Rodd Mystery series will enthrall and delight. […]

Summer Reading Staff Picks
Book Lists

Summer Reading Staff Picks

Looking for a great summer read? Ask an AAPLD staff member! We love books—reading them, talking about them, and recommending them!  Since summer is prime reading season, members of the Adult Services staff would like to share some of our favorite recent reads, and audiobook listens. If you haven’t signed up for 2022 Summer Reading yet, learn more here, or […]

The Case of the Missing Mysteries and Other Library Adventures
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The Case of the Traveling Mysteries and Other Library Adventures

The next time you visit the Adult Services Department at the Main Library on Harnish Drive, you might notice that things look a little bit different. Our librarians and materials staff have been busy rearranging our fiction collections to make browsing easier, and to create room for some exciting new items we can’t wait to share! Here’s where you’ll find…

Discover a Hidden Gem!
Book Lists

Discover a Hidden Gem!

While releases by best-selling authors, and critically-acclaimed “buzz books” grabbed the spotlight in 2021, there are plenty of great releases still waiting to be discovered. Meet the Overlooked Books of 2021! These include books from nearly every fiction genre, plus non-fiction on a variety of topics, from exploring Mount Everest to a memoir by a professional gambler. We’ve created a […]

Cozy Corner (09/01/2021): The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum
Cozy Corner

Cozy Corner (09/01/2021): The Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum

When Maddie Kosloski’s career flatlines, she retreats to her wine country hometown for solace and cheap rent. Railroaded into managing the local paranormal museum, she’s certain the rumors of its haunting are greatly exaggerated. But then a fresh corpse in the museum embroils Maddie in murders past and present, making her wonder if a ghost could really be on the loose.

With her high school bully as one of the detectives in charge of the investigation, Maddie doubts justice will be served. When one of her best friends is arrested, she knows it won’t be. Maddie also grapples with ghost hunters, obsessed taxidermists, and the sexy motorcyclist next door as outside forces threaten. And as she juggles spectral shenanigans with the hunt for a killer, she discovers there truly is no place like home. […]

Cozy Corner (07/07/2021): Bless Her Dead Little Heart
Cozy Corner

Cozy Corner (07/07/2021): Bless Her Dead Little Heart

New York Times bestselling author Miranda James returns to Athena, Mississippi, with the first Southern Ladies mystery featuring Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce Ducote, two snoopy sisters who are always ready to lend a helping hand.
With the Mississippi sun beating down, An’gel and Dickce are taking a break to cool off and pet sit their friend Charlie Harris’s cat, Diesel, when their former sorority sister, Rosabelle Sultan, shows up at their door unexpectedly, with her ne’er-do-well adult children not far behind.
Rosabelle’s selfish offspring are desperate to discover what’s in her will, and it soon becomes clear that one of them would kill to get their hands on the inheritance. Suddenly caught up in a deadly tangle of duplicitous suspects and deep-fried motives, it will take all of the sisters’ Southern charm to catch a decidedly ill-mannered killer… […]

Cozy Corner (03/03/2021): Antiques Roadkill
Cozy Corner

Cozy Corner (03/03/2021): Antiques Roadkill

Part 1 of the Trash ‘n’ Treasures Mystery series
Determined to make a new start in her quaint hometown on the banks of the Mississippi, Brandy Borne never dreams she’ll become the prime suspect in a murder case. . .

Moving back in with her eccentric, larger-than-life mother, Brandy Borne finds small-town Serenity anything but serene. It seems an unscrupulous antiques dealer has swindled Vivian out of the family’s heirlooms. But when he is found run over in a country lane, Brandy becomes Murder Suspect Number One–with her mother coming in a very close second. . .

The list of other suspects is impressive–the victim’s business seems to have been based on bilking seniors out of their possessions. And when the Borne “girls” uncover a few very unsavory Serenity secrets, they become targets for a murderer whose favorite hobby seems to be collecting victims.

Don’t miss Brandy Borne’s tips on antiques! […]