Book Talk

Hot, Hot, Hot!

The beach reads are rolling in!

Things are hot in Iberia, Louisiana for detective Dave Robicheaux. Seven young women have been murdered, presumably by a serial killer. But one of the murders does not fit the profile, that of a high school honor student. When a prime suspect turns up dead after a beating by Dave’s partner, the case takes an even nastier turn.  James Lee Burke’s novel, The Glass Rainbow, sets evil in an idyllic setting.

Things are also hot in Boston.  Four members of a working class family have been murdered and the father lies in the ICU. Murder-suicide? Or worse? A nurse is haunted by a family tragedy from twenty-five years in the past, and a devoted mother will do anything to insure a normal childhood for her son, no matter what… No one does thrillers like Lisa Gardner. Read  Live to Tell.

Yup, hot in Pensacola too! The Coast Guard is preparing for a category-5 hurricane. While patrolling the waters they find a floating cooler. They expect drugs but find body parts. In Damaged, by Alex Kava, profiler Maggie O’Dell investigates under the threat of the storm’s arrival.

And yes, the Congo… Primatologist Jenny Lowe, in the jungle to study bonobos, is running for her life after a civil war breaks out. Fleeing to the camp of a colleague she finds everyone dead except for the daughter of the scientist.  In Laurence Gonzales’ novel, Lucy, she is fifteen and lovely. Jenny begins to care for her while reading the notebooks her father left.  She learns that Lucy is an experiment, half human, half ape…

The first book in the Bone Island Trilogy by Heather Graham, Ghost Shadow is set in Key West. Katie O’Hara just purchased the old wax museum she had loved as a child. Closed for years after a gruesome murder, she hopes to bring it back to its former glory. However, Katie is a sensitive, one of the few who can sense warnings from the world beyond. And she’s getting lots of them…

Biochemist and ultra marathoner, Emma Caldridge is on mile thirty-six of the South African course when a road side bomb explodes.  She barely comes to when she sees a man standing over her with a hypodermic needle. Shaken and afraid, she decides to contact Edward Banner of Darkview Security.  He is otherwise occupied with the attack on a cruise ship by Somali pirates.  Rumor has it that the ship is carrying something much more valuable that wealthy tourists and Banner needs Emma’s help.  In Running Dark by Jamie Freveletti, the valuable cargo might well be biochemical.

Sam Keller was fortunate to be in Dubai in April when the sea water was only bath tub warm. In July temperatures often reached 120 degrees.  In Layover in Dubai, by Dan Fesperman, Sam has been sent by his company to observe a fellow employee.  Things heat up when the man is found dead and Sam is charged with his murder. Assisted by a pearl diver/gold smuggler turned detective, Sam and Anwar Sharaf must ferret out the corruption and danger at the very heart of the country.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian