Waiting on Wednesday (69)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's thing I'm looking forward to: The Turning Season, by Sharon Shinn (Ace Hardcover, 4 November 2014).

For Karadel, being a shape-shifter has always been a reality she couldn't escape. Even though she's built a safe life as a rural veterinarian, with a close-knit network of shifter and human friends who would do anything for her—and for each other—she can't help but wish for a chance at being normal.

When she's not dealing with her shifts or caring for her animal patients, she attempts to develop a drug that will help shifters control their changes—a drug that might even allow them to remain human forever.

But her comfortable life is threatened by two events: She meets an ordinary man who touches her heart, and her best friend is forced to shift publicly with deadly consequences.

Now Karadel must decide whom to trust: her old friends or her new love.

*****

This is not my favorite series of Shinn's, and in fact I haven't caught up with the book before this one. But I'm such a big fan of the author that both of them are definitely on the list of books I want to read.

Waiting on Wednesday (68)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Empire of Sin: A Story of Sex, Jazz, Murder, and the Battle for Modern New Orleans, by Gary Krist (Crown, 28 October 2014).

 

   Empire of Sin re-creates the remarkable story of New Orleans' thirty-years war against itself, pitting the city's elite "better half" against its powerful and long-entrenched underworld of vice, perversity, and crime. This early-20th-century battle centers on one man: Tom Anderson, the undisputed czar of the city's Storyville vice district, who fights desperately to keep his empire intact as it faces onslaughts from all sides. Surrounding him are the stories of flamboyant prostitutes, crusading moral reformers, dissolute jazzmen, ruthless Mafiosi, venal politicians, and one extremely violent serial killer, all battling for primacy in a wild and wicked city unlike any other in the world.

*****

I like to read history for fun, I live near New Orleans and visit there often, and true crime stories can be very entertaining on occasion, so I think I'll keep an eye out for this one.

Waiting on Wednesday (67)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Jane and the Twelve Days of Christmas, by Stephanie Barron (Soho Crime, 28 October 2014).

Christmas Eve, 1814: Jane Austen has been invited to spend the holiday with family and friends at The Vyne, the gorgeous ancestral home of the wealthy and politically prominent Chute family. As the year fades and friends begin to gather beneath the mistletoe for the twelve days of Christmas festivities, Jane and her circle are in a celebratory mood: Mansfield Park is selling nicely; Napoleon has been banished to Elba; British forces have seized Washington, DC; and on Christmas Eve, John Quincy Adams signs the Treaty of Ghent, which will end a war nobody in England really wanted.

Jane, however, discovers holiday cheer is fleeting. One of the Yuletide dies in a tragic accident whose circumstances Jane immediately views with suspicion. If the accident was in fact murder, the killer is one of Jane's fellow snow-bound guests. With clues scattered amidst cleverly-crafted charades, dark secrets coming to light during parlor games, and old friendships returning to haunt the Christmas parties, whom can Jane trust to help her discover the truth and stop the killer from striking again?

*****

I saw advance copies of this at the American Library Association and grinned like a fool. I love this series, and had no idea there was a new one coming out; it's been three years since that last one.

There's a whole cottage industry of Jane Austen pastiche these days, of sequels and reimaginings of her novels; these little mysteries are more appealing to me than all of that. 

Waiting on Wednesday (66)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: The Peripheral, by William Gibson (Viking, 28 October 2014).

Where Flynne and her brother, Burton, live, jobs outside the drug business are rare. Fortunately, Burton has his veteran's benefits, for neural damage he suffered from implants during his time in the USMC's elite Haptic Recon force. Then one night Burton has to go out, but there's a job he's supposed to do - a job Flynne didn't know he had. Beta-testing part of a new game, he tells her. The job seems to be simple: work a perimeter around the image of a tower building. Little buglike things turn up. He's supposed to get in their way, edge them back. That's all there is to it. He's offering Flynne a good price to take over for him. What she sees, though, isn't what Burton told her to expect. It might be a game, but it might also be murder.

*****

I've been a fan of William Gibson for a long time, though at the same time it's been a while since I read anything of his. This sounds like it should be good, though.
 

Waiting on Wednesday (65)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Centaur Rising, by Jane Yolen (Henry Holt & Co., 21 October 2014).

One night during the Perseid meteor shower, Arianne thinks she sees a shooting star land in the fields surrounding her family's horse farm. About a year later, one of their horses gives birth to a baby centaur. The family has enough attention already as Arianne's six-year-old brother was born with birth defects caused by an experimental drug - the last thing they need is more scrutiny. But their clients soon start growing suspicious. Just how long is it possible to keep a secret? And what will happen if the world finds out?

*****

I love Jane Yolen, and I'm happy to take a chance on anything she's written. That is all.

Waiting on Wednesday (64)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution, by Peter Ackroyd (Thomas Dunne Books, 21 October 2014).

From the accession of the thrillingly unappealing James VI & I, who though rather ghastly, was also extraordinarily eloquent, to his hapless heir, Charles I, whose taste in art was peerless, but whose political judgment was so fatally poor, to Oliver Cromwell, far from pretty, ruthless and, ultimately, as much of a despot as "that man of blood," the king he executed, Ackroyd tells the story of the turbulent seventeenth century, in which England suffered through three civil wars - two fought between Parliament and both Charles I and Charles II, and, finally, the "Glorious Rebellion of 1688," which saw Charles II's brother James deposed and sent into exile.

Civil War doesn't just give us the brutality of politics and war. It also gives us glimpses of the extraordinarily rich literature of the time - Jacobean tragedy, Shakespeare's late masterpieces, the sermons of Dr. Donne and Lancelot Andrewes, Milton, Hobbes - and of ordinary life, lived against a backdrop of constant disruption and uncertainty.

*****

I've quite enjoyed the first two volumes. My husband found the first one confusing, since it was organized more thematically than chronologically, but I was able to follow it just fine, and I really liked the discussion of ordinary life interspersed with the more usual chronicle of kings and wars. So I expect this one will be equally entertaining and informative.

Waiting on Wednesday (63)

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. So here's a thing I'm looking forward to: Riders on the Storm, by Ed Gorman (Pegasus, 15 October 2014).

 

When we last saw Sam McCain he had been drafted to fight the war in Vietnam. But Sam's military career ended in boot camp when he was accidentally shot in the head and forced to spend three months in a military hospital to recover.

Sam returns to his hometown of Black River Falls, where he works as a lawyer (and part-time investigator) for the court of the snobbish but amusing Judge Esme Ann Whitney.
Two of Sam's oldest friends are caught up in this same battle. Veteran Steve Donovan brutally belittles and finally savagely beats his old friend veteran Will Cullen when Cullen announces he's joined the anti-war group.

When Cullen is found murdered, the obvious suspect is Steve Donovan, but Sam has serious doubts about the man's guilt. At least three people had reasons to murder Cullen, and Sam begins to suspect he'll discover even more as his investigation heats up.

***** 

I'm a little behind on this series, but I really enjoyed the early ones that I've read. It struck me at the time as an unusual setting for a historical mystery series: middle America in the 1950s and 60s. And the protagonist was goofy in an appealing way. I probably won't pick this one up the day it comes out, but it's going on the list of books I want to get around to soon.