Staff Picks Format: Book

The Big Over Easy by Jasper Fforde [Book]

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The Big Over Easy is a nonsensical but compelling police procedural. Detective Inspector Jack Spratt heads the Nursery Crimes Division, an underfunded and overworked department of the Reading Police Department, with jurisdiction over People of Dubious Reality. In this alternate universe, Reading, Berkshire, is home to a not insignificant number of characters from nursery rhymes, fables, fairy tales, and the like. From the the three little pigs to Old Mother Hubbard and a substantial number of woodcutters and millers’ sons, Reading is full of folks whose identities as storybook characters are obvious to everyone but themselves.

The story begins when Sergeant Mary Mary is assigned to work with DI Spratt on what seems a straightforward case: Humperdinck Jehoshaphat Aloysius Stuyvesant van Dumpty has fallen off a wall. Their investigation soon reveals, however, that Humpty’s death was anything but accidental. Forensics quickly reveals that Humpty was shot, but further conclusions are harder to come by due to the lack of ballistics research on large egg. Inquiries into Humpty’s past reveal all sorts of shady dealings, including involvement in a straw-into-gold racket. And interviews with Solomon Grundy, Rapunzel, and Wee Willie Winkie bring up more questions than answers.

The Big Over Easy is a delightful read, prefect for when you want something both clever and silly.

Fast Girls by Elise Hooper [Book]

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Elise Hooper (The Other Alcott, 2017) finds three unheralded female athletes to share in a tale spanning three Olympiads: 1928 Amsterdam, when the first women’s delegation competed in track and field; 1932 Los Angeles, when runners of color were unjustly left out of competition; and 1936 Berlin, where Jesse Owens outshone all other American athletes. Betty Robinson, Louise Stokes, and Helen Stephens have different backgrounds and a shared talent: running like the wind. Their challenges, compounded by the Great Depression, vary as well. Betty is a classic golden girl with doting parents and a bright future and the first female gold medal winner in track and field, but is nearly killed in a plane crash just weeks before the 1932 games. Louise is the oldest daughter in a poor black family, leaving school for domestic work to help support her younger siblings. Helen is an awkward farm girl with few prospects beyond working the family farm until her potential is seen by the local track coach at a church basketball game. Each makes her own way to excellence, with support outside of family, making history along the way. Social commentary is provided by fictitious news articles written in the style of the period, with condescending awe that women could accomplish these things.

For fans of The Boys in the Boat, historical fiction about real people, and stories about little-known female heroes breaking through barriers.

Last Tang Standing by Lauren Ho [Book]

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Andrea Tang, at 33, is living the life she is supposed to live in Singapore: up for partner at her law firm, in possession of the latest designer handbag, surrounded by devoted friends, living in a posh apartment. The only thing she hasn’t successfully accomplished is landing a husband. When her cousin’s engagement leaves her the titular last Tang standing (unmarried), things start to get real. Competing with her office mate Suresh for promotion while dating handsome and wealthy marriage-minded entrepreneur Eric, Andrea has to decide what she wants from her life and what happiness means to her. Does she make partner, marry Eric, and live lavishly ever after? Does she quit her job and redirect her life entirely? Is her rivalry with Suresh shifting from antagonism to civility to friendship to something else?

Ho’s debut novel is a charming and witty diary of a year in the life of Andrea Tang. It’s a good match for fans of The Hating Game, Crazy Rich Asians, and misguided young professional women.

Summer Longing by Jamie Brenner [Book]

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Brenner returns to Provincetown, setting of The Forever Summer (2017), with new central characters and a familiar supporting cast of residents and locations. Ruth Cooperman rents Shell House from Elise and Fern for the summer, only to find a baby girl abandoned on the doorstep her first morning there. Rather than reporting the baby to the authorities, Elise begins taking care of her (and growing attached) while they all wait to see if someone they know is missing a baby.

Between a disenchanted career woman, an unhappy widow, a college student home for the summer, a real estate agent and his handyman husband, restless retirees, evolving marriages, estranged daughters, complicated relationships, and summer lovers, there’s sure to be someone for readers to relate to.

Seemingly impossible situations resolve themselves by the end of the summer in the tidiest ways, allowing some to change their lives for the better and others to continue living golden-tinged existences in a charming and artistic community.

Fans of Elin Hilderbrand, beaches, summer, and family are sure to enjoy this perfect-for-your-vacation read.

Dead West by Matt Goldman [Book]

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Nils Shapiro appears in his fourth mystery, this time taking his private investigation skills to Los Angeles when Ebben Mayer’s grandmother Beverly asks Nils to check up on her grandson and make certain he’s not squandering his fortune. Nils agrees, thinking a short trip to sunny southern California to solve a nonproblem is just what he needs to break up a Minnesota January. He takes his friend Jameson White along as muscle, and to get him out of the dark winter and his own troubles. When they arrive, Nils suspects foul play in the recent death of Ebben’s fiancée and can’t help but follow his instincts into an investigation far more complex than his original assignment. It seems everyone involved–Hollywood industry players on several levels–is potentially in danger, and looking out for their own interests. Meanwhile, Jameson’s attentions are divided between protecting Ebben (and Nils) and dealing with his own issues, and Nils worries he may be losing his edge as a happily affianced new father, avoiding risks he would have otherwise taken in past cases.

Goldman continues to please with interesting twists, great peripheral characters, insights into specific communities, and enough peril to keep readers turning pages past bedtime. Offer this to fans of lone wolves finding their pack, readers who love LA settings, and private investigators both amateur and professional.

For Love and Country by Candace Waters [Book]

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During the months following the Pearl Harbor attack and full involvement of the United States in World War II, Lottie Palmer (of the Detroit Palmers) decides she wants to do something that matters with her life. When she informs her fiancé the day before their wedding, he doesn’t understand at all why she might willingly leave her privileged life, so the next morning she tells her mother, packs a bag, and runs away to join the Navy WAVES. Lottie’s mechanical skills are confirmed during basic training, where she and her assigned roommate Maggie have so little in common they can’t have a civil conversation. After further training, Lottie’s assigned to an airplane mechanic division in Pearl Harbor, where she is the only female (and best mechanic) on a team repairing and restoring aircraft for deployment. After repeatedly being assigned together, Lottie and Maggie develop from nemeses to friends, experiencing the war at closer range than most. After the battle at Iwo Jima, the base is filled with wounded–including Lottie’s erstwhile fiancé, forcing her to deal with their relationship and her feelings for a superior officer. When Lottie defies orders to undertake a daring rescue, her military career ends and the rest of her life begins.

Well researched and engaging, Waters tells a tale that’s a good fit for fans of Therese Anne Fowler and Marie Benedict, and others who enjoy historical fiction centering women’s experiences.

The Shallows by Matt Goldman [Book]

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Nils Shapiro returns in his third adventure (Gone to Dust 2017, Broken Ice 2018), this time investigating the murder of a lawyer. Everyone involved seems to want to hire Nils to protect their own interests, while he wants to solve the crime. As usual, there’s more to the story than we first imagine. Goldman’s flair for dialogue and skill in weaving improbable circumstances into the central story continue to elevate Nils Shapiro from a standard private detective to a compelling character surrounded by good friends and better enemies. The law firm for which the deceased was a partner is affiliated with a rising politician and the story doesn’t entirely check out. The bereaved widow is dallying with a freethinking artist. The FBI is somehow involved. No one will tell Nils the whole story, so he has to work it out on his own, putting himself at risk while managing some interesting developments in his personal life.

Fans will be delighted to see Nils Shapiro again, and the mystery stands alone as a lure to new readers and future fans. For those who enjoy the lighter side of Michael Connelly and Robert Crais.

Lost Roses by Martha Hall Kelly [Book]

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Kelly is back with another epic tale of three overlapping women’s lives against the backdrop of history, this time a generation earlier (and starring the mother of one of her previous heroines) than 2017’s The Lilac Girls. The setting is World War I and the Russian Revolution; the stories are inspired by true events. New Yorker Eliza Ferriday returns home when her tour of Russia with her school friend Sofya Streshnayva, a cousin of the Romanovs, is cut short by the outbreak of war in Europe. Sofya’s family retires to their country estate to wait out the troubles while Eliza works to find refuge and employment for displaced Russians in America. Sofya hires a local peasant girl, Varinka, to help with her small son, unaware of Varinka’s revolutionary connections and the danger they pose to her family. Kelly’s gift is bringing to life and to light history that is often untold, stories of women and families far away from the front yet deeply affected by the decisions of leaders and efforts of fighters.

Readers who couldn’t put down the author’s debut are advised to clear their calendars when they get their hands on this one. A good match for fans of historical fiction, Marie Benedict and Lisa See, and viewers of period dramas.

That Churchill Woman [Book]

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Stephanie Barron (Jane and the Unpleasantness at Scargrave Manor, etc.) turns her able hand to biographical fiction in this absorbing volume that captures the life and charm of one of the American heiresses who crossed the Atlantic to catch a titled English husband in the late 19th century.

Lady Randolph Churchill, neé Jennie Jerome, was a wealthy and privileged American, her father’s indulged favorite, when she married the second son of a duke with a brilliant political career ahead of him. She went on to rise in aristocratic Victorian society, to the delight of some and horror of others, and give birth to future prime minister Winston Churchill, maintaining appearances as a society matron while living a modern and independent life of her own making, complete with passionate liaisons and artistic pursuits. She wrote speeches for her husband, entertained his parliament colleagues in her home, and parented his sons while he shaped England and traveled for his health after his political career ended.

Recommended for fans of Victorian England, Gilded Age New York, historical fiction populated with real people, and high society.

Broken Ice by Matt Goldman [Book]

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Private detective Nils Shapiro is back! Fans of Goldman’s Gone To Dust (2017) will not be disappointed. Some time has passed since the last book; Nils’s buddy Ellegard has joined him as a private investigator and taken over the business end of operations. Nils and Ellie are called in to look for a missing teen who never returned from a high school championship hockey game. When the teen’s friend is also found dead, the case intensifies, not least because Nils is near-fatally shot with an arrow at the crime scene. The action moves from Minneapolis to small-town Warroad and back again as Nils and Ellie uncover more secrets than suspects. Like all good private eyes, they nominally cooperate with law enforcement officials while pursuing avenues of discovery unavailable to official channels. Nils continues to be brilliant and flawed, Ellie his eminently practical foil, and Minneapolis itself a major character. A darkness in the story not immediately evident to the reader or principals lends weight to the reading experience. In the midst of a compelling mystery, Goldman gradually introduces vivid supporting characters, such as medical examiner Char Northagen, with a finesse built on his background in stand-up and television writing, promising a long and enjoyable series. Recommended for fans of clever mysteries and witty detectives such as Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone.

The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson [Book]

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Miranda Brooks is a middle-school history teacher who’s just moved in with her boyfriend in Philadelphia when she learns her estranged maternal uncle, Billy, has died and left her Prospero Books. She hasn’t visited the bookstore or seen her uncle in 16 years, since he fought with her mother shortly after Miranda’s 12th birthday. Up until that time, Billy had been a fun if intermittent presence in her life, planning outings, adventures, and scavenger hunts. Miranda heads home to Los Angeles to attend Billy’s funeral and deal with her legacy, only to discover Billy left her a last scavenger hunt, one that will change everything she knows about her family. The manager and employees of Prospero Books are reluctant to welcome her into their midst, fearing imminent closure. Miranda’s parents are oddly reticent on the topic of Uncle Billy. Miranda’s boyfriend Jay is impatient for her return to Philadelphia. And Miranda needs more time to find the rest of the clues Billy left behind. Meyerson’s debut is the coming-of-age story of a young woman who thought she knew what she wanted from her life and must reckon with game-changing discoveries about her past and future.

The Husband Hour by Jamie Brenner [Book]

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Brenner (The Forever Summer, 2017) returns with another sun soaked emotional saga. After her NHL-star-turned-Army-Ranger husband Rory was killed in Iraq, Lauren Kincaid spent four years isolated at her family’s beach house on the Jersey Shore, running 12 miles a day, working at a local restaurant, and avoiding (or possibly wallowing in) grief. Now Lauren’s parents, sister, and nephew have descended en masse for the summer, bringing their own worries and upheaval with them. Matt Brio, a documentary filmmaker, wants to tell Rory’s story, and needs Lauren to fill in the gaps. There’s more to the story than public accounts include, more than even Lauren knows, and Matt is scrambling to put it all together before his funding runs out. Secrets are shared, connections are made, and everything falls apart for Lauren and her family before it comes back together.

Brenner tackles grief, trust, and family dynamics in this tale about coming to terms with the past in order to move toward the future. Choice reading for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and summer beaches.