The Rules of Civility    by Amor Towles

Sister Carrie     by Theodore Dreiser

The Gods of Newport    by John Jakes

The House at Riverton     by Kate Morton

House of Mirth    by Edith Wharton

Howard’s End   by E.M. Forster

Atonement    by Ian McEwan

The Chaperone    by Laura Moriarty

The Rum Diary    by Hunter S. Thompson

Appointment in Samarra    by John O’Hara

Play It As It Lays     by Joan Didion

The Beautiful and Damned   by F. Scott Fitzgerald

A Moveable Feast   by Ernest Hemingway

Mrs. Dalloway    by Virginia Woolf

The Custom of the Country    by Edith Wharton

Ellis Island   by Kate Kerrington

A Hope Undaunted    by Julie Lessman

Ask Alice    by D.H. Taylor

Fallen Skies    by Philippa Gregory

Hollywood:  A Novel of America in the 1920s    by Gore Vidal

Summerset Abbey    by T.J. Brown

Habits of the House    by Fay Weldon

The Woman From Paris   by Santa Montefiore

The Life of Objects    by Susanne Moore

This Vacant Paradise   by Victoria Patterson

Title: Stop the Wedding!  A Romantic Comedy

Author: Stephanie Bond

Annabelle Coakley’s widowed mother is getting married to Martin Castleberry. This is not good news. Castleberry is a playboy movie star. He has been married five times before and each wife is younger than her predecessor. Anna belle is a divorce lawyer, she has dealt with the pain and suffering of divorce, she does not want her mother to get hurt, so she must stop the wedding. Clay is martin’s son, he is used to cleaning up his father’s messes,he wants to end this relationship before his father makes another big mistake. They are both on the same mission but never on the same track, it is the formula for a humorous, light read.

Tags: Humor, Mistaken identity, Love, Family, Second Chances, Romance

 A Petulant French Sculptor, His Quest for Immortality and the Real Story of the Statue of Liberty

Author: Elizabeth Mitchell

Mitchell portrays French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi in an unfavorable light. She depicts him as a man obsessed with finding a venue of his colossal statue because it would be a way to immortalize him. Under the guise of a gift to the United States, he struggled for years to collect funds for the project. He travelled across America and expressed his disdain for the people, food, culture and the land. He said his statue would be “Liberty enlightening the World,” according to Mitchell’s opinions it sounds like the sculptor could have used some enlightenment.

Tags: Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, Statue of Liberty, New York City 1886, Art history

Title: Deep Down: A Jack Reacher Story

Author: Lee Child

There are four political liaison officers; one of them is a traitor. Reacher goes undercover to discover who the mole is and who she is working for. The short story format never gives the reader a chance to get to know the characters or to get involved with the plot. The resolve came about too quickly, I wish the story was longer because the premise was interesting and I liked Reacher.

Tags: Washington, D.C., Spies, Espionage, Military Secrets, Short Story, Suspense

Title: No Time Left

Author: David Baldacci

Frank Becker is just your average guy, he blends in crowd, and you don’t even notice him. The only remarkable thing about him is that he is very good at his job, he is a professional hitman. No questions asked, no remorse, he just kills his target and collects his payment. So when an old man hires him to kill a young woman, he boards a train; stabs her to death; and disappears in a very permanent way…You know what is going to happen, Baldacci gives you definite clues, but the ending still makes you think..

Tags: Hitman, Time Travel, Suspense, Short Story

Title: The 7th Woman

Author: Frederique Molay

Translated from the French by Anne Trager

Inspector Nico Sirsky is the Chief of Police, Head of the Paris Criminal Investigation Division. When Marie-Helene Jory, Assistant Professor of History at the Sorbonne, is killed in her home, Nico is called in to investigate. The homicide has sexual overtones and the victim was brutally tortured. The killer was slow, methodical and calculating, he enjoyed the kill. When similar murders occur, Nico realizes that they are dealing with a serial killer, a killer who begins leaving messages for Nico. This crime novel is not for the squeamish but the plot twists and the appealing characters will draw you in as the acts of violence repel you. Read it with the lights on and whatever you do, don’t answer your doorbell…

 Tags: Paris, Murder, Police procedurals, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Title: The Playground

Author: Ray Bradbury

Charles Underhill wants to protect his 3 year old son Jim from bullies in the playground. Memories of his own tortured childhood keep him awake at night and he vows that his son will not suffer the some horrors. He makes a pact with the mysterious playground manager but only after the pact is set does he discover the true nature of the deal. Sometimes the subtle horrors are the most chilling; this is the case with Bradbury’s short story.

Tags: Bullying, Pacts, Psychological Thriller, Horror

Title: The Book Case

Author: Nelson DeMille

Otis Parker owns the Dead End Bookstore in Manhattan. An employee finds him dead in his shop. He was killed by a fallen bookcase. Was it a bizarre accident or premeditated murder? Detective John Corey must solve this puzzle. This is a clever locked room mystery, that has an unusual choice for a murder weapon.

Tags: New York City, Murder investigation, Mystery, Short Story

Title: A Leaf on the Wind Of All Hollows: An Outlander Novella

Author: Diana Gabaldon

What happened to Jerry Mackenzie and his wife, Marjorie who were mentioned in Gabaldon’s novel “An Echo in the Bone? We know that their son Roger Mackenzie is an orphan but his parent’s demise was never explained, this novella tells their story. Jerry Mackenzie was recruited to spy on the Germans by taking aerial photographs in Poland. While on a training exercise to test this new technology, he crashes in Northumbria but his body was never found. His widow, Marjorie, was killed in the London blitz but before she dies she sees Jerry again.

Tags: Time Travel, Outlander series, World War Two, Historical fiction, Romance

Title: A Lesson in Chemistry with Inspector Bruce

Author: Jullian Stone

In 1887 London, forensics is a new science being used to fight crime. Archibald Bruce is the Director of the Crime Laboratory for the Criminal Investigations Division of Scotland Yard whose typical day is spent collecting and testing evidence, dealing with explosives and creating new devices. In his spare time he is a Professor of Chemistry at the university where he meets Fiona Rose. Archie finds love, rescues Agent Phineas Gunn and becomes entangled in a mission to stop an arms dealer from supplying weapons and explosives to anarchist factions throughout Europe and the Americas. Readers familiar with the Gentlemen of Scotland Yard series will be familiar with Archie who is an important character but not one of the major characters. I am glad to learn more about him and hope that he becomes the focus of a future novel. The titles in the series are: “An Affair with Mr. Kennedy” bk 1, “A Dangerous Liaison with Detective Lewis” bk 2 and “A Private Duel with Agent Gunn” bk 3.

Tags: London 1887, Scotland Yard, forensics, Historical fiction, Adventure, Romance

Title: Extraction

Author: Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

This is a fairytale gone terribly wrong. Pendergast tells his ward the story of an event that happened during his childhood in New Orlean’s French Quarter. Children in his neighborhood believed that old Maurus Dufour, who lived in a decaying mansion, was the tooth fairy. They would leave their teeth in a wooden box on his porch, even though they received no reward, so they would be safe from Dufour’s revenge. One day Pendergast stole his brother’s tooth from the box; his brother went missing for a day and their uncle Everett, who went to Dufour’s home, never returned. Pendergast and his father went to the mansion and made a gruesome discovery.

Tags: New Orleans French Quarter, tooth fairy legend, thriller, short story, Horror

Title: Racing With the Wind

Author: Regan Walker

Hugh Redgrave, Marquess of Ormond, is the only son of the Duke of Albany, he is a reputed rake and leading a secret life as a spy/thief for the Prince Regent. There is unrest in France after Napolean’s defeat, a double agent is passing along British intelligence. Hugh must uncover the agent’s identity. Lady Mary Campbell is the headstrong, rebellious, intelligent niece of Lord Baynes, who is a diplomat for the Prince Regent. She continually places herself in grave danger to thwart a Prussian plot against the king. If the enemy doesn’t kill her, Hugh might…This is the first book in the Agents of the Crown Trilogy.

Tags: London 1816, Spies, Napolean, Intrigue, Historical fiction, Romance, Adventure

The Werewolves of London   by Brian M. Stableford

The Werewolf of Paris    by S. Guy Endore

Silver   by Rhiannon Held

The Silvered   by Tonya Huff

Kiss of Steel    by Bec McMaster

I Ate the Sheriff    by K. Bennett

Kindred    by J.S. Redmerski *

The Wolf Gift    by Anne Rice

Talulla Rising    by Glen Duncan

Blood and Silver   by James R. Tuck

Beauty and the Werewolf     by Mercedes Lackey

Wolfsangel    by M.D. Lachlan

Dead Iron:  The Age of Steam    by Devon Monk

The Pack    by Jason Starr  *

The Last Werewolf    by Glen Duncan

The Real Werewives of Vampire County    by Alexandra Ivy

Never Cry Werewolf    by L.A. Banks

Full Moon City    edited by Darrell Schweitzer

Hunted by the Others    by Jess Haines

The Beast Within    by Erin McCarthy

Wolf’s Cross   by S. Andrew Swann

Curse of the Full Moon     edited by James Lowder

Curse of the Wolf Girl    by Martin Millar  *

The Wolf Age    by James Enge

OverWinter/A Werewolf Tale    by David Wellington

High Bloods   by John Farris

Second Skin   by Caitlin Kittredge

Howling at the Moon:  Tales of an Urban Werewolf   by Karen MacInerney

The Wolfman    by Nicholas Pekearo

Maneater    by Thomas Emson

Fever Moon   by Carolyn Haines

The Benighted    by Kit Whitfield

Wolf Moon    by Charles DeLint

Tempting Danger    by Eileen Wilks

The Promise   by Donna Boyd

Cycle of the Werewolf    by Stephen King

The Nightwalker    by Thomas Tessier

Sharp Teeth   by Toby Barlow

Murcheston:  the Wolf’s Tale   by David Holland

*Author has other titles about werewolves

Death Warmed Over:  Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I.   by Kevin J. Anderson*

Death’s Dominion     by Simon Clark

Gil’s All Fright Diner    by A. Lee Martinez

Monster Island:  A Zombie Novel    by David Wellington

World War Z:  An Oral History of the Zombie War    by Max Brooks

The Laughing Corpse    by Laurell K. Hamilton

City of the Dead     by Brian Keene*

My Life as a White Trash Zombie    by Diane Rowland*

The Stranger’s Woes    by Maksim Frai

Darkness Falling     by Peter Crowther

Pay Me In Flesh   by K. Bennett*

Dead Mann Walking    by Stefan Petrucha*

Isis Unbound by Allyson Bird

Dawn of the Dead    by George A. Romero

Eat, Slay, Love   by Jenna Petersen

Dearly Departed    by Lia Habel*

Dead of Night:  A Zombie Novel     by Jonathan Maberry

Aftertime      by Sophie Littlefield*

Zombie, Ohio:  A Tale of the Undead     by Scott Kenemore

Zone One     by Colson Whitehead

The First Days:  As the World Dies      by Rhiannon Frater*

Allison Hewitt Is Trapped:  A Zombie Novel    by Madeleine Roux

The Walking Dead:  Rise of the Governor    by Robert Kirkman

Raising Stony Mayhall     by Daryl Gregory

Warm Bodies    by Isaac Marion

The Six Gun Tarot     by R.S. Belcher

Apocalypse Z:  The Beginning of the End    by Manuel Loureiro

This Dark Earth    by John Hornor Jacobs

City of the Lost    by Stephen Blackmore*

This is Not a Test     by Courtney Summers

This Book is Full of Spiders: Seriously Dude, Don’t Tou Itch     by David Wong

Portlandtown:  A Tale of the Oregon Wyldes     by Rob DeBorde

Devil’s Wake    by Steven Barnes*

Managing Death    by Trent Jamieson

Dead Streets:  A Matt Richter Novel    by Tim Waggoner

Battle of the Network Zombies   by Mark Henry

The Loving Dead      by Amelia Beamer

Ravening     by Stewart Sternberg

Rise Again:  A Zombie Thriller     by Ben Tripp

Kill the Dead    by Richard Kadrey

Apocalypse of the Dead     by Joe McKinney

Deadtown    by Nancy Holzner

The Iron Duke     by Meljean Brook

The New Dead:  A Zombie Anthology

Brains:  A Zombie Memoir    by Robin M. Becker

Dust    by Joan Frances Turner*

The Living Dead 2

The Darker Side of Dead    by Bianca D’Arc

Desperate Souls    by Gregory Lamberson*

Thunder and Ashes    by Z.A. Recht*

Reapers are the Angels    by Alden Bell

State of Decay     by James Knapp

Paul is Undead:  the British Zombie Invasion     by Alan Goldsher

The Zombies of Lake Woebegotten     by Harrison Geillor

Autumn     by David Moody*

Dawn of the Dreadfuls:  Pride and Prejudice and Zombies      by Steve Hockensmith

Feed    by Mira Grant*

Handling the Undead     by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Boneshaker    by Cherie Priest*

Black Blood   by John Meaney*

Best of All Flesh:  Zombie Anthology

Jailbait Zombie   by Mario Acevedo

Breathers:  A Zombie’s Lament    by S.G. Brown

Day By Day Armageddon    by J.L. Bourne

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies:  The Classic Regency Romance    by Seth Grahame-Smith

Eden:  A Zombie Novel      by Tony Monchinski

The Living Dead

Underground    by Kat Richardson

The Missing    by Sarh Langan

Wet Work     by Philip Nutman

*Author has other zombie titles.

Enjoy!  There are definitely numerous variations on the theme but whether they are scary, funny or dare I say cuddly, they are  never dull.

The Bridesmaid     by Beverly Lewis

The Blessed      by Ann H. Gabhart

The Amish Nanny        by Mindy Starns Clark

Lydia’s Charm     by Wanda E. Brunstetter

Follow Your Heart     by Jerry Eicher

The Hope of Refuge      by Cindy Woodsmall

The Protector      by Shelley Shepard Gray

The Wonder of Your Love      by Beth Wiseman

Running Around (And Such)      by Linda Byler

A Place of Peace      by Amy Clipston

A Time of Love     by Barbara Cameron

An Amish Christmas     by Cynthia Keller

The Riverhaven Years   (Book 2)  Where Grace Abides         by B.J. Hoff

A Widow’s Hope      by Mary Ellis

Summer of Secrets     by Charlotte Hubbard

The Memory Jar     by Tricia Goyer

Still Life in Shadows     by Alice J. Wisler

Naomi’s Christmas     by Marta Perry

Courting Cate      by Leslie Gould

A Simple Autumn    by Rosalind Lauer

The Promise of an Angel       by Ruth Reid

Levi’s Will     by W. Dale Cramer

An Honest Love     by Kathleen Fuller

Plain Jayne     by Hillary Manton Lodge

A Stranger’s Wish    by Gayle G. Roper

Magnetic Field:  An Amish Love Story      by R.P. Gabriel

In Every Heartbeat     by Kim Vogel Sawyer

The Waiting     by Suzanne Woods Fisher

*NOTE:  Most of the authors have several titles.

Don’t forget to try some Amish mysteries too!  Some of the authors are:

Paul L. Gaus

Marta Perry

Julie Kramer

Karen Harper

Colleen Coble

Barbara Workinger

Linda Castillo

Tamar Myers

Ron Yeakley