Staff Pickles - librarians online
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Our team of staff pickles are here to bring you recommendations with flavour. We will be sharing lists, reviews, and blog posts - all about the books, movies, TV, and music we love. Follow us on the libraries' blog or in the catalogue or ask us for a personalised recommendation.
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"I am the star of screaming tabloid headlines and campfire ghost stories. I am one of the four Black-Eyed Susans. The lucky one." ~ from Julia Heaberlin's Black-Eyed Susans
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| Rubbernecker by Belinda BauerPatrick Fort is a medical student whose Asperger's adds an extra challenge to an already demanding career choice. But it also improves his observations of the cadaver he's currently dissecting, which leads him to believe there's something dodgy going on in his lab. Unfortunately, he lacks the social skills to effectively share what he finds. At the same time, a coma patient in another ward can hear strange activities going on around him, but is similarly unable to express himself. With these unusual narrators, this creative, often darkly humorous novel won the 2014 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award. |
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A game for all the family
by Sophie Hannah
Justine thought she knew who she was, until an anonymous caller seemed to know better. After escaping London and a career that nearly destroyed her, Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible in her beautiful home in Devon. Danger is everywhere.
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| Black-Eyed Susans: a novel of suspense by Julia HeaberlinNearly 20 years ago, Tessa Cartwright was left for dead in a patch of black-eyed Susans. Unlike the other three girls dumped there, she survived. But as the man convicted for the crimes nears his execution date, Tessa finds the same flowers planted outside her house, prompting her to consider that the wrong person was convicted... and that the true killer may want to finish what he started. Told in parallel storylines 18 years apart, this tautly suspenseful novel incorporates plenty of CSI details. |
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The bones of you
by Debbie Howells
After a girl is murdered in an idyllic English village, Kate becomes obsessed with uncovering the secrets behind the crime.
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The naked eye
by Iris Johansen
Kendra Michaels was instrumental in bringing serial killer Eric Colby to justice. And yet, despite his apparent execution at San Quentin, Kendra is convinced that Colby is still alive. The problem is that she can't prove it. Even her razor-sharp powers of observation - developed to an amazing capacity during the twenty years she spent blind and now in constant demand by law enforcement agencies - have gotten her nowhere.
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My name is N
by Robert Karjel
Jo Nesbo meets Homeland in this sophisticated debut literary thriller about a Swedish security force agent sent to the U.S. for a special assignment, which delivers a breathtaking global twist on the darkly riveting narrative tradition of Nordic noir.
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The flicker men: a novel
by Ted Kosmatka
Seizing a three-month opportunity to revive his career, a mentally unstable physicist shocks the world by proving the existence of the human soul, igniting a firestorm debate between science and theology. By the author of Prophet of Bones.
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| Pretty baby: a novel by Mary KubicaChicago literacy tutor Heidi Wood wants to help the homeless teen mom she's seen on her commute, so she invites Willow and her tiny daughter back to the condo she shares with her family (to her husband's horror). Their arrival leads to a spectacular deterioration of the relationships within the home, all told from the rotating perspectives of Heidi and her husband, as well as flashbacks from Willow herself. This narrative technique ramps up the suspense - it's clear that something devastating happens, but the details... well, you'll have to read the book to find out. |
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Long upon the land
by Margaret Maron
Judge Deborah Knott tracks down the source of an engraving on her late mother's cigarette lighter while Dwight and Kezzie investigate the murder of a former whiskey runner who has succumbed to three separate attacks. By a New York Times best-selling author.
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If You Like: The Millennium Trilogy
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With the publication of a fourth book in Stieg Larsson's Millennium Trilogy, albeit by a different author, some readers may be eager to read The Girl in the Spider's Web, while other may be equally eager to try other, similar books. Try any of the ones below (or the series they're part of, in some cases) for elements of what made The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so popular.
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| The absent one: a Department Q novel by Jussi Adler-OlsenThere are plenty of similarities between the Department Q series and the Millennium Trilogy, including cold cases, conspiracies, twisting plots, protagonists with difficult personalities, and Scandinavian settings. Although in both series, slow-building suspense allows deep immersion into the characters' worlds, Department Q novels contain more humour and less violence. In The Absent One, Copenhagen police detective Carl Mørck must navigate the chilly waters of his department and the 20-year-old murders of a brother and sister; it appears that the confessed killer may be the patsy of the rich and powerful. |
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| Alex by Pierre LemaîtreStarring a tragic French detective and a beautiful kidnapping victim, this translation of a bestselling French novel was the 2013 winner of the CWA International Dagger Award. It's also the brutal opening salvo in a trilogy (though actually the 2nd book in the French version). Knowing he has little time to save the young woman, senior detective Camille Verhoeven is desperate to find her, but the victim turns out to have resources of her own. Like the Millennium Trilogy, this is a dark, twisty, sometimes-gruesome crime novel that explores the barbarity with which humans treat each other. Be prepared for violence and torture; some graphic scenes won't be for everyone. |
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| The son by Jo NesbøThough author Jo Nesbø is known for his brooding series star Harry Hole, The Son is a highly praised stand-alone. What it shares with the Millennium books is this: vengeance drives much of the intricately plotted, fast-paced narrative, and political conspiracies play no small part. With complex characters (like Sonny, an incarcerated heroin addict serving time in exchange for drug payouts), this is an excellent choice for Stieg Larsson's fans. |
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| The Andalucian friend: a thriller by Alexander SöderbergSince the death of her husband, nurse Sophie Brinkman has mostly focused on her son, her home, and her job. But that all changes with the arrival of a new patient, the charming Hector Guzman, who reawakens her romantic side. But Hector is the head of a powerful crime syndicate, and Sophie soon becomes a target for police investigators and rival criminals alike. Harassed on all sides, Sophie draws upon inner strength she didn't know she had, while a global turf war swirls around her. Intricately plotted and action-packed, this Scandinavian thriller is the first in a projected trilogy (the 2nd, The Other Son, was published in July), and moves at a faster pace than The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. |
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| The informationist: a thriller by Taylor StevensThis series debut introduces an "informationist" named Vanessa Michael Munroe, a tech-savvy, tough, and creatively violent young woman; despite a terrible past, she earns a living by learning and passing on the information her clients seek. Skilled with languages and able to blend in anywhere, she's recently been hired by a man looking for his daughter, Emily, who disappeared in Africa four years ago. Fast-paced and gritty, with a heroine in the vein of Lisbeth Salander, this "blazingly brilliant" (Publishers Weekly) thriller adds evocative descriptions of Africa for a very different flavour. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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