Book Talk
with Smiffs book & card store, Nerja
The only ‘big beast’ of
crime fiction to be found
releasing new work this
month is the prolific James
Patterson, with The First
Lady (l). As he steps from
his hotel in Georgia with his
wife Grace, the USA’s
President Tucker is greeted
by the media. His love affair
has been revealed to the
world two weeks before the
election for a second term.
Mortified, betrayed and
deeply hurt, Grace Tucker
heads for a haven outside
the capital. Agent Sally
Grissom of the Secret
Service is appointed to lead
a covert mission to bring
the First Lady back to Washington DC before the media learns
of the disappearance. As the
trail runs cold though,
Grissom cannot help feeling
that she is being watched.
Someone else is searching
for Grace, and if Grissom
does not find her first, the
First Lady might not be
alive when she does.
rumours can wreck lives. A
casual comment – ‘There’s a
killer among us. She stabbed
little Robbie Harris.” – is all
it takes to change a life. “She
is living under a new name.
She is reformed. So they
say.” Joanna is going to
regret the day she ever said
a word. This chilling tale of
paranoia, suspicion and
accusation keeps readers
guessing until the final page.
Also worth a look are: The
Whisperer (p), by Karin
Fossum; The Queen Of
Bloody Everything (p), by
Joanna Nadin; and,
Happiness For Humans (p),
by PZ Reizin.
If a large serving of sheer
romance floats your boat,
then try the Spain-located If
We’re Not Married By
Thirty (p), by Anna Bell.
When Lydia breaks up with
her long-term boyfriend,
she flees to a villa in Spain,
where she is surprised to
bump into old childhood
friend Dan. Years before,
they pledged that if they
were still single when they
turned 30, they would get
married. With their
friendship rekindled, they
fall into a holiday romance.
Deeply in love, they realise
there is nothing stopping
them from fulfilling their
romantic pact. But how
much do they really know about each other? Could Lydia’s
back-up man ever really be her happy-ever-after one? A
funny, romantic and bubbly read.
The First Lady leads off this
month’s Soltalk Hotlist of
titles, some entirely new,
others moving into small
paperback format for the
first time or being reissued,
sometimes after years out
of print. All are due for
publication on dates in
December, with availability
in print this month or in
early January. The Hotlist helps readers to plan and budget for
book ordering; and do not forget that delivery times can be
more erratic in the festive
period.
Planning a holiday in Spain
next year? Well, the latest
Lonely Planet Pocket
Guides (p) are published
this month, including those
for Barcelona, Madrid,
Bilbao & San Sebastian, and
Ibiza. They typically include
colour pull-out city maps,
and details of the best
walking tours.
Also worth considering are:
Lucifer Falls (l), by Colin
Falconer; The House Of Silk
(p), a Sherlock Holmes
mystery from Anthony
Horowitz; Dead Man’s Gift
& Other Stories (p), by
Simon Kernick; Bloodline
(p), a Spain-based thriller by
Nigel McRery; and, The Au
Pair (p), by Emma Rous.
The Pocket Rough Guide to
the volcanic Canary Islands
of Tenerife and La Gomera
(p) is also a handy, pocket-
sized book. Whether you
plan to explore the
Turning to general fiction,
The Rumour (l), by Lesley
Kara, is an exciting, twisting
debut exploring with
terrifying credibility how
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