Yes Is Better Than No

By Byrd Baylor

Place: Publisher & Year: Tucson, AZ: Silvercloud Books, c 1972, 2011

Genre: General fiction

ISBN: 9780984674404

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 187

Setting: Tucson, AZ

Time period: Early 1970’s

Plot summary: Maria Vasquez is trying to eke out a life for herself and her children in Tucson.  It is difficult because the ways of Anglos are vastly different from those of Papagos.  Friends and neighbors can often be relied upon and one can always ask St. Jude for help – but this should only be done as a last resort.

River Marked

By Patricia Briggs; narrated by Lorelei King

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Penguin Audio, 2011

Genres: Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, paranormal, mystery, paranormal mystery, mythic fiction

Series: Mercy Thompson; 6

Format: Audiobook – MP3

ISBN: 9781101436547

Audience: Adult

Length: 8 hours, 54 minutes

Setting: Columbia River Gorge – OR & WA,  Tri-cities (Richland, Kennewick, & Pasco), WA

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: Mercy and Adam finally get to spend some alone time together for their honeymoon.  No vampires, no other werewolves – it’s just the two of them camping along the Columbia River.  However, Mercy’s connection to coyotes and Coyote, means that chaos will find her.  This time chaos takes the form of a monster that lives in the river.

The Sisters Brothers

By Patrick deWitt

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011

Genres: Western, historical fiction, cowboy noir

ISBN: 9780062041265

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 328

Setting: Oregon City, Oregon Territory, & California (including San Francisco)

Time period: 1851

Plot summary: Charlie and Eli sisters are known throughout the Oregon Territory and California as killers who work for the Commodore.   What begins as an ordinary assignment for them – to go to San Francisco and kill a man – becomes a life changing journey for both of the brothers.

The Leopard

By Jo Nesbø; translated by Don Bartlett

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011

Genres: Mystery, suspense,  thriller, police procedural, Scandinavian noir

Series: Harry Hole; 8

ISBN: 9780307595874

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 513*

Setting: Hong Kong, China, Oslo,  Norway, Kigali, Rwanda & Goma, The Congo

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: After working on The Snowman case, Harry’s life takes a turn for the worse and he finds himself indebted to a gangster in Hong Kong.  Meanwhile, another serial killer is on the loose in Oslo and Crime Squad wants Harry on the case.  Unfortunately for the police, Harry doesn’t want to have anything to do with serial killers or the people trying to track them.  The only thing compelling Harry to return to Oslo is family.

Habibi

By Craig Thompson

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Pantheon Books, 2011

Genres: General fiction, mythic fiction

Format: Graphic novel

ISBN: 9780375424144

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 665 (672 includes notes and author description)

Setting: A Middle-eastern desert, an unnamed village, and Wanatolia

Time period: No set time period –seems like the past, present, and future all at once

Plot summary: Dodola adopts Zam when he is three years old and she is thirteen.  Although she is young, she has already been married, witnessed the slaying of her husband, and been kidnapped to be sold into slavery.  She manages to escape from the slavers with Zam and takes him into the desert to raise him.  When Zam turns thirteen, their world is shattered when they become lost to one another.  After years of separation, their love for one another eventually brings them back together.

The Road to Lisdoonvarna

By Charles de Lint

Place: Publisher & Year: Burton, MI: Subterranean Press, 2001

Genre: Mystery, hard boiled crime fiction

ISBN: 9781892284914

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 190

Setting: Ottawa, Canada

Time period: mid 1980s

Plot summary: Private investigator, Jake Swann, has a big heart, especially when it comes to his friends.  When Jake discovers that one of his friends has been terrorized by a gang of thugs, he vows to get revenge.  It doesn’t matter that the thugs happen to be police officers.

The Redbreast

By Jo Nesbø; translated by Don Bartlett

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Harper, c2000, 2011

Genres: Mystery, suspense, thriller, police procedural, Scandinavian noir, historical fiction

Series: Harry Hole; 3

ISBN: 9780062068422

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 553 (563 including an excerpt from The Devil’s Hole)

Setting: Oslo, Norway, Leningrad, Russia, and Vienna, Austria, & Johannesburg, South Africa

Time period: There are two timelines – one takes place from 1999 – 2000; the other takes place during WWII – from 1942 – 1944.

Plot summary: In the course of duty, Police Officer Harry Hole is required to make a very difficult decision in a few seconds.  As a result, a team member is critically wounded and Harry feels responsible.  Therefore, the last thing he expects is a promotion.  As a new inspector, his job is routine and boring – until one report crosses his desk.  As he follows through with the report, he finds evidence of neo-Nazi involvement in an assignation attempt.

The Shining

By Stephen King

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Pocket Books, c 1977, 2001

Genre: Horror

ISBN: 9781439570616

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 683

Settings: The Overlook Hotel & Boulder, CO, Stovington, VT, St. Petersburg, FL

Time period: Late 1970s

Plot summary: Jack Torrance has made mistakes in life – most recently, losing his job at an elite New England prep school.  As a result, he is determined to take the job he is offered as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado.  It will be a new start for his family and the job should give him time to finish writing the play he started.  Unfortunately, the hotel is haunted and Jack’s five year old son, Danny, knows it.  Danny has “the shine” and knows things that others do not.

American Gods

By Neil Gaiman

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: HarperTorch, c2001.

Genres: Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, mythic fiction

ISBN: 9780380789030

Audience: Adult

Number of pages: 592

Setting: USA – Eagle Point, Indiana;  Chicago & Cairo, Illinois; House on the Rock & Lakeside, Wisconsin; South Dakota; Lebanon, Kansas; Virginia; Lookout Mountain/ Rock City, Georgia; Fort Pierce, Florida; and many points inbetween.

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: A storm is coming. Shadow is let out of prison a few days early because his wife was killed in an accident.  On his journey home, Shadow meets Wednesday, who knows more about Shadow than which Shadow is comfortable.  A storm is coming and Wednesday needs Shadow’s help.  Shadow has been having strange dreams as his life has been turned upside down.   A storm is coming and it’s heading for Shadow.

Silver Borne

By Patricia Briggs

Place: Publisher & Year: New York: Ace Books, 2008

Genres: Fantasy, contemporary fantasy, paranormal, mystery, paranormal mystery

Series: Mercy Thompson; 5

ISBN: 9780441018192

Intended audience: Adult

Number of pages: 342

Setting: Tri-cities (Richland, Kennewick, & Pasco), WA

Time period: Contemporary

Plot summary: Mercy is still adjusting to pack life; this is made more difficult by the fact that there are pack members who resent her becoming pack.  Additionally, she has a magical book that needs to be returned to its owner, but he can’t be found.  She also has a roommate who is in desperate need of her help and attention.