Category: Audio Books

Young Adult Mystery Reads: Jane Austen Murder Mysteries by Tirzah Price

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Tirzah Price grew up on a farm in Michigan, where she read every book she could get her hands on and never outgrew her love for YA fiction. She holds an MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is a former bookseller and librarian. Now, she’s a senior contributing editor at Book Riot, and co-host of the Hey YA podcast. When she’s not writing, reading, or thinking about YA books, she splits her time between experimenting in the kitchen and knitting enough socks to last through winter. She lives in Iowa.

Tirzah is pronounced TEER-zuh. Pronouns are she/her.

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a brilliant idea, conceived and executed by a clever young woman, must be claimed by a man.’ – Tirzah Price, Pride and Premeditation

I was introduced to Tirzah Price through her Jane Austen Murder Mysteries. The first book in the series is Pride and Premeditation. What first drew me to this book was honestly the cover – the cover looked cross-stitched (there’s a knife and pistols hidden within the illustrations)! As soon as I started reading, I knew I would enjoy this title (this book reminded me strongly of the Lady Janies series by Brodi Ashton, Jodi Meadows, and Cynthia Hand – check those out if you haven’t yet!).

Ok! Let’s talk about Pride and Premeditation. This is a retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but with additional murder mystery elements. Lizzie Bennett is an aspiring lawyer who hopes to one day work at her father’s firm. When a murder happens amongst London’s high society, Lizzie believes that solving this case will prove to her father that she should be hired to work with him. After she meets the accused, Lizzie’s hopes are dashed when she makes the acquaintance of Mr. Fitzwillian Darcy, the heir to the prestigious law firm Pemberley Associates. Despite Darcy’s protestations and because of her lack of belief in his defense strategy, Lizzie decides to solve the murder on her own. The more she digs into the case, the more complicated it becomes. The more time she spends with Darcy, the more confused she finds her feelings. Lizzie isn’t sure what to do with either of those things, but she knows that she must find answers for the accused man. She knows he is innocent, but finding the truth may result in her injury or even death.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Jane Austen Murder Mysteries

  1. Pride and Premeditation (2021)
  2. Sense and Second-Degree Murder (2022)
  3. Manslaughter Park (2023)

Best Seller’s Club February Authors: Kristin Hannah and Stephen King

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Want the hottest new release from your favorite author? Want to stay current with a celebrity book club? Love nonfiction? You should join the Best Sellers Club. Choose any author, celebrity pick, and/or nonfiction pick and the Davenport Public Library will put the latest title on hold for you automatically. Select as many as you want! If you still have questions, please check out our list of FAQs.

New month means new highlighted authors from the Best Sellers Club! February’s authors are Kristin Hannah for fiction and Stephen King for horror.

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Our February fiction author is Kristin Hannah. She primarily writes general fiction, historical fiction, and romance. Hannah is an award-winning and bestselling author of more than 20 novels. Several of her novels have been optioned for movies and series – The Nightingale, The Great Alone, Home Front, and Firefly Lane. In her previous life, Hannah worked as a lawyer. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband.

Hannah’s newest book is The Four Winds. This book was published in February 2021.

Curious what this book is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher:

From the number-one bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Great Alone comes a powerful American epic about love and heroism and hope, set during the Great Depression, a time when the country was in crisis and at war with itself, when millions were out of work and even the land seemed to have turned against them.

“My land tells its story if you listen. The story of our family.”

Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

This book is also available in the following formats:

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Our February horror author is Stephen King. King writes primarily horror, but his novels also contain elements of fantasy, mystery, science fiction, thriller, and literary fiction. He also writes young adult fiction. King is a very prolific writer having written over 50 books. In addition to those books, many of his stories have been turned into movies and tv series. He sold his first professional short story in 1967. King began teaching high school in 1971. In 1973, his novel Carrie was accepted for publication which allowed him to stop teaching and pursue writing full-time. He lives with his wife in Maine.

King’s latest book is Gwendy’s Final Task, which he cowrote with Richard Chizmar. This book is the third book in the Gwendy’s Button Box Trilogy and will be published in February 2022.

Curious what this book is about? Below is a description provided by the publisher.

When Gwendy Peterson was twelve, a mysterious stranger named Richard Farris gave her a mysterious box for safekeeping. It offered treats and vintage coins, but it was dangerous. Pushing any of its seven colored buttons promised death and destruction.

Years later, the button box entered Gwendy’s life again. A successful novelist and a rising political star, she was once again forced to deal with the temptation that box represented.

Now, evil forces seek to possess the button box and it is up to Senator Gwendy Peterson to keep it from them. At all costs. But where can you hide something from such powerful entities?

In Gwendy’s Final Task, “horror giants” (Publishers Weekly) Stephen King and Richard Chizmar take us on a journey from Castle Rock to another famous cursed Maine city to the MF-1 space station, where Gwendy must execute a secret mission to save the world. And, maybe, all worlds.

This book is also available in the following formats:

While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams

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Former Georgia State Representative Stacey Abrams holds many job titles: lawyer, politician, voting rights activism and New York Times bestselling author. In addition to writing under her given name, Abrams is an award-winning author of eight romantic suspense novels as Selena Montgomery.

While Justice Sleeps is Stacey Abrams’ newest novel. This is a complex political thriller set in the halls of the United States Supreme Court. Avery Keene is a law clerk for Justice Howard Wynn. When it’s discovered that Justice Wynn has slipped into a coma, Avery is shocked to learn that she has been appointed his legal guardian and power of attorney. The media and Wynn’s family are concerned and rumors swirl that something untoward was happening in the Justice’s chambers.

Confused as to what to do next, Avery discovers that Justice Wynn was researching a highly controversial case on his own whose ramifications could shake up the very core of governments and companies across the globe. Justice Wynn has also left Avery a series of clues meant to help her save his life and figure out the true culprits behind the case. This complex puzzle is full of twists that lead Avery to people she isn’t sure she can trust, even with multiple lives on the line.

This book is also available in the following formats:

February’s Celebrity Book Club Picks

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It’s a new month which means that Jenna Bush Hager and Reese Witherspoon have picked new books for their book clubs! Reminder that if you join our Best Sellers Club, these titles will automatically be put on hold for you.

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Jenna Bush Hager has selected Black Cake by Charmain Wilkerson.

Curious what Black Cake is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.

This book is also available in the following format:

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Reese Witherspoon has selected The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont. 

Curious what The Christie Affair is about? Check out the following description provided by the publisher.

Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century.

Every story has its secrets.
Every mystery has its motives.

“A long time ago, in another country, I nearly killed a woman. It’s a particular feeling, the urge to murder. It takes over your body so completely, it’s like a divine force, grabbing hold of your will, your limbs, your psyche. There’s a joy to it. In retrospect, it’s frightening, but I daresay in the moment it feels sweet. The way justice feels sweet.”

The greatest mystery wasn’t Agatha Christie’s disappearance in those eleven infamous days, it’s what she discovered.

London, 1925: In a world of townhomes and tennis matches, socialites and shooting parties, Miss Nan O’Dea became Archie Christie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted and well-known wife, Agatha Christie.

The question is, why? Why destroy another woman’s marriage, why hatch a plot years in the making, and why murder? How was Nan O’Dea so intricately tied to those eleven mysterious days that Agatha Christie went missing?

This book is also available in the following format:

Join our Best Sellers Club to have Oprah, Jenna, and Reese’s adult selections automatically put on hold for you!

Cozy Mystery Reads: Italian Chef Mysteries series by Catherine Bruns

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Catherine Bruns is a USA Today Bestselling author of many cozy mystery series: Cookies & Chance Mysteries, Cindy York Mysteries, Italian Chef Mystery, High Heels Mystery, and Maple Syrup Mystery series. She is also a contributor to the Aloha Lagoon Mystery series. Catherine is a member of the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also a former newspaper reporter and press release writer. She began writing when she was eight. Catherine currently lives in upstate New York with her family.

The Italian Chef Mystery series is the series of hers that I discovered while shelving new mystery titles. It’s engaging and relatable, while also containing mysteries that aren’t easy to solve. Penne Dreadful is the first in the Italian Chef Mysteries. Italian recipes are included at the end! (Major plus if you like to cook or if all the food talk in this series makes you hungry!)

Tessa Esposito is a local Italian chef. While she has worked in a handful of restaurants, she’s most known for her love of cooking for her family and friends. It doesn’t hurt that she has also won awards and accolades for her sauce. Eventually Tessa wants to open a restaurant of her own with her husband, but she knows that it will be longer down the road. Life, however, has other plans for Tessa and her family.

After her husband Dylan’s fatal car accident, Tessa is struggling to find her way. It’s been hard to get back into the swing of everyday life without her partner. When her cousin Gino, a local police detective, knocks on the door with news, she discovers that Dylan’s death wasn’t the accident that they all thought it was. They need Tessa to help them figure out why someone would have wanted to kill her husband.

Confused and desperate to find out what happened to Dylan, Tessa starts working at Dylan’s favorite local pizza parlor, Slice. Hired as the new chef, Tessa relishes her new role cooking and starts to find herself again. Slice was the last place that Dylan was seen before he died. Tessa believes that something shady is happening behind the scenes at Slice, something that only becomes more apparent the longer she works there. The more she investigates, the more secrets she finds. Tessa may be finding answers to some questions, but at what cost?

This book is also available in the following format:

Italian Chef Mystery series

  1. Penne Dreadful (2019)
  2. It Cannoli Be Murder (2020)
  3. The Enemy You Gnocchi (2021)

Romance Reads: Kiss Quotient series by Helen Hoang

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Helen Hoang is a New York Times bestselling author of the Kiss Quotient series: The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test, and The Heart Principle. While these books are considered a series, they are loosely connected and do not require you to read the previous books in order to understand the later books. These books are also steamy romance reads. Helen has been obsessed with romance books since eighth grade. She currently lives in San Diego with her family.

What drew me to Helen Hoang’s novels is her relationship with Autism Spectrum Disorder. In 2016, Helen was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, specifically what was previously known as Asperger’s syndrome. In each of her books, at least one of the main characters is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Helen’s knowledge of this disorder is clearly present when she writes each of those characters and how they interact with the world.

The Kiss Quotient is the first book in this series. Stella Lane loves math. She believes that math is the only thing that makes the universe make sense. In her job, Stella comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases. Her job gives her more money than she knows what to do with, but unfortunately doesn’t help her at all in the dating department. You see, Stella has Asperger’s syndrome. She doesn’t necessarily want to date, but recognizes that she needs practice. She is wealthy and successful, but one-on-one interactions with people are awkward for her.

Wanting to get more practice, Stella decides to hire a professional, escort Michael Phan. She wants Michael to teach her how to be a good girlfriend and comes up with a detailed lesson plan of what she wants to learn. Michael has mounting bills and a hard rule that he doesn’t take repeat customers. When Stella presents him with an unconventional proposal, he decides that he can’t turn her down. What starts as a no-nonsense partnership starts changing when they fall into a pattern. Michael and Stella spend more time together, learning more about each other as they work through Stella’s list. Stella starts to grow on Michael, while Stella learns that love isn’t something that can be quantified.

These titles are also available in large print, as OverDrive eBooks, and as OverDrive eAudiobooks. Visit our catalog to find those other formats!

Kiss Quotient Series

  1. The Kiss Quotient (2018)
  2. The Bride Test (2019)
  3. The Heart Principle (2021)

Cozy Mystery Reads: Finlay Donovan series by Elle Cosimano

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Elle Cosimano is an Edgar-nominated and award-winning author of four young adult novels. Her debut adult novel is the first in the Finlay Donovan series, Finlay Donovan is Killing It, which has been described as a contemporary mystery series. This first title was featured in People Magazine and was also highlighted as one of the New York Public Library’s Best Books of 2021. The second book in this series Finlay Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead will be released in February 2022.

The first in the Finlay Donovan series, Finlay Donovan is Killing It, introduces Finlay, her family, and her life to readers in a funny, engaging manner unlike anything I had read before. The premise was entertaining from page 1, plus Finlay read as a relatable character just trying to make it through the day alive and mostly unscathed. This novel is fast-paced and portrays a mother who doesn’t have it all together, yet her kids end up surviving. Finlay is an authentic character living in a messy life just trying to make it through motherhood one day at a time.

Finlay Donovan has it under control – well, for the most part. Her life has changed drastically from where she imagined herself to be, but she’s managed to keep her two kids alive and fed. Recently divorced, Finlay is a stressed out mom of two and a struggling novelist. Her writing isn’t going well, her ex-husband has fired their nanny (WITHOUT telling her), and her kids seem determined to cause as much chaos as possible. Case in point: her four-year-old daughter decided to give herself a haircut and had a meltdown that was only solved when Finlay duct-taped her hair back onto her head(because that’s what daddy would have done and he can fix anything). She may look ridiculous, but hey, the kid stopped screaming.

At a meeting with her agent over lunch, Finlay discusses the plot of the new suspense novel she has been working on and how bad writing is going so far. She just can’t seem to find a way to write yet another book about a murder, even though she has already been given (and spent) part of her advance. As she is preparing to leave, Finlay realizes that another lunch-goer has misheard her and has assumed that she is a contract killer. Finlay inadvertently accepts the offer to get rid of this woman’s problem husband. The money she offers certainly can help her pay some of her bills. What follows is a series of mishaps, bungles, and wrong place/wrong time situations that show Finlay that real life crime is way more complicated that just writing about it ever will be. Finlay finds herself entangled in a murder investigation and the money quickly becomes not worth it if it means she will be in prison, separated from her kids for good.

Finlay Donovan series:

  1. Is Killing It (2021)
  2. Knocks ‘Em Dead (2022)

The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones

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“There’s only one defining juncture that, depending on which path you take, will determine the rest of your life.” – Sandie Jones, The Guilt Trip

The Guilt Trip is the story of friends and the secrets kept between them. Rachel and Noah met at university and have been friends ever since. Twenty years later, they are now married to other people. While the two once thought they may have ended up together, life proved differently. Rachel is now married to Jack and the two have a son. Noah is married to Paige and those two have a daughter. Jack’s brother Will is engaged to marry Ali, a younger impulsive, gorgeous woman. They are to be married in Portugal. All six friends are heading to Portugal for the two’s impending destination wedding weekend.

As each couple arrives in Portugal, they bring secrets. They may be staying at a gorgeous villa atop a cliff, but darkness has settled into their relationships. Rachel wants to get to know her future sister-in-law Ali better, but Ali seems to only want to get to know Jack better. She is constantly seeking his attention and trying to have alone time with him. The longer they are together, the more Ali begins to grate on everyone’s nerves. Paige, Rachel’s best friend, thinks Ali is becoming increasingly childish and attention-seeking. Jack is also not fond of Ali. He tenses up whenever she is around. Jack is also consistently finding more to argue with Noah, Paige’s husband and Rachel’s friend, about.

Everything tilts wrong when Rachel finds out a shocking secret about Ali. The longer the wedding weekend progresses, the more secrets begin to leak from each of them. Each secret has the power to weaken and possibly destroy a different relationship. What started out as a joyous happy weekend could prove to be deadly for those involved instead.

This book is also available in the following formats:

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

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To tell you the truth, I don’t get how we can almost unanimously agree that murder is wrong, yet when it comes to rape some people still see shades of gray.  – Megan Goldin, The Night Swim

Megan Goldin’s latest The Night Swim is a psychological thriller that covers a controversial trial in a small town. Content warning: this book talks about rape, violence, sexual assault, sexual battery, murder, and domestic violence.

Rachel Krall is a true crime podcast host. She has become a common household name after a previous season set an innocent man free. The attention this garnered her has been both positive and negative. Some of the public also see her as the last hope of those seeking justice, constantly wanting her attention.

For her third season, Rachel has come to the small town of Neapolis to cover a controversial trial pitting a local golden boy against a young girl. This rape trial has torn the town apart. A swimmer on track to compete at the Olympics has been accused of raping the young granddaughter of the police chief. Rachel need this latest season to be a success, so she throws herself into the investigation and attends every day of the trial.

Rachel’s concentration is derailed when she finds a note under her car windshield asking for help. Thinking it was a one-off, Rachel continues her investigation into the trial. More mysterious letters keep showing up asking Rachel to find out what really happened to the writer’s sister twenty-five years ago. Officially Jenny Stills drowned, but the writer insists that she was actually murdered. Despite the pressures of the podcast weighing on her, Rachel can’t stop her desire to look into Jenny’s case. The more questions she asks, the more non-answers she receives. No one wants to dig up the past. Rachel’s investigation into Jenny’s case takes a turn when she realizes that both the present trial and the past mystery are connected. What she discovers could have devastating consequences for all involved.

This book is also available in the following formats:

Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok

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“In love and life, we never know when we are telling ourselves stories. We are the ultimate unreliable narrators.” – Jean Kwok, Searching for Sylvie Lee

Searching for Sylvie Lee is a mysterious suspenseful drama that tugs at the complicated lives of three women – two sisters and their mother. Every person in this story is full of secrets – some more deadly than others.

Sylvie is the beautiful and successful older daughter. She can do no wrong. Sent to the Netherlands by her parents when she was a baby, Sylvie spent the first nine years of her life living separate from her family. Sylvie is heading back to the Netherlands to visit her dying grandmother who raised her. Now Sylvie has vanished.

Amy is the baby of the Lee family. She looks up to her older sister Sylvie. Sylvie may be seven years older, but she basically raised Amy. The younger sibling who never quite measures up to her sister, Amy is trying to figure out what to do with her life. She has dropped out of college and moved back into her parents’ tiny apartment. When Amy learns that Sylvie is missing, she will do whatever it takes to find her. It is time for her to step up and help Sylvie. The more she explores Sylvie’s disappearance, the more secrets she discovers.

Ma is broken. When she moved to the United States from China, she and Pa were newly immigrated and too poor to raise their eldest daughter Sylvie. They made the difficult decision to send her to the Netherlands to be raised with family. She was only supposed to be there for a little while, but it was nine years before Sylvie brought home to help take care of Amy. Their relationship has been a bit strained as a result, but Ma loves Sylvie and Amy.

When Sylvie disappears, the whole family is thrown. She is the solid middle of their family that they all revolve around. They have to find her. She wouldn’t just disappear without letting one of them know.

This book is also available in the following formats: