January 2021 list by Nanette Alderman |
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Absence of Alice
by Sherry Harris
While helping her latest client, Alice, sort through a fortune in antiques, bargain hunter extraordinaire Sarah Winston must call in the big guns – a former F.B.I. negotiator – when her landlady gets kidnapped.
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Bone Chase
by Weston Ochse
After receiving a mysterious box, an unemployed math teacher is chased by the Six-Fingered Man and the Council of David as he and his girlfriend try to get to the bottom of a 10,000-year-old mystery.
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The Chanel Sisters
by Judithe Little
Raised by pious nuns, Antoinette, the younger sister of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, escapes to Paris, where her shared effort to launch a fashion brand is challenged by discriminating conventions and the horrors of
World War I.
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Courting Can Be Killer
by Amanda Flower
When young Ben Baughman, who was courting Tess Lieb, tragically dies in a first, Millie, with the help of her quilting friends, pieces together the clues to discover who wanted Ben out of the wedding picture altogether.
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The Dark Archive
by Genevieve Cogman
Narrowly escaping an assassination attempt while training her new assistant, Irene the time-traveling Librarian investigates her own history to confront an ancient foe and uncover secrets that threaten the Library’s future.
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Earl's Well That Ends Well
by Jane Ashford
When a charming “widow” moves into his neighborhood, the Earl of Macklin decides to propose only to be refused by this woman who has a secret that makes him even more determined to win her heart.
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Fleet Elements
by Walter Jon Williams
The Praxis, the empire of now extinct Shaa, has again fallen into civil war, with desperate and outnumbered humans battling several alien species for survival. Leading the human forces are star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula, who must find a way to overcome their own thorny personal history to defeat the aliens and assure humanity's survival.
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The Garden of Promises and Lies
by Paula Brackston
This third installment in the Found Things series finds Xanthe taking responsibility for inadvertently transporting the dangerous Benedict Fairfax to her own time, while learning to use her skills as a spinner to keep her and Flora safe.
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Her Amish Wedding Quilt
by Winnie Griggs
Offering to play matchmaker on the behalf of widower Noah Stoll, spirit, forthright, impulsive Greta Eicher finds herself longing to become Mrs. Stoll herself as she searches for a suitable candidate.
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How to Fail at Flirting
by Denise Williams
Challenged by her friends to start enjoying her life when her university department is cut, a Type-A overachiever embarks on a daring to-do list that involves leaving an abusive ex and pursuing a career-risking fling with a charming stranger.
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The Last to See Her
by Courtney Evan Tate
When her sister, who was about to finalize her divorce from her cheating husband, goes missing during their getaway in the big city, Meg, an ambitious doctor falls under suspicion.
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The Mermaid from Jeju
by Sumi Hahn
A talented young deep-sea diver from occupied 1948 Korea’s neighboring Jeju Island visits Mt. Halla for her family’s annual trading trip before her romance with a mountain youth is upended by family tragedy and political turbulence.
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The Open House
by Sam Carrington
Bick and Amber Miller are splitting up and selling their Devon family home. But despite the desirable location, the house isn't moving. When their estate agent suggests an open house event, Amber agrees. Thirteen people enter her house that afternoon, and only twelve leave.
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Preacher’s Carnage
by William W. Johnstone
After a wagon train ambush, Preacher is hired by a St. Louis business man looking for justice, and he must face off against the biggest, baddest frontiersman of them all to get the gold – and save a young woman caught in the middle of an all-out war.
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Pretty Broken Things
by Melissa Marr
After receiving a lead from an unlikely source, Juliana, the mortician tasked with the bodies of victims of the "Carolina Creeper", the South's most notorious serial killer in decades, sets off to New Orleans in search of Theresa Morris, an heiress and presumably the Creeper's only surviving victim.
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A Promise of Ankles
by Alexander McCall Smith
Though Bertie is getting older, he can't resist an adventure to escape his domineering mother, and Bruce, ever the navel-gazer, will have to bring his best self to navigate the complexities of the pas de deux.
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Take It Back
by Kia Abdullah
Leaving her high-profile law position for a job at a crisis center, Zara Kaleel becomes involved in the case of a deformed teenage girl who accuses four boys in her class of rape, tearing the community apart.
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Violent Peace
by David Poyer
Dan Lenson motorcycles across a war-torn America in search of his missing daughter, while his wife negotiates the tenuous reunification of Taiwan with China and a young case officer confronts a devastating choice.
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The War Widow
by Tara Moss
When her career is sidelined by returning male soldiers, World War II correspondent Billie Walker reopens her late father’s private investigation agency, only to be swept up in a dangerous missing-persons case.
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Wrong Alibi
by Christina Dodd
Sentenced to life in prison for a murder she did not commit, 18-year-old Evelyn escapes and works under an alias at a wilderness camp, where her chance at revenge is complicated by a former employer’s mysterious connections.
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