New Fiction You Might Have Missed

Back again with our semi-frequent book summaries feature where we tell you about some recent books that have arrived at the library that maybe haven't gotten the hype of some other recent releases. These ones have come across my desk recently and caught my eye for one reason or another.

An Inconvenient Elephant
by Judy Reene Singer.

The follow up to Singer's popular Still Life With Elephant, a humourous story of a woman who follows her cheating husband (who happens to be a vet) to Africa to work with elephants in an effort to save her failing marriage. Either book makes a heartwarming read for animal lovers and those who have ever been unlucky in love.

Stash by David Klein.

This first novel from an American author takes a suburban family who seem to have the ideal life and shows how quickly it can all unravel. The starting point is a woman who is involved in a car accident that leaves a man dead. Although the crash was truly not her fault, a bag of marijuana in her car complicates matters with the police. An intriguing examination of middle class America's strange and often contradictory relationship with drugs.

Let the Dead Lie by Malla Nunn.

We mentioned in post a few months ago that South Africa is rumoured to be the next big thing in international set mystery novels. Nunn returns with the second installment of the Emmanuel Cooper Mysteries (after A Beautiful Place to Die) featuring an English detective now resident in South Africa. For fans of fast paced mysteries with intricate plots.

Petty Magic: being the memoirs and confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, temptress and troublemaker
by Camille DeAngelis.

Romance, witchcraft, murder, espionage: this book seems to have a bit of everything. Evelyn Harbinger is a 149 year old witch who has recently met a man who reminds her more-than-a-little of Jonah, her paramour and partner behind the lines during World War II. Flipping between the stories of her new romantic interest, her historical intrigues and an accusation of murder against a fellow witch, there is a lot going on here, but there's a lot to love here in a witty, upbeat tale.