Review: Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison, St Martin’s Press – Nicola Hansen’s historical fiction, “Hotel Laguna,” set in 1945, highlights the creation of the “Pageant of the Masters” in southern California where well-known artworks are recreated live, with people in costumes.
Side Effects of Wanting, Mary Salisbury, Main Street Rag Publishing – Mary Salisbury’s short stories focus on human frailties in such an intimate manner it is almost as if the reader is observing, perhaps through a peephole, into her characters’ consciousness.
Review: Hollow Beasts, Alisa Lynn Valdés, Thomas & Mercer – Like famed Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me Ultima, known as the “godfather of Chicano literature,” and who also developed the “Sonny Baca mysteries,” Alisa Lynn Valdés, recognized as “godmother of Chica Lit,” has debuted her first thriller in the series, Hollow Beasts.
Review: Deep As the Sky, Red as the Sea, Rita Chang-Eppig, Bloomsbury Publishing – Pirate Shek Yeung, a ruthless killer with no qualms about beheading anyone who challenges her authority, co-commands a fleet of 20,000 junks (three-mast sailboats) across the South China Sea.
Review: The Forever Witness, Edward Humes, Random House – Would you allow law enforcement access to your DNA if it would bring a killer to justice? I
Black Candle Women, Diane Marie Brown, Graydon House – Author Diane Marie Brown’s novel, “Black Candle Women,” focuses on voodoo love curses, and their effect on a two generations of women.
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise, Colleen Oakley, Penguin Random House – is mind-bending mystery, featuring two winsome generational characters on the lam in a mint-green Jaguar XKE. Author Colleen Oakley spins a tale of a dramatic manhunt for two women who’d only met a week earlier before they went on the run.
Gary Snyder Collected Poems, Editors: Jack Shoemaker & Anthony Hunt, Library of America – American poet and essayist Gary Snyder, still living at age 92, remains a staunch advocate for protection of the earth.
The Blunder, Mutt-Lon, Amazon Crossing – From Mutt-Lon comes a unique and educational African novel based on an actual event, translated into English.
Three Muses, Martha Anne Toll, Regal House Publishing – Martha Anne Toll’s debut novel, “Three Muses,” is a choreographed ballet narrative about the life journey of two traumatized people …
