Library Loot April 26-29

August Moon by Jess Lourey (A Murder-by-Month Mystery) new to me author

From Amazon.com

When the Adonis of Battle Lake doesn’t show up for an evening of romance, librarian Mira James decides that she has had it once and for all with small-town Minnesota. After dealing with only two television channels, corpses, killers, and a missing statue, Mira counted on this rendezvous to balance out her otherwise yucky existence. Instead, she finds a replacement librarian, files her last column with Battle Lake Recall, and prepares to leave town. But when her teenage library assistant is brutally murdered, Mira has to stay and solve the case. Battle Lake is peculiar enough, but now that a sinister religious cult has moved in, it’s downright weird. Among the quirky citizenry is an octogenarian library worker as sly as she is crazy, a caped curator of a tick museum, a flamboyant mayor fond of the bottle, and a shady police chief. Librarians will appreciate the author’s attention to everyday operations, from shelf reading to the banned-books display and an attempt to destroy the “Godless books.” In all, Lourey’s mystery is hilarious, fast paced, and madcap.

Kitchen Chinese a novel about Food, Family and Finding Yourself by Ann Mah (new to me author) From Amazon.com

After her magazine career craters, Isabelle Lee, the narrator of Mah's super sharp debut, leaves New York to reconnect with her family roots in China. Her familiarity with the language and culture limited to kitchen Chinese, Isabelle lands a job at a magazine for the expatriate community in Beijing and finds a circle of friends. However, her relationship with her big-shot attorney sister, Claire, who's lived in China for a while, gets off to a rocky start, with the two not knowing quite what to make of each other. Isabelle's Beijing immersion, coupled with her chick lit arc, provides a refreshing and fun narrative, helped along by a fantastic heroine whose insights into modern China and the expatriate experience will intrigue readers. It's a great start for a writer with much promise. (Feb.)
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Liar by Justine Larbalestier (YA novel)

From Amazon.com

Biracial Micah Wilkins, 17, is the quintessential unreliable narrator. On the first page, she readily admits she's a liar though now she wants to tell her story straight. She attends a progressive private high school in New York City. She's a bit peculiar, with extra-human speed and sense of smell, and has few friends. After another student, a popular senior named Zach, is found brutally murdered, it comes to light that he and Micah had a relationship outside of school. Now she is considered a suspect. Her suspenseful, supernatural tale is engrossing and readers will be tempted to fly through it, though the wise will be wary of her spin and read carefully for subtle slipups and foreshadowing. The chilling story that she spins will have readers' hearts racing as in three sections she goes from "Telling the Truth," to "Telling the True Truth," to "Telling the Actual Real Truth," uncovering previous lies and revealing bizarre occurrences in the process. Micah's narrative is convincing, and in the end readers will delve into the psyche of a troubled teen and decide for themselves the truths and lies.