Kent State Stark Library Book Club: September 2020

AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER NAMED ONE OF THE MOST ANTICIPATED THRILLERS OF THE WINTER BY: Goodreads * BookBub * PopSugar * BookRiot * Crimereads * Pure Wow * Crime by the Book ALL OF THEM ARE FRIENDS. ONE OF THEM IS A KILLER. "A ripping, riveting murder mystery -- wily as Agatha Christie, charged with real menace, real depth. Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware." - A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they've chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands--the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves. The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group's tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year's Eve, the cord holding them together snaps. Now, on New Year's Day, one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it. DON'T BE LEFT OUT. JOIN THE PARTY NOW.  

The reimagining of Jane Eyre as a gutsy, heroic serial killer that The New York Times Book Review calls "wonderfully entertaining" and USA Today describes as "sheer mayhem meets Victorian propriety"--nominated for the 2017 Edgar Award for Best Novel. "Reader, I murdered him." A sensitive orphan, Jane Steele suffers first at the hands of her spiteful aunt and predatory cousin, then at a grim school where she fights for her very life until escaping to London, leaving the corpses of her tormentors behind her. After years of hiding from the law while penning macabre "last confessions" of the recently hanged, Jane thrills at discovering an advertisement. Her aunt has died and her childhood home has a new master: Mr. Charles Thornfield, who seeks a governess. Burning to know whether she is in fact the rightful heir, Jane takes the position incognito and learns that Highgate House is full of marvelously strange new residents--the fascinating but caustic Mr. Thornfield, an army doctor returned from the Sikh Wars, and the gracious Sikh butler Mr. Sardar Singh, whose history with Mr. Thornfield appears far deeper and darker than they pretend. As Jane catches ominous glimpses of the pair's violent history and falls in love with the gruffly tragic Mr. Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: Can she possess him--body, soul, and secrets--without revealing her own murderous past?   "A thrill ride of a novel. A must read for lovers of Jane Eyre, dark humor, and mystery."--PopSugar.com

At a gala party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed. Again. She's been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. Doomed to repeat the same day over and over, Aiden's only escape is to solve Evelyn Hardcastle's murder and conquer the shadows of an enemy he struggles to even comprehend. But nothing and no one are quite what they seem.Deeply atmospheric and ingeniously plotted, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastleis a highly original debut that will appeal to fans of Dean Koontz's Ashley Bell and Agatha Christie.

A murder on the high seas. A remarkable detective duo. A demon who may or may not exist. The extraordinary new novel from Stuart Turton, author of the bestselling The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, winner of the Costa Best First Novel Award. It's 1634 and Samuel Pipps, the world's greatest detective, is being transported to Amsterdam to be executed for a crime he may, or may not, have committed. Travelling with him is his loyal bodyguard, Arent Hayes, who is determined to prove his friend innocent. But no sooner are they out to sea than devilry begins to blight the voyage. A twice-dead leper stalks the decks. Strange symbols appear on the sails. Livestock is slaughtered. And then three passengers are marked for death, including Samuel. Could a demon be responsible for their misfortunes? With Pipps imprisoned, only Arent can solve a mystery that connects every passenger. A mystery that stretches back into their past and now threatens to sink the ship, killing everybody on board.