March New Reads
Check out our new reads for this March! Each of these books are available for order online!
The Atlas Maneuver by Steve Berry
1945. In the waning months of World War II, Japan hid vast quantities of gold and other stolen valuables in boobytrapped underground caches all across the Philippines. By 1947 some of that loot was recovered, not by treasure hunters, but by the United States government, which told no one about the find. Instead, those assets were stamped classified, shipped to Europe, and secretly assimilated into something called the Black Eagle Trust.
Present day. Retired Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is in Switzerland doing a favour for a friend. But what was supposed to be a simple operation turns violent and Cotton is thrust into a war between the world’s oldest bank and the CIA, a battle that directly involves the Black Eagle Trust. He quickly discovers that everything hinges on a woman from his past, who suddenly reappears harbouring a host of explosive secrets centering around bitcoin. The cryptocurrency is being quietly weaponized, readied for an assault on the world’s financial systems, a calculated move that will have devastating consequences. Cotton has no choice. He has to act. But at what cost?
From the stolid banking halls of Luxembourg, to the secret vaults of Switzerland, and finally up into the treacherous mountains of southern Morocco, Cotton Malone is stymied at every turn. Each move he makes seems wrong, and nothing works, until he finally comes face-to-face with the Atlas Maneuver.
Could this weekend be the end of a twenty-year friendship . . . or the start of something new and even more beautiful?
Fourteen days by Margaret Atwood and Douglas Preston
With each passing night, more and more neighbours gather, bringing chairs and milk crates and overturned buckets. Gradually the tenants – some of whom have barely spoken to each other before now – become real neighbours.
With each character secretly written by a different, major literary voice – from Margaret Atwood to John Grisham and Celeste Ng, Fourteen Days is a heart-warming ode to the power of storytelling and human connection.
The Women by Kristin Hannah
It would be the journey of a lifetime . . .
‘Women can be heroes, too’. When twenty-year-old nursing student, Frances “Frankie” McGrath, hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on California’s idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different path for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurses Corps and follows his path.
As green and inexperienced as the young men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed America. Frankie will also discover the true value of female friendship and the heartbreak that love can cause.
The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman
Some secrets are worth killing for.
In an upscale Bel Air property, two lovers are found dead in a swimming pool. The man is the playboy heir to a business empire, and the woman is his even wealthier married neighbour.
An illicit affair is the perfect motive. But the house is untouched – no forced entry, no forensic evidence – and so LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis and asks psychologist Alex Delaware to help unpick the case.
It quickly becomes clear that both victims had troubled pasts. Now Alex and Milo must confront LA’s darkest side as they unravel a trail of deadly secrets…
The Dream Home by T.M. Logan
Adam and Jess move into a new house with their three young children: a rambling Victorian villa in a nice neighbourhood right at the very top of their price range. Before long Adam discovers a door hidden behind a fitted wardrobe, concealing a secret room . . .
Inside Adam discovers a collection of forgotten items: a wallet, an expensive watch and an old mobile phone. Jess thinks they should simply throw them away. But Adam resists. He is fascinated by these items and how they came to be inside the hidden room.
But like the house, Adam has his secrets too. And soon he will find himself setting in motion a series of events that will place his family in terrible danger . . .
The Fury by Alex Michaelides
On a small private Greek island, former movie star Lana Farrar – an old friend – invites a select group of us to stay.
It’ll be hot, sunny, perfect. A chance to relax and reconnect – and maybe for a few hidden truths to come out.
Because nothing on this island is quite what it seems.
Not Lana. Not her guests.
Certainly not the murderer – furiously plotting their crime . . .
But who am I?
My name is Elliot Chase, and I’m going to tell you a story unlike any you’ve ever heard.
The 24th Hour by James Patterson
Trouble is never far away . . .
The Women’s Murder Club is out celebrating an engagement at San Francisco’s finest restaurant when a blood-curdling scream interrupts the festivities.
They soon discover a young woman who has been the victim of a violent assault. Sergeant Lindsay Boxer makes an arrest. Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano takes the case.
But assigning blame is made impossible due to the victim’s chaotic version of events – and the shocking reason behind her ever-changing memory.
As Yuki argues the toughest case of her career, Lindsay must chase down a high-society killer whose target practice may leave the Women’s Murder Club short a bridesmaid . . . or two.
The Secrets of Blythswood Square by Sara Sheridan
1846. Glasgow is a city on the cusp of great social change, but behind the curtains, neighbours are watching, and rumours of improper behaviour spread like wildfire on the respectable Blythswood Square.
When Charlotte Nicholl discovers that the fortune she has been bequeathed by her father is tied up in a secret collection of erotic art, she is faced with a terrible dilemma: sell it and risk shaming her family’s good name or lose her home.
An encounter with Ellory McHale, a talented working-class photographer newly arrived in Glasgow, leads Charlotte to hope she has found not only someone who might help her, but also a friend. Yet Ellory is hiding secrets of her own – secrets that become harder to conceal as she finds herself drawn into Charlotte’s world.
As the truth begins to catch up with both women, will it destroy everything they’ve fought to build – or set them both free?
The Wartime Book Club by Kate Thompson
Jersey, 1943. Once a warm and neighbourly community, now German soldiers patrol the cobbled streets, imposing a harsh rule on the people of the island.
Grace La Mottée, the island’s only librarian, is ordered to destroy books which threaten the new regime. Instead, she hides the stories away in secret. Along with her headstrong best friend, postwoman Bea Rose, she wants to fight back. So she forms the wartime book club: a lifeline, offering fearful islanders the joy and escapism of reading.
But as the occupation drags on, the women’s quiet acts of bravery become more perilous – and more important – than ever before. And, when tensions turn to violence, they are forced to face the true, terrible cost of resistance . . .
Based on astonishing real events, The Wartime Book Club is a love letter to the power of books in the darkest of times – as well as a moving page-turner that brings to life the remarkable, untold story of an island at war.
The Borrowdale Body by Rebecca Tope
Two days before an auction of the contents of High Gates House in Borrowdale, Christopher Henderson bumps into Jennifer Reade, the heir to the entire estate, and the expected recipient of the proceeds of the house clearance sale. She discovers a dead man in the cellar of the house but threatens and cajoles Christopher into remaining silent about it until after the auction to avoid complications and delays.
The auction begins but is soon halted by the police with the news that a murder has been committed. Simmy, Christopher’s wife and amateur sleuth, applies herself to the mystery of the deaths but not everyone is as they appear and Simmy will have to contend with a ruthless and determined killer in her fight for the truth.