Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is a weekly meme hosted this August by Chick Loves It

Here's what came through my door this week:








Aberystwyth mon amour - Malcolm Pryce
Schoolboys are disappearing all over Aberystwyth and nobody knows why. Louie Knight, the town's private investigator, soon realizes that it is going to take more than a double ripple from Sospan, the philosopher cum ice-cream seller, to help find out what is happening to these boys and whether or not Lovespoon, the Welsh teacher, Grand Wizard of the Druids and controller of the town, is more than just a sinister bully. And just who was Gwenno Guevara?

The broken shore - Peter Temple
Broken by his last case, homicide detective Joe Cashin has fled the city and returned to his hometown to run its one-man police station while his wounds heal and the nightmares fade. He lives a quiet life with his two dogs in the tumbledown wreck his family home has become. It's a peaceful existence - ideal for the rehabilitating man. But his recovery is rudely interrupted by a brutal attack on Charles Bourgoyne, a prominent member of the local community. Suspicion falls on three young men from the local Aboriginal community. But Cashin's not so sure and as the case unfolds amid simmering corruption and prejudice, he finds himself holding on to something that it might be better to let go.


The sirens sang murder - Sarah Caldwell
There's no such thing as a free lunch...Young barrister Michael Cantrip has skipped off to the Channel Islands to take on a tax law case that's worth a fortune - if Cantrip's tax-planning chums can locate the missing heir. But Cantrip has waded in way over his head. Strange things are happening on these mysterious, isolated islands and something - or somebody - is bumping off members of the legal team, one by one. Very soon Cantrip is calling upon the aid of his colleagues back at Lincoln's Inn and it's up to amateur investigator Hilary Tamar to get Cantrip back to the safety of his chambers - alive!


The reunion - Simone van der Vlugt
A brilliantly paced psychological thriller, 'The Reunion' is a chilling story of just how difficult it can be to cope when the past comes back to haunt you! Sabine is twenty-four years old and has just returned to work following a nervous breakdown. Unsurprisingly, life in the office has changed since she left, and Sabine is now the brunt of her colleagues' cruel jokes, as well as the main topic of office gossip. It soon becomes clear, however, that Sabine's problems are far deeper than those she faces daily at work. Unable to forget her friend Isabel, who went missing when the pair were still at school, an approaching class reunion forces Sabine to think about what really happened all those years ago -- and why. The terrifying flashbacks that she begins to experience make her all the more determined to solve the mystery of her friend's fate. A new love interest and even her own brother soon fall under Sabine's suspicions. Do they know what happened to Isabel? Were they, in fact, present in the forest from which she vanished that fateful day? As the pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place, Sabine realises that the answers lie even closer to home -- much closer than she could ever have possibly imagined. Exciting, frightening and utterly compelling, 'The Reunion' is a psychological thriller that is impossible to put down.

A patchwork planet - Anne Tyler
Barnaby Gaitlin is a loser - just short of thirty, he's the black sheep of a philanthropic Baltimore family. Once upon a time, he had a home, a loving wife, a little family of his own; now he has an ex-wife, a 9-year old daughter with attitude, a Corvette Sting Ray that's a collector's item but unreliable, and he works as hired muscle for Rent-a-Back, doing heavy chores for old folks. He has an almost pathological curiosity about other people's lives, which has got him into serious trouble in the past, and a hopeless charm which attracts the kind of angelic woman who wants to save him from himself. Tyler's observation is more acute, more delicious than ever; her humour slyer and more irresistible; her characters so vividly realised that you feel you've known this quirky collection for ever. With perfect pitch and poise, humour and humanity, Anne Tyler chronicles, better than any writer today, the sublime and the ridiculous of everyday living, the foibles and frailties of the ordinary human heart.


Past reason hated - Peter Robinson
It should have been a cosy scene - log fire, sheepskin rug, Vivaldi on the stereo, Christmas lights and tree. But appearances can be deceptive. For Caroline Hartley, lying quietly on the couch, has been brutally murdered.

Inspector Alan Banks is called to the grim scene. And he soon has more suspects than he ever imagined. As he delves into her past, he realises that for Caroline, secrecy was a way of life, and her death is no different. His ensuing investigation is full of hidden passions and desperate violence . . .