The Broken Teaglass by Emily Arsenault

Not your typical mystery, Emily Arsenault’s first novel is an interesting look in the world of lexicographers and the Samuelson Dictionary Company.  Philosophy major, Billy Webb is thrilled to have found his first job after college.   He is a lexicographer in a dictionary company.  There he looks for new words, defines them and answers questions from the public about words.  It’s a solitary occupation, a large room filled with cubicles filled with people doing similar tasks but with almost no interaction.   Billy and fellow lexicographer, Mona find a citation that references a book that doesn’t appear to exist.   They come to believe that someone has planted the citation and others to tell a story.   As they find more citations they find they are putting together the story of a murder.

The story is told with humor and has a sweetness to it that has you rooting for both Billy and Mona.  

Karen – Fort Mill                     ISBN  9780553807332

In Their Blood by Sharon Potts

Jeremy Stroeb has left college and his upper middle class family in Miami to backpack across Europe and decide what he wants to do with the rest of his life.  When his parents are murdered he flies home, planning a short stay and then back to his nomadic lifestyle.   He is astonished to find that he is named guardian of his sixteen year old sister. 

Jeremy believes he can find whoever killed his parents by insinuating himself in their worlds.  He joins his mother’s accounting firm as an intern and registers for classes at the university where his father taught.   His plan works a little too well and he learns things about his parents that he ultimately wishs he had not.   In the end he finds that he is closer to his parents after death than he had been in life. 

This is Sharon Potts’ first novel and it’s a very readable book with a good plot and an exciting ending.

Karen – Fort Mill                  ISBN   9781933515625

The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson

Oh boy, was this a good book!  I like nothing better than a book that grabs me from the start and doesn’t let go until the last page.  That is what The Girl Who Played With Fire, the sequel to the best selling novel, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, did to me.

In Larsson’s first book, Tattoo,we are introduced to Lisbeth Salander, the genius computer hacker, punk, vigilante who played second fiddle to investigative journalist, Mikael Blomkvist.  Larsson’s second book puts Salander on center stage.  Fire opens on a sunny island in the Caribbean as Salander is enjoying the fortune she “obtained” at the conclusion of Tattoo. Salander has become estranged from Blomkvist and has taken up mathematics as a hobby.  A freak storm and a dead body soon send her back to her native Sweden and home.

Once home, things continue to be complicated for Salander.  Her fingerprints turn up on a gun used to murder two investigative reporters who were working on a sex-trafficking story that was to be published by Blomkvist in his magazine, Millennium. Everything points to Salander’s guilt but Blomkvist steadfastly refuses to believe the evidence againt her.  Other people who know Salander (and her violent tendencies) slowly rally to her defense but the evidence of her involvement is overwhelming.

Salander is a more solid character in this book and the connection between her and the people trafficking girls is at the heart of this story.  The reasons for Salander’s dark past and why she is so emotionally damaged slowly come to light leaving the book with a stunning and emotionally draining climax.

The Girl Who Played With Fire ends with a good many loose ends that I imagine will be addressed in the third and final book by this author.  I, for one, can’t wait to see what happens next!

Mary Beth – York                               ISBN  9780307269980