Songs for the Missing by Nan O'Stewart

When Kim goes missing, her parents search frantically for her. They don't know the secret that their daughter's boyfriend and Kim's best friend is hiding from them.

Nan O'Stewart was inspired to write this book because of his own memories of searching for a missing person when he was seventeen. According to novelist M.J. Rose's blog, Backstory, that pivotal event informed several of his novels--Snow Angels and Wish You Were Here.  

This is psychological exploration of the emotions searchers feel as they learn to cope with the loss of loved one. 

The tone of the novel is staid; it's not a suspense thriller. Even if its the work of a skilled writer, it lacks some closure. Some questions about Kim's disappearance are never answered. 

Read more:
M.J. Rose's Backstory in which Nan O'Stewart discusses a continuing motif in his work:
http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/backstory/2008/11/stewart-onans-backstory.html

New Uses for Antarctic sea sponges

Dendrilla membranosa


This type of Antarctic sea sponge, Dendrilla Membranosa, could save humans from infections like the drug-resistant bacteria like MSRA. Scientists have isolated the compound, Darwinolide, from the sponge which has the abilitiy to kill 98% of MSRA.

What She Knew By Gilly Macmillan

Rachel deeply regrets letting her eight-year-old  run ahead of her while walking in the woods. Ben Finch disappears, leaving almost no clues except his clothing, which was found near a pond. 

Britain's CID know this case is serious after a detective finds the child's clothing. Macmillan details the police procedure expertly and poignantly sifts the mother's sorrow.

Jim, who is assigned the case by a hard-nosed boss, really wants to move up the ranks of the CID; this case, if its handled right, could help him do that. 

Unfortunately for him, the press conference at the start of the investigation is a disaster. Rachel, the boy's mother, goes off message. She unwittingly does everything under the sun to make herself look guilty.

Macmillan spends a great deal of effort making other key players look suspicious. Rachel's sister, Nicky, seems unstable as does the teaching assistant at Ben's school. Someone despises Rachel enough to send bricks through her windows and smash her milk bottles on her front step. But is this the person who took Ben? 

Rachel was trying to allow Ben independence when she let him run ahead on their walk. Now, Rachel finds herself rethinking that decision--as well as everything in her life--because nothing is as it seems. 

Technological scavenger hunts

Lexington Public Library will host a technological scavenger hunt called BattleKasters. Youth will be able to use their smartphones to visit beacons throughout the city. The game is based on Alane Adam's book, The Red Sun. 

The book is aimed at middle school readers. What a terrific way to encourage literacy!

Adams' book features a twelve-year-old hero and Norse gods. 


http://www.hypable.com/alane-adams-red-sun-battlekasters-interview/

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh

People in crisis mode are interesting. Jenna, the protagonist of this debut novel, is definitely in trouble. She has just lost her five-year-old son in a hit-in-run accident. In response, Jenna attempts to restart her life by moving to a remote village in Wales.


Two detectives, Ray and Kate, are slipping in a maelstrom of their own making. Both want to find the hit-and-run-driver who killed Jenna's child, even if they solve the crime off the books. Though each are seeing other people, they are increasingly drawn to each other.

Kate remind Ray of his old self, the kind that cared more about getting the bad guy than getting promoted. Meanwhile, in remote Penfach, Wales, Jenna and Patrick, a local veterinarian, fall in love. 

Jenna's life seems to be improving until she finds a strange message in the sandy beach near her cottage.

Not to give anything away, but Part 2 of the novel is completely startling. In a rush, readers are given a new point-of-view and a new version of events. 

Jenna's sad history unfolds revealing a different picture of the accident. Ian's cruel manipulation of Jenna and her quiet aquiescence is painful to watch.  

A thriller of first rate quality ensues as Jenna struggles to free herself from Ian's cruelty.

Random House has sent me an advance reader's copy in exchange for an honest review.

Firebird by Susana Kearsley

Though she wants to hide her supernatural gifts, Nicola finds that increasingly difficult to do. When a woman tries to sell a Russian relic in the art and antiquities gallery where she works, Nicola feels motivated to use her psychometric abilities.

Holding the relic in her hands, Nicola knows the woman's story is true; the relic has been a gift from the Empress Catherine of Russia handed down through generations of the woman's family. 

Proving the provenance of the wooden object, however, is much more of a challenge. Nicola contacts an old boyfriend, Rob, who has even more sophisticated psychic abilities. He can see past events in his mind merely by visiting a place. 

Working together, Rob and Nicola learn Anna's story, the woman who had originally been gifted with the firebird. 

What they witness is startling and heart-breaking. When the English force the Jacobites to flee Scotland, Anna's relatives send her to a convent in Ypres for safekeeping. Betrayed by a girl she befriended a the convent, Anna flees to Calais where she faces even more spies.

In St. Petersburg, Anna is adopted by a kind man to whom she has never revealed her true identity. She becomes Anna Niktovna ("Nobody")  to protect her Scottish relatives. 

After Anna takes a job in St. Petersburg, as a lady's companion. At this new household, Anna becomes intrigued by rakish Mr. Edmund O'Leary, a relative of her employer.

Kearsley relates an epic, powerful love story about the courage to assert one's own identity in the midst of political turmoil. 

This novel is well-researched and employs fully developed characters.


If you enjoy The Firebird, you may also enjoy Paullina Simon's The Bronze Horseman.

The Edgars

On April 28, 2016, Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of the 2016 Edgar Allan Poe Awards. Let Me Die In His Footsteps by Lori Roy was awarded "best novel."

Best first novel by an American author went to Viet Thahn Nguyen for his novel, The Sympathizer.

Best paperback original went to Lou Berney's The Long and Faraway Gone. 

http://www.theedgars.com/2016EdgarWinners.pdf

http://theedgars.com/nominees.html