The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning by Margareta Magnusson, 117 pages

From the MARC: "Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you'd ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children's art projects). Digging into her late husband's tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go."

 

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood

Urn Burial by Kerry Greenwood, 187 pages

From the MARC: "Vacationing at a Gothic mansion in Australia's Victorian mountain country, Phryne Fisher becomes embroiled in a mystery involving death threats to her host, the strangling murder of a parlor maid, and the presence of mysterious funerary urns."

Tainted Legacy of Bertha Gifford by S. Kay Murphy

Tainted Legacy of Bertha Gifford by S. Kay Murphy, 167 pages

What would you do if you found out your grandmother was a serial killer?

After one particularly cnhinged family lore drop, S. Kay Murphy found herself taking a journey could could not have foreseen to seek out answers to her grandmother's possible guilt after seventeen friends and neighbors passed under her care.

This work was crafted fastidiously and fairly. It was a winding path that Murphy approached purposefully. The end, while not as definiative as I had hoped, had a satisfying finality to it.

 

DINNER AT THE NIGHT LIBRARY by HIKA HIRADA

 DINNER AT THE NIGHT LIBRARY by HIKA HIRADA  (Pgs 320)

Goodreads Review: The Night Library on the outskirts of Tokyo isn't your ordinary library. It's only open from seven o'clock to midnight. It exclusively stores books by deceased authors, and none of them can be checked out -- instead, they're put on public display to be revered and celebrated by the library's visitors,  akin to a book museum.

Otoha Higuchi, the newest employee, has been recruited to work at the library by the mysterious anonymous owner. There, Otoha meets the other staff, comprised of former librarians and booksellers who, like her, have been damaged in some way by the rocky publishing industry – yet none of them have ever given up on their dedication to books.

Night after night, Otoha bonds with her colleagues over meals in the library café, each of which are inspired by the literature on the shelves. When strange occurrences start happening around the library that may bring the threat of closure, it forces Otoha and the library staff to rethink their entire relationship with work and what they really want in life.

THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by JENNY COLGAN

 THE SECRET CHRISTMAS LIBRARY by JENNY COLGAN  (PGS 305)

Goodreads Review: Mirren Sutherland stumbled into a career as an antiquarian book hunter after finding a priceless antique book in her great aunt’s attic. Now, as Christmas approaches, she’s been hired by Jamie McPherson, the surprisingly young and handsome laird of a Highland clan whose ancestral holdings include a vast crumbling castle. Family lore suggests that the McPherson family’s collection includes a rare book so valuable that it could save the entire estate—if they only knew where it was. Jamie needs Mirren to help him track down this treasure, which he believes is hidden in his own home.

But on the train to the Highlands, Mirren runs into rival book hunter Theo Palliser, and instantly knows that it’s not a chance meeting. She’s all too familiar with Theo’s good looks and smooth talk, and his uncanny ability to appear whenever there’s a treasure that needs locating.

Almost as soon as Mirren and Theo arrive at the castle, a deep snow blankets the Highlands, cutting off the outside world. Stuck inside, the three of them plot their search as the wind whistles outside. Mirren knows that Jamie’s grandfather, the castle’s most recent laird, had been a book collector, a hoarder, and a great lover of treasure hunts. Now they must unpuzzle his clues, discovering the secrets of the house—forming and breaking alliances in a race against time.

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: An Unnatural History by ELIZABETH KOLBERT

 THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: An Unnatural History by ELIZABETH KOLBERT  (Pgs 336)

Goodreads Review:  Over the last half-billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

GARDENS OF SECRETS PAST by ANTHONY ELGIN

 GARDENS OF SECRETS PAST by ANTHONY ELGIN  (Pgs 295)

Goodreads Review:  Can Lawrence Kingston unearth the key to a deadly secret hidden by a mysterious ancient garden inscription in the newest English Garden Mystery?

Codebreakers have tried for centuries to decipher the enigmatic inscription on a strange monument in the garden at Sturminster Hall, but no one has ever succeeded. When a murder occurs on the garden grounds, the intellectual puzzle becomes all too real, and Dr. Lawrence Kingston—retired professor of botany and reluctant sleuth—is called in to investigate.

Other than a scrap of paper bearing a random sequence of letters found on the victim, the police have no meaningful clues. Convinced that the crime must be linked to the seemingly unbreakable centuries-old code, Kingston begins hunting for clues that will help him unmask the murderer's identity as well as the arcane mystery of the monument. But he quickly finds himself swept along in the dangerous undertow of a centuries' old family conflict and a second murder, by poisoning. What could be so valuable, so important to justify such extreme measures and complex codes to keep sacrosanct for over two centuries?

To unlock the garden's dark secret, Kingston must delve into the brilliant minds of three famous men to fathom what part each may have played in masterminding the an Admiral hailed as father of Britain's navy, the author of England's most celebrated poem, and Great Britain's first Prime Minister. But as Kingston's investigation into an England's past leads him closer to a killer in the very dangerous present, his own prospects for survival start to look less and less assured.