SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING DEAD (M.C. Beaton)

I've lost track of how many Agatha Raisin mysteries M.C. Beaton has published (Oh, it's 24!), but over the years Beaton has added an increasing streak of niceness to Agatha.  That's not to say that Agatha has lost her edge, of course, but she's a little less prone to self-sabotage and  imprudent romantic liaisons. In this outing she is invited to investigate the sudden death of bleached blonde Gloria French, a recent transplant to the village of Piddlebury.  Gloria has impressed everyone with her enthusiastic charitable efforts, but her welcome has worn thin.  Apparently Gloria has been in the habit of borrowing items from the villagers and refusing to return them.  She is found poisoned after drinking a bottle of Ada White's homemade wine and the village closes ranks against Agatha, trying to convince themselves that an outsider, now long gone, is responsible for the deaths of both Gloria and an itinerant man found poisoned in the woods.  After several close calls for Agatha and her associates it becomes evident that someone local doesn't want the truth about the mysterious deaths to be discovered.  This, of course, makes Agatha even more determined to solve the case.

Beaton has peopled the village of Piddlebury with a host of colorful characters, including a fading actress turned lady of the manor, a vicar's wife who smokes and drinks away from the public (and her husband's) eye, an elderly woman who constantly demands attention, and a handsome schoolteacher who catches Agatha's eye but seems to be hiding something.  All of Agatha's usual associates appear: James, Charles, Roy, and Mrs. Bloxby.  Agatha herself seems more mellow, but not enough to keep her out of trouble! Enjoy!

THE LAST ANNIVERSARY (Liane Moriarty)

True to form, Moriarty serves up very satisfying, slightly off-kilter story.  Scribbly Gum Island is the home of the Munro baby legend.  In 1934, sisters Connie and Rose discover a baby girl abandoned in a leased house on Scribbly Gum, their family home.  The parents of the baby, Alice and Jack Munro, have disappeared with little trace aside from a small trail of blood, a freshly made cake, and a kettle boiling on the stove.  Thus, the legend is born and over the years the family creates a very successful tourist business revolving around the legend.

Connie, Rose, and baby Enigma, along with her children and grandchildren, have amassed a fortune from the mystery.  When Connie passes away she unexpectedly leaves her cottage on the island to Sophie Honeywell, former girlfriend of Enigma's grandson, Thomas Gordon.  Sophie, nearly 40 and single, was enchanted with the cottage when she visited with Thomas several years before and is thrilled at the prospect of living there, especially after she discovers that Connie has found the perfect man for her right on the island.  Unfortunately, Connie never identified who that man was.  Despite the anger and objections of some family members, Sophie makes a life on the island and soon discovers that secrets abound among its residents, living and dead.  Will Sophie ever find love?  Will Grace ever discover that being a mother can be fulfilling?  Will Veronika ever forgive Sophie for inheriting the cottage?  Will the Munro Baby mystery ever be solved?  I enjoyed every moment of finding out the answers to these questions and more and i think you will, too!

THE COMFORT OF LIES (Randy Susan Meyers)

Tia, Juliette, and Caroline have something in common:  a child named Savannah.  Twenty-four-year old Tia, born on the wrong side of the tracks in South Boston, finds herself pregnant after an affair with Juliette's husband, Nathan. She is devastated to realize that Nathan has no intention of breaking up his picture perfect upper class family to start a life with her.  Tia and Nathan's daughter is adopted by physician Caroline, awkward and non-maternal, and her exuberant, family-loving husband Peter.  As Caroline struggles to be a mother to Savannah, Tia lives for the annual pictures that Caroline and Peter provide each year as part of the open-adoption agreement.  Although she knows that she made the right decision in giving up her child, she still harbors dreams deep in her heart of reuniting her family.  One day she decides to send pictures of Savannah to Nathan, whom she has not seen since her early pregnancy, in hopes that he will contact her. Nathan's wife Juliette, who owns a successful cosmetics company, intercepts the letter and discovers the truth about the child of whose existence she had been blissfully ignorant.

Meyers has created a multi-layered tale of conflicting emotions.  Tia is torn between love and longing for her daughter and the knowledge that she could never provide her the life that her adoptive parents can.  Juliette struggles with the need to preserve her marriage and family and her intense hurt at Nathan's betrayals and lack of interest in his daughter, coupled with a desire to integrate Savannah into her own family.  Caroline questions her maternal instincts and ability to connect emotionally with her daughter and please her husband while secretly wishing she could hide at work and never come home.  This absorbing story of family dynamics and parental love will please fans of women's fiction.

FOREVER, INTERRUPTED (Taylor Jenkins Reid)

Imagine unexpectedly meeting your soul mate, falling in love, and moving in together, all within the space of less than 6 months.  Imagine that you marry on the spur of the moment and that your love has not found a way to tell his recently widowed mother about the happiness that he has found with you.  Then imagine that after just 9 days of wedded bliss he is taken from you, killed in a automobile accident while on a mundane errand at your request.  This is the premise of Forever, Interrupted.  As Elsie struggles to come to terms with her guilt (why did she ask Ben to go out and buy her favorite cereal?) and the loss of her soul mate, she must also find a way to connect with Ben's mother, Susan, who is shocked to find that her beloved son had married without telling her.  Reid cleverly alternates between the story of Elsie and Ben's developing romance and Elsie and Susan's journey through grief and healing.  This novel is heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, a wonderful story for anyone who has loved someone.

THE HOUSE GIRL (Tara Conklin)

The House Girl features two heroines.  The first is Josephine Bell, a house slave in 1852 Virginia.  The other is Lina Sparrow, a modern-day New York lawyer seeking a plaintiff in a slavery reparations lawsuit.

Conklin's wonderful novel presents the reader with a first person glimpse of slavery.  House slave Josephine Bell's story is one of physical abuse and desperation born of the fact that she is "owned" by other human beings and gave birth to her master's stillborn child at age 13.  She has been raised in the home of Lu Ann Bell and spends most of her time not in the fields, but caring for her mistress, who, as the story begins, is dying.  Josephine, 17 years old, plans to run despite the fact that she loves Lu Ann in her own way.  She tried to run once before, hours before giving birth, but was turned away at the safe house due to her imminent event.  Josephine is the true creator of many beautiful painting credited to Lu Ann.

Lina is a young lawyer, daughter of admired New York artist Oscar Sparrow.  In addition to seeking a plaintiff, possibly a descendant of Josephine Sparrow, she is looking for answers to the mysterious death of  her mother when Lina was 4 years old.

Conklin skillfully interweaves the past and the present, traveling back and forth between the lives of Lina and Josephine.  This is not a complex novel, but one of complex issues and emotions.  I would give it a definite thumbs up.