THE AXE FACTOR is on the April 2014 LibraryReads list!

THE AXE FACTOR is on the April 2014 LibraryReads list!

libraryreads logoWONDERFUL NEWS! THE AXE FACTOR by Colin Cotterill is #8 on the April 2014 LibraryReads list!

In Cotterill’s outstanding third Jimm Juree mystery, Jimm's latest assignment for the local online journal is to interview Conrad Coralbank, a local farang (European) writer in his late fifties, originally from England, who writes award-winning crime novels.

At the same time, several local women have left town without a word to anyone, leaving their possessions behind. These include the local doctor, Dr. Sumlak, who never returned from a conference, and the Thai wife of Conrad Coralbank. All of which looks a little suspicious, especially to Jimm’s grandfather, an ex-cop, who notices Coralbank’s interest in Jimm with a very jaundiced eye. With a major storm headed their way and a potential serial killer on the loose, it looks like Jimm Juree, her eccentric family, and the whole town of Maprao is in for some major changes.

“In addition to a clockwork plot and an intriguing setting, what really makes this book sing is Jimm’s own caustic, ribald observations. A stunner of a novel, third in the Jimm Juree series by the author of the acclaimed Dr. Siri novels.” — Booklist, starred review

“...Cotterill keeps the tone light, aided by the conceit of starting each chapter with Thai signage, replete with malapropisms (e.g., 'Ladies are Requested not to Have Children in the Bar').” — Publishers Weekly, starred & boxed review

VickiNesting tweet

 

Need a primer on the series?

KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT  (Book #1)

Jimm Juree was a crime reporter for the Chiang Mai Daily Mail, until she was forced to follow her eccentric family to a rural village on the coast of Southern Thailand. She's convinced her career (and maybe her life) is over—until her salvation comes in the form of helping solve some murders on the island.

One of Library Journal's Best Mystery Books of 2011

“The best new international mystery series since the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.”
Booklist

 

GRANDAD, THERE'S A HEAD ON THE BEACH  (Book #2)

It's with mixed feelings that Jimm Juree greets the news that a head has washed up on the beach. It's tragic, of course, but this could be the sort of sensational murder that would get her a byline in a major daily and keep her toehold on her journalism career. Now all she has to do is find out who was murdered, and why.

“Definitely puts the fun in family dysfunction. Jimm, an Asian Stephanie Plum, rattles steadily to a solution, with many hilarious episodes along the way.” — Kirkus Reviews

 

See the complete April list at LibraryReads.org.

Thank you to everyone who voted! Nominations for the May list are due April 1, and we've made an Edelweiss collection of May 2014 titles for reading suggestions. Don't wait, nominate!

As for the current list, you can help support these great books by promoting each month's selections in a featured display in your library and by using the FREE downloadable marketing materials provided by LibraryReads, which includes flyers and online banner ads.

[...]

Know More...

RUSA’s 2012 Notable Books & Reading List

RUSA’s 2012 Notable Books & Reading List

The 2012 RUSA reading list is in!

Between the noshable hors d'oeuvres, the wine, and the charming company, we had a riotous time at the announcement ceremony in Dallas. Yes, we were whooping and hollering when they listed books we love!

Don't believe me? Boom: proof.

Library Journal reported, "Some of the announcements were greeted by quite a bit of excitement, especially from Robin Nesbitt (on Twitter, @robnesb) of Columbus Metropolitan Library; Alene Moroni (@surlyspice) of King County Library System, WA; Talia Sherer (@macmillanlib) of Macmillan Library Marketing; and Stephanie Chase (@acornsandnuts) of Mutnomah County Library." So, yeah, we were excited.

RUSA ladiesNow, on to the books!

2012 Reading List

ADRENALINE
Shortlisted:

NOW YOU SEE ME by S. J. Bolton
YOU'RE NEXT by Gregg Hurwitz

MYSTERY
Winner:

THE DEVOTION OF SUSPECT X by Keigo Higashino 

Shortlisted:

KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT by Colin Cotterill 
A TRICK OF THE LIGHT by Louise Penny 

SCIENCE FICTION
Shortlisted:

THE QUANTUM THIEF by Hannu Rajaniemi 

See the complete list of RUSA winners, short lists, and read-alikes here.

2012 Notable Books List

NONFICTION:

THINKING, FAST AND SLOW by Daniel Kahneman 

See RUSA's complete list of Notable Books here.

[...]

Know More...

Library Journal’s Best Books 2011:

Library Journal’s Best Books 2011:

And wrapping up our week of annual best books lists is Library Journal's Best Books of 2011! Here are all of the Macmillan titles you should check out (library pun totally intended):

The Top Ten

Midnight Rising by Tony Horwitz
Tides of War by Stella Tillyard

More of the Best

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides
Pulphead: Essays by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Mystery

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton
Killed at the Whim of a Hat by Colin Cotterill
Wicked Autumn by G.M. Malliet
Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton

SF/Fantasy

Leviathans of Jupiter by Ben Bova
The Unremembered by Peter Orullian
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
The Children of the Sky by Verner Vinge

Street Lit

Eviction Notice by K'wan

Women's Fiction

Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews

Historical Fiction

Pacific Glory by P.T. Deutermann
The American Heiress by Daisy Goodwin

Thrillers

You’re Next by Gregg Hurwitz
Strong at the Break by Jon Land

Excellent picks, Library Journal! If you readers want to see all of Library Journal's great picks from 2011, you can see their "best of" lists right here.

[...]

Know More...

Monday Fun Day! (7/18/2011 Edition)

Monday Fun Day! (7/18/2011 Edition)

Happy Monday, librarians!

First of all: congrats to all five winners of the Great ALA Signed Books Sweepstakes! We had hundreds of enthusiastic entries and so much positive feedback that we'll definitely be holding more contests like this in the future. In case you missed it, the winners are as follows:

The three (3) runners-up for a signed copy of IRON HOUSE are:
Nancy Vigezzi, Merrimack Public Library
Lisa Hullett, Wallace State Community College Library
Jeff Bailey, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro

The 1st runner-up for three (3) signed paperbacks is:
Lisa Cosgrove-Davies, Arlington Public Library

The Grand Prize Winner for six (6) signed hardcovers is:
Shana Hitt, Brooklyn Public Library

Last week EarlyWord put up a list of great new reads, "New Title Radar – Week of July 18," and marked Colin Cotterill's KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT as the Rising Star! And did you see Colin as Book Brahmin in Shelf Awareness last week? He's a riot.

If you've fallen head over, ehem, heels for the sassy kicks on the cover of third-in-series THIRD GRAVE DEAD AHEAD, you can buy them here on heels.com! NOTE: This is this Little, Brown UK version of this cover, so keep your eyes peels for our steamy US version.

DRAGON'S OATH, the first novella in a House of Night mini-series, released last week so we can finally share with you some rad early versions of the illustrations by Kim Doner. 

"These characters may be nearly immortal, but they are at the beginning of such immortality and, therefore, they are like any other young couple.

These are a few of the sketches I made: him approaching from behind her, sword down; her handing him a sunflower; her beginning to lift the face of a sunflower up towards him." -illustrator Kim Doner

[...]

Know More...

Our Top ALA Galley Picks

Our Top ALA Galley Picks

ALA Set up collage

Yesterday was The Day of the Box.

Thankfully Talia and I are experts at boxing and unboxing. In fact, as I once told Talia, I'm so good at boxing they named Muhammad Ali after me (true story).

Well, the boxes are gone now and we've transformed a sad, empty booth into an overstuffed cornucopia of literary joy. As we unpacked Talia and I reacquainted ourselves with all the wonderful books we brought. 

When discussion turned to fisticuffs over which galleys we most wanted to see in the hands of librarians, we settled the score by bringing our thoughts to you. So here are our top ALA galley picks, come and get 'em!

[...]

Know More...

BEA 2011 Recap

BEA 2011 Recap

Sorry for the late post, everyone!

I got a little caught up celebrating over my Publishers Weekly article that ran this morning and lost track of time. Okay, okay; I also had to watch this ridiculously cute cat video that people have been sending around the office. But now I'm really getting down to business, so I thought I would post a super quick recap of our BEA 2011 events.

Monday night we kicked off the conference with the Annual BookExpo America Librarians Dinner, presented by AAP and Library Journal. Nancy Pearl hosted the event with some great authors including, Dava Sobel, author of A MORE PERFECT HEAVEN. Oh, and the dessert was divine!

Tuesday we started off with The Great Readalike. If You Like This…You’ll LOVE That! in which a few of our favorite librarians sounded off about which books you might have missed in a few popular categories. If you want a taste, Lesa posted her readalikes on her blog! Then there was Back to Basics. Why Home Economics Books are the New Retro Chic, a fun panel introducing some great DIY topics to share with your crafty patrons. The BEA Librarians Author Lunch hosted by Nora Rawlinson of EarlyWord was overflowing with very excited (and very hungry!) librarians. We ran out of chairs fast, but thankfully everyone was fed. During the lunch Tom Perrotta, author of THE LEFTOVERS, told stories about his library experiences alongside other great speakers such as Chuck Palahniuk, David Baldacci, and more. Talia finished up the day giving book recommendations at the AAP Annual Librarians Book Buzz and a panel on Hot Fall Book Club Titles. Curious what she recommended? To name a few:

THE LETOVERS (Perrotta)
GLOW (Ryan)
THE SISTERS (Jensen)
THE AMERICAN HEIRESS (Goodwin)
THE HYPNOTIST (Kepler)
KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT (Cotterill)
FREEDOM (Franzen)
BY NIGHTFALL (Cunningham)
THE MARRIAGE PLOT (Eugenides)
BEST FRIENDS, OCCASIONAL ENEMIES (Scottoline & Serritella)

Wednesday we sat in on a few informative panels discussing the future of collection development considering financial cutbacks, technological transition, and the ever-changing role of the librarian. Hearing about how these changes are tangibly taking shape in libraries straight from the mouths of librarians is invaluable to us and makes conferences like BEA entirely worthwhile. We finished up our conference at the 3rd Annual Librarian Shout ‘n Share which was a riot! Talia and I both added a few books to our TBR piles, were serenated with a little BROETRY, and learned a valuable lesson: never give librarians squeaky horns!

[...]

Know More...

Three Starred Reviews for Killed at the Whim of a Hat

Three Starred Reviews for Killed at the Whim of a Hat

KILLED AT THE WHIM OF A HAT kicks off a sharp and charming new series by the internationally bestselling, critically acclaimed author, Colin Cotterill. Cotterill drops the reader smack dab into present day rural Thailand, right into the heart of an eccentric family's drama.

And reviewers are slapping stars all over it.

"This outstanding series debut from the author of the Dr. Siri Paiboun mysteries (LOVE SONGS FROM A SHALLOW GRAVE) would appeal to crossover readers who enjoy well-developed ensemble casts and a sense of the absurd. It’s not just about Thailand; Cotterill understands people and writes subtle humor like a master." —Library Journal (starred review) 

"Cotterill combines plenty of humor with fascinating and unusual characters, a solid mystery, and the relatively unfamiliar setting of southern Thailand to launch what may be the best new international mystery series since the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency." —Booklist (starred review)

"Cotterill (THE CORONER'S LUNCH and six other mysteries featuring Laotian coroner Dr. Siri Paiboun) combines a wry narrative voice with an appealing picture of a world unfamiliar to most Americans." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

[...]

Know More...

css.php