Burning the Map by Laura Caldwell

This is my first novel from Chicago-area novelist Laura Caldwell and I loved it.  It's fun and light, but it has enough oomph to surpass romances and other lighter chick lit fair.  Caldwell's writing style is easy going and breezy, just like the story here, which revolves around three friends who have been pals for years but are going through a "seven-year itch" in their friendship. The storyteller of the book, Casey, has been in a relationship for a while and that has changed the friendships she has. So, all three friends decide to take a trip to Italy and Greece to have fun and re-bond, but things begin to go awry quite quickly.  So, basically, you have the best of both worlds here...travel and light romance.  It's fun and entertaining, while never being too fluffy.  Another author for me to savor! 

London Calling by James Craig

A new London crime detective takes to the big city streets with a vengeance.  There is a little political intrigue mixed up with the murders John Carlyle is investigating...the case involves a former Cambridge University club filled with future politicos who are being killed off one by one years later. Carlyle is a believable London inspector who fights crime with a passion, though the writing could be a little better and the book does have its fair share of cliches.  Not the best British mystery (by a long shot) but far from the worst.  Definitely something for British mystery lovers to try. 

Niles Adult Fiction STAFF PICKS of the Best Fiction from 2011

Allison Will—Long Drive Home

Atkinson, Kate—Started Early, Took My Dog

Barclay, Linwood—The Accident

Barnes, Julian—Pulse: Stories

Benjamin, Melanie—The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb

Berg, Elizabeth—Once Upon a Time, There Was You

Bradley, Alan—A Red Herring Without Mustard

Brooks, Geraldine—Caleb’s Crossing

Brown, Eleanor—Weird Sisters 

Clowes, Daniel—Mister Wonderful: A Love Story
Craig, James—London Calling

Crais, Robert—The Sentry

Ebert, Roger—Life Itself (NF)

Eugenides, Jeffrey—The Marriage Plot

Evans, Richard Paul—Miles To Go

Fey, Tina—Bossy Pants (NF)

Frazier, Charles—Nightwoods

Garwood, Julie—The Ideal Man

Genova, Lisa—Left Neglected
Gerritsen, Tess—Silent Girl

Goldman, Francisco—Say Her Name

Goodwin, Daisy—The American Heiress

Grafton, Sue—V is for Vengeance

Grossman, Lev—The Magician King

Haigh, Jennifer—Faith

Hannah, Kristin—Night Road

Hansen, Ron—A Wild Surge of Guilty Passion

Hodkinson, Amanda—22 Britannia Road
Hoffman, Alice—Red Garden

Hurwitz, Gregg—You’re Next

Kepler, Lars—The Hypnotist 

Lowe, Rob—Stories I Only Tell My Friends

Mankell, Henning—The Troubled Man

McLain, Paula—The Paris Wife

McNeal, Tom—To Be Sung Underwater

Mitzner, Adam—Conflict of Interest

Nesbo, Jo—The Snowman
O’Nan, Stewart—Emily, Alone

Pelecanos, George—The Cut

Penny, Louise—Trick of the Light 
Rosenfelt, David—On Borrowed Time

Russell, Mary Doria—Doc

Ryan, David Jahn—Good Neighbors

Schwartz, John Burnham—Northwest Corner

See, Lisa—Dreams of Joy

Sin, Kyong-Suk—Please Look After Mom

Spelling, Elizabeth—The Return of Captain John Emmett

Sullivan, J. Courtney—Maine

Waldman, Amy—The Submission


Ward, J.R.—Lover Unleashed 
Weiner, Jennifer—Then Came You

Winspear, Jacqueline—A Lesson in Secrets

The Return of Captain John Emmett by Elizabeth Speller

Set in 1920 London, this mystery intertwines the horrors of World War I in a web of war survivors, murders, romance, social customs and history. Recovering from the trauma of both serving in the war and losing a wife and child, Laurence Bartram receives news of the suicide death of a classmate, Captain John Emmett. Feeling compassion for the family, Laurence comes to the aid of his sister to discover the why of the suicide and bequests to unknown individuals in his will. Laurence falls hopelessly in love with the sister, Mary. The investigation becomes one of can’t stop reading intrigue when it is discovered that Captain Emmett was a member of a firing squad for the execution of a British sergeant for desertion during the war.
Aiding Laurence in this investigation is good friend Charles. Charles knows everything and everyone and he steals every scene where he is placed and provides many light moments amid the darkness. The author does not spare the reader from the sad awfulness of World War I. This war destroyed a generation with over 1.6 million British men wounded, 662,000 men killed and 140,000 men reported missing in action. The novel’s core focuses on the psychological trauma of the survivors, shell shock, and vividly awakens the reader to current copings with the post traumatic stress disorder of contemporary military veterans.
This mystery has a lot to offer. While discovering the history of post World War I Britain, the reader can savor the puzzle of who, what and why.

Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson

Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand is a fantastic book about love, friendship and prejudice at any time in life, within any social status, anywhere in the world.  The character of Major Ernest Pettigrew is pretty much the stereotypical older English gentleman.  He’s classy, he’s respectful, he’s neat and tidy, he’s quiet and he’s not one to ever make a scene.  Enter Mrs. Jasmina Ali and her Pakistani background and ways and the Major finds his proper, sedate life turned upside down.  Right from the start, there is some chemistry between Mrs. Ali and the Major but because of both cultural and class prejudices (from the townspeople, from the Major’s son Roger and even from the Major himself), Mrs. Ali leaves the town, and the Major, behind.  What the Major does next leads to one of the best “adult” endings in fiction ever.  Very little in this book is trite or clichéd.  An excellent, mature read for all…not only for those in the twilight of their lives. 

The Very Picture of You by Isabel Wolff

Once again, Isabel Wolff and her chick lit do not disappoint.  Yes, it’s light.  Yes, it’s predictable.  But, it’s fun.  And Wolff is a strong author who can create strong characters and semi-believable tales.  This one finds the main character Ella Graham as a popular portrait painter in London’s inner circles.  Her newly-engaged sister commissions a portrait of her fiancé and Ella encounters problems when she finds herself attractive to the fiancé.  Other fascinating storylines stem from the different clients Ella is assigned to paint, but the main focus is Ella’s woes with her sister’s fiancé.  Wolff combines just the right combination of wispy prose with heartfelt stories and quality writing for this to be a perfect weekend read! 

The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides

Featuring three Brown University seniors in 1982, The Marriage Plot captures the coming of age, apprehension and indecisiveness of timeless college graduates.  Eugenides, a Princeton professor and Brown graduate, writes with knowledgeable authority about the college setting.  Mitchell Grammaticus loves Madeleine Hanna and Madeleine Hanna loves Leonard Bankhead, rather unique names in an all too familiar college love triangle.  Madeleine is writing her senior thesis on Victorian novels and has been rejected by Yale graduate school, Mitchell is a religious studies major who plans a graduation trip to India, and Leonard has accepted a biology research fellowship on Cape Cod. As these three seniors make decisions concerning their future it seems that all three are struggling in their own way to find goodness and do the right thing. Madeleine falls in the female trap of confusing love with a need to save and mother a man. Mitchell confuses love with destiny,  and Leonard rejects love under the paralysis of manic depression.  Quite realistic in the characterization of the three students, their parents, and friends, the novel changes between the voices of the three students as the novel progresses. There is an art to capturing the right texture and rhythm of dialogue and Eugenides excels.  His affection for the characters is evident and he interjects humor throughout the novel to lighten the serious moments.