AHML Staff Choices

Check the catalog for this item. I was browsing in new fiction and the title and cover lead me to pick up this mystery. This is the fourth in a series featuring a Royal Thai detective in Bangkok named Sonchai. The story starts around a grisly murder of an American movie director in the sex trade part of Bangkok. The story is a witches’ brew of graphic violence, Thai sex, Tantric sex and Buddhist sensibilities. The characters include a beautiful Tantric Yogin, a deranged Tibetan Lama and a drug dealing general and a corrupt police chief. I found the book very refreshing and a mystery unlike any I’ve read, I will now start his series and read them in order.

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COME HEAR MICHAEL HARVEY at the Arlington Heights Memorial Library on Thursday August 12th at 7:30 p.m. He will talk about his latest book (reviewed below) and his work on the A&E series Cold Case Files.  Sign up Here!

This is the author’s third novel and the first I’ve read and will be reading his first two soon.

The city of Chicago is the target of seemingly random murders by a sniper at various C.T.A  locations. Michael Kelly an ex Chicago cop and now P.I is on the seen of the first murder and as the killings continue the serial killer makes it clear that Kelly is personally connected to the killer.

The plot includes and F.B.I agent who seeks Kelly’s help and the main event is based on an actual C.T.A crash from 1977. The story is fast ,good characters and great descriptions of Chicago

Check the catalog for this item. In a sweltering Oslo heatwave inspector Harry Hole is called in to investigate a murder of a young girl found with a red diamond star under one eyelid. Harry is down and out and drinking hard after falling off the wagon and ruining another relationship. Th case turns when a girl is reported missing and the police receive her finger with another diamond star attached. Harry struggles with his personal state and with a co-worker out to get him. The search for a serial killer and the personal vendetta coalesce and in this well written story there are some great twist and turns. This is my first Jo Nesbo mystery and I loved it .

Check the catalog for this item. In 1925 Colonel Percy Harrison Fawcett,the last of the great Victorian explorers ventured into the Amazon looking for El Dorado or as he called it the Lost City of Z, he never returned.
David Grann a staff writer for the New Yorker does a great job in trying to recreate Fawcett’s trip and also to find out what his fate was.
This book is part biography, travel adventure and detective story, riveting and well researched, a must for travel buffs.

Check the catalog for this item. On a wintry Venetian night C.I.A cleaner Micah Dalton heads out to face Serbian gangsters who he has been tracking for months, after killing them and also almost being killed Micah is off on the trail to find their boss. Micah is a fascinating character, lethal, tortured, yet killing is what he does well and is how he is defined. This book is action packed and fast paced with a good plot, and timely as well.This is the first time I’ve read this author and this book is the third in the Dalton serie’s, I would reccomend him to Steve Berry and Dan Brown fans.

Check the catalog for this item. Rosemary Mahoney provides travel writing at it’s finest by injecting her humor and perseverance on her trip down the nile. The author faces crocodiles, dangerous river currents and most of all the stongly held beliefs from the local men about the merits of a foreign woman.
This book highlights the cultural differences yet still enlightens the reader about the richness of Egyptian culture and history. I think if you liked “Desert Queen” you would enjoy this book.

Check the catalog for this item. The story of the Thusday Night Drinking Club, four early thirties friends who meet once a week to discuss their lives. Thers is Alex the bartender,Jenn, Mitch and Ian, one night while playing one of their “What would you do with 50,000 dollars game Alex suggests they rob his boss Johnny Love. They think he’s kidding but after a couple of days they convince themselves that it would be easy and they plot their job. The fun starts when they pull the heist but a major snafu leads to murder and more. This is fast well written crime story with good characters and a great Chicago setting.

Check the catalog for this item. I have read all of this authors books and this is his newest entry, it’s another Cotton Malone lead thriller.
Cotton his former boss Stephanie and his friend and sponsor Henrik Thorvaldson embark on a collision course to find Napoleon’s lost treasure and keep an evil cartel from bringing ruin to the world’s financial markets.
I enjoy Berry’s books and this one is fun and has a lot of Napoleonic history which I loved, an easy fun read.

Check the catalog for this item. This is the story of five people in Tokyo who’s lives interact between midnight and dawn.
There is a musician, two sisters a hotel manager and a prostitute, one of the sisters has been sleeping for days, all is not what it seems. I found this book magical and disturbing and it stuck with me for days, the writing is spare yet very decriptive and great character development.
If you like David Lynch, Franz Kafka give this a look.

Check the catalog for this item. Harry Pappas head of the “Persia Desk” at the C.I.A is surprised to receive an E-mail from an Iranian scientist indicating he would like to share info on Iran’s nuclear program, this is the start of this tense spy thriller.
The author is a mideast expert and columnist for the “Washington Post” so you get the feeling you are really getting the inside scoop.
The tale leads Pappas to his counterpart in British Intelligence and has them racing against time to find the Iranian Dr. before the U.S administration attacks Iran.
I think this book would appeal to readers of LeCarre and those who enjoy political thrillers that are not led by action and violence only.