June 27, 2020
Dear Friends of the Center,
This week we offer a blend of crime, suspense, horror and, especially, creepy gothic stories. Escapist reading for the official beginning of summer!
Happy reading,
Melanie Fleishman
Buyer, Center for Fiction Bookstore
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Mexican Gothic
By Sylvia Moreno-Garcia
Published by Del Rey Books
Drawn to a mysterious house in rural Mexico by a relative’s desperate plea, society debutante Noemi is thrust into an unlikely role to uncover the secrets buried there. A Gothic fantasy set in the 50s that pushes all the right buttons: spooky mansion, an undercurrent of imminent violence, and a glamorous protagonist.
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Death in Her Hands
By Ottessa Moshfegh
Published by Penguin Press
This latest deeply provocative novel from Moshfegh is the story of an aging widow whose discovery of a note in the woods sparks an investigation that keeps the reader questioning the truth. What, if any, crime has been committed here? Where is the body? Is our heroine to be believed? Or has her mind run amok with dreams of an invented murder?
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Shadowplay
By Joseph O'Connor
Published by Europa Editions
The vivid London theater scene in the late 19th century sets the scene for a delicious horror story at the time of Jack the Ripper. Theater buffs will love the details and the mix of real (Bram Stoker, Ellen Terry) and imagined characters that come fully alive in this ingenious tale of terror.
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Devolution
By Max Brooks
Published by Del Rey Books
Another story that blurs the line between fact and fiction by the best-selling author of World War Z, who takes on the timeless story of Bigfoot and the aftermath of a volcanic eruption on Mount Rainier. Can we finally believe this legendary beast is real?
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Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing
By Maryla Szymickowa
Published by Mariner Books
A breath of fresh air, this witty, Agatha Christie-like tale starring an infectious amateur sleuth rises high above the genre in a blend of dark wit and clever plotting, set in a nursing home in Cracow. This will readily appeal to fans of one our favorite writers, Olga Tokarczuk, who gave it an enthusiastic blurb.
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Home Before Dark
By Riley Sager
Published by Dutton Books
If you haven’t discovered Sager’s work yet you are in for a treat. In the fourth outing for this pseudonymous author the setting is a Victorian manse in the woods of Vermont where a famous writer documented his family’s ghostly experiences.
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