Nevermore: Elegance of the Hedgehog, Kills Well with Others, Android's Dream

 

Nevermore 4-15-25

Reported by Rita

 

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Rene is the concierge of a Parisian apartment building. She is passionate about culture and the arts. Several floors up, 12-year-old Paloma Josse is determined to avoid the pampered and vacuous future laid out for her. But unknown to them both, the sudden death of one of their privileged neighbors will dramatically alter their lives forever.

It's a beautiful story of friendship. Translated from French, the language can be difficult at times. It has a fantastic surprise ending.    - DC     4 stars

 

Kills Well with Others by Deanna Raybourn

When a mole in the elite assassin organization the Museum leaks names to an Eastern European gangster who's murdering agents, assassins Billie, Helen, Mary Alice and Natalie--senior in status and age--must root out the organization's mole and hunt down their new nemesis.

I found this fun and interesting. A very enjoyable easy read.      -  NH     4 stars

 

The Android's Dream by John Scalzi

To avoid an interstellar incident, ex-cop and hacker Harry Creek, aided by Brian Javna, a childhood friend turned AI, searches for a rare type of sheep to be used in an alien race's coronation ceremony, following a trail that leads to pet store owner Robin Baker, whose genes contain traces of the sheep DNA.

This book is very plot-driven. Full of interesting concepts, twists, and turns.     -  RR     5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

 

The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie: A Satirical Short Story by Freida McFadden

Want to Know a Secret? by Freida McFadden

Mrs. Darcy and the Blue-eyed Stranger: New and Selected Stories by Lee Smith

The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Fear of Fly Fishing by Jack Ohman

The 30,000 Mile Cat: Travels Across America by Ginnie L. Hansen

Secret Empires: How the American Political Class Hides Corruption and Enriches Family and Friends by Peter Schweizer

The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Harris and Me by Gary Paulson

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn

Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization by Deepak Chopra

Fall from Grace by Larry Collins

To Die For by David Baldacci

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion by Julie Satow

Small Talk: 10 ADHD Lies and How to Stop Believing Them by Richard Pink, Roxanne Pink

Morbidly Yours: Love in Galway, Book 1 by  Ivy Fairbanks

 

New Books

 

The Sunflower House by Adriana Allegri

The Jackal's Mistress by Chris Bohjalian

The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe by Carl Zimmer

Back After This by Linda Holmes

The Eagle and Hart by Helen Castor

NLW: Staff book picks: Tonia & Kristin

 

Tonia

A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher

 

I’ve always had a soft spot for gothic horror, especially stories centered around haunted or mysterious houses—and A House with Good Bones hit all the right notes for me. This Southern gothic tale is one of the cleverest horror novels I’ve read in a while. It strikes that rare balance between witty and unsettling, offering some genuinely funny moments without ever sacrificing the eerie atmosphere or the creepy tension that builds throughout the story.

I really enjoyed the main character, Sam, and her relationship with her mom. Their dynamic felt real and grounded, even as things around them started to get stranger and more unsettling. Their stories about Sam’s grandmother—whose presence is felt in both subtle and chilling ways—really stood out to me. As the buried family secrets start to unravel, the story picks up momentum and becomes a real page-turner.

There’s a lot of fun to be had in this book, but it also has teeth. It doesn’t let you get too comfortable or cozy, which I appreciated. If you enjoy stories with decaying houses, Southern folklore, and a mix of humor and horror, you will love this like I did.

 

Kristin

TJ Klune builds intricate, authentic characters and can weave dozens of threads into some of the most beautiful stories I’ve ever read. His published works vary in scope, but the ones I love most are the Cerulean Chronicles: The House in the Cerulean Sea and Somewhere Beyond the Sea; Under the Whispering Door; and The Bones Beneath My Skin. This last one was self-published in 2018, but republished in a new edition by Tor Books in 2025. Bones is a bit of departure from Klune’s feel-good cozy fantasies. Nate Cartwright has just lost his parents, his job, and even his brother has no interest in him. Nate returns to the only things his parents left him—a cabin and a truck, deep in the Oregon woods. Unfortunately, the cabin appears to have been recently occupied. A little girl calling herself Artemis Darth Vader and a tightly wound man named Alex quickly turn Nate’s life upside down. Part thriller, part supernatural/sci-fi/fantasy, and a tiny part romance, this “latest” book from Klune is already on my best of the year list.

 

Roland Rogers Isn't Dead Yet by Samantha Allen 

The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley

Untamed by Glennon Doyle 

Family Family by Laurie Frankel 

Somewhere Beyond the Sea by TJ Klune

The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune 

Assistant to the Villain &  Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer 

We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman 

Bittersweet in the Hollow and Lies on the Serpent's Tongue by Kate Pearsall

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanne Raybourn

The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Nevermore Tibetan Peach Pie, No Plan B, Killers of a Certain Age

 

Reported by Rita

Tibetan Peach Pie: a True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins

Inviting readers into his private world, an internationally best-selling author and American icon shares stories from his unconventional life, from his Appalachian childhood to his adventures around the world, that is as unlikely, magical and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters.

 Robbins was a fantastic writer and he lived an interesting life.  – MH   5 stars

 

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Sent on an all-expense paid vacation to mark their retirement, four assassins discover they've been marked for death, forcing them to turn against their own organization and teach them what it really means to be a woman—and a killer—of a certain age.

Fun and likable.      – WJ      5 stars      

 No Plan B: a Jack Reacher Novel by Lee Child

Witnessing a woman pushed to her death in front of a bus, Jack Reacher, following the killer on foot, is unaware that this is part of a secret conspiracy with many moving parts with no room for error and any threats will be permanently removed, including Reacher.

An excellent book, full of intrigue and mayhem.       – FE       5 stars

 

Other Books Mentioned

Darwinia by Robert Charles Wilson

The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore

Anne of Green Gables  adapted by Katherine Woodfine

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

Stupid American History: Tales of Stupidity, Strangeness, and Mythconceptions by Leland Gregory

Dead Center: Behind the Scenes at the World's Largest Medical Examiner's Office by Shiya Ribowsky

Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization by Deepak Chopra

Trader of Secrets by Steve Martini

Saints and Villains: a Novel by Denise  Giardina

Blameless by Gail Carriger

The Screwtape Letters: with, Screwtape Proposes a Toast by C. S. Lewis

A Serial Killer's Guide to Marriage: a Novel by Asia Mackay

New Books

The Life of Herod the Great: a Novel by Zora Neale Hurston

Golden Years: How Americans Invented and Reinvented Old Age by James Chappel

The Hidden Globe: How Wealth Hacks the World by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

Go As a River by Shelley Read

We Do Not Part: a Novel by Kang Han

The Healing Season of Pottery by Yeon Somin

Nevermore: Killers of a Certain Age, Spinster's Fortune, The Guncle

 

Reported by Garry

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn is the thrilling tale of four 60-year-old ladies who have one thing in common: they are all assassins. Sent on an all-expenses paid “retirement” cruise by the organization that has employed their unique talents for the past 40 years, the ladies quickly realize that they have been marked for death. In order to turn the tables and survive their Farewell Tour, they must rely on each other and their experiences to out a killer and turn the tables in their favor. Packed with charming characters, page turning action sequences and a great sense of humor, this book comes highly recommended by our reader.  MC

The Spinster’s Fortune by Mary Kendall is a novel loosely based on the real Blanche Magruder. In this novel, Blanche is an aging spinster who is placed in a home for the elderly and infirm under the assumption that she is mentally incompetent. Her niece, Margaret has been named executor of Blanche’s estate and must untangle the mystery of where in her now crumbling and looted Georgetown manor Blanche has hidden the family fortune. Our reader loved this gothic mystery with its extremely well planned out twists and turns that kept her guessing right up to the end.  KN

The Guncle by Steven Rowley is a hilarious novel about family, love, patience, and grief that has won the NPR Book of the Year award, and is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestseller. Patrick O’Hara is a former sitcom star who loves his niece and nephew – as long as he can return them to their parents when he is finished. A series of family tragedies strike and suddenly Patrick (or GUP, which is short for “Gay Uncle Patrick”) finds himself as the sole caretaker of the two young children. Patrick’s life is turned upside down by the arrival of the two under-ten children and he has to make some drastic and quick changes to his lifestyle in order to support and care for two children who have been uprooted from their home in Connecticut to Palm Springs. Our reader was deeply touched by the nuanced ways that Rowley handles situations that could, in the hands of a lesser writer, come across as maudlin or superficial.  KM

Also mentioned:

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Passion by Jeanette Winterson

The Red Cotton Fields series by Michael Strickland

Phantom by Greer Rivers

Falling is Not an Option: A Way to Lifelong Balance by George Locker

Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

Black Mountain Breakdown by Lee Smith

Astray by Emma Donoghue

Our Voice of Fire: A Memoir of a Warrior Rising by Brandy Morin

Lark Ascending by Silas House

Good Medicine, Hard Times: Memoir of a Combat Physician in Iraq by Edward P. Horvath, MD

How All This Started by Pete Fromm

On the Rooftop by Margaret Wilkerson Sexton

Season of Yellow Leaf by Douglas C. Jones

Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog) by Jerome K. Jerome and A. Frederics

The Call of the Last Frontier:  The True Story of a Woman’s Twenty-Year Alaska Adventure by Melissa Cook

Tokyo Rose – Zero Hour (A Graphic Novel):  A Japanese American Woman’s Persecution and Ultimate Redemption After World War II by Andre R. Frattino and Kate Kasenow

Dying of Politeness by Geena Davis

This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America’s Future by Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns