Pumpkin countdown by Joan Holub (2012)

When Miss Blue's class visits Farmer Mixenmatch's Pumpkin Patch, the student find many ways to have fun, and a lot of thing to count.

Inspector Singh investigates by Shamini Flint (2009)

"Inspector Singh is in a bad mood. He's been sent from his home in Singapore to Kuala Lumpur to solve a murder that has him stumped. Chelsea Liew - the famous Singaporean model - is on death row for the murder of her ex-husband. She swears she didn't do it, Singh thinks she didn't do it, but Chelsea's husband was shot at point blank range - and she had the best motive - he was taking her kids away from her. Inspector Singh must pull out all the stops to solve the crime, but there's one problem - the Malaysian police refuse to play ball..."--BOOK COVER.

Hidden by Tobias Hill (2009)

Derby Day by D. J. Taylor (2010)

Deadly Game (GhostWalkers, Book 5) by Christine Feehan (2007)

Christine Feehan, New York Times bestselling author and "the queen of paranormal romance"* now explores the limits of endurance and the boundaries of passion in a life-and-death struggle to survive… It began as a mission to find a notorious politician whose plane went down in the Congo. But the risky operation took an unexpected turn when Mari, a physically enhanced member of the rescue team, was taken hostage by rebel forces. Now, imprisoned in an isolated compound, Mari has only chance for survival - escape. What she doesn't count on is Ken Norton, expert assassin and himself a Ghostwalker warrior, fighting to get behind the prison walls on a mission of his own - one that reaches into Mari's own past and the mysterious fate of her twin sister. . . and that will bind Ken and Mari in an intoxicating passion that raises the stakes on the deadliest game of survival they've ever played.

After the Flood by Kassandra Montag (2019)

A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America's great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Artic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there.

Monster by Frank E. Peretti (2005)

Something's out there. Reed Shelton organized this survival weekend. Hired the best guide in the region. Meticulously trained, studied, and packed while encouraging his wife, Beck, to do the same. But little did they know that surviving the elements would become the least of their worries. During their first night of camping, an unearthly wail pierces the calm of the forest. Then someone -- no, something -- emerges from the dense woods and begins pursuing them. Everything that follows is a blur to Reed -- except for the unforgettable image of a huge creature carrying his wife into the darkness. Dependent on the efforts of a small town and band of friends, Reed knows they have little time to find Beck. Even more important, he soon realizes that they aren't the only ones doing the hunting. Something much faster, more relentless -- and definitely not human -- has begun to hunt them. - Jacket flap.

A Touch of Darkness by Scarlett St. Clair (2019)

Persephone is the Goddess of Spring in title only. Since she was a little girl, flowers have only shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hoped to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist. All of that changes when she sits down in a forbidden nightclub to play a hand of cards with a hypnotic and mysterious stranger. Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible. But nothing has ever intrigued him as much as the goddess offering him a bargain he can't resist. After her encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead, and his terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever. The bet does more than expose Persephone's failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—a love that is both captivating and forbidden.

The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler (2005)

In a snappy, unapologetic voice reminiscent of "moi" from Bergdorf Blondes, WASHINGTONIENNE narrator Jackie tells the story of her failed engagement, her decision to move from New York to Washington, and the mischief she starts getting into immediately upon arrival. From the married, Bush-appointed bureaucrat who gives her $400 for a lunchtime tryst—raising the question: at what point does "a gift" cross the line into "payment"?—to the staff counsel whose taste for spanking she "accidentally" leaks to the office, Jackie’s loosely fictionalized exploits serve up large portions of DC dish and prove that Washington’s taste for sexy extramarital relationships is by no means limited to the Oval Office. Fast-paced, deliciously gossipy and impossible to put down, THE WASHINGTONIENNE is destined to the book in next summer’s beach bag, from sea to shining sea.

Home by Manju Kapur (2006)

The world according to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith (2007)

Another delightful read by Alexander McCall Smith. As usual he gives you an intimate feeling of access into the lives of a broadly varied, and quite interesting group of people. I particularly love Bertie, and his most ridiculously overbearing mother. Angus and Cyril are wonderfully written characters. The fantastic Anthropologist, makes one realize life can just begin anew at 60! I strongly suggest starting with book 1, 44 Scotland Street. I’m enjoying this series immensely. Perhaps as much as his Isobel Dalhousie series, which were very interesting and full of interesting philosophical insights (her being a philosopher). Of course, this series also contains a fair amount of philosophy as is Mr. McCall Smith is known for (although, a bit of it from the standpoint of Berties Freudian analyst...)

Murder in Mykonos by Jeffrey Siger (2009)

A young woman on holiday to Mykonos, the most famous of Greece's Aegean Cycladic islands, disappears. No one notices, until a body turns up on a pile of bones under the floor of a remote mountain church. Then the island's new police chief--the young, politically incorrect, former Athens homicide detective Andreas Kaldis--starts finding bodies, bones, and suspects almost everywhere he looks. Just when it seems things can't get any worse, another young woman disappears. With the investigation now a rescue operation, Andreas finds himself plunging into ancient myths and forgotten island places, racing against a killer intent on claiming a new victim who is herself determined to outstep him.

Pretty Little Things by Jilliane Hoffman (2010)

Special Agent Bobby Dees knows what grief feels like. He understands the pain of losing a child. And he'll do whatever he can to prevent it from happening again.The phone call that comes on a Sunday morning will take him away from his insular world of grief and sleepless nights – and into a far darker place. A young girl, Elaine Emerson, has gone missing and only Dees has a chance of finding her.It seems that Elaine was last seen waiting to meet her boyfriend - a mysterious figure she met secretly on the internet, who goes by the name of "El Capitan", and whose reality is as cruel and chilling as the worst thing Dees can imagine...

Black-eyed susans by Julia Heaberlin (2015)

"As a sixteen-year-old, Tessa Cartwright was found in a Texas field, barely alive amid a scattering of bones, with only fragments of memory as to how she got there. Ever since, the press has pursued her as the lone surviving "Black-Eyed Susan," the nickname given to the murder victims because of the yellow carpet of wildflowers that flourished above their shared grave. Tessa's testimony about those tragic hours put a man on death row. Now, almost two decades later, Tessa is an artist and single mother. In the desolate cold of February, she is shocked to discover a freshly planted patch of black-eyed susans--a summertime bloom--just outside her bedroom window. Terrified at the implications--that she sent the wrong man to prison and the real killer remains at large--Tessa turns to the lawyers working to exonerate the man awaiting execution." --

Gossamer by Lois Lowry (2006)

While learning to bestow dreams, a young dream giver tries to save an eight-year-old boy from the effects of both his abusive past and the nightmares inflicted on him by the frightening Sinisteeds.

One for All, All for One by Brigitte Weninger (2005)

A little mouse whose one leg is longer than the other, sets out to see the world. He finds many other special friends along the way and they decide to stick together and make their dreams come true.

Meursault, contre-enquete by Kamel Daoud (2013)

This response to Camus's The Stranger is at once a love story and a political manifesto about post-colonial Algeria, Islam, and the irrelevance of Arab lives. He was the brother of "the Arab" killed by the infamous Meursault, the antihero of Camus's classic novel. Seventy years after that event, Harun, who has lived since childhood in the shadow of his sibling's memory, refuses to let him remain anonymous: he gives his brother a story and a name--Musa--and describes the events that led to Musa's casual murder on a dazzlingly sunny beach. Harun is an old man tormented by frustration. In a bar in Oran, night after night, he ruminates on his solitude, on his anger with men desperate for a god, and on his disarray when faced with a country that has so disappointed him. A stranger among his own people, he wants to be granted, finally, the right to die.

The Innocent by Magdalen Nabb (2005)

Invisible Prey by John Sandford (2007)

In the richest neighborhood of Minneapolis, two elderly women lie murdered in their home, killed with a pipe, the rooms tossed, only small items stolen. It is clearly the random work of someone looking for money to buy drugs. But as Davenport looks more closely, he begins to wonder whether the items are actually so small and the victims so random-if there might not be some invisible agenda at work here. Gradually, a pattern begins to emerge, and it leads him to . . . certainly nothing he ever expected. Which is too bad, because the killers-and, yes, there is more than one of them-the killers are expecting him. Brilliantly suspenseful, filled with rich characterization and exciting drama, Invisible Prey is further proof that Sandford is in a class of his own.

Stolen prey by John Sandford (2012)

"Lucas Davenport has seen many terrible murder scenes. This is one of the worst. In the small Minnesota town of Deephaven, an entire family has been killed--husband, wife, two daughters, dogs. There's something about the scene that pokes at Lucas's cop instincts--it looks an awful lot like the kind of scorched-earth retribution he's seen in drug killings sometimes. But this is a seriously upscale town, and the husband was an executive vice president at a big bank. It just doesn't seem to fit. Until it does. And where it leads Lucas will take him into the darkest nightmare of his life"--