Lakeland Public Library discussion
Lakeland Public Library
Books mentioned in this topic
The Secret Bridesmaid (other topics)In the Company of Killers (other topics)
The Last Watch (other topics)
The Conductors (other topics)
The Unkindness of Ravens (other topics)
More...
As a professional bridesmaid, Sophie Breeze is hired by London brides to be their right-hand woman, posing as a friend but working behind the scenes to help plan the perfect wedding and ensure their big day goes off without a hitch. So when she's hired for the society wedding of the year, it should be her big chance to prove just how talented she is. It's not ideal that the bride, Cordelia, is an absolute diva and seems determined to make Sophie's life a nightmare. It's inconvenient when she finds herself drawn to Cordelia's off-limits older brother, Lord Swann. But things get downright complicated when a rival society wedding is announced for the very same day. Can Sophie pull off the biggest challenge of her career, win over a reluctant bride, catch the eye of handsome Lord Swann, and keep her true identity secret and her dignity intact?
Tom Klay is a celebrated wildlife reporter with a secret—writing for The Sovereign magazine is a cover for a more dangerous job: CIA spy. Being a member of the press allows him to collect valuable information from places the CIA can’t penetrate. While on assignment in Kenya, Klay’s closest friend is killed, his own life is threatened, and his carefully constructed double life begins to collapse. As he begins investigating the attack, he unintentionally becomes a piece of a larger, more lethal puzzle that involves top levels of government from all over the world. The more he digs, Klay realizes that everything he thought he knew about his work may be a lie.
The Argus, a spacecraft parked at the rim of a vast, empty space anomaly known only as the Divide, serves as the last protection for humanity against the great unknown. The crew, made up of bottom-of-the-barrel military has-beens, would be content to serve out their time in relative peace. But when the Divide starts expanding, swallowing up the known galaxy, the crew of the Argus must find a way to stop it before the universe is completely engulfed.
Hetty and her husband, Benjy, were Conductors on the Underground Railroad, ferrying dozens of enslaved souls to freedom. Now that the Civil War is over, those skills find new purpose as they solve mysteries and murders that the White authorities ignore. When a friend is murdered, their investigation stirs up a web of intrigue, lies, and long-buried secrets connected to the Black elites of Philadelphia. With a clever, cold-blooded killer on the prowl testing their magic and placing their lives at risk, Hetty and Benjy will discover how little they really know about their neighbors . . . and themselves.
Greer is a librarian and an avid reader of murder mysteries. She also has a habit of stumbling upon murdered bodies. The first was her husband's; the tragic loss leading her to leave New York behind for a new start in the Village of Raven Hill. But her new home becomes less idyllic when she discovers her best friend sprawled dead on the floor of the library. Was her friend's demise related to two other deaths that the police deemed accidental? Do the residents of this insular village hold dark secrets about another murder decades ago? Does a serial killer haunt Raven Hill? As the body count rises, her anxious musings take a darker turn when she uncovers unexpected and distressing information about her own husband's death and the man who went to prison for his murder. She is racked with guilt at the possibility that her testimony may have helped to convict an innocent man. Will her quick wit and resourcefulness be enough to protect her from a murderer?
Despite graduating from China's top police college, Le Fei has been assigned to the sleepy, backwater township of Raven Valley where almost nothing happens. That changes when a young woman is found dead, her organs removed, and incense paper stuffed in her mouth. The Beijing City Police wants to pin the crime on the first available suspect rather than wading into uncomfortable truths, leaving Lu Fei on his own. As Lu digs deeper into the gruesome murder, he finds himself facing old enemies and creating new ones in the form of local Communist Party bosses and corrupt business interests. Despite these rising obstacles, Lu remains determined to find the real killer, especially after he links the murder to other unsolved homicides. But the closer he gets to the heart of the mystery, the more he puts himself and his loved ones in danger.
Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), loves Maisie and Grant, his niece and nephew. That is, he loves spending time with them when they visit Palm Springs or when he heads home for the holidays. But Patrick is out of his league in terms of caretaking and relating to two kids, even if they are super adorable. An unexpected family tragedy leaves him taking on the role of primary guardian for the summer. Despite having a set of "Guncle Rules" ready to go, Patrick's life is not-so-suited for a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting—even if temporary—isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.
When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome mother calls for her even more meddlesome aunties to help get rid of the body. Unfortunately, a dead body proves to be a lot more challenging to dispose of than one might anticipate, especially when it is accidentally shipped in a cake cooler to the over-the-top billionaire wedding Meddy, her Ma, and aunties are working. It's the biggest job yet for their family wedding business, and nothing, not even an unsavory corpse, will get in the way of her auntie's perfect buttercream cake flowers. But things go from inconvenient to downright torturous when Meddy's great college love—and biggest heartbreak—makes a surprise appearance amid the wedding chaos. Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?
In June of 1893, the future Nicholas II travels to London for a royal wedding, bringing with him his private security force and his ballerina mistress. Rumored to be the target of a professional assassin and the subject of conspiracies against his life by his own family, who covets his future throne, Nicholas is protected by private security and the professional forces of both England and Russia. These measures prove inadequate when Prince George of England is attacked by an armed anarchist who mistakes him for Nicholas. As a result, Barker and Llewelyn are brought in to help track down the assassin and others who might conspire against the life of the heir apparent. Their investigations lead them down several paths, including an old nemesis of Llewelyn's. With Barker and Llewelyn both surviving separate attempts on their lives, the race is on to find both the culprit and the assassin they hired. Taking them through both high and low society, chasing down motives both personal and political, Barker and Llewelyn must solve the case of their life before the crime of the century is committed. (This is book #12 in the Baker & Llewelyn series.)