Assorted Good Things

NonFiction

175 Best Jobs Not Behind a Desk by Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin. "Would you rather work outdoors or in a physically active job than be chained to a desk? Fortunately, many high-activity jobs have good earnings and are expected to grow. Now you can easily pinpoint the top-gear gear careers that suit you best."

Precalculus Demystified: a self-teaching guide by Rhonda Huettenmueller. Clear and concise solutions. I just saw that the actress who played Winnie in The Wonder Years, Danica McKellar, has a new math book coming out entitled Math Doesn't Suck.

Critical Perspectives on Pollution Stephanie Watson, editor. Aimed at the high school crowd with essays grouped into the topics Environmental Fallout, Human Toll, Animals in the Wake, and Forging a Cleaner Future.

Fiction

Con Ed by Matthew Klein. A beautiful blonde offers recently release con Kip a chance to swindle her billionaire husband. A con is never as easy as it sounds. But, after the blonde sweetens the deal and Kip finds his son in hock to Russian mobsters the deal is too good to pass up.

Unknown Terrorist by Richard Flanagan. Australian stripper Gina has a brief hook-up with a surfer dude. Gina wakes up to see the surfer's face plastered across the news and proclaimed a terrorist. Gina becomes Australia's Most Wanted and goes on the run.

Rat Run by Gerald Seymour. Seymour always writes really solid thrillers. Usually with a espionage bent, Seymour's last several novels have set his English characters in the Middle East. Former Intelligence Officer Malachy Kitchen was kicked out of the Army under suspicion of cowardice in Iraq. Back in England, Malachy starts his own fight against the local drug gangs in his neighborhood in an effort to redeem his pride and ends up butting heads with a local crimelord who is importing a terrorist in his next shipment.

Medicus: a novel of the Roman Empire by Ruth Downie. A roman Doctor stuck in the hinterlands of Britannia buys an abused slave girl and investigates why all the local prostitutes are missing.

Simply Magic by Mary Balogh. A romance.

Mysteries

In the Woods by Tana French. 23 years ago three children went to play in the woods outside Dublin. Only one was found. Now that survivor is a detective on the Murder Squad and when an identical crime occurs he must use his slivers of memory to try and solve the crime.

Hard Man by Alan Guthrie. The great and mighty Guthrie returns with another tale of Scottish tough guys. Ex-con Pearce is asked to protect a pregnant sixteen year old from her violent, martial-arts-expert husband Baxter. Baxter isn't the father and when he hears Pearce is involved in his wife's protection he kills Pearce's dog. Now Pearce is angry.

Love Kills by Edna Buchanan. Former reporter Britt Montero has been hiding away in solitude for three years ever since her cop boyfriend was killed. Now the Cold Case Squad wants to talk to her at the same time Britt finds out a recent widower may not be just a widower.

Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid. A weirdly tattoed body is uncovered in the English Lake District. Is the local tale that Fletcher Christian snuck back to England from Pitcairn Island and stayed with old friend, and poet, William Wordsworth true? Wordsworth specialist Jane Gresham hunts for the rest of the story about a secret Wordsworth manuscript and finds herself hunted as well.