Great New Debut Novels

If you are looking for a fantastic new book to read look no further. Below are some wonderful titles that have just been released!


Spill Simmer Falter Wither by Sara Baume
This is one of those rare stories that completely imagines its way into a life most of us would never see. Two outcasts — a man ignored, even shunned by his village, and the one-eyed dog he takes into his quiet, tightly shuttered life — find each other and forge an unlikely connection.

The Blue Line by Ingrid Betancourt
This is a breathtaking story of love and betrayal set against the backdrop of Argentina's Dirty War and infused with magical realism. 

Shaker: A Novel by Scott Frank
This tense, darkly funny debut novel is from one of the most successful screenwriters of our time. When a hit man is mistaken for a hero, he becomes famous and a visible target for those who want him dead.   

What Belongs To You by Garth Greenwell
This is a stunning debut novel of desire and its consequences. Lyrically written with startling eroticism, Greenwell has created an indelible story about the ways in which our past, culture and our scars and shames shape who we are and determine how we love.

The Forgetting Time by Sharon Guskin
This is a captivating debut novel filled with suspense and mystery. It is a beautiful tale of the bond between a mother and her child and what happens when going home is not as easy as it seems.  

The Children's Home by Charles Lambert
A version of modern fairy tales like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Golden Compass this debut novel is genre-defying. Morgan, a disfigured reclusive heir to a fortune lives in a mansion with his housekeeper. When two children visit his home he gives them free reign to go where they choose. The next day more children appear and their startling revelations lead to an amazing tale.

The Two-Family House: A  Novel by Lynda Cohen Loigman
No good deed goes unpunished. In a single, intensely charged moment, two women come to a private agreement designed to make them both happy. Unfortunately life is not so simple, especially when it involves two families who share one home. 

Beasts and Children by Amy Parker
These linked stories unwind the lives of three families as they navigate 
ever-shifting landscapes. This wry and sharp, dark and subversive debut novel watches as these characters make choices that will change the course of their lives and run into each other in surprising, unforgettable ways.

Work Like Any Other by  Virginia Reeves

Gorgeously spare and brilliantly insightful, Work Like Any Other is a striking debut about love and redemption, the heavy burdens of family and guilt, and learning how to escape them.

Cambodia Noir by Nicholas Seeley
An arresting debut thriller set in contemporary Cambodia, about an American woman who disappears into the Phnom Penh underworld, and the photojournalist who tracks her down. 

Unspeakable Things by Kathleen Spivack 

A debut novel steeped in surreal storytelling and beautiful music that transports its half-broken souls--and us--to another realm of the senses. 

Shelter: A Novel by Jung Yun

Kyung Cho’s family is in turmoil. His estranged parents have been victims of a brutal home invasion and his own finances are in dire straits. When Kyung takes in his parents, the carefully established distance between them collapses and he must face his childhood nightmares even as his adult life begins to crumble. Taut and masterfully told this is a riveting debut novel.

Native American Mystery Series Part 2

To help honor Native American literature, we highlighted mystery series Volume One in November.  This is Volume Two.  The following contain a Native American protagonist and/or are written by a Native American author.  These books are as unique as the many tribes and nations in North America plus some of the best mysteries around.  So if you like history, action, and interesting and quirky characters, try these great series!

William Kent Krueger--Iron Lake--Cork O'Connor is a part Irish and part Ojibwe former sheriff in Aurora, Minnesota.

M. J. McGrath--White Heat--Edie Kiglatuk is an Inuit hunter and guide in the wilds of the Arctic.

Mardi Oakley Medawar--Death at Rainy Mountain--Tay-Bodal is a Kiowa healer in late 19th century Oklahoma.

Mardi Oakley Medawar--Murder on the Red Cliff Rez--Karen Charboneau is a Chippewa artist and Tracker in Northern Wisconsin.

Kirk Mitchell--Cry Dance--Emmett Quanah Parker is a Comanche BIA Agent and Anna Turnipseed is a Modoc FBI agent in the Western United States.

Thomas Perry--Vanishing Act--Jane Whitefield is a Seneca "guide" in Upstate New York.  She helps people in mortal danger disappear.

William Sanders--Next Victim--Taggart Roper is a Cherokee writer and private eye in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Susan Slater--The Pumpkin Seed Massacre--psychologist Ben Pecos is a Pueblo Indian in New Mexico.

Dana Stabenow--A Cold Day for Murder--Kate Shugak is an Aleut/Russian investigator in remote Niniltna, Alaska.

Aimee Thurlo--Blackening Song--Ella Clah is a Navajo FBI Agent/special investigator in Shiprock, New Mexico.

J. F. Trainor--Dynamite Pass--Angela Biwaben is an Anishabe princess and ex-embezzler in Minnesota.

Robert Westbrook--Ghost Dancer--Howard Moon Deer is a Lakota Sioux graduate student studying in New Mexico.

Scott Young--Murder in a Cold Climate--Mateesie Kitologitak is an Inuit Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman in Canada.

If you missed Volume One go here.

Try SearchOhio for books not in our catalog.

Mr. Vandy's Travelin' Soft Shoe Show

I think it’s pretty safe to say that the world loves Dick Van Dyke. He’s been entertaining us for decades, from the Broadway production of Bye Bye Birdie to The Dick Van Dyke Show, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and beyond. I remember watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang countless times as a kid, and I’m also pretty sure I’ve seen every episode of Diagnosis: Murder. Despite celebrating his 90^th birthday back in December, Van Dyke is still finding new ways to make people smile, and he has no intention of stopping. In fact, whenever he’s asked the secret to staying young, he says, “Keep moving.” That bit of sage advice is also the title of his book: Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Aging. In it, you’ll find out all sorts of interesting things about Van Dyke, like how he spends his day, how he met his wife, Arlene, and why he’ll never stop dancing. Did you know he sings in an a capella quartet called the Vantastix? Did you know he tends to dance up and down the aisles while out shopping? Did you know he has an ice cream sundae every night? Now one might think that this book is strictly for the older crowd, but all you “youngins” out there can learn a thing or two from it as well. (Seriously, "Mr. Vandy" is probably younger at heart than you are!) Take, for example, Van Dyke’s list of what things truly matter in life and what things are simply a waste of time. Family and friends tops the list, but you’ll also find things like staying curious about the world and having a sense of humor. In one chapter in the book, Carl Reiner, creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show and longtime collaborator and friend, gives his own advice to young people, saying, “Be who you are. If you can, if you can afford to, do only the things that please you. If you can’t do what you love in order to make a living, find a hobby that you can’t wait to get to after work. You need passion and joy in your life. Family. Love. Passion. And joy.” And that, as Cary Grant would say, is good stuff.

But Keep Moving is chock full of good stuff. It’ll make you smile. You may even laugh out loud. And if you didn’t know already, by the time you’re finished you’ll understand why the world loves Dick Van Dyke. I highly recommend it.   

February's In the Queue

Stay Stay warm with some hot new reads from In the Queue!


Nelly Dean: A Return to Wuthering Heights
By Alison Case
The inhabitants of Wuthering Heights are reborn in this new view of the Bronte classic. This wonderful debut novel takes a fresh look at the Earnshaw family and those who serve them.  This fast moving story will thrill Bronte fans and be a big hit with book clubs.

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes
Joe Goldberg is no stranger to hiding bodies. Now he's determined to put his past behind him and find true love. Joe doesn't want to hurt his new girlfriend-he wants to be with her forever.  But if she ever finds out what he's done, he may not have a choice...

Leonard: My Fifty Year Friendship With a Remarkable Man by William Shatner
Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off the set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Leonard Nimoy well.