Kittling: Books Discovery

Long-time readers here will know that I have a decided fondness for Nevada Barr and her Anna Pigeon mystery series. It's been fun riding along with Anna over the years, visiting national parks and catching bad guys. Now that Anna is married and is grudgingly admitting that various joints are beginning to creak, I've been wondering if Barr was going to do something different. She is.

On September 29, a new Barr novel called 13½ will hit the stands. Not many places get to read Barr's books before they're on sale, but according to her blog and Twitter feed, Library Journal and Publishers Weekly like it.

Here's a description from Amazon:

In 1971, the state of Minnesota was rocked by the “Butcher Boy” incident, as coverage of a family brutally murdered by one of their own swept across newspapers and television screens nationwide.

Now, in present-day New Orleans, Polly Deschamps finds herself at yet another lonely crossroads in her life. No stranger to tragedy, Polly was a runaway at the age of fifteen, escaping a nightmarish Mississippi childhood.

Lonely, that is, until she encounters architect Marshall Marchand. Polly is immediately smitten. She finds him attractive, charming, and intelligent. Marshall, a lifelong bachelor, spends most of his time with his brother Danny. When Polly’s two young daughters from her previous marriage are likewise taken with Marshall, she marries him. However, as Polly begins to settle into her new life, she becomes uneasy about her husband’s increasing dark moods, fearing that Danny may be influencing Marshall in ways she cannot understand.

But what of the ominous prediction by a New Orleans tarot card reader, who proclaims that Polly will murder her husband? What, if any, is the Marchands’ connection to the infamous “Butcher Boy” multiple homicide? And could Marshall and his eccentric brother be keeping a dark secret from Polly, one that will shatter the happiness she has forever prayed for?

It's good to see Barr do something different, and I would imagine that it was a welcome change of pace for her. This new book definitely sounds like a winner, and I've got it on my wish list.

For any who worry that we've seen the last of Anna, don't fret. According to Barr's blog, it seems that she's going to Acadia National Park in Maine on a research trip!