Searching for Sylvia Lee is by Jean Kwok. It begins with a mystery. Sylvie, the beautiful, brilliant, successful older daughter of the Lee family, flies to the Netherlands for one final visit with her dying grandmother - and then vanishes. Amy, the sheltered baby of the Lee family, is too young to remember a time when her parents were newly immigrated and too poor to keep Sylvie. Seven years older, Sylvie was raised by a distant relative in a faraway, foreign place, and didn't rejoin her family in America until age nine. Timid and shy, Amy has always looked up to her sister, the fierce and fearless protector who showered her with unconditional love. But what happened to Sylvie? Amy and her parents are distraught and desperate for answers. Sylvie has always looked out for them. Now, it's Amy's turn to help. Terrified yet determined, Amy retraces her sister's movements, flying to the last place Sylvie was seen. But instead of simple answers, she discovers something much more valuable: the truth. Sylvie, the golden girl, kept painful secrets . . . secrets that will reveal more about Amy's complicated family - and herself - than she ever could have imagined.
May 2020
Aunti Poldi and the Handsome Antonio is by Mario Giordano. All the beloved, irascible Aunti Poldi wanted from her sicilian retirement was time to enjoy sunshine, a free-flowing supply of wine, and a sultry romance with Chief Inspector Montana. But then her idyll is rudely interrupted by the last person she wants to se on her doorstep - - John Owenya, detective inspector with the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs, who is also her estranged, lying cheat of a husband. Not only is John's sudden reappearance putting a kink in Poldi's dreamy love affair with Vito Montana, but his presence also comes with a plea for help - and unwanted clashes with Mafia. Where is John's half-brother? What is the ten-million-dollar 'it' that John's brother was last seen with that has both the Sicilian and Tanzanian mobs in a frenzy? With only a postcard that has a phone number and a name, 'Handsome Antonio', on the back, Auntie Poldi hops begrudgingly (albeit with a great deal of gumption and panache) back into the saddle (in this case, an immaculate red Maserati Cabrio from the 80s with cream leather upholstery). The faster she finds Handsome Antonio, the sooner she can get John Owenya out of her hair and love-life. But the people Poldi discovers along the way may very well knock her immaculate wig askew.
June 2020
Killing Eve: Die for Me is by Luke Jennings. As Villanelle returns to face her childhood demons and the Russian winter, Eve finds herself on the run from The Twelve, who want her dead. As the action moves between London and St Petersburg, and Eve and Villanelle finally admit their mutual erotic obsession, the chess game approaches its lethal, unforgettable conclusion.
