No Pressure Book Club

 

Animal Instinct by David Rosenfelt 

Corey Douglas and his K-9 partner, a German shepherd named Simon Garfunkel, are recently retired police officers turned private investigators. Along with fellow former cop Laurie Collins and her investigating partner, Marcus, they call themselves the K Team. An unsolved murder gives Corey a chance to solve "the one that got away". Corey knew the murder victim from his time on the force, when he was unable to protect her in a domestic dispute. Now, he is convinced the same abusive boyfriend is responsible for her murder. With some help from Laurie's lawyer husband, Andy Carpenter, the K Team is determined to prove what the police could not, no matter the cost.

 

 

Arsenic and Adobo by Mia Manansala 

Lila Macapagel has come back home to a whole new set of problems. She has to save Tita Rosie's failing restaurant, and deal with a group of matchmaking aunties who shower her with love and judgment. And then her ex-boyfriend, who happens to be a notorious food critic, drops dead moments after a confrontation with Lila. Her life is quickly falling into an Agatha Christie case.

 

 

The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

The five members of the St. Tredock Book Club disagree on everything, from the books they read to the biscuits they eat. But when one of the group suddenly disappears and a dead body is discovered at his house, these bibliophiles must put their differences aside to solve the mystery. 

 

 

The Department of Sensitive Crimes by Alexander McCall Smith 

The detectives who work in Malmo Police's Department of Sensitive Crimes take their job very seriously. There is Anna, who keeps her relationship with Varg professional even as she realizes she's developing feelings for him . . . or at least for his car, and Carl, first to arrive in the morning and last to leave, who would never read his colleagues' personal correspondence--unless it could help solve a crime, of course. Finally, there's Erik, who peppers conversations with anecdotes about fly fishing. Along with an opinionated local police officer named Blomquist, the Department of Sensitive Crimes takes on three extremely strange cases. First, the detectives investigate how and why a local business owner was stabbed . . . in the back of the knee. Next, a young woman's imaginary boyfriend goes missing. And, in the final investigation, Varg must determine whether nocturnal visitations at a local spa have a supernatural element.

 

 

Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies by Catherine Mack 

Mystery writer Eleanor Dash just wants to get through her Italian book tour and kill off Connor Smith (main hero of her series) in her next book. But then someone tries to kill Connor (real person - handsome and infuriating con man that she can’t seem to get away from) and suddenly fiction is getting real as Eleanor is pulled into a real-life murder mystery.

 

 

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristin Perrin

Frances Adams has known she would be murdered since she was teenager when the fortune-teller at the fair predicted it. For decades, no one took her seriously until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, just like she always said. And thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. It’s up to her niece, Annie, to figure out the truth. 

 

 

I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig 

After a decades-long stint in prison, former serial killer Carol is looking to kick back and relax in her new retirement home, but it's not long before a fellow resident--who happens to be a former police commissioner--drops dead, and Carol's identity is leaked. Just her luck, Carol soon realizes that the victim wasn't the only former law enforcement officer at Sheldon Oaks--it's filled to the brim with former cops, barristers, and government representatives, her newfound friends included. And everyone thinks Carol's guilt is a no-brainer, but she is ready to prove them dead wrong...without killing anyone, for once.

 

 

Murder by Cheesecake by Rachel Ekstrom Courage 

When Dorothy’s obnoxious date is found dead in a hotel freezer, it not only ruins a gorgeous cheesecake but threatens the elaborate St. Olaf–themed wedding Rose is hosting. With every guest a suspect (especially Dorothy) and a marriage on the line, her and her friends must ID the real killer, get the should-be-happy couple down the aisle, and make sure nobody from St. Olaf gets lost in the wilds of Miami. It’s up to the Golden Girls to sleuth out a way for friendship and love to win the day!

 

 

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley 

It is the summer of 1950–and at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, young Flavia de Luce, an aspiring chemist with a passion for poison, is intrigued by a series of inexplicable events: A dead bird is found on the doorstep, a postage stamp bizarrely pinned to its beak. Then, hours later, Flavia finds a man lying in the cucumber patch and watches him as he takes his dying breath.

 

 

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Sixty-year-old self-proclaimed tea expert Vera Wong enjoys nothing more than sipping a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy ‘detective’ work on the internet (AKA checking up on her son to see if he’s dating anybody yet). 

But when Vera wakes up one morning to find a dead man in the middle of her tea shop, it’s going to take more than a strong Longjing to fix things. Knowing she’ll do a better job than the police possibly could – because nobody sniffs out a wrongdoing quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands – Vera decides it’s down to her to catch the killer.

 

 

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

In a corporate-dominated spacefaring future, planetary missions must be approved and supplied by the Company. On a distant planet, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests, shadowed by their Company-supplied ‘droid—a self-aware SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module, and refers to itself as “Murderbot.” Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get the truth.

 

 

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

A science-fiction classic! Hari Seldon alone can see into the future. With the Galactic Empire dying, he knows a dark age is coming. To create a beacon of hope for future generations, he brings together the best minds of scientists and scholars to a bleak planet at the edge of the galaxy. This sanctuary will be known as Foundation.

 

 

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu

A deadly virus, newly unearthed from melting permafrost, reshapes life on earth for generations. How High We Go in the Dark follows an intricately linked cast of characters across hundreds of years as humanity stubbornly rebuilds their world through an endless capacity for love, resilience and reinvention.

 

 

Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki

Shizuka Satomi has made a faustian deal with the devil and must deliver 7 violin prodigies' souls to escape her own damnation. Runaway Katrina Nguyen might just be her final candidate. But in a donut shop, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn’t have time for crushes or dates but soon finds that a warm smile might just redefine the worth of a soul and be powerful enough to break a curse.

 

 

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers

Welcome to the Wayfarer. Life with the patched-up ship’s diverse crew is chaotic, cathartic, and sometimes dangerous. In the far reaches of deep space, they will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. Secrets will be revealed, wormholes will be tunneled, and a family will be forged.

 

 

The Martian by Andy Weir

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet.

 

 

A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga

A charming middle-grade novel that follows Resilience, rover with very human-like feelings. As millions watch his progress across the dangerous terrain of Mars, Res finds himself tested in unexpected ways. 

 

 

Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh

All her life Kyr has trained for the day she can avenge the murder of planet Earth. Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, she readies herself to face the Wisdom, the all-powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the Majoda their victory over humanity. But when Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to the nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity’s revenge into her own hands.

 

 

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".

 

 

Starter Villain by John Scalzi

Divorced substitute teacher, Charlie, just wants the bank to approve his loan so he can buy the pub down the street and maybe get his life in order. But things quickly take a turn when he inherits a supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) from his uncle, and all the enemies and complications that come with it.