No Pressure Book Club

 

All the Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy

In a dangerous era, Freedom and artistic expression are worth everything. Myshkin is determined to understand why his mother left India, and him, for Dutch-held Bali during the 1930s. This enthralling book offers a new perspective on a familiar time.

 

 

The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies by Alison Goodman

In Regency London, Lady Augusta Colebrook, “Gus”, is determinedly unmarried and bored. She and her twin sister, Julia, who is grieving her dead betrothed, need a distraction. Saving a young woman from her violent husband, and clearing the name of a handsome comrade, should do the trick!

 

 

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

In 1939 Nazi Germany, Liesel is one of many children taken from her parents and sent to live with a “proper” German family, losing her brother and gaining a love of reading along the way. Encouraged by her foster father, she steals books from the mayor and from the piles left burning by soldiers. When her family makes the dangerous decision to hide someone in their basement, her life and everything she knows is turned upside down.

 

 

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

Drawing from the Icelandic Sagas, The Half-Drowned King takes inspiration from the true story of Ragnvald of Maer, the right hand man of King Harald Fairhair, first king of all Norway, and his sister, Svanhild, as she tries to find freedom in a society where the higher her brother rises, the greater her worth as a political pawn.

 

 

The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

On the Korean island of Jeju, Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls from very different backgrounds, begin working with their village’s all-female diving collective. Over many decades—through the Japanese colonialism of the 1930s and 1940s, World War II, the Korean War, and the era of cellphones and wet suits for the women divers—Mi-ja and Young-sook develop the closest of bonds. Nevertheless, their differences are impossible to ignore, and forces outside their control will push their relationship to the breaking point.

 

 

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

Two sisters in a remarkable period of time. Nefertiti, ambitious and charismatic, is beloved by the common people along with her heretical husband, Pharoah Amunhotep, but that may not be enough with powerful priests and others plotting against them.  Mutnodjmet has never shared her sister's desire for power and yearns for a quiet existence. But her independence might come at the cost of defying her powerful sister.

 

 

News of the World by Paulette Jiles

An elderly widower, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd, travels through north Texas in the wake of the Civil War, giving live readings from newspapers to audiences hungry for news of the world. That is until he is offered $50 to escort a young orphan, raised by Native Americans, to San Antonio. They don’t see eye-to-eye, and the 400-mile journey tests both of their spirits, but the two eventually forge a bond that cannot be broken, even in the face of the law.

 

 

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Set in 12th century England, this epic tale details the stories of five very different characters: a master builder, a noblewoman, a prior, an artist, and a sorceress. Their lives intertwine around the building of the greatest Gothic cathedral the world has ever known, and are colored by love, betrayal, and revenge. It starts with the execution of an innocent man and ends with the humiliation of a king.

 

 

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

Her name is Dinah. Her story begins with the story of her mothers—Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah—the four wives of Jacob. They love Dinah and give her gifts that sustain her through a hard-working youth, a calling to midwifery, and a new home in a foreign land. This novel reveals the traditions and turmoils of ancient womanhood—weaving betrayal, loss, hope, and perseverance in the face of neglect and disregard.

 

 

Violeta by Isabel Allende

Born in South America during a stormy day in 1920, Violeta has lived a long life. In a final letter, she’ll tell every detail, from poverty to wealth, from joy to sorrow, women’s rights, the rise and fall of tyrants, pandemics, from love to heartbreak. Her life has been shaped by some of the most extraordinary and tragic events of the last 100 years.

 

 

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.