Reading Ahead: August 2017, part 4

From history to mysteries, the library has something for everyone this summer. Don't believe me? Read on!

The Last Tudor, by Philippa Gregory. Gregory (The Other Boleyn Girl, The White Princess, etc.) continues with her tales of the Plantagenets and Tudors in her latest novel. Lady Jane Grey was crowned queen instead of Mary Tudor, but reigned a mere nine days before the forces backing Mary Tudor's rightful place on the throne overthrew Grey and her family, locking Lady Jane in the Tower. Refusing to convert to Catholicism to appease Queen Mary, Lady Jane went the executioner's block as a martyr. Yet Jane left behind two sisters, Katherine and Mary, each of whom would go on to defy their queen in their own turns--this is their story. Also available in Large Print. 

The Right Time, by Danielle Steel. Orphaned as a teenager, Alexandra Winslow finds solace in writing, filling her spare time with characters and plots. While she finds luck in the publishing world at a young age, she also chooses to use a male pseudonym when publishing her crime novels, creating a double life that becomes increasingly difficult to manage. Also available in Large Print. 

Glass Houses, by Louise Penny. Thirteenth in Penny's immensely popular Inspector Gamache mystery series (following 2016's A Great Reckoning), Glass Houses finds Gamache's own conscience standing trial. A mysterious figure appears on a rainy November day, a figure that remains unmoving in the cold sleet. But what can Gamache do about this? The next day the figure is gone...but a body has been found. And in the months that follow, it will be an unraveling of what happened, and what he might have done differently, that pulls readers through to the very end.

Y is for Yesterday, by Sue Grafton. The darkest Kinsey Milhone novel to date, Y begins in 1979, when four young men attack a classmate and film the attack. When the tape goes missing, the suspected thief, a fellow classmate, is murdered. One boy turns state's evidence, two are sentenced, and the ringleader disappears without a trace. Ten years later, one of the perpetrators is released from prison, only to have the missing tape delivered with a ransom demand. His parents contact Kinsey Milhone for help, and while she is drawn into the investigation, she keeps a close eye on the young ex-con. Because someone with a grudge is coming... Also available in Large Print.