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 Weekly Words about Books
OCTOBER 13, 2013
It's No Mystery Why These New Releases Will Be Popular

POLICE: A Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbo. At the end of the previous Harry Hole mystery, Phantom, it was unclear whether it was also the end of the popular series. Jo Nesbo, who has made readers forget Steig Larsson with his dark and complex Scandinavian crime thrillers, teased the death of his Norwegian police detective off by having Hole's surrogate son shoot him in the head. Now, the police urgently need Harry to help track a brutal cop killer, but he remains out of commission for much of the novel. It's an opportunity for some of Hole''s supporting cast of characters to shine, and they quickly become involved in a deadly game of cat and mouse. Twists and turns abound, as Nesbo adds an impressive entry to this terrific series.

SPIDER WOMAN'S DAUGHTER by Anne Hillerman. When author Tony Hillerman died in 2008, mystery fans figured that was the last they would see of Navaho Tribal Police stalwarts Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. But with Spider Woman's Daughter, Anne Hillerman continues the Leaphorn and Chee series of her late father. And the good news is that she does it well, offering up a solid mystery and incorporating the Navaho lore that add to the richness of the series. Daughter Hillerman does make one big change, relegating Leaphorn and Chee to the background and making Chee's wife Bernadette (Bernie) Manuelito the mystery's chief protagonist. The book starts out with a bang, as Bernie is witness to a shocking shooting, and maintains a strong, suspenseful pace throughout. Seems likely that more Hillerman mysteries featuring the Navajo Tribal Police can be anticipated.
New Entries in Popular Kids Series
WHEN DID YOU SEE HER LAST? by Lemony Snicket. Not content to rest on the laurels earned from his dozen Series of Unfortunate Events books, Lemony Snicket (aka author Daniel Handler) has scored again with his new All the Wrong Questions series. The first book,  Who Could That Be at This Hour?, featured a young Snicket as an apprentice sleuth for a mysterious agency and was an immediate hit  with the 9-12 age group when it was published last Fall. The second, featuring Snicket searching for a missing girl, is now in independent bookstores. Filled with Handler's droll humor, this promises to be another kid-pleaser.

THE HOUSE OF HADES by Rick Riordan. 
Best known for his Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, the prolific Riordan has scored big again with another series featuring Jackson and Roman and Greek demigods. This fourth installment in his The Heroes of Olympus young adult novels will be flying off bookstore shelves, thanks to the legion of fans that have been following the mythological quests of Percy Jackson and his friends for years.

WHERE TO  
FIND AN INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORE
 
Many of you already have a favorite local bookstore, but for those of you without such a relationship, this link will take you to a list of Northern California indie bookstores by region.
 
If you live or work elsewhere, you can click here to find the nearest indie bookstore by simply
entering your postal code.
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BACK ISSUES
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME
My name is Hut Landon. I'm a former bookstore owner who now runs the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) in San Francisco.

My goal with this newsletter is to keep readers up to date about new books hitting the shelves, share what booksellers are recommending in their stores, and pass on occasional news about the book world.

I'm not into long, wordy reviews or literary criticism; I'd like HUT'S PLACE to be a quick, fun read for book buyers. If you have any friends who you think might like receiving this column each week, simply click on "Forward this email" below and enter their email address. There is also a box in which to add a short message.