Mockingjay

I just wanted to remind everyone that the third installment in the Hunger Games series comes out in about a month! I am very excited. I just leant mine to a girl at work, and she is enjoying them. I want to read them again before the next one comes out I think. -Emily

A Peek into Victorian Society

If anyone is interested in murder mysteries and Victorian society, Anne Perry is the writer for you. I actually enjoy just about anything by her. She writes historical mysteries in the 1800's, but she really captures the stifling, restrictive, hypocritical society of the time and brings out the fact that even though they tried to put forward the idea of perfect morality, immorality was always there under the surface. She also brings out the struggle of women to be viewed as equal members of humanity and touches on all the issues that present because of that. She writes one series that is a policeman and his wife - the first book is called the Cater Street Hangman and details how they meet. The second series is about a PI who has no memory beyond about 4 years previous due to an accident and he finds out he's not really who he wants to be. I'm sure you can find lots of them in the library, I know even Magrath carries them.
An interesting note- Perry joined the church later in life and you can see a lot of her thoughts reflected in her writing as she explores the values and beliefs of this amazingly claustrophic, narrow minded society. The books are not typical LDS fodder though, so don't expect it. She has no problem facing the dregs of society for what they really are, lol.
Usually a good twist at the end though, and always great characters. She is reminiscent of Agatha Christie or P.B. James in style, so if you haven't read those you may find it slower moving than mainstream mysteries and more psychological. Still, I really enjoy them. I find that she manages to touch on issues that make us uncomfortable without getting gory or using profanity or expliciteness. (Is that a word?) Jen