"The Murder Book" by Jonathan Kellerman

How effective was the author's use of plot twists and red herrings? Were you able to predict certain things before they happened, or did the author keep you guessing until the end of the story?
 

For more information about the author, check out:

http://jonathankellerman.com/

"Midwives" by Chris Bohjalian

Did Sibyl's final diary entry change any of the opinions you formed during the course of reading about the trial?  If you had any firm ideas about home versus hospital birth, have they been changed by reading this book? Do you think that lay midwives should be allowed to practice? Would you trust yourself to the care of a midwife, or would you go to a hospital for delivery by a doctor?

For further information about the author, check out:

http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Recovering from a painful loss, Eva Ward travels to Cornwall and the centuries-old Trelowarth House where she once spent happy summers. One morning, she hears unfamiliar voices in the next room, and on a walk she encounters a mysterious man who seems to be from another time. At first she attributes these oddities to symptoms of grief, but when the “hallucinations” continue to occur and she actually converses with the stranger in her bedroom, Eva concludes she has traveled back 300 years. Though she can’t control her comings and goings between the past and present, she begins to fall in love with Daniel Butler, a dashing man with a dangerous secret. As Eva investigates local annals, she learns some of what Daniel faced, but she’s unsure whether she can or should interfere in historical events—or if she can or should find a way to stay with him forever. Told in first person and with understated sensuality, the story of Eva and Daniel’s devotion and dilemma will keep readers avidly engaged.

 If you could travel back in time to the past, where would you go?  Claire traveled back in time as well, do you think she was aware of Eva's traveling into the past all along or just when Eva was injured?

"Crocodile on the Sandbank" by Elizabeth Peters

Amelia Peabody is an unique character -- a female in the Victorian era and she was given an education and the means to pursue her interests.  Would her character have succeeded at a different time in history?

For more information about the author, check out:
http://www.mpmbooks.com/

For interviews with the author, check out:
http://archive.archaeology.org/0503/abstracts/mertz.html

http://www.powells.com/ink/elizabethpeters.html

http://news.shelf-awareness.com/msgget.jsp?mid=1937676

"Killing Floor" by Lee Child

"Killing Floor" is the first of the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child.  Is his character 'too good to be true'?  He has military training which serves him well in combative situations.  Would he really have let his guard down while in NYC, thinking about his brother, thus having a close call with the men lying in wait for him?

For more information about the author, check out:

http://leechild.com/

"The Secret of the Old Clock" by Carolyn Keene

What is your experience reading "The Secret of the Old Clock" by Carolyn Keene?  Is this the first time you are reading it? Or did you read it in your childhood? Does the story 'hold up' after all this time?

For information about the Nancy Drew series, check out:
http://www.series-books.com/nancydrew/nancydrew.html

For information about Mildred Wirt Benson, (who wrote 23 of the first 30 original Nancy Drew books), check out:
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/mar/28/entertainment/la-et-story28a-2010mar28

For information about the Stratemeyer Syndicate, and Edward Stratemeyer, who created many childhood book series of yesteryear, check out:
http://childrensbooks.about.com/b/2003/08/08/much-like-nancy-drew.htm

For information about "The Secret of the Old Clock" and its revisions, check out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_of_the_Old_Clock

"Executive Privilege" by Phillip Margolin

Phillip Margolin writes a taut, fast paced thriller in "Executive Privilege".  Were you able to anticipate who the murderer was?  Or were you led astray by his 'red herrings'?

For more information about the author, check out:

http://www.phillipmargolin.com/about.aspx

"Wailing Wind" by Tony Hillerman

In Tony Hilllerman's "The Wailing Wind", one of plot threads focused on the disappearance of Linda, Wiley Denton's wife.  As a reader, were you able to anticipate where she had gone?

For more information about the author, check out:

http://www.umsl.edu/~smueller/bio.htm

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/About.aspx?authorid=4488

To read his obituary in the New York Times, check out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/books/28hillerman.html?_r=0








"Like Water for Chocolate" by Laura Esquivel

What role does tradition play in this book? Is it always a negative role, as exemplified by Mama Elena?  What might the author be suggesting about familiy or cultural customs in general?

For more discussion questions and  information about the author, check out:

http://www.litlovers.com/reading-guides/13-fiction/8751-like-water-for-chocolate-esquivel?start=1

"The House of Silk" by Anthony Horowitz

Anthony Horowitz was given permission by the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to create a new Sherlock Holmes story.

When following Holmes's logic, do you believe that he is drawing the right conclusions and assumptions based on the evidence provided in the novel? Would his conclusions be probable in the real world or in the historical narrative?

For more information about the author, check out:

http://www.anthonyhorowitz.com/about/