The Charleston Book Bag

Claire is escaping her abusive husband and public life. Eva is escaping her past mistakes. A chance encounter at the airport causes Claire and Eva to switch boarding passes and assume the other’s identity. But when a plane crash narrows Claire’s options, does she have the courage to evade Eva’s past demons and assume her identity completely? In The Last Flight , Julie Clark explores a multitude of current issues through mystery and suspense. However, it is Clark’s characters that ground the story and keep you turning the pages. Alternating between Claire and Eva’s perspectives, The Last Flight jumps between narrating the past and the present in the story. Each narrator is fully grounded and Clark will keep you turning pages long into the night.  Julie Clark’s follow up to The Ones We Choose is a great choice for anyone who enjoys a thriller, a mystery, or strong female characters in a book. The Last Flight is available at the Charleston Public Library in print and as an eboo...

     Someone is lying. Anna Andrews is a news anchor, living her dream life - until suddenly everything she’s worked so hard for is gone. Detective Chief Inspector Jack Harper is waiting for an exciting crime to show up - until it turns out he’s a suspect in his own murder investigation. Someone is dead in Blackdown, and somehow Anna and Jack are connected to the murder. Are they telling the truth to each other? Are they telling the truth to their readers? Combining unreliable narrators, a mysterious introduction, and alternating perspectives, His & Hers combines the best elements of a thriller and a mystery. I felt a little confused trying to catch up to the breakneck pace of the book at times, but the twists were worth any confusion they might’ve caused. His & Hers is a delightfully fast-paced thriller and you don’t want to miss it! His & Hers is Alice Feeney’s third novel, following Sometimes I Lie and I Know Who You Are . His & Hers is available...

     Not to be overly dramatic, but I’m fairly certain that every parent’s worst nightmare is their child being taken away from them forever. Playing Nice shows two families and something is horribly wrong. At the beginning of the book, Pete Riley is approached by a couple and informed that their babies were switched at birth. Theo, born prematurely and experiencing some difficulties, does not share any of his DNA. At first, the two families attempt to blend and pioneer a modern family blend that would keep either child from being uprooted. However, the domestic scene quickly turns dark. After all, it turns out that perhaps the children were switched on purpose - and a possible murder becomes involved.  Playing Nice is Delaney’s fourth novel, following The Girl Before , Believe Me , and The Perfect Wife . Delaney takes domestic drama and spins it into an exciting thriller expertly, using alternating perspectives, police documents, and other documents in the text....

      Family keeps secrets - from each other and from everyone else. The Morgan family is about to reveal one of their long-held confidences. It started with a road trip. It’s ending with a road trip. The Morgan siblings’ grandpa has died and left them an inheritance - to get it, they have to recreate their road trip from 20 years before. Eddie, Portia, and Beth set off (with Beth’s husband and Eddie’s wife) to complete their grandpa’s final wishes. But, it quickly becomes apparent that the siblings are hiding things - from their new spouses, from each other, and from everyone else. He Started It is narrated by Beth, who admits early in the book that she’s a cheater, and includes diary entries from the old road trip, writer unknown. Twisting and turning, Downing takes the reader on a thrilling trip with the Morgan family through the past and the present to find the truth. Samantha Downing’s follow up to My Lovely Wife (available in print, as an ebook, and an online au...

Everyone dreams of the perfect wedding day - but no one’s dream includes a murder (at least, none of mine have!). It’s the perfect destination wedding - a remote island off the coast of Ireland, a young couple with money and ambition, and all the perfect details for a picture-perfect wedding. However, each of these guests have a motive for murder. And someone is going to end up dead. Told from the flashback perspectives of the wedding planner, the “plus-one,” the bride, the best man, the bridesmaid, the story switches between flashback and the “present” the night of the wedding. Foley’s writing will keep you turning pages late into the night and the details in this mystery will keep your mind spinning. If you’ve enjoyed Agatha Christie’s novels (I’m thinking particularly of The Mysterious Affair at Styles and And Then There Were None ), check out The Guest List today. Foley’s earlier book, The Hunting Party , received similar comparisons to Christie and combined elements of a myste...

What if we didn’t tell the truth to ourselves? In The Girl From Widow Hills , Megan Miranda explores the far reaching effects of childhood trauma on Arden Olivia Maynor. Arden, at the age of six, was washed away during a rainstorm while sleepwalking. Arden never could escape her childhood trauma - or the fame that came afterward. Years later, she’s built a life for herself and left Arden Maynor behind her. But, when she wakes up one night in her yard and finds a corpse, her past comes calling.  Unreliable narrators are fascinating to read, although they can be difficult to follow. Miranda does an admirable job following Arden (later known as Olivia) through her journey from a sleepwalking miracle to a murder suspect. I think The Girl From Widow Hills is a thought provoking take on what can happen when we aren’t honest - even with ourselves. The Girl From Widow Hills kept me intrigued until the final page and I think my jaw might’ve dropped.  If you enjoyed Miranda’s Al...

the imperfects by Amy Meyerson Review by Hannah Hobbs Who has a perfect family? If you’re like me, your family is far from perfect. Amy Meyerson’s newest novel, the imperfects , displays the Miller family in all of their dysfunctional glory. Deborah and her three children - Beck, Jake, and Ashley -  try to find their own sense of family in the midst of theft, stalking, ex-boyfriends, conflict with the Austrian and Italian governments, and gems held in mostly secure vaults. As the Millers struggle for deeper connections with others and each other, they are working to uncover a mystery that has crossed the Atlantic Ocean almost a century ago. If you enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Seating Arrangements by Maggie Shipstead, Old Lovegood Girls by Gail Godwin, or The Paris Hours by Alex George, find the imperfects at your local library today. Amy Meyerson’s followup novel explores the broken dynamics of a grieving family discovering a lost treasure - the 137 carat F...