The Cat Who Robbed a Bank by Lilian Jackson Braun, 242 pages

 As the Highland Games approach, Jim Qwilleran and the citizens of Pickax prepare to celebrate their Scottish heritage with such events as bagpipe skirling and tossing the caber. But the traditional revelry is marred by troublesome rumors when a visiting jewelry dealer, renowned for his romantic streak (and his mysterious cash-only policy), is found dead in his hotel room. His assistant is missing—and soon, the winner of the caber-tossing contest disappears as well. Quill has a lot of mysteries to sort out- not the least of which is Koko's sudden interest in photographs, pennies, and paper towels..

Thing by Stasia Black, 242 pages

 Being the angel of death’s a lonely gig, so when she trespasses into my realm, I decide to keep her...

Thing’s been alone all his life, even when he wasn’t chained to a dungeon wall half-mad for two centuries.
He’s not like his brothers.
He’s come to prefer his solitude. Or so he thinks.
Because when a fierce woman with covered in blood comes crashing through the forest into his many arms, he begins to wonder if he might just want a consort of his very own…

Aunt Dimity & the Enchanted Cottage by Nancy Atherton, 242 pages

 In the twenty-fifth installment of the bestselling Aunt Dimity series, when an inscrutable newcomer arrives in Finch, Lori is determined to befriend him--and in the process discovers Finch's own heart-wrenching past.

It's early May in the small English village of Finch and the air is crackling with excitement: a newcomer is about to move into Pussywillows, a riverside cottage with a romantic reputation. Will the cottage's newest resident prove yet again its enchanting ability to match-make? But when Crispin Windle arrives, no one knows what to make of him: seemingly a loner, he repels every welcoming gesture and appears altogether uninterested in being a part of the community. Soon, the townspeople have all but dismissed him.

Only Lori and Tommy Prescott, a young army veteran who recently moved to Finch, refuse to give up. They orchestrate a chance meeting that leads to a startling discovery: a set of overgrown ruins. They are, Aunt Dimity shares, the remains of a Victorian wooden mill that once brought prosperity to Finch.

As the three explore, they stumble upon the unmarked graves of children who died working at the mill. Heartbroken, Lori, Tommy, and Mr. Windle get to work on the seemingly impossible task of identifying the children to give them a proper burial. And as Mr. Windle works tirelessly to name the forgotten children, he slowly begins to open up--giving the romantic cottage a chance to heal his heart, as well.

Of Whales and Women by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr., 242 pages

 Of Whales and Women is at the same time a history of Nantucket from the whaling days of great derring-do and a warm personal memoir of many happy summers spent there by the Gilbreth (Cheaper by the Dozen) clan.

A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, 242 pages

 Nevil Shute's most beloved novel, a tale of love and war, follows its enterprising heroine from the Malayan jungle during World War II to the rugged Australian outback.

Jean Paget, a young Englishwoman living in Malaya, is captured by the invading Japanese and forced on a brutal seven-month death march with dozens of other women and children. A few years after the war, Jean is back in England, the nightmare behind her. However, an unexpected inheritance inspires her to return to Malaya to give something back to the villagers who saved her life. Jean's travels leads her to a desolate Australian outpost called Willstown, where she finds a challenge that will draw on all the resourcefulness and spirit that carried her through her war-time ordeals.

Coffins For Two by Vincent Starrett, 242 pages

 Eighteen Golden Age stories of mystery, romance, and danger from the celebrated author of Murder in Peking and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

As he tries to reunite with the woman he loves, an escaped fugitive becomes enveloped in a game of cat and mouse with the policeman who put him away. An undertaker and his assistant discover a potion of almost magical proportions. A young woman hatches an elaborate plot to get her suitors institutionalized. A professional golfer becomes infatuated with another man's wife. A short story writer finds an unusual way to work out his next idea while riding public transportation.

Although Vincent Starrett went on to write successful mystery novels, he continued creating tales like these for pulp magazines in the 1920s and 30s. "The Fugitive," "The Elixir of Death," "Four Friends of Mavis," "The End of the Story," and "The Truth About Delbridge" are just a sampling of the fantastic and bizarre stories featured in this volume, some exhibiting a sense of humor, others irony or terror.

How To Raise an Elephant by Alexander McCall Smith, 242 pages

 They say it takes a village to raise a child, but can Mma Ramotswe and the rest of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency come together to raise a pipsqueak pachyderm? We may find out in this novel. We may not. Who can say?

Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland, 242 pages

A Dutch painting of a young girl, possibly a Vermeer, survives three and a half centuries through loss, flood, anonymity, secrecy, theft, even the Holocaust. This is the story of its sometimes desperate owners whose lives are influenced by its seductive beauty and mystery, and whose defining moments take place in its presence. Despite their unsatisfied longings, their own and others' flaws, the girl in hyacinth blue has the power to generate love in all its human variety.

The German-American son of the Nazi who looted it from a Jewish home in Amsterdam in 1942, hides it out of shame for his father's atrocities, loves it with awe and passion, wrestles with moral questions of unlawful ownership and his own responsibilities of penance and restitution, and, like his father, ultimately fails as a human being.

The rest of the eight stories which make up this composite novel move back in time to the Renaissance. In each episode, the painting figures in casual affairs, natural catastrophe, flawed marriages, domestic violence, a murder, a hanging, yet in spite of these dreary circumstances, the power of beauty and art elevates the characters in individual, subtle ways.

Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs, 242 pages

Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is finally invited to a social event that she doesn't have to cater—but there's more than champagne bubbling…

 

Theo is mingling with the cream of Charleston society at the engagement soiree of the season. But as they eagerly await the dazzling young couple's arrival—the groom meets with a freak accident. The exquisite wedding ring—a family heirloom from the crown of Marie Antoinette—is mysteriously missing. Theodosia suspects that trouble is brewing. But when she goes to the authorities, they treat her like she's been reading tea leaves—and that's the surest way to put Theodosia's kettle on the boil…

The Reading Circle by Ashton Lee, 242 pages

This hasn't been a bad series. I do like reading about a small town librarian.

The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams by Rhonda Hayter, 242 pages

I had to kill an hour waiting for Samantha on Saturday and this was the only thing I could find in the car. A girl has to deal with 5th grade, a younger brother, and hiding the fact that her family are witches from her best friend. Then you throw in a new kitten that seems to be just a little peculiar, and it might be more than this witch can handle.
This was actually a really fun book that I enjoyed.

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall Smith, 242 pages

I've been reading this series from the very beginning. While some of the later books have dragged just a little, this one was very well done and enjoyable. It's interesting to see how the relationships between the characters have developed and grown, especially Charlie in this book.