Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom by Adam Chandler, 276 pages

 Most any honest person can own up to harboring at least one fast-food guilty pleasure. In Drive-Thru Dreams, Adam Chandler explores the inseparable link between fast food and American life for the past century. The dark underbelly of the industry’s largest players has long been scrutinized and gutted, characterized as impersonal, greedy, corporate, and worse. But, in unexpected ways, fast food is also deeply personal and emblematic of a larger than life image of America.

With wit and nuance, Chandler reveals the complexities of this industry through heartfelt anecdotes and fascinating trivia as well as interviews with fans, executives, and workers. He traces the industry from its roots in Wichita, where White Castle became the first fast food chain in 1921 and successfully branded the hamburger as the official all-American meal, to a teenager's 2017 plea for a year’s supply of Wendy’s chicken nuggets, which united the internet to generate the most viral tweet of all time.

Drive-Thru Dreams by Adam Chandler tells an intimate and contemporary story of America—its humble beginning, its innovations and failures, its international charisma, and its regional identities—through its beloved roadside fare.

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw, 276 pages

 The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.

Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that’s what Alessa Li is told when she’s kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.

But there’s more to Hellebore than meets the eye. On graduation day, the faculty go on a ravenous rampage, feasting on Alessa’s class. Only Alessa and a group of her classmates escape the carnage. Trapped in the school’s library, they must offer a human sacrifice every night, or else the faculty will break down the door and kill everyone.

Can they band together and survive, or will the faculty eat its fill?

The Cat Who Went Into the Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun, 276 pages

 Qwill’s moved into the old Gage mansion—and the cats are on a treasure hunt. The house’s fifty closets are crammed with several generations of junk, and while Qwill investigates two recent deaths—those of the mansion’s former occupant and a local potato farmer—Koko investigates the contents of the closets. Qwill and the cats wind up unearthing some surprising skeletons—and bringing long-buried secrets to light...

Duh! The Stupid History of the Human Race by Bob Fenster, 276 pages

 Never kiss a rattlesnake. Put on the parachute before jumping from the plane. Don't bring your dog along if you're going to rob a bank. These seem like obvious enough strategies but, unfortunately, we seem to be a race of rattlesnake kissers.

Duh! The Stupid History of the Human Race is a hilarious collection of the stupid things that people do-even the really smart people. "Part 1: The Stupid Chronicles" details the unbelievably idiotic things people have done, organized by such topics as politics, history, sports, arts, science, and dumb plays in the face of fate. "Part 2: Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Stupidity but Were Too Smart to Ask" looks at the track record of human stupidity in all its dumb glory. And "Part 3: How to Destupify" offers tongue-in-cheek advice on how to avoid ending up in a future edition of the book.

To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas, 276 pages

 Victorian enquiry agent Cyrus Barker and his young assistant Thomas Llewelyn, first introduced in Will Thomas's critically acclaimed debut novel Some Danger Involved , are back with a new mission in To Kingdom Come .

When a bomb destroys the Special Irish Branch of Scotland Yard, all fingers point to the increasingly brazen factions of Irish dissidents seeking liberation from English rule. Volunteering their services to the British government, Barker and Llewelyn set out to infiltrate a secret cell of the Irish Republican Brotherhood known as the Invisibles. Posing as a reclusive German bomb maker and his anarchist apprentice, they are recruited for the group's ultimate to bring London to its knees and end the monarchy forever.

Their adventures take them from an abandoned lighthouse on the craggy coast of Wales to the City of Light, where Llewelyn goes undercover with Maire O'Casey, the alluring sister of an Irish radical. Llewelyn again finds himself put to the test by his enigmatic employer as he is schooled in the deadly science of bomb making.

Fraught with explosives, secret initiations, and vicious stick fights, and featuring historical figures such as Charles Parnell and W. B. Yeats, To Kingdom Come is a riveting sequel to Some Danger Involved .

Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World's Most Coveted Delicacy by Inga Saffron, 276 pages

 In the tradition of Cod and Olives: a fascinating journey into the hidden history, culture, and commerce of caviar.

Once merely a substitute for meat during religious fasts, today caviar is an icon of luxury and wealth. In Caviar, Inga Saffron tells, for the first time, the story of how the virgin eggs of the prehistoric-looking, bottom-feeding sturgeon were transformed from a humble peasant food into a czar’s delicacy–and ultimately a coveted status symbol for a rising middle class. She explores how the glistening black eggs became the epitome of culinary extravagance, while taking us on a revealing excursion into the murky world of caviar on the banks of the Volga River and Caspian Sea in Russia, the Elbe in Europe, and the Hudson and Delaware Rivers in the United States. At the same time, Saffron describes the complex industry caviar has spawned, illustrating the unfortunate consequences of mass marketing such a rare commodity.

The story of caviar has long been one of conflict, crisis, extravagant claims, and colorful characters, such as the Greek sea captain who first discovered the secret method of transporting the perishable delicacy to Europe, the canny German businessmen who encountered a wealth of untapped sturgeon in American waters, the Russian Communists who created a sophisticated cartel to market caviar to an affluent Western clientele, the dirt-poor poachers who eked out a living from sturgeon in the aftermath of the Soviet collapse and the “caviar Mafia” that has risen in their wake, and the committed scientists who sacrificed their careers to keep caviar on our tables.
Filled with lore and intrigue, Caviar is a captivating work of culinary, natural, and cultural history.

The Devil's Novice by Ellis Peters, 276 pages

In the autumn of 1140 the Benedictine monastery at Shrewsbury finds its new novice Meriet Aspley a bit disturbing. The younger son of a prominent family, Meriet is meek and biddable by day, but his sleep is rife with nightmares so violent that they earn him the name of "Devil's Novice". Shunned by the other monks, Aspley attracts the concern of Brother Cadfael. Then a body appears, that of a young priest last seen at the Aspley estate. Can Meriet be involved in the death? As events take a sinister turn, it falls to Brother Cadfael to detect the truth.

Teacher, Teacher, I Done It! I Done It! I Done Done It! by Grace Bacon Ferrier, 276 pages

The memoir of a former teacher in the mid-Missouri area around the time of WWII.

Bitter Brew by G.A. McKevett, 276 pages

Although P.I. Savannah Reid always has a lot on her plate, she would drop just about anything for a friend in trouble. But when good intentions pull her into a toxic murder case, Savannah’s days as San Carmelita’s most full-figured detective might be running out . . .  
Savannah is shaken to the core when coroner Dr. Jennifer Liu appears on her doorstep late one night with a disturbing confession. In a potentially career-ruining move, a remorseful Dr. Liu admits to fudging an autopsy report to keep her friend Brianne’s suicide a secret—fulfilling a final promise made before the terminally ill woman administered a lethal drug cocktail. But after Dr. Liu finds the same unique mixture in a second body, she fears the deaths share a dark connection . . .
 
Apprehensive about concealing a felony, Savannah and the Moonlight Magnolia Detective Agency launch a discreet investigation into Brianne’s rare condition and the deadly concoction linking the two bodies. As chilling evidence points to an undeniable case of double murder, the agency races to slim down the suspect list and blow the lid off a shifty criminal’s poisonous agenda. Savannah only hopes that, like Dr. Liu, her desire to help a friend won’t put her reputation at risk—or, worse, land her on the next slab . . .

Memoirs Of a Bow Street Runner The Thief Taker by T. F. Banks, 276 pages

June 1815. When Henry Morton is called to the scene at Portman House in Claridge Square, the Bow Street constable finds a man dead in a hackney coach--ostensibly of asphyxiation. He was Halbert Glendinning, a gentleman of unsullied character. Then why was he seen frequenting one of London’s most notorious dens of iniquity? And why has the driver of the coach vanished into the night?

While Sir Nathaniel Conant, the chief magistrate at Number 4 Bow Street, accepts the official verdict of accidental death, Morton is certain that Glendinning was a victim of foul play. With the help of actress Arabella Malibrant, one of London’s most celebrated beauties, he embarks on his own discreet inquiry. And as the upper circles of London society close ranks against him, Morton races to unmask a killer whose motives are as complex and unfathomable as the passions that rule the human heart.

Die Laughing by Carola Dunn, 276 pages

A historical murder mystery featuring the death of an English dentist. Very fun and well done.

Dr. Critchlore's School For Minions by Sheila Grau, 276 pages

What's a villain without a well-trained henchman or minion. This school is dedicated to training those young future minions.

Anne of Avonlea by L. M. Montgomery, 276 pages

I realized that I've never read any of the sequels to Anne of Green Gables, so I'm going to work my way through them. I really like seeing Anne growing up. In some ways it reminds me of the Little House on the Prairie episodes where Laura is growing up and falls in love with Almanzo.

Princess of the Midnight Ball by Jessica Day George, 276 pages

I always enjoy a retelling of fairy tales. This one was the twelve dancing princesses. It was very well done and entertaining. I'll be picking up the others in the series.

Catnapped by Elaine Viets, 276 pages

I always like this series because it's fun, well-written, and a great peek into some low-end jobs that don't usually get the respect they deserve.

The Spanish Queen by Carolly Erickson, 276 pages

I love historical fiction, especially English history, so Carolly Erickson is always a favorite read. Her newest book covers Catherine of Aragon and her love affair with Henry VIII that so turned religion and England upside down.

My Happy Days in Hollywood by Garry Marshall & Lori Marshall, 276 pages

I'd finished Penny Marshall's biography not too long ago, so it was interesting to read about the same show (Laverne & Shirley) from her brother's point of view. This family has created some of the best shows and movies around, I like the fact that they do family friendly very well.