Book picks similar to
Flying Crows by Jim Lehrer


fiction
historical-fiction
mystery
wwii

The Secret Keeper


Kate Morton - 2012
    She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and watches as her mother speaks to him. Before the afternoon is over, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy—her vivacious, loving, nearly perfect mother.Now, fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress living in London. The family is gathering at Greenacres farm for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this may be her last chance, Laurel searches for answers to the questions that still haunt her from that long-ago day, answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past.Dorothy’s story takes the reader from pre–WWII England through the blitz, to the ’60s and beyond. It is the secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—who meet by chance in wartime London and whose lives are forever entwined. The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams and the unexpected consequences they sometimes bring. It is an unforgettable story of lovers and friends, deception and passion that is told—in Morton’s signature style—against a backdrop of events that changed the world.

The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress


Ariel Lawhon - 2014
    Behind this great man are three women, each with her own tale to tell: Stella, his fashionable wife, the picture of propriety; Maria, their steadfast maid, indebted to the judge; and Ritzi, his showgirl mistress, willing to seize any chance to break out of the chorus line.As the twisted truth emerges, Ariel Lawhon’s wickedly entertaining debut mystery transports us into the smoky jazz clubs, the seedy backstage dressing rooms, and the shadowy streets beneath the Art Deco skyline.

Confessions of a Pagan Nun


Kate Horsley - 2001
    She also writes of her fiercely independent mother, whose skill with healing plants and inner strength she inherited. She writes of her druid teacher, the brusque but magnetic Giannon, who first introduced her to the mysteries of written language. But disturbing events at the cloister keep intervening. As the monastery is rent by vague and fantastic accusations, Gwynneve's words become the one force that can save her from annihilation.

The Nazi Hunter: A Novel


Alan Elsner - 2007
    "I have documents," she says, "important documents only for the Nazi Hunter." She promises to bring them the next day. When she doesn't show, he dismisses her as just another crackpot. But when he reads in the "Washington Post" next morning that the woman has been brutally murdered, he senses he's on to something big. He must find those documents. The trail leads from Washington to Miami, to Boston, back to the Belzec concentration camp in Poland, where half a million Jews were murdered in the winter of 1942, and into the lair of America's fascist militias.

The Snow Gypsy


Lindsay Jayne Ashford - 2019
    Eight years ago, her brother disappeared while fighting alongside Gypsy partisans in Spain. From his letters, Rose has just two clues to his whereabouts—his descriptions of the spectacular south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and his love for a woman who was carrying his child.In Spain, it has been eight years since Lola Aragon’s family was massacred. Eight years since she rescued a newborn girl from the arms of her dying mother and ran for her life. She has always believed that nothing could make her return…until a plea for help comes from a desperate stranger.Now, Rose, Lola, and the child set out on a journey from the wild marshes of the Camargue to the dazzling peaks of Spain’s ancient mountain communities. As they come face-to-face with war’s darkest truths, their lives will be changed forever by memories, secrets, and friendships.

A Conspiracy of Paper


David Liss - 2000
    The son of a wealthy stock trader, he lives estranged from his family - until he is asked to investigate his father’s sudden death. Thus Weaver descends into the deceptive world of the English stock jobbers, gliding between coffee houses and gaming houses, drawing rooms and bordellos. The more Weaver uncovers, the darker the truth becomes, until he realizes that he is following too closely in his father’s footsteps - and they just might lead him to his own grave. An enthralling historical thriller, A Conspiracy of Paper will leave readers wondering just how much has changed in the stock market in the last three hundred years ...

The Power of One


Bryce Courtenay - 1989
    There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams, which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives and the power of one.

The Samurai's Garden


Gail Tsukiyama - 1994
    Here he is cared for by Matsu, a reticent housekeeper and a master gardener. Over the course of a remarkable year, Stephen learns Matsu's secret and gains not only physical strength, but also profound spiritual insight. Matsu is a samurai of the soul, a man devoted to doing good and finding beauty in a cruel and arbitrary world, and Stephen is a noble student, learning to appreciate Matsu's generous and nurturing way of life and to love Matsu's soul-mate, gentle Sachi, a woman afflicted with leprosy.

Tangled Threads


Sandy Hill - 2011
    Can they reconcile or will death and betrayal mark their lives and the lives of their families forever? Delia O'Toole is determined to escape the nursing home that has become her prison. So when her lifelong enemy, Ruthann, begs her to return to their hometown in North Carolina, Delia realizes it's time to confront Ruthann. It's time to deal with “the accident.” “Tangled Threads,” vetted for accuracy by an expert on early mill villages, moves between the 1890s and the 1950s. Along the way, it explores the limits of forgiveness and the difficult choices that await us at the end of life. Book club discussion questions included.

The Good German


Joseph Kanon - 2001
    His assignment: a series of articles on the Allied occupation. His personal agenda: to find Lena, the German mistress he left behind at the outbreak of the war. When Jake stumbles on a murder -- an American soldier washes up on the conference grounds -- he thinks he has found the key that will unlock his Berlin story. What Jake finds instead is a larger story of corruption and intrigue reaching deep into the heart of the occupation. Berlin in July 1945 is like nowhere else -- a tragedy, and a feverish party after the end of the world. As Jake searches the ruins for Lena, he discovers that years of war have led to unimaginable displacement and degradation. As he hunts for the soldier's killer, he learns that Berlin has become a city of secrets, a lunar landscape that seethes with social and political tension. When the two searches become entangled, Jake comes to understand that the American Military Government is already fighting a new enemy in the east, busily identifying the "good Germans" who can help win the next war. And hanging over everything is the larger crime, a crime so huge that it seems -- the worst irony -- beyond punishment. At once a murder mystery, a moving love story, and a riveting portrait of a unique time and place, The Good German is a historical thriller of the first rank.

Powder Island: the Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mysteries, Book 26


Charles Veley - 2021
    A wounded ally. And the rise of a new and powerful enemy . . . When an unforeseen blast destroys part of England’s largest gunpowder factory, Inspector Gregson, a former ally of Sherlock Holmes, is put on the case. Holmes waits for a call to help Gregson investigate, but the call never comes. Soon Gregson will be demoted to a lowly beat patrolman, walking the streets of Whitechapel. Nine months later, the factory owner comes to Holmes for help. He has rebuilt the demolished structure and needs to resume operations. But he's received an anonymous note threatening another explosion.All known suspects have iron-clad alibis, and there are no other leads. If the culprit is not caught, the factory may never reopen, and the livelihoods of four hundred workers and their families will vanish permanently.Then Gregson is brutally stabbed in a Whitechapel alley. More mysterious circumstances unfold. Holmes realizes the Baker Street team is up against a powerful and complex enemy who will stop at nothing to avoid being caught. Can the team unmask the malefactor before more damage is done? Or will all their efforts go up in smoke?A thrilling and fast-paced take on a classic Sherlock who-done-it, complete with unexpected twists and turns, clever sleuthing, and diabolical villainy. Powder Island stays faithful to the spirit of the beloved original series, while adding fresh new mysteries and dynamic new characters. Get it today!

Allegiance


Kermit Roosevelt III - 2015
    Instead, he's given the opportunity to serve as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black. He and another clerk stumble onto a potentially huge conspiracy aimed at manipulating the court's decisions, and the cases dealing with the constitutionality of the prison camps created to detain Japanese-Americans seem to play a key part. Then Cash's colleague dies under mysterious circumstances, and the young, idealistic lawyer is determined to get at the truth. His investigation will take him from the office of J. Edgar Hoover to an internment camp in California, where he directly confronts the consequences of America's wartime policies.Kermit Roosevelt combines the momentum of a top-notch legal thriller with a thoughtful examination of one of the worst civil rights violations in US history in this long-awaited follow-up to In the Shadow of the Law.A riveting tale of murder and conspiracy within the highest echelons of government in WWII Washington, D.C. Kermit Roosevelt's novel Allegiance brings to stunning life Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and his zealous acolytes, Herbert Hoover's ferocious condemnation of Frankfurter as "the most dangerous man in America" and Attorney General Francis Biddle's tortured ambivalence regarding the Japanese relocation camps. When Caswell "Cash" Harrison, an idealistic blueblood from Philadelphia's Main Line, is appointed clerk to Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black, he's ineluctably drawn into a complex narrative where power and secret knowledge have become the lethal currency of Washington. Cordelia Frances Biddle, author of Saint Katharine, The Life of Katharine Drexel, Without Fear, Deception's Daughter, and The Conjurer.

Miramont's Ghost


Elizabeth Hall - 2015
    Only one person knows the truth: Adrienne Beauvier, granddaughter of the Comte de Challembelles and cousin to the man who built the castle.Clairvoyant from the time she could talk, Adrienne’s visions show her the secrets of those around her. When her visions begin to reveal dark mysteries of her own aristocratic French family, Adrienne is confronted by her formidable Aunt Marie, who is determined to keep the young woman silent at any cost. Marie wrenches Adrienne from her home in France and takes her to America, to Miramont Castle, where she keeps the girl isolated and imprisoned. Surrounded by eerie premonitions, Adrienne is locked in a life-or-death struggle to learn the truth and escape her torment.Reminiscent of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, this hauntingly atmospheric tale is inspired by historical research into the real-life Miramont Castle in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Breaking The Silence


Diane Chamberlain - 1998
    A woman who remembers nothing—except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make.But Laura's promise results in another death. Her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it…to talk at all.Frantic and guilt ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help. A man she's met only once—six years before. A man who doesn't know he's Emma's real father.Guided only by a child's silence and an old woman's fading memories, the two unravel a tale of love and despair, of bravery and unspeakable evil. A tale that's shrouded in silence…and that unbelievably links them all.

Second Glance


Jodi Picoult - 2003
    An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal. (An interview about the book is included below the reading guide)."Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she wants to?" An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it's a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there's nothing spiritual about the property. Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. He's driven his car off a bridge into a lake. He's been mugged in New York City and struck by lightning in a calm country field. Yet despite his best efforts, life clings to him and pulls him ever deeper into the empty existence he cannot bear since his fiancée's death in a car crash eight years ago. Ross now lives only for the moment he might once again encounter the woman he loves. But in Comtosook, the only discovery Ross can lay claim to is that of Lia Beaumont, a skittish, mysterious woman who, like Ross, is on a search for something beyond the boundary separating life and death. Thus begins Jodi Picoult's enthralling and ultimately astonishing story of love, fate, and a crime of passion. Hailed by critics as a "master" storyteller (Washington Post), Picoult once again "pushes herself, and consequently the reader, to think about the unthinkable" (Denver Post). Second Glance, her eeriest and most engrossing work yet, delves into a virtually unknown chapter of American history -- Vermont's eugenics project of the 1920s and 30s -- to provide a compelling study of the things that come back to haunt us -- literally and figuratively. Do we love across time, or in spite of it?