Book picks similar to
Down on Ponce by Fred Willard


fiction
noir
mystery-thriller
book-club

Deliverance


James Dickey - 1970
    In the thundering froth of that river, in its echoing stone canyons, four men on a canoe trip discover a freedom and exhilaration beyond compare. And then, in a moment of horror, the adventure turns into a struggle for survival as one man becomes a human hunter who is offered his own harrowing deliverance.

Take the Monkeys and Run


Karen Cantwell - 2010
    Typical, that is until she sets out to find the missing link between a bizarre monkey sighting in her yard and the bone chilling middle-of-the-night fright fest at the strangely vacant house next door. When Barb talks her two friends into some seemingly innocent Charlie’s Angels-like sleuthing, they stumble upon way more than they bargained for and uncover a piece of neighborhood history that certain people would kill to keep on the cutting room floor.Enter sexy PI Colt Baron, Barb’s ex-boyfriend who would love to be cast as new leading man, filling the role just vacated by her recently estranged husband, Howard. When Colt flies in from out of town to help Barb, events careen out of control and suddenly this mini-van driving mother of three becomes a major player in a treacherous and potentially deadly FBI undercover operation. It’s up to her now. With little time to spare, she and she alone, must summon the inner strength necessary to become a true action heroine and save the lives of those she loves. The question is can she get them out alive before the credits roll?

Land of a Hundred Wonders


Lesley Kagen - 2008
    Especially when she stumbles upon the dead body of the next governor of Kentucky, Buster Malloy.Armed with her trusty spiral notebook and accompanied by her dog, Keeper, Gibby figures that solving the murder of Buster Malloy might be her best chance to prove to her dearly departed mother, cantankerous grandfather, and everyone else in small town Shorewood that she can become Quite Right again. But she gets more than she bargained for when she uncovers a world of corruption, racism, and family secrets. Luckily, she's also about to discover that some things are far more important than all the brains in the world, that miracles occur in the most unexpected moments, and in the end . . . love really does conquer all.

The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse


Robert Rankin - 2002
    The Old Rich, who have made their millions from the royalties on their world-famous nursery rhymes, are being murdered one by one. A psychopath is on the loose, and he must be stopped at any cost. It’s a job for Toy Town’s only detective—but he’s missing, leaving only Eddie Bear, and his bestest friend Jack, to track down the mad killer.

Ajax Penumbra 1969


Robin Sloan - 2012
    Ajax Penumbra seeks a book--the single surviving copy of the Techne Tycheon, a mysterious volume that has brought and lost great fortune for anyone who has owned it. Late one night, after another day of dispiriting dead ends, he stumbles across a 24-hour bookstore, and the possibilities before him expand exponentially.

The Last President ** Travels And Adventures Of Little Baron Trump ** Baron Trumps’ Marvellous Underground Journey: INGERSOLL LOCKWOOD COLLECTION


Ingersoll Lockwood - 2017
    Written over 120 years ago, the first two novels feature a kid, whose name was Baron Trump, who resides in 5th avenue, New York, in a tower with his name, with his Master Don. A third novel is about a president who surprisingly wins an election... The Baron Trump novels recount the adventures of the German boy Wilhelm Heinrich Sebastian Von Troomp, who goes by "Baron Trump", as he discovers weird underground civilizations, offends the natives, flees from his entanglements with local women, and repeats this pattern until arriving back home at Castle Trump. Chris Riotta noted in Newsweek that Baron Trump's adventures begin in Russia, and also mentioned another book of Ingersoll's, The Last President, in which the president's home city of New York is riven by protests against a rigged presidential election. Jaime Fuller wrote in Politico that Baron Trump is "precocious, restless, and prone to get in trouble", often mentions his massive brain, and has a personalized insult for most people he meets. These novels, and some of its phrases and situations, really make people wonder if there are authors who have a window to the future, true prophets like Verne and his "From Earth to the Moon", Poe with his Arthur Gordon Pim (a story that occurred with names and last names 50 years later); and Robertson in Futility or the Wreck of the Titan, a novel about the wreck of the Titanic, with locations, names and descriptions, written 20 years! before the actual events.

The Blond Leading the Blond


Jayne Ormerod - 2011
    Curious upon receiving notice of the death of an aunt she hadn't known existed, Ellery travels to Braddocks Beach in hopes of learning a bit about her heritage. There she finds she is to inherit the family house, the family jewels, the family real estate holdings, the family bank accounts, and, much to her dismay, the family role of Queen Bee. Ellery also finds herself accused of Aunt Izzy's murder.Samantha Greene is the lifelong friend and neighbor of Isabel Tinsdale, as well as the self-appointed purveyor of Braddocks Beach history. The recent discovery of a surviving member of Braddocks Beach's 'royal family' sets the town abuzz with anticipation of Ellery's arrival. But Sam soon learns that Ellery is the only person to ever flunk out of Madame Rowena's School of Etiquette and has much to learn about making appearances, leading charity drives, heading up committees, and setting fashion trends. But first and foremost is the business of clearing the Tindsale name of murder.What do a third-grade science teacher and a small-town socialite know about tracking killers? It's what they don't know that gets them into trouble.

Lost & Found


Brooke Davis - 2014
    But one day, Millie’s mum leaves her alone beneath the Ginormous Women’s underwear rack in a department store, and doesn’t come back.Agatha Pantha is an eighty-two-year-old woman who hasn’t left her home since her husband died. Instead, she fills the silence by yelling at passers-by, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Until the day Agatha spies a little girl across the street.Karl the Touch Typist is eighty-seven years old and once typed love letters with his fingers on to his wife’s skin. He sits in a nursing home, knowing that somehow he must find a way for life to begin again. In a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes.Together, Millie, Agatha and Karl set out to find Millie’s mum. Along the way, they will discover that the young can be wise, that old age is not the same as death, and that breaking the rules once in a while might just be the key to a happy life.

The Women’s Center


Michele Fitzpatrick - 2015
     Ruth Fortune is a trustworthy CEO who trusts no one, ever. Artist Pat Conelli considers her seven children her masterpieces but wonders where she mislaid herself. June Magee is a master craftswoman who can't craft a single love match. And Diane Jonasen? Her news career is solid. Her sanity? Not so much. They have reunited thirty-five years after they were students at Shorelake College for Women to fulfill a promise to the woman who was their college president. They set out to transform an aging Chicago mansion into a twenty-first-century women's center, unaware the process will transform them. What can you do when loss obliterates your faith, duty blurs hope, self-doubt trumps love or guilt denies you forgiveness? Flawed, funny, occasionally furious, they are about to find out.

Scratch


Troon Mcallister - 2003
    When Eddie's former caddie, "Fat Albert" Auberlain (a cross between Tiger Woods and John Daly), loses his PGA Tour card, his endorsements, and his composure after posting a twelve on a par three at the Fruit-of-the-Loom Waste Management Open, Eddie finds the sad sack on his doorstep. Fat Albert, in debt up to his eyeballs and with several needy relatives to feed, had barely been eking out a living on Tour as it was, and the pressure was threatening to make him implode altogether. Eddie takes pity on his protege but isn't quite sure what he can do, when along comes nuclear physicist Norman Standish with the most revolutionary advance in golf equipment since the double niblick-a golf ball they call Scratch. If Standish's claims are true, Eddie could make the killing of his strange and wonderful life and just possibly change the game forever. With McAllister's patented golf hustling hijinks, roller-coaster plotting, and laugh-out-loud skewering of pro sports hypocrisy, Eddie's die-hard fans and golf fiction aficionados will laugh all the way to the putting green. As Eddie himself puts it in The Foursome, "Why do you think they call the devil "Scratch"?"

Best Staged Plans


Claire Cook - 2011
    So getting rid of her own house and downsizing should be a breeze, right?Well, best staged plans and all, Sandy's husband, Greg, is dragging his feet and their son, Luke, has returned home and moved into the "bat cave" in the basement.Sandy reads them both the riot act and takes a job staging a boutique hotel recently acquired by her best friend's boyfriend. The good news is that she can spend time in Atlanta with her recently married daughter, Shannon. The bad news is that Shannon soon receives a promotion and heads back up to Boston for training, leaving Sandy and her Southern son-in-law, Chance, as reluctant roommates. And Sandy finds herself in another delicate situation when she suspects her best friend's boyfriend may be seeing another woman on the side. Fixing up houses may turn out to be easier than fixing up lives.“Midlife craziness…a crowd-pleaser for empty nesters…charmer…Cook knows the territory of secret longing and snappy dialog.” —Publishers Weekly“Sandra is a professional home stager based out of the Boston area. Knowledgeable about home design and full of ideas, she somehow can’t manage to get her own house ready for the market, thanks to her slacking-off husband and son. When she gets an offer to stage a boutique hotel in Atlanta, she leaps at the chance to run away and get some distance and perspective. She soon starts to wonder whether her whole life, not just her home, needs a makeover. Fans of HGTV and of Cook’s previous charming fiction (Seven Year Switch; Must Love Dogs) will adore this light, funny read.”—★ STARRED Library Journal review"Ms. Cook's writing only gets better with each new book."—New York Journal of Books"Addicts to HGTV marathons will drool . . . Cook's likable heroine is charming without being silly, and her story is very well paced all the way to a genuinely delightful conclusion."—Booklist

The Little Lady Agency


Hester Browne - 2005
    Melissa panics, but she needs the cash - and what harm can providing lonely men with stimulating conversation over dinner do? More exciting still, she'll get to wear a disguise...Enter her alter ego: Honey. As flirty and feminine as a Bond girl, as confident and sexy as Mary Poppins in silk stockings, Honey brings out a side to Melissa she never knew she had. A side that will get her into hot water, (and out of it) and that she'll never want to lose...

God's Little Acre


Erskine Caldwell - 1933
    Exhorted by their patriarch Ty Ty, the Waldens ruin their land by digging it up in search of gold. Complex sexual entanglements and betrayals lead to a murder within the family that completes its dissolution. Juxtaposed against the Waldens' obsessive search is the story of Ty Ty's son-in-law, a cotton mill worker in a nearby town who is killed during a strike.First published in 1933, God's Little Acre was censured by the Georgia Literary Commission, banned in Boston, and once led the all-time best-seller list, with more than ten million copies in print.

Duncan Delaney and the Cadillac of Doom


A.L. Haskett - 2000
    And that's not the craziest part of the story. A.L. Haskett opens a can of worms by asking the age-old question: Where does a sensitive cowboy artist go to escape the clutches of his mother's wealth so he can pursue his art in peace? Well, not Los Angeles, but Duncan Delaney doesn't know this. Haunted by his father's unfortunate death, Duncan is spurred to action by love and a lunatic Indian pal. Like so many who come to La La Land searching for a brighter future, Duncan finds himself on the seedy side of Hollywood trying in vain to dodge the Cadillac of Doom. A finely told cautionary tale for anyone fond of strippers, bikers, and art dealers.

The Escape Series #1-3: Getting Lei'd, Cruising for Love, and Island Hopping


Ann Omasta - 2019
    Add in a crazy grandma, picturesque island settings, and three handsome heroes. Read and enjoy!Getting Lei’d: Jilted nearly-at-the-altar by text message. Honeymooning with her grandma. The resort's bartender may look like Jason Momoa, but Roxy is NOT interested.Cruising for Love: A reality TV show looking for ratings. Kardashian wannabes on a cruise ship. What could possibly go wrong? Get swept away with Ruthie as she searches for true love on reality television.Island Hopping: Lizzie is the workaholic everyone loves to hate. Shay is perfectly content basking on the beach. Can these two polar opposites find enough common ground to let their undeniable spark of attraction ignite?These beach (or wishing you were at the beach) reads are loaded with opposites attracting, humor, and second chances at romance. Escape with them today.This delightful romantic comedy series is perfect for fans of Barbara Freethy, Bella Andre, and Melissa Foster. Whisk your mind away to the islands now!