Burning Marguerite by Elizabeth Inness-Brown [FIC BRO] - James Jack awakens one cold winter morning to find the frozen body of his 94-year-old “tante” lying outside his cabin in the woods. He must confront the mystery of her death and the secrets that have touch his own life.

A Fine and Bitter Snow by Dana Stabenow [MYS STA] - The possibility of drilling for oil in an Alaskan wildlife preserve near the home of Private Investigator Kate Shugak has battle lines drawn. When a ranger is fired for political reasons and then a conservationist is poisoned, the war begins in earnest.

In the Bleak Midwinter by Julia Spencer-Fleming [MYS FLE] - Rev. Clare Fergusson, former army helicopter pilot, and now first female priest of an Episcopal church in Millers Kill, New York, finds herself immersed in murder when a newborn is abandoned and a young mother brutally slain. Clare must dig deeply into the town’s secrets.

Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg [MYS HOE] - A literary thriller and international bestseller. After a young boy falls from a snow covered roof, Smilla Jasperson, an expert on the properties and classifications of ice, becomes obsessed with finding out what really happened.

Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson [FIC GUT, CAS, CD, LP] - Set on an island north of Puget Sound, this is a combination murder mystery, love story, and history lesson. Snow Mountain Passage by James Houston [FIC HOU] - Depicts the hardships and tragedy faced by the Donner party, which became trapped by winter snows in the Sierra Nevadas, through the eyes of a father and his eight-year-old daughter.

A Spell of Winter by Helen Dunmore [FIC DUN] - Winner of Britain’s prestigious Orange Prize, this literary Gothic novel is set in turn-of-the-century England. Two young children are left to grow up on their grandfather’s impoverished estate, tutored by a horrific governess. The close bond they form to survive eventually threatens to destroy them.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck [FIC STE] - Ethan Hawley, a descendant of proud New England sea captains, works as a clerk in a grocery store owned by an Italian immigrant. His wife and teenaged children hunger for the material comforts he cannot afford. Then one day, in a moment of moral crisis, Ethan decides to abandon his scruples.

Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher [FIC PIL, LP] - A cast of eccentric characters experiences many losses as they struggle to find their place in the world. A heart-warming story of romance and second chances for happiness at any age.

• A. Manette Ansay
• Kaye Gibbons
• Alice Hoffman
• Ann Hood
• Elinor Lipman
• Anna Quindlen
• Jeanne Ray
• Luanne Rice
• Suzanne Strempek Shea
• Anita Shreve

Previous Issues of Book Notes

“Detective stories help reassure us in the belief that the universe, underneath it all, is rational. They’re small celebrations of order and reason in an increasingly disordered world.” --P.D. James