The Cordelia Squad

"When true love hits," he used to tell her---like he knew what he was talking about---"you can almost hear it go click." That was a laugh. She'd cried for months, really. Cried when people came to look at the house. Cried at the closing. Cried at the lawyer's when she'd filed for divorce. Cried, especially, when the children tried to be kind. Well, it was over. She wasn't crying anymore. Divorce has left Claire Breslinsky with two teenagers and very little cash. So maybe it's rash of her to buy a huge and very dilapidated mansion in Queens. The plan, such as it is, is to somehow magically transform the place into a charming and profitable bed-and-breakfast. A fire at the Cordelia Inn, Claire's incipient hostel, brings fear of arson---and a firefighter with an eye for Claire. Then the wealthy contractor threatening Claire's business offers to rent Claire's best room. But why? From Mary Anne Kelly's first book, Park Lane South, Queens, the events in the life of the Breslinsky family have been followed by readers who feel they are sitting in Mary Breslinsky's kitchen. The author's gift for breathing genuine life into her characters is on brilliant display in The Cordelia Squad---a stirring portrait of Irish-Polish fortitude.

"Being popular is not just my right, but my responsibility, and I want you to know that I take it very seriously." -- Cordelia Chase Fashionista and leader of the pack, Cordelia Chase is known throughout Sunnydale High for her irrepressible blend of tactless maxims as much as she is renowned for her beauty. Most students -- even the members of her anti-fan club -- either want her or want to be her. Popularity proves a tough cross to bear, though: First, Cordy is stalked by an invisible being fueled by envy, and later she is deemed an ideal mate for a onetime Sunnydale football star -- problem is, he's currently deceased. But her most dangerous challenge is the race for Homecoming Queen. Forget the dance -- Queen C will be lucky to escape with her life!

Like other fictional characters, female sleuths may live in the past or the future. They may represent current times with some level of reality or shape their settings to suit an agenda. There are audiences for both realism and escapism in the mystery novel. It is interesting, however, to compare the fictional world of the mystery sleuth with the world in which readers live. Of course, mystery readers do not share one simplistic world. They live in urban, suburban, and rural areas, as do the female heroines in the books they read. They may choose a book because it has a familiar background or because it takes them to places they long to visit. Readers may be rich or poor; young or old; conservative or liberal. So are the heroines. What incredible choices there are today in mystery series! This three-volume encyclopedia of women characters in the mystery novel is like a gigantic menu. Like a menu, the descriptions of the items that are provided are subjective. Volume 3 of Mystery Women as currently updated adds an additional 42 sleuths to the 500 plus who were covered in the initial Volume 3. These are more recently discovered sleuths who were introduced during the period from January 1, 1990 to December 31, 1999. This more than doubles the number of sleuths introduced in the 1980s (298 of whom were covered in Volume 2) and easily exceeded the 347 series (and some outstanding individuals) described in Volume 1, which covered a 130-year period from 1860-1979. It also includes updates on those individuals covered in the first edition; changes in status, short reviews of books published since the first edition through December 31, 2008.

A Vietnam-era Breakfast Club bonds over music and their distaste for the Vietnam War and decides to take a stand against the US government and the violent racism in their own town.

Katelyn McBride's life changed in an instant when her mother died. Now she has to start over in Wolf Springs, Arkansas—a tiny village in the Ozark Mountains. Like any small town, Wolf Springs has its secrets. But the secrets hidden here are more sinister than Katelyn could ever imagine. It's a town with a history that reaches back centuries, spans continents, and conceals terrifying truths. It's a town full of werewolves.

After five extraordinarily moving mysteries, Mary Anne Kelly turns to a touching and charming novel filled with true-to-life characters and deep emotion. At the start, Claire Breslinsky is in Munich working as a model. She rents a room in a large apartment and meets a series of magical people---or so they seem to her. Isolde, her landlady and sister model, introduces her to a number of people, including Germany's leading movie star, a noted film photographer, a doctor whose popularity with the opposite sex matches his medical skills, and many more. It's a dream for Claire, who fled her home in Queens because of its constant reminders of her cop brother's death. At a wine-soaked dinner party in Isolde's flat, it is noisily agreed that the odd assortment of friends will drive a string of caravans to India, taking photographs and filming along the way for a documentary that will eventually pay for the trip. And so the trek begins--during which Claire learns a good bit about India and a great deal more about men, women, and the voyages of the heart. Mary Anne Kelly has been praised for bringing her characters to life. It's a skill that she uses to tremendous advantage in this wonderful new adventure.