Oddjobs

Jiro Adachi, The Island of Bicycle Dancers.
A Korean-Japanese girl comes to New York to improve her English and gets involved in the world of bicycle messengers.

Nancy Bartholomew, Miracle Strip. Mystery
A Florida stripper agrees to help search for a missing dog but then a man’s corpse turns up. First in a series.

M.C. Beaton, Death of a Dustman. Mystery
A trash collector who blackmailed people with secrets he found in their garbage receives a promotion and is then murdered.

Jennifer Belle, High Maintenance.
A recent divorcee who had to give up her penthouse apartment relocates to Greenwich Village and takes a job selling real estate.

Lawrence Block, The Burglar on the Prowl. Mystery
Burglar Bernie Rhodenbarr is asked to rob the home of an unscrupulous plastic surgeon but she returns home and he overhears an act of violence. Part of a series.

C.J. Box, Open Season.
Joe Pickett, the new game warden of Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, finds it hard enough filling his predecessor’s shoes without having to deal with a dead poacher in his woodpile.

Chris Buckley, Thank You for Smoking.
A spokesperson for the rights of smokers becomes a media celebrity when he is kidnapped by a group of mysterious militants who cover him in nicotine patches.

Betsy Burke, Lucy’s Launderette.
When an artist’s grandfather dies and leaves her his launderette, she’s determined to make it the hippest place in town.

Lincoln Child, Utopia.
When computer-operated rides at an amusement park turn deadly, their creator tries to determine what went wrong.

Tim Cockey, The Hearse You Came In On. Mystery
A Baltimore mortician turns sleuth when a body is delivered to his mortuary bearing the same name as a woman who recently inquired about the cost of her own burial. First in a series.

Susan Conant, The Dogfather. Mystery
Dog trainer Holly Winter gets in over her head when she’s hired by a mobster with an elkhound puppy. Part of a series.

Charles Dickinson, Waltz in Marathon.
A loan shark finds his life in upheaval when his clients start refusing to pay and he falls in love with a lawyer.

Barry Eisler, Rain Fall.
An assassin in Tokyo kills a government official and then gets involved with the man’s daughter who is being pursued by intelligence agents.

Loren Estleman, The Master Executioner.
An executioner in the Old West who spent 25 years perfecting his craft learns a devastating truth and knows himself for the first time.

Janet Evanovich, One for the Money. Mystery
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum's first assignment is tracking down a cop wanted for murder—who also happens to be the guy she lost her virginity to in high school. First of a series.

Dick Francis, Shattered. Mystery
A glassblower must seek a missing video that may hold the key to the death of a jockey.

Elizabeth Gilbert, Stern Men.
The story of a young woman who single-handedly ends a generations-long feud between the lobstermen on two islands off the coast of Maine.

Dorothy Gilman, Kaleidoscope. Mystery
A fortune teller helps a variety of people seeking answers and assists the police in solving a murder. First in a series.

Chris Gilson, Crazy for Cornelia.
A doorman falls for a New York socialite who’s being pressured into marriage by a man who wants a share of her father’s company.

Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil.
A magician is under suspicion by the Secret Service when President Harding dies shortly after participating in one of the his tricks.

Laurell Hamilton, Guilty Pleasures.
Vampire hunter Anita Blake is hired by the most powerful vampire in the city to find out who’s been murdering innocent vampires. First in a series.

Pete Hautman, Doohickey.
An out-of-work man hopes to strike it rich by marketing a kitchen gadget invented by his late grandfather.

Sue Henry, Murder on the Yukon Quest. Mystery
Champion dog sled racer Jessie Arnold is preparing for the Yukon Quest when another racer is kidnapped and held for ransom.

Bonnie Hearn Hill, Killer Body.
Three women compete to become the spokesperson of a weight loss program when the previous spokesperson mysteriously vanishes.

Nick Hornby, High Fidelity.
The owner of a vintage record store in London consoles himself after the end of his latest relationship by reorganizing his record collection.

Robert Hough, The Final Confession of Mabel Stark.
The story of a female tiger tamer who rose to fame in the Roaring ‘20s.

Judith Ivory, The Proposition. Romance
A lady accepts a proposition to turn a rat catcher into a gentleman in six weeks and finds herself drawn to her pupil.

Susan Jedren, Let ‘em Eat Cake.
A single mother drives a bakery delivery truck and copes with hard work, low pay, and dishonest merchants.

Christine Kling, Surface Tension. Mystery
A salvage boat operator goes to the rescue of a yacht captained by her ex-boyfriend and finds him missing and his new girlfriend dead.

Gretchen Laskas, The Midwife’s Tale.
A girl whose mother and grandmother are midwives learns their skills and secrets.

Michael Ledwidge, Bad Connection.
A telephone repairman taps into businessmen’s conversations to get money for his sick wife but eventually things turn dangerous.

Cara Lockwood, I Do (But I Don’t).
Two of a wedding planner’s events go awry in one day, but a sexy firefighter comes to the rescue.

Elizabeth Lowell, The Color of Death.
A jewel cutter must find the person who killed her brother and stole a cache of fabulous sapphires.

Michael Palin, Hemingway’s Chair.
A quiet, unassuming postmaster must stand up for himself when his new boss decides to modernize the friendly local office by firing dedicated but elderly employees and privatizing the business.

James Michael Pratt, The Lighthouse Keeper.
A man reminisces about his childhood, when he was orphaned and sent to live with his uncle who was a lighthouse keeper in Massachusetts.

Lisa Reardon, Blameless.
A school bus driver discovers the body of one of her charges, and as she waits to testify about what she witnessed she is haunted by a Night Visitor that seems to be trying to tell her something.

Michael Raleigh, The Blue Moon Circus.
A retired circus man tries one last time for success and gathers a group of performers as well as his 9-year-old nephew to tour with the big top.

Leslie Stella, The Easy Hour.
A sportswear seller from Chicago’s South Side becomes the personal assistant of a socialite and shakes things up between the upper class and working class.

Elizabeth Stuckey-French, Mermaids on the Moon.
A woman who worked as a mermaid in an underwater pageant returns to Florida for a reunion, but when she disappears her daughter comes looking for her and takes her place.

Elise Title, Killing Time. Mystery
The superintendent of a halfway house for inmates worries that a prisoner whom she recommended for release murdered her friend.

P. J. Tracy, Monkeewrench.
The creators of a computer game learn that a serial killer is patterning murders after their game.

Lisa Tucker, The Song Reader.
A young woman helps people solve their problems by analyzing the songs that are stuck in their heads, but her world begins to fall apart when she learns a neighbor’s secret.

Colson Whitehead, The Intuitionist.
An African-American elevator inspector finds her position in jeopardy when an elevator she signed off on crashes.