I loved this book! Just ask my family. I can't stop talking about it. A young man stands accused of murdering a well-liked med student and Inspector Darko Dawson is sent from the Ghanian capital of Accra to Ketanu; Ketanu where his own mother disappeared from twenty-five years earlier. This isn't just a mystery, it's a tale about personal demons, old-fashioned bad police work, modern investigation and modern medicine bucking against the fetish priests in the area. There are more suspects than you can count and the poor victim was actually liked! Kwei Quartey takes us from mud huts to city houses and Inspector Dawson even complains about traffic jams. Traffic jams! In Africa. Ok I know it's silly, but I honestly haven't thought of Ghana that way. I'm serious, if you don't find much more than just a great mystery in this book I'll stop eating chocolate for a week! By the way, I was so taken up by the story, the country and the writing that I had no clue to the killer until near the end. Welcome Dr. Quartey, we've been waiting for you.

Recommended by Lee

Father John had watched as once again Ned walked away without voicing the problem that seemed to be bearing him down. And now, Ned was dead, murdered and there would be no way to help at all. The Feds seem to think it could be the white girlfriend Marcy, Ned's Aunt Ella thinks so too. Ned was going to make a change in his life and was working hard to learn what was needed to join the Sun Dance. Or could it be Ned's old girlfriend Roseanne or the two Indians he told her to stay away from? Father John and Vicky are at odds with each other. Vicky is hired to protect Marcy but Father John has his doubts about her and Vicky is certain there is a connection with Roseanne. Does the Trickster, Spider have a role in all this, with the twists and turns of the case? Or is it just a single spider web, hiding a truth? As always, Ms. Coel has painted the land for us and fleshed out the haunting characters that inhabit it in a way that only she can. While we read the story we breathe the air and see the sky of the Arapaho. It is truly a different world.

Recommended by Lee

Hooray, a fantasy for real fantasy fiends! With twists and turns worthy of a great magician Red Wolf takes the reader on a breathless journey. Very soon after a devastating war, a six-hundred-year-old ship sets sail for enemy lands. On board is a royal and reluctant bride-to-be. This voyage is supposed to be an attempt at forging a lasting peace. But others on board uncover a conspiracy, someone is after the the Red Wolf, an extremely dangerous artifact.  Finding it could mean destruction for both empires if it ends up in the wrong hands. On board this floating city; a stowaway tribe of tiny warriors, a deckhand with a heritage of treason, and a rat who talks. The young bride, the deck-hand and their friends face lethal assassins, nasty mermaids and slavers to uncover secrets and hopefully save their world. From the first page to the last you will find it hard to put down and it will leave you begging for more. Patience – more will come. But you must start with The Red Wolf Conspiracy.

Recommended by Lee

First was Ariel. Ariel who came because of the Change. Now it's thirty years later and Fred lives in a time of magic. It's all he's ever known because he was born after the Change. But his father and others remember the way it used to be; the magic of electricity and mechanical engines. One day the lights just went out; it all stopped working. Fred's friend Yan thinks he can change it back to the way it was. But Yan goes to far and is told to leave Del Mar. Then the Unicorn Ariel, an old friend of Fred's father, arrives telling a tale of death. Death ultimately caused by Yan's magic. Now she, Fred, his father and Yan's father must find Yan and stop him before he destroys the world as it is now. It has to be done because Yan isn't just planning to put it back the way it used to be – at least not completely. Elegy Beach is a wonderful sequel to Ariel. The wait was worth it.

Recommended by Lee

I had no idea that the beautiful Akita was such an old breed. I did know it came from Japan but it’s thanks to an unusual man that the breed even exists at all. During WWII Morie Sawataishi took in and raised an Akita puppy when most people in Japan were killing them for their pelt and their meat. By the end of the war there were perhaps no more than sixteen left in the country. Morie takes his dogs and his city-born young wife into the snow country of Japan and over the years his passion creates an enduring breed that people all over the world can be proud to own. He rarely shows for money because the dog is more important. He often gives away puppies that someone else would sell for a lot of money because the person he gives it to helped him at some time or has the same passion he has. He is a man of old Japan and is rarely demonstrative with his wife and children but always greets his dogs with shows of affection. He is at his liveliest when drinking sake and talking to others about dogs. Eventually most people realize he’s a good man who has led an extraordinary life because it was the right thing to do. This is a piece of canine history that might have been left in obscurity if not for Martha Sherrill’s wonderful ability to bring Japan, Morie and his dogs to life.

Recommended by Lee Kelley

Probably the most popular of Zane Grey's books this tale of a proud woman who stood alone against her church and villains who rustle and stampede her cattle set the tone for western novels. When Lassiter rides in and takes a job with Jane she makes him swear to forsake violence. Eventually she finds she must release him from that vow in order to save everything she loves. I started reading Zane Grey's westerns when I was twelve and I still can see and hear and feel the west as only he could describe it. Don't pass up this book or any of his others because they're westerns. Don't pass them up because you think the writing as old fashioned as the morals of the characters. This is a great book and anyone who enjoys any kind of western should read it and breathe in the dust of the chase and the smell of the purple sage.

Recommended by Lee Kelley