Cary Regional-NPR Readers Corner-Radio/Podcast

Explore the best in literature with NPR's Readers Corner. Discover new authors, dive into thought-provoking conversations, and find your next great read. From fiction to nonfiction, and everything in between, we've got you covered. Browse our curated selection of book reviews, author interviews, and reading recommendations to fuel your love of reading.

Showing 1 - 14 of 14  There are a total of 283 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Cahokia jazz"
Star rating for Cahokia jazz
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"Like Golden Hill, Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, and like Golden Hill it has a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot set within a fully imagined world. Only this world is full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, and dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly heroic proportions, and a troubled soul to fall in love with. One snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner...
Book cover for "Fair play"
Star rating for Fair play
Average Rating:
2 stars
Description:
"A group of friends gather at an Airbnb on New Year's Eve. It is Benjamin's birthday, and his sister Abigail is throwing him a jazz-age murder mystery themed party. As the night plays out, champagne is drunk, hors d'oeuvres consumed, and relationships forged, consolidated, or frayed. Someone kisses the wrong person; someone else's heart is broken. In the morning, all of them wake up--except Benjamin"--
Book cover for "The god of the woods"
Star rating for The god of the woods
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"When Barbara Van Laar is discovered missing from her summer camp bunk one morning in August 1975, it triggers a panicked, terrified search. Losing a camper is a horrific tragedy under any circumstances, but Barbara isn't just any camper: she's the daughter of the wealthy family who owns the camp--as well as the opulent nearby estate, and most of the land in sight. And this isn't the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared in this region. Barbara's...
Book cover for "Listen for the lie"
Star rating for Listen for the lie
Author:
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"What would you do if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thinks so too? What if the truth doesn't matter? As Lucy Chase's Texas hometown begins to tell versions of what happened and who Lucy is to a nationwide, true crime obsessed audience, at the bequest of her grandmother, she returns to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend's murder, even if she is the one that did it"--
Book cover for "The lost story"
Star rating for The lost story
Author:
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanished in a West Virginia state park, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived. Fifteen years after their miraculous homecoming, Jeremy is a famous missing persons investigator with an uncanny ability to find the lost, while Rafe is a reclusive artist unable to stop creating otherworldly paintings and sculptures he shows to no...
Book cover for "The murder of Mr. Ma"
Star rating for The murder of Mr. Ma
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"London, 1924. When shy academic Lao She meets larger-than-life Judge Dee Ren Jie, his life abruptly turns from books and lectures to daring chases and narrow escapes. Dee has come to London to investigate the murder of a man he'd known during World War I when serving with the Chinese Labour Corps. No sooner has Dee interviewed the grieving widow than another dead body turns up. Then another. All stabbed to death with a butterfly sword. Will Dee and...
Book cover for "The naming of the birds"
Star rating for The naming of the birds
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Description:
"Something is troubling Inspector Henry Cutter. Sergeant Gideon Bliss is accustomed to his ill-tempered outbursts, but lately the inspector has grown silent and withdrawn. Then, the murders begin. The first to die is the elderly Sir Aneurin Considine, a decorated but obscure civil servant who long ago retired to tend his orchids. If the motive for his killing is a mystery, the manner of his death is more bewildering still. The victims that follow...
Book cover for "Pony confidential"
Star rating for Pony confidential
Description:
"Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with the only little girl he ever loved: Penny, who he was separated from and hasn't seen in years. Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Her only comfort when the past comes...
Book cover for "The Raven scholar"
Star rating for The Raven scholar
Series:
Eternal path volume 1.
Description:
"Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, the reign of Bersun the Brusque has come to an end. In the dizzying heat of midsummer, seven exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists compete to replace him. When one of them is murdered, it falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor's brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer and fight for the throne. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help--all...
Book cover for "The tainted cup"
Star rating for The tainted cup
Series:
Average Rating:
4.8 stars
Description:
"An eccentric detective and her long-suffering assistant untangle a web of magic, deceit, and murder in fantasy reimagining of the classic crime novel."-- "An eccentric detective and her long-suffering assistant untangle a web of magic, deceit, and murder in fantasy reimagining of the classic crime novel"--
Book cover for "A talent for murder"
Star rating for A talent for murder
Description:
"Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she'd likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit...
Book cover for "Those beyond the wall"
Star rating for Those beyond the wall
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"Faced with a coming apocalypse, a woman must reckon with her past to solve a series of sudden and inexplicable deaths."--Provided by publisher.
Book cover for "Vera Wong's guide to snooping (on a dead man)"
Star rating for Vera Wong's guide to snooping (on a dead man)
Series:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Ever since a man was found dead in Vera's teahouse, life has been good--for Vera, that is. She's surrounded by loved ones, her shop is bustling, and best of all, her son Tilly has a girlfriend! All thanks to Vera, because Tilly's girlfriend is none other than Officer Selena Gray. The very same Officer Gray she had harassed while investigating the teahouse murder. Still, Vera wishes more dead bodies would pop up in her shop, but one mustn't be ungrateful,...
Book cover for "Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers"
Star rating for Vera Wong's unsolicited advice for murderers
Series:
Average Rating:
3.7 stars
Description:
"Vera Wong is a lonely little old lady--ah, lady of a certain age--who lives above her forgotten tea shop in the middle of San Francisco's Chinatown. Despite living alone, Vera is not needy--oh no. She likes nothing more than sipping on a good cup of Wulong and doing some healthy detective work on the Internet about what her college-aged son is up to. Then one morning, Vera trudges downstairs to find a curious thing: a dead man in the middle of her...