Some Very Timely Books for Readers of All Ages and Tastes …

The Theory of Death

By Faye Kellerman
William Morrow. $26.99

This 27th installment of the top selling Decker/Lazarus series has a decided academic bent to it. Former Police Lieutenant Peter Decker has retired from the big city to a lower profile job in upstate New York.

Although he has enjoyed the less frenetic pace and rural lifestyle, Decker has still managed to keep busy with the upstate police. When a nude, male body is discovered in the local woods, the authorities are puzzled about not only who the dead man is but whether this is a homicide or something else.

Called in to aid the investigation, Decker must first identify the body and that’s when a former Greenbury detective, Tyler McAdams, helps out. Staying with Decker, the first year law student hears about the investigation and elects to forsake his law books for a while to lend a hand.

Once the dead man is identified the trail leads to Kneed Loft College and a group of gifted but rather eccentric math prodigies. Decker and McAdams may be a bit in over their heads, as they have to match wits with some scheming academics and sift through some puzzling ciphers and enigmatic formulas. But even in this bucolic setting there is plenty of danger. And, as Sherlock Holmes once observed, when a brilliant mind goes bad, the result can be a very dangerous adversary indeed!

Lila

By Marilynne Robinson
Picador. $16

Much praised when it was first released and subsequently awarded the National Book Critics Circle prize, this memorable novel is now available as a less expensive trade paperback.

Author Marilynne Robinson returns to Gilead, the setting of her Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name, as she recounts the story of a homeless young woman who, after years of being alone, finds solace as the wife of a minister.

Lilia was neglected as a toddler but rescued by a drifter named Doll who brought the child up in less than desirable circumstances. The pair lived life on the run and their marginal existence was punctuated by intense moments of violence and desperation as well as fleeting moments of happiness.

Now after years of a homeless existence, Lila meets John Ames, the minister of a church in Gilead, Iowa, and the two fall in love and marry. The challenge now is reconciling her past existence with this new, small town existence and the judgmental worldview of her husband.

The list of publications that named “Lila” a “Best Book of the Year” is a lengthy one that ranges from “The Wall Street Journal,” “The Washington Post” and the “Christian Science Monitor” to “The Economist” and NPR.

Too Many Toys!

By Heidi Deedman
Candlewick Press. $15.99

Lulu has so many toys she can hardly move around her room. With each birthday and holiday the toys keep arriving until finally she decides to do something about the excessive collection of playthings.

Not only does she come up with a thoughtful plan but Lulu also solves the problem nicely and feels good about the outcome.

Look around your house and if there are toys everywhere perhaps it might be time to sit down and read this book with your child. Toys are fine, but it should not be a contest to see who has the most playthings plus, honestly, how many of them never get used once the box is opened?

Indulgent parents or grandparents will benefit from reading this book with a child in the family. Perhaps both can work together to glean the collection like Lulu does.

Sea Room: An Island Life in the Hebrides

By Adam Nicolson
Picador. $ 20

Adam Nicolson’s family has owned the Shiants, a cluster of three small islands in the Outer Hebrides, since his father purchased them in the late 1930s.

Reissued with a new afterword, “Sea Room” was first published in 2001 and offers a complete look at the natural and cultural history of this isolated spot off the Scottish Highlands.

Nicolson explains his love of these islands and how he has endeavored to discover as much as he can about their past. There’s more information here about the bird populations, raising sheep and natural wonders of the area than its connection with humans since these islands never attracted many people for extended periods of time.

For those interested in this type of rugged island environment or life in this demanding area of Northern Scotland, this will be a worthwhile read. Those familiar with the fiction of Scottish author Compton Mackenzie may find it interesting that he also previously owned these islands and worked this area into his novels.

Find Your Balance Point

By Brian Tracy and Christina Stein
BK Publishers. $22.95

If you feel overwhelmed by the daily job and personal duties, tasks and responsibilities you face and are looking for some relief, this is a little book you’ll want to consider reading.

The way to take control of your life and feel less stressed out is to find your balance point and thus enjoy an existence that is focused on the things that are truly important. The goal of Brian Tracy and Christina Stein is to show the reader just how this can be accomplished.

Offering a series of questions that guide the reader to reflect and focus, along with concrete action steps and exercises, the authors point the way to how anyone can discover his or her balance point and then use it to set new priorities.

Once this is done the individual should not only feel energized but also will feel less stressed out. Being able to accomplish more and operate more efficiently will be a major benefit of this clarification of one’s priorities.

Make Me: A Jack Reacher Novel

By Lee Child
Delacorte Press. $28

The protagonist of twenty thrillers, Jack Reacher has become a modern popular fiction phenomenon. This latest Reacher adventure opens in the most unlikely of places — the small town of Mother’s Rest. It will take just over 400 pages to figure out what makes this isolated community so interesting to Reacher, but, as his legion of fans know, it will be well worth accompanying the action hero on this journey of discovery.

Along with Special Agent Michelle Chang, Reacher will seek to learn why this out-of-the-way venue is the site of a clandestine burial, which provides the opening scene of the story. And since Reacher is involved, you know there will be more corpses that will eventually need interment!