Murder at Mussel Cove
Hugh MacDonald
Loon in Balloon Press, 2005, $19.95
ISBN 0-973749709

Murder at Mussel Cove is a moody mystery, set in a perfect atmosphere: a tiny village; salty sea air; rugged shore lines; dark secrets; and a huge mansion on a hill. People are being murdered, some by arson, others by a killing force. Even worse, some suspect the children! Enter Sara, an American reporter fleeing a brutal boyfriend and seeking a big break in her new career in Canada. As she investigates the murders, Sara stumbles across some colourful characters, like the amputee who feeds her, the orphan who clings to her, and the cop who romances her. But who, or what, is the real killer? Only the novel’s shattering climax lets us know for sure!

Award-winning author Hugh MacDonald is a retired english and history teacher. He has published several volumes of poetry and has edited four collections. He also wrote the children’s book, Chung Lee Loves Lobster, for which he received the L.M. Montgomery Award. He lives in Prince Edward Island.

That Which Survives: The Case of the Near-Death Experience
Darryll Walsh, Ph.D.
Terror Hills Publishing, 2005 $10.95
ISBN 0-9734146-0-X

That Which Survives sets out a clear and concise portrait of the NDE phenomena. Challenging both sceptics and believers, That Which Survives will serve as an introduction to those interested in this fascinating mystery as well as give the reader the tools to delve deeper into all aspects of the NDE. It examines the implications of the Near-Death Experience for religion, law, economics, society, and the individual. An extended bibliography and resource section will guide the reader in their future efforts to fully understand this complex and potentially explosive phenomenon.

Darryll Walsh is a Halifax parapsychologist, author and photographer. Called Canada’s “Ghost Hunter” by the Ottawa Citizen, Darryll Walsh is the host and narrator of Shadow Hunter, a 13 episode series airing on Space Television, partly based on his second book, Ghost Waters: Canada's Haunted Seas and Shores.

le ciel en face
Alain Raimbault
illustrated by Réjean Roy
Métérorite, 2005, $8.95
ISBN 2-922203-93X

Manuel se lève un lundi matin et decouvre des ambulances dans la cour de sa maison. Dons la cuisine, son père est assis face à un policier. Passé le moment de surprise, Manuel apprend la terrible nouvelle: sa mère s’est suicidée dans la nuit. Ilne peutycroire.

Le journal qu’il tient pendant la semaine qui suit décrit la préparation des funérailles et les douloureux états d’âme par lesquels passé Manuel.

Alain Raimbault vit en Nouvelle-Écosse et enseigne à l’école francophone Rose des Vents.

Réjean Roy à grandi a petit-rocher, au nouveau-Brunswick. Il a fait des études en biologie au Québec, où il s’est aussi inscrit a des cours de beaux-arts. Pour le plus grand plaisir des jeunes et des adultes, Réjean a illustré l’album De la tourmente au doux vent, publié chez Bouton d’or Acadie en novembre 2004.

The Romance of Libraries
Edited by Madeleine Lefebvre
Scarecrow Press, 2005, $25.00
ISBN 0-8108-5352-3

In the halls of knowledge, amidst the towering stacks of books, more than just facts and fiction await. The Romance of Libraries is a collection of true accounts of emotional attachments formed in and with libraries and the library field. Madeleine J. Lefebvre has gathered personal narratives from around the world from people who work in or use libraries. From the very young to those in their nineties, these people share their tales of love. While most accounts are about romances that developed in a library setting, some are about romances with libraries themselves. Loosely arranged by context, the stories–happy, sad, or bittersweet–share an over-arching theme of the transformative and emotive power of libraries in our lives.

Madeleine Lefebvre is the University Librarian of Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. She also currently serves as Chief Administrator of Freedom of Information/Protection of Privacy.

The Birth House
Ami McKay
Knopf Canada, 2006, $29.95
ISBN 0-676-97772-3

As a child in an isolated village in Nova Scotia, Dora Rare is drawn to Miss Babineau, an outspoken Acadian midwife with a gift for healing and a kitchen filled with herbs and folk remedies. During the turbulent years of WWI, Dora becomes the midwife's apprentice.

Filled with details that are as interesting as they are surprising - childbirth in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion, the use of vibrators as a treatment for 'hysteria', the Voice of the Moon and a mysterious elixir called Beaver Brew - The Birth House is an unforgettable tale of the struggles women have faced to have control over their own bodies, and to keep the best parts of tradition alive in the world of modern medicine.

Ami McKay's work has aired on CBC radio's Maritime Magazine, OutFront, and The Sunday Edition. Her documentary, Daughter of Family G, won an Excellence in Journalism Medallion at the 2003 Atlantic Journalism Awards. She lives with her husband and two sons in an old birth house on the Bay of Fundy.

Sudden Impact
Lesley Choyce
Orca Book Publishers, 2005, $9.95
ISBN: 1551434768

When Kurt is hurt in a soccer game and ends up in the hospital Tina tries to help him, but nobody will tell her what is wrong, and Kurt's parents don't want her around. Tina learns that Kurt needs a donor with a rare blood type, and she finds a match in Kurt's soccer rival Jason. Jason agrees to donate his blood to Kurt, but when Kurt disappears from the hospital, the situation becomes desperate. Kurt's rival is then in a tragic accident that may change everything.

Lesley Choyce teaches part-time at Dalhousie University, runs Pottersfield Press and has published more than 60 works of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. He lives in a 200 year-old farm house in Lawrencetown overlooking the ocean.

The Bride Ship
Deborah Hale
Harlequin, 2006, $6.50
ISBN: 0-373-29387-9

A ship full of women could only cause trouble! Of that Governor Sir Robert Kerr was certain just by considering their chaperon. Though a widow, Mrs. Jocelyn Finch was young, vivacious and utterly determined to have her own way—especially with him! Challenging the governor of Halifax, Nova Scotia to a duel was obviously a poor way to introduce herself. But when Sir Robert accused her and her charges of something less ladylike than husband-hunting, what else could Jocelyn do? Besides, someone had to show this straitlaced yet gloriously compelling figure of a man that there was more to life than doing one’s duty!

Deborah Hale's Maritime roots go back more than seven generations. While tracing the various branches of her family tree, she discovered enough fascinating stories to keep her in plots for years to come. Over a million copies of her 15 fantasy and historical romance novels have been sold in more than twenty countries around the world. Deborah and her family live in Lower Sackville.

Relative Happiness
Lesley Crewe
Nimbus, 2005, $19.95
ISBN 1551095491

Lexie Ivy loves Cape Breton Island. It’s her home, her sanctuary; she finds comfort in the water surrounding her. But Lexie herself is a tideland, always stuck somewhere between the emotional highs and lows of her family. At the age of thirty, she wonders when it’s ever going to be her turn. Relative Happiness is the story of Lexie, who is unable to recognize her own remarkable power, and of her sisters, who love, betray, and rescue her in turn. It’s about Adrian, a man running away from a horror he can’t face, only to travel back across the ocean and his own aching heart to find the little girl he once left behind. And it’s about Joss, a man who thinks he has all he needs until he walks away and loses everything.

Although raised in Montreal, Lesley Crewe has lived with her family in Homeville, Cape Breton for almost 25 years. She writes the column Home Fires in The Cape Bretoner Magazine and has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English from Concordia University. This is her first novel.

Martin Bridge: On the Lookout!
Jessica Scott Kerrin
Illustrated by Joseph Kelly
Kids Can Press, 2005
ISBN 1-55337-689-7, $16.95 (hc)
ISBN 1-55337-773-7, $5.95 (pbk)

Martin is all set for a field trip to the dinosaur exhibit at the museum when the bus leaves without him! In this second lively trio of illustrated stories, Martin Bridge is on the lookout–for that bus, for sandwiches made with eraser shavings, for an escaped parakeet and for a Park Ranger Super-Charged All-Night Flashlight.

Jessica Scott Kerrin shares her gadget-loving family’s enormous flashlight collection, and is always on the lookout for fresh batteries. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

As a child, Joseph Kelly built pterodactyls out of clay and featured them in his own animated movies, and he’s still on the lookout for one of these winged monsters. He lives in California.