Randolph's Top 100 of 2022

"Archaeologist Riley Smith has been obsessed with Helen of Troy since she was a small girl, trailing her professor father all over the world in search of the tomb of the world's most beautiful woman. Professor Smith set out to prove that, instead of a myth, Helen had been a living, breathing queen who inspired Homer to write The Iliad. Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan has the unusual skills needed to recreate the face that launched a thousand ships-revealing...

Meet Ove. He's a curmudgeon; the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him 'the bitter neighbour from hell'. But must Ove be bitter just because he doesn't walk around with a smile plastered to his face all the time? Behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty...

"Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession . . . or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke's coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the treacherous and storied red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn't leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch...

"#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black makes her stunning adult debut with Book of Night, a modern dark fantasy of shadowy thieves and secret societies in the vein of Ninth House and The Night Circus. One of Publishers Weekly's top ten most anticipated books of 2022! Charlie Hall has never found a lock she couldn't pick, a book she couldn't steal, or a bad decision she wouldn't make. She's spent half her life working for gloamists, magicians...

"The latest in the New York Times bestselling Cork O'Connor Mystery Series follows Cork in a race against time to save his wife, a mysterious stranger, and an Ojibwe healer from bloodthirsty mercenaries. The ancient Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux has had a vision of his death. As he walks the Northwoods in solitude, he tries to prepare himself peacefully for the end of his long life. But peace is destined to elude him as hunters fill the woods seeking...

"Having joined the "dark side" after years spent prosecuting criminals as the San Francisco DA, defense attorney Wes Farrell is experiencing a crisis of faith. How can he in good conscience defend clients whom, in his estimation, are most likely guilty? In his role as DA, Farrell had helped put away Paul Riley, a young man charged for the rape and murder of his then-girlfriend Dana Rush, only for Riley to later be released from his life sentence -...

The exploits of an alchemy-rejecting scientist, a vagabond leader, and a former Turkish harem prisoner intersect in the world of the American colonies, the Tower of London, and the courts of France, in a novel set against the backdrop of the late seventeeth century and early eighteenth century. By the author of Cryptonomicon.

"Doctors, nutritionists, and health experts all agree that the Mediterranean diet is the healthiest way to eat. The Mediterranean diet not only reduces inflammation but also protects against chronic disease, lowers cholesterol, and can aid in weight loss, making it one of the most popular diets out there. In The 400-Calorie Mediterranean Diet Cookbook you can enjoy all the benefits of the Mediterranean diet without sacrificing the delicious flavors...

"Smarting from her recently canceled wedding and about to turn forty, Laurie Sassalyn returns to her Maine hometown of Calcasset to handle the estate of her great-aunt Dot, a spirited adventurer who lived to be ninety-three. Alongside boxes of Polaroids and pottery, a mysterious wooden duck shows up at the bottom of a cedar chest. Laurie's curiosity is piqued, especially after she finds a love letter to the never-married Dot that ends with the line...

"It's 1913, and on the surface, Laura Lyons couldn't ask for more out of life-her husband is the superintendent of the New York Public Library, allowing their family to live in an apartment within the grand building, and they are blessed with two children. But headstrong, passionate Laura wants more, and when she takes a leap of faith and applies to the Columbia Journalism School, her world is cracked wide open. As her studies take her all over the...