Books Received--May 20 (including The Foreigner)

Life is good when you can get the latest Taschen catalog, a finished copy of Little Vampire, and a finished copy of a marvelous new mystery, The Foreigner, all on the same day. I've added The Foreigner to my list of recommendations on the sidebar, which allows you to support me as an Amazon associate and also get some great reading material.Mostly set in modern-day Taiwan, the novel involves financial analyst Emerson Chang's visit to Tapei on a quest to scatter his mother’s ashes and re-establish contact with his shady brother, Little P, who has been given the family hotel. Soon after, he finds himself mixed up in the dark underbelly of the city. Yes, this is a mystery novel, but more than anything it's a closely observed character study of Chang, who is charming in a campy way. It's smart, sharp, and original.(Tomorrow, btw, should be a big stack of books, my insider post office contact tells me. I just didn't have time to go pick it up.)