The Bookies Bookstore suggests titles of mystery and mastering grief

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from The Bookies Bookstore in Denver recommends a whimsical animal-centric tale, a haunting Denver mystery and a book to help children, or anyone, through grief.

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From the publisher: 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 Penny, the little girl 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 back to haunt her is the memory of her precious, rebellious pony.

Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer. This acutely observant, feel-good mystery reveals the humanity of animals and beastliness of humans in a rollicking escapade of epic proportions.

From Marianne McKiernan, non-book receiver: While this clever book is a mystery, it’s also a love story about the human-animal bond told from the alternating points of view of the grumpy, witty Pony and Penny, his long-ago owner who is in jail. Pony uses his knowledge of human foibles to eventually find Penny with help from other animals. A perfect winter read for anyone who loves a mystery with charm, wit, and heart.

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From the publisher: It’s 1979, and 14-year-old Suzanne, who should be enjoying her first year at Denver East High, is instead reckoning with the aftermath of her mother Alex’s shooting death during a robbery at Alex’s store, Zoe’s Records. A clairvoyant since childhood, Suzanne is unsurprised when Alex’s ghost appears. But when Alex raises alarm bells about Suzanne’s father’s new girlfriend, what Suzanne can’t foresee is the lifelong repercussions as she heeds Alex’s warning.

In 2004, Suzanne returns to Denver with her husband and their two children, a defiant teenage daughter and a 9-year-old son with unspecified cognitive disabilities. When the opportunity arises to rent the old Zoe’s Records space and turn it into a gallery, Suzanne jumps at the chance. While ecstatic to honor Alex’s legacy, Suzanne nonetheless can’t shake the sensation that she’s being watched—while at the same time tackling a clandestine investigation of her own, searching for genetic clues into her family’s hidden past that might lead to a diagnosis for her son.

What if she knows too little? What if she discovers too much?

From Bess Maher, event liaison: Told in dual timelines, this page-turning novel doles out just enough clues and red herrings to keep you guessing. A mystery and more, it considers what happens when families keep secrets from each other. Even if kept with the best intentions, these secrets obscure the past and present so that nobody is acting at their best — with potentially fatal consequences. As a bonus for Denverites, the city’s past and present landmarks pepper the novel.

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From the publisher: When Grief first arrives, it is like an elephant — so big that there is hardly room for anything else. But over time, Grief can become smaller and smaller — first a deer, then a fox, a mouse, and finally a flickering firefly in the darkness leading us down a path of loving remembrance.

This lyrical work is an empathetic and comforting balm for anyone who is experiencing grief, be it grieving the loss of a loved one or losses in the world around us…. Like the best social-emotional books for kids, this lovely grief book holds as much meaning for kids navigating new feelings as for adults handling their own or their family’s emotions around loss.

From Marianne McKiernan, non-book receiver: The age range for this book is listed as 3 to 5, but anyone who is experiencing loss will relate. It’s comforting to hear that Grief may begin as an overwhelming elephant but over time becomes smaller, eventually becoming someone you can talk to, sit with, hold in your hand and your heart. Nancy Whitesides’ pastel illustrations are gorgeous.

Type of Story: Review

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