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This summer, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia public library users get unlimited access to 100 accessible eBooks from Atlantic Canadian authors or publishers with no holds or waitlists. This week, we’re highlighting books full of mystery and intrigue, perfect for summer reading.

Books can be borrowed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick’s OverDrive/Libby apps as well as on the accessible platforms of the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS) and the Centre for Equitable Library Access (CELA).

The Hush Sisters by Gerard Collins (Breakwater Books)

Sissy and Ava Hush are estranged, middle-aged sisters with little in common beyond their upbringing in a peculiar manor in downtown St. John’s. With both parents now dead, the siblings must decide what to do with the old house they’ve inherited. Despite their individual loneliness, neither is willing to change or cede to the other’s intentions. As the sisters discover the house’s dark secrets, the spirits of the past awaken, and strange events envelop them. The Hush sisters must either face these sinister forces together or be forever ripped apart.

In The Hush Sisters, Gerard Collins weaves psychological suspense with elements of the fantastic to craft a contemporary urban gothic that will keep readers spellbound until the novel whispers its startling secrets.

Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS

Killings at Little Rose by Finley Martin (Acorn Press)

In a coastal village where what’s been buried doesn’t stay buried, what’s lost at sea doesn’t stay lost. 

Sleuth Anne Brown finds herself in an eastern PEI fishing community, working undercover for the new owner of a seafood-processing plant plagued by vandalism, loss, and ill luck. The community around Little Rose Harbour has been shocked by the discovery of old, secret remains of a baby, and all their entangled secrets are coming to the surface. 

On the cusp of a clandestine love affair and herself keeping secrets, Anne must sort through gossip, rumours, and lies—and dodge the menace of violence—to uncover the canker at the core of Little Rose. 

But will she learn in time to prevent the mystery from becoming motive for murder?

Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS

The Lost Sister by Andrea Gunraj (Vagrant Press)

“The Lost Sister is both a mystery and a coming-of-age story that is as compelling as it is empathetic.” (Harriet Alida Lye, author of The Honey Farm).

Alisha and Diana are young sisters living at Jane and Finch, a Toronto suburb full of immigrants trying to build new lives in North America. Diana, the eldest, is the light of the little family, the one Alisha longs to emulate more than anyone else. But when Diana doesn’t come home one night and her body is discovered in the woods, Alisha becomes haunted. She thinks she knows who did it, but can’t tell anyone about it. 

Through an unusual friendship with Paula, an older woman who volunteers at her school, that Alisha finds reprieve. Once an orphan in the Nova Scotia Home for Coloured Children and estranged from her own sister, Paula helps Alisha understand that the chance for redemption and peace only comes with facing difficult truths.

Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS

Screech! by Charis Cotter (Nimbus Publishing)

There is no dark like the Newfoundland dark. These ominous words beckon young readers onward in this spooky collection of ghost stories by celebrated ghost story-teller and award-winning middle-grade author Charis Cotter. Reimagined from family stories told across Newfoundland and passed down over generations, these 10 spine-tingling tales traverse centuries and introduce readers to the Rock’s nooks and crannies. From a ghostly blueberry-picker on the barrens to a visit from the notorious Old Hag, from a mysterious ballet troupe in a St. John’s mansion to a haunted house in an outport community on the cusp of resettlement, these stories bring the island of Newfoundland to vibrant new life (and death) as the thread of these years-old yarns is unravelled for a whole new generation.

A CBC Books Best of 2020 Pick. A spooky, illustrated collection of Atlantic ghost stories for middle-grade readers by the award-winning author of The Ghost Road.

Borrow now: NS | HFX | NB | CELA | NNELS

Cet été, les utilisateurs des bibliothèques publiques du Nouveau-Brunswick et de la Nouvelle-Écosse ont un accès illimité à 100 livrels du Canada atlantique sans liste d’attente. Cette semaine, nous présentons des livrels d’aventure et mystère:

Le chien d’or de Québec par Denis Boucher (Bouton d’or Acadie)

Alexis Nadeau, directeur des expositions au musée des civilisations à Montréal, a reçu des menaces signées: le chien d’or du Québec. Les trois mousquetaires Gabriel, Ania et Mamadou commencent immédiatement à enquêter. Gabriel aperçoit même un vrai chien d’or se promener dans les rues de Québec! Serait-ce le même chien d’or légendaire qui se dresse sur la Porte St-Jean à l’entrée du Vieux-Québec. Est-ce que le professeur bizarre, Bazil Bizaroff, a quelque chose à voir avec ça? Et comment se protéger contre un chien féroce dont la fourrure est tapissée de flammes?

Emprunter: N.-É. | HFX | N.-B. | CELA | NNELS

Le monstre du lac Baker par Denis Boucher (Bouton d’or Acadie)

L’école vient de finir et cet été Gabriel, Ania et Mamadou ont décidé que leurs vacances allaient être excitantes. Gabriel, pour qui rien n’est impossible, réussit à convaincre ses amis de lancer une agence de détectives. « On trouve un mystère et on le résout… c’est ce que font les détectives. Ça ne me semble pas compliqué !

 Il n’en faut pas plus pour que les trois amis, avec l’aide du professeur Jarnigoine et de ses inventions futuristes, se lancent dans une aventure des plus passionnantes.

Emprunter: N.-É. | HFX | N.-B. | CELA | NNELS