Get ready for some thrilling summer titles

 As much as I love curling up with a book on a cold, grey day, I much prefer reading outdoors on a spring like afternoon such as we’ve had lately. Of course, my favorite reading venue is a sunny, breezy beach with salt in my hair and sand under my feet.

Great summer reads are those that keep you up late or miss mealtimes because you want to read “just one more chapter.” My routine was disturbed by a couple of titles recently.

Clare Whitfield’s “People of Abandoned Character,” due out May 1, opens in 1885 with Susannah at her grandmother’s funeral. An orphan, she is now completely alone in the world. Terrified that she will end up as destitute as her mother was, she returns to the filthy slum of Whitechapel where she was born, to train as a nurse at the London Hospital.

Susannah resigns herself to the modest but secure life of a nurse until she meets the handsome Dr. Thomas Lancaster. Unsure why he is so in love with such a plain woman as herself, she agrees to marry him after numerous proposals.

Soon after they return from their honeymoon in Brighton, Thomas changes. He becomes angry and abusive, and he disappears on several nights to return home first with scratches and later covered in blood.

At the same time, Susannah is reading about the horrific murders and mutilations of women in Whitechapel. Many of the murders happen on the same nights that her husband disappears.

Susannah is determined to find out if her husband is the Jack the Ripper. She ends up finding out much more.

In addition to being a thrilling page-turner, Whitfield’s book explores several questions: what makes a person good or bad? Can we overcome our origins? Or is our fate determined before we’re born? Moreover, the book is rife with dangerous secrets—Thomas’s, Susannah’s, and those of the people closest to them.

Another engaging thriller is “In My Dreams I Hold a Knife” by Ashley Winstead, which hits bookstores August 3. Jessica returns to her alma mater for a 10^th reunion and to flaunt her improved looks and income to her old friends, the East House 7, and all the other classmates that made her feel unimportant.

Not at the reunion are her best friend Heather, who was brutally murdered their senior year, and Jack, Heather’s boyfriend, who was suspected of the murder, but never tried for lack of evidence.

However, Heather’s brother is determined to use the reunion to out the murderer and bring his sister justice. What they all discover is that the East House 7 is hiding more secrets than just who killed Heather.

Although some of Winstead’s minor characters are flat and stereotypical (mean-girl sorority sister, homophobic frat boys), her book gives the reader plenty of action and suspense, with a heavy dose of romance also. A perfect read for a late summer beach trip.

Another great read, which launched Feb. 1, is “West With Giraffes” by Austin writer Lynda Rutledge. Woody Nickel, a 105 year old veteran, tells the story of driving two young giraffes from New York to San Diego in 1938. Based on historical fact, the novel tells the story of a thrilling, dangerous, and near-deadly trip across a country with no interstate highways.

Woody, a Dust Bowl orphan, is left alone, jobless, and friendless by the 1938 hurricane that also left one of the giraffes injured. He and zookeeper Riley Jones race across country over treacherous mountains, under low bridges, and through dark, narrow tunnels. They also have to keep their cargo of “towering creatures of God’s pure Eden” safe from murderous thieves.

Along the way, Woody deals with the trauma and guilt of losing his entire family and leaves behind his lying and stealing. A flawless novel, “West With Giraffes” is exciting, and the end will leave you in tears of sadness and joy.

Hinging on two man-made disasters—the near extinction of giraffes and the Dust Bowl—the novel expertly depicts the importance of the natural world as well as the importance of sharing stories. The planet is not ours, but “God’s own pure Eden,” just as stories are not ours alone and should be shared with all who will listen.