Fireworks Fiction!

Escape on July 4th and discover a new novel/genre in which our national holiday plays a part.
Be patriotic and consider the following Independence Day Reads:


First Light by Charles Baxter (Fiction)
Traces the experiences that have separated and the ties that have bound Dorsey Welch, an astrophysicist, and her brother Hugh, a Buick salesman still living in their Michigan hometown.

Independence Day by Richard Ford (Fiction)
Real estate agent Frank Bascombe moves into his newly married ex-wife's old home, and is looking forward to the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, but somehow nothing turns out the way he expects.

4th of July by James Patterson (Mystery)
After losing one of its own, Lindsay Boxer and the Women's Murder Club make a courageous return for their fourth and most chilling case ever--one that could easily be their last. A young girl is killed in crossfire after a routine arrest goes terribly wrong, and Lt. Lindsay Boxer has to defend herself against a charge of police brutality. In a landmark trial that transfixes the nation, Lindsay fights to save her career and her sanity. While awaiting trial, Lindsay escapes to the beautiful town of Half Moon Bay, but the peaceful community there is reeling from a string of unspeakable murders. Working with her friends in the Women's Murder Club, Lindsay finds a link between these killings and a case she worked on years before--an unsolved murder that has haunted her ever since.

Liberty by Garrison Keillor (Fiction)
Having transformed the annual Fourth of July parade into a Lake Wobegon extravaganza, steadfast mechanic Clint Bunsen attracts the attention of the governor and the media before announcing his intention to run for Congress.

Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkle (Fiction)
Young Katie Burns thinks of the small town which is home to her cousin Angela in the mid-1960s as a place of secrets when she begins to mature..

Remember When by Judith McNaught (Romance)
Dallas magazine publisher Diana Foster finds her life changing for the better when she meets Texas billionaire Cole Harrison at the White Orchid Charity Ball in Houston.

Red, White, and Blue Murder by Bill Crider (Mystery)
Struggling with a series of frustrations including the cancellation of the Fourth of July fireworks display and false accusations by a reporter, Blacklin County sheriff Dan Rhodes begins to wonder at the reporter's hidden agenda in the wake of a murder and arson case.

Exit Wounds by J. A. Jance (Mystery)
Juggling the demands of her career and her family, Southwestern Sheriff Joanna Brady faces her most unsettling case yet in the disturbing murder of a loner and her seventeen dogs.

Star Spangled Murder: a Lucy Stone Mystery by Leslie Meier (Mystery)
When her Houdini-esque canine instigates a feud with her neighbor Mrs. Pratt, Lucy Stone becomes the number one suspect when Mrs. Pratt is murdered.

Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic (Nonfiction)
A former marine paralyzed from the chest down as a result of an injury suffered in Vietnam recalls his youth, battlefield experiences, and the agonies of his slow reentry into American society.