Carla Neggers shares her summer-reading memories

Carla Neggers, author of the just-released Harbor Island, book four in her Sharpe and Donovan series, reminisces about her summer-reading past and what she settled in with this year.

Carla: I'm just back from my favorite farmstand here in my part of Vermont and noticed several trees with red leaves. Already? Then my daughter called about school shopping for her little guy, who's starting kindergarten this year. Summer is coming to an end! Time for us readers to finish our summer reading lists. Harbor Island, my new Sharpe & Donovan FBI novel, debuted on Aug. 26 and can go either way — a summer or a fall read. Of course, you can save it for a cold January weekend, too. (Or don't you want to think about January?)

I don't know about you, but I start summer with ambitious ideas about what I'll read. I also like to leave room for serendipity — that book that grabs me as I pass a bookstore shelf or wander online. Last summer, it was memoirs by several Civil War generals. I think it had to do with the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Every summer, I reread a novel by Mary Stewart or Rex Stout. This year, I reread The Moonspinners, especially poignant with Mary Stewart's recent death at the age of 96. As far as I can tell, she didn't give many interviews, but I love her quote, "I am first and foremost a teller of tales."

I "discovered" Mary Stewart when I was a kid, after she'd written quite a number of her romantic suspense novels. I was thus able to devour the entire shelf. She was one of my finds on my summer trips to our local library. That's how I discovered so many great authors and new-to-me genres.

Do you have certain books you only read in summer? A friend of mine would work her way through a stack of Harlequin Presents romances she saved throughout the year for long, quiet summer days. Every summer, my mother, a Southerner who moved to New England right before I was born, would sit on what we called "the patio" (it wasn't really a patio) and read Gone With the Wind.

The return to class meant reading what I was assigned with little time for anything else. Often that was great (I remember reading my first Shakespeare plays), but there's something special about the freedom of summer to read whatever struck my fancy that's stayed with me.

I don't see any red leaves on our hilltop, but I know they're coming. I'll be moving off my Adirondack chair to my chair by the wood stove, enjoying more wonderful books as the days turn again turn chilly. I "discovered" Agatha Christie in the winter. There's no bad time of year to curl up with a good book!

Here's the blurb about Harbor Island:

Emma Sharpe, granddaughter of world-renowned art detective Wendell Sharpe, is a handpicked member of a small Boston-based FBI team. For the past decade Emma and her grandfather have been trailing an elusive serial art thief. The first heist was in Ireland, where an ancient Celtic cross was stolen. Now the Sharpes receive a replica of the cross after every new theft—reminding them of their continued failure to capture their prey.

When Emma receives a message that leads her to the body of a woman on a small island in Boston Harbor, she finds the victim holding a small, cross-inscribed stone—one she recognizes all too well. Emma's fiancé, FBI deep-cover agent Colin Donovan, is troubled that she's gone off to the island alone, especially given the deadly turn the thief has taken. But as they dig deeper they are certain there is more to this murder than meets the eye.

As the danger escalates, Emma and Colin must also face do-or-die questions about their relationship. While there's no doubt they are in love, can they give their hearts and souls to their work and have anything left for each other? There's one thing Emma and Colin definitely agree on: before they can focus on their future, they must outwit one of the smartest, most ruthless killers they've ever encountered.

Find out more about Carla and her books at www.carlaneggers.com.