Sunday April 1

The Da Vinci Code for the Young Adult Set: The Book of Blood and Shadow

Fast-paced and deliciously Da Vinci Code-esque, The Book of Blood and Shadow is perfect for fans of historical thrillers and smart mystery.

For Nora, the project started as an easy way to get out of class. All she had to do was help assist a professor in translating a few letters written in Latin, and she could goof off with her friend Chris and his shy, cute roommate, Max, for an entire period. Then, when Nora and Max become more than friends, things seem storybook perfect. Until something in one of the letters Nora's decoding strikes her as a little odd. Not sure what to do, she "borrows" the letter and confides in Chris, but the night she's supposed to head over to his house to talk about it, she finds something more sinister than she was expecting: halls smeared with Chris' blood, and his girlfriend, and Nora's best friend, Adriane catatonic. To make matters worse, Nora's sweet, soft-spoken boyfriend, Max, has disappeared. And all of the clues seem to point to his guilt.

Desperate to solve the mystery and prove Max's innocence, Nora begins gathering clues -- starting with the very letters she was supposed to be translating. And when it looks like those clues lead to Prague -- and a horrifying secret society, Lumen Dei -- Nora hops onto a plane. Little does she know that her tragedy is part of a greater web of conspiracies that spans continents and centuries. And when solving the mystery begins to threaten Nora's own life, she must try to figure out how well she thinks she knows what happened the night of Chris' death -- and how badly she wants to know the truth.

The Book of Blood and Shadow has everything -- fast-paced action, exotic locations, a romance that will leave you breathless, and a mystery that will keep you guessing till the final pages. A must-read for anyone who loved The Da Vinci Code or The Historian.