Antiques-shop clerk Maggie O'Neill was a little weirded out when she discovered her new boss Felicity was a witch. But when Felicity becomes the suspect in a local murder, Maggie must enlist Felicity's wiccan friends for help--and discover her own spellbinding talent. (From Amazon)
Here's mine ~
A shimmer of light glinted along the upswept curve, just beneath my hovering fingers ~ so tantalizing, I ached to catch it in my hand. The flesh of my palms grew warm and began to vibrate, as though I had placed them on the casing of a computer monitor. Electricity, or something quite like it, tingled from my fingertips and up my arms. Such a strange sensation....
This teaser comes from The Trouble With Magic (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 1) by Madelyn Alt. What's YOUR teaser?
terracial half-brothers who played minor roles in 2008's Bones, take center stage in bestseller Kellerman's routine 24th Alex Delaware novel. When Fox, who used to work for the LAPD, looks into the missing-persons case of 20-year-old Caitlin Frostig, he runs into conflict with Reed. The brothers end up pursuing some predictable lines of inquiry, checking out Rory Stoltz, Frostig's college boyfriend, as well as links to a filmmaker, Lem Dement, who's suspected of domestic abuse. More A-list connections surface after the investigators learn Stoltz was the personal assistant for actor Mason Book, whose rumored suicide attempt came shortly after Frostig's disappearance. The strains between Fox and Reed don't generate much heat, while the pacing and writing aren't up to Kellerman's best. Hopefully, Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis, relegated to cameos, will be back in their usual starring positions next time.
r feet, she's a strong, enigmatic, and untamed creature-with more than enough juice to play with the big boys. When a haunting past becomes too painful, she moves to Skid Row where she hopes to disappear among the forsaken and forgotten. But things don't work out like she hopes. And when she finds her friend Billy lying in a pool of blood with a tape recorder strapped to his waist, she is sucked right back into the slough. To avenge Billy's murder, Honey risks it all. Her fearless pursuit of the killer thrusts her straight into the murky, seedy world of sex, drugs, and greed-a sinister and depraved world of panacea and oblivion that holds particular seduction for a gal like Honey. In the final round, bloodied and defiled Honey hooks up with a big lug of a cop who's willing to lay down his life for hers-if both of them live that long. Bawdy, gritty, and unrelenting, Threshold pushes you to the edge of darkness ... and beyond.Meet Mama: a true Southern woman with impeccable manners, sherbet-colored pantsuits, and four prior husbands, able to serve sweet tea and sidestep alligator attacks with equal aplomb. Mama's antics — especially her penchant for finding trouble — drive her daughters Mace, Maddie, and Marty to distraction.
One night, while settling in to look for ex-beaus on COPS, Mace gets a frantic call from her mother. This time, the trouble is real: Mama found a body in the trunk of her turquoise convertible and the police think she's the killer. It doesn't help that the handsome detective assigned to the case seems determined to prove Mama's guilt or that the cowboy who broke Mace's heart shows up at the local Booze ‘n' Breeze in the midst of the investigation. Before their mama lands in prison — just like an embarrassing lyric from a country-western song — Mace and her sisters must find the real culprit (From Amazon)
A Killer Collection: A Collectible Mystery by J. B. Stanley ~ Introducing amateur sleuth Molly Appleby, a sharp-witted writer for Collector's Weekly magazine. She has a keen knowledge of antiques, and a special fondness for collectibles. And when a fellow collector is murdered, Molly quickly develops an uncanny understanding of the criminal mind.Contest open through April 4th. The winner will be announced on April 5th.
PI Aaron Fox and L.A. cop Moe Reed, interracial half-brothers who played minor roles in 2008's Bones, take center stage in bestseller Kellerman's routine 24th Alex Delaware novel. When Fox, who used to work for the LAPD, looks into the missing-persons case of 20-year-old Caitlin Frostig, he runs into conflict with Reed. The brothers end up pursuing some predictable lines of inquiry, checking out Rory Stoltz, Frostig's college boyfriend, as well as links to a filmmaker, Lem Dement, who's suspected of domestic abuse. More A-list connections surface after the investigators learn Stoltz was the personal assistant for actor Mason Book, whose rumored suicide attempt came shortly after Frostig's disappearance. The strains between Fox and Reed don't generate much heat, while the pacing and writing aren't up to Kellerman's best. Hopefully, Delaware and detective Milo Sturgis, relegated to cameos, will be back in their usual starring positions next time (From Amazon)
Here's mine ~
What she'd read and learned over the years did at least convince her that gambling was an addiction, like drugs or alcohol, and it wasn't about the gambling itself, or even the money. It was a momentary thrill, the possibilities.
This teaser comes from Saddled with Trouble (A Horse Lover's Mystery) by Michele Scott. What's YOUR teaser??
Quarter horse trainer Michaela Bancroft's husband is divorcing her for a 22 year-old beauty. Stunned, Michaela is trying to rein in her life when she finds her Uncle Lou murdered. And when she's nearly run off the road, she suspects she's on the fast track to being the next victim. (From Amazon)
Last week I received ~
r the Wiccan (Bewitching Mysteries, No. 4) by Madelyn Alt ~ Maggie O’Neill reluctantly volunteers to care for her bedridden, oh-so-perfect sister, Mel, but strange spirits threaten to divert her attention. Then a friend of Mel’s loses her husband to a dreadful fall, and the police call it an accidental death. Maggie’s not so sure, and sets her second sights on finding a first-degree murderer. 
and a good yarn. When a skeleton is discovered aboard a historic ferry, the only evidence is a piece of lace-like fabric. But once Betsy Devonshire and the patrons of her needlecraft shop lend a hand, they're sure to stitch together the details of the mystery.
es entranced with a beautiful armoire at the countywide craft bazaar, Maggie can't help noticing the Amish craftsman who made it. Though his clothes may be plain, he himself is more handsome than a man sporting a jawline-only beard has any right to be. And he seems pretty aware that the ladies love his...furniture. But when the hunky craftsman turns up dead with a strange hex symbol near his corpse, Maggie wonders if the craft involved is the witchy kind. 
Symposium in Asilomar, California. But her plan is ruined by Mercedes Madsen, the militant conference organizer who acts more like a dictator than a director. Now tangled up in a bundle of trouble, Dewey is facing a notorious "ghost," a mysterious missing woman, a stolen heirloom sewing box, and a mountain lion on the loose. . . and that's before she stumbles across the dead body. Armed only with blueprint fabric and her wits, Dewey must try to find a pattern in this crazy quilt of a murder mystery.
iendship. Teachers Jane Hoffman and Gwen Baker have been friends for 19 years, during which time they've helped each other come to terms with their respective childhoods, jointly raised their children and eased the pains inflicted by lovers and husbands. Now Jane finds her husband in bed with a younger woman, her unmarried daughter shows up pregnant and she herself takes up with a younger man. In turn, single mother Gwen contends with her own relationship with a married older man, the loss of her domineering mother and the impending manhood of her teenage boys. The author interweaves scenes from the pastAGwen's youthful marriage to her professor and the traumatic death of her brotherAwith the present, plotting a course for the reader to see how these two women came to be who they are today. Schieber writes with workmanlike directness. One glaring flaw is that none of the men ever seem to have a clue ("He would never understand... what made women love men in spite of the persistent disappointment"), leaving the reader to pity them as they stumble around in a testosterone cloud. Readers looking to parse the mystique of female friendships, however, and why they are sometimes the most satisfying in a woman's life, will find much to reflect on here.
in shambles. She should have known better than to accept her overbearing mother's offer to sell her a house unseen at a bargain-basement mortgage rate. Good-bye Rolex dreams. At this rate, she'll be shopping designer outlets forever. When Finley discovers a skeleton in her new closet, right where her Jimmy Choos should be, a total home renovation is the least of her worries. Sure, she knows how to catch a crook, but when a girl's sandwiched between sexy P.I. Liam McGarrity and her hot new boss, defense attorney Tony Caprelli, she can only be headed for commitment. To an institution. With her fabulous (but slightly more successful) friends to keep her sane and her interfering mother out of town, Finley vows to get this bad guy -- and decorate her new house -- even if she has to pay full price. A debut novel about two women whose friendship carries them over and through the many crises in their lives. Gwen Baker and Jane Hoffman become best friends. Both schoolteachers in New York City, meet at a Board of Education committee and gradually realize how much they have in common. Gwen's husband Theodore left her some years before, and she now lives with her lover Daniel. Jane discovers her husband Arnold in bed with one of his students and throws him out of the house. Jane's mother Dorothy is dying of cancer, while Gwen's mother Amanda still lives in the South and is cynical about Gwen and her affair with Daniel. Daniel may still be married to Sandy, who still looks after their children. It's not long before Jane begins having an affair with Caleb who's much younger than she is. Her children resent this, especially her daughter Caroline, who has just found out that shes pregnant. Caroline tells Arnold about Jane. Jane and Arnold have to figure out what to do about Caroline. And Gwen has unpleasant memories of something bad that happened to her friend Rowena many years ago when they were both growing up in North Carolina. (From Amazon)
When Lanie Coates moves from Houston to Cambridge, Mass., with her musician husband, Peter, she loses her support system and quickly becomes overwhelmed by her three small boys and a self-image that's sagging both literally and figuratively. In this agreeable mom-lit entry from the author of The Bright Side of Disaster, Lanie, a former painter, finds beauty in everyone but herself, and especially adores Peter, even though the two of them seem to be drifting apart. The early chapters nearly sink beneath the weight of routine housekeeping details and scenes describing the children's bodily functions and fascination with their body parts, matters most parents have experienced, but which don't necessarily make for great fiction. However, as Lanie begins to find herself through a new found passion for photography, the story gains traction, and the tension grows as her photography teacher turns out to be a smitten kitten. (From Amazon)
Lanie has just moved from the comfort of her home in Houston to Cambridge, MA with her husband and three boys (all under the age of 3) so her husband can pursue his dream of being a professional musician. Away from her family and without any friends Lanie struggles to adjust to her new surroundings. She has become so lost in taking care of her husband and children that she's lost herself. Desperate to find the person she used to be, she starts making time for herself. She starts going to the gym and when her mother sends her some of her old cameras, signs up for a photography class. It quickly become clear to her that she has a passion and talent for taking pictures. But could this rediscovery of herself cost her something she isn't ready to let go of? I was hooked on this book right from the beginning with Lanie and her 3 rambunctious boys at the park (I'm sure you can imagine it!) to the scene where her son steals her towel while she's in the shower. The relationships are both authentic and imperfect ~ making it easy for the reader to relate. A wonderful tale of love, laughter & motherhood. A story that will teach you, as it taught Lanie, that everyone genuinely is beautiful.
Samantha Shaw-irrepressible owner of the Heart Mates dating service-knows love can be tough. Even tougher is turning up at the home of her ex-client, Faye Miller, just in time to find Faye's body. The scene gets worse when arrogant detective Logan Vance arrives, the newspapers connect Heart Mates with the murder...and Sam's own bad boy amor, P.I. Gabe Pulizzi, tries to muscle in on the action. In between dodging assassination attempts and tangling with detective Vance, Sam needs to find a led she can run with, before her remaining clients run scared and Sam loses her business, her boyfriend- and maybe her life. (From Amazon)
d self again. It’s time to rise up, fish her moxie out of the diaper pail, and find the woman she was before motherhood capsized her entire existence.
What's your favorite this week? Don't forget to comment and leave a link to YOUR Friday favorite.
Now on to the RULES ~~
Contest open through March 27th. Winner will be announced on March 28th.
Here's mine ~
One of the twins then turned back to the door and cast a dazzling smile in the direction of a tall, attractive man in a leather coat and faded blue jeans. After he removed his coat and kissed the waiting sister lightly on the lips, he shook hands with Murphy & Kinsley, as though it were the first time he was meeting both of them.
This teaser comes from Chili Con Corpses: A Supper Club Mystery by J.B. Stanley. What's YOUR teaser?
In Stanley's delicious third supper club mystery to feature the Flab Five (after 2007's Fit to Die), lovable librarian James, newly svelte deputy-in-training Lucy, trivia maven Bennett, spaced-out herbalist Gillian and self-effacing high school teacher Lindy sign up for a Mexican/Spanish-themed Fix 'n' Freeze cooking class in Quincy Gap, Va. Their classmates include Shenandoah Star-Ledger editor Murphy Alistair and her old college friends, drop-dead gorgeous twins Parker and Kinsley Willis. When Parker is murdered during a school field trip to Luray Caverns, the amateur sleuths vow to catch the killer. Spicing the proceedings are James's struggles to lower his salt intake, recover from his stormy breakup with Lucy and figure out what to do with a winning lottery ticket found in the library book drop. Heavy on fun, light on gore, this savory mystery comes complete with yummy recipes. (From Amazon)
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.Death and the Lit Chick: A St. Just Mystery by G.M. Malliet ~ 
As the wildly successful darling of the publishing industry, chick lit mystery writer Kimberlee Kalder is the guest of honor at an exclusive writers' conference at Dalmorton Castle in Scotland. But jealousy and resentment are soon replaced with shock when Kimberlee is found dead at the bottom of the castle's bottle dungeon. Who didn't want to see prima donna Kimberlee brutally extinguished like one of her ill-fated characters? It's up to Detective Chief Inspector St. Just to track down the true killer in a castle full of cagey mystery connoisseurs who live and breathe malicious murder and artful alibis . . .
The Lost Hours by Karen White (ARC) ~
When Piper Mills was twelve, she helped her grandfather bury a box that belonged to her grandmother in the backyard. For twelve years, it remained untouched.Now a near fatal riding accident has shattered Piper’s dreams of Olympic glory. After her grandfather’s death, she inherits the house and all its secrets, including a key to a room that doesn’t exist—or does it? And after her grandmother is sent away to a nursing home, she remembers the box buried in the backyard. In it are torn pages from a scrapbook, a charm necklace—and a newspaper article from 1929 about the body of an infant found floating in the Savannah River. The necklace’s charms tell the story of three friends during the 1920s— each charm added during the three months each friend had the necklace and recorded her life in the scrapbook. Piper always dismissed her grandmother as not having had a story to tell. And now, too late, Piper finds she might have been wrong.
Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See (ARC)
May and Pearl, two sisters living in Shanghai in the mid-1930s, are beautiful, sophisticated, and well-educated, but their family is on the verge of bankruptcy. Hoping to improve their social standing, May and Pearl’s parents arrange for their daughters to marry “Gold Mountain men” who have come from Los Angeles to find brides.But when the sisters leave China and arrive at Angel’s Island (the Ellis Island of the West)—where they are detained, interrogated, and humiliated for months—they feel the harsh reality of leaving home. And when May discovers she’s pregnant the situation becomes even more desperate. The sisters make a pact that no one can ever know. A novel about two sisters, two cultures, and the struggle to find a new life in America while bound to the old, Shanghai Girls is a fresh, fascinating adventure from beloved and bestselling author Lisa See.
Librarians seldom have as much fun--or as many direct references to dead bodies--as Miss Helma Zuckas, master sleuth and loaner of all things literary. When Miss Zuckas, librarian to the core, starts digging in the family archives, she turns up some deadly secrets. Unless she can learn the whole story, the final chapters are about to be written as a tale of mystery, mayhem...and murder. (From Amazon)
Small-town laundress Josie Toadfern has her own fair share of dirty laundry -- namely the Toadfern clan! Ostracized from the family unit ever since her parents dumped eight-year-old Josie in a local orphanage, the stain-busting dynamo's stunned to find herself invited to crabby old family matriarch "Mamaw" Toadfern's Thanksgiving celebration -- and too curious to refuse.
But an even bigger shock is waiting for her there: Josie's long lost mom and pop, blandly unapologetic and full of new -- probably illegal -- get-rich-quick schemes. And when a dead body is tossed into the already explosive chaos of bitter feelings, intra-family feuding, and incinerated turkey meat, Josie finds herself in the most uncomfortable position of having to prove her disreputable dad innocent of murder. But cleaning up messes is Josie's business. And sometimes blood is thicker than cranberry sauce -- and a much more difficult stain to eliminate.
What's your favorite this week? Don't forget to leave a link to YOUR Friday Favorite.
Contest open through March 19th. Winner will be chosen on March 20th.
The newest dog-walker on Manhattan’s Upper East Side has a talent—she can hear what her canine clientele is thinking. So when a dog’s owner turns up dead, Ellie must bone up on her sleuthing—and perk up her ears to find a killer. (From Amazon)
Here's mine ~
His phone rang and he tossed his pencil on his desk. Still frowning, he figured he'd better answer it. In this business, a lead could come from anywhere at any time.
This teaser comes from Hounding the Pavement (Ellie Engleman, Dog Walker Mysteries, No. 1) by Judi McCoy. What's YOUR teaser?
Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
e Is Beautiful: A Novel
