Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.
We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.
Here's what I got ~
Killer Sudoku (A Sudoku Mystery) by Kaye Morgan~ (PBS) Liza is looking forward to the West Coast Sudoku Summit. But from the onset, contestants are being eliminated one by one, and not in the way that she planned—they’re dropping dead. With more at stake here than just prize money, Liza must figure out the murderer’s pattern, or she’ll be the next one down.
Crush by Alan Jacobson (ARC) ~ Fresh off the most challenging case of her career, The 7th Victim heroine and renowned FBI profiler Karen Vail finds herself ordered to take some time off after a 
controversial shooting incident. In no position to argue, she travels with her new beau, Detective Robby Hernandez, to the Napa Valley for a week of wine-tasting and sightseeing. But shortly after arriving, a victim is discovered at a high-end winery, in the deepest reaches of their exclusive wine cave. The murder has all the telltale signs of a serial killer, virtually unheard of in wine country. Vail offers her skills in evaluating the crime, but the local police, led by Detective Redmond Brix, are resistant to her involvement. Their thinking soon changes, however, when a second, brutally murdered victim is unearthed. When Vail is named to the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force, she soon learns she got more than she bargained for. As Vail and her task force colleague, Roxxann Dixon, peel back the investigative onion, clues lead them to a decades-long history of feuding wine families, secretive organizations, and underhanded deals that may hold answers to what they are seeking.Crush is impressively researched, with the same attention to detail as The 7th Victim. National bestselling author Alan Jacobson once again delivers a suspenseful high-velocity thriller.
New Tricks by David Rosenfelt ~ (ARC for review) In Rosenfelt's excellent seventh legal thriller to feature Paterson, N.J., defense attorney Andy Carpenter (after Play Dead), Andy takes on another canine client—Waggy, a Bernese mountain puppy, who's somehow connected to the murder of Walter Timmerman, a semi-titan in the pharmaceutical industry. Andy represents the dog in a custody battle between Diana, Walter's widow, and her stepson, Steven, who's a suspect in his father's shooting. Shortly after Andy picks up Waggy from Diana, she dies in a bomb explosion at her house. When Steven's arrested for Diana's murder, Andy agrees to represent him. After Andy's police chief girlfriend, Laurie Collins, who's visiting from Wisconsin, is shot and wounded while playing with Waggy and Tara, Andy's golden retriever, Andy realizes Waggy was the real target. Rosenfelt injects this clever installment with courtroom twists, a peek into some scary DNA research and a romantic surprise
Eleventh Victim, The by Nancy Grace ~ (ARC) As a young psychology student, Hailey D
ean's world explodes when Will, her fiancé, is murdered just weeks before their wedding. Reeling, she fights back the only way she knows how: In court, prosecuting violent crime...putting away the bad guys one rapist, doper, and killer at a time. But dedicating her life to justice takes a toll after years of courtroom battles and the endless tide of victims calling out from crime scene photos and autopsy tables. Just as she grows truly weary, a serial killer unlike any other she's encountered begins to stalk the city of Atlanta, targeting young prostitutes, each horrific murder bearing his own unique mark. This courtroom battle will be her last.Hailey heads for Manhattan to pick up the pieces of the life she had before Will's murder, training as a therapist. In a vibrant new world, she finally leaves her ghosts behind. But then her own clients are brutally murdered one by one by a copycat using the same M.O. as the Atlanta killer she hunted down years before. As the body count rises across Manhattan, Hailey is forced to match wits not only against a killer, but the famed NYPD.Unless she returns to her former life and solves the case, still more innocent people will die at the hands of a killer who plans to get her, before she can get him!
A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick ~ It's a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only tak
es a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realise she's found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn's wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a store front is easy enough; starting a new life isn't. Little does Evelyn imagine it will bring a trio like Abigail Burgess, her niece Liza, and Margot Matthews through her door.Troubled and angry after her mother's death, Liza threatens to embarrass her Aunt Abigail all over town unless she joins her for quilting classes. A victim of downsizing at the peak of her career, Margot hopes an event hosted by the quilt shop could be a great chance to network - and keep from dying of boredom...As they stitch their unique creations, Evelyn, Abigail, Liza, and Margot form a sisterhood they never sought - but one that they'll be grateful for when the unexpected provides a poignant reminder of the single thread that binds us all...
Crank by Ellen Hopkins ~ Ellen Hopkins's semi-autobiographical verse novel, Crank, reads
like a Go Ask Alice for the 21st century. In it, she chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank. Soon, her grades plummet, her relationships with family and friends deteriorate, and she needs more and more of the monster just to get through the day. Kristina hits her lowest point when she is raped by one of her drug dealers and becomes pregnant as a result. Her decision to keep the baby slows her drug use, but doesn't stop it, and the author leaves the reader with the distinct impression that Kristina/Bree may never be free from her addiction. In the author's note, Hopkins warns "nothing in this story is impossible," but when Kristina's controlled, high-powered mother allows her teenage daughter to visit her biological father (a nearly homeless known drug user), the story feels unbelievable. Still, the descriptions of crystal meth use and its consequences are powerful, and will horrify and transfix older teenage readers, just as Alice did over 20 years ago.
Dixie Diva
s by Virginia Brown ~ "You found my philandering ex-husband?" Bitty asked. "Where? Mexico? Paris? In Tupelo with a cocktail waitress?" "In your closet," I answered. "Dead." Break out the hoop skirts and the zinfandel. The Divas are on the case. Wine. Chocolate. Transvestite strippers. Just another good-time get-together for the Dixie Divas of historic Holly Springs, Mississippi, where moonlight and magnolias mingle with delicious smalltown scandal. But Eureka "Trinket" Truevine, the newest Diva, gets more than she bargained for when she finds her best Diva girlfriend Bitty Hollandale's ex-husband in Bitty's hall closet. He's dead. Very dead. Now Trinket and the Divas have to help Bitty finger the murderer and clear her name.
Glass by Ellen Hopkins ~ Grade 9 Up—Kristina Snow was a 17-year-old with high grades and
a loving family. In Crank (S & S, 2004), one summer in California with a meth-addicted boyfriend destroys her life. Addicted, she's raped, and goes back home to Reno pregnant. Glass picks up a year later. She lives with her mother and works at a 7–11. Depressed about her post-baby figure, she goes back on speed to lose weight. Her mother kicks her out and gains custody of the baby. She continues to spiral to the last page, which sets readers up for a third novel. Glass is even more terrifying than Crank in its utter hopelessness; meth's power is permanent and Kristina is an addict whether she uses or not. Though her recount of events in the first book is dry and self-indulgent, the pace snowballs as soon as she takes her first toke of rock meth, and one desperate, horrifying measure or decision follows another. Like Crank, this title is written in verse, but certainly not poetry. Hopkins's writing is smooth and incisive, but her fondness for seemingly random forms is distracting and adds little to the power of the narrative. Minor characters are flat, and Kristina's overblown self-pity elicits little empathy. The author tries but fails to present meth itself as a character; her descriptions of "the monster" are precious and overwritten. Kristina's story is terrible, and even when she's high, the narrative voice and mood are sobering.
Mama Rides S
hotgun: A Mace Bauer Mystery (Mace Bauer Mysteries) by Deborah Sharp ~ Mama Rosalee and middle daughter Mace are on the Florida Cracker Trail for the annual six-day commemorative horse ride across the state. The idea is for them to have some bonding time before Rosalee marries her fifth husband. Mama also hopes to do a little matchmaking for independent Mace. Both ladies are having a great time before an old rancher boyfriend of Mama’s dies of an apparent heart attack while preparing his Cow Hunter Chili for the trail riders. Mace is suspicious, while everyone else seems resigned to the death. After Mace’s tent is ripped open with a knife, and her horse runs straight onto a busy highway after being flicked with a cow whip, Mace’s sisters and former beau, detective Carlos, decide to join the ride to help protect Mace, who may have figured out something someone doesn’t want her to know. Sharp writes a funny mystery without resorting to stereotypical one-note characters. Furthermore, her descriptions of a part of Florida most of us know little about add to the appeal of this entertaining mystery.
controversial shooting incident. In no position to argue, she travels with her new beau, Detective Robby Hernandez, to the Napa Valley for a week of wine-tasting and sightseeing. But shortly after arriving, a victim is discovered at a high-end winery, in the deepest reaches of their exclusive wine cave. The murder has all the telltale signs of a serial killer, virtually unheard of in wine country. Vail offers her skills in evaluating the crime, but the local police, led by Detective Redmond Brix, are resistant to her involvement. Their thinking soon changes, however, when a second, brutally murdered victim is unearthed. When Vail is named to the Napa County Major Crimes Task Force, she soon learns she got more than she bargained for. As Vail and her task force colleague, Roxxann Dixon, peel back the investigative onion, clues lead them to a decades-long history of feuding wine families, secretive organizations, and underhanded deals that may hold answers to what they are seeking.Crush is impressively researched, with the same attention to detail as The 7th Victim. National bestselling author Alan Jacobson once again delivers a suspenseful high-velocity thriller.
New Tricks by David Rosenfelt ~ (ARC for review) In Rosenfelt's excellent seventh legal thriller to feature Paterson, N.J., defense attorney Andy Carpenter (after Play Dead), Andy takes on another canine client—Waggy, a Bernese mountain puppy, who's somehow connected to the murder of Walter Timmerman, a semi-titan in the pharmaceutical industry. Andy represents the dog in a custody battle between Diana, Walter's widow, and her stepson, Steven, who's a suspect in his father's shooting. Shortly after Andy picks up Waggy from Diana, she dies in a bomb explosion at her house. When Steven's arrested for Diana's murder, Andy agrees to represent him. After Andy's police chief girlfriend, Laurie Collins, who's visiting from Wisconsin, is shot and wounded while playing with Waggy and Tara, Andy's golden retriever, Andy realizes Waggy was the real target. Rosenfelt injects this clever installment with courtroom twists, a peek into some scary DNA research and a romantic surprise
Eleventh Victim, The by Nancy Grace ~ (ARC) As a young psychology student, Hailey D
ean's world explodes when Will, her fiancé, is murdered just weeks before their wedding. Reeling, she fights back the only way she knows how: In court, prosecuting violent crime...putting away the bad guys one rapist, doper, and killer at a time. But dedicating her life to justice takes a toll after years of courtroom battles and the endless tide of victims calling out from crime scene photos and autopsy tables. Just as she grows truly weary, a serial killer unlike any other she's encountered begins to stalk the city of Atlanta, targeting young prostitutes, each horrific murder bearing his own unique mark. This courtroom battle will be her last.Hailey heads for Manhattan to pick up the pieces of the life she had before Will's murder, training as a therapist. In a vibrant new world, she finally leaves her ghosts behind. But then her own clients are brutally murdered one by one by a copycat using the same M.O. as the Atlanta killer she hunted down years before. As the body count rises across Manhattan, Hailey is forced to match wits not only against a killer, but the famed NYPD.Unless she returns to her former life and solves the case, still more innocent people will die at the hands of a killer who plans to get her, before she can get him!A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick ~ It's a long way from Fort Worth, Texas, to New Bern, Connecticut, yet it only tak
es a day in the charming Yankee town to make Evelyn Dixon realise she's found her new home. The abrupt end of her marriage was Evelyn's wake-up call to get busy chasing her dream of opening a quilt shop. Finding a store front is easy enough; starting a new life isn't. Little does Evelyn imagine it will bring a trio like Abigail Burgess, her niece Liza, and Margot Matthews through her door.Troubled and angry after her mother's death, Liza threatens to embarrass her Aunt Abigail all over town unless she joins her for quilting classes. A victim of downsizing at the peak of her career, Margot hopes an event hosted by the quilt shop could be a great chance to network - and keep from dying of boredom...As they stitch their unique creations, Evelyn, Abigail, Liza, and Margot form a sisterhood they never sought - but one that they'll be grateful for when the unexpected provides a poignant reminder of the single thread that binds us all...Crank by Ellen Hopkins ~ Ellen Hopkins's semi-autobiographical verse novel, Crank, reads
like a Go Ask Alice for the 21st century. In it, she chronicles the turbulent and often disturbing relationship between Kristina, a character based on her own daughter, and the "monster," the highly addictive drug crystal meth, or "crank." Kristina is introduced to the drug while visiting her largely absent and ne'er-do-well father. While under the influence of the monster, Kristina discovers her sexy alter-ego, Bree: "there is no perfect daughter, / no gifted high school junior, / no Kristina Georgia Snow. / There is only Bree." Bree will do all the things good girl Kristina won't, including attracting the attention of dangerous boys who can provide her with a steady flow of crank. Soon, her grades plummet, her relationships with family and friends deteriorate, and she needs more and more of the monster just to get through the day. Kristina hits her lowest point when she is raped by one of her drug dealers and becomes pregnant as a result. Her decision to keep the baby slows her drug use, but doesn't stop it, and the author leaves the reader with the distinct impression that Kristina/Bree may never be free from her addiction. In the author's note, Hopkins warns "nothing in this story is impossible," but when Kristina's controlled, high-powered mother allows her teenage daughter to visit her biological father (a nearly homeless known drug user), the story feels unbelievable. Still, the descriptions of crystal meth use and its consequences are powerful, and will horrify and transfix older teenage readers, just as Alice did over 20 years ago.Dixie Diva
s by Virginia Brown ~ "You found my philandering ex-husband?" Bitty asked. "Where? Mexico? Paris? In Tupelo with a cocktail waitress?" "In your closet," I answered. "Dead." Break out the hoop skirts and the zinfandel. The Divas are on the case. Wine. Chocolate. Transvestite strippers. Just another good-time get-together for the Dixie Divas of historic Holly Springs, Mississippi, where moonlight and magnolias mingle with delicious smalltown scandal. But Eureka "Trinket" Truevine, the newest Diva, gets more than she bargained for when she finds her best Diva girlfriend Bitty Hollandale's ex-husband in Bitty's hall closet. He's dead. Very dead. Now Trinket and the Divas have to help Bitty finger the murderer and clear her name.Glass by Ellen Hopkins ~ Grade 9 Up—Kristina Snow was a 17-year-old with high grades and
a loving family. In Crank (S & S, 2004), one summer in California with a meth-addicted boyfriend destroys her life. Addicted, she's raped, and goes back home to Reno pregnant. Glass picks up a year later. She lives with her mother and works at a 7–11. Depressed about her post-baby figure, she goes back on speed to lose weight. Her mother kicks her out and gains custody of the baby. She continues to spiral to the last page, which sets readers up for a third novel. Glass is even more terrifying than Crank in its utter hopelessness; meth's power is permanent and Kristina is an addict whether she uses or not. Though her recount of events in the first book is dry and self-indulgent, the pace snowballs as soon as she takes her first toke of rock meth, and one desperate, horrifying measure or decision follows another. Like Crank, this title is written in verse, but certainly not poetry. Hopkins's writing is smooth and incisive, but her fondness for seemingly random forms is distracting and adds little to the power of the narrative. Minor characters are flat, and Kristina's overblown self-pity elicits little empathy. The author tries but fails to present meth itself as a character; her descriptions of "the monster" are precious and overwritten. Kristina's story is terrible, and even when she's high, the narrative voice and mood are sobering.Mama Rides S
hotgun: A Mace Bauer Mystery (Mace Bauer Mysteries) by Deborah Sharp ~ Mama Rosalee and middle daughter Mace are on the Florida Cracker Trail for the annual six-day commemorative horse ride across the state. The idea is for them to have some bonding time before Rosalee marries her fifth husband. Mama also hopes to do a little matchmaking for independent Mace. Both ladies are having a great time before an old rancher boyfriend of Mama’s dies of an apparent heart attack while preparing his Cow Hunter Chili for the trail riders. Mace is suspicious, while everyone else seems resigned to the death. After Mace’s tent is ripped open with a knife, and her horse runs straight onto a busy highway after being flicked with a cow whip, Mace’s sisters and former beau, detective Carlos, decide to join the ride to help protect Mace, who may have figured out something someone doesn’t want her to know. Sharp writes a funny mystery without resorting to stereotypical one-note characters. Furthermore, her descriptions of a part of Florida most of us know little about add to the appeal of this entertaining mystery. sTORI Telling by Tori Spelling ~ She was television's most famous virgin--and, as Aaron S
pelling's daughter, arguably its most famous case of nepotism. Portraying Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210, Tori Spelling became one of the most recognizable young actresses of her generation, with a not-so-private personal life every bit as fascinating as her character's exploits. Yet years later the name Tori Spelling too often closed--and sometimes slammed--the same doors it had opened. sTORI Telling is Tori's chance to finally tell her side of the tabloid-worthy life she's led, and she talks about it all: her decadent childhood birthday parties, her nose job, her fairy-tale wedding to the wrong man, her so-called feud with her mother. Tori has already revealed her flair for brilliant, self-effacing satire on her VH1 show So NoTORIous and Oxygen's Tori & Dean: Inn Love, but her memoir goes deeper, into the real life behind the rumors: her complicated relationship with her parents; her struggles as an actress after 90210; her accident-prone love life; and, ultimately, her quest to define herself on her own terms. From her over-the-top first wedding to finding new love to her much-publicized--and misunderstood--"disinheritance," sTORI Telling is a juicy, eye-opening, enthralling look at what it really means to be Tori Spelling.
The Perfect Couple (Last Stand) by Brenda Novak (ARC) ~ One afternoon in May, Zoe Duncan's thirteen-year
-old daughter goes missing from her own backyard. The police think Samantha ran away because she's unhappy about her mother's upcoming marriage—but Zoe doesn't believe it. In fact, she's willing to do anything to bring Sam home, even if it means losing her job, her beautiful home, her fiancé. Even if it means divulging all her secrets to a private investigator. Jonathan Stivers is a P.I. who donates his time to The Last Stand, a victims' charity in Sacramento. He's good at what he does, the best. But never has he had fewer leads to work with—or been more attracted to a client. Jonathan's sure of only one thing: Sam was taken by someone close to the family. He doesn't know how close until he realizes that the "perfect" couple next door is anything but….
pelling's daughter, arguably its most famous case of nepotism. Portraying Donna Martin on Beverly Hills, 90210, Tori Spelling became one of the most recognizable young actresses of her generation, with a not-so-private personal life every bit as fascinating as her character's exploits. Yet years later the name Tori Spelling too often closed--and sometimes slammed--the same doors it had opened. sTORI Telling is Tori's chance to finally tell her side of the tabloid-worthy life she's led, and she talks about it all: her decadent childhood birthday parties, her nose job, her fairy-tale wedding to the wrong man, her so-called feud with her mother. Tori has already revealed her flair for brilliant, self-effacing satire on her VH1 show So NoTORIous and Oxygen's Tori & Dean: Inn Love, but her memoir goes deeper, into the real life behind the rumors: her complicated relationship with her parents; her struggles as an actress after 90210; her accident-prone love life; and, ultimately, her quest to define herself on her own terms. From her over-the-top first wedding to finding new love to her much-publicized--and misunderstood--"disinheritance," sTORI Telling is a juicy, eye-opening, enthralling look at what it really means to be Tori Spelling.The Perfect Couple (Last Stand) by Brenda Novak (ARC) ~ One afternoon in May, Zoe Duncan's thirteen-year
-old daughter goes missing from her own backyard. The police think Samantha ran away because she's unhappy about her mother's upcoming marriage—but Zoe doesn't believe it. In fact, she's willing to do anything to bring Sam home, even if it means losing her job, her beautiful home, her fiancé. Even if it means divulging all her secrets to a private investigator. Jonathan Stivers is a P.I. who donates his time to The Last Stand, a victims' charity in Sacramento. He's good at what he does, the best. But never has he had fewer leads to work with—or been more attracted to a client. Jonathan's sure of only one thing: Sam was taken by someone close to the family. He doesn't know how close until he realizes that the "perfect" couple next door is anything but…. 
4 comments:
Wow! Full mailbox! Have fun reading :)
Dixie Divas is a hoot! Enjoy. I didn't know Deborah Sharp had a new Mama book out yet. I'll have to be looking for that one.
My mailbox is here Have a great week and happy reading.
Oo! You've got some good ones there, Lori! I had to laugh when I saw the title Killer Sudoku. I hadn't known there was a mystery series out there like that. I play Sudoku all the time. :-)
Enjoy your new books!
Killer Suduko sounds hilarious! Great haul.
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