We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.
Here's what I got ~
The Burying Place by Brian Freeman (ARC) ~ In a quiet town in Minnesota, a baby va
nishes from an opulent lakeside home. Was she abducted - or does her father have a terrible secret to hide? That same night, a young policewoman gets lost in the fog and stumbles into the middle of a horrific crime. Now a sadistic killer wants her to play his deadly game. Lieutenant Jonathan Stride and his team need to move fast to save the child and stop a killing spree. Stride knows that every snow-covered field may be the next burying place. Each twist in the investigation takes Stride further into an elaborate web of deceit. With everything at risk and time running out, Stride worries how far a desperate mother will go to rescue her baby - and ho
w far a desperate cop will go to save herself.
Let Sleeping Dogs Die (Skye Donovan Photographic Mysteries) by Liz Wolfe ~ Skye Donovan just landed her first big shoot—calendar photos for The Pet Place, a national chain of pet stores—but when the owner of the doggie talent, Frank Johnson, is killed, Skye's life is thrown into chaos. The investigating detective is her on-again, off-again lover and he's threatening to close down the shoot until he finds the killer. Unable to convince him to let the shoot go on, Skye tries to speed it along by diving headfirst into the case. From his former partner who thinks Frank cheated him out of his part of the business and his neighbors who have been complaining about the noise from his kennel to Skye's friend Lily, it seems a lot of people had a reason to want Frank dead. As Skye juggles photo shoots and a shaky love affair, the list of suspects keeps growing.
Dying for Mercy: A Novel of Suspense by Mary Jane Clark ~ When death shatters the se
renity of the exclusive moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, Eliza Blake, cohost of the country's premier morning television show KEY to America, is on the scene. While attending a lavish gala at her friends' newly renovated estate, Pentimento, Eliza's host is found dead—a grotesque suicide that is the first act in a macabre and intricately conceived plan to expose the sins of the past involving some of the town's most revered citizens. Determined to find out the truth, Eliza and her KEY News colleagues—producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B.J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez—discover that Pentimento holds the key. Nestled in the park's sprawling architectural masterpieces, picturesque gardeners' cottages, and lush, rolling landscape, the glorious mansion is actually a giant "puzzle house," filled with ingenious clues hidden in its fireplaces, fountains, and frescoes that lead them from one suspicious locale to another—and, one by one, to the victims of a fiendish killer. As Pentimento gives up its secrets, it becomes clear that no amount of wealth or privilege will keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe. But just when Eliza unearths one final surprise, she comes face-to-face with a murderer who believes that some puzzles should never be solved.
Cutting Edg
e (FBI Trilogy) by Allison Brennan ~ When a top engineering executive is murdered and his office torched, the firm's security expert Duke Rogan is determined to get the bottom of the assault himself. He pulls every string he has to be assigned as a civilian consultant to the FBI's joint task force, headed up by Nora English, who at first believes the attack to be a simple case of domestic terrorism. But the autopsy is strange: the man died from multiple knife wounds ? not stab wounds ? and slowly bled to death with no bones or organs punctured. And when another body is found with the same MO, this one a high-ranking government official, Nora begins to believe something far more evil is at work. Especially as her number one suspect has already been taken out of the equation...
A Slice of Murder by Chris Cavender ~ Not too much happens in the sleepy little town of
Timber Ridge, North Carolina - which is fine with pizza-purveyor extraordinaire Eleanor Swift. The spunky owner of A Slice of Delight is trying to mend her broken heart and could use a little quiet time. But when a late night delivery customer turns up dead, she's in for just the opposite in this delicious mystery series debut, featuring pizza as the prima character...Eleanor figures somebody must have been really mad at Richard Olsen to bury that kitchen knife in his chest. But when Kevin Hurley - her ex-boyfriend and Timber Ridge's police chief - starts eyeing her as a prime suspect, Eleanor knows she better get to the bottom of things before the gossipy townspeople decide to stop ordering her specialty pies. With her sassy and occasionally married sister Maddy by her side, Eleanor finds the list of suspects begins to outnumber the ingredients on the Slice's famed Smorgasbord Special pizza. Like Richard's eccentric sister, who appears out of nowhere to learn she's the heir to $100 grand...in what looks like dirty money. Richard worked for a shredding business - and it seems he read before he shred, and very well could've been a blackmailer. What about Richard's boss, who now stands to lose his shredding company? And then there's that steamy scented letter from none other than the mayor's wife. But when someone takes a shot at Eleanor on a late-night delivery run, she and Maddy know time is running out. To find the killer - and keep the pizzas rolling out of A Slice of Delight's ovens - she'll need to put it all one the line and hope that her search for the truth doesn't end in an unmarked grave.
Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson ~ 1. Ending a knitted work. 2. Releasing lines holding a boat to its mooring. 3. Letting go... On a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, the fishermen’s handmade sweaters tell a story. Each is unique—feelings stitched into rows, memories into patterns. It is here that Rebecca Moray comes to research a book on Irish knitting. With her daughter, Rowan, accompanying her, she hopes to lose herself in the history of the island and forget her own painful past. Soon, the townsfolk’s warm embrace wraps Rebecca and Rowan in a world of friendship, laughter, and love. And it is here that young Rowan befriends Sean Morahan, a cantankerous old fisherman, despite his attempts to scare her off. As Rebecca watches her daughter interact with Morahan, she recognizes in his eyes a look that speaks of a dark knowledge not unlike her own. And when current storms threaten to resurrect old ones, Morahan and Rebecca find themselves on a collision course—with Rowan caught between them—each buffeted by waves of regret and recrimination. Only by walking headfirst into the winds will they find the faith to forgive without forgetting…and reach the shore.
Mating Game by Janice Maynard (For Review) ~ Nola Grainger needs a man...and fast. Her grandmother has left her everything in her will, with one small catch: Nola has to be married
within a month. But if she’s going to get married, she wants it to last. And for her, that means finding a man with as much passion as she has—who can take care of every desire, every day. Nola finds three prime candidates: her high school sweetheart Billy, hard-dealing businessman Marc, and sexy handyman Tanner. Trying out three very different—and very desirable—men proves to be more fun than Nola imagined. But she never thought it might prove fatal. Because someone in town is dead set against Nola sticking around. And with three new men in her bed, the danger might be closer than she thinks...
Charmed and Dangerous (Bobbie Faye, Book 1) by Toni McGee Causey (For Review) ~ Set in Lake Charles
, La., Causey's hilarious, pitch-perfect debut chronicles one day in the life of 28-year-old Bobbie Faye Sumrall, a magnet for mayhem who feels "a day without disaster would be a day in someone else's life." For starters, a faulty washing machine floods the trailer home she shares with her five-year-old niece. Then she learns that kidnappers are holding Roy, her rogue of a younger brother, for ransom and want nothing less than the tiara inherited from her mother that Bobbie Faye plans to wear as the queen of the upcoming pirate-themed Contraband Days Festival. After a simple bank trip turns into a nightmare and thieves get away with the tiara, Bobbie Faye commandeers a truck and its hunky driver, Trevor, for a wild chase through bayou country. Friends cheer her on, while others take bets on her next calamity. Causey doesn't miss a beat in this wonderful, wacky celebration of Southern eccentricity.
Moon Shell Beach: A Novel by Nancy Thayer (For Review) ~ Childhood friends Clare Ha
rt and Lexi Laney work toward reconciliation in this bland novel by The Hot Flash Club author. Lexi wants to leave stifling Nantucket, so when wealthy Ed Hardin proposes marriage, Lexi seizes the chance to live a life of off-island luxury. But after 10 years in a lonely and adulterous marriage, Lexi divorces Ed and lands back on the island seeking to repair the relationships she left behind. As Lexi and Clare take steps toward salvaging their friendship, their relationships with men—particularly Lexi's feelings for Clare's fiancé—test their loyalty. Unfortunately, Thayer's characters are as thin as a worn beach towel, and the phoned-in prose does little to make up for the contrived plot twists that dominate the final act.
The Burying Place by Brian Freeman (ARC) ~ In a quiet town in Minnesota, a baby va
nishes from an opulent lakeside home. Was she abducted - or does her father have a terrible secret to hide? That same night, a young policewoman gets lost in the fog and stumbles into the middle of a horrific crime. Now a sadistic killer wants her to play his deadly game. Lieutenant Jonathan Stride and his team need to move fast to save the child and stop a killing spree. Stride knows that every snow-covered field may be the next burying place. Each twist in the investigation takes Stride further into an elaborate web of deceit. With everything at risk and time running out, Stride worries how far a desperate mother will go to rescue her baby - and ho
w far a desperate cop will go to save herself.Let Sleeping Dogs Die (Skye Donovan Photographic Mysteries) by Liz Wolfe ~ Skye Donovan just landed her first big shoot—calendar photos for The Pet Place, a national chain of pet stores—but when the owner of the doggie talent, Frank Johnson, is killed, Skye's life is thrown into chaos. The investigating detective is her on-again, off-again lover and he's threatening to close down the shoot until he finds the killer. Unable to convince him to let the shoot go on, Skye tries to speed it along by diving headfirst into the case. From his former partner who thinks Frank cheated him out of his part of the business and his neighbors who have been complaining about the noise from his kennel to Skye's friend Lily, it seems a lot of people had a reason to want Frank dead. As Skye juggles photo shoots and a shaky love affair, the list of suspects keeps growing.
Dying for Mercy: A Novel of Suspense by Mary Jane Clark ~ When death shatters the se
renity of the exclusive moneyed enclave of Tuxedo Park, New York, Eliza Blake, cohost of the country's premier morning television show KEY to America, is on the scene. While attending a lavish gala at her friends' newly renovated estate, Pentimento, Eliza's host is found dead—a grotesque suicide that is the first act in a macabre and intricately conceived plan to expose the sins of the past involving some of the town's most revered citizens. Determined to find out the truth, Eliza and her KEY News colleagues—producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman B.J. D'Elia, and psychiatrist Margo Gonzalez—discover that Pentimento holds the key. Nestled in the park's sprawling architectural masterpieces, picturesque gardeners' cottages, and lush, rolling landscape, the glorious mansion is actually a giant "puzzle house," filled with ingenious clues hidden in its fireplaces, fountains, and frescoes that lead them from one suspicious locale to another—and, one by one, to the victims of a fiendish killer. As Pentimento gives up its secrets, it becomes clear that no amount of wealth or privilege will keep the residents of Tuxedo Park safe. But just when Eliza unearths one final surprise, she comes face-to-face with a murderer who believes that some puzzles should never be solved.Cutting Edg
e (FBI Trilogy) by Allison Brennan ~ When a top engineering executive is murdered and his office torched, the firm's security expert Duke Rogan is determined to get the bottom of the assault himself. He pulls every string he has to be assigned as a civilian consultant to the FBI's joint task force, headed up by Nora English, who at first believes the attack to be a simple case of domestic terrorism. But the autopsy is strange: the man died from multiple knife wounds ? not stab wounds ? and slowly bled to death with no bones or organs punctured. And when another body is found with the same MO, this one a high-ranking government official, Nora begins to believe something far more evil is at work. Especially as her number one suspect has already been taken out of the equation...A Slice of Murder by Chris Cavender ~ Not too much happens in the sleepy little town of
Timber Ridge, North Carolina - which is fine with pizza-purveyor extraordinaire Eleanor Swift. The spunky owner of A Slice of Delight is trying to mend her broken heart and could use a little quiet time. But when a late night delivery customer turns up dead, she's in for just the opposite in this delicious mystery series debut, featuring pizza as the prima character...Eleanor figures somebody must have been really mad at Richard Olsen to bury that kitchen knife in his chest. But when Kevin Hurley - her ex-boyfriend and Timber Ridge's police chief - starts eyeing her as a prime suspect, Eleanor knows she better get to the bottom of things before the gossipy townspeople decide to stop ordering her specialty pies. With her sassy and occasionally married sister Maddy by her side, Eleanor finds the list of suspects begins to outnumber the ingredients on the Slice's famed Smorgasbord Special pizza. Like Richard's eccentric sister, who appears out of nowhere to learn she's the heir to $100 grand...in what looks like dirty money. Richard worked for a shredding business - and it seems he read before he shred, and very well could've been a blackmailer. What about Richard's boss, who now stands to lose his shredding company? And then there's that steamy scented letter from none other than the mayor's wife. But when someone takes a shot at Eleanor on a late-night delivery run, she and Maddy know time is running out. To find the killer - and keep the pizzas rolling out of A Slice of Delight's ovens - she'll need to put it all one the line and hope that her search for the truth doesn't end in an unmarked grave.
Casting Off by Nicole R. Dickson ~ 1. Ending a knitted work. 2. Releasing lines holding a boat to its mooring. 3. Letting go... On a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland, the fishermen’s handmade sweaters tell a story. Each is unique—feelings stitched into rows, memories into patterns. It is here that Rebecca Moray comes to research a book on Irish knitting. With her daughter, Rowan, accompanying her, she hopes to lose herself in the history of the island and forget her own painful past. Soon, the townsfolk’s warm embrace wraps Rebecca and Rowan in a world of friendship, laughter, and love. And it is here that young Rowan befriends Sean Morahan, a cantankerous old fisherman, despite his attempts to scare her off. As Rebecca watches her daughter interact with Morahan, she recognizes in his eyes a look that speaks of a dark knowledge not unlike her own. And when current storms threaten to resurrect old ones, Morahan and Rebecca find themselves on a collision course—with Rowan caught between them—each buffeted by waves of regret and recrimination. Only by walking headfirst into the winds will they find the faith to forgive without forgetting…and reach the shore.
Mating Game by Janice Maynard (For Review) ~ Nola Grainger needs a man...and fast. Her grandmother has left her everything in her will, with one small catch: Nola has to be married
within a month. But if she’s going to get married, she wants it to last. And for her, that means finding a man with as much passion as she has—who can take care of every desire, every day. Nola finds three prime candidates: her high school sweetheart Billy, hard-dealing businessman Marc, and sexy handyman Tanner. Trying out three very different—and very desirable—men proves to be more fun than Nola imagined. But she never thought it might prove fatal. Because someone in town is dead set against Nola sticking around. And with three new men in her bed, the danger might be closer than she thinks...Charmed and Dangerous (Bobbie Faye, Book 1) by Toni McGee Causey (For Review) ~ Set in Lake Charles
, La., Causey's hilarious, pitch-perfect debut chronicles one day in the life of 28-year-old Bobbie Faye Sumrall, a magnet for mayhem who feels "a day without disaster would be a day in someone else's life." For starters, a faulty washing machine floods the trailer home she shares with her five-year-old niece. Then she learns that kidnappers are holding Roy, her rogue of a younger brother, for ransom and want nothing less than the tiara inherited from her mother that Bobbie Faye plans to wear as the queen of the upcoming pirate-themed Contraband Days Festival. After a simple bank trip turns into a nightmare and thieves get away with the tiara, Bobbie Faye commandeers a truck and its hunky driver, Trevor, for a wild chase through bayou country. Friends cheer her on, while others take bets on her next calamity. Causey doesn't miss a beat in this wonderful, wacky celebration of Southern eccentricity.Moon Shell Beach: A Novel by Nancy Thayer (For Review) ~ Childhood friends Clare Ha
rt and Lexi Laney work toward reconciliation in this bland novel by The Hot Flash Club author. Lexi wants to leave stifling Nantucket, so when wealthy Ed Hardin proposes marriage, Lexi seizes the chance to live a life of off-island luxury. But after 10 years in a lonely and adulterous marriage, Lexi divorces Ed and lands back on the island seeking to repair the relationships she left behind. As Lexi and Clare take steps toward salvaging their friendship, their relationships with men—particularly Lexi's feelings for Clare's fiancé—test their loyalty. Unfortunately, Thayer's characters are as thin as a worn beach towel, and the phoned-in prose does little to make up for the contrived plot twists that dominate the final act.
2 comments:
Once again you have a ton of great books to read. I am fully jealous! :)
Great mailbox this week! Casting Off looks great.
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