Mailbox Monday

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 ~


Hand of Fate (A Triple Threat Novel) by Lis Wiehl and April Henry (For Review) ~ Bestseller Wiehl and Henry's second Triple Threat novel (after Face of Betrayal) offers an exciting if familiar plot. When Jim Fate, a radio talk host in Portland, Ore., opens a padded envelope addressed to him shortly before going on air, he releases a poison gas, possibly sarin, that soon kills him. The package also contains a copy of Talk Radio, originally a play, later a movie, about the true-life murder of Denver talk show host Alan Berg. Caught in the subsequent investigation are three young professionals with links to law enforcement: federal prosecutor Allison Pierce, who's pregnant; FBI special agent Nicole Nic Hedges; and Cassidy Shaw, a TV crime reporter, who formed the Triple Threat Club after a high school reunion. Readers will identify with these very real women as they try to uncover Fate's killer, and each battles a personal demon—Allison her fear of miscarriage, Nic her fear of her daughter's criminal father, and Cassidy her prescription drug addiction. Release date: April 6th

Across The Table: Across The Table\Dancing On Sunday Afternoons by Linda Cardillo (For Review) ~ From her restaurant on Boston's Salem Street, and from her own kitchen, Rose Dante has served countless meals and built a tight-knit community of customers, family and friends. Her daughter Toni tried to create her own life, outside that circle-only to return with her daughter when her marriage failed and now Toni must face the bitterness of the past in order to taste the sweetness of the future. But she can't make such a journey alone. She needs the guidance of a mother, of her family. She needs Rose's recipes for happiness, learned by trial and error over sixty years of marriage. Release date: June 1st.

Chasing Lilacs: A Novel by Carla Stewart (For Review) ~ It is the summer of 1958, and life in the small Texas community of Graham Camp should be simple and carefree. But not for twelve-year-old Sammie Tucker. Sammie has plenty of questions about her mother's "nerve" problems. About shock treatments. About whether her mother loves her.
When her mother commits suicide and a not-so-favorite aunt arrives, Sammie has to choose who to trust with her deepest fears: Her best friend who has an opinion about everything, the mysterious kid from California whose own troubles plague him, or her round-faced neighbor with gentle advice and strong shoulders to cry on. Then there's the elderly widower who seems nice but has his own dark past. Trusting is one thing, but accepting the truth may be the hardest thing Sammie has ever done. Release date: June 17th.

White Heat by Brenda Novak (For Review) ~ A religious cult has moved into what was once a ghost town--Paradise, Arizona. And their actions are cause for concern. One woman who escaped from the compound was nearly stoned to death. Another has gone missing altogether. Private security contractor Nate Ferrentino is given the assignment of infiltrating the group. It's a challenge he welcomes...until he learns that Rachel Jessop, one of his colleagues at Department 6, has been chosen to accompany him. Nate's attracted to Rachel but because of their history, he prefers to keep his distance. Problem is, they have to pretend to be married. Only couples can participate in certain rituals, which Nate and Rachel need to do if they're going to pierce the veil of secrecy. But when they find proof that cult leader Ethan Wycliff is as twisted as they feared, they know they have to set aside their differences...or Ethan might take more lives. Maybe even theirs....Release date: July 27th

Overkill by Joseph Teller (For Review) ~ It's a case no one can win - which is exactly why he's going to take it. Harrison J. Walker - Jaywalker, to the world - is a frayed-at-the-edges defense attorney with a ninety-percent acquittal rate, thanks to an obsessive streak a mile wide. But winning this case will take more than just dedication. Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Estrada killed another boy after a fight over a girl: shot him point-blank between the eyes. No one disputes those facts. This kid is jammed up big-time, but almost unable to help himself. He's got the face of an angel but can hardly string together three words to explain what happened that day...yet he's determined to go to trial. All they've got is a "yesbut" defense, as in: "Did you kill him?" "Yes, but...." Jaywalker is accustomed to bending the rules - this will stretch the law to the breaking point and beyond. Release date: August 1st.

Saving Max by Antoinette van Heugten (For Review) ~ What would a loving mother not do for her child? Lawyer Danielle Parkman is at her wits' end. Her son Max, a whip-smart teen with high-functioning autism, has always been a handful. But lately he's shutting down, using drugs and lashing out - violently. Desperate, Danielle brings Max to a top-flight psychiatric facility for a full assessment. But rather than reassurance, Danielle receives an agonizing diagnosis describing a deeply damaged, dangerous boy - one she's never met. Then Danielle finds Max unconscious and bloodied at the feet of a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death. A fiercely protective mother instinct rears its head - and Danielle is arrested as an accessory to the heinous crime. In a baffling netherworld of doubt and fear, barred from contacting her son, Danielle clings to the thought of Max's innocence. But has she, too, lost touch with reality? Is her baby boy really a killer? With the justice system bearing down on them both, Danielle steels herself to discover the truth - no matter how horrifying. It's a path well on the wrong side of the law. But only finding the true killer will absolve her from having to choose between her son and her soul. Release date: September 28th

61 Hours: A Reacher Novel (Jack Reacher) by Lee Child ~ Jack Reacher is back in his element—Smalltown, U.S.A.—in bestseller Child's fine 14th thriller to feature the roving ex-military cop. When a tour bus on which he bummed a ride skids off the road and crashes, Reacher finds himself in Bolton, S.Dak., a tiny burg with big problems. A highly sophisticated methamphetamine lab run by a vicious Mexican drug cartel has begun operating outside town at an abandoned military facility. After figuring out the snow-bound, marooned Reacher's smart, great with weapons, and capable of tapping military intelligence, the helpless local cops enlist his assistance, and, as always, he displays plenty of derring-do, mental acuity, and good old-fashioned decency. While the action is slower than usual, series fans will appreciate some new insights that Child provides into his hero's psyche and background as well as a cliffhanger ending Release date: May 18th.

Forget Me Not: A Novel (Crossroads Crisis Center) by Vicki Hinze (For Review) ~ Benjamin Brandt, owner of the Crossroads Crisis Center, hasn't set foot in the center since his wife and son were murdered a few years earlier. Then Susan comes to the center, beaten and battered, suffering a case of amnesia, and also bearing a close resemblance to Benjamin's deceased wife, also named Susan, and wearing the dead woman's cross necklace. The two clash at first, but even as murders occur around them, the tension between them relaxes. Still, there is a mystery to be solved involving Susan's identity and a past that must be reckoned with before either can move ahead. Hinze's plot may have readers puzzling over how this tangled tale will ever resolve itself, but that underestimates the author's talent for transforming the unlikely into something beautiful.

Killing Me Softly by Maggie Shayne (For Review) ~ First you drink, then you die. The Nightcap Strangler, who terrorized the town of Shadow Falls fifteen years ago, has finally been executed. Case closed. Until Bryan Kendall's lover is murdered in the notorious killer's unique style and the rookie cop stands accused. Has someone committed the perfect copy-cat crime...or was the wrong man put to death? A continent away, Dawn Jones hears that her first love has been accused of murder and knows that only she can help him. But to do so, she'll have to face the very fears that drove them apart. Together, they'll work to uncover secrets someone's willing to kill to keep, and renew a love as dangerous as it is inevitable. And their best lead is the girl found dead in Bryan's bed, reeking of the whiskey poured down her throat before her killer squeezed it shut. A killer who thinks that Dawn, too, could use one last drink. Release date: June 29th.

The Postcard Killers by James Patterson and Liza Marklund (For Review) ~ NYPD detective Jack Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each restaurant through a killer's eyes. Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have become victims of the same sadistic killers. Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Gabby Larsen. Every killing is preceded by a postcard to the local newspaper--and Kanon and Larsen think they know where the next victims will be. With relentless logic and unstoppable action, The Postcard Killers may be James Patterson's most vivid and compelling thriller yet. Release date: August 16th.

Private by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (For Review) ~ Former Marine and CIA agent Jack Morgan inherits his father's renowned security and detective business--along with a case load that tests him to the breaking point. Getting to the bottom of an NFL gambling scandal and an unsolved LAPD investigation into 18 school girl slayings would be enough. On top of all that, Morgan takes on solving the horrific murder of his best friend's wife. As Morgan fights the urge to exact brutal revenge on that killer, he has to navigate a workplace imbroglio that could blow the roof off his elite agency. And it's an especially explosive situation . . . because the love affair is his own. Release date: June 28th.