Mailbox Monday

 Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia at The Printed Page.

                                   We share what books that we found in our mailboxes last week.

 Indefensible by Pamela Callow ~ Lawyer Kate Lange knows all about nightmares. She's survived the darkest period of her troubled life and the wounds are still raw. Now she's been handed a case that seems utterly unwinnable: defending her boss, high-profile lawyer Randall Barrett. A prosecutor's dream suspect, Randall is a man who was cuckolded by his ex-wife. A man who could not control his temper. A man who had argued bitterly with the victim the previous day in full view of the children. With limited criminal law experience, Kate finds herself enmeshed in a family fractured by doubt. Randall's teenaged son is intent on killing him. His daughter wants only to feel safe again. And the entire legal community would like nothing better than to see Randall receive a public comeuppance. As Kate races to stay a step ahead of the prosecution, a silent predator is waiting for the perfect time to deal the final blow--and this time his victim is Randall's own daughter.

To Speak for the Dead by Paul Levine ~(Nook) Miami trail lawyer Jake Lassiter, "ex-football player, ex-public defender, ex-a-lot-of-things," is defending Dr. Roger Salisbury, a surgeon and womanizer charged with malpractice in the death of wealth Philip Corrigan. But the dead man's daughter insists that the doctor and her sexy stepmother conspired to kill her father-and wants Lassiter to prove it. Can Lassiter really defend his client for malpractice and builds a case against him for murder? tuming to help to the wisdom of his old friend, retired county coroner Charlie Riggs, Lassiter hopes to get the evidence he needs from the dead man himself. But outside the courtroom, he soon finds more trouble that he ever imagined possible-murder, missing persons, grave robbery, kinky sex, and deadly drugs-as he searched Florida's steamy streets and tropical swamps for a cold-blooded killer.

 Sweet Dreams by Heather Webber (Kindle) ~ Mariella suspects someone has been watching her, following her, and possibly even sneaking into her apartment when she’s not there. When she turns to an upstairs neighbor—the man of her dreams—for help, they soon discover just how nightmarish the situation truly is.

The Cinderella Plan  by Heather Webber (Kindle) ~ Three years ago, Prince Charming left town without his princess. Now he’s back to win her heart...if she’ll let him. Big city lawyer Brady James has concocted The Cinderella Plan to win back the love of small-town librarian Hannah Spenser. Can they both overcome inner demons in time to see that beauty and worth come from deep within? Because it’s only then that they’ll find the happily ever after they’ve both dreamed about.

A Dog's Purpose  (Kindle) ~ A tail-wagging three hanky boo-hooer, this delightful fiction debut by newspaper columnist Cameron (8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter) proposes that a dog's purpose might entail being reborn several times. Told in a touching, doggy first-person, this unabashedly sentimental tale introduces Toby, who's rescued by a woman without a license for her rescue operation, so, sadly, Toby ends up euthanized. He's reborn in a puppy mill and after almost dying while left in a hot car, he's saved again by a woman, and he becomes Bailey, a beloved golden retriever, who finds happiness and many adventures. His next intense incarnation is as Ellie, a female German shepherd, a heroic search and rescue dog. But the true purpose of this dog's life doesn't become totally clear until his reincarnation as Buddy, a black Lab. A book for all age groups who admire canine courage, Cameron also successfully captures the essence of a dog's amazing capacity to love and protect. And happily, unlike Marley, this dog stays around for the long haul.

Dangerous Secrets by Katie Reus (Netgalley) ~ Isabelle Ballantine has been fighting for independence since she was old enough to walk. Now that she's finally out from under her father's shadow, she won't let anyone stand in her way. It's tough living on her own, working in a bar and keeping her true identity a secret, but things start to look up when a sexy new stranger walks into her life. After working side by side for weeks, Izzy can't figure out why he won't make a move... To cinch the deal of a lifetime, Adam Marcellus agrees to help Izzy's eccentric father convince his daughter to move home. He'd assumed Izzy would be another spoiled rich princess, but he's surprised to discover his feelings for her are stronger than anything he's ever experienced. When a deranged stalker targets her, Adam finds himself fighting not only an unknown threat-but an unexpected attraction to the one woman he can't have... Release date ~ Feb 7th

 Polished Off (Southern Beauty Shop) by Lila Dare (Review) ~ Audrey Faye sashays into Violetta's Salon looking for stylists for the Miss Magnolia Blossom pageant. Hairdresser Grace Terhune's opportunity quickly turns into a nightmare with anti-pageant protestors, angry mothers, frantic contestants...and then, a very dead Audrey. The murder weapon was a nail file, making Violetta's manicurist, Stella, the prime suspect. Now Grace must find the real murderer before she is polished off permanently. Release date ~ Feb 1st

 Angel's Verdict (A Beaufort & Company Mystery) by Mary Stanton (Review) ~ Celestial advocate Brianna Winston-Beaufort is eager to set aside handling appeals for condemned souls and get back to practicing law in the land of the living. Three months after taking over the family practice Bree jumps at the opportunity to work for an earthly client. But when elderly actress Justine Coville walks into Beaufort & Company's office to make changes to her will, she drags Bree right back into a whole other-world of troubles. Release date ~ Feb 1st.

 A Crafty Killing (Victoria Square Mystery) by Lorraine Bartlett (Review) ~ The last thing Katie Bonner wanted was to become the manager of Artisans Alley. But when her business partner, Ezra Hilton, is found bludgeoned to death, she has no other choice. Business under Ezra has been faltering-but was it enough to provoke someone to murder? Only Kate can find the answer.  Release date ~ Feb 1st

 

Town In a Lobster Stew (CANDY HOLLIDAY MYSTERY) by B.B. Haywood (Review) ~  Things start to boil over at the annual Lobster Stew Cook-Off when an award-winning recipe is stolen and a seven-time contest champion mysteriously disappears-leaving Candy no choice but to find out who in Cape Willington, Maine, would get steamed enough to break the law. Release date ~ Feb 1st

Blast from the Past (A Where Are They Now? Mystery)  by Toni Kelner (Review) ~ Before becoming an action film star, John Laryea appeared on The Blastoffs, a Saturday morning kid's show about a rock band in space. His former co-star, Pete Ellis, now drives a limo for a living. So when someone tries to run Laryea over, Ellis becomes the prime suspect-and it's up to Tilda to clear his name. Release date ~ Feb 1st.

 Wild Penance (Ault, Sandi) by Sandi Ault (Review) ~ When Jamaica Wild, a Bureau of Land Management agent in Taos, N.M., sees a body on a cross tossed off the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge at the start of Ault's chilling but uneven fourth Wild mystery (after 2009's Wild Sorrow), it appears to be the work of the Penitentes, a religious sect that practices penance through re-enactments of Christ's suffering. Several months earlier, Jamaica spoke about the sect with Fr. Ignacio Medina, to whom she'd shown her sketchbook devoted to the Penitentes, which later is mysteriously stolen. In one unlikely scene, a set of stage lights falls on a lingerie model in a local charity fashion show. The circumstances suggest the culprit intended to kill Jamaica, who was filling in for another model. Forest ranger Kerry Reed lends romantic interest, while medicine woman Momma Anna Santana helps Jamaica grow spiritually. Disturbing discoveries about the secretive Penitentes' past provide the cowgirl sleuth with her strangest challenge to date Release date ~ Feb 2nd

Drip Dead (A GEORGIANA NEVERALL MYSTERY) by Christy Evans (Review) ~ When plumber's apprentice Georgiana Neverall crawls under her mother's house to check the pipes, she's horrified to find her mother's flashy fiancé, real estate mogul Gregory Whitlock, dead in the dirt. Instead of a wedding ring, Georgiana's mother is soon wearing handcuffs, accused of killing the man she loved. To clear her mother's name, Georgiana's going to have to crawl into a few more dark spaces and uncover secrets Whitlock was hiding.Release date ~ Feb 1st.

187 Pain and Bliss by Wade Halverson (Nook) ~ Surviving a plane crash that claims the life of his mother, 10-year-old Axle Hunter suddenly finds himself in the jungles of Thailand, wanders into an opium poppy field and enters an exotic realm far beyond the familiar — the world of the drug cartel. Rescued and adopted by Chang So'Ming, commander of the poppy farm, Axle works the fields and trains to become a Thai fighter in the ancient tradition. Axle comes to embrace the jungle and its people as family, and confronts the savagery of revenge when called upon to fight for his father's life. "This man was torturing his family. Axle was not afraid as he drove the blade into the man's neck. The gangster lay on the floor, choking on his own blood." Years later, Axle has become a world champion Thai fighter, husband to the beautiful nurse, May, and father of his own son. But rival forces seeking to control the So'Ming poppy empire thrust Axle into a quest for revenge when they murder his family and burn down his father's compound, and Axle enlists the help of the one man he knows he can trust: Kane Silver.

187 When Courts Fail  by Wade J. Halverson (Nook) ~ Within hours of his release from prison, repeat offender Felix Flowers, a known child molester, murders 10-year-old Jonathan, the only son of billionaire software mogul John Boyer, and his wife, Victoria. As condolence letters pour in from other parents who have suffered the same horror, John Boyer's rage at the inadequacy of the criminal justice system to protect the innocent from sexual predators compels him to launch his own quest. Joining forces with Kane Silver, a second generation Special Forces and Special Operations man, whom Boyer admires for taking justice into his own hands in avenging his wife's rape and murder, they form a lethal team and carry out a covert operation achieving the justice that courts failed to secure.

 The House of Six Doors by Patricia Selbert (Review) ~ Mama takes thirteen-year-old Serena and her sister to the US in search of fortune, leaving behind their multicultural family, stability, and the colors of the Caribbean. After driving from Miami to Hollywood, their money and luck run out and a 1963 Ford Galaxie becomes their first American home. Guided by the memory of her native Curaçao and the words of her wise grandmother, Serena confronts unimagined challenges and grows up quickly. What gifts will this new country bring, and at what price? Release date - Feb 22nd.


 Every Last One: A Novel by Anna Quindlen (TLC Tour) ~ Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterwards is a testament to the power of a woman's love and determination, and to the invisible line of hope and healing that connects one human being with another. Ultimately, in the hands of Anna Quindlen's mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the the things we fear most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel, to live a life we never dreamed we'd have to live but must be brave enough to try.

In the Arms of Stone Angels (Harlequin Teen) by Jordan Dane (Netgalley) ~ Two years ago I did a terrible thing. I accused my best friend of being a killer after seeing him kneeling over a girl’s body. That moment and that outcast boy still haunt me. Now my mom is forcing me back to Oklahoma and I can’t get White Bird out of my mind. But when I find out he’s not in juvie—that he’s in a mental hospital, locked in his tormented brain at the worst moment of his life—I can’t turn my back on him again. No one wants me to see him. My mom doesn’t trust me. The town sheriff still thinks I was involved in the murder. And the other kids who knew the dead girl are after me. I’m as trapped as White Bird. And when I touch him, I get sucked into his living hell, a vision quest of horrifying demons and illusions of that night. Everything about him scares me now, but I have to do something. This time I can’t be a coward. This time I have to be his friend. Even if I get lost, as well...Release date ~ March 22nd.

In Desperation by Rick Mofina (NetGalley) ~ A single mother answers a knock at her door and enters a nightmare…Eleven-year-old Tilly Martin is dragged from her suburban bedroom. Her mother, Cora, pleads for mercy but the kidnappers are clear: if they don’t get their $5 million back in five days, Tilly dies. If anyone contacts police, Tilly dies. A reporter receives a heart-stopping email that rips open the past…Journalist Jack Gannon’s estranged sister, Cora, disappeared without a trace decades ago. Now she is frantically reaching out to him for help. Cora tells him about the shameful mistakes she’s made—but she guards the one secret that may be keeping her daughter alive. A Mexican priest hears a chilling confession…A twenty-year-old assassin, haunted by the faces of the people he’s executed, seeks absolution as he sets out to commit his last murders as a hired killer. Time is running out…In the U.S. and Mexico, police and the press go flat out on Tilly’s case. But as Gannon digs deeper into his anguished sister’s past, the hours tick down on his niece’s life and he faces losing a fragment of his rediscovered family forever.  Release date ~ March 22nd


 Precious Blood by Jonathan Hayes (Nook) ~ New York City medical examiner Edward Jenner thought he'd gotten out, turning his back on forensics—and life—after the nightmare of September 11. But when a young student is found murdered, her mutilated body hanging on the wall of an East Village apartment, Jenner is forced out of retirement. One look at the victim and Jenner is sure there's a serial killer on the loose—a hunch confirmed when he uncovers a second horrific murder. And when a friend asks him to look after a beautiful girl threatened by the killer, Jenner can't refuse. Dragged back onto the dark streets of New York City, Jenner is pushed to the limits of his physical endurance, pitting his sharpest intuitions against the elusive maneuverings of a psychopath. He's getting within inches of the answer, but the clock is ticking and the killer is just too fast—ten steps ahead of the police, two steps ahead of Jenner, and always just out of reach. As the killings continue, Jenner's desperate chase brings him ever closer to the man behind the grisliest murders he's ever seen—and only one of them can survive. This is real-world forensic investigation, where fingerprints lead nowhere, DNA doesn't help, and serial killers aren't always caught in the nick of time. . . .


 A Hard Death: A Novel by Jonathan Hayes (NetGalley) ~ As a criminal pathologist, Dr Edward Jenner has seen many bad deaths in his day, but none as crazed as the ritual slayings perpetrated by Robert Farrar, The Inquisitor. He survived the final denouement of Farrar's killing spree, but not the fall-out from the authorities which saw his medical license suspended and him banished from New York.  Release date ~ April 12th.


Before Cain Strikes  by Joshua Corin (NetGalley) ~ School is in session. The subject is murder. When the student is ready, the teacher appears. The only problem is, in this online classroom the students are would-be serial killers eager to learn the tricks of the trade from a master, the enigmatic Cain42. FBI consultant Esme Stuart is struggling to stanch the doubt and fear eating away at her marriage. Now a seedy truecrime writer is dredging up the deadly confrontation that nearly destroyed her. But the link between Esme’s old enemy and this new predator is the key to the Bureau’s manhunt. Esme knows her involvement in the case could cost her everything. Her marriage. Her daughter. Her life. But when Cain openly challenges his “students” to embark on a killing spree, she has no choice but to act— before Cain strikes another victim down…Release date ~ March 22nd


 Three Ways to Die by Lee Goldberg (Nook) ~ This collection gathers together three acclaimed short stories ---"Jack Webb's Star," "Remaindered," and "Bumsickle" -- by Edgar-nominated writer Lee Goldberg, author of the bestselling MONK and DIAGNOSIS MURDER series of original mystery novels. "Jack Webb's Star" originally appeared in the anthology "Hollywood and Crime." "Bumsickle" originally appeared in the anthology Fedora III. "Remaindered" originally appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and was a Reader's Choice Award finalist.



 The Walk by Lee Goldberg (Nook) ~ Marty Slack, TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes. Downtown LA is in ruins. His phone is dead. Marty must get home to his wife. All he has to do is walk. But looters rampage the streets: his journey is dangerous, unpredictable. Nothing can prepare Marty for this ordeal, a quest for his family and his soul, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be ...if he can survive The Walk.


 The Wedding Gift by Kathleen McKenna (Crazy Book Tours) ~ 17 year old Leeann Worthier is the perfect girl in town - or so she says. George Willets is the heir to a booming petroleum business. When they announce their engagement, George's controlling mother is unimpressed, and Leeann absolutely refuses to live with her mother-in-law. So George gives his new wife a house as a wedding gift. Thirty years before, the same house hosted a grisly scene: George's uncle and cousins were all slaughtered and his aunt Robina accused of both murder and suicide. The house is a gorgeous, well-maintained mansion, but has stood empty since the tragedy. It's intimidating, but who is Leeann to turn down a free house? When the ghost of Robina begins to haunt Leeann, she realizes she's made a huge mistake ....