Tuesday, December 31, 2013

New Release 2013 (Dec 31)












Scent of Roses Mass Market Paperback

Elizabeth doesn't believe in ghosts.

But this time she has no choice.


Family counselor Elizabeth Conner isn't sure what to think when Maria Santiago comes to her for help. Pregnant and terrified, Maria claims to be visited each night by the ghost of a little girl, warning her to flee. Her husband, Miguel, a migrant worker at Harcourt Farms in the San Joaquin Valley, dismisses her fears as hormonal changes. Sympathetic to the young woman, Elizabeth agrees to help by contacting Miguel's employers, who own the cottage where the young couple lives.

Elizabeth immediately picks up on the deep enmity betweenthe two Harcourt brothers: Carson, the handsome scion running the estate for his incapacitated father, and Zack, the rebellious black sheep. While Carson is more interested in Elizabeth than in her concerns, Zack grudgingly agrees to help her look into the history of the house.

But even as unexpected desire draws them together, Elizabeth and Zack feel something dark and disturbing at the house. And when the cloying scent and lingering chill of pure evil surround her, Elizabeth knows something terrible has happened here before, something that has its roots in murder.

www.KatMartin.com

Monday, December 30, 2013

Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads




Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads


Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books you read last week and books being read this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  The Final Cut - Catherine Coulter

Weekly Read:

1.  Inherit the Dead - Lee Child
2.  Against the Edge - Kat Martin

Sunday, December 29, 2013

Library Haul 2013 (Dec 29 - Jan 4)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  Against the Edge - Kat Martin

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Monday, December 23, 2013

Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads




Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads


Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books you read last week and books being read this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Damned If I Do - Robert B. Parker
2.  The Stranger You Know - Andrea Kane

Weekly Read:

1.  The Final Cut - Catherine Coulter

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Library Haul 2013 (Dec 22 - 28)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  The Final Cut - Catherine Coulter
2.  Inherit the Dead - Lee Child

Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Stranger You Know (Forensic Instincts) Hardcover



I've finished "The Stranger You Know" the 3rd book in Forensic Instincts series by Andrea Kane.

It begins with a chilling phone call to Casey Woods. And ends with another girl dead.

College-age girls with long red hair. Brutally murdered, they're posed like victims in a film noir. Each crime scene is eerily similar to the twisted fantasy of a serial offender now serving thirty years to life — a criminal brought to justice with the help of Forensic Instincts.

Call. Kill. Repeat. But the similarities are more than one psychopath's desire to outdo another. As more red-haired victims are added to the body count, it becomes clear that each one has been chosen because of a unique connection to Casey — a connection that grows closer and closer to her.

Now the Forensic Instincts team must race to uncover the identity of a serial killer before his ever-tightening circle of death closes in on Casey as the ultimate target. As the stalker methodically moves in on his prey, his actions make one thing clear: he knows everything about Casey. And Casey realizes that this psychopathic won't stop until he makes sure she's dead.

About the Author

Andrea Kane’s psychological thriller THE GIRL WHO DISAPPEARED TWICE became an instant New York Times bestseller, the latest in a long string of smash hits. THE LINE BETWEEN HERE AND GONE is the next exhilarating installment in the Forensic Instincts series. With a worldwide following and novels published in over twenty languages, Kane is also the author of eight romantic thrillers and fourteen historical romances. She lives in New Jersey with her family.

Product Details
Series: Forensic Instincts
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (September 24, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0778315010
ISBN-13: 978-0778315018


My Review:

3.5/5

Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Mail 2013 (Dec 21)



Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Mail is hosted every Saturday at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received this in the mail this week.

For Review:











The Midwife's Tale: A Mystery Paperback

In the tradition of Arianna Franklin and C. J. Sansom comes Samuel Thomas’s remarkable debut, The Midwife’s Tale.

It is 1644, and Parliament’s armies have risen against the King and laid siege to the city of York. Even as the city suffers at the rebels’ hands, midwife Bridget Hodgson becomes embroiled in a different sort of rebellion. One of Bridget’s friends, Esther Cooper, has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to be burnt alive. Convinced that her friend is innocent, Bridget sets out to find the real killer.

Bridget joins forces with Martha Hawkins, a servant who’s far more skilled with a knife than any respectable woman ought to be. To save Esther from the stake, they must dodge rebel artillery, confront a murderous figure from Martha’s past, and capture a brutal killer who will stop at nothing to cover his tracks. The investigation takes Bridget and Martha from the homes of the city’s most powerful families to the alleyways of its poorest neighborhoods. As they delve into the life of Esther’s murdered husband, they discover that his ostentatious Puritanism hid a deeply sinister secret life, and that far too often tyranny and treason go hand in hand.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Robert B. Parker's Damned if You Do (A Jesse Stone Novel) Hardcover



I've finished "Damned If You do" the 12th book in his Jesse Stone series by Robert B. Parker.

Police Chief Jesse Stone returns in another outstanding entry in the New York Times-bestselling series.

The woman on the bed was barely out of her teens. She wasn’t exactly beautiful, but she’d tried to make the most of her looks. And now, alone in a seedy beachfront motel, she was dead.

Paradise Police Chief Jesse Stone doesn’t know her name. Whoever she is, she didn’t deserve to die.

Jesse starts digging, only to find himself caught in the crosshairs of a bitter turf war between two ruthless pimps. And more blood will spill before it’s over.

Product Details
Series: A Jesse Stone Novel (Book 12)
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Putnam Adult; 1ST edition (September 10, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0399159509
ISBN-13: 978-0399159503


My Review:

3.5/5

Monday, December 16, 2013

Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads




Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads


Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books you read last week and books being read this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Gone - James Patterson
2.  The Way Home - Cindy Gerard

Weekly Read:

1.  Damned If I Do - Robert B. Parker
2.  The Stranger You Know - Andrea Kane

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Library Haul 2013 (Dec 15 - 21)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  The Stranger You Know - Andrea Kane

Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Rosemary and Crime Hardcover



I've finished "Rosemary and Crime" by Gail Oust.

Murder comes well-seasoned in this charming mystery featuring a smart and spunky new amateur sleuth, small-town Georgia spice shop owner Piper Prescott

Piper Prescott, a transplanted Yankee living in the South, has got her sass back. She might be down, but don’t count her out. “Change of life?” she asks. Bring it on. Recently divorced, Piper decides to pursue a dream she’s secretly harbored: owning her own business, Spice it Up!, a spice shop in her adopted hometown, Brandywine Creek, Georgia. But Piper’s grand opening goes awry when the local chef who’s agreed to do a cooking demo is found stabbed. Not only did Piper find the body, she handled the murder weapon and doesn’t have a witness to her alibi, making the case look like a slam dunk to brand new police Chief Wyatt McBride. Desperate to uncover the truth — and prove her innocence — Piper enlists the help of her outspoken BFF Reba Mae Johnson to help track down the real culprit. The pair compile a lengthy list of suspects and work to eliminate them using their own creative brand of sleuthing techniques including stakeouts, breaking and entering, and one very unorthodox chocolate pie. When Piper narrowly avoids being a victim of a hit-and-run, she knows she’s getting closer to the truth, but can she catch the killer and clear her name before she becomes the next victim?

About the Author

The author of the Bunco Babes mystery series, GAIL OUST is often accused of flunking retirement. Hearing the words "maybe it's a dead body" while golfing fired her imagination for writing a cozy. Ever since then, she has spent more time on a computer than at a golf course. She lives with her husband in McCormick, South Carolina.

Product Details
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Minotaur Books (December 17, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250011043
ISBN-13: 978-1250011046


My Review:

3/5

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

New Release 2013 (Dec 10)














Hunted Hardcover

’Twas the night before Christmas and dozens of rich, influential hostages are trapped inside a sprawling lakefront mansion in New Orleans. The perp? Detective Reed Ware, model cop turned outlaw. After receiving a panicked call from Hollis “Holly” Bayard, a teenage street tough with a penchant for amateur sleuthing who stumbles upon the scene of a drug - deal - turned - murder, Ware finds his and his friend’s lives in dire danger. The crime Holly witnessed could be the biggest police cover-up this side of New Orleans — and no one’s talking. Driven to desperate measures to uncover the truth, Ware stages a coup at a Christmas party for the New Orleans elite, including the mayor, the council chairman, the sheriff, and the superintendent of police, who just happens to be hostage negotiator Caroline Wallace’s estranged father.

Cool, calm, controlled. That’s Caroline’s reputation. But when she’s brought in to talk Ware off the proverbial ledge, she realizes no amount of false promises is going to placate this man, who looks even hotter than he did years ago when seventeen-year-old Caroline tried to seduce him. It was his duty to protect her family then. Now it’s her turn if she can think fast enough over the pounding of her heart.

When Caroline becomes wrapped up in the drama, it’s clear the sizzling tension she shared with Ware never let up. And the harder she tries to defuse the situation, the more she begins to wonder whose side she’s really on.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads



Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads


Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books you read last week and books being read this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Edge of Sanity - Shannon K. Butcher

Weekly Read:

1.  Gone - James Patterson
2.  The Way Home - Cindy Gerard

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Library Haul 2013 (Nov 8 - 14)


Here's the list of books I picked up from the library this week:

Hardcover:

1.  Damned If I Do - Robert B. Parker

Saturday, December 7, 2013

The Night Is Alive (Krewe of Hunters) Mass Market Paperback



I've finished "The Night Is Alive" the 1st book in another new Krewe of Hunters series by Heather Graham.

www.eHeatherGraham.com

MIDNIGHT IN SAVANNAH


It's a city of beauty, history and hauntings. And one of the most haunted places in Savannah is a tavern called The Dragonslayer, built in the 1750s. The current owner, Gus Anderson, is a descendant of the original innkeeper and his pirate brother, Blue.

Gus summons his granddaughter, Abigail, home from Virginia, where she's studying at the FBI Academy. When she arrives, she's devastated to find him dead. Murdered. But Abby soon learns that Gus isn't the only one to meet a brutal and untimely end; there've been at least two other victims. Then Captain Blue Anderson starts making ghostly appearances, and the FBI's paranormal investigation unit, the Krewe of Hunters, sends in Agent Malachi Gordon.

Abby and Malachi have a similar ability to connect with the dead and a similar stubbornness. Sparks immediately begin to fly — sparks of attraction and discord. But as the death toll rises, they have to trust each other or they, too, might find themselves among the dead haunting old Savannah!

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today best selling author, Heather Graham was born somewhere in Europe and kidnapped by gypsies when she was a small child. She went on to join the Romanian circus as a trapeze artist and lion tamer. When the circus came to South Florida, she stayed, discovering that she preferred to be a shark and gator trainer.

Not really

Heather is the child of Scottish and Irish immigrants who met and married in Chicago, and moved to South Florida, where she has spent her life. (She has, at least, been to the Russian circus in Moscow, where she wished she was one of the incredibly talented and coordinated trapeze artists.) She majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over one hundred and fifty novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, horror, and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages, and has had over seventy-five million books in print. She has been honored with awards from Walden Books, B. Dalton, Georgia Romance Writers, Affaire de Coeur, Romantic Times, the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA and more. Heather has also become the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf region. She is also the founder of "The Slush Pile Players", presenting something that's almost like entertainment for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.


Product Details
Series: Krewe of Hunters
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Harlequin MIRA (July 30, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 077831507X
ISBN-13: 978-0778315070


My Review:

3.5/5

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

No Escape Mass Market Paperback



I've finished "No Escape" by Mary Burton.

He Was Taught How To Kill

Even behind bars, serial killer Harvey Lee Smith exudes menace. Psychologist Jolene Granger has agreed to hear his dying confession, vowing not to let the monster inside her head. And Harvey has secrets to share -- about bodies that were never found, and about the apprentice who is continuing his grisly work.

And Now He'll Teach Them

He buries his victims alive the way his mentor Harvey did, relishing their final screams as the earth rains down. And as one last gift to the only father he knew, he'll make the most perfect kill of all.

How To Die

Everything about this investigation is unnerving Jo, from Harvey's fascination with her to the fact that she's working alongside Texas Ranger Brody Winchester, her ex-husband. Harvey's protégé is growing bolder and more vicious every day. And soon the trail of shallow graves will lead them to the last place Jo expected, and to the most terrifying truth of all.

Product Details
Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Zebra Books (Mass Market) (October 29, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1420125060
ISBN-13: 978-1420125061




My Review:

Serial killer Harvey Lee Smith gets his kicks by burying his victims alive.  He has a terminal illness and only has a few days until his execution.  He personally asks for Psychologist Jolene Granger to confess where he buried his victims.  He also has a secret about missing victims and his apprentice who is continuing his work.

Texas Ranger Brody Winchester is Jolene's ex-husband and is determined to bring justice and peace to the victim's family even though he has to work beside Jolene.

The protege is burying his victims alive just like his mentor father and Jolene is his ultimate gift dedicated to him.

4.5/5

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

New Releases 2013 (Dec 3)













Lending a Paw: A Bookmobile Cat Mystery (Bookmobile Cat Mysteries) Mass Market Paperback

With the help of her rescue cat, Eddie, librarian Minnie Hamilton is driving a bookmobile based in the resort town of Chilson, Michigan. But she’d better keep both hands on the wheel, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Eddie followed Minnie home one day, and now she can’t seem to shake the furry little shadow. But in spite of her efforts to contain her new pal, the tabby sneaks out and trails her all the way to the bookmobile on its maiden voyage. Before she knows it, her slinky stowaway becomes her cat co-pilot!

Minnie and Eddie’s first day visiting readers around the county seems to pass without trouble — until Eddie darts outside at the last stop and leads her to the body of a local man who’s reached his final chapter.

Initially, Minnie is ready to let the police handle this case, but Eddie seems to smell a rat. Together, they’ll work to find the killer — because a good librarian always knows when justice is overdue.

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES! 
 







 

Murder, She Barked: A Paws & Claws Mystery (A Paws and Claws Mystery) Mass Market Paperback

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES


The Sugar Maple Inn in Wagtail, Virginia, is the country's premiere vacation hot spot for pet owners who can’t bear to leave their furry friends behind. But this tourist town smells trouble when a killer goes on the prowl.

Holly Miller's life has gone to the dogs. She has no job, her boyfriend's former flame is sniffing around, and a scruffy but loveable Jack Russell Terrier is scattering crumbs all over her borrowed car. Just when she thought things couldn't get worse, a troubling phone call about her grandmother sends her rushing home to the family inn on Wagtail Mountain.

The staff — and a frisky Calico kitten named Twinkletoes — adopts Holly and her new dog on arrival. But someone in this friendly town is bad to the bone. One of the employees at the inn has been killed in a hit-and-run accident — which is looking anything but accidental. Now Holly and her furry companions will have to nose out the murderer before someone else gets muzzled.

Delicious recipes for owners and pets included!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads



Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads


Weekly Cozy, Mystery Thriller and Romantic Suspense Reads is a weekly Monday Meme that is hosted by Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews:

Post the books you read last week and books being read this week.

Read Last Week:

1.  Gilt Trip - Laura Childs
2.  The Night is Alive - Heather Graham

Weekly Read:

1.  Edge of Sanity - Shannon K. Butcher

Sunday, December 1, 2013

December Releases

3rd
Lending a Paw - Laurie Cass
Murder She Barked - Krista Davis

31st
Hunted - Karen Robards