Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Thrilling Reads You Shouldn't Miss


A Cold Day in Hell by Stella Cameron
Bayou Books #9

'Tis the season to be wary...


Christmas is coming and all is far from calm in Pointe Judah, Louisiana. Newcomer Christian DeAngelo--Angel to his friends--is at his wit's end trying to manage Sonny, the hotheaded nineteen-year-old everyone believes is his nephew.

In fact, Sonny is the orphaned son of a notorious mob boss, a protected witness...and Angel's responsibility.
Angel has been commiserating with Eileen Moggeridge, whose lonely son Aaron has latched on to Sonny and gotten into deeper trouble than ever. But nothing could prepare Angel and Eileen for the boys' latest crisis: as they are horsing around in the swamp one afternoon, a shot rings out. Aaron is hit, but was the bullet meant for Sonny?

Suddenly, goodwill toward men is in short supply and Angel doesn't know who's more dangerous: the hoodoo mystic with an eerie hold over the boys, the hit man roaming the bayou or Eileen's volatile ex-husband, Chuck. 


Deeper Than the Dead by Tami Hoag
Oak Knoll Series #1

California, 1985-Four children and young teacher Anne Navarre make a gruesome discovery: a partially buried female body, her eyes and mouth glued shut. A serial killer is at large, and the very bonds that hold their idyllic town together are about to be tested. Tasked with finding the killer, FBI investigator Vince Leone employs a new and controversial FBI technique called "profiling", which plunges him into the lives of the four children-and the young teacher whose need to uncover the truth is as intense as his own. 

But as new victims are found, Vince and Anne find themselves circling the same small group of local suspects, blissfully unaware that someone very near to them is a murderous psychopath...

Destined For an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost
Night Huntress Series #4

Her deadly dreams leave her in grave danger...
Since half-vampire Cat Crawfield and her undead lover Bones met six years ago, they've fought against the rogue undead, battled a vengeful Master vampire, and pledged their devotion with a blood bond. Now it's time for a vacation. But their hopes for a perfect Paris holiday are dashed when Cat awakes one night in terror. She's having visions of a vampire named Gregor who's more powerful than Bones and has ties to her past that even Cat herself didn't know about.

Gregor believes Cat is his and he won't stop until he has her. As the battle begins between the vamp who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, only Cat can break Gregor's hold over her. She'll need all the power she can summon in order to bring down the baddest bloodsucker she's ever faced . . . even if getting that power will result in an early grave.



The Fire Lord's Lover by Kathryn Kennedy
The Elven Lords Series #1

In a magical land ruled by ruthless Elven lords, the Fire Lord's son, Dominic Raikes, plays a deadly game to conceal his growing might from his malevolent father—until his arranged bride awakens in him passions he thought he had buried forever.

Lady Cassandra has been raised in outward purity and innocence, while secretly being trained as an assassin. Her mission is to bring down the Elven Lord and his champion son. But when she gets to court, she discovers that nothing is what it seems, least of all the man she married.

But beneath the gilded castles lies an unspeakable evil, greater than either Dominic or Cassandra had ever fathomed, and without each other they may not survive.



The Good Liar by Laura Caldwell


Kate Livingston and Liza Kingsley have been best friends since their childhood in the suburbs of Chicago. They know everything about each other. Or do they?

When Liza sets up the newly divorced Kate with Michael Waller, an elegant man sixteen years her senior, neither woman expects Kate to fall for him so soon. The relationship is a whirlwind that enthralls Kate...and frightens Liza. Because Liza knows she may have introduced Kate to more than her dream man; she may have unwittingly introduced her to a dangerous world of secrets.

And yet Kate marries Michael and follows him to a French-Canadian town called St. Marabel, where she begins to suspect that Michael isn't exactly who he seems. As each new suspicion arises, Kate finds herself investigating her husband, but what she doesn't know is that she's about to steer her friendship with Liza on a collision course that will race from the U.S. to Russia and from Canada to Brazil, and the betrayals she uncovers could cause the end of all of them.


Hardball by Sara Paretsky
V.I. Warshawski Series #13

Chicago's unique brand of ball is sixteen-inch slow pitch, played in leagues all over the city for more than a century. But in politics, in business, and in law enforcement, the game is hardball.

When V. I. Warshawski is asked to find a man who's been missing for four decades, a search that she figured would be futile becomes lethal. Old skeletons from the city's racially charged history, as well as haunting family secrets-her own and those of the elderly sisters who hired her-rise up to brush her back from the plate with a vengeance. A young cousin whom she's never met arrives from Kansas City to work on a political campaign; a nun who marched with Martin Luther King Jr. dies without revealing crucial evidence; and on the city's South Side, people spit when she shows up. Afraid to learn that her adored father might have been a bent cop, V. I. still takes the investigation all the way to its frightening end.


Indigo Blue by Catherine Anderson
Comanche Series #3

Torn between the white and Comanche worlds of her parents, Indigo Wolf has grown up estranged from townspeople of Wolf's Landing, Oregon. No decent woman calls her a friend, and no man understands her strange, elusive spirit --- until rugged Jake Rand comes to town.

Jake offers to act as foreman of the family mine after a series of mysterious accidents have left Indigo's father seriously injured. But Jake's real motives are as secret as his true identity, and as personal as his growing attraction to Indigo. When Indigo and Jake are unfairly compromised, Indigo's sense of betrayal hardens into a wariness of Jake's tenderness and suspicion of his intentions. 


Will Jake's patient efforts to win over the outwardly rebellious, inwardly vulnerable Indigo be enough to break through her loving heart? Or will a devious villain's attempt to sabotage the mine also endangered their future together?

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci
Sean King and Michelle Maxwell Series #5

THE SIXTH MAN Edgar Roy-an alleged serial killer held in a secure, fortress-like Federal Supermax facility-is awaiting trial. He faces almost certain conviction. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell are called in by Roy's attorney, Sean's old friend and mentor Ted Bergin, to help work the case. But their investigation is derailed before it begins-en route to their first meeting with Bergin, Sean and Michelle find him murdered. It is now up to them to ask the questions no one seems to want answered: Is Roy a killer? Who murdered Bergin? With help from some surprising allies, they continue to pursue the case. But the more they dig into Roy's past, the more they encounter obstacles, half-truths, dead-ends, false friends, and escalating threats from every direction. Their persistence puts them on a collision course with the highest levels of the government and the darkest corners of power. 

In a terrifying confrontation that will push Sean and Michelle to their limits, the duo may be permanently parted.

You Can Run by Carlene Thompson


Penny Conley is still recovering from the untimely death of her husband. But she and her five-year-old daughter, Willow, seem to be thriving in their West Virginia suburb. Penny works for esteemed archeologist Simon Van Etton, who is like family to her—even Simon’s great niece, Diana, has become one of Penny’s closest friends. So when a distraught Penny calls Diana late one night, Diana is the one who comes running. But just as Diana arrives, the house explodes…leaving Penny in a coma, though sparing Willow any harm.

As Diana and Simon try to figure out what happened—and why—two shocking discoveries are made: First, investigators find a bomb in Penny’s basement. Then, new facts about  Penny’s dark past come to light. Determined to find the truth about her friend and protect Willow, Diana keeps digging for clues. But someone is following her every move—and is willing to kill to make sure that Penny’s secrets stay dead and buried…