Monday, May 5, 2014

Looking for Something Good to Read? Try One of These New Releases

The Coal Black Asphalt Tomb by David Handler
Berger and Mitry Mystery Series Book # 10

The historic New England village of Dorset has actually elected a living, breathing woman as its First Selectman. And now she’s about to undertake the Historic District’s biggest public works project in a generation–the widening and re-grading of Dorset Street. The job has needed doing for ages but the  previous First Selectman, Bob Paffin, always opposed it. So did a lot of Dorset’s blue-blooded old guard.

The long put-off dig uncovers a body buried underneath the pavement in front of the Congregational Church. It belongs to Lt. Lance Paffin, Bob Paffin’s older brother, a dashing U.S. Navy flyer who went missing off his sailboat the night of the country club’s spring dance more than forty years ago. Everyone had assumed he just left town. But now it's clear Lance has been under Dorset Street this whole time, and that he was murdered.

Des and Mitch soon discover that there are deep, dark secrets surrounding Dorset's elite, and some very distinguished careers have been built on lies. Coal Black Asphalt Tomb is the tenth in David Handler's original and very funny Berger and Mitry mystery series featuring this engaging biracial couple.


For more information on David handler and his latest works visit this website.
 
Surrender to Temptation by Lauren Jameson

In this stunning romance, Lauren Jameson presents a story of unexpected desire in which two strangers play a dangerous game in the quest for incredible pleasure. But winning comes with a price....

After walking in on her boyfriend with another woman, Devon Reid decides to seek solace in the small California town she’s often visited on vacation. Instead, she finds herself consumed by a mysterious man who sets her ablaze with one simple look.

Devon has always been the good girl, but Zach’s touch turns her into something primal, especially when he persuades her to give up control to him. But while Zach can make her burn, he seduces Devon one moment and turns her away the next.

When Devon starts her new job at Phyrefly Aviation, she learns that Zach is actually founder and CEO of the massive corporation. And while Devon knows she should keep things between them strictly professional, his overwhelming magnetism makes it impossible to stay away....  


For more information on Lauren Jameson and her latest works visit this website.
 
Miss Julia's Marvelous Makeover by Ann Ross
Miss Julia Series Book # 15

It’s summer in Abbotsville, and Miss Julia has visions of enjoying a life of leisure. But before she can even sip some iced tea on her front porch, a letter from her long-lost cousin Elsie informs her that Elsie’s granddaughter is on a bus headed to Abbotsville that very day. Reminding Miss Julia of an old family debt, Elsie proclaims that she is sending Trixie to Miss Julia’s to learn to become a lady. The nerve of some people! When the rude and unkempt Trixie arrives, even Sam and Lloyd agree that Miss Julia faces quite a challenge.

Meanwhile, Sam has decided to run for state senate. But when he has a fainting spell and has to go into the hospital for tests, who will run his campaign? Is his no-good rival going to cakewalk into office? No sir, not if Miss Julia has anything to say about it—and indeed she does, including up on the stump.


For more information on Ann Ross and her latest works visit this website.
 
Heart of the Country by Rene Gutteridge

Faith and Luke Carraway have it all. Faith is a beautiful singer turned socialite while Luke is an up-and-coming successful businessman. After taking his inheritance from his father's stable, lucrative business to invest in a successful hedge fund with the Michov Brothers, he's on the fast track as a rising young executive, and Faith is settling comfortably into her role as his wife. 

When rumors of the Michovs' involvement in a Ponzi scheme reach Faith, she turns to Luke for confirmation, and he assures her that all is well. But when Luke is arrested, Faith can't understand why he would lie to her, and she runs home to the farm and the family she turned her back on years ago. Meanwhile, Luke is forced to turn to his own family for help as he desperately tries to untangle himself from his mistakes.

 Can two prodigals return to families they abandoned, and will those families find the grace to forgive and forget? Will a marriage survive betrayal when there is nowhere else to run but home?

For more information on Rene Gutteridge and her latest works visit this website.
 
A Beauty so Rare by Tamera Alexander
Belmont Mansion Series Book # 2

Plain, practical Eleanor Braddock knows she will never marry, but with a dying soldier's last whisper, she believes her life can still have meaning and determines to find his widow. Impoverished and struggling to care for her ailing father, Eleanor arrives at Belmont Mansion, home of her aunt, Adelicia Acklen, the richest woman in America--and possibly the most demanding, as well. Adelicia insists on finding her niece a husband, but a simple act of kindness leads Eleanor down a far different path--building a home for destitute widows and fatherless children from the Civil War. While Eleanor knows her own heart, she also knows her aunt will never approve of this endeavor.

Archduke Marcus Gottfried has come to Nashville from Austria in search of a life he determines, instead of one determined for him. Hiding his royal heritage, Marcus longs to combine his passion for nature with his expertise in architecture, but his plans to incorporate natural beauty into the design of the widows' and children's home run contrary to Eleanor's wishes/ AS work on the home draws them closer together, Marcus and Eleanor find common ground--and a love neither of them expects. But Marcus is not the man Adelicia has chosen for Eleanor, and even if he were, someone who knows his secrets is about to reveal them all.


For more information on Tamera Alexander and her latest works visit this website.
 
The King by J.R. Ward
Black Dagger Brotherhood Series Book # 12

Long live the King…

After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, finally assumed his father’s mantle--with the help of his beloved mate. But the crown sets heavily on his head. As the war with the Lessening Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything--and everyone--at risk.

Beth Randall thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure blooded vampire on the planet: An easy ride was not it. But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response--or the distance it creates between them.

The question is, will true love win out... or tortured legacy take over?


For more information on J.R. Ward and her latest works visit this website.
 
Missing You by Harlan Coben

It's a profile, like all the others on the online dating site. But as NYPD Detective Kat Donovan focuses on the accompanying picture, she feels her whole world explode, as emotions she’s ignored for decades come crashing down on her. Staring back at her is her ex-fiancé Jeff, the man who shattered her heart—and who she hasn’t seen in 18 years.

Kat feels a spark, wondering if this might be the moment when past tragedies recede and a new world opens up to her.  But when she reaches out to the man in the profile, her reawakened hope quickly darkens into suspicion and then terror as an unspeakable conspiracy comes to light, in which monsters prey upon the most vulnerable.

As the body count mounts and Kat's hope for a second chance with Jeff grows more and more elusive, she is consumed by an investigation that challenges her feelings about everyone she ever loved—her former fiancé, her mother, and even her father, whose cruel murder so long ago has never been fully explained. With lives on the line, including her own, Kat must venture deeper into the darkness than she ever has before, and discover if she has the strength to survive what she finds there.


For more information on Harlan Coben and his latest works visit this website.
 
Be Careful What You Wish For by Jeffrey Archer
Clifton Chronicles Series Book # 4

When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.

Back in London, Harry and Emma’s adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica’s future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice.

Then, without warning, Cedric Hardcastle, a bluff Yorkshireman who no one has come across before, takes his place on the board of Barringtons. This causes an upheaval that none of them could have anticipated, and will change the lives of every member of the Clifton and Barrington families. Hardcastle’s first decision is who to support to become the next chairman of the board: Emma Clifton or Major Alex Fisher? And with that decision, the story takes yet another twist that will keep you on the edge of your seat.


For more information on Jeffrey Archer and his latest works visit this website.
 
Death on Blackheath by Anne Perry
Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Series Book # 29

As commander of the powerful Special Branch, Thomas Pitt has the job of keeping Britain safe from spies and traitors. So there’s no obvious reason why he is suddenly ordered to investigate two minor incidents: the blood, hair, and shards of glass discovered outside the home of naval weapons expert Dudley Kynaston, and the simultaneous disappearance of Mrs. Kynaston’s beautiful lady’s maid.

But weeks later, when the mutilated body of an unidentified young woman is found near Kynaston’s home, Pitt realizes that this is no ordinary police investigation. Far from it. Is Kynaston—one of Britain’s most valuable scientists—leading a double life? Is Pitt saddled with a conspiracy so devilishly clever that it will ruin him?

A baffled Pitt has never needed his friends more desperately, including his indomitable wife, Charlotte; his canny old colleague Victor Narraway; and his personal drawing-room spy, Lady Vespasia Cumming-Gould. But even these allies may not be able to save Pitt—or Britain.


For more information on Anne Perry and her latest works visit this website.
 
Carnal Curiosity by Stuart Woods
Stone Barrington Series Book # 29

Stone Barrington seems to have a knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  When Manhattan’s elite are beset by a series of clever crimes—and Stone is a material witness—he and his former partner Dino Bacchetti find themselves drawn into the world of high-end security and fraud, where insider knowledge and access are limited to a privileged few, and the wealthy are made vulnerable by the very systems meant to keep them safe. 

As Stone and Dino delve deeper into their investigation, they learn that the mastermind behind the incidents may have some intimate ties to Stone . . . and that the biggest heist is still to come.

For more information on Stuart Woods and his latest works visit this website.
 
Blossom Street Brides by Debbie Macomber
Blossom Street Series Book # 10

Debbie Macomber has won the hearts of millions of readers with her moving and inspiring stories. Now wedding bells are ringing in the tight-knit community that gathers around A Good Yarn, a store in a pretty Seattle neighborhood. Knitters come to the store to buy yarn and patterns but somehow they leave richer in friendship and love.

Lauren Elliott has waited years for her long-term boyfriend, Todd, to propose, yet he seems more focused on his career than their relationship. When Lauren learns that her younger sister is pregnant before she herself even has an engagement ring, she feels overjoyed yet disheartened. Knowing she can’t put her future on hold, Lauren prepares to make a bold choice—one that leads her to a man she never dreamed she’d meet.

Newly married to her second husband, Max, Bethanne Scranton is blissfully in love. But with Max’s job in California and Bethanne’s in Seattle, their long-distance marriage is becoming difficult to maintain. To complicate matters, Bethanne’s cunning ex will do anything to win her back.

Lydia Goetz, too, is wonderfully happy with her husband, Brad, though lately she worries about the future of A Good Yarn. As she considers how to bring in business, she discovers that someone has beaten her to the punch. Baskets of yarn are mysteriously popping up all over town, with instructions to knit a scarf for charity and bring it into Lydia’s store. Never before has her shop received so much attention, but who hatched this brilliant plan?

As three women’s lives intersect in unexpected ways, Lydia, Lauren, and Bethanne realize that love heals every heart, and the best surprises still lay ahead.


For more information on Debbie Macomber and her latest works visit this website.
 
The Cairo Affair by Olen Steinhauer

Sophie Kohl is living her worst nightmare. Minutes after she confesses to her husband, a mid-level diplomat at the American embassy in Hungary, that she had an affair while they were in Cairo, he is shot in the head and killed.

Stan Bertolli, a Cairo-based CIA agent, has fielded his share of midnight calls. But his heart skips a beat when he hears the voice of the only woman he ever truly loved, calling to ask why her husband has been assassinated.

Omar Halawi has worked in Egyptian intelligence for years, and he knows how to play the game. Foreign agents pass him occasional information, he returns the favor, and everyone's happy. But the murder of a diplomat in Hungary has ripples all the way to Cairo, and Omar must follow the fall-out wherever it leads.

American analyst Jibril Aziz knows more about Stumbler, a covert operation rejected by the CIA, than anyone. So when it appears someone else has obtained a copy of the blueprints, Jibril alone knows the danger it represents.


For more information on Olen Steinhauer and his latest works visit this website.
 
The Poacher's Daughter by Michael Zimmer

In 1885, young Rose Edwards is widowed by Montana vigilantes who hang her husband for an alleged theft, then burn her Yellowstone Valley cabin to the ground as a warning for her and others of her kind to quit the territory. Penniless and illiterate, yet fiercely independent, Rose begins a two-year odyssey to revisit the land of her childhood, a land she once traveled with her father, an itinerant robe trader among the Assiniboines and Blackfeet. 

But the old ways of the hunter and trapper are disappearing. European investors are flooding the bison ranges with vast herds of cattle, raising mansions and polo fields on ground once claimed by teepees and sod-roofed hunters' shacks. With an aging roan gelding named Albert as her closest friend, Rose finds herself a reluctant hero in an ageless battle, the face of an indigenous population, both native and white, as she stubbornly pushes back against the invading aristocracy. And hanging over her every decision is an alcoholic father, who hunts bison inside the newly formed Yellowstone National Park, selling the mounted heads and tanned robes to Eastern tourists even as his daughter makes her stand against the destruction of the land she loves"

For more information on Michael Zimmer and his latest works visit this website.
 
Sorrel Moon by Cotton Smith

Ethan Kerry, blinded by a wild horse, continues to run his growing Texas ranch--with the help of his two brothers, Cole and Luther, and his strong wife, Claire. Notorious outlaw Glory Van Camp, posing as a fake Uvalde minister, and his brother, appearing to be a town bum, have their sights set on taking control of the massive Bar K. They are joined by their evil stepfather, Heredith Tiorgs, and stepsister, Jinette Six, and recruited gunmen. Their first target is Cole Kerry, the youngest brother and a gunfighter of note. As interim town marshal, Cole Kerry is shot down in a town crossfire and nearly dead, but is saved by two friends, an Irishman and a Chinaman.

Unknown to anyone outside of the family, Ethan has regained his sight as the torn nerve endings in his eyes healed. The old courageous leader returns and leads his men in a smart counterattack. He figures out who is really behind the effort and has the fake minister arrested. The town is in an uproar until Ethan proves who he really is. Jinette Six surprises everyone and escapes with Glory Van Camp and her father. Ethan takes Cole's big sorrel, the horse that blinded him, to go after them alone"

For more information on Cotton Smith and his latest works visit this website.