Category: Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with March’s spot being at I’m Booking It.

Well, if you didn’t notice, I didn’t participate in last Monday’s edition of Mailbox Monday … why, you ask? Well, it’s because for the first time in AGES, I did not receive a single book. Not one book. Nada. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. It was actually kind of sad, but definitely a good thing because I’ve got 4 different PBS Box-of-Books going right now. I discussed my insanity in a post you can view here. However, some of these books I’m already second-guessing. They will probably be re-listed and not read, but I’ll go ahead and mention them anyway.

I had three PBS wishlist books come in this week:

     At first, it sounds like the answer to a parent’s prayers: an elite boarding school in the Oregon mountains where wayward kids turn their lives around. But behind the idyllic veneer lie disturbing rumors of missing students and questionable treatments. Jules Farentino knows her half-sister, Shaylee, has been going off the rails lately. She’s just not sure Blue Rock Academy is the answer. Accepting a teaching position there lets Jules keep an eye on Shay, but also confirms her fears. One student is found hanged, another near death. Something sinister is at hand – and Jules may already be too late to stop it. As a brutal snowstorm sweeps in, cutting off the remote campus from the rest of the world, Jules will discover the Academy’s darkest secrets, and confront a murderous evil without limits, without remorse, without mercy …

     There have been countless attempts to solve the brutal murders committed by Jack the Ripper more than a hundred years ago. It seems that almost everyone has their own theory and their own suspect, ranging from the reasonably likely to the entirely preposterous. What this most famous of British criminal cases has always required is a professional eye to analyze the evidence with all the benefits of modern investigative techniques. Now that has been provided in the shape of the man most qualified to solve the case: former British murder squad detective Trevor Marriott. His long and arduous investigation dispels the rumors, fantasies and urban legends which have for so long stalked through the shadowy world of this vile killer. The results are startling: for many years it has been accepted that Jack the Ripper killed only five women, but now it can be revealed that up to nine were victims. And, most astonishingly of all, a new prime suspect never previously considered has emerged, with evidence linking him not only to the Whitechapel cases, but to murders all over the world.

     On a cold night in a remote Swedish farmhouse, an elderly farmer is bludgeoned to death, and his wife is left to die with a noose around her neck. The only other clue the police have is one that they wish they didn’t: the dying woman’s last word is “foreign.” In the first riveting installment in the internationally bestselling Wallander series, police inspector Kurt Wallander doggedly investigates the horrible crime, as he contends with his own demons and tries to keep the public outcry for vengeance against an already reviled immigrant community at bay.

Remember those PBS Box-of-Books I mentioned? Two of them came in this week (13 books):

     When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory – a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election. To verify the authenticity of the find, the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland, Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery – a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before she can warn the president, Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a team of assassins. Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape, their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.

     Despite a full schedule, frazzled suburban single mom Jan Jeffry has agreed to lend a hand during a two-day gathering of her friend Shelley’s former high school girls’ club. So while the reunited ladies are dishing dirt, Jane is sweeping it up – and she inadvertently becomes privy to all sorts of interesting postgraduate gossip and long-smoldering resentments. But then a corpse turns up among the one-time student body, the unfortunate victim of some rather nasty after-school activities. And unless Jan gets to the bottom of a sordid senior-year scandal, more alumnae are sure to die at the hands of a calculating classmate who’s majoring in murder.

     With the kids packed off on their summer road trips, suburban mom Jane Jeffry grabs the opportunity to enroll in a writing course at the community center. But when a classmate keels over dead after sampling a tasty treat from an impromptu student buffet, Jane realizes that the pen may be mightier than the sword … but poison beats them both. There’s a culinary killer among the local would-be literati. And before the demise of a disagreeable old biddy can be written off, Jane plans to cook the culprit’s goose in his or her own creative juices.

     Tom Clancy’s Op-Center is a beating heart of defense, intelligence, and crisis management technology. It is run by a crack team of operatives both within its own walls and out in the field. And when a job is too dirty, or too dangerous, it is the only place our government can turn. But nothing can prepare Director Paul Hood and his Op-Center crisis management team for what they are about to uncover – a very real, very frightening power play that could unleash new players in a new world order…

     Sleuth Regan Reilly is hired as a bodyguard for singer Brigid O’Neill, a rising country star who has been receiving threatening “love notes.” Brigid also possesses a “magical” Irish fiddle said to be cursed – whoever takes it out of Ireland will have an accident or face death. Still, Brigid brings it to the Hamptons, where her band will perform at a Fourth of July concert. Chappy Tinka, heir to a thumbtack fortune, and his ditzy wife, Bettina, are their hosts. Regan joins them at “Chappy’s Compound,” an oceanfront estate where they encounter Bettina’s guru Peace Man, Chappy’s bumbling sidekick Duke, a feng shui specialist obsessed with rearranging furniture – and a party guest found floating facedown in the pool. Is the curse of the fiddle real? Is there a murderer in the house? As the concert nears, the menace to Brigid grows, and Regan must discover the truth before it’s too late…

     When Alvirah and Willy become caught up in a Christmas mystery, all of Alvirah’s deductive powers and Willy’s world-class common sense are called upon. It begins when an unmarried woman leaves her newborn on the rectory doorstep of a Manhattan church. Meanwhile, a small-time thief and drug peddler is absconding from the church with a treasured artifact, a chalice adorned with a single star-shaped diamond. To elude the police, he grabs the stroller and disappears. Seven years later, the young mother returns to the church where her child was kidnapped while Alvirah and Willy are helping the neighborhood kids prepare for a Christmas pageant at an after-school shelter. But the future of the shelter is threatened when the city condemns the site and it is learned that the brownstone to which the shelter was moving has been willed to a smooth-talking couple, tenants in the building. Suspecting that the will is a fake and the tenants con artists, Alvirah sets out to discover the truth. Soon she finds herself in the middle of the puzzle of the missing child and chalice.

     Alvirah Meehan, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, teams up with private investigator Regan Reilly to solve another Christmas mystery. This time they get in the middle of a case involving a beautiful eighty-foot blue spruce that has been chosen to spend the holidays as Rockefeller Center’s famous Christmas tree. The folks who picked the tree don’t have a clue that attached to one of its branches is a flask chock-full of priceless diamonds that Packy Noonan, a scam artist just released from prison, had hidden there twelve years ago. An excited Packy breaks his parole and heads to Stowe, Vermont, to reclaim his loot. Once there, he is horrified to discover that his special tree will be heading to New York City the next morning. With a bumbling crew consisting of Jo-Jo, Benny, and an unsuccessful poet, Milo, he knows he has to act fast. What Packy does not know is that Alvirah and Regan are on a weekend trip to Stowe with Alvirah’s husband, Willy; Regan’s fiance Jack; Regan’s parents, Luke and Nora; and Alvirah’s friend Opal, a lottery winner who lost all her winnings in Packy’s scam. On Monday morning when they’re supposed to head home, they learn that the tree is missing, Packy Noonan may be in the vicinity, and Opal has disappeared.

     In picturesque Branscombe, New Hampshire, on the night before the village’s first (any many hope annual) Festival of Joy, a group of employees at the local market learn they have won $180 million in the lottery. But the one worker, Duncan, who decided at the last moment not to play, is nowhere to be found. And while a second winning ticket was purchased in the next town, that winner hasn’t come forward. Could Duncan have secretly bought it? Alvirah Meehan, amateur sleuth, and private investigator Regan Reilly have arrived in town for the festival. And as they dig beneath the surface, they find that life in little Branscombe is not as tranquil as it appears. But while Alvirah and Regan have to put aside their visions of an old-fashioned weekend in the country, this fast-paced holiday keeper is sure to keep you dashing through the pages.

     Sterling Brooks has been cooling his heels in the Celestial Waiting Room for forty-six years, waiting for admission to heaven. Finally, just days before Christmas, he’s summoned before the HEavenly Council and found unworthy; throughout his life he had been hopelessly self-absorbed. To redeem himself, he is given the chance to go back to Earth and find someone to help. At New York’s Rockefeller Center skating rink, Sterling encounters Marissa, a heartbroken seven-year-old whose father and grandmother have been forced into the Witness Protection Program; they had overheard two gangsters hatch a sinister plot to collect money from a debtor. Able to travel through time and space, Sterling devises a master plan to reunite little Marissa with her family in time for Christmas. Along the way, he discovers within himself what it takes to earn his wings.

     Accidents happen, as the saying goes. But three fatal accidents don’t happen within days of each other – at least not in Blacklin County, Texas. The first was bad enough: John West, burned to a crisp when he was hit by a car while holding a can of gasoline. Then Pep Yeldell, best known for stealing cars and wives, drowned in an old swimming pool. Sheriff Dan Rhodes has an itch he can’t scratch, a hunch that these two deaths were murder. A third body makes three to many and puts Rhodes onto the cleverly concealed trail of a killer. But it leads him literally up a tree and on the receiving end of a rifle, and definitely unprepared to meet his own death by accident.

     For Colorado caterer Goldy Schulz, accepting a series of bookings at Hyde Castle is like a dream come true. It’s not every day that she gets to cook authentic Elizabethan fare – especially at a real castle that was brought over from England and reassembled stone by stone in Aspen Meadow. Goldy is determined that everything will go right – which is why, she figures later, everything went terribly wrong. It begins when a shotgun blast shatters her window. Then Goldy discovers a body lying in a nearby creek. And when shots ring out for the second time that day, someone Goldy loves is in the line of fire. Could one of her husband Tom’s police investigations have triggered a murder? Or was her violent, recently paroled ex responsible? With death peering around every corner, Goldy needs to cook up some crime-solving solutions – before the only dish that’s left on her menu is murder.

     It’s been a rough month for Kendra. Her boyfriend and sidekick, Jeff Hubbard, P.I., has gone missing – right after they decided to move in together. It sounds like a case of cold feet until the authorities find his car submerged in a canal. Kendra’s panicked inquiries lead her to Jeff’s Aunt Lois, an ex-pole dancer and full-time eccentric, who had taken her dog Flisa, a sweet-natured Akita mix, to a company that promised to clone the pup. But poor Flisa never made it out alive. And then, one of the cloners is murdered… As Kendra picks up the scent of Jeff’s investigation, she wonders: Was Jeff kidnapped? If not, why hasn’t he contacted her? Is he protecting his revenge-driven aunt? Or worse … could he be the killer? Kendra is hounded by questions, and for the first time, she’s not sure she wants the answers…

     Someone knocking on the door at 3 a.m. is never good news. For V.I. Warshawski, the bad news arrives in the form of her wacky, unwelcome aunt Elena. The fire that has just burned down a sleazy SRO hotel has brought Elena to V.I.’s doorstep. Uncovering an arsonist – and the secrets hidden behind Elena’s boozy smile – will send V.I. into the seedy world of Chicago’s homeless … into the Windy City’s backroom deals and bedroom politics, where new schemers and old cronies team up to get V.I. off the case – by hook, by crook, or by homicide.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with March’s spot being at I’m Booking It.

Had another good week … if only I could stay away from the Box-of-Books feature at PBS! Oh well. Here goes:

     The Liar’s Diary by Patry Francis
     Jeanne Cross’s contented suburban life gets a jolt of energy from the arrival of Ali Mather, the stunning new music teacher at the local high school. With a magnetic personality and looks to match, Ali draws attention from all quarters, including Jeanne’s husband and son. Nonetheless, Jeanne and Ali develop a deep friendship based on their mutual vulnerabilities and the long-held secrets that Ali has been recording in her diary. The diary also holds a key to something darker: Ali’s suspicion that someone has been entering her house when she is not at home. Soon their friendship will be shattered by violence – and Jeanne will find herself facing impossible choices in order to protect the people she loves.

     Mercy by Julie Garwood
     When esteemed Justice Department attorney Theo Buchanan is struck ill at a New Orleans gala, Dr. Michelle Renard works fast to save his life. Soon, Theo finds himself in a race to save her when Michelle is targeted by a deadly crime ring. They call themselves the Sowing Club, a devious foursome driven by greed to accumulate millions in a secret bank account. Now they’re dead set on silencing Michelle, who might know the secret behind the killing of one of their wives. Dodging a world-class hit man and a band of cunning criminals, Michelle and Theo walk a narrow path between passion and survival.

     The Pelican Brief by John Grisham
     In suburban Georgetown a killer’s Reeboks whisper on the floor of a posh home … In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death … The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief… To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly Darby is witness to a murder – a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust – an ambitious reporter after a newsbreak hotter than Watergate – to help her piece together the deadly puzzle. Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House’s inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby’s brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.

     The Coroner by M.R. Hall
     When lawyer Jenny Cooper is appointed Severn Vale District Coroner, she’s hoping for a quiet life and space to recover from a traumatic divorce, but the office she inherits from the recently deceased Harry Marshall contains neglected files hiding dark secrets and a trail of buried evidence. Could the tragic death in custody of a young boy be linked to the apparent suicide of a teenage prostitute and the fate of Marshall himself? Jenny’s curiosity is aroused. Why was Marshall behaving so strangely before he died? What injustice was he planning to uncover? And what caused his abrupt change of heart? In the face of powerful and sinister forces determined to keep both the truth hidden and the troublesome coroner in check, Jenny embarks on a lonely and dangerous one-woman crusader for justice which threatens not only her career but also her sanity.

     Reap the Wind by Iris Johansen
     Some would kill to know what Caitlin Vasaro knows. For the secrets she’s kept hidden all her life are the kind that the rich and the powerful will do anything to possess. Yet not even Caitlin knows how much danger she is in – or how far someone will go to hunt her down. But she is about to find out, when she enters a business deal with the mysterious and charismatic Alex Karazov and joins the hunt for one of the world’s most coveted treasures, the Wind Dancer, an ancient statue of legendary beauty and power. But Karazov is a dangerous man who has an even more dangerous enemy, and suddenly Caitlin is thrust into a shadow world of intrigue and deception, unable to trust anyone, not even the one man who can help. Now she must outsmart the cleverest of killers, a psychopath obsessed with the Wind Dancer whose ruthless plan spans continents and whose lethal rampage won’t stop at one death … or two … or even three – not until he finally gets what he wants: the secret Caitlin will die to keep.

     The Parsifal Mosaic by Robert Ludlum
     Michael Havelock’s world died on a moonlit beach on the Costa Brava. He watched as his partner and lover, Jenna Karas, double agent, was efficiently gunned down by his own agency. There was nothing left for him but to quit the game, get out. Until, in one frantic moment on a crowded railroad platform in Rome, Havelock saw his Jenna – alive. From then on, he was marked for death by both U.S. and Russian assassins, racing around the globe after his beautiful betrayer, trapped in a massive mosaic of treachery created by a top-level mole with the world in his fist.

     Top Ten by Ryne Douglas Pearson
     He calls himself Michelangelo. Tortured by the horrific events of his childhood, he is mesmerized by a gruesome artistic vision that only he can create – and his victims can complete. But his victims are not chosen at random. When the FBI listed Michelangelo as number ten on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, he took it as an insult to his craft – an insult that had to be avenged. Now, he’s working his way up the list, wiping out the competition, and leading the FBI to find his gruesome works of art. And he won’t stop until he hits the top, and becomes … Number One.

     The Whispering Room by Amanda Stevens
     Work is a welcome refuge for New Orleans homicide detective Evangeline Theroux. Feeling suffocated by her new baby, in whose eyes she sees only her dead husband, she throws herself into a high-profile murder case. Reclusive writer Lena Saunders offers Evangeline a provocative theory about the crime: it is the work of a lunatic vigilante. Lena spins the sordid story of Ruth and Rebecca Lemay, whose mother brutally murdered her male children in an insane effort to root out an “evil” genre. The girls survived and grew to adulthood – but one is carrying on her mother’s grisly work. When the case takes a terrifyingly personal turn, Evangeline’s whole life will depend on a crucial, impossible choice: the lesser of two evils.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with March’s spot being at I’m Booking It.

Another good week for me – if only I could stay away from the PBS Box-of-Book feature! Of course, that also means that I’m sending out books (which is a very good thing), but I’m bringing books in quicker than I can read! Oh well. Here’s what came:

 

 

 

The Murder Game by Beverly Barton
     The game is simple – he is the Hunter. They are the Prey. He gives them a chance to escape. To run. To hide. To outsmart him. But eventually, he catches them. And that’s when the game gets really terrifying… Private investigator Griffin Powell and FBI agent Nicole Baxter know a lot about serial killers – they took one down together. But this new killer is as sadistic as they’ve ever seen. He likes his little games, and he especially likes forcing Nic and Griff to play along. Every unsolvable clue, every posed victim, every taunting phone call – it’s all part of his twisted, elaborate plan. And then the Hunter calls, wanting to know if they’re really ready to play… There’s a new game now, and it’s much more deadly than the first. A brutal psychopath needs a worthy adversary. He won’t stop until he can hunt the most precious prey of all – Nicole. And with his partner in a killer’s sights, Griff is playing for the biggest stakes of his life.

 

 

 

Seven Deadly Wonders by Matthew Reilly
     A legend of the ancient world decrees that every 4,500 years, a terrible solar event will wreak worldwide destruction … but whoever sets the Golden Capstone atop the Great Pyramid at Giza will avert disaster and gain the ultimate priza: a millennium of world dominence. Now the Sun is turning once again and nation will battle nation to retrieve the missing Capstone … but a group of small nations, led by super-soldier Jack West Jr., bands together to prevent any one country from attaining this frightening power. Thus the greatest treasure hunt of all time begins – an adrenaline-fueled race on a global battlefield.

 

 

 

Bone Cold by Erica Spindler

     Twenty-three years ago, Anna North survived a living nightmare. A madman kidnapped her, cut off her pinkie, then vanished. Today Anna lives in New Orleans, writing dark thrillers under another name. She finally feels safe. Suddenly Anna’s quiet life takes a frightening turn. Letters start to arrive from a disturbed fan. Anna is followed, her apartment is broken into. Then a close friend disappears. Anna turns to homicide detective Quentin Malone, but Malone’s more concerned with the recent murders of two women in the French Quarter. But after a third victim is found – a redhead like Anna, her pinkie severed – Malone is forced to acknowledge that Anna is his link to the killer … and could be the next target. Now Anna must face the horrifying truth – her past has caught up with her. The nightmare has begun again.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with February’s spot being at Library of Clean Reads.

I had a good mailbox this week. Got a PBS box-of-books swap in the mail. (Yep, I’m hopelessly addicted) I also received two review books. Here’s what I got:

     Hawke by Ted Bell

A direct descendant of a legendary English privateer, Lord Alexander Hawke is one of England’s most decorated naval heroes. Now, in the Caribbean on a secret assignment for the American government, Hawke must disarm a ticking time bomb – a highly experimental stealth submarine carrying forty nuclear warheads that has fallen into the hands of an unstable government just ninety miles from the U.S. mainland. But Hawke’s mission is twofold, for he has returned to the waters where modern-day pirates brutally murdered his parents when he was a boy – after a lifetime of nightmares, will vengeance be his at last?

     The Grilling Season by Diane Mott Davidson

Caterer Goldy Schulz has been hired to host a hockey party. But the proceedings won’t be all fun and games. Unfortunately, her client won’t be satisfied until Goldy adds a hefty serving of revenge. Patricia McCracken is certain that her obstetrician and her penny-pinching HMO are responsible for the loss of her baby. Now she is suing both, and she wants Goldy’s advice on coming out on top. For Dr. John Richard Korman, aka the Jerk, is none other than Goldy’s abusive ex-husband. Goldy knows all about John Richard’s secret life – but even she is shocked when he’s arrested for the murder of his latest girlfriend. As much as Goldy would like to see her ex get his just desserts, could he really be a killer? Soon she will find herself sifting through a spicy mix of sizzling gossip for clues to a mystery that threatens her catering deadline, her relationship with her son and new husband … and even her life.

     Rising Phoenix by Kyle Mills

Special Agent Mark Beamon is a maverick. His open disdain for the FBI’s rules – and directors – has exited him to a no-profile post in the boondocks. But when a shadowy right-wing group starts flooding America’s emergency rooms with dead and dying, Beamon is summoned back to Washington. Teamed with an icily efficient female field agent, he is given the thankless task of stopping the slaughter – even though millions of Americans secretly approve of it! As the body count rises, Beamon realizes there is something eerily familiar about his adversary, reminding him of the coldest killer he ever encountered – not a criminal but a law enforcement colleague. And for the first time, he wonders why he was chosen for this assignment. Was it his expertise – or his expendability?

     Dark Water by Sharon Sala
Two decades ago, Sarah Jane Whitman’s father disappeared with an embezzled fortune from his local bank, an act of betrayal that subjected his wife and daughter to a vicious scandal. Now a body has been pulled from its watery tomb, a body that is identified sa Frank Whitman’s. This grim discovery proves Sarah’s father was innocent … and that the real thief got away with murder. Now Sarah’s obsession with uncovering the truth is making some people in Marmet, Maine, very nervous. Suddenly the prosperous citizens of this community are under intense scrutiny – including Tony DeMarco, who grew up with Sarah. But is the concern Tony shows for Sarah’s safety genuine or is he hiding something dangerous? And can she trust him with her future as a desperate killer tries to shut the door forever on the past…?

     A World I Never Made by James LePore (Review)
Pat Nolan, an American man, is summoned to Paris to claim the body of his estranged daughter Megan, who has committed suicide. The body, however, is not Megan’s and it becomes instantly clear to Pat that Megan staged this, that she is in serious trouble, and that she is calling to him for help. This sends Pat on an odyssey that stretches across France and into the Czech Republic and that makes him the target of both the French police and a band of international terrorists. Joining Pat on his search is Catherine Laurence, a beautiful but tormented Paris detective who sees in Pat something she never thought she’d find – genuine passion and desperate need. As they look for Megan, they come closer to each other’s souls and discover love when both had long given up on it. Juxtaposed against this story is Megan’s story. A freelance journalist, Megan is in Morocco to do research when she meets Abdel Lahani, a Saudi businessman. They began a torrid affair, a game Megan has played often and well in her adult life. But what she discovers about Lahani puts her in the center of a different kind of game, one with rules she can barely comprehend. Because of her relationship with Lahani, Megan has made some considerable enemies. And she has put the lives of many – many even millions – at risk.

     Blood of My Brother by James LePore (Review)
When Jay Cassio’s best friend is murdered in a job clearly done by professionals, the walls that he has built to protect himself from the world of others begin to shatter. Dan Del Colliano had been his confidante and protector since the men were children on the savage streets of newark, New Jersey. When Dan supports and revives Jay after Jay’s parents die in a plane crash, their bond deepens to something beyond brotherhood, beyond blood. Now Jay, a successful lawyer, must find out why Dan died and find a way to seek justice for his murder. Isabel Perez has lived a life both tainted and charmed since she was a teenager in Mexico. She holds powerful sway over men and has even more powerful alliances with people no one should ever try to cross. She desperately wants her freedom from the chains these people have placed on her. When Jay catapults into her world, their connection is eclectic, their alliance is lethal, and their future is anything but certain.

 

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with February’s spot being at Library of Clean Reads.

This past week was really good, I had a PBS box-of-books swap in which I received four books. Here’s what I got:

The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy

Peace may finally be at hand in the Middle East — as Jack Ryan lays the groundwork for a plan that could end centuries of conflict. But ruthless terrorists have a final, desperate card to play; with one terrible act, distrust mounts,forces collide, and the floundering U.S. president seems unable to cope with the crisis. With the world on the verge of nuclear disaster, Ryan must frantically seek a solution — before the chiefs of state lose control of themselves and the world

 

 

 

 

 

Blindsight by Robin Cook

Today, organ transplants are common miracles of science. But if the supply cannot meet the demand, how far will people go to find donors? Dr. Laurie Montgomery, a forensic pathologist, learns the terrifying answer when she investigates a series of fatal “overdoses” of young professionals.

 

 

 

 

 

Mindbend by Robin Cook

Future doctor Adam Schonberg loved his wife. That was why he took a job with the giant drug firm, Arolen, for the money he needed for their coming baby. His wife, Jennifer, felt would get the best of care at the Julian Clinic as her pregnancy progressed. It seemed a happy coincidence that the Julian Clinic was owned by Arolen … until Adam Schonberg slowly began to suspect the terrifying truth about this connection … and about the hideous evil perpetrated on the wife he loved by the doctor she helplessly trusted.

 

 

 

 

 

Sandstorm by James Rollins

An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum, setting off alarms in clandestine organizations around the world. And now the search for answers is leading Lady Kara Kensington; her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery’s brilliant and beautiful curator; and their guide, the international adventurer Omaha Dunn, into a world they never dreamed existed: a lost city buried beneath the Arabian desert. But others are being drawn there as well, some with dark and sinister purposes. And the many perils of a death-defying trek deep into the savage heart of the Arabian Peninsula pale before the nightmare waiting to be unearthed at journey’s end: an ageless and awesome power that could create a utopia … or destroy everything humankind has built over countless milennia.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with February’s spot being at Library of Clean Reads.

Here’s what I got:

Deed So by Katharine A. Russell
     A young girl struggles to understand a tightening web of racial and generational tensions during the turbulent 1960s. All 12-year-old Haddie Bashford wants is to leave the close-minded world of Wicomico Corners behind, in the hopes that a brighter future awaits elsewhere. But when she witnesses the brutal killing of a black teen, Haddie finds her family embroiled in turmoil fraught with racial tensions. Tempers flare as the case goes to trial, but things are about to get even hotter when an arsonist suddenly begins to terrorize the town. Can Haddie help save her town, and herself?

Am I Not a Man? The Dred Scott Story by Mark L. Shurtleff
     An illiterate slave, Dred Scott trusted in an all-white, slave-owning jury to declare him free. But after briefly experiencing the glory of freedom and manhood, a new state Supreme Court ordered the cold steel of the shackles to be closed again around his wrists and ankles. Falling to his knees, Dred cried, “Ain’t I a man?” Dred answered his own question by rising and taking his fight to the U.S. Supreme Court. Dred ultimately lost his epic battle when the Chief Justice declared that a black man was so inferior that he had “no rights a white man was bound to respect.” Dred died not knowing that his unfailing courage led directly to the election of President Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation. Dred Scott’s inspiring and compelling true story of adventure, courage, love, hatred, and friendship parallels the history of this nation from the long night of slavery to the narrow crack in the door that would ultimately lead to freedom and equality for all men.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with February’s spot being at Library of Clean Reads.

This week I only had one book come into my mailbox (pretty much a good thing judging by the state of my bookshelves!) Here’s what came:

  

Lieutenant Davenport’s sanity was nearly shattered by two murder investigations. Now he faces something worse … Two killers. One hideously scarred. The other strikingly handsome, a master manipulator fascinated with all aspects of death. The dark mirror of Davenport’s soul … This is the case that will bring Davenport back to life. Or push him over the edge.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with January’s spot being at Rose City Reader.

This week has been good 🙂 On Tuesday I received 6 books! Five were from a PBS Box-of-Books, and the other was an ARC courtesy of Simon & Schuster UK as a welcome to the Book Chick City’s Mystery & Suspense Challenge 2011!

From Simon & Schuster UK:

In his first hour back from a six-month leave of absence, Detective Jacob Striker’s day quickly turns into a nightmare. He is barely on scene five minutes at his daughter’s high school when he encounters an Active Shooter situation. Three mean wearing hockey masks – Black, White, and Red – have stormed the school with firearms and are killing indiscriminately. Striker takes immediate action. Within minutes, two of the gunmen are dead and Striker is close to ending the violence. But before Striker can react, Red Mask flees – and escapes. Against the clock, Striker investigates the killings for which there is no known motive and no suspect. Soon his investigation takes him to darker places, and he realizes that everything at Saint Patrick’s High is not as it appears. The closer he gets to the truth, the more dangerous his world becomes. Until Striker himself is in the line of fire.

From the PBS BOB:

Every Move She Makes by Robin Burcell
Gruesome slasher murders are spreading terror in San Francisco. The pressure is on the police force to track down the killer before another young woman is found, throat cut, body abandoned. Homicide Inspector Kate Gillespie is picked to lead the search with her partner, old-timer Sam Scolari. This is the case that could make Kate’s career. But the next victim stops her in her tracks – and all evidence points to her partner. He goes underground, leaving Kate alone to prove his innocence, or guilt. Kate has to find the killer before the cops find Sam. Complicating matters is Mike “Torrid” Torrance, the sexiest Internal Affairs officer ever to carry a badge. He’s watching Kate, an assignment that brings them far closer than they expected. Without a partner she can trust … with a killer and a cop watching her every move … can Kate find the truth before it’s too late?

Messiah by Boris Starling
The first victim was found hanging from a rope. The second, beaten to death in a pool of blood. The third, decapitated. Their personal backgrounds were as strikingly different as the methods of their murders. But one chilling detail linked all three crimes. The local police had enough evidence to believe they were witnessing a rare – and disturbing – phenomenon: The making of a serial killer… Investigator Red Metcalfe has made national headlines with his uncanny gift for tracking killers. Getting inside their heads. Feeling what they feel. He’s interviewed the most notorious serial killers in the world. He knows what makes them tick. But not this time. The killer’s motives and methods are so elusive, so brilliant, that Red is forced to search the darkest corners of his own soul – and face the guiltiest secrets of his past – to see the truth. This time, the life he saves could be his own…

The Devil’s Footprints by Amanda Stevens
In 1922 a farmer in Adamant, Arkansas, awakes to a noise on his roof and finds his snow-blanketed yard marked with thousands of cloven footprints. The prints vanish with the melting snow … only to reappear seventy years later near the gruesome killing of Rachel DeLaune. Years after her sister’s unsolved murder, New Orleans tattoo artist Sarah DeLaune is haunted by the mysteries of her past. Sarah has always believed that her sister was killed by a man named Ashe Cain. But no one else had ever seen Ashe. He had “appeared” to Sarah when she needed a friend the most, only to vanish on the night of her sister’s murder. The past bleeds into the present when two mutilated bodies are found near Sara’s home, the crime scene desecreated by cloven footprints.

Cold as Ice by Anne Stuart
The job was supposed to be dead easy – hand-delivery some legal papers to billionaire philanthropist Harry Van Dorn’s extravagant yacht, get his signature and be done. But Manhattan lawyer Genevieve Spenser soon realizes she’s in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that the publicly benevolent playboy has a sick, vicious side. As he tries to make her his plaything for the evening, eager to use and abuse her until he discards her with the rest of his victims, Genevieve must keep her wits if she intents to survive the night. But there’s someone else on the ship who knows the true depths of Van Dorn’s evil. Peter Jensen is farm more than the unassuming personal assistant he pretends to be – he’s a secret operative who will stop at nothing to ensure Harry’s deadly Rule of Seven terror campaign dies with him. But Genevieve’s presence has thrown a wrench into his plans, and now he must decide whether to risk his mission to keep her alive, or allow her to become collateral damage…

Until the Day You Die by Tina Wainscott
When Maggie Fletcher’s sister is murdered, presumably by stalker Colin Masters, Maggie is left devastated – and furious. There isn’t enough evidence to prove that Masters did it – unless Maggie falsely claims, under oath, that she saw him leaving the scene of the crime. Maggie’s testimony puts Masters behind bars – but also wrecks Maggie’s life. When she and her son moves to a small New Hampshire town to start a new life, Maggie can’t help but feel that she’s being shadowed. Someone is slowly, stealthily invading every part of Maggie’s world, turning everything and everyone against her. Now Maggie fears that a faceless, merciless pursuer wants to make her pay for her lie -with her life.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with January’s spot being at Rose City Reader.

Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of the White House by Cormac O’Brien (PBS)

       With chapters on every woman who’s ever made it to the White House, Secret Lives of the First Ladies tackles all of the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: How many of these women owned slaves? Which ones were cheating on their husbands? And why was Eleanor Roosevelt serving hot dogs to the King and Queen of England? American history was never this much fun in school!

I received this book off of my wishlist on PBS after receiving Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents late last year. Looking forward to reading both of these books.

Mailbox Monday is still on tour, with January’s spot being at Rose City Reader.

    Cop Hater by Ed McBain (PBS)

       Swift, silent, and deadly – someone is knocking off the 87th Precinct’s finest, one by one. The how of the killings if obvious: three .45 shots from the dark add up to one, two, three very dead detectives. The why and the who are the Precinct’s headaches now. When Detective Reardon is found dead, motive is a big question mark. But when his partner becomes victim number two, it looks like open-and-shut grudge killings. That is, until a third detective buys it. With one meager clue, Detective Steve Carella begins his grim search for the killer, a search that takes him into the city’s underworld to a notorious brothel, to the apartment of a beautiful and dangerous widow, and finally to a .45 automatic aimed straight at his head…

This was an impulse “buy” from PBS. I’m not sure what it was exactly that made me use a credit on this book, but it does look very good, and it’s a series that I’ve looked at trying quite often in the past.