Tales of a Book Addict

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.