When Eric catches sight of Creek Bend, Wisconsin's most famous missing person, his mundane morning of running errands rapidly turns into a bizarre adventure filled with strange monsters, a murderous cowboy and a curiously intimidating man in a pink shirt as he searches for mysterious, hidden locations right in his own hometown. The second book in the Rushed series. Horror-adventure, suspense and all-around weirdness. About 107,000 words. Views: 33
“Like many men and women who’ve worn a badge for a good part of their lives, Corcoran Liam O’Connor was cursed. Twice cursed, in reality. Cursed with memory and cursed with imagination.” Tamarack County, Minnesota, the gateway to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Within its borders lie a million acres of deep forest, a thousand crystal clear lakes, and a few quiet towns. This is the place that, for most of his life, sheriff-turned-private investigator Cork O’Connor has called home. As a blizzard swells just days before Christmas, the car belonging to the wife of a retired local judge is discovered abandoned on a rural road. After days without any leads, the search-and-rescue team, assisted by O’Connor, has little hope of finding her alive, if at all. Early on, Cork notices small details about the woman’s disappearance that tell a disturbing story. And when the beloved pet dog of a friend is found decapitated, he begins to detect a startling pattern of ominous incidents throughout the area. Then Cork’s son is nearly killed, and he knows this is no trick of his imagination. Someone is spinning a deadly web in Tamarack County. At the center is a murder more than twenty years old for which an innocent man may have been convicted. Cork remembers the case only too well. He was the deputy in charge of the investigation that sent the man to prison. As the threat of violence continues, so does life in the O’Connor household. Anne, Cork’s younger daughter, comes home, having determined that she’s going to leave her religious order. Teenaged Stephen is in love for the first time, and Cork is being courted as well, even as he struggles to redefine life without his wife, killed several years ago. What they all discover is that love, too, can be a curse. It can cause the greatest euphoria and the most profound despair. It can inspire forgiveness and understanding, passion and desire. It can provoke jealousy and rage. It can bring on betrayal and even murder. With the darkest days of the year at hand, the storms of winter continue to isolate Tamarack County. Somewhere behind the blind of all the darkness and drifting snow, a vengeful force is at work, and Cork has only hours to stop it before his family and his friends will be forced to pay the ultimate price for the sins of others. Full of riveting suspense, fascinating characters, and set in a gorgeous yet unforgiving landscape, Tamarack County is an outstanding addition to an award-winning series that mystery lovers can’t get enough of. Views: 33
Six years ago, Jory Ryan fled Philadelphia after a brief, tragic marriage to wealthy Ross Landers. Now Jory has come home to make peace with the past. But the future invites trouble when Jory falls precipitously for Ross's best friend—and becomes entangled with the Landers family and the business she fled. Suddenly Jory finds herself at the helm of an empire, confronted with changes and choices she never dreamed possible, and ready to meet a new life ripe with the promise of lasting love. Views: 33
Life will never be the same for Meg Langslow after family secrets are revealed, introducing a whole new layer of intrigue in Donna Andrews's beloved series. Meg’s long-lost paternal grandfather, Dr. Blake, has hired Stanley Denton to find her grandmother Cordelia. Dr. Blake was reunited with his family when he saw Meg’s picture—she’s a dead ringer for Cordelia—and now Stanley has found a trail to his long-lost love in a small town less than an hour's drive away. He convinces Meg to come with him to meet her, but unfortunately, the woman they meet is Cordelia’s cousin—Cordelia died several months ago, and the cousin suspects she was murdered by her long-time neighbor.
Stanley and Meg agree to help track down the killer and get justice for Cordelia. Grandfather even has perfect cover--he will come to stage a rescue of the feral emus and ostriches (escaped from an abandoned farm) that infest this town. He dashes off to organize the rescue—which will, of course, involve most of Meg's family and friends in Caerphilly. But then, the evil neighbor is murdered, and not only Cordelia’s cousin but also the entire contingent of emu-rescuers, who have had conflict with the neighbor, are suspects. Only Meg and the cousin—who seems to share a lot of telling traits with Meg—can find the real killer and clear the air in The Good, the Bad, and the Emus, the newest beverage-spittingly funny installment in this uproarious series from the one-and-only Donna Andrews. Views: 33
When Donna Langford receives a very recent photo of her ex-husband in the post, she gets the shock of her life. Because she's just spent ten years in prison for organising his murder. When her daughter goes missing, Donna believes there can only be one man responsible and hires Anna Carpenter, a determined young private investigator, to find him. DI Tom Thorne worked on the Alan Langford case, so when Carpenter brings the photo to him, he refuses to believe that the man whose body was found in a burned-out car ten years before can still be alive. But when a prison inmate that he and Anna interview is viciously murdered, Thorne starts to understand that Langford is not only alive, but ready to get rid of anyone who could threaten his comfortable new life in Spain... Views: 33
In the Beginning: Science Faces God in the Book of Genesis by Isaac AsimovCreation.The beginning of time.The origin of life.In our Western civilization, there are two influential accounts of beginnings. One is the Biblical account, compiled more than two thousand years ago by Judean writers who based much of their thinking on the Babylonian astronomical lore of the day. The other is the account of modern science, which, in the last century, has slowly built up a coherent picture of how it all began.Both represent the best thinking of their times, and in this line-by-line annotation of the first eleven chapters of Genesis, Isaac Asimov carefully and even-handedly compares the two accounts, pointing out where they are similar and where they are different."There is no version of primeval history, preceding the discoveries of modern science, that is as rational and as inspiriting as that of the Book of Genesis," Asimov says. However, human knowledge... Views: 33
EDITORIAL REVIEW: It's rare for a young woman to die from a stroke and when three such deaths occur in short order it starts to look like an epidemic. Then a sharp pathologist notices traces of benzodiazepine in one of the victim's blood samples and just traceable damage to the ligaments in her neck, and their cause of death is changed from 'natural' to murder. The police aren't making much progress in their hunt for the killer until he appears to make a mistake: Alison Willetts is found alive and D.I. Tom Thorne believes the murderer has made a mistake, which ought to allow them to get on his tracks. But it was the others who were his mistakes: he doesn't want to take life, he just wants to put people into a state where they cannot move, cannot talk, cannot do anything but think. When Thorne, helped by the neurologist looking after Alison, starts to realise what he is up against he knows the case is not going to be solved by normal methods - before he can find out who did it he has to understand why he's doing it. Views: 33
You could say my sisters and I are hot-blooded bluebloods with a flair for fashion—and for solving crimes. But things have NOT been going well for us Blackbirds: Emma has busted out of a very exclusive clinic. Libby’s hormones are in overdrive from selling paraphernalia for Potions and Passions, a company that promises its customers full satisfaction. And I’m still dating mobster’s son Mick Abruzzo, which keeps me in a permanent tizzy. At least, nobody in my vicinity has been knocked off lately. Oops—looks like I spoke too soon…
A TEMPEST IN A C-CUP
Nora’s next journalistic assignment: the unveiling of the most miraculous bra in fashion history. But before Nora can hand in her uplifting story, her boss is found shot execution-style and trussed up in expensive panty hose—an Abruzzo family trademark. Now Nora must find the killer before her innocent lover takes the rap. That means shadowing the most glamorous suspects in Philadelphia—including a bad-boy designer, a former child star, a high-strung ad exec, and a pair of luscious twin models. Though Nora’s accustomed to upper-crust murder, cross your fingers for the Blackbird sisters, because this time, high society has never seemed so low-down dirty.
**From Publishers Weekly
The three high-flying Blackbird sisters make their hardcover debut in their fourth mystery (after 2004's Some Like It Lethal), a blend of fashion-forward romance and witty suspense. When not assisting Kitty Keough, a Philadelphia society columnist, former debutante Nora Blackbird strives to save the family farm after the sisters' parents "spent our trust funds faster than drunken lottery winners could buy a fleet of Cadillacs." Meanwhile, wild baby sis, Emma, escapes rehab with a media cowboy, and fertile sis, Libby, keeps popping out babies. Assigned to cover the Philly launch for Brinker Holt's revolutionary Brinker Bra ("No need for straps or uncomfortable wires"), Nora recalls Brinker was the creepy preppie who once assaulted Emma and tortured other kids for fun. When Kitty, whom Brinker barred from the show, turns up dead on Nora's doorstep, Nora's lover, Michael Abruzzo, becomes the primary suspect due to his mob connections. Nora, Libby and ace crime reporter Richard D'eath's efforts to investigate more likely suspects lead to a madcap dénouement just in time for Nora's annual New Year's Eve bash and a sparkling but bittersweet surprise. Martin's wicked tongue-in-cheek satire will appeal to fans of Jennifer Crusie, who provides a blurb, and Janet Evanovich.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Nora Blackbird is no singing star, but she knows how to act like a diva, complete with the designer clothes and the little dog in her arms. But Nora is one thing most divas are not: she is broke. Determined to save the family manse outside Philadelphia, frittered away by her parents, Nora is forced (shudder) to get a job. As an assistant for fashion-writer Kitty Keough, she does grunt work for little recognition--such as covering the unveiling of the hot new "Brinker bra." After fighting the crowds for a seat, Nora is shocked to find that her sister Emma, supposedly in rehab, is the top bra model. She is even more shocked to return home and find her boss, Kitty, dead on her doorstep. It's perhaps not quite so shocking to learn that her "mobbed-up" boyfriend is the prime suspect. This third in the Blackbird Sisters series (and first to appear in hardcover) is a laugh-out-loud comic mystery as outrageous as a pink chinchilla coat. Jenny McLarin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Views: 33
Named after a Mormon saint, Moroni may be Salt Lake City's only Gentile private eye still maintaining uneasy contact with the Church of Latter-day Saints. His eighth case finds the former pro football player reluctantly accepting a charge from one of the church leaders to investigate the enigmatic, self-effacing faith healer Jason Thurgood. Traveler's commission takes him downwind of the old atomic testing sites to the desolate southwest corner of Utah, commonly known as cult country because of the longtime activity of various polygamists and self-proclaimed prophets there. Currently the area is under the sway of Moroni's Children, a cult headed by ruthless, power-hungry Orrin Porter. At the same time, Moroni's father and partner, Martin, is working on a missing persons case involving the young mentally-handicapped son of an old friend just across the border in Nevada. Oddly, the two cases begin to converge, and the Travelers realize that the superficial answers they seek mask... Views: 33
With over 4 million copies sold worldwide and translated in 28 languages The New York Times bestselling authors, ex-con Börge Hellström and investigative journalist Anders Roslund combine inside knowledge of the brutal realities of criminal life with searing social criticism in complex, intelligent plots that have propelled them into the forefront of international crime writing. Now in Two Soldiers comes an explosive thriller of drugs, gang warfare, and two fatherless teenage boys on the wrong side of the law. In a bleak Stockholm suburb where juvenile gang crime is rapidly on the rise, two 19-year-old boys, best friends since third grade and drug addicts since age 9, have spent their young lives establishing a ruthless criminal enterprise—known as the Råby Warriors. With the recruitment of children as foot soldiers, the Warriors are now poised to become the most powerful syndicate in the region. Twenty years on the force,... Views: 33
In New York Times bestselling author J.A. Jance's latest thriller, Ali Reynolds faces her most controversial mystery yet, solving the murder of a man whose Ponzi scheme bankrupted hundreds of people, and left them seeking justice...or revenge.When Ali's parents lose their life savings to a Ponzi scheme, her father goes to confront his long-time friend and financial advisor, only to stumble into the scene of a bloody double homicide. With her father suddenly a prime suspect, Ali and her husband work to clear her father's name, while at the same time seeking justice for her parents as well as the scheme's other suddenly impoverished victims, one of whom is a stone cold killer. Views: 33
After the death of her beloved husband Billy, Daisy Majesty falls into a deep depression. Everyone worries about her, from her family to her late husband’s best friend, Sam Rotondo. She’s too depressed to eat and only mopes around the house.July passes into August, and Daisy continues to mourn; she doesn’t eat or work at her trade as a spiritualist. Although she’s in a very unsteady mood, she finally agrees to use the Ouija board for her longtime best customer, Mrs. Pinkerton. During this session, Daisy has her spirit control, Rolly, dispense some harsh truths, something she’s never done before.Daisy’s appalled, but everyone else is proud of her. Mrs. Pinkerton’s son (and Daisy’s best pal), Harold Kincaid, even offers to take Daisy to Egypt. Daisy doesn’t want to go, but her family insists, so she does.Once in Egypt, Daisy and Harold are not only plagued by the heat (it’s August, after all), but strange things happen to them. Sam Rotondo, who promised Billy he’d watch out for Daisy, hies himself to the Middle East. There, during one of a series of untoward events, Sam gets himself kidnapped in Daisy’s stead. Then something even more remarkable happens after Daisy, Harold and several Turkish fellows manage to rescue him.Neither Daisy nor Sam is quite sure what to make of their relationship once they return to staid and safe Pasadena, California. ANCIENT SPIRITS not only takes the reader on an adventure with Daisy, Harold and Sam, but warms the heart and soul.From BooklistEver since her husband Billy’s death, spiritualist Daisy Gumm Majesty can’t seem to summon the energy to eat, let alone summon spirits. When Mrs. Pinkerton, her best and wealthiest client, needs her help, however, Daisy can’t refuse. Mrs. Pinkerton’s spoiled rotten daughter, Stacy Kincaid, has once again run afoul of the law, and this time Daisy’s advice to her client proves to be exactly the medicine Stacy needs. As a result, not only does a very grateful Mrs. Pinkerton provide Daisy with a lavish reward, but Mrs. Pinkerton’s son, Harold, insists on taking Daisy with him on a trip to Egypt. Daisy’s adventurous trip to the Middle East not only turns out to be just the tonic she needs, it also marks a turning point in her relationship with Pasadena police detective and family friend Sam Rotondo. Duncan excels at integrating an abundance of fascinating historical details into the latest Daisy Gumm Majesty novel, and Ancient Spirits’ humor and colorful characters make it an excellent suggestion for fans of K. K. Beck’s Iris Cooper mysteries and Carola Dunn’s Daisy Dalrymple books. --John Charles Views: 33
