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9. Hokus Pokus

SUMMARY: After the members of the Sisterhood are exiled to a remote mountaintop, they get a call from the Supreme Court Chief Justice Pearl Barnes requesting their help, so they must figure out how to sneak back into the United States.
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Seaworthy

America's only female swordfish boat captain returns with this long- awaited follow-up to the bestselling The Hungry Ocean. After the exploits recounted in The Perfect Storm and The Hungry Ocean that made her a sensation, Linda Greenlaw took a ten- year hiatus from blue-water fishing. When an old friend offered her a captaincy on his swordboat, Greenlaw ditched her mounting bills and headed for the sea. Full of adventure and thought-provoking reflection, Seaworthy recounts her return to the beautiful and deadly Grand Banks -from the nuances of reading weather and the complexities of longline fishing to the surprise of landing in jail for crossing into Canadian waters. The result is both a wild ride and a memorable look at one woman's struggle to define her own limits.
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Night-World

Robert Bloch, the creator of Psycho, takes you into the inner recesses of the mind of a madman. A man bent on revenge that comes out of the night, grabbing its victims by the throat and giving no quarter. — From the moment Karen Raymond entered the sanatorium, she knew something was terribly wrong. The doctors had been brutally murdered, the patients had escaped. Was she to be the killers next victim?
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Evil for Evil

In a sea-cave on Lovatt Island, just off the west coast of Scotland, a skeleton is found shackled to the rocks. Although the apparent victim of a crime of unparalleled brutality, the skeleton seems to belong firmly in the past. Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming, called in to investigate, anticipates a straightforward case unhampered by the pressures of time. But when a modern watch is discovered on the skeleton's wrist, Fleming realises the crime may be far closer to home than she initially assumed. Meanwhile, in the nearby village of Innellan, mysterious events begin to occur. Matt Lovatt, eponymous owner of the island, is at the centre of a series of escalating crimes - could someone be targeting him? The villagers, members of a small and introverted community, are little help - many seem damaged by their own enigmatic pasts, and all are reluctant to speak out. Fleming, sensing a pattern she cannot clearly make out, becomes increasingly desperate to prevent more violence. Are the skeleton and the current spate of crimes connected? If so, what evil act could have motivated such a deadly, merciless design?
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Blacklands: A Novel

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO, Billy Peters disappeared. Everyone in town believes Billy was murdered—after all, serial killer Arnold Avery later admitted killing six other children and burying them on the same desolate moor that surrounds their small English village. Only Billy’s mother is convinced he is alive. She still stands lonely guard at the front window of her home, waiting for her son to return, while her remaining family fragments around her. But her twelve-year-old grandson Steven is determined to heal the cracks that gape between his nan, his mother, his brother, and himself. Steven desperately wants to bring his family closure, and if that means personally finding his uncle’s corpse, he’ll do it. Spending his spare time digging holes all over the moor in the hope of turning up a body is a long shot, but at least it gives his life purpose. Then at school, when the lesson turns to letter writing, Steven has a flash of inspiration . . . Careful to hide his identity, he secretly pens a letter to Avery in jail asking for help in finding the body of "W.P."—William "Billy" Peters. So begins a dangerous cat-and-mouse game. Just as Steven tries to use Avery to pinpoint the gravesite, so Avery misdirects and teases his mysterious correspondent in order to relive his heinous crimes. And when Avery finally realizes that the letters he’s receiving are from a twelve-year-old boy, suddenly his life has purpose too. Although his is far more dangerous . . . Blacklands is a taut and chillingly brilliant debut that signals the arrival of a bright new voice in psychological suspense.From Publishers WeeklyBritish author Bauer's solid debut focuses on Steven Lamb, an unhappy 12-year-old boy who lives with his mother, grandmother, and five-year-old brother in Shipcolt, Somerset. Steven's grandmother is still haunted by the disappearance and suspected murder of her 11-year-old son, Billy, 19 years earlier. The authorities assume Billy was killed by pedophile Arnold Avery, who was convicted of six counts of murder and is serving a life sentence in Longmoor prison. Determined to find Billy's remains, Steven has been methodically digging up the moor near his house. Frustrated by his lack of progress, he writes a letter to Avery asking for information, and so begins a cat-and-mouse game that will have dire consequences. Bauer creates believable tension within the Lamb household as her characters shoulder enormous psychological burdens, though a somewhat far-fetched climax dilutes the quiet power of the preceding story. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistStarred Review Bauer, whose intent was to write a “small story about a boy and his grandmother,” didn’t quite succeed. Yes, there’s a grandmother and her 12-year-old grandson, but Bauer’s debut is hardly a “small” (read simple and uncomplicated) story. It’s an unsettling novel, with the sort of devastating emotional content that makes it both difficult to read and difficult to forget. Steven Lamb wants nothing more than to find the body of his uncle, taken as young boy (and presumably murdered) by pedophile Arnold Avery, who is now in prison. It’s Steven’s desperate wish that by finding the body, he’ll heal his dysfunctional family and repair his grandmother’s broken heart. Digging holes in the nearby moor (the blacklands), where many of Avery’s victims were found, has revealed nothing, leaving the pedophile himself as Steven’s only hope for ending his family’s pain. Thus begins a carefully orchestrated mail correspondence—just a few words here and there—passed between the two in letters that the recipients must puzzle out. Unfortunately for Steven, Avery quickly gains control of the conversation, which allows him to live in glorious memory of his killings. If the turn of events isn’t totally unexpected, it’s a riveting journey nonetheless, with Bauer remaining fully invested in her troubled characters: one a clever, vicious manipulator; the other an unappreciated, bullied 12-year-old, desperate for love. --Stephanie Zvirin
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Dogwood Hill

#1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods tests the strength of the beloved O'Briens and proves that love and family can always triumph! When former pro football quarterback Aidan Mitchell comes to Chesapeake Shores to take a high school coaching job, he's embraced by the town--especially the O'Briens. But Aidan has a secret that could alter all their lives. For wounded Liz March, who's trying for a fresh start after a devastating betrayal, taking a chance on Aidan may be more than she can handle. Her heart, however, refuses to listen to her head. But just when forever seems within reach, Aidan's secret threatens to change everything. Does this tempting stranger who's made her feel alive have the power to convince her to look beyond the past and reach for the future?
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The Final Tap

Kelsey Taps for Something Much Deadlier Than Sap March on Barton Farm can only mean one thing: maple sugar season. To combat the winter slump, resilient director Kelsey Cambridge organizes a Maple Sugar Festival, complete with school visits, pancake breakfasts, and a tree-tapping class. She hires curmudgeonly maple sugar expert Dr. Conrad Beeson to teach the workshop, despite misgivings over his unpleasant demeanor. It’s a decision Kelsey ends up regretting when, before the first tree can be tapped for sap, Dr. Beeson turns up dead. His death threatens to shut down not only the festival, but also Barton Farm itself. Kelsey has no choice but to tap for the truth and solve the murder to escape an increasingly sticky situation. Praise:"As series protagonists go, Kelsey's role as the director of a niche nonprofit in northern Ohio is certainly unusual, but Flower makes it appealing by focusing on a close-knit community of people...
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A Second Spring

Four Regency Novellas: The Dower House, A Conformable Wife, The Aunt and the Ancient Mariner, and Pirate Pendragon (originally titled The Pirate). Widows and spinsters find love at last. All by Carola Dunn and published by Zebra in various collections.
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