It’s private investigator Giulia Falcone’s second Christmas since leaving the convent. She’s happy to be spending it with Frank Driscoll, even if his switching from boss to boyfriend and back again is giving her whiplash. But Giulia’s holiday is darkened with disturbing news from her friends Anya and Laurel—their adopted baby girl has been kidnapped. When she learns that two kidnappings in nearby communities, both involving same-sex couples, ended with devastating fatalities, Giulia is more determined than ever to return the infant girl to her mothers. With Frank reluctantly backing her and the understaffed police offering little assistance, Giulia goes undercover to snare the kidnappers before they can do further harm.About the AuthorAlice Loweecey is a former nun who went from the convent to playing hookers on stage to accepting her husband's marriage proposal on the second date. A regular contributor to BuddyHollywood.com, she is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is the author of Force of Habit and Back in the Habit. The author lives with her family in Amherst, N.Y. Visit her online at: AliceLoweecey.com.Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Views: 46
Cover Story By Brenda Buchanan A Joe Gale Mystery Maine newspaper reporter
Joe Gale is at his best when covering the crime beat for the Portland Daily Chronicle.
In the dead of winter he heads Downeast to cover the murder trial of fisherman Danny
Boothby, charged with burying a fileting knife in the chest of politically
well-connected social worker Frank O’Rourke. O’Rourke held a thankless job in a hard
place. Many locals found him arrogant, but say he didn’t deserve to die. Others whisper
that O’Rourke got himself killed through his own rogue behavior. After Joe’s hard-nosed
reporting provokes someone to run him off an isolated road, he realizes his life depends
on figuring out not only who committed the murder, but who’s stalking him—O’Rourke’s
prominent brother, friends or enemies of the dead social worker or members of Boothby’s
family. As he digs deeper, Joe uncovers enough secrets and lies to fill a cemetery.
He’ll have to solve this one fast...or his next headline may be his own obituary. 83,470
words Views: 46
'Crime writing of the very highest order ... Kate Brannigan has turned into the most interesting sleuthess around' The TimesThere was only one reason Manchester-based private eye Kate Brannigan was prepared to let her boyfriend help out with the investigation into a car sales fraud – nothing bad could happen. But by now Kate should know that with Richard you have to expect the unexpected. With the unexpected being Richard behind bars, Kate seems to be the obvious choice to look after his eight-year-old son – who proves even more troublesome than his father. Kate finds herself dragged into a world of drug traffickers, child pornographers, fraudsters and violent gangland enforcers... bringing her face to face with death in the most terrifying investigation of her career. Views: 46
A baby changes everything...Detective Sawyer Montgomery never makes the same mistake twice. Burned in the past, he's learned to stay guarded when a beautiful woman is involved. Problem is, getting the key testimony to close a case requires a hands-on approach, because strong-willed counselor Liz Mayfield--not to mention the desire between them--is quickly getting under his skin.Now that his witness, Liz's client, has suspiciously vanished, joining forces and taking to the road in order to save the pregnant teen's life is their only option. But it soon becomes clear that the danger targeting Liz places her in need of protection. Sawyer's protection. And that this unexpected complication will test every fiber of Sawyer's legendary self-control... Views: 46
A strange, shrouded figure appears in Dunwall, seeming to possess powers once wielded by the assassin known as Daud. Faced with the possibility that their deadliest foe has returned, Emily and Corvo plunge headlong into a life-and-death race against time. If they fail to learn the truth about this mysterious enemy, the result could be destruction on an unimaginable scale. Views: 46
From the author of Shetland and VeraEven if there had been no murder, the last trip of a small band of dedicated bird-watchers aboard the Jessie Ellen would still have been news. For George Palmer-Jones and the other avid crew members achieve every bird-watcher’s dream when they sight a sea bird which has never before been recorded. In the subsequent excitement, however, no one notices the sudden absence of the most fanatical birder of them all . . . Later, Greg Franks’ corpse, the head bludgeoned, is found floating in the sea. Had it not been for Greg Franks, amateur detective George Palmer-Jones would not have been on the bird watching trip in Cornwall in the first place. He had been hired by Greg Franks’ anxious parents to try and persuade their errant son to return home. George would have turned the case down flat but the offer of a free weekend’s bird watching was too tempting to resist. Now, he must unhappily shoulder the burden of finding why the young man had been murdered. Who hated Franks enough to kill him? Almost everyone, it seems . . .From Publishers WeeklyBribery, blackmail and suspects abound in this confusing ornithological whodunit. Seasoned private detective and bird-watching enthusiast George Palmer-Jones and his wife stet commas around Molly/he has only one wife/pk Molly are hired by a distraught couple to find their errant son, coincidentally George's bird-watching colleague Greg Franks. Gregpk is traced to a seabird-watching expedition in Cornwall, but while all on board are distracted by a rare petrel,p. 31 he is murdered and his body is thrown overboard.rather than say thrown overboard with a blow to his head, why not say something a little clearer: is found washed up (if that is the case), with evidence of a suspicious blow to the head, or somesuch It soon becomes clear that Greg had gotten on the wrong side of almost everyone on the boat: competitive birdwatcher Roger Pym; his hard-drinking wifestet commas here too?pk Jane, a probation officerp. 71 ; seemingly meek conservationist Duncan James; and the seductive Rose Pengelly's spurned would-be lover Gerald Matthews. The one the other characters are mentioned without comment/mc/stet one!pk intriguing character is police inspector Claire Bingham, struggling to balance the demands of her investigative work with those of her home life. Cleeves's ( A Bird in the Hand ) dry and awkward writing slows the momentum in the first half, but pk clues multiply and intrigue mounts, culminating clues convene with rare seabirds; a little lazily written in a devastating sea-storm. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the AuthorAnn Cleeves is the author behind ITV's VERA and BBC One's SHETLAND. She has written over twenty-five novels, and is the creator of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez -- characters loved both on screen and in print. Her books have now sold over 1 million copies worldwide. Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of 'Murder Squad', working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (CWA Gold Dagger) for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series. In 2012 she was inducted into the CWA Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Ann lives in North Tyneside. www.anncleeves.com Views: 46
Years ago, a sacred ceremony at the Dragon's Moon Coven turned deadly. Son of the high priestess, Tristian Shandie's life changed forever. With a price on his head and revenge in his heart, he has no choice but to follow in his father's footsteps to a profession shrouded in secrets. Now his skills as an enforcer for the Demon Overlord are second to none. But dangerous secrets he harbors are a liability he can no longer afford. A chance meeting with a woman he finds irresistible flips Tristian's world upside down. Hannah is a cyber security specialist with secrets of her own. Bad boys never appealed to her until Tristian, who changes everything. In his darkest hours, she is dragged into his magical world. If they survive, is she strong enough to heal his heart and tame the warlock? Or will their secrets destroy them? Views: 46
A rodeo producer dead in the bull pen. Accident or Murder? From the deadly tip of the rodeo queen's tiara to toxic “agricultural byproducts” ground into the arena dust, Tv reporter Elizabeth, E.M., Danniher receives a murderous introduction to the world of rodeo. The exiled big-time Tv journalist hasn't yet adjusted to her demotion to Kwmt-Tv, a tiny station in Sherman, Wyoming, where cattle ranches, cowboys, and the wide open range set the stage for their own unique brand of crime. This time she's investigating the apparently accidental death-under the hooves of rodeo bulls-of a rodeo producer preparing for the region's biggest event-Sherman's annual Fourth of July Rodeo. When her station's egocentric anchorman bungles the story outrageously, Elizabeth and Kwmt-Tv colleague Michael Paycik start digging on their own. Area rancher Thomas Burrell, whose interest in Elizabeth is more than casual, helps out with background on the rodeo and suspects-and there are plenty, because the victim had many enemies. But Tom has loyalties to some suspects as well as to the rodeo, so can he be trusted to help her lasso the truth no matter what? Patricia McLinn spent more than 20 years as an editor at the Washington Post after stints as a sports writer (Rockford, Ill.) and assistant sports editor (Charlotte, N.C.). McLinn received Ba and Msj degrees from Northwestern University. McLinn is the author of more than 25 published novels, past president of the international writers group Novelists, Inc., and instigator of AwritersWork.com. Her books-cited by reviewers for wit and vivid characterization-have topped bestseller lists and won numerous awards. McLinn has spoken about writing from Honolulu to Washington, D.C., including being a guest-speaker at the Smithsonian Institute.** Views: 46
In this first book of the Mandy Bell DVM series, Mandy is summoned to a small Midwestern town called Crestview. A colleague and classmate from vet school has passed away and left her veterinary clinic and house to Mandy. While Mandy has always been a traveling vet in her motor home, she finds herself drawn to the Midwestern hospitality that the town shows her and her sidekick Border collie, Lyle. Unfortunately, on one of her farmcalls, she discovers a body that turns out to have been murdered. She is determined to solve the murder to clear the name of the quaint little town. She uses her own intuition and careful questioning of townspeople and clients to piece together the culprit at fault. Lyle is by her side through the whole book, including at the town’s Halloween Hoedown, where she gets into trouble of her own. Read on to experience life as a small town veterinarian with a knack for solving murders. Views: 46
