ALMOST A FAMILY: * A second chance at love?*Ten years ago Virginia Catron and Bailey Callihan had to get married, but they loved each other fiercely and adored their son when he came into their lives. Fate dealt them a cruel blow when their infant son was snatched in a grocery store. Their new marriage couldn't withstand the strain and when it became clear their baby would not be found, they divorced, brokenhearted and grief stricken. They haven't seen each other since their divorce was finalized. The story opens when word arrives that their son has been found...alive. Can these three virtual strangers come together to make a family? Views: 10
Akashic Books continues its award-winning series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. This volume presents the first nonfiction collection in the series, curated by acclaimed novelists Tim McLoughlin and Thomas Adcock.Brand-new stories by: Robert Leuci, Dennis Hawkins, Tim McLoughlin, Thomas Adcock, Errol Louis, Denise Buffa, Patricia Mulcahy, C.J. Sullivan, Reed Farrel Coleman, Aileen Gallagher, Christopher Musella, Kim Sykes, Robert Knightly, Jess Korman, Constance Casey, and Rosemarie Yu."There is a difference, as editor, between cheering the literary accomplishment of a fiction writer who has delivered a brilliant story about a serial killer or hit man, and reading the true account, however beautifully written, of a young woman raped, murdered, and forgotten. So this book, though it has its light moments (and thank God for those), is for me the darkest of the Brooklyn Noir series. These pieces remind us that crime is personal. It happens to us and to our neighbors. Sometimes it happens because we do nothing to prevent it. Life does not always offer the moral arc we so desperately crave in fiction. If it did, we’d have no need for myths and fables, religion or miracles . . ."Read this book. Enjoy it. Be horrified by it. Carry it with you always. And the next time you’re watching a particularly bizarre and salacious news item on the television set in your neighborhood pub, and the guy on the next stool says, “You can’t make this shit up,” smack him with it."--Tim McLoughlin, from the introduction Views: 10
From Publishers Weekly In this affecting, if oddly flat, crime novel from Edgar-winner Cook (The Chatham School Affair), Eric Moore, a prosperous businessman, watches his safe, solid world disintegrate. When eight-year-old Amy Giordano, whom Eric's teenage son, Keith, was babysitting, disappears from her family's house, many believe Keith is an obvious suspect, and not even his parents are completely convinced that he wasn't somehow involved. As time passes without Amy being found, a corrosive suspicion seeps into every aspect of Eric's life. That suspicion is fed by Eric's shaky family history-a father whose failed plans led from moderate wealth to near penury, an alcoholic older brother who's never amounted to much, a younger sister fatally stricken with a brain tumor and a mother driven to suicide. Not even Eric's loving wife, Meredith, is immune from his doubts as he begins to examine and re-examine every aspect of his life. The ongoing police investigation and the anguish of the missing girl's father provide periodic goads as Eric's futile attempts to allay his own misgivings seem only to lead him into more desperate straits. The totally unexpected resolution is both shocking and perfectly apt.
From Booklist Cook's latest is proof that he is maturing into a gifted storyteller. An eight-year-old girl is missing. The police quickly zero in on her baby-sitter, Keith Moore. Keith's parents proclaim his innocence, but his father, Eric, has his own secret doubts. The way the author tells the story, it really doesn't matter whether Keith is guilty or not; what matters is the way the Moore family slowly disintegrates, as his parents deal in their own ways with the possibility that their son may be a monster. The novel is narrated by Eric; perhaps the story might have been slightly more effective if it were told in the third person, so we could watch Eric fall apart (rather than listen to him tell us about it), but that's nit-picking. In terms of its emotional depth and carefully drawn characters, this is one of Cook's best novels. Views: 10
Love is hottest in the darkness before dawn. Elissande Edgerton is a desperate woman, a virtual prisoner in the home of her tyrannical uncle. Only through marriage can she claim the freedom she craves. But how to catch the perfect man? Lord Vere is used to baiting irresistible traps. As a secret agent for the government, he's tracked down some of the most devious criminals in London, all the while maintaining his cover as one of Society's most harmless — and idiotic — bachelors. But nothing can prepare him for the scandal of being ensnared by Elissande. Forced into a marriage of convenience, Elissande and Vere are each about to discover that they're not the only one with a hidden agenda. With seduction their only weapon — and a dark secret from the past endangering both their lives — can they learn to trust each other even as they surrender to a passion that won't be denied? Views: 10
A warning: Don't mess with Quinn's friends. If you do, he'll find out. And when he finds out, he'll find you. No matter who you are. No matter where you go.
Because even when Quinn's off the clock, there's work to be done.
OFF THE CLOCK is a seven thousand word short story, featuring the protagonist of the award winning Jonathan Quinn Thriller series. Views: 10
Charlene Butler, a.k.a. Charlie, is beautiful, independent, and a successful pub owner in downtown Montreal, but prefers not to discuss her past, or the main reason for her success. When she anonymously receives strange letters and the police don’t show an interest in the case, she is convinced by Frank, her best friend, to hire a private investigator to help her solve the mystery. However, PI Simm seems to have a few secrets of his own.
Charlie and Simm join forces when the harassment escalates from letters to explicit threats. Their investigation leads them from the safety of her home, through Montreal’s underworld, to organized crime in Dublin, Ireland. What they discover contradicts Charlie’s most fundamental beliefs in herself and ultimately makes her doubt her own character. Views: 10
The writing team that delivered the bestselling Faithful, about the 2004 Red Sox championship season, takes readers to the ballpark again, and to a world beyond, in an eBook original to be published on August 21, 2012.Dean Evers, an elderly widower, sits in front of the television with nothing better to do than waste his leftover evenings watching baseball. It's Rays/Mariners, and David Price is breezing through the line-up. Suddenly, in a seat a few rows up beyond the batter, Evers sees the face of someone from decades past, someone who shouldn't be at the ballgame, shouldn't be on the planet. And so begins a parade of people from Evers's past, all of them occupying that seat behind home plate. Until one day Dean Evers sees someone even eerier.... Views: 10
Louisiana men? Honey, talk about the Big Easy...JoAnn Ross Cajun HeatBad boy bayou movie star Gabe Broussard has come back to his Louisiana hometown for some peace, but things only heat up the minute he reunites with Emma Quinlan. With her lush body and hearty appetite, she's no Hollywood matchstick, and oh cher, does he like that. Emma just has to stop thinking about her former Cajun crush, so she makes a list of all the things she wishes he would do to her and buries it in a graveyard at night. Except it's the wrong list—Gabe finds the right one, and he intends to fulfill every blissful one of them. . .Nancy Warren You Give Me FeverAcclaimed playwright Devon Burnett hasn't had a hit in five years. That's why he's rented a small bayou cottage, hoping to find his muse again. Maya Poe knows exactly who Devon is, and she understands all about running away. Since the accident that ended her modeling career, she's had nothing to do with men. .... Views: 10
A mission. A conspiracy. Two veteran agents face-off in a daring cat-and-mouse game that could change the nation.
Gritty, gutsy Mac Ambrose is a twenty-year veteran of the CIA with a penchant for risk-taking and a strong moral conscience. She is recruited by her closest friends to run a dangerous domestic operation: bring down the powerful gun lobby so the Senate can pass new legislation. In four weeks.
From Washington’s corridors of power, to Kentucky’s rolling hills and New Orleans’s wealthy suburbs, Mac baits the snares for a corrupt lawmaker, an unscrupulous lobbyist, and a crooked gun manufacturer. From a safe house in Philadelphia, she begins to rebuild the life--and to reconnoiter the love--forsaken years ago in the name of national security.
But Cal Bertrand, the dogged ATF agent with a checkered past and a lot to prove, is hot on her trail. Will he uncover Mac and the conspiracy before the traps go off?
Corruption, sabotage, and intrigue combine into one gratifyingly taut and intricate novel that could only have been written by an insider.
**Review
"Loaded with suspense, some violence, taut pacing." - HuffingtonPost
"Well now, THAT REALLY WAS a fun 'ride'!" - Goodreads Review
"Corruption, sabotage, and a touch of romance - this book has all of that, and so much more." - Amazon Reviewer
"I greatly appreciate authors that can write gripping stories without a murder. To handle a current and important topic this well is a delightful read." - Top Ranked Amazon Reviewer
"While I had no problem suspending disbelief, there was never any doubt when I put it down that it was fiction. I found the story fast-paced with nuance." - Big Al, Books and Pal's book blog Views: 10
If ever a man needed some tenderness, it’s Jason Jones. If ever a woman needed some excitement, it’s Anna Wynn. One wild week in Scarlet Bay is all they have to try for both. Will it be enough? Forced to endure each others' company in the small-town beach house, mutual frustration and undeniable chemistry pull Anna and Jason together. Enemies become lovers – but for how long? Views: 10
