I was browsing William Morrow's Summer 2011 catalog and came across so many books I wanted to read, that I started a list here to share.
The Body in the Gazebo: A Faith Fairchild Mystery
Faith Fairchild’s friend and neighbor, Pix Rowe Miller, is excited for her son’s out-of-town wedding. But she’s also worried about leaving her elderly mother, Ursula, who has suddenly fallen ill. True to her good nature, Faith offers to keep an eye on the dear older woman.
As Faith soon discovers, however, Ursula’s illness stems not from age but from worry—concern and fear over a dark family secret she’s been carrying for more than seventy years. In the desperate years of the Depression, Ursula’s brother Theo was brutally murdered and his killer sent away. Now, a mysterious letter has arrived under her door, asking the question: Are you sure you were right?
Faith can’t help being drawn into solving the decades-old murder. But before she can find the truth she’s got a pressing—and very personal—mystery at hand. The discretionary fund at the church has been pilfered, and the Reverend Thomas Fairchild is the only person who has access to it. With the lives and reputations of those she loves at stake, Faith must juggle clues from past and present to solve two very different crimes before its too late.
Trader of Secrets: A Paul Madriani Novel
Following a violent encounter with his nemesis, contract killer Muerte Liquida—featured in Guardian of Lies and The Rule of Nine—Paul Madriani heads to Paris in search of a man with dangerous secrets, a former NASA employee whose name has been found on papers left in Liquida’s apartment.
Pursuing the mysterious NASA connection and the missing scientist, Madriani, Joselyn Cole, and his law partner Harry Hines find themselves tangled in a web of secrets and murder stretching from Washington D.C., to California, Asia and Europe. It is a story that involves stolen NASA technology that harnesses the destructive forces of nature in a way that will dwarf the nuclear bomb. Foreign powers will stop at nothing to get their hands on this technology. But as Madriani inches closer to the hidden secret, he learns that its potential application is far more horrific—and destructive—than anything he could have imagined.
Graveminder
Three sips to mind the dead . . .
Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn’t a funeral that Maylene didn’t attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words “Sleep well, and stay where I put you.”
Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place—and the man—she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D—a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.
Suddenly Rebekkah is struggling with more than just her grief—she’s forced to deal with a centuries-old bargain, dark secrets, a complicated romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility—to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong.
Insatiable
The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force Novel
Deep in the Rocky Mountains, a gruesome discovery—hundreds of mummified bodies—stir international attention and fervent controversy. Despite doubts to the bodies’ origins, a local Native American group lays claim to the prehistoric remains, along with the strange artifacts found in the same cavern: gold plates inscribed with an unfathomable script.
During a riot at the dig site, an anthropologist dies horribly: burned to ash in a fiery explosion in plain view of television cameras. All evidence points to a radical group of Native Americans, including one agitator, a teenage firebrand who escapes with a vital clue to the murder and calls on the one person who might help: her uncle, Painter Crowe, director of Sigma Force.
To protect his niece and uncover the truth, Painter will ignite a war across the nation’s most powerful intelligence agencies. Yet, an even greater threat looms as events in the Rocky Mountains have set in motion a frightening chain reaction, a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S.
From the volcanic peaks of Iceland to the blistering deserts of the American Southwest, from the gold vaults of Fort Knox to the bubbling geysers of Yellowstone, Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Gray Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal, one that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies.
But can he discover the truth—one that could topple governments—before it destroys all he holds dear?
Overbite
Meena Harper has a special gift, but it's only now that anyone's ever appreciated it. The Palatine Guard-a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican-has hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan. With Meena's ability to predict how people are going to die, the Palatine finally has a chance against the undead.
Sure, her ex-boyfriend was Lucien Antonescu, son of Dracula, the prince of darkness. But that was before he (and their relationship) went up in flames. Meena's sworn off vampires for good. They really are bad for your health.
Meena knows with her past, winning over her new co-workers-not to mention her new partner, über-demon-hunter Alaric Wulf-won't be easy. But when a deadly new threat arrives-The Lamir, the most feared clan of all vampire kind- she gets her chance. The Lamir have already swallowed up most of Rio. Now they're hankering for a bite out of the Big Apple.
But Meena isn't the Palatine's only hope. Manhattan's newly appointed hot young monsignor, Father Henrique-aka Padre Caliente-has fought more Lamir than anyone. So why doesn't Meena trust him? And how can the padre know she still dreams about-and possibly even meets in secret with-Lucien?
As she begins unraveling the truth-not just about the Lamir, the Palatine, but Lucien, as well-Meena finds her loyalties tested, her true feelings laid bare . . . and temptations she never even imagined existed, but finds impossible to resist.
Killer Move
Bill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more.
He’s got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for super-success, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without achieving its intended rewards. So now Bill’s starting to mix it up—just a little—to accelerate his way into the future he knows he deserves.
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for him. It contains no indicator as to whom it's from or why it was sent. Its message is just one word: MODIFIED.
From that moment on, Bill’s life begins to change.
At first, nothing seems very different. But when things begin to unwind rapidly—and one after another, people around Bill start to die—it becomes increasingly clear that someone, somewhere, has a very different plan for Bill’s future. Confused and angry, Bill begins to fight against this unseen force until it becomes terrifyingly clear. . . once modified, there’s no going back.
Spycatcher
Will Cochrane is a seasoned, battle-scarred agent, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys playing by the rules. When a job must be done he will go all out to finish it—even if it means to hell with convention or loyalty. His controllers, Alastair from MI6 and Patrick at the CIA, know that Will is a wild card, but his unpredictability may be the perfect weapon to bring down the world’s most wanted international terrorist mastermind, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard whose code name is Megiddo. And Will has his own reasons for catching this madman: it appears likely that Megiddo is the man responsible for the horrific death of Will’s father, an agent in Iraq twenty-five years ago.
When Will finds a connection that might lure Megiddo out—a woman from his past—he sets up an elaborate and dangerous trap with potentially lethal consequences. But the wily terrorist is still one step ahead of his hunter, and soon Will finds himself racing to the finish across the capitals of Europe and the northeastern U. S. to find his prey and avoid an attack the likes of which the world has never seen.
In Search of the Rose Notes
At age eleven, Nora and Charlotte are the best of friends—until their teenager babysitter, Rose, disappears under mysterious circumstances. They decide to “investigate,” using paranormal theories and techniques they glean from a hand-me-down collection of Time-Life books. But their search goes nowhere, and leaves both girls distraught and angry with each other.
In her late twenties, Nora is drawn back her old neighborhood, and to Charlotte, when Rose’s bones are found. She was probably murdered, and Charlotte is adamant that they solve the crime. Nora—who was the last known person to see Rose alive—is forced to reconsider her memory of the events surrounding the disappearance, and her own troubled adolescence following those fateful days. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to face the secrets that begin to surface.
Told in alternating narratives from the past and present, this is a mystery about broken friendship and the unease of revisiting adolescent memory.
______________________________________________________________________
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The Body in the Gazebo: A Faith Fairchild MysteryFaith Fairchild’s friend and neighbor, Pix Rowe Miller, is excited for her son’s out-of-town wedding. But she’s also worried about leaving her elderly mother, Ursula, who has suddenly fallen ill. True to her good nature, Faith offers to keep an eye on the dear older woman.
As Faith soon discovers, however, Ursula’s illness stems not from age but from worry—concern and fear over a dark family secret she’s been carrying for more than seventy years. In the desperate years of the Depression, Ursula’s brother Theo was brutally murdered and his killer sent away. Now, a mysterious letter has arrived under her door, asking the question: Are you sure you were right?
Faith can’t help being drawn into solving the decades-old murder. But before she can find the truth she’s got a pressing—and very personal—mystery at hand. The discretionary fund at the church has been pilfered, and the Reverend Thomas Fairchild is the only person who has access to it. With the lives and reputations of those she loves at stake, Faith must juggle clues from past and present to solve two very different crimes before its too late.
Trader of Secrets: A Paul Madriani NovelFollowing a violent encounter with his nemesis, contract killer Muerte Liquida—featured in Guardian of Lies and The Rule of Nine—Paul Madriani heads to Paris in search of a man with dangerous secrets, a former NASA employee whose name has been found on papers left in Liquida’s apartment.
Pursuing the mysterious NASA connection and the missing scientist, Madriani, Joselyn Cole, and his law partner Harry Hines find themselves tangled in a web of secrets and murder stretching from Washington D.C., to California, Asia and Europe. It is a story that involves stolen NASA technology that harnesses the destructive forces of nature in a way that will dwarf the nuclear bomb. Foreign powers will stop at nothing to get their hands on this technology. But as Madriani inches closer to the hidden secret, he learns that its potential application is far more horrific—and destructive—than anything he could have imagined.
GraveminderThree sips to mind the dead . . .
Rebekkah Barrow never forgot the tender attention her grandmother, Maylene, bestowed upon the dead of Claysville, the town where Bek spent her adolescence. There wasn’t a funeral that Maylene didn’t attend, and at each Rebekkah watched as Maylene performed the same unusual ritual: three sips from a small silver flask followed by the words “Sleep well, and stay where I put you.”
Now Maylene is dead and Bek must go back to the place—and the man—she left a decade ago. But what she soon discovers is that Maylene was murdered and that there was good reason for her odd traditions. It turns out that in placid Claysville, the worlds of the living and the dead are dangerously connected. Beneath the town lies a shadowy, lawless land ruled by the enigmatic Charles, aka Mr. D—a place from which the dead will return if their graves are not properly minded. Only the Graveminder, a Barrow woman, and the current Undertaker, Byron, can set things to right once the dead begin to walk.
Suddenly Rebekkah is struggling with more than just her grief—she’s forced to deal with a centuries-old bargain, dark secrets, a complicated romance that still haunts her, and a frightening new responsibility—to stop a monster and put the dead to rest where they belong.
InsatiableSoap opera writer Meena Harper doesn’t believe in things like vampires. Not that she isn’t familiar with the supernatural. Meena has a gift for knowing how and when you’re going to die. She just doesn’t talk about it much, because you wouldn’t believe her anyway.
But not even Meena’s precognition can protect her from falling under the romantic spell of handsome, charming Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. Though Meena’s never been able to predict her own future, for the first time she can imagine setting down stakes with a guy.
And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare. Lucien has a few secrets—and more than a few enemies out for his blood. And they’ll use any means to get to him, including his new girlfriend.
Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . . if she even has one.
But not even Meena’s precognition can protect her from falling under the romantic spell of handsome, charming Lucien Antonescu, a modern-day prince with a bit of a dark side. Though Meena’s never been able to predict her own future, for the first time she can imagine setting down stakes with a guy.
And while Lucien seems like everything Meena has ever dreamed of in a boyfriend, he might turn out to be more like a nightmare. Lucien has a few secrets—and more than a few enemies out for his blood. And they’ll use any means to get to him, including his new girlfriend.
Now might be a good time for Meena to start learning to predict her own future . . . if she even has one.
The Devil Colony: A Sigma Force NovelDeep in the Rocky Mountains, a gruesome discovery—hundreds of mummified bodies—stir international attention and fervent controversy. Despite doubts to the bodies’ origins, a local Native American group lays claim to the prehistoric remains, along with the strange artifacts found in the same cavern: gold plates inscribed with an unfathomable script.
During a riot at the dig site, an anthropologist dies horribly: burned to ash in a fiery explosion in plain view of television cameras. All evidence points to a radical group of Native Americans, including one agitator, a teenage firebrand who escapes with a vital clue to the murder and calls on the one person who might help: her uncle, Painter Crowe, director of Sigma Force.
To protect his niece and uncover the truth, Painter will ignite a war across the nation’s most powerful intelligence agencies. Yet, an even greater threat looms as events in the Rocky Mountains have set in motion a frightening chain reaction, a geological meltdown that threatens the entire western half of the U.S.
From the volcanic peaks of Iceland to the blistering deserts of the American Southwest, from the gold vaults of Fort Knox to the bubbling geysers of Yellowstone, Painter Crowe joins forces with Commander Gray Pierce to penetrate the shadowy heart of a dark cabal, one that has been manipulating American history since the founding of the thirteen colonies.
But can he discover the truth—one that could topple governments—before it destroys all he holds dear?
OverbiteMeena Harper has a special gift, but it's only now that anyone's ever appreciated it. The Palatine Guard-a powerful secret demon-hunting unit of the Vatican-has hired her to work at their new branch in Lower Manhattan. With Meena's ability to predict how people are going to die, the Palatine finally has a chance against the undead.
Sure, her ex-boyfriend was Lucien Antonescu, son of Dracula, the prince of darkness. But that was before he (and their relationship) went up in flames. Meena's sworn off vampires for good. They really are bad for your health.
Meena knows with her past, winning over her new co-workers-not to mention her new partner, über-demon-hunter Alaric Wulf-won't be easy. But when a deadly new threat arrives-The Lamir, the most feared clan of all vampire kind- she gets her chance. The Lamir have already swallowed up most of Rio. Now they're hankering for a bite out of the Big Apple.
But Meena isn't the Palatine's only hope. Manhattan's newly appointed hot young monsignor, Father Henrique-aka Padre Caliente-has fought more Lamir than anyone. So why doesn't Meena trust him? And how can the padre know she still dreams about-and possibly even meets in secret with-Lucien?
As she begins unraveling the truth-not just about the Lamir, the Palatine, but Lucien, as well-Meena finds her loyalties tested, her true feelings laid bare . . . and temptations she never even imagined existed, but finds impossible to resist.
Killer MoveBill Moore already has a lot, but he wants more . . . much more.
He’s got a lucrative job selling condos in the Florida Keys, a successful wife, a good marriage, a beautiful house. He also has a five-year plan for super-success, but that plan has begun to drag into its sixth year without achieving its intended rewards. So now Bill’s starting to mix it up—just a little—to accelerate his way into the future he knows he deserves.
Then one morning Bill arrives at work to find a card waiting for him. It contains no indicator as to whom it's from or why it was sent. Its message is just one word: MODIFIED.
From that moment on, Bill’s life begins to change.
At first, nothing seems very different. But when things begin to unwind rapidly—and one after another, people around Bill start to die—it becomes increasingly clear that someone, somewhere, has a very different plan for Bill’s future. Confused and angry, Bill begins to fight against this unseen force until it becomes terrifyingly clear. . . once modified, there’s no going back.
Spycatcher Will Cochrane is a seasoned, battle-scarred agent, but that doesn’t mean he enjoys playing by the rules. When a job must be done he will go all out to finish it—even if it means to hell with convention or loyalty. His controllers, Alastair from MI6 and Patrick at the CIA, know that Will is a wild card, but his unpredictability may be the perfect weapon to bring down the world’s most wanted international terrorist mastermind, a former Iranian Revolutionary Guard whose code name is Megiddo. And Will has his own reasons for catching this madman: it appears likely that Megiddo is the man responsible for the horrific death of Will’s father, an agent in Iraq twenty-five years ago.
When Will finds a connection that might lure Megiddo out—a woman from his past—he sets up an elaborate and dangerous trap with potentially lethal consequences. But the wily terrorist is still one step ahead of his hunter, and soon Will finds himself racing to the finish across the capitals of Europe and the northeastern U. S. to find his prey and avoid an attack the likes of which the world has never seen.
In Search of the Rose NotesAt age eleven, Nora and Charlotte are the best of friends—until their teenager babysitter, Rose, disappears under mysterious circumstances. They decide to “investigate,” using paranormal theories and techniques they glean from a hand-me-down collection of Time-Life books. But their search goes nowhere, and leaves both girls distraught and angry with each other.
In her late twenties, Nora is drawn back her old neighborhood, and to Charlotte, when Rose’s bones are found. She was probably murdered, and Charlotte is adamant that they solve the crime. Nora—who was the last known person to see Rose alive—is forced to reconsider her memory of the events surrounding the disappearance, and her own troubled adolescence following those fateful days. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to face the secrets that begin to surface.
Told in alternating narratives from the past and present, this is a mystery about broken friendship and the unease of revisiting adolescent memory.
______________________________________________________________________
Treat me to a Starbucks, so I can keep blogging!If you like this post, then please consider subscribing to my Full Feed RSS.
You can also Subscribe by Email and have new posts sent directly to your inbox.
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