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Reviews

Reviews

by Stephanie Barron - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Jane Austen is not feeling well. She attributes her poor condition to the stress of family burdens, which even the drafting of her latest manuscript cannot alleviate. Her apothecary recommends a trial of the curative waters at Cheltenham Spa, in Gloucestershire. Jane decides to use some of the profits earned from her last novel, EMMA, and treat herself to a period of rest and reflection at the spa, in the company of her sister, Cassandra. However, Cheltenham Spa hardly turns out to be the relaxing sojourn Jane and Cassandra envisaged. It is immediately obvious that other boarders at the guest house where the Misses Austen are staying have come to Cheltenham with stresses of their own --- some of them deadly.

by M. C. Beaton with R.W. Green - Fiction, Mystery

Sergeant Hamish Macbeth's new constable, Dorothy McIver, may be the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Completely bewitched by her sparkling blue eyes, Hamish spends the summer traveling with her up and down Sutherland until he finally can take it no longer. He gets down on one knee beside the Land Rover and begs her to marry him --- and to his amazement and delight, she says yes. But just as the town of Lochdubh gets ready to celebrate, Hamish finds himself with a new murder on his hands. If he doesn't find the killer fast, Hamish's dream wedding could become a nightmare.

by Jon Land - Fiction, Mystery, Political Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

2017: A military transport on a secret run to dispose of its deadly contents vanishes without a trace. The present: A mass shooting on the steps of the Capitol nearly claims the life of Robert Brixton’s grandson. No stranger to high-stakes investigations, Brixton embarks on a trail to uncover the motive behind the shooting. On the way, he finds himself probing the attempted murder of the daughter of his best friend, who works at the Washington offices of the CDC. The connection between the mass shooting and Alexandra’s poisoning lies in that long-lost military transport that has been recovered by forces determined to change America forever.

by Nina de Gramont - Fiction, Historical Fiction

In 1925, Miss Nan O’Dea infiltrated the wealthy, rarefied world of author Agatha Christie and her husband, Archie. In every way, she became a part of their life. Soon, Nan became Archie’s mistress, luring him away from his devoted wife, desperate to marry him. Nan’s plot didn’t begin the day she met Archie and Agatha. It began decades before, in Ireland, when Nan was a young girl. She and the man she loved were a star-crossed couple who were destined to be together --- until the Great War, a pandemic and shameful secrets tore them apart. Then acts of unspeakable cruelty kept them separated. What drives someone to murder? What will someone do in the name of love? What kind of crime can someone never forgive?

by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Lucas Tappan, a wealthy and eccentric billionaire and founder of Icarus Space Systems, approaches the Santa Fe Archaeological Institute with an outlandish proposal --- to finance a careful, scientific excavation of the Roswell Incident site, where a UFO is alleged to have crashed in 1947. A skeptical Nora Kelly is tasked with the job. Nora's excavation immediately uncovers two murder victims buried at the site, faces and hands obliterated with acid to erase their identities. Special Agent Corrie Swanson is assigned to the case. As Nora’s excavation proceeds, uncovering things both bizarre and seemingly inexplicable, Corrie’s homicide investigation throws open a Pandora's box of espionage and violence.

by Thomas Olde Heuvelt - Fantasy, Fiction, Horror

Travel journalist and mountaineer Nick Grevers awakes from a coma to find that his climbing buddy, Augustin, is missing and presumed dead. Nick’s own injuries are as extensive as they are horrifying, and he claims amnesia --- but he remembers everything. He remembers how he and Augustin were mysteriously drawn to the Maudit, a remote and scarcely documented peak in the Swiss Alps. He remembers how the slopes of Maudit were eerily quiet, and how they got the ominous sense that they were not alone. But it isn’t just the memory of the accident that haunts Nick. Something has awakened inside of him, something that endangers the lives of everyone around him.

by Gregg Hurwitz - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Aragon Urrea is a kingpin of a major drug-dealing operation in South Texas. He's also the patron of the local area --- supplying employment in legitimate operations, providing help to the helpless, rough justice to the downtrodden, and a future to a people normally with little hope. However, he is helpless when one of the most vicious cartels kidnaps his innocent 18-year-old daughter, spiriting her away into the armored complex that is their headquarters in Mexico. So he turns to Evan Smoak, the Nowhere Man. Not only must Evan figure out how to get into the impregnable fortress of a heavily armed, deeply paranoid cartel leader, he must decide if he should help a very bad man --- no matter how just the cause.

by Wendy Corsi Staub - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Suspense

As California transplants making a fresh start in Brooklyn, the Howells are expected to live in a shoebox, but the brownstone has a huge kitchen, lots of light and a backyard. The catch: its previous residents were victims of a grisly triple homicide that remains unsolved. Soon, peculiar things begin happening. Nora unearths a long-hidden rusty box in the flowerbed. Oldest daughter Stacey, obsessed with the family murdered in their house, pokes into the bloody past and becomes convinced that a stranger is watching the house. She’s right. But one of the Howells will recognize his face. Because one of them has a secret that will blindside the others with a truth that lies shockingly close to home --- and to this one’s terrifying history.

by Charles Todd - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

Scotland Yard sends Inspector Ian Rutledge to Benton Abbey, a grand manor with a storied past. The lady of the house claims she saw a violent murder --- but there is no body, no blood. She also insists she recognized the killer: Captain Nelson. Only it could not have been Nelson because he died during the war. Everyone in the village believes that Lady Benton’s losses have turned her mind --- she is, after all, a grieving widow and mother --- but the woman Rutledge interviews is rational and self-possessed. And then there is Captain Nelson: what really happened to him in the war? The more Rutledge delves into this baffling case, the more suspicious tragedies he uncovers.

by Brian Freeman - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

The mythical beast goes by many names. Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Yeti. In Black Wolf County, he's called the Ursulina. But to Deputy Rebecca Colder, the beast is no myth. A serial killer has taken on the identity of the monster --- and with each body left behind, there's a chilling message written in blood: I am the Ursulina. In this follow-up to THE DEEP, DEEP SNOW, Brian Freeman takes us on Rebecca's dark journey to reveal the truth about the Ursulina --- a journey that ultimately leads to an excruciating choice that will change her life forever.