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Bookreporter.com Newsletter |
March 9, 2007
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This Week on Bookreporter.com |
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Time Time Time...See What an Hour Less Means
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Bookreporter.com Talks to Tim Maleeny, Author of STEALING THE DRAGON
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New Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Stephen White, Author of DRY ICE |
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New Featured One to Watch Author: Sandra Dallas, Author of TALLGRASS
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New Featured One to Watch Author: Masha Hamilton, Author of THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE
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Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: David Morrell, Author of SCAVENGER
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Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Michele Martinez, Author of COVER-UP
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New Featured Romantic/Suspense Author: Karen Robards Author of OBSESSION |
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Featured Romantic Suspense Author: Lisa Jackson, Author of ABSOLUTE FEAR
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New Featured Romantic Suspense Author: Beverly Barton, Author of THE DYING GAME
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Now in Stores: LEARNING TO BREATHE by Karen White
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Featured One to Watch Author: Brenda Rickman Vantrease, Author of THE MERCY SELLER
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Featured Mystery Mayhem Author: Joanne Fluke, Author of KEY LIME PIE MURDER
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This Week's Reviews and Features
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Poll and Question of the Week
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Time Time Time...See What an Hour Less Means
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Looming in my mind right now --- how I am going to make up for the hour we are missing this weekend when the clocks change. I confess that I am not understanding how this saves energy, but then I remember that science never was my thing. I operate on the common sense theory of life. If I have X to do in a day that requires daylight and there is only X amount of daylight during a day, the things I can do during that time either X happen in the morning or X happen in the evening according to when there is light. And I cannot figure how changing the clocks saves energy.
I know I am expending an enormous amount of energy thinking about my weekend with one less hour, and re-calibrating the computers in the office and at home so we are not all late all next week. I wonder how many pages I read an hour and what this means for my reading plans for the weekend. I know, I know. I can make up those pages in November. BTW...is anyone but me picking up on the fact that the late clock change in November means that kids will be trick or treating in daylight in October? What fun is that? I know, the things I ponder.
All week I jot myself notes for the newsletter opener, and looking at this week's list, we have quite a lineup in store for you. What's great is that I have read all of the books that I am going to talk about here, and I have met all of the authors. Thus this really feels like I am chatting with friends across the table.
First up is our latest Suspense/Thriller offering, Stephen White's new book, DRY ICE, which hit stores this week. White's protagonist, Alan Gregory, has a lot on his plate in this book, both personally and professionally. Gregory Michael McClelland, the brilliant and determined murderer introduced in PRIVILEGED INFORMATION (the first Gregory novel), has escaped from the Colorado State Mental Hospital and is almost certainly after Gregory's family. At the same time Gregory's personal life is taking some interesting turns. We have 20 copies of DRY ICE to share with readers who would like to read and comment on it. To enter, send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by Friday, March 23rd.
We have two One to Watch authors this week. The first is Masha Hamilton, whose new novel, THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE, will be in stores on April 3rd. As readers who love books, this story will appeal to you as Fiona Sweeney, a New York librarian, gives up her comfortable life to journey to Kenya to run a mobile library powered by camel in Kenya. The one rule of this bookish venture is that, if a book is missing, the library will stop visiting that village. What happens when this occurs gives great heart and soul to the book. We have 10 copies to give away to readers who would like to read an advance copy and share comments. Write to OneToWatch2@bookreporter.com with your name and address if you would like to win a copy.
While Hamilton's story is fiction, she was lucky enough to walk through the bush with the actual camel library last year. As she says, "It was inspiring to see the response to books in the semi-nomadic settlements laid out under the acacia." The bush is hard on books, and sometimes in these semi-nomadic communities, the ones who have checked out the books move on before the library can return. Thus she started a book drive on February 13, and since then, more than 100 authors have joined in. Interested in learning more? Go to Camel Book Drive and learn how you can contribute. The site includes ways to order books in English from an Amazon wish list or your favorite independent, or in Swahili or Somali.
Sandra Dallas is our second One to Watch author. Her novel TALLGRASS tells a haunting story about a Japanese internment camp in Colorado during World War II and what its impact is on a small town, especially a thirteen-year-old woman named Rennie Stroud. I read a very early copy of this last summer and loved not only the story but the research that went into it. I had no idea there had been internment camps in Colorado. Interested in being one of our 10 advance readers? Then write OneToWatch@bookreporter.com with your name and address by Friday, March 16th.
In stores this upcoming week is SCAVENGER by David Morrell, which tells a gripping tale where unwilling players race against a clock to solve the puzzle of a time capsule. My husband flew up to Newfoundland on business this week and devoured this one during his trip, and pronounced it a great title to get stuck at the airport with. High praise! I think that books with really racing action are perfect when you are in someplace like an airport and life is standing all too still. And this week you also can pick up Michele Martinez's book COVER-UP and see why I enjoy reading her character, Melanie Vargas. She's one of those well-defined characters who stays with you.
If all this is not enough, ReadingGroupGuides.com has been updated with a number of new guides to share. We also have an offer for book clubs to chat with David Baldacci in early April and to contribute questions for our first-ever Interactive Discussion Guide where groups add their questions for Nora Ephron's I FEEL BAD ABOUT MY NECK.
I finally got my blog about the South Carolina Book Festival and the Books for a Better Life event up. Last week, just as I hit "send," my Internet connection stopped. Thus, I was in "recreate" mode. Never fun. Have a great weekend, fall back, read on and here's to counting down the days til spring. Hey, it's an hour closer after the change on Sunday.
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Click here to enter our Word of Mouth contest.
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Bookreporter.com Talks to Tim Maleeny, Author of STEALING THE DRAGON
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Tim Maleeny's debut novel, STEALING THE DRAGON, is the first installment in an ongoing series featuring private detective Cape Weathers and his ex-assassin sidekick, Sally. In this interview with Bookreporter.com's Joe Hartlaub, Maleeny explains the appeal of San Francisco as his novel's setting and describes the various elements upon which he relied to bring its neighborhoods to life. He also elaborates on the complex and unique relationship between his main characters, discusses his childhood literary influences, and compares and contrasts writing with his "day job" in advertising.
STEALING THE DRAGON by Tim Maleeny (Thriller)
A container ship carrying hundreds of Chinese refugees runs aground on Alcatraz, its crew murdered with deadly precision. Is it a coincidence that Cape Weathers's friend Sally --- trained to be a deadly force by a Chinese secret society --- has disappeared? Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
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Click here to read our interview with Tim Maleeny and a review of STEALING THE DRAGON.
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New Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Stephen White, Author of DRY ICE |
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Already an established master of the suspense/thriller genre, Stephen White is a clinical psychologist and New York Times bestselling author of KILL ME, MISSING PERSONS, BLINDED, THE BEST REVENGE, COLD CASE and PRIVILEGED INFORMATION. In DRY ICE --- which came out March 6th --- he reintroduces readers to psychologist Alan Gregory, who first appeared in PRIVILEGED INFORMATION. Faithful readers of the series and newcomers alike will be mesmerized by this searing view into the revered doctor’s heart --- with a haunting conclusion that will secure DRY ICE's place as the most memorable of White’s novels.
We have 20 copies of DRY ICE to send to readers who would like to read and comment on the book. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to SuspenseThriller@bookreporter.com by March 23rd.
Because the book is already in stores, readers will notice some differences in the timing of our Suspense/Thriller feature for Stephen White. This week we are featuring the following:
-Click here to read a review of DRY ICE.
-Click here to read an excerpt from DRY ICE.
-Click here to see Stephen White's backlist.
-Click here to read Stephen White's bio.
-Read more on Stephen White's website, www.authorstephenwhite.com.
DRY ICE by Stephen White (Thriller)
New York Times bestselling author Stephen White brings back his popular character, Boulder, Colorado psychologist Alan Gregory, to take on the sociopathic killer from White's first novel --- who, many years later, has walked away from a mental hospital, hungry for revenge. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub. |
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Click here to read more about Stephen White and DRY ICE.
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New Featured One to Watch Author: Sandra Dallas, Author of TALLGRASS
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Award-winning author Sandra Dallas was dubbed "a quintessential American voice" by Jane Smiley in Vogue magazine, and her novels with their themes of loyalty, friendship and human dignity are acclaimed by readers and critics alike. Her new book, TALLGRASS, will be in stores April 3rd.
We have 10 advance reading copies of TALLGRASS to give to readers who would like to preview and comment on the book. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to OnetoWatch@bookreporter.com by March 16th.
More about TALLGRASS:
During World War II, a family finds life turned upside down when the government opens a Japanese internment camp in their small Colorado town. After a young girl is murdered, all eyes (and suspicions) turn to the newcomers, the interlopers, the strangers.
This is Tallgrass as Rennie Stroud has never seen it before. She has just turned thirteen and, until this time, life has pretty much been what her father told her it should be: predictable and fair. But now the winds of change are coming and, with them, a shift in her perspective. And Rennie will discover secrets that can destroy even the most sacred things.
Part thriller, part historical novel, TALLGRASS is a riveting exploration of the darkest --- and best --- parts of the human heart.
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Click here to read more about Sandra Dallas and TALLGRASS.
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New Featured One to Watch Author: Masha Hamilton, Author of THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE
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Our second featured One to Watch author is Masha Hamilton, the author of THE DISTANCE BETWEEN US and STAIRCASE OF A THOUSAND STEPS. Her newest is the evocative and compelling tale THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE, which comes out April 3rd.
We have 10 advance reading copies of THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE to give to readers who would like to preview and comment on the book. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to OneToWatch2@bookreporter.com by March 16th.
Please note the slightly different email address as we have two One to Watch author features running simultaneously.
More about THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE:
When Fiona Sweeney tells her family she wants to do something that matters, they do not expect her to go to Africa to help start a traveling library. But that is where Fiona chooses to make her mark: in the arid bush of northeastern Kenya, among tiny, far-flung communities, nearly unknown and lacking roads and schools, where people live daily with drought, hunger, and disease. In THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE Fi travels to settlements where people have never held a book in their hands. Her goal is to help bring Dr. Seuss, Homer, Tom Sawyer, and Hemingway to a largely illiterate and semi-nomadic populace. However, because the donated books are limited in number and the settlements are many, the library initiates a tough fine: if anyone fails to return a book, the bookmobile will stop coming. |
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Click here to read more about Masha Hamilton and THE CAMEL BOOKMOBILE.
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Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: David Morrell, Author of SCAVENGER
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One of our featured Suspense/Thriller authors is David Morrell, whose innovative and award-winning CREEPERS was a hit with critics and readers alike. Morrell's follow-up to CREEPERS is SCAVENGER, coming out March 12th, and it is destined to thrill Morrell fans and garner him new ones as well.
NEW!!!
-Click here to view the e-card trailer and the interactive game and contest.
-Click here to watch a video interview with David Morrell.
-Click here to see David Morrell's MySpace page.
-Click here to see Frank Balenger's MySpace page.
Previously featured:
-Click here to read an excerpt from SCAVENGER.
-Click here to see our advance reader copy winners.
-Click here to see David Morrell's backlist.
-Click here to read fast facts about David Morrell.
-Click here to read critical praise for SCAVENGER.
More about SCAVENGER:
David Morrell's CREEPERS was a publishing event in 2005, a powerful, edgy, dark thriller by a master of the genre. A New York Times bestseller, it won the prestigious Bram Stoker Award and earned numerous critical raves. SCAVENGER, Morrell's latest novel, takes us in a harrowing new direction: a desperate high-tech scavenger hunt for a 100-year-old time capsule. Frank Balenger, the resolute but damaged hero of CREEPERS, now finds himself trapped in a nightmarish game of fear and death. To save himself and the woman he loves, he must play by the rules of a god-like Game Master with an obsession for unearthing the past. But sometimes the past is buried for a reason.
SCAVENGER is a brilliant, frightening hunter-hunted tale that layers modern technology over the dusty artifacts of earlier times. The result is a surreal palimpsest, one that contains the secret of survival for Balenger and a handful of unwilling players who race against the game's clock to solve the puzzle of the time capsule, only to discover that time is the true scavenger. Morrell's trademark action sequences are embedded with fascinating historical clues that make SCAVENGER a thrill-a-minute page-turner as well as a mesmerizing literary experience.
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Click here to read more about David Morrell and SCAVENGER.
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Featured Suspense/Thriller Author: Michele Martinez, Author of COVER-UP
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We are thrilled to be spotlighting Michele Martinez as one of our featured Suspense/Thriller authors. The bestselling author of MOST WANTED and THE FINISHING SCHOOL, Michele Martinez is an expert at weaving chilling tales of murder, corruption and scandal. Her latest, COVER-UP --- hitting stores March 13th --- is Martinez at her best.
-Click here to read a new excerpt from COVER-UP.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to read fast facts about Michele Martinez.
-Click here to read critical praise for COVER-UP.
More about COVER-UP:
Television reporter Suzanne Shepard was a ruthless celebrity scandalmonger with a roster of high-profile enemies. But which one left her mutilated, lifeless body in the dark recesses of New York's Central Park? Federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas needs to find out.
Was it the sinister Park Avenue plastic surgeon with a secret past? Or the trendy personal trainer selling recreational drugs to his rich clients? Or the ambitious city power broker who also happens to be the father of one of Melanie's best friends? Sifting through the scandals that fueled the dead reporter's career is what keeps Melanie from obsessing about her own intense affair with sexy FBI agent Dan O'Reilly.
But there's more at risk than Melanie's heart. She's been receiving chilling e-mails from an anonymous "admirer" who knows way too much about the murder --- and about Melanie's every move. If Melanie doesn't find the killer soon, it will be her own death that makes headlines.
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Click here to read more about Michele Martinez and COVER-UP.
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New Featured Romantic/Suspense Author: Karen Robards Author of OBSESSION |
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Karen Robards is the author of thirty-three books and a regular on the New York Times, USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. Her newest is OBSESSION --- a taut and sexy psychological thriller that hits stores on April 10th.
We have 20 copies of OBSESSION to give to readers who would like to preview and comment on the book. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to RomanticSuspense@bookreporter.com by March 16th.
More about OBSESSION:
Katharine Lawrence has no idea what hit her. The attack came out of nowhere. Only hours earlier she had been enjoying a girls-only weekend with an old college friend. Now she finds herself lying bound and gagged on her kitchen floor, staring with terrified eyes at her friend Lisa while two masked gunmen search her house for –-- what? She doesn’t know. She only knows that, unless they can escape, whatever it is could end up getting both her and Lisa killed.
But Katharine’s nightmare is only just beginning. When she awakens in a Washington hospital, her nose crushed, her body battered, her brain tells her things aren’t right –-- and it’s not the attack that’s disorienting her. She doesn’t recognize herself when she looks in the mirror: her slim body, her manicured hands, her blond bob. And the smiling, handsome doctor at her bedside –-- Dr. Dan Howard –-- is familiar, but in a totally unfamiliar way. Perhaps the trauma of the attempt on her life has given her some kind of weird amnesia. She’s twenty-nine, the special assistant to the head of the CIA, and she’s lucky to be alive. She also knows she can trust no one.
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Click here to read more about Karen Robards and OBSESSION.
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Featured Romantic Suspense Author: Lisa Jackson, Author of ABSOLUTE FEAR
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Lisa Jackson, the New York Times bestselling author of FATAL BURN, SHIVER and MOST LIKELY TO DIE, is nothing if not prolific and we are thrilled to be adding her newest title to our Romantic Suspense Author feature. ABSOLUTE FEAR hits stores on March 27th and is a pulse-pounding new novel of madness, deceit and twisted revenge that will take readers into the heart of fear.
-Click here to read an excerpt from ABSOLUTE FEAR.
-Click here to watch a vidoe trailer from ABSOLUTE FEAR.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to read fast facts about Lisa Jackson
-Click here to read Lisa Jackson's bio.
-For more, visit Lisa Jackson's website, LisaJackson.com.
More about ABSOLUTE FEAR:
For the past three months, Eve Renner has struggled to remember the night she was nearly killed and her lover was tried for murder. She remembers getting the anxious call from a friend from her past: "Meet me at the cabin. I've got evidence." She remembers seeing that friend lying in a pool of blood. And she remembers a horrifying glimpse of her lover Cole Dennis's face as a gunshot plunged her into darkness. Now, her memory and emotions scarred, Eve has returned to New Orleans to forget the past. But the past will not be forgotten. Eve's shattered memory has helped Cole walk on murder charges just as a new series of killings begins.
As forgotten memories begin to surface, bodies are found and each twist leads to another terrifying piece of the puzzle. Someone is watching, planning, luring her back to the ruins of Our Lady and the shocking truths hidden there --- someone who has been waiting for this moment to strike. He is deadlier than she could ever have imagined and closer than she knows. For the sins of the past must be revealed, the crimes brought to justice, and the price paid --- in blood.
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Click here to read more about Lisa Jackson and ABSOLUTE FEAR.
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New Featured Romantic Suspense Author: Beverly Barton, Author of THE DYING GAME
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Our third featured Romantic Suspense author is Beverly Barton, the New York Times bestselling author of over thirty contemporary romance novels and two-time National Reader’s Choice Award winner. Her newest red-hot thriller, THE DYING GAME, hits stores March 27th and promises to be a steamy and seductive thriller.
We have 50! advance reading copies of THE DYING GAME to give to readers who would like to preview and comment on the book. Interested? Send your name and mailing address to RomanticSuspense2@bookreporter.com by March 16th.
Please note the slightly different email address as we have three Romantic Suspense features running simultaneously.
More about THE DYING GAME:
If he's choosen you to play, you die.....
It's the ultimate game --- the adrenaline surge of the hunt, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. For in this game, the rules are simple: To win, you only have to kill. To lose, you will have to die...
The victims are former beauty queens found with a single rose beside their bodies. Lindsay McAllister has seen this signature before, when she was a rookie detective with the Chattanooga PD investigating the death of Judd Walker's wife, a murder that sent the handsome lawyer off the deep end. Now, Lindsay has the brutal task of telling Judd that his wife's killer has struck again, and she's going to need his help to outplay their opponent --- because the killer is getting bolder, faster, and more ruthless. The game is escalating, and no one is safe.Now as the body count rises, the rules are changing. A killer will do anything to win. And the only way for Lindsay to stop a madman's twisted game is to play it herself...
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Click here to read more about Beverly Barton and THE DYING GAME.
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Now in Stores: LEARNING TO BREATHE by Karen White
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LEARNING TO BREATHE by Karen White
Karen White’s fascination with old movie theaters and unopened, war-vintage love letters sets the stage for LEARNING TO BREATHE, her latest “grit-lit” southern fiction novel.
Since the man she loved left without a word, Brenna O’Brien has led a quiet life in small-town Louisiana, surrounded by her four matchmaking sisters. She runs a nearly bankrupt, historic movie theater and collects old wartime letters.
Then Pierce returns, forcing Brenna to question everything she thought was true. When she unearths a box of World War II letters, she discovers an ill-fated love story, a secret from her own past and the challenge to go after the life she let slip away.
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Click here for more details about LEARNING TO BREATHE
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Featured One to Watch Author: Brenda Rickman Vantrease, Author of THE MERCY SELLER
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We are thrilled to bring you Brenda Rickman Vantrease as one of our featured One to Watch authors. Vantrease's first novel, THE ILLUMINATOR, established her as a master of evocative historical fiction. Her latest title, THE MERCY SELLER, hit stores on March 6th and is a sweeping and glorious tale, steeped in history, romance and mystery.
-Click here to read a new excerpt from THE MERCY SELLER.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to read critical praise for Brenda Rickman Vantrease.
More about THE MERCY SELLER:
In the fifteenth century, with religious intolerance spreading like wildfire across Europe, English-born Anna Bookman and her grandfather, Finn, earn a living in Prague by illuminating precious books, including forbidden translations of the Bible. Finn subscribes to the heresy that people ought to be able to read the Word of God for themselves, without having to pay a priest for the privilege, but holding that belief is becoming more and more hazardous. When the authorities start burning books and slaughtering heretics --- including the man Anna was to marry --- Finn urges her to seek sanctuary in England, but her passage abroad will be anything but easy.
In London, Friar Gabriel dutifully obeys church doctrine by granting pardons . . . for a small fee. But then he is sent undercover on a spying mission to France, where Anna has set up a temporary stall as a bookseller. Anna has no way of knowing that the wealthy young merchant frequenting her stall is actually a priest --- just as Gabriel does not know he has met the woman who will cause him to doubt his vows.
As Anna continues her journey to England, where the movement to stamp out heresy is growing ever fiercer, Brenda Rickman Vantrease brings us a richly imagined and immensely rewarding novel of love, faith, and dangerous secrets.
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Click here to read more about Brenda Rickman Vantrease and THE MERCY SELLER.
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Featured Mystery Mayhem Author: Joanne Fluke, Author of KEY LIME PIE MURDER
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We are so excited to be shining our Mystery Mayhem spotlight on New York Times bestselling author Joanne Fluke and her latest culinary whodunit, KEY LIME PIE MURDER, which came out February 27th.
-Click here to see our advance copy winners.
-Click here to read a new excerpt from KEY LIME PIE MURDER.
-For more, visit Joanne Fluke's website, MurderSheBaked.com.
More about KEY LIME PIE MURDER:
It's Tri-County fair time and Lake Eden, Minnesota, is buzzing with more than mosquitoes. Hannah Swensen, owner of The Cookie Jar, is hot on the trail of a killer whose perfect carnival prize would be getting away with murder...
It promises to be a busy week for Hannah Swensen. Not only is she whipping up treats for the chamber of commerce booth at the fair; she's also judging the baking contest; acting as a magician's assistant for her business partner's husband; trying to coax Moishe, her previously rapacious feline, to end his hunger strike, and performing her own private carnival act by juggling the demands of her mother and sisters.
As fair week draws to a close, Hannah cranks up the heat, hoping that the killer will get rattled and make a mistake. If that happens she intends to be there, even if it means getting on a carnival ride that could very well be her last...
Includes 12 original dessert recipes!
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Click here to read more about Joanne Fluke and KEY LIME PIE MURDER.
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This Week's Reviews and Features
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NINETEEN MINUTES by Jodi Picoult (Fiction)
Sterling is a small, ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens --- until the day its complacency is shattered by a shocking act of violence. In the aftermath, the town's residents must not only seek justice in order to begin healing but also come to terms with the role they played in the tragedy. Reviewed by Kathy Weissman.
-Click here to read an excerpt from NINETEEN MINUTES.
-Click here to read an Author Talk with Jodi Picoult.
QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS by Cassandra King (Fiction)
When Clare's marriage ends in tragedy, her work as a divorce coach becomes the sole focus of her life. While Clare has no problem helping the hundreds of men and women who seek her advice to mend their broken hearts, healing her own is another matter entirely. Reviewed by Belinda Williams.
-Click here to read an excerpt from QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS.
-Click here to read an Author Talk with Cassandra King.
STORM RUNNERS by T. Jefferson Parker (Thriller)
Matt Stromsoe has come a long way since his wife and son were killed in an explosion meant for him. But in this powerfully wrought novel of vengeance and suspense, things are going to take a turn for the worse for the former police officer, as his new life is about to collide with his past. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.
PRIEST by Ken Bruen (Mystery)
Brought up Catholic in Galway, Jack Taylor has no love for the church, the state of modern Ireland or mankind in general. But he cares about a great many things, drinking among them. Now dry, and recovering from a mighty disaster, Jack looks into the case of a beheaded priest. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.
THE TERROR by Dan Simmons (Historical Thriller)
Harrowing novels about polar exploration are nothing new, but Hugo Award-winning author Dan Simmons's latest work adds a supernaturally horrific new element to the genre that will keep readers shivering --- and not just from the cold. Reviewed by Norah Piehl.
THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL by Elif Shafak (Fiction)
Elif Shafak has created an intricately woven tale about the very different but equally difficult struggles of living with the past and trying to survive without one. Full of bold, unforgettable characters, this novel reveals that even the worst events are important ingredients in the recipes that make each of us who we are. Reviewed by Sarah Rachel Egelman.
-Click here to see a reading group guide for THE BASTARD OF ISTANBUL.
THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam by Tom Bissell (Memoir)
Equal parts family memoir, travel narrative and historical work, Tom Bissell's account of the Vietnam War and its aftermath, filtered through the prism of his visit there with his war veteran father in 2003, is a worthy addition to the vast literature of this difficult era of American history. Reviewed by Harvey Freedenberg.
IN DUBLIN'S FAIR CITY: A Molly Murphy Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Mystery)
Private investigator Molly Murphy is an Irish immigrant living in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. When she accepts an assignment to travel back to her native land and search for the sister of a wealthy Irish-American entrepreneur, her adventure --- and this intriguing story --- begins. Reviewed by Donna Volkenannt.
THOMAS HARDY by Claire Tomalin (Biography)
Among British novelists, Thomas Hardy stands second only to Dickens in worldwide fame and posthumous influence. Of his dozen novels, at least four still loom large in our cultural consciousness --- but Hardy the man is still an enigma to many. Literary biographer Claire Tomalin shows in this detailed study how his life, work and personality were each part of a single fabric, influencing each other profoundly. Reviewed by Robert Finn.
BRODEUR: BEYOND THE CREASE by Martin Brodeur and Damien Cox (Autobiography)
In association with award-winning sports journalist Damien Cox, Martin Brodeur --- goaltender for the New Jersey Devils since 1992 --- takes a candid, personal look at his career, the business of hockey, the evolution of the sport, and his journey to the apex of the modern game. Reviewed by Ron Kaplan.
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Click here to read our reviews and features.
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Poll and Question of the Week
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Poll:
Have you ever read THE CAT IN THE HAT?
Yes
No
Not sure
-Click here to answer our Poll.
Question:
What are some of your favorite books (name up to five) to read to children?
-Click here to answer our Question of the Week.
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As always, here are a few housekeeping notes. If you are seeing this newsletter in a text version, and would prefer to see the graphics, you can either read it online or change your preferences below.
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Those who are subscribed to the Bookreporter.com newsletter by March 31, 2007 automatically are entered in our Monthly Newsletter Contest. This month one winner will be selected to win the following five books: DADDY'S GIRL by Lisa Scottoline, DRY ICE by Stephen White, OBSESSION: An Alex Delaware Novel, by Jonathan Kellerman, QUEEN OF BROKEN HEARTS by Cassandra King and WHAT THE DEAD KNOW by Laura Lippman. Last month's newsletter winner was Betty from San Diego, CA who won THE DOUBLE BIND by Chris Bohjalian, FAMILY TREE by Barbara Delinsky, INNOCENT IN DEATH by Nora Roberts, writing as J. D. Robb, SHOPAHOLIC & BABY by Sophie Kinsella and STEP ON A CRACK by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge.
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