August 2, 2013

This weekend, we are hosting a neighborhood barbecue. We live on a block where people are friendly, but everyone has their own lives. I am tired of meeting over generators during storms or having short conversations while folks walk by. Two things inspired this. First, Kate, who is one of our fabulous interns this summer, lives two doors away, but I had never met her or her parents, though they probably have lived here 10 years. Actually, I also had never seen them! Then new neighbors moved in next door, and as I rang their doorbell to deliver “welcome brownies,” I decided I wanted to give them an accelerated introduction to the neighborhood.

I mentioned to my husband that we probably needed to borrow an extra grill for this soiree, which he seemed to be ruminating about more than usual. I suggested borrowing one from Stacey and Jeff next door, but I could see that was not the first choice. Man borrow grill? Not on the agenda. But I promptly forgot about this. Now you need to understand that Tom rarely calls me during the day, and it’s never just to chat. So when he called one afternoon last week all excited about something, I paid attention. He was the kind of enthusiastic he usually gets about golf.

It ends up that he had found a grill that was 1.5 times the size of what we have now --- one that had burners that were positioned up and down and not side by side. While I wondered why we needed a NEW grill, the pitch continued. Last Sunday, I got to see the object of his affection, so I too could kvell over it and its best feature: the “sear” function. Thus I am not surprised that we now have these two grills side by side on the patio. By the way, I lobbied hard for a slightly more expensive model that matched the one we have now, but it lacked the “sear” function. I will let you know how “searing” goes next week. Searing trumps matching!

I attend a lot of previews where publishers present their upcoming titles. Typically, one will catch my eye and I will paw through my advance reading copies to find it later. This happened with THE BOY ON THE WOODEN BOX by Leon Leyson, which will be out on August 27th. Let me back up for a moment here. A couple of weeks ago, I heard on the news that a copy of Schindler’s List was being auctioned on eBay with an opening bid of $3 million. It made me think about the people whose names were on that list. THE BOY ON THE WOODEN BOX is a memoir by one of the youngest people to be saved by Schindler. I literally sat and read it in one sitting. It’s being published for children, but it’s the kind of book we will feature on four of our sites since the message inside it is so well done, and I want to share it with as broad an audience as possible.

Leon lived through the horrors of the war, with his pluck and his hope intact. As his editor said to me this week, there is an “honesty and pure spirit behind Leon’s telling. There is a grace there, a straightforward manner to the way he unfolded his story that held no room for hyperbole, no room for rancor. He knew the bigger story was about the possibility of hope, the possibility of change, the possibility in every person to go further than they think they ever can to help someone else.” Leon did not share his story for years and then became a public speaker about his experiences late in life. Sadly, he passed away in January before the book was finished; his wife and a friend took up the mantle to fill in the missing pieces. It will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection.

On a VERY different note, I read HOW TO BE A GOOD WIFE by Emma J. Chapman, which will be out on October 15th. This debut thriller is tightly paced and oh so good. I am lamenting that I have no one to discuss it with. We will be featuring Emily in an Author Spotlight beginning in September, and I am going to eagerly await your comments about it! In it, Marta, the main character, is having visions that make her question everything she knows. It’s edgy in the same way that S. J. Watson’s BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP was.

Andrew Gulli from The Strand Magazine shared that they are running a previously unpublished story by Joseph Heller in their current issue called “Almost Like Christmas.” I read it this morning, and it gives one a lot to think about. You can order a copy of the magazine here.

In stores this week is DEATH ANGEL, the newest addition to Linda Fairstein’s series of novels starring Alex Cooper. In this latest installment, we are taken into the storied history of New York’s Central Park with Assistant DA Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman as they race to track down a serial killer before yet another young woman is found dead. Roz Shea has our review and says, “Newcomers to the series will relish the lush history tour, while long-time fans may relish the idea of Alex and Mike discovering that they possibly share more than a professional interest in one another.” Our offices are near the park, and I have done a few walking tours there. Once you finish a Fairstein novel, the places she writes about never look the same!

We’re happy to share our review this week of THE CUCKOO’S CALLING, J. K. Rowling’s second adult novel (following THE CASUAL VACANCY), which she wrote as “Robert Galbraith.” Here, she introduces readers to Cormoran Strike, a private investigator who is down on his luck and close to broke. But then, amazingly, a case walks through the door that could make him rich and somewhat famous. A supermodel was thought to have leapt to her death, but her brother wants Strike to prove that this tragedy was no suicide. Here’s reviewer Kate Ayers’s take on the book: “Cormoran Strike is as unique a character as his name, and as intelligently analytical as Sherlock Holmes. Get to know Strike now, from his very beginning, or you’ll have a lot of catching up to do once he becomes a worldwide sensation.”

By the way, Rowling was none too happy with her solicitors who leaked the info about her pseudonym. She took them to task, and they were ordered to make a lovely donation to The Soldiers’ Charity, which helps former military personnel and their families. She also is donating all royalties from the book for the next three years to the charity. Strike, her hero in THE CUCKOO’S CALLING, is a veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan, and Rowling has commented that her conversations with real soldiers helped to create the character.
 

This week, we announce THREE new Author Spotlight contests. First up, our Mystery Mayhem Author Spotlight is back, and once again we’re featuring William Kent Krueger. His latest book is TAMARACK COUNTY, the 13th installment in the Cork O’Connor series. As a blizzard swells just days before Christmas, the car belonging to the wife of a retired local judge is discovered abandoned on a rural road. When the beloved pet dog of a friend is found decapitated, private investigator Cork O’Connor begins to detect a startling pattern of ominous incidents throughout the area. Then Cork’s son is nearly killed, and he knows this is no trick of his imagination. Someone is spinning a deadly web in Tamarack County. We have 25 copies of the book, which releases on August 20th, to give away to those who would like to read it and share their comments about it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET. Krueger never disappoints, and readers are very lucky to have two books from him this year as ORDINARY GRACE, his brilliant stand-alone, published in March.

Next up is our Suspense/Thriller Author Spotlight of Gregg Hurwitz, whose latest book, TELL NO LIES, releases on August 20th. Daniel Brasher finds an envelope in his department mailbox --- one intended for someone else that was placed in his slot by accident. Inside it is an unsigned piece of paper, a note that says only “admit what you’ve done or you will bleed for it. you have 'til november 15 at midnite.” The deadline has already passed, and the person to whom the envelope was addressed was brutally murdered. But this first warning is only the beginning. If you’d like to be one of 25 readers who will win a copy of the book and share their comments about it, then please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET. As I told you months ago when I read an early copy, this is Gregg’s BEST book to date. It has the right blend of emotion and character development that makes it what I call a thriller with a soul.

Our Southern Writers Author Spotlight is back, and this time we’re featuring LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt. Jerene Jarvis Johnston and her husband, Duke, are exemplars of Charlotte, North Carolina’s high society, where old Southern money --- and older Southern secrets --- meet the new wealth of bankers, boom-era speculators, and carpetbagging social climbers. Jerene must prove tireless in preserving the family's legacy, Duke’s fragile honor, and what's left of the dwindling family fortune. But is it too much to ask for one ounce of cooperation from her heedless family? We have 25 copies of the book, which releases on August 20th, to give away to those who would like to read it and share their comments about it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET. It’s everything you expect from a big southern novel and more. Barnhardt has not published a book since 1999, so his fans are in for a treat.

This week, we’re pleased to share with you our review of THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH by Elaine Hussey, which we’ve been featuring in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight. In Shakerag, Mississippi, circa 1955, a dying woman searches for a new mother for her beloved daughter. Meanwhile, nearby yet a world away, another woman grieves her lost husband. Neither realizes they will soon discover whether or not an unlikely friendship can conquer seemingly insurmountable boundaries. Reviewer Terry Miller Shannon praises the book: “THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH weaves together heartbreak and joy, tension and harmony, into a moving tale that lingers in the mind long after the last page has been turned.” Terry also had the good fortune to interview Elaine, and you can take a look at their discussion here.

Last week, we announced that LEAVING HAVEN by Kathleen McCleary is the latest title in our Sneak Peek: An Early Look at an Upcoming Book feature. Georgia longs for a baby, but she's had miscarriage after miscarriage since her daughter was born more than a decade ago. Through a miraculous egg donation, Georgia is thrilled to find herself pregnant --- until she makes a startling discovery that changes her mind about how much she really wants the baby. The book doesn’t release until October 1st, but we have 25 advance copies to give away to readers who can commit to preview the book and share their comments on it by September 16th. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 8th at noon ET.

For our Sneak Peek program, your commitment to participate is critical, so please only enter this contest if you truly will have time to read LEAVING HAVEN and give us your feedback before our September 16th deadline. We take these project deadlines seriously. If not, don’t worry…we will have more opportunities like this in the future. I finished it this morning, and it’s taken me on all kinds of wonderful twists and turns. I was not sure what was going to happen to Haven until the last page. IF you can commit to read it, sign up. I look forward to hearing what you think about it.

As promised, I’m playing “catch-up” Bets On with ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes, which came out in paperback this week after being a huge hit in hardcover. Here’s the premise: Louisa Clark takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life and is pretty sure he cannot live the way he is. Louisa refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living. Click here to see why I’m betting you’ll love ME BEFORE YOU.

A few months ago, we shared a book that has made me do a lot of thinking: UNTIL I SAY GOOD-BYE by Susan Spencer-Wendel, who is suffering from ALS. Her health continues to deteriorate, but that is not deterring Susan from living her life to the fullest it can be. She has lost the use of her thumb that she used to type her memoir, but a new technology has been identified to enable her to write by focusing a dot on her forehead onto a camera on her laptop to type words. A newsletter opener like this may take her up to 20 hours to compose, but she relishes the fact that she can communicate rather than stressing what she has lost. Susan is inspiring, and if you would like to read her piece about why she acquired a lapdog for comfort, as well as more about her new way to write, you can click here.

We’ve updated our Books on Screen feature for this month. Among August’s feature films are Paranoia, Austenland, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones and Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters. On the small screen, don’t miss the August 10th premiere of “The White Queen,” an original series on STARZ based on Philippa Gregory's The Cousins' War series of historical novels, along with season finales of "True Blood," “Longmire” and "King & Maxwell."

Thanks to all of you who shared your thoughts about my question last week: “What television shows are you watching? Does watching TV or cable programming keep you from reading? Are you becoming more demanding about the quality of the books you read?” I still am working on getting back to everyone who shared their thoughts. There is a little red flag by your name in my email, and I WILL get to you. Want to share what you think about this topic? Then write me at Carol@bookreporter.com.

Our Summer Reading contests came to an end this week; our final two giveaways were for APPROACHING THE SPEED OF LIGHT by Victoria Lustbader (which will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On selection when it releases on August 13th) and THE PANTHER by Nelson DeMille (a #1 bestseller that will be out in paperback on August 6th). Congratulations to all our winners! Even if you didn’t win any of our contests, you can still take a look at the feature for some great reading suggestions during these dog days of summer.

If you enjoyed our Summer Reading feature, you’re going to LOVE what we have in store for you for this year’s Fall Preview contests. The giveaways will launch during the week of August 12th and continue through Thursday, September 19th. And we will have a new feature this fall called Fall Showcase, which will give you even more ways to win. Sign up for the Bookreporter.com Fall Preview newsletter here now! If you cannot get that to work, please write us at info@bookreporter.com with the subject line “Sign me up for the Fall newsletters!” We have LOTS planned for fall, and we can’t wait to tell you all about the books you WILL want to read.

Our Word of Mouth contest from last week rolls on. Let us know what books you’ve read, along with your comments about them, by Friday, August 9th at noon ET, and you’ll be in the running to win the aforementioned DEATH ANGEL by Linda Fairstein, in addition to THE DYING HOURS by Mark Billingham and A TAP ON THE WINDOW by Linwood Barclay.

The back of our house has a really high deer fence, but the front does not, to the delight of Bambi and the Bambettes. I have two planters on the front porch that are empty since a) deer like most flowers, b) the coyote urine we spread on them one time smelled to high heaven and also perked up every dog to howl from about a seven-block radius, c) there is a real coyote in town and the last thing I need is it thinking it has a mate on my porch, and d) I am pathetic at remembering to water flowers. Thus I created some really pretty artificial arrangements and hanging baskets. Nothing like the prospect of company to spur me into some version of a Martha Stewart clone or a perfect rendering of an HGTV addict! I know… “Back away from the craft closet, Carol!

Pondering what to read next…. I have a great selection on my shelves, which you can see above. This is what I call my “working shelves,” as it has books that I am reading for projects, as well as titles that have struck a chord with me. Tune in next week to see what I read. And read on to find something to enjoy this weekend!

Carol Fitzgerald (Carol@bookreporter.com)

DEATH ANGEL by Linda Fairstein (Thriller)
DEATH ANGEL takes readers into the storied history of New York’s Central Park with Assistant DA Alex Cooper and Detective Mike Chapman as they race to track down a serial killer before yet another young woman is found dead. Is the body discovered in the Ramble the first victim of a deranged psychopath, or are other missing women in years past whose remains have never been found connected to this savage attack? Reviewed by Roz Shea.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.

THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by J. K. Rowling, writing as Robert Galbraith (Mystery)
There’s a new detective on the block, and his name is Cormoran Strike. Just when he’s down on his luck and close to broke, a case walks through the door that may make him rich and famous. Maybe a little famous anyway. The brother of a supermodel who was thought to have leapt to her death wants Strike to prove that she didn’t. Reviewed by Kate Ayers.

-Click here to read more about the book.

We have 25 copies of TAMARACK COUNTY by William Kent Krueger, which releases on August 20th, to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET.

TAMARACK COUNTY by William Kent Krueger (Mystery/Thriller)
Tamarack County, Minnesota, the gateway to the pristine Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Within its borders lie a million acres of deep forest, a thousand crystal clear lakes, and a few quiet towns. This is the place that, for most of his life, sheriff-turned-private investigator Cork O’Connor has called home.

As a blizzard swells just days before Christmas, the car belonging to the wife of a retired local judge is discovered abandoned on a rural road. After days without any leads, the search-and-rescue team, assisted by O’Connor, has little hope of finding her alive, if at all.

Early on, Cork notices small details about the woman’s disappearance that tell a disturbing story. And when the beloved pet dog of a friend is found decapitated, he begins to detect a startling pattern of ominous incidents throughout the area. Then Cork’s son is nearly killed, and he knows this is no trick of his imagination. Someone is spinning a deadly web in Tamarack County. At the center is a murder more than 20 years old for which an innocent man may have been convicted.
 

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read William Kent Krueger’s bio.
-Click here to visit William Kent Krueger’s official website.
-Connect with William Kent Krueger on Facebook and Twitter.

We have 25 copies of TELL NO LIES by Gregg Hurwitz, which releases on August 20th, to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET.

TELL NO LIES by Gregg Hurwitz (Thriller)
Daniel Brasher has always been something of a disappointment to his old-money aristocratic San Francisco mother. Daniel left his high-paying job as a money manager to marry his community organizer wife and work at a job he loves, leading group counseling sessions with recently paroled ex-cons. Now he’s ready to move on and start a private practice.

But before he leaves, he finds an envelope in his department mailbox --- one intended for someone else that was placed in his slot by accident. Inside it is an unsigned piece of paper, a note that says only “admit what you’ve done or you will bleed for it. you have 'til november 15 at midnite.” The deadline has already passed and the person to whom the envelope was addressed was brutally murdered. But this first warning is only the beginning.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Gregg Hurwitz’s bio.
-Click here to visit Gregg Hurwitz’s official website.
-Connect with Gregg Hurwitz on Facebook and Twitter.

We have 25 copies of LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt, which releases on August 20th, to give away to readers who would like to read the book and comment on it. To enter, please fill out this form by Thursday, August 15th at noon ET.

LOOKAWAY, LOOKAWAY by Wilton Barnhardt (Fiction)
Jerene Jarvis Johnston and her husband, Duke, are exemplars of Charlotte, North Carolina’s high society, where old Southern money --- and older Southern secrets --- meet the new wealth of bankers, boom-era speculators, and carpetbagging social climbers. Steely and implacable, Jerene presides over her family’s legacy of paintings at the Mint Museum; Duke, the one-time college golden boy and descendant of a Confederate general, whose promising political career was mysteriously short-circuited, has settled into a comfortable semi-senescence as a Civil War re-enactor. Jerene’s brother, Gaston, is an infamously dissolute bestselling historical novelist who has never managed to begin his long-dreamed-of literary masterpiece, while their sister, Dillard, is a prisoner of unfortunate life decisions that have made her a near-recluse.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Wilton Barnhardt’s bio.

Elaine Hussey is a writer, actress and musician who lives in Mississippi, where her love of blues and admiration for the unsung heroes of her state’s history served as inspiration for her latest book, THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH. Bookreporter.com’s Terry Miller Shannon talks to Hussey about how her Southern roots have influenced her storytelling (“the history of the Deep South is woven into my bones”) and the patience she had to have while waiting for her characters to mature and fully inhabit the story she was trying to tell. On a more personal note, she opens up about the message that is central to the novel --- female empowerment --- and the importance of her own friendships with the women in her life. An eternal optimist, Hussey shares how she balanced her glass-half-full outlook with some of the book's darker themes, and her routine that prepares her mentally for writing.

THE SWEETEST HALLELUJAH by Elaine Hussey (Historical Fiction)
Betty Jewel Hughes was once the hottest black jazz singer in Memphis. But when she finds herself pregnant and alone, she gives up her dream of being a star to raise her beautiful daughter, Billie, in Shakerag, Mississippi. Now, 10 years later, in 1955, Betty Jewel is dying of cancer and looking for someone to care for Billie when she's gone. With no one she can count on, Betty Jewel does the unthinkable: she takes out a want ad seeking a loving mother for her daughter. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.
 

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read a review.
-Click here to read an excerpt.
-Click here to read Elaine Hussey’s bio.
-Click here to visit Elaine Hussey’s official website.
-Connect with Elaine Hussey on Facebook and Twitter.
-Click here to see the 35 winners who were selected to read and comment on the book.
-Click here to read more in our Women’s Fiction Author Spotlight.

THE HUSBAND’S SECRET by Liane Moriarty (Fiction)
Cecilia Fitzpatrick unearths a Pandora's box when she discovers a letter from her husband, John-Paul, to be opened only after his death. Despite her still-very-much-alive husband's plea not to read the letter, she ultimately can't resist. Sadly, the secrets within have the power to decimate her life. Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon.

-Click here to read more about the book.
-Click here to read an excerpt.

LOST GIRLS: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker (True Crime)
Over the course of three years, five different women vanished without a trace. All but one of their bodies was discovered on Gilgo Beach, Long Island. The police concluded they were all the victims of one murderer, the Long Island serial killer. Working closely with the victim's families, LOST GIRLS brings into focus the stories of these young women, offering a searing portrait of crime and circumstance that goes to the heart of modern America itself. Reviewed by Rebecca Kilberg.

-Click here to read more about the book.

THE 9th GIRL by Tami Hoag (Psychological Thriller)
The ninth unidentified body to turn up in Minneapolis in 2012 is nicknamed Jane Doe 9. Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska take on the case and discover a shocking fact: This victim has been found without any identifiable characteristics, except for those that peg her as an adolescent girl. Before the investigation is through, the case will take the two detectives deep into the life and death of a teenage girl who wanted nothing more than to be “normal.”

UNLEASHED: An Andy Carpenter Mystery by David Rosenfelt (Mystery)
Andy Carpenter’s accountant, Sam Willis, receives a phone call from Barry Price, a high school friend he hasn’t spoken to in years, pleading for help with something too frightening to discuss on the phone. Barry needs Sam’s financial acumen and Andy's legal expertise, but by the time Sam makes it to Barry's house, Barry has already taken off on a private airplane headed somewhere. They soon learn that Barry’s plane has crashed and come to the terrifying realization that Sam was also supposed to have been killed on that plane. Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman.

THE LAST WORD: A Spellman Novel by Lisa Lutz (Mystery)
After Isabel Spellman's hostile takeover of her family's firm, her employees are the furthest thing from congenial...and Izzy finds herself struggling to pay the bills, even though she's now the one running Spellman Investigations. But when she is accused of embezzling from a former client, the stakes become immense. If Izzy gets indicted, she could lose her PI license and the Spellman family’s livelihood, not to mention her own freedom. Reviewed by Maggie Harding.

IMPOSSIBLE ODDS: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm, with Anthony Flacco (Memoir)
IMPOSSIBLE ODDS chronicles the mutual journey of Jessica Buchanan and her husband, Erik Landemalm, during the torturous months when Jessica was kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a band of Somali pirates. Together they relate the events prior to the kidnapping, the drama of Jessica’s fight to stay alive, and Erik’s efforts to bolster and support the hunt for her while he acted as liaison between their two families, the FBI, professional hostage negotiators, and the United States government. Reviewed by Barbara Bamberger Scott.
 

SLINGSHOT: A Spycatcher Novel by Matthew Dunn (Thriller/Adventure)
Will Cochrane is ordered to recover a mysterious document stolen by a Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SRV) traitor working for a former high-ranking East German Stasi officer. Years before, the officer had instigated a secret pact between Russian and U.S. generals. The agreement stipulated that should it be broken, an assassin would immediately be set loose after an unknown target. The SRV has sent their own version of Cochrane to retrieve the document, pitting spycatcher against spycatcher. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

LET IT BURN: An Alex McKnight Novel by Steve Hamilton (Mystery)
While Alex McKnight swore to serve and protect Detroit as a police officer, the city will forever remind him of his partner’s death and of the bullet still lodged in his own chest. Alex soon gets a call from his old sergeant, who informs him that the man he helped put away will be getting out of prison. He is reminded of his gut feeling that they arrested the wrong man --- and that the real killer is still out there killing. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE LAST ALIBI by David Ellis (Thriller)
Two women have recently been murdered, seemingly by the same killer, and James Drinker thinks he will be the police’s main suspect. He is the only link between the victims and has no alibi for the night of either murder, so he hires Jason Kolarich for his defense. As Kolarich begins to probe his client’s life and story more closely, it quickly becomes clear that nothing about James Drinker is what it seems…and that the target of the frame-up isn’t Drinker, but Kolarich. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

THE TUDOR CONSPIRACY by C.W. Gortner (Historical Mystery/Thriller)
Mary Tudor wears the English crown, but she needs an heir to deny her half-sister Elizabeth’s claim to the throne once and for all. Unfortunately, that heir proves hard to come by, and Mary’s tenuous grasp on the throne grows weaker with every rumor. When a known spy arrives at court, neither sister knows what to make of the situation. Reviewed by Amy Gwiazdowski.

MIDNIGHT by Kevin Egan (Legal Thriller)
When Judge Alvin Canter quietly expires in his chambers on December 31st, his loyal clerk and secretary know their jobs will vanish at closing time --- unless they can conceal the judge’s death until after midnight. Neither Tom Carroway nor Carol Scilingo can afford to be out of work, and they both have secrets they’re desperate to keep hidden. They plan to make it look like the judge died at home on New Year’s Day, but when other people get involved, Tom and Carol find themselves over their heads in an increasingly dangerous conspiracy. Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub.

We have a number of contests currently running on our other sites in TheBookReportNetwork.com. Please take a look at them below, and enter for your chance to win some fabulous books!

ReadingGroupGuides.com

"What Are You Reading?" Monthly Contest Feature
Let us know what your group is reading in July, and you will be entered in a giveaway to win multiple copies of a book for your group! Our latest prize book is LADIES’ NIGHT by Mary Kay Andrews, in which heartache, humor and a little bit of mystery come together in a story about life’s unpredictable twists and turns. We have 12 copies of the book, which is now in stores, to give away to three groups. In addition, each group will be awarded a Ladies’ Night Event Kit, which is chock full of goodies to create the perfect “girls' night in.” The deadline for entries is Monday, August 5th at noon ET.

20SomethingReads.com

THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. by Adelle Waldman

We are celebrating the release of THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF NATHANIEL P. by Adelle Waldman with a special contest that will give 15 readers the opportunity to win a copy of the book. Our Grand Prize, which will be awarded to ONE winner, includes a copy of the book along with a 20SomethingReads.com "Breakup Package.” To enter to win the Grand Prize, share your best/worst funniest breakup story. The deadline for entries is Wednesday, August 14th at noon ET.

Teenreads.com

Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway
Even though summer is winding down and a deep-seated dread may be beginning to settle in your stomach, Teenreads.com has something for you to celebrate the back-to-school season. In our brand new Back-to-School Book Bag Giveaway, you'll have the chance to win a bunch of books in a school bag! Between now and Monday, September 9th, teens can enter to win a prize package with books to perk you up this fall.
 

Kidsreads.com

HOME SWEET HORROR: Scary Tales, Book One by James Preller
To celebrate the release of HOME SWEET HORROR, we have a special contest that will give five readers the opportunity to win a copy of this first book in James Preller’s Scary Tales series. The deadline for entries is Monday, August 12th at noon ET.

FaithfulReader.com

CHIVALRY: The Quest for a Personal Code of Honor in an Unjust World by Zach Hunter
We are celebrating the release of CHIVALRY by Zach Hunter with a special contest that will give 10 readers the opportunity to win a copy of the book, which challenges young men and women to develop their own personal code that will prepare them to defend others and live with civility and integrity. The deadline for entries is Thursday, August 15th at noon ET.

FaithfulReader.com’s Monthly Contest
In our latest monthly contest, five readers will receive a copy of SMALL TOWN GIRL by Ann H. Gabhart. How long can two people stand on the brink of love without plunging in headfirst? Find out in this follow-up to ANGEL SISTER, which marks the return of Kate Merritt, this time all grown up. The deadline for entries is Thursday, August 15th at noon ET.