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MBR Bookwatch

Volume 6, Number 10 October 2007 Home | MBW Index

Table of Contents

Cowper's Bookshelf Dunford's Bookshelf Greenspan's Bookshelf

Klausner's Bookshelf Laurel's Bookshelf Shelley's Bookshelf

Shirley's Bookshelf Taylor's Bookshelf Vicki's Bookshelf

Vogel's Bookshelf

Cowper's Bookshelf
Ruby Slippers Cookbook
Amy Cyrex Sins
Privately Published
1937 Veterans Blvd., Suite 130, Metairie, LA 70005
097851470X, $35.00 www.rubyslippersnola.com

Recipient of the 2006 Gourmand Award, the "Ruby Slippers Cookbook" is an impressive compilation of Creole and Cajun recipes showcasing the kind of cuisine that made New Orleans famous. But author Amy Cyrex Sins offers even more as she also includes photographs and stories of a post-Katrina chronicle of the people who had to endure the unendurable, then build back up a city that was almost totally destroyed. It should be noted that a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the "Ruby Slippers Cookbook" will be donated to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. With recipes ranging from Crawfish Boil; Oyster and Artichoke Soup for a Really Large Crowd!; and Sweet Potato Ravioli; to Strawberry and Spinach Salad; Peanut Butter Fudge; and Drago's Grilled Oysters, "Ruby Slippers Cookbook" is an impressive and highly recommended culinary tribute to the spirit and cuisine of the people of Louisiana in general, and New Orleans in particular!

Organic Cooking
Nancy Philips & Matthew Haupt
Author House
1663 Liberty Drive, Suite 200, Bloomington, IN 47403-5161
PO Box 8095, Fedhaven, FL 33854
9781425912352, $24.99 www.authorhouse.com 1-800-280-7715

An impressive compendium of 300 recipes and a variety of healthy meal plans that feature all organic ingredients, "Organic Cooking" offers original and delicious drinks, satisfying breakfasts, tasty lunches, succulent side dishes, sumptuous seafood, palate-pleasing vegetarian dinners, and delicious desserts. Of special note is the menu plan for a Thanksgiving Holiday feast that includes an organic turkey! With recipes ranging from a non-alcoholic Detox Cocktail; Calamari-Apple Salad with Herbs & Vinegars; Maple-Baked Sweet Potato with Kale & Beets; and Summer Shrimp & Salad with Coconut Dressing; to Strawberry-Mango Whip on Toasted Genesis Bread; Onion Rings & Sweet Potato with Soy Parmesan Tomatoes, Starfruit, & Salad; Five-Layer Spring Rainbow Fruit Pie; and Hot-Chocolate-Cinnamon Mocha Drink, "Organic Cooking" is a culinary cornucopia of good eating and an enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, professional, and community library cookbook collections.

Barefoot Girl Out of Ohio
Carole Estrup
iUniverse, Inc.
2021 Pine Lake Road, #100, Lincoln, NE 68512
9780595436941, $25.95 www.iuniverse.com

Barefoot Girl Out of Ohio: A Memoir of Survival and Overcoming is the true-life memoir of a woman who suffered terrible, long-lasting scars from the physical and sexual abuse she endured while growing up during the Great Depression. Betrayed by the relatives that should have protected her - parents, grandparents, and uncle - she turned to art and music to survive. Though she struggled to escape her nightmare existence, the wounds inflicted on her drew her on a self-destructive path. One marriage an abusive artist led to mental collapse and divorce; another marriage to a sadistic cult leader ended only after he threatened to kill her and her children. At last she found a steadfast husband, but the trauma she had coped with all her life left her with devastating anxiety and depression. In the safety of a remote dwelling in the mountains, she at last had to face herself, and the childhood stolen from her. A profound and inspirational story of the struggle to overcome a legacy of personal suffering.

Dancing Backward in Paradise
Vera Jane Cook
iUniverse, Inc.
2021 Pine Lake Road, #100, Lincoln, NE 68512
Kelley & Hall (publicity)
Five Briar Lane, Marblehead, MA 01945
9780595388714, $19.95 iuniverse.com www.kelleyandhall.com

Dancing Backward in Paradise is the debut novel of award-winning theater actress Vera Jane Cook, about one young women's quest to find herself in "Paradise" - New York City in the 1960s, a place beset by hippies, ambition, and the turbulence of the civil rights era. At first, nineteen-year-old trailer park resident Grace Place enjoys amorous trysts with her lover, Lenny Bean, more than anything else; but urged by her mother to seek fame and fortune in New York City, she works as a cleaning lady for the wealthy Betty Ann Houseman. When her lover betrays her and seeks to steal Betty Ann's estate, Grace is shocked, yet remains intent upon fulfilling her mother's wish and seeing New York City with her best friend, Ginny Jo. Together they will discover unforgettable surprises in this Eric Hoffer Award-winning novel. Highly recommended.

Flying Between Heaven and Earth
Gina E. Jones
Xlibris Corporation
International Plaza II, Suite 340, Philadelphia, PA 19113
9781425730567, $22.99 www.FlyingBetweenHeavenAndEarth.com www.xlibris.com

Former flight attendant and later founder of the spiritual message-delivering company "Scene The Light Productions" Gina E. Jones presents Flying Between Heaven and Earth, an original novel of angels set in the bustling modern day. As the divine cosmic plan for the Earth nears its 2012 culmination, as predicted in the Mayan Sacred Calendar, global chaos, bizarre weather, worldwide terrorism, and an increased fear of flying permeate the world. Infinity Airways, an airline operated entirely by angels, strives to move people toward their higher purpose and aid spiritual evolution through opportunities to balance their heavy karmic and emotional baggage. Amid this divine work, one angel named Nicole, who volunteers to be an Infinity Airways flight attendant, unwittingly falls from grace when she becomes fully human. Caught in the war between Dark and Light, and enticed by the temptations of Darkness, she must learn to confront her human weaknesses and shortcomings in order to play her role to help save humanity in its final days upon Earth. An apocalypse story with a celestial twist, and a riveting read from cover to cover.

In Bad Taste?
Dr. Massimo Francesco Marcone
Key Porter Books
Six Adelaide Street East, 10th floor, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5C 1H6
9781552638828, $22.95 www.keyporter.com 1-800-788-3123 www.pgw.com

Food science professor Dr. Massimo Francesco Marcone, popularly dubbed the "Indiana Jones" of the food world, presents In Bad Taste?: The Adventures and Science Behind Food Delicacies, a behind-the-scenes look at some of the rarest and most bizarre edible commodities. From a rare type of coffee brewed from beans that have been excreted through the digestive system of a catlike Indonesian creature, to edible Malaysian bird nests, In Bad Taste? examines the question: why do people eat these unusual foods, and exactly what is it that makes a food a delicacy - its rarity, the bizarreness of its origins, or simply that others are willing to pay a lot of money to eat it? Or is there some other, truly quantifiable difference? A palatably wonderful tour of culinary oddities enthusiastically recommended for armchair gourmets and anyone curious about the most unusual dishes celebrated as food worldwide.

Mary Cowper
Reviewer

Dunford's Bookshelf
The Single Person's Cookbook
Tony Wilkins
Xlibris Corporation
International Plaza II, Suite 340, Philadelphia, PA 19113
9781425744175, $23.99 www.xlibris.com

A single man over the age of 40, Tony Wilkins incorporates anecdotal commentary along with his recipes in "The Single Person's Cookbook: Lessons In Life, Love And Food". Featuring a culinary wealth of simple but elegant recipes ranging from Chinese Chicken Salad, to full mealtime menus like 3 Mushroom Soup, Filet Mignon with Balsamic Vinegar and Goat Cheese, Herbed Potatoes, Roasted Grape Tomatoes, "The Single Person's Cookbook" offers dishes and menu selections to please any palate while satisfying any appetite. The personalized commentaries add a very special garnish to the presentation of the recipes. This is one cookbook that would be especially appropriate for the kitchen cookbook collections of men and women who cook for themselves, as well as occasionally for their company.

The Revenge of Little Crow
Steven M. Ulmen
Privately Published
3711 Willow Heights Drive SW, Rochester, MN 55902
9780615148847, $14.95 www.eagleentermentusa.com

The prequel to Steven Ulman's western novel "Toby Ryker", The Revenge of Little Crow is a historical fiction novel that deals with the Great Sioux Uprising in Minnesota in 1862, and the subsequent execution by hanging of 38 Sioux warriors, the largest legally sanctioned mass execution in the history of the United States. Toby Ryker himself is half Indian, and torn between the clash of Indian and white cultures as raids, threats, and violence mount. At times tense, The Revenge of Little Crow is vivid in its depiction of cultural antagonism and eye-for-an-eye justice, and is a keenly whetted tale from cover to cover.

A Bull In A Glass House
Jose Astorga
Outskirts Press, Inc.
10940 S. Parker Rd., 515, Parker, CO 80134
9781432703875, $11.95 www.outskirtspress.com 1-888-672-6657

"A Bull In A Glass House" by Jose Astorga (a 47 year old former Marine who works every day to support his family in the private sector) has one clarion message for the reader -- life is far too short to spend every working day in misery. To avoid endemic and chronic workplace unhappiness, Astorga provides a personal perspective on how to go about achieving and maintaining both professional and personal success. A job can be a challenge, an adventure, a means of expression and achievement. It can also be a quagmire of frustration, of failure, of dehumanization. "A Bull In A Glass House" is a superbly written and deftly presented descriptive analysis of the paradox of corporate expectations and basic human behavior. Cogent advice is provided for avoiding the hazards and pitfalls that beset any corporate enterprise from incompetent bosses, to defective policies, to unrealistic expectations. Also available in a hardcover edition (1-4327-0400-1, $19.95), "A Bull In A Glass House" is informed, insightful, and inspiring reading that is recommended for anyone in business and a welcome addition to personal, professional, business school, and community library reference collections and supplemental reading lists..

Michael Dunford
Reviewer

Greenspan's Bookshelf
90 Day Wonder
Leon Cooper & Don Tait
Privately Published
PO Box 6030, Malibu, CA 90265
9780979058417, $19.95 www.90daywonder.net

Based on author Leon Cooper's personal experiences as an American naval officer during World War II, "90 Day Wonder: Darkness Remembered" is a compelling military biography that flows with the engaging qualities of first rate story telling, all of which was written down with the assistance of successful screen and television writer Don Tait. The term '90 Day Wonder' referred to the speed with which First Lieutenants were being turned out as America plunged into war. Leon Cooper was Boat Group commander for his ship, leading Higgins Boats carrying assault troops in a number of invasions of Japanese-held islands and experienced first-hand many battle experiences where he was in mortal danger. But nothing was to prove so dangerous as his commanding officer Captain Boda -- a long-serving enlisted man with a battlefield commission who bitterly resented college graduates like Cooper who received their commission after only 90 days of training. Many confrontations between Cooper and Boda were to result in Boda's arbitrary punishment in all 'Captains Masts' cases. Boda's dislike of Cooper went so far as to Boda's ordering the unfortunate lieutenant and several of his shipmates to carry out a reckless command intended to kill them. Cooper avoided death, but several of his shipmates did not. Cooper went outside of the regular military chain of command to report Boda to the Naval High Command. Only the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima saved Cooper from almost certain death at the hands of his embittered commanding officer. "90 Day Wonder" continues Cooper's personal story after the war as Cooper's dying wife made him promise that he would leave vengeance against Boda to the Lord. It was a bizarre, unexpected and unlooked for development that would allow Cooper to even the score with Boda while keeping his promise to his wife. "90 Day Wonder" is a terrific read and the stuff of which legendary movies are made!

Silent River, Empty Night
Ralph Salimpour, M.D., D.C.H., F.F.A.P.
Outskirts Press, Inc.
10940 S. Parker Road, 515, Parker, CO 80134
S.J. Miller Communications (publicity)
10 Turning Mill Lane, Randolph, MA 02368
9781432701819, $15.95 www.outskirtspress.com 1-888-672-6657

Silent River, Empty Night: Diary of a Pediatrician in Iran is true-life memoir of pediatrician Ralph Salimpour, internationally recognized as an expert in treating tetanus, malnutrition, and rickets especially, who has practiced medicine on three continents over the course of fifty years, for royalty and impoverished alike. An Iranian Jew, Dr. Salimpour reminisces upon his personal and professional life, how his birthplace was destroyed, his efforts to help children in need regardless of the odd hours or unusual circumstances to which he was called, and how he learned to love his adopted nation of the United States. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this behind-the-scenes portrayal of practicing medicine under a wide variety of ever-changing conditions, and watching the field undergo tremendous advances.

The ABC's of Becoming Super Parents
Gerald P. Berner M.D.
Vantage Press Inc.
419 Park Avenue South, 18th floor, New York, NY 10016
9780533154906, $12.95 1-212-736-1767

Pediatrician Gerald P. Berner presents The ABC's of Becoming Super Parents: Opening the Door to the Best Children and a More Civilized Society, a guide to the parental skills needed in correspondence to a child's stages of growth, from infancy to legal adulthood. Freudian terms are invoked; The ABC's of Becoming Super Parents is grounded strongly in traditional psychology as well as sound parenting advice. "Prior to bedtime, allow no TV or games, no roughhousing with the kids, just a quiet time, perhaps reading or telling a story to them. If the child acts scared to stay alone, Mom or Dad can stay a while, gradually shortening such stays each night. Only on the occasion that the child acts ill or extremely frightened, as after a night terror, should the child sleep with the parent. If out of extreme fear of being alone or for any other reason the child will not sleep at all, then the pediatrician should be consulted." A fundamental building-block guide to raising healthy and well-adjusted children.

Faithful Journey
Warren Lamb
Pleasant Word
c/o WinePress
PO Box 428, Enumclaw, WA 98022
46 Phillipsburg/Irvine, CA 92620
9781414108223, $17.99

Journalist and Presbyterian church member Warren Lamb presents Faithful Journey, a novel based on events in the Biblical Acts of the Apostles. Narrated through a series of fictional, first-person voices that observe and embellish upon Luke's timeless story of the early years of Christianity, Faithful Journey is meant to be more than an enthralling tale in its own right - it was also written to inspire the reader to personally read the Bible. Told with equal measures of flair and solemn respect for holy scripture, Faithful Journey is highly recommended reading both for its spiritual and its adventure-laden qualities.

Able Greenspan
Reviewer

Klausner's Bookshelf
Vorpal Blade
John Ringo and Travis S. Taylor
Baen Books
PO Box 1403, Riverdale, NY 10471
9781416521297 $25.00 1-800-223-2336

Several years have passed since the quantum physics experiment at the University of Central Florida destroyed the area and opened a gateway into other dimensions that allowed the Dreen to invade the earth. Only physicist Dr. William Weaver and Navy SEAL Command Master Chief Robert Miller with rednecks and some real army prevented the deadly Dreen from annihilating the planet (see INTO THE LOOKING GLASS).

Doc Weaver places a captured alien star drive onto a nuclear submarine creating earth's first starship, the VORPAL BLADE. Captain Steven Blankemeier and Commander Clay White are to head an exploratory expedition into worlds devastated by the Dreen in order to learn more about this malevolent species and the so called other interstellar races who came to the earth prepared to destroy it once the planet was Dreen contaminated; the theory is basic human instinct to know all you can in this case about the dreaded demons before they and the "friendly" benign others return.

Combining quantum physics with MacGyver ingenuity in space, the sequel to INTO THE LOOKING GLASS, VORPAL BLADE is an exciting military science fiction thriller that never slows down for a nanosecond; as the action-packed story line is faster than the alien engine can propel a craft through space. Although the vernacular of the kick butt military during the zillion battle scenes reminds this reviewer of my late mother-in-law's use of profanity when she cut a finger or stubbed a toe ("your father's mustache"), readers will go where mankind has never gone before with the prime directive to interfere in order to prepare for the anticipated return engagement.

The Mongoose Deception
Robert Greer
Frog, Ltd
c/o North Atlantic Books
1435 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
9781583941928 $25.95 http://www.northatlanticbooks.com 1-800-788-3123

An earthquake opens up a hole behind the catwalk of the Eisenhower Memorial Tunnel enabling Cornelius McPherson to find the well preserved arm of Antoine Ducane, who disappeared several decades ago. McPherson identifies the dead man from his unique tattoo just like he still remembers the deceased telling him that he knew who killed JFK. McPherson talks about this, which leads to a Mafia Don calling for a hit.

The Don is the estranged nephew of former Don Mario Santoni, a friend of bail bondsmen and antiquities dealer CJ Floyd. Mario worries that the FBI will knock down his door because he had been irate with the organized crime efforts of the president's brother back in the 1960s, but was not involved in the assassination. When MacPherson is murdered, the FBI and a Denver detective investigate; Mario's nephew plants evidence to prove his uncle caused the present murder to cover up the 1963 plot. CJ refuses to allow his friend to take the fall so he vows to protect Mario and uncover the truth of who tried to kill JFK in Chicago and Tampa before succeeding in Dallas; unaware that his opposition consists of powerful elitists who rule in the shadows and want the truth to remain interred with any who try to reveal the truth buried too.

THE MONGOOSE DECEPTION is a terrific conspiracy thriller that takes the audience back to 1963 with the premise that two failed attempts to kill JFK occurred before Dallas. The story line focuses on the abuse of power, past and present, as even Mafia Dons are at times puppets to these fiercely faceless forces pulling the strings of a nation even if breaking all the rules is their acceptable norm (this pre-Neocon philosophy is the end justifies the mean). There is plenty of action and CJ is a fascinating hero although his motive to be David confronting an unknown horde of Goliaths seems unlikely, Robert Greer makes it plausible with the best conspiracy tale since THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE.

A Place to Call Home
Martha Randolph Carr
Prometheus
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, New York,14228-2197
9781591025108 $26.00

Martha Randolph Carr makes a strong case that the Victorian image painted by Dickens of orphanages is untrue in modern day America. Instead the author believes that residential education facilities (REFs) are safe nurturing places to raise orphans and troubled youth that are as good and in many ways superior to foster care as many provide needed counseling. The founder of the Shared Abundance Foundation that provides scholarships to orphans, Ms. Carr uses anecdotal evidence including that of her son to argue that REFs should be considered a prime option for at risk children especially since they are cheaper and provide professional help. Interestingly the anecdotes lead to an inspiring somewhat autobiographical account as the story of Ms. Carr and her son will touch readers more so than her support of REFs. Still A PLACE TO CALL HOME will add to the debate of what is nest for an orphaned or troubled child as Ms. Carr brings REFs into the social conscience of choice

The Lace Reader
Brunonia Barry
FJP
978079159305 $14.95 http://flapjacketpress.com

Feeling like she is suffering from Battle Fatigue Syndrome, the emotionally shook up Towner Whitney has survived several recent traumas. To regain her equilibrium and mentally heal, she returns to her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts where generations of ancestors have told fortunes.

However, Towner is almost immediately stunned when her beloved great-Aunt Eva, the renowned lace reader, vanishes in what some believes is an unfortunate accident, but Towner suspects foul play. The police ignore her concerns as she has a history of hallucinatory visions although cop John Rafferty leads the inquiry to insure a murder did not occur as is done with all questionable disappearances if workload allows it. Although he thinks Towner is a nut case he also is attracted to her so as she grieves her loss, he begins to uncover facts about the weird Whitney brood past and present as well as starting to think that Eva was murdered.

THE LACE READER is a terrific paranormal police procedural in which fans will appreciate the rotating various perspectives as unreliable sources provide unreliable accounts of the same incident. The story line is fast-paced, but it is the changing viewpoints in which John and the audience wonder who if anyone got it right especially the three generations of Whitneys who agree on almost nothing. Brunonia Barry provides an enjoyable mystery in which relativity is not an exact science and a fact requires extrapolation from the sources who agree on little. This is a winner.

Northern Thunder
Andy Harp
Bancroft Press
PO Box 65360, Baltimore, MD 21209
9781890862534 $25.00 1-800-637-7377

Staunch Stalinist Peter Nampo lives in North Korea; he wants to make it a power to be reckoned with and a moneymaker for its satellite weapon system that he is developing. Once in geo-orbit, it can knock out other countries satellites and spread radiation on its enemies; he plans to sell it to terrorists and rogue nations for hard cash to feed the population that is on the verge of starvation.

Nampo is such a VIP that he is a never in the open unless it is with his three doubles; a North Korean assassin is killing all the scientists around the globe that are near completion on the weapons system. Rear Admiral Julius Krowl of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is aware of the situation and sends Reserve Colonel Will Parker, the only western man who knows what Nampo looks like to get inside North Korea and figure out which of the doppelgangers is the real Nampo in order to take a picture. He prepares for the mission under grueling conditions but he also makes preparation to make sure his back is covered if he is successful.

Readers of fast paced, adrenaline pumping military thrillers that keep the audience attention throughout will thoroughly enjoy NORTHERN THUNDER. Each main character is well developed and understandable even the villains (who consider themselves the good guys patriots and our side the villains) who hate the United States. Surprisingly, China is portrayed as a gentle giant trying to keep its wayward child under control. Andy Harp knows how to create a good story that is germane to the times.

Fools Rush In
Ed Gorman
Pegasus
9781933648323 $24.00

In June 1963 in suburban Black River Falls, Iowa, Judge Esme Anne Whitney assigns attorney and private investigator Sam McCain to end the shenanigans of a blackmailer who may derail the reelection of white Senator Williams, whose daughter is seeing a Negro David Leeds. Sam goes to the cabin of the extortionist photographer Richie Neville only to find him dead from two close-up shots to his face and nearby also killed is Leeds.

The American heartland has not been directly impacted by the civil rights movement that has the Freedom Riders all over the south and the nation listening to Negro demands for equality in DC. In Iowa, Sam quickly realizes just below the surface of calm lies plenty of anger and resentment as a black male does not date a white female. However, he also sees another scenario possible as Sam finds wads of money and photos of other victims; he ponders whether one chose to make remittance by murdering the blackmailer with the Negro being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police want him to stay out of their case although he expects some sort of whitewashing of the truth.

Sam's seventh song titled civil rights era mystery (see BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO and EVERYBODY'S SOMEBODY'S FOOL) is a terrific whodunit. However, it is the small town relatively serene Iowa backdrop that enables the audience to witness the demands for freedom in 1960s America; this seemingly out of the way from the prime civil rights focus allows readers to understand the scope of the movement. Ed Gorman once again combines a fine murder investigation with a touch of nostalgia inside of the grand scale of the local, regional, and national freedom marches that changed America.

The Immortals: The Gathering
Jennifer Ashley
Love Spell
9780505526885 $6.99

The missing Immortal brother Hunter is summoned, but ends up caged with a lion on an isolated island. Irate hermit Leda Stowe, a witch, who prefers no contact with Immortals, humans, or her own kind, demands he leave even as she is attracted to her uninvited guest. Hunter wants Leda, but has no time to seduce the bewitching beauty as there is a world to save.

Hunter tries to reconnect with three of his Immortal brothers for what he knows will prove a distasteful war as the enemies are his insane sibling brother Tain, who vanished centuries ago, and his demon master. With Leda at his side along with three of his brothers and their women, and a horde of witches, shapeshifters, and vampires, they go off the fight a more powerful foe.

Book four of this terrific romantic fantasy finishes off the complex tale of good vs. bad with a world at stake. Leda is a unique protagonist who brings freshness to the mix with her disdain of sentient beings although she self loathingly is attracted to the Immortal hunk. Jennifer Ashley who began the Immortals (with CALLING followed by Robin T. Popp's DARKENING and Joy Nash's AWAKENING) completes this excellent saga with a mesmerizing ending.

Perfidia
Elspeth McKendrick
Love Spell
9780505527394 $6.99

In 1939 Sophie de Havilland left London to leave her past behind her. She traveled to Berlin, Germany to live with her aunt. However, she is amazed as to how far Hitler and the Third Reich rebuilt a country that was reeling from the Great War and subsequent peace and world Depression.

She enjoys the night life especially the cabarets in swinging Berlin with the handsome SS officers, but also hears stories of atrocities by inhumane people. Her aunt had warned her to go back to England but Sophie failed to heed what she now believes is sage advice. She begins to think of the Nazis as murderous demons especially these out of the world SS hunks that Himmler ordered to procreate with Aryan females; she had once desired these perfect male specimens. Desperate she turns to a blue eyed half-American for help in escaping the murderous treacherous regime, but begins to have doubts about he is who he claims to be as she considers he may be undercover Gestapo seeking to find doubters.

PERFIDIA is an entertaining WWII romantic suspense that grips the audience from the moment the Nazis invade Poland and never lets up until the final attempt to escape the violent regime. The story line is fast-paced as Sophie lands in one mess after another while too easily rescuing friends from the invincible all mighty Gestapo, who are every where, yet unable to deal with an inexperienced young female. Still historical romance fans will enjoy this vivid strong look from inside the Third Reich as seen mostly through the eyes of a former admirer who observing first hand the atrocities becomes an enemy of the state.

Doesn't She Look Natural?
Angela Hunt
Tyndale House Publishers
351 Executive Drive, Carol Stream, IL 60188
9781414311692 $13.99 www.tyndale.com 1-800-323-9400

Jennifer Graham once tasted power as the chief of staff to a US senator. However, during a nasty divorce, she was forced to resign her position as she became a liability to her employer. Jennifer obtained custody of their two children but is forced to live with her mom to keep expenses down while she seeks employment.

Soon afterward, Jennifer inherits Fairlawn funeral home in Florida. Her plan is to visit Fairlawn in order to sell it as soon as possible so that she can try to return to behind the scenes of power in Washington DC. However, the best laid plans of mice, men and Jennifer Graham often go astray.

This is an amusing inspirational tale as Jennifer feels like a fish out of water in Florida while the kids feel at home even in the funeral home. The story line is character driven by Jennifer as she tries to balance what her kids need with her desires and aspirations. Although rotating between the first (mostly from Jennifer) and third person can feel disjointed, fans will enjoy the DC big shot used to hiding the bodies now dressing up the bodies (sort of a reverse Karl Rove).

Snow Angel
Jamie Carie
B&H Publishing Group
127 Ninth Avenue North, MSN 114, Nashville, TN. 37234
9780805445336 $14.99

In 1897 in an isolated section of the Alaskan territory, Noah Wesley stays warm in his heated cabin while a blizzard rages outside. However, he soon hears a noise at his door that he initially thinks is his imagination of being alone and then considers a wild animal. He cautiously takes a look outside encouraged by what he assumes is the voice of God speaking inside his head. He is stunned to find an unconscious half frozen female angel who he fears if she survives the weather might still suffer frostbite.

He takes Elizabeth into his home, but soon believes this brittle woman will try anything as she asks Noah to take her to the gold fields so she can search for gold. Still he feels the fierce climate will send her scurrying to the lower Forty-eight while trying to convince to give up on the gold fever. Elizabeth rejects his contention that she is to delicate to survive the wilderness while hiding her real obsession for wanting to go to the gold fields from him though she is falling in love with this man whom she trusts with her life but not her objective; at the same time someone searches for her as they have for over two decades.

The "divine" matchmaking romance between Noah and Elizabeth and the mystery subplot enhance a terrific look at Alaska during the frantic gold rush days of the late nineteenth century. SNOW ANGEL provides a vivid stark look at the wintry climate in which the weather is lethal for the unprepared. The lead couple is a strong pairing as he knows she is god sent to him and she loves and trusts him with her life and everything else except her reason for needing to go to the gold fields. Jamie Carie's debut is a wonderfully descriptive historical tale as the audience will wear woolen hats and gloves (in September) while reading this book.

Revenant
Carolyn Haines
Mira Books
225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, ON, Canada, M3B 3K9
9780778324171 $6.99 www.mirabooks.com

Since her daughter died two years ago, reporter Carson Lynch numbs the grief with vodka and work. Her career in the balance, Carson returns home to Biloxi, Mississippi hoping to regain her equilibrium on the local newspaper. Her assignments are minor league but palpable by her night time partner, a bottle of vodka.

However, a potential international story surfaces when five women wearing bridal veils and missing their ring finger are found buried in a parking lot; the work of a serial killer years ago. Soon afterward more corpses are found in the identical condition of those found buried in the parking lot. As the Biloxi police investigate the homicides, Carson does likewise.

Carson Lynch is terrific as she provides the audience with a first person investigative Noir in the vividly described setting of post Katrina Biloxi. She makes the whodunit fun to read as still struggles with her loss, which is only numbed by imbibing yet when she gets involved in what appears to be either a copy cat serial killer or a second round of homicides, she turns professional. Readers will enjoy her amusing dark asides and her dangerous investigative escapades on the streets of Biloxi.

Beg For Mercy
Toni Andrews
Mira
9780778323655 $6.99

In the Balboa Peninsular of California, Mercy Hollings believes her skill with the "presses" should be used by her to help other people through positive suggestions. Her plan is to assist people through hypnotherapy as she understands the need of cautiousness when manipulating others as controlling people is unethical and can lead to dangerous unintended consequences.

Mercy and her best friend Sukey have too much to drink. At a bar with Sukey she meets kind eyes Sam Falls. Intoxicated she misuses her gift to "presses" Sukey's odious boyfriend Rocko to behave nicer. However, her misuse has led to a series of steps that places her friends in danger. Meanwhile glib Dominic Dellarosa knows of Mercy's ability and her error; he also seems to know much about her past. He apparently wants to use her talent for his benefit; if she fails to adhere to his demand, Sukey will be the first to die, but he has angered her and she will show no mercy to anyone who steps inside her circle though Sam willingly takes the risk.

Although Rocko's annoying dialogue requires a mercy lobotomy, fans will enjoy this fine paranormal thriller. The story line is fast-paced especially when Rocko is off-stage as Mercy knows she crossed the ethics boundary by doing an amoral act even if she can rationalize her manipulation due to imbibing too much. Told mostly in the first person by the heroine, fans will appreciate the dilemma of too much power can at times corrupt the most conscientious ethical person.

Night Whispers II
Lauren Dane, Tawny Stokes, Bridget Midway & Devyn Quinn
Whispers
9780979332791 $16.29 http://www.whispershome.com

"Night Whispers" by Lauren Dane. Lisette agrees to hide her lover's half brother from his homicidal mother but she wants nothing more to do with Xander, the Vampire King. When a vampire attacks her, Xander turns his lover.

"Hot Gossip" by Tawny Stokes. Hot Gossip journalist Makayla wants a way to get even with Ethan for ditching her; her boss gives her the chance asking her to get the dirt on him. She enrolls in the Hot and Spicy Writer's Association held at the Mountain Resort. After a sexual encounter Mak is not thinking of the story but of the man she loves, who will ditch her when he learns the truth.

"Public Domain" by Bridget Midway. For the last six months they met once a week to have sex in public places. They don't even know each others real names. Tag says he wants more than just a sexual relationship so he stands Emmanuelle up. At a hotel he meets the maid Beulah who is his Emmanuelle. Bea intends to break it off with him because she plans to be a teacher and sex in public places would end her career.

"One Naughty Night" by Devyn Quinn. After her fiance Roger dumped her and married her best friend Cindy, Cecile stopped socializing. She misses sex so on a weekend night off; she decides to go to a bar to have a one night stand. She meets Ross who wears chains like the bikers do and has a tatoo. When she returns to work on Monday she meets her new boss Ross.

The erotic story lines are fast-paced though the plots are limited. Whereas the females have flaws that make them seem human, the males are not fully developed as they are too nice and perfect. Still erotica fans will appreciate these heated romances.

Reasonable Doubts
Gianrico Carofiglio
Bitter Lemon
9781904738244 $14.95

In Bari, Italy, convicted drug smuggler Fabio Paolicelli asks Guido Guerrieri to represent him on his appeal of a sixteen year sentencing. Guido looks at the trial in which Fabio's confession makes his guilt obvious. However, Fabio insists he was set up and that he admitted doing the crime to insure his wife Natsu Kawabata would not be on trial too. He also insists his lawyer Corrado Macr� worked for the opposition and not providing him with a good defense.

Guerrieri hesitates as he feels the appeal will fail because Fabio confessed, the man's past as a Fascist punk offers no redeeming quality to build from, and there is no lucid motive to forge a conspiracy to lock him away. However, upon meeting the exotic half-Japanese Natsu, Guido agrees to represent Fabio. As he constructs the defense, Guido cannot resist Natsu's lure even though he knows this is a morally wrong conflict of interest; they make love. If Fabio ever finds out and is freed from prison it could prove dangerous to his lawyer, who begins to wonder if he should throw the case too.

The legal thriller aspects are fascinating and cleverly devised, but that takes a back seat to the deep look at the ethics of the middle age attorney Guido. Readers will appreciate his realizations and rationalizations as he ponders between the best and worst defenses. Few sub-genre tales contain a better protagonist as he makes the tale worth reading with his fresh somewhat cynical spin (see INVOLUNTARY WITNESS).

Matrimony
Joshua Henkin
Pantheon
c/o Random House
1745 Broadway, 17th floor, New York, NY 10019
9780375424359 $23.95 www.pantheonbooks.com 1-800-726-0600

In late 1986, elitist Manhattanite Julian Wainwright attends Graymont College in Massachusetts for two reasons. First he needs to escape his loving stifling Ivy League parents although he loves them dearly; second he wants to study fiction writing under the tutelage of Professor Stephen Chesterfield. At the limited workshop, Julian and another student of the working middle class gene pool Carter Heinz become friends because they share in common the acceptance that the great Professor Chesterfield deems they might have some talent.

In the cafeteria Carter meets Pilar while in the laundry room Julian meets Mia Mendelson. Each becomes a couple although Carter begrudges Julian's upper class attitude. Over the next two decades, the pairs have trials and tribulations, but as the new millennium begins, Julian and Mia head to California where Carter reveals a secret that could destroy all their relationships.

This is an interesting look at relationships between friends and lovers starting in the second Reagan term up until the present. Readers get to understand what motivates Carter, Julian and Mia, however, major events in their lives never come across deep enough to comprehend what they do to the individual's needs. Still this is an entertaining character driven tale that focuses on the roller coaster rapport and discord between companions.

Ghost
Alan Lightman
Pantheon
9780375421693 $23.00

David was a rising star at the bank where he worked receiving employee awards and verbal kudos until the day came when he was fired for the bank was reorganizing and he was redundant. It took him three months to find another job and that was as a mortuary assistant at a funeral home. One day while in the slumber room alone he sees a ghost and is totally freaked out.

The metaphysical was a myth to David's mathematical mind and as much as he tried to rationalize he knows he saw something that belongs to the supernatural realm. As word leaks as of what he saw, people beg him to get in touch with their loved ones; the Society for the Second World wants to use him as a spokesman to prove that there is a world beyond our own; and a group of college professors want him to say he saw nothing, repudiating what he believes. As David comes to terms with himself, he allows himself to believe in what he saw but wants to be left alone by those who want to use him

The protagonist sees something that shouldn't exist and he doesn't know how to deal with it. Various groups with their own agendas try to push him into believing their way but David proves to himself he is strong enough to listen, evaluate and not be influenced by anyone but himself. Through his ordeal, he also comes to terms with a past he idealized but wasn't what he thought it was. He realizes his mother was always a distant figure and his ex-wife lived in a state of unhappiness. Alan Lightman forces his audience to internalize and ponder the sources of their beliefs.

Magnetic Mansion
Forest Haskell
Top Publications
3100 Independence Parkway, Suite 311-359, Plano, TX,75075
9781929976423 $15.95

Peggy Sue Heikel asks her husband Zachary if he is willing to buy a cottage because she spots and ad for one in the local Ann Arbor paper . They go to Dexter to look at it and find it is a mini mansion and even though they are sure they can't afford it, Zach asks the owner the asking price. To their surprise Jake is only asking for $125,000 and the Heikels grab it up.

They divide their time between their two homes, but from the beginning they see strange things happen in the mansion; like faces in the mirror, sounds from the fireplace, doors on the floor of the basement, a dungeon and hidden rooms. By the time they sell their Ann Arbor house and move into the mansion, Zach sees a face that is not his own in the mirror and he sees a dog that nobody else does. They find a fortune in money in a secret room in a hidden safe . Green fog disturbs the animals and silverware seems to float in midair. Doctors give a scientific explanation for the otherworldly things and people they have seen but it doesn't take into account the phenomena the Heikel experienced.

Although the books start off slow and it takes a little while to understand the basis of the storyline, readers will thoroughly enjoy MAGNETIC MANSION, a seemingly haunted house tale that goes beyond the typical sub- genre typecasting. Zack is an interesting character who keeps his equilibrium while coping with unknown phenomenon and a mansion filled with hidden, secret passages, a hidden elevator and various escape routes throughout the house. Forrest Haskell is a dynamic storyteller who pushes the envelope on a storyline that can be interpreted in different ways.

The Secret Cardinal
Tom Grace
Vanguard Press
387 Park Avenue South,12th Floor,New York, NY 10016
9781593154561 $24.95

Nolan Kilkenny still mourns the loss of his wife Kelsey and their son Toby, but his father and close family friend the Cardinal Librarian of the Holy Roman Church Malachy Donaher arrange for him to modernize information flow. Kilkenny assumes the real mission is not to make more efficient and effective the link between the Vatican Library and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, but as an excuse to get him out of his home in Ann Arbor: it worked as he is in the Vatican.

However, dying Pope Leo XIV wants to use Kilkenny's other skills honed by his years as a US Navy SEAL as the Pontiff informs him that an atrocity has occurred in China against the outlawed underground church. Kilkenny doubts the veracity of the report as he figures if several hundred have been killed or just jailed, it would have made the TWISTED WEB of the Internet in QUANTUM time. However, he agrees to help bring to the Vatican the incarcerated Bishop of Shanghai Yin Daoming, who has spent three decades in prison for failing to denounce the Church; and who the Pope made a Cardinal twenty years ago in secret. Kilkenny begins an over the top plan using state of the art weapon and computer technology to perform the impossible mission. Competent Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligence agent Liu Shing-Li plans to prevent Kilkenny's dirty dozen from succeeding.

Kilkenny's latest escapade is a fabulous thriller that rotates the mission with the Vatican preparing for the papal succession that appears imminent. The key to the exciting story line is the formidable opponent as Liu is an intelligent capable adversary who has a strong team supporting him. Although the Vatican segue is well written and fascinating, those fans who prefer a thrill a page will find the interlude slowing down this suspense filled action-packed tale as Kilkenny is a BIRD OF PREY.

The Meeting of Anni Adams : The Butterfly of Luxembourg
Lonnie D. Story
ACW Press
9781932124262 $20.95 http://watkins.gospelcom.net/americanchristianwriters/acwpress.htm

Born on Armistice Day in 1926 in Luxembourg, Anni Adams enjoyed traveling all over western and central Europe with her parents and siblings. By the time she was fourteen, she had been all over Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, and her home duchy. However, on the night of May 9, 1940 her wonderful world ended when the Blitzkrieg invaded the small Low Countries of Holland, Belgium, and Luxembourg to use as a spring board to attack France from inside the Maginot Line. For the next few war years, Anni survived the ordeal of occupation and refugee camp living without knowing much about her family: for instance did her clown prince brother live especially since the Germans used him as an expendable pawn on the Russian front? She came out of the war a stronger person helped somewhat by meeting and marrying American GI Charlie Adams. She adapts to being a war bride stranger in a strange land as she and Charlie raise the Adams family (not of cartoon fame) in American until he passes away in 1998.

This fascinating biography enables the reader to see how a teen survived WWII Nazi occupation. Anni does so by mentally going in and out of her cocoon made up of loving family depending on circumstances. She as "the butterfly of Luxembourg" gives the audience a deep insight into life under the German occupation. The American segment of her journey is also well written and rounds out the bio, but like the early years pales next to the four years under the Nazis. THE MEETING OF ANNI ADAMS : THE BUTTERFLY OF LUXEMBOURG is a deep look at how people survive the most harrowing nightmarish experiences caused by inhuman humans.

When the Morning Comes
Cindy Woodsmall
WaterBrook Press
c/o Random House Trade Group Publicity
1745 Broadway, 17th floor, New York, NY 10019
9781400072934 $12.99 www.randomhouse.com 1-800-726-0600

In Owl's Perch, Pennsylvania following the break up with her beloved Mennonite fiance Paul Wadell after his betrayal left her reputation in ruins, Hannah Lapp leaves her family behind to live with her outcast Aunt Zabeth in Ohio. Her Amish father considers Hannah dead and her sister Sarah struggles with what she has done to her sibling. Paul wallows in guilt because he knows his actions not only destroyed Hannah's reputation, but their chance for a life together.

In Ohio, as Hannah tries to adapt to life amongst the English, Paul pleads with her brother Luke and her best friend Mary to inform him where she went so that he can atone for his sin. Meanwhile, Hannah begins to move on with help from her aunt and from handsome Martin Palmer.

The second Sisters of the Quilt tale is a fantastic tale that leads the audience to deeply feel for Hannah, but to a lesser degree the other Lapp family members and Paul. The story line is a tear jerker as readers will be so hooked they will want to offer solace and assistance to the heroine. Although it would help a bit to read Hannah's first tale (see WHEN THE HEART CRIES) to better understand the secondary characters like jealous Sarah, fans of modern day Amish tales will appreciate Cindy Woodsmall's fine character driven sequel.

Auralia's Colors: The Red Strand of Auralia's Thread
Jeffrey Overstreet
Waterbrook
1400072522 $13.99

Except for her royal court, the Queen has outlawed all colors; thus the kingdom of Abascar is draped in dark gloomy grey as King Cal enforces his wife's decree.

Two old thieves, Krawg and Warney, exiled from the House Abascar as part of paying off societal debts, notice the activity of crows by the River Throanscall. They investigate only to find a girl sleeping like she was dead inside a strange footprint. They take the River Girl who tells them her name is Auralia to their criminal community. She shows a talent to bring out the enchanting colors hidden behind the grey in everything. Her skills reach the monarch and his queen as well as the rest of the Four Great Houses of the Expanse. Will the River Girl prove the savior of the houses or their destruction although some wise philosophers point out that if she never existed, there would be nothing to save the houses from.

The first Auralia Thread tale is a magical inspirational fairy tale fantasy that brings to life the Overstreet world filled with colorful creatures like beastmen, vawns and the enigmatic Keeper. The story line is fast-paced with an obvious homage towards Narnia. Auralia is a fascinating character who keeps the story line anchored as her re-coloring the kngdom puts her on a potentially lethal confrontation with King Cal who has implemented his wife's demand of a colorless realm.

Boo Humbug
Rene Gutteridge
Waterbrook
9781400073535 $11.99

Encouraged to think outside the box by her theatre teacher Professor Watson, Lois Stepaphanolopolis dreams of a special production of A Christmas Carol for the Skary, Indiana theatre. Her plan is turn the Dickens' classic into a horror thriller.

She writes a play, but everyone involved with the Stepaphanolopolis rendition struggles to understand it; perhaps because several films have adhered to the original classic and those that took some license did not stray anywhere near afar as Lois is pushing. Still the residents of Skary want to rally around their playwright that is if they can comprehend the message of her strange version that has Charles Dickens would haunt Stepaphanolopolis if he could come back from the grave.

Rene Gutteridge's "Boo" tales are some of the best inspirational stories on the market today (see BOO and BOO WHO). The latest winner BOO HUMBUG focuses on the Skary townsfolk rallying in support of Lois although many think her concept is dumb and those who do not for the most part cannot understand what she is doing. Readers will appreciate this fine novel as it takes a village to change a classic.

Let Them Eat Cake
Sandra Byrd
Waterbrook
9781400073276 $12.99

College graduate Lexi Stuart has graduated but has not found a job that she enjoys. That has not been a problem because she lives at her parents' home. However, they are moving into a retirement community within six months, which means the clock has run out and she needs meaningful employment.

Lexi converses in French during an interview with luscious Luc, the manager of L'Esperance Bakery, who offers her a job there. She accepts although the pay leaves her below the poverty level. While Luc seems interested in seeing Lexi outside the bakery, she finds everyone else thinks the job is beneath her. When she gets into an incident with an executive she declares her liberty from everyone's expectations except God while informing the obnoxious customer to let his guests eat cake.

Readers will smell the delightful odors of a French bakery as Sandra Byrd provides vivid descriptions that will have our olfactory senses in overdrive and are mouths salivating. The story line is at its most tasteful when plot focuses on the activity at the bakery. The romantic subplot feels off kilter as it is too sweet. Still fans will appreciate twenty-four years old Lexi as she learns she can't please everyone so she needs to please herself, which will help with discovering what to do with her life now that she's not a kid anymore.

The Blade Itself
Joe Abercrombie
PYR
59 John Glenn Drive, Amherst, NY 14228-2197
9781591025948 $15.00 www.prometheusbooks.com 1-800-421-0351

While fleeing in the water to elude his deadly foes of man and beast, Logen Ninefingers the barbarian knows he will soon be dead. In the North the Shanka led by his former mentor has subjugated the other tribes through brutality and atrocities; he alone remains opposed, but flees towards the Midderland for safety. Meanwhile to the South, a Prophet has gathered the desert slavers to his side. The Empire prepares for war.

In the city of Adua in the Midderland government corruption and affluent indulgence is the norm. Thus the middle has lost control of the North and South to barbarians and mages. The wizards try to unite the people as the ancient enemy has returned, but people like Captain Jezal dan Luthar wants nothing to do with adventure and intrigue especially in the frozen north or the desert south; he is to busy drinking, cheating at cards, and chasing women to risk his life at what will prove to be a bloody war. The cripple Inquisitor Glokta notorious for torture, and his two associates, are killing the seditious government leaders, one at a time. He hopes to one day add Jezal to his resume. However, it is the actions of Bavaz the wizard who claims to be the First of the Magi, who shakes up the realm; or at least Logen, Jezal, and Glokta with his demanding raging orders that they fear to follow as he seems more fraud than genuine yet fear not to as his bite may prove worst than his violent bark.

Readers obtain an indirect taste of the Abercrombie world through the eyes of the major characters although never gain the full perspective beyond a frozen north, a desert south, and a major thriving city in the middle that is the link; but with the greedy and the powerful looking out for themselves, the realm is collapsing. The fascination with this Noir fantasy is the key cast members. The foursome is not epic heroes, but instead they are flawed to the point that the story line at times feels like an amusing satire of the Tolkien lite imitations. Not for everyone, THE BLADE ITSELF is carried by its deep characters, who tote more negatives than positives and may prove to cause the beginning of the end; these incredibly flawed souls make for a fresh and outstanding fantasy.

The Restorer's Son
Sharon Hinck
NavPress
PO Box 35001, Colorado Springs, CO 80935
9781600061325 $14.99 www.navpress.com 1-800-366-7788

At the battle of Morsel Plains, the Children of the Verses defeated the Hazer army with the help of the Restorer Susan Mitchell, who came from earth to the world of her husband Mark via a portal in their attic (see THE RESTORER). When the couple returns to earth, they learn their son Jake also went through the portal so they go back to retrieve him. Susan is no longer the Restorer as that mantle and associated responsibility has passed on to Kieran, who refuses to perform the role.

Kieran and Jake meet when the former flees from the attacks of Kahlarian assassins. They travel together to the capital city of Lyric where Councilman Cameron tricks Kieran so that he looks like a traitor. They escape and Jake is left with the Braide Wood clan while the banished Kieran travels to Hazer. He fights against doing the bidding of the One until he finally accepts his fate. Eventually the new restorer, Jake, and his parents meet up just as hostilities seem imminent between Hazor and Lyric.

This enchanting fantasy is filled with plenty of action, political intrigue, sublime religious overtones that fit nicely into the storyline and exciting battle scenes. Susan's role has changed from when she was the Restorer as now she introduces the readers to her replacement. Having Kieran become the Restorer is ironic as he refused to be touched by the One's love. Hick's world is an interesting place in which the Creator shows his power in everyday life; the description of this orb is so vividly alive, readers will check their passports to see the stamp. Fans of Karen Hancock will enjoy the entertaining RESTORER'S SON.

On the Loose
Jenny B. Jones
Navpress Think
9781600061158 $12.99

Katie Parker is still adapting to living with her foster parents, Reverend James Scott and his wife Millie after living with a drug dealing mom who had no time or inclination to raise her. The teen actually finds she likes having rules and discipline; she enjoys the antics of her foster father who shouts at the TV and even the over the top antics of her foster mom, the ultimate obsessive person who wants everyone in her circle contented including Katie even if it means driving them to distraction. In other words Katie has had a taste of genuine adult nurturing and wants more of it.

However, the newly formed family has not faced a test of their relational bond until a tornado hits the town of In Between hitting the Scott home. Millie is hurt from flying glass and taken to the emergency room where they learn she has cancer. Katie is stunned that God would take away a loved one just when she finally has met someone to cherish. At school, trouble also occurs when Katie is blamed for stealing, which costs her the role of Cinderella in the school play. Katie with the help of her loving foster grandmother Maxine turns to God to praying mostly for Millie to be okay.

Jenny B. Jones continues the dramatic ups and downs of Katie Parker (see IN BETWEEN) as the teen begins to feel comfortable with her foster family only to have several setbacks make her wonder if God is abandoning her. Katie is terrific as the prime focus of the character driven story line as she struggles with the issue of why bad things happen to good people. Teen readers will appreciate her doubts while enjoying the antics of James screaming at Simon of American Idol and Granny having a dude on the side. Of course there is always Einstein to make relationships happen.

Hollywood Nobody
Lisa Samson
NAVPRESS
9781600060915 $12.99

Fifteen years old Scotty Fitzgerald's childhood was spent running around the country with her beloved mom, a highly regarded movie food designer. However, lately Scotty has grown tired of the hustling from one set to another and the vegan only lifestyle of her mother. However, it is the secrets that impact her that disturb Scotty the most as she writes in her blog that her mom Charlie refuses to tell her anything about the dad she never met.

While assisting her mom At Charlie's latest film project, Scotty and rising teen movie star Seth Haas become friends. He encourages her to pressure her mom into revealing the truth as to what frightens her to be so overly protective of her and information about her father whom she wants to meet.

Although Scotty seems at time much older than she is, she makes this an interesting coming of age tale as she struggles with her mom's secretiveness clearly out of the Dick Cheney book on governance. Her quest seems even more genuine because she never quite reaches a spiritual and emotional acceptable solution. Lisa Samson provides a warm inspirational tale of a teen needing to know the truth even if it turns out ugly.

A Lost Touch of Innocence
Amy Tolnitch
Medallion Press, Inc.
1020 Cedar Lane, No. 2N, St. Charles, IL 60174
9781933836096 $7.95 www.medallionpress.com

He knew he should not, but could not prevent himself from touching the compelling crystal. By doing so Piers Veuxfort lives everyday in hell on earth. His gentle rub released the essence of the evil Fin Man, previously trapped inside the crystal. Now the Fin Man resides inside of Piers.

Giselle St. Germain was to be a nun, but the abbess of Kerwick Abbey learned of her "sight" and condemned her as a satanic abomination; she was tossed out of the nunnery that she lived in for thirteen years after allegedly causing Sister Anne's choking. Her exile is complete with the knowledge she suddenly is betrothed to a stranger. She arrives at Falcon's Craig Castle to marry Piers. He fears for her as he is losing the control battle to the dark malevolence growing side him. She wonders how a man can be so devilish yet be so attractive. Hiding behind her pietistic upbringing by the nuns, Giselle thinks of fleeing but has no place to go; besides she soon feels God sent her here to help Piers exorcize his demon as love binds these two troubled souls.

The sequel to A LOST TOUCH OF BLISS is an entertaining medieval paranormal romance starring an interesting lead male with two intelligences battling to control his body and the innocent woman who completes the demonic triangle. Piers is a fascinating protagonist as he literally battles with an inner demon for control of his body and soul. Although Giselle adapts to life out of the abbey too easily, she risks her soul to help the man she loves win the war against the malevolent Fin Man. Sub-genre fans will enjoy Amy Tolnitch's latest Veuxfort thriller in which hearts and souls are on the line.

A Calculated Demise: The Hypatia Murders
Robert Spiller
Medallion
9781933836157 $7.95

In El Paso County, Colorado recently widowed fifty three year old Bonnie Pinkwater teaches math at East Plains Junior/Senior High School. Although she grieves her loss, her cat and three dogs help her at home while her job keeps her mind somewhat occupied.

Odious but highly regarded wrestling coach Luther Devereaux orders mentally challenged Matt Boone to meet him at the wrestling loft during Bonnie's math class. When the teen fails to return, Bonnie sends Matt's best friend, student council president Greg Hanson to investigate. Greg races back to the classroom informing Bonnie that Matt killed Mr. Devereaux with a knife. Although she has no plans to get involved in the official inquiry led by a former student turned sheriff, a confused Matt pleads with her to help him. Greg offers to assist Bonnie whose early findings implicate Matt in a premeditated homicide. However, as Greg's brother Kyle and father Barty are killed as well as a young woman named Janice, Matt's brother Simon becomes the prime suspect until he too is murdered. Meanwhile Superintendent Xavier "The Divine Pain in the Ass" Divine demands Bonnie either quit her sleuthing or her job at a time when one of her canines is dog-napped to get her to drop her investigation; which means to her dig deeper.

The key to this enjoyable amateur sleuth tale is the heroine's reluctance to get involved coupled with her mathematical solving approach to problems like who is the killer. The story line is action-packed and filled with several twists as each time Bonnie feels she has solved the equation, new variables surface. Although this reviewer has some doubts about Matt's ability to do high school math and not understand his arraignment or his inability to recall recent events, readers will appreciate the feisty teacher investigate the Hypatia Rocky Mountain murders.

The Vampire Shrink
Lynda Hilburn
Medallion
9781933836232 $15.95

In Denver, the patient insists her name is Midnight and that she is friends to vampires especially the charismatic eight century old handsome master Devereux. Dr. Kismet Knight assumes she is dealing with a new form of psychosis as Midnight is extremely graphic in describing the underground vampirism lair as if a society of undead lives without humans knowing it.

To her shock, Devereux arrives at Kismet's office claiming to be a vampire. Hiding her disbelief behind her professional visage, Kismet thinks it is too bad he is a nut because he is a sexy hunk. Devereux begins to show her his strange powers leaving Kismet to begin to believe in vampires. After a client arrives at her office almost totally drained of blood, FBI Special Agent Alan Stevens, who works the vampire beat, questions Kismet. As Devereux binds her to him insisting she is his kismet, Alan tries to bind her to him through the power of love. Confused, Kismet is not sure who to trust even as someone, perhaps one of the two males claiming she is their destiny, tries to kill her.

Kismet Knight's conversion from cynic to believer makes for a fun paranormal thriller as the heroine becomes the VAMPIRE SHRINK. Readers will understand her transformation from scorning skeptic with dreams of fame and fortune to psychologist to vampires as the story line is told in the first person mostly from Kismet's perspective. Adding to the satirical entertainment is the odd romantic triangle between the Fed, the vampire master, and the shrink. Lynda Hilburn writes an enjoyable biting frolic that will turn skeptical readers into true believers of her talent.

Call of the Trumpet
Helen A. Rosburg
Medallion
9781933836140 $6.99

In 1859 with the death of her beloved father in Paris, Cecile Villier decides to leave France to visit the Sahara where she was born two decades ago. Her beloved late father left the desert grieving the death of his Bedouin wife in childbirth. She asks her late dad's friend Mr. Blackmoor for help in locating her foster father, Raga eben Haddal.

Blackmoor sends his son Matthew to meet her, but he learns she has been abducted by a caravan planning to sell her to the Caliph. Matthew rescues Cecilia but introduces himself as El Faris rather than the son of her late father's friend. He treats her like the lowest creature on the planet and leaves her at a Bedouin camp to learn the ways of the women of the desert. Although not easy, the courageous Cecilia wins the respect of those at the camp when she risks her life to rescue a child from a wolf. As she and El Faris fall in love, he takes her to meet Haddal, who plans to sell her as a wife to the highest bidding sheik. Matthew proposes, but when she fails to return from a trek into the desert, he assumes she died and marries another. When she finally returns to accept his proposal, she must decide whether she wants to be his second spouse.

CALL OF THE TRUMPET is not the usual historical romance as the Bedouin culture serves as the prime focus of this strong mid nineteenth century tale. Thus a westernized Victorian style relationship between the lead couple even when the male is a sheik does not occur; instead the audience lives within the Bedouin camp and learns its ways along side of the heroine. Her struggles to adapt and her courage make for a rich saga as the audience will wonder will she willingly become the second wife, return to France, or be sold to the highest bidder.

Blood Eagle
Robert Barr Smith
Medallion
9781933836102 24.95

In 1965 divided West and East Germany serve as one of the fronts in the Cold War. Whereas the western allies adhere to the Containment Doctrine, the Soviet Union wants to unite the country as part of their bloc. Others also want to unite Germany with the deadly neo-Nazi Fatherland Party using terrorism to try to bring down the fledgling democracy.

In one bombing the wives and children of US Army Major Tom Cooper and British SAS Captain Simon Berwick died. Both men vowed to insure that vigilante justice brought by them to the perpetrators occur, as their moral codes have been destroyed making life meaningless. They have the opportunity when they are assigned to find three elderly Germans who the Fatherland Party leaders seek for their roles in the alleged suicide of Hitler's niece and mistress Geli Raubal in 1931 in his flat with his gun.

This is an action-packed thriller that grips readers who ignore the plausibility index and willingly accept contemporary terrorism activity in 1965. The fast-paced story line focuses mostly on the two numbed NATO soldiers, but also flashes back to 1931 and 1951 when key historical events (to this plot) happened. It is fascinatingly that the western military pair has no scruples since their families were murdered while the neo-Nazis believe in the values of the Fourth Reich; this leads the audience to wonder about adhering to one's values. Fans of over the Berlin Wall thrillers will appreciate this entertaining race across Germany in which there are no heroes as all the players assume that everyone including themselves are expendable pawns.

First, There is a River
Kathy Steffen
Medallion
9781932815931 $14.95

In 1900 in the Ohio Valley, the neighbors assume that Emma and Jared Perkins share a wonderful life raising two children Toby and Sarah on their farm. However, after twelve years of living in hell, Emma knows that her hardworking spouse hides from their neighbors that he beats her over every little perceived error. However, Emma remains with Jared insuring he does not harm their children from him. That bind ends when he hires away their offspring to a nearby farmer.

With no ties to bind her, Emma flees to the safety of her uncle's riverboat The Spirit of the River. To earn her keep, she cooks. She makes real friends with Lily another cook, Captain Briggs, and especially Gage-the engineer, who hides from society ever since a riverboat accident scarred his face. As an outraged humiliated Jared comes to claim his wife to teach her a lesson in loyalty, Emma begins to emotionally heal and while she does so Gage does as well..

Kathy Steffen provides her audience with a powerful historical fiction that focuses on the lack of rights for women and the lack of protection for children. Emma is a fabulous as the only reason she remains with abuser Jared is their offspring, but once he sells them into child labor, she has no ties. The support cast including the river and the boat is strong as it brings out a bygone era. The romance is unnecessary though well written as FIRST, THERE IS A RIVER is foremost a character-driven deep historical tale.

Fresh Kills
Reggie Nadelson
Walker & Company
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9780802715999 $24.95 www.walkerbooks.com 1-800-289-2553

NYPD detective Russian immigrant Artie Cohen is enjoying his recent marriage to Maxine although she is currently out of town when he is informed that his troubled teenage nephew Billy Farone has been released from juvenile detention. Reluctantly, Artie takes Billy into his Brooklyn home as the lad has no other place to go since his mom refuses to have anything to do with him since he stabbed to death Heshey Shank and besides his parents are in London. Meanwhile the Shank family is outraged that this cold blooded killer is free and making public their disgust with a system that allows a killer to go on with his life while their offspring is dead.

Artie's superior Sonny Lippert comes to Brighton Beach to assign him to follow up on a new lead involving a cold case child homicide. The detective tries to balance adjusting to marriage although his wife seems very tolerant, keeping Billy out of trouble although there is evidence that he is failing at this task, and working the murder investigation that begins to look as if a killer may be caught, but not before others will die.

The latest Cohen New York City "archipelago" police procedural (see RED HOOK) is a terrific tale that focuses on the difficult balancing of family needs vs. professional requirements. Artie is fabulous as he wants to do what is best for Billy, but is not sure what that is as he knows the kid needs help and support, but he also has a difficult case to work. Readers will enjoy his investigation that leads from Brooklyn to Manhattan and Staten Island, but it is the ending that will stun the audience as Reggie Nadelson provides a deep thriller.

Written in Bone
Simon Beckett
Delacorte Books
c/o Bantam Dell Publishing Group
1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036
9780385340052 $24.00 1-800-726-0600

The Scottish police ask forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunter to assist their investigation into a fiery death on Runa, a remote Hebridean island, as they have no expert available to look at the crime scene at this time. All that remains of the victim besides ash and bone are feet and one hand; the shack where the person died has no signs of a fire.

Dr. Hunter, Police Sergeant Fraser, and Constable Duncan travel to Runa, a small island community whose residents live off the ocean and visiting tourists. However, Hunter and the two cops accompanying him find the island inhospitable when storms batter Runa and communications to the mainland are completely cut off. Retired chief inspector Brody, who found the first corpse, assists the outsiders while the death count rises yet the islanders refuse to cooperate with the mainlanders.

Although the motive for the murder seems pathetic, Simon Beckett provides a terrific atmospheric police procedural. The story line is fast-paced with Hunter and his cohorts struggling to gain cooperation from the locals even with one of them assisting the inquiry. Filled with twists, it is us vs. them attitude that makes for a wonderful deep whodunit.

Drop Shot
Harlan Coben
Delacorte
9780385342100 $22.00

Twenty-four year old former tennis star Valerie Simpson is mounting a comeback and hires Myron Bolitar as her sports agent. Myron knows he has his work cut out for him because Valerie's negative image is etched in every American's mind, not just sports fans as six years earlier her fiance was murdered. The agent looks forward to the assignment especially since another client is the best young American male prospect, Duane Richwood. Both are entered in the US Open with strong chances of winning.

However, while Duane was playing a match, someone shoots and kills Valerie in the nearby food court. NYPD suspects Duane even with his alibi. Although he knows her death is a DEAL BREAKER Myron is upset to learn Valerie was frantically trying to contact him before she was murdered. Wanting to prove his other tennis client he is innocent and feeling he owes Valerie, Myron along with his pal Win Lockwood investigate. When the police announce the case closed by arresting a stalker, Myron believes the cops just want to shut up the brass, media and the public as a killing at Forest Hills during the US Open is not good for the city's image. He continues his inquiries although others demand he FADE AWAY from the case if he wants to avoid the BACK SPIN reactions of those who are satisfied that what started six years ago has gone THE FINAL DETAIL.

Myron is at his best with his amusing asides especially about his flaws. It makes for a fine investigative tale that takes him as far south as Philadelphia freedom. The story line is like a Grand Slam final between superstars as he and Win hope to ace the opposition. Although his girlfriend is a stereotypical throwaway used to make the hero seem even more caring, fans will appreciate this five set championship sports thriller.

Die for Me
Karen Rose
Grand Central Publishing
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017
9780446616911 $6.99 www.hbgusa.com 1-800-759-0190

In Philadelphia, Warren Keyes wakes up to the smell of disinfectant ammonia, his hands and feet tied up, and little light coming from a torch on the wall of what he believes is a cave. Panicking until he hears the voice of Ed Munch, who informs him to drink some water because he needs his throat wet when his prisoner begins screaming.

Eight days later Police Detectives Vito Ciccotelli and Nick Lawrence lead the homicide investigation into what looks like a religious ritual murder of a Jane Doe found in a nearby field. Knowing they need special help as they dig for potentially other bodies, PPD brings in archeologist Sophie Johannsen, who realizes, as she sees the victims' remains, the culprit was torturing them with medieval inquisition gadgets. Vito admires Sophie's intelligence but also is attracted to her. Meanwhile the killings continue as the culprit seeks the perfect scream from death to make his next video game seem virtually real, but needs one more expendable person to be his warrior queen; perhaps a brilliant medieval archeologist will do.

From the opening killer sequence to the climax, DIE FOR ME is an exhilarating action-packed serial killer police procedural with a romantic subplot that feels a bit out of place although it adds to the tension as the murders turn personal for Vito. The story line is fast-paced and filled with twists in a deadly triangle as the killer sets up the final scream being the archeologist. Karen Rose provides another terrific suspense thriller.

The Wheel of Darkness
Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child
Grand Central (Hachette)
9780446580281 $25.99

Following their struggle with his insanely evil but brilliant brother Diogenes (see BRIMSTONE, DANCE OF DEATH and THE BOOK OF THE DEAD), FBI Special Agent Aloysius Pendergast knows he and his ward Constance Greene need time away. They head to the extremely remote but still not destroyed by the Chinese Gsalrig Chongg Buddhist monastery on the Tibet-Nepal border. They hope some solitude will lead to needed mental healing.

However, Abbot Tsering, who is one of the few Buddhist monks who speak English, informs "Friend Pendergast" that women are not allowed here as none have come before the thousand years the edifice existed and in fact he has not seen one since he was two years old; that the Most High Lama Rimpoche is dead and they seek his nineteenth reincarnation; and finally they are the keepers of the sacred Agozyen, which used wrongly could make humanity extinct; the artifact was just stolen from a secure locked area. The almost visiting Americans agree to search for the relic, which takes them to a luxury cruise ship, where brutal murders imply the evil has been freed.

Fans of this great series will find the Tibetan journey with its "locked room" (actually niche) mystery and the subsequent lethal cruise trip a refreshing change from the previous terrific Pendergast paranormal sagas. Adding to the always well written supernatural suspense besides the trademark save the world from evil thriller prime story line is whether Constance still carries Diogenes' offspring that humanizes the hero. THE WHEEL OF DARKNESS is a fabulous frightening battle between good and evil with the bad spirits seeming to have the upper hand.

Just Beyond the Clouds
Karen Kingsbury
Center Street
c/o Hachette Publishing Group
237 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017-0010
9781599956770 $14.99 www.amazon.com 1-800-759-0190

Widower Cody Gunner thinks it is time to retire from bull-riding though he is still good at it; the rodeo just no longer has the appeal it once had since his beloved Ali died. Instead he would like to open up a gym for Downs Syndrome adults like his brother Carl Joseph.

Carl likes the idea of a special gym, but disagrees with his sibling on how much help he and others would need. He currently attends a special school that teaches Downs Syndrome people to live independently although Cody thinks that lofty goal is impossible. However, Carl's instructor Elle Dalton believes her student can do it and wants to persuade protective Cody to help not hinder his sibling's progress. Cody and Elle are attracted to one another, but both fears what an intimate relationship between them might do to Carl.

With homage to Rain Man, JUST BEYOND THE CLOUDS is a terrific inspirational romance as Cody and Elle fall in love, but both fears how Carl will react to his brother and mentor becoming a romantic entry. Much of the plot focuses on how people especially the lead duo interact with Carl; thus this is not a typical contemporary romance. Fans will welcome the return of Cody and Carl (see A THOUSAND TOMORROWS) as the former has become even more protective of the latter since Ali died in this well written second chance at love.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Jennifer Rardin
Orbit (Hachette)
9780316020466 $12.99

Jaz Parker left the Helsinger elite team of vampire killers to become a CIA. paranormal operative. She prefers to work alone as she trusts no one; the critical element for an assassin to stay alive.

However, two and a half century old Romanian expatriate Vayl the vampire wants Jasmine as his partner; anyone else would appreciate the honor of having the top CIA. paranormal agent as her cohort, but not her. Still she has no say except to agree to serve as an expendable bodyguard to the revered Vayl though she wonders why her as he is not telling. Vayl believes Jaz has some unique abilities including the skill to sniff out vampires. As they work in Miami investigating Assan, a plastic surgeon with ties to terrorists, she proves worthy when his blood supply is tainted, Jaz gives him her throat. Vayl knows that Jaz and he belong together beyond lead assassin and apprentice assassin; however, his ex-wife Liliana the vampiress with ties to Assan has plans for her former spouse that exclude Jaz, who must die.

This is a terrific contemporary paranormal CIA thriller starring two likable good guys and an assortment of nasty mortals and vampires. The counter terrorist story line is fast-paced with a chick lit bite as Jaz's in your face comments are fun to follow although she needs to be kept on decaf. Vayl is her mentor and much more and yet much less. Although Liliana and Assan show no redeeming qualities beyond perfect matches for Gonzo at Guantomino, fans of supernatural suspense thrillers will want to read ONCE BITTEN, TWICE SHY.

Devices and Desires
K.J. Parker
Orbit
9780316003384 $12.99

Due to its incredible industrial base with advanced technology, the Mezentine Republic is the superpower. Two neighboring people, the Vadani and the Eremians resent their superiority. Whereas the Vandai leadership uses guile in its dealing with the powerful Republic, the Eremians invade only to be slaughtered by their foes due to superior technological weaponry especially the mechanical Scorpions.

However, in the ruins of the slaughter, opportunity arises. Guild foreman and engineer Ziani Vaatzes has fled the Republic to avoid execution for breaking the rules. He offers the Eremians his knowledge of weaponry for safety and the opportunity to see his beloved wife and daughter one last time. However, Mezentines realizing that Ziani may sell them out and attack the Eremians to insure they remain the sole superpower.

The first book of the Engineer Trilogy is a fascinating look at power mostly through the machinations of the scheming lying Ziani, who manipulates people as he climbs the social pyramid to get the support to meet his obsessed goal. He does this with the backdrop of nations selling violence and control as the key to regional ownership of a global economy. Although the antihero Ziani's skills are incredible, luck and coincidence helps him stay alive while his plausibility index is somewhere over Everest and his ethics somewhere in hell as he sacrifices innocent people to further his cause. Still this is an entertaining tale of one man who to achieve his quest requires him to be Machiavelli and Rove.

The Fall of Lucifer
Wendy Alec
Realms
600 Rinehart Rd., Lake Mary, Fl.32746
9781591858140 $12.95

After Yehovah, there is the great trio; regents of the almighty. Lucifer the eldest is the favorite as the light bearer viceroy; Michael is the mightiest warrior and general of the angel army; and Gabriel the youngest recently has arisen to their level as the revelator.

Heaven has been harmonious for eternity until the announcement by Yehovah. He is creating a new race not of angelic matter, but from a DNA coding in his image. None of the angelic horde feels comfortable with the pronouncement, but of the lead threesome, only Lucifer feels betrayed by his heavenly Father. Michael and Gabriel do not understand the rationale behind God's decision, but remain true and loyal as they assume that there are things even they as his immediate lieutenants cannot understand. When Yehovah ignores his plea not create such an abomination, an ouraged Lucifer revolts. Yehovah punishes him by sending him to live on earth with his new species. However, instead of moping, Lucifer as Satan plans to destroy the heavenly monstrosity.

This is an interesting look at THE FALL OF LUCIFER in which the description especially of pre-human heaven is vivid and deep. Lucifer as the title character is fully developed so that when Yehovah announces the new non-angelic species, his anger and disappointment is palatable and remains at that level even after he loses the heavenly battles and becomes exiled; rage keeps him going. Although Yehovah, Michael, Gabriel, and the rest of heaven seem underdeveloped especially next to the emotional three dimensional Lucifer, with a nod to Milton's PARADISE LOST Wendy Alec provides an interesting tale of how the human genome's Godly creation provoked a heavenly war.

Best New Romantic Fantasy 2
Paula Guren, editor
Juno
9780809557844 $13.95

This anthology consists of fifteen well written romantic fantasies published in various sources in 2006. The tales are fun to read as one's soulmate might be a soul stealer as opposites attract and love does not guarantee a fairy tale happy ever after though it does make the Guren world go round; more often elliptical rather than circular. There are no clinkers as each of the chosen stories is a solid entry though the short format does not lend itself to fully developed paranormal elements. Those excellent few that do typically contain a vivid location make the fantasy seem genuine; especially gripping are the haunting coastal "Journey into the Kingdom" by M. Rickert and the forest of "Evergreen" by Angela Boord. Sub-genre readers will appreciate this fine anthology whether the stars are witches, elves, fairies and various assortments of ilk from other realms as a virtual who's who (O'Keefe, Friesner, Monette, etc.) contribute. As an aside the first volume is actually titled the BEST NEW PARANORMAL ROMANCE.

Euryale
Kara Dalkey
Juno
9780809557837 $12.95

In Ancient Rome, Praetor Scipio Hispallus wants fame more than power, but what little he has of both is threatened by Daedalus the slave he freed. Daedalus intimates to his former owner that he will reveal to all of Rome that Hispallus' estranged wife belongs to the banned sect of Bacchus, god of wine and fertility unless he funds the building of an ostentatious bridge. Hispallus panics as he lacks the money needed to appease Daedalus.

An astrologer who is in Hispallus' home to ask a favor tells him of a foreign women Euryale who is offering a fortune to the person who can answer her question: "What can change stone into living flesh"? Hispallus goes to Euryace's home hoping she will fund the bridge, but finds her and her household odd. Her face is totally covered and her hair is bound up so that he cannot see her anything above the neck. Her servants and slaves are blind. She agrees to fund the bridge if she fails to obtain an answer to her question as she is a warm hearted caring person living with a curse from Athena; if people realize what she is, her life will be forfeited.

Kara Dalkey writes a fascinating tale of what happens to a woman cursed by a goddess several centuries earlier. EURYALE is a complex compassionate woman unlike the character portrayed in mythology. Readers will admire her courage and root for her to find a man who can see her through the eyes of love. Hispallus is a much simpler protagonist easy to understand as he seeks acclaim but lacks the wit to do so; he affirms the Peter Principle in Ancient Rome.

Twelve Steps from Darkness
Karen E. Taylor
Juno
9780809557882 $12.95

Alcoholic and prescription drug abuser Laura Wagner destroyed her marriage to professor Tony and her addictions cost her any chance of custody of their two daughters, eight years old Lizzy and twelve years old Mandy. She comes out of a bar and hits the accelerator while in reverse; smashing into the vehicle parked behind hers, a police cruiser driven by Woodland Heights officer Mike Gallagher who remains haunted by the unsolved disappearance of five children.

Three months sober blur by as she is finally is considered a candidate to attend the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. Following her time in rehab, she goes to her new home, but begins to hear voices coaxing her to end her life insisting she would be better off dead than fighting her craving for a drink. Meanwhile Lizzy suffers nightmares that her mommy is hurt and in danger as she insists the voices want mommy dead. As Mike is attracted to Laura in spite of her addictions, Tony is marrying Susan. The voice continues to coax Laura that she is better off dead. She finds the first corpse in her basement, as Lizzie becomes depressed that something wants her mommy dead and will kill those her mommy cherishes to force the final act.

This is an exciting psychological horror thriller as readers will wonder until the climax whether Laura suffers from psychoses or is there something or someone trying to push her over the edge of sanity. Laura keeps the exhilarating story line focused as she struggles with inner demons while trying to remain sober, but the twelve step method that she follows seems to be failing once she begins hearing the voice and having the dreams just like her the nightmares haunting her daughter. Karen E. Taylor provides a deep tale of a woman trying to regain her equilibrium, but in trouble with the audience wondering whether it is mental or demonic.

The Eternal Rose
Gail Dayton
Juno
9780809571659 $13.95

Six years ago in Adara, the demon led rebels were defeated. Subsequently, Kallista Vary was appointed as the Renine. Although she felt good about the victory, she did not feel a celebration was in order, as extended family member Merinda was abducted and remains missing, leaving a hole in the united magic of nine.

Over the years she and her team rescue slave children, but finally word arrives that Merinda and her offspring reside in the household of a rival family in Daryath, the homeland of Kallista's mate Obed. Using the pretense of an official state visit, Kallista and her retinue travel to Daryath to bring home Merinda and her child. However, instead of a simple retrieval, a murder of the godmarked Iliasti occurs most likely by a demon assassin; that is followed by the killing of a Daryath official. Tensions are high and war seems imminent as the demons manipulate behind the scenes.

The final One Rose Trilogy (see THE COMPASS ROSE and THE BARBED ROSE) is a terrific conclusion to a fascinating fantasy although it helps to have read the previous two stories in the saga in spite a cleverly interwoven "history". Kallista holds the exciting plot together as she and her complicated multiple partners make the Dayton universe seems real, which is the key to this fine tale of magic, demons, and killers. Fans will appreciate the wrap up and cast a spell on the author for more tales in this inventive realm.

The Jane Austen Book Club
Karen Joy Fowler
Plume
c/o Penguin Group, USA
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780452289000 $14.00 www.us.penguingroup.com 1-800-847-5515

Six people with a "private Austen" philosophy decide to form the "all-Jane-Austen-all-the-time book club". Jocelyn's private Jane is love without marriage; Bernadette felt Austen was a comedic genius; Sylvia's private though is she is everyone's favorite single female relative; Grigg the lone male member seeks the masculinity of Jane; Allegra's Austen wants financial female independence; Prudie desires solace in reinterpretation and early death.

Over the months this sextet discussed Austenian views on the requirements by society to marry whether love entered the relationship or not and other societal demands on individuals to conform. However, these discussions serve as back drop to the emotional uproars in each of their lives. Jocelyn has never tasted love and fears she never will; Prudie desires untouchable males, but wants never to have a fantasy thought about her spouse; Bernadette in her sixties figures she can do anything so no longer uses a mirror to look perfect; Sylvia is heartbroken as she loves her spouse even as they divorce; Allegra and her girlfriend split; Grigg understands first hand unrequited love.

This well written complex character study is not an easy book to read as the story line focuses on the modern issues of six people rotating perspective. There is a somewhat nebulous link to Jane Austen via the "private" Austen inside of each of the sextet's psyche, but that is secondary to the issues each confronts. Fans of contemporary character driven fiction will enjoy this fine tale once the nuance of the methodology employed by Karen Joy Fowler is grasped; this reviewer came close initially to quit reading, but fortunately (for my sake) continued into the second pass and became hooked.

Spanish Bow
Andromeda Romano-Lax
Harcourt Books
15 East 26th Street, 15th floor, New York, NY 10010
9780151015429 $25.00 1-800-543-1918 www.harcourtbooks.com

In 1892 their father worked as a customs officer in Cuba until he died due to rebels setting off an explosion that burned down the building he and nine other men worked. Several months later, his remains in a coffin arrive by train in Campo Seco where the Delargo family lives. His widow and five children, four boys and a girl, struggle to survive yet the matriarch refuses to consider any suitors.

One of the offspring, Feliu shows musical talent so when he turned fourteen his mother escorts him to Barcelona so that he can be properly taught. Surprisingly, a cello tutor accepts Feliu as a student. Over the next few decades Feliu affirms his promise of being a child prodigy as he becomes a favorite. He also meets temperamental but talented pianist Justo Al-Cerra. They begin to tour the top halls together. Soon afterward Jewish Italian violinist Aviva changes the duet to a trio as the Spanish Civil War explodes and stopping Hitler by appeasement fails.

This interesting historical fiction provides readers with an enjoyable look at Europe through much of the first half of the twentieth century. In some ways Feliu Delargo comes across as a Forest Gump type figure who happens to be performing at key during pivotal historical moments rather than an autobiographical fiction. Yet Andromeda Romano-Lax captures the essence of the renowned cellist's life as the role of the arts in influencing the ethics of society is an underlying theme.

Soul Catcher
Michael White
William Morrow & Company
c/o HarperCollins Publishers
10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299
9780061340727 $24.95 www.harpercollins.com 1-800-242-7737

Somewhat crippled Mexican War veteran Cain owes a large debt to vicious Virginia plantation owner Mr. Eberly so he accepts the assignment to find and return runaway slaves Rosetta and Henry. As much as insuring the fugitive slave-catcher performs his task as assisting him, Eberly assigns three of his employees to accompany Cain.

Cain follows the trail through New York to Boston where he finally captures the two runaways. However, Rosetta remains uncooperatively defiant as she has decided death is better than returning to the abusive Eberly. Henry is a bit more compliant, but looks for a chance to escape on the trek back to Virginia and hell. As they journey together, Cain begins to see his prisoners as people not beasts of burden, but to liberate the pair means death for him and probably them.

This pre-Civil War historical thriller provides a fabulous account of a nation struggling for its soul. Cain in many ways is symbolic of the non-slave states of the United States in the 1850s as he does not care one way or the other about slavery except how it affects him by allowing him to earn a living until he escorts his latest runaways back to their owner. As he gets to know the pair, he begins to wonder what he is doing to real people. A chance for redemption is his, but the price might prove high. Although much of the support cast seems overly stereotypical, Cain makes for a strong morality tale.

Death and the Devil
Frank Schatzing
Morrow
9780061349485 $25.95

In 1260 in Cologne, German architect Gerhard Morart continues to lead the construction of the greatest cathedral the world has ever known. A dozen years since he and others began the pious project, Morart and his select crew build the rising spires of this extraordinary ecclesiastical edifice at the same time an acrimonious war between the church and the merchant middle class has divided the city. The archbishop of Cologne and the ruling merchants see the profit to be made from this incredible complex cathedral as each wants to own and control it.

Suddenly with the end somewhat in sight, homicide takes control of the hostilities. Someone pushes Morart off of the partially completed roof to his death in the street below. No witness steps forward. However, the sly thief Jacob the Fox not only saw who shoved the architect off the scaffolding, but heard Morart's final words. However the killer saw Jacob and he and his fellow conspirators know who this witness is from his red hair. They swarm the city planning to kill him and anyone he is seen talking to as no one must know the truth re who assassinated the architect.

DEATH AND THE DEVIL is a terrific historical fiction tale based on the real death of the Cologne Cathedral master architect Morart in 1260. Readers know early on who killed him (and subsequently others) and the identities of his fellow conspirators, but not why Morart had to die. Besides a deep look at thirteenth century Cologne, readers obtain a sense of the power struggle between a rising pragmatic merchant society (the medieval middle class) and the Church. Genre readers will fully appreciate the talent of Frank Schatzing, as this is a winner even in translation from the original German.

Empire Rising
Sam Barone
Morrow
9780060892463 $25.95

In 2500 BC in Mesopotamia, the Alur Meriki warrior chieftain Thutmose-sin declares to his brutal pillaging followers that the farming village of 2000 residents on the Tigris Orak must be destroyed as it imposes on their lifestyle by defying the natural order. Instead these "dirt-eater" farmers led by former barbaric warrior Eskkar and his enslaved mistress Trella defeat the mighty army saving the city (see DAWN OF EMPIRE).

The war hero and his now wife rule Orak still struggle with nomadic raiders who Eskkar and Trella believe must be defeated in order for the city to flourish and expand. He takes an expedition north while sending another troop to the south. The Egyptian trader Korthac has plans to take control of the city from within while the warrior ruler is out conquering. Korthac sends assassins to kill Eskkar and loyal warrior bandits to ambush the southern Akkadian force. He captures the pregnant Lady Trella while using stealth and more assassination to destroy the protectors of the city left behind. He almost has control of the city, which means it is time to kill Trella, who is of no value once the devious Korthac consolidates his rule. However, one failure unbeknownst to the scheming Egyptian is that Eskkar lives with plans to save his wife and his city.

This terrific Early Bronze Age historical sequel continues the adventures of Trella and Eskkar at a point when civilization is taking its first steps from the cradle. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of third millennium BC action especially the battles. However, this fine ancient historical belongs to the sense of time and place as the reader will believe you are there.

The Master Bedroom
Tessa Hadley
Henry Holt & Company
175 - 5th Avenue, Suite 400, New York, NY 10010-7725
9780805080766 $26.00 www.henryholt.com 1-888-330-8477

After more than two decades in London's academic circle, Russian Literature professor Kate Flynn returns to her hometown of Cardiff, Wales to care for her aging mother, Billie. However, without her career or her literary friends, Kate feels somewhat out of place at home. When she meets childhood friend Dr. David Roberts at a concert, Kate is interested as she was attracted to him as a teen and apparently still is.

However, David is married to Suzie, whose recent behavior of vanishing for days and ignoring their children and him when she is home worries the family. He finds temporary sanctuary with Kate. David's seventeen-year-old son Jamie also finds comfort with Kate; as her artsy eccentricity makes her seem so much younger than his parents. As the two Roberts court Kate in their differing peculiar ways, she tries to keep the triangle from imploding.

This is an interesting romantic triangle starring three fully developed protagonists. Kate is the prime focus of the story line of a woman in a middle age crisis dealing with an older mom and no vocation to keep her mind from wandering. Adding to her being the star is obviously the two males who desire her while she wants the older one without harming the younger one. Fans of deep character studies will appreciate Tessa Hadley discerning look at a woman at the crossroads of her life.

Narcissus
Don D'Ammassa
Five Star Books
295 Kennedy Memorial Drive, Waterville, ME 04901
9781594146084 $25.95 1-800-223-1244

Sandor Dyle is a galaxy famous patterns analyst who has solved some very high profile cases. At the moment he is on vacationing traveling on the starship Helen of Troy with his friend and companion Maryum Dunnis. There are two artificial personalities on board; Mennor who has the personality of a grouchy old man and Eco who deals with the public evoking the image of a sexy siren. Dyle wakes up one night and feels something is wrong and the room is ominously quiet.

The Captain asks him to help identify a saboteur-killer on board. He accepts because of the challenge and because he doesn't want any more trouble on board. While investigating the sabotage, one of the passengers Magnus Mercator, hated throughout the galaxy because of his war crimes committed when he and the Lysandrans took over his world of Cathanor. He became their puppet leader and when the aliens were thrown out, Mercator was exiled. The thinking is that Eco, who has the ability to watch over anyone on the ship, was destroyed in the explosion so that someone could kill Mercator. Dyle isn't so sure so he studies the patterns seeking to hone in on the killer.

Don D'Ammassa writes a fantastic double mystery science fiction thriller. The differences between artificial personalities (AP) and Artificial Intelligences (AI) play a crucial role in the resolution of the mystery even though it doesn't reveal which being committed the sabotage. The description of the ship with all its advanced technology enables readers believe they are visiting a time in the future in space. The author is a great worldbuilder who will appeal to fans of mysteries and science fiction.

The Day After Yesterday
Wayne D. Dundee
Five Stars
9781594145926 $25.95

From Ogallala, Nebraska Abby Bridger calls private investigator Joe Hannibal to inform him her Uncle Bomber Brannigan and his companion Liz Grimaldi died in a nearby car crash. A stunned Joe leaves his home Rockford, Illinois to attend the funeral of his two best friends.

Nine days after the funeral, an upset Abby calls Joe informing him something is not right about the deaths of Bomber and Liz. Deputy Clint Barnstable was the first law enforcement official on the scene and he reported alcohol and the pair were having sex when they took a turn way too fast. Abby and Joe know Bomber cannot drink and would not, and that the pair were close buddies but not lovers; someone rigged the crime scene. Joe agrees to return to the Cornhusker state to investigate, not yet realizing that he will soon be dealing with a militia, Homeland Security agents, an enigmatic undercover Fed, and a Russian terrorist; but none of that matches his female troubles or the need to rescue Abby's kidnapped child.

This is an interesting Great Plains conspiracy thriller starring a hard boiled private investigator skirmishing with the government, the militia, and a terrorist. The subplot involving Joe with his estranged girlfriend is well written; however his romantic involvement with Abby feels more like a sub-genre requirement that detracts from an otherwise strong tale of betrayals.

Spanish Eyes
Jackie Griffey
Five Stars
9781594146145 $26.95

Legal immigrant Elena Castillo comes to Las Flores seeking her brother Carlos and their cousin Jorge Brazos, who legally cross the border to work on construction projects. The two men are out of town working at an isolated location. Las Flores College art teacher Oliver Avery notices Elena at the mall and suddenly believes in love at first site.

Carlos' pregnant wife Carlotta and his teenage younger brother Juan illegally cross the border from Mexico because she wants her child born in America. They obtain work at the Santa Maria de Las Flores mission. His siblings and wife remain ignorant to the fact that Carlos and Jorge are in danger from an unscrupulous contractor who will cheat the immigrant work force and kill those who threaten their enterprise. Elena trusts Oliver with what she knows happened to Carlos and Jorge, but though attracted to him fears the connection his best friend Matt has with the sheriff when it comes to her younger brother and sister-in-law.

SPANISH EYES paints a different picture of legal and illegal immigrants than is typically discussed in Congress at least on the fence side of the issue. Instead of terrorists committing crimes and stealing jobs, the illegals are described as abused and used. Although the villains (American contractors) have no redeeming qualities as they behave more like Dickensian capitalists taking advantage of no legal recourse for illegals and to a degree legals, readers will appreciate this entertaining romantic suspense in which most crossing the border seek economic freedom in spite of allegedly NAFTA sent the jobs to Mexico.

Tom Wasp and the Murdered Summer
Amy Myers
Five Stars
9781594145933 $25.95

Master Flue Faker Tom Wasp met Bessie Barton when artist Valentine Drake asked him sit with her for a portrait he was painting. Tom and Bessie become friends. So when her murdered corpse is found on an embankment of the Thames, a grieving Tom vows to uncover the identity of her killer.

As Tom and his chimney sweep assistant eleven year old Ned clean the flues, they investigate the homicide. The most likely suspect is Moonman, who Bessie feared and fled from, but Tom has never met and has no idea who he is. He also considers the artists like Valentine who hired Bessie on occasion as a model. However, no matter how hard they clean and dig, Tom knows he will never capture the smile of Bessie except in his dreams, which currently are nightmares.

This is a fascinating late Victorian whodunit that in many ways is more historical than mystery. The story line is very vivid as it cleverly sets the time via tidbits like the year after Prince Albert died and the employment of a pre-teen as a chimney sweep. Fans of late nineteenth century tales with a different flavor will want to read this fine amateur sleuth, as Tom tells the saga of Bessie from his "flue theory of life" perspective.

Silver Master
Jayne Castle
Jove Books
c/o The Berkley Publishing Group
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
9780515143553 $7.99 1-800-847-5515

On Harmony two centuries since the Curtain closed in Jackson's Old World Finds, her dust bunny Araminta persuades Celinda Ingram to buy the odd looking red plastic. However, not long after she makes her purchase, Oakes Security specialist Davis Oakes and Cadence City Police Detective Alice Martinez question the Promises, Inc. matchmaker after he found the murdered corpse of thief Alvis Shaw whose body was in the alley outside of Jackson's Old World Finds. Davis also insists that the item Celinda bought yesterday ay Jackson's was stolen from his client Mercer Wyatt boss of the Cadence Guild. He demands she return it to him.

Celinda wants nothing to do with Cadence Guild having only bad memories of her dealings with them. Hence she wants to give the relic to Davis so that the Guild stays out of her life; the only problem is Araminta has vanished taking the object with her. Davis sends his dust bunny in pursuit. Meanwhile an unknown adversary tries to kill the matchmaker and the investigator as this foe wants possession of the artifact.

Fans of the amusing Harmony fantasy romances will enjoy the return to Jayne Castle's creative world in what is more of a detective tale this time. The story line is fast-paced as a reluctant Celinda and a gung ho Davis follow the dust bunny trail while eluding a killer. Celinda makes the tale with her first rule of never get involved with Guild business; even when they owe you they invariably pay off by hurting you that is if they don't kill you. Ms. Castle provides a fun lighthearted investigative romantic romp.

Sword of God
Chris Kuzneski
Jove
9780515143560 $7.99

The MANIAC Special Forces are an elite ops team who do wet work in the field; their members consist of the best men from all branches of the armed forces. Jonathan Payne, a business man who was once a MANIAC leader and ex-soldier P.J. Jones who works for his company are visited by Colonel Harrington who tells them that a covert member Trevor has disappeared.

The colonel hopes Payne and Jones can find him or at least learn what happened to him. They are flown to Jejo Island where Trevor was last supposed to be running black ops. They find a blood splattered cave that looks like a slaughter house. An eight year old boy was in the cave and sees the blood everywhere in the cave. When Payne and Jones catch up with them the boy tells then what he has seen and heard that caused American soldiers to wipe out a village on the island. Using the information the boy gives them, they fly to Mecca to prevent an incident that would anger every Muslim and demand a Jihad for the destruction of the United States.

SWORD OF GOD is an over the mountain action packed thrill a minute novel that is reminiscent of the works of Jack Higgins and tom Clancy. The scariest think about this novel is that it is believable as it seems a modern day Crusades appears inevitable. The friendship and trust that Payne and Jones share after much work is touching and adds a measure of humanization as they play their part against the stage of world events.

My Immortal
Erin McCarthy
Jove
9780515143485 $7.99

In 1790 in River Road, Louisiana, wicked plantation owner Damien du Bourg makes a devil's bargain with a fallen angel; in exchange for his loyalty, he receives immortal life. Two centuries later, he still lives while bringing converts to his master by spreading lust to anyone who comes in contact with him.

Marley Turner knows her sister vanished somewhere near New Orleans. When she finds Damien's plantation, she is shocked by the lewd decadence of the place. Yet she also sees inside the heart to the soul of the owner to his agonized vulnerability. To his shock, for the first in two hundred plus years of life, Damien wants a woman. However, besides his owner, Damien knows his two plus centuries of sins makes him unworthy of the angelic woman he loves.

Though a well written paranormal romance, MY IMMORTAL goes much deeper as Damien believes he is unworthy although he risks his existence for what he assumes is his only redemption, keeping his beloved safe especially from the owner of his soul. The story line is fast-paced and filled with action as the audience anticipates the confrontation with Damien being pulled by good and evil. His muses on responsibility and accountably for one's actions and paying the price for one's deeds with real sacrifice is a stark contrast to the neo DC of reaping the benefits while someone else is BLED DRY. Erin McCarthy provides a thought provoking fabulous supernatural romance.

Dance With Me, My Lovely
Jaye Roycraft
ImaJinn Books
PO Box 545, Canon City, CO 81215-0545
9781933417295 12.00 imajinnbooks.com

They first lay eyes on each other at the male strip club, The Pony Express. Lucius Santangelo, who in his undead life is Garran Lux and Cate Greenbrood, a psychic practitioner of the shamanic arts, are attracted to one another. Garran uses the club as a hunting ground to find a woman for sex and blood. Cate and Garran connect on the psychic plane and she sees a vision of a dead woman whom she believes is a person from his past.

Garran is in trouble because more and more his vampire side is in control causing him to be the hunter that his human impulses keep in check. He decides to go to a magic practitioner and by luck or destiny he picks Cate. She believes he needs a soul retrieval so they journey to the Land of the Dead where she sees him as a desiccated corpse. They don't find his lost spirit and return home. They give in to the passion that flows between them and she starts to make another journey to the Land of the Dead where she learns the truth of what he is and turns away from him just like the woman in the vision did that they met on the psychic plane. Only by accepting what he is will those two have a chance to make a relationship based on intimacy work.

Jaye Roycraft is one of the best paranormal romance authors writing today. She slowly builds up the relationship and that of each others powers to make the reader feel as if they are part of that unseen world. This is a sizzling fantastic vampire romance but the lovemaking is necessary to the storyline. Cate is Garran's equal in power which is one of the reasons this novella is bloody delicious.

Savage Skies
Cassie Edwards
Leisure Books
c/o Dorchester Publishing Company
200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
9780843955378 $6.99 1-800-481-9191

In 1851 Wyoming Territory, Chief Grey Eyes of the White Owl Assiniboine tribe asks his friend Chief Blue Thunder of the Wind Band of the Assiniboine for help. Comanche raiders attacked his tribe, already decimated by smallpox, abducing warriors and horses; he wants them back but need his friend's warriors to help. Reluctantly Blue Thunder agrees.

Shirleen has had enough of her abusive husband, as she fears for their four year old daughter, apparently taken by her spouse. However, before she cans escape with her child, Comanches raid their homestead. They take her, but fail to take her child. Chiefs Blue Thunder and Grey Eyes and their warriors attack the Comanche rescuing Shirleen. As Blue Thunder and Shirleen search for her daughter before she is harmed, the chief and the wife fall in love.

As always the amazing Cassie Edwards uses the same plot device of a noble male Indian, a caring tolerant to all people white female, and an abusive white male to provide her fans with a wonderful historical romance. The well written story line enables readers to see the ravages on the Indians by diseases like smallpox brought by the whites. SAVAGE SKIES showcases why Ms. Edwards remains a long time sub-genre favorite as she writes her one hundredth novel, mostly Indian romances.

Where Souls Collide
Stefanie Worth
Leisure
9780843959703 $6.99

Detroit Dispatch reporter Navena Larimore is stunned when she sees former NBA star and community activist Maxwell McKnight in her offices space. The "six foot seven inch demigod" informs her that he is the new executive editor of the paper. She is stunned to find herself working for the man who broke her heart fourteen years ago at Hillside College; especially since it takes him all of ten minutes to anger her.

Navena struggles with visions of someone being murdered. She is unaware that her mom sixteen years ago to ease her from the pain of "seeing" her dad die had tampered with her psychic gift. Maxwell, who wants Navena back in his personal life, scoffs at her dreams until he realizes she is the real thing and she is his lifemate, but to persuade her to let him fully in her life will prove a test of time and souls.

WHERE SOULS COLLIDE is a complex paranormal romantic suspense thriller starring two fascinating lead characters who battle each other and their karma. The story line is far from linear, but retains a delightful fluidity even as it goes back and forth in time. Fans who enjoy a multifaceted tale of love will appreciate this fine Motor City romance that is worth reading.

The Bone Man
Vicki Stiefel
Leisure
9780843959376 $7.99

The founder and head of MGAP (Massachusetts Grief Assistance Program), Tally Whyte has left her job since her foster mother, Massachusetts medical examiner Veda Barrow died. Her replacement Addy Morgridge asks her to come in to see an amazing archeological find. An Anasazi pot with a skull in it was found in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. A forensic archeologist Didi Cravitz reconstructed the skull and the face looks exactly like Delphine who owns the Native Arts. Her assistant Zoe says she is on a on a buying trip and doesn't want to be disturbed.

When Tally goes back to see Didi, she finds her dead lying in a pool of blood. Didi used her last seconds of life to write an incomplete message in her blood on the floor. Nobody else sees the writing a male is in the store gets rough with Tally asking where the fetish is. Tally figures out what Didi started to write with her blood. She gets shot at, attacked, and ends up in the hospital. She realizes to find the answers she has to go to Chaco Canyon where she is shot at, attacked and ends up needing medical attention. She refuses to give up her quest at finding out what everyone wants the fetish partly because it is a treasure but mostly because she doesn't know why so many people are willing to kill to get it.

This is an amazing thriller with action on almost every page. The paranormal elements fit right into the storyline making it more realistic since Le Pueblo tribes and the Anasazi practice magic. The heroine is strong, independent and sees things nobody else does, things that save her life. She is determined to find out what is going on with the fetish and wouldn't stop even if it puts her in danger. Vicki Stiefel writes a brilliant psychological thriller.

Lord of the Fading Lands
C. L. Wilson
Leisure
9780843959772 $7.99

When his beloved Sariel died in combat Fey king Rain Tairen Soul went berserk and destroyed much of the realm even as his side defeated the evil wizards of Eld. Now a thousand years later he still grieves, but worries that soon his people the fairy will become extinct. Desperate to save his race, Rain ignores the taboo of touching the sacred Eye of Truth in order to learn if there is some way to save his people.

What the Eye showed him after beating the arrogance out of his soul, is a secret. Rain heads a half of continent away to the mortal city of Celieria where apparently resides his lost soul mate, Ellysetta Baristaini, an unacceptable female for their Tairen by the Fey nobles as she is a woodcarver's daughter. At the same time that Rain begins courting, the wizards of Eld want to use this expendable woman as a pawn to enable them to destroy the Tairen.

LORD OF THE FADING LANDS is an entertaining opening romantic fantasy that will please fans of both genres. As with many epic fantasies, the story line focuses on introducing the key characters and the setting so that action is somewhat limited to the romance and to a degree the plotting of the malevolent wizards. Still C. L. Wilson provides a fascinating tale with a solid premise of a dying race, which will bring plenty of fans to this debut, who also will eagerly look forward to the sequel.

Undercover in High Heels
Gemma Halliday
Leisure
9780843958348 $6.99

TV soap Magnolia Lane's wardrobe assistant Maddie Springer becomes jealous when she finds her boyfriend police detective Jack Ramirez with an amazon at the cabana Club after he broke a date with her. She confronts him leading to an incident in which guns are drawn and Isabel the amazon places Maddie in a hold that Hulk Hogan would be proud to have used. The aftermath is Ramirez is temporarily demoted to celebrity bodyguard duty as Isabel was providing evidence against her boyfriend, but instead has gone MIA.

To atone for her interfering with his assignment, Maddie enlists her best friend Dana to uncover the identity of who is sending threatening notes to the soap's star Mia Carletto. When Mia is found dead and Maddie begins to receive threatening notes, the case turns personal. However, as she and Dana dig for clues in spite of Ramirez profusely telling her to stay out of the investigation, tabloid reporter Feliz Dunn will do anything including risking the life of Maddie to get the story.

As always no one can get into more trouble in high heels faster than Maddie can as she leaps into one mess after another or causes the mess. Lighthearted inane fun, readers will appreciate the over the Hollywood Hills sign heroine's antics to make up for the turmoil she caused Ramirez by trying to solve the murder case chick lit style. This actually means causing more tsuris for Ramirez, who realistically has lost patience with Maddie.

The Eagle and the Dove
Victoria Morrow
Leisure
9780843958423 $4.99

Bostonian Katherine Dory accompanies her father and her fiance by rail through Colorado when a gang of outlaws kidnap her. Jesse McCallum was following these killers who murdered his father. By killing them he rescues Katherine.

She persuades him to escort her up the Sangre de Cristo Mouintains. As they journey together, they cannot resist their attraction for one another; Jesse and Katherine are "married" in a mountain ceremony; they make love right afterward. Her fiance finds her so as the dutiful woman she returns to her privileged lifestyle in Boston, but her heart and soul remains in the Rocky Mountains.

THE EAGLE AND THE DOVE is a fascinating Americana historical romance starring two people who their contemporaries would say are an unlikely pairing as she is a Boston Brahmin and he is a mountain man. Readers will wonder whether Katherine will marry her typecast upper crust snob of a fiance or return to the Rockies where she found the high of love. This well written though stereotypical mid nineteenth century romance highlights the purity of the wilderness vs. the contamination of the big city.

The Penguin Who Knew Too Much
Donna Andrews
Thomas Dunne Books
c/o St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
9780312329426 $23.95 1-888-330-8477

Meg Langslow and her fiance Michael Waterston are moving into their renovated home in Caerphilly, Virginia with the help (an extremely loose use of the word help that is) of her dad and her relatives from mom's side. Dad suddenly leaves the basement to inform his daughter that he ran into a slight problem while digging a swimming hole for the penguins he adopted from a bankrupt zoo; he dug up a corpse.

The police investigate, but struggle with identifying the John Doe. The assumption made by the townsfolk and fostered by Meg's family is that the deceased is the bankrupt zoo's missing owner. Thus those who were fostering animals no longer want them on their property so they drop them off at Meg's place. Meg and Michael discuss eloping early to elude the menagerie; that is the two legged beasts who share her DNA. However, first there is a question of who killed and interred the body in their basement.

This jocular whodunit is a terrific tale that will leave the audience laughing especially with some outrageous slapstick yet the humor remains inside a strong mystery. The incredibly calm Meg does not blink as animals run amok and her family is even more out of control. Fans will appreciate her calm juggling act as Donna Andrews provides a great entry in what may be the best humor-mystery series on the market today.

The Courtyard
Marcia Willett
Dunne
9780312306687 $13.95

In 1988 in Bristol, England, former naval officer John Woodward tries to make a go at it as a landlubber realtor. His wife Nell is still adjusting to having John home all the time while he adapts to not giving orders to her; their young son Jack attends boarding school so he is not around to act as a buffer although his mom fears he would only receive more commands.

At about the same time that the Woodward's marriage turns shaky, Henry Morley converts his Nethercombe Court estate's stables into a housing project the Courtyard. However, Henry, though recently married to Gillian, has marital problems as his bride fails to adapt to country life after she's seen London. Nell and Henry's elderly cousin Gussie Merton arrive at Nethercombe to visit and congratulate the latter's nephew Henry on his recent marriage. Soon marital relationships become challenged as the unhappy Nell and equally disenchanted Henry find kindred spirits in one another.

This is an entertaining English complex relationship drama starring five fully developed characters; each with their own personalities, flaws and desires that do not always mesh well with their partner's needs. Marcia Willets' fans will keep on reading with a need to know who ends up with whom. Although the ending seems too perfect, the audience will still appreciate THE COURTYARD, a deep look at how we get along, or for that matter hid

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Klausner's Bookshelf	Laurel's Bookshelf	Shelley's Bookshelf
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