Mysteries
Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder
by Maria DiRico
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Astoria, Queens, is decorated within an inch of its life for the Christmas season, and Mia Carina is juggling her job at the Belle View catering hall with a case of murder . . .
Mia’s busy with a full schedule of events at the family business—among them an over-the-top Nativity-themed first birthday party and a Sweet Sixteen for a teen drama queen. But her personal life is even more challenging. Her estranged mother has returned—and her lifelong friend Jamie has discovered a shocking secret about his past. He’s so angry that he starts hanging out with Lorenzo, who claims to be his long-lost brother—even after it becomes clear that Lorenzo’s story is as fake as a plastic Christmas tree.
No Plan B
by Lee Child, Andrew Child
Rating: 4.2 #ad
In Gerrardsville, Colorado, a woman dies under the wheels of a moving bus. The death is ruled a suicide. But Jack Reacher saw what really happened: A man in a gray hoodie and jeans, moving stealthily, pushed the victim to her demise—before swiftly grabbing the dead woman’s purse and strolling away.
When another homicide is ruled an accident, Reacher knows this is no coincidence. With a killer on the loose, Reacher has no time to waste to track down those responsible.
No Way Out
by Fern Michaels
Rating: 4.1 #ad
Ellie Bowman barely remembers the incident that put her into a coma. When she awoke, filled with unease, all she knew for certain was that her boyfriend, Rick, was missing. She knew she needed to get away from her old life and recover in safety. With the proceeds of a video game she helped develop, Ellie starts over in rural Missouri, working from her cottage and trusting no one except her friend and business partner.
Yet even in this quiet small town, it’s impossible to completely isolate herself. Especially when a curious eight-year-old boy, smitten with Ellie’s pup, stops by every day to talk to him over the fence…
The Monster in the Box
by Ruth Rendell
Rating: 4.0 #ad
Over the years there are more unsolved, apparently motiveless murders in the town of Kingsmarkham.
Now, half a lifetime later, Wexford spots Targo back in Kingsmarkham after a long absence. Wexford tells his longtime partner, Mike Burden, about his suspicions, but Burden dismisses them as fantasy. Meanwhile, Burden’s wife, Jenny, has suspicions of her own. She believes that the Rahmans, a highly respectable immigrant family from Pakistan, may be forcing their daughter, Tamima, into an arranged marriage—or worse.
Fentanyl, Inc.
by Ben Westhoff
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A four-year investigation into the world of synthetic drugs—from black market factories to users & dealers to harm reduction activists—and what it revealed.
A deeply human story, Fentanyl, Inc. is the first deep-dive investigation of a hazardous and illicit industry that has created a worldwide epidemic, ravaging communities and overwhelming and confounding government agencies that are challenged to combat it. “A whole new crop of chemicals is radically changing the recreational drug landscape,” writes Ben Westhoff. “These are known as Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) and they include replacements for known drugs like heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. They are synthetic, made in a laboratory, and are much more potent than traditional drugs” —and all-too-often tragically lethal.
The Cellist
by Daniel Silva
Rating: 4.1 #ad
From Daniel Silva, the internationally acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author, comes a timely and explosive new thriller featuring art restorer and legendary spy Gabriel Allon.
Viktor Orlov had a longstanding appointment with death. Once Russia’s richest man, he now resides in splendid exile in London, where he has waged a tireless crusade against the authoritarian kleptocrats who have seized control of the Kremlin. His mansion in Chelsea’s exclusive Cheyne Walk is one of the most heavily protected private dwellings in London. Yet somehow, on a rainy summer evening, in the midst of a global pandemic, Russia’s vengeful president finally manages to cross Orlov’s name off his kill list.
Foolish Desires
by M. Scott Swanson
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Too bad my paranormal “gifts” don’t include body sculpting. I have the perfect costume for Mama’s open house, if I can fit my curves in it.
The home Mama selected for this year’s haunted house party has an extra guest upstairs.
What I need is an opportunity with a law firm. What I get is a drink with an attractive business mogul. I’m supposed to be taking a break from guys until I get my cattywampus career on track. But we can talk. Right?
I’m assigned the defense of a terrorist. Al-Qaeda? ISIS? No, not hardly. Still, the FBI is out for blood. I’ll have to be my sharpest to keep an innocent out of prison.
Saturday’s Mystery eBooks
Deadly Editions
by Paige Shelton
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A treasure hunt through Edinburgh gives way to a search for a villain terrorizing the city in the sixth Scottish Bookshop Mystery.
It’s a quiet, snowy morning at The Cracked Spine bookshop, when bookseller Delaney Nichols receives a mysterious visitor, a messenger. He presents her with a perplexing note: an invitation to a meeting with eccentric socialite Shelagh O’Conner, who requests Delaney’s participation in an exclusive treasure hunt. Delaney is intrigued, but also cautious: Shelagh, while charming in person, has a reputation for her hijinks as a wealthy young woman in the ’70s. She was even once suspected for the murder of a former boyfriend, though ultimately cleared of all charges.
No Darker Place
by Debra Webb
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Detective Bobbie Gentry has one objective: to stop the serial killer who robbed her of her husband, her child and her life. Nick Shade understands Bobbie’s pain—and her desire for vengeance. He’s on a mission of his own, and the murderer known as the Storyteller is next on his list.
Nick knows that the best way to find his target is to stick close to Bobbie. But as she becomes more and more reckless in her attempts to lure the Storyteller out of hiding, he must make a choice. Will he protect her from herself even if it means passing up the chance to take out one more monster?
Facing the Darkness
by H. L. Wegley
Rating: 5.0 #ad
She scuttled the CCP’s biowarfare plans.
When they catch her, she will pay.
Dr. Meiling Chen, a brilliant young virologist from the Hong Kong Medical School, is on the verge of a major breakthrough for manipulating the entire class of RNA viruses that would make gain of function hardly more than child’s play. She is offered an attractive postdoctoral fellowship at the Wuhan Institute of Virology to complete her work, and she accepts.
Knowing the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) plans to use her work to create deadly bioweapons, she memorizes but does not document her important findings, deletes all her data files, and tries to escape to America with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) agents in pursuit.
One Fine Mess
by Mark Petersen
Rating: 3.7 #ad
All Jules Nichols wants is to off her abusive hubby. But soon the baddies are popping up everywhere, the staties are suspicious, and her wacko sister won’t go away. There’s also that darn head in a box. It’s no time to lose her own head. But who could’ve known it’d be so hard to commit one little murder?
“Action-packed, suspenseful, and surprising.” — Manhattan Book Review
Undone
by Karin Slaughter
Rating: 4.5 #ad
In the trauma center of Atlanta’s busiest hospital, Sara Linton treats the city’s poor, wounded, and unlucky – and finds refuge from the tragedy that rocked her life in rural Grant County. Then, in one instant, Sara is thrust into a frantic police investigation, coming face-to-face with a tall driven detective and his quiet female partner…. In Undone, three unforgettable characters from Karin Slaughter’s New York Times bestselling novels Faithless and Fractured collide for the first time, entering an electrifying race against the clock – and a duel with unspeakable human evil.
In the backwoods of suburban Atlanta, where Sara’s patient was found, local police have set up their investigation.
Sizzle
by Julie Garwood
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Lyra Prescott, a Los Angeles film student, is closing in on graduation and dives into work on her final filmmaking assignment: a documentary transformed by a twist of fate into a real-life horror film. While working on her project, a rash of mysterious incidents convince Lyra that she’s trapped in a sinister scenario headed for a violent ending. Running scared, she turns to her best friend, Sidney Buchanan, whose connections bring devilishly handsome FBI agent Sam Kincaid into Lyra’s life.
As the noose of intrigue tightens, the passion between Lyra and Sam escalates with dangerous intensity. With the rugged FBI agent beside her, Lyra must learn to let down her defenses and follow her heart—even if that leads to deadly peril.
Route 666
by J.D. Toepfer
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Winner of the 2022 American Writing Awards for Horror Fiction
Ignorance is truly blissful. The more you learn about things, the more you’re going to wish you didn’t know.
It is human nature to dream and plan for an idyllic future. But random twists of fate have caused Jack Aitken’s dreams to be altered, postponed, or abandoned. He’s played by the rules all his life, but living years on the knife’s edge has drained him mentally and spiritually. Now, he has a plan to change the trajectory of his life.
Chasing his dream of becoming an author, Jack completely throws himself into researching Route 666, a road closed by the government due to an unusual number of deadly accidents.
Friday’s Mystery eBooks
The Itch of Murder
by Christa Nardi
Rating: 4.6 #ad
A well-dressed man killed at a demolition site, at night in a snow storm.
Izzie Di Sante loves a challenge and Chance Corcoran’s murder sparks her curiosity. While managing the day-to-day business of the family restaurant, she searches for some connection between the victim and the site of the future Elite Townhomes. A co-worker of the victim disappears, the foreperson of the construction site is injured, and someone’s after Izzie. In the midst of planning an Easter buffet, she smells a connection between his murder and a new elite housing development. Can she solve the case before everything comes crumbling down?
Be Careful What You Wish For
by Jeffrey Archer
Rating: 4.3 #ad
When Ross Buchanan is forced to resign as chairman of the Barrington Shipping Company, Emma Clifton wants to replace him. But Don Pedro Martinez intends to install his puppet, the egregious Major Alex Fisher, in order to destroy the Barrington family firm just as the company plans to build its new luxury liner, the MV Buckingham.
Back in London, Harry and Emma’s adopted daughter wins a scholarship to the Slade Academy of Art where she falls in love with a fellow student, Clive Bingham, who asks her to marry him. Both families are delighted until Priscilla Bingham, Jessica’s future mother-in-law, has a visit from an old friend, Lady Virginia Fenwick, who drops her particular brand of poison into the wedding chalice.
In Love
by Amy Bloom
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Amy Bloom began to notice changes in her husband, Brian: He retired early from a new job he loved; he withdrew from close friendships; he talked mostly about the past. Suddenly, it seemed there was a glass wall between them, and their long walks and talks stopped. Their world was altered forever when an MRI confirmed what they could no longer ignore: Brian had Alzheimer’s disease.
Forced to confront the truth of the diagnosis and its impact on the future he had envisioned, Brian was determined to die on his feet, not live on his knees…
Reunion
by Sharon Sala
Rating: 4.4 #ad
A tragic accident left Gabriel Donner in a coma and his parents dead. Now that he’s awake he’s experiencing something even more traumatizing: dreams of grisly acts committed by a deranged serial killer—dreams that keep coming true.
In vivid detail Gabriel dreams of victims struck on the head and left with a single, thorn-less rose—almost as if he were the one doing the killing. He knows things about the murders that haven’t been made public, and he’s well-aware that telling the police would only implicate him in the crimes.
A Grimm Sacrifice
by Jeffery H. Haskell
Rating: 4.7 #ad
The Consortium is in real trouble. Caliphate Naval forces have stepped up their raids on the border planets and are taking people by the thousands. They can defend the wormhole, or they can defend their planets, not both.
Only the Alliance can help them, but will they?
With the cold war heating up, the Alliance is forced to send light units to help. Lucky for them, the squadron of destroyers they free up includes Commander Jacob T. Grimm. With Nadia off on a secret mission, and most of his officers reassigned, Jacob must face a new challenge – taking his ship into battle with wet behind the ear ensigns and midships.
Fast Track
by Julie Garwood
Rating: 4.5 #ad
A woman’s search to uncover the truth about her mother ignites danger and passion in this novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Julie Garwood.
Daddy’s girl Cordelia Kane is devastated when her father has a serious heart attack, and the emotion is only intensified by the confusion she feels when he reveals the shocking truth about her late mother.
Desperate to find answers to her questions about the woman who gave birth to her, Cordelia hitches a ride to Sydney, Australia, on the company jet of hotel magnate Aiden Madison, her best friend’s brother.
Dragon Fever Collection
by Serena Meadows
Rating: 4.6 #ad
These five hot steamy stories feature powerful dragons, who were exiled by their clan because they were reckless and wild and how they break all rules to meet and protect their mates.
NATALIE and JUDE will be the first ones you’ll meet…
I used to be a brother, son, protector. Now, I’m a shadow. Exiled from my clan of dragon-shifters, I drift among the humans without purpose or belonging. My inner dragon snaps and snarls as it struggles to adapt, but like me, it has no choice – this is our life now.
The only human either of us can tolerate is Natalie, owner of the Buck’s Head Lodge. Her quiet strength and distracting beauty remind me of the fierce women I grew up with. But they were my trusted friends, lovers, and equals. As a human, Natalie can never know who I truly am.
Thursday’s Mystery eBooks
The Forgiving Quilt
by Ann Hazelwood
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Meet widowed Missouri transplant Kate Meyr in the first East Perry County mystery from the author of the Colebridge Community series.
Ann Hazelwood makes her return with The Forgiving Quilt, the first novel in the East Perry County Series. After the death of her husband brings out hurtful secrets, Kate Meyr strikes out to cleave her life from his. She vows to restore the property he left her in Borna, Missouri, and sell it, but the longer Kate stays in town, the harder she finds it to leave. Her life becomes even more embroiled in Borna when she discovers a mysterious quilt in her new home. Haunted by the quilt’s past, Kate is also troubled by several terrifying occurrences.
Book of the Dead
by Patricia Cornwell
Rating: 4.1 #ad
The Book of the Dead is the morgue log, the ledger in which all cases are entered by hand. For Kay Scarpetta, however, it is about to acquire a new meaning.
A sixteen-year-old tennis star, fresh from a tournament win Charleston, is found nude and mutilated near Piazza Navona in Rome. The body of an abused young boy is dumped in a desolate marsh. A woman is ritualistically murdered in her multimillion-dollar beach home. Meanwhile, in New England, problems with a prominent patient at a Harvard-affiliated psychiatric hospital begin to hint at interconnections among the deaths that are as hard to imagine as they are horrible.
Don’t You Dare
by Adam Nicholls
Rating: 4.3 #ad
The case looked easy. Until it changed his life forever.
Morgan Young thought it would be a quick job – an easy paycheck – but when he digs deeper into the facts, he finds he’s bitten off more than he can chew. A man is missing, and the trail is going cold.
Refusing to let down his client, Morgan dives head-first into his work and discovers there’s more than meets the eye. A woman on the brink of insanity knows something, but there’s no getting past her defenses. This leaves only one choice: pursuit.
The Bone Jar
by Candace Robb
Rating: 4.0 #ad
A mystery story about the danger of false miracles and the treachery of true believers, part of the “pleasing medieval series” (Library Journal).
Magda the Riverwoman has called Owen Archer to her island hut in the middle of the River Ouse with a special favor—to guard a jar of human bones. No one in York is greedier than the relic dealers, the insatiable charlatans who sell flesh and bone as miracle cures, but Magda will not sell the remains at any price. Instead, she asks Owen to protect the jar and keep one eye out for the dark figure who’s been watching the island, waiting patiently for the right moment to strike…
Jace Mitchell & Michael Anderle Complete Library
by Jace Mitchell, Michael Anderle
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Two complete series
Get to know Claire and Riley respectively in the Paranormal University series and the Hand of Justice Series. They are heroes you can cheer for and the action never stops!
Paranormal University: At the University of Paranormal Studies, class is starting.
Claire just received her letter of acceptance despite the fact that she didn’t apply. Why does the university want her?
She swore to protect her kingdom… And he swore to destroy it. Riley is lithe and fast, her tongue every bit as sharp as her sword. She’s a new-age knight pledged to keep her King and countrymen safe.
Storm clouds are circling on the horizon.
The Gallows
by Frank Wheeler
Rating: 5.0 #ad
Johnny Price lost his badge. He lost his bride. He lost the future he’d envisioned for himself. After six years, he’s taking it all back.
It started out like any other day. Sheriff Johnny Price was carrying out his duties when he learned the Gallow brothers had escaped from prison. The Gallows were born killers. They have no heart, no scruples, and no conscience. Since it was Johnny who put them in jail, it was Johnny they wanted dead.
His fiancé, Brenda, was just a victim of circumstance. They left her alive, but she was forever changed that night.
Mostly Perilous
by Kimberley Montpetit
Rating: 4.7 #ad
Emma Ambrose purposely stays away from her family’s Texas oil estate, throwing herself into her work as an archeologist in the tombs of Egypt. Ancient mummies are infinitely safer than the family curse that follows the Ambrose Estate heiress. A curse that dooms her to never finding love – because it means certain death for any man who falls in love with her.
At night, Ian Phelps is a man drowning in grief after losing his wife in a tragedy. By day, he’s the county coroner, tagging dead people while mourning with those who have lost loved ones. But meeting Emma Ambrose – under the most unusual circumstances – shows him that life isn’t over yet. Her wild auburn hair, sexy curves, and whip-smart brains may be just what he needs to come alive again.