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.