Monday’s Mystery eBooks
Vistas, Vices, & Valentines
by Tonya Kappes
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Join Mae West and the Laundry Club Ladies as they cha cha and twirl their way around Happy Trails Campground as they put on some sleuthing dance shoes to bring closure to this southern and fun cozy Valentine’s mystery.
When I begged Hank Sharp to take dance lessons to celebrate Valentine’s Day, I knew I was getting more than I had bargained for. But when a dancer’s dead body shows up at the height of the competition and Hank is hired to investigate the murder, I had no idea what we were in store for when he had Dottie Swaggert and Henry Bryant go undercover as a dance competition couple to get insider information.
Desperation in Death
by J. D. Robb
Rating: 4.8 #ad
New York, 2061: The place called the Pleasure Academy is a living nightmare where abducted girls are trapped, trained for a life of abject service while their souls are slowly but surely destroyed. Dorian, a thirteen-year-old runaway who’d been imprisoned there, might never have made it out if not for her fellow inmate Mina, who’d hatched the escape plan. Mina was the more daring of the two—but they’d been equally desperate.
Unfortunately, they didn’t get away fast enough. Now Dorian is injured, terrified, and wandering the streets of New York, and Mina lies dead near the waterfront while Lt. Eve Dallas looks over the scene.
Death of a Fairy Tale
by Emily Fluke
Rating: 4.3 #ad
Send cheesecake and a lot of coffee, because I swear I just heard a wolf’s howl in the middle of San Francisco.
I was a skeptic about the supernatural…until my baby’s birth sparked storybook murders around the city and each body led closer and closer to my grandma’s house.
As an investigative journalist, I’ve solved a lot of mysteries, but now I’m a sleep-deprived mother. I have no clue how to balance my baby in one hand and my job in the other while I hunt a supernatural stalker…
One Last Chance
by Kat Martin
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Former Green Beret Edge Logan has made a new life for himself at Nighthawk Security in Denver, using his finely honed skills to neutralize threats of all kinds. When he overhears friend and fellow agent Skye Delaney discussing a new case involving her missing sister and a mysterious cult, he offers himself as backup. With her own military background, Skye is gutsy and more than capable, but a cult like Children of the Sun is too risky for anyone to investigate alone.
Skye is grateful for Edge’s experience, even though she is aware of the attraction simmering between them. Her battle scars make her reluctant to get involved with anyone, much less a coworker—even a warrior like Edge…
Brett Wilson and Coronado’s Door
by John Suter
Rating: 4.7 #ad
On a treasure hunting expedition with her father, Brett Wilson watches her father enter the fabled golden city of Cibola. The joy of discovery quickly turns to tragedy when the city disappears in front of her eyes.
Now in a race against time, Brett must locate the city before her father is lost forever. The only information she has to help her is the tattered old field book of her father and her best friend Natalie’s energy and enthusiasm. Together with Grandpa Jake and Natalie’s mom Dr. Brown, they must decipher the clues in the field book and understand the earth’s hidden properties to locate Cibola’s final position.
Sparkling Cyanide
by Agatha Christie
Rating: 4.6 #ad
Six people sit down to a sumptuous meal at a table laid for seven. In front of the empty place is a sprig of rosemary – “rosemary for remembrance.” A strange sentiment considering no one is likely to forget the night, exactly a year ago, that Rosemary Barton died at exactly the same table, her beautiful face unrecognizable, convulsed with pain and horror.
But then Rosemary had always been memorable – she had the ability to arouse strong passions in most people she met. In one case, strong enough to kill. . . .
Witch World Collection
by Andre Norton
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Science fiction meets sword and sorcery in these three novels by the legendary New York Times–bestselling author and “superb storyteller” (The New York Times).
On a planet in a parallel universe where magic is a reality, these three high fantasy novels of the Witch World set on the eastern continent of Estcarp once again illustrate why prolific author Andre Norton was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.
My Canvas Bag
by Lucas Kinkaid
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Mark is a young man born into a bad situation. His parents drink too much, and his family often forgets him. He works hard to hide the harsh reality of his home life from those around him. Mark does this to avoid feeling shame. He escapes the chaos of his family by spending time in nearby woods. Mark keeps a canvas bag hidden close to his house. It contains blankets, a flashlight, cans of food, a transistor radio, things to read, and more. It has everything he needs to escape from his family’s dysfunction for a while. Mark truly enjoys the peace and solitude he finds in the woods.
He constantly struggles with the judgments of others when it comes to his family. It hurts Mark when people share their negative opinions about he and his family. He is often avoided by other kids and usually not included in things…
Sunday’s Mystery eBooks
To Live and Die in Dixie
by Mary Kay Andrews
Rating: 4.4 #ad
Former Atlanta police officer Callahan is known for scrubbing all kinds of muck, but she has no idea what she’s getting herself into when she is hired by Elliott Littlefield, a notorious Atlanta antiques dealer.
Right from the start, Callahan’s job turns into a lively quest to find a priceless Civil War diary penned by an infamous madam. Soon Callahan and her team become entangled with a motley group of Civil War collectors, right-wing extremists, and nosy teens, making the case messier and tougher to clean.
Atonement
by Ian McEwan
Rating: 4.4 #ad
On a hot summer day in 1935, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis witnesses a moment’s flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and Robbie Turner, the son of a servant and Cecilia’s childhood friend. But Briony’s incomplete grasp of adult motives – together with her precocious literary gifts – brings about a crime that will change all their lives.
As it follows that crime’s repercussions through the chaos and carnage of World War II and into the close of the twentieth century, Atonement engages the reader on every conceivable level, with an ease and authority that mark it as a genuine masterpiece.
Fire & Blood
by George R. R. Martin
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones, House Targaryen—the only family of dragonlords to survive the Doom of Valyria—took up residence on Dragonstone. Fire & Blood begins their tale with the legendary Aegon the Conqueror, creator of the Iron Throne, and goes on to recount the generations of Targaryens who fought to hold that iconic seat, all the way up to the civil war that nearly tore their dynasty apart.
What really happened during the Dance of the Dragons? Why was it so deadly to visit Valyria after the Doom? What were Maegor the Cruel’s worst crimes?
Zero In
by Dean Koontz
Rating: 4.6 #ad
This could be the most important mission of Nameless’s life. Because it’s putting him on a collision course with his own past and the nation’s future.
The target: a fortified redoubt in the golden hills of California, the hub of a new world order that’s unthinkably close at hand. The time has come for Nameless to face its designer: the nihilist mastermind behind the One Solution. It’s also time for Nameless to discover who he is and was, and what brought him to this fateful endgame. But will the truth be a breaking point? Or a turning point?
Nine Dragons
by Michael Connelly
Rating: 4.6 #ad
After what seems like a routine murder investigation, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch finds himself in Hong Kong facing the highest-stakes case of his life: bringing his kidnapped daughter home.
Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer.
The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation — not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li’s life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S. And instantly his world explodes.
The Stand
by Stephen King
Rating: 4.7 #ad
When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge–Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man”, who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them–and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.
The Broken God
by Gareth Hanrahan
Rating: 4.5 #ad
Enter a city of dragons and darkness . . .
The Godswar has come to Guerdon, dividing the city between three occupying powers. A fragile armistice holds back the gods, but other dangerous forces seek to exert their influence. Spar Idgeson, once heir to the brotherhood of thieves has been transformed into the living stone of the new city. But his powers are failing and the criminal dragons of the Ghierdana are circling.
Meanwhile, far across the sea, Carillon Thay—once a thief, a saint, a god killer; now alone and powerless—seeks the mysterious land of Khebesh, desperate to find a cure for Spar.