Category: Mystery

Ashley Bell by Dean Koontz

Posted December 9, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Ashley Bell
Series:
Author: Dean Koontz
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Published: December 8, 2015
Publisher: Random House Publishing
My Rating: 3 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

At twenty-two, Bibi Blair’s doctors tell her that she’s dying. Two days later, she’s impossibly cured. Fierce, funny, dauntless, she becomes obsessed with the idea that she was spared because she is meant to save someone else. Someone named Ashley Bell.

This proves to be a dangerous idea. Searching for Ashley Bell, ricocheting through a southern California landscape that proves strange and malevolent in the extreme, Bibi is plunged into a world of crime and conspiracy, following a trail of mysteries that become more sinister and tangled with every twisting turn.

The girl who said no to death. Bibi Blair is a fierce, funny, dauntless young woman—whose doctor says she has one year to live. She replies, “We’ll see.” Her sudden recovery astonishes medical science.

An enigmatic woman convinces Bibi that she escaped death so that she can save someone else. Someone named Ashley Bell. But save her from what, from whom? And who is Ashley Bell? Where is she? Bibi’s obsession with finding Ashley sends her on the run from threats both mystical and worldly, including a rich and charismatic cult leader with terrifying ambitions.

Read on for my thoughts on Ashley Bell. No true spoilers, promise.

Nirvana by J. R. Stewart

Posted November 15, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Nirvana
Series: Nirvana #1
Author: JR Stewart
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Sci-Fi, YA
Published: November 10, 2015
Publisher: Blue Moon
My Rating: 3 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

When the real world is emptied of all that you love, how can you keep yourself from dependence on the virtual?

Animal activist and punk rock star Larissa Kenders lives in a dystopian world where the real and the virtual intermingle. After the disappearance of her soulmate, Andrew, Kenders finds solace by escaping to Nirvana, a virtual world controlled by Hexagon. In Nirvana, anyone’s deepest desires may be realized – even visits with Andrew.

Although Kenders knows that this version of Andrew is virtual, when he asks for her assistance revealing Hexagon’s dark secret, she cannot help but comply. Soon after, Kenders and her closest allies find themselves in a battle with Hexagon, the very institution they have been taught to trust. After uncovering much more than she expected, Kenders’ biggest challenge is determining what is real – and what is virtual.

Nirvana is a fast-paced, page-turning young adult novel combining elements of science fiction, mystery, and romance. Part of a trilogy, this book introduces readers to a young woman who refuses to give up on the man she loves, even if it means taking on an entire government to do so..

Read on for my thoughts on Nirvana. No true spoilers, promise.

Dangerous Games by Tess Diamond

Posted November 5, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Dangerous Games
Series: O’Connor and Kincaid #1
Author: Tess Diamond
Genre: Mystery, Thriller Romance
Published: November 5, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: Author
Cover Description:

A thirteen year-old girl has been taken – and Special Agent Maggie Kincaid is the only one who can get her back.

When a Senator’s daughter goes missing, every minute counts. The FBI’s best hostage negotiator, Agent Kincaid, knows what it’s like to be a terrified victim. Kidnapped as a child, those memories haunt her every day – and give her an insight into the evil mind behind this deadly crime.

But the Senator’s family has other plans, and have brought in ex-forces security expert Jake O’Connor to oversee negotiations. He’s got secrets of his own, and doesn’t play by the same rule book. With time running out, Maggie and O’Connor will have to overcome their differences to keep this case from ending in tragedy.

Read on for my thoughts on Dangerous Games. No true spoilers, promise.

Down The Rabbit Hole by J. D. Robb and various authors

Posted October 21, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Down The Rabbit Hole
Series:
Author: J. D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Elaine Fox, Mary Kay McComas, R. C. Ryan
Genre: Romantic Mystery & Thriller
Published: September 28, 2015
Publisher: Jove
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Owned, Kindle Edition
Cover Description:

Some of your favorite New York Times bestselling authors present five all-new stories told through the looking glass—including a new Eve Dallas novella!

You’re late for a very important date…

Enter a wonderland of mesmerizing tales. It’s a place that’s neither here nor there, where things are never quite as they seem. Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s whimsical masterpiece, ranging from the impossible to the mad to the curiouser, these stories will have you absolutely off your head.

Don’t be afraid to follow them…

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

Contains

Wonderment in Death by J. D. Robb
Alice and the Earl in Wonderland by Mary Blayney
iLove by Elaine Fox
A True Heart by Mary Kay McComas
Fallen by R. C. Ryan

Read on for my thoughts on Down The Rabbit Hole. No true spoilers, promise.

Devoted In Death by J. D. Robb

Posted September 20, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Devoted In Death
Series: In Death #41
Author: J. D. Robb
Genre: Futuristic Romantic Suspense, Crime
Published: September 15, 2015
Publisher: G. P. Putnam’s Sons/Penguin
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: Owned, Kindle Edition
Cover Description:

When Lieutenant Eve Dallas examines a body in a downtown Manhattan alleyway, the victim’s injuries are so extensive that she almost misses the clue. Carved into the skin is the shape of a heart—and initials inside reading E and D . . .

Ella-Loo and her boyfriend, Darryl, had been separated while Darryl was a guest of the state of Oklahoma, and now that his sentence has been served they don’t ever intend to part again. Ella-Loo’s got dreams. And Darryl believes there are better ways to achieve your dreams than working for them. So they hit the road, and when their car breaks down in Arkansas, they make plans to take someone else’s. Then things get messy and they wind up killing someone—an experience that stokes a fierce, wild desire in Ella-Loo. A desire for Darryl. And a desire to kill again.

As they cross state lines on their way to New York to find the life they think they deserve, they will leave a trail of evil behind them. But now they’ve landed in the jurisdiction of Lieutenant Dallas and her team at the New York Police and Security Department. And with her husband, Roarke, at her side, she has every intention of hunting them down and giving them what they truly deserve.

Read on for my thoughts on Devoted In Death. No true spoilers, promise.

You Think You Know Me by Clare Chase

Posted September 7, 2015 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, Mystery, Series, Women's Fiction / 0 Comments

Title: You Think You Know Me
Series: London & Cambridge Mysteries #1
Author: Clare Chase
Genre: Women’s Fiction, Mystery
Published: September 7, 2015
Publisher: Choc Lit
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Sometimes, it’s not easy to tell the good guys from the bad …

Freelance journalist, Anna Morris, is struggling to make a name for herself, so she’s delighted to attend a launch event for a hip, young artist at her friend Seb’s gallery.

But an exclusive interview isn’t all Anna comes away with. After an encounter with the enigmatic Darrick Farron, she is flung into the shady underground of the art scene – a world of underhand dealings, missing paintings and mysterious deaths …

Seb is intent on convincing Anna that Darrick is up to no good but, try as she might, she can’t seem to keep away from him. And as she becomes further embroiled, Anna begins to wonder – is Seb’s behaviour the well-intentioned concern of an old friend, or does he have something to hide?

Read on for my thoughts on You Think You Know Me. No true spoilers, promise.

Hanover House by Brenda Novak

Posted September 5, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery, Series / 0 Comments

Title: Hanover House
Series: Hanover House Chronicles 0.5 prequel
Author: Brenda Novak
Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Romance
Published: September 1, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Psychiatrist Evelyn Talbot has dedicated her life to solving the mysteries of the antisocial mind. Why do psychopaths act as they do? How do they come to be? Why don’t they feel any remorse for the suffering they cause? And are there better ways of spotting and stopping them?

After having been kidnapped, tortured and left for dead when she was just a teenager—by her high school boyfriend—she’s determined to understand how someone she trusted so much could turn on her. So she’s established a revolutionary new medical health center in the remote town of Hilltop, Alaska, where she studies the worst of the worst.

But not everyone in Hilltop is excited to have Hanover House and its many serial killers in the area. Alaskan State Trooper, Sergeant Amarok, is one of them. And yet he can’t help feeling bad about what Evelyn has been through. He’s even attracted to her. Which is partly why he worries.

He knows what could happen if one little thing goes wrong…

Read on for my thoughts on Hanover House. No true spoilers, promise.

The Skeleton in the Closet by Angie Fox

Posted September 5, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery, Series / 0 Comments

Title: The Skeleton in the Closet
Series: Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries #2
Author: Angie Fox
Genre: Paranormal
Published: August 30, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

A haunted library is no place for a girl who can see ghosts, but when Verity Long stumbles on a dead body in the middle of the main reading room, she has to believe someone…even a dead someone…must have witnessed the crime.

Her ghostly sidekick Frankie warns her to stay out of it. The very alive, very handsome deputy sheriff, Ellis Wydell, inadvertently places her directly in the middle of it. And her ex-fiancé, Ellis’s brother, is back with an agenda of his own.

Undaunted, Verity presses forward, uncovering scandalous secrets, long-forgotten ghosts, and a shocking trail of clues that places her directly in the path of a killer.

Read on for my thoughts on The Skeleton in the Closet. No true spoilers, promise.

Men Under Fire by Jacki Delecki

Posted August 19, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Men Under Fire
Series: Grayce Walters #3
Author: Jacki Delecki
Genre: Romance, Mystery
Published: May 25, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Hollie Thomas, the feisty, tattooed office assistant to Grayce Walters, has come a long way from living on the streets. Along with finding a job she loves, she’s found friends and safety. When her new life unravels, she faces dangers that dwarf her troubled past. Fighting to survive, she discovers that sometimes what you need the most might be found in the one person you failed to see coming.

Returning home from the war and struggling to find his way, Sergeant Nick Welby, and his bomb-sniffing golden lab, use their skill set in the last place he’d ever imagined—Seattle’s Waterfront. To protect the one woman who matters, Nick and his trusty canine partner will risk everything to rescue her and Seattle from disaster.

Embroiled in Grayce Walters’ most perilous case—a terrorist plot with the threat of deadly explosives—can Nick and Hollie work together to save themselves and each other before it’s too late?

Read on for my thoughts on Men Under Fire. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Never Die Alone by Lisa Jackson

Posted July 28, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Never Die Alone
Series: New Orleans #8, A Bentz/Montoya Mystery
Author: Lisa Jackson
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Published: July 28, 2015
Publisher: Kensington Books, Zebra
My Rating: 5 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

Never Drop Your Guard

It should be the best day of their lives. Too bad they never get to see it. On the cusp of their twenty-first birthday, he strikes. His victims are always twins, their ritualistic murders planned in exquisite detail, down to the moment when they breathe their last together. . .

Never Close Your Eyes

An innocent man is in prison, and Brianna Hayward needs to convince the New Orleans police. Not just to free her cousin, but to save others who will suffer until the true culprit is found. Reporter Jason Bridges is intrigued. It’s a story that could make his career–as long as Brianna never guesses the secret in Jason’s past. . .

. . .Or You’ll Never See Him Coming

Detective Rick Bentz had doubts about the “21” conviction when he worked the case in L.A. Now the real murderer may be loose in Bentz’s backyard. Twin sisters from LSU have vanished, days before their birthday. And as Bentz and his partner, Reuben Montoya, desperately follow the trail, a killer prepares to unite his next victims in death forever.

Read on for my thoughts on Never Die Alone. No true spoilers, promise.

Review: Summer of Fire by Kitty Pilgrim

Posted July 28, 2015 by Marsha in Mystery / 0 Comments

Title: Summer of Fire
Series: John Sinclair Mystery #3
Author: Kitty Pilgrim
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Published: May 19, 2015
Publisher: River Grove Books
My Rating: 4 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:

When nature takes charge, sparks fly

On the beautiful island of Capri, a royal princess begins a secret love affair, oblivious to the dangers that surround her.

Internationally renowned novelist Kitty Pilgrim chronicles a modern thriller based in the historic volcanic region of Southern Italy.

Her characters, archaeologist John Sinclair and oceanographer Cordelia Stapleton, team up once again for a tale of glamour and romance that spans every level of society—from the dangerous criminal underworld of Naples to the jet set of Europe.

Read on for my thoughts on Summer of Fire. No true spoilers, promise.