Monthly Book Recommendations

» terann - March 2002 Recommendation

• Ashes of Aries by Martha C. Lawrence, 2001 - When Matthew Fielding, the four-year-old son of a San Diego telecommunications mogul, turns up missing, the psychic skills of P.I. Elizabeth Chase are requested. The stakes are raised soon after Elizabeth begins her investigation when a wildfire breaks out in Rancho Santa Fe, the secluded community where Matthew and his family--and Elizabeth's own parents--live. Aided and abetted by the Santa Ana winds, flames rage out of control, consuming thousands of acres and dozens of homes. Before the ashes can be cleared away, another fire blazes through everything in its path. Are the kidnapper and arsonist one and the same? Will Elizabeth be able to find the clues she needs in the dying embers around her? It's a race against time as man and nature combine to wreak destruction on Elizabeth's community and keep a little boy lost forever.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - April 2002 Recommendation

• The Moche Warrior by Lyn Hamilton, 1999 - At an auction house in Toronto, Lara McClintoch picks up a box of what she thinks are worthless Peruvian reproductions--only to find that they are authentic artifacts of the Moche, an ancient people whose civilization predates the Incas. When her assistant is brutally attacked and her shop burned, Lara realizes that she is an unwitting link in a chain of black-market collectors. Now she must journey to Peru and do battle with an army of grave robbers who are as ruthless--and deadly--as the Moche warriors themselves. For a review of this book, click here.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - May 2002 Recommendations

• Savannah Blues by Mary Kay Andrews, HarperCollins, 2002 - Landing a catch like ultra-Wasp Talmadge Evans III got Eloise "Weezie" Foley a jewel of a townhouse in Savannah's historic district. Divorcing Tal got her exiled into the backyard carriage house, where she has launched a spite fest with Tal's new fiancee, the elegant Caroline DeSantos. The War of the Roses was nothing compared to the escalating hostilities between Weezie and Caroline. Weezie is an antiques "picker" who combs Savannah's steamy back alleys and garage sales for treasures when she's not dealing with her loopy relatives or her hunky ex-boyfriend. She is convinced that her troubles will be over if she makes a big killing at the upcoming estate sale at a noble plantation house. But an unauthorized "sneak preview" at the sale lands Weezie smack in the middle of magnolia-scented murder, mayhem and more. Dirty deals simmer all around her just as her relationship with the hottest chef in town heats up, and she finds out how delicious love can be the second time around. For a review of this book, click here.
  
• Bubbles Unbound by Sarah Strohmeyer (Bubbles Yablonsky series #1), Dutton, 2001 -Convinced there's more to life than giving blue dye jobs at Sandy's House of Beauty, Bubbles sets her sights on a career in journalism. If her on-the-job training at the local newspaper isn't enough to make her break a nail, she's also got her wacky family to deal with--from her bottom-feeding, social-climbing ex-husband, "Dan the Man", to her precocious teenage daughter, Jane, to her gun-toting, shoplifting mother, Lulu, who's recently hijacked the shuttle bus from the senior center. Then Bubbles gets what may be her dream assignment--her high school physics teacher is threatening to jump off the Lehigh Bridge. Surely she can answer a simple physics question and change his mind. Surely writing the story will lead to her Big Break. But instead of the fame and fortune she expects, she finds herself accompanying a sexy but elusive photographer with the improbable name of Stiletto on a wild ride through town, and lands up to her platinum roots in a massive lawsuit and a nasty murder investigation. Winner of an Agatha award this year.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - June 2002 Recommendations

• The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, Polygon, 1998 - The sassy and engaging Precious Ramotswe sets up the only detective agency in Gaborone, Botswana, specializing in wayward daughters, missing husbands, con men and impostors. And when she sets out on the trail of a missing child, she tumbles headlong into a hotbed of strange situations and more than a little danger.
  
• One Coffee With by Margaret Maron, Warner Books, 1982 - There was more than cream in Professor Ripley Quinn's morning coffee. One of eight people present in the art department office had slipped in a spoonful of poison. NYPD detective Sigrid Harald stepped back and viewed this puzzler carefully, thoughtfully, and with an eye to the subtle shadings. Before Margaret Maron's award-winning Deborah Knott series came her Sigrid Harald series. It is very different from the Deborah Knott series and very good!
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - July 2002 Recommendations

• The Etruscan Chimera by Lyn Hamilton (Lara McClintoch series #6), Berkley Prime Crime, 2002 - Lara McClintoch, Toronto antiques shop owner, receives a commission from reclusive billionaire Crawford Lake to buy an Etruscan sculpture, with the condition that he remain anonymous in the deal. Lake directs Lara to the sculpture's owner but when Lara gets there she finds the owner dead--and an Etruscan artifact is missing from his collection. As Lara begins her car trip to meet up with Lake in Italy, she is startled to find the missing artifact in the trunk of her car. And so begins a dangerous game of hide-and-seek--with Lara hiding from the police while she tries to seek out the elusive Mr. Lake so that he may return the artifact.
  
• Death of a Damn Yankee by Toni L.P. Kelner (Laura Fleming series #6), 1999 - To the folks of Byerly, carpetbaggers rank right up there in popularity with death and taxes. So when Northerners Marshall and Grace Saunders try to buy out the town's largest mill, it's no shock the proposed sale nearly causes a second Civil War. But Laura Fleming is surprised when the mill's president, Burt Walters, confidentially asks her to muckrake through the Saunders' backgrounds, even though Big Bill Walters, Burt's dad, the controlling owner of the mill, wants to sell. So with her Shakespeare professor husband Richard in tow, Laura knows the best place to start her investigation is with her own family, the Burnettes. Visiting her gossipy aunts Nora, Edna, and Maggie, Laura not only learns of how divided mill workers are on the rumored sale, but of a suspicious string of fires that have been plaguing the town. Matters grow even more complicated when the Byerly fire brigade pulls Marshall Saunders' body from a burning barn, and police name Laura's cousin Linwood as the number one suspect. It's only when Laura uncovers explosive data from the mill that she reasons the arsons may be more than just a twisted pyromaniac at work. But time is running out, and if she and Richard don't untangle the myriad of deceptions surrounding a small city of suspects, the mill--and their lives--may soon go up in smoke.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - August 2002 Recommendation

• Dead Cat Bounce by Sarah Graves (Jacobia Tiptree series #1), 1998 - Since she bought her rambling old fixer-upper of a house, Jacobia Tiptree has gotten used to finding things broken. But her latest problem isn't so easily repaired. Along with the rotting floor joists and sagging support beams, there's the little matter of the dead man in Jake's storeroom, an ice pick firmly planted in his cranium. Not much happens in her tiny Maine town, but that's about to change. Jake's unknown guest turns out to be a world-famous corporate raider, local boy turned billionaire Threnody McIlwaine. When Jake's best friend, quiet and dependable Ellie White, readily confesses to the murder, cops and journalists swarm into snowbound Eastport. Jake smells a cover-up, and begins poking into past history between McIlwaine and Ellie's family. But someone doesn't like nosy neighbors and Jake's rustic refuge may become her final resting place.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - September 2002 Recommendation

• The Chocolate Cat Caper by JoAnna Carl (Lee McKinney "Chocoholic" series #1), Signet, March 2002 – After giving up her career as a Texas trophy wife, Lee McKinney finds herself in a Michigan resort town, keeping the books for her aunt Nettie's luxury chocolate business. But she soon discovers that her new life isn't all truffles and bonbons. Clementine Ripley, the defense attorney everyone loves to hate, is throwing a party that calls for several thousand dollars' worth of custom chocolates--some made in the image of her champion cat. Lee jumps at the job, but sweet success takes a bitter turn when someone adds an extra ingredient--cyanide--to one of their delicious chocolates and it finds its way into Mrs. Ripley's mouth. Now it's up to Lee to figure out who tampered with the family recipe before she and her aunt end up behind not-so-chocolate bars. The next book, The Chocolate Bear Burglary will be released in November. Books are laced with yummy chocolate trivia. A delightful new series!
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - October 2002 Recommendation

• Fire and Ice by Dana Stabenow (Liam Campbell series #1), 1998 - Newenham, Alaska is a long way from the big-city comforts of Anchorage, where Sergeant Liam Campbell was an up-and-coming state trooper with everything going his way. But that was before his life unraveled, before five people died on his watch and a drunk driver killed his son and put his wife into a coma. Transferred in disgrace to this rough-and-tumble fishing town on the shores of Bristol Bay, Liam knows Newenham is the end of the line. It's also his last shot at getting his life back. But he's about to come in for a very rough landing. Stepping onto the airstrip at Newenham, Liam walks into a crime scene: a dead body torn apart by the propeller of a Piper Super Cub. As if that isn't enough of a welcome, the woman bending over the corpse is Wyanet Chouinard, the only woman Liam ever truly loved--and soon to be his prime suspect. The dead man was Bob DeCreft, a herring spotter trained to pick out the silvery flashes and deep blue swells of prized schools of fish from the air. As Liam reconstructs the last days of DeCreft's life, he realizes that while violence comes easily in this remote outpost, the truth is more elusive. From the fishing fleet of a fortune-hunting businessman to the tarpaper shacks of the dirt-poor natives, Liam struggles against the currents of fear, silence, and deception to unravel an intricate web of financial double-dealing, sexual exploitation, and dark family secrets. In the process, he will learn more about those he loves--and about himself--than he ever wanted to know. The 4th book in the series, Better To Rest, has just been released. If you like Sue Henry's Alaskan series, you will like Stabenow's Liam Campbell series.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - November 2002 Recommendation

• No Colder Place by S.J. Rozan (Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series #4), 1997 - Bill Smith goes undercover again as a favor to an old friend who wants him to investigate thievery on the 40-story Manhattan site of Crowell Construction's latest project. His bricklaying is a little rusty, but passable as he checks out the foreman who's under suspicion. A crane operator has disappeared--along with some heavy machinery. But when a well-orchestrated riot causes the foreman's "accidental" death, Smith plunges into a morass of bribery, blackmail, and blood as he looks for answers. With the help of his Chinese-American partner Lydia Chin, he follows a trail of twisted loyalties, old-fashioned greed, and organized crime to its heart-stopping conclusion. Murder--with no end in sight. The 8th book in the series, Winter and Night, was just released earlier this year. S.J. Rozan also won a Shamus award last month for Reflecting the Sky, the 7th book in the series.
  

-- posted by terann

» terann - December 2002 Recommendation

• Summerkill by Maryann Weber, 2001 - Val Wykcoff is an assertive, witty, outspoken landscape designer. But when she finds the murdered body of a not-so-friendly colleague in her front yard, it seems that her gardening days might be over--unless she can remove herself from suspicion. In order to clear her name with both the authorities and her fellow townspeople, Val sets out to find the murderer and learn why she's been made the patsy at the center of it all. If you like mysteries with a gardening theme, you will like this mystery!
  

-- posted by terann