Monday, April 30, 2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (April 30, 2018)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup. YA and middle grade reviews will still be posted on  Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

Other Than Reading...

We had a nice week with almost all of our snow melting until Friday when it snowed again. Luckily, even though snow fell for hours, none of it stayed on the ground. Thursday had some excitement too. There was an explosion at the oil refinery across the lake in Superior, Wisconsin, that dominated the news all day and included a mandatory evacuation of anyone within three miles of the refinery. There was a large cloud of very black smoke hovering over the fire all day. My brother and I didn't see it until we went out to lunch though. Our house is over the top of the hill in Duluth. We don't have a harbor or lake view that would have shown it. By Friday morning, things were under control and people were able to go back to their homes.

I spent some time this week thinking about my blogs and planning my June posts. I like being ahead with lots of scheduled reviews but I don't think I need to be a whole month ahead. I have been posting a couple of reviews a week on Ms. Martin Teaches Media most weeks. I have decided to start posting three reviews a week on that blog. Mondays will mainly be for books from TBR mountain. I used a very scientific method of choosing the first books I'd read and review. Well, actually I didn't. I just chose the first four books on the top shelf and two more from the beginning of the third shelf for my first choices. Shelf two starts with some books from deep in a series that starts on the other end of the first shelf. Right now, my plan is to read orphans and singletons and save the series I have on the shelves for later.

I plan to still continue reviewing at least three books a week on this blog. Given that I'm reading about a book a day and write reviews for everything I read for the first time, this should be a very doable pace. If I ever want to get a handle on my adult TBR mountain though, I need to stop accepting so many review books. There are just too many tempting new titles for me to choose. This was also the weekend I prepared my State of the Stack post on Ms. Martin Teaches Media which details my progress with the review books I accept. It will be posted on May 1.

Read Last Week

If you can't wait until the review shows up on my blog, reviews are posted to LibraryThing and Goodreads as soon as I write them (usually right after I finish reading a book.)
From my Adult TBR Mountain:
From the YA Review Stack:

From my YA TBR Mountain:
  • Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - added to my stack on Feb. 20, 2012; review will be posted on May 7
  • Swipe by Evan Angler - added to my stack July 1, 2013; review will be posted on May 14
Currently
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke - first published in 2011, Scholastic sent me this review copy for its April 24 re-release.

Next Week
From my YA TBR mountain:
From my YA Review stack:
From my adult review stack:
Reviews Posted

On Inside of a Dog:
Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue
Pairing a Deception by Nadine Nettman
Better Off Read by Nora Page

On Ms. Martin Teaches Media:
The Outcast by Taran Matharu
The Lies They Tell by Gillian French

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Bought
The Last Moriarty by Charles Veley - Kindle
A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro - free SYNC audiobook; Amazon
The Great War by David Almond et al. - free SYNC audiobook; Amazon

Review
Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke (April 24)
The Banker's Wife by Cristina Alger (July 3)
A Double Life by Flynn Berry (July 31)
The Griffin's Feather (Dragon Rider) by Cornelia Funke (July 31)
Wild Hunger by Chloe Neill (August 14)

What was your week like?

ARC Review: The Other Lady Vanishes by Amanda Quick

The Other Lady Vanishes
Author: Amanda Quick
Publication: Berkley (May 8, 2018)

Description: The New York Times bestselling author of The Girl Who Knew Too Much sweeps readers back to 1930s California--where the most dazzling of illusions can't hide the darkest secrets...

After escaping from a private sanitarium, Adelaide Blake arrives in Burning Cove, California, desperate to start over.

Working at an herbal tea shop puts her on the radar of those who frequent the seaside resort town: Hollywood movers and shakers always in need of hangover cures and tonics. One such customer is Jake Truett, a recently widowed businessman in town for a therapeutic rest. But unbeknownst to Adelaide, his exhaustion is just a cover.

In Burning Cove, no one is who they seem. Behind facades of glamour and power hide drug dealers, gangsters, and grifters. Into this make-believe world comes psychic to the stars Madame Zolanda. Adelaide and Jake know better than to fall for her kind of con. But when the medium becomes a victim of her own dire prediction and is killed, they're drawn into a murky world of duplicity and misdirection.

Neither Adelaide nor Jake can predict that in the shadowy underground they'll find connections to the woman Adelaide used to be--and uncover the specter of a killer who's been real all along...

My Thoughts: Burning Grove, California, is a hot bed of crime again in this second book Amanda Quick has set in the 1930s. Adelaide Blake has taken up residence after escaping from a private sanitarium where she was subjected to an experimental drug which caused hallucinations. She is on the run from a man who says he's her husband and a pair of doctors. She finds refuge working in a tea room and blending her customized teas.

Burning Cove has become a getaway for Hollywood's rich and famous and others looking for a quiet spot. Jake Truett has come because, newly widowed, his doctor has recommended a quiet, stress-free rest. Madame Zolanda, psychic to the stars, has followed her clients along with her chauffeur/co-conspirator Thelma Leggett. Raina Kirk has come to start her own private investigations agency. Vera Westlake, Hollywood's current "most beautiful" actress, has come to mend her shattered nerves.

But everyone who has come to Burning Cove has many secrets. When Madame Zolanda is found dead outside her home - an apparent suicide - Adelaide and Jake begin their investigations. When someone breaks into Adelaide's house, Jake comes to the rescue and spends the night guarding Adelaide providing both of them with alibis for Madame Zolana's death. He's convinced that she is a blackmailer who has a diary that implicates his wife in treasonous activity but someone else has removed the evidence before Jake can find it.

Madame Zolana and Thelma were also dealing the drug that was being made in the sanitarium giving even more people reasons to want her dead. And someone wants Adelaide dead too. Jake and Adelaide become closer as they share their secrets and fall in love.

I like the 1930s setting and I liked seeing some of the characters from THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH in their cameos in this one. I liked the twisty plot and wide variety of suspects. I liked that the romance between Adelaide and Jake grew slowly through the book.

Favorite Quote:
Adelaide frowned. "Where did you hear all this?"

"The hardware store. Where else? Women get their local news at the beauty shop. Men get it ar the hardware store."

"I'll remember that."
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Saturday, April 28, 2018

ARC Review: Better Off Read by Nora Page

Better Off Read
Author: Nora Page
Series: Bookmobile (Book 1)
Publication: Crooked Lane Books (May 8, 2018)

Description: When her best hope of saving her storm-damaged library is found murdered, senior librarian Cleo Watkins hits the road in her bookmobile in search of justice.

Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins won’t be shushed when an upstart young mayor threatens to permanently shelve her tiny town’s storm-damaged library. She takes to her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to collect allies and rally library support throughout Catalpa Springs, Georgia.

However, Cleo soon rolls into trouble. A major benefactor known for his eccentric DIY projects requests all available books on getting away with murder. He’s no Georgia peach, and Cleo wonders if she should worry about his plans. She knows she should when she discovers him bludgeoned and evidence points to her best friend, Mary-Rose Garland.

Sure of Mary-Rose’s innocence, Cleo applies her librarian’s sleuthing skills to the case, assisted by friends, family, and the dapper antiquarian bookseller everyone keeps calling her boyfriend. Evidence stacks up, but a killer is overdue to strike again. With lives and her library on the line, Cleo must shift into high gear to close the book on murder in Better Off Read, the charming Bookmobile series debut by Nora Page.

My Thoughts: When the progressive new mayor of Caltalpa Springs, Georgia, refuses to supply the funds to replace the roof on the historic public library, seventy-five-year-old librarian Cleo Watkins hops into her bookmobile to rally community support for the library. Her first stop is with Burford Krandall who is a local eccentric more known for making enemies than friends but a big supporter of the library.

Buford has a long-running feud with his next door neighbor and Cleo's best friend Mary Rose who runs a pancakes and pie shop. Buford has come up with an invention that he says is for bottling pure water but which has the effect of muddying the waters in Mary Rose's spring. When Buford is found bludgeoned to death and his machine sabotaged, Mary Rose is the prime suspect. But Cleo's grandson Ollie and his new girlfriend Whitney could also be involved since they have been hanging around the spring and acting suspiciously too.

Cleo is determined to clear her friend and her grandson's names and find the real murderer. Buford had been reading all sorts of books about how to commit murder and unsolved murders in the Southeast written by eccentric local author Priscilla Pawpaw who disappears shortly after Buford's murder making her a person of interest for Cleo too.

Between rallying support for her damaged library, investigating Buford's death, and building a new relationship with antiquarian bookseller Henry Lafayette, Cleo is busy and the murderer would like her out of his way.

This was a fun cozy mystery filled with eccentric characters from the mayor who wants to make the town the bass fishing capitol of the universe to the beauty queen new deputy to the bank president's second wife and battleax mother to the murder victim's soon to be ex wife and many more. Even the pets are engaging. Rhett Butler is Cleo's Persian cat who has recently had an encounter with burdocks which has resulted in him being partially shaved and left rather mangy looking. Mr. Chaucer is Henry's elderly pug and Kat Krandall-Stykes mastiff the size of a pony named Beast are also frequently mentioned characters.

I recommend this one for fans of cozy mysteries.

Favorite Quote:
Worrying is like a rocking chair. It kept your head moving but didn't get you anywhere.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, April 27, 2018

Friday Memes: Better Off Read by Nora Page

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:
In all her seventy-five years, Cleo Watkins had never harmed another human being. Not intentionally, and certainly not in anger. Cleo considered herself a proper, well-mannered Southern lady. She'd never harmed a book. Cleo was a librarian.
Friday 56:
Bitsy pressed her hands in prayer formation. "I was in the back, looking at cookbooks. Mama Givens was only trying to start the air-conditioning up. She said she needed to give it a boost, and we started going, but we couldn't stop it. It's like the brakes gave out. They were smooshy, and then nothing." Bitsy exhaled and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Mama may have punched the gas once or twice, but only because she was trying to get a pedal that worked."
This week I am reading Better Off Read by Nora Page. This is the debut in a new series starring a librarian as a detective. Here is the description from Amazon:
When her best hope of saving her storm-damaged library is found murdered, senior librarian Cleo Watkins hits the road in her bookmobile in search of justice.

Septuagenarian librarian Cleo Watkins won’t be shushed when an upstart young mayor threatens to permanently shelve her tiny town’s storm-damaged library. She takes to her bookmobile, Words on Wheels, to collect allies and rally library support throughout Catalpa Springs, Georgia.

However, Cleo soon rolls into trouble. A major benefactor known for his eccentric DIY projects requests all available books on getting away with murder. He’s no Georgia peach, and Cleo wonders if she should worry about his plans. She knows she should when she discovers him bludgeoned and evidence points to her best friend, Mary-Rose Garland.

Sure of Mary-Rose’s innocence, Cleo applies her librarian’s sleuthing skills to the case, assisted by friends, family, and the dapper antiquarian bookseller everyone keeps calling her boyfriend. Evidence stacks up, but a killer is overdue to strike again. With lives and her library on the line, Cleo must shift into high gear to close the book on murder in Better Off Read, the charming Bookmobile series debut by Nora Page.

Thursday, April 26, 2018

ARC Review: Pairing a Deception by Nadine Nettmann

Pairing a Deception
Author: Nadine Nettmann
Series: A Sommelier Mystery
Publication: Midnight Ink (May 8, 2018)

Description: With only a few days left until her Advanced Sommelier exam, Katie Stillwell hopes to balance studying with attending a wine and food festival in Santa Barbara. The weekend with Detective Dean is off to a great start―until an attendee is murdered and suspicion falls on the festival emcee, Master Sommelier Hudson Wiley. Katie tries to keep her focus on the festival and her last-minute studying, but when she discovers people aren’t who they say they are, she finds herself in the middle of a tangled web where nothing, except the wine, is what it seems.

My Thoughts: Sommelier Katie Stillwell and her new boyfriend Detective John Dean are taking their first weekend away by attending a wine and food festival in Santa Barbara. Katie is studying hard for her advanced Sommelier exam and Dean has a case that is in process too but they are eager to spend some time together.

The festival is being attended by a colorful variety of characters including the emcee, Master Hudson Wiley, who will be proctoring Katie's exam the following week. When one of the attendee's body is found murdered and propped up against Wiley's hotel room, Katie is eager to figure out who murdered her.

As she investigates, she finds that the victim was using a false name. She also finds a number of suspects who might have wanted her dead and who might have wanted to blame Wiley. This cozy is filled with great information about all kinds of wine. I learned a lot even though I am not a wine drinker.

This third book in a series includes likable characters, a nice twisty plot, danger for the heroine, and lots of information about wine.

Favorite Quote:
"I've just embarked on a new opportunity," said Jocelyn. "It's a little complicated so I'm still waiting to see how it works out, but hopefully it does." It was like she didn't want to answer the question, but there was also something charming about her response.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

ARC Review: Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue

Beyond the Pale
Author: Clare O'Donohue
Series: A World of Spies Mystery
Publication: Midnight Ink (May 8, 2018)

Description: Married college professors agree to help Interpol in Ireland, but a simple errand leads them into a deadly criminal enterprise

It's a simple, twenty-minute job. At least, that's the pitch from Interpol to married college professors Hollis and Finn Larsson. Going undercover to procure a priceless rare book manuscript means an all-expenses paid trip abroad. A little danger thrown into the mix may even spice things up.

Soon after landing in the Emerald Isle, they realize the job is anything but simple. Their contact is a no show and they're left with fifty thousand euros, some serious questions, and a possible death threat. Ducking and dodging their way across Ireland, Hollis and Finn must hunt down the priceless manuscript and a missing agent while trying to stay one step ahead of a dangerous and unknown enemy.

My Thoughts: Hollis and Finn Larsson have a good life as college professors at a small Midwestern college. But Hollis is feeling a little disappointed that her life isn't more exciting. Before she married Finn, she was trained at the Farm to become a CIA agent but decided a life with Finn was what she really wanted.

Fifteen years later, a fellow student David Agnelli comes to recruit them to do a simple errand for him. Well, mostly he needs Finn's skills at authenticating works of literature but Finn has already turned him down. Now he plays on his old relationship with Hollis to convince Finn.

The errand should be simple: fly to Ireland, pick up an unknown play by Brendan Behan at an antique dealer, and hand it off to a contact of David's. But things don't work out nearly that easily. The antique dealer is missing as is the manuscript and Finn and Hollis are being followed by three different parties all of whom want the manuscript. They have no one to trust but each other as they race to find the manuscript first.

I loved the scenic tour of Ireland and the warmth and friendliness of the Irish people. I loved the dynamics of Finn and Hollis's marriage. I thought the mystery was nicely twisty. The action was fast-paced. I recommend this mystery for those who ever wished they had become a spy.

Favorite Quote:
"In life you make choices. And 'all of the above' isn't one of them."
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

First Paragraph/Teaser Tuesday: Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue

Every Tuesday Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posted the first paragraph of a book she is reading or planning to read. In 2018, Vicki from I'd Rather Be at the Beach is taking over this meme.

Here's mine:
Ireland...

Eamon Byrnes checked his email one more time. There were no messages. He clicked to his bank's website and checked for recent activity. Nothing he didn't recognize. It was supposed to have happened by now.
 
Link up here. It is very easy to play along:
  • Grab your current read
  • Open to a random page
  • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
  • BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
  • Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! Everyone loves Teaser Tuesday.
Here's mine:
She laughed but she was also keenly aware of how flattered she was. "If you're here to recruit me, I think I'm a little old for the job, even if I was number one in our class."

"Only at interrogation and weaponry. We were both good ar surveillance, and I beat you on the obstacle course."

"Whatever helps you sleep." She smiled. "And it was Brad Thomas who beat me at obstacle. He was the real shining star. Whatever happened to him?"
This week I am reading Beyond the Pale by Clare O'Donohue. I got the eARC from NetGalley. Here is the description from Amazon:
Married college professors agree to help Interpol in Ireland, but a simple errand leads them into a deadly criminal enterprise

It's a simple, twenty-minute job. At least, that's the pitch from Interpol to married college professors Hollis and Finn Larsson. Going undercover to procure a priceless rare book manuscript means an all-expenses paid trip abroad. A little danger thrown into the mix may even spice things up.

Soon after landing in the Emerald Isle, they realize the job is anything but simple. Their contact is a no show and they're left with fifty thousand euros, some serious questions, and a possible death threat. Ducking and dodging their way across Ireland, Hollis and Finn must hunt down the priceless manuscript and a missing agent while trying to stay one step ahead of a dangerous and unknown enemy.

Monday, April 23, 2018

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? (April 23, 2018)

It's Monday, What Are You Reading? is now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date.

It’s Monday!  What Are You Reading is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week.  It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

I will be combining my YA and adult reading and purchases on this one weekly roundup. YA and middle grade reviews will still be posted on  Ms. Martin Teaches Media - my other blog.

Other Than Reading... 

We began the week by beating the record snowfall for April 16 by getting 13.4 inches of snow but temperatures have warmed up as the week went on and the new snow is gone as is a good part of the snow that was still on the ground. This is Saturday and temperatures near 60 are expected which should melt more. The five day forecast is showing 50s and even 60s for highs which should melt most of the remaining snow. I am quite ready to be finished with snow for the season.

I attended my second yoga class this week and decided this wasn't the right thing for me. For the second week in a row, I left the class with a screaming headache. I talked to the instructor who wasn't concerned, suggesting drinking water and taking a hot shower, but I don't like being in pain. Now that the weather is better, I can go out for walks instead.

I took a break from my review calendar this week by reading the whole Lady Julia Grey mystery series but it is back to reading review books this week. I have finished my May releases and am beginning the June releases on my stack. I have 6 June 5 releases. I will also be able to get a couple of TBR mountain books off my stack because I don't have any adult review books until June 12 releases.

Read Last Week
Aftermath by Kelley Armstrong - Review from Amazon Vine; review will be posted May 18
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - Mine; review will be posted May 16
Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn - Mine; review will be posted May 17
Silent on the Moor by Deanna Raybourn - Mine; review will be posted May 23
Dark Road to Darjeeling by Deanna Raybourn - Mine; review will be posted May 30
The Dark Enquiry by Deanna Raybourn - Mine; review will be posted June 13
A joint review for these novellas will be posted on June 20.
Midsummer Night by Deanna Raybourn
Twelfth Night by Deanna Raybourn
Silent Night by Deanna Raybourn
Bonfire Night by Deanna Raybourn

Currently
Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe by Preston Norton - YA review book from NetGalley that has been on my Kindle since Oct. 17, 2017 even though it won't be released until June 5.

Next Week
  • Willnot by James Sallis - Mine; added to the stack March 5, 2018
  • The Memory of Fire by Callie Bates - Review from NetGalley; publication June 5
  • City of Bastards by Andrew Shvarts - Review from NetGalley; publication June 5
  • Sweet Black Waves by Kristina Perez - Review from Macmillan; publication June 5
  • How We Roll by Natasha Friend - Review from Macmillan; publication June 5
Reviews Posted

On Inside of a Dog:
Save Me by Tiffany Snow
Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen
What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka

On Ms. Martin Teaches Media:
White Rabbit by Caleb Roehrig
 

Want to See What I Added to My Stack Last Week?

Bought:
What was your week like?

Saturday, April 21, 2018

ARC Review: What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka

What You Want to See
Author: Kristen Lepionka
Series: Roxanne Weary (Book 2)
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 1, 2018)

Description: The thrilling follow up to The Last Place You Look, starring troubled and determined private investigator, Roxane Weary.

Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancé thinks her secret is that she’s having an affair, and he hires P.I. Roxane Weary to prove it.Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging. But soon enough the police begin to focus on Roxane's client for Marin’s death, so she starts to dig deeper into Marin’s life―discovering that the elegant woman she’s been following has a past and a half, including two previous marriages, an adult son fresh out of prison, and a criminal record of her own. The trail leads to a crew of con artists, an ugly real estate scam that defrauds unsuspecting elderly homeowners out of their property, and the suspicious accident of a wealthy older woman who lives just down the street from where Marin was killed.

With Roxane’s client facing a murder indictment, the scammers hit close to home to force Roxane to drop the case, and it becomes clear that the stakes are as high as the secrets run deep.

My Thoughts: Roxane Weary's next case should be an easy one: follow her client's fiance to see if she is having an affair. Things get more complicated when the fiance is found shot to death on the street after having an argument with Roxane's employer. Worst yet, her employer's gun is missing and it might be the murder weapon.

Roxane has to clear her client. As she begins to dig into Marin Strasser's background more questions than answers are found. She says she's an interior decorator but her business card has only a phone number and an email address and tracking down previous clients seems to show that she was stealing from them. And it looks like she has scammed her fiance Arthur Ungless out of $75,000 for "wedding plans." Digging deeper leads to a previous marriage where she also tried some scams and left angry heirs behind.

Roxane also uncovers some illegal activity going on at Arthur's printing business. Apparently an employee had decided to branch out by making illegal IDs, driver's licenses, and passports. This brought the business to the attention of a local criminal which resulted in the death of the criminal's daughter and which brings Roxane to the criminal's attention.

Throw in Marin's son who is just out of prison and eager to find another scam and you have plots and twists all over the place. Roxane has scaled back her alcohol use in this one but she is also really lonely. Her relationship with Tom, one of her father's proteges, has changed since he's found a new girlfriend and her relationship with a former girlfriend is also in a precarious situation. The girlfriend is trying to contact Roxane but Roxane isn't sure if she wants to get involved with her again.

I enjoyed the twists and turns in this mystery. Fans of the first book won't want to miss this one.

Favorite Quote:
I wouldn't have described myself as a workaholic, not exactly. Just a person with an obsessive need to resolve the things that I got paid to resolve. "I'm pretty boring," I said. "When I have a case, all I do is work. When I don't have a case, I mostly just sleep."
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Friday Memes: What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka

Happy Friday everybody!
Book Beginnings on Friday is now hosted by Rose City ReaderThe Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. Check out the links above for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Don’t dig for your favorite book, the coolest, the most intellectual. Use the CLOSEST.

Beginning:
Urban renewal was in the air on Bryden Road. The dilapidated house across the street from my apartment had been condemned, foreclosed, and eventually purchased by a fighty grad-student couple who appeared to be using the renovation process as experimental marriage counseling.
Friday 56:
I stopped in my bedroom to swap out my shirt for a tank top. As I got closer to the kitchen, I smelled freshly baked bread and rosemary. I said hey and stood in the doorway, taking in Shelby's expression of absolute horror as she brandished a small canister of garlic powder. "This expired nine years ago."
This week I am spotlighting What You Want to See by Kristen Lepionka. This is the second Roxanne Weary mystery. Here is the description from Amazon:
The thrilling follow up to The Last Place You Look, starring troubled and determined private investigator, Roxane Weary

Marin Strasser has a secret. Her fiancé thinks her secret is that she’s having an affair, and he hires P.I. Roxane Weary to prove it. Then, just days into the case, Marin is shot to death on a side street in an apparent mugging. But soon enough the police begin to focus on Roxane's client for Marin’s death, so she starts to dig deeper into Marin’s life―discovering that the elegant woman she’s been following has a past and a half, including two previous marriages, an adult son fresh out of prison, and a criminal record of her own. The trail leads to a crew of con artists, an ugly real estate scam that defrauds unsuspecting elderly homeowners out of their property, and the suspicious accident of a wealthy older woman who lives just down the street from where Marin was killed.

With Roxane’s client facing a murder indictment, the scammers hit close to home to force Roxane to drop the case, and it becomes clear that the stakes are as high as the secrets run deep.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

ARC Review: Shattered Mirror by Iris Johansen

Shattered Mirror
Author: Iris Johansen
Series: Eve Duncan (Book 23)
Publication: St. Martin's Press (April 24, 2018)

Description: From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes Shattered Mirror, a new explosive thriller featuring forensic sculptor Eve Duncan.

Forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is once again thrown into a deadly game of intrigue when she receives a cryptic package containing a skull and a two sided mirror. Eve is determined to reconstruct the skull and uncover the mystery of the person’s identity, and when she does, the face of a beautiful woman begins to emerge. But who is she?

As Eve gets closer and closer to finding the answer, she becomes swept up in a lethal chase that spans continents and threatens to destroy the family that she has worked so hard to bring together. Eve and her team must work quickly to discover who is behind the murder – and maybe even prevent more loss of life. But how do you fight a killer who is willing to destroy anyone as a means to an end?

No one is safe in #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen’s next explosive, high-stakes thriller that will keep readers on the edge of their seat through every heart-pounding chapter.

My Thoughts: This story begins with a burnt skull with a bullet hole wrapped in a nice package with and including a two-sided mirror being left on Eve Duncan's front porch. Because her fey and precocious six-year-old Michael encourages her to restore the skull so that the victim can find her way home, Eve begins something that will lead to incredible danger.

Then the story switches to Cara at school with her new roommate former child star Darcy Nichols. Cara is wishing to visit Eve, Joe and Michael and angsting over her relationship with Jock Gavin who has been out of touch for some months. Cara is also planning her usual month with her Russian mafia grandfather Sergei Kaskov which makes Jock and her family uneasy. When her rooms are broken into in New York, she takes Darcy and goes back to stay with Eve for a while leaving Jock to investigate.

Cara's relationship with Jock is changing. She's eighteen now and not the traumatized eleven-year-old that Jock rescued. They've had years of being best friends but now she is starting to feel grown-up feeling around him. Jock is a former assassin who feels that Cara can do better and he's been waiting for years to find some more appropriate for her to love.

When they get to Eve's, they are all surprised and upset to find that the skull belongs to Darcy's secret twin sister. She was brain-damaged at birth and Darcy's mother blackmailed Darcy to work in show business to earn the money to provide her sister with the kind of care she needed while forbidding her to visit her. However, they do have a twin mental communication which they could use to get around their mother's rules. Only, the twin Sylvie dropped off Darcy's mental radar a couple of months before and now Darcy knows why.

The villain has set up a complex plot to get revenge on Eve, Cara, and Cara's grandfather leaving Darcy as collateral damage. It will be up to Eve, Joe, Jock, and Kaskov with Cara, Michael and Darcy's help to defeat the villain before he can complete his plot.

This was well-written. I enjoyed the fast pace of the story and the relationships between the characters. I like that Cara is part of a family formed by love rather than blood relationships. I liked her growing and changing relationship with Jock.

Favorite Quote:
Eve's glance shifted to the skull in front of her. Talking to Cara had brought home to her that life was difficult and filled with problems, but with effort they had a chance of being solved. the ugliness that had been done to this young woman and teh silent threat of her being deposited on Eve's doorstep might not be as easy to resolve.
I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.