Jill's bookshelf: all en-US Sat, 01 Mar 2025 17:36:33 -0800 60 Jill's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg <![CDATA[Slow Cooker Desserts: Oh So Easy, Oh So Delicious!]]> 26211280 144 Roxanne Wyss Jill 0 currently-reading 4.40 2015 Slow Cooker Desserts: Oh So Easy, Oh So Delicious!
author: Roxanne Wyss
name: Jill
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/01
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]]> Red Widow (Red Widow, #1) 54100975
Lyndsey Duncan worries her career with the CIA might be over. After lines are crossed with another intelligence agent during her most recent assignment, she is sent home to Washington on administrative leave. So when a former colleague, now Chief of the Russia Division, recruits her for an internal investigation, she jumps at the chance to prove herself once more. Lyndsey was once a top handler in the Moscow Field Station, known as the "human lie detector" and praised for recruiting some of the most senior Russian officials. But now, three Russian assets have been discovered--including one of her own--and the CIA is convinced there's a mole in the department. With years of work in question, and lives on the line, Lyndsey is thrown back into life at the agency, only this time tracing the steps of those closest to her.

Meanwhile, fellow agent Theresa Warner can't avoid the spotlight. She is the infamous "Red Widow," the wife of a former director killed in the field under mysterious circumstances. With her husband's legacy shadowing her every move, Theresa is a fixture of the Russia Division, and as she and Lyndsey strike up an unusual friendship, her knowledge proves invaluable. But as Lyndsey uncovers a surprising connection to Theresa that could answer all of her questions, she exposes a terrifying web of secrets within the department, if only she is willing to unravel it...]]> 352 Alma Katsu 0525539433 Jill 0 currently-reading 3.89 2021 Red Widow (Red Widow, #1)
author: Alma Katsu
name: Jill
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/03
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]]> <![CDATA[Missing Joseph (Inspector Lynley, #6)]]> 116687 576 Elizabeth George 0340831383 Jill 0 currently-reading 3.95 1993 Missing Joseph (Inspector Lynley, #6)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Jill
average rating: 3.95
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/05
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]]> <![CDATA[Well-Schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley, #3)]]> 394228

From the Paperback edition.]]> 432 Elizabeth George 0553384813 Jill 4 4.11 1990 Well-Schooled in Murder (Inspector Lynley, #3)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Jill
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2024/10/18
date added: 2024/10/18
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]]> <![CDATA[Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly]]> 8161568 Anthony Bourdain, host of Parts Unknown, reveals "twenty-five years of sex, drugs, bad behavior and haute cuisine" in his breakout New York Times bestseller Kitchen Confidential.Bourdain spares no one's appetite when he told all about what happens behind the kitchen door. Bourdain uses the same "take-no-prisoners" attitude in his deliciously funny and shockingly delectable book, sure to delight gourmands and philistines alike. From Bourdain's first oyster in the Gironde, to his lowly position as dishwasher in a honky tonk fish restaurant in Provincetown (where he witnesses for the first time the real delights of being a chef); from the kitchen of the Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center, to drug dealers in the east village, from Tokyo to Paris and back to New York again, Bourdain's tales of the kitchen are as passionate as they are unpredictable.Kitchen Confidential will make your mouth water while your belly aches with laughter. You'll beg the chef for more, please.]]> 321 Anthony Bourdain 1596917245 Jill 4 4.26 2000 Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly
author: Anthony Bourdain
name: Jill
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2000
rating: 4
read at: 2012/09/17
date added: 2024/09/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Why Mermaids Sing (Sebastian St. Cyr, #3)]]> 1026898 352 C.S. Harris 0451222261 Jill 0 to-read 4.14 2007 Why Mermaids Sing (Sebastian St. Cyr, #3)
author: C.S. Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2007
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/09/16
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]]> <![CDATA[When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr, #2)]]> 39148 Brighton, England� 1811.

The young wife of an aging marquis is found murdered in the arms of the Prince Regent. Around her neck lies a necklace said to have been worn by Druid priestesses-that is, until it was lost at sea with its last owner, Sebastian St. Cyr's mother. Now Sebastian is lured into a dangerous investigation of the marchioness's death-and his mother's uncertain fate.

As he edges closer to the truth-and one murder follows another-he confronts a conspiracy that imperils those nearest him and threatens to bring down the monarchy.]]> 338 C.S. Harris 0451219686 Jill 4 4.06 2006 When Gods Die (Sebastian St. Cyr, #2)
author: C.S. Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2006
rating: 4
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]]> The Underhanded 125636893 Europe' s last line of defense against neofascism� a history professor?

Professor William Dresden has found solitude in the south of France to grapple with his troubled past� a neglected upbringing, failed romances, the recent demolition of his life' s work in academia, and even witnessing genocide, among other secrets. But he soon learns that he has much larger problems when an adrift MI6 officer, Adeline Parker, calls and insists on a meeting, revealing shocking information about his family. Then a bomb explodes.

William and Adeline narrowly escape the attempt on their lives and find themselves battling a group of neofascists and extreme nationalists who are inciting violent divisions across Europe. They are pulled into a shadowy war against a cabal called the Strasbourg Executive and pushed to the brink by family betrayals, corrupt institutions, and the Executive' s subversive plots against the fabric of Western society.

To survive, William must make tough decisions and act in ways he could' ve never previously imagined� but even that might not be enough.

Perfect for fans of Dan Brown and Jack Carr]]> 414 Adam Sikes 1608096017 Jill 0 to-read 4.35 The Underhanded
author: Adam Sikes
name: Jill
average rating: 4.35
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date added: 2024/08/31
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]]> <![CDATA[The Lawless Land (Tales of the Lawless Land, #1)]]> 59486098 First in a fast-paced Templar Knight adventure series from New York Times-bestselling author Boyd Morrison and expert art historian Beth Morrison.

Canterbury, 1351.

Excommunicated knight Gerard Fox is a battle-hardened warrior whose ancestral home was unjustly taken from him. Now, he roams across the known world of Europe looking for work as a man-at-arms. Equipped with only his Damascus-steel sword and war bow, Fox takes out tyrannical and dishonorable men in a land still blighted by the Black Death.

In his ongoing crusade to deliver justice, Fox comes to the aid of Lady Isabel, who is fleeing from her brutal betrothed. But she hasn't told him the whole story. Isabel is guarding a priceless holy relic. One many men would kill for.

Fox and Isabel soon find they are being chased across the continent and try to evade those who seek the relic. But as more assassins close in, Fox realizes they will stop at nothing to possess the sacred treasure that Isabel has sworn to protect...]]> 480 Boyd Morrison 1801108633 Jill 0 to-read 3.94 2022 The Lawless Land (Tales of the Lawless Land, #1)
author: Boyd Morrison
name: Jill
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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]]> The Ark (Tyler Locke, #1) 6356460
Dilara Kenner, an ambitious young archaeologist, must run for her life when an old friend is murdered right in front of her. Before he dies in her arms, he gasps a few cryptic words about a vast conspiracy to hide an awesome historical artifact and tells Dilara that the only person who can help her is a decorated former Army combat engineer named Tyler Locke.

Two days later, Locke is consulting on a North Atlantic oil platform when a ferry helicopter carrying Dilara suffers a mechanical failure and goes down next to the rig. With only minutes before the survivors freeze to death in the frigid waters, the quick-thinking Locke manages to rescue everyone on board, including Dilara. She tells him that the helicopter crash was no accident. Someone wants to stop her from finding Noah’s Ark.

A second attempt on Dilara’s life convinces a skeptical Locke that there is truth to her story. When a movie star’s private jet crashes into the Mojave desert, it proves to be another link to the conspiracy. Locke and Dilara head to Arizona, and their investigation reveals a chilling discovery. A group of religious fanatics has recovered a weapon from the Ark that will let them recreate the effects of the biblical flood and mold the remnants of humanity according to their leader’s twisted vision.

Now Locke and Dilara have just seven days to find the Ark and the secret hidden inside before it is used to wipe out civilization again…]]> 421 Boyd Morrison Jill 0 to-read 3.83 2009 The Ark (Tyler Locke, #1)
author: Boyd Morrison
name: Jill
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2009
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/31
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]]> Transcription 37946414
Ten years later, now a radio producer at the BBC, Juliet is unexpectedly confronted by figures from her past. A different war is being fought now, on a different battleground, but Juliet finds herself once more under threat. A bill of reckoning is due, and she finally begins to realize that there is no action without consequence.]]> 343 Kate Atkinson 031617663X Jill 0 to-read 3.44 2018 Transcription
author: Kate Atkinson
name: Jill
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom]]> 157995299
An inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice for readers of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Just Mercy.

Was this small-town TV repair man “a harmless eccentric or a bizarre killer� (Atlanta Journal Constitution). For the first time, Alvin Ridley’s own defense attorney reveals the inside story of his case and trial in an extraordinary tale of friendship and an idealistic young attorney’s quest to clear his client’s name—and, in the process, rebuild his own life.

In October 1997, the town of Ringgold in northwest Georgia was shaken by reports of a murder in its midst. A dead woman was found in Alvin Ridley’s house—and even more shockingly, she was the wife no one knew he had.

McCracken Poston had been a state representative before he lost his bid for U.S. Congress and returned to his law career. Alvin Ridley was a local character who once sold and serviced Zenith televisions. Though reclusive and an outsider, the “Zenith Man,� as Poston knew him, hardly seemed capable of murder.

Alvin was a difficult client, storing evidence in a cockroach-infested suitcase, unwilling to reveal key facts to his defender. Gradually, Poston pieced together the full story behind Virginia and Alvin’s curious marriage and her cause of death—which was completely overlooked by law enforcement. Calling on medical experts, testimony from Alvin himself, and a wealth of surprising evidence gleaned from Alvin’s junk-strewn house, Poston presented a groundbreaking defense that allowed Alvin to return to his peculiar lifestyle, a free man.

Years after his trial, Alvin was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, a revelation that sheds light on much of his lifelong personal battle—and shows how easily those who don’t fit societal norms can be castigated and misunderstood. Part true crime, part courtroom drama, and full of local color, Zenith Man is also the moving story of an unexpected friendship between two very different men that changed—and perhaps saved—the lives of both.]]> 320 McCracken Poston Jr. 0806542799 Jill 0 to-read 4.24 Zenith Man: Death, Love, and Redemption in a Georgia Courtroom
author: McCracken Poston Jr.
name: Jill
average rating: 4.24
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]]> Dead of Night 17622924
Dancers in the Dark

#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris

Layla Rue Le May is no ordinary dancer—her partner, Sean McClendon, is a three-hundred-year-old redheaded vampire. When Layla Rue acquires a stalker, she's forced to face the music…and wonder if this will finally be her last dance.

The Devil's Footprints

Award-winning author Amanda Stevens

Years after her sister's unsolved murder, Sarah DeLaune is haunted by the mysteries of her past when two mutilated bodies are found near Sarah's New Orleans home, the crime scene desecrated by cloven footprints. Sarah has always believed that her sister was killed by a man named Ashe Cain. But no one else has ever seen Ashe. Until now.]]> 464 Charlaine Harris 0778314766 Jill 0 to-read 3.75 2004 Dead of Night
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2004
rating: 0
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]]> Sweet and Deadly 140076 New York Times-bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels, Charlaine Harris garnered an unusual degree of acclaim with her first novel -- the story of a murder that embroils a small-town reporter in a mystery that hits close to home.

Catherine Linton came home to Lowfield, Mississippi convinced that the untimely deaths of her parents in a car accident was no accident -- but nobody believed her. So she stayed, taking a job at the local paper, to try to both convince the sheriff that she was right-and maybe convince herself she was wrong. After all, her father had been the town doctor, loved (she always thought) by all. To think he was killed was to think that one of her friends or neighbors has harbored some deep resentment toward him. Then she finds the dead body of the women who had been her father's nurse for many years. Obviously murdered. Now Catherine knows that she was not wrong about her parent's death. Someone in Lowfield has a terrible secret, a secret worth killing for. Not once, not twice, but -- when another body is found -- three times. And the killer won't hesitate to add more victims to the list, as Catherine gets closer and closer to the truth.]]> 262 Charlaine Harris 0425214621 Jill 0 to-read 3.37 1981 Sweet and Deadly
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.37
book published: 1981
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Night Shift (Midnight, Texas, #3)]]> 25250449 308 Charlaine Harris 1101598832 Jill 4 4.02 2016 Night Shift (Midnight, Texas, #3)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2016
rating: 4
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]]> <![CDATA[Day Shift (Midnight, Texas, #2)]]> 23281944 New York Times bestselling author of the Sookie Stackhouse novels returns to the one-traffic-light town you see only when you’re on the way to someplace else�

There is no such thing as bad publicity, except in Midnight, Texas, where the residents like to keep to themselves. Even in a town full of secretive people, Olivia Charity is an enigma. She lives with the vampire Lemuel, but no one knows what she does; they only know that she’s beautiful and dangerous.

Psychic Manfred Bernardo finds out just how dangerous when he goes on a working weekend to Dallas and sees Olivia there with a couple who are both found dead the next day. To make matters worse, one of Manfred’s regular—and very wealthy—clients dies during a reading.

Manfred returns from Dallas embroiled in scandal and hounded by the press. He turns to Olivia for help; somehow he knows that the mysterious Olivia can get things back to normal. As normal as things get in Midnight�



]]> 307 Charlaine Harris 0425263193 Jill 4 3.93 2015 Day Shift (Midnight, Texas, #2)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2015
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Grave Secret (Harper Connelly, #4)]]> 6344832 "While Tolliver slept, I wondered if it was possible that Cameron was still alive...At first, I'd thought she'd been abducted by a gang, sold into slavery, something lurid and horrible. Then I'd wondered if maybe she'd simply been fed up with her life: the tawdry parents and the tacky trailer, the sister who limped and looked abstracted, the baby sisters who never seemed to stay clean. Most days, though, I was sure she was dead."

Lightning-struck sleuth Harper Connelly and her stepbrother Tolliver take a break from looking for the dead to visit the two little girls they both think of as sisters. But, as always happens when they travel to Texas, memories of their horrible childhood resurface...

To make matter worse, Tolliver learns from his older brother that their father is out of jail and trying to reestablish contact with other family members. Tolliver wants nothing to do with the man - but he may not have a say in the matter.

Soon, family secrets ensnare them both, as Harper finally discovers what happened to her missing sister, Cameron, so may years before.

And what she finds out will change her world forever...

]]> 320 Charlaine Harris 0425230155 Jill 4 3.96 2009 Grave Secret (Harper Connelly, #4)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2009
rating: 4
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas, #1)]]> 18107951 From Charlaine Harris, the bestselling author who created Sookie Stackhouse and her world of Bon Temps, Louisiana, comes a darker locale - populated by more strangers than friends. But then, that’s how the locals prefer it...

Welcome to Midnight, Texas, a town with many boarded-up windows and few full-time inhabitants, located at the crossing of Witch Light Road and Davy Road. It’s a pretty standard dried-up western town.

There’s a pawnshop (someone lives in the basement and is seen only at night). There’s a diner (people who are just passing through tend not to linger). And there’s new resident Manfred Bernardo, who thinks he’s found the perfect place to work in private (and who has secrets of his own).

Stop at the one traffic light in town, and everything looks normal. Stay awhile, and learn the truth...]]> 305 Charlaine Harris 0425263150 Jill 0 3.68 2014 Midnight Crossroad (Midnight, Texas, #1)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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I really enjoyed this new series and loved revisiting some characters from her other books. It was a fun realization.
]]> <![CDATA[Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse, #11)]]> 7981206 here.

With her knack for being in trouble's way, Sookie witnesses the firebombing of Merlotte's, the bar where she works. Since Sam Merlotte is now known to be two-natured, suspicion falls immediately on the anti-shifters in the area. Sookie suspects otherwise, but her attention is divided when she realizes that her lover Eric Northman and his "child" Pam are plotting to kill the vampire who is now their master. Gradually, Sookie is drawn into the plot-which is much more complicated than she knows...]]> 336 Charlaine Harris Jill 0 3.82 2011 Dead Reckoning (Sookie Stackhouse, #11)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> The Vampire of Kings Street 203613896 In this gothic debut novel, perfect for fans of Tread of Angels and Gail Carriger’s Soulless, Miss Radhika Dhingra, a newly minted lawyer in 19th century New York, never expected that her first client would be a vampire accused of murder.

Having a resident vampire is just the thing for upper-class New Yorkers–besides being a status symbol, they make excellent butlers or housekeepers. The only thing they require in return is a drop or two of blood and a casket to shut out the dawn’s early light.Ìý

Tolerated by society only if they follow a strict set of rules, vampires are seen as “less thanâ€â€“and as the daughter of immigrants, Radhika knows firsthand how this feels. Accused of murder, her undead client Mr. Evelyn More, knows that the cards are stacked against him.

With the help of a journalist friend and a diminutive detective inspector, Miss Dhingra sets out to prove her client’s innocence and win his freedom. Failure will mean Mr. More’s death, the end of her dreams of becoming a successful attorney, and the loss of the vampire Miss Dhingra has begun to call her friend.

Offering an alternative paranormal history, delightful characters, and insightful social commentary, The Vampire of Kings Street will thrill readers of Deanna Rayburn and Rebecca Roanhorse.Ìý ]]> 272 Asha Greyling 163910867X Jill 0 to-read 3.52 The Vampire of Kings Street
author: Asha Greyling
name: Jill
average rating: 3.52
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]]> <![CDATA[Come Shell or High Water (A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery #1)]]> 200799428
As a professional storyteller, Maureen Nash can’t help but see the narrative cues woven through her life. Like the series of letters addressed to her late husband from a stranger—the proprietor of The Moon Shell, a shop on Ocracoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. The store is famous with shell collectors, but it’s the cryptic letters from Allen Withrow, the shop’s owner, that convince Maureen to travel to the small coastal town in the middle of hurricane season. At the very least, she expects she’ll get a good story out of the experience, never anticipating it could end up a murder mystery . . .
Ìý
In Maureen’s first hours on the storm-lashed island, she averts several life-threatening accidents, stumbles over the body of a controversial Ocracoke local, and meets the ghost of an eighteenth-century Welsh pirate, Emrys Lloyd. To the untrained eye, all these unusual occurrences would seem to be random misfortunes, but Maureen senses there may be something connecting these stories. With Emrys’s supernatural assistance, and the support of a few new friends, Maureen sets out unravel the truth, find a killer, and hopefully give this tale a satisfying ending . . . while also rewriting her own.]]> 304 Molly MacRae 1496744276 Jill 0 to-read 3.67 2024 Come Shell or High Water (A Haunted Shell Shop Mystery #1)
author: Molly MacRae
name: Jill
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> <![CDATA[Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)]]> 9317452 392 Ben Aaronovitch 0575097566 Jill 0 to-read 3.83 2011 Rivers of London (Rivers of London, #1)
author: Ben Aaronovitch
name: Jill
average rating: 3.83
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/30
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]]> The Ancestor 54552798
A meditation on love lost and unfulfilled dreams, The Ancestor is a thrilling page-turner in present day Alaska and a historical adventure about the perilous Gold Rush expeditions where prospectors left behind their lives for the promise of hope and a better future. The question remains whether it was all worth the sacrifice�.]]> 348 Lee Matthew Goldberg 1643961144 Jill 0 to-read 4.27 2020 The Ancestor
author: Lee Matthew Goldberg
name: Jill
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
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]]> <![CDATA[True Fiction (Ian Ludlow Thrillers #1)]]> 35920726 #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg hits the ground running in a breakneck thriller where truth and fiction collide for the unluckiest writer alive.

When a passenger jet crashes onto the beaches of Waikiki, bestselling thriller writer Ian Ludlow knows the horrific tragedy wasn't an accident.

Years before, the CIA enlisted Ian to dream up terrorism scenarios to prepare the government for nightmares they couldn't imagine. Now one of those schemes has come true, and Ian is the only person alive who knows how it was done...and who is behind the plot. That makes him too dangerous to live.

Ian goes on the run, sweeping up an innocent bystander in his plight--Margo French, a dog walker and aspiring singer. They are pursued by assassins and an all-seeing global-intelligence network that won't stop until Ian and Margo are dead. Ian has written thrillers like this before, but this time he doesn't know how it's going to end--or if he will be alive to find out.]]> 248 Lee Goldberg 1503952347 Jill 0 to-read 4.00 2018 True Fiction (Ian Ludlow Thrillers #1)
author: Lee Goldberg
name: Jill
average rating: 4.00
book published: 2018
rating: 0
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]]> Lost Hills (Eve Ronin, #1) 42847645 Now Eve, with a lot to learn and resented by her colleagues, has to justify her new badge. Her chance comes when she and her burned-out, soon-to-retire partner are called to the blood-splattered home of a missing single mother and her two kids. The horrific carnage screams multiple murder—but there are no corpses.

Eve has to rely on her instincts and tenacity to find the bodies and capture the vicious killer, all while battling her own insecurities and mounting pressure from the media, her bosses, and the bereaved family. It’s a deadly ordeal that will either prove her skills…or totally destroy her.

]]> 237 Lee Goldberg 154209190X Jill 0 to-read 4.19 2020 Lost Hills (Eve Ronin, #1)
author: Lee Goldberg
name: Jill
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/29
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]]> <![CDATA[Princes Gate (DCI Frank Merlin, #1)]]> 26244386 288 Mark Ellis 0992994381 Jill 0 to-read 3.82 2011 Princes Gate (DCI Frank Merlin, #1)
author: Mark Ellis
name: Jill
average rating: 3.82
book published: 2011
rating: 0
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]]> CALICO 156896079 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg, comes an explosive, page-turning investigative thriller - with a mind-blowing twist.

There's a saying in Barstow, California, a decaying city in the scorching Mojave desert . . .

The Interstate here only goes in one direction: Away.

But it's the only place where ex-LAPD detective Beth McDade, after a staggering fall from grace, could get another badge . . . and a shot at redemption.

Over a century ago, and just a few miles further into the bleak landscape, a desperate stranger ended up in Calico, a struggling mining town, also hoping for a second chance.

His fate, all those years ago, and hers today are linked when Beth investigates an old skeleton dug up in a shallow, sandy grave . . . and also tries to identity a vagrant run-over by a distracted motorhome driver during a lightning storm.

Every disturbing clue she finds, every shocking discovery she makes, force Beth to confront her own troubled past—and a past that's not her own—until it all smashes together in a revelation that could change the world.]]> 316 Lee Goldberg 1448310148 Jill 0 to-read 4.26 2023 CALICO
author: Lee Goldberg
name: Jill
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Tracking a Shadow (Jarvis Mann Detective #1)]]> 23178650 205 R. Weir 1500827134 Jill 0 to-read 4.19 2014 Tracking a Shadow (Jarvis Mann Detective #1)
author: R. Weir
name: Jill
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2014
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/28
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]]> <![CDATA[Murder on Astor Place (Gaslight Mystery, #1)]]> 686718 278 Victoria Thompson 0425168964 Jill 0 to-read 3.87 1999 Murder on Astor Place (Gaslight Mystery, #1)
author: Victoria Thompson
name: Jill
average rating: 3.87
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/08/25
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]]> <![CDATA[Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key, #1)]]> 202102032 It's love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits from USA Today bestselling author Jen DeLuca.

Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.

Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG� and “MY HOUSE� when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she's catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.

As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don't get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie's worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing� and Nick's afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.]]> 325 Jen DeLuca 0593641213 Jill 5 3.66 2024 Haunted Ever After (Boneyard Key, #1)
author: Jen DeLuca
name: Jill
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 5
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date added: 2024/08/16
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[Just Try Not To Die (Brian Helsing: The World's Unlikeliest Vampire Hunter. Mission #1)]]> 36619775
Least of all said idiot; Brian Trelawney, the most hapless car salesman in the whole of Cornwall.

With no redeeming features bar his towering height, Brian finds himself thrust into a strange and often terrifying world of vampires, banshees and all other Things That Go Bump In The Night. Trained, after a fashion, by the eccentric Masters, and equipped with strange weapons, Brian is sent into battle as the unwitting savior of mankind.

Accompanied by his friend Neil, a man oddly enough far more appropriate for the role of Helsing, Brian must bumble his way through his first mission; placating a terrifying banshee whose keening wailing is keeping the residents of Bodmin from their beauty sleep.

++Warning: This book contains copious harsh language and mind-numbing stupidity, all wrapped up in a crunchy supernatural shell.++

]]> 266 Gareth K. Pengelly Jill 0 4.23 2017 Just Try Not To Die (Brian Helsing: The World's Unlikeliest Vampire Hunter. Mission #1)
author: Gareth K. Pengelly
name: Jill
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at: 2024/07/02
date added: 2024/07/02
shelves:
review:

]]> Crashing the A-List 36739574
When Clara comes across a unit that was once owned by an escort service, she finds the brothel “résumé� of a younger Caspian Tiddleswich� an astonishingly famous British actor. Her best friend thinks she should sell the gossip to a tabloid to fund her way off the couch from hell, but Clara instead manages to track down Caspian’s contact info, intending to reassure him that her lips are sealed.

Unfortunately, Caspian misinterprets Clara’s attempt at altruism and shows up on her doorstep, accusing her of blackmail. When the paparazzi capture a photo of them together, Caspian’s PR team sees an opportunity to promote his latest film—and if Clara wants to atone for her “crimes,� she’ll have to play along. Pretending to be Caspian’s girlfriend seems like it will be a tolerable, if somewhat daunting, penance� until their fake romance becomes something more than either of them expected.]]> 376 Summer Heacock Jill 3 3.48 2019 Crashing the A-List
author: Summer Heacock
name: Jill
average rating: 3.48
book published: 2019
rating: 3
read at: 2024/06/23
date added: 2024/06/23
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1)]]> 10482749 431 Elizabeth George Jill 4 4.22 1988 A Great Deliverance (Inspector Lynley #1)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Jill
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1988
rating: 4
read at: 2024/06/08
date added: 2024/06/09
shelves:
review:

]]> Hate Mail 195427537 Naomi and Luca have been pen-pals since fifth-grade. Well, more like bitter rivals caught in an epic battle of insults and verbal jousting...

But what starts as a hilarious chain of hate filled letters, slowly develops into a friendship spanning coasts and years. That is until one day, years later, when the letters suddenly stop.

It’s been two years since Naomi last heard from Luca. Two years since the letter that changed everything.

But when a new envelope turns up out of the blue at her desk at the local news station, Naomi is determined not to let Luca have the final word.]]> 385 Donna Marchetti Jill 4 3.90 2024 Hate Mail
author: Donna Marchetti
name: Jill
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/28
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[As The Crow Flies (Walt Longmire, #8)]]> 59125502

Fans of Robert B. Parker will love this eighth adventure in the New York Times bestselling and award-winning Walt Longmire mystery series. Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire has a more important matter on his mind than cowboys and criminals. His daughter, Cady, is getting married to the brother of his undersheriff, Victoria Moretti. Walt and old friend Henry Standing Bear are the de facto wedding planners and fear Cady’s wrath when the wedding locale arrangements go up in smoke two weeks before the big event.



The pair set out to find a new site for the nuptials on the Cheyenne Reservation, but their scouting expedition ends in horror as they witness a young Crow woman plummeting from Painted Warrior’s majestic cliffs. It’s not Walt’s turf, but the newly appointed tribal police chief and Iraqi war veteran, the beautiful Lolo Long, shanghais him into helping with the investigation. Walt is stretched thin as he mentors Lolo, attempts to catch the bad guys, and performs the role of father of the bride.]]> 316 Craig Johnson Jill 4 4.56 2012 As The Crow Flies (Walt Longmire, #8)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/25
date added: 2024/05/28
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Burning (Kate Burkholder, #16)]]> 195790608 Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates a gruesome murder that reveals a little-known chapter of early Amish history in this new installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

Newlywed Chief of Police Kate Burkholder is awakened by an urgent midnight call summoning her to a suspicious fire in the woods. When she arrives at the scene, she discovers a charred body. According to the coroner, the deceased, an Amish man named Milan Swanz, was chained to a stake and burned alive. It is an appalling and eerily symbolic crime against an upstanding husband and father.

Kate knows all too well that the Amish prefer to handle their problems without interference from the outside world, and no one will speak about the murdered man. From what she’s able to piece together, Swanz led a deeply troubled life and had recently been excommunicated. But if that’s the case, why are the Amish so reluctant to talk about him? Are they protecting the memory of one of their own? Or are they afraid of something they dare not share?

When her own brother is implicated in the case, Kate finds herself not only at odds with the Amish, the world of which she was once a part, but also the English community and her counterparts in law enforcement. The investigation takes a violent turn when Kate’s life is threatened by a mysterious stranger.

To uncover the truth about the death of Milan Swanz, Kate must dive deep into the Anabaptist culture, peering into all the dark corners of its history, only to uncover a secret legacy that shatters everything she thought she knew about the Amish themselves―and her own roots.]]> 320 Linda Castillo 1250781116 Jill 0 to-read 4.14 2024 The Burning (Kate Burkholder, #16)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Jill
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire, #3)]]> 236857
With Henry, Deputy Victoria Moretti, the entire Moretti clan of Philadelphia police officers, and Dog as backup, Sheriff Longmire intends to introduce a little western justice from his saddlebag of tricks to the City of Brotherly Love, where no act of kindness goes unpunished.]]> 288 Craig Johnson 0670031577 Jill 4 4.15 2007 Kindness Goes Unpunished (Walt Longmire, #3)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2007
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Book to Kill For (Bookish Cafe, #1)]]> 57027003
Maggie Bell loves working at a bookshop in the charming town of Fair Haven, Connecticut. After her beloved boss passes away, his son, Joshua Whitfield, comes into town and turns Maggie’s world upside down. He wants to turn part of the store into a cafe and sell books about vampires and silly romances. Maggie is horrified. But when an electrician is killed in the middle of the bookshop renovations, Joshua is the prime suspect. Maggie must put their differences aside to clear his name. She finds herself becoming more and more attracted to Joshua. Can a mousy bookworm really fall in love with a rugged carpenter who doesn’t even like to read?]]> 256 Harper Lin Jill 2 masterpiece 3.94 2021 A Book to Kill For (Bookish Cafe, #1)
author: Harper Lin
name: Jill
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves: masterpiece
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bloodier than Fiction (Bookish Cafe, #2)]]> 58710330
Can quiet, secretive Casper really be a killer? Maggie butts into policeman Gary’s investigation to find out. She wonders if she’s developing feelings for Gary. Wasn’t Joshua her crush? Either way, it isn’t a good idea for her to get involved with either of them. One is her boss, and the other is an old high school friend.

But romance doesn’t stay on Maggie’s mind for long when she becomes the target of a murderer.]]> 258 Harper Lin Jill 2 4.05 2021 Bloodier than Fiction (Bookish Cafe, #2)
author: Harper Lin
name: Jill
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder in an Irish Village (An Irish Village Mystery, #1)]]> 28953387 369 Carlene O'Connor Jill 2 3.87 2016 Murder in an Irish Village (An Irish Village Mystery, #1)
author: Carlene O'Connor
name: Jill
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Spirit of Steamboat (Walt Longmire, #9.1)]]> 17674999
Craig Johnson's new novel , The Western Star, Ìýwill be available from Viking in Fall 2017.

Sheriff Walt Longmire is in his office reading A Christmas Carol when he is interrupted by a ghost of Christmas a young woman with a hairline scar and more than a few questions about his predecessor, Lucian Connally. With his daughter Cady and undersherrif Moretti otherwise engaged, Walt’s on his own this Christmas Eve, so he agrees to help her.

At the Durant Home for Assisted Living, Lucian is several tumblers into his Pappy Van Winkle’s and swears he’s never clapped eyes on the woman before. Disappointed, she whispers “Steamboat� and begins a story that takes them all back to Christmas Eve 1988—a story that will thrill and delight the bestselling series� devoted fans.]]> 146 Craig Johnson 0670015784 Jill 5 4.19 2013 Spirit of Steamboat (Walt Longmire, #9.1)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2013
rating: 5
read at: 2024/05/15
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:
This was a nice palate cleanser after Hell is Empty. I learned about it on EBub. This standalone short story is set on Christmas Eve, and Walt is dreading spending it without the women in his life and planning on visiting Lucian to play chess. A mystery woman walks into the department asking about the former sheriff. We are then transported to a blizzard in 1988 and a mission with a lot of heart. It was nice revisiting with Walt, Lucian and Isaac again. I thoroughly enjoyed this quick read.
]]> <![CDATA[Hell Is Empty (Walt Longmire, #7)]]> 9794605 Wyoming's favorite sheriff braves a frozen inferno as he races to capture an escaped murderer.

Well-read and world-weary, Sheriff Walt Longmire has been maintaing order in Wyoming's Absaroka County for more than thirty years, but in this riveting seventh outing, he is pushed to his limits. Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian, has just confessed to murdering a boy ten years ago and burying him deep within the Big Horn Mountains. After transporting Shade and a group of other convicted murderers through a snowstorm, Walt is informed by the FBI that the body is buried in his jurisdiction-and the victim's name is White Buffalo. Guided only by Indian mysticism and a battered paperback of Dante's Inferno, Walt pursues Shade and his fellow escapees into the icy hell of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, cheating death to ensure that justice-both civil and spiritual-is served.



]]> 309 Craig Johnson 0670022772 Jill 2 4.24 2011 Hell Is Empty (Walt Longmire, #7)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2011
rating: 2
read at: 2024/05/14
date added: 2024/05/15
shelves:
review:
I like that the author doesn’t repeat his plotlines, but I could have done without this one. I love Walt Longmire, but man was he frustrating in this book. It was a snowstorm and the convicts weren't going anywhere. I realize there would have been no book otherwise, but it seemed contrived. I liked Virgil White Buffalo in the past book, but am sad with his story here. Give me a mystery, and I'll pass on the manhunt stories in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[Grimm Up North (DCI Harry Grimm, #1)]]> 54453585
Detective Chief Inspector Harry Grimm is forced to take leave from Bristol’s Major Investigations Team when his boss, tired of Harry chasing the ghost of his murderous father, sends him north on secondment.

Used to city life and high stress, Harry fears his life will now be spent handing out speeding tickets, finding lost sheep, and directing tourists. But when a local teenager runs away, Harry finds himself pulled into an investigation much worse than anyone could have ever expected.

The nicer the place, the darker the secrets. Wensleydale is beautiful, everyone is friendly and welcoming, and people just don’t get murdered ... do they?

A classic fish-out-of-water crime mystery set in the stunning and evocative scenery of Wensleydale in North Yorkshire.]]> 238 David J. Gatward Jill 4 4.25 2020 Grimm Up North (DCI Harry Grimm, #1)
author: David J. Gatward
name: Jill
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/05/13
shelves:
review:
I really am enjoying this and immediately started book 2. DCI Harry Grimm is a fascinating character and a very capable police officer. In a fish out of water setting that sounds lovely with a deep undercurrent.
]]> <![CDATA[A Suitable Vengeance (Inspector Lynley, #4)]]> 234232 449 Elizabeth George 0553384821 Jill 4 4.01 1991 A Suitable Vengeance (Inspector Lynley, #4)
author: Elizabeth George
name: Jill
average rating: 4.01
book published: 1991
rating: 4
read at: 2024/05/07
date added: 2024/05/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire #4)]]> 59125246 The fourth Longmire novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Land of Wolves
Ìý
Fans of Ace Atkins, Nevada Barr, and Robert B. Parker will love the fourth mystery inÌýNew York TimesÌýbestselling author Craig Johnson’s award-winning Longmire Mystery series, the basis forÌýLONGMIRE, the hit drama series now streaming on Netflix. It delivers more of the taut prose, engrossing characters, beautiful Wyoming setting, and satisfying depth that reviewers have been hailing since his first book,ÌýThe Cold Dish. InÌýAnother Man's Moccasins, the body of a Vietnamese woman dumped along the Wyoming interstate opens a baffling case for Sheriff Longmire, whose only suspect is a Crow Indian with a troubled past. But things get even stranger when a photograph turns up in the victim’s purse that ties her murder to one from Longmire’s past—a case he tackled as a Marine Corps investigator forty years earlier in Vietnam.

]]> 299 Craig Johnson Jill 4 4.49 2008 Another Man's Moccasins (Walt Longmire #4)
author: Craig Johnson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2008
rating: 4
read at: 2024/04/20
date added: 2024/04/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Kensington Palace (Wrexford & Sloane, #3)]]> 43420405 Wrexford and Sloane must unravel secrets within secrets—including a few that entangle their own hearts—when they reunite to solve a string of shocking murders that have horrified Regency London...

Though Charlotte Sloane’s secret identity as the controversial satirical cartoonist A.J. Quill is safe with the Earl of Wrexford, she’s ill prepared for the rippling effects sharing the truth about her background has cast over their relationship. She thought a bit of space might improve the situation. But when her cousin is murdered and his twin brother is accused of the gruesome crime, Charlotte immediately turns to Wrexford for help in proving the young man’s innocence. Though she finds the brooding scientist just as enigmatic and intense as ever, their partnership is now marked by an unfamiliar tension that seems to complicate every encounter.

Despite this newfound complexity, Wrexford and Charlotte are determined to track down the real killer. Their investigation leads them on a dangerous chase through Mayfair’s glittering ballrooms and opulent drawing rooms, where gossip and rumors swirl to confuse the facts. Was her cousin murdered over a romantic rivalry . . . or staggering gambling debts? Or could the motive be far darker and involve the clandestine scientific society that claimed both brothers as members? The more Charlotte and Wrexford try to unknot the truth, the more tangled it becomes. But they must solve the case soon, before the killer’s madness seizes another victim...]]> 359 Andrea Penrose 1496722817 Jill 4 3.96 2019 Murder at Kensington Palace (Wrexford & Sloane, #3)
author: Andrea Penrose
name: Jill
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder at Half Moon Gate (Wrexford & Sloane, #2)]]> 35607916 A wealthy lord who happens to be a brilliant scientist . . . an enigmatic young widow who secretly pens satirical cartoons . . . a violent killing disguised as a robbery . . . Nothing is as it seems in Regency London, especially when the Earl of Wrexford and Charlotte Sloane join forces to solve a shocking murder.
Ìý
When Lord Wrexford discovers the body of a gifted inventor in a dark London alley, he promptly alerts the watchman and lets the authorities handle the matter. But Wrexford soon finds himself drawn into the murder investigation when the inventor’s widow begs for his assistance, claiming the crime was not a random robbery. It seems her husband’s designs for a revolutionary steam-powered engine went missing the night of his death. The plans could be worth a fortune . . . and very dangerous in the wrong hands.
Ìý
Joining Wrexford in his investigation is Charlotte Sloane, who uses the pseudonym A. J. Quill to publish her scathing political cartoons. Her extensive network of informants is critical for her work, but she doesn’t mind tapping that same web of spies to track down an elusive killer. Each suspect—from ambitious assistants to rich investors, and even the inventor’s widow—is entwined in a maze of secrets and lies that leads Wrexford and Sloane down London’s most perilous stews and darkest alleyways.
Ìý
With danger lurking at every turn, the potent combination of Wrexford’s analytical mind and Sloane’s exacting intuition begins to unravel the twisted motivations behind the inventor’s death. But they are up against a cunning and deadly foe—a killer ready to strike again before they can recover the inventor’s priceless designs . . .]]> 220 Andrea Penrose 1496710800 Jill 4 4.18 2018 Murder at Half Moon Gate (Wrexford & Sloane, #2)
author: Andrea Penrose
name: Jill
average rating: 4.18
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2024/03/11
date added: 2024/03/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Silence of Stones (Crispin Guest, #8)]]> 25767927 240 Jeri Westerson 0727885626 Jill 4 4.07 2016 The Silence of Stones (Crispin Guest, #8)
author: Jeri Westerson
name: Jill
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/27
date added: 2024/03/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share]]> 31656005 Sixty recipes for soups, stews, and chowders to share and savor, from the James Beard Award winner and NPR chef.There’s no better way to cultivate community, foster friendship, or simply nourish family than over heartwarming bowls of homemade soup. And here, soup lovers will find sixty terrific recipes, featuring such classics as creamy Tomato Soup with Grilled-Cheese Croutons alongside international favorites like Thai Red Curry-Chicken Noodle Soup. Each recipe has suggested sides to make it a meal and tips for easy transporting, which makes them just right to bring to a soup swap where everyone can sample the offerings and then take home a variety of leftovers to enjoy all week. Whether taken to the party or savored at home, this trusted collection of soups, stews, and chowders is sure to satisfy all year long.]]> 178 Kathy Gunst 1452148511 Jill 0 3.88 Soup Swap: Comforting Recipes to Make and Share
author: Kathy Gunst
name: Jill
average rating: 3.88
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves:
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]]> <![CDATA[Southern Spirits (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, #1)]]> 24582237 For a girl who is about to lose her family home,
Releases the ghost of a long-dead gangster,
And opens Verity Long’s eyes to a whole new world.

When out of work graphic designer Verity Long accidentally traps a ghost on her property, she’s saddled with more than a supernatural sidekick—she gains the ability see spirits. It leads to an offer she can’t refuse from the town’s bad boy, the brother of her ex and the last man she should ever partner with.

Ellis Wydell is in possession of a stunning historic property haunted by some of Sugarland Tennessee’s finest former citizens. Only some of them are growing restless—and destructive. He hires Verity to put an end to the disturbances. But soon, Verity learns there’s more to the mysterious estate than floating specters, secret passageways, and hidden rooms.

There’s a modern day mystery afoot, one that hinges on a decades-old murder. Verity isn't above questioning the living, or the dead. But can she discover the truth before the killer finds her?
]]> 320 Angie Fox 193966120X Jill 0 4.23 2015 Southern Spirits (Southern Ghost Hunter Mysteries, #1)
author: Angie Fox
name: Jill
average rating: 4.23
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Hidden One (Kate Burkholder, #14)]]> 58724837
Over a decade ago, beloved Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus disappeared without a trace. When skeletal remains showing evidence of foul play are unearthed, his disappearance becomes even more sinister.

The town’s elders arrive in Painters Mill to ask chief of police Kate Burkholder for help, but she quickly realizes she has a personal connection to the crime. The handsome Amish man who stands accused of the murder, Jonas Bowman, was Kate’s first love. Forced to confront a painful episode from her past, Kate travels to Pennsylvania’s Kishacoquillas Valley, where the Amish culture differs dramatically from the traditions she knows. Though Bishop Stoltzfus was highly respected, she soon hears about a dark side to this complex man. What was he hiding that resulted in his own brutal death?

Someone doesn’t want Kate asking questions. But even after being accosted and threatened in the dead of night, she refuses to back down. Is she too close to the case―and to Jonas―to see clearly? There’s a killer in the Valley who will stop at nothing to keep the past buried. Will they get to Kate before she can expose the truth? Or will the bishop’s secrets remain hidden forever?]]> 320 Linda Castillo 1250781051 Jill 5 4.12 2022 The Hidden One (Kate Burkholder, #14)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Jill
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2022/12/19
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves:
review:
I finished reading The Hidden One by Linda Castillo (#14 in her Kate Burkholder series) last night. I figured out the victim's secret halfway through the book (before she spelled it out clearly later), but that is because of my background and profession. I doubt most readers will figure it out as quickly. As a former Amish and Chief of Police of Painter's Mill, Ohio, Kate Burkholder is asked by the elders of a town in Pennsylvania to look into the 18-year-old murder of their Bishop when his remains are found in a field. The man who has been accused is her first love, someone she hasn't seen or spoken to since she was fifteen years old. Kate heads on over to nose around into a crime and riles the local law enforcement as well as the people she questions. I did start to question her romantic timeline with her past crush from Down a Dark Road (she was 13) and this one (she knew him her whole life, but they got particularly close at age 14/15). The mystery itself was awesome though.
]]> <![CDATA[Murder on Black Swan Lane (Wrexford & Sloane, #1)]]> 33024254
The Earl of Wrexford possesses a brilliant scientific mind, but boredom and pride lead him to reckless behavior. He does not suffer fools gladly. So when pompous, pious Reverend Josiah Holworthy publicly condemns him for debauchery, Wrexford unsheathes his rapier-sharp wit and strikes back. As their war of words escalates, London’s most popular satirical cartoonist, A.J. Quill, skewers them both. But then the clergyman is found slain in a church—his face burned by chemicals, his throat slashed ear to ear—and Wrexford finds himself the chief suspect.]]> 340 Andrea Penrose 1496710770 Jill 4 3.78 2017 Murder on Black Swan Lane (Wrexford & Sloane, #1)
author: Andrea Penrose
name: Jill
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2024/02/09
date added: 2024/02/09
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Darkest Evening (Vera Stanhope, #9)]]> 49127525
Vera takes the child and, driving on, she arrives at a place she knows well. Brockburn is a large, grand house in the wilds of Northumberland, now a little shabby and run down. It’s also where her father, Hector, grew up. Inside, there’s a party in full swing: music, Christmas lights and laughter. Outside, unbeknownst to the revelers, a woman lies dead in the snow.

As the blizzard traps the group deep in the freezing Northumberland countryside, Brockburn begins to give up its secrets, and as Vera digs deeper into her investigation, she also begins to uncover her family’s complicated past.]]> 384 Ann Cleeves 125020450X Jill 4 4.11 2020 The Darkest Evening (Vera Stanhope, #9)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Jill
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2024/01/11
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder Mystery Book Club (Florida Keys Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery, #1)]]> 58790798 180 Danielle Collins Jill 3 3.97 2012 Murder Mystery Book Club (Florida Keys Bed & Breakfast Cozy Mystery, #1)
author: Danielle Collins
name: Jill
average rating: 3.97
book published: 2012
rating: 3
read at: 2023/06/04
date added: 2024/01/04
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bread of the Dead (Santa Fe Cafe Mystery, #1)]]> 24392805 368 Ann Myers 0062382284 Jill 0 currently-reading 3.58 2015 Bread of the Dead (Santa Fe Cafe Mystery, #1)
author: Ann Myers
name: Jill
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Hidden Secret (Kate Burkholder, #6.5)]]> 25541019 68 Linda Castillo Jill 3 4.09 2015 A Hidden Secret (Kate Burkholder, #6.5)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Jill
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this short story, which does not actually include a crime. A baby is left on the Bishop's doorstep, and Kate gets called to take care of the abandoned newborn and search for the mother, who is most likely Amish due to the quilt and rattle left with the baby. It was a nice change from the fast-paced, full-length stories. An enjoyable read and brief respite between two full-length books.
]]> <![CDATA[The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order]]> 19454261 289 Donna Smallin Kuper Jill 0 3.81 2004 The One-Minute Organizer Plain & Simple: 500 Tips for Getting Your Life in Order
author: Donna Smallin Kuper
name: Jill
average rating: 3.81
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at: 2023/05/15
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Spanish Diplomat's Secret (Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries, #3)]]> 65214426 In The Spanish Diplomat's Secret, award-winning author Nev March explores the vivid nineteenth-century world of the transatlantic voyage, one passenger’s secret at a time.

Captain Jim Agnihotri and his wife Lady Diana Framji are embarking to England in the summer of 1894. Jim is hopeful the cruise will help Diana open up to him. Something is troubling her, and Jim is concerned.

On their first evening, Jim meets an intriguing Spaniard, a fellow soldier with whom he finds an instant kinship. But within twenty-four hours, Don Juan Nepomuceno is murdered, his body discovered shortly after he asks rather urgently to see Jim.

When the captain discovers that Jim is an investigator, he pleads with Jim to find the killer before they dock in Liverpool in six days, or there could be international consequences. Aboard the beleaguered luxury liner are a thousand suspects, but no witnesses to the locked-cabin crime. Jim would prefer to keep Diana safely out of his investigation, but he’s doubled over, seasick. Plus, Jim knows Diana can navigate the high society world of the ship's first-class passengers in ways he cannot.

Together, using the tricks gleaned from their favorite fictional sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, Jim and Diana must learn why one man’s life came to a murderous end.]]> 320 Nev March 1250855063 Jill 0 to-read 3.55 2023 The Spanish Diplomat's Secret (Captain Jim and Lady Diana Mysteries, #3)
author: Nev March
name: Jill
average rating: 3.55
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/05/15
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Midnight News 61965434 From the best-selling author of Longbourn, a gripping novel of one young woman’s unraveling during the Blitz—a story of World War II intrigue, love, and dangerÌý

It is 1940 and twenty-year-old Charlotte Richmond watches from her attic window as enemy planes fly over London. Still grieving her beloved brother, who never returned from France, she is trying to keep herself out of holding down a typist job at the Ministry of Information, sharing gin and confidences with her best friend, Elena, and dodging her overbearing father.

On her way to work she often sees the boy who feeds the birds—a source of unexpected joy amid the rubble of the Blitz. But every day brings new scenes of devastation, and after yet another heartbreaking loss Charlotte has an uncanny sense of foreboding. Someone is stalking the darkness, targeting her friends. And now he’s following her.

As grief and suspicion consume her, Charlotte’s nerves become increasingly frayed. She no longer knows whom to trust. She can’t even trust herself . . .

Utterly riveting and hypnotic, The Midnight News is a love story, a war story, and an unforgettable journey into the fragile mind and fierce heart of an extraordinary young woman.]]> 322 Jo Baker 0593534972 Jill 0 to-read 3.61 2023 The Midnight News
author: Jo Baker
name: Jill
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Love Buzz 61896682 A chance romantic encounter during a wild night at a Mardi Gras bachelorette party sends strait-laced Serena Khan’s carefully constructed life into chaos.

A wretched maid of honor. A hangover from hell. Raucous Mardi Gras crowds. There isn’t much Serena Khan is enjoying about this four-day New Orleans destination bachelorette party for her semi-estranged cousin, the bride-to-be—until sparks fly with a handsome stranger, who, like her, is also from Seattle. After their conversation is cut short, Serena is overwhelmed by the desire to find the charming man with the brooding eyebrows, but her list of clues is pretty short:

His name is Julian.
He lives on Chamber Hill.
He works at a tech company.
He loves Lil Wayne and Nirvana.

The need to find him is, for Serena, both irresistible and totally irrational. In a few short weeks, her college alumni magazine is featuring her in a “Life at Thirty� feature, cementing her as a success story. She will have officially achieved the safe, stable life her late mother insisted upon. Julian is not part of the plan.

As she combs Seattle for her New Orleans flame, stripping away the perfectly curated life that would have made her mother proud, Serena must decide if the pursuit of real passion is worth it—and fast, before she destroys the life she always thought she wanted.]]> 304 Neely Tubati Alexander 0063292912 Jill 0 to-read 3.52 2023 Love Buzz
author: Neely Tubati Alexander
name: Jill
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Paris Daughter 62327255 From the bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names comes a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.

Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.

When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.

More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.]]> 384 Kristin Harmel 1982191708 Jill 0 to-read 4.19 2023 The Paris Daughter
author: Kristin Harmel
name: Jill
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[An Evil Heart (Kate Burkholder, #15)]]> 61884979 Chief of Police Kate Burkholder investigates the brutal death of a young Amish man in An Evil Heart, the latest installment of the bestselling series by Linda Castillo.

On a crisp autumn day in Painters Mill, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder responds to a call only to discover an Amish man who has been violently killed with a crossbow, his body abandoned on a dirt road. Aden Karn was just twenty years old, well liked, and from an upstanding Amish family. Who would commit such a heinous crime against a young man whose life was just beginning?

The more Kate gets to know his devastated family and the people—both English and Amish—who loved him, the more determined she becomes to solve the case. Aden Karn was funny and hardworking and looking forward to marrying his sweet fiancé, Emily. All the while, Kate’s own wedding day to Tomasetti draws near...

But as she delves into Karn’s past, Kate begins to hear whispers about a dark side. What if Aden Karn wasn’t the wholesome young man everyone admired? Is it possible the rumors are a cruel campaign to blame the victim? Kate pursues every lead with a vengeance, sensing an unspeakable secret no one will broach.

The case spirals out of control when a young Amish woman comes forward with a horrific story that pits Kate against a dangerous and unexpected opponent. When the awful truth is finally uncovered, Kate comes face to face with the terrible consequences of a life lived in all the dark places.]]> 320 Linda Castillo 1250781086 Jill 0 to-read 4.07 2023 An Evil Heart (Kate Burkholder, #15)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Jill
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/18
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11)]]> 24586590
But when the boy disappears, the villagers are faced with the possibility that one of his tall tales might have been true.

And so begins a frantic search for the boy and the truth. What they uncover deep in the forest sets off a sequence of events that leads to murder, leads to an old crime, leads to an old betrayal. Leads right to the door of an old poet.

And now it is now, writes Ruth Zardo. And the dark thing is here.

A monster once visited Three Pines. And put down deep roots. And now, Ruth knows, it is back.

Armand Gamache, the former head of homicide for the Sûreté du Québec, must face the possibility that, in not believing the boy, he himself played a terrible part in what happens next.]]> 376 Louise Penny 1250022088 Jill 3 4.17 2015 The Nature of the Beast (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #11)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2015
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)]]> 33602101
From the moment the creature's shadow falls over the village, Gamache, now Chief Superintendent of the Sûreté du Quebec, suspects it has deep roots and a dark purpose. Yet he does nothing. What can he do? Only watch and wait. And hope his mounting fears are not realized.

But when the figure vanishes overnight and a body is discovered, it falls to Gamache to discover if a debt has been paid or levied.

Months later, on a steamy July day, as the trial for the accused begins in Montréal, Chief Superintendent Gamache continues to struggle with actions he set in motion that bitter November from which there is no going back. More than the accused is on trial. Gamache's own conscience is standing in judgment.

In her latest utterly gripping book, number-one New York Times bestselling author Louise Penny shatters the conventions of the crime novel to explore what Gandhi called the court of conscience. A court that supersedes all others.]]> 391 Louise Penny 1250066190 Jill 5 4.24 2017 Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #13)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
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]]> <![CDATA[The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10)]]> 19561922 The Balm in Gilead, in his large hands. "There is a balm in Gilead," his neighbor Clara Morrow reads from the dust jacket, "to make the wounded whole."

While Gamache doesn’t talk about his wounds and his balm, Clara tells him about hers. Peter, her artist husband, has failed to come home. Failed to show up as promised on the first anniversary of their separation. She wants Gamache’s help to find him. Having finally found sanctuary, Gamache feels a near revulsion at the thought of leaving Three Pines. "There’s power enough in Heaven," he finishes the quote as he contemplates the quiet village, "to cure a sin-sick soul." And then he gets up. And joins her.

Together with his former second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, and Myrna Landers, they journey deeper and deeper into Québec. And deeper and deeper into the soul of Peter Morrow. A man so desperate to recapture his fame as an artist, he would sell that soul. And may have. The journey takes them further and further from Three Pines, to the very mouth of the great St. Lawrence River. To an area so desolate, so damned, the first mariners called it "the land God gave to Cain." And there they discover the terrible damage done by a sin-sick soul.]]> 373 Louise Penny 1250022061 Jill 2 3.99 2014 The Long Way Home (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #10)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2014
rating: 2
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)]]> 16045144
But when the renowned choir director is murdered, the lock on the monastery's massive wooden door is drawn back to admit Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec. There they discover disquiet beneath the silence, discord in the apparent harmony. But before finding the killer, before restoring peace, the Chief must first consider the divine, the human, and the cracks in between.]]> 373 Louise Penny 1250031125 Jill 4 4.14 2012 The Beautiful Mystery (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #8)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
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Very different from other books I've ever read. Gamache and Jean-Guy get sent to a remote monastery in Canada. I couldn't stop craving blueberries and chocoate covered blueberries while reading tihs (IYKYK). She does a great job weaving the plots together and revving up the tension.
]]> <![CDATA[The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5)]]> 6449551
Chaos is coming, old son.

With those words the peace of Three Pines is shattered. As families prepare to head back to the city and children say goodbye to summer, a stranger is found murdered in the village bistro and antiques store. Once again, Chief Inspector Gamache and his team are called in to strip back layers of lies, exposing both treasures and rancid secrets buried in the wilderness.
Ìý
No one admits to knowing the murdered man, but as secrets are revealed, chaos begins to close in on the beloved bistro owner, Olivier. How did he make such a spectacular success of his business? What past did he leave behind and why has he buried himself in this tiny village? And why does every lead in the investigation find its way back to him?

As Olivier grows more frantic, a trail of clues and treasures� from first editions of Charlotte’s Web and Jane Eyre to a spider web with the word “WOE� woven in it—lead the Chief Inspector deep into the woods and across the continent in search of the truth, and finally back to Three Pines as the little village braces for the truth and the final, brutal telling.
]]> 372 Louise Penny Jill 4 4.19 2009 The Brutal Telling (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #5)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2009
rating: 4
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)]]> 10680329 "Hearts are broken," Lillian Dyson carefully underlined in a book. "Sweet relationships are dead."

But now Lillian herself is dead. Found among the bleeding hearts and lilacs of Clara Morrow's garden in Three Pines, shattering the celebrations of Clara's solo show at the famed Musée in Montréal. Chief Inspector Gamache, the head of homicide at the Sûreté du Québec, is called to the tiny Québec village and there he finds the art world gathered, and with it a world of shading and nuance, a world of shadow and light. Where nothing is as it seems. Behind every smile there lurks a sneer. Inside every sweet relationship there hides a broken heart. And even when facts are slowly exposed, it is no longer clear to Gamache and his team if what they've found is the truth, or simply a trick of the light.]]> 339 Louise Penny 0312655452 Jill 5 masterpiece 4.26 2011 A Trick of the Light (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #7)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2011
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: masterpiece
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6)]]> 7945049
Although he is supposed to be on leave, Gamache cannot walk away from a crime that threatens to ignite long-smoldering tensions between the English and the French. Meanwhile, he is receiving disquieting letters from the village of Three Pines, where beloved Bistro owner Olivier was recently convicted of murder. "It doesn't make sense," Olivier’s partner writes every day. "He didn't do it, you know." As past and present collide in this astonishing novel, Gamache must relive the terrible event of his own past before he can bury his dead.]]> 371 Louise Penny 0312377045 Jill 5 4.31 2010 Bury Your Dead (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #6)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2010
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
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review:

]]> <![CDATA[How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9)]]> 17167084
When Gamache receives a message from Myrna Landers, in the village of Three Pines, he welcomes the chance to get away from the city for a few hours. Myrna's longtime friend, who was due to spend Christmas in the village, has failed to arrive. When Chief Inspector Gamache presses for information, Myrna is reluctant to reveal her friend's name. Mystified, Gamache soon discovers the missing woman was once one of the most famous people not just in North America but in the world, and now goes unrecognized by virtually everyone except the mad, brilliant poet Ruth Zardo.

As events come to a head at the Sûreté, Gamache is drawn ever deeper into the world of Three Pines. Increasingly, he is not only investigating the disappearance of Myrna's friend but also seeking a safe place for himself and his still-loyal colleagues—if such a refuge exists amid mounting danger. Is there peace to be found even in Three Pines, and at what cost to Gamache and the people he holds dear?]]> 405 Louise Penny 0312655479 Jill 0 masterpiece 4.43 2013 How the Light Gets In (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #9)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2013
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: masterpiece
review:

]]> <![CDATA[A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4)]]> 4201106 "What happened here last night isn't allowed," said Madame Dubois.
It was such an extraordinary thing to say it stopped the ravenous Inspector Beauvoir from taking another bite of his roast beef on baguette.
"You have a rule against murder?" he asked.
"I do. When my husband and I bought the Bellechasse we made a pact....Everything that stepped foot on this land would be safe."

It is the height of summer, and Armand and Reine-Marie Gamache are celebrating their wedding anniversary at Manoir Bellechasse, an isolated, luxurious inn not far from the village of Three Pines. But they're not alone. The Finney family—rich, cultured, and respectable—has also arrived for a celebration of their own.
The beautiful Manoir Bellechasse might be surrounded by nature, but there is something unnatural looming. As the heat rises and the humidity closes in, some surprising guests turn up at the family reunion, and a terrible summer storm leaves behind a dead body. It is up to Chief Inspector Gamache to unearth secrets long buried and hatreds hidden behind polite smiles. The chase takes him to Three Pines, into the dark corners of his own life, and finally to a harrowing climax.]]> 322 Louise Penny 0312377029 Jill 0 4.15 2008 A Rule Against Murder (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #4)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2008
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)]]> 2277378
It's spring in the tiny, forgotten village; buds are on the trees and the first flowers are struggling through the newly thawed earth. But not everything is meant to return to life. . .

When some villagers decide to celebrate Easter with a séance at the Old Hadley House, they are hoping to rid the town of its evil—until one of their party dies of fright. Was this a natural death, or was the victim somehow helped along?

Brilliant, compassionate Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec is called to investigate, in a case that will force him to face his own ghosts as well as those of a seemingly idyllic town where relationships are far more dangerous than they seem.]]> 310 Louise Penny 0755328949 Jill 0 4.10 2007 The Cruelest Month (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, #3)
author: Louise Penny
name: Jill
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2007
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Search the Dark (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #3)]]> 20240 Wings of Fire and A Test of Wills (Edgar Award nominee) returns in Search the Dark, a provocative new mystery by Charles Todd. Inspector Ian Rutledge, haunted by memories of World War I and the harrowing presence of Hamish, a dead soldier, is "a superb characterization of a man whose wounds have made him a stranger in his own land." (The New York Times Book Review)

A dead woman and two missing children bring Inspector Rutledge to the lovely Dorset town of Singleton Magna, where the truth lies buried with the dead. A tormented veteran whose family died in an enemy bombing is the chief suspect. Dubious, Rutledge presses on to find the real killer. And when another body is found in the rich Dorset earth, his quest reaches into the secret lives of villagers and Londoners whose privileged positions and private passions give them every reason to thwart him. Someone is protecting a murderer. And two children are out there, somewhere, in the dark....]]> 310 Charles Todd 0312971281 Jill 0 currently-reading 3.96 1999 Search the Dark (Inspector Ian Rutledge, #3)
author: Charles Todd
name: Jill
average rating: 3.96
book published: 1999
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Christmas Comfort Foods 61481065


For Christmas Comfort Foods, we've gathered scrumptious recipes for all occasions. Invite friends to a holiday brunch, with Spinach & Swiss Quiche and Pineapple-Nut Coffee Cake on the buffet...yum! Or host an afternoon open house, serving up delicious Brown Sugar Sausages, Roasted Red Pepper Dip and everyone's favorite, Classic Party Mix.



For busy weeknights, you'll find warm and hearty dishes like Beef & Broccoli Stir-Fry, Aunt Barb's Pizza Casserole and Easy Turkey Tacos. Slow-Cooker Chicken Noodle Soup is perfect for taking the chill off on a frosty day. And for special family gatherings, a menu of Braised Pork Roast with Onion Gravy, Grandma Miller’s Waldorf Salad and Mom's Baked Corn will help you create happy memories together.



Sweets are what we really look forward to at Christmas, though! Tie on your apron and bake up a batch of German Chocolate Brownies, Coconut Macaroons or jam-filled Thumbprint Cookies. Gram’s Gingerbread & Pear Cobbler and Warm Winter Lemon Cake are special enough for holiday dinners, yet easy enough for weeknights. What are you waiting for?



We've included easy-to-follow directions using familiar ingredients, plus tips for every holiday occasion and a collection of sweet Christmas memories.]]> 224 Gooseberry Patch 1620934744 Jill 0 4.37 Christmas Comfort Foods
author: Gooseberry Patch
name: Jill
average rating: 4.37
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2023/01/02
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Riverwoman's Dragon (Owen Archer #13)]]> 58659346
Magda’s troubles deepen when she discovers a body in the river near her home � and finds herself under suspicion of murder. Days later, fire rips through a warehouse in the city. Amongst the charred debris lies the body of a man � not burned, but stabbed in the back. Could there be a connection to the corpse in the river?

Determined to prove Magda’s innocence, Owen sets out to find answers amidst violent outbursts within and without the city walls� but the more he uncovers, the deeper the mystery becomes …]]> 253 Candace Robb 1448305632 Jill 0 to-read 4.53 2021 The Riverwoman's Dragon (Owen Archer #13)
author: Candace Robb
name: Jill
average rating: 4.53
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2023/02/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Spare 62296528
For Harry, this is that story at last.

Before losing his mother, twelve-year-old Prince Harry was known as the carefree one, the happy-go-lucky Spare to the more serious Heir. Grief changed everything. He struggled at school, struggled with anger, with loneliness—and, because he blamed the press for his mother’s death, he struggled to accept life in the spotlight.

At twenty-one, he joined the British Army. The discipline gave him structure, and two combat tours made him a hero at home. But he soon felt more lost than ever, suffering from post-traumatic stress and prone to crippling panic attacks. Above all, he couldn’t find true love.

Then he met Meghan. The world was swept away by the couple’s cinematic romance and rejoiced in their fairy-tale wedding. But from the beginning, Harry and Meghan were preyed upon by the press, subjected to waves of abuse, racism, and lies. Watching his wife suffer, their safety and mental health at risk, Harry saw no other way to prevent the tragedy of history repeating itself but to flee his mother country. Over the centuries, leaving the Royal Family was an act few had dared. The last to try, in fact, had been his mother. . . .

For the first time, Prince Harry tells his own story, chronicling his journey with raw, unflinching honesty. A landmark publication, Spare is full of insight, revelation, self-examination, and hard-won wisdom about the eternal power of love over grief.]]> 410 Prince Harry 0593593804 Jill 3
I always had a fond spot for the boys, but this book has put me off both of them. His leaving the family and England seems preordained with all of his history with the media, British subjects and family members. I was interested in reading about his Army days and loved hearing about Africa, but his whirlwiind courtship with Meghan doesn't feel all that real and well-founded either. I wish him luck in the future. He seems like someone who will do well without all the trappings of royalty. I don't see this turning out well for him, having burned his bridges with his family with this book, the Oprah interview, the documentary, etc.]]> 3.78 2023 Spare
author: Prince Harry
name: Jill
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2023/01/31
date added: 2023/02/01
shelves:
review:
My take? To quote Reddit: "ESH." (Everyone Sucks Here). It features a dysfunctional family and their staff who are constantly struggling to one-up each other, and none of them realize the harm they are doing to the monarchy. And the paparazzi are even worse. The constant lies in the media and story planting in the press would drive any human crazy.

I always had a fond spot for the boys, but this book has put me off both of them. His leaving the family and England seems preordained with all of his history with the media, British subjects and family members. I was interested in reading about his Army days and loved hearing about Africa, but his whirlwiind courtship with Meghan doesn't feel all that real and well-founded either. I wish him luck in the future. He seems like someone who will do well without all the trappings of royalty. I don't see this turning out well for him, having burned his bridges with his family with this book, the Oprah interview, the documentary, etc.
]]> Well Traveled (Well Met, #4) 49839269
Dex has never had to work for much in his life, and why should he? Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shake-up threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.

Forced to spend days and nights together on the road, Lulu’s interest in the kilted bad boy grows as he shows her a side of himself no one else has seen. The stresses of her old lifestyle fade away as she learns to trust her intuition and follow her heart instead of her head. But when her time on the road is over, will Lulu go with her gut, or are she and Dex destined for separate paths?

The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com from Jen DeLuca.]]> 336 Jen DeLuca 0593200462 Jill 5 to-read 3.76 2022 Well Traveled (Well Met, #4)
author: Jen DeLuca
name: Jill
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at:
date added: 2023/02/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Outsider (Kate Burkholder #12)]]> 48748066 Linda Castillo follows her instant NYT bestseller, Shamed, with Outsider, an electrifying thriller about a woman on the run hiding among the Amish.

Chief of Police Kate Burkholder’s past comes back to haunt her when she receives a call from Amish widower Adam Lengacher. While enjoying a sleigh ride with his children, he discovered a car stuck in a snowdrift and an unconscious woman inside. Kate arrives at his farm and is shocked to discover the driver is a woman she hasn’t seen in ten years: fellow cop Gina Colorosa.

Ten years ago, Kate and Gina were best friends at the police academy, graduating together as rookies with the Columbus Division of Police. But the reunion takes an ominous turn when Kate learns Gina is wanted for killing an undercover officer. Gina claims she’s innocent, that she was framed by corrupt officers who want her gone because she was about to turn them in for wrongdoing.

Kate calls upon state agent John Tomasetti for help and with a blizzard bearing down, they delve into the incident. But no one wants to talk about what happened the night Gina allegedly gunned down a fellow cop. Even Tomasetti is stonewalled, his superior telling him in no uncertain terms to back off.

With whisperings of corruption and the threat of rogue cops seeking revenge, Kate and Gina hunker down at Adam Lengacher’s farm. As Kate gets closer to the truth, a killer lies in wait. When violence strikes, Kate must confront a reality that changes everything she thought she knew not only about friendship, but the institution to which she's devoted her life.

]]> 323 Linda Castillo 1250142911 Jill 5 4.39 2020 Outsider (Kate Burkholder #12)
author: Linda Castillo
name: Jill
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2022/09/01
date added: 2022/09/01
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Gray Hair Don't Care (Never Too Late, #1)]]> 54997213 Everything went wrong. And then she went gray.

At 47, newly divorced makeup artist Lela Bennett is dreading her next steps. Dating. Meeting people. Not letting herself go. But then she runs into Donovan James and tries something different—sleeping with her sexy crush from college. Unfortunately, in a post-orgasm stupor, Lela confesses she was in love with Donovan all those years ago. He responds by leaving while she sleeps. The next morning, her gray hairs are practically taunting her. She knows she has to get it together. Forget men. Embrace her age. Own her gray.

Donovan James is a marketing genius, but his ex-wives will tell you—nothing freaks him out like feelings. Three years after his one-night stand with Lela, he’s focused on his daughter’s lifestyle company, but unprepared to meet the face of the beauty division. It’s Lela. With stunning silver locks and new confidence, she’s no longer swayed by his charms. When business starts booming, the universe seems intent on throwing them together time and again. And suddenly, two people convinced that romance was behind them are wondering if love could be what’s next.]]> 254 Karen Booth Jill 4 Enjoyable read

Lela is a heroine for Gen X women - accomplished, intellectual and driven - who sports luscious gray hair unapologetically. I enjoyed the characters in this rom-com, and the music referenced throughout the storyline spoke to my Gen X inner teenager, reminding me of songs I used to love and haven't heard in a while. The dialog was witty and the story kept me intrigued. As someone who decided a while ago to embrace the gray, I definitely identified with Lela. Now I need to buy a Vespa...]]> 3.96 2021 Gray Hair Don't Care (Never Too Late, #1)
author: Karen Booth
name: Jill
average rating: 3.96
book published: 2021
rating: 4
read at: 2022/06/08
date added: 2022/06/08
shelves:
review:
Enjoyable read

Lela is a heroine for Gen X women - accomplished, intellectual and driven - who sports luscious gray hair unapologetically. I enjoyed the characters in this rom-com, and the music referenced throughout the storyline spoke to my Gen X inner teenager, reminding me of songs I used to love and haven't heard in a while. The dialog was witty and the story kept me intrigued. As someone who decided a while ago to embrace the gray, I definitely identified with Lela. Now I need to buy a Vespa...
]]> <![CDATA[Beach House Baking: An Endless Summer of Delicious Desserts]]> 23870152 360 Lei Shishak Jill 0 4.05 2014 Beach House Baking: An Endless Summer of Delicious Desserts
author: Lei Shishak
name: Jill
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2022/05/11
date added: 2022/05/11
shelves:
review:

]]> Stranger Than Fanfiction 40194410
Cash Carter is the young, world famous lead actor of the hit television show Wiz Kids. When four fans jokingly invite him on a cross-country road trip, they are shocked that he actually takes them up on it. Chased by paparazzi and hounded by reporters, this unlikely crew takes off on a journey of a lifetime - but along the way they discover that the star they love has deep secrets he's been keeping. What they come to learn about the life of the mysterious person they thought they knew will teach them about the power of empathy and the unbreakable bond of true friendship.

In this touching novel, number one New York Times bestselling author Chris Colfer takes us on a journey full of laughter, tears, and life-changing memories.]]> 304 Chris Colfer Jill 3 3.86 2017 Stranger Than Fanfiction
author: Chris Colfer
name: Jill
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2017
rating: 3
read at: 2021/05/31
date added: 2021/05/31
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Steeped in Murder (Tea and Tarot #1)]]> 44802929 Tea, tarot, and trouble.

Abigail’s dream of owning a tearoom in her California beach town is about to come true. She’s got the lease, the start-up funds, and the scone recipes. But she’s out of a tearoom and into hot water when her realtor turns out to be a conman� and then turns up dead.

Not even death puts an end to the conman’s mischief. He rented the same space to a tarot reader, Hyperion. Convinced his tarot room is in the cards, he’s not letting go of the building without a fight.

But this unlikely duo will have to work together� With a little help from her quirky grandfather, Hyperion and Abigail steep themselves in the murky waters of the sham realtor's double dealings. But can they unearth the truth before murder boils over again?]]> 302 Kirsten Weiss 1944767401 Jill 0 4.11 Steeped in Murder (Tea and Tarot #1)
author: Kirsten Weiss
name: Jill
average rating: 4.11
book published:
rating: 0
read at: 2021/05/06
date added: 2021/05/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson]]> 21440543
A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today� (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends�

Includes the new stories�
â€ÂÙ¾±±ô±¹±ð°ùâ€�
“Roses in Winter�
â€Áè±ð»å±ð³¾±è³Ù¾±´Ç²Ôâ€�
“H´Ç±ô±ô´Ç·Éâ€�

…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts�
“G°ù²¹²ââ€�
“Alpha and Omega� (Alpha & Omega 0.5)
“Seeing Eye� (Alpha & Omega 1.5)
“The Star of David� (Mercy Thompson 1.5)
“In Red, with Pearls� (Mercy Thompson 6.5)]]> 464 Patricia Briggs 1101609508 Jill 0 4.56 2014 Shifting Shadows: Stories from the World of Mercy Thompson
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.56
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2021/01/05
date added: 2021/01/05
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)]]> 18663492
CIA Assassin Fortune Redding is about to undertake her most difficult mission ever--in Sinful, Louisiana.

With a leak at the CIA and a price on her head by one of the world's largest arms dealers, Fortune has to go off grid, but she never expected to be this far out of her element. Posing as a former beauty queen turned librarian in a small, bayou town seems worse than death to Fortune, but she's determined to fly below the radar until her boss finds the leak and puts the arms dealer out of play.

Unfortunately, she hasn't even unpacked a suitcase before her newly-inherited dog digs up a human bone in her backyard. Thrust into the middle of a bayou murder mystery, Fortune teams up with a couple of seemingly-sweet old ladies whose looks completely belie their hold on the little town. To top things off, the handsome local deputy is asking her too many questions. If she's not careful, this investigation may blow her cover and get her killed.

Armed with her considerable skills and a group of old ladies referred to by locals as The Geritol Mafia, Fortune has no choice but to solve the murder before it's too late.]]> 246 Jana Deleon Jill 4 A surprisingly good read

I didn’t know what to expect when I stumbled on this new-to-me series. The protagonist is hiding from a hit contract in the bayous of Louisiana and finds a home. Her new sidekicks are a couple old ladies who apparently run the town and are a total hoot. The twist at the end was great and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.]]> 4.25 2012 Louisiana Longshot (Miss Fortune Mystery, #1)
author: Jana Deleon
name: Jill
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2020/10/17
date added: 2020/10/17
shelves:
review:
A surprisingly good read

I didn’t know what to expect when I stumbled on this new-to-me series. The protagonist is hiding from a hit contract in the bayous of Louisiana and finds a home. Her new sidekicks are a couple old ladies who apparently run the town and are a total hoot. The twist at the end was great and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series.
]]> The Plus One Pact 52122931
Cara has officially run out of men. Her most recent dates have gone from bad to worse, and when her dating app informs her there is no one left in her area to choose from, she is at a dead end.

But with a summer of events ahead of her, she needs to find a solution, fast; someone to keep her company at the never-ending weddings, family gatherings and gender reveal parties that she can’t face going to alone. So, when she meets handsome, confident, Millsy on a night out she may be in luck. They could not be more different in personality, but he too has a summer of events ahead and is desperate to get his family off his back about finding a ‘nice girl�. What if they made a pact to help each other out and be a plus one for the summer? Just as friends of course...?

A brand-new romantic comedy from bestseller Portia MacIntosh, perfect for fans of Zara Stoneley, Sophie Ranald and Mhairi McFarlane.]]> 280 Portia MacIntosh 1838890882 Jill 4 3.90 2020 The Plus One Pact
author: Portia MacIntosh
name: Jill
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2020
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/31
date added: 2020/09/26
shelves:
review:
I really enjoyed this book. The character of Millsy is refreshing, and I enjoyed the couple's journey a lot. I would love to have someone to do a Plus One Pact with. Millsy meets Cara as she sits waiting for an online date who never shows. They become close friends (and roommates) and agree to attend each other's numerous weddings, family gatherings and gender reveal parties as their plus ones. Millsy's best friend is getting married, while Cara's bitchy cousin has invited Cara’s ex-boyfriend to her wedding. The result is just a fun, modern romance that was the perfect summer read for me right now.
]]> <![CDATA[An Easy Death (Gunnie Rose, #1)]]> 51971075
She may be young, but Gunnie Rose has acquired a fearsome reputation and the wizards are at a desperate crossroads, even if they won't admit it. They're searching frantically to locate the only man whose blood they believe can save their tsar's life.

A powerful enemy sends enemies who want their mission to fail. The trio are set upon by a powerful force does not want them to succeed in their mission. Lizbeth Rose is a gunnie who has never failed a client, but her oath will test all of her skills and resolve to get them all out alive.]]> 321 Charlaine Harris Jill 3 4.14 2018 An Easy Death (Gunnie Rose, #1)
author: Charlaine Harris
name: Jill
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/26
date added: 2020/09/26
shelves:
review:
I had a little trouble getting into the story and the world-building, but once I did I enjoyed it. Enough to read a second one to see what happens. Gunnie Rose is a young gunslinging mercenary who lives in an alternate United States that has shattered into several countries after the assassination of Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Depression. She risks her life, time and time again, to bring her charges safely to their destinations.
]]> <![CDATA[Buried in a Bog (County Cork Mystery, #1)]]> 17340118 National bestselling and Agatha Award-nominated author Sheila Connolly introduces a brand-new series set in a small village in County Cork, Ireland, where buried secrets are about to rise to the surface...

Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born—though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. Ìý

In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man—and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death—she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...

A New York Times bestseller!]]> 304 Sheila Connolly 1101619120 Jill 4 4.09 2013 Buried in a Bog (County Cork Mystery, #1)
author: Sheila Connolly
name: Jill
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/09/06
date added: 2020/09/06
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)]]> 18371985 #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson series has been hailed as “one of the best� (Fiction Vixen). Now, Mercy must deal with an unwanted guest—one that brings a threat unlike anything she’s ever known.

An unexpected phone call heralds a new challenge for Mercy. Her mate Adam’s ex-wife is in trouble, on the run from her new boyfriend. Adam isn’t the kind of man to turn away a person in need—and Mercy knows it. But with Christy holed up in Adam’s house, Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something about the situation isn’t right.

Soon, her suspicions are confirmed when she learns that Christy has the farthest thing from good intentions. She wants Adam back and she’s willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen, including turning Adam’s pack against Mercy.

Mercy isn’t about to step down without a fight, but there’s a more dangerous threat circling. Christy’s ex is more than a bad man—in fact, he may not be human at all. As the bodies start piling up, Mercy must put her personal troubles aside to face a creature with the power to tear her whole world apart.]]> 353 Patricia Briggs 1101638834 Jill 0 4.57 2014 Night Broken (Mercy Thompson, #8)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2020/08/27
date added: 2020/08/27
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[River Marked (Mercy Thompson, #6)]]> 10631790 Ìý
Being a different breed of shapeshifter—a walker—Mercy can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—and innocent people are dying. As other walkers make their presence known to Mercy, she must reconnect with her heritage to exorcise the world of the legend known as the river devil.]]> 337 Patricia Briggs 1101475552 Jill 3 4.39 2011 River Marked (Mercy Thompson, #6)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2020/08/26
date added: 2020/08/26
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, #7)]]> 17278540
After an accident in bumper-to-bumper traffic, Mercy and Jesse can’t reach Adam—or anyone else in the pack for that matter. They’ve all been abducted.

Through their mating bond, all Mercy knows is that Adam is angry and in pain. With the werewolves fighting a political battle to gain acceptance from the public, Mercy fears Adam’s disappearance may be related—and that he and the pack are in serious danger. Outclassed and on her own, Mercy may be forced to seek assistance from any ally she can get, no matter how unlikely.]]> 343 Patricia Briggs 1101619651 Jill 4 4.49 2013 Frost Burned (Mercy Thompson, #7)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.49
book published: 2013
rating: 4
read at: 2020/08/07
date added: 2020/08/07
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin, #2)]]> 181667 198 M.C. Beaton 0312939450 Jill 3 3.72 1993 The Vicious Vet (Agatha Raisin, #2)
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Jill
average rating: 3.72
book published: 1993
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin, #1)]]> 139176 246 M.C. Beaton 0312939167 Jill 3 3.77 1992 The Quiche of Death (Agatha Raisin, #1)
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Jill
average rating: 3.77
book published: 1992
rating: 3
read at:
date added: 2020/07/18
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Potted Gardener (Agatha Raisin, #3)]]> 40604452
The beautiful newcomer, Mary Fortune, is superior in every way, especially when it comes to gardening. And Agatha, that rose with many thorns, hasn't a green thumb to her name. With garden Open Day approaching, she longs for a nice juicy murder to remind James of her genius for investigation.

And sure enough, a series of destructive assaults on the finest gardens is followed by an appalling murder. Agatha seizes the moment and immediately starts yanking up village secrets by their roots and digging up all the dirt on the victim. Problem is, Agatha has an awkward secret of her own . . .]]> 169 M.C. Beaton Jill 4 The Potted Gardener

Another fun Agatha Raisin book. I am really starting to enjoy the character. The village has mellowed her some, but she still keeps coming up with cockamamie schemes.]]> 3.84 1993 The Potted Gardener (Agatha Raisin, #3)
author: M.C. Beaton
name: Jill
average rating: 3.84
book published: 1993
rating: 4
read at: 2020/07/18
date added: 2020/07/18
shelves:
review:
The Potted Gardener

Another fun Agatha Raisin book. I am really starting to enjoy the character. The village has mellowed her some, but she still keeps coming up with cockamamie schemes.
]]> <![CDATA[Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2)]]> 34318949 It has been ten years since Jeanie Long was charged with the murder of fifteen-year-old Abigail Mantel. Now residents of the East Yorkshire village of Elvet are disturbed to hear of new evidence proving Jeanie’s innocence. Abigail’s killer is still at large.

For one young woman, Emma Bennett, the revelation brings back haunting memories of her vibrant best friend--and of that fearful winter’s day when she had discovered her body lying cold in a ditch.

As Inspector Vera Stanhope makes fresh enquiries on the peninsula and villagers are hauled back to a time they hoped to forget, tensions begin to mount. But are people afraid of the killer or of their own guilty pasts?
With each person’s story revisited, the Inspector begins to suspect that some deadly secrets are threatening to unfurl�

]]> 415 Ann Cleeves Jill 3 4.32 2005 Telling Tales (Vera Stanhope #2)
author: Ann Cleeves
name: Jill
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2005
rating: 3
read at: 2020/07/01
date added: 2020/07/02
shelves:
review:
In a case of guilty but innocent the book starts out 10 years after 15 year old Abigail is found murdered in a field by her best friend and the friend's mum. The murdered girl's father's girlfriend is declared the guilty party and spent years in prison protesting her innocence. Now ten years later she has committed suicide and a witness has come forward to validate her alibi all those years ago. It was a bit hard to keep everyone straight. I very much enjoy the character of DCI Stanhope and look forward to getting to know her more in the future.
]]> <![CDATA[Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, #4)]]> 6512051 303 Patricia Briggs 1440698805 Jill 4 4.40 2010 Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson, #4)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2010
rating: 4
read at: 2020/06/08
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves:
review:
This is the fourth book in the Mercy Thompson series, and it picks up right after the events of the previous book. She once again gets thrown straight into the deep end of a feud and has to rely on her wits and supernatural skills to get out of trouble. She leaves town for a bit to get out of the vamp-war fire only to find herself in the frying pan in another vamp's territory. I'm enjoying getting to know Mercy (this is my first time reading the series - where have I been?) and the cast of characters surrounding her. I don't have a favorite supe group yet, but I do want to smack Marsilia really hard.
]]> <![CDATA[Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)]]> 7891248 351 Patricia Briggs 1101186119 Jill 3 4.44 2010 Silver Borne (Mercy Thompson, #5)
author: Patricia Briggs
name: Jill
average rating: 4.44
book published: 2010
rating: 3
read at: 2020/06/10
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves:
review:
This seems to be one of her weaker offerings, but at least we have some much needed character development and advancement. Samuel is feeling hella depressed and lets his wolf take him over. Mercy has a book she borrowed from a fae bookstore. She goes to return the book, bringing Samuel with her, and gets into trouble when she encounters fae looking for the book. Samuel has been one of my favorite characters and although I didn't want him to end up with Mercy, I do want to see him have his own happy ending. That said, Samuel's character development seems to have been tied up a little too easily and came out of left field. Can Mercy manage to once again save the day (with a little help of her friends)?
]]> Red, White & Royal Blue 49233093
As President Claremont kicks off her reelection bid, Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret relationship with Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations. What is worth the sacrifice? How do you do all the good you can do? And, most importantly, how will history remember you?]]> 425 Casey McQuiston Jill 0 to-read 4.13 2019 Red, White & Royal Blue
author: Casey McQuiston
name: Jill
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Making Up (London Celebrities, #3)]]> 37859751 Author of Act Like It and Pretty Face Lucy Parker returns readers to the West End, where it’s fireworks onstage and off in a sexy enemies-to-lovers showdown.

Once upon a time, circus artist Trix Lane was the best around. Her spark vanished with her confidence, though, and reclaiming either has proved…difficult. So when the star of The Festival of Masks is nixed and Trix is unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight, it’s exactly the push she needs. But the joy over her sudden elevation in status is cut short by a new hire on the makeup team.

Leo Magasiva: disgraced wizard of special effects. He of the beautiful voice and impressive beard. Complete dickhead and—in an unexpected twist—an enragingly good kisser.

To Leo, something about Trix is…different. Lovely. Beautiful, even though the pint-size, pink-haired former bane of his existence still spends most of her waking hours working to annoy him. They’ve barely been able to spend two minutes together for years, and now he can’t get enough of her. On stage. At home. In his bed.

When it comes to commitment, Trix has been there, done that, never wants to do it again. Leo’s this close to the job of a lifetime, which would take him away from London—and from Trix. Their past is a constant barrier between them.

It seems hopeless.

Utterly impossible.

And yet…]]> 245 Lucy Parker Jill 3 3.89 2018 Making Up (London Celebrities, #3)
author: Lucy Parker
name: Jill
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2018
rating: 3
read at: 2020/03/28
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Murder on the SS Rosa: a 1920s cozy historical mystery - an introductory novella (A Ginger Gold Mystery Book 1)]]> 50725025

The SS Rosa delivers a convincing array of suspects - the wife, the mistress, a jealous crew mate. To Ginger’s dismay, her name has been added to the list! With a little help from Ginger’s dog Boss, Ginger and Haley navigate the clues (those wartime operative skills come in handy.) They must solve the case and clear Ginger’s name before they dock–and oh, whatever shall she wear!]]> 168 Lee Strauss Jill 0 to-read 3.89 2017 Murder on the SS Rosa: a 1920s cozy historical mystery - an introductory novella (A Ginger Gold Mystery Book 1)
author: Lee Strauss
name: Jill
average rating: 3.89
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Uniform Justice (Commissario Brunetti, #12)]]> 19518648 A wall of silence surrounds a cadet's death at an elite military "Superb . . . This is an outstanding book." --Publishers Weekly

Detective Commissario Guido Brunetti has been called to investigate a parent's worst nightmare. A young cadet has been found hanged, a presumed suicide, in Venice's elite military academy.

Brunetti's sorrow for the boy, so close in age to his own son, is rivaled only by his contempt for a community that is more concerned with protecting the reputation of the school, and its privileged students, than understanding this tragedy. The young man is the son of a doctor and former politician--a man of impeccable integrity, all too rare in politics. Dr. Moro is clearly devastated; but while both he and his apparently estranged wife seem convinced that the boy's death could not have been suicide, neither appears eager to talk to the police or involve Brunetti in any investigation of the circumstances in which he died.

As Brunetti pursues his inquiry, he is faced with a wall of silence. Is the military protecting its own? And what of the other witnesses? Is this the natural reluctance of Italians to involve themselves with the authorities, or is Brunetti facing a conspiracy far greater than this one death?

"Brunetti is a compelling character, a good man trying to stay on the honest path in a devious and twisted world." --The Baltimore Sun]]> 340 Donna Leon 1555849083 Jill 0 to-read 4.15 2003 Uniform Justice (Commissario Brunetti, #12)
author: Donna Leon
name: Jill
average rating: 4.15
book published: 2003
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2020/06/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]>