The Sunday Salon and I'm Thrilled to Meet You… OR 3 New Mysteries,Thrillers & Suspense You'll Need to Leave the Lights on For

Welcome to the Sunday Salon! What is the Sunday Salon? Imagine some university library's vast reading room. It's filled with people--students and faculty and strangers who've wandered in. They're seated at great oaken desks, books piled all around them, and they're all feverishly reading and jotting notes in their leather-bound journals as they go. Later they'll mill around the open dictionaries and compare their thoughts on the afternoon's literary intake....

That's what happens at the Sunday Salon, except it's all virtual. Every Sunday the bloggers participating in that week's Salon get together--at their separate desks, in their own particular time zones--and read. And blog about their reading. And comment on one another's blogs. Think of it as an informal, weekly, mini read-a-thon, an excuse to put aside one's earthly responsibilities and fall into a good book.

The weather is getting colder, and winter is definitely settling in in Connecticut. I'm not one to venture outside for winter activities, my winter activities are hot cocoa, winter soups and curling up with a BOOK! Mysteries use to be my normal reading, but I've branched out to a lot of different genres since starting the blog. But in the next month or so, there are some great books coming out from some favorite mystery/thrill writers that are making me grab the "who dun-it's" once again. Let's to fall into some great NEW mysteries or better yet, thrillers from some great authors! First, Tami Hoag is coming out with a new mystery/thriller this coming tuesday, January 13th!  It's called Cold Cold Heart and Danielle at Dutton wanted to know if I'd like a review copy. What did I say? YES of course! I started reading this as soon as I got it and I was hooked! The prologue had me on the edge of my seat. Tami Hoag is always a great read. I'll be reviewing this in the next week, so stay tuned. In the meantime,  here is the description from the publisher…

Cold Cold Heart by Tami Hoag…
Dana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims.  Nearly a year has passed since surviving her ordeal, but the physical, emotional, and psychological scars run deep.  Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, plagued by flashbacks and nightmares as dark as the heart of a killer, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together.  But home doesn’t provide the comfort she expects.

Dana’s harrowing story and her return to small town life has rekindled police and media interest in the unsolved case of her childhood best friend, Casey Grant, who disappeared without a trace the summer after their graduation from high school.  Terrified of truths long-buried, Dana reluctantly begins to look back at her past.  Viewed through the dark filter of PTSD, old friends and loved ones become suspects and enemies.  Questioning everything she knows, refusing to be defined by the traumas of her past and struggling against excruciating odds, Dana seeks out a truth that may prove too terrible to be believed…

Another favorite Mystery/Thriller/Suspense author of mine is Tess Gerritsen. I use to read just her Rizzoli and Isles novels, but then got hooked on her medical thrillers. Here's a post I did last January on Tess's medical thrillers. But, at the end of this past December, Tess Gerritsen came out with a new Rizzoli and Isles novel called Die Again. This sounds heart pounding to me! Definitely on my wish list now! Here's what the description is for Die Again…

Die Again by Tess Gerritsen…
Detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are back—and they’re going into the wild to find a killer. Die Again is the latest heart-pounding thriller in Tess Gerritsen’s New York Times bestselling series, the inspiration behind TNT’s hit show Rizzoli & Isles.

When Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are summoned to a crime scene, they find a killing worthy of the most ferocious beast—right down to the claw marks on the corpse. But only the most sinister human hands could have left renowned big-game hunter and taxidermist Leon Gott gruesomely displayed like the once-proud animals whose heads adorn his walls. Did Gott unwittingly awaken a predator more dangerous than any he’s ever hunted?

Maura fears that this isn’t the killer’s first slaughter, and that it won’t be the last. After linking the crime to a series of unsolved homicides in wilderness areas across the country, she wonders if the answers might actually be found in a remote corner of Africa.

Six years earlier, a group of tourists on safari fell prey to a killer in their midst. Marooned deep in the bush of Botswana, with no means of communication and nothing but a rifle-toting guide for protection, the terrified tourists desperately hoped for rescue before their worst instincts—or the wild animals prowling in the shadows—could tear them apart. But the deadliest predator was already among them, and within a week, he walked away with the blood of all but one of them on his hands.

Now this killer has chosen Boston as his new hunting ground, and Rizzoli and Isles must find a way to lure him out of the shadows and into a cage. Even if it means dangling the bait no hunter can resist: the one victim who got away.

Finally, Lisa Gardner is also coming out with a new thriller February 3rd called Crash & Burn. I haven't read a lot of her books, but what I have I have really enjoyed. Crash & Burn sounds like it will be a great read. I like the whole "gaslight" kind of feel to it.

Crash & Burn by Lisa Gardner…

My name is Nicky Frank. Except, most likely, it isn’t. 

Nicole Frank shouldn’t have been able to survive the car accident, much less crawl up the steep ravine. Not in the dark, not in the rain, not with her injuries. But one thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help: Vero. 

I’m looking for a little girl. I have to save her. Except, most likely, she doesn’t exist.

Sergeant Wyatt Foster is frustrated when even the search dogs can’t find any trace of the mysterious missing child. Until Nicky’s husband, Thomas, arrives with a host of shattering revelations: Nicole Frank suffers from a rare brain injury and the police shouldn’t trust anything she says. 

My husband claims he’ll do anything to save me. Except, most likely, he can’t. 

Who is Nicky Frank, and what happened the night her car sailed off the road? Was it a random accident or something more sinister given the woman’s lack of family and no close friends? The deeper Wyatt digs, the more concerned he becomes. Because it turns out, in the past few months, Nicky has suffered from more than one close accident. . . . In fact, it would appear someone very much wants her dead.

This is my life. Except, most likely, it’s not. Now watch me crash and burn.

So, are you a mystery/thriller/suspense reader? Have any favorites from the ladies here today?! And, what other favorite suspense writers do you read?!

*P.S. My reading group is going to read The Girl on The Train by Pamela Hawkins. I mentioned it in my first Sunday post of the year under Best New Books. It's gotten a lot of great press and it's a murder mystery thriller, that I just started and I am totally hooked already. The writing is very clever, but more about that in my review to come soon. In any case, The Girl on The Train would also be a great mystery to put on your TBR list!
  Weekly Recap…
On Monday, I shared my review of At the Water's Edge by Sara Gruen. I really enjoyed it! Historical fiction, WWII, forbidden love, the Loch Ness Monster... If you have not read it yet, READ IT! Here's MY REVIEW.

On Wednesday, it was a tiny book of short stories I reviewed called The Tiny Book of Tiny Stories: Vol. 1 by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. They are like bits of Haiku, but are really 1 or 2 line stories submitted from people all over the world, some of which are collected in these wonderful little books. I reviewed volume 1, but there are 3 volumes so far. Really enjoyed reading these. Here's MY REVIEW.

Thursday, I was part of the Not Without My Father Release Day Blitz.  Written by Andra Watkins, it's about her 444 walk along the Natchez Trace. You can read all about the book from my THURSDAY POST.

On Saturday I shared my review of Seeker by Arwen Elys Dayton. It's suppose to be the next Hunger Games. It's the start of an epic fantasy that book 1, Seeker, lays down a great foundation for future books. I really enjoyed Seeker, which was told alternately by the three main characters. Here's my REVIEW.

What's on your reading plate these days? Hope you found something to munch on here! And in the meantime…

Happy reading… Suzanne