New Book Tuesday!

It's New Book Tuesday! 

Here are my top 9 picks! (You'll have to get to the end of the post to see #9)!

Everything Was Beautiful And Nothing Hurt by Ben Reeves... A deeply moving novel about finding beauty in the brevity of life, as narrated by the one who knows it best: Death.

Travis is Death in the modern world. He lives with his cat in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgement. He’s stoic, gentle, and a little naive, despite who he is, but he never tries to change anyone’s fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life must eventually end.

Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter Layla, who live across the hall, and despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive—and what might be irrevocably lost in death.

Written with radiant warmth, wisdom, and compassion, Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt is a timeless and ultimately uplifting story about appreciating life, accepting its end, and finding our place in the universe—especially when it feels most impossible—that will resonate with anyone who has ever loved and lost or worried about time’s passing.

This is July's Indie Next pick. We've had "Death" write quite a few stories before (The Book Thief comes to mind first), but this one seems to have an added twist of Death being part of a family. I'm intrigued. And with this book being chosen as the Indie Next pick for July, there are a lot of other people intrigued as well! On my TBR list. Published by Avid Reader Press (& Simon & Schuster)

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The Memory Bookshop by Song Yu-jeong... 
For lovers of The Midnight Library and Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, discover a spellbinding novel about a mysterious bookshop that exists outside of time and space, where the past is only a page away…

If you're lost or grieving, you'll find The Memory Bookshop, where the shelves are endless; the books, strangely familiar; and where memories are bound in pages.

Jiwon’s life has been slowly disintegrating since her mother died. Until one day, caught by a sudden downpour, she stumbles into a mysterious bookstore. Inside, she is met by Manager K and offered no explanation, only a mysterious hourglass and a rare opportunity: to travel back to three chapters of her life.

But returning to the past isn't without risk. In exchange, Jiwon must give up time in her future.

As she wanders between the shelves, the bookshop humming with memories and regrets, she must ask herself: can the past truly be rewritten? Or does the real magic lie in the life she's yet to live?

Warm, wise, and full of wonder, The Memory Bookshop is a story about the journey of grief and the power of books to carry us home.

First, I love books about books and bookshops! Second, I love books about going back in time. This is definitely on my TBR list. This was wildly popular in Korea and translated & published by William Morrow Paperbacks.

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Helpless by Jessica Knoll... A"sexy new thriller" (New York Post) with a "shocking and mindbending" (SheReads) last page.

It's been twelve years since Faye Heron broke Henry Spalding's heart. Henry was her college boyfriend, her first love, but Faye was in danger of being subsumed by him and the intensity of their connection—a connection that took her beyond boundaries she'd only dreamed of crossing.

Now, Faye is one half of a power-producing duo with her Hollywood husband. Henry is a married father running the family business. On the surface, both of their lives have essentially gone to plan.

When a former and beloved college professor suddenly passes away, Faye and Henry find themselves back on campus for the funeral, circling something old and dangerous. Something, if Faye is honest with herself, she has been trying to duplicate for years. But Henry is one of a kind.

The kind who delivers a hypnotic apology for the way things ended.

The kind who suggests they go back to the hotel for a drink.

The kind who drugs and kidnaps her.

When Faye comes to Henry’s remote mountain cabin, she’s beside herself. Has Henry brought her here to punish her? She did, after all, write and star in a lauded episode of television based on their indelicate appetites and vicious breakup. As her week of captivity unfolds, Henry’s wanton demands intensify, and Faye finds herself pulled back into his irresistible gravity. But as Faye and Henry spiral into their old dynamic, a sprawling, years-old mystery begins to take shape—one that will rewrite history as Faye remembers it and reveal an astounding, cataclysmic truth.

This sounds like a slow irresistible hypnotic burn. On my TBR list! Published by Scribner. 

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The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders... The dead are relentless gossips, or at least these dead are.

An impulsive and heartbroken woman inherits her father’s share of a Tennessee farm that is rich in family secrets and occupied with busybody ghosts in this sweeping family portrait.

At thirty-two, Aubrey Lamb is stumbling through adulthood. An underpaid gig worker in Washington, DC, she’s grieving the end of a serious relationship and the recent loss of her father. When Aubrey learns she has inherited his stake in a sizable Tennessee farm she sees an opportunity to get out of the city—and to erase a mounting pile of debt.

Watching her arrival with great interest are four ghosts—Aubrey’s ancestors, who’ve staked their own claims to the farm and who never hesitate to pass judgment on the mistakes made by the living, whether romantic, financial, or sartorial. As Aubrey reconnects with her living family, another story unfolds in parallel: the history of the land, beginning with its purchase by Thomas, Aubrey’s great-grandfather and one of the first Black landowners in his community. Though Thomas hopes to give his children a homestead on which they could flourish, the land proves to be a burdensome inheritance. Over the years, it turns the Lambs against one another, culminating in a catastrophic tragedy that splinters the family and echoes through the decades.

Now, as the clock ticks on a potential sale of the farm, the ghosts fear expulsion from the home they’ve made, and Aubrey must weigh the hopes and burdens of her forebears with the very real needs of her future.

An expansive family saga told with a wry and distinctly modern voice, The Great Wherever is at once grand and intimate; it explores the ways we learn to define ourselves through and against our families, how we carry on after loss, and how the past lives on in all of us.

Okay, I LOVE ghost stories! I love when they appear in stories and I love when the main character dies and comes back as a ghost. This has an interesting twist to it as it's a group of dead relative ghosts imparting some lessons to a descendent. I'm interested to see where this goes. Published by Henry Holt & Co.

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An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton... 
When an astronaut is lost in space, his wife relives their epic love as she attempts to unravel what truly happened to him, in this sweeping love story set against the backdrop of the 1960s Space Race, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Lost Story of Eva Fuentes.

When Joe Mitchell launches into space, the world is watching. It’s 1968, and the country waits with anticipation and excitement for another successful mission, another celebration as America sets its sights on the Moon. And then comes the knock at the door.

Joe Mitchell’s spacecraft has lost contact. He and his fellow astronauts onboard are feared to be dead. It’s his wife Vivian’s worst nightmare come to life, her grief suddenly taking center stage as the nation waits and mourns. In her quiet moments, Vivian relives their memorable story, unable to accept that this is the end to a love that felt as though it was written in the stars.

As the investigation surrounding Joe’s lost spacecraft intensifies and the mishap is written off as an operator error, Vivian is determined to clear her husband’s name and uncover the mystery of what happened in space. When someone starts sending Vivian messages—messages she believes only Joe could send—she begins to wonder if their love is stronger than space and time, and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring her husband back to her.

It feels like NASA is part of quite a few love stories these days (Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid anyone?!) Going up in space is big in the movies too (Hail Mary!) But I love those stories where someone comes back from the other side to say hello, and this may or may not be messages from the other side, we just have to read it to find out. On my TBR list and published by Berkley. 

Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox... Secrets emerge as a Texas beauty pageant turns deadly in this rich and addictive novel with a jaw-dropping twist from psychological suspense author Kelsey Cox.

2000:Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year it’s offering more than an annual dose of rhinestone heels and plunging necklines. Competition is stiffer than ever —and long standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Of course we have to have a creepy pageant queen thriller ! I'm not into beauty pageants, but this is suppose to be a "jaw-dropping" thriller and I'm definitely into that! It irks me a little that a book by the same name by Liv Lowry and practically the same cover. I guess pretty dead things are equivalent to dead flowers. On my TBR list and published by Minotaur books.

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The Exquisite Torment of Loving Your Enemy by Brigitte Knightley... The stakes are high, the love is forbidden, and the slow burn turns steamy in this swoony, witty, and heart-stoppingly romantic sequel to instant New York Times bestseller The Irresistible Urge to Fall For Your Enemy.

Osric is a member of the Fyren Order, a guild of assassins who gleefully murder for money. Aurienne is a Haelan, a scholar-healer whose Order’s motto is Harm to none. Clear-cut absolutes separate them: good and bad, right and wrong, light and dark . . .

Until they don’t.

When Osric first bribed Aurienne to heal him, he never imagined those lines would begin to blur. But every healing session draws them closer together. He finds himself developing unwanted feelings for Aurienne as her capable hands heal his body—and his heart.

Aurienne’s perfect life has been flung into chaos in the form of a devastatingly handsome assassin. She should be in her research lab, not illicitly healing a Fyren every full moon—nor wrestling an attraction to him that threatens to slip into something else.

Things go superbly sideways when Osric and Aurienne discover more about the deadly Pox deliberately unleashed through the Tīendoms. The plague may be the work of another Order—an Order far nastier than either of them can handle.

As the lines between Osric and Aurienne continue to blur, the balance between peace and war, and love and hate, trembles, shifts, and hinges on a heartbeat.

Book 2 of a romantasy that brings enemies to lovers to another level, this is wildly popular series with a lot of buzz about book 2. Published by Ace.

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Where Lost Girls Go by Kody Keplinger... There are many reasons why six girls have ended up living with Sol in a cabin in the Kentucky mountains. But the girls don't talk about what has brought them each here or who they were before. They have become sisters and are grateful to have a place to call home.Iris knows she owes everything to Sol. He has promised to keep them safe from their pasts. All he asks in return is for their loyalty, which Iris freely gives. With her sisters and Sol as her family, she feels happier than she has in a long time.

Until a new girl arrives and everything changes.

Sol dubs her Rose and the sisters are quick to welcome her. Iris is drawn to Rose, but as they grow closer, Rose has Iris questioning things about this life in the woods. When Sol notices, he challenges Iris to prove her commitment to their family. Her sisters tell her that she should be willing to do anything for the man who saved her. But with each new ask, Iris realizes there is more to Sol-and her sisters-than she knows and some secrets should stay buried deep.

a stunning story about girlhood, power, and desperation that asks just how far we'll go to save ourselves-and those we love.

This sounds creepy, but in a good way. I want to read this just for Iris. She seems like a great protagonist questioning the whole creepy set-up and maybe liberating her sister friends from a dangerous situation. Published by Scholastic Press, but it doesn't sound YA to me. Maybe the writing is gauged more towards a younger audience?

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The Lure of Wolves and Whispers by Amanda Connolly... One sister offers her life in exchange for the other’s in this dark, Irish lore–inspired romantasy and “sizzling, high-stakes debut launching a series that readers will greedily devour”.

On the mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann, buying magic comes with a price.

But when her beloved older sister is gravely injured, Maeve risks everything to buy the forbidden magic that might save her. In exchange, Maeve trades her life to a ruthless and dangerously alluring rebel leader. Bound to do his bidding, Maeve finds herself thrown into a deadly competition to become the next queen and stand beside a prince rumored to be more brutal than his tyrannical father.

With the isle on the brink of war, trust and survival come at a terrible cost—one that will tear Maeve’s world, and her heart, in two.

What would you sacrifice to survive?

You got me at Irish lore. And "mist-shrouded Isle of Eireann". Romantasy and sacrifice and all things in a great story! On my TBR list!

First Lines Friday...

  "Fingers clutching the steering wheel, the mother sat in her car, staring at the house. A narrow, rickety little shotgun shack that had somehow stood there for more than a hundred years. A sagging roof to match the sagging, postage-stamp front porch. Narrow clapboard siding that hadn't seen a fresh coat of paint in a generation. The front windows were not quite square in the wall. No light shone through the dirty glass.

    How had it come to this?"

                                                                                                ....Bad Liar by Tami Hoag

The Sunday Salon and Catch me if you can... Murder, Mystery, Thrillers and the Detectives who solve them

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 dests, 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 is the Sunday Salon, but all virtually. Book Bloggers from around the world sharing their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to Deb at ReaderBuzz for keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post and the ladies at Mailbox Monday

Before I started my Book Club I only read mysteries and thrillers. It all started with Nancy Drew, those books I totally absorbed and loved so much! I moved onto Agatha Christie then Mary Higgins Clark and on from there.  So today we're coming back to my "roots" and looking at some great who dunits from 3 familiar faces and a new face! 

Out of Nowhere by Sandra Brown... Author Sandra Brown returns with a fast-paced, emotional
thriller where the lives of a young mother and a high-rolling consultant collide under devastating circumstances—culminating in a desperate manhunt that will change their futures forever.   

 

At a Texas county fair, amidst carousels and a bustling midway, children’s book author Elle Portman is enjoying a rare night out with her favorite cowboy: her two-year-old son, Charlie. But just as they’re about to head home, the unthinkable happens: a shooter opens fire into the crowd, causing widespread panic to erupt all around them. Also caught in the melee was corporate consultant Calder Hudson. Arrogant, self-centered, and high off his latest career win, he’s frustrated and confused when he wakes up in the hospital after undergoing emergency surgery on his arm.  The doctor tells him that he was lucky—that as far as gunshot wounds go, he pulled through remarkably well.  Others weren’t so lucky, which instills in Calder a furious determination to get justice . . . a goal shared by Elle. Their chance encounter at the police station leads to a surprising and inexplicable gravitation to one another, but even as the attraction grows, Elle and Calder can’t help but wonder if the unimaginable tragedy that brought them together is too painful and too complicated to sustain—especially while the shooter remains at large.

My Mother introduced me to Sandra Brown many years ago. This author writes both romance and thrillers. Out of Nowhere, Sandra Brown's newest book, is one of her thrillers. Published August 1st 2023 by Grand Central Publishing, I have a copy of this on my Kindle to review thanks to the generosity of the publisher. And I look forward to diving into this one next week. Be on the lookout for my review to follow!

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The Watchmaker's Hand by Jeffery Deaver... The "most clever plotter on the planet"(Publishers Weekly) Jeffery Deaver returns in this twisty new thriller, as forensic criminalist Lincoln Rhyme and detective Amelia Sachs track a criminal with a bizarre and catastrophic m.o.—toppling the construction cranes in New York City.  

                                                                                                     

When a New York City construction crane mysteriously collapses, causing mass destruction and injury, Rhyme and Sachs are on the case. A political group claims responsibility for the sabotage and threatens another attack in twenty-four hours, unless its demands are met. The clock is ticking. Then a clue reveals to Rhyme that his nemesis, known as the Watchmaker, has come to town to fulfill his promise of murdering the criminalist. Now Rhyme and Sachs have to dodge his brilliant scheme to destroy them both,  while racing against time to stop the construction site terrorists. With New York in a panic, Rhyme and his team must unravel a handful of plots as tightly wound as a timepiece—before more cranes fall, raining down death and destruction from above.

Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis confront a baffling, vicious double homicide that leads them to long-buried secrets worth killing for in this riveting thriller... LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis sees it all the time: Reinvention’s a way of life in a city fueled by fantasy. But try as you might to erase the person you once were, there are those who will never forget the past . . . and who can still find you.

I generally read Jeffery Deaver's Horror novels, but I do like his Lincoln Rhyme novels, so in my Kindle is this book. I started reading this last week and am really enjoying it! A good sink your teeth into kind of read. Jeffery Deaver really knows how to develop "evil" characters and that's one reason these are so much fun to read. The Watchmaker's Hand will be released on November 28th, 2023 by PENGUIN GROUP Putnam, G.P. Putnam's Sonsso make a note of that because if you like Lincoln Rhyme novels or crime novels, you're going to want to pick it up. My review coming soon. 

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A pool boy enters a secluded Bel Air property and discovers two bodies floating in the bright blue water: Gio Aggiunta, the playboy heir to an Italian shoe empire, and a gorgeous, even wealthier neighbor named Meagin March. A married neighbor. An illicit affair stoking rage is a perfect motive. But a “double” in this neighborhood of gated estates isn’t something you see every day. The house is untouched. No forced entry, no forensic evidence. The case has “that feeling,” and when that happens, Milo turns to his friend, the brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware. As Milo and Alex investigate both victims, they discover two troubled pasts. And as they dig deeper, Meagin March’s very identity begins to blur. Who was this glamorous but conflicted woman? Did her past catch up to her? Or did Gio’s family connections create a threat spanning two continents? Chasing down the answers leads Alex and Milo on an exploration of L.A.’s darkest side as they contend with one of the most shocking cases of their careers and learn that that some secrets are best left buried in the past.

Another mystery/thriller writer favorite, Jonathan Kellerman has many great books starring psychologist Alex Delaware and here Alex is again leading the investigation. You'll have to hold off until February 6th, 2024 to read The Ghost Orchid by Jonathan Kellerman, but should be worth it! I'll let you know because Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine sent me a copy on my Kindle to read and review recently.

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Killer Hooks by by Betty Hechtman...

Molly Pink and the Tarzana Hookers have to read between the lines when a bookstore event turns fatal in the new Crochet Mystery by national bestselling author Betty Hechtman.

There’s never a dull moment for amateur sleuth Molly Pink. Without warning, her infant granddaughter has been dumped in her lap for babysitting duties, her son has reluctantly enlisted her help investigating a potential investor in his business, and now she has to manage a high-profile bookstore event for a former Hollywood columnist who’s dishing the dirt in a juicy tell-all. And when the author collapses and dies in the store just as she’s about to reveal an incriminating tidbit, the police suspect foul play and zero in on Molly as the likely culprit.  Getting herself off the hook won’t be easy, but Molly and the Tarzana Hookers are convinced that whoever did the deed wanted to silence the author before she could expose their dark secret. As the police continue to needle Molly, certain she’s trying to pull the wool over their eyes with her claims of innocence, she’s also in over her head in a mommy group run by Hollywood power couples—all of whom may have something to hide. As she finally stitches together the loose ends and figures out the killer’s identity, they decide it’s time to silence her too, and Molly has to think fast before she makes a quick trip from her granddaughter’s cradle to the grave . . .

Includes a crochet project and a scrumptious recipe!

And what better way to end the day than with a cozy killer read! Killer Hooks by Betty Hechtman will be released by Beyond the Page Publishing later this month of September 26, 2023. Betty Hechtman is a new author to me, but she has published over 2 dozen novels and Killer Hooks is #15 of her "crochet mysteries"! And if you don't know, I do a bit of crocheting with my business Shawl Y'all so a crochet mystery is right up my alley! And I like to read cozies too, so I'm looking forward to sitting down with this book! I love that the author includes a crochet project and a recipe! And Beyond the Page Publishing has generously sent along a review copy of this book to my Kindle ! Thank you so much!!

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Weekly Recap...

It was a busy week at Chick with Books! If you missed anything, here are the links for this weeks posts.

Monday, 9/11... Memoir Monday was all about a smash hit memoir right out of Korea! You need to read this one!

Thursday, 9/12... #TBT , Throwback Thursday was a look back at what I was reading way back in 2014, and my review of a book that is still one of my favorite reads! If you haven't read it you should!

Friday, 9/13... First Lines Friday was the first lines of a soon to be published book that has a very familiar character (and author) if you love mysteries/thrillers. Follow the link to see who it is!

Saturday, 9/14... Book Bracketing! Have you bracketed your books this year? Read all about doing it and why. 

What kind of books do you read? Has it changed over the years?

Well that is my week in a nutshell! Some great new books, a new author to me, and a fun week on Chick with books. Hope you found something interesting today! And share any interesting books came your way this week!

Happy reading... Suzanne

First Lines Friday...

HIS GAZE OVER the majestic panorama of Manhattan, 218 feet below, was interrupted by the alarm.

He had never before heard the urgent electronic pulsing on the job.

He was familiar with the sound from training, while getting his Fall Protection Certificate, but never on shift. His level of skill and the sophistication of the million-dollar contraption beneath him were such that there had never been a reason for the high-pitched sound to fill the cab in which he sat.                        

                 ... The Watchmakers Hand by Jeffery Deaver

Welcome back Lincoln Rhyme! I originally met Lincoln Rhyme, quadriplegic detective, in The Bone Collector (I think a lot of people did). It was a great book and a great movie starring Denzel Washington as the man himself. This is a murder thriller set in New York City. This will be published by G.P. Putnam's Sons on November 28, 2023! So mark your calendars! I received an eBook Galley from G.P. Putnam's Sons to review and I am in the middle of The Watchmaker's Hand and really enjoying it! Watch for my review coming soon...

Library Loot....

 "Older women often feel invisible, but sometimes that’s their secret weapon. They’ve spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they’re sixty years old, four women friends can’t just retire—it’s kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller"

Library cards are a great thing to have... and this week I used my Pickens County Library Card and downloaded Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn. A light, "fun" read by a writer that is primarily known for her 2 Victorian Mystery series that star bright female protagonists. Killers of a Certain Age is set in contemporary times, starring 4 women who were recruited while in college and trained to be international assasins for a group working outside of the "system". They've been at it for 40 years now and are on their retirement cruise... but it's not all fun and games and something is afoot on that ship...

Buzzfeed summed up its' review of this book as "The Golden Girls meets James Bond thriller."

Do you have a library card? 

Published September of last year by Penguin Random House,  be on the lookout for my review...

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager... A Review

 Lock Every Door, but it won't matter... And that's all I am going to say about Riley Sager's book, Lock Every Door, besides if you need some thrill in your reading, start turning the pages on this one. 

My Mom and I have always loved mysteries and thrillers. Often times for her birthday or Christmas, I'll buy her a stack of books. I try to find authors we haven't read before so that we can find some fresh reading. That's how I happened upon Riley Sager. After reading thru the plot blurbs, I found his books all have that eerie plot element that screams "read me if you dare and find out what happens next". This was one of the books in the latest stack I gave Mom and on a recent visit down South, she brought it with her so I could read it. OMG, I spent a whole week at the Bartholomew with Jules Larsen and couldn't stop reading! 

In Lock Every Door, Jules answers a mysterious newspaper ad for a job as an apartment sitter at the very exclusive Bartholomew, where the rich and some famous live very secluded and secretive lives. The money for 3 months of apartment sitting seems too good to be true, but perfect because she just so happens to be broke and without a place to call her own. But Jules soon starts to feel that things aren't quite right at the Bartholomew... and when one of the apartment sitters she makes friends with goes missing, life at the Bartholomew takes on a frightening twist. 

I really enjoyed this book! I literally could not put it down when I got about 1/3 of the way into it. I have a warning though... DO NOT READ any of the cover "blurbs"... you know, the great things that writers and reviewers say about the book so that you'll read it and are printed in quotes on the front and back covers. Two of those blurbs almost gives away the game. Those blurbs made me suspicious about what was going on and could have ruined the story. I can't say any more...

Want to read a good thriller... read Lock Every Door by Riley Sager. Published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Random House, in 2019. 

First Lines Friday...

 

NOW FRIDAY, MAY 3

Leah

The key is to go to a few different stores. I used to always go to Jerry’s Liquors on Bonifant Avenue. I was a regular. Too regular. Jerry’s mouth started to form a thin line when I’d come in. I could see the conflict on his face. He was glad for the business, but judgmental about the frequency of my visits.

Don’t make this hard on me, his face seemed to say. Don’t make me feel bad for you.

Jerry, like so many others, didn’t want to be bothered with sympathy.

Now, I don’t go to Jerry’s anymore. I have five other stores I frequent, all within a fifteen-mile radius of my house. They all think I’m a regular. A devoted and loyal customer.

They’re all right.

Typically, I stop by each one once a week. One store per day, Monday through Friday. I like to go in the early afternoon. Always after three, but usually before four.

My favorite store is Pine View Liquors on Main Street. My Friday store. It’s a little bit bougie, amid the boutiques selling clothing of the type I used to wear in my former life, and restaurants serving tapas and crepes, and houseware shops displaying accent chairs to be admired but not sat upon, and teakettles to be visible in the background of Instagram posts but never used, and candles to be sniffed but not lit on fire.

In addition to beer and wine and liquor, Pine View sells bags of kettle chips that shimmer with oil, colorful artisanal sodas, and specialty chocolates stuffed with PB&J, salted caramel, and cookie butter. I always load a few such items into my basket to distract the cashier from the fact that I’m a five-foot-four woman purchasing seven hundred and fifty milliliters of Grey Goose vodka, just as I do nearly every Friday.

It was in Pine View Liquors that I first saw her.

It was like looking at myself, nine months ago.

When I read a Kirkus Starred Review that compared The Favour by Nora Murphy to Strangers on a Train, the Patricia Highsmith novel, which later became a thrilling cinematic ride by Alfred Hitchcock, I had to look at it a bit closer. With voyeurism similar to Rachel's in The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins (and if you haven't read that book YOU SHOULD!), Leah Dawson watches McKenna Hawkins... their two worlds will eventually collide. The Favour will be released May 31, 2022 by Minotaur Publishing... and it's on my wishlist. 

It's a THRILLING Sunday... or The Sunday Salon and Thrillers coming soon to a book store near you

 

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and a beautiful (but cold) day in South Carolina! Pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of java and let's talk books...

The first books I remember reading as a young person were mysteries. I read a Nancy Drew mystery almost every Sunday afternoon. I couldn't get enough of them and I loved reading. And that's where my reading origins are from... mysteries. As an adult my reading took a little turn to some chic lit, with reading books like Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding and Jennifer Wiener's Good in Bed. And after I invited my reader friends to form a reading group, my choices became literary fiction, because that's what reading groups read. But I still occasionally read mysteries and thrillers, and with some new books coming out this November and a little later, I think it's time to get back to my roots...

One of the mystery/thrill writers I LOVED for so long was Patricia Cornwell. After discovering her first book Postmortem, I read her books voraciously, one after the other until I had to wait for new ones to be published. Then she started writing a different series of books with new characters along side her writing the Scarpetta stories and I thought she lost a bit of her shine. I wasn't thrilled with her stories like I once was and put her books down around book 11 of the Kay Scarpetta novels... but I missed her. And now after reading that she is going to be publishing a new Kay Scarpetta novel I am excited to visit my old friend. I think maybe I should catch up to where the story has been up until now, but can I really read thru 13 books until I get to book #25, Autopsy? I think not...

Autopsy by Patricia Cornwell... Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia as the chief medical examiner, the state where she launched her storied career. Finding herself the new girl in town once again after being away for many years, she’s inherited not only an overbearing secretary, but also a legacy of neglect and potential corruption.

She and her husband Benton Wesley, now a forensic psychologist with the U.S. Secret Service, have relocated to Old Town Alexandria where she’s headquartered five miles from the Pentagon in a post-pandemic world that’s been torn by civil and political unrest. Just weeks on the job, she’s called to a scene by railroad tracks where a woman’s body has been shockingly displayed, her throat cut down to the spine, and as Scarpetta begins to follow the trail, it leads unnervingly close to her own historic neighborhood.

At the same time, a catastrophe occurs in a top-secret laboratory in outer space, endangering at least two scientists aboard. Appointed to the highly classified Doomsday Commission that specializes in sensitive national security cases, Scarpetta is summoned to the White House and tasked with finding out exactly what happened. But even as she works the first potential crime scene in space remotely, an apparent serial killer strikes again very close to home. 

Will be published by William Morrow and on bookstore shelves November 30th! This is one I'm really looking forward to!

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Every year my Mother comes for a visit to South Carolina from Connecticut. She's a reader too and usually she'll be tackling some reading while she is here. This year she decided not to bring anything or go out to the bookstore, but to pull something off my shelves. As you can imagine, I have a lot of books. I knew she liked mysteries and thrillers, so I pulled out The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I actually had not read it yet. There was a signed first edition just sitting on the shelves... Mom enjoyed it and I had to not ask questions as she was enjoying the read so as not to ruin the fun for me because now I was putting it next on my reading list. What was perfect was I heard about Anthony Horowitz coming out with a followup to The Magpie Murders! Book 2 in the series...

The Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz... Ryeland is living the good life. She is running a small hotel on a Greek island with her long-term boyfriend Andreas. It should be everything she's always wanted. But is it? She's exhausted with the responsibilities of making everything work on an island where nothing ever does, and truth be told she's beginning to miss London.

And then the Trehearnes come to stay. The strange and mysterious story they tell, about an unfortunate murder that took place on the same day and in the same hotel in which their daughter was married—a picturesque inn on the Suffolk coast named Farlingaye Hall—fascinates Susan and piques her editor’s instincts. 

One of her former writers, the late Alan Conway, author of the fictional Magpie Murders, knew the murder victim—an advertising executive named Frank Parris—and once visited Farlingaye Hall. Conway based the third book in his detective series, Atticus Pund Takes the Cake, on that very crime. 

The Trehearne’s, daughter, Cecily, read Conway’s mystery and believed the book proves that the man convicted of Parris’s murder—a Romanian immigrant who was the hotel’s handyman—is innocent. When the Trehearnes reveal that Cecily is now missing, Susan knows that she must return to England and find out what really happened.

Brilliantly clever, relentlessly suspenseful, full of twists that will keep readers guessing with each revelation and clue, Moonflower Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction from one of its greatest masterminds, Anthony Horowitz. 

Published by Harper Publishing, this came out Nov. 10th!

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And our last thriller is from an author I've never read, but has gotten a lot of buzz for the books that he's written. He's been up for numerous literary awards, been on the NY Times Bestseller list and has a band. His book that got my attention is not his soon to be published one, but one of his older books, Universal Harvester.                                         

Universal Harvester by John Darnielle... It’s the late ’90s, and you can find Jeremy Heldt at the Video Hut in Nevada, Iowa—a small town in the center of the state. The job is good enough for Jeremy, quiet and predictable, and it gets him out of the house, where he lives with his dad and where they both try to avoid missing Mom, who died six years ago in a carwreck. But when a local school teacher comes in to return her copy of Targets—an old movie, starring Boris Karloff—the transaction jolts Jeremy out of his routine. “There’s something on it,” she says as she leaves the store, though she doesn’t elaborate. Two days later, another customer returns another tape, and registers the same odd complaint: “There’s another movie on this tape.”

In Universal Harvester, the once-placid Iowa fields and farmhouses become sinister, imbued with loss and instability and foreboding. As Jeremy and those around him are absorbed into tapes, they become part of another story—one that unfolds years into the past and years into the future, part of an impossible search for something someone once lost that they would do anything to regain.

It's a slim book coming in at 224 pages, but it is sitting on my nightstand waiting for its' turn to be opened and read. I think the premise is interesting and I am looking forward to seeing if John Darnielle's writing lives up to all the hype. Universal Harverster was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2017.

He has a new book coming out January 2022 called The Devil House that also looks interesting.

Do you read mysteries and thrillers?

What books have you been reading lately? And have your reading tastes changed over the years? For now, I'm jumping back to my "roots" with mysteries and thrillers. Hope you found something interesting here today!

Happy reading... Suzanne

Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell... TLC Book Tour!

About the Book... Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a highly suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts, when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link seems to be from her niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she comes to grips with frightening secrets about her niece. That first clip and others sent soon after raise dangerous implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, alarmed, and not knowing where to turn. The diabolical presence and singularly “depraved heart” behind what unfolds seems obvious—but strangely, not to the FBI. Certainly that’s the message they send when they start harassing Lucy and begin building a case that could send her to prison for the rest of her life.

In the latest novel in her bestselling series featuring medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta, Cornwell captivates readers again with the jolting twists, high-wire tension, and cutting-edge forensic detail for which she is renowned, proving yet again why she is the world’s number one bestselling crime writer.

What Did I Think of the Book? Patricia Cornwell never disappoints me. It's been years since I've devoured her Kay Scarpetta novels, but opening the pages of Depraved Heart felt like a homecoming in a way. All the familiar people were there and I even though I hadn't followed them in so long, I was able to settle right in without feeling lost.

This is typical Kay Scarpetta, with murder in the air and the need to solve the crime before innocent people start to be blamed. A diabolical previous character thought to be dead (Carrie) doesn't seem to be dead anymore and has come back to haunt Kay and her niece Lucy. But these once endearing characters seem to have changed a bit, and I'm not so in love with them anymore. Kay even seems to be a bit paranoid. But if you enjoy crime thrillers, do crack the spine on this one, because it's got all the ingredients of a good solid read.

About Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell is recognized as one of the world’s top bestselling crime authors with novels translated into thirty-six languages in more than 120 countries. Her novels have won numerous prestigious awards including the Edgar, the John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger, the Anthony, the Macavity and the Prix du Roman d’Aventures. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Patricia has written a definitive book about Jack the Ripper, a biography and two more fiction series among others. Cornwell, a licensed helicopter pilot and scuba diver, actively researches the cutting-edge forensic technologies that inform her work. She was born in Miami, grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston.

Find out more about Patricia at her website, and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

To Learn More about Depraved Heart, visit Harper Collins! There you can read an excerpt, listen to an excerpt and purchase the book! Or if you'd prefer...

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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*Chick with Books received a copy of Depraved Hearts in exchange for my honest review, and as part of hosting this tour for TLC Book Tours.

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

Get Ready… Summer's Gonna Sizzle

Welcome to the The Sunday Salon and Summer! Yes, finally the weather matches the calendar and we can declare longer days with lazy nights, margarita's by the water, and SUMMER READING!

Summer is going to sizzle too! There is plenty summer reading to be had by our favorite authors! (And not to wish summer away, but there are some great books coming out this fall too!) What's your pleasure? Romance, thrillers, murder?  Let's take a peek at what you should be adding to your summer TBR list!

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart… from the publisher:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart. 

Read it.

And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

I'm intrigued! I love the smart description from the publisher too! Last time I found a cryptic book description like that was on Little Bee by Chris Cleave and that book was fantastic.  This book has gotten amazing reviews so far! It is suppose to be a YA novel , but from what I gather it's not exactly being sold as YA, because I guess that would "pigeon hole" it in a particular genre, and the story should be enjoyed by adults as well. It is on my TBR list! Sounds great and the small bit of a sample I read I enjoyed. Published by Delacorte Press (Random House) is was published in May of this year!

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica… "I've been following her for the past few days. I know where she buys her groceries, where she has her dry cleaning done, where she works. I don't know the color of her eyes or what they look like when she's scared. But I will." 

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, at first Colin Thatcher seems like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.  Colin's job was to abduct Mia as part of a wild extortion plot and deliver her to his employers. But the plan takes an unexpected turn when Colin suddenly decides to hide Mia in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota, evading the police and his deadly superiors. Mia's mother, Eve, and detective Gabe Hoffman will stop at nothing to find them, but no one could have predicted the emotional entanglements that eventually cause this family's world to shatter. 

Can you say thriller?! Yes, this a suspense thriller from first time writer, Mary Kubica. The Good Girl has gotten a lot of great pre-release press, and sounds like it will make a perfect summer read! But this one we'll have to wait for until July 29, 2014, when Harlequin MIRA will publish it!

Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King… In a mega-stakes, high-suspense race against time, three of the most unlikely and winning heroes Stephen King has ever created try to stop a lone killer from blowing up thousands. In the frigid pre-dawn hours, in a distressed Midwestern city, hundreds of desperate unemployed folks are lined up for a spot at a job fair. Without warning, a lone driver plows through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up, and charging again. Eight people are killed; fifteen are wounded. The killer escapes. In another part of town, months later, a retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved crime. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy. Brady Hartsfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. He loved the feel of death under the wheels of the Mercedes, and he wants that rush again. Only Bill Hodges, with a couple of highly unlikely allies, can apprehend the killer before he strikes again. And they have no time to lose, because Brady’s next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim thousands. Mr. Mercedes is a war between good and evil, from the master of suspense whose insight into the mind of this obsessed, insane killer is chilling and unforgettable.

Is Stephen King back?! I had kind of given up on him, until The Dome. I just didn't get that spark when I read any of his newer books. He had retired, then he came back with a new book, what is going on? Well, Mr. Mercedes sounds like old Stephen King to me. The sample I read I liked, but this is summer and let's have fun reading Stephen King without being wary. Does it have to be his best? Does it have to make me want to leave the lights on when I'm reading (Like The Shining did)? No, so I'm willing to give this a try for the fun of it. Lot's of people have given it great reviews. Published by Scribner (Simon & Schuster) it is available now!

Written in My Own Heart’s Blood by Diana Gabaldon… 1778: France declares war on Great Britain, the British army leaves Philadelphia, and George Washington’s troops leave Valley Forge in pursuit. At this moment, Jamie Fraser returns from a presumed watery grave to discover that his best friend has married his wife, his illegitimate son has discovered (to his horror) who his father really is, and his beloved nephew, Ian, wants to marry a Quaker. Meanwhile, Jamie’s wife, Claire, and his sister, Jenny, are busy picking up the pieces. The Frasers can only be thankful that their daughter Brianna and her family are safe in twentieth-century Scotland. Or not. In fact, Brianna is  searching for her own son, who was kidnapped by a man determined to learn her family’s secrets. Her husband, Roger, has ventured into the past in search of the missing boy . . . never suspecting that the object of his quest has not left the present. Now, with Roger out of the way, the kidnapper can focus on his true target: Brianna herself.

How can I talk about Summer Sizzler's without mentioning the newest book in the time traveling romance Outlander Series!?! After 7 books, Outlander fans still want more, and Diana Gabaldon has been gracious enough to give us more! If you are not familiar with the Outlander Series, it is the amazing time traveling romance between 20th century Claire and 18th century Scottish Highlander Jamie. It is HOT and at the writing is superb. The series starts with Outlander, and if you haven't read it, pick it up NOW. It's a big one, though, at almost 900 pages. Published by Delacorte Press (Random House) it is available now from your favorite book seller!

Do you have any plans for reading this summer? What's on your TBR list? I've had quite a few books on my plate so far, including a graphic novel This One Summer by  Mariko and Jillian Tamaki, that I loved and will be reviewing by the end of the week, and Garth Stein's newest offering called A Sudden Light, which was fabulous! You'll see the review for that this week too! Stop by the next few "Memoir Mondays" to find some great new memoirs you are going to want to read! And in the meantime…

Happy Reading… Suzanne