Best of
Suspense

2009

In Death: The First Cases


J.D. Robb - 2009
    D. Robb presents the first two In Death thrillers featuring Lieutenant Eve Dallas--Naked in Death and Glory in Death--together in one volume for the first time. NAKED IN DEATHIn the first book in the bestselling In Death series, Lieutenant Eve Dallas walks the line between seductive passion and scandalous murder... GLORY IN DEATHLieutenant Eve Dallas never wavers in her search for justice. But now she'll learn that matters of the heart are never black and white...

The Crucifix Killer


Chris Carter - 2009
    Naked, strung from two parallel wooden posts, the victim was sadistically tortured before meeting an excruciatingly painful death. All the skin has been ripped from her face - while she was still alive. On the nape of her neck has been carved a strange double-cross: the signature of a psychopath known as the Crucifix Killer. But that's impossible. Because two years ago, the Crucifix Killer was caught and executed. Could this therefore be a copycat killer? Or could the unthinkable be true? Is the real killer still out there, ready to embark once again on a vicious and violent killing spree, selecting his victims seemingly at random, taunting Robert Hunter with his inability to catch him? Hunter and his rookie partner are about to enter a nightmare beyond imagining.

Missing in Death


J.D. Robb - 2009
    Soon no one can find her. But if she didn't jump, and she's not on board, where is she?Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is called to the scene and is quickly faced with a shocking web of lies. With time running out and a deadly trail of intimidation and revenge emerging, Eve and her team must find out just what was seen on that ferry . . .

J.D. Robb CD Collection 7: Visions in Death, Survivor in Death, Origin in Death


J.D. Robb - 2009
    The victim is found on the rocks, just above the still, dark water of The Lake in Central Park. Around her neck is a single red ribbon. Her hands are posed, as if in prayer. But it is the eyes —removed with such precision, as if done by the careful hand of a surgeon — that have Dallas most alarmed.Survivor in Death:Eve Dallas may be the best cop in the city but the Swisher case has her baffled. The family members were murdered in their beds with brutal, military precision. The state-of-the-art security was breached, and the killers used night vision to find their way through the cozy middle-class house. Clearly, Dallas is dealing with pros. The only mistake they made was to overlook the nine-year-old girl cowering in the dark in the kitchen. . .Origin in Death:New York Police Lieutenant Eve Dallas and her partner Peabody enter the hallowed halls of the Wilfred B. Icove Center for Reconstructive and Cosmetic Surgery on a case. A hugely popular vid star has been beaten to a bloody pulp - and has killed her attacker in the process. After a post-op interview, Dallas and Peabody confirm for themselves that it’s a clear-cut case of self-defense, but before they can leave the building, another case falls into their hands.

Pushin' Up Daisies


Carolyn Brown - 2009
    She has just buried her mother, one of the last victims of the flu epidemic of 1918. Her father had been one of the first to succumb to the flu and her fiance was killed in the war. And now there is a detective living at her hotel, the Black Swan, looking into the disappearance of her abusive brother-in-law. He is entirely the wrong person and it is absolutely the wrong time for her to be giving Detective Massey a second look, much less a third and fourth. She'll simply have to control the sparks that fly every time they are together. Quincy Massey just wants to get the little job of finding Ralph Contiello done and go back home to Little Rock, Arkansas. The small town of Huttig is friendly enough but it sure isn't his type of town. And Catherine O'Shea with her smart remarks and red hair is getting under his skin entirely too much. Quincy's unstoppable quest for the truth and Catherine's unflappable determination to keep it hidden immediately sets the two of them at odds. In order to look towards a future with its offer of unconditional love they'll first have to bury the past.

Endangered


Pamela Beason - 2009
    Box, New York Times bestselling author "Well written and terrifically paced." - AnnArbor.com Summer "Sam" Westin's assignment to report on cougars in a Utah park goes horribly awry when a child vanishes from a campground and the TV news focuses on the local mountain lions as the likely culprits. Sam has good reason to suspect the shadowy man she spotted at the end of the path. Can she find the truth in time to save both the child and the big cats? Includes Discussion Questions for Readers and Book Clubs

Intervention


Terri Blackstock - 2009
    Barbara Covington has one more chance to save her daughter from a devastating addiction, by staging an intervention. But when eighteen-year-old Emily disappears on the way to drug treatment—and her interventionist is found dead at the airport—Barbara enters her darkest nightmare of all. Barbara and her son set out to find Emily before Detective Kent Harlan arrests her for a crime he is sure she committed. Fearing for Emily’s life, Barbara maintains her daughter’s innocence. But does she really know her anymore? Meanwhile, Kent has questions of his own. His gut tells him that this is a case of an addict killing for drugs, but as he gets to know Barbara, he begins to hope he is all wrong about Emily. The panic level rises as the mysteries intensify: Did Emily’s obsession with drugs lead her to commit murder—or is she another victim of a cold-blooded killer?

What We Won't Do For Love


Mz. Robinson - 2009
    She lives by one rule: keep it strictly sexual. Octavia is living her life just the way she wants. No man. No issues. No drama. When she meets the handsome Damon Whitmore, everything changes. Octavia soon finds that Damon has become a part of her world and her heart. However, when temptation comes in the form of a sexy- hardcore thug named, Beau, Octavia finds herself caught in a deadly love triangle. She soon learns in life and love, there are no rules and she s surprised at what she herself, will not do for love.Show More Show Less

The President's Henchman


Joseph Flynn - 2009
    Which will make her husband--what?Well, if he's the ex-cop who solved the murder of the president's first husband and brought the killers to justice...and if he's not the kind of guy to stand on formality...and if he doesn't want to be the head of the FBI...and if he takes out a license and becomes the first private eye to live in the White House...That would make him The President's Henchman.Jim McGill's first case is to find out who is stalking a member of the White House press corps, before that stalker turns the tables on McGill and maybe even threatens the president herself. He also has to be a shadow adviser to a young Air Force investigator who is looking into a he-said-she-said charge of adultery leveled against a female colonel working at the Pentagon, a case with the potential to derail the new president's administration before it has a chance to begin.

Closure


Randall Wood - 2009
    Special Agent Jack Randall of the FBI finds himself appointed to track down and stop the shooter. Not by his superiors, but by the killer himself.As more bodies fall the shooter takes his message to the press, earning the support of the public with his choice of targets and confounding the FBI at every turn. From the desert of Nevada to the urban jungle of New York City, Jack and his team follow the trail of bodies and haunting messages left behind by the killer. With the pressure to find him mounting on Jack, the assassin’s crimes grow bolder, and his message more sinister and closer to home.It becomes clear to Jack that in order to find the shooter, he may have to look inside his own past, and become the man he was years ago.

The Last Child


John Hart - 2009
    He knew nothing of loss, until the day Alyssa vanished from the side of a lonely street. Now, a year later, Johnny finds himself isolated and alone, failed by the people he'd been taught since birth to trust. No one else believes that Alyssa is still alive, but Johnny is certain that she is—confident in a way that he can never fully explain.Determined to find his sister, Johnny risks everything to explore the dark side of his hometown. It is a desperate, terrifying search, but Johnny is not as alone as he might think. Detective Clyde Hunt has never stopped looking for Alyssa either, and he has a soft spot for Johnny. He watches over the boy and tries to keep him safe, but when Johnny uncovers a dangerous lead and vows to follow it, Hunt has no choice but to intervene.Then a second child goes missing...Undeterred by Hunt's threats or his mother's pleas, Johnny enlists the help of his last friend, and together they plunge into the wild, to a forgotten place with a history of violence that goes back more than a hundred years. There, they meet a giant of a man, an escaped convict on his own tragic quest. What they learn from him will shatter every notion Johnny had about the fate of his sister; it will lead them to another far place, to a truth that will test both boys to the limit.Traveling the wilderness between innocence and hard wisdom, between hopelessness and faith, The Last Child leaves all categories behind and establishes John Hart as a writer of unique power.

The Gray Man


Mark Greaney - 2009
    But he’s a great assassin. To those who lurk in the shadows, he’s known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target. Always. But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. And in their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness. But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there’s no gray area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive…

From Cradle to Grave


Patricia MacDonald - 2009
    Morgan and Drew's mother, Claire, have been friends since childhood, and Morgan was delighted when Claire married the handsome Guy Bolton. But a few days after the christening, Morgan receives a devastating phone call from her friend . . .

Black Hills


Nora Roberts - 2009
    But things are a bit more bearable now that he's discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage. Even horseback riding isn't as awful as Coop thought it would be. Each year, with Coop's annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that will forever haunt them: the terrifying discovery of a hiker's body.As the seasons change and the years roll, Lil stays steadfast to her aspiration of becoming a wildlife biologist and protecting her family land, while Coop struggles with his father's demand that he attend law school and join the family firm. Twelve years after they last walked together hand in hand, fate has brought them back to the Black Hills when the people and things they hold most dear need them most.Coop recently left his fast-paced life as an investigator in New York to take care for his aging grandparents and the ranch he has come to call home. Though the memory of his touch still haunts her, Lil has let nothing stop her dream of opening the Chance Wildlife Refuge, but something ... or someone ... has been keeping a close watch. When small pranks and acts of destruction escalate into the heartless killing of Lil's beloved cougar, recollections of an unsolved murder in these very hills have Coop springing to action to keep Lil safe.Lil and Coop both know the natural dangers that lurk in the wild landscape of the Black Hills. Now they must work together to unearth a killer of twisted and unnatural instincts who has singled them out as prey.

The Memory Closet


Ninie Hammon - 2009
    She understands that something profoundly evil lurks in the swirling purple haze of her amnesia. For a quarter of a century, she was enslaved by what she called the "Boogie Man"-- images from her lost childhood that appeared in the shadows behind her reflection in mirrors and wine glasses, haunted her dreams and attacked her in screaming night terrors. Fear of facing that secret held her hostage. Like a schoolyard bully, it twisted her arm behind her back and forced her to accept that her life began at age 11 in the dirt beside the ditch where the family station wagon burned like hell had opened up a crack in the world right there in the back seat. Then the Boogie Man destroyed her career. And Anne saw him in her dying mother's eyes. With her last breath, Susan Mitchell begged for her daughter's forgiveness. She didn't mean for it to happen, she gasped, but she'll burn in hell for what she did all the same. What did her mother do? Anne has to know. So she has come home to a small Texas prairie town to live with her crazy grandmother in the rambling old house where she grew up, determined to take a stand there against the Boogie Man.But Anne isn't really prepared for how expensive remembering might be. The cost of her memories might be her sanity. Each new revelation loosens Anne's grip on reality. Surely her crazy grandmother didn't do THAT to Anne's beloved parakeet! Yes, the old woman DID! No ... actually, she didn't. The horror that attacks her in the garage--it can't possibly be real...can it? And most important: what happened to the little Indian girl with a face like a china doll whose name was Laughs in the Wind? The Boogie Man knows. He also knows Anne's here. He knows it's showtime. And he knows what she doesn't--that Anne might very well have to pay for her past with her future, that the cost of remembering could be her life.

Her Sanctuary


Toni Anderson - 2009
    Her undercover work brought down a mobster’s empire. Her reward? A bullseye on her back, betrayal burning like battery acid in her veins, and a life on the run.A remote Montana ranch was supposed to be a safe haven to begin reclaiming her life. Which doesn’t include a man as solid as a mountain, with sapphire eyes and a slow, sexy drawl that curls inside her in a way she hasn’t felt in far too long.Nat Sullivan smells trouble coming in the Triple H’s cold mountain air. And this time it’s not the repo men sneaking in to take his prized horses. It’s a beautiful woman with wide eyes, dark hair, and skin pale as snow.Together, the damaged agent and struggling rancher find common ground…and a healing passion neither expected. But when a killer with a lust for revenge tracks Elizabeth down, the secrets she must unleash to survive could destroy everything they both love…REVISED AND UPDATED, NOVEMBER 2021.

The Harry Bosch Novels, Volume 4: The Narrows, The Closers, Echo Park (Harry Bosch, #10-12)


Michael Connelly - 2009
    Then he gets a call from the widow of a friend who died recently. A friend who worked on the famous case tracking the killer known as The Poet, which makes his death doubly suspicious. Now Bosch is heading straight into the path of the most ruthless and inventive murderer he has ever encountered...The Closers: Three years after leaving the LAPD, Harry is back, working with his former cop ally and partner, Kizmin Rider. Assigned to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, Harry and Kiz are immediately thrown into a politically sensitive and dangerous case when a DNA match connects a white supremacist to the 1988 murder of a mixed race 16-year-old girl. But there are some people who want the case to remain unsolved...Echo Park: In 1993, Harry Bosch was assigned the case of a missing person, Marie Gesto. The young woman was never found and the case has haunted Bosch ever since. Thirteen years later, a man accused of two heinous killings is willing to confess to several other murders, including that of Gesto. Bosch's whole being as a cop begins to crack when he comes to realize that he missed a clue that could have led him to the killer and prevented the nine murders that followed...

A Man Like Matt


Mallory Kane - 2009
    When the infant child of his deceased best friend is kidnapped, he volunteers to tackle a treacherous mountain to save the seven month old. He knows his friend’s wife will never forgive him for her husband’s death, but he still vows to rescue her baby, even if it costs him his own life.Aimee Vick can’t trust the man who failed to save her husband, but she knows he is her baby’s only hope. She follows Matt on a dangerous path through a snowstorm, stalked by deadly enemies, on the frail hope that he can save her child.As Matt’s expertise and determination keep them alive while they search for her baby, Aimee discovers there is much more to this man than she ever knew. She can trust him with their lives. Can she also trust him with her heart?

Zero at the Bone


Jane Seville - 2009
    A hitman known only as D is blackmailed into killing Jack, but when he tracks him down, his weary conscience won't allow him to murder an innocent man. Finding in each other an unlikely ally, Jack and D are soon on the run from shadowy enemies. Forced to work together to survive, the two men forge a bond that ripens into unexpected passion. Jack sees the wounded soul beneath D's cold, detached exterior, and D finds in Jack the person who can help him reclaim the man he once was. As the day of Jack's testimony approaches, he and D find themselves not only fighting for their lives... but also fighting for their future. A future together.

Cabal of The Westford Knight: Templars at the Newport Tower


David S. Brody - 2009
    Attorney Cameron Thorne is thrust into a bloody tug-of-war involving secret societies, treasure hunters and keepers of the secrets of the Jesus bloodline. Joined by Amanda, an enchanting British researcher with secrets of her own, Cam races around New England with only two choices--unravel the 600-year-old mysteries encoded in the ancient artifacts, or die trying.Based on actual historical artifacts, and illustrated.This is a stand-alone novel with recurring characters. These books can be read in any order.*WARNING: Not recommended for readers with strong religious beliefs.*

Illegal


Paul Levine - 2009
    lawyer with nothing to lose...A beautiful Mexican woman and her son who disappear crossing the border...And the corrupt rancher who schemes to destroy them all.  Set in the world of human trafficking and sex slavery, this a "masterful tale from one of the most skillful practitioners of the modern thriller.""Chilling and rings with authenticity. Levine invests his characters with believable humanity. Compulsively readable thriller." -- Booklist

Shadows of Lancaster County


Mindy Starns Clark - 2009
    But now that her brother has vanished and his wife is crying out for help, Anna knows she has no choice but to come out of hiding, go home, and find him. Back in Lancaster County, Anna follows the high-tech trail her brother left behind, a trail that leads from the simple world of Amish farming to the cutting edge of DNA research and gene therapy.During the course of her pursuit, Anna soon realizes that she has something others want, something worth killing for. In a world where nothing is as it seems, Anna seeks to protect herself, find her brother, and keep a rein on her heart despite the sudden reappearance of Reed Thornton, the only man she has ever loved.Following up on her extremely popular gothic thriller, Whispers of the Bayou, Mindy Starns Clark offers another suspenseful standalone mystery, one full of Amish simplicity, dark shadows, and the light of God's amazing grace.

Deeper Than the Dead


Tami Hoag - 2009
    Four children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence. What she doesn’t yet realize is that this will mark the end of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the wake of a serial killer’s escalating activity. Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course at FBI headquarters, is charged with interpreting those now revealed secrets. He’s using a new technique—profiling—to develop a theory of the case, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own. As new victims are found and the media scrutiny of the investigation bears down on them, both Mendez and Navarre are unsure if those who suffer most are the victims themselves—or the family and friends of the killer, blissfully unaware that someone very close to them is a brutal, calculating psychopath.

Troubled Sea


Jinx Schwartz - 2009
    But their chosen sea has a serpent: Mexico's out-of-control drug trade. After witnessing a drug-deal gone wrong, they set off a deadly chain of events that lands them in a sea of intrigue involving a best friend, the Mexican Federal Police, the DEA, US Coast Guard, the INS, and a nasty drug cartel.This fast-paced adventure is a must-read for anyone who has ever dreamed of cutting the lines and shoving off to adventure.Show More Show Less

A Silent Terror


Lynette Eason - 2009
    Then he realizes the deaf teacher was the intended target. Marianna must have something the murderer desperately wants. But what? Digging for the truth, the guarded cop tries to learn everything he can about Marianna. Her world. Her family. Her beauty, faith and fierce independence. In spite of himself, Ethan finds that he can't keep his feelings at bay. Soon, he's willing to risk everything--including his heart--to lay the silent terror stalking Marianna to rest.

The Warrior


Sharon Sala - 2009
    While hunting down an old enemy, he crosses paths with Alicia Ponte. On the run from her father--a powerful arms manufacturer--Alicia seeks to expose her father's traitorous crimes of selling weapons to our enemies in Iraq. But Richard Ponte will do anything to stay below the radar...even if it means killing his own daughter.Drawn to the mystery that surrounds Alicia, John feels compelled to protect her. Together they travel through the beautiful yet brutal Arizona desert to uncover deadly truths and bring her father to justice. But their journey is about to take an unexpected turn...one that goes deep into the past.

Certain Jeopardy


Jeff Struecker - 2009
    Different in countless ways, they are intimately the same in one: at any moment their lives can be altered with a phone call, and their actions may change the world.They are Special Ops. And one team’s mission is about to hit certain jeopardy status when the discovery of an Al Qaeda base in Venezuela becomes secondary to thwarting the transport of a nuclear weapons expert from that training camp to Iran.Informed by the true combat experience of Captain Jeff Struecker and finessed by award-winning novelist Alton Gansky, Certain Jeopardy is an immersing and pulsating fictional account of what really happens at every level of a stealth engagement: the physical enemy encounter, the spiritual war fought within a soldier, and the emotional battles in families back at home.

Ice


Stephanie Rowe - 2009
    The last thing Cort wants is a woman who reminds of what he's lost, but that's exactly what he gets when a sexy accountant from Seattle climbs into his cockpit with a deadly stalker on her tail.After a tragic climbing accident, Kaylie Fletcher fled Alaska and the life she once knew, with no plans to return. But when her family mysteriously disappears on Mt. Denali, she must brave decades-old trauma and come home to find them before it's too late. The only person who can help her is a dangerously sexy bush pilot who is everything she doesn't want…and everything she burns for.When the rescue mission turns into a cat and mouse game in the wilds of Alaska, Kaylie and Cort are in a deadly race with a madman who is always one step ahead of them. To survive, they must learn to trust each other, and open their hearts to the hope and love they both abandoned so long ago.

No Mercy


John Gilstrap - 2009
    Jonathan Grave, covert rescue specialist, always gets results. No names. No feds. No trace evidence.When an Indiana college student is abducted, Jonathan and his team of ace operatives unravel a deadly scheme the government wants ignored. Someone wants to control a devastating secret. Someone rich, powerful, and willing to kill anyone to get it. Even the people Jonathan loves most.

Point Blank / Double Take / TailSpin


Catherine Coulter - 2009
    She never expects to encounter the grisly murder that catapults her into a horrific plague of death. At Hooter’s Motel in Maryland, FBI agents Savich and Carver are nearly killed while attempting to rescue a kidnap victim. The search is cut short when Savich takes a fateful call on his cell, as a mysterious voice threatens to kill him and his wife.Double Take:A respectable-looking man distracts Julia Ransom with conversation before striking her unconscious and heaving her over the Pier 39 railing into San Francisco Bay. Special Agent Cheney Stone quickly realizes the attempt on Julia’s life has to connect to the murder of her husband. In Maestro, Virginia, Sheriff Dixon Noble learns about a woman named Charlotte Pallack, whose extraordinary resemblance to his vanished wife sends him across the country. In San Francisco, Dix’s and Cheney’s paths cross, brought together by FBI Special Agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock.TailSpin:FBI Special Agent Jackson Crowne is flying renowned psychiatrist Dr. Timothy MacLean back to Washington, D.C., to protect him and discover who’s trying to kill him. But they don’t make it. Their crash is witnessed by Rachael Abbott, a young woman who has just narrowly escaped drowning. When Savich and Sherlock arrive in Parlow, they discover Jack is down but not out, that Rachael saved his and Dr. MacLean’s lives, and that she’s hiding something big.

Buying Time


Pamela Samuels Young - 2009
    In his new line of work as a viatical broker, Waverly comes to the rescue of people in desperate need of cash. There's a catch, however, his clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they receive a dime. Waverly then finds investors to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker's fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath. The stakes get higher when Lawrence Erickson, who's bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General, hires Waverly to broker the insurance policy of his cancer-stricken wife. But Waverly's clients start dying sooner than they should, and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—is unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail, and murder. With two determined federal prosecutors hot on his trail, Waverly is on the run, and this time he might need some life insurance.

Vengeance Road


Rick Mofina - 2009
    Jolene Peller, a single mom struggling to build a new life with her little boy, vanishes the night she tries to find Bernice. Hero cop Karl Styebeck is beloved by his community, but privately police are uneasy with the answers he gives to protect the life — and the lie — he's lived. The case haunts Jack Gannon, a gritty, blue-collar reporter whose own sister ran away from their family years ago. Gannon risks more than his job to pursue the story behind Styebeck's dark secret, his link to the women, and the mysterious big rig roaming America's loneliest highways on its descent into eternal darkness.

The Advocate


Teresa Burrell - 2009
    The search for her brother and her career as a juvenile court attorney collide when she defends a nine-year-old whose father will go to any length to obtain custody. Sabre finds herself immersed in a case with too many unanswered questions. Her quest for the truth takes her coast to coast and five years into the past. Confronted with mysterious clues and strange occurrences, Sabre is threatened by someone wanting to make her suffer the unbearable anguish of losing everything-including her life. As Sabre's passion to find the answers intensifies, she discovers a twisted history of desperation, deceit, and revenge. And she discovers how obscure and treacherous the truth can be.

Sudden Death


Allison Brennan - 2009
    Her investigation gets complicated fast, for the victim, a former Delta Force soldier, is just one link in a nationwide spree of torture and murder.Straight off a job rescuing medical missionaries, soldier-for-hire Jack Kincaid returns to his home base in the Texas border town of Hidalgo only to receive the news that one of his closest colleagues–also ex-military–has been brutally murdered. Faced with an inept local police force, Jack takes matters into his own hands.Now, as part of a national task force to stop the sadistic killings, by-the-book Megan and burn-the-book Jack form a tense alliance, sparked with conflict and temptation. But they struggle against more than passion, for a vicious pair of killers has only just begun a rampage of evil . . . and the primary target is much closer than Megan suspects.

The Hunted


Brian Haig - 2009
    Based on a true story, Brian Haig's first standalone thriller is the shocking story of one man caught between the new Russia and the old, and between his own terrifying past and an uncertain future.

Second Chance Summer


Allie Boniface - 2009
    He’s trying to escape his. Love may be their only hope.Ten years after leaving home, the last thing Summer Thompson expects is to inherit her estranged father's half-renovated mansion. And the last thing she wants is to face the memories of the night her brother died, fleeting as they may be. Now a San Francisco museum curator, she plans to stay east just long enough to settle the estate and get rid of the house. Until she finds it occupied by a hunky handyman who's strangely reluctant to talk about his past.Damian Knight has been hiding his mother and sister from a violent ex, and Whispering Pines is the one place they’ve found peace and safety. He keeps to himself. He tells no one about his past. Yet when the lonely, haunted Summer steals his heart, he finds himself opening up to her in ways he should never risk. Especially to a woman who's planning to leave town after selling their refuge out from under them.As their attraction grows, the past begins to catch up with them. Summer's mounting flashbacks leave her confused and determined to uncover the truth about the night her brother died. But that truth will cross paths with the man Damian and his family have been avoiding for years.Can new love help them defeat the pain of the past? Or are some scars too deep to ever heal?If you love small towns, memorable characters, and swoon-worthy happy endings, then you'll love this sweet romance by a USA Today best-selling author! (Note: this book was previously released as Summer's Song. Revisions and updates accompany this new version!)

The Cutting


James Hayman - 2009
    He sought to raise his young daughter away from the violence of the big city . . . so he’s unprepared for the horrific killer he discovers, whose bloody trail may lead to Portland’s social elite.Early on a September evening, the mutilated body of a pretty teenaged girl, a high school soccer star, is found dumped in a scrap-metal yard. She had been viciously assaulted, but her heart had been cut out of her chest with surgical precision. The very same day a young businesswoman, also a blonde and an athlete, was abducted as she jogged through the streets of the city’s west end. McCabe suspects both crimes are the work of the same man---a killer who’s targeting the young---who is clearly well-versed in complex surgical procedures, and who may have struck before. Just as the investigation is beginning, McCabe’s ex-wife reemerges, suddenly determined to reclaim the daughter she heedlessly abandoned years earlier.With the help of his straight-talking (and, at times, alluring) partner, Maggie Savage, McCabe begins a race against time to rescue the missing woman and unmask a sadistic killer---before more lives are lost.

Bedroom Bully


Trista Russell - 2009
    Shaken with fright when he nudges a gun to her body and demands protection, Audra has no clue how deeply the murderer's rough, tender touches will penetrate the hardened layers of her heart.Dean Casey can't believe he's on the run after shooting two cops. But he never dreamed that his young daughter would be molested, either, a crushing reality that pushed the hardworking father to the brink of insanity. With the entire city of Miami on the hunt for him, Dean must figure out a way to save his daughter before vanishing from her life forever. To complicate matters, his hostage is a sexy, thick beauty whose attraction to him is impossible to ignore.Overcome with the thrill of their forbidden lust and imprisoned in the walls of her home, Audra and Dean lose themselves in an addictive, erotic haze - until sudden tragedies and shocking twists force them to escape Miami. As the fugitives set sail on the tranquil Caribbean Sea, their treacherous journey will, once and for all, test the limitless bounds of their passion.

Both Sides of the Fence


M.T. Pope - 2009
    Filled with music recitals, football games, and family outings, his life seems to be picture-perfect. What observers don't know is that Shawn is living a life on both sides of the fence. He's harboring dangerous childhood secrets that could ultimately rip his family apart. Shawn makes the mistake of befriending James, a gold-digging bisexual with a secret agenda. Pushing Shawn head first into a life of sex, secrets, and lies, James will stop at nothing to get what he wants. Take a story where everyone has secrets, and then mix that together with explosive sex and a dash of the painful truth, and the outcome can only be disaster. Heads will roll as Shawn's faithfulness, love, sexuality, and family structure are tested to the very shocking end. Be warned: this is not your average down-low book.

Whispers


David Story - 2009
    Along with his wife Cindy and his friend Darren, he suddenly finds himself on a spiritual journey of faith, a journey that involves a young girl named Alicia and a lonely and desperate boy named Rusty Jenkins. Rusty has an unusual crush on Alicia, and will stop at nothing to be with her. And Rusty Jenkins has a gun.

Nothing but Trouble


Susan May Warren - 2009
    Within a week, her former teacher is murdered and her best friend's husband is arrested as the number-one suspect. Although the police detective investigating the murder—who also happens to be PJ's former flame—is convinced it's an open-and-shut case, PJ's not so sure. She begins digging for clues in an effort to clear her friend’s husband and ends up reigniting old passions, uncovering an international conspiracy, and solving a murder along the way. She also discovers that maybe God can use a woman who never seems to get it right.

Dead Reckoning


Ronie Kendig - 2009
    Is the man trailing her an enemy or a protector sent by her CIA father?Whoever he is, the only way to prevent a nuclear meltdown means joining forces with this mystery man. Will Shiloh violate her vow to never become involved in her father's web of intrigue and mystery? Will she reconcile with her past and with him? Will she allow God to help her through this ordeal of danger, mistrust, and uncertainty?

Altar of Eden


James Rollins - 2009
    . . and armed men are seen looting the city zoo. Amid a hail of bullets, a concealed underground lab is ransacked--and something horrific is set loose upon the world.Seven years later, Louisiana state veterinarian Lorna Polk investigates an abandoned shipwrecked fishing trawler carrying exotic caged animals, part of a black market smuggling ring. But there is something disturbingly wrong with these beasts--each an unsettling mutation of the natural order, all sharing one uncanny trait: incredibly heightened intelligence.Joining forces with U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jack Menard--a man who shares with her a dark and bloody past--Lorna sets out to uncover the truth about this strange cargo and the terrorist threat it poses. Because a beast escaped the shipwreck and is running amok--and what is about to be born upon the altar of Eden could threaten not only the future of the world but the very foundation of what it means to be human.

Sworn to Silence


Linda Castillo - 2009
    . .Some crimes are too unspeakable to solve . . . In the sleepy rural town of Painters Mill, Ohio, the Amish and "English" residents have lived side by side for two centuries. But sixteen years ago, a series of brutal murders shattered the peaceful farming community. In the aftermath of the violence, the town was left with a sense of fragility, a loss of innocence. Kate Burkholder, a young Amish girl, survived the terror of the Slaughterhouse Killer but came away from its brutality with the realization that she no longer belonged with the Amish. Now, a wealth of experience later, Kate has been asked to return to Painters Mill as Chief of Police. Her Amish roots and big city law enforcement background make her the perfect candidate. She's certain she's come to terms with her past--until the first body is discovered in a snowy field. Kate vows to stop the killer before he strikes again. But to do so, she must betray both her family and her Amish past--and expose a dark secret that could destroy her.

Valley of the Shadow


Tom Pawlik - 2009
    He thinks it’s to save the life—and soul—of Mitch Kent. Mitch’s body remains on life support while his spirit is trapped with the old farmer Howard Bristol in the Interworld—a strange and dangerous dimension that Conner narrowly escaped during his brush with death in Pawlik’s award-winning debut novel, "Vanish." Meanwhile, in the Interworld, Mitch receives a warning from a mysterious stranger: Howard is not who he appears to be, and Mitch must flee immediately. Pursued by Howard and a terrifying creature, Mitch soon learns the truth about what happened to him and that his only hope of survival lies at the very edge of the Interworld.

Speed Trap


Patricia Davids - 2009
    The killer's only mistake was leaving behind a survivor...a four-month-old boy. For his sake--and for his murdered mother's--Sheriff Mandy Scott will see justice served. And she already has her prime suspect: the boy's father, Garrett Bowen. Yet despite the evidence against him, something about the reclusive rancher makes Mandy question his guilt. Nothing is as it seems as crime starts spiraling out of control in Timber Wells. If Mandy lets herself trust Garrett, will he shield her from danger, or send her racing into another lethal trap?

Draycott Everlasting: Christmas Knight & Moonrise


Christina Skye - 2009
    Enter one literal knight in shining armor--valiant and virile Ronan MacLeod, who is swept 700 years through time to save Hope from a potentially fatal accident...and to discover a passion for the ages.Moonrise *NEW!*Devastated by a colleague's death and drawn to a thirteenth-century mystery, FBI agent Sara Nightingale arrives at Draycott Abbey for research and a much-needed getaway. Only, there she meets Navarre, a warrior from the Crusades who has been sent forth to avenge the guardian ghost of the abbey. Navarre and Sara cannot deny the centuries-old connection they feel...or the danger that surfaces from both the past and the present.

Twin Targets


Marta Perry - 2009
    So why is U.S. Marshal Micah McGraw saying her twin is dead? Jade doesn't get the chance to ask because their meeting is interrupted by Ruby's killers. The mob is after Jade... but neither Micah nor Jade know why. Somehow, it's connected to a decades-old crime. Finding the truth could be disastrous, but lives depend on it. Several women are in danger...and Jade is the first one in the killer's sights.

Died in the Wool / Final Curtain / Swing Brother, Swing


Ngaio Marsh - 2009
    Three weeks later she turns up at an auction - packed inside one of her own bales of wool and very, very dead…FINAL CURTAINJust as Agatha Troy, the world famous painter, completes her portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, the Grand Old Man of the stage, the old actor dies. The dramatic circumstances of his death are such that Scotland Yard is called in - in the person of Troy's long-absent husband, Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn…SWING, BROTHER, SWINGThe music rises to a climax: Lord Pastern aims his revolver and fires. The figure in the spotlight falls - and the coup-de-théatre has become murder… Has the eccentric peer let hatred of his future son-in-law go too far? Or will a tangle of jealousies and blackmail reveal to Inspector Alleyn an altogether different murderer?

The Beginning of the End


John Jacobsen - 2009
    Pastors, prayer warriors, CIA agents, Illuminati leaders, the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet vie against each other and God in this compelling drama that presents a strong Biblical case for a pre-wrath rapture that occurs after the midpoint of the Tribulation.This first book covers the pre-Tribulation period that Jesus calls the "beginning of sorrows" up to the emergence of the Anti-Christ and False Prophet. As the world is flung into great travail, a small group of Christians leads the way in coping with increased persecution midst the virtual collapse of the social order. By properly interpreting prophetic Scriptures, they have prepared well-stocked hideaways from which to offer sustenance and salvation to a troubled world.Meanwhile, two pastors from different ends of the Christian spectrum collaborate to convert an Illuminati leader and Deputy Director of the CIA into a mole within the shadowy leadership of the demonically coordinated New World Order. Satan's strategies are exposed while God's end-time power begins to work through those who are called to be the light of truth within the gross darkness that covers the earth.Pastor John Jacobsen was a Director of Management Science at two Fortune 100 corporations, an executive in the software industry, and President of Meals-on-Wheels in Prescott, Arizona. He became a pastor in 2001 and was the founder of the Gospel of Grace Food & Clothing Bank and the Lion of Judah ministries. Pastor Jacobsen also served as the Prayer Coordinator for Yavapai County in Arizona for several years. Reareda Lutheran, John became a pastor in a Pentecostal church and now considers himself to be non-denominational.

Hard Winter: A Western Story


Johnny D. Boggs - 2009
    Jim said hardly anything. Ever. That's how Henry Lancaster felt. Sure, he'd hear his grandfather talk to his grandmother fairly often -- But Jim hardly said anything to anybody else. That all changed when he took Henry along on a scouting trip, and told his grandson how it was that winter of 1886 -- a really hard winter.

The Real Enemy


Kathy Herman - 2009
    But when seven people in her town go missing, her tireless investigation threatens her family and she's forced to confront the real enemy.

Hearts in the Crosshairs


Susan Page Davis - 2009
    Newly elected Maine governor Jillian Goff doesn't know why someone wants to kill her. But she knows they came close. Too close. Enter Dave Hutchins. A member of the state's Executive Protection Unit, Dave's mission is to protect the governor and find the would-be assassin. Without getting emotionally involved. Yet the more time Dave spends with Jillian, the less he can imagine ever leaving her side. Not with her life--and his heart--caught in the crosshairs.

The Architecture of Snow


David Morrell - 2009
    D. Salinger. In the mid-1960s, the revered creator of The Catcher in the Rye suddenly stopped publishing and withdrew from public life. In David Morrell’s haunting “The Architecture of Snow,” an author similar to Salinger submits a manuscript after a four-decade absence. Why has he abruptly resurfaced? What caused his long-ago disappearance? When editor Tom Neal embarks on a search to a remote New England town, he uncovers the disturbing truth behind a tragic mystery that changes his life in unimaginable ways.

The Breach


Patrick Lee - 2009
    It is the world's best-kept secret-and its most terrifying. Trying to regain his life in the Alaskan wilds, ex-con/ex-cop Travis Chase stumbles upon an impossible scene: a crashed 747 passenger jet filled with the murdered dead, including the wife of the [resident of the United States.Though a nightmare of monumental proportions, it pales before the terror to come, as Chase is dragged into a battle for the future that revolves around an amazing artifact. Allied with a beautiful covert operative whose life he saved, Chase must now play the role he's been destined for-a pawn of incomprehensible forces or humankind's final hope-as the race toward Apocalypse begins in earnest. Because something is loose in the world. And doomsday is not only possible...it is inevitable.

The Last Thing I Remember


Andrew Klavan - 2009
    He's covered in blood and bruises. He hurts all over. And a strange voice outside the door just ordered his death.The last thing he can remember, he was a normal high-school kid doing normal things--working on his homework, practicing karate, daydreaming of becoming an air force pilot, writing a pretty girl's number on his hand. How long ago was that? Where is he now? Who is he really?And more to the point . . . how is he going to get out of this room alive?

The Night Watchman


Mark Mynheir - 2009
    Numbing the pain with alcohol and attitude, Ray takes a job as a night watchman at a swanky Orlando condo.But when a pastor and an exotic dancer are found dead in one of the condos in an apparent murder-suicide, Ray can no longer linger in the shadows. The pastor’s sister is convinced her brother was framed and begs Ray to take on an impossible case–to challenge the evidence and clear her brother’s name. Ray reluctantly pulls the threads of this supposedly dead-end case only to unravel a murder investigation so deep that it threatens to turn the Orlando political landscape upside down and transform old friends into new enemies. As Ray chases down leads and interrogates suspects, someone is watching his every move, someone determined to keep him from ever finding out the truth–at any cost.

Testimony of A Villain


Aaron G. Harrell - 2009
    An uncertain future. The blood on his hands may never rinse clean… Outsiders call Manuel a villain. After spending his youth entangled in inner-city gang warfare, he’s lied, robbed, and murdered his way to the top. His path was set long ago, when two killers massacred his family in front of him…While Manuel was able to take down one of the murderers, his bloodlust has grown for the killer who got away. When he gets the chance to complete his vengeance, the city cowers beneath his thirst for retribution. As he retraces his old scars, Manuel has one chance for vindication. To succeed, he’ll need to take a hard look at the life he’s built upon the ashes of his childhood…The Testimony of a Villain is a dark crime novel set on the unforgiving streets of the inner city. If you like graphic realism, complex characters, and an unapologetic look at reality, then you’ll love AAron G. Harrell’s poignant tale. Buy the book today to see a frightening villain in a whole new light…

Danger in Paradise


Katie Reus - 2009
    He's never stopped blaming himself. When he finds himself working side by side with a woman identical to his friend, he'll stop at nothing to discover her true identity, even if it means betraying her.What few memories photographer Hope Jennings has of her past aren't pretty. The monsters from her nightmares make it impossible to completely erase her violent history, but she's living her life one day at a time. When a wealthy family hires her for a month down in the Caribbean, she expects to work hard, get the job done, and go home. While there, she finds unexpected passion in the arms of the sexy and dangerous Luke. Unfortunately for her heart, he presents a danger to the safe life she's built for herself. When someone targets her to die, she doesn't know who to trust.Please note that Danger in Paradise was originally published under the title Finding Hope, but has been revised. Category length novel.

Shot of Tequila


J.A. Konrath - 2009
    And he likes those odds.SHOT OF TEQUILA by JA KonrathRevenge served straight up...

Dead Weight


Batt Humphreys - 2009
    There is a trial in the town, a triangle of animosities. A Jewish merchant murdered, a black man accused and a white populace primed for a hanging. A reporter from New York assigned to cover a story which would seem to be a fait accompli. The outsider's view of Charleston just after the turn of the century, still clinging to a cultural past and caught in the racial realities of the time, brings a Menckenesque perspective to a plot that is anything but a simple tale of racial wrongdoing."--Publisher marketing.

In The Cut


Arlene Brathwaite - 2009
    Owning the hottest men's salon in New York City kept her there. Butta Cutz is a haven where men come to get their minds right and their appearances tight. For Olivia, Butta Cutz has given her everything that she ever wanted, but never the one thing she always needed: A man to love Olivia the woman, and not Olivia the business woman. Clayton Andrews, A.K.A. Saint, is forced to live a boring and lonely life in order to avoid certain death from his former employer. When their paths cross at an exclusive fashion show, Clayton becomes Saint one last time to impress Olivia. When she falls in love with Saint, Clayton realizes that the only way to keep her is to keep being the man who has a million dollar bounty on his head.

Off with His Head/Singing in the Shrouds/False Scent


Ngaio Marsh - 2009
    Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the seventh volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.

The End of the Beginning


John Jacobsen - 2009
    Pastors, prayer warriors, FBI/CIA agents, Illuminati leaders, the Anti-Christ and the False Prophet vie against each other and God in this compelling drama that presents a strong Biblical case for a pre-wrath rapture that occurs after the midpoint of the Tribulation.This second book covers the early days of the Tribulation up to the time that the two witnesses of Revelation 11 are revealed. Following an economic meltdown, nuclear war and a virulent virus, the Anti-Christ brings peace to the world – except for Christians and Jews. During this false peace, those who defy the Universal Religion Directives are sent to remote detention centers.Former FBI and CIA agents hack into the Universal ID Banking System, the forerunner of the “mark of the beast.” A militia group forms to combat the forces of darkness. A pastor and Messianic rabbi contend with the Anti-Christ and False Prophet. Christians in underground hideaways evangelize and wage spiritual warfare.Meanwhile, the shadowy leadership of the demonically coordinated New World Order is exposed, while God’s end-time power begins to work through those who are called to be the light of truth within the gross darkness covering the earth.

More Deaths Than One


Pat Bertram - 2009
    He attends her new funeral and sees . . . himself. Even worse, two men who appear to be government agents are hunting him for no reason that he can fathom. With the help of a baffling young woman Bob meets in a coffee shop, he uncovers the unimaginable truth.

MLKNG SCKLS


Justin Sirois - 2009
    That metanarrative provides the conceit of this chapbook, lushly composed by Justin Sirois and edited by Iraqi refugee Haneen Alshujairy. MLKNG SCKLS provides a bristling and necessary look into the realities of living in Iraq, complete with dying laptop batteries, knock-off sneakers, and carnage-lined roadways.A tight, spare and quietly tense gem of a book.Brian Evenson Author of Last Days and The Open Curtain

Protector's Honor


Kit Wilkinson - 2009
    When NCIS agent Rory Farrell hears a woman scream, he reacts. But even after he saves her from abduction, Rory can't get the beautiful and fragile Tabitha Beaumont out of his mind. Especially when he finds a connection between Tabitha and his latest murder investigation. She needs protection--Rory's protection--while Rory needs answers Tabitha doesn't even realize she holds. Yet how can he find the truth without betraying Tabitha's trust? Soon, Rory must decide what matters most--keeping his objective distance, or keeping Tabitha, in his arms and under his protection, forever.

Danger at the Door


Michelle Sutton - 2009
    Over time, she becomes a recluse. Loneliness begins to dominate her life, but it's the overwhelming fear that controls it. She manages to survive -- barely -- on food delivery services and her work-at-home job. When she tries to move on from her grief the commemorative meal she orders is ruined, but it leads to an unlikely friendship with an attractive man who speaks little English.Bojan feels awful about delivering the ruined meal. He befriends Laney out of compassion for her circumstances and the sense that she needs him. Unfortunately, he continually says the wrong things, upsetting her. But Bojan is determined to win her trust -- and perhaps her heart.As the two grow closer, Laney has this strange feeling of being watched and wonders if she's losing her mind. Complicating things further, the few times she leaves her house something goes wrong, confirming that she is safer at home.Can Bojan convince Laney she'll be safe with him, or will his presence put her in further danger?

The Second Bourne Trilogy: The Bourne Legacy / The Bourne Betrayal / The Bourne Sanction (Jason Bourne, #4-6)


Eric Van Lustbader - 2009
    But from the other side of the world someone is planning to take him out of the game forever. A deadly assassin is on his trail and his former handler has been brutally murdered. It seems that David Webb must once again turn to Jason Bourne to save his life and his family...THE BOURNE BETRAYAL: Jason Bourne takes a mission to rescue his only friend in the CIA, Martin Lindros, who disappeared in Africa while tracking nuclear shipments. Once safely back in America, Lindros persuades Bourne to help track the money trail of terrorists buying the nuclear material. But is the man he saved really Martin Lindros? Suddenly Bourne is on his own - gathering evidence, while trying to stay one step ahead of the terrorists who are determined to destroy the USA...THE BOURNE SANCTION: When an unknown terrorist organisation comes up on Central Intelligence radar, they have no choice but to employ a rogue agent capable of hunting down a shadowy terrorist mastermind on his own - Jason Bourne. Suddenly Bourne is plunged into the deadliest and most tangled operation of his double life: pursuing the head of a murderous terror group, while an assassin as brilliant and damaged as himself is getting closer by the minute...

Out of the Darkness


Tymber Dalton - 2009
    Built on a cursed patch of ground, George Simpson’s house of evil has ruined many lives over its hundred-year existence.Author Steve Corey rents the place as an early anniversary surprise for his wife, hoping it might repair the deep rift his alcoholism has created in their marriage.Before they moved to the Simpson house, Samantha Corey thought getting Steve sober was the hard part. But the house's dark nature has turned her thoughts to Matt Barry, Steve’s best friend and agent...and her old love. Can they overcome the ancient evil threatening them all from OUT OF THE DARKNESS?Warning: Love, sex, violence, and a Labrador retriever who's no Lassie.

Dreams Thrown Away


Dilsa Saunders Bailey - 2009
    She survives solely on instinct and a desire to make it big. She has dreamed big enough to fill an ocean, and at the top of her wish list is a wealthy man who will love her unconditionally. With no one to turn to but herself, she lands in the midst of a family of wealthy and powerful men whose hunger for dominance outweighs her aspirations for success. She only has two choices, be dominated or learn how to fight back.Meet Kali, a young woman filled with her own brand of lust for love and success which continually escape her as the men in her life seem bent on destroying her. One minute, she is living her dreams of grandeur and perfect love, and the next she is running from those same dreams as they turn into nightmares. Steadfast, but lonely and in love with a dangerous man who has already tried to kill her once, she truly believes in her chances of happiness. All she has to do is throw away those dreams she has held onto all her life.

Staccato


Deborah J. Ledford - 2009
    One dead woman. Who is her murderer? Who will be next? STACCATO: Retribution played double-time. When acclaimed pianist Nicholas Kalman discovers his lover's dead body, he sets out alone to find her killer. During his journey, he meets an unwitting female accomplice who soon becomes determined to help Nicholas wield his retaliation. Following a parallel path for justice, Steven Hawk, the deputy of a sleepy Southern county, is assigned to the case. Pursuing the investigation, Hawk finds himself entangled in a world of vengeance, greed and manipulation. Performed against the backdrop of the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, STACCATO transports readers to a behind-the-scenes glimpse of professional musicians, the psychological twists and turns of its characters, and in the end, retribution that crashes in a crescendo of notes played at the literary pace of a maestro's staccato. STACCATO is Book One of the Inola Walela/Steven Hawk suspense series.

Cornered


Brandon Massey - 2009
    When a chance encounter brings him face to face with the dark past he'd long since left behind, Corey knows the threat to his life and family could be deadly.

Christmas Peril: Merry Mayhem & Yule Die


Margaret Daley - 2009
    He'll be watching her closely. And his protection is just what Annie and her daughter need, as danger has followed them to their new home.Yule Die by Debby GiustiIt's hardly a happy holiday for medical researcher Callie Evans...until she discovers her ailing patient is her long-lost brother. And he's being watched by undercover police officer Joe Petrecelli. When the trio is abducted by a cadre of bad guys, Joe and Callie will have to fight to keep her brother--and themselves--alive.

Said the Spider to the Fly


Miss Mae - 2009
    Population 4500. A picturesque town with quiet streets and tree-lined sidewalks.Does nothing ever happen here?

Hypocrites' Isle


Ken McClure - 2009
    One of his PhD students, brilliant loner Gavin, announces his intention to find a cure for cancer and actually makes a major breakthrough. Oddly, no one seems to be interested and a picture emerges of a cancer research industry caught in a desperate paradox: it can only justify its existence by not curing cancer. Disinterest soon turns to open warfare as pressure is put on Simmons and Gavin’s work is sabotaged. A truly compelling story with superb dialogue and thought-provoking ideas.

Death at the Dolphin / Hand in Glove / Dead Water


Ngaio Marsh - 2009
    

Final Breath


Kevin O'Brien - 2009
    . . At first, the deaths seem random. A young Portland couple brutally murdered in a game gone awry. . .a Chicago woman who plummeted to her death from an office building. . .an aspiring screenwriter asphyxiated in his New York apartment. But the macabre souvenirs television reporter Sydney Jordan receives hint at a connection that is both personal and terrifying. The Only Thing You Have To Do. . . After events in her own life went wrong, Sydney fled to Seattle with her teenage son. But instead of getting a fresh start, Sydney is plagued by strange occurrences. Someone is watching, someone who knows her intimately. . .someone who's just waiting to play the next move in a twisted game. Is Die. . . She is his chosen one. Every murder is a sign, and soon, Sydney will understand why each victim had to suffer--and why she's the next in line. . . Praise for the Novels of Kevin O'Brien "A fast-paced thriller. . .O'Brien's crisp, clear writing, and taut suspense elevate this above similar fare." --"Publishers Weekly" "Another page-turner."--"Seattle Post-Intelligencer"

Angels & Demons:The Illustrated Movie Companion: (Robert Langdon Book 1)


Linda Sunshine - 2009
    What he uncovers is unimaginable. The Illuminati, a secret society whose existence dates back to the 1700s, is alive, well, and murderously active, masterminding a plot to blow up the Vatican.Angels & Demons: The Illustrated Movie offers a behind-the-scenes look at the stunning production design and process of filming the famous locations featured in the movie.Contents include:* Never-before-seen storyboards and drawings used to plan the film's action scenes* Contributions from all key participants of the movie, including Ron Howard, Tom Hanks and Dan Brown* In-progress shots of the re-creation of the Sistine Chapel and its artifacts* Details on creating intricate sets for St. Peter's Square, the Pantheon, and the Piazza Navona

Buried Pasts


George Stratford - 2009
    Even after eighteen years, Canadian pilot Mike Stafford still carries a huge sense of guilt for the death of his best friend during a huge RAF bombing raid over Berlin in 1944. He eventually returns to England for an inaugural squadron reunion full of apprehension over what the visit may produce. Siggi Hoffman, then a young German girl of twenty, also has terrible memories of a personal loss from that same night in 1944. She too is unable to forget. Nor has she ever been able to forgive. When fate throws these two together in a small north Yorkshire town during the summer of 1962, the past collides devastatingly into the present. And all the time, lurking ominously in the background, is an unknown enemy intent on extracting violent revenge. Private demons are only one of the many problems that must be overcome when Stafford and Siggi find themselves fighting to survive. As long buried secrets are finally revealed, events reach a literally explosive conclusion. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY REVIEW: 'This page-turner blends suspense with a cast of characters who genuinely care for each other. It’s an engaging and satisfying novel for fans of adventure stories with a heart.'

The Eastvale Ladies' Poker Circle


Peter Robinson - 2009
    Plumbing the territory that he has so successfully staked, The Price of Love and Other Stories includes two novellas and several stories featuring the Yorkshire policeman at his finest.In the novella “Going Back,” never before published in the United States, Banks returns home for a family reunion, only to find it taking a decidedly sinister turn. In “Like a Virgin,” written especially for this volume, Banks revisits the period in his life and the terrible crime that led him to leave London for Eastvale. And in between, the disparate motives that move us to harm one another, from love and jealousy to greed and despair, are all explored with fascinating depth.

False World


J.J. Dare - 2009
    In False World, Joe Daniels confronts face-to-face those who robbed him of his career, his life and his wife.

Tres Bare


Lacey Thorn - 2009
    After her mother's funeral Cass returns to Legacy for her friend Moira's wedding. First on her list of things to do is Moira's bachelorette party at the home of the brother of the groom, Doug Daniels, and his best friend and business partner Damon Roberts. Cass meets Doug and Damon when she demonstrating how to walk on her hands, wearing nothing but her lacy underwear and three-inch red high heels. For the three of them it is lust at first sight and it just may lead to something more, something bigger, something so much better than they ever dreamed. But someone doesn't like Cass' new romance and they'll do anything to stop it, even murder. Bare Devotion Fire...unquenchable...unstoppable. Ally wants one thing - to stop the man who killed her mother from killing anyone else. What she finds is more than she ever imagined. Blake, the fire marshal in Legacy, has finally met his match in the woman he mistakes for a pyromaniac. But the fire they ignite together is sure to burn them both in the flames of passion. Catherine Daniels is fighting flames of her own. The time has come for her to decide what she wants - life with the man she is coming to love, or letting him walk away because of her fears and uncertainties. It is a decision that she struggles with every moment... Until the night she may lose the ability to choose at all. Reader Advisory: Contains several m/f/m mnage scenes.

Sign of the Dragon


Neil Low - 2009
    Imperial Japan threatens to conquer Asia and the entire Pacific Theater. Supplies and support are flowing into the region. Vital to this effort is the city of Seattle. But now, its crucial role in the supply chain is beginning to attract the interest of some shadowy and exotic international forces. Following a tip from his mentor Vic Morrison, young Alan Stewart uses his detective skills to track down Tiger Lee, a sexy American operative on a mission to disrupt the Japanese spy network. Working together, the two set out to eliminate the head of their Japanese rivals: a dangerous samurai whose movements are shrouded in mystery. What begins as a hunt for justice quickly turns into a maelstrom of revenge- and a race against the clock as politics become personal and loyalties are tested from every side. Returning to the scene of his first novel, Thick as Thieves, author Neil Low proves once again that in the shadowy underbelly of a city nothing is as it first appears, and what you don't know just might hurt you after all...

Love Found Me


Vanessa Richardson - 2009
    Gainfully employed, beautiful home, and a wonderful loving wife. Growing up in a loving family whose faith was unbreakable was his source of strength. Mike's faith would one day be shaken after losing the love of his life in an unexpected tragedy. Mike thought he would never love again until he meets Sheila Lawson. Everything about Sheila made him want to love again. Could he risk his heart again? Sheila Lawson, a woman’s health advocate was strong and independent, yet something was missing in her life. Immersing herself in her work, she vowed off any relationships. Sheila would find her self-made decree shaken when she meets tall, dark, and handsome Mike Montgomery. There is an evil lurking in the shadows. Mike and Sheila will have to unite to overcome evil forces trying to keep them apart. Will their love be enough to see them through the testing of their faith?

On Berryhill Road


Tommie Lyn - 2009
    She's not only petite in stature, she's toothpick-thin, and her clothes say "thrift shop." Her stance says "don't mess with me." But if you take a closer look, you'll see a haunted expression in her eyes. Donovan Pfarr takes a closer look. And can't turn away when he realizes that she goes hungry most of the time. He feels compelled to help her. But he wonders: how did Fallon end up living in a run-down trailer taking care of her mentally-unbalanced mother, barely eking out an existence on her meager paycheck from the convenience store where she works? The answer comes when a man involved in an event from Fallon's childhood learns he is dying. He tries to make peace with his conscience by setting up an anonymous trust fund for Fallon. And unleashes a force that puts Fallon and Donovan in deadly peril.

Broken Angel


drotuno - 2009
    This is my version of New Moon and beyond if Edward didn't return for 2 years. Jacob is NOT the sweet boy everyone thinks he is. What kind of Bella did Edward come back to? How does she react? AU/OOC-somewhat...Future LEMONS! Rated M for a reason. R&R!

The 9 Ghosts of Samen's Bane


D.A. Schneider - 2009
    What do they want? To use him as a conduit for their amazing abilities with the ultimate goal being the destruction of the powerful god and lord of evil spirits, Samen. Full of ancient myth, legends from Indiana's haunted past, and terrifying beings from the twisted mind of Derek A. Schneider, this ghost story is sure to result in many goose bumps and sleepless nights.

Cherished Witness


Melanie Atkins - 2009
    Now divorced, she has begun a new life in the Witness Security Program.Only...the mob finds her, thanks to handsome ex-lawman J.T. Romano, who uses her as bait to lure the man who murdered his wife and unborn child to town. To ensure her safety, she is forced to trust J.T., the man who has betrayed her to the mob. But can she trust him with her heart?