Obsession Untamed
Pamela Palmer
Avon, Aug 2009, $6.99
ISBN: 9780061667527
FBI Agent Delaney Randall cannot sleep well anymore. Every time she closes her eyes she sees through the eyes of a dangerous serial killer. She watches in horror as he kills again and again.
Feral Warrior Tighe is at war with himself as half his soul resides in a killing clone. He must capture his other half before his other side kills him too as his essence has become proficient at murder. His clues lead him to FBI agent Delaney, who is somehow receiving the dreams that his other half should be transmitting to him. She fears that Tighe is the killer, but slowly he brings her around. As they team to recover his soul, Tighe knows Delaney owns his whole soul and heart.
This is a fascinating Feral Warrior paranormal romantic suspense (see PASSION UNTAMED) with a terrific twist (reminiscent of classic Star Trek “The Enemy Within” episode). They make a wonderful pairing as Delaney “sees” his other half and knows they must merge, but expects when the evil side reunites with the good Tighe, the man she loves will vanish. Fans will enjoy Pamela Palmer’s super thriller.
Harriet Klausner
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
The Blue Enchantress-M.L. Tyndale
The Blue Enchantress
M.L. Tyndale
Barbour, Aug 1 2009, $10.97
ISBN: 9781602601574
In 1718 on Saint Kitts Hope Westcott has no hope for her future as she stands in disbelief on a slave auction block about to be sold. She regrets the choices she has made and prays that God gives her a chance to redeem herself.
Captain Nathaniel Mason detests loose women so though he sees despondent Hope for sale, he leans towards leaving her to wallow in her what she wrought. He wants to walk away and go back to his shipbuilding business in Charles Towne, but cannot feel anything but pity for the wench; at least that is the rationale he gives himself when he goes to liberate her. Still he argues with himself that he does not need a fallen dove in his life, but heeds the Lord’s words of casting the first stone.
The latest Charles Town Belles historical romance (see THE RED SIREN for Hope’s sister Faith’s tale) is a super exhilarating inspirational tale starring two individuals who make the story line work. He is a pious person, but in a way arrogant as he looks down on those who take a different path; she has made mistakes but plans to redeem herself. Her rationale for seeking redemption changes as she changes. If you have not read M.L. Tyndale, you are missing out on one of the best authors at combining character-driven, action packed historicals (on sea and on land) with the underlying inspiring message of the Lord is there for everyone who enters his house.
Harriet Klausner
M.L. Tyndale
Barbour, Aug 1 2009, $10.97
ISBN: 9781602601574
In 1718 on Saint Kitts Hope Westcott has no hope for her future as she stands in disbelief on a slave auction block about to be sold. She regrets the choices she has made and prays that God gives her a chance to redeem herself.
Captain Nathaniel Mason detests loose women so though he sees despondent Hope for sale, he leans towards leaving her to wallow in her what she wrought. He wants to walk away and go back to his shipbuilding business in Charles Towne, but cannot feel anything but pity for the wench; at least that is the rationale he gives himself when he goes to liberate her. Still he argues with himself that he does not need a fallen dove in his life, but heeds the Lord’s words of casting the first stone.
The latest Charles Town Belles historical romance (see THE RED SIREN for Hope’s sister Faith’s tale) is a super exhilarating inspirational tale starring two individuals who make the story line work. He is a pious person, but in a way arrogant as he looks down on those who take a different path; she has made mistakes but plans to redeem herself. Her rationale for seeking redemption changes as she changes. If you have not read M.L. Tyndale, you are missing out on one of the best authors at combining character-driven, action packed historicals (on sea and on land) with the underlying inspiring message of the Lord is there for everyone who enters his house.
Harriet Klausner
The Night Side-Melanie Jackson
The Night Side
Melanie Jackson
Love Spell, Aug 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780505528049
The recent rout at Solway Moss battle left Balfour clan without a leader as the laird and his sons were all killed. The new laird is twelve years old George, who resides with his cousin, Lady Frances Balfour, who vows to protect him with the intensity of a lioness with her cubs.
Frances keeps hearing the howling of the ghostly canine Bokey. The residents insist the hound appears and howls whenever a Balfour is about to die. Frances fears that someone could be George as several people want to usurp the chieftain position from the lad whose only protection is the daughter of the dead laird. Frances fears she will be forced to wed. Hope arrives when King Henry VIII sends espionage agent Colin Mortlock to learn what is going on with the Balfour Clan at Noltland Castle; between a ghost and spirited female he learns more than he expected about life and love..
THE NIGHT SIDE is a typical Henry VIII romance that brings to life the intrigue and distrust that permeates much of Scotland and cleverly fostered by the English in the early 1540s. The lead couple is a delightful refreshing pairing as the heroine sees the outsider as her and her nephew’s salvation. Melanie Jackson provides an entertaining historical as the spy comes out of the cold when he falls in love.
Harriet Klausner
Melanie Jackson
Love Spell, Aug 2009, $7.99
ISBN: 9780505528049
The recent rout at Solway Moss battle left Balfour clan without a leader as the laird and his sons were all killed. The new laird is twelve years old George, who resides with his cousin, Lady Frances Balfour, who vows to protect him with the intensity of a lioness with her cubs.
Frances keeps hearing the howling of the ghostly canine Bokey. The residents insist the hound appears and howls whenever a Balfour is about to die. Frances fears that someone could be George as several people want to usurp the chieftain position from the lad whose only protection is the daughter of the dead laird. Frances fears she will be forced to wed. Hope arrives when King Henry VIII sends espionage agent Colin Mortlock to learn what is going on with the Balfour Clan at Noltland Castle; between a ghost and spirited female he learns more than he expected about life and love..
THE NIGHT SIDE is a typical Henry VIII romance that brings to life the intrigue and distrust that permeates much of Scotland and cleverly fostered by the English in the early 1540s. The lead couple is a delightful refreshing pairing as the heroine sees the outsider as her and her nephew’s salvation. Melanie Jackson provides an entertaining historical as the spy comes out of the cold when he falls in love.
Harriet Klausner
Little Bird of Heaven- Joyce Carol Oates
Little Bird of Heaven
Joyce Carol Oates
Ecco, Sep 15 2009, $25.99
ISBN 9780061829833
In 1983 in Sparta, New York Zoe Kruller and Eddy Diehl are having an affair. She is a gentle beauty while he is kick butt tough guy. All is great between these opposites until her young son Aaron finds her murdered body. The police hone in on the two male adults in Zoe’s life, her spouse and her lover.
Five years after the homicide, the police arrive at Eddy’s home. He refuses to cooperate and instead challenges the cops even as his horrified daughter Krista watches the macabre event as if it is a movie scene. He is shot down in what is called a suicide; case closed as far as the cops and the people of Sparta are concerned, but not the survivors. Instead their respective offspring are traumatized by events, but though they try to move on separately, neither can. Then they meet.
LITTLE BIRD OF HEAVEN is a fabulous character study that looks deep at the offspring generation surviving a tragedy. Krista tells the tale, which focuses on psychological defense mechanism employed by her (denial her father might have done the deed) and by him (denial that his mom was having an affair). Neither is able to move past the respective defining moments in their lives, seeing the corpse of a parent who had a violent death. Fans will relish prolific author Joyce Carol Oates’s latest psychological suspense as Krista and Aaron meet each other and the ghosts they carry inside their hearts.
Harriet Klausner
Joyce Carol Oates
Ecco, Sep 15 2009, $25.99
ISBN 9780061829833
In 1983 in Sparta, New York Zoe Kruller and Eddy Diehl are having an affair. She is a gentle beauty while he is kick butt tough guy. All is great between these opposites until her young son Aaron finds her murdered body. The police hone in on the two male adults in Zoe’s life, her spouse and her lover.
Five years after the homicide, the police arrive at Eddy’s home. He refuses to cooperate and instead challenges the cops even as his horrified daughter Krista watches the macabre event as if it is a movie scene. He is shot down in what is called a suicide; case closed as far as the cops and the people of Sparta are concerned, but not the survivors. Instead their respective offspring are traumatized by events, but though they try to move on separately, neither can. Then they meet.
LITTLE BIRD OF HEAVEN is a fabulous character study that looks deep at the offspring generation surviving a tragedy. Krista tells the tale, which focuses on psychological defense mechanism employed by her (denial her father might have done the deed) and by him (denial that his mom was having an affair). Neither is able to move past the respective defining moments in their lives, seeing the corpse of a parent who had a violent death. Fans will relish prolific author Joyce Carol Oates’s latest psychological suspense as Krista and Aaron meet each other and the ghosts they carry inside their hearts.
Harriet Klausner
Service Dress Blues-Michael Bowen
Service Dress Blues
Michael Bowen
Poisoned Pen, Sep 2009, $24.95
ISBN 9781590586679
In Milwaukee lawyer Rep Pennyworth and his wife, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee English professor Melissa, are working on separate items. Rep is working on trademark and copyright law for Democratic Party activist Ole Lindstrom; Melissa is looking into the apparent mugging by a woman of Ole’s nephew Harald Lindstrom from the U.S. Naval Academy found unconscious in an Annapolis motel the night before the “Game”.
The police arrests Ole’s septuagenarian wife Lena; who is accused of hammering him on his head with a frying pan. She is charged with attempted murder. She swears she did not bean her husband with a skillet; instead she swears that an intruder knocked him out. Ole is gleeful in spite of the headache as his candidate for Attorney General Veronica Gephardt is running on a domestic violence platform. Soon after that someone kills Ole; and Lena is arrested again this time for murder; Rep represents her.
With events going on in early 2009 playing in the background, the latest Pennyworth thriller (see SHOOT THE LAWYER TWICE) is an amusing lighthearted farcical mystery that is fun to read. The lead married couple is having fun though the stakes change for him with a murder defense and for her with a baseball trivia quiz. Although the prime suspects in the homicide are not just underdeveloped, they seem emaciated when compared with the Pennyworth pair. Still Michael Bowen provides an entertaining who’s on first tale.
Harriet Klausner
Michael Bowen
Poisoned Pen, Sep 2009, $24.95
ISBN 9781590586679
In Milwaukee lawyer Rep Pennyworth and his wife, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee English professor Melissa, are working on separate items. Rep is working on trademark and copyright law for Democratic Party activist Ole Lindstrom; Melissa is looking into the apparent mugging by a woman of Ole’s nephew Harald Lindstrom from the U.S. Naval Academy found unconscious in an Annapolis motel the night before the “Game”.
The police arrests Ole’s septuagenarian wife Lena; who is accused of hammering him on his head with a frying pan. She is charged with attempted murder. She swears she did not bean her husband with a skillet; instead she swears that an intruder knocked him out. Ole is gleeful in spite of the headache as his candidate for Attorney General Veronica Gephardt is running on a domestic violence platform. Soon after that someone kills Ole; and Lena is arrested again this time for murder; Rep represents her.
With events going on in early 2009 playing in the background, the latest Pennyworth thriller (see SHOOT THE LAWYER TWICE) is an amusing lighthearted farcical mystery that is fun to read. The lead married couple is having fun though the stakes change for him with a murder defense and for her with a baseball trivia quiz. Although the prime suspects in the homicide are not just underdeveloped, they seem emaciated when compared with the Pennyworth pair. Still Michael Bowen provides an entertaining who’s on first tale.
Harriet Klausner
Sand Sharks-Margaret Maron
Sand Sharks
Margaret Maron
Grand Central, Aug 2009, $24.99
ISBN 9780446196116
Judge Deborah Knott looks forward to getting away from the bench and her new family after an incident with her husband Dwight and his son as she attends a conference in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. After a couple of more negative events this time at the conference, a tipsy Deborah escorted by friends pukes into the water where she sees the corpse of Judge Peter Jeffreys. Local authorities are well aware Deborah has solved homicides (see DEATH'S HALF ACRE) so they ask her to help them by going undercover and making circumspect inquiries amongst the other judicial attendees.
Deborah is taken aback when she realizes several participants are not upset and in fact sort of joyful over the death of Peter. As she digs a bit deeper, someone is aware of her efforts and scrutinizes her every move to insure if she gets a bit too close she will be victim number two.
Deborah, as she always does, turns this whodunit into an entertaining often amusing homespun regional mystery. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the judge vomits and never slows down although the climax seems unbelievably forced. Still SAND SHARKS is a solid entry as Deborah un-knots the complicated life of the victim who did bad things from the bench, but one obviously rebounded deadly.
Harriet Klausner
Margaret Maron
Grand Central, Aug 2009, $24.99
ISBN 9780446196116
Judge Deborah Knott looks forward to getting away from the bench and her new family after an incident with her husband Dwight and his son as she attends a conference in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. After a couple of more negative events this time at the conference, a tipsy Deborah escorted by friends pukes into the water where she sees the corpse of Judge Peter Jeffreys. Local authorities are well aware Deborah has solved homicides (see DEATH'S HALF ACRE) so they ask her to help them by going undercover and making circumspect inquiries amongst the other judicial attendees.
Deborah is taken aback when she realizes several participants are not upset and in fact sort of joyful over the death of Peter. As she digs a bit deeper, someone is aware of her efforts and scrutinizes her every move to insure if she gets a bit too close she will be victim number two.
Deborah, as she always does, turns this whodunit into an entertaining often amusing homespun regional mystery. The story line is fast-paced from the moment the judge vomits and never slows down although the climax seems unbelievably forced. Still SAND SHARKS is a solid entry as Deborah un-knots the complicated life of the victim who did bad things from the bench, but one obviously rebounded deadly.
Harriet Klausner
The Silent Spirit-Margaret Coel
The Silent Spirit
Margaret Coel
Berkley, Sep 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780425229767
On the Wind River reservation, Kiki Wallowingbull comes home after serving two years on a charge of selling drugs. Father John O’Malley, who just returned from Rome after a six month stint there is now the interim pastor of St. Francis Mission located on the reservation. He and Kiki meet and the ex-convict tells the priest he is clean and determined to find out what happened to his great-grandfather Charlie who vanished in 1923 while in Hollywood doing a shoot to promote a movie, The Covered Wagon, in which he had a part.
When Kiki returns from Hollywood, he tells Father John that the answer to the disappearance is here on the reservation. Soon afterward, Kiki is found dead. Lawyer Vicky Holden hears from a man who insists he killed him in self-defence, but though they soon talk in person she never sees his face. The police arrest a drug dealer, but Vicky knows the man is innocent of this crime; she must find the culprit to insure justice is served even though the arrested prime suspect is a career criminal.
The story is told in two parts, the present and 1923 when the Arapahos and the Shoshones make the movie. In the present, Kiki dies trying to learn what really happened to his ancestor. Readers will enjoy trying to find out what the link between the two deaths are besides blood; and want to do it before Father John and Vicky solve it. Margaret Coel provides an enjoyable mystery that is highlighted by the Arapahos eight decades ago and now.
Harriet Klausner
Margaret Coel
Berkley, Sep 2009, $24.95
ISBN: 9780425229767
On the Wind River reservation, Kiki Wallowingbull comes home after serving two years on a charge of selling drugs. Father John O’Malley, who just returned from Rome after a six month stint there is now the interim pastor of St. Francis Mission located on the reservation. He and Kiki meet and the ex-convict tells the priest he is clean and determined to find out what happened to his great-grandfather Charlie who vanished in 1923 while in Hollywood doing a shoot to promote a movie, The Covered Wagon, in which he had a part.
When Kiki returns from Hollywood, he tells Father John that the answer to the disappearance is here on the reservation. Soon afterward, Kiki is found dead. Lawyer Vicky Holden hears from a man who insists he killed him in self-defence, but though they soon talk in person she never sees his face. The police arrest a drug dealer, but Vicky knows the man is innocent of this crime; she must find the culprit to insure justice is served even though the arrested prime suspect is a career criminal.
The story is told in two parts, the present and 1923 when the Arapahos and the Shoshones make the movie. In the present, Kiki dies trying to learn what really happened to his ancestor. Readers will enjoy trying to find out what the link between the two deaths are besides blood; and want to do it before Father John and Vicky solve it. Margaret Coel provides an enjoyable mystery that is highlighted by the Arapahos eight decades ago and now.
Harriet Klausner
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