Review: Fire in the Stars: An Amanda Doucette Mystery by Barbara Fradkin

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 328 pages
• Publisher: Dundurn (Sept. 3 2016)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B017I7AWW8

Book Description

 A former aid worker returns home haunted by her time in Africa and channels her pain into a murder investigation that s all too personal. After surviving a horrific trauma in Nigeria, international aid worker Amanda Doucette returns to Canada to rebuild her life and her shaken ideals. There, the once-passionate, adventurous woman needs all her strength and ingenuity when a friend and fellow survivor goes missing along with his son. A trained first-aid and crisis responder, Doucette always accompanied by her beloved dog Kaylee joins forces with RCMP officer Chris Tymko to discover the truth about the disappearance. Their search leads them to the Great Northern Peninsula, a rugged landscape of Viking history, icebergs, whales, and fierce ocean storms. Elsewhere, a body gets hauled up in a fisherman s net, and evidence is mounting of an unsettling connection with Amanda s search for her friend. Fradkin writes evocatively of the beautiful, often hostile, Newfoundland landscape where Amanda soon finds herself fighting for her very survival."

About the Author

 Barbara Fradkin (nee Currie), an award-winning Canadian mystery writer, was born in Montreal and educated at McGill University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Ottawa, where she earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. She is the author of ten mystery novels featuring the exasperating, quixotic Ottawa Police Inspector Michael Green. She also writes a series of short novels for those looking for an entertaining but quick and easy read. Fradkin is a retired child psychologist and lives in Ottawa.

Series:
* Inspector Green Mystery

Awards:
Arthur Ellis Award
◊ Best Novel (2005): Fifth Son
◊ Best Novel (2007): Honour Among Men


My Review

 I have to tell you about this fantastic new book by Barbara Fradkin. Fire in the Stars is the first book in a new series featuring Amanda Doucette. It is not available until September 3rd so be sure to mark your calendar with this new release.

Amanda is a former foreign aid worker who is suffering from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) after horrific events in Nigeria. She heads to Newfoundland to meet with a friend who was with her in Africa and is also suffering the aftereffects. When she arrives he is nowhere to be found...he has taken off with son on a camping trip without her. She sets out to find him along with her dog Kaylee. RCMP officer Chris Tymko is also concerned about her friend Phil and joins her in her quest to find him and his son.

I loved the setting of Newfoundland. Amanda and Chris head to the Great Northern Peninsula, an area I really did not know much about before. One of my great-grandfathers came from Newfoundland so I am always interested in learning more. I thought that Fradkin did a fabulous job in describing the area.

There is a lot going on in Fire in the Stars. Who are these foreign men that have been spotted? Are they terrorists? What is going on with the large shrimp boat docked in St. Anthony? And what happened to the cabin. Amanda and her dog Kaylee have quite the adventure trying to track down Phil and his son. My heart was racing as Amanda fought to survive in the unforgiving wilderness of Newfoundland.

I could not put Fire in the Stars down. I pretty much ignored everything around me I was so engrossed in this book. I had to keep finding out what was going to happen next. Fire in the Stars is a brilliantly plotted book.

I highly recommend Fire in the Stars!

Review: Best of My Love (Fool's Gold #20) by Susan Mallery

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 2466 KB
• Print Length: 384 pages
• Publisher: HQN Books (May 1 2016)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services LLC
• Language: English
• ASIN: B017GUJTAI

Book Description

An irresistible new love story from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fool's Gold series, set in a town Library Journal calls "so appealing, readers will want to start scoping out real estate." 

To overcome her painful past, baker Shelby Gilmore goes on the hunt for a friend—a male friend—to convince her stubborn psyche that men can be trusted. But where in a town as small as Fool's Gold will the petite blonde find a guy willing to not date her?

Dark, charming Aidan Mitchell puts the "adventure" in Mitchell Adventure Tours…and into the beds of his many willing female tourists. Until he realizes he's inadvertently become that guy—the one-night Casanova—and worse, everyone in town knows it. Maybe Shelby's boy/girl experiment will help him see women as more than just conquests so he can change his ways and win back his self-respect.

As Aidan and Shelby explore the secret lives of men and women, the heat between them fires up the Fool's Gold rumor mill. If no one will believe they're just friends, maybe they should give the gossips something to really talk about!

About the Author

With more than 25 million books sold worldwide, #1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery is known for creating characters who feel as real as the folks next door, and for putting them into emotional, often funny situations readers recognize from their own lives. Susan’s books have made Booklist’s Top 10 Romances list in four out of five consecutive years. RT Book Reviews says, “When it comes to heartfelt contemporary romance, Mallery is in a class by herself.” With her popular, ongoing Fool’s Gold series, Susan has reached new heights on the bestsellers lists and has won the hearts of countless new fans.

Susan grew up in southern California, moved so many times that her friends stopped writing her address in pen, and now has settled in Seattle with her husband and the most delightfully spoiled little dog who ever lived. Visit Susan online at www.SusanMallery.com.

My Review

I love the Fool's Gold series by romance author Susan Mallery. Best of My Love is a great addition to the series.

We knew that Shelby Gilmore's story would be coming soon and it is a good one. I really enjoyed Shelby and Aidan's story.

Aidan's brothers will be featured in a new series by Susan Mallery set in Happily Inc, a wedding destination town in the California desert. I feel like Best of My Love was a goodbye to Fool's Gold...hello Happily Inc. We'll see.

Great read if you are fan of romances. Great writer.

Review: The Cracked Spine (Scottish Bookshop Mystery #1) by Paige Shelton

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1422 KB
• Print Length: 305 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 29 2016)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0151U7X3A

Book Description

 In need of a good adventure, Delaney Nichols takes the leap and moves to Edinburgh, Scotland to start a job at The Cracked Spine. She doesn't know much about what she's gotten herself into, other than that the work sounds exciting, and that her new boss, Edwin MacAlister, has given her the opportunity of a lifetime. Edwin has promised that she'll be working with "a desk that has seen the likes of kings and queens, paupers and princes," and Delaney can't wait to get started.

When she arrives, she meets her new Scottish family; also working at the Cracked Spine are Rosie, perpetually wrapped in scarves, and who always has tiny dog Hector in tow; Hamlet, a nineteen-year-old thespian with a colored past and bright future; and Edwin, who is just as enigmatic and mysterious as Delaney expected. An unexpected bonus is Tom the bartender from across the street, with his piercing eyes, and a rolling brogue -- and it doesn't hurt that he looks awfully good in a kilt.

But before she can settle into her new life, a precious artifact -- a previously undiscovered First Folio of Shakespeare's plays -- goes missing, and Edwin's sister is murdered, seemingly in connection to the missing folio. Delaney decides to do some sleuthing of her own, to find out just what the real story is behind the priceless folio, and how it's connected to the tragic death, all without getting harmed herself.


"As warm and inviting as a cup of tea and a serving of fresh-from-the-oven shortbread." ---Ellery Adams, author of Writing All Wrongs    



About the Author

My husband and I moved to Arizona in February of 2015 but before that we lived in Salt Lake City, Utah. I moved there for an advertising job right after college. I hadn't planned on staying twenty-seven years, but I met Charlie, we got married, we had our son, and a really terrific life happened. I loved Utah, and those twenty-seven years were wonderful. Our son's in college in Missouri now, and we're enjoying our new and very desert adventure.

As a kid I moved around a lot. My dad was a football coach, mostly throughout the Midwest but we spent one year in Portales, New Mexico. A couple of things stood out and and stayed with me that year. 1 - We lived in a haunted house. 2 - The southwest rubbed off on me and I have loved it ever since.
 

I did get to start and finish high school in one place - Des Moines, Iowa, which is a wonderful city even if the humid climate always was a challenge. I ended up going to college there too, at Drake University where I studied journalism. I made some great friends those years. I'm glad to still be in touch with many of them.

I have only ever wanted to be a writer. I've had good jobs, bad jobs, great bosses, and terrible bosses. Through it all and ever since I was seven I have only wanted to write. I'm grateful to have the opportunity now. If you're interested in my road to becoming a published author, I posted the story on my agent's blog.  http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.ca/2010/04/paige-shelton-on-getting-published.html

I spend a lot of time on Facebook. I've been told I talk way too much about my personal life over there, but I don't see that changing any time soon. Find me if you're interested.

http://www.paigeshelton.com/

My Review


 I could completely relate to Delaney Nichols in The Cracked Spine as she was in need of a good adventure. Sometimes that is just what we need...a good adventure.

A Cracked Spine is the first book in the Scottish Bookshop Mystery series by author Paige Shelton. It is also the first book of Paige Shelton's that I have read although as an author her books have been on my radar for some time. She focuses on cozy mysteries.

A Cracked Spine in set in Edinburgh in Scotland which is a great location and I enjoyed being taken there. A Cracked Spine starts off with a mystery in a mystery....what on earth is the secret business conducted at A Cracked Spine bookstore!? It is a fascinating place, the Cracked Spine bookstore. Wealthy owner Edwin is a collector of all things fantastic and Delaney is excited to discover them all. Then Edwin's sister is found dead and the real mystery begins.

I really enjoyed The Cracked Spine. Great book.

Review: Walleye Junction by Karin Salvalaggio

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (May 10 2016)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B01775OCNG

Book Description

When outspoken radio talk show host Philip Long is kidnapped and murdered, Detective Macy Greeley leaves her young son in the care of her mother and heads up to remote Walleye Junction, Montana to take charge of the investigation. It is initially believed that Long’s murder is the result of a controversial radio show he’s done on the rise of far right militias in the state. Within days the two kidnappers are found dead following a massive heroin overdose, and the authorities are hopeful the investigation is finished. But there are too many discrepancies for Macy to settle for obvious answers. The kidnapper’s bodies have been moved, their son is on the run and a series of anonymous emails point investigators toward the murky world of prescription painkiller abuse. Macy soon finds herself immersed in small town intrigues as she races to find who’s really responsible for Philip Long’s murder.

Meanwhile, Philip Long’s daughter Emma is dealing with her own problems. It’s been twelve years since she left Walleye Junction after her best friend died from a drug overdose. Emma finds that little in Walleye Junction has changed in her absence. She is also becoming increasingly uneasy as the familiar surroundings stir up memories that are best forgotten.

With Walleye Junction, a taut, propulsive mystery, Karin Salvalaggio will once again grip readers from the opening page to the stunning conclusion.

About the Author

Karin Salvalaggio was born in West Virginia in the 1960s. Her father was career military and her mother was a homemaker. Karin has fond memories of her nomadic childhood. She’s lived in places as climatically diverse as Alaska and Florida and as culturally distinct as California and Iran. Early on, she found companionship in books. Karin attended the University of California Santa Cruz, graduating in 1989, but aside from two years in Italy, she has lived in London, England since 1994. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Birkbeck, University of London. Her short story “Walleye Junction” was published in the Mechanics Institute Review 8 in 2011. Her debut novel, a thriller entitled Bone Dust White, has received critical praise. Burnt River, the follow up in the Macy Greeley Mystery Series, will be published on May 12th 2015

My Review


Walleye Junction is written by author Karin Salvalaggio. This is the first book that I have read of Salvalaggio's.

Walleye Junction is a straight forward mystery. It is well written and I enjoyed the Montana setting. The story was alternately told by investigator Macy and victim's daughter Emma. I found that a bit confusing a first but once I concentrated on discerning whose voice was telling the story, the novel flowed much better for me.

Walleye Junction is a solid well-written  mystery that I'm sure you'll enjoy.

Review: 5 Minutes with Jesus: Peace for Today by Sheila Walsh

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1365 KB
• Print Length: 192 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0718032551
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (March 8 2016)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Canada Limited
• Language: English
• ASIN: B010R6NAL2

Book Description

Brief and profound, these daily readings from Sheila Walsh will help busy women draw close to Jesus and walk in His peace throughout the day. It will become clear that even in the midst of a busy lifestyle, every minute we spend in the powerful presence of Jesus makes a difference in our lives!

Jesus wants you to know peace—every day.

Deadlines and bills, illnesses and fears about the future, frustrations with others and ourselves . . . there’s enough going on in our lives to make us feel overwhelmed and anxious, if not panicked! But Jesus said that we could expect this, that trials and sorrows are simply part of life on earth, and He offers an amazing gift that changes everything: His peace. He tells us, “The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27 nlt).

Bestselling author Sheila Walsh wants to guide you in worrying less and letting your heart be settled. Each reading includes messages such as:

Gratitude opens doors out of bitterness and doors into joy.

God loves you for who you are, not what you do.

Resting in the purpose and presence of God brings peace.

It’s amazing what God will do with a broken life when we give Him all the pieces.

No matter how big the storm, God is bigger.

The 5 Minutes with Jesus series is the perfect way to start your day with peace of mind and a peaceful heart.

About the Author

Sheila Walsh (05-07-1956) is a powerful communicator, Bible teacher, and best-selling author with more than 4 million books sold. A featured speaker with Women of Faith®, Sheila has reached more than 3.5 million women by artistically combining honesty, vulnerability, and humor with God's Word.

Author of the best-selling memoir Honestly and the Gold Medallion nominee for The Heartache No One Sees, Sheila's most recent release, The Shelter of God's Promises, has also been turned into a DVD curriculum and in-depth Bible study. The Gigi, God's Little Princess book and video series has won the National Retailer's Choice Award twice and is the most popular Christian brand for young girls in the United States.

Sheila co-hosted The 700 Club and her own show Heart to Heart with Sheila Walsh. She is currently completing her Masters in Theology.

Twitter @SheilaWalsh, facebook.com/#!/sheilawalshconnects

My Review

5 Minutes With Jesus: Peace for Today is another winner from Christian speaker and author Sheila Walsh. 5 Minutes With Jesus is a devotional.

5 Minutes With Jesus: Peace for Today is available as an ebook as well as in hardcover. I am currently enjoying the ebook version. 5 Minutes with Jesus is a great way to start the day. Each chapter begins with a devotional and is followed by related bible verses in several versions such as NLT and NIV.

Sometimes all we have is 5 minutes to devote to bible study in our lives. Sheila Walsh's 5 Minutes With Jesus: Peace for Today is great for days like that. Though brief, each devotional is filled with interesting and challenging insights.

I think you will enjoy 5 Minutes With Jesus: Peace for Today. It would also be a great gift.

Review: Time of Fog and Fire (Molly Murphy #16) by Rhys Bowen

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1477 KB
• Print Length: 286 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 1 2016)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B013P2QY2M

Book Description

Molly Murphy Sullivan's husband Daniel, a police captain in turn-of-the-century New York City, is in a precarious position. The new police commissioner wants him off the force altogether. So Daniel accepts an assignment from John Wilkie, head of the secret service. Molly believes her husband is in Washington, working for the president, until she spots him in San Francisco during a movie news segment. Then she receives a strange letter from him, leading her to conclude that he wants her to join him in San Francisco.

She takes her young son Liam on the cross-country train trip, but when they arrive in San Francisco, Molly is told that she's too late, her husband's funeral was yesterday. She's devastated, even more so when she receives a cryptic note saying Daniel's death was not an accident. In her grief she stays on to investigate, until she meets a strange man at a party, whom she soon starts to suspect may not be quite who he appears. Then Molly finds another body in the basement, but before she can report it, the Great Earthquake strikes San Francisco, and the servant runs off in a panic with Molly's son. Suddenly Molly has no idea where to turn or whom to trust, and she knows there are many lives on the line, including her own.


About the Author

"I'm a New York Times bestselling mystery author, winner of both Agatha and Anthony awards for my Molly Murphy mysteries, set in 1902 New York City.

I also write the Agatha-winning Royal Spyness series, about the British royal family in the 1930s. It's lighter, sexier, funnier, wicked satire. It was voted by readers as best mystery series one year.
I am also known for my Constable Evans books, set in North Wales, and for my award-winning short stories. "

I was born and raised in England but currently divide my time between California and Arizona where I go to escape from the harsh California winters
When I am not writing I love to travel, sing, hike, play my Celtic harp.
Series:
* Constable Evan Mystery
* Molly Murphy Mysteries
* Her Royal Spyness Mysteries

Awards:
Agatha Award
◊ Best Novel (2001): Murphy's Law
Reviewer's Choice Award
◊ Historical Mystery (2001): Murphy's Law


My Review

Time of Fog and Fire is the second book that I have read in the Molly Murphy series by author Rhys Bowen. I found Time of Fog and Fire to be extremely an enjoyable read. I had forgotten some of the details of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and it was fascinating to be reminded.

Molly's husband Daniel is off on a mysterious project for the White House. She is shocked to see him in San Francisco on a newsreel.  When a mysterious letter arrives from Daniel, she along with their young son Liam head for San Francisco to help him. When she arrives she is shocked to discover that he is dead.

Through a fog of despair Molly moves to solve Daniel's murder. There are a lot of twists and turns as the reader is taken through the events and chaos of the San Francisco earthquake and fire. I could hardly put this book as I was glued to the story.

I highly recommend Time of Fog and Fire by author Rhys Bowen.

Review: Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 368 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (May 3 2016)
• Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B014PNZB74

Book Description

 The bestselling author of the acclaimed standalones After I’m Gone, I’d Know You Anywhere, and What the Dead Know, challenges our notions of memory, loyalty, responsibility, and justice in this evocative and psychologically complex story about a long-ago death that still haunts a family.

Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to.

About the Author

 Laura Lippman was a reporter for twenty years, including twelve years at The (Baltimore) Sun. She began writing novels while working fulltime and published seven books about “accidental PI” Tess Monaghan before leaving daily journalism in 2001. Her work has been awarded the Edgar ®, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Nero Wolfe, Gumshoe and Barry awards. She also has been nominated for other prizes in the crime fiction field, including the Hammett and the Macavity. She was the first-ever recipient of the Mayor’s Prize for Literary Excellence and the first genre writer recognized as Author of the Year by the Maryland Library Association.

Ms. Lippman grew up in Baltimore and attended city schools through ninth grade. After graduating from Wilde Lake High School in Columbia, Md., Ms. Lippman attended Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Her other newspaper jobs included the Waco Tribune-Herald and the San Antonio Light.

Ms. Lippman returned to Baltimore in 1989 and has lived there since. She is the daughter of Theo Lippman Jr., a Sun editorial writer who retired in 1995 but continues to freelance for several newspapers, and Madeline Mabry Lippman, a former Baltimore City school librarian. Her sister, Susan, is a local bookseller.

My Review

Wow! Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman is completely mesmerizing. Now that I am finished reading it, I cannot get over how well plotted Wilde Lake is and how beautifully everything came together at the end. Lippman gets better with each book she writes.

I loved the main character of Luisa Brant. She is very endearing, realistic and likeable. Usually Lippman writes about crime but Wilde Lake focuses more on people and their relationships. The story and tone are influenced by To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippman is able to write a completely different tale yet complement the brilliance that is To Kill a Mockingbird.

I really enjoyed Wilde Lake. Great read!

Review: Fool Me Once by Harlan Coben

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1166 KB
• Print Length: 392 pages
• Publisher: Dutton (March 22 2016)
• Sold by: Penguin Group USA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0141ZP33S

Book Description

 #1 New York Times bestseller Harlan Coben delivers his next impossible-to-put-down thriller

In the course of eight consecutive #1 New York Times bestsellers, millions of readers have discovered Harlan Coben’s page-turning thrillers, filled with his trademark edge-of-your-seat suspense and gut-wrenching emotion. In Fool Me Once, Coben once again outdoes himself.

Former special ops pilot Maya, home from the war, sees an unthinkable image captured by her nanny cam while she is at work: her two-year-old daughter playing with Maya’s husband, Joe—who had been brutally murdered two weeks earlier. The provocative question at the heart of the mystery: Can you believe everything you see with your own eyes, even when you desperately want to? To find the answer, Maya must finally come to terms with deep secrets and deceit in her own past before she can face the unbelievable truth about her husband—and herself.

About the Author

 With over 60 million books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben’s last seven consecutive novels, MISSING YOU, SIX YEARS, STAY CLOSE, LIVE WIRE, CAUGHT, LONG LOST and HOLD TIGHT all debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His books are published in 43 languages around the globe.

Coben is the winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award and Anthony Award – the first author to win all three – and he has received an eclectic variety of honors from all over the world. His novel TELL NO ONE has been turned into a hit French film of the same name. His essays and columns have appeared in many top publications.

Harlan was born in Newark, New Jersey. He still lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children.

My Review

 Every year I look forward to Harlan Coben's latest book. Fool Me Once is another winner from this incredible author.

Fool Me Once is a well written page turner that kept me second guessing myself throughout. It is a fast paced read that fooled me completely!

Great read! You'll love it!

 

Review: A Lowcountry Wedding by Mary Alice Monroe

• Format: Kindle Edition
• Print Length: 448 pages
• Publisher: Gallery Books (May 3 2016)
• Sold by: Simon & Schuster Canada, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B010MH1B4O

Book Description

 Wedding season has arrived in New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe’s next novel in the “distinct, complex, and endearing” (Charleston Magazine) Lowcountry Summer series, set against the romantic, charming Charleston Lowcountry.

Nothing could be more enchanting than a summer wedding—or two!—in Charleston’s fabled lowcountry. A centuries-old plantation, an avenue of ancient oaks dripping moss, a storied ballroom, a sand dune at sunset…

Yet when a stranger arrives, a long held family secret could silence the bells ringing for the Muir sisters. Scandals surface, family bonds are questioned, and promises are broken and renewed. In A Lowcountry Wedding Monroe delves into the heart of marriage, commitment, and family ties. Huffington Post calls the Lowcountry Summer series “the perfect beach read and a whole lot more.”

About the Author

 New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe found her true calling in environmental fiction when she moved to coastal South Carolina. Already a successful author, she was captivated by the beauty and fragility of her new home. Her experiences living in the midst of a habitat that was quickly changing gave her a strong and important focus for her books.

Mary Alice Monroe writes richly textured books that delve into the complexities of interpersonal relationships and the parallels between the land and life. Monroe’s novels are published worldwide. She has achieved many lists, including the New York Times, USA Today and SIBA. She has received numerous awards, including several Readers’ Choice Awards, RT Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing and was featured at the National Festival of the Book. In 2011 THE BUTTERFLY'S DAUGHTER won the International Book Award for Green Fiction.

Mary Alice is an active conservationist and serves on the Board of the South Carolina Aquarium, The Leatherback Trust, and Charleston Literacy Volunteers. She is a frequent speaker at book festivals, conferences, and private events.

Monroe lives with her family on a barrier island outside Charleston, South Carolina. Her new novel, BEACH HOUSE MEMORIES (May 2012), is the prequel to her bestseller THE BEACH HOUSE and completes her first trilogy.

For more information, videos, contests and more, visit her official website: www.maryalicemonroe.com.

My Review

A Lowcountry Wedding is the first book of Mary Alice Monroe's that I have read. She has been on  my radar for some time and I'm glad I read A Lowcountry Wedding. Although it is part of a series, it can easily be read as a stand alone which is what I did.

A Lowcountry Wedding is set in the Charleston area of South Carolina. It is one of my favorite areas and the author portrayed it perfectly. We have a number of family weddings coming up so I enjoyed reading about the weddings being planned. I also enjoyed all of the characters. The writing style was easy to read and enjoyable.

If you are looking for a light summer read, A Lowcountry Wedding is for you.

Review: A Bed of Scorpions (Sam Clair #2) by Judith Flanders

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 1069 KB
• Print Length: 319 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books (March 1 2016)
• Sold by: Macmillan CA
• Language: English
• ASIN: B013P2ERBC

Book Description 

 Summer in London-the sun is finally shining, the flowers are in bloom, and life is humming merrily along for book editor Samantha Clair, off to lunch with her old friend, art-dealer Aidan Merriam. Humming merrily until she learns that his partner has just been found dead in their gallery, slumped over his desk with a gun in his hand. Could anything be worse? Oh yes, the police investigation is being led by Inspector Jake Field, who just happens to be Sam's new boyfriend. And Aidan, who just happens to be Sam's ex-boyfriend, wants Sam's help. Finding herself drawn into another investigation, Sam does the only sensible thing and calls her mother. Before long, Sam finds her loyalties stretched to the limit as she herself is threatened.

Armed with nothing more than her trusty weapons of satire, cynicism and a stock of irrelevant information culled from novels, Sam races to find a killer who is determined to find her first in the newest fast-paced, uproarious novel in the critically acclaimed series from New York Times bestselling author Judith Flanders.

About the Author

 Judith Flanders was born in London, England, in 1959. She moved to Montreal, Canada, when she was two, and spent her childhood there, apart from a year in Israel in 1972, where she signally failed to master Hebrew.

After university, Judith returned to London and began working as an editor for various publishing houses. After this 17-year misstep, she began to write and in 2001 her first book, A Circle of Sisters, the biography of four Victorian sisters, was published to great acclaim, and nominated for the Guardian First Book Award. In 2003, The Victorian House (2004 in the USA, as Inside the Victorian Home) received widespread praise, and was shortlisted for the British Book Awards History Book of the Year. In 2006 Consuming Passions, was published. Her most recent book, The Invention of Murder, was published in 2011.

Judith also contributes articles, features and reviews for a number of newspapers and magazines.

My Review

 A Bed of Scorpions is the second Sam Clair mystery by author Judith Flanders. I love Flanders witty writing style. I just love how she portrays main character Sam Clair. I can completely identify with Sam. I love all her observations about the realities of life. For example, it is summer and everyone who is in the office hates the people on vacation or "working from home". And the treat table in the communal office kitchen...if you don't bring back treats from your vacation to share with your co-workers...well people just didn't do it!

A Bed of Scorpions is a delightful witty novel that I thoroughly enjoyed. Highly recommend.