The Printed Page

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week (checked out library books don’t count, eBooks & audio books do). Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

If you’re new to Mailbox Monday welcome! Thank you to everyone who stops by Mailbox Monday. Whether you comment or visit I appreciate your taking the time to drop in.

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Historical romance/fiction ~ Decision and Destiny: Colette’s Legacy by DeVa Gantt (Historical Fiction Lovers book Club on Facebook. My thanks to Jennifer at The Literate Housewife Review) (Claimed by Caroline)

A spellbinding saga of a remarkable american family . . .

The beautiful, frail Colette Duvoisin trusted governess Charmaine Ryan with her worries, her dreams, and the care of her beloved children. But now Colette is gone—leaving her three young ones devastated . . . and the house of Duvoisin in turmoil.

To her children’s horror, their father, the enigmatic Frederic Duvoisin, weds his mistress and sister-in-law, Agatha, soon after their mother’s untimely death. A scheming and dangerous adversary, Agatha has no love for her predecessor’s offspring, ruthlessly wielding her newly won power while guarding her own dark secrets. Meanwhile, a rivalry between Colette’s stepsons—suave Paul and cynical John—is reignited, drawing battle lines among family, friends, and servants. When Frederic suddenly emerges from his self-imposed isolation, he touches off a struggle for patriarchal supremacy that threatens to lay the entire Duvoisin empire to waste.

At the center of the storm is innocent Charmaine, who must come to terms with shattering truths about the family she once believed she knew—and decide who among them deserves her admiration, her derision, her devotion . . . and her heart.

Suspense ~ The Hidden Man by David Ellis (new-to-me author/Shelf Awareness) (Claimed by Vicki)

Jason Kolarich is a midwestern Everyman with a lineman’s build and an easy smart-ass remark. He’s a young, intelligent maverick, but he’s also struggling with an overwhelming emotional burden—one that threatens to unravel his own life, and possibly the lives of those around him.

Twenty-seven years ago, two-year-old Audrey Cutler disappeared from her home in the middle of the night. She was never found. All the detectives had to go on were vague eyewitness accounts of a man running down the Cutlers’ street, apparently carrying someone. Without enough evidence to suggest otherwise, Griffin Perlini—a neighbor with prior offenses against minors—was arrested, but never convicted.

The case is long closed when Perlini is murdered nearly thirty years later. Now a man named Mr. Smith appears in Jason Kolarich’s office, saying only that he represents a third party who wants the man charged with murder off the hook and that Kolarich is perfect for the job. The new client: Audrey Cutler’s older brother, Sammy—Kolarich’s estranged childhood best friend—a man he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years.

But when Kolarich starts receiving violent threats from Mr. Smith’s enigmatic employer, he figures out that the secrecy behind this nameless third party—and the key to winning Sammy’s case—is entangled with the mystery of Audrey’s disappearance. With his own life and Sammy’s in the balance, Kolarich has to put aside not only the mounting anxiety of the job but also a heart-wrenching personal tragedy in order to find out what really happened to Audrey all those years ago.

Legal mystery ~ Judgment Day by Sheldon Siegel (Kindle eBook; not available for Read It Forward)

Hope springs eternal, wrote poet Alexander Pope, but optimism is wearing thin for San Francisco law partners Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez. The pair of legal eagles, who remained in business after their marriage went bust, is working to stop the execution of Nathan Fineman, a onetime Mob lawyer accused of gunning down three people at a Chinatown restaurant. Fineman’s health may be failing, but his mind is very much alive. He’s convinced San Francisco cops planted the murder weapon on him as payback for his successful defense of drug dealers in a notorious local case. Fineman’s claim is more than just an indictment of the SFPD; it’s an emotional blow to Daley, whose late father was one of the first cops to reach the scene on the night of the murders. Minutes turn to days as Mike and Rosie seek evidence that might exonerate their client (and possibly implicate Mike’s much-respected old man)

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What books came into your house last week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Mailbox post or a list of books if you don’t have a blog.

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