The Printed Page

Title: True Blue Author/website: David Baldacci 454 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Publication date: October ’09 Genre: Suspense, thriller, police procedural Would I recommend it: Yes, yes, and a yes. I loved it! Mr. Baldacci is an author on my auto-buy list so it could be I’m a bit bias. In True Blue we meet sisters Beth and Mace Perry and attorney Roy Kingman. Beth Perry is the DC Chief of Police and Mace’s staunchest supporter. Mace Perry is a disgraced police officer looking to clear her name. Roy Kingman is going about his Monday morning business until he finds a murdered coworker and gets caught up in Mace’s plan to get reinstated to the DC police force. Of course nothing is what it appears on the surface in a Baldacci thriller and pretty soon the reader on is a wild ride through government corruption. A seemingly simple murder turns into a government money laundering scheme dealing with some big, bad overseas players and sanctioned by those in some of the highest offices in our nation. Just as in his Camel Club and Sean King/Michelle Maxwell series in True Blue Mr. Baldacci introduces a trio of characters that I’m looking forward to building a long-term relationship with.

Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything-her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.

Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public world of the nation’s capital.

Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn-into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.

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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Fiction ~ The Summer Kitchen by Karen Weinreb (new-to-me author/Authors on the Web) (Claimed by Zia)

When Nora Banks goes to answer the doorbell very early one November 1st, she thinks it must be a group of teen pranksters still out trick-or-treating. But it’s no prank—it’s the Feds, who have come to arrest her husband Evan for a white collar crime. Nora’s enviable, privileged life in the eighteenth-century house she’d quit her job to renovate to museum-quality perfection, is upended in an instant. The Bedford wives close ranks against Nora and her children. Nora’s only support comes from her children’s nanny Beatriz. The two women bond to raise the boys as smoothly as possible while Nora goes back to work. Baking has always been her biggest passion, so she launches a business of her own, the Summer Kitchen. Tempted by the offer of an affair with one of the local husbands and thwarted by an alpha wife who actively tries to shut down her business, Nora has to reach into reserves she didn’t know she had to support her family and change her way of thinking about life, family, money, and romance.

Fiction ~ Breaking the Bank by Yona Zeldis McDonough (new-to-me author/author contact) (Claimed by Carrie)

Mia Saul is down on her luck. Dumped by her husband, jettisoned from her job and estranged from her adored older brother, she and her young daughter Eden have had had to make a downscale move to a crummy apartment where their neighbors include a tough young drug dealer and a widower who lets his dogs use the hallways as their own personal litter box. Juggling a series of temporary jobs, wrangling with her ex-husband over child support and trying to keep pace with Eden’s increasingly erratic behavior have left Mia weary and worn out.

Then one evening a routine stop at her local bank’s ATM yields a surprise. The machine begins producing bills—quite a lot of them in fact—that are neither recorded nor debited from her account. At first Mia attributes the excess cash to a stroke of much needed luck. But when the machine continues to give her unaccounted for money and actually begins communicating with her, her life gets turned around in ways she never thought possible.

Contemporary/historical fiction ~ Receive Me Falling by Erika Robuck (new-to-me author/publicist contact) (Claimed by Shannan)

Every slave story is a ghost story. The haunting words of an historian and former cane worker on the Caribbean island of Nevis launch Meghan Owen on her quest to unlock the secrets of an abandoned sugar plantation and its ghosts. After Meg’s parents die in a car accident on the night of her engagement party, she calls off her wedding, takes leave of her job in Annapolis, and travels to land she’s inherited on Nevis. A series of discoveries in an old plantation house on the property, Eden, set her on a search for the truth surrounding the shameful past of her ancestors, their slaves, and the tragedy that resulted in the fall of the plantation and its inhabitants. Through a crushing phone call with her lawyer, Meg learns that her father’s estate was built on stolen money, and is being sued by multiple sources. She is faced with having to sell the land and plantation home, and deal with the betrayal she feels from her deceased father. In alternating chapters, the historical drama of the Dall family unfolds. Upon the arrival of British abolitionists to the hedonistic 19th century plantation society, Catherine Dall is forced to choose between her lifestyle and the scandal of deserting her family. An angry confrontation with Catherine’s slave, Leah, results in the girl’s death, but was it murder or suicide? Hidden texts, scandalous diaries, antique paintings, and confessional letters help Meghan Owen uncover the secrets of Eden and put the ghosts to rest.

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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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Read It Forward details

Title: The Sari Shop Widow Author/website: Shobhan Bantwal 352 pages Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corporation Publication date: September ’09 Genre: General fiction, romance Would I recommend it: Yes The Sari Shop Widow was the perfect book to curl up with this holiday weekend. It is the quintessential tale of love, loss and love again. I was initially drawn to this book because of the cover. Yes I’m a sucker for eye-catching covers. Also because it is a mix of American and Eastern Indian culture which I find very interesting and love reading about. And because I wanted to read a romance not a bodice ripper. Don’t get me wrong I love a good bodice ripper but not what I was in the mood for right now. Something to tug at my heartstrings was calling to me and I got that. I also appreciate the fact the Anjali is in her late 30s and Rishi in his early 40s. Both have suffered a tragic loss of family yet found ways to bring meaning back into their lives. They’ve each had life experiences that I could relate to and therefore made the story something I would enjoy. While Ms. Bantwal doesn’t break any new ground she entertained me with The Sari Shop Widow.

Pungent curry. . .sweet fried onions. . .incense. . .colorful beads. . .lush fabrics. Shobhan Bantwal’s compelling new novel is set on the streets of Edison, New Jersey’s Little India, where a young businesswoman rediscovers the magic of love and family. . .

Since becoming a widow at age twenty-seven, Anjali Kapadia has devoted herself to transforming her parents’ sari shop into a chic boutique, brimming with exquisite jewelry and clothing. Now, ten years later, it stands out like a proud maharani amid Edison’s bustling Little India. But when Anjali learns the shop is on the brink of bankruptcy, she feels her world unraveling. . .

To the rescue comes Anjali’s wealthy, dictatorial Uncle Jeevan and his business partner, Rishi Shah-a mysterious Londoner, complete with British accent, cool gray eyes, and skin so fair it makes it hard to believe he’s Indian. Rishi’s cool, foreign demeanor triggers distrust in Anjali and her mother. But for Anjali, he also stirs something else, a powerful attraction she hasn’t felt in a decade. And the feeling is mutual. . .

Love disappointed Anjali once before and she’s vowed to live without it-though Rishi is slowly melting her resolve and, as the shop regains its footing, gaining her trust. But when a secret from Rishi’s past is revealed, Anjali must turn to her family and her strong cultural upbringing to guide her in finding the truth. . .

Title: The Last Ember Author/website: Daniel Levin 415 pages Publisher: Riverhead Books Publication date: August ’09 Genre: Suspense/thriller Would I recommend it: Yes The Last Ember wasn’t a thriller that I blew my way through. There is so much historical detail within the pages of The Last Ember that I decided to educate myself as this story progressed so I would have a better understanding of what was unfolding before my eyes. Which to me is a good thing as it means I was engaged and interested in this story. Mr. Levin is very familiar with his subject matter (check out his bio) which could have put me at a disadvantage if it weren’t for Wikipedia (check out links at the end of this post). But this didn’t deter me from enjoying a fine thriller. Many twists and turns later, some which truly misled me, I not only figured out what the ultimate goal was but also unraveled Titus’s mistake. Mr. Levin is currerntly writing his next novel and hopefully we’ll be spending more time with Jonathan and Emili on their next antiquities adventure.

In The Last Ember’s opening pages an Italian antiquities squad discovers a woman’s preserved corpse inside an ancient column. Pages torn from priceless manuscripts litter the floor of an abandoned warehouse. Meanwhile, across the Mediterranean, an illegal excavation burrows beneath Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock, ground sacred to three religions.

Jonathan Marcus, a young American lawyer and a former doctoral student in classics, has become a sought-after commodity among less scrupulous antiquities dealers. But when he is summoned to Rome, the above events propel him on a perilous journey from the labyrinth beneath the Colosseum to the Biblical-era tunnels of Jerusalem in search of a hidden artifact that has been missing for 2,000 years.

As Marcus and a passionate U.N preservationist, Dr. Emili Travia, dig more deeply into the past, they’re stunned to discover not only an ancient intelligence operation to protect the artifact, but also a ruthless modern plot to destroy all trace of it by a mysterious radical bent on erasing all remnants of Jewish and Christian presence from the Temple Mount.

Here are just a few of the links I visited while enjoying The Last Ember. I tried to keep them story order but I think I lost track along the way. Forma Urbis Flavius Josephus American Academy in Rome Titus Temple Menorah (check out the origins section) Rome Prize Domus Aurea Maccabees Holy of Holies Colosseum Temple Mount Herod’s Temple Siege of Jerusalem Great Fire of Rome

“What’s she like”? Archie repeated softly. He put his hand on the trooper’s shoulder and leaned forward, so his face was inches from his. Gretchen was a beautiful, sensual, charismatic manipulative bitch, the object of Archie’s sexual obsession, his torturer, and the person who knew him best in the world. “She’s a serial killer,” Archie said. He smiled and gave the trooper’s shoulder an avuncular pat. “If you ever lay eyes on her, shoot her.” Evil at Heart, pages 18-19

Gretchen Lowell and Archie Sheridan. The Beauty Killer and the BK task force lead Detective. A toxic relationship like nothing I’ve come across before. Hands down some of the best psychologically intense story telling I’ve read this year. Having just finished all 3 books in this nerve rattling series with Evil at Heart newly released as of September 1st I’m already carving a book 4. It’s not often that one comes across a female serial killer and that’s just one aspect that makes this series standout in the crowded field of psychological suspense. That and Gretchen is evil personified. I read these books back-to-back-to back and couldn’t tear myself away before turning the very last page on Evil at Heart. Ms. Cain does a wonderful job of creating truly warped and depraved characters in Gretchen and Archie. It’s rare that a new-to-me author lands on my auto-buy list but Ms. Cain has earned that right with honors.

* I suggest you read these books in order so that you get the best understanding of the dynamic between Gretchen and Archie.

Title: Heartsick (book 1) Author/website: Chelsea Cain 352 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication date: September ’07 Genre: Psychological thriller Would I recommend it: Definitely

Det. Archie Sheridan led the Beauty Killer Task Force for ten years, before the Beauty Killer (Gretchen Lowell) caught him, tortured him for ten days and then mysteriously let him go and turned herself in. Now it’s two years later and Archie, addicted to pain pills and still obsessed with Gretchen, is called off medical leave to hunt a second serial killer. Pink-haired girl journalist Susan Ward is assigned to profile Archie. She knows he’s hiding something. But what? (It’s bigger than a breadbox.)

Title: Sweetheart (book 2) Author/website: Chelsea Cain 336 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication date: September ’08 Genre: Psychological thriller Would I recommend it: Definitely. Though not quite as good as book 1 you can’t skip it.

Damaged detective Archie Sheridan is back home in Portland, Ore., trying to resume a normal life. Archie’s ties to serial killer Gretchen Lowell still run deep, even if he’s stopped their weekly visits in prison. Meanwhile, reporter Susan Ward is finishing an article accusing a beloved U.S. senator of seducing his children’s 14-year-old babysitter a decade earlier. When three bodies are discovered in a local park—where Archie’s team found Gretchen’s first victim 12 years earlier—Archie worries another serial killer is at large. After the senator’s unexpected death, Susan discovers links between the sex scandal and the bodies in the park. When Gretchen escapes from prison, Archie knows he’s the only one who can stop her from killing.

Title: Evil at Heart (book 3) Author/website: Chelsea Cain 306 pages Publisher: Minotaur Books Publication date: September ’08 Genre: Psychological thriller Would I recommend it: Definitely

Gretchen Lowell is still on the loose. These days, she’s more of a cause célèbre than a feared killer, thanks to sensationalist news coverage that has made her a star. Her face graces magazine covers weekly and there have been sightings of her around the world. Most shocking of all, Portland Herald reporter Susan Ward has uncovered a bizarre kind of fan club, which celebrates the number of days she’s been free.

Archie Sheridan hunted her for a decade, and after his last ploy to catch her went spectacularly wrong, remains hospitalized months later. When they last spoke, they entered a détente of sorts—Archie agreed not to kill himself if she agreed not to kill anyone else. But when a new body is found accompanied by Gretchen’s trademark heart, all bets are off and Archie is forced back into action. Has the Beauty Killer returned to her gruesome ways, or has the cult surrounding her created a whole new evil?

Title: 9 Dragons (Harry Bosch novel) Author/website: Michael Connelly Thanks to Miriam from Hachette Book Group USA I have 5 copies of 9 Dragons to giveaway. The details:

• US and Canadian addresses only. Sorry no international entries for this one.
• Open until Friday, September 18th.

Good luck everyone!

LAPD Detective Harry Bosch is off the chain in the fastest, fiercest, and highest-stakes case of his life.

Fortune Liquors is a small shop in a tough South L.A. neighborhood, a store Bosch has known for years. The murder of John Li, the store’s owner, hits Bosch hard, and he promises Li’s family that he’ll find the killer.

The world Bosch steps into next is unknown territory. He brings in a detective from the Asian Gang Unit for help with translation–not just of languages but also of the cultural norms and expectations that guided Li’s life. He uncovers a link to a Hong Kong triad, a lethal and far-reaching crime ring that follows many immigrants to their new lives in the U.S.

And instantly his world explodes. The one good thing in Bosch’s life, the person he holds most dear, is taken from him and Bosch travels to Hong Kong in an all-or-nothing bid to regain what he’s lost. In a place known as Nine Dragons, as the city’s Hungry Ghosts festival burns around him, Bosch puts aside everything he knows and risks everything he has in a desperate bid to outmatch the triad’s ferocity.

Title: True Blue Author/website: David Baldacci Thanks to Miriam from Hachette Book Group USA I have 5 copies of True Blue to giveaway. The details:

• US and Canadian addresses only. Sorry no international entries for this one.
• Open until Friday, September 18th.

Good luck everyone!

Mason “Mace” Perry was a firebrand cop on the D.C. police force until she was kidnapped and framed for a crime. She lost everything-her badge, her career, her freedom-and spent two years in prison. Now she’s back on the outside and focused on one mission: to be a cop once more. Her only shot to be a true blue again is to solve a major case on her own, and prove she has the right to wear the uniform. But even with her police chief sister on her side, she has to work in the shadows: A vindictive U.S. attorney is looking for any reason to send Mace back behind bars. Then Roy Kingman enters her life.

Roy is a young lawyer who aided the poor until he took a high-paying job at a law firm in Washington. Mace and Roy meet after he discovers the dead body of a female partner at the firm. As they investigate the death, they start uncovering surprising secrets from both the private and public world of the nation’s capital.

Soon, what began as a fairly routine homicide takes a terrifying and unexpected turn-into something complex, diabolical, and possibly lethal.

Title: In Their Blood Author: Sharon Potts Publication date: September ’09 Genre: Suspense/thriller

Born into a life of privilege, Jeremy Stroeb loves freedom, loathes responsibility and drops out of college to start backpacking across Europe. But this free-spirited drifter crashes back to brutal reality when his parents, Rachel and Daniel Stroeb, are murdered in their home on Miami Beach.When he returns to Miami, Jeremy assumes guardianship of his teenage sister, Elise, who is traumatized and convinced the killer will be back for her.With steely, urgent resolve, Jeremy vows to find out what really happened to Rachel Stroeb, the respected CPA and Daniel Stroeb, the controversial professor.Determined to get on the inside of his parents’ lives, Jeremy takes a job at the accounting firm where his mother worked, and enrolls at the university where his father taught.But too many details don’t add up. With mounting certainty that his parents were anything but the people he thought they were, Jeremy must face the toughest questions of all. Who were Rachel and Daniel Stroeb? And when will the killer be back for the next of kin?

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Jill at Breaking the Spine hosts Waiting on Wednesday. Stop by and check out the great books your fellow readers can’t wait to get their hands on. What book are you waiting for?

I’m so excited! I can’t until the DVR let’s me set a season pass. I really enjoyed this series last year and was happy to hear that it had been renewed. Gives me a reason to look forward to Mondays.

I’m a very visual person and love beautiful, or interesting, cover art. It entices, and invites, me to stop and take a peek instead of walking right on by. This week’s Cover Attraction is: Title: Abandoned Author: Cody McFadyen Release date: October ’09

For FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett, the wedding of one of their own was cause for celebration. Until a woman staggered down the aisle, incoherent, emaciated, head shaved, and wearing only a white nightgown.

No one knows who she is or where she’s come from – or why she’s chosen to appear in a church filled with law enforcement agents. Then a fingerprint check determines that the woman has been missing for nearly eight years – that once she was someone’s wife, someone’s mother.and a cop. Imprisoning her in a dark cell, depriving her of any contact with the outside world, her enigmatic captor was a man she didn’t know and who seldom spoke, who punished her only when she failed to follow his most basic instructions designed to keep her alive.

Cold, businesslike, seemingly indifferent to his victims, he’s a predator with an M.O. as terrifyingly inscrutable as any Smoky has ever encountered. As she fits together the pieces of what remains of his victim’s fractured life, a chilling picture emerges of a killer every bit as calculating, masterful, and professional as Smoky and the team she leads – a professional psychopath who doesn’t take murder personally and never makes a mistake.

There’s a reason he let one of his victims go free. And by the time Smoky pierces the darkness of his twisted mind, it may cost her more than she can bear to lose to escape. For a trap snapped closed the moment she took this case too much to heart.

In keeping with the new theme here at The Printed Page I chose a suspense/thriller cover this week. I’ve been eyeing this for the last couple of months. It caught my eye the day it showed up at Amazon. ***

What’s your favorite cover attraction this week? Don’t forget to leave a link to your Cover Attraction post.