The Printed Page

Ten victims, each with pale skin and long dark hair. All have been slashed across the throat, the same red lipstick smeared across their lips.

In the mid-1980s the Snow White Killer terrorized the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Then suddenly the murders stopped. A letter from the killer to the police stated that his work was done.

Now four more bodies are found, marked with his fatal signature. The residents of Nashville fear a madman has returned, decades later, to finish his sick fairy tale. Homicide Lieutenant Taylor Jackson believes the killings are the work of a copycat killer who’s even more terrifying. For this monster is meticulously honing his craft as he mimics famous serial murders.proving that the past is not to be forgotten.

Title: The Sonnet Lover Author/website(s): Carol Goodman 350 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books Publication date: June ’07 Genre: Fiction; contemporary/historical mix Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: No Would I recommend this book: Yes Would I read more from this author: Yes Journal notes: Pleasure reading – no review.

For how thy memory has lingered on - In spite of cruelest winter’s drear and howl - By inner mirror seen; I’ve dwelled upon, I must confess, my treachery most foul.

Did Shakespeare pen a series of passionate sonnets, unknown to modern scholarship, ardently praising a mysterious dark-haired beauty? This tantalizing question is raised in a letter to literature professor Rose Asher. But the letter’s author, Rose’s star pupil, is not telling. A troubled, enigmatic young man, he plunged to his death in front of the college’s entire faculty, an apparent suicide. Determined to find the truth, Rose journeys from New York to Italy, back to the magnificent Tuscan villa where as an undergraduate she first fell in love.

La Civetta is a dreamlike place, resplendent with the heady scent of lemon trees and the sunset’s ocher wash across its bricks and cobbles. Once there Rose finds her first love still in residence. Torn between her mission and her rekindled feelings, Rose becomes enmeshed in a treacherous tangle of secrets and scandal. A folio containing what some believe to be one of Shakespeare’s lost sonnets has vanished, and literary immortality awaits whoever finds the manuscript – as do a vast Italian estate and a Hollywood movie deal. Uncertain whom she can trust and where she can turn, Rose races against time and unseen enemies in a bid to find the missing masterpiece.

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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Again this year I’m supporting Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign. For every link to a Mailbox Monday post left here at The Printed Page through end of the January I will contribute .50¢ to Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign. So far links to Mailbox Monday have raised approximately $144 or 72 bricks.

Book Wish Foundation’s holiday campaign for 2009 asks book lovers everywhere to contribute one of the 5000 bricks we need to build a library for Darfuri refugees in eastern Chad. As of Jan. 30, we have raised 1,071 bricks. Please join the effort, even with a single brick, by visiting: Library Builder

*** Requiem in Vienna: A Viennese Mystery by J. Sydney Jones (new-to-me author/author contact) (Donated to the library)

Set in 1899, Jones’s fine second Viennese mystery (after 2009′s The Empty Mirror) opens with a falling fire curtain narrowly missing Gustav Mahler, the director of the Vienna Court Opera, but killing a soprano during a stage rehearsal. Lawyer and private inquirer Karl Werthen teams with criminologist Hanns Gross to look into this and subsequent accidents apparently aimed at Mahler. As the investigation descends into the damned politics of music, Mahler, a former Jew who must be careful to hide his contempt for fellow composer Richard Wagner, emerges as the nexus for an ever-widening pool of suspects. Complicating matters are big changes in Werthen’s home life, in particular wife Berthe’s pregnancy.

The Cold Room (A Taylor Jackson mystery, book #4) by J.T. Ellison (publicist contact) (Claimed by Kathrin)

He can truly love her only once her heart stops.

Homicide detective Taylor Jackson thinks she’s seen it all in Nashville—from the Southern Strangler to the Snow White Killer. But she’s never seen anything as perverse as The Conductor. Once his victim is captured, he contains her in a glass coffin, slowly starving her to death. Only then does he give in to his attraction.

When he’s finished, he creatively disposes of the body by reenacting scenes from famous paintings. And similar macabre works are being found in Europe. Taylor teams up with her fiance, FBI profiler Dr. John Baldwin, and New Scotland Yard detective James “Memphis” Highsmythe, a haunted man who has eyes only for Taylor, to put an end to this horror.

Has the killer gone international with his craft? Or are there two “artists,” competing to create the ultimate masterpiece?

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What books came into your house last week? You have the choice of using inlinkz or Mr. Linky. With inlinkz you can include a book cover if you’d like along with the link to your Mailbox Monday post (clicking on the image takes you to the blog post.) Duplicate links will not count toward the fundraising efforts.

Don’t forget to fill out either inlinkz or Mister Linky or leave a comment with a list of books if you don’t blog. If you’re interested in Read It Forward you will need to leave a comment in addition to filling out a link feature.

• In the “Your name:” box, please enter either your name or your blog’s name.

• In the “Your URL:” box please enter the URL/link that will lead directly to the post you are submitting (also called the permalink). This is not the URL to the blog’s home page.

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Read It Forward details

For how thy memory has lingered on - In spite of cruelest winter’s drear and howl - By inner mirror seen; I’ve dwelled upon, I must confess, my treachery most foul. Did Shakespeare pen a series of passionate sonnets, unknown to modern scholarship, ardently praising a mysterious dark-haired beauty? This tantalizing question is raised in a letter to literature professor Rose Asher. But the letter’s author, Rose’s star pupil, is not telling. A troubled, enigmatic young man, he plunged to his death in front of the college’s entire faculty, an apparent suicide. Determined to find the truth, Rose journeys from New York to Italy, back to the magnificent Tuscan villa where as an undergraduate she first fell in love.

La Civetta is a dreamlike place, resplendent with the heady scent of lemon trees and the sunset’s ocher wash across its bricks and cobbles. Once there Rose finds her first love still in residence. Torn between her mission and her rekindled feelings, Rose becomes enmeshed in a treacherous tangle of secrets and scandal. A folio containing what some believe to be one of Shakespeare’s lost sonnets has vanished, and literary immortality awaits whoever finds the manuscript – as do a vast Italian estate and a Hollywood movie deal. Uncertain whom she can trust and where she can turn, Rose races against time and unseen enemies in a bid to find the missing masterpiece.

Lush, lyrical, and enthralling, The Sonnet Lover vividly brings to life the Tuscan countryside and the fascinating world of the Renaissance poets. Unmatched in her ability to evoke atmosphere and intrigue, Carol Goodman delivers her most ambitious and satisfying work to date, a seductive novel that skillfully propels its reader headlong to the final suspenseful page.

Title: Roses Author/website(s): Leila Meacham 609 pages Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Publication date: January ’10 Genre: Fiction; family saga Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Definitely Would I read more from this author: Yes Journal notes: Loved it! Absolutely loved it. I love big, soaring family sagas and Ms. Meacham has written a winner. Roses has been hailed by others as the next Gone With The Wind. Now GWTW is my all time favorite book so its hard for me say that Roses is another GWTW. I can see the comparisons and understand why they both would be mentioned in the same breath but for me it wasn’t quite there. Almost but not quite. Its missing the ‘wow’ factor of Scarlett and Rhett. Percy and Mary’s doomed love doesn’t quite reach the heights of Scarlett and Rhett for me but Roses is still one of the best family sagas I’ve read in years. I devoured its 609 pages two days reading every spare minute I could find. It is another of my favorite books this month and will definitely be on my favorites list for 2010.

Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town’s founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been–not just for themselves but for their children, and children’s children.

(Roses was provided to me by Miriam at Hachette Book Group. I was not paid and this book is being passed along to the another book blogger through Read It Forward )

Title: The Sheen on the Silk Author/website(s): Anne Perry 514 pages Publisher: Ballantine Books Publication date: March ’10 Genre: Historical fiction Review book or pleasure reading: Review book New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: Definitely Would I read more from this author: Yes Journal notes: Loved it! It is an incredibly wonderful HF novel. I was totally immersed in Byzantine culture for the three days I spent reading this novel. The sights, the sounds, the people and the lifestyle are vividly portrayed in The Sheen on the Silk. I was Anna’s shadow as she searched for the truth. This story is filled with political and religious intrigue. I found some of the religious intrigue to be a bit complex simply because this is a historical period I have little familiarity with. And for those of you who read Ms. Perry’s mystery novels there is a murder mystery within these pages. It is one of my favorite books this month and will most likely make the favorites list for 2010.

Arriving in the ancient Byzantine city in the year 1273, Anna Zarides has only one mission: to prove the innocence of her twin brother, Justinian, who has been exiled to the desert for conspiring to kill Bessarion, a nobleman.

Disguising herself as a eunuch named Anastasius, Anna moves freely about in society, using her skills as a physician to manoeuver close to the key players involved in her brother’s fate. With her medical practice thriving, Anna crosses paths with Zoe Chrysaphes, a devious noblewoman with her own hidden agenda, and Giuiliano Dandolo, a ship’s captain conflicted not only by his mixed Venetian-Byzantine heritage but by his growing feelings for Anastasius.

Trying to clear her brother’s name, Anna learns more about Justinian’s life and reputation—including his peculiar ties to Bessarion’s beautiful widow and his possible role in a plot to overthrow the emperor. This leaves Anna with more questions than answer, and time is running out. For an even greater threat lies on the horizon: Another Crusade to capture the Holy Land is brewing, and leaders in Rome and Venice have set their sights on Constantinople for what is sure to be a brutal invasion. Anna’s discoveries draw her inextricably closer to the dangers of the emperor’s treacherous court—where it seems that no one is exactly who he or she appears to be.

(The Sheen on the Silk was provided to me by Katie at Ballantine Books, a division of Random House. I was not paid and this book is being passed along to the another book blogger through Read It Forward )

Spanning the 20th century, the story of Roses takes place in a small East Texas town against the backdrop of the powerful timber and cotton industries, industries controlled by the scions of the town’s founding families. Cotton tycoon Mary Toliver and timber magnate Percy Warwick should have married but unwisely did not, and now must deal with the deceit, secrets, and tragedies of their choice and the loss of what might have been–not just for themselves but for their children, and children’s children.

Title: The Heretic’s Wife Author: Brenda Rickman Vantrease Release date: April ’10

Tudor England is a perilous place for booksellers Kate Gough and her brother John, who sell forbidden translations of the Bible. Caught between warring factions—English Catholics opposed to the Lutheran reformation, and Henry VIII’s growing impatience with the Pope’s refusal to sanction his marriage to Anne Boleyn—Kate embarks on a daring adventure that will lead her into a dangerous marriage and a web of intrigue that pits her against powerful enemies. From the king’s lavish banquet halls to secret dungeons and the inner sanctums of Thomas More, Brenda Rickman Vantrease’s glorious new novel illuminates the public pageantry and the private passions of men and women of conscience in treacherous times.

I’m very excited to find a new novel by Brenda. I very much enjoyed her other historical novels The Illuminator and The Mercy Seller.

Arriving in the ancient Byzantine city in the year 1273, Anna Zarides has only one mission: to prove the innocence of her twin brother, Justinian, who has been exiled to the desert for conspiring to kill Bessarion, a nobleman.

Disguising herself as a eunuch named Anastasius, Anna moves freely about in society, using her skills as a physician to manoeuver close to the key players involved in her brother’s fate. With her medical practice thriving, Anna crosses paths with Zoe Chrysaphes, a devious noblewoman with her own hidden agenda, and Giuiliano Dandolo, a ship’s captain conflicted not only by his mixed Venetian-Byzantine heritage but by his growing feelings for Anastasius.

Trying to clear her brother’s name, Anna learns more about Justinian’s life and reputation—including his peculiar ties to Bessarion’s beautiful widow and his possible role in a plot to overthrow the emperor. This leaves Anna with more questions than answer, and time is running out. For an even greater threat lies on the horizon: Another Crusade to capture the Holy Land is brewing, and leaders in Rome and Venice have set their sights on Constantinople for what is sure to be a brutal invasion. Anna’s discoveries draw her inextricably closer to the dangers of the emperor’s treacherous court—where it seems that no one is exactly who he or she appears to be.

Title: It’s In His Kiss & It’s In His Kiss Epilogue II Author/website(s): Julia Quinn 404 pages Publisher: Avon Publication date: June ’05 Genre: Historical romance Review book or pleasure reading: Pleasure reading New-to-me author: Yes Would I recommend this book: I would Would I read more from this author: Most definitely Journal notes: Pleasure reading – no review though I did enjoy this book as much as I enjoy Lisa Kleypas’ historical romances which is quite a lot.

It’s in His Kiss Madcap, touching, laugh-out-loud funny and thoroughly satisfying on all emotional levels, her latest London-set historical focuses on Hyacinth, the eighth sibling in Quinn’s bestselling Bridgerton family series (following When He Was Wicked). Too intelligent for her own good and best friends with Lady Danbury, one of society’s most outspoken grande dames, Hyacinth is in her fourth season on London’s Marriage Mart and again unimpressed by the male selection. Only Lady Danbury’s handsome, pockets-to-let grandson Gareth St. Clair can hold his own in a conversation with her and sometimes even leaves her in a speechless, stomach-flipping state. When Hyacinth offers to translate the diary of Gareth’s deceased Italian grandmother, the pair find themselves comparing notes, then exchanging kisses and finally burglarizing his estranged father’s house at midnight. But the diary also holds secrets that could jeopardize their new love. Practically bouncing with humor, this book will keep readers happily on edge, waiting to see how the final unmarried Bridgerton will fare in Quinn’s talented hands.

It’s In His Kiss Epliogue II What happened to the diamonds????

If you’ve read It’s In His Kiss, you want to know. Don’t miss this charming and passionate addendum, in which Gareth proves that some things get better with age, Hyacinth gains new respect for her mother (with a daughter like Isabella she’d have to, wouldn’t she?), and everyone learns that while diamonds are lovely, sometimes tenacity is a girl’s best friend.