Author/website: Chelsea Cain

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication date & page count: March 1, 2011 & 336 pages

Chelsea Cain launches the next stage of her bestselling series as Archie Sheridan works to regain his life and Susan Ward steps in to share the spotlight in this electric thriller from one of today’s most talented suspense writers.

With Beauty Killer Gretchen Lowell locked away behind bars once again, Portland detective Archie Sheridan can finally rest. Meanwhile, the city of Portland is in crisis. Several people have drowned in heavy rains that have flooded the Willamette River. But the medical examiner discovers that in fact the latest victim was poisoned before she went into the water–she didn’t drown. A little detective work shows that so far three of those previously thought to be accidental drownings have actually been murdered. Portland has a new serial killer on its hands, and Archie and his task force have a new case. Meanwhile reporter Susan Ward is following up on an entirely separate mystery: the dramatic flooding has unearthed a skeleton, a man who might have died during catastrophic flooding more than sixty years ago that washed away an entire neighborhood and killed at least 15 people.

As Archie follows the bizarre trail of evidence and evil deeds to catch his killer, he has to battle the rising waters of the Willamette first.

1. Blood Vines by Erica Spindler | favorite author
2. Where Serpents Sleep by C.S. Harris | favorite series, book #4
3. The Search by Nora Roberts | favorite author
4. Murder on Gramercy Park by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #3
5. Damaged by Alex Kava | favorite series, book #8
6. The Queene’s Christmas by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #6
7. Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen | favorite series, book #8
8. What Remains of Heaven by C.S. Harris | favorite series, book #5
9. In Harm’s Way by Ridley Pearson | favorite series, book #4
10. Murder on Washington Square by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #4
11. The Reversal by Michael Connelly | favorite series, book #16
12. His Last Letter: Elizabeth I & the Earl of Leicester by Jeane Westin | Very good/excellent
13. Broken by Karin Slaughter | Very good
14. The Fyre Mirror by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #7
15. The Big Dirt Nap by Rosemary Harris | Good, book #2
16. Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens by Kate Emerson | Very good
17. Once Upon Stilettos by Shanna Swendson | favorite series, book #2
18. Murder on Mulberry Bend by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #5
19. Dead Head by Rosemary Harris | Good, book #3
20. Murder on Marble Row by Victoria Thompson | favorite series, book #6
21. The Fatal Fashione by Karen Harper | favorite series, book #8

• My rating: Good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Dead Head (Dirty Business, book #3)

Author/website: Rosemary Harris

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication date & page count: April ’10 & 245 pages

Fugitive Mom. That’s the tabloid headline that rocks Springfield, Connecticut when one of the town’s favorite ladies is discovered to be an escaped convict. With a little help from the always game Lucy Cavanaugh, Paula is hired to find out which of her neighbors is a fugitive from the law and why the long-kept secret has finally come out.

• My rating: Very good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Secrets of the Tudor Court: Between Two Queens

Author/website: Kate Emerson

Publisher: Gallery

Publication date & page count: January ’10 & 374 pages

Between Two Queens is the story of Anne (Nan) Bassett, who came to court in 1537 as a maid of honor to Queen Jane Seymour. Jane, however, promptly died in childbirth, leaving all her maids of honor in limbo until Henry VIII married again. Between the two queens, Jane Seymour and Anna of Cleves, Nan herself receives considerable attention from King Henry. Was she his mistress? Historians can’t say for certain. That’s what makes writing a novel such fun!

The title comes from the time period between Queen Jane and Queen Anna, but also from the in-between times that followed. Nan Bassett resumed her career as a maid of honor under Anna of Cleves and transferred to Catherine Howard’s household when the marriage to Anna was annulled. Between Catherine Howard and Kathryn Parr, Nan once again attracted King Henry’s attention. The Spanish ambassador thought she might end up as wife number six. Why didn’t she? Once again, writing fiction gave me the chance to answer that question.

Along the way, of course, Nan has other adventures. In 1540, her mother and stepfather were arrested on suspicion of plotting against the Crown. How this affected her, and how involved she and her sisters might have been in treason are other areas I was able to explore in the novel.

History records that Nan was a pretty girl, so there were other men besides the king who were interested in her. Why did she wait until the reign of Mary Tudor to marry? That’s another question I tried to answer in the novel, and it provided a way to link Nan to the treason plot

When Sir Archibald Latham of the War Office dies from a heart attack while visiting her brothel, Madam India Black is unexpectedly thrust into a deadly game between Russian and British agents who are seeking the military secrets Latham carried. Blackmailed into recovering the missing documents by the British spy known as French, India finds herself dodging Russian agents—and the attraction she starts to feel for the handsome conspirator.

• My rating: Good
• New-to-me author: No
• Would I read more from this author: Yes; book #3, Dead Head, is sitting on the review shelf

Title: The Big Dirt Nap (Dirty Business, book #2)

Author/website: Rosemary Harris

Publisher: Minotaur

Publication date & page count: February ’09 & 246 pages

Something stinks to Paula Holliday, and it isn’t just the corpse flower, titan arum, named for its off-putting fragrance. When Paula’s friend Lucy asks her to tag along on an all-expense-paid junket to the Titans Hotel, it seems like a good idea. Paula even manages to squeeze a few bucks and a byline out of the local paper for writing an article on the titan arum, a rare flower that’s just about to bloom and on display at the hotel.

But when her friend is unavoidably detained, a would-be suitor is found with a gaping hole in his head, and the corpse flower refuses to bloom, the entire venture starts to seem like less of a good idea.

• My rating: Very good
• New-to-me author: No (though its been years since I’ve read a book by this author) / (Broken can be read as a stand alone but if you want to know that back history of these characters I recommend reading in series order. I didn’t but I know some of the history as I’ve books #1 and #3 in the Grant County series)
• Would I read more from this author: Yes

Title: Broken (Grant County, book #7)

Author/website: Karin Slaughter

Publisher: Delacorte Press (a division of Random House)

Publication date & page count: June ’10 & 398 pages

When the body of a young woman is discovered deep beneath the icy waters of Lake Grant, a note left under a rock by the shore points to suicide. But within minutes, it becomes clear that this is no suicide. It’s a brutal, cold-blooded murder. All too soon former Grant County medical examiner Sara Linton – home for Thanksgiving after a long absence — finds herself unwittingly drawn into the case. The chief suspect is desperate to see her but when she arrives at the local police station she is met with a horrifying sight — he lies dead in his cell, the words ‘Not me’ scrawled across the walls. Something about his confession doesn’t add up and deeply suspicious of the detective in charge, Lena Adams, Sara immediately calls the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Shortly afterwards, Special Agent Will Trent is brought in from his vacation to investigate. But he is immediately confronted with a wall of silence. Grant County is a close-knit community with loyalties and ties that run deep. And the only person who can tell the truth about what really happened is dead.