Always With a Book

Review: Campus Bones by Vivian Barz (audio)

Review: Campus Bones by Vivian Barz (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: August 24, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Amazon Charts bestselling author Vivian Barz reunites Special Agent Susan Marlan with Professor Eric Evans in a riveting installment in the Dead Remaining series. It’s been a year since Special Agent Susan Marlan and Professor Eric Evans worked a taxing missing persons case together on the Olympic Peninsula. Though the couple have since separated, Eric must reluctantly turn to…

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Review: No Woods So Dark As These by Randall Silvis

Review: No Woods So Dark As These by Randall Silvis

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Published: August 4, 2020 Source: Publisher   Summary: There are good reasons to fear the dark… Former Sergeant Ryan DeMarco’s life has been spent in defiance–he’s defied death, loneliness, and betrayal all while fighting the worst parts of humanity. He’s earned a break, and following the devastation of their last case, DeMarco and his girlfriend Jayme want nothing more than to live quietly in each other’s…

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Review: The Last Commandment by Scott Shepherd

Review: The Last Commandment by Scott Shepherd

Publisher: Mysterious Press Published: July 13, 2021 Source: Publisher:   Summary: Christmastime in London. When three seemingly unconnected victims are murdered with matching sequential Roman numerals carved into their foreheads, Metropolitan Police Commander Austin Grant finds his answer in one of the last places he’d expect: the Holy Bible. Each of the deaths correspond to a transgression of one of the Ten Commandments, and Grant must find the killer before…

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Review: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Review: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: August 10, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up. The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no…

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Review: The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller

Review: The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives by Kristin Miller

Publisher: Ballantine Books Published: July 20, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: Meet the trophy wives of Presidio Terrace, San Francisco’s most exclusive–and most deadly–neighborhood in this shrewd, darkly compelling novel from the New York Times bestselling author of In Her Shadow. Mystery writer Brooke Davies is the new wife on the block. Her tech-billionaire husband, Jack, twenty-two years her senior, whisked her to the Bay Area via private jet and purchased…

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Review: The Steal by C.W. Gortner & M.J. Rose

Review: The Steal by C.W. Gortner & M.J. Rose

Publisher: Blue Box Press Published: August 10, 2021 Source: GetRedPR   Summary:  They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend – until they’re stolen. Ania Throne is devoted to her jewelry company. The daughter of one of the world’s most famous jewelers, she arrives in Cannes with a stunning new collection. But a shocking theft by the notorious thief known as the Leopard throws her into upheaval – and plunges…

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Review: The Stranger Behind You by Carol Goodman

Review: The Stranger Behind You by Carol Goodman

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Netgalley   Summary: In the tradition of Daphne du Maurier and Shari Lapena, comes the newest mystery thriller from New York Times bestselling author Carol Goodman—a twisty, chilling story set in a former Magdalen Laundry in Manhattan that explores today’s #MeToo complexities. You’re never really alone Journalist Joan Lurie has written a seething article exposing a notorious newspaper tycoon as a sexual predator. But the…

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Review: The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones (audio)

Review: The Guilt Trip by Sandie Jones (audio)

Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio Published: August 3, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Minotaur Books / Audio: ALC via Netgalley   Summary: In the vein of the Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine Book Club pick The Other Woman, Sandie Jones’s explosive new novel The Guilt Trip will have listeners gripped to the very last chapter. They went away as friends. They came back as suspects. Rachel and Jack. Paige…

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Review: The Witness by Terry Lynn Thomas

Review: The Witness by Terry Lynn Thomas

Publisher: HQ Digital Published: April 23, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: From the USA Today bestselling author, comes the second explosive thriller about attorney Olivia Sinclair who must solve a cold-case murder to clear an innocent man’s name… HE SAW WHAT YOU DID… Teenager Ebby Engstrom witnesses a murder – and then passes out. The next morning, he wakes in his bed with no memory of how he…

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Review: What’s Left Unsaid by Emily Bleeker (print/audio)

Review: What’s Left Unsaid by Emily Bleeker (print/audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: July 27, 2021 Source: Print: ARC Paperback via Uplit Reads / Audio: ALC via Brilliance Audio   Summary: An enthralling novel of secrets, second chances, and confronting the past by the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of When I’m Gone. After a series of devastating losses, Chicago journalist Hannah Williamson has landed in Senatobia, Mississippi, to care for her bedridden grandmother and endure grunt work…

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Review: The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Review: The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Number-one New York Times best-selling author Kathy Reichs returns with her 20th gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, 15 years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events. On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm…

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Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Publisher: Recorded Books / Poisoned Pen Press Published: June 4, 2019 Source: Audio via Library / Print: Personal copy   Summary: Just when you think you’ve reached the bottom… Ryan DeMarco would rather not go home. Not now, maybe not ever. But when his estranged wife attempts suicide, he has no choice but to return to western Pennsylvania, and all the memories that wait for him there. Unfortunately, it’s not…

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Blog Tour & Review: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (audio)

Blog Tour & Review: Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby (audio)

Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Flatiron Books Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance. Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to…

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Review: Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Review: Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Publisher: Dutton Books Published: June 29, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: It’s November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana’s in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer. Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to…

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Review: The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner (audio)

Review: The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: May 4, 2021 (First published 2001) Source: Publisher   Summary: The past isn’t over…. An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy.…

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Review: A Distant Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor (print/audio)

Review: A Distant Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor (print/audio)

Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Minotaur Books Published: June 22, 2021 Source: ALC via Netgalley / ARC Paperback via Minotaur Books   Summary: In the follow up to the critically acclaimed The Mountains Wild, Detective Maggie D’arcy tackles another intricate case that bridges Long Island and Ireland. Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy and her teenage daughter, Lilly, are still recovering from the events of last fall when a strange new…

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Review: What’s Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh

Review: What’s Done in Darkness by Laura McHugh

Publisher: Random House Published: June 22, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Abducted as a teenager, a woman must now confront her past and untangle the truth of what really happened to her in this dark thriller from the author of The Wolf Wants In. “Laura McHugh expertly delivers a harrowing tale of a world where little is what it first appears to be.”–Ron Rash, bestselling author of Serena Seventeen-year-old Sarabeth has become…

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Review: The Secret Wife by Gill Paul

Review: The Secret Wife by Gill Paul

Publisher: Harper 360 Published: August 25, 2016 Source: Netgalley via Book Club Girl Free Friday Program   Summary: A Russian grand duchess and an English journalist. Linked by one of the world’s greatest mysteries… Love. Guilt. Heartbreak. 1914: Russia is on the brink of collapse, and the Romanov family faces a terrifyingly uncertain future. Grand Duchess Tatiana has fallen in love with cavalry officer Dmitri, but events take a catastrophic…

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Review: One Year Gone by Avery Bishop

Review: One Year Gone by Avery Bishop

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Published: August 10, 2021 Source: ARC Paperback via Author / ARC E-copy via Let’s Talk Books Promo   Summary: A mother will risk everything to find her missing daughter in this twisty thriller from the author of Girl Gone Mad. “Sometimes teenagers run away…Give her a few days. She’ll be back.” That’s what the police tell Jessica Moore when her seventeen-year-old daughter, Wyn, vanishes. All signs point…

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Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (audio)

Review: The Maidens by Alex Michaelides (audio)

Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Celadon Books Published: June 15, 2021 Source: Audio: ALC via Librofm / Print: ARC Paperback via Celadon Books   Summary: Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.…

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Review: Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen

Review: Little Siberia by Antti Tuomainen

Publisher: Orenda Books Published: October 17, 2019 Source: Personal copy   Summary: A man with dark thoughts on his mind is racing along the remote snowy roads of Hurmevaara in Finland, when there is flash in the sky and something crashes into the car. That something turns about to be a highly valuable meteorite. With euro signs lighting up the eyes of the locals, the unexpected treasure is temporarily placed…

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Review: The Last One Home by Victoria Helen Stone

Review: The Last One Home by Victoria Helen Stone

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Published: March 30, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: A razor-sharp novel of suspense about the lies families tell—and those we choose to believe—by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of Jane Doe. Lauren Abrams wants nothing to do with her damaged mother, whose spurious testimony sent Lauren’s father to prison for murder years ago. After a serial killer’s confession to the crime restored justice, Lauren chose to live…

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Book Feature & Review: Amazon Original Stories: House of Crows by Lisa Unger

Book Feature & Review: Amazon Original Stories: House of Crows by Lisa Unger

  Amazon Original Stories, an imprint of Amazon Publishing, is pleased to present House of Crows, a four-part serial collection from master of suspense, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger. Decades ago, four friends came face-to-face with dark events that they couldn’t explain as children and can’t bear to remember as haunted adults. The secrets they’ve tried to repress have lingered, shaping who they’ve become. Now, they’ll return to…

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Review: Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

Review: Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: May 4, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: The brutal murder of a young woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing–but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the small town, is interested in justice for the victim. Lu Fei is a graduate of China’s top police college but he’s been assigned to a sleepy backwater town…

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Review: The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

Review: The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

    Title: The Girl Who Died Author: Ragnar Jonasson, translated by Victoria Cribb Published: May 2021, Minotaur Books Format: ARC Paperback, 320 pages Source: Publisher   Summary: Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the WorldUna wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at…

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Review: Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

Review: Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

Title: Girl in the Mirror Author: Rose Carlyle Published: October 2020, William Morrow Format: Hardcover, 304 pages Source: Publisher via TLC Booktours Summary:  Written with the chilling, twisty suspense of The Wife Between Us and Something in the Water, a seductive debut thriller about greed, lust, secrets, and deadly lies involving identical twin sisters. Twin sisters Iris and Summer are startlingly alike, but beyond what the eye can see lies…

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Review: The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo

Review: The Kingdom by Jo Nesbo

  Title: The Kingdom Author: Jo Nesbo Published: November 2020, Knopf Format: Hardcover, 560 pages Source: Publisher   Summary:  Roy and Carl have spent their whole lives running from the darkness in their past, but when Carl finally returns to make peace with it, the two brothers are inexorably drawn into a reckoning with their own demons. Roy has never left the quiet mountain town he grew up in, unlike…

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Review: The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal

Review: The Doll Factory by Elizabeth Macneal

Title: The Doll Factory Author: Elizabeth Macneal Published: August 2019, Atria/Emily Bestler Books Format: ARC Paperback, 368 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Obsession is an art. In this “sharp, scary, gorgeously evocative tale of love, art, and obsession” (Paula Hawkins, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train), a beautiful young woman aspires to be an artist, while a man’s dark obsession may destroy her world forever. In 1850s London, the…

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