Monday, September 1, 2014

Books Read August 2014

Befeler, Mike
  • Cruising in Your Eighties Is Murder
Fiction.  Fourth installment in the Geezer-Lit cozy mystery series about Paul Jacobson, an 80-something man with short-term memory who is on a cruise to Alaska with his bride, Marion.  Even before he boards the ship, he stumbles into trouble when he finds a dead homeless man in a garden.  A man he had just had an argument with.

Berry, Steve
  • The Alexandria Link
Fiction.  Second in the Cotton Malone mystery/thriller series.  Cotton is surprised to see his ex-wife, Pam, in Copenhagen.  She has come for his help.  Their son has been kidnapped, and they  must put aside their animosity toward each other to try to rescue him.  Part of his ransom is to find the location of the ancient Library of Alexandria, and Cotton and Pam race from country to country to find the solution to the clues, while the Israeli, Arabian and even the American governments all seek to obtain the location, putting everyone in grave danger.

  • The Templar Legacy 
Fiction.  First in the Cotton Malone adventure series.  Cotton, and American ex-government agent now owns a bookshop in Copenhagen, Denmark.  His former boss, Stephanie Nelle, is in Denmark to buy an antique book, but has decided to work with another bookseller in obtaining it, which raises Cotton’s interest.  He is further involved in her business when a thief grabs her bag and runs off with it.  Cotton, upon seeing what happened, races after the man, only to see him plummet to his death soon after.  The look of peace on the thief’s face seems oddly curious, and Cotton is swept into an intriguing, and centuries-old, mystery.  

  • The Venetian Betrayal 
Fiction.  Third in the Cotton Malone mystery/thriller series.  Cotton once again teams up with Henrick, Cassiopeia and Stephanie to stop the Supreme Minister of the Central Asian Federation, who fights with no rules, kills indiscriminately and plans on using biochemical weapons of mass destruction to get her way.  At the root of the mystery is the location of the tomb of Alexander the Great and what the elephant medallion coins were used for.

Bevill, C.L.
  • Amber Moon
Fiction.  Second in the Moon trilogy of Cat Clan shifters.  Mirie and Jack have been sent to keep an eye on an elvish prince.  A hot elvish prince.  When his bodyguards chase them down, Jack escapes, but Mirie is captured and is taken to the elven realm to face the king.  She explains that she is searching for the Eyes of the Amber Moon, a quest that will challenge her life, while at the same time revealing secrets about her own heritage.

  • Arcanorum 
Fiction.  Third in the Lake People paranormal trilogy.  A woman is hit by a truck and taken to a local hospital, where she finds that she has no memory of who she is or what her past is.  The fact that she has also been beaten and is wearing handcuffs deepens the mystery.  The doctors try to help, to no avail.  One day, she is shocked to find a note under her meal tray telling her that she is in grave danger, so flee the hospital she must.  Can he get to her in time to save her?  Or will the bayou magic be too much for them?

  • Black Moon 
Fiction.  First in the Moon trilogy of the Cat Clan shifters.  Donovan watches from the trees as Isabella runs past him as fast as she can.  On her heels are some of the Whitelaw werewolves to reclaim what she has stolen.  In scenting her, Donovan realizes he has no choice but to try to save her, as he is well aware that she is his mate.

  • Blood Moon 
Fiction.  Second in the Cat Clan shifter series.  Sage is taking a couple of days off from college and her jobs to head up into the Colorado Rockies for an overnight camping trip.  As she hikes up the trail, enjoying her time alone and all the fresh air, a warning shouts in her head.  She’s in trouble!  She drops her backpack and grabs a large branch lying on the ground and runs back down the trail.  But she’s too slow, and a heavy body crashes into her, and a blindingly painful wrench on her calf.  She’s been bitten!

  • Crescent Moon 
Fiction.  Third in the Cat Clan shifter series.  After the seige at the facility in Wyoming, Ula is desperate to find her sister.  Although all of the living weres have been evacuated from the underground building, and after being warned not to by Killian, she rushes back inside to find any records that might tell her where her sister has been taken to.  The Council has its own agenda and has set explosives through the tunnels that are set to go off any minute.  Killian is aware of the danger but runs back in after the wolf-shifter to get her safely out.

  • Crimson Bayou 
Fiction.  Second in the Mignon Thibeaux mystery series set in the bayou country of Louisiana.  Mignon’s and John Henry’s relationship continues to have problems, as the two can never seem to communicate properly with each other.  John Henry’s rigid sense of right and wrong versus Mignon’s stubborn independence and struggle to get over the past collide time and again.  While Mignon is out in the bayou taking photographs of the sun filtering through the trees, she feels a bump against her leg and fears the worst.  But rather than an alligator, it’s the hand of young woman floating in the water, a rope still tied around her neck.

  • Hunter’s Moon 
Fiction.  Fourth in the Cat Clan shifter series.  Claire had been abducted from her Canadian wilderness home with her sister and taken to an unused military base in Wyoming.  While Ula is left behind, Claire is taken to Paris and dumped in a cage far below Paris in the catacombs, kept prisoner by the Council who will use her to bait her father, the Bloodletter, to come looking for her.  Once there, the Council plans to use him as an example to other weres who oppose the Council.  But there are a few there who despise the Council’s avaricious and cruel tactics, and one in particular will do whatever he can to free Claire and support her father.

  • Mountains of Dreams 
Fiction.  Book two in an apocalyptic YA series.  Sophie reaches Washington, D.C. with the intent of speaking with the new president about all the changes in the country and the new creatures that have appeared.  What she finds is chaos and the power-hungry man who believes his personal power is more important than the people and creatures he is supposed  to govern.  When Sophie finds out that he has been kidnapping people and creatures, she gathers forces to go against him, wanting to show everyone the kind of man he really is.  Putting herself in danger is a byproduct of her quest, but she has a job to do and won’t quit until she’s accomplished it.

  • Sea of Dreams
Fiction.  First in an apocalyptic YA series starring 17-year-old Sophie who goes hiking with her father only to wake up the next day and find that he is missing.  Unable to find him, she sets out on a journey to find someone to help her and runs across strange new creatures and a psychopath before she finds others like herself who have been left behind in this strange new world.

  • Silver Moon
Fiction.  Third in the Moon trilogy of the Cat Clan shifters.  Jack Drake must continue on where his former partner, Mirie, has left off and track down the location of the Silver Moon’s Mystery, one relic of a trio that can cause the obliteration of the world.  The problem is that the Whitelaw clan of werewolves are also after the item, and Jack must think on his feet to stay alive long enough to find and recover the Mystery.  A not-so-friendly black and white cat seems to be helping him, though the connection he feels for the feline confuse him greatly and might cost him his life.

Blackwell, Juliet
  • A Vision in Velvet 
Fiction.  Six in the paranormal cozy mystery series starring Lily Ivory, owner of a vintage clothing shop in San Francisco.  Lily buys a trunk full of old clothing, and nothing is of value except for the gold velvet cape she gets a strong feeling for.  The cape takes her back in time to the witch trials of 17th century Massachusetts and whirls her into a new mystery, in which the life of her beloved familiar is in jeopardy.

Dugan, Ellen
  • Practical Prosperity Magick
Non-fiction.  Theory, lessons and rituals on the history and practice of prosperity magick.

Harwin, Patricia
  • Slaying is Such Sweet Sorrow
Fiction.  Second in the cozy mystery series set in Far Wychwood, England.  American Catherine Penny has fled to England after the demise of her marriage and has settled into a quaint village in the beautiful countryside.  Though she has no interest in seeing her ex-husband and his current girlfriend who have shown up to visit their daughter, Catherine is persuaded to attend a gathering at the college where her son-in-law teaches.  He is due to receive the nomination for head of the department, but things turn sideways when the detestable Edgar Stone wins the chair.  His troubles only increase when Edgar is found dead, and Catherine’s son-in-law is the prime suspect in his murder.

Shaber, Sarah
  • Simon Said
Fiction.  First in a cozy mystery series starring history professor Simon Shaw who works at a small NC university.  While dealing with clinical depression after his wife left him, he’s called upon by a fellow professor to identify the body of a woman found buried on campus 50 years prior.  Rooting through old documents and files, Simon believes he knows who the body belongs to, a murdered young woman whose family used to own the property the university now sits on.  But Simon can’t let things go with just that.  He wants to know who put the bullet hole in her head, and that leads to danger for the professor.

Winspear, Jacqueline
  • Maisie Dobbs

Fiction.  First in a cozy mystery series starring Maisie Dobbs, investigator and former WWI nurse.  From her humble beginnings as the daughter of a costermonger (fruit and vegetable vendor), Maisie intelligence and quick wit leads her on a journey into the patronage of Lady Rowan, who introduces her to the man who will become her mentor as she goes off to university.  Her plans changed when the Great War began, and she felt the need to do something more for her country.