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Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mystery. Show all posts

Monday, March 13, 2023

Review & Excerpt: A Tempest at Sea by Sherry Thomas


Series:
Lady Sherlock #7
Read As A Stand Alone: Not recommended
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 14, 2023
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Charlotte Holmes’s brilliant mind and deductive skills are pulled into a dangerous investigation at sea in the new mystery in the bestselling Lady Sherlock series.

After feigning her own death in Cornwall to escape from Moriarty’s perilous attention, Charlotte Holmes goes into hiding. But then she receives a tempting offer: Find a dossier the crown is desperately seeking to recover, and she might be able to go back to a normal life.

Her search leads her aboard the RMS Provence, sailing from Southampton for the eastern hemisphere. But on the night Charlotte makes her move to retrieve the dossier, in the midst of a terrifying storm in the Bay of Biscay, a brutal murder also takes place on the ship.

Instead of solving the crime, as she is accustomed to doing, Charlotte must take care not to be embroiled in this investigation, lest it become known to those who harbor ill intentions that Sherlock Holmes is abroad and still very much alive.

Thursday, January 5, 2023

Review & Excerpt: Sleep No More by Jayne Ann Krentz


Series:
Lost Night Files #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 3rd, 2023
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Seven months ago, Pallas Llewellyn, Talia March, and Amelia Rivers were strangers, until their fateful stay at the Lucent Springs Hotel. An earthquake and a fire partially destroyed the hotel, but the women have no memory of their time there. Now close friends, the three women co-host a podcast called the Lost Night Files, where they investigate cold cases and hope to connect with others who may have had a similar experience to theirs—an experience that has somehow enhanced the psychic abilities already present in each woman.

After receiving a tip for their podcast, Pallas travels to the small college town of Carnelian, California, to explore an abandoned asylum. Shaken by the dark energy she feels in the building, she is rushing out when she’s stopped by a dark figure—who turns out to be the women's mysterious tipster.

Ambrose Drake is certain he’s a witness to a murder, but without a body, everyone thinks he’s having delusions caused by extreme sleep deprivation. But Ambrose is positive something terrible happened at the Carnelian Sleep Institute the night he was there. Unable to find proof on his own, he approaches Pallas for help, only for her to realize that Ambrose, too, has a lost night that he can’t remember—one that may be connected to Pallas. Pallas and Ambrose conduct their investigation using the podcast as a cover, and while the townsfolk are eager to share what they know, it turns out there are others who are not so happy about their questions—and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.

Friday, October 28, 2022

Review & Excerpt: Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin


Publisher:
Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: October 25th, 2022
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps the deputy sheriff to piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas, and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog Huck discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she’s perplexed but she carefully photographs it all the same.

All Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker—with her designer jeans and expensive car— who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her discovery on the trail, he sees there’s more to her than meets the eye.

Ava’s discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022

Review: Trapper Road by Rachel Caine and Carrie Ryan


Series:
Stillhouse Lake #6
Read As A Stand Alone: Not recommended
Publisher: Rachel Caine, LLC
Source: author assistant in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 2nd, 2022
Buying Links: Amazon* |  * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Sometimes danger comes from the most unexpected places.

Gwen Proctor has always been willing to do anything it takes to protect her kids. But there are some things even she can’t protect them from. When a violent incident at Connor’s school brings the press to Gwen’s doorstep, she agrees to take a case out of town hoping to keep her family out of the crushing media spotlight.

The case is that of a missing girl, last seen getting into a truck with a stranger before disappearing. Gwen has a reputation for finding those who are lost, but this time something is wrong. Her instincts are off, and every clue she uncovers only raises more doubts, not just about the missing girl and the circumstances of her disappearance, but also about the fragile safety Gwen’s created for her family.

The closer she comes to uncovering the truth, the more she unwittingly puts those she loves at risk. Someone from Gwen’s past doesn’t appreciate the new life she’s built for herself and is willing to do anything it takes to tear it apart. Except this time it isn’t Gwen in the crosshairs, but her partner Sam. Without her instincts to rely on, how can Gwen protect those she loves against an enemy she never sees coming? (less)

Friday, July 1, 2022

Review: Cold in the Shadows by Toni Anderson


Series:
Cold Justice #5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Toni Anderson Inc.
Source: pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Nov. 24th, 2015
Buying Links: Amazon US* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

CIA Officer Patrick Killion needs to figure out if feisty frog biologist, Audrey Lockhart, is a deadly assassin or an innocent scapegoat. And the only way to do that is to gain her trust, and then betray it.

Attacked and left for dead, Audrey is forced to put her trust in an enigmatic stranger who saves her from certain death. Then Audrey discovers her rescue was actually an abduction, and the man she thought was her savior is her captor.

Killion is falling hard and fast for his target and suddenly he has his hands full, dealing with a smart, beautiful woman who is furious at his deception. Betrayal is everywhere and Killion doesn't know who to trust. The organization he works for? Or the woman he's falling in love with?

Monday, January 17, 2022

Review & Excerpt: Lightning In A Mirror by Jayne Ann Krentz


Series:
Fogg Lake #3
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes, but not recommended
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 18th, 2022
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo 
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publicist:

New York Times bestselling romantic thriller writer Jayne Ann Krentz returns this fall with the explosive final installment of her chilling Fogg Lake trilogy. Whispers of the elusive Vortex lab have erupted the paranormal underground into chaos, and it is up to psychics Olivia LeClair and Harlan Rancourt to find it before its immense power falls into the wrong hands in LIGHTNING IN A MIRROR.

Private Investigator Olivia LeClair wasn’t sure what to expect when she signed up for the Four Event Success Guaranteed speed dating package, but a run-in with a serial killer certainly wasn’t on the list. Thinking it couldn’t get much stranger than that, Olivia decides to give it another shot. Of course, when you’re a powerful aura reader from a mysterious town buried under government conspiracies, strange doesn’t even begin to cover it.

So, when Harlan Rancourt, a man long thought to be dead, shows up at the next round of speed dating, she takes it in stride. After years on the run from the Foundation, a shadowy organization that both protects and polices psychics, Harlan is sure he’s finally found a lead on the mysterious Vortex, which played a role in permanently altering the DNA of every resident in Fogg Lake. He’s convinced that Olivia, a direct descendent of powerful oracles in Fogg Lake, is the only one who can help him locate the lab.

Olivia isn’t convinced. She’s not an oracle, and though she has powerful psychic energy, so do plenty of others. She doesn’t even know if she can trust Harlan. Though he looks perfectly “average” on the surface, Olivia immediately sensed he was far more powerful than the Foundation knew—and there was a very real possibility that he only resurfaced to claim leadership of the Foundation for himself. But when Harlan tells Olivia that Vortex may be the key to uncovering her mother’s killer, she has no choice but to follow him into the depths of danger and secrecy before those hunting the lab—and the oracle at its center—catch up to them.

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Review, Excerpt & Giveaway: Her Second Death by Melinda Leigh



Series:
Bree Taggert #.5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Amazon Original Stories
Source: Publicist in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Dec. 7th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | * affiliate link; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through this link.

Blurb from goodreads:

In this short-story prequel to the Bree Taggert series by #1 Amazon Charts and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh, a murder investigation yields parallels to the Philly detective’s own frightening past.

When a man is shot in the head, Bree Taggert and her new partner, veteran detective Dana Romano, respond to the call. They break the news to the victim’s ex-wife and learn the estranged couple’s five-year-old daughter was supposed to have been with him. What starts as a murder investigation quickly morphs into a desperate search for a missing child. The case stirs memories of Bree’s own traumatizing childhood. To find the little girl, Bree will have to relive her own terrifying past. 

Friday, November 19, 2021

Review and Excerpt: Guild Boss by Jayne Castle


Series:
Ghost Hunters #14
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Berkley Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Nov. 16th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Welcome to Illusion Town on the colony world of Harmony—like Las Vegas on Earth, but way more weird.

Living in this new, alien world doesn’t stop the settlers from trying to re-create what they’ve left behind. Case in point—weddings are still the highlight of any social calendar. But it’s the after-party that turns disastrous for Lucy Bell. Kidnapped and drugged as she leaves the party, she manages to escape—only to find herself lost in the mysterious, alien underground maze of glowing green tunnels beneath Illusion Town. She’s been surviving on determination and cold pizza, scavenged for her by a special dust bunny, when help finally shows up.

Gabriel Jones is the Guild Hunter sent to rescue her, but escaping the underground ruins isn’t the end of her troubles—it’s only the beginning. With no rational reason for her abduction, and her sole witness gone on another assignment for the Guild, whispers start circulating that Lucy made it all up. Soon her life unravels until she has nothing left but her pride. The last thing she expects is for Gabriel Jones to come back to town for her.

The Lucy that Gabriel finds is not the same woman he rescued, the one who looked at him as if he were her hero. This Lucy is sharp, angry, and more than a little cynical—instead of awe, she treats him with extreme caution. But a killer is still hunting her, and there aren’t a lot of options when it comes to heroes. Despite her wariness, Gabriel is also the one person who believes Lucy—after all, he was there. He’s determined to help clear her reputation, no matter what it takes. And as the new Guild Boss, his word is law, even in the lawlessness of Illusion Town.

Thursday, August 12, 2021

Bea Reviews Dangerous Ground by Rachel Grant


Series:
Fiona Carver #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Montlake
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: August 17th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Author site | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In the remote and unpredictable Aleutians, danger comes without warning in an adrenaline rush of a novel by USA Today bestselling author Rachel Grant.

Archaeologist Fiona Carver has unfinished business in the Aleutian Islands. After an emergency evacuation cut her first expedition short, she’s finally back. But time is not on her side as she races to finish documenting the remnants of a prehistoric village, recover missing artifacts, and track down missing volcanologist Dylan Slater.

Having bluffed his way onto Fiona’s team with fake credentials, wildlife photographer Dean Slater is willing to risk more than federal prison to find his missing brother, but he needs Fiona’s help. She knows the inhospitable terrain better than anyone.

When the two set out together on a perilous journey, it becomes more than a recovery mission. In their fight for survival, nature isn’t the only threat. They aren’t the only ones on the hunt. Mile by dangerous mile, someone is hunting them.

Friday, April 2, 2021

Review & Excerpt: The Setup by Carol Ericson


Series:
A Kyra and Jake Investigation #1
Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Ebook April 1, 2021 / MMP March 30, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | IndieBoundKobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

With a serial killer on the loose… 

Secrets get you killed.

Detective Jake McAllister isn’t aware Kyra Chase is connected to a twenty-year-old unsolved murder. He sees his new case partner only as an unwelcome distraction. But with the body count rising, they’ll need to trust each other to help them catch a killer who seems to know more about Kyra than Jake does.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the A Kyra and Jake Investigation series by Carol Ericson:

Book 1: The Setup

Heartfelt or thrilling, passionate or uplifting—our romances have it all. Visit TryHarlequin.com to sample FREE books from among 12 different series. It’s just a taste of the new books published each month—every story a journey guaranteed to leave you with That Harlequin Feeling.

Monday, March 22, 2021

Review & Excerpt: Flight by Laura Griffin


Series:
The Texas Murder Files #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 30th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she's decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren't asleep – they've been murdered.

Detective Joel Breda sets out to find answers – not only about the unidentified victims in the marshy death scene, but also about the aloof and beautiful photographer who seems to know more about his investigation than he does.

As they begin to unravel the motivation of a merciless serial killer, Miranda and Joel must race against the clock to make an arrest before the killer can find them first.


Monday, February 1, 2021

Bea Reviews A Stranger in Town by Kelley Armstrong


Series:
Rockton #6
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes, but not recommended
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Feb. 9th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's next Rockton book, A Stranger in Town, the biggest mystery is the fate of the town itself.

Detective Casey Duncan has noticed fewer and fewer residents coming in to the hidden town of Rockton, and no extensions being granted. Her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, presumes it’s the natural flux of things, but Casey’s not so sure. Something bigger is happening in the small town they call home.

When an injured hiker stumbles from the woods, the sole survivor of a hostile attack, it’s all hands on deck. Even a member of the elusive Rockton council comes in to help. This council member also comes bearing news: Rockton is being shut down due to the hostile situation.

Casey and Eric must now race to save the town that has allowed residents to have a fresh start, away from the mistakes of their past, while also getting to the bottom of this latest attack.

Tuesday, January 26, 2021

Review & Giveaway: Pursuit Of The Truth by K.D. Richards



Series: West Investigations #1
Publisher: 
Harlequin Intrigue 
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 26th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google BooksHarlequin | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

His skills can keep her safe.

Her secrets could get them killed…

Security expert Ryan West’s worst fears come to life when hotel CEO Nadia Shelton is pushed in front of a taxi and nearly killed. Someone will do whatever it takes to find the brother Nadia thought was dead, and the only way Ryan can protect her as they uncover the truth is to stay strictly professional. But the sparks igniting between them are nearly impossible to ignore.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the West Investigations series by K.D. Richards:

Book 1: Pursuit of the Truth

Monday, January 25, 2021

Bea Reviews Cry Wolf by Charlie Adhara


Series:
Big Bad Wolf #5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes but not recommended
Publisher: Carina Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Jan. 18th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Google Books | Kobo
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Don’t miss this thrilling installment in Charlie Adhara’s suspenseful paranormal mystery series, Big Bad Wolf.

Agent Cooper Dayton never thought anything could be harder than solving murders. Until he had to plan a wedding.

After taking down an old adversary, Agent Cooper Dayton of the Bureau of Special Investigations has earned a break. Not that planning a wedding to his sexy shifter partner, Oliver Park, is necessarily stress free, but it’s better than worrying about the ominous warning, delivered months ago, that Cooper’s life is in danger.

When he’s dragged to an event by his family, Cooper braces for an awkward evening, but instead finds himself in the middle of an ugly feud between Park’s ex and a rebel pack leader. What was supposed to be a quick outing turns into a full-blown murder investigation after the pack leader ends up dead, Park’s ex goes missing, and Cooper and Park are sent a series of disturbing wedding gifts that are somehow connected to it all.

The list of potential suspects is long, and with the bodies piling up, Cooper must turn to the one person he trusts the least: the villain he’s already put behind bars once and who has nothing to lose by lying and everything to gain if Cooper is out of the picture—for good.

Thursday, January 21, 2021

Bea Reviews Lethal Intent by Cara Putman


Publisher:
Thomas Nelson
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 12th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When Caroline takes a job with a promising medical start-up, she believes she’s on the side of angels . . . until she’s asked to go too far.

When the judge she’s clerked for dies, Caroline Bragg starts over as in-house counsel for a pharmaceutical start-up working on innovative adult stem cell research with the potential to save thousands of lives. But when her charismatic new boss ignores her legal advice, Caroline's left unsettled. Then the company launches into headlines when a furious family demands answers regarding how the start-up used their deceased relative’s cells for innovation—with neither informed consent nor agreement for compensation. Caroline must defend the work of the company even as she realizes informed consent couldn’t have been given and the business is operating on questionable legal and ethical grounds.

Caroline’s friend Brandon Lancaster is at risk of losing his life’s work—a group foster care called Almost Home that has provided for sibling groups needing a landing place. He’s desperate for a solution, but then the pharmaceutical company’s he invested his last dime in is losing value fast. He’s been counting on the eventual sale of the start-up to save Almost Home, but with every other effort failing, he’s out of options and out of time.

With the start-up in trouble, Caroline's and Brandon’s problems intersect. He needs the story to end so he can salvage his investment, and she wants the truth to come out. Will their relationship survive? And will they survive the changes that are inevitably headed their way?

Monday, January 18, 2021

Bea Reviews Leave No Trace by Sara Driscoll


Series:
FBI K-9 #5
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Kensington Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Dec. 29th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

FBI handler Meg Jennings and her search-and-rescue K-9 partner are heading south where it’s hunting season. But this time the prey is human.

One arrow through the heart could be a tragic hunting accident. A second one, within days, looks more like a crime. That’s when Meg Jennings and Brian Foster of the FBI’s Forensic Canine Unit head to Georgia to investigate. With their dogs Hawk and Lacey, Meg and Brian are enlisted to follow the scent of a killer. At first, nothing seems to connect the two victims–a county commissioner and State Patrol officer. But the blood sport around the southern town of Blue Ridge is just beginning.

As the body count rises, the compound bow killer becomes even more elusive, appearing and vanishing like a ghost. However, with each new slaying Meg is beginning to suspect the grim design that’s escalating in the shadows. At its heart, a tragic event that reaches back nearly two centuries in Georgia’s history is now turning Blue Ridge into a hunting ground. But as Meg gets closer to solving the puzzle, the closer she is to stepping into the crosshairs of an elusive murderer with deadly aim, and motives as deep and dark as the woods

Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Review & Excerpt: Agent Under Siege by Lena Diaz



Series:
The Justice Seekers #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Harlequin
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: January 1st, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | BooksAMillion | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | IndieBound |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

Can they outsmart a killer …who’s already escaped justice?

The Kentucky Ripper is in prison…or is he? When no one will help Teagan Ray find the man who really abducted her, former profiler Bryson Anton agrees to investigate. But soon their search takes two jolting turns—brutal attacks from a cunning suspect…and a powerful mutual attraction.

Thursday, December 31, 2020

Bea Reviews The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman


Series:
The Invisible Library #7
Read As A Stand Alone: Possible, but not recommended
Publisher: Ace
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 29th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.

Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they both narrowly avoid getting killed in an assassination attempt, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left - especially when the assassins keep coming for them, and for Irene's other friends as well...

In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever.

Tuesday, December 29, 2020

Bea Reviews Take It Back by Kia Abdullah


Series:
Zara Kaleel #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

From author Kia Abdullah, Take It Back is a harrowing and twisting courtroom thriller that keeps you guessing until the last page is turned.

One victim. Four accused. Who is telling the truth?

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a brilliant legal career. But her decisions came at a high cost, and now, battling her own demons, she has exchanged her high profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.

When Jodie, a sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does--and she is determined to fight for Jodie--to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.

Monday, December 28, 2020

Bea Reviews Hidden Treasure by Jane K. Cleland


Series: 
Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery #13
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The discovery of a mysterious antique trunk leads to a disappearance--and murder--in the latest in this beloved cozy series set on the rugged New Hampshire coast, Jane K. Cleland's Hidden Treasure.

When antiques expert Josie Prescott finds a mysterious trunk, no one thinks it could lead to murder. Josie, the owner of Prescott's Antiques & Auctions, and her new husband, Ty, have finally found their dream home, a Victorian beauty on the beach known in the town of Rocky Point as the "Gingerbread House." It was recently vacated by Maudie Wilson, an aging widow, whose concerned nieces have moved her into a nearby assisted living facility. Josie befriends Maudie, who seems surprisingly sharp, considering her family's doubts about her soundness of mind.

As Josie and Ty joyfully begin renovations on the Gingerbread House, the nieces report that Maudie, in her forgetfulness, may have left behind an old trunk, which she's desperate to get back. Sure enough, Josie finds the trunk inside a hidden compartment, and within it a jewel-encrusted box holding a sculpture of a cat. Josie can understand the sense of urgency about getting the objects back--they look valuable, and not just in the sentimental sense.

But when Josie goes to return the box to Maudie, the woman has vanished. And on the floor of her empty apartment lies a corpse, a woman bludgeoned to death. Sick with worry for Maudie's safety, Josie begins to piece together the clues to the murder. Everyone around her seems to want to pitch in, from Maudie's family, to the receptionist at the facility, to the young couple helping Josie with her renovations, but with the killer so close to home, Josie has to be on her guard.