Saturday, September 3, 2016

Just Jennifer

New in September...

Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton
Hamish Wolfe is serving a life’s sentence, convicted of killing four women, one whose body was never found, but claims to be innocent of all the killings.  He turns to famed defense attorney and true crime author Maggie Rose to tell his story and help him overturn his conviction, but Maggie is uncertain about even talking to Wolfe, never mind helping him prove his innocence.  Slowly, though, Maggie begins to visit Wolfe and in talking to the police involved in his investigation, she, almost unwittingly changes her mind as she is drawn into a cat and mouse chase but it becomes more and more difficult to determine who is the prey and who is doing the stalking.  The plot is so carefully put together that it is unlikely anyone will see the ending coming and many readers will find themselves turning to page one once all is revealed in this cunning thriller.

Stripped Bare by Shannon Baker
Kate Fox is very content in her life in the Nebraska Sandhills.  She lives on her husband’s family’s cattle ranch Frog Creek and has grown to all the tasks, including calving, involved in running the ranch while her husband Ted Connor is Grand County Sheriff.  Married less than ten years, the couple has no children, but are guardians to Carly, Kate’s teenaged niece whose sister Glenda was one of nine children in the Fox Clan who know almost everyone and everything in the county.  Carly, almost an adult, has been causing Kate some worries lately, but Kate chooses to let her find her own way until Kate receives a call from Roxy, Carly’s step-mother and high school sweetheart of Ted, that Carly’s grandfather Eldon has been murdered on his ranch, Bar J.  Ted has also been shot and is at the hospital and may never walk again.  Attending to her husband becomes Kate’s number one priority until she learns that Ted responded so quickly to the Bar J because he was in Roxy’s house, specifically her bed, in the house that is on the same piece of property as the Bar J.  Now Carly is missing which Kate thinks at first is just to mourn the death of her grandfather until she learns that Eldon was considering selling his ranch to a controversial developer, the ranch Carly will inherit in two weeks that Roxy controls until then.  Conflicted about her relationship with her husband, who is running for reelection, and concerned for Carly’s safety, Kate finds herself on the trail of a killer and in her search finds peace with what she knows she needs to do next in her life.  This strong heroine and her extended family will be an appealing new heroine and readers will be eager to learn what she’ll do next.

The Risen by Ron Rash
Forty-six summers ago brothers Eugene and Bill meet the beguiling Ligeia at a swimming hole in their small North Carolina backyard.  Events during that summer take an unexpected turn and have long-lasting effects on the two brothers, their differences even more pronounced than before.  As the swimming hole gives up the secrets it has held all these summers, the boys, now men, must come to terms with what happened that summer, how those events, and their recollections of them, shaped their lives.  Shimmering prose and a narrative with a dream-like quality make this a truly gorgeous book to be savored.

The Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

Best-selling author Karin Slaughter returns to her Will Trent and Sara Linton series with perhaps her most shocking and chilling tale yet.  Atlanta Bureau of Investigations officer Will is called to a crime scene where an ex-Atlanta cop has been found dead.  Dean Harding was a mediocre, perhaps even dirty cop, and no one is surprised, nor saddened to hear of his death.  But medical Sara Linton finds that most of the blood at the scene is not Harding’s but a different type, and from the detritus found at the scene, most likely that of a woman, a woman who if is not found shortly will bleed to death.  ABI working with APD make two more startling discoveries:  the warehouse where the body and blood were found is about to be developed and ownership can be traced back to a basketball player who was investigated by Will and accused of a brutal rape only to have the witness not follow through with her story; a gun found at the scene can be traced back to Will’s estranged wife Angie.  Angie and Will grew up together in a children’s home together forming an unhealthy alliance, then marriage.  Angie has always been Will’s Achilles’ heel and though they have been apart for years he has never divorced her, but is ready to now that he is in a relationship with Sara, one that both think can be permanent.   Angie has been leaving threatening notes on Sara’s car and has broken into Will’s house more than once.  Now Sara learns more details about Angie’s stalking that sets her back on her heels and makes her question Will and their relationship.  Will knows he needs not to investigate this case, but he also knows he needs to find Angie and find out if she is dead so he can put an end to their relationship once and for all.  Fast-paced and intricate, The Kept Woman starts off at breakneck speed and doesn’t let up until the final shocking twists and a chilling ending that promises much, much more. 

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