The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner

The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner is the third book that features Boston Sergeant Detective D.D. Warren.  Publisher: Bantam, June 2009

This is what happened…

It was a case guaranteed to spark a media feeding frenzy—a young mother, blond and pretty, disappears without a trace from her South Boston home, leaving behind her four-year-old daughter as the only witness and her handsome, secretive husband as the prime suspect.

In the last six hours…

But from the moment Detective Sergeant D. D. Warren arrives at the Joneses’ snug little bungalow, she senses something off about the picture of wholesome normality the couple worked so hard to create. On the surface, Jason and Sandra Jones are like any other hardworking young couple raising a four-year-old child. But it is just under the surface that things grew murkier.

Of the world as I knew it….

With the clock ticking on the life of a missing woman and the media firestorm building, Jason Jones seems more intent on destroying evidence and isolating his daughter than on searching for his “beloved” wife. Is the perfect husband trying to hide his guilt—or just trying to hide? And will the only witness to the crime be the killer’s next victim?

This thriller had me on the edge of my seat.  It was fast paced with lots of twists and turns. My rating: 4 stars

Long Lost by Harlan Coben

Long Lost by Harlan Coben is the ninth book in the “Myron Bolitar” thriller series. Publisher: Dutton, March 2009

Myron Bolitar hasn’t heard from Terese Collins since their torrid affair ended ten years ago, so her desperate phone call from Paris catches him completely off guard. In a shattering admission, Terese reveals the tragic story behind her disappearance—her struggles to get pregnant, the greatest moment of her life when her baby was born…and the fatal accident that robbed her of it all: her marriage, her happiness and her beloved only daughter.

Now a suspect in the murder of her ex-husband in Paris, Terese has nowhere else to turn for help. Myron heeds the call. But then a startling piece of evidence turns the entire case upside down, laying bare Terese’s long-buried family secrets…and the very real possibility that her daughter may still be alive.

In grave danger from unknown assailants in a country where nothing is as it seems, Myron and Terese race to stay a step ahead of Homeland Security, Interpol, and Mossad. Soon they are working at breakneck pace, not only to learn what really happened to Terese’s long-lost little girl— but to uncover a sinister plot with shocking global implications.

I hesitated reading this book, but oh my gosh, once I read the first sentence, I could not put this book down. It was fast-paced, action oriented and a thrill a minute.  My rating: 4.5 stars

Instant Gratification by Jill Shalvis

Instant Gratification by Jill Shalvis is the second book in the trilogy “Wilder Adventures” romance series.  Publisher: Brava, July 2009

Wishful, California, is 3000 miles from Dr. Emma Sinclair’s last job in a New York City ER. It may as well be another galaxy. Here, running her father’s clinic for a summer, Emma treats bee stings, stomach flu, and the occasional pet cat. Plus, she has to contend with patients like Stone Wilder: gorgeous, laid-back, and irritating beyond belief. The man laughs at her. A lot. And Emma loathes him. All except that tiny part of her that wants to throw him on her examining table and break every doctor-patient rule in the book.

When Stones tries to help Emma learn to loosen up a bit, he pictures white-water rafting or scenic mountain hikes. Not a mind-blowing affair that shakes them both to the core. Emma’s sure she has no place in a town like Wishful, but Stone knows different. Emma belongs here – in this town, in his life. It is convincing that this strong-minded, stubborn, sexy woman of that fact will be a challenge no Wilder man could resist.

This was enjoyable summer read filled with humor and romance.  My rating: 4 stars

Dial Emmy For Murder by Eileen Davidson

Dial Emmy For Murder by Eileen Davidson is the second book in the “Soap Opera” mystery series.  Publisher: Signet, June 2009

Tabloids and fans are stunned when Alexis Peterson leaves her popular show for another soap, but she’s too busy preparing to be a presenter at the Daytime Emmy Awards to even notice. When her co-presenter loses his life before presenting a winner, Alex realizes she has another murder mystery on her hands.

Working behind the scenes to find out how her costar could have met such an end, Alex invites handsome Detective Frank Jakes – a man she can’t stop imagining having a real love scene with – back into her life. But first Alex must focus on finding the killer before she sees another one of the Hollywood’s brightest stars burn out.

This was a great summer read that was very enjoyable.  My rating: 4 stars

The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson

The Missing Ink by Karen E. Olson is the first book in the new “Tattoo Shop” mystery series.   Publisher: Signet,  July 2009

Brett Kavanaugh is a tattoo artist and owner of The Painted Lady, catering to high-profile clients in Las Vegas. But in her free time, she does a little investigating too – because murder really gets under her skin. . . .

When a girl makes an appointment to get devotion ink with the name of her fiancé embedded in a heart, Brett takes the job, but the girl never shows. The next thing Brett knows, the police are looking for her mysterious client and the name she wanted on the tattoo isn’t the name of her fiancé.

An alliance with an unlikely partner leads Brett to a dead body, a suave Englishman, and an Elvis karaoke bar. And who is the tattooed stranger stalking her? Brett draws lines between the clues, unwittingly putting herself in danger. But she intends to see justice done, since death, like a tattoo, is permanent.

This was a very enjoyable story and I look forward to learning more about Brett, her family and her friends.  My rating: 3.5 stars

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly is the second book featuring Jack McEvoy. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, May 2009

Jack McEvoy is at the end of the line as a crime reporter. Forced to take a buy-out from the Los Angeles Times as the newspaper grapples with dwindling revenues, he’s got only a few days left on the job. His last assignment? Training his replacement, a low-cost reporter just out of journalism school. But Jack has other plans for his exit. He is going to go out with a bang — a final story that will win the newspaper journalism’s highest honor — a Pulitzer prize.
 
Jack focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer from the projects who has confessed to police that he brutally raped and strangled one of his crack clients. Jack convinces Alonzo’s mother to cooperate with his investigation into the possibility of her son’s innocence. But she has fallen for the oldest reporter’s trick in the book. Jack’s real intention is to use his access to report and write a story that explains how societal dysfunction and neglect created a 16-year-old killer.

But as Jack delves into the story he soon realizes that Alonzo’s so-called confession is bogus, and Jack is soon off and running on the biggest story he’s had since The Poet crossed his path years before. He reunites with FBI Agent Rachel Walling to go after a killer who has worked completely below police and FBI radar—and with perfect knowledge of any move against him.

What Jack doesn’t know is that his investigation has inadvertently set off a digital tripwire. The killer knows Jack is coming—and he’s ready.

This page-turning thriller kept me up at night because I just had to know what was going to happen next. The plot and characters were strong.  My rating: 4 stars

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews

Six Geese A-Slaying by Donna Andrews is the 10th book in the “Meg Langslow” mystery series.   Publisher: Minotaur Books, October 2008

Meg Langslow and Michael Waterston’s house is serving as the marshaling point for the annual Caerphilly Christmas parade. The theme is “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” and it features twelve drummers from the school marching band, eleven bagpipers, ten leaping lords costumed in medieval finery from the college drama department, etc. There are also assorted Christmas-themed floats, a live nativity scene on a flatbed truck, the Three Wise Men on Caerphilly zoo camels, and Santa Claus in a bright red horse-drawn sleigh (eight reindeer were beyond the zoo’s scope).

Meg has been volunteered to organize the parade, which is to proceed from her house to the local campus, where Santa will take up residence to hear the Christmas wishes of the town’s children. Of course, getting all the camels, pipers, leapers, and drummers in order is proving every bit as difficult as Meg feared it would be. Then her nephew Eric, wide-eyed and ashen-faced, whispers, “Meg, something’s wrong with Santa.”

The local curmudgeon, whose beard and belly made him a natural for the role, has been murdered. Now Meg and Chief Burke, who is playing one of the wise men, are faced with the two-fold mission of solving the murder and saving Christmas!

Readers can look forward to another zany Meg Langslow mystery—this one filled with outrageous Christmas spirit…and mayhem.

This is the second book in the series that I’ve read and I love Meg and her zany family.  These books have comedic outtakes that makes it a fun book to read. My rating: 4 stars

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss by Kyra Davis

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss by Kyra Davis is the fourth book in the “Sophie Katz” chick-lit mystery series. Publisher: Mira, June 2009

Mystery writer and dabbling recreational sleuth Sophie Katz is head over heels in love—with a three-bedroom Victorian. She’s just got to have it, despite a few drawbacks. Her slimy ex is the Realtor. The rich, creepy seller wants her to join San Francisco’s spirited Specter Society. And her first tour of the house reveals, well, a lifeless body clutching a cameo with a disturbing history of its own.

There’s no way Sophie is going to give up the ghost on her dreams of stained glass and original woodwork, though—even when things become officially weird. A Society member is found with a slashed throat, and Sophie’s house might as well be yelling, “GET…OUT!” She’s hearing footsteps, lights are turning themselves off and her stuff keeps moving inexplicably. To top it off, boyfriend Anatoly thinks it’s all in her head.

Sophie is 99 percent sure her problems are caused by someone six feet tall instead of six feet under, but the only way to be sure is to track down the killer—before he pushes her kicking and screaming to the other side….

This was a fun book to read. I enjoyed the antics of Sophie and her friends.  I started this book in the morning and finished it within 24 hours simply because I could not stop turning the pages. There is so much in this book, suspense, romance, mystery, friendship and family drama.  My rating: 4 stars

Beneath Bone Lake by Colleen Thompson

Beneath Bone Lake by Colleen Thompson  Heroine: Ruby Monroe; Hero: Sam McCoy; Location: Bone Lake, Texas Publisher: Love Spell, May 2009

Ruby Monroe knows she’s way out of her depth the minutes she lays eyes on Sam McCoy.  She’s been warned to steer clear of this neighbor, the sexy bad boy with a criminal past.  But wither four-year-old daughter missing, her home incinerated and her own life threatened by a tattooed gunman, where else can she turn?  Drowning in the flood of emotion unleashed by their mind-blowing encounters, Ruby is horrified to learn an unidentified body has been dredged up, the local sheriff is somehow involved, and Sam hasn’t told her all he knows.  Has she put her trust in the wrong man and jeopardized her very survival by uncovering secrets…

This action-packed romantic suspense story kept me turning the page until the conclusion.  Very enjoyable story, with all that I like: mystery, suspense and romance.  My rating: 4 stars

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews

Cockatiels at Seven by Donna Andrews is the ninth book in the “Meg Langslow” mystery series. Publisher: Minotaur Books, July 2008

When her old friend Karen drops by with her two-year-old son, Timmy, Meg Langslow reluctantly agrees to babysit ”just for a little while.”  But when nightfall comes, the toddler is still in residence and Karen isn’t answering any phone calls.  Meg decides she must find out what’s happening, so the next morning, with Timmy in tow, she retraces her friend’s footsteps and begins to suspect that Karen’s disappearance is tied to at least one serious crime.  Has Karen been killed or kidnapped?  Is she on the run from the bad guys?  Or is she one of the bad guys?  The police don’t seem to care, so Meg once again plays sleuth – this time with a toddler as her sidekick.

As usual, Meg’s extended family adds to the complications in her life.  What covert animal welfare project are Dad and the curmudgeonly zoologist Dr. Montgomery Blake working on – and will Meg have to make another late-night trip to bail them out of jail?  Why does Meg’s brother keep disappearing – is he merely trying to avoid babysitting, or is he involved in something more mysterious?  Will taking care of Timmy dampen newly married Meg and Michael’s enthusiasm for starting a family of their own?  And are any of Meg’s relatives reliable enough to be trusted with a two-year-old – especially a two-year-old whose whereabouts might be of interests to some very dangerous people?

Donna Andrews once again proves her skill as one of the funniest, most entertaining mystery authors around.

This was a fun book which I liked a lot and I especially love her quirky family especially her father.   My rating: 4 stars

*new-to-me author