Chosen Prey by John Sandford is the 12th book in the “The Prey” thriller series. Publisher: Putnam, May 2001

He desired women. All shapes, all sizes. He would fix on a woman and build imaginary stories around her. Some of the women he knew well, others not at all. Most of them faded quickly. Only a few became objects of desire.

An art history professor and writer and cheerful pervert, James Qatar had a hobby: he took secret photographs of women and turned them into highly sexual drawings. One day, he took the hobby a step further and… well, one thing led to another, and he had to kill her. A man in his position couldn’t be too careful, after all. And you know something? He liked it.

Already faced with a welter of confusion in his personal life, Deputy Chief Lucas Davenport decides to take this case himself, hoping that some straightforward police work will clear his head, but as the trail begins to take some unexpected turns, it soon becomes clear that nothing is straightforward about this killer. The man is learning as he goes, Lucas realizes, taking great strides forward with each murder. He is becoming a monster—and Lucas may have no choice but to walk right into his lair…

Filled with the rich characterization and detail and the exceptional drama that have become Sandford’s trademarks, Chosen Prey is high-octane all the way, a masterpiece of suspense.

This is another great book in the Prey series. My rating: 4.5 stars

Howl Deadly by Linda O. Johnston is the 8th book in the “Kendra Ballantyne” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), December 2009

L.A. attorney and pet-sitter Kenda Ballantyne lives up to her “murder magnet” nickname when a sexy weekend in the San Bernandino Mountains turns deadly. And worst of all, she suspects that her beau knows more then he’s telling.

Kendra’s steamy weekend getaway with gorgeous millionaire Dante DeFrancisco turns chilling when a mother wolf goes missing from Dante’s wild animal sanctuary—and the only thing that is found is the wolf’s caretaker dead in a cage, with a bloody knife at his side.

No stranger to murder, Kendra starts hunting for suspects. Was it an angry local? A sanctuary volunteer? Or worst of all, Dante and his movie-star pal, who apparently share a mysterious past—and enigmatic ties to the victim? Now Kendra must find the escaped wolf—along with the killer hiding right before her eyes.

A missing mama wolf, two legal cases and her pet-sitting duties keeps Kendra busy especially when one of the caretakers at the wildlife sanctuary is found dead. Using her investigative skills, Kendra ferrets out the killer. This was an enjoyable mystery with light romance. My rating: 4 stars

The Weight of Silence by Heather Gudenkauf.  Publisher: Mira (Harlequin), July 2009

It happens quietly one August morning. As dawn’s shimmering light drenches the humid Iowa air, two families awaken to find their little girls have gone missing in the night.

Seven-year-old Calli Clark is sweet, gentle, a dreamer who suffers from selective mutism brought on by tragedy that pulled her deep into silence as a toddler.

Calli’s mother, Antonia, tried to be the best mother she could within the confines of marriage to a mostly absent, often angry husband. Now, though she denies that her husband could be involved in the possible abductions, she fears her decision to stay in her marriage has cost her more than her daughter’s voice.

Petra Gregory is Calli’s best friend, her soul mate and her voice. But neither Petra nor Calli has been heard from since their disappearance was discovered. Desperate to find his child, Martin Gregory is forced to confront a side of himself he did not know existed beneath his intellectual, professorial demeanor.

Now these families are tied by the question of what happened to their children. And the answer is trapped in the silence of unspoken family secrets.

What a great book! The minute I read the first few pages, I could not stop. I had to know what happens next. Callie is selectively mute. Petra is her best friend and one night they both disappear. Voices from the various points of views leads us into this mystery with the biggest one being, will Callie speak and if so, what will she say. This is a heartwrenching story with dysfunctional familes and the love that is held until the girls are found. I highly recommend this story. My rating: 5 stars

*new-to-me author

Murder Has a Sweet Tooth by Miranda Bliss is the 5th book in the “Cooking Class” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), December 2009

Annie Capshaw has found that the way to a man’s heart is through his cooking class.  But just as she and her best friend, Eve, are planning Annie’s big day with Jim, her former cooking instructor turned boss, murder takes the cake—make that the wedding cake.

Determined not to be a bridezilla, Annie is trying to keep the nuptial nuisances to a minimum.  If only Eve could control her maid-of-honor mania!  And if only the groom’s cousin, Alex, who flew in from Scotland, could stay out of trouble.

But then ladies’ man Alex meets a lovely American lass—only to become a prime suspect when she turns up murdered. Instead of handling the details of a wedding, Annie is investigating the details of a killing. The victim seemed to be living the perfect life of a suburban wife—the life Annie’s always dreamed of. Now Annie has to wonder: Is married life a recipe for murder?

This was another good read. My rating: 3.5 stars

Dying for Dinner by Miranda Bliss is the fourth book in the “Cooking Class” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Berkley Prime Crime (Penguin), December 2008

Things are really cooking for Annie with her transition to the restaurant biz, full time. But what’s meant to be the first day of the rest of her life might be the last day of someone else’s.

Annie is finally leaving the safety of her old bank job to work at her boyfriend Jim’s restaurant, Bellywasher’s. Lucky for Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, she’s working as the manager and staying safely away from the flames. And lucky for Annie, she’s working with her best friend, Eve, the hostess.

Things start taking a turn for the worse when Jim’s old friend, legendary cook Jacques Lavote, doesn’t show up to teach their cooking class. When Annie goes to fetch him, she finds his assistant dead and Lavote nowhere to be found. With his odd disappearance and evidence mounting up against him, it looks like the cook has really landed in the soup. Now, Annie must sift through every morsel of evidence—before someone else gets served their last course.

This was a good read on a rainy afternoon. My rating: 3.5 stars

*new-to-me author

Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog by Lisa Scottoline. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press, November 2009

This one’s for you, extraordinary ordinary women everywhere! It’s time for seriously girl-talk with New York Times bestselling author Lisa Scottoline. She’s shared this collection of scenes from her real life and she bets her life sounds a lot like yours…if you crave carbs, can’t find jeans that fit, and still believe that these two things are unrelated. Pick up this book—you’ll laugh, you’ll cray, and you’ll swear off pantyhose. Here are some exactly of Lisa’s wit and wisdom:

“Everybody has their pornography, and mine is the real estate ads.”

“We’ll get universal health care before we get beauty salons open on Mondays, and that’s backwards. Ask any woman if she’d rather have a haircut or a mammogram, and you’ll see what I mean.”

“Mothers are a natural force, and maybe an alternative source of fuel.”

“Lately there’s been talk about a religion that allows polygamy, so that a man can have as many wives as he pleases. Where is the religion that allows a woman to have as many husbands as she pleases?”

“I have never been in an accident, if you don’t count my two marriages.”

“My mother taught us that if you eat baked beans from a can that has dents, you’ll die of botulism. This was before people injected botulism into their faces. Nowadays, the dented can will kill you, but you’ll look young.”

Also inside you’ll find Lisa’s thoughts on:

• Being caught braless in the emergency room
• A man’s most important body part
• Interrupting as a sign of enthusiasm
• And so much more about life, love, family, pets, and the pursuit of jeans that actually fit

Inspired by her wildly popular column in the The Philadelphia Inquirer entitled “Chick Wit,” Why My Third Husband Will Be A Dog is a book you’ll have to put down—just to stop laughing.

This was a funny and entertaining collection of articles from Lisa’s column all condensed in one book. My rating: 4 stars

Cold River by Carla Neggers is the second book in the “Black Falls” romantic suspense series. Publisher: Mira (Harlequin), November 2009

New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers ratchets up the tension and suspense as the relentless Camerons fight to uncover the truth about one of their own.

Hannah Shay has finally shown the town of Black Falls what she’s worth. Her Three Sisters Café is a success and she’s soon to become a prosecutor. When the café becomes an epicenter for investigators trying to pierce a violent crime ring that’s leaving bloody trails in nearby Cameron Mountain, Hannah suspects a man from her past is involved.

Sean Cameron returns to the snowy cold of his Vermont hometown to unmask his father’s killer. Sean has the skills and resources to mount his own search, but he must convince the resistant Hannah to cooperate—because the killer is ready to strike again…and closer than anyone ever imagined.

The twists and turns awaiting them will take them closer to the explosive truth…and into the sights of a killer.

Brothers avenging the death of their father.  Friend looking out for one another.  A killer on the loose and love is in the air.  This was  a great mystery involving the Cameron brothers, Hannah Shay, Bowie her childhood friend and the other people in Black Falls.  My rating: 4 stars

Dead and Kicking by Wendy Roberts is the third and final book in the “Ghost Dusters” mystery series. Publisher: Obsidian (Penguin), December 2009

Sadie Novak cleans up crime scenes for a living and often finds herself face-to-face with the dead. Blessed—or cursed—with the gift of second sight, she can’t seem to finish a job without being visited by an earthbound spirit.

Sadie’s going through a rough time. When her dad passes away, she’s left to juggle her widowed mother, her lying boyfriend, Zack, her struggling business—and the fact that her father’s spirit is reluctant to move on. Now, on top of all that, Zach’s former flame hires Sadie to dig out the home of her hoarder mother…and that’s when things get messy.

Sadie finds some unexpected things in the cluttered house—including the seventeen-year-old mummified remains of an infant, along with a very angry ghost who seems determined to keep Sadie away. Then, aided by a team of her fellow psychics, she unearths something even more terrifying: a host of secrets that someone will kill to keep buried.

Sadie got her hands full: business is slow, her dad recently died and Zach is not himself. When Sadie gets a job, she takes it to keep herself busy and she comes upon an angry ghost who throws things and Zach gets hurt in the process. With her father not passing onto the other side, with jealousy rearing its ugly head when Zach’s ex-girlfriend reappears, Sadie is really at wits end. Then there’s the other jobs that she handles with a mysterious bent: who is the mummified infant, who murdered the janitor and who is threatening her. It was good to see her sister Dawn and her best-friend Maeva, a psychic who helps her deal with her personal issues. The multiple mysteries and the family matters kept me turning the page, right until the end. What a beautiful ending. My rating: 4 stars

Winter Prey by John Sandford is the 5th book in the “Prey” thriller series. Publisher: Berkley (Penguin), November 2009

It is winter in the remote, dark Wisconsin woods. But the chill in the local sheriff’s bones has nothing to do with the weather. The extravagance of the crime is new to him: the murdered man, woman and child; the machete-like knife through the man’s head; the ashes of the fire-consumed house spread over the ice and snow. In desperation, the sheriff turns for help to the reclusive lawman he’d heard had a cabin up here, and with reluctance Davenport agrees, but it is a decision he will soon have reason to regret. For this is a kind of criminal new to him, too. As he sifts through the ashes of the case itself, other crimes, shocking to his carefully hardened shell, emerge, and it becomes clear that there is an evil in these woods, an evil at once alien to him and closer than he can imagine . . . and against which even his skills may not prevail.

I’ve read most of the Prey series and this one I somehow missed this one since this is the book where he met his future wife, Weather Karkinnen. Oh man, I could not stop reading and turning the pages. The killer’s identity didn’t come to me until we were near the end of the book. An excellent book and I’m glad I got a chance to read it. My rating: 4.5 stars

*First published by Putnam, March 1993

Spy Games by Gina Robinson is the second book in the “Fantasy Spy Camps” romantic suspense stories. Publisher: Zebra Books (Kensington), December 2009

Reilly Peterson’s been many things in her thirty-two years: an athlete, a model, a sportswear executive. Her ex-boyfriend, however, has done a good job of making Reilly something she’s never been—scared.

Now Reilly’s ready to protect herself with more than her sharp tongue. Fantasy Spy Camp’s Seattle-based Urban Ops division will train her to survive using everything from her bare hands to a submachine gun. But when she gets an eyeful of fellow camper Van Keller, all Reilly wants is to chill out, partner up, and go deep undercover…

Reilly decides to get self-defense skills to help against her jailed stalker ex-boyfriend. At camp, Reilly’s ex, freed from jail, taunts her and fellow campers rally around her, especially one cute guy. When one guy is murdered and Reilly is threatened, it appears that there are two people are to get her. This was a great story filled with plenty of action, humor, romance and mystery. My rating: 4 stars

*new-to-me author