By Hook or By Crook by Betty Hechtman

From Amazon ~

Meet the happy crafter who believes every mystery should be unraveled.

Molly Pink’s crochet group has a new mystery on their hands when they find a paper bag that contains a note that speaks of remorse, a diary entry of the sorrow of parting, and a complicated piece of filet crochet that offers an obscure clue in pictures. Things get even more complicated when they find the talented crocheter—murdered by a box of poisoned marzipan apples.

Molly Pink can’t seem to stay away from a murder investigation. While the Tarzana Hookers are selling their crochet items at a fundraiser for the state park, they find a bag left on their table. Inside they find a diary entry from 20 years ago, a note that has a tone of regret, a beautiful piece of filet crochet filled with clues, in the form of symbols. Determined to return the bag to its rightful owner, Molly and the rest of the Hookers, start trying to figure out what each symbol means. But when Molly shows up at the home of the woman she believes is the owner of the bag, she finds the woman dead. Luckily, this time she isn’t considered a suspect. What starts off looking like an accidental death, turns into a case of murder – by poison. Now Molly is more determined than ever to find out the story of its owner, as well as figure out who killed her, regardless of the warnings to stay away. All of the old characters from the previous books are back, along with a few new faces. Including Camille, the super rich daughter & wife of the producer of CeeCee’s show, who is doing what her life coach says, and trying to act like the “little people”. I love how even in this third outing of this series, Adele still hold a grudge against Molly for taking the job she wanted. To top it all off, Molly’s parents have taken over her house for rehearsals for her mothers singing group reunion. And Molly continues to struggle with her feelings for both Barry and Mason. This is a well crafted mystery that gets unraveled one strand at a time, leading to the unfolding of a murderer I never even considered.

The Diary by Eileen Goudge

From Amazon ~

 When the two grown daughters of Elizabeth Marshall discover an old diary of their mother’s in her attic, it comes as a shock to learn that the true love of Elizabeth’s life was not their father. This is the mystery the two daughters must unravel as they stay up late reading the words penned by Elizabeth so long ago. Their mother can’t give them the answers: After a massive stroke, she lies mute and near death in a nursing home. Only the pages of her diary can provide clues to what really happened.

In a richly detailed journey into the past, we see Elizabeth lose her heart to one man while remaining devoted to another. Finally, she must choose between the stable, loyal Bob…and the electrifying and unpredictable A.J., who spent time in juvenile detention as a teen. When a suspicious fire in the neighborhood is linked to A.J., Elizabeth is faced with another dilemma: She’s the only one who can clear A.J.’s name, but to do so would ruin her reputation. Surprisingly, it’s Bob who comes to the rescue, forcing Elizabeth to make perhaps the most painful decision of her life….

The Diary is a love story. It’s also the story of the unshakable bond between a mother and her daughters. (From Amazon)

 

As Elizabeth Marshall lies in a coma, her daughters take on the daunting task of packing up her home. As they’re cleaning out the attic they come across a diary their mother had written before she had been married and start reading. What they discover rocks them to their core. Their father was not their mothers “One true love.” As they continue to read the story of Elizabeth, Bob (their father) and AJ (her true love) they realize the depths of their mothers love for AJ while trying to balance that with her devotion to Bob. And when AJ gets blamed for something he didn’t do, Elizabeth makes a choice that could ruin her reputation forever. Not to mention destroy whatever relationship she has with her mother. Will it all be worth it? Will she lose out on true love forever? Before long Elizabeth has to make a choice ~ the reliable Bob or the troublemaker, love of her life AJ? Will she do what’s “right” or follow her heart? An emotion filled story of two sisters struggling with the knowledge that they didn’t know everything about their parents they thought they did. A love story that will have the reader turning the pages as fast as they can to find out if true love conquers all. With an ending so surprising, yet tender you’ll be reaching for the box of kleenex

Serendipity by Louise Shaffer

Serendipity: A Novel by Louise Shaffer  ~

From Amazon ~ A child of theatrical royalty, Carrie Manning is having a hard time getting her own act together. Thirty-seven, aimless, and having just buried a famous mother she never understood, she is desperate to uncover her family’s mysterious past in the hopes that it will help her understand herself.

Carrie’s search reveals the fascinating life stories of her estranged grandmother Lu, a glamorous Broadway star whose dreams came with a price; her great grandmother Mifalda, who gave up everything to come to America as a sixteen-year-old Italian bride; and her father, Bobby, the charismatic Broadway genius who wrote some of Lu’s greatest musicals and died tragically young. At the heart of Carrie’s discoveries lies the reason for her mother’s complicated life, and a dark secret that has been buried for thirty years. 

I was fortunate enough to receive an advanced reader copy of this book. And after reading it, I am not sure I could have waited until the end of March release.

Coming from “Broadway Royalty” Carrie struggles to find herself and her place in the world after the death of her mother. Her angst stems from the fact that while she lived with her mother most of her life, she never really “knew” her, what motivated her. After her death, Carrie decides it’s time to figure out what led her mother to be the woman she was and what caused her mother Rose and Grandmother Lu to stop speaking to one another. Moving between the present tense and the early years of Lu’s life (and her relationship with her own mother), Carrie begins to understand the women in her family and what made them into who they became. This was an amazing story of mothers and daughters and how each generations relationships can affect the next. A story of a woman finally finding her place in the world, and finding the happiness she so richly deserves. This is a book that you don’t want to miss ~ but make sure you keep the tissues close by. You’re going to need them. A++++++

Still Alice by Lisa Genova

From Amazon ~

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer’s disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what’s it’s like to literally lose your mind…
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up this book to read – certianly not for it to be one of my top five favorite books I’ve read this year. The story of Alice’s diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer’s, the struggle for her husband to accept it, the difficult choices her children face of getting tested for the gene, and how Alice handles herself during her “decline” is one that will move you to tears. While the book takes place over a realtively short period of time it is scary how fast the Alzheimer’s takes over. You’ll find it hard to put down as you walk with Alice through the ways in which she copes with her disease to the heartbreaking moment when she realizes that she has to give up her beloved job of teaching to the hatred you’ll feel for her husband, yet understanding his feelings all at the same time. This book left me wanting to hug Alice and her family – and never let them go! A+++++++++

The 7th Victim by Alan Jacobson

From Amazon ~~

 

The Dead Eyes Killer lurks in the backyard of the famed FBI Profiling Unit. His brutal murders confound the local task force, despite the gifted profiling skills of Special Agent Karen Vail. But along with Vail’s insight and expertise comes considerable personal and professional baggage.

On leave pending a review of her assault on her abusive ex-husband, Vail must battle forces determined to bring her down, as she fights to find Dead Eyes before he murders more young women. But the seventh victim is the key to all that stirs this killer…the key that will unlock secrets perhaps too painful for Vail to bear. These are secrets that threaten to destroy her, secrets that will bring down her storied career. For Karen Vail, the truth rests at the heart of a lie. And uncovering it could get her killed…

With material meticulously researched during seven years of study with the Bureau’s vaunted profiling unit, Alan Jacobson brings refreshing realism and unprecedented accuracy to his pages.

The 7th Victim is a page-turner as only Alan Jacobson can write, with a stunning twist of an ending that will satisfy even the most discerning thriller reader.

What an amazing thriller. Karen Vail is a profiler for the FBI on the hunt of a serial killer. Not only is she working this case, but she’s also dealing with a violent ex-husband, a son in a coma and a mother who needs to be in assisted living. Along the way she will encounter more twists and turns than a roller coaster. She’ll learn secrets about her past that will astound her. Do the secrets in her past relate to the case she’s working on? Will they change her forever? Alan Jacobson does a masterful job of bringing the reader into the world of the BAU and the ways in which the profilers there do their job. The ending of the book is such a shocker – it will knock your socks off!!

The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Baeurmeister

From the back cover ~~

The School of Essential Ingredients follows the lives of eight people from different walks of life who gather every Monday night for a cooking class taught by Lillian, a famous chef whole alchemy in the kitchen has made her a local sensation. It soon becomes clear, however, that each student – including a teenage waitress, a young mother, a widower, and a long-married couple – comes seeking a recipe for something beyond the kitchen. One by one they are transformed by the aromas, flavors, and textures of what they create, including a white-on-white cake that prompts wistful reflections on the sweet fragility of marriage and a peppery heirloom tomato sauce that seems to spark one romance but end another. Slowly, the essence of Lillian’s cooking appears to expand beyond the restaurant and into the secret corners of her students’ lives, with results that are utterly surprising, and often delicious.

What a wonderful book!! Over the course of several months eight students gather every Mondy at Lillian’s restaurant for cooking class. But these are no ordinary lessons. While Lillian does “teach” her students how to make each meal, the lessons come from how they react to the food, the memories that they invoke and the feelings that they inspire. Each section of the book is told from the perspective of a student, going back and forth between the past and what brought them to the class and the present and the food that they are creating. The writing is incredibly descriptive. The author does an amazing job of bringing you into the book with her. She has such a way of describing things in such detail that you feel as if you’re right there with her kneading the dough, shelling a crab or tasting the tiramasu as it melts in your mouth. A++

It Only Takes a Moment by Mary Jane Clark

From Amazon ~

Eliza Blake, host of the top-rated KEY News morning show, has witnessed tragedy and danger in her career. But nothing the accomplished professional has experienced has prepared her for when her seven-year-old daughter, Janie, is snatched from summer camp. The country’s viewers are glued to their television sets, anxiously awaiting the news that their favorite morning-television personality’s little girl has been found.
With each passing day, the FBI and local authorities track down every lead: A profile of the kidnapper’s most likely characteristics is developed, every fan letter written to Eliza over the last six months is scrutinized, every sex offender registered within a fifty-mile radius is interviewed, and psychics from around the country appear on Eliza’s doorstep offering their help.
But Eliza isn’t going to sit around and wait for answers. She and the rest of the Sunrise Suspense Society—brilliant producer Annabelle Murphy, cameraman extraordinaire B.J. D’Elia, and psychiatrist Dr. Margo Gonzalez—will band together to outwit a cunning criminal whose shocking motives threaten to snuff out a terrified little girl’s life.

Eliza Blake is the host of the morning news program Key To America. She seems to have it all – a great job, a beautiful daughter and a loving boyfriend (even if he is overseas!). Until one day when Eliza’s housekeeper is forced to take Janie from summer camp by two masked kidnappers. Over the next five days we follow along as the police and FBI track down who took Janie. Getting help from her co-workers, no stone is left unturned. And Eliza now understands how it feels to be “on the other side of the camera” as every news station picks up the story of Janie’s kidnapping. Along the way we’re introduced to a an interesting cast of characters – those with their own stories to tell as well as their own “connections” to Eliza. The author does a fantastic job of throwing red herring after red herring at you, making you guess until the very end who took Janie – and the sick reason why they did it. The short chapters and fast paced action will have you reading this book in one sitting.

Judgement Day by Sheldon Siegel

From Amazon ~

New York Times best-selling author Sheldon Siegel returns with a dramatic new case for the San Francisco law firm of Daley and Fernandez. As husband and wife, Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez couldn’t t make it work. Luckily for Bay Area criminals, they didn’t let that stop them from joining forces to open San Francisco s most tenacious law firm. As defense attorneys willing to take on the biggest and trickiest cases, Daley and Fernandez make one hell of team. ‘Judgment Day’ finds the ex-spouses tackling their most compelling case yet. Called in at the last minute to try to stop the execution of Nathan Fineman, a former mob lawyer convicted of murdering three people in the backroom of the notorious Golden Dragon Restaurant, Mike and Rosie must race the clock in a desperate attempt to prove their client s innocence – an impossible task, given the wealth of forensic evidence pointing to his guilt. At the same time, Mike must battle his own personal demons when the reputation of his father – a San Francisco cop who was one of the first officers at the Golden Dragon on the night of the murders – is called into question. As the plot hurtles toward its stunning denouement, ‘Judgment Day’ is fast approaching not only for Nate Fineman, but for Mike s father and for the law firm of Daley and Fernandez as well.

This is the 6th book featuring Mike Daley and Rosie Renandez – law partners, divorced parents of two and lovers. With 8 days to go before the execution of noted defense attorney Nate Fineman, Mike and Rosie are hired to help stop the execution. And when Nate’s “regular” lawyer drops dead of a heart attack, it is now up to them to get their client saved on their own. All of the regulars are back – including Mike’s brother, PI Pete. This time though the case is more personal. Not only is their family threatened, but when they try to prove Nate was set up by a dirty cop, their father’s reputation may be destroyed as he was one of the first on the scene. A virtual race to the wire proves another fantastic book in this series. Mike’s fly by the seat of his pants courtroom questioning keeps you on the edge of your seat until the very end. . Will they be able to find the proof of a conspiracy they need in order to save their client? And at what cost to their family?? I love to see how these characters grow (both age wise and character wise) throughout the series. Mike and Rosie, although not the most prestigious lawyers in town, hold their own and continue to fight for the underdog – finding justice their own way.

The Mercedes Coffin by Faye Kellerman

From Amazon ~

Billionaire genius Genoa Greeves never got over the shocking death of her favorite teacher, Bennett “Dr. Ben” Alston Little, murdered execution-style and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes-Benz. No arrests were ever made, no killer charged for the brutal crime. Fifteen years later, the high-tech CEO reads about another execution-style murder; this time the victim is a Hollywood music producer named Primo Ekerling. There is no obvious connection, but the case is eerily similar to Little’s and Genoa feels the time is right to close Dr. Ben’s case once and for all—offering the L.A.P.D. a substantial financial “incentive” if justice is finally served for Little.
Lieutenant Peter Decker resents having to commit valuable manpower to a fifteen-year-old open case simply because a rich woman says “Jump!” Still, the recent murder of Primo Ekerling does bear a disturbing resemblance to Little’s case, even though two thug suspects are currently behind bars for the Ekerling murder. Decker can’t help but wonder about a connection. His first phone calls are to the two primary investigators in the Little case, retired detectives Calvin Vitton and Arnie Lamar. Lamar is cooperative, but Vitton is not only reluctant to talk, he winds up dead of a suspicious suicide twelve hours later. Plunging into this long-buried murder, Decker discovers that even though the two slayings are separated by a decade and a half, there is still plenty of greed, lust, and evil to connect the dots.
Decker’s team of top investigators not only includes his favorite homicide detectives, Scott Oliver and Marge Dunn, but also his newly minted Hollywood detective daughter, Cindy Kutiel, whose help proves to be invaluable. His wife, Rina Lazarus, continues to be his backbone of support, offering a cool, rational outlook despite her growing concern for her husband’s welfare and safety. Rina’s worries and fears begin to build at a fevered pitch as past and present collide with a vengeance, catapulting an unsuspecting Peter Decker closer and closer to the edge of an infinite dark abyss.
A relentlessly gripping tale spun by a master, Faye Kellerman’s The Mercedes Coffin races through a dangerous urban world of fleeting fame and false dreams, making heart-pumping hairpin turns at each step of a terrifying journey, where truth and justice are fine lines between life and death.

Could there possibly be a connection between two murders 15 years apart? No one seems to think so until someone offers the LAPD a seven figure endowment if they are able to solve the 15 year old cold case. Even though Peter is a lieutenant, the chief assigns him to the case. Of course his top detectives Marge & Scott are there to help him. As well as his detective daughter Cindy. The going is tough at first, yet slowly but surely Peter and his team start connecting the dots and can’t believe where it leads them. Has Peter pushed it to the limit one to many times??? I’m a huge fan of this series. I’ve read them all from book one. I love how the characters have grown along with each book – no soap opera rapid aging syndrome here. I can remember when Peter and Rina got married and had Hannah – and now she’s got her license and has become her own person. The one thing I didn’t like about this book was that Rina seems to have been turned into a boring cooking, cleaning and gardening housewife. She’s not as active in this investigation as she usually is. Other than that – another great book by Ms. Kellerman

Night Kills by John Lutz

From Amazon ~

On The Trail Of A Bloody Killer.

Frank Quinn is sure he is hunting for a madman: someone who is shooting young women in the heart, defiling their bodies, leaving only the torsos to be found. Quinn, a former NYPD detective, is called into the case by an ambitious chief of police and mobilizes his team of brilliant law-enforcement misfits. But in the concrete canyons of New York, this shocking serial murder case is turning into something very different.

A Cop And A Victim Fight Back…

Jill Clark came to the city with too many hopes and too little cash. Now a seemingly deranged woman is telling her an extraordinary story. New to an exclusive dating service, Jill is warned that other women have died on their dates-and that she could be next. Struggling against a death trap closing in around her, Jill has a powerful ally in Frank Quinn. But no one knows the true motives behind a rampage of cold-blooded murder-or how much more terrifying this is going to get. (from B&N)

 

Retired detective Frank Quinn and his team are called back to the NYPD as special consultants in the Torso Murders (the second book featuring these characters). A series of sick murders that end up with only the torso’s of the victims being found. Not only are they mutilated, but they are also defiled. Without being able to identify the victims, it’s nearly impossible for them to find a connection between the victims – until the next potential victim is approached by the only person to have escaped with her life. And in turns contacts Quinn and his team in an effort to save her own life. An extremely clever reasoning behind the murders helps the reader turn each page faster just to find out what will happen next. A chilling, thrilling story that will make you think twice about signing up for online dating services.