The Accused by Cara Putman

 When a popular college student is murdered, her international roommate, Anneliese, becomes a prime suspect. But law professor Margeaux Robbins doesn't believe that the quiet, lonely German girl in her class is the killer.

Chase Crandall is a burned-out defense attorney ready to extricate himself from the grind of criminal law. After he loses a client to tragedy, he's ready for an in-house corporate position.

When Chase is assigned to Anneliese's case, Margeaux is horrified. She doesn’t want him to provide legal counsel—not after what happened to his past client. And not with the evidence incriminating Anneliese.

Despite their mutual misgivings, the lawyer and professor pair up to find the killer and prove Anneliese's innocence. Will they be able to untangle the mystery—and navigate their growing interest in one another—before the wrong person is charged with murder?

Pick up your copy here....                                                                                                                                  The Accused: Putman, Cara: 9780825448058: Amazon.com: Books

  Since the time I could read Nancy Drew, I have wanted to write mysteries. In 2005 I attended a book signing at my local Christian bookstore. The rest, as they say, is history. There I met Colleen Coble. With prompting from my husband, I shared my dream with Colleen. Since those infamous words, I've been writing award-winning books with the count currently climbing to 40 published and more in the works.

In addition to writing, I am a mom of four, attorney, Clinical Associate Professor at a Big Ten university who also runs a center, and all around crazy woman. Crazy about God, my husband, and my kids. I graduated with honors from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (Go Huskers!), George Mason Law School, and Purdue University's MBA program. You can learn more about my books on my website, which is easy to find because it's simply my name dot com. And if you'd like to read my legal suspense novella, Dying for Love, simply connect with me on my website, and I'll send you the link.

My Thoughts...

I am so particular about legal dramas, but this one is so well written and had me on the edge of my seat I had to know who did it. Putman is a pro at legal dramas, it's almost like she is a lawyer in another life, wait she is a lawyer. So, you get true events in her fiction she knows what she's talking about. I highly recommend this one.

I can't wait for the next book in this series.

Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.

Lizzies Little Mouse by Anne Blackburne

 Lizzie Has Dreams That Won’t Be Deterred

Full of faith, hope, and romance, this series takes you into the Heart of Amish country.

Lizzie Miller has wanted to own a New Orleans-style French bakery since she attended a wedding in New Orleans at age fifteen. So with her parents’ and the bishop’s permission, she did a two-year internship in a French bakery in New Orleans. Then she came home and worked for several years in the local Amish bakery, buying the business when it became available. And now someone wants her out.

A string of unsettling events is surely meant to scare her away. But with the help of her friends, she will get to the bottom of why someone wishes her to fail in the bakery business. And along the way, she just may realize that sometimes dreams can be fulfilled unexpectedly—with the help of someone who was just waiting to be noticed.

Maybe all Lizzie needs is a little faith and a lot of love.

Pick up your copy here...

Lizzie's Little Mouse: Volume 8 (The Heart of the Amish): Blackburne, Anne: 9798891510685: Amazon.com: Books

Anne Blackburne lives and works in Southeast Ohio as a newspaper editor and writer. She is the mother of five grown children, has one wonderful grandchild, and a spoiled poodle named Millie. For fun, when she isn’t working on Amish romance or sweet mysteries, Anne directs and acts in community theater productions and writes and directs original plays. She also enjoys reading, kayaking, swimming, searching for beach glass, and just sitting with a cup of coffee looking at large bodies of water. Her idea of the perfect vacation is cruising and seeing amazing new places with people she loves.

Romance and Mystery in one book, you can't go wrong. This was my first book by Blackburne and I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to see what else she has written.

A Mother Always Knows by Sarah Strohmeyer

 The beloved, award-winning author of Do I Know You? and We Love To Entertain returns with an electrifying novel of psychological suspense that explores the way our pasts shape our futures in so many unexpected ways.

Stella O'Neill is just your average millennial, working at a public library and worrying about making rent. No one would suspect she's been living under an assumed name or that she was raised in a Vermont commune of "diviners" where, and as a ten-year-old, she witnessed her mother’s brutal murder—a crime that has gone unsolved for years.

But her quiet, anonymous existence is upended when a true-crime obsessive posts her current name and location on the internet. Now, Stella has to get out of Boston before her mother’s killer can find her and finish the job he started all those years ago. Fed up with living in fear, she heads to the off-the-grid retreat of her childhood to confront her mother’s unhinged guru who controlled their lives for so long--the infamous Radcliffe MacBeath.

Stella has two powerful assets: determination and a supernatural gift. Relying on her mother’s beloved rose quartz pendulum, Stella will have to outwit the charismatic leader who’s ruined so many lives and discover once and for all the true identity of her mother's killer—before becoming his next victim.

Pick up your copy here...

Amazon.com: A Mother Always Knows: A Novel: 9780063351509: Strohmeyer, Sarah: Books

Sarah Strohmeyer is the award-winning, nationally bestselling author of eighteen novels for adults and young adults, including the Bubbles Yablonsky mystery series and The Cinderella Pact which was made into the Lifetime movie, Lying To Be Perfect. A former newspaper reporter, she is currently the elected Town Clerk of Middlesex, Vermont where she lives with her husband and cat. Two adult children occasionally drop by. For more info or to contact, please go to sarahstrohmeyer.com.