The Finder by Eve Shaw

 

Missing women, a disbanded cult, and a dodgy inheritance put Beatrix Patterson to the test.

Beatrix Patterson wanted to spend a morning organizing her thoughts over a nice cup of coffee and the local newspaper. But her carefully curated day is quickly interrupted when a friend of a friend asks for her help. Their friend is dead, and he wants to make sure there's no foul play. Cases keep piling in, as another family friend seeks his wife. Then a body is found at the base of local cliffs with no one to claim her.

Beatrix is good at finding things-people, the truth, missing evidence. As more Jane Does appear at the base of the cliff, each with similar ceremonial markings, Beatrix grows more passionate.

The deeper she digs, the less the pieces fit together. From a strange, disbanded cult to the drag queen desperate to claim an inheritance, Beatrix is soon stretched thin.

Surrounded by new neighbors with shadowed pasts, she has to wonder: will anyone believe her?

This historical mystery novel is packed with intrigue and beauty, set four years after World War II ends. Follow familiar characters Beatrix Patterson and Thomas Ling as they settle into a new life in Santa Barbara, California. The Finder is the second book in the Beatrix Patterson novels, however, each book can be read as a stand-alone or in order of publication.

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Amazon.com: The Finder (A Beatrix Patterson Mystery): 9781611534849: Shaw, Eva: Books

• Eva admits to being a “terrier person,” and previously adopted senior Welsh terriers. The latest family member is two-year-old Coco Rose and admits, “Coco is a dream now, but she was the most challenging puppy I’ve ever met.”

• Eva supports Days for Girls International and 50 percent of the profits from “The Seer” goes straight to helping girls throughout the world have menstrual dignity. Why? Proper menstrual health management is a universal human right, a critical component of gender equity and vital to women and girls reaching their full potential. Please visit daysforgirls.org.

• One of the world’s pickiest eaters, Eva loves delicious food. Being choosy, she says, “Means I learned to cook well because I like to eat well.”

• Eva has traveled to more than 35 foreign countries and 48 states. She smiles just thinking of packing a bag, standing in line for TSA or pulling out her passport.

• An avid gardener, she obsessed with growing flowers and in the spring her garden explodes in a kaleidoscope of colors.

• Little-known fact: Eva plays the banjolele. “Not well, mind you, but I love it. I’ve even started playing in my church’s ukulele/banjolele band.

My Thoughts...                                                                                                  This is my second book by Shaw, and it was even better than the first book The Seer. It can be read as a standalone, but you will enjoy The Seer as well. A joy to read for this mystery lover. I recommend this 4-star read.                                                                                                                  The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.

Number One is Walking by Steve Martin

 

Number One Is Walking is Steve Martin’s cinematic legacy―an illustrated memoir of his legendary acting career, with stories from his most popular films and artwork by New Yorker cartoonist Harry Bliss.

Steve Martin has never written about his career in the movies before. In Number One Is Walking, he shares anecdotes from the sets of his beloved films―Father of the Bride, Roxanne, The Jerk, Three Amigos, and many more―bringing readers directly into his world. He shares charming tales of antics, moments of inspiration, and exploits with the likes of Paul McCartney, Diane Keaton, Robin Williams, and Chevy Chase. Martin details his forty years in the movie biz, as well as his stand-up comedy, banjo playing, writing, and cartooning, all with his unparalleled wit.

With gorgeously illustrated cartoons and single-panel “diversions” in Steve and Harry’s signature style, Number One Is Walking is full of the everyday moments that make up a movie star’s life, capturing Steve Martin’s singular humor and acclaimed career in film. The perfect gift from the team who brought you the #1 New York Times bestseller A Wealth of Pigeons.

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Number One Is Walking: My Life in the Movies and Other Diversions: Martin, Steve, Bliss, Harry: 9781250815293: Amazon.com: Books

Steve Martin is one of today's most talented performers. His huge successes as a film actor include such credits as ROXANNE, FATHER OF THE BRIDE, PARENTHOOD and THE SPANISH PRISONER. He has won Emmys for his television writing and two Grammys for comedy albums. In addition to the bestselling PURE DRIVEL, he has written several plays, including Picasso at the Lapin Agile and a highly acclaimed novel, SHOPGIRL. His work appears in The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Toxic Effects by Joel Shulkin

 

Neuropsychiatrist Cristina Silva cannot escape her past. The voice in her head of her former identity won't let her. Cristina also can't quite manage to force herself to forget the ex-boyfriend she dumped: handsome police detective Gary Wilson.

Soon after beginning her new job at the Longwood Memory Center, Cristina receives a startling phone call from her contact at the FBI: an assassin is crisscrossing the country, killing anyone connected to the now-defunct pharmaceutical company ReMind -- people like Cristina. The shadowy criminal enterprise Zero Dark is back.

Indeed, an assassin is tracking Cristina, a literal femme fatale known as Dama Branca. Like Cristina, DB's memory was robbed by Zero Dark. Transfixed by the brilliant doctor, DB's unsure what's preventing her from killing Cristina. Like Cristina, DB has memory glitches and longs to interpret them. Whether or not these have to do with Cristina, she doesn't know, but she senses their fates are entwined -- with any luck, not fatally.

Danger lurks in the shadows. Cristina's spurned lover, Wilson, is investigating the suspicious deaths of local teens, convinced they're not accidents. Before their bewildering ends, all the victims exhibit bizarre behavior, and there are now terrified whispers among their friends of a hooded boogeyman called Sack Man. One exceptional young man, Reggie Horne, is clearly in the middle of this bedlam. Wilson vows to prevent Sack Man from claiming Reggie as his next casualty.

And when Cristina's in danger, Wilson is never far away. Just as it becomes apparent their two stories are entangled, the peril shoots sky-high. With at least one killer in their wake, they must quickly determine what's real and what's not. Unlocking Cristina's memories could save many lives -- her own included.

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Amazon.com: Toxic Effects (Memory Thieves Series, Book 2) (Memory Thieves, 2): 9781094022888: Joel Shulkin: Books

Being a full-time physician hasn't stopped Joel from writing. Far from it, the complexity of his patients, prior service with the United States Air Force, a Master's in Public Health, and involvement in organized medicine in the middle of an ever-changing healthcare system all provide raw material for his stories.

Joel's short work has appeared in various print and online journals, and he's won several awards, including Best Medical Fiction from SEAK and an Honorable Mention from Writer's Digest Thriller Suspense Competition. ADVERSE EFFECTS is his debut novel.

Joel lives in Florida with his wife and twin daughters. He is represented by Lynnette Novak of the Seymour Agency.

Bleeding Heart Yard by Elly Griffith

 

A murderer strikes at a school reunion—but the students are no strangers to death— in this propulsive, twisty thriller from the internationally bestselling author of the Ruth Galloway Mysteries 

Is it possible to forget that you’ve committed a murder?

When Cassie Fitzgerald was at school in the late 90s, she and her friends killed a fellow student. Almost twenty years later, Cassie is a happily married mother who loves her job—as a police officer. She closely guards the secret she has all but erased from her memory.

One day her husband finally persuades her to go to a school reunion. Cassie catches up with her high-achieving old friends from the Manor Park School—among them two politicians, a rock star, and a famous actress. But then, shockingly, one of them, Garfield Rice, is found dead in the school bathroom, supposedly from a drug overdose. As Garfield was an eminent—and controversial—MP and the investigation is high profile, it’s headed by Cassie’s new boss, DI Harbinder Kaur, freshly promoted and newly arrived in London. The trouble is, Cassie can’t shake the feeling that one of them has killed again.

Is Cassie right, or was Garfield murdered by one of his political cronies? It’s in Cassie’s interest to skew the investigation so that it looks like it has nothing to do with Manor Park and she seems to be succeeding.

Until someone else from the reunion is found dead in Bleeding Heart Yard…

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Bleeding Heart Yard: A Novel: Griffiths, Elly: 9780063289277: Amazon.com: Books

Thank you for visiting my Amazon author page! I'm the author of two crime series, the Dr Ruth Galloway books and the Brighton Mysteries. Last year I also published a stand-alone, The Stranger Diaries, and a children's book, A Girl Called Justice. I have previously written books under my real name, Domenica de Rosa (I know it sounds made up).

The Ruth books are set in Norfolk, a place I know well from childhood. It was a chance remark of my husband's that gave me the idea for the first in the series, The Crossing Places. We were crossing Titchwell Marsh in North Norfolk when Andy (an archaeologist) mentioned that prehistoric people thought that marshland was sacred ground. Because it's neither land nor sea, but something in-between, they saw it as a bridge to the afterlife; neither land nor sea, neither life nor death. In that moment, I saw Dr Ruth Galloway walking towards me out of the mist...

I live near Brighton with Andy. We have two grown-up children. I write in a garden shed accompanied by my cat, Gus.

The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freeland

 

People won’t believe what they can’t imagine . . . 

In April 1944, Rudolf Vrba became the first Jew to break out of Auschwitz—one of only four who ever pulled off that near-impossible feat. He did it to reveal the truth of the death camp to the world—and to warn the last Jews of Europe what fate awaited them at the end of the railway line. Against all odds, he and his fellow escapee, Fred Wetzler, climbed mountains, crossed rivers and narrowly missed German bullets until they had smuggled out the first full account of Auschwitz the world had ever seen—a forensically detailed report that would eventually reach Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the Pope.

 And yet too few heeded the warning that Vrba—then just nineteen years old—had risked everything to deliver. Some could not believe it. Others thought it easier to keep quiet. Vrba helped save 200,000 Jewish lives—but he never stopped believing it could have been so many more.

 This is the story of a brilliant yet troubled man—a gifted “escape artist” who even as a teenager understand that the difference between truth and lies can be the difference between life and death, a man who deserves to take his place alongside Anne Frank, Oskar Schindler and Primo Levi as one of the handful of individuals whose stories define our understanding of the Holocaust.

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The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World: Freedland, Jonathan: 9780063112339: Amazon.com: Books

Jonathan Freedland is a Guardian columnist and former foreign correspondent. He is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View, as well as two podcasts, Politics Weekly America for the Guardian and Unholy, alongside the Israeli journalist Yonit Levi. He is a past winner of an Orwell Prize for journalism. He is the author of twelve books, the latest being The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World. He has written nine thrillers, mostly as Sam Bourne, including The Righteous Men which was a Sunday Times number one bestseller.

Miles and Miles of you by Jennifer Bonds

 

Lucy Gonzalez might have once been a stressed personal assistant, but now she’s hitched up her grandma’s bitchin’ vintage Airstream and hitting the road with all the best places to find cheap eats and see the sights on a shoestring budget.

And she has company along for the ride. If those thirst-worthy abs seem familiar, it’s because they belong to billionaire Miles Hart. True story, he used to be Lucy’s boss until she quit on him. Something about not being appreciated? Anyway, you will appreciate Miles—and his groveling—plenty on this trip.

Now, you have front-row seats to the hottest trip of the year. Sparks! Fireworks! Unexpected smooching! And you won’t want to miss the jaw-dropping surprise that will make this destination totally worth the hilarious journey…

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Miles and Miles of You: Bonds, Jennifer: 9798360476634: Amazon.com: Books

Jennifer Bonds is the USA Today bestselling author of sizzling contemporary romance with sassy heroines, sexy alphas, and a whole lot of mischief. She’s a sucker for enemies-to-lovers stories, laugh-out-loud banter, and over-the-top grand gestures. Jennifer lives in Pennsylvania, where her overactive imagination and weakness for reality TV keep life interesting. She's lucky enough to live with her own real-life hero, two adorable (and sometimes crazy) children, and one rambunctious K9. Loves Buffy, Mexican food, a solid Netflix binge, the Winchester brothers, cupcakes, and all things zombie. Sings off-key.

To connect with Jen—and get a FREE book—visit www.jenniferbonds.com!

You can also find her on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook @jbondswrites.

The Prisoner by B. A. Paris

 A USA Today Bestseller!

Amelie has always been a survivor, from losing her parents as a child in Paris to making it on her own in London. As she builds a life for herself, she is swept up into a glamorous lifestyle where she married the handsome billionaire Ned Hawthorne.

But then, Amelie wakes up in a pitch-black room, not knowing where she is. Why has she been taken? Who are her mysterious captors? And why does she soon feel safer here, imprisoned, than she had begun to feel with her husband Ned?

In the vein of Behind Closed Doors and The Therapist, multimillion-copy bestseller B. A. Paris is back with a gripping new suspense novel.

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Amazon.com: The Prisoner: A Novel: 9781250274144: Paris, B.A.: Books

B.A. Paris is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back, The Dilemma and The Therapist. Having sold over 3.5 million copies worldwide, she is a New York Times and Sunday Times bestseller as well as a number one bestseller on Amazon and iBooks. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages, and Film and TV rights to Behind Closed Doors have been optioned. She is currently based in the UK.

Follow B.A. on Twitter and Instagram at @baparisauthor. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and BookBub.

My Thoughts...

I was so excited to get my hands a copy of Paris' latest book. I have read all of hers and loved them.
I could not put this book down. I really was shaking my head at the ending. I loved how it all played out. Paris writes suspense in an unforgettable way. This is a must read for suspense lovers. 4.5 stars from this avid reader.
The Mary Reader received this book from the publisher for review. A favorable review was not required, and all views expressed are our own.