Always With a Book

Review: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Review: Death Deserved by Jorn Lier Horst & Thomas Enger

Publisher: Orenda Books Published: February 20, 2020 (first published July 2, 2018) Source: Personal copy   Summary: Police officer Alexander Blix and celebrity blogger Emma Ramm join forces to track down a serial killer with a thirst for attention and high-profile murders, in the first episode of a gripping new Nordic Noir series… Oslo, 2018. Former long-distance runner Sonja Nordstrøm never shows at the launch of her controversial autobiography, Always…

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Review: A Blizzard of Polar Bears by Alice Henderson (audio)

Review: A Blizzard of Polar Bears by Alice Henderson (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: November 9, 2021 Source: Print – William Morrow / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio   Summary: Wildlife biologist Alex Carter is back, fighting for endangered species in the Canadian Arctic and battling for her life in this action-packed follow-up to A Solitude of Wolverines, “a true stunner of a thriller debut” (James Rollins) and “a great read” (Nevada Barr). Fresh off her wolverine…

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Review: The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe (reread)

Review: The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe (reread)

Publisher: Random House Audio Published: December 27, 2016 Source: Library   Summary: Acclaimed Swedish author Camilla Grebe makes her solo American debut with a psychological thriller as cunning in its twists as it is captivating in its storytelling – for fans of the celebrated crime fiction of Camilla Läckberg, Jo Nesbø, Ruth Ware, and Fiona Barton. Winter’s chill has descended on Stockholm as police arrive at the scene of a…

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Review: The Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams

Review: The Wicked Widow by Beatriz Williams

Publisher: William Morrow Published: October 26, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Gin Kelly, the wicked redhead, is back! Readers will delight in next installment of the Wicked City series by New York Times bestselling author Beatriz Williams.  June 1925. Audacious Appalachian flapper Geneva “Gin” Kelly prepares to trade her high-flying ways for respectable marriage to Oliver Anson Marshall, a steadfast Prohibition agent who happens to hail from one of New York’s most distinguished…

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Review: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 12, 2021 Source: ALC via Publisher   Summary: Master storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters. The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change. The novel begins in a…

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Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: November 6, 2012 Source: Library   Summary: Alice Hoffman’s enchanting witch’s brew of suspense, romance and magic – now a major motion picture from Warner Bros. When the beautiful and precocious sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned at a young age, they are taken to a small Massachusetts town to be raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to dwell in the darkest,…

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Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 10, 2017 Source: Library   Summary: Find your magic For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are…

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Review: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 6, 2020 Source: Library   Summary: In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin?…

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Review: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Review: Christmas in Peachtree Bluff by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Publisher: Gallery Books Published: October 26, 2021 Source: UplitReads via Galley Books   Summary: In the newest installment of New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey’​s Peachtree Bluff series, three generations of the Murphy women must come together when a hurricane threatens to destroy their hometown—and the holiday season in the process. When the Murphy women are in trouble, they always know they can turn to their mother, Ansley.…

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Review: The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

Review: The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: August 17, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Retired detective Konrad returns to a haunting cold case in The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason, the “undisputed King of the Icelandic thriller.” —The Guardian (UK) A frozen body is discovered in the icy depths of Langjökull glacier, apparently that of a businessman who disappeared thirty years before. At the time, an extensive search and police investigation yielded no results—one of the…

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Review: No Woods So Dark As These by Randall Silvis

Review: No Woods So Dark As These by Randall Silvis

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Published: August 4, 2020 Source: Publisher   Summary: There are good reasons to fear the dark… Former Sergeant Ryan DeMarco’s life has been spent in defiance–he’s defied death, loneliness, and betrayal all while fighting the worst parts of humanity. He’s earned a break, and following the devastation of their last case, DeMarco and his girlfriend Jayme want nothing more than to live quietly in each other’s…

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Review: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Review: Gone for Good by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: August 10, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Gone For Good is the first in a new mystery series from award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen, featuring Detective Annalisa Vega, in which a cold case heats up. The Lovelorn Killer murdered seven women, ritually binding them and leaving them for dead before penning them gruesome love letters in the local papers. Then he disappeared, and after twenty years with no…

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Review: The Steal by C.W. Gortner & M.J. Rose

Review: The Steal by C.W. Gortner & M.J. Rose

Publisher: Blue Box Press Published: August 10, 2021 Source: GetRedPR   Summary:  They say diamonds are a girl’s best friend – until they’re stolen. Ania Throne is devoted to her jewelry company. The daughter of one of the world’s most famous jewelers, she arrives in Cannes with a stunning new collection. But a shocking theft by the notorious thief known as the Leopard throws her into upheaval – and plunges…

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Review: The Witness by Terry Lynn Thomas

Review: The Witness by Terry Lynn Thomas

Publisher: HQ Digital Published: April 23, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: From the USA Today bestselling author, comes the second explosive thriller about attorney Olivia Sinclair who must solve a cold-case murder to clear an innocent man’s name… HE SAW WHAT YOU DID… Teenager Ebby Engstrom witnesses a murder – and then passes out. The next morning, he wakes in his bed with no memory of how he…

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Review: The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Review: The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Publisher: Simon and Schuster Audio Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: Number-one New York Times best-selling author Kathy Reichs returns with her 20th gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, 15 years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events. On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm…

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Review: Silver Tears by Camilla Lackberg

Review: Silver Tears by Camilla Lackberg

Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: A spine-tingling novel of revenge, betrayal, and sisterhood from the internationally celebrated author of The Golden Cage. She’s had to fight for it every step of the way, but Faye finally has the life she believes she deserves: she is rich, the business she built has become a global brand, and she has carefully hidden away her…

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Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Publisher: Recorded Books / Poisoned Pen Press Published: June 4, 2019 Source: Audio via Library / Print: Personal copy   Summary: Just when you think you’ve reached the bottom… Ryan DeMarco would rather not go home. Not now, maybe not ever. But when his estranged wife attempts suicide, he has no choice but to return to western Pennsylvania, and all the memories that wait for him there. Unfortunately, it’s not…

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Blog Tour & Review: A Cut for a Cut by Carol Wyer (print/audio)

Blog Tour & Review: A Cut for a Cut by Carol Wyer (print/audio)

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Cut for a Cut by Carol Wyer. Thank you #ZooloosBookTours for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer / Brilliance Audio Published: June 29, 2021 Source: Print via Author / Audio via Brilliance Audio   Summary: DI Kate Young can’t trust anybody. Not even herself. In the bleak countryside around Blithfield Reservoir, a…

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Review: The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner (audio)

Review: The Third Victim by Lisa Gardner (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: May 4, 2021 (First published 2001) Source: Publisher   Summary: The past isn’t over…. An unspeakable act has ripped apart the idyllic town of Bakersville, Oregon, and its once-peaceful residents are demanding quick justice. But though a boy has confessed to the horrific crime, evidence shows he may not be guilty. Officer Rainie Conner, leading her first homicide investigation, stands at the center of the controversy.…

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Review: The Bullet by Iris Johansen (audio)

Review: The Bullet by Iris Johansen (audio)

Publisher: Hachette Audio / Grand Central Publishing Published: June 8, 2021 Source: Audio: ALC via Libro.fm / Print: Hardcover via Publisher   Summary: Eve Duncan and Joe Quinn must protect the life of a brilliant scientist so that she can live long enough to bring her discovery to the world, in this fast-paced thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Iris Johansen. Diane Connors is a dedicated doctor with…

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Review: A Distant Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor (print/audio)

Review: A Distant Grave by Sarah Stewart Taylor (print/audio)

Publisher: Macmillan Audio / Minotaur Books Published: June 22, 2021 Source: ALC via Netgalley / ARC Paperback via Minotaur Books   Summary: In the follow up to the critically acclaimed The Mountains Wild, Detective Maggie D’arcy tackles another intricate case that bridges Long Island and Ireland. Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy and her teenage daughter, Lilly, are still recovering from the events of last fall when a strange new…

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Review: The North Face of Heart by Dolores Redondo (audio)

Review: The North Face of Heart by Dolores Redondo (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio / Amazon Crossing Published: June 1, 2021 Source: Audio via Brilliance Publishing / Print via MB Communications   Summary: In a propulsive thriller by the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Baztán Trilogy, a female detective follows a psychopathic killer into the eye of a storm. Amaia Salazar, a young detective from the north of Spain, has joined a group of trainees at the FBI Academy in…

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Review: The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley

Review: The Missing Sister by Lucinda Riley

Publisher: Blue Box Press Published: May 27, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Social Butter PR   Summary: The six D’Aplièse sisters have each been on their own incredible journey to discover their heritage, but they still have one question left unanswered: who and where is the seventh sister? They only have one clue – an image of a star-shaped emerald ring. The search to find the missing sister will take them…

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Review: Far Gone by Danielle Girard

Review: Far Gone by Danielle Girard

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: June 15, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: From the USA Today bestselling author of White Out comes a story of two heroines with shattered pasts and a town with blood on its hands. When a North Dakota couple is shot down in their home in cold blood, the sleepy town of Hagen wakes with a jolt. After all, it’s usually such a peaceful place. But…

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Review: The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner

Review: The Dark Corners of the Night by Meg Gardiner

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Published: February 18, 2020 Source: Personal Copy   Summary: I am the legion of the night … He appears in the darkness like a ghost, made of shadows and fear—the Midnight Man. He comes for the parents but leaves the children alive, tiny witnesses to unspeakable horror. The bedroom communities of Los Angeles are gripped with dread, and the attacks are escalating. Still reeling from her best…

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Review: Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

Review: Thief of Souls by Brian Klingborg

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: May 4, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: The brutal murder of a young woman in a rural village in Northern China sends shockwaves all the way to Beijing–but seemingly only Inspector Lu Fei, living in exile in the small town, is interested in justice for the victim. Lu Fei is a graduate of China’s top police college but he’s been assigned to a sleepy backwater town…

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Review: The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

Review: The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson

    Title: The Girl Who Died Author: Ragnar Jonasson, translated by Victoria Cribb Published: May 2021, Minotaur Books Format: ARC Paperback, 320 pages Source: Publisher   Summary: Teacher Wanted At the Edge of the WorldUna wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at…

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Review: The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg (audio)

Review: The Butterfly House by Katrine Engberg (audio)

  Title: The Butterfly House Author: Katrine Engberg Series: Korner & Werner, #2 Narrator: Graeme Malcolm Published: January 2021, Simon Schuster Audio / Gallery/Scout Press Length: 10 hours 1 minutes / 352 pages Source: Audio via Simon Schuster Audio / Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley Summary: Detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner return in this thriller as they race to solve a series of sordid murders linked to some…

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Review: The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

Review: The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

Title: The Tenant Author: Katrine Engberg Series: Korner/Werner, #1 Published: January 2020, Gallery/Scout Press Format: ARC Paperback, 368 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  An electrifying work of literary suspense from international bestselling author KatrineEngberg, this stunning debut introduces two police detectives struggling to solve a shocking murder and stop a killer hell-bent on revenge. When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of…

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