Showing posts with label Sandra Brown. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandra Brown. Show all posts

Monday, January 18, 2016

Lone Wolves of Mystery and Suspense


If you love mystery and suspense, get ready for some unforgettable heroines in the latest pulse-pounding novels that will blow your mind. Take a deep breath and plunge in!



Three Truths and A Lie
Lisa Gardner
(Book 8-D. D. Warren Series)

Lisa Gardner will quickly earn a place at the top of your reading pile. Her Detective D. D. Warren novels include Fear Nothing, Catch me, Love You More, and The Neighbor, which won the International Thriller of the Year Award.

In Lisa Gardner's second short story, after the New York Times bestseller The 7th Month, Detective D.D. Warren takes on her most intimidating assignment yet: a fifty-minute class meant to educate a horde of bloodthirsty thriller writers on the ways of actual police work. Yet sometimes life really does imitate fiction, as D.D. takes the writers through the reality of one of her most twisted cases - a case that involves a seedy motel room, drugs, prostitution...and a severed leg.


With Gardner's trademark suspense, sharp observations, and thrilling storytelling, 3 Truths and a Lie is a fascinating chapter in D.D.'s storied career.

Flora Dane is a victim.  Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Flora Dane is a survivor. Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who's never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she's become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who've never made it home.

Flora Dane is reckless....or is she? When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime - a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him - she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D. D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who's determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.





Crash & Burn
Lisa Gardner
 (Book 3-Tessa Leoni series)

You can always count on Lisa Gardner to deliver the goods-shocking suspense, compelling characters and unforgettable heroines. Her novels are compulsive, chilling and guaranteed to keep you up all night.

Nicole Frank shouldn’t have survived the car accident, much less the crawl up the steep ravine. One thought allows her to defy the odds and flag down help—she must save Vero.

"My name is Nicky Frank. I'm in hospital after crashing my car. I am afraid. The only thing I can think about is Vero. I know I have to save her, but why couldn't I find her? She's just a little girl.

The man standing in my hospital room tells me we are married, but there is no Vero. That six months ago I suffered a traumatic brain injury which caused changes to my personality. I have dramatic mood swings, an inability to concentrate, and large gaps in my memory. I'm much easier to anger these days. And I drink. All of which, he says, explains the car accident and my confusion.

Now a Sergeant Wyatt Foster is investigating. He has questions about the car accident. He has concerns about my husband. And he's worried about a missing girl. He would like to know what happened to me. So would I. My name is Nicky Frank. This is my life. Watch me crash and burn."



Meet Lisa Gardner
Lisa Gardner began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and decided to stick to writing.  She sold her first novel when she was just 20 years old. In 1993 she graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in international relations. A self-described research junkie, she parlayed her interest in police procedure, cutting edge forensics, and twisted plots into a streak of thirteen bestselling suspense novels. She lives in New Hampshire with her family, including two highly spoiled dogs and a extremely neurotic three-legged cat.




Mean Streak
Sandra Brown

Combining the nail-biting suspense and potent storytelling that has made Sandra Brown one of the world's best loved authors, MEAN STREAK is a wildly compelling novel about love, deceit, and the choices we must make in order to survive.

Dr. Emory Charbonneau, a pediatrician and marathon runner, disappears on a mountain road in North Carolina. By the time her husband Jeff, miffed over a recent argument, reports her missing, the trail has grown cold. Literally. Fog and ice encapsulate the mountainous wilderness and paralyze the search for her.

While police suspect Jeff of 'instant divorce', Emory, suffering from an unexplained head injury, regains consciousness and finds herself the captive of a man whose violent past is so dark that he won't even tell her his name. She's determined to escape him, and willing to take any risks necessary to survive.
As her husband's deception is revealed, and the FBI closes in on her captor, Emory begins to wonder if the man with no name is, in fact, her rescuer from those who wish her dead - and from heartbreak.





Flesh and Blood
Patricia Cornwell
(Book 22-Kay Scarpetta series)

Number-one best-selling author Patricia Cornwell delivers the next enthralling thriller in her high-stakes series starring Kay Scarpetta - a complex tale involving a serial sniper who strikes chillingly close to the forensic sleuth herself.

It's Chief Medical Examiner Dr Kay Scarpetta's birthday, and while she's enjoying a leisurely morning, a man is shot dead five minutes from her house. The bullet tore through him as he unloaded groceries from his car. Yet nobody heard or saw a thing.

It looks like the work of a serial sniper - one who leaves no trace except for tiny copper fragments, and whose seemingly impossible shots cause instant death. As Scarpetta investigates, uncovering details that only she can analyze, she begins to suspect that the killer is sending her a message
.
Adding to Scarpetta's growing unease is the sense that those closest to her are keeping secrets. And when her pursuit of the sniper takes Scarpetta to a shipwreck off the Florida coast, she comes face to face with shocking evidence that implicates her niece Lucy - Scarpetta's very own flesh and blood...



Bones Never Lie
Kathy Reichs
(Book 17-Temperance Brennan series)

The evidence is irrefutable: In sixteen New York Times bestsellers over the course of as many years, Kathy Reichs has proven herself "a genius at building suspense" (New York Daily News). 

In forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, Reichs has created a detective fiction heroine who's brilliant to the bone. "Every minute in the morgue with Tempe is golden," says The New York Times Book Review. In the acclaimed author's thrilling new novel, Brennan is at the top of her game in a battle of wits against the most monstrous adversary she has ever encountered.

Unexpectedly called in to the Charlotte PD's Cold Case Unit, Dr. Temperance Brennan wonders why she's been asked to meet with a homicide cop who's a long way from his own jurisdiction. The shocking answer: Two child murders, separated by thousands of miles, have one thing in common - the killer. Years ago, Anique Pomerleau kidnapped and murdered a string of girls in Canada, then narrowly eluded capture. It was a devastating defeat for her pursuers, Brennan and police detective Andrew Ryan. Now, as if summoned from their nightmares, Pomerleau has resurfaced in the United States, linked to victims in Vermont and North Carolina. When another child is snatched, the reign of terror promises to continue - unless Brennan can rise to the challenge and make good on her second chance to stop a psychopath.

But Brennan will have to draw her bitter ex-partner out of exile, keep the local police and feds from one another's throats, and face more than just her own demons as she stalks the deadliest of predators into the darkest depths of madness.

In Bones Never Lie, Kathy Reichs never fails to satisfy readers looking for psychological suspense that's more than skin-deep.

Don't miss Kathy Reichs's short story "Swamp Bones" in the back of the book.

"Kathy Reichs writes smart - no, make that brilliant - mysteries that are as realistic as nonfiction and as fast-paced as the best thrillers about Jack Reacher, or Alex Cross." - James Patterson


"Nobody does forensics thrillers like Kathy Reichs. She's the real deal." - David Baldacci

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Meet Author Sandra Brown

Meet author Sandra Brown, read her biography, then browse some  of her best work: The Alibi, Fat Tuesday, French Silk, and Tough Customer.

Sandra was born on March 12, 1948 in Waco, Texas and raised in Ft. Worth. She is nothing if not serious when it comes to her work. As the oldest of five daughters, she was a responsible and mature girl, and always chose to read a book rather than play with dolls. Her responsible nature stayed with Sandra as she graduated from Texas Christian University with a degree in English, and in her job as a contributing feature reporter at the nationally syndicated PM Magazine in Dallas. When the show experienced mass layoffs, however, Sandra found herself out of work.

Marriages of Convenience


A marriage of convenience is a marriage between two people for practical or financial reasons and
not for love or intimacy. Example: Widowed women of the old west in the U.S. often agreed to marriages of convenience in order to survive the hardships of homesteading during the 1800s.

ETERNITY, Jude Deveraux

Pampered, rich Carrie Montgomery weds Joshua Green by proxy, even though she isn’t the hard working practical bride he sought to help with the farm and his children. A near tragedy convinces him that he truly needs and wants her.

MORNING COMES SOFTLY, Debbie Macomber

Travis Thompson, a rough-and-tough rancher, and Mary Warner, a shy librarian, have nothing in common. But Travis needs a wife to help him with his orphaned nephews and niece. Mary becomes his mail-order bride and finds her fulfillment in being needed by her new family. Can she find love with the man she now calls her husband?

Friday, June 10, 2011

Artful Themes: Marriage of Convenience




One of my favorite romance themes is the marriage of convenience. A marriage of convenience is one which is forced for one or both parties due to compromising circumstances, pregnancy, or financial considerations. Mail order brides are included in this theme. Some compelling situation causes the hero and heroine to join together in holy wedlock to address a mutual need. The marriage may be instigated by either party or by some outside person or event. Love is not the motivating factor in the union of the couple. Emotions run the gamit from sorrow, fear and loathing to distrust and vulnerability. The reason is sometimes unclear because one of the couple is not honest about his/her feelings. John may already love Mary and he accepts her on whatever terms the situation requires. He may be unaware of his love for her, or he may enter the relationship having no inclination toward giving or receiving true love.

These relationships often begin with a mutual understanding of whether the couple will or will not share the joys of the marriage bed. Eventually, however, the situation changes. True to the romance genre, passions run high, trust and reliance step in, and before the hero and heroine realize it, love blooms. Some characters will fight the attraction vigorously, while others quickly accept their fate. Each character will react differently, giving rise to a marvelous, romantic story.


Why does the marriage of convenience appeal to me? I guess I like the idea of two people finding love in the midst of problematic situations. I enjoy the inner struggle for control of the heart when pitted against strong physical and emotional attraction.


The reader shares the quickening of hearts and feels the immediate attraction. You begin to care about the characters and root for love to conquer all. Finally,the reward-enjoying the expected happy ending. The author uses plot twists, villians or human fraility to keep the road to romance bumpy and unpredictable. Somewhere along the way, two searching hearts eventually come together. Here are a few of my favorites. Our "Artful Themes" feature reviews each novel. If you've read any of these, let us know what you liked or didn't like about them, which are your favorites and why, and anything else you want to share. I'd love to hear from you.

■SILKEN WEB, Sandra Brown
■TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY, Sandra Brown
■TIGER PRINCE, Sandra Brown
■SUDDENLY, Candance Camp
■ENCHANTED LAND, Jude Deveraux
■ETERNITY, Jude Deveraux
■TEXAS DESTINY, Lorraine Heath
■TEXAS GLORY, Lorraine Heath
■WILDEST HEARTS, Jayne Anne Krentz
■SOMETHING BORROWED, Rebecca Hagen Lee
■LIONS and LACE, Megan McKinney
■MORNING COMES SOFTLY, Debbie Macomber
■THE MARRIAGE BED, Stephanie Mittman
■NOBODY'S BABY BUT MINE, Susan Elizabeth Phillips
■THE VOW, Dallas Schulze
■THE BAWDY BRIDE, Amanda Scott
■SEPARATE BEDS, LaVryle Spencer