April 2010

A River in the Sky
Elizabeth Peters

Publishers Weekly

Set in 1910, the delightful 19th Amelia Peabody novel from bestseller Peters (after Tomb of the Golden Bird) takes Amelia and her husband, Emerson, to Palestine, where an English adventurer, George Morley, is planning to excavate Jerusalem's Temple Mount in search of the Ark of the Covenant. Gen. David Spencer, the director of Military Operations in London, suspects Morley, an amateur archeologist at best, of spying for the Germans, whose influence has been growing in the Middle East. Spencer wants Egyptologists Amelia and Emerson to stop Morley from undertaking a project sure to offend the three religious groups that consider the temple site holy. Meanwhile, son Ramses embarks on a treacherous journey to convey to his parents important information learned from two travelers he meets while on a dig in Samaria.


Audio Books:


Crocodile on the Sandbank
Elizabeth Peters

Thirty-one-year-old Victorian gentlewoman Amelia Peabody has not only inherited her father's fortune, but she is also blessed with his strong will as well. Now she's headed for Cairo, accompanied by a girl with a tarnished past, to indulge her passion for Egyptology. Little did she know that murder and a homicidal mummy lay in wait for her.

Garden Spells
Sarah Addison Allen

Publishers Weekly

Two gifted sisters draw on their talents to belatedly forge a bond and find their ways in life in Allen's easygoing debut novel. Thirty-four-year-old Claire Waverley manifests her talent in cooking; using edible flowers, Claire creates dishes that "affect the eater in curious ways." But not all Waverley women embrace their gifts; some, including Claire's mother, escape the family's eccentric reputation by running away. She abandoned Claire and her sister when they were young. Consequently, Claire has remained close to home, unwilling to open up to new people or experiences. Claire's younger sister, Sydney, however, followed in their mother's footsteps 10 years ago and left for New York, and after a string of abusive, roustabout boyfriends, returns to Bascom, N.C., with her five-year-old daughter, Bay. As Sydney reacquaints herself with old friends and rivals, she discovers her own Waverley magic. Claire, in turn, begins to open up to her sister and in the process learns how to welcome other possibilities.

Pursuit
Karen Robards

Publishers Weekly

Jessica Ford is a young lawyer trying to rise in a powerful Washington, D.C., law firm. Her life gets thrown for a loop when she gets into a car accident that kills the first lady. Jessica wakes in the hospital to find someone trying to kill her as well-tipping her off that the crash wasn't just an accident and she never should have survived it. In steps Secret Service agent Mark Ryan, the head of the first lady's security detail. As bodies start piling up around Jessica, she and Mark have no one to turn to except each other, and as the conspiracy begins to point to some very high places, the duo begin to realize the key to saving their lives is locked away in Jessica's memories.

April 8, 2010

Reunion in Death (In Death Series #14)
J.D. Robb
audiobook

Publishers Weekly

Seasoned author Nora Roberts, writing as Robb, delivers another exhilarating entry in her popular futuristic cop series featuring Eve Dallas (Seduction in Death, etc.). Dallas, a New York police lieutenant, is a hard-bitten warrior cop who buries the pain and anger of her early childhood by excelling on the job. In her latest adventure, all the usual suspects are back: Eve's charismatic husband, Roarke; her plucky assistant, Peabody; and hipster techno-geek McNab. For this round, their objective is to take down a woman Eve arrested 10 years ago, a poisoner named Julianna Dunne. Julianna's out on parole, and now rich old men are dying sudden deaths. What's more, the ex-con wants to exact a little revenge on her one-time adversary. Eve's search for Dunne takes her all over the country, and eventually to Dallas, Tex., the city that gave her both her name and a legacy of violent nightmares. This is a satisfying, well-paced novel that offers readers a little of everything sex, death, family drama and well-orchestrated chase scenes. Although Robb's plot is tight and suspenseful, the real pleasure here comes from watching Eve struggle to maintain her distance from others, even as she finds herself tied ever more closely to her friends and family by the bonds of love. (Mar. 5) Forecast: It's a given that Roberts's books will grace the bestseller charts, but a stylish cover image depicting a ghostly, Manhattan subway entrance may attract new readers.

April 7, 2010

Street of the Five Moons
Elizabeth Peters

From the Publisher

Art historian Vicky Bliss may be blond and beautiful, but looks can be deceiving. She also has the brain of an Einstein, the reckless courage of a test pilot—and no one's more savvy about fine works of art. For example: the gold pendant her boss at Munich's National Museum is currently dangling in front of her. It's an exquisite replica of a Charlemagne talisman—and it was found, along with a note written in hieroglyphs, sewn into the suit pocket of an unidentified man lying dead in an alley.

There's a murderous puzzle to unravel—and Vicky will start by hunting down the master craftsperson who created the magnificent piece, even if the search carries her to the ends of the Earth. Instead, it's pointing her toward Rome, the most romantic city in the world. But it's also pulling her into a treacherous game of intrigue where the stakes could not be higher: Vicky's life!

April 2010

Borrower of the Nile
Elizabeth Peters

From the Publisher

A missing masterwork in wood, the last creation of a master carver who died in the violent tumult of the sixteenth century, may be hidden in a medieval German castle in the town of Rothenburg. The prize has called to art historian Vicky Bliss, drawing her and an arrogant male colleague into the forbidding citadel and its dark secrets. But the treasure hunt soon turns deadly. Here, where the blood of the long-forgotten damned stains ancient stones, Vicky must face two equally perilous possibilities. Either a powerful supernatural evil inhabits this place . . . or someone frighteningly real is willing to kill for what Vicky is determined to find.