Recently received

The Look of Love (Piper Donovan #2) by Mary Jane Clark (William Morrow hc, 17 January 2012).

Piper Donovan accepts when the owner of Elysium, an exclusive spa and plastic surgery center, offers her an all-expenses-paid trip to Los Angeles to create a dazzling and unique wedding cake. The job also gives Piper the time and distance she needs to sort out her feelings for handsome FBI agent Jack Lombardi.

Nestled in the Hollywood Hills, Elysium seems picture-perfect: the grounds, the staff, even the guests. But no sooner does Piper arrive than a guest is brutally murdered in one of the private bungalows. Someone, it seems, wants to make sure Elysium’s beautiful director, Jillian Abernathy, never gets to walk down the aisle. Piper soon discovers that beneath the glamorous surface of this idyllic oasis lies an ugly truth—and a cold-blooded plan for murder.


 Close-Up (Margot & Max #9) by Kit Sloane (Oak Tree Press,15 October 2011).

Margot and Max know how to cope with the murderous egos, high flying aspirations, and obsessive dreams of moviedom’s biggest and most revered stars. They understand that, for some, Hollywood is a takeout heaven—send out for what you want and it will quickly be delivered. But what happens when what is so desired doesn’t arrive? In CLOSE-Up, our daring hero and heroine witness greedy players scheming to cultivate their own needs and desires—fabricating fame, fortune, and unfaithful friends.



Never See Them Again by William Phelps (Kensington hc, 28 February 2012).

The heat was oppressive on July 18, 2003, with the threat of a torrential downpour. Mild gusts were whipping around the yellow police tape that surrounded a well-tended contemporary home. Something so horrific had taken place inside that house, no one, it seemed, could come to terms with just how bad the scene truly was. 

What lay beyond the front-door threshold was a shocking sight—the bodies of four young people, viciously slain: eighteen-year-olds Rachael Koloroutis and Tiffany Rowell, along with Marcus Precella and his cousin, Adelbert Sanchez. The social bar at Clear Lake High School was set high, and Rachael and Tiffany had stood at the top, beautiful, intelligent, and beloved. But tragically, their kindness ultimately made them targets—because when a killer came knocking that lazy afternoon, it turned out to be someone they knew all too well…