08 February 2012

Recently received




Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris  (Kensington trade paper, 28 February 2012).

Los Angeles, 1941. Violinist Maddie Kern’s life seemed destined to unfold with the predictable elegance of a Bach concerto. Then she fell in love with Lane Moritomo. Her brother’s best friend, Lane is the handsome, ambitious son of Japanese immigrants. Maddie was prepared for disapproval from their families, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed the day after she and Lane elope, the full force of their decision becomes apparent. In the eyes of a fearful nation, Lane is no longer just an outsider, but an enemy.
When her husband is interned at a war relocation camp, Maddie follows, sacrificing her Juilliard ambitions. Behind barbed wire, tension simmers and the line between patriot and traitor blurs. As Maddie strives for the hard-won acceptance of her new family, Lane risks everything to prove his allegiance to America, at tremendous cost. 


The Widow of Saunders Creek by Tracey Bateman (Waterbrook Multnomah trade paper, 8 May 2012).

Corrie Saunders grew up in a life of privilege. But she gave it all up for Jarrod, her Army husband, a man she knew was a hero when she vowed to spend her life with him. She just didn’t expect her hero to sacrifice his life taking on an Iraqi suicide bomber. 
 Six months after Jarrod’s death, Corrie retreats to the family home her husband inherited deep in the Missouri Ozarks. She doesn’t know how to live without Jarrod—she doesn’t want to. By moving to Saunders Creek and living in a house beloved by him, she hopes that somehow her Jarrod will come back to her.
 Something about the house suggests maybe he has. Corrie begins to wonder if she can feel Jarrod’s presence. 
Jarrod’s cousin Eli is helping Corrie with the house’s restoration and he knows that his dead cousin is not what Corrie senses. Eli, as a believing man and at odds with his mystically-oriented family members, thinks friendly visits from beyond are hogwash.  But he takes spirits with dark intentions seriously. Can he convince Corrie that letting go of Jarrod will lead to finding her footing again— and to the One she can truly put her faith into?


Make it Stay by Joan Frank (The Permanent Press Publishing Company trade paper, 1 March 2012).

In the tree-nestled Northern California town of Mira Flores, writer Rachel ("an aging typist with an unprofitable hobby" and her Scottish husband Neil prepare dinner for a familiar "crew" of guests - among them Neil's best friend, the burly, handomse Mike Spender, an irrepressible hedonist - and Mike's wife, the troubling Tilda Krall, a hard-bitten figure who carries her dark unknowability like an accusation.
Mike and Tilda have produced an enchanting daughter, Addie - who will also appear, unexpectedly, that night.  As they ready the meal, Rae begs Neil to retell her the strange, twisted story of the Spenders - to include Mike's secret life, and what happened once Tilda learned of it.  Neil and Rae cannot guess how the shock waves from that story will threaten to destroy their own marriage - after a mysterious catastrophe propels all five individuals into uncharted realities.


Wildflowers from Winter by Katie Ganshert (Waterbrook Multnomah trade paper, 8 May 2012).

A young architect at a prestigious Chicago firm, Bethany Quinn has built a life far removed from her trailer park teen years. Until an interruption from her estranged mother reveals that tragedy has struck in her hometown and a reluctant Bethany is called back to rural Iowa. Determined to pay her respects while avoiding any emotional entanglements, she vows not to stay long. But the unexpected inheritance of farmland and a startling turn of events in Chicago forces Bethany to come up with a new plan.
Handsome farmhand Evan Price has taken care of the Quinn farm for years. So when Bethany is left the land, he must fight her decisions to realize his dreams. But even as he disagrees with Bethany's vision, Evan feels drawn to her and the pain she keeps so carefully locked away.
For Bethany, making peace with her past and the God of her childhood doesn't seem like the path to freedom. Is letting go the only way to new life, love and a peace she's not even sure exists?


Isaac:  A modern fable by Ivan Goldman (The Permanent Press Publishing Company trade paper, 1 April 2012).

A lively, inventive tale of Isaac that follows him beyond Genesis into the 21st century.
After being spared from Abraham's blade, he's been granted eternal youth and wanders the earth as a soldier of fortune. Turning up at a coffee shop in Los Angeles, he falls in love with Ruth Canby, a brilliant, breezy academic with a troubled past.
Isaac and Ruth must ultimately confront a sinister, enigmatic phantom that's stalked him for forty centuries. The story makes stops that include the Spanish Inquisition, a luxury box at the Super Bowl, and the infamous cells of the Tombs of New York City. Along the way it takes stock of time and chance, good and evil, faith, forgiveness, God, Satan, and the power of everlasting love.


Fallen Angels by Connie Dial (The Permanent Press Publishing Company trade paper, 1 April 2012).

Captain Josie Corsino has seen plenty of dead bodies during her twenty-one years with the Los Angeles Police Department, but the discovery of Hillary Dennis's beautiful smiling corpse begins one of the most unusual and dangerous investigations of Josie's career. The troubled teenage movie star is found murdered in a Hollywood Hills party house, a notorious location for vice and drug orgies.
As the case progresses, Josie realizes there aren't many of her subordinates or bosses she can trust other than homicide detective Red Behan and Lieutenant Marge Bailey, the vice supervisor; relying on them as she reluctantly takes charge of the homicide case, dodging interference and political pressure from both inside and outside her department. The situation isn't much better at home where her husband Jake and her talented but unemployed son David expose her to the sort of scrutiny that could damage or even terminate her career.
To catch a killer, she's willing to jeopardize her position as a commanding officer and risk losing her life - and possibly the husband and son she loves.


Flat Spin by David Freed (The Permanent Press Publishing Company trade paper, 1 May 2012).

 Based in sunny Rancho Bonita - "California's Monaco" as the city's moneyed minions like to call it - Cordell Logan is a literate, sardonic flight instructor and aspiring Buddhist with dwindling savings and a shadowy past. When his beautiful ex-wife, Savannah, shows up out of the blue to tell him that her husband has been murdered in Los Angeles, Logan is quietly pleased. Savannah's late husband, after all, is Arlo Echevarria, the man she left Logan for.
Logan and Echevarria were once comrades-in-arms assigned to a top-secret military assassination team known as "Alpha." The only problem is, the LAPD can find no record of Echevarria's ever having toiled for Uncle Sam. Savannah wants Logan to tell the police what he knows. At first he refuses, but then, relying on his small, aging airplane, the "Ruptured Duck," and the skills he honed working for Alpha, Logan doggedly hunts Echevarria's killer.


The Grievers by Mac Schuster (The Permanent Press Publishing Company trade paper, 1 May 2012).

When Charley Schwartz learns that an old high school pal has killed himself, he agrees to help his alma mater organize a memorial service to honor his fallen comrade. Soon, however, devastation turns to disgust as Charley discovers that his friend's passing means less to the school than the bottom line. As the memorial service quickly degenerates into a fundraising fiasco, Charley must also deal with a host of other quandaries including a dead-end job as an anthropomorphic dollar sign, his best friend's imminent move to Maryland, an intervention with a drug-addled megalomaniac, and his own ongoing crusade to enforce the proper use of apostrophes among the proprietors of local dining establishments.
Desperate to set the world right and keep his own life from spiraling out of control, Charley rages through his days and nights, plotting all the while the ultimate eulogy for his deceased friend and a scathing indictment of a world gone wrong.



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