Fiction
Carnal Curiosity by Stuart Woods. Is it really Stuart Woods? Is Woods cranking these things out or is he hiring ghosts? I really do not know. Answer me Internet!
Redeployment by Phil Kay. I think this was discussed in the New York Times Book Review. Or, maybe not. Short stories dealing with service in Iraq during the war.
The Dealer and the Dead by Gerald Seymour. Arms dealer to a Croatian village in 1992 never showed up with the arms. The village was overrun and mostly slaughtered. The surviving villagers have found the dealer's identity and are out for revenge.
Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline. Fly leaf says relationship...urging...goes alone...deserted road...connection...bonding opportunity...tragedy...forced...plunges...crushing weight...ruin them all.
The Contractors by Harry Hunsicker. Here is what I know about Hunsicker: 1) he lives in Dallas, 2) he has long hair. This sounds like a good one. A contractor for the DEA in Dallas intercepts a drug shipment and ends up holding a high-value witness. He has to get the witness to Marfa, TX in spite of competition.
Night Diver by Elizabeth Lowell. Lowell's "favorite activity is exploring the western United States to find the landscapes that speak to her soul and inspire her writing." Oh boy...
Romance
Bitter Spirits by Jenn Bennett. That's two Ns, two Ns and Two Ts. A medium in the twenties helps a bootlegger with a hex. That is an unclear sentence. Does the bootlegger have a hex on him, or does the bootlegger want to hex someone else? Couldn't I just rewrite that sentence and avoid the confusion? No.
Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare. She wouldn't be romancing a Duke in Lake Mills. Not unless she has no sense of smell, because the chicken manure farm south of town is spreading manure this morning and everything smells awful.
Science Fiction
Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. This title speaks to me. It says, "There is a goblin and he is an emperor."
He Drank, and Saw the Spider by Alex Bledsoe. This title speaks to me. It says, "What?" The fly leaf says, "P.I. novel with swords." Bledsoe lives in Mount Horeb. My family stops for breakfast there when driving to KS each summer.
