For readers who like suspense!

The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
"Do you think he did it?" Mickey Haller's investigator Cisco asks about a client, a Hollywood studio mogul accused of murdering his wife and her lover. "Probably," Mickey answers, "but it doesn't matter." Mickey first appeared in "The Lincoln Lawyer." Now he's back in court, defending clients who are usually guilty. He has no qualms about what he does - it's the American justice system, after all, and he plays an important role. Besides, it's a living, and he stands to earn a quarter of a million representing the movie guy. Connelly's writing is smooth, and it's great to see Mickey Haller and Harry Bosch, the L.A. detective who's left retirement and re-joined the force, as characters in the same book. They are on different sides of a case, and so are at each other at the beginning, each one trying to trip up and psych out the other. They eventually come to a somewhat amicable working arrangement. This is an outstanding legal thriller. There are several surprises at the end. Are you wondering what a "brass verdict" is? You'll find out - at the end of the book.
Michael Connelly's Web Site


Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich
Jonathan Ransom, a doctor working for Doctors without Borders, is drawn into a dangerous situation after his wife dies in a skiing accident in Switzerland. She receives a mysterious communication, which he pursues. He is shocked to discover that she was not who he thought she was. There is a plot involving a terrorist group who has invented a tiny device disguised as a butterfly that can perform sophisticated surveillance work. When the engineer who designed the device is murdered, the Swiss counterterrorism agency investigates. I have to give this one a mixed review. I liked the characters of Ransom and the Swiss counterterrorism expert. Although the pace is good and the various plots move along, the book is too long. There are a lot of characters, and I didn't necessarily want to know the life story of each and every one of them. There are some surprising plot twists I enjoyed. In general, I would recommend this to thriller fans, in spite of its shortcomings.
New York Times Review


Exit Music by Ian Rankin
Is John Rebus really retiring from the Edinburgh police force? What will Rebus fans do if this is the last Rebus mystery? I suspect (and hope) it isn’t. In this book. Rebus is trying to clear out his files, but is distracted by the murder of a Russian poet in what looks like a random robbery. When there’s a 2nd death in a suspicious fire, Rebus suspects the 2 death are related. He also sees his last chance to get the best of his arch-enemy, gangster “Big Ger” Cafferty. The relationship between Rebus and his partner Clarke is well done. I'm very fond of Rebus, and I like this series a lot!
Ian Rankin's Web Site


The Bad News Bible by Anna Blundy
Faith Zanetti, tough-talking foul-mouthed foreign correspondent for a British newspaper, has been posted to Jerusalem. She swears a lot and drinks too much, but her toughness is the shell she uses to cover up her vulnerability, hurt and distress at the horrors she's seen in the places she's been posted. I like Faith - she's funny and has a good heart.
Faith Zanetti's Web Site

Reviewed by Suzanne

Two thrillers, an audiobook and a haunting memoir

Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
“On July 5, 1996, my daughter was struck mad.” This is the first line of Greenberg’s memoir recording the events of his daughter’s summer of psychosis. He deals with the illness, its effect on his daughter and the effect on his family. A touching read.




Trigger City by Sean Chercover
This mystery takes place in the gritty underbelly of Chicago. P.I. Ray Dudgeon is not afraid to take on the biggest, baddest, most corrupt bad guys and bring them down. I look forward to reading more of Sean Chercover.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (on audiobook)
This is a really fun book to listen to. There are several readers doing the voices and their rendition is perfect! Very enjoyable!

The Treatment by Mo Hayder
In this sequel to Birdman, British police inspector Jack Caffery is on the trail of a totally sick, psycho child killer. This is a great thriller but is not for the faint of heart.

Reviewed by Julie

"It's the economy, stupid!"-Help for your financial woes

So – the stock market is tumbling, businesses are failing, and our (financial) sky is just falling in general. What to do? Time to get back to basics: getting organized, figuring out what you really need, and revisiting Budgeting 101. There seems to be financial advice everywhere you look – where should you start? The following four books are great basic “how to” guides for getting your financial life in order.


Easy Money by Liz Pulliam Weston
One of the internet’s most widely read personal finance writers has put together an easy to follow primer on money management. Covers the basics well, but does an even better job outlining how to simplify your financial life and avoid costly, stupid mistakes. Good for the personal finance beginner or those who want a refresher on certain topics.

Kiplinger’s Money Smart Women by Janet Bodnar
Basic, no nonsense advice for every stage of a woman’s life from the Deputy Editor of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine.Bodnar spells out the differences between men’s and women’s financial needs and money management styles. Covers budgeting, credit, mortgages, retirement saving, investing, caring for children and elderly parents, and more. Contains easy to use worksheets,straightforward examples and lists of other resources.


Money Can Buy Happiness by M.P. Dunleavey
MSN columnist Dunleavey examines the disconnect between how we spend our time and money and which things truly make us happy. Contains simple exercises to help you figure out whether your spending is in line with your values, as well as some very basic financial advice. This is full of good reminders not to get lost in the minutiae of money management before figuring out what you are trying to manage to begin with.

On My Own Two Feet by Manish Thakor & Sharon Kedar
Good primer on money management for young women. Covers saving, budgeting, insurance needs, investing, and the financial ramifications of some major life events. Easy to follow, good charts and examples, and conversational tone. Great for recent grads and those who need a quick brush-up on their personalfinance skills.

Reviewed by Macaire

Some top-notch mystery writers

Ross Macdonald
Ross Macdonald is one of the best of the classic American private eye writers. He writes in the style of Raymond Chandler, that is, wealthy Los Angeles, full of sin and corruption; very atmospheric. “Most mystery writers merely write about crime. Ross Macdonald writes about sin.”—The Atlantic Monthly


The Barbarous Coast
In this novel detective “Lew Archer navigates through the watery, violent world of wealth and privilege, in this electrifying story of obsession gone mad.”
The Doomsters
Lew Archer is hired to investigate the suspicious deaths of a senator and his wife. He runs into a history of double-crossing and dirty-dealing. Now someone has it in for the senators’ family and Archer has to find out who before another body winds up on a slab.


P.J. Parrish
Author of the successful Louis Kincaid series is similar to author Dennis Lehane because of her ability to create “sympathetic main and secondary characters and through her skill at creating suspense and sustaining a mood.” Her first Louis Kincaid novel An Unquiet Grave was fantastic!


South of Hell
This novel finds “Louis Kincaid and his lover, female detective Joe Frye, …team[ing] up to find out what happened to Jean Brandt, who was reported missing by her husband from their Michigan farmhouse in 1981.” Lee Child says: "Crime fiction at its finest. Beautifully written, beautifully imagined and packed with raw power."

Hard Case Crime books are always good if you’re looking for an old-time hard-boiled mystery. They include both classic mysteries as well as new noir novels. And best of all the covers are in the grand pulp style. They’re easy to identify so grab one today!

Max Allan Collin
Collins has many books in the Hard Case Crime series. He’s “violent and volatile and packed with sexuality…classic pulp fiction.”—USA Today
The First Quarry
Quarry was the first hit man to star in his own series of crime novels. This is the prequel to the popular novel The Last Quarry. See Quarry in his first job: “infiltrating a college town and eliminating a professor whose affair with one of his beautiful, young students is the least of his sins…”

Stan Jones

Frozen Sun
This title is in the Nathan Active series. Active is an Inupiaq State Trooper in Alaska, Inupiat by birth but raised by adoptive parents in Anchorage. This background allows for an exploration and investigation of the fault lines between Alaska’s various peoples, through the lens of crime fiction. In this novel he is in pursuit of a young woman who went missing years before. The search takes him to Anchorage and an island fishing camp. He creates a vivid portrait of the area using native language devices.

Reviewed by Julie

Mystery Mini-Reviews from Julie

In the Heat by Ian Vasquez
Miles Young, an over-the-hill boxer, is hired to find the daughter of a wealthy woman in this mystery set in the country of Belize. This is Vasquez’s first novel and it’s a good one.


Birdman by Mo Hayder
Detective Jack Caffery is on the trail of a truly sick & twisted killer. Hayder is a terrific writer: the characters are fully developed & the plot is full of unexpected twists & turns. This is a creepy but exciting read!


The Shadow Walker by Michael Walters
In modern day Mongolia, in a series of brutal killings, an Englishman is killed. To help in the investigation a British policeman is sent to Mongolia to work with the police & the head of national security to find the killer. This is a very interesting, well written & exciting mystery.

Reviewed by Julie

More Good Mysteries from Julie

Mark of the Lion by Suzanne Arruda
Jade Del Cameron, an adventurous, independent young woman, explores post WWI Africa in search of her dead fiancés half-brother. If you like Amelia Peabody, you’ll love Jade Del Cameron! Very entertaining!

The Marshal and the Murderer by Magdalen Nabb
Marshal Guarnaccia, a Florence policeman, may look like he’s asleep on his feet but his brain is always working to figure out who done it.An easy and entertaining read.

Ammunition by Ken Bruen
Ammunition in this book is what you know about someone that gives you power over them. This is a rather cynical look at a police department but is an entertaining and fast read.


The Lemur by Benjamin Black
This is a creepy mystery where nothing seems or feels right. A writer hires a researcher who is then murdered, but murdered in exactly the same way as a death in the past. Is it a coincidence or did the same killer do both jobs?

Reviewed by Julie

A Few Good Mysteries and Thrillers

Severance Package by Duane Swierczynski
"His name was Paul Lewis.... ....and he didn't know he had seven minutes to live." This is a book that is in fast forward-the action never stops or even slows down! Once you start it, you can't stop!

Disco for the Departed by Colin Cotterill
This is a Dr. Siri Paiboun mystery set in Laos. Dr. Siri and his nurse Dtui investigate the mysterious case of a body found encased in a rock .too complicated to explain. These are fun, easy to read books. Siri and Dtui are a hoot! With lots of Laotian atmosphere (ghostly atmosphere at that!)

Reviewed by Julie


Killing Rommel bySteven Pressfield
This outstanding military thriller is based on the real life story of the Long Range Desert Group, an elite WWII BritishSpecial Forces unit whose mission was to destroy Rommel’s Afrika Korps. Pressfield captures the adrenaline and fear of battle and the camaraderie of the brave men whose mission was so dangerous they knew many of them would die so realistically I kept forgetting it’s fiction. The historical background is accurate and some of the characters are real. The fictional characters are so well imagined, and the action so detailed, you feel you are there. Pressfield's previous books are military historical fiction about Thermopylae and Alexander the Great. This is his first set in the modern era. His website has a 10-minute documentary about Rommel, "the greatest fighting general of WWII", desert warfare tactics, the Battle of El Alamein and about how the Long Range Desert Group were able to break the back of the Africa Korps. There's also an hour-long interview with Pressfield.
Steven Pressfield's website

Collision by Jeff Abbott
Abbott’s characters are often ordinary, intelligent people who are unwittingly caught up in dangerous situations and become victims. This one takes a while to jell as the various plots are laid out, but stick with it, it’s worthwhile! Ben Forsberg, who is grieving his wife’s murder 2 years previoucly, becomes the target of a secret government agency. Lots of action, crosses and double-crosses, and the ending is a stunner!

Assassin byTed Bell
Alex Hawke is everything a thriller hero must be - strong, fearless, determined and resourceful. In this one, a personal tragedy derails him briefly, but he’s soon back in the thick of the action, pursuing evil-doers and seeking revenge, supported by a cast of colorful and likeable comrades. The book is long; there's too much time spent on the villain's backstory, and the action is over the top. That said, the Hawke series is action-packed with well-drawn characters, and I'm now a confirmed Hawke fan.

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci
A fantastic thriller! A Shaw (no first name, just A) is a contract terrorist hunter and hitman for a shadowy government agency. He’s trying to get out of his dangerous profession and settle down with the woman he loves. But nothing is simple in the world of international terrorism. Baldacci's most popular books are his "Camel Club" series.

Reviewed by Suzanne