Paula Longhurst's Blog, page 17

Hope Rides Again, Andrew Schaffer

The Obama-Biden bromance that started in Hope Never Dies is back!
Joe Biden is on a book tour, he's tired and wants to go home to his wife but one more stop, in Chicago, on St Patrick's day to see his friend and former President Barack Obama, who has set up a meeting with a fundraiser for a possible Biden 2020 bid.
Biden can't even get into the building without the help of Michelle who rescues him on her way to lunch with Oprah. Soon Biden and Obama are hanging out in the green room looking for Obama's Blackberry which appears to have been stolen and Biden thinks he knows who took it. He, Obama and Steve, the Secret Service agent go out onto the raucous (and dangerous) streets of Chicago in search of their suspect, stumbling onto a conspiracy as deep as Lake Michigan; which is where they'll wind up if they're not careful.

Reunion, Guillaume Musso

Heiress Vinca Rockwell ran off with her philosophy teacher Alexis Clement. The stunning redhead was last seen being driven by him through the gates of exclusive Saint-Exupery prep school in sun-drenched Nice, never to be seen again.
Vinca's friends, Maxime, Thomas and Fanny return to attend the school's 50th anniversary celebrations.  They haven't spoken to each other since graduation but now they have no choice; the old gymnasium is slated for demolition to make way for a new complex and the trio know that a body is buried inside the walls of the gym because they helped put it there. Someone else knows their guilty secret and is systematically taking revenge on the witnesses from that fateful night in 1992. A tragedy is about to unfold, one twenty five years in the making.

The Lightest Object In The Universe, Kimi Eisele

When the end came it wasn’t in nuclear fire it was a government imploded by its own corruption, an epidemic that didn’t discriminate and zero electricity. With the world unplugged pockets of humans remain. Beatrix, a fair trade activist returns to her west coast neighbourhood and tries to help rebuild a community. Carson, a former High School Principle leaves New York on foot, determined to reach his love, Beatrix. On his odyssey, Carson comes across the best and worst of our kind and bands of ‘Pilgrims’ drawn towards a ‘promised land’ by a charismatic preacher and his radio broadcasts to the nation.
Will Carson and Beatrix be re-united. What kind of life rises from the ashes of our old one. Is there hope for humanity?
For fans of Station Eleven, Dog Stars and The Last.

Guest post by Wendy Foster Leigh

Wendy is both a colleague and a good friend and I'm honoured that she did this guest post for me. Take it away, Wendy!
Killing with Confetti , Peter LoveseyRead one Peter Diamond mystery and you want more.  As head of the Criminal Investigation Division, Diamond has grown both professionally and personally throughout 17 previous books.  His current assignment is security at the wedding of the Deputy Chief Constable’s son to the daughter of a notorious crime boss, Joe Irving, who has just been released from prison. He now plans to give his daughter the wedding of the century paid for by his ill-gotten gains.  Irving is surrounded by enemies from rival gangs and Diamond reluctantly protects the man.  Diamond does not relish the thought of hobnobbing with the Chief Constable’s crowd, wearing a gun, or battling the criminal element.  The assignment leaves Diamond dreading all possible consequences.  Lovesey’s Diamond mysteries could serve as a travelogue to Bath and its architecture.  Amid this beautiful city filled with history from Roman times through the Victorian age, Peter Diamond finds villains and heroes.  He solves cases through solid police work and a little ingenuity.

Knife, Jo Nesbo

All detective Harry Hole's nightmares are coming true. The notorious criminal Svein Finne has been freed and Rakel has kicked Harry out - for good this time - so he’s drinking again. But things are about to get worse. Harry wakes up with blood on his hands and no memory of how it got there or whose blood it is

Whisper Network, Chandler Baker

“If only you had listened to us none of this would’ve happened.”
A heart attack in the shower means that the position of CEO at Truviv just fell open and Ames Garrett is poised to take the top spot. Ames is a ‘good guy’, a ‘family man’ but to the women at Truviv he’s someone you warn other women about, in whispers of course.
Lawyers Ardie, Sloan and Grace have all felt his stifling influence on their careers and Ardie’s friend, cleaner Rosalita well she’s seen things she wishes she hadn’t. When Ames sets his sights on Katherine, a new young Truviv associate, the women decide that enough is enough but the events they set in motion could destroy their careers, their lives and their credibility. Will they whisper or shout?

Paper Sons, S.J. Rozan

Chinatown PI Lydia Chin has preconceived ideas about the Mississippi delta. One of them being she knows no one down there. That, and many others are wrong. Her latest client is, her mother (which means this job has no payday) who wants her to clear the name of Jefferson Tam, a cousin she’s never met. Lydia, fresh from a family history lesson and with partner Bill in tow heads for the delta. Here they find cousins galore, one of them running for office. The pair of ‘yankees’ from the big city start stirring up trouble as soon as they drive into town.
How on earth is Lydia going to clear a man who just that morning engineered his escape from jail?

Marah Chase and the Conqueror’s Tomb, Jay Stringer

Chase is on the run in the Syrian desert. Almost caught by ISIS lite she ends up in the hands of British Intelligence by way of a nasty betrayal. Now she has a choice, help Agent Mason of MI6 find the tomb of Alexander the Great or rot in prison. Chase could never resist a challenge, her former mentor was an Alexander nut and Chase used to date his daughter, Zoe.
Mason returns to London after her ‘holiday’ to find herself the subject of a public enquiry. Her boss is acting oddly and it all points to an infiltration at the highest levels of government by a religious cult who call themselves Visitologists. They believe that an ancient weapon was buried with Alexander and they intend to wrest it away from Chase (if she finds it first) and use it to destroy London.

Daughters of Temperance Hobbs, Katherine Howe

In the long awaited follow up to The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane, Connie Goodwin is now a respected professor applying for tenure at Northwestern. Her days are filled with lectures and grading, her nights are filled with Sam. Thesis advisor to Zazi, Connie’s world turns upside down when she realizes that she's pregnant. 
Her mother, Grace reminds her of the old family curse, which now threatens Sam. Connie knows she can't leave him, it would be like cutting off one of her limbs.With Zazi's help Connie searches for the ancestor whose powerful alchemy protected her husband in the hopes that it can save Sam too.

Arches Enemy, Scott Graham

In Moab’s famous Arches national park a young woman goes on an early morning run across Landscape Arch and seconds later she’s buried in the rubble as the arch collapses beneath her. Archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family, camping nearby go to investigate. Chuck is working on a very delicate discovery that could have far reaching consequences for the local tribes who are trying to keep the oil and gas companies out of Arches and preserve their tribal lands.
Chuck, somewhat reluctantly, is about to introduce his young family to his mother; who appears to have turned over a new leaf. She is working as a spiritualist in Moab and she seems to know everybody in town. Although, strangely she denies knowing the dead woman. Chuck, keen to protect the find he is working on, makes a disturbing discovery one that triggers a cover-up.
As the bodies start to pile up who can he trust to keep his family safe?