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Title:   Dying Echo: A Grim Reaper Mystery (Grim Reaper Series) by Judy Clemens Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press 250 pages Genre: Mystery I received this book as an electronic ARC from netgalley.com .  It was published August 7, 2012 Synopsis:  It's been years since Casey Maldonado visited her hometown, and the only reason she's returning now is to get her brother Ricky out of jail, where he sits after being arrested for the brutal murder of Alicia McManus, his girlfriend of several months. Casey believes in her brother's innocence, but proving that to the cops is a different thing altogether. As Casey and her ever-present companion Death investigate Alicia's murder, it becomes clear she was not who she claimed to be, from her name to her non-existent past. Instead of a solid history, she left only questions when she died. Where did she come from? What secrets did she know? And, most importantly, who were the three people she spoke of when Death carried her away? ...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  Dying Echo: A Grim Reaper Mystery (Grim Reaper Series) by Judy Clemens Synopsis:  It's been years since Casey Maldonado visited her hometown, and the only reason she's returning now is to get her brother Ricky out of jail, where he sits after being arrested for the brutal murder of Alicia McManus, his girlfriend of several months. Casey believes in her brother's innocence, but proving that to the co...

Title: Duck Boy Publisher: Biting Duck Press 294 pages Genre: Sci fi, YA This title is due to be released on October 20, 2012 .  I received an electronic ARC of this book through netgalley.com   Synopsis:  Steve is a 14 year old boy whose mom disappears. The police are called in and conclude that she has left the family – run away. Everything falls apart for him after that. School is a disaster--he's failing his classes, and ever since an ill-fated attempt to save a bird from a frozen pond, bullies call him "Duck Boy." During the first Christmas since his mother’s disappearance, Steve’s dad has to travel for work, just to keep his job, and Steve is forced to stay with his Great Aunt Shannon. Aunt Shannon introduces Steve to alchemy, and shows him that alchemy may have caused his mother's disappearance. Then his great aunt disappears while she is experimenting. Steve begins his own experiments, and finds his philosophers stone, and through an accident dis...

Title:   Explosive Eighteen: A Stephanie Plum Novel by Janet Evanovich Publisher: Bantam 352 pages Genre: Fiction Synopsis:   B efore Stephanie can even step foot off Flight 127 Hawaii to Newark, she’s knee deep in trouble. Her dream vacation turned into a nightmare, and she’s flying back to New Jersey solo. Worse still, her seatmate never returned to the plane after the L.A. layover. Now he’s dead—and a ragtag collection of thugs and psychos, not to mention the FBI, are all looking for a photograph he was supposed to be carrying. O nly one person has seen the missing photo: Stephanie Plum. Now she’s the target. An FBI sketch artist helps Stephanie re-create the person in the photo, but Stephanie’s descriptive skills are lacking. Until she can improve them, she’ll need to watch her back. O ver at the bail bonds agency things are going from bad to worse. Vinnie’s temporary HQ has gone up in smoke. Stephanie’s wheelman, Lula, falls for their largest skip yet. Lifeti...

Title:  The Magdalen Martyrs (Jack Taylor) by Ken Bruen Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur 274 Pages Genre: Noir fiction Synopsis:  Jack Taylor is walking the delicate edge of a sobriety he doesn't trust when his phone rings. He's in debt to a Galway tough named Bill Cassell, what the locals call a "hard man." Bill did Jack a big favor a while back; the trouble is, he never lets a favor go unreturned. Jack is amazed when Cassell simply asks him to track down a woman, now either dead or very old, who long ago helped his mother escape from the notorious Magdalen laundry, where young wayward girls were imprisoned and abused. Jack doesn't like the odds of finding the woman, but counts himself lucky that the task is at least on the right side of the law. Until he spends a few days spinning his wheels and is dragged in front of Cassell for a quick reminder of his priorites. Bill's goons do a little spinning of their own, playing a game of Russian roulet...

Title:  The Killing of the Tinkers: A Novel (Jack Taylor) by Ken Bruen Publisher : St. Martin's Minotaur 244 Pages Genre: Noir mystery fiction Synopsis: When Jack Taylor blew town at the end of The Guards his alcoholism was a distant memory and sober dreams of a new life in London were shining in his eyes. In the opening pages of The Killing of the Tinkers Jack's back in Galway a year later with a new leather jacket on his back, a pack of smokes in his pocket, a few grams of coke in his waistband, and a pint of Guinness on his mind. So much for new beginnings. Before long he's sunk into his old patterns, lifting his head from the bar only every few days, appraising his surroundings for mere minutes and then descending deep into the alcoholic, drug-induced fugue he prefers to the real world. But a big gypsy walks into the bar one day during a moment of Jack's clarity and changes all that with a simple request. Jack knows the look in this man's eyes, a lo...

Title:   The Redbreast: A Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbo Publisher: Harper Collins 553 Pages Genre: Nordic Mystery Synopsis: Detective Harry Hole embarrassed the force, and for his sins he’s been reassigned to mundane surveillance tasks. But while monitoring neo-Nazi activities in Oslo, Hole is inadvertently drawn into a mystery with deep roots in Norway’s dark past, when members of the government willingly collaborated with Nazi Germany. More than sixty years later, this black mark won’t wash away—and disgraced old soldiers who once survived a brutal Russian winter are being murdered, one by one. Now, with only a stained and guilty conscience to guide him, an angry, alcoholic, error-prone policeman must make his way safely past the traps and mirrors of a twisted criminal mind. For a conspiracy is taking rapid and hideous shape around Hole . . . and Norway’s darkest hour may be still to come. Review: I wasn't quite sure about this book in the beginning.  I think I'm g...

Title:   Altar of Bones by Philip Carter Publisher: Pocket Books 672 pages Genre: Mystery Synopsis:  "They didn’t have to kill him…He never drank from the altar of bones.” Cryptic dying words from a murdered homeless woman in present-day San Francisco unlock a long-buried secret that alters history. Now, a pair of ruthless assassins are sent to cut the few living “loose ends.” And a young, resourceful woman on the run encounters a determined man with his own connected past and vengeful agenda. Forced to partner for survival and answers, a fast-paced and deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, whisking the duo from the winding streets of Paris to the faded palaces of Budapest to the frozen lakes of Mongolia...where destiny, passion, and further betrayal await them. Review: Ancient secrets, hidden treasures, and the fountain of youth all things that people would kill to learn more about.  The secret of the Altar of Bones has been kept by Zoe's family for genera...

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading . Anyone can play along! •  Grab your current read • Open to a random page • Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page •  BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!  ( make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others! ) •  Share the  title & author , too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! My teaser Tuesday is from:  The Redbreast: A Harry Hole Novel by Jo Nesbo "The problem is that if all the colleagues of this trigger happy liaison officer of yours consider the promotion conspicuous and start to think of the title as a window-dressing, then we haven't got very far. That is, we haven't got anywhere at all. If they suspect a cover-up, rumours will immediately begin to fly, and we will give the impression that we hav...