Tropical Delusions……

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

A soon-to-be bridal party is out on the town for bar hopping, when Grace’s ID gets denied at the door by a bouncer. She opts to meet the rest of the girls at the hotel and starts heading that way. An Uber driver stops and offers her a ride, she accepts with reluctance…and disappears.

Meanwhile Delphi Center anthropologist Dr. Sara Lockhart is attending a wedding nearby, when she receives a call from Detective Nolan Hess, asking for her assistance in assessing some bones found by some hikers in a nearby park. Sensing urgency, she immediately heads to the scene, where she readily identifies the bones as human. But something else at the scene startles her….

As she and Detective Hess work to identify the young hiker, they learn of a missing teen, named Grace. When the bones found are NOT those of a hiker that went missing several months ago, they begin to suspect a serial killer. As they work to tie the cases together, and fight the attraction they feel for one another, the killer is closer than anyone thinks…but will they find him before he claims his next victim???

A fabulous new Delphi Center novel from Laura Griffin! As per usual with this author, I was hooked from the very first page and stayed up half of the night to read it straight through! Un-put-downable!! Be sure your afternoon is free before you open this book!!

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Jada Brooks & Maddox Richardson were a sweet teen-aged couple, when the events of a weekend party shattered their lives and separated them forever. Unbeknownst to either of them at the time, Jada was pregnant.

Now, 13 years later, Jada and 12-year-old Maya have returned home to Silver Springs, California after a divorce, and the death of her father. Home primarily to assist her mother with running the family business, and to help with her handicapped brother Atticus, Jada was assured that Maddox was no longer in town. But at a farmer’s market one weekend, she spots Maddox in the crowd…

Maddox Richardson lost the love of his life, and his brother Tobias to prison on that fateful night so long ago. Now 13 years later, he has returned home to Silver Springs after accepting a position as principal to a school for troubled youths. Not wanting to cause further heartbreak to the girl he once loved, he returned with the understanding that Jada was married and living elsewhere. But at that same farmers market – he spots Jada…

As both Maddox & Jada struggle with old feelings, and attempt to stay out of each other’s way, Maya is searching for information on her father, who was reportedly deceased in an accident before she was born. The spitting image of her father, Jada fears it’s only a matter of time before Maddox learns the truth. Can Maddox and Jada leave the past behind, and find their way back to one another??

I just love every word that Brenda Novak writes, and cannot get enough of her! Whether it’s the darker Talbot series, or a sweet read such as this, I’ve never read a Novak novel that I didn’t adore! Read this in a day because I just couldn’t put it down! And I LOVED the reference to Dr. Talbot! Bonus is, there’ll be more to come in Silver Springs, CA! I already cannot wait for the next book!!

I was fortunate to receive this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Robin Lockwood, attorney for Barrister, Berman & Lockwood is coming into the office to start her day when she’s met by Maxine & Randi Stark, a mother and daughter who wish to sue the daughter Randi’s rapist.

As Robin sits with Randi to obtain information, a story emerges of a young woman who goes to a frat party and dances with the young man in question, before she is led into a bedroom, where the alleged rape occurs, the tail end of which is discovered by Randi’s friend, Annie Roche. When Annie finds Blaine Hastings on top of her Randi, with her friend yelling ‘get off me’, she screams, causing the rapist to flee. Annie then took her friend to the hospital where DNA evidence irrefutably links Blaine to the crime, and he’s arrested. Despite his denials, and after an angry outburst in court, he is convicted – and he threatens his lawyer as he’s lead out of the courtroom.

Then, shortly thereafter, another young woman is raped, and inexplicably a rape kit also finds DNA that is linked to Blaine. But Blaine remains in jail and couldn’t possibly have committed this act. Blaine’s new lawyer then petitions the court for his release until the error can be explained, and Robyn’s team searches for an explanation. Meanwhile, a freed Blaine goes missing, and his victim, Randi, fears for her safety.

Then, an attorney is found dead in his office, and another is missing – from the firm that represented Blaine in his initial rape case. Are they connected? Or is there something else going on entirely?

I really love a good legal thriller and this one has all the elements I’ve come to expect – a compelling case, a likeable attorney, and enough mystery and intrigue that make putting it down next to impossible until the final page is turned! A fabulous new must-read from Phillip Margolin!!

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from Netgalley, in exchange for an objective review.

Coming right off the heels of Wilkinson’s last book, Detective Inspector Jessica Daniel is back, and resuming the search for her housemate Bex, still missing after the events of the last novel. Jessica receives a phone call one night from a phone box, and the caller says one word, Jess’s name, and the line goes dead. Jess is certain that it is Bex’s voice, and she traces the call to a phone box in nearby Blackpool.

Upon arriving in town, Jessica surveys the phone box, and finds a missing persons picture, that looks very similar to Bex. She calls the number on the photo, and connects with Peter, the missing girl’s brother. They agree to meet, spend some time walking around town and talking, then head their separate ways. When Jess awakens the next morning, it’s to DCI Ashley Fordham’s knock on her hotel room door. Peter has been found dead, she was the last to see him alive, and there’s fresh blood on her car. But whose?

While Jess pleads her innocence, the police are appropriately skeptic, and she launches her own investigation. She connects with another young woman at Peter’s workplace, who then mysteriously disappears as well. Coincidence? Or is someone setting Jessica up for a murder charge.

Not knowing who to turn to, Jessica calls her old friend Andrew, who comes to her aid. Now being sought by the Blackpool police, Jess narrowly misses capture, and in a race against time she and Andrew work to unmask the real killers – and discover a human trafficking operation in the process…

Another fabulous read from Kerry Wilkinson. I discovered her books completely by accident on Netgalley.com, and I am hooked!! I cannot wait to read the remainder of this series!! Completely un-put-downable!! Make this your next read!!