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Sweetheart 123 reviews
Chelsea Cain
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Get it and Read it--for the story, the wrtting quality and the compelling characters!
First off, let me say that I am very hard to please when it comes to books. Every word is important to me as well as more complex things like how a story drives MY behavior while reading it. Too often reviewers focus on the story but not the actual writing and very rarely do they explain how the book made them feel and/or react. I will do my best to cover these points as I think they are very ...
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The King of Lies 95 reviews
John Hart
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007
Fantastic
This book kept me interested from page one to the very end. I didn't want to put it down. I love John Hart's writing style, he does a superb job in regards to description and really draws you into the book. I hated reaching the end of it, I just wanted it to go on.
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The Triumph of Caesar: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Novels of Ancient Rome)21 reviews
Steven Saylor
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
The Triumph of Caesar
All of Saylor's books and their authentic historical background are fascinating to me. Once again, the character of Gordinanus the Finder is just enough 'snooping', thoughtful insight into the characters, and dreams that help him solve the mysteries. A good mix.
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Cockatiels at Seven (Meg Langslow Mysteries)8 reviews
Donna Andrews
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
The Search for Karen
Meg is in blacksmith mode that Monday morning, wanting to build up inventory for an upcoming show. All that stops when her friend Karen stops by. Meg hasn't seen Karen for a couple years, so she is a bit surprised when Karen asks her to watch her toddler, Timmy, for a couple hours. As much as she wants to, Meg can't ignore Karen's obvious desperation, so she says yes.
When Karen hasn't ...
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Lie Down with the Devil (Carlotta Carlyle Mysteries)2 reviews
Linda Barnes
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Linda Barnes Shifts Gears
How do you top a great book like Heart of the World? You don't. But with a series, there's a sequel to be written anyway.
Paolina is still recovering from the trauma of her kidnapping and its aftermath in South America. The troubling part is that she's pushing Carlotta away.
Sam Gianelli, Carlotta's fiancé, is missing in action except for occasional telephone calls when he tells her to keep ...
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Down River 70 reviews
John Hart
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007
Behind the door in a sports hero's life.
This book highlights the life of a young college football player and the love of his mother.. It shows you that we make mistakes in our lives and sometimes pride stands in our way in doing the right thing. But, there is those who explot young men and women in sports and they will do anything to make a dollar off of there talents. This book shows that most people are good and it also shows that ...
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I Shall Not Want: A Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mysteries)23 reviews
Julia Spencer-Fleming
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Seriously excellent stuff
It's always a thrill to find a genuinely good writer, and Julia Spencer-Fleming is all of that. The plots are exciting without being unrealistic, the love story is touching, the characters feel like real human beings; there's wit, there's trouble, there's goodness and evil, and it's all told in an intelligent voice that never fails to be interesting. Anybody who likes the work of Carol ...
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All Mortal Flesh: A Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery (Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne ...41 reviews
Julia Spencer-Fleming
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Probably the best in the series, and I've read them all
When I read the first mystery in the series several years ago, I commented that although it was flawed in several ways, the author had great potential as a writer. She seems to have finally come into her own with this addition to the series.
One of my problems was that the author did not seem to be taking sufficiently seriously how compromising the situation was for the main character, ...
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Envy the Night 5 reviews
Michael Koryta
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
tense thriller
When his other clandestine life as a mob hit man is exposed, U.S. Marshal Frank Temple II, a, commits suicide. His family is shocked first by the revelation by the patriarch's death and his son who worshipped him cannot deal with his hero crumbling like this.
Seven years later, his twenty-four years old son, Frank III remains angry and still drifting as he has since his dad killed himself. ...
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Heartsick124 reviews
Chelsea Cain
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007
Very, very hard to put down
This is one of the most riveting books I've read in a long time. As a fan of Patricia Cornwell's early work, I missed reading novels that had the same gripping power (a quality lacking in Cornwell's later writing). But HeartSick provides this. It consists of short, intriguing chapters that develop the plot but still leave enough mystery to keep one reading. Furthermore, the characters are ...
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Snake Dreams (Charlie Moon Mysteries)
James D. Doss
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
With his Southwestern series, bestselling author James D. Doss and his dryly humorous, no-nonsense Native American sleuth, Charlie Moon, have brought law and what’s going to have to pass for order to Charlie’s Columbine Ranch and the nearby Ute reservation. Now the seven-foot rancher and part-time tribal investigator wants to carve out a little more space for himself alongside FBI Special Agent Lila Mae McTeague. That’s right: ...
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The September Society (Charles Lenox Mysteries)3 reviews
Charles Finch
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
A captivating mystery
This novel has an imaginative storyline with many authentic surprises. As in A Beautiful Blue Death, the engaging characters and finely honed plotting make this a memorable mystery. I highly recommend this author!
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Knots and Crosses (Inspector Rebus Novels)44 reviews
Ian Rankin
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Mr. Hyde's Edinburgh, not McCall Smith's...
This is the first of Rankin's Edinburgh crime novels featuring detective John Rebus. Alexander McCall Smith gave Rankin a "cameo" part in his serial novel 44 Scotland Street, mentioning in his introduction that Rankin thought his portrait much "nicer" than his real personality. I don't know about that...but it is certainly true that while McCall Smith gives us a colorful, heartwarming view of ...
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Don't Tell a Soul14 reviews
David Rosenfelt
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Another awesome book!
As usual with all of David Rosenfelt's books...couldn't put it down. It grabbed my interest from the start and I kept guessing as to who was the inside person..never did get it right. The best part of David's books for me is that I know that I will never have to worry about any animal abuse.
Thanks for another wonderful book and can't wait for your next Andy Carpenter book..."New Tricks".
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Unseen: A Mystery (Inspector Anders Knutas Mysteries) 3 reviews
Mari Jungstedt
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2006
entertaining serial killer Swedish police procedural
The friends meet at a resort on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Helena is with Per; Emma with her spouse; Olle and his neighbors Eva and Rikard; and finally Beata and her American husband are all there. However, instead of an amiable get together at the trendy tourist locale they chose, jealousies explode leading to accusations and rage.
Not long afterward, the prime focus ...
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Blue Heaven35 reviews
C.J. Box
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Among the best suspense novels
Children are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They observe a murder. Now they are on the run. A story of some police who have gone very bad, counterbalanced by some good guys. The story is set in modern day North Idaho where times are changing as the area becomes a retirement mecca. But the area sometimes attracts the wrong people.
There are a number of villains of various stripes, ...
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A Spoonful of Poison (Agatha Raisin Mysteries, No. 19)
M. C. Beaton
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Cranky but lovable sleuth Agatha Raisin’s detective agency has become so successful that she wants nothing more than to take quality time for rest and relaxation. But as soon as she begins closing the agency on weekends, she remembers that when she has plenty of quality time, she doesn’t know what to do with it. So it doesn’t take much for the vicar of a nearby village to persuade her to help publicize the church ...
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Saturnalia: A Marcus Didius Falco Novel (Marcus Didius Falco Mysteries)20 reviews
Lindsey Davis
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2008
Take a Roman Holiday
The most surprising aspect of this almost perfect mystery is that it is the eighteenth in the Marcus Didius Falco series. Some series lose focus. Some fictional heroes are useless once matrimony and children occur. Happily for the reader, that is not true here.
An enemy of Rome is on the loose, a wild priestess of unconquered Germany. Falco knows her from one of his foreign missions and is ...
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In the Bleak Midwinter (A Rev. Clare Fergusson and Russ Van Alstyne Mystery)50 reviews
Julia Spencer-Fleming
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2003
Fabulous, wonderful, marvelous
I was stunned that a writer this good could have escaped my notice long enough to publish six books, though of course thrilled that there were already so many available. These are to die for; the characters are full-blown, the writing is intelligent, the mysteries are convincing and the ongoing love story is so, so moving. I would marry Russ Van Alstyne myself if I could get my hands on him! I ...
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The Blade Itself: A Novel49 reviews
Marcus Sakey
St. Martin's Minotaur, 2007
A gripping story with brilliantly developed characters
As an avid fantasy reader I am sick to death with some same old fantasy novels that all seem to go down the same line, however this book is different. The characters are some of the best developed in fantasy They are not 2 dimensional like a lot of books that I have read and there is not one character that is the normal hero of fantasy. Every character is deeply flawed in one way or another given ...
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