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Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
The Fixed Trilogy: Fixed on You, Found in You, Forever with You (affiliate link)
The Messenger: a Rob Walker thriller (affiliate link)
Rob Walker is a man on a mission.
As a U.S. Army Special Forces sniper, Rob has seen enough of the worst that the world has to offer. Now, he must step into the darkest depths of the Mexican criminal underworld to rescue his sister, Marianne, who was kidnapped off the streets of New York City.
With the clock ticking, and Marianne’s life on the line, Rob must fight to bring her back from a fate worse than death. Will Rob be able to save her in time? Or will she be lost forever to the global sex trade?
Emma Frost Mystery Series: Book 1-3 (Emma Frost Mysteries 1) (affiliate link)
Emma Frost inherits a house on Fanoe Island when her grandmother dies. She decides to move there with her family, much to her teenage daughter’s regret.
One morning a wealthy older woman in her street is found murdered. Soon, Emma finds herself wrapped in a mystery uncovering the island’s dark secrets that not only runs deep within the history of the island but also within her own family.
Grumpy Billionaire Next Door (affiliate link)
I imagined proposing to the woman of my dreams with a ring in my hand, not a contract.
But I need a bride to save my family business, and I won’t stand for just anyone.
Rose, my new neighbor, is gorgeous with all the sass and attitude.
My gut tells me she could be the one I need for a contract marriage. We can’t even stay in the same room together.
Not easy, but we made an arrangement.
She will be my wife, in exchange for the money to start her business.
Little did I know, this would lead to the most unexpected thing of all, my growing feelings for Rose.
One day we can’t stand each other and the next she is the most beautiful bride I’ve ever seen.
Mostaccioli Murder (A Jade Sommer Book 1) (affiliate link)
Murder with a side of mostaccioli.
Jade returns home to Chicago after being wrongfully fired from her dream job. When she had left a decade ago, she had made two promises to herself. One, never ever work for the family restaurant again. And, two, never ever see Logan, her cheating ex-boyfriend, again.
Unfortunately, when the restaurant delivery driver is found murdered, Jade assumes his position. The detective assigned to the case is none other than Logan.
As Jade comes to term with her new life at the restaurant, clues surrounding the murder develop. Jade receives odd delivery orders and threatening messages. Suspects appear in a thrilling mystery that Jade must solve or find herself as dead as the driver.
Woman in Red (affiliate link)
Alice Kessler has lived through a mother’s worst nightmare. While riding his bike, her eight-year-old son, David, was killed by a drunk driver. Out of her mind with grief and rage—especially after losing the wrongful death suit—Alice runs down the driver, Owen White, crippling him. After serving nine years in prison, she returns to Grays Island in the Pacific Northwest, divorced and destitute, to reunite with her surviving son, Jeremy.
But the child she has not seen in almost a decade has become an angry teenager, and when Jeremy is falsely accused of rape, White, who is now mayor, seizes his chance for revenge.
To defend Jeremy, Alice seeks the help of former Manhattan DA Colin McGinty, who lost his wife on 9/11 and returned to Grays Island after the death of his grandfather—an artist famous for his haunting portrait Woman in Red.
Marcy Hammer’s life has been turned upside down. Her husband, the head of a global brassiere empire, didn’t think twice about leaving her after thirty-three years of marriage for a 32DD lingerie model. Now Harvey the Home-Wrecker is missing in action, but Marcy’s through thinking about what a cliché he is. What she needs now is a party-size bag of potato chips, a good support system, and a new dress.
Striking out on her own is difficult at first, but Marcy manages to find traces of humor in her heartbreak. Even while devastated by Harvey’s departure, she still has her indomitable spirit and her self-respect. She has no intention of falling apart, either, even when her adult children drop a few bombshells of their own and she discovers a secret about her new, once-in-a-lifetime friend. Life may be full of setbacks, but by lifting herself up by her own lacy straps, Marcy just may be able to handle them all.
How to Travel with a Salmon: And Other Essays (A Harvest Book) (affiliate link)
A cosmopolitan curmudgeon the Los Angeles Times called “the Andy Rooney of academia”—known for both nonfiction and novels that have become blockbuster New York Times bestsellers—Umberto Eco takes readers on “a delightful romp through the absurdities of modern life” (Publishers Weekly) as he journeys around the world and into his own wildly adventurous mind.
From the mundane details of getting around on Amtrak or in the back of a cab, to reflections on computer jargon and soccer fans, to more important issues like the effects of mass media and consumer civilization—not to mention the challenges of trying to refrigerate an expensive piece of fish at an English hotel—this renowned writer, semiotician, and philosopher provides “an uncanny combination of the profound and the profane” (San Francisco Chronicle).
The Last to Disappear (affiliate link)
A luxury resort. Three missing women. One body.
When young London professional Alex Evans is informed that his sister’s body has been pulled from an icy lake in Northern Lapland, he assumes his irresponsible sister accidentally drowned. He travels to the wealthy winter resort where Vicky worked as a tour-guide and meets Agatha Koskinen, the detective in charge. Agatha is a no-nonsense single mother of three who already thinks there’s more to Vicky’s case than meets the eye.
As the two form an unlikely alliance, Alex also begins to suspect the small town where his sister lived and died is harbouring secrets. It’s not long before he learns that three other women have gone missing from the area in the past and that his sister may have left him a message.
Cottage at the Beach (The Off Season Book 1) (affiliate link)
When an injury forces K-9 officer Trey Harrison onto the sidelines, his only thought is getting back to the police force where he belongs. And he’ll do anything to make that happen—even volunteer in a small waterfront community, just to please his boss. But no one ever said Trey had to enjoy it…
Since the surgery that destroyed her dreams of having children, schoolteacher Erica Rowe has grown even more dedicated to her work with at-risk teens. So she doesn’t need some cop with a chip on his shoulder putting the program’s future in jeopardy. But when Trey finally connects with the students, Erica’s heart melts. And when, in a tender moment, he admits he longs to have children, her heart breaks. She’s convinced he’d be better off with someone who can give him everything, but she can’t seem to shake the hope that maybe love is enough…
The French Cook: Sauces (affiliate link)
This is the first in a series of French cookbooks that will simplify and demystify French cuisine for all of those who love it and would like to bring it home to their American kitchens without traveling outside their homes.
Here Holly Herrick creates a French cooking course all about sauces, filled with beautiful how-to photography and step-by-step techniques that will have you making sauces like a pro. The book focuses on the five mother sauces of French cuisine: béchamel, veloutés, hollandaise, espagnol and brown sauces, and les sauces tomates. In addition, Herrick devotes chapters to fonds, or stocks, the base of so many sauces, and mayonnaises, a simple, versatile sauce so widely used in classical French cuisine.
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2