Murder in Common

Stella Thibodeaux earns her living as a sex worker operating from a motorhome in the hot box that is the American South. Nothing unusual there except, she has quite the gift: the men who sleep with her are cured of any illness. Enter – the Vatican. Imagine a saint in these modern times. But a cure through a woman’s vagina? Well it’s just not a good optic. Let’s crate a martyr. Enter – the Bronski twins, Michael and William.

Murder in Sag Harbor Sociology professor, JB Pulaski, is recovering from cancer and attempting to save his troubled marriage. His husband Mike, openly pursues younger men, turning Pulaski’s private humiliation into public entertainment for their wealthy social circle. When Mike’s latest lover is murdered at an exclusive costume party, Pulaski’s bitterness, and volatile emotions make him the obvious suspect.

Tyson Stewart: The Return of the Nish The Return of the Nish is an emotionally charged debut that blends family drama with the pull of noir. Gerry Smith, a commercial pilot has spent much of his life living with the absence of his father. Dale finally reappears, not with apology or clarity, but with a dangerous proposition. He needs Gerry’s skills as a pilot for a lucrative, illegal run. Tyson Stewart’s use of Anishinaabe identity gives the novel its deeper current.

Jordan Harper’s A Violent Masterpiece is a ferocious Los Angeles : brutal, stylish, morally furious, and written with the momentum of a car chase through a city already on fire. Set in contemporary LA this distinctly noir novel brings together several damaged figures from different corners of the city. Jake Deal, a nightcrawler chasing violence for online viewers, Doug Gibson, a street lawyer fighting a rigged system; and Kara Delgado, a concierge to the grotesquely wealthy.

J.C. Kors’s Bracing For Impact is a raw, forceful debut that takes readers behind the walls of a maximum-security prison. It’s a world shaped by fear, authority, and survival At its centre is Revena Miller, a divorced woman trying to rebuild her life by entering a profession that was never designed to welcome her – “prison work is no place for a woman.” She quickly learns that the danger comes not only from the inmates, but also from the ruinous culture around her.

Writer James Traven, returns home to care for his elderly mother and is soon pulled into the dangerous orbit of Lana LaBuff. This orbit though is not one of her making and James is a large part of what happens next. There’s a scheme at hand devised by Lana’s gay husband and his lover so the married couple can divorce without stirring up problems with his mother Dee. Queen Dee runs everything in the county. James is not a conventional hero, and Lana is not simply a damsel or femme fatale.

Sailor Cassidy is an HVAC technician nursing emotional bruises from her last relationship. Wanting to help her sister Carrie gather proof of a cheating husband, she conducts surveillance on him and has been for a while. This amateur endeavor coils into something nasty, when Sailor’s stakeout runs across Officer Tusk Knight on a mission for his captain. And then a kidnapping takes place that neither of them could have expected.

Jason Wade – rookie crime reporter interning at the Seattle Mirror. He’s young, brash and determined. It’s the disappearance of college student Karen Harding that snares him, and he runs with it. With a disarming manner he draws out witnesses and friends, tugging at the slim threads of information they offer, and following each one as far as it will go.

We’ll be on a cruise from Bangkok to Mumbai – 3-weeks of travel and many places to visit and revisit. Our stops include: Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and India. We’re travelling with friends and are looking forward to some fun and good memories. I’ll be back online in early June so enjoy many books in the meantime. ~ June Lorraine Roberts

A Bri Watters Thriller What We Keep Silent opens with Bri Watters absconding to Paris, hoping distance will shield her from the consequences of past mistakes. But escape proves temporary. She is soon pulled back home to Vermont, to deal with the arrest of her brother Ty for illegally accessing confidential medical files at the hospital where they both work. Watters wants to believe this is a moral lapse but a strange silence around the case becomes more frightening than the accusation itself.