No Way to Kill a Lady (Blackbird Sisters # 8) by Nancy Martin

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Nora Blackbird, the Bucks County ex-debutante with a haute couture wardrobe, a hot job as a glamorous society columnist and a stone cold bank account, might finally have her own life just right, but everyone around her is going down in flames. Her sister Libby seems destined to be the lead character in a tabloid sex scandal.  Her sister Emma is expecting a mysterious love child.  Her best friend, Lexie Paine, is serving time in the slammer.  And now her mobbed-up boyfriend, Mick Abruzzo—who might actually be her husband—is conducting clandestine capers from Blackbird Farm while under house arrest. What’s a good girl to do? Find a killer, that’s what!  Word arrives that the sisters’ great aunt, Madeleine Blackbird, has died in a volcanic eruption on an Indonesian island and left her fabulous country estate, worth millions, to the three of them.  But when the Blackbird sisters show up to claim their windfall, they find the house in a state of disheartening decay and all of Madeleine’s to-die-for treasures gone. Worse, the mansion has been hiding a grisly secret: the body of a woman who died there many years ago.  All the evidence points to a high society murder... ( Synopsis from B&N.com)
Hardcover, Penguin Books, 310 pages  Release date:8/7/12


In Nancy Martin’s long awaited eighth book in the Blackbird Sisters Mysteries, it looks like things are looking up for the sisters. Forced to live in genteel poverty since their parents absconded with their trust funds, news that they inherited their Aunt Madeleine’s estate seems the answer to their prayers. Life is complicated for the sister, Nora’s lover, Michael, is in jail, Emma is pregnant with no chance of marrying the father and Libby is ….well, Libby.When they get to the site of the mansion, they discover that the house is a wreck, all of the valuables are missing and to top it off, they find skeletal remains in the elevator. Add to the mix a smarmy cousin, Sutherland, who might contest the will, and it’s obvious that this is not going to be the answer to the sister’s problems. There is some good news, Michael is released to the Blackbird farm on supervised home release but that means his thuggish entourage also will be on the premises. Michael has another surprise for her, but it’s a big surprise for him as well.Nora works on finding out what happened to her aunt, clearing her aunt’s name after salacious rumors surface, and finding out what happened to all of the pilfered items from the house. Nora uses her job as a society columnist to get information about her aunt’s history and finding out who would have had access to the estate. Her aunt’s lecherous lawyer seems pretty suspicious and there are a few society matrons who were very jealous of Aunt Madeleine and would have been happy to see her gone.I have always enjoyed this series because of all the different threads that run through every story. I love the insider look at mainline society and the descriptions of the vintage outfits Nora wears to events. The contrast between that life and the mob family connections of Michael’s has led to  problems in the relationship in the past but in this book they seem to be on a pretty even keel. Emma’s pregnancy is stressing her out physically and mentally and the off/on relationship with the father does not help.  Libby is convinced her toddler son is destined for athletic superstardom and is still on the prowl for anything in pants. Nora has a full plate of craziness to deal with and Michael is her anchor even with his problems. They are perfect together even though their life is still unsettled.If you have been a fan of this series, you will love this book. The biggest problem will be waiting for the next one to come!

That Thing Called Love by Susan Andersen

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He’s the last man on earth she should want…For a guy she’s fantasized about throttling, Jake Bradshaw sure is easy on the eyes. In fact, he seriously tempts inn manager Jenny Salazar to put her hands to better use. Except this is the guy who left Razor Bay—and his young son, Austin, who Jenny adores like her own—to become a globetrotting photojournalist. He can’t just waltz back and claim Austin now.

Jake was little more than a kid himself when he became a dad. Sure, he'd dreamed of escaping the resort town, but he’d also truly believed that Austin was better off with his grandparents. Now he wants—no, needs—to make up for his mistake. He intends to stay in Razor Bay only until he can convince Austin to return with him to New York. Trouble is,  with sexy, protective, utterly irresistible Jenny in his life, and his bed, he may never want to leave…
(Synopsis from susanandersen.com)

Paperback, HQN, 384 pagesThis is the first book in the new Razor Bay series and it is a great start. Jenny Salazar has been the caretaker for her 13 year old “brother” Austen for several months since the deaths of his grandparents.  Austin is not related to her by blood but since Jenny worked for his grandparents since she was 16 years old, they have grown up together.   Jenny knows it is a matter of time before Austin’s father, Jake Bradshaw, comes back into Austin’s life but is surprised when he shows up unexpectedly.Jake has not seen Austin since he was an infant.  The 18 year old Jake had gotten Austin’s mother pregnant and did the right thing by marrying her and leaving all of his college dreams behind.  When his wife died in childbirth, leaving him with a colicky baby, he panicked and took the grandparent’s offer to raise the child.  He has not seen or interacted with Austin since. He is now a famous photographer who has traveled all over the world and is based in NYC.  He lets Jenny know right from the start that he plans to take Austin to NYC with him and she convinces him to hold off telling Austin until they have developed some kind of relationship.Needless to say, Austin does not react well to Jake’s appearance.  He wants nothing to do with Jake and thwarts his efforts to connect at every turn.  I think that Ms. Anderson does a great job of portraying the feelings of a young man who desperately wants a father but has been disappointed so many times that he is afraid to open his heart again.  I like the fact that neither Austin nor Jenny cut Jake any slack and make him work for both relationships.  I also appreciate that Austin is a typical teen with normal worries and not a bratty whiner.What adds to the romantic tension is Jake’s long standing disdain for the life in Razor Bay and Jenny’s need for the roots and stability the town gives her.  Jenny is in a really difficult position, not only does she stands to lose Austin, but if she gives her heart to Jake, she knows he can’t give her the life she needs.  She also has to do everything she can to foster the relationship between father and son which just makes the situation have more potential for heartbreak. I liked the character of Jake even though he should be a villain.  As written, it is easy to understand why he made the choices he did when Austin was born. However, he still needs to be held accountable for his lack of communication as he got older.  Jake matures emotionally in this book, with a few relapses but mostly with good results.  He has another relationship to work on with his half-brother Max and that is almost a source of comic relief in the way they resolve their issues.Great beginning to the series and it is perfectly set up for the next book due in 2013 and featuring Max.

How to Romance a Rake by Manda Collins

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What’s a nice girl like Miss Juliet Shelby doing in a place like Lord Deveril’s ballroom? With her shy demeanor, she’s a total stranger to the dance floor and a source of mockery for the ton. So imagine her surprise when Deveril gallantly comes to her defense—and offers to teach her to dance! Juliet can hardly believe the most handsome bachelor in London would notice her, until he takes her in his arms and sets her heart ablaze…Lord Alec Deveril has never felt such a spark of attraction for an unmarried lady before. Unlike the “fashionable” women he’s accustomed to, Juliet possesses a generous spirit, a fiery intelligence—and an explosive secret. Deep in the London underworld, a dear friend has vanished, and Juliet fears the worst. Deveril insists on helping, escorting her through the darkest alleys in town. But he too is hiding a shocking secret—and the only way he can defeat the devil in his past is to seduce the angel in his arms …(synopsis from Mandacollins.com)
Paperback, St. Martin's Press, 336 pages   
This is the second book in Manda Collins’ Ugly Duckling Series. The heroine of this book is Juliet Shelby a lovely young girl with two strikes against her, a limp and a viper for a mother. Juliet has long concealed the severity of her leg injury and in fact has a missing foot and makes use of prosthesis. Interestingly, Ms. Collins reveals in her forward that she herself has a “high tech above the knee prosthesis”. In Juliet’s circle such a situation would make her a pariah in society and she has kept it a secret even from her two cousins, the other Ugly Ducklings Cecily and Madeline.Alec, Lord Deveril, has secrets of his own dating back to his childhood with an abusive and dissolute parent. He finds himself attracted to the interesting Miss Shelby and steps in to protect her from society and her mother’s vitriol.  The relationship flowers and they end up involved in the search for a missing friend of Juliet’s and Alec becomes the caretaker of the friend’s infant child, Alice.The book is based on an interesting premise. Deveril has had to rise above his father’s terrible reputation to remain in favor with society.  Juliet had had to conceal her physical nature to do the same but with much less success.  They both have had to deal with difficult family issues and find each other to be a compassionate friend that turns into much more.  Their relationship with the characters first introduced in “How to Dance with a Duke” adds to the likeability of both characters. The shrewish Amanda and Felicity from the first book also make trouble in this book as they did in the first.  “How to Romance a Rake” is a sweet romance between two people who have had difficult family situations and have decided that love and marriage would not be in their future. Although they could both have become mean and self-pitying, they are both kind and empathic people who find each other and fill the missing parts of their hearts.  I can’t wait to see what happens with Madeline in the next book!

The Last Victim by Karen Robards

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A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie Stone regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life—no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.

Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.

Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer—or a sick copycat with his M.O.—is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.

This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie—whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts—a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts. ( Synopsis from karenrobards.com)
Hardcover, Ballentine Books, 336 Pages
When I started this book, I figured it was going to be the typical former victim meets hot FBI agent and romance blossoms.  Wow, was I ever wrong!  This is a romance like no other I have read in a while.Charlotte “Charlie” Stone is a psychologist studying serial killers for the Department of Justice.  She is uniquely qualified for this because she is the only survivor of a killer known as the Boardwalk Killer. She has dedicated her life to finding out what makes these killers do what they do.  At the present time she is working with Michael Garland who is on death row for the murder of seven women.  Garland is a handsome and charismatic man who tries to play Charlie whenever she works with him.Her latest session is interrupted by two FBI agents who have come to ask her help on an urgent case of a missing girl whose family has been slaughtered at a beach area.  This scenario is the exact thing that happened to Charlie when her friend Holly was killed a week after her family was murdered. Charlie does not want to get involved for many reasons but eventually agrees to do so. Before she can leave, Garland is stabbed by another inmate and despite her best efforts to save him, dies on the prison floor.This is when the book gets interesting. It turns out that Charlie has otherworldly skills that involve recently dead people who have died violently.  This is more of a curse than a blessing and causes Charlie all kinds of problems with the FBI unit when she arrives at the scene of the murder. At first it is kind of amusing reading about Charlie trying to act normal while ghostly activity is happening around her, making her seem a bit of a strange one to FBI people.   There is a budding romance with Bartoli, the handsome but solid team leader. The other two members, Crane and Kaminski, are quirky and interesting with a history between them The major twist in the book is the continued appearance of Garland and how his appearance impacts the case and Charlie’s equilibrium.  Suffice it to say, it is unexpected to say the least. At first, I wasn’t sure how I felt about how the story played out but I found myself reading faster and faster to see what happened.   According to the end notes there will be future books with Dr. Stone in them and it will be interesting to see how this series works.  Charlie is an unusual character, a mix of strength and fears who find herself in a situation she would have never imagined.  The whole premise could have gone wrong but it works.  I am actually looking forward to reading more of the series and I wasn’t sure about that mid-way through.  My advice is keep reading and you will be surprised how the book pulls you in.

Sweet Talk by Julie Garwood

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When FBI agent Grayson Kincaid first encounters Olivia MacKenzie, she makes quite an impression.The beautiful, tough, young attorney has stumbled into the middle of an FBI sting operation and has reduced it to chaos.  Months of surveillance and careful planning down the drain, Kincaid's partner is furious and lets Olivia know that she's ticked off the wrong guy.  After all, he's FBI.Olivia isn't intimidated by his partner's bullying because she's something even scarier...she's IRS.  And working for the IRS isn't for the faint of heart.  She's on the trail of an elaborate Ponzi scheme, one that threatens to ruin the lives of naive and unsuspecting victims, and one she has personal reasons to be angry about.  But after she asks questions of the wrong people, her life is suddenly endangered.  She's accustomed to fighting for the underdog but being vulnerable herself is a very different story.  Smart enough to know when she need reinforcements, she looks to Grayson Kincaid.Together they make an excellent team to fight corruption, but Olivia is also fighting the immediate and intense attraction she feels for Agent Kincaid, and that may be a battle she is bound to lose. ( synopsis from juliegarwood.com)
Hardcover, Dutton, 368 pagesEvery one of Julie Garwood’s FBI themed books has been a great read and this one continues the streak. The book opens with a look back at the Four Pips, young girls all undergoing a highly experimental treatment for a life threatening illness. The girls, Samantha, Jane, Collins and Olivia, have banded together to survive the grueling treatment and Olivia is the ringleader of this band of pranksters.Twelve years later, Olivia is having lunch with smarmy CEO, Eric Jorguson ostensibly to talk about a position with his accounting firm. She is worried about her current position as there is talk of cutbacks and she is the new kid on the block. When she tries to steer the conversation away from her famous financier father, she triggers Eric’s suspicions and he rips her blouse thinking she is wearing a wire and trying to trap him. Olivia responds by punching him and breaking his nose, only to be set upon by his thug bodyguard. Keep in mind this is all happening in full view of the other diners in the restaurant but when other people try to help the thug pulls a gun and then backhands her. All of a sudden the man is on the ground being cuffed by an FBI agent. Apparently Olivia has accidentally gotten into the middle of an FBI operation and disputed months of planning.  The best line of the book occurs when the Agent in charge threatens “I could make your life a nightmare.” He put his hand in front of her face and unfolded three fingers as he said. “I’m F...B…I.”   She smiled. It wasn’t the reaction he expected. “You want to talk nightmares?” she said. She put her hand up to his face and unfolded her three fingers.  “I’m I…R…S.”Olivia meets FBI Agent Grayson Kincaid at this lunch debacle and the chemistry sizzles right off the page. Unfortunately, Olivia is up to her neck trying to get evidence to prove her father is a crook and it is consuming her life. Her family is distant and disapproving with the exception of her maternal aunt.  She is also getting death threats. Grayson has problems of his own.  He is raising his nephew and watching out for his ailing father.  He is also still trying to connect Jorguson to a serious crime.Circumstances throw the two together and romance blooms. There is a lot going on in this book with death threats, attempted murder, recurring illness of one of the Pips, and lots of other mayhem.  This book cannot be put down once you start it!  The story is fast paced and the relationship between Olivia and Grayson makes your heart beat faster.  There is the sense that some of the other Pips might be featured in future books, I really hope so.   Write fast Ms. Garwood, please!