Reviewed By Liz

ISBN 0312374704
St. Martin’s Minotaur - Hardcover

KILLER YEAR: STORIES TO DIE FOR…FROM THE HOTTEST NEW CRIME WRITERS - Anthology of Short Stories - Killer Year is a group of 13 debut crime/mystery/suspense authors whose books were published in 2007. The graduating class includes such rising stars as Robert Gregory Browne, Toni McGee Causey, Marcus Sakey, Derek Nikitas, Marc Lecard, JT Ellison, Brett Battles, Jason Pinter, Bill Cameron, Sean Chercover, Patry Francis, Gregg Olsen, and David White. Each of the short stories displaying their talents are introduced by their Killer Year mentors, some of which include bestselling authors Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen and Jeffrey Deaver, with additional stories by Ken Bruen, Allison Brennan and Duane Swierczynski. Bestselling authors Laura Lippman and MJ Rose contribute insightful essays. Inside you’ll read about a small time crook in over his head, a story told backwards with a heroine not to be messed with, a tale of boys and the trouble they will get into over a girl, and many more stories of the highest caliber in murder, mayhem, and sheer entertainment. This amazing anthology, edited by the grandmaster Lee Child, is sure to garner lots of attention and keep readers coming back for more.

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New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

ISBN 0156030748
Harvest Books - Paperback

THE LOST LUGGAGE PORTER - JIM Stringer, train driver and amateur sleuth, is back. But this time, the hero of York-born author Andrew Martin’s series of railway mysteries is an official railway detective.

It is winter, 1906. At York station, the gas lamps are all lit. Outside, the rain falls relentlessly on the city’s ancient, cobbled streets. Inside, crowds of people scurry along the platforms, desperate to get home to their supper, while a goods train belches in in a cloud of steam, heat and smoke.

It is Jim’s first day as a railway detective, and he’s none too happy. His new job means he won’t be able to drive his beloved steam engines any more. There’s also that headline in the Yorkshire Evening Press: Hotel Porter Found with his Throat Cut. No doubt a job for the railway police, he thinks glumly.

Andrew’s latest Jim Stringer adventure is all that fans of books like The Necropolis Railway and The Blackpool Highflyer have come to expect. Wonderful, Dickensian descriptions not least, as you’d expect of the son of a York railwayman, of the trains themselves: hissing, clanking, belching giants that have a life and character all their own. The streets of old York come to life too, as Jim’s investigations take him into the rougher parts of town.

Then there are the characters. From the telegraph boy who greets Jim with a “Blimey!” on the footbridge at York railway station in the opening pages to the assortment of pickpockets, station loungers’ and other small fry of the York underworld he meets during the course of his investigation, they are all satisfyingly real and rounded.

Check out Andrew’s web site at www.jimstringernovels.com.

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New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

ISBN 0425218694
Berkley - Paperback

STATE OFF THE ONION - A White House Chef Mystery - Never let them see you sweat — that’s White House Assistant Chef Olivia Paras’s motto, which is pretty hard to honor in the most important kitchen in the world. She’s hell-bent on earning her dream job, Executive Chef. There’s just one thing: her nemesis is vying for it, too. Well, that and the fact that an elusive assassin wants to see her fry…

The highly-trained Secret Service agents couldn’t do it. Snipers swarming the White House grounds were no help. Only Ollie Paras was able to stop the intruder-hitting him with a frying pan. She’d like to wash her hands of the whole thing, but after she witnesses a murder, there’s no going back…

Ollie’s Secret Service boyfriend warns her that the killer is a world-class assassin. And Ollie’s the only person alive who can recognize him. Still, guilt propels her to investigate, even if it means putting herself — and her relationship-in hot water…

Check out Julie’s web site at www.juliehyzy.com.

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New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

ISBN 0425219240
Berkley - Hardcover

THE APOSTATE’S TALE - A Dame Frevisse Medieval Mystery - As the nuns of St. Frideswide’s priory prepare for the welcome end of Lent, their peaceful expectations are overset by the sudden return of long-vanished Sister Cecely. Nine years ago she fled from the nunnery with a man. Now her lover is dead and she has come back, bringing her illegitimate son with her.

She claims she is penitent, that she wants only to redeem her sin and find safe haven for the child. Neither she nor her son can be turned away, but their presence begins to stir doubts and questions in the hearts of some of the nuns about their own faithfulness to this enclosed life they’ve chosen to live.

Sister Cecely may be penitent-however much Frevisse may doubt it-but fully truthful she is not, and as the apostate nun’s lies begin to overtake her, dangers of more than one kind-and maybe murder-become an unwanted part of life in the priory.

Margaret Frazer was a finalist for an Edgar Award for both The Servant’s Tale and The Prioress’ Tale.

Check out Margaret’s web site at www.margaretfrazer.com.

Available at Amazon

New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

Welcome to Sample Chapter Sunday!

Sample Chapter Sunday is the cure for the boring Sunday afternoons when you have no new reading material. You can swing by here and find links to sample chapters of mysteries by favorite authors and authors you haven’t read before.

Any mystery author is welcome to put a link to their online sample chapter by leaving a comment on this post. Hopefully, they will also give us their name, title of the book, and a brief description or synopsis to pique our interest. Tell your friends to come read and your favorite authors to come show off their sample chapters!

To see the access the sample chapters that the authors have posted links to, click on the COMMENTS link below (if you are an author, this is also the place you add a comment and post your book description and sample chapter links).

ISBN 031236833X
St. Martin’s Minotaur - Hardcover

THE TIMER GAME - Grace Descanso was going to be a pediatric heart surgeon—she was a brilliant up-and-comer with a bright future in a heartbreaking, innovative field. Then she took two months off to work in a clinic in Guatemala, and something happened there that nearly destroyed her. She won’t talk about why, but she quit medicine and nearly killed herself with drink. Finally, inch by inch, she pulled it all together for her new baby girl. Now, five years later, though she’s sworn off practicing as a doctor, Grace is using her science background as a crime scene tech in San Diego and going to AA meetings, scraping by and living to be a mom to five-year-old Katie.Everything falls apart again when in the middle of processing a crime scene Grace shoots a madman after he’s killed two of her colleagues and after he’s called her by name, in a bizarre kind of warning, about someone he called ‘the Spikeman.’A day later, her daughter is kidnapped right out from under her, and instead of a ransom note, the kidnapper sends her on a harrowing twenty-four-hour scavenger hunt, laying out clues and giving out deadlines, leading her carefully, terrifyingly closer to Katie—and to him. The Timer Game is a pulse-pounding race-against-time novel of suspense from a talented writer.

Check out Susan’s web site at www.susanarnoutsmith.com.

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New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

ISBN 1595540245
Thomas Nelson - Hardcover

FIRST THE DEAD - A Bug Man Mystery - Dead men tell no lies. When Hurricane Katrina takes New Orleans by storm, forensic entomologist Nick Polchak is waiting for her. He’s part of DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Response Team), the FEMA team assigned to recover and identify human remains in large-scale disasters.

The trouble is, Nick isn’t much of a team player. And he doesn’t take well to following orders he doesn’t agree with–such as the decision to divert all personnel to rescuing the living and leaving the dead for later.

Nick begs to differ. He’s there to collect bodies, and he’s going to do just that–especially when he starts finding bodies that were clearly dead before the hurricane struck. Nick understands that all forensic evidence will soon disintegrate in the hot, contaminated water . . . and he knows that’s exactly what the killer wants to happen.

The more Nick tries to uncover answers, the stronger–and deadlier–the resistance becomes. And it doesn’t help that a beautiful psychiatrist thinks he’s on the verge of a mental breakdown . . . can even the Bug Man uncover the truth?

Check out Tim’s web site at www.timdowns.net.

Available at Amazon

New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

ISBN 0727865668
Severn House Publishers - Hardcover

LAST RUN - A Sam Becket Mystery Mystery - When a lone runner is found savagely murdered on Miami Beach’s North Shore, Detective Sam Becket’s first concern is for his adopted daughter, Cathy, a student at Trent University. Cathy’s a runner too, and she’s vulnerable. As Sam and his team start to investigate, a connection emerges with another homicide on nearby Pompano Beach, and as members of his close-knit family become drawn into the web, Sam has no choice but to put his career and his own life on the line to stop the killer from striking again.

Check out Hilary’s web site at www.hilarynorman.co.uk.

Available at Amazon

New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.

Welcome to Sample Chapter Sunday!

Sample Chapter Sunday is the cure for the boring Sunday afternoons when you have no new reading material. You can swing by here and find links to sample chapters of mysteries by favorite authors and authors you haven’t read before.

Any mystery author is welcome to put a link to their online sample chapter by leaving a comment on this post. Hopefully, they will also give us their name, title of the book, and a brief description or synopsis to pique our interest. Tell your friends to come read and your favorite authors to come show off their sample chapters!

To see the access the sample chapters that the authors have posted links to, click on the COMMENTS link below (if you are an author, this is also the place you add a comment and post your book description and sample chapter links).

ISBN 044658259X
Grand Central Publishing - Hardcover

THE CRAZY SCHOOL - From the acclaimed author of A FIELD OF DARKNESS comes another compelling novel featuring the acerbic and memorable voice of ex-debutante Madeline Dare. Madeline Dare has finally escaped rust-belt Syracuse, New York, for the lush Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. After her husband’s job offer falls through, Maddie signs on as a teacher at the Santangelo Academy, a boarding school for disturbed teenagers. Behind the academy’s ornate gates, she discovers a disturbing realm where students and teachers alike must submit to the founder’s bizarre therapeutic regimen.

From day one, Maddie feels uneasy about smooth-talking Dr. Santangelo but when she questions his methods, she’s appalled to find that her fellow teachers would rather turn on each other than stand up for themselves, much less protect the students in their care. A chilling event confirms Maddie’s worst suspicions, then hints at an even darker secret history, one that twines through the academy’s very heart.

Cut off from the outside world, Maddie must join forces with a small band of the school’s most violently rebellious students-kids whose troubled grip on reality may well prove to be her only chance of salvation.

Cornelia Read grew up in New York, California, and Hawaii. She is a reformed debutante who currently lives in Berkeley with her husband and twin daughters.

Check out Cornelia’s web site at www.corneliaread.com.

Available at Amazon

New book releases are a feature provided for our readers by reviewedbyliz, but are not written by us. Where available, the descriptions of the books are those provided by the publisher.