Wrongful Conviction/Janet Heijens/295 pgs

I haven't been on here for a while but I felt I needed to review this title.  The woman who wrote the book is a former boss of my husband and a friend.  This is her first book and I loved it.  It is a legal thriller - one of my favorite genre.  The main character Jean is a high school teacher in New Jersey and she is contacted by a law student who is looking into a murder case that she has some knowledge of.  The case is 40 years old and she had babysat for the family - the husband was convicted of murdering his wife and 2 girls.  Both my husband and I read this book over the weekend so it is a very quick read and you will not see the ending coming.  Hopefully there will be more titles to come.

Secret History of the Pink Carnation / Lauren Willig 388 p.

Eloise, an American graduate student, is on the chase for the identity of the Purple Gentian, a English spy a la Scarlet Pimpernel during Napoleon's reign so she can finish her dissertation for Harvard.  The story alternates between the spying and romancing of Amy Balcourt and the Purple Gentian and Eloise's Colin--a roadblock to reading his aunt's archive of materials about her family--royal spies in the court of Napoleon.

1st in the Pink Carnation series.

Through the Fire / Diane Noble 248 p.

Kate and Paul Hanlon pull up to their new home in Copper Mill just in time to see Paul's pastorate church collapse in flames.  As Kate seeks to find out who set the fire; she makes friends, receives threatening phone calls, counsels the jailed self-professed arsonist, and practices her Christian faith.

First in the Mystery and the Minister's Wife series

Rising Tide / Jeff Shaara 536 p.

Jeff Shaara conveys World War II battles in the style as he did with his American Civil War series, weaving personal stories about Eisenhower, Rommel, Montgomery, Patton, Clark and the front-line soldiers, while telling of the Allies drive to force the Nazi out of North Africa and Sicily.

First in World War II novels series

Crocodile on the Sandbank / Elizabeth Peters 262 p.

In 1884, after her father's death, spinster Amelia Peabody go to visit the place her father studied in depth--Egypt, its pyramids and archaeology.  She employs a young woman as companion that she rescued in Italy when Evelyn's former lover dumped her.  The plot thickens when both Evelyn's former lover and her cousin turn up in Egypt.  Archaeologists Walter and Radcliffe Emerson are taken by the two even though Radcliffe hides his affection well.  When strange accidents occur, mysterious disappearances happen, and a mummy starts walking, a fun visit to an archaeological dig turns dangerous.

1st in the Amelia Peabody mysteries new series

Yada Yada Prayer Group / Neta Jackson 388 p.

Out of a random prayer group assignment at the Chicago Women’s Conference,  twelve women, as different as each can be, find themselves growing together after an act of violence strikes one of them.  They put meaning to faith as they support each other through what life deals out by continuing their prayer group meetings.  The story is told through the eyes of longtime Christian Jodi Baxter as she seeks to live her faith and honor others each an interesting and delightful character.

First in a “new” series

Proposal / Mary Balogh 311 p.

This is the first book in a new series, The Survivors' Club Series by Mary Balogh. What is cool about this series is that all are members of the Survivors' Club.  Each have member has something to overcome.  For Hugo, Lord Trentham, it is the seeing soldiers under his command die.  When the club members meet each year, he announces he needs as wife, as his father has died, and his sister needs someone to bring her out.  And as luck would have it, in drops the widow Lady Gwen, who also has her own set of problems.  A romance, yet Balogh deals with heavy issues like suicide, death, post-traumatic stress syndrome, physical infirmities, and class differences.  I look forward very much to the stories of the rest of the survivors'.

Slightly Shady / Amanda Quick 343 p.

A gangster's valet's diary provides blackmailers with loads of opportunities to threaten the English nobs.  Tobias March, a discrete private investigator, is hired to find the diary which leads him to the beautiful Lavinia Lake (who sidetracks him).  They tentative form an business alliance as Lavinia acquires a Lady with a past who is also wanting the diary.  An attraction grows between Lavinia and Tobias in this first in their series.

New series