Jen's Place Mysteries--Authors 1

| Books by Charlaine Harris

| Carolyn G. Hart

|
| April Henry

| Joan Hess | Lynn S. Hightower |

Charlaine Harris
| Southern Vampire Mysteries | Lily Bard Mysteries |

Southern Vampire Mysteries 1. "Dead Until Dark"
2. "Living Dead in Dallas"

"Dead Until Dark"
Ace , May 2001
Reviewed on 11/2/02
Dead Unitl Dark
Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome - and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life. But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of - big surprise - murder. And when of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next.

bar

"Living Dead in Dallas"
Ace, April 2002
Reviewed on 11/2/02

Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a strek of bad luck. First, her coworker is murdered and no one seems to care. Then she's face-to-face with a beastly creature thet gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison form her veins (like they didn't enjoy it). Point is, they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, she complies. And soon, Sookie's in Dallas using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved. There's just one condition: The vampires must promise to behave - and let the humans go unharmed. Easier said the done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly.
back to the top

Lily Bard Mysteries

1. "Shakespeare's Landlord" 2. "Shakespeare's Champion"
3. "Shakespeare's Christmas" 4. "Shakespeare's Trollop"

"Shakespeare's Landlord"
St. Martin's Press, July 1996, HC
Reviewed on 12/3/02
Dead Unitl Dark
Lily Bard is a loner. Fiercely protective of her independence, she concentrates on her karate skills and her work as the proprietor of a cleaning and error-running service, and pays little attention to the town around her. When her landlord is murdered, though, she looks like the prime suspect. Uncovering the real killer may be the only way to prove her innocence, and Lily realizes that she must focus on the other residents of tiny Shakespeare. Her job gives her easy access to people's private lives, and she begins to smoop, finding plenty of skeleton-filled closets, and exposing herself to the unwanted attentions of a murderer.

bar

"Shakespeare's Champion"
Dell, November 1998
Reviewed on 12/24/02

Lily Bard was running from shattering memories when she moved to Shakespeare, Arkansas. Now cleaning houses pays her bills. Working out helps her heal. Still protecting her scars, she hides a hard body and impressive skill at martial arts under baggy sweats. And nobody knows how strong she is until racial violence has her looking behind closed doors for a killer - doors to which a housecleaner might have the key. When Lily uses her training in goju to help a black man jumped by white teens, she does it for justice... only to hear he's been abducted and beaten to death a few weeks later. Then a bodybuilder is killed at her gym. Both incidents jar Lily;s need for secreuity and refuge. Looking into closets, sweeping under rugs, she soon uncovers enough dirt to confirm that something sinister is growing in her adopted town. Getting involved could endanger her life. But LIfe is seeing a new man and dreaming new dreams. And no one can make this strong woman run again.

bar

"Shakespeare's Christmas"
St. Martin's Press, November 1998, HC
Reviewed on 12/24/02

Lily Bard is going home to Bartley, Arkansas - always an uncomfortable scenario for the introvert - for her sister Varena's Christmas wedding. But Lily's got more to worry about than being a brisesmaid for a sister to whom she's no longer close. Soon after she srrives in Bartley, Lily's private-detective boyfriend shows up and not just for moral support: He's investigating a four-year-old unsolved kidnapping. Try as she might, Lily can't help but get involved when she discovers that the case hits dangerously close to home - for Varen's new husband is the widowed father of a girl bearing a remarkable resemblance to the vanished child.

bar

"Shakespeare's Trollop"
St. Martin's Press, August 2000, HC
Reviewed on 12/24/02

When Lily Bard discovers lifelongShakespeare resident Deedra Dean murdered inside a car parked in a woodsy area outside town, she's determined not to get invovled. Lily wants to leave to police work to Sheriff Marta Schuster and her team of deputies, and concentrate on cleaning, high kicks, and her boyfriend Jack's impending visit. But when Deedra's notoriously promiscuous lifestyle provides an extensive list of suspects but very little clues, Lily has no choice but to resume the role of amateur detective and join the investigation.
back to the top

Carolyn G. Hart
Claire Montrose Mysteries

1. "Death on Demand" 2. "Design For Murder" 3. "Something Wicked"
4. "Honeymoon with Murder" 5. "A Little Class on Murder" 6. "Deadly Valentine"
7. "The Christie Caper" 8. "Southern Ghost" 9. "Mint Julep Murder"
10. "Yankee Doodle Dead" 11. "White Elephant" 12. "Sugarplum Dead"

Claire Montrose Mysteries
1. "Death on Demand"	2. "Design For Murder"	3. "Something Wicked"
4. "Honeymoon with Murder"	5. "A Little Class on Murder"	6. "Deadly Valentine"
7. "The Christie Caper"	8. "Southern Ghost"	9. "Mint Julep Murder"
10. "Yankee Doodle Dead"	11. "White Elephant"	12. "Sugarplum Dead"

"Death on Demand"
Doubleday, January 1993, HC
Reviewed on 5/6/01

at annie Laurance's Death on Demand bookstore on Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, murder most fowl suddenly isn't confined to the well-stocked shelves. Author Elliot Morgan's abrupt demise during a weekly gathering of famous mystery writers called the Sunday Night Regulars is sometimes mighter than a brilliant pen. With Annie in the unenviable postion of primary police suspect, the pretty young mystery maven and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, embark on the investigation of a classic locked-room mystery with high stakes. For failing to unmask the brutal and ingenious killer could mean prison for Ms. Laurance. While success could mean her death.
back to the top

Claire Montrose Mysteries

1. "Circles of Confusion" 2. "Square in the Face" 3. "Heart-shaped Box"

Claire Montrose Mysteries
1. "Circles of Confusion"	2. "Square in the Face"	3. "Heart-shaped Box"

"Circles of Confusion"
Harper Collins Publishers, 1999, HC
Reviewed on 5/6/01

Claire Montrose doesn't know it yet, but her ho-hum world is about to go wild. Lately, Claire doesn't know which is worse - her uninspired romanc with her insurance adjuster boyfriend, or her job approving applications for vanity license plates. When Claire's distant, elderly aunt dies, she leaves a fitting estate for her mousy neice - a trailer full of junk. But in cleaning out the trailer, Claire finds a painting that haunts her with its beauty. Might this be a long-lost masterpiece? To learn the painting's secrets, Claire leaves Portland behind for a dazzling solo trip to new York City. In the Big Apple, Claire must keep up her guard against the charms of two mysterious men, each of whom is intent on figuring out what it is she's uncovered from her aunt's past. Could the canvas Claire is toting around in her backpack really be worth millions? It certainly seems to be her ticket into a whole new realm of adventure. Along the way, she just might discover her painting's true worth - and her own.
back to book list

bar

"Square in the Face"
Avon Books, March 2001
Reviewed on 5/17/01

Once upon a time, Claire Montrose was a mousy employee in the Oregon State License Plate Division approving vanity plates. Now this part-time sleuth has an artist boyfriend in New York City and a quirky group of friends and family that keep her happy in Portland. But danger is never far away. When her friend and former coworker, Lori, calls with an urgent request, Claire can't say no. Lori's son is ill, and his only hope is a bone marrow transplant from a sibling. Long ago, Lori had a baby - a girl she gave up for adoption to a secretive agency. Now, she needs Claire to find her long-lost daughter. Scouring the city, Claire has little to go on besides common sense and her own two feet. Using her wits, charm, and savvy sleauthing skills, she begins to dig up old secrets - secrets someone will kill to keep buried. Now, it's not just a young boy's life hanging in the balance, but Claire's as well.
back to book list

bar

"Heart-Shaped Box"
Harper Collins, 2001, HC
Reviewed on 5/25/01

Claire Montrose wasn't part of the in-crowd at Minor High. In fact, she didn't have many friends at all, spending most of her time outside school toiling at Pietro's Pizza. Yet when the invitation to her twenty-year high school reunion comes in the mail, she decides to go. After all, Claire is no longer the girl she was in high school, the one who was too smart, too tall, too skinny, and who looked a lot younger than she was. Now maybe all her old handicaps are actually to her advantage. Not only that, she has a hip boyfriend named Dante, and a windfall from an old painting that turned out to be a Vermeer. So Claire sets off to see old friends, old lovers - and maybe even a few old enemies. While checking into Ye Olde Pioneer Village for the weekend festivities, Claire recieves a mysterious package containing a heart-shaped box. Inside is a high school yearbook picture of Claire. A gift from a secret admirer? Then another box turns up - in the limp hand of Cindy Sanchez, the former head cheerleader, who is found strangled in the parking lot. Before the night is over, five mora women reveal that they, too, have recieved heart-shaped boxes. Is there a mad killer on the loose who will claim them before the reunion is over? Or is Cindy, who had more lovers - and more enemies - than anyone else in school, the only one marked for murder?
back to book list || back to the top

Claire Malloy Mysteries
1. "Strangled Prose" 2. "The Murder at the Mimosa Inn"
3. "Dear Miss Demeanor" 4. "A Really Cute Corspe"
5. "A Diet to Die For" 6. "Roll Over and Play Dead"
7. "Death by the Light of the Moon" 8. "Poisened Pens"
9. "Tickled to Death" 10. "Busy Bodies"
11. "Closely Akin to Murder" 12. "A Holly Jolly Murder"

Claire Malloy Mysteries
1. "Strangled Prose"	2. "The Murder at the Mimosa Inn"
3. "Dear Miss Demeanor"	4. "A Really Cute Corspe"
5. "A Diet to Die For"	6. "Roll Over and Play Dead"
7. "Death by the Light of the Moon"	8. "Poisened Pens"
9. "Tickled to Death"	10. "Busy Bodies"
11. "Closely Akin to Murder"	12. "A Holly Jolly Murder"

"Strangled Prose"
St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1986, reissue: November 1998
Reviewed on 10/16/00
blank
Professor of Passion, the smutty new romance from Mildred Twiller - a.k.a. Azalea Twilight - isn't the kind of book Claire Malloy likes to hock at her bookstore, but Claire agrees to host a book party her friend's trashy tale. As torrid as the novel is, it's nothing compared to the evening. After the party, poor Mildred is found dead in her home - strangled with a tightly knotted silk scarf. Now it's up to Claire to find Mildred's killer, and it won't be easy - the two-bit author had offended nearly every faculty member she worked with at nearby Faber College. But who could have hated Mildred with such smoldering passion?
back to book list || back to the top

Books by Lynn S. Hightower
1. "Flashpoint" 2. "Eyeshot"
3. "No Good Deed" 4. "The Debt Collector"

1. "Flashpoint"	2. "Eyeshot"
3. "No Good Deed"	4. "The Debt Collector"

"Eyeshot"
HarperPaperBacks, November 1997, PB
Reviewed on 11/21/00
Eyeshot
Some days, Cincinnati police detective Sonora Blair doesn't want to be a cop. Not when she has to tell the father of two young children that the body parts turning up along Interstate 75 belong to his missing wife, Julia. Julia witnessed a murder before she died. Eight years before she died. A murder that was unsolved, but not forgotten. A murder where the body disappeared, and no one believed her story. Years later, Julia thinks she sees the killer. Then Julia disappears. And a dangerous sociopath, left undisturbed for eight years, is back in business in Cincinnati.
back to book list

bar

"Flashpoint"
HarperCollins, 1995, HC
Reviewed on 10/17/00

An anonymous phone call alerts the police: a car has burst into flames in a deserted area of a Cincinnati park. A twenty-two-year-old college student has been handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car, doused with gasoline, and torched. The police wrest the blazing body from the restraints and rush what is left of the delirious man to the hospital. Police Specialist Sonora Blair of the Cincinnati Homicide Division is awakened in the middle of the night with an urgent summons to take a deathbed statement. When she arrives at the hospital, the victim is unable to talk, but her questions elicit one key detail: the psyco who perpetrated this gruesome crime is a woman. Driven and determined, Sonora is committed to finding this killer before she strikes again - no matter the cost to her private life of the politics of her career. When the murderer begins to call Sonora - taunting, mocking her, trying to lure her into a twisted woman-to-woman complicity - the stakes go up, and the case becomes all too personal. As the tension of this deadly cat-and-mouse game climbs to an unbearable pitch, Sonora finds that her peace of mind, her job, and even her family are in deadly jeopardy.
back to book list || back to the top

|| HOME || Jen's Place ||
|| authors index || Romantic Sites || Romantic Rings ||
|| sign the guestbook || view the guestbook || talk to me ||

My page is free thanks to Geocities.

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

Southern Vampire Mysteries		1. "Dead Until Dark"
Southern Vampire Mysteries		2. "Living Dead in Dallas"

"Dead Until Dark" Ace , May 2001 Reviewed on 11/2/02
		Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome - and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the type of guy she's been waiting for all her life. But Bill has a disability of his own: He's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of - big surprise - murder. And when of Sookie's coworkers is killed, she fears she's next.

"Living Dead in Dallas" Ace, April 2002 Reviewed on 11/2/02
		Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a strek of bad luck. First, her coworker is murdered and no one seems to care. Then she's face-to-face with a beastly creature thet gives her a painful and poisonous lashing. Enter the vampires, who graciously suck the poison form her veins (like they didn't enjoy it). Point is, they saved her life. So when one of the bloodsuckers asks for a favor, she complies. And soon, Sookie's in Dallas using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire. She's supposed to interview certain humans involved. There's just one condition: The vampires must promise to behave - and let the humans go unharmed. Easier said the done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly.
back to the top

Lily Bard Mysteries
1. "Shakespeare's Landlord"		2. "Shakespeare's Champion"
3. "Shakespeare's Christmas"		4. "Shakespeare's Trollop"

"Shakespeare's Landlord" St. Martin's Press, July 1996, HC Reviewed on 12/3/02
		Lily Bard is a loner. Fiercely protective of her independence, she concentrates on her karate skills and her work as the proprietor of a cleaning and error-running service, and pays little attention to the town around her. When her landlord is murdered, though, she looks like the prime suspect. Uncovering the real killer may be the only way to prove her innocence, and Lily realizes that she must focus on the other residents of tiny Shakespeare. Her job gives her easy access to people's private lives, and she begins to smoop, finding plenty of skeleton-filled closets, and exposing herself to the unwanted attentions of a murderer.

"Shakespeare's Champion" Dell, November 1998 Reviewed on 12/24/02
		Lily Bard was running from shattering memories when she moved to Shakespeare, Arkansas. Now cleaning houses pays her bills. Working out helps her heal. Still protecting her scars, she hides a hard body and impressive skill at martial arts under baggy sweats. And nobody knows how strong she is until racial violence has her looking behind closed doors for a killer - doors to which a housecleaner might have the key. When Lily uses her training in goju to help a black man jumped by white teens, she does it for justice... only to hear he's been abducted and beaten to death a few weeks later. Then a bodybuilder is killed at her gym. Both incidents jar Lily;s need for secreuity and refuge. Looking into closets, sweeping under rugs, she soon uncovers enough dirt to confirm that something sinister is growing in her adopted town. Getting involved could endanger her life. But LIfe is seeing a new man and dreaming new dreams. And no one can make this strong woman run again.

"Shakespeare's Christmas" St. Martin's Press, November 1998, HC Reviewed on 12/24/02
		Lily Bard is going home to Bartley, Arkansas - always an uncomfortable scenario for the introvert - for her sister Varena's Christmas wedding. But Lily's got more to worry about than being a brisesmaid for a sister to whom she's no longer close. Soon after she srrives in Bartley, Lily's private-detective boyfriend shows up and not just for moral support: He's investigating a four-year-old unsolved kidnapping. Try as she might, Lily can't help but get involved when she discovers that the case hits dangerously close to home - for Varen's new husband is the widowed father of a girl bearing a remarkable resemblance to the vanished child.

"Shakespeare's Trollop" St. Martin's Press, August 2000, HC Reviewed on 12/24/02
		When Lily Bard discovers lifelongShakespeare resident Deedra Dean murdered inside a car parked in a woodsy area outside town, she's determined not to get invovled. Lily wants to leave to police work to Sheriff Marta Schuster and her team of deputies, and concentrate on cleaning, high kicks, and her boyfriend Jack's impending visit. But when Deedra's notoriously promiscuous lifestyle provides an extensive list of suspects but very little clues, Lily has no choice but to resume the role of amateur detective and join the investigation.
back to the top

"Death on Demand" Doubleday, January 1993, HC Reviewed on 5/6/01
		at annie Laurance's Death on Demand bookstore on Broward's Rock Island, South Carolina, murder most fowl suddenly isn't confined to the well-stocked shelves. Author Elliot Morgan's abrupt demise during a weekly gathering of famous mystery writers called the Sunday Night Regulars is sometimes mighter than a brilliant pen. With Annie in the unenviable postion of primary police suspect, the pretty young mystery maven and her wealthy paramour, Max Darling, embark on the investigation of a classic locked-room mystery with high stakes. For failing to unmask the brutal and ingenious killer could mean prison for Ms. Laurance. While success could mean her death.
back to the top

"Circles of Confusion" Harper Collins Publishers, 1999, HC Reviewed on 5/6/01
		Claire Montrose doesn't know it yet, but her ho-hum world is about to go wild. Lately, Claire doesn't know which is worse - her uninspired romanc with her insurance adjuster boyfriend, or her job approving applications for vanity license plates. When Claire's distant, elderly aunt dies, she leaves a fitting estate for her mousy neice - a trailer full of junk. But in cleaning out the trailer, Claire finds a painting that haunts her with its beauty. Might this be a long-lost masterpiece? To learn the painting's secrets, Claire leaves Portland behind for a dazzling solo trip to new York City. In the Big Apple, Claire must keep up her guard against the charms of two mysterious men, each of whom is intent on figuring out what it is she's uncovered from her aunt's past. Could the canvas Claire is toting around in her backpack really be worth millions? It certainly seems to be her ticket into a whole new realm of adventure. Along the way, she just might discover her painting's true worth - and her own.
back to book list

Search:	Enter keywords...

"Square in the Face" Avon Books, March 2001 Reviewed on 5/17/01
		Once upon a time, Claire Montrose was a mousy employee in the Oregon State License Plate Division approving vanity plates. Now this part-time sleuth has an artist boyfriend in New York City and a quirky group of friends and family that keep her happy in Portland. But danger is never far away. When her friend and former coworker, Lori, calls with an urgent request, Claire can't say no. Lori's son is ill, and his only hope is a bone marrow transplant from a sibling. Long ago, Lori had a baby - a girl she gave up for adoption to a secretive agency. Now, she needs Claire to find her long-lost daughter. Scouring the city, Claire has little to go on besides common sense and her own two feet. Using her wits, charm, and savvy sleauthing skills, she begins to dig up old secrets - secrets someone will kill to keep buried. Now, it's not just a young boy's life hanging in the balance, but Claire's as well.
back to book list

"Heart-Shaped Box" Harper Collins, 2001, HC Reviewed on 5/25/01
		Claire Montrose wasn't part of the in-crowd at Minor High. In fact, she didn't have many friends at all, spending most of her time outside school toiling at Pietro's Pizza. Yet when the invitation to her twenty-year high school reunion comes in the mail, she decides to go. After all, Claire is no longer the girl she was in high school, the one who was too smart, too tall, too skinny, and who looked a lot younger than she was. Now maybe all her old handicaps are actually to her advantage. Not only that, she has a hip boyfriend named Dante, and a windfall from an old painting that turned out to be a Vermeer. So Claire sets off to see old friends, old lovers - and maybe even a few old enemies. While checking into Ye Olde Pioneer Village for the weekend festivities, Claire recieves a mysterious package containing a heart-shaped box. Inside is a high school yearbook picture of Claire. A gift from a secret admirer? Then another box turns up - in the limp hand of Cindy Sanchez, the former head cheerleader, who is found strangled in the parking lot. Before the night is over, five mora women reveal that they, too, have recieved heart-shaped boxes. Is there a mad killer on the loose who will claim them before the reunion is over? Or is Cindy, who had more lovers - and more enemies - than anyone else in school, the only one marked for murder?
back to book list \|\| back to the top

"Strangled Prose" St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1986, reissue: November 1998 Reviewed on 10/16/00
		Professor of Passion, the smutty new romance from Mildred Twiller - a.k.a. Azalea Twilight - isn't the kind of book Claire Malloy likes to hock at her bookstore, but Claire agrees to host a book party her friend's trashy tale. As torrid as the novel is, it's nothing compared to the evening. After the party, poor Mildred is found dead in her home - strangled with a tightly knotted silk scarf. Now it's up to Claire to find Mildred's killer, and it won't be easy - the two-bit author had offended nearly every faculty member she worked with at nearby Faber College. But who could have hated Mildred with such smoldering passion?
back to book list \|\| back to the top

"Eyeshot" HarperPaperBacks, November 1997, PB Reviewed on 11/21/00
		Some days, Cincinnati police detective Sonora Blair doesn't want to be a cop. Not when she has to tell the father of two young children that the body parts turning up along Interstate 75 belong to his missing wife, Julia. Julia witnessed a murder before she died. Eight years before she died. A murder that was unsolved, but not forgotten. A murder where the body disappeared, and no one believed her story. Years later, Julia thinks she sees the killer. Then Julia disappears. And a dangerous sociopath, left undisturbed for eight years, is back in business in Cincinnati.
back to book list

"Flashpoint" HarperCollins, 1995, HC Reviewed on 10/17/00
		An anonymous phone call alerts the police: a car has burst into flames in a deserted area of a Cincinnati park. A twenty-two-year-old college student has been handcuffed to the steering wheel of his car, doused with gasoline, and torched. The police wrest the blazing body from the restraints and rush what is left of the delirious man to the hospital. Police Specialist Sonora Blair of the Cincinnati Homicide Division is awakened in the middle of the night with an urgent summons to take a deathbed statement. When she arrives at the hospital, the victim is unable to talk, but her questions elicit one key detail: the psyco who perpetrated this gruesome crime is a woman. Driven and determined, Sonora is committed to finding this killer before she strikes again - no matter the cost to her private life of the politics of her career. When the murderer begins to call Sonora - taunting, mocking her, trying to lure her into a twisted woman-to-woman complicity - the stakes go up, and the case becomes all too personal. As the tension of this deadly cat-and-mouse game climbs to an unbearable pitch, Sonora finds that her peace of mind, her job, and even her family are in deadly jeopardy.
back to book list \|\| back to the top