Books Received in April 2014

April 23, 2014

The Dead Don't Dance by John Enright

Rumored to hold more spirits than people, the remote tropical paradise To’aga frightens many Samoan locals—but not Detective Apelu Soifua. Reeling from the loss of his young daughter, Apelu retreats to the haunted island for a self-imposed exile. He spends his days drinking, trying to ignore the ghosts in his head, and receives few visitors other than a shamanistic recluse and a pair of dedicated marine biologists conducting research.

But after a crew of surveyors arrives, Apelu makes a disturbing discovery: foreign investors plan to build a resort hotel on the coast, a project sure to destroy the To’aga coral reef and shatter the island’s peaceful way of life. When tensions rise and someone—or something—commits a gruesome murder, Apelu must force himself out of retirement to solve the case. Can the heartbroken detective navigate both modern and mystical forces to find the killer and appease the angry spirits of To’aga, in this third book of the Jungle Beat Mystery series?

April 22, 2014

Heads I Win Tails You Lose by S H Villa

This is the first volume of Varigo, the fast-paced and humorous Spanish crime fiction series set in the Alpujarras.

Jesús the healer turns investigator when his cousin Juan's severed head is found on the mayoress's desk and the Guardia Civil prove themselves as useless as they look.

Juan is a well known healer, anti-Church campaigner (earning him the name Juan the Unbaptist) and a lover of women. So, where to look for his murderer? Jesús and friends find and follow clues leading both to the Church and the Guardia Civil themselves. But who was the woman involved? There has to be one.

A rare combination of excitement and enlightenment.

April  16, 2014

Sita's Curse by Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

Sita's Curse is a explosive sexual saga, describing the life, longing and sexual awakening of Meera Patel, a lower-middle class housewife living in a congested housing society in the suburbs of Mumbai and follows her metamorphosis from a small-town girl married off at 17 to a man she has never met to a woman who achieves freedom by giving in to desire. The book reaches its earth shattering climax (pun intended) on July 26, 2005—the day of the Mumbai floods that changed the history of the city and the lives of many of her people, forever.


April 5, 2014

Jaspar's War by Cym Lowell


Greenwich, Connecticut socialite Jaspar Moran has it all-a magnificent estate, two beautiful children and a loving husband, Trevor, serving as the Secretary of the Treasury. Protected, admired and living in the lap of luxury, Jaspar is reeling from the news that his government jet has crashed just as her children vanish without a trace. An ominous message warns her to keep silent about her husband's role in the President's economic plan. Or else. Determined to save her children, she'll go to hell and back, form alliances with assassins, traitors and Mafioso, and commit unspeakable acts-if that's what it takes. With alarms sounding around the world, hunted from all sides, and unsure of who to trust, she finds herself depending on a mysterious figure without an identity. Jaspar journeys from the Australian outback to the palazzos of Rome, the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, and to the magnificence of the Vatican, in her quest. Can she rescue her children before the plot to crash the global economy is unleashed?

April 1, 2014

To Sleep... Perchance to Die by Donald R. Grippo

Tangled lives, tainted love, and a Shakespearean twist lead to deception, betrayal, and murder. In this sexy, psychological thriller, Eurasian beauty Mai Faca plots to marry Jake Warden, a successful oral surgeon forbidden to her because of family honor. In an unheard-of scheme, fellow surgeon, Bret Manley, falls victim to Mai’s seduction as she and Jake play a cruel trick to be together. Jake acts with surgical precision to clear the path to Mai’s happiness, threatening lives including his own. In a wake of turmoil and destruction, Bret’s uncle and well-known criminal attorney Hubie Santos attempts to find out if a surgeon would use his knowledge to kill.