From the back cover: It’s October in Maine, and everyone in Tinker’s Cove is preparing for the annual Halloween festival. While Lucy Stone is whipping up orange-frosted cupcakes, recycling tutus for her daughters’ Halloween costumes, helping her son with his pre-teen rebellion, and breast-feeding her brand-new baby, an arsonist is loose in Tinker’s Cove. When the latest fire claims the life of the owner of the town’s oldest house, arson turns into murder…

While the townsfolk work to transform a dilapidated mansion into a haunted house for the All-Ghouls festival, the hunt for the culprit heats up. Trick-or-treat turns deadly as a little digging in all the wrong places puts Lucy too close to a shocking discovery that could send all her best-laid plans up in smoke…

My Review: I think I found a new favorite author. I just happened to pick up this book in Barnes and Noble because I knew we were going to do a series on Halloween books. This book was so real to life and since the protagonist was a breast-feeding mama of four, I felt I could really relate to her. I love the setting of the book - New England in fall - doesn’t get much better than that! I could smell the air and see the multi-colored leaves on the trees - ooh, I miss that in Southern California. Lucy Stone, the main character, is a stay-at-home mom who solves mysteries - she just doesn’t seem to be able to wait for the authorities. There are some tense moments in the story, but overall it is a light mystery - a fun book.

I love the idea that Leslie Meier places her stories around holidays. I just ordered Turkey Day Murder and Mistletoe Murder to read in the upcoming months.

Trick or Treat Murder was relatively clean - no graphic sex and very little language - so readers of clean books will appreciate that!

Synopsis

One by one, a bat, a cat, a werewolf, a monster, a mummy, a zombie, and other frightful creatures emerge in the dark house. They chase, wrestle, and roar - until the doorbell rings and in walks a group of fearless trick-or-treaters who know exactly what to do.

My Review: This is a fun book. It’s based on “The House that Jack Built,’ with a Halloween theme. The illustrations are great although somewhat twisted. It’s a book that I love reading aloud because it’s repetitive and the kids get the rhythm of the words and chime right in. I would say that pre-school through 2nd or 3rd graders would enjoy this book.

About the Book: A lie, a long-ago affair, a dark desire- everyone has secrets they take to the grave. No one knew that better than FBI Special Agent Smoky Barrett. But what secret was a very private young woman keeping that led her to her very public murder? And what kind of killer was so driven and so brazenly daring that he’d take her life on a commercial airliner thirty thousand feed in middair, a killer so accomplished that he’d leave only a small souvenir behind?

These are the questions that bring Smoky and her handpicked team of experienced manhunters from L.A. to the autumn chill of Washington, D.C., by order of the FBI director himself - and at the special request of a high-powered grieving D.C. mother.

As a mother, Smoky knows the pain of losing a child - it nearly killed her once before. As a cop with her own twisted past, she takes every murder personally, which is both her greatest strength and her only weakness. Brilliant, merciless, righteous, the killer Smoky is hunting this time is on his own personal mission, whose cost in innocent human lives he’s only begun to collect. For in his eyes no one is innocent; everyone harbors a secret sin, including Smoky Barrett.

Soon Smoky will have to confront a flawless killer who knows her flaws with murderous intimacy.

My Review:I liked this one even better than The Face of Death.McFadyen’s crime novels have absolutely no “feel good fuzzies” to them, but rather they depict the difficult and raw struggle to survive against all odds. They are a celebration of life in that the very act of being alive is what is to be valued and cherished.

Smoky is such an interesting protagonist who has survived such terrible ordeals in her own life yet continues to fight for justice for others. She wears her scars on the outside and attracts the respect of people nationwide for her own story of survival. The rest of her team are also very interesting and flawed people.

The first crime of the book is against a transsexual individual so be aware that the book deals with this issue in a very frank and mostly sympathetic manner.

A dark book to be sure, but well worth the time for those who enjoy crime fiction.

For the next few days we’ll be bringing you some reviews of books that are perfect for the spooky season! If you see the button above, you know that’s what kind of review it is!

About the Book: Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker, has just been suspended for using “creative” tactics and receiving “gratitude” in the courtroom stairwell from a client charged with prostitution. Convincing the judge that his other clients are counting on him, Jaywalker is allowed to complete ten cases. But it’s the last case that truly tests his abilitiesand his acquittal record.

Samara Mossyoung, petite and sexy as hell stabbed her husband in the heart. Or so everyone believes. Having married the elderly billionaire when she was an eighteen-year-old former prostitute, Samara appears to be the cliched gold digger. But Jaywalker knows all too well that appearances can be deceiving. Who else could have killed the billionaire? Has Samara been framed? Or is Jaywalker just driven by his need to win his clients’ cases and this particular client’s undying gratitude?

My Review:I love legal thrillers! I especially love legal thrillers that give me that extra special glimpse into the law and the intricate workings of the court and in that way this book delivered. It was also a pretty great mystery with a very fun lawyer to root for in Jay Walker.

I read this on a plane and it kept me with it, so that classifies it as a page turner. Even so there were a few things about the writing that I found distracting at times. It wasn’t overwhelmingly distracting but the presence of an omniscient narrator pulled me out of the story at times. Even so, the case was fascinating and keeps you guessing up until the very end.

I look forward to more work from Mr. Teller in the future!

Please note there are some sexual references and language in the book…but it wasn’t overwhelming at all.

About the Book: In 1963 rural Georgia, with the Vietnam War cranking up, pregnant, seventeen-year-old Adie Jenkins discovers the diary of pregnant, seventeen-year-old Tempe Jordan, a slave girl, circa 1963, with the Civil War well under way.

My Review:This was a beautifully written story with an extremely sympathetic protagonist. The tone of the book is spot on, I could almost hear the voices in my mind as well, since the dialect was so well done. Adie carries a painful secret from her family that causes her a lot of pain. When she ends up pregnant and needs to marry her boyfriend…she slowly comes to terms with the effects secrets have on the lives around them.

Adie was so easy to root for! Even though there were many difficult and challenging things that happened to her, she really and tried to do the very best thing for the people she loved. While she wasn’t always wise or making the right decisions, she tried to live with integrity and love. As she processes the things that happened in her life, she also reads a diary by a woman freed after the Civil War. Both of these women faced their own fair share of unbelievable suffering.

But the writing is truly lovely. Here’s one of my favorite sentences:

“I wanted it to be out in the open where we could smack it around and break it into tiny pieces, bits small enough for me to swallow.”

I love that, because that’s exactly what happens when you finally talk about secrets…they become something you can actually deal with. What a beautiful way to put it.

If you enjoy Southern fiction, you are sure to enjoy this book. Be sure to check it out on Amazon.

I’ve had the very exciting chance to check out the Bible Illuminated preview online and it’s pretty cool. I mean just check out that cover!

After having a look at it, I have to say I’m really looking forward to seeing a hard copy. The pictures are pretty cool…I especially find it interesting that Angelina Jolie made it into the Bible. Certain verses and passages are highlighted or in a different color. It’s a whole new way of looking at the Bible.

Here’s what the publisher has to say about The Bible Illuminated:

There is no religious mission behind The Book. We believe that its success will be driven by the fact that this is not coming from any specific faith, religion or church. We are from many faiths, backgrounds, and beliefs; ultimately we are trying to create something for the many and not just for the few. The goal is to drive an emotional reaction and get people to think, discuss and share. It’s meant to trigger bigger moral questions that will in turn help people to understand the common heritage between all religions through the Bible’s text. We hope people will find the images, design and layout intriguing–intriguing enough to talk about the actual stories in the Bible and what the morals and lessons mean to them. The more you know, the more you can participate in discussions about the world and understand the bigger picture.

The Book, using the Good News Translation as approved by the American Bible Society, will introduce believers and non-believers to a culturally relevant, accessible Bible and will encourage dialogue between people from all walks of life.

I read and review Christian fiction because for the most part I love it! It generally goes along with my values - I am a Christian, and I don’t have to worry about language and graphic sex and violence, and the stories are usually encouraging. There are some Christian fiction books that are too didactic and in your face in the moral area, however, generally Christian fiction provides a great story with subtle, positive messages. I also read and review general market books, although I tend to be a little fussier because I don’t care for the language, graphic sexual content, etc. in many of them. Again, there are many books out there that refrain from the objectionable content and I look for those. There are many really great books out there and to stay with one genre is too limiting!

This is part of the Saturday Carnival of Christian Fiction!

Well, at midnight I was all done in - BUT I was able to finish The Longing (loved it!) and begin a Halloween murder mystery (very good so far).  I also read several children’s books and a great dog book.  All in all I read from 4:30 a.m. - 12 midnight with a couple of food breaks and a church break.  Then I woke up early and read some more.  I read 5 and 1/2 books and read for about 18 hours.  Maybe next time I can do all night!

I pretty much fell asleep after last night’s wrap-up! I fell woefully short of my goals, but I did manage to finish Twilight before the movie, so I guess that’s good!

If you sponsored me, I read a total of 18 hours and 2 and 1/2 books. That feels really sad to me. So much time for so little reading!

Oh well, I have jury duty this week…last time, I managed to get two books read there too, so we’ll see.