Monday, November 17, 2008

New Paperback Originals from Patricia


Burton, Mary. Dead Ringer (Zebra, $7) Nov, pbo.
Each crime scene has a charm with a woman's name on it next to the victim's body. What the dead women have in common is an uncanny resemblance to tv news anchor Kendall Shaw who has been obsessed with nightmares for years. But are they from her past or omens about her future? She dismisses Detective Jacob Warwick's directives to steer clear of the investigation because she needs answers to the riddle of her life. And Warwick's interest
in the newswoman becomes personal as the psychopath makes Kendall his last target. Suspense rooted in the vulnerable spaces in women's routines carries the reader to the climax. I'm Watching You ($7).

Kendrick, Beth. The Pre-nup (Bantam, $12) Dec 2, pbo.
Three best friends have all the trappings of an upscale good life in
Scottsdale, Arizona. One other fact they have in common: each is in relationship crisis. Ellie glimpses a text message from Vixen, M.D. on her husband's cell phone just before he steals their joint assets and disappears. Jen's startup success no longer compensates for being married to her best friend instead of her soulmate. And attorney Mara's wedding plans snag on whether or not to sign the pre-nup with a cheating clause. Grabbing happy endings from the jaws of defeat takes an author with Kendrick's talent to engage a reader's attention and keep it. Nearly Weds, Fashionably Late, Exes and Ohs, and My Favorite Mistake ($12). Beth will be at The Poisoned Pen to sign this book on December 9 at 7 pm

McKenzie, Grant. Switch (Bantam, $7) Nov, pbo.
Failed actor Sam Wh
ite walks the night shift as a security guard in a Portland, Oregon mall. Early one morning, he finds police blocking the street in front of his home, now a blazing inferno with his wife and daughter inside. The machine-altered voice on a cell phone assigns him crimes to perform to recover his family which was kidnapped, not burned. Zack, a cosmetic surgeon, contacts Sam with the news the same horror happened to him. Together they pursue a fiend whose grievances go back to the high school they all attended 25 years ago.This debut thriller is a true airplane book, flight-tested by this reader between Florida and Phoenix.

Stanton, Mary (aka Claudia Bishop). Defending Angels (Berkley, $7)
Dec 6, pbo. Brand new lawyer Bree Winston-Beaufort rents a curious old house in a cemetery of murderers to economize in Savannah, GA. When a client on the list she inherited from her deceased uncle contacts her from beyond the grave to improve his status from holding to heaven, she assembles an irregular staff that includes a p.i. with otherwordly powers and more than one angel. The Southern flavor that permeates the plot makes the battle against the forces of evil while her mother plans her reception for the city's legal elite and sorts paint color samples for the office decor as delicious as pecan pie. First in the Beaufort and Company series.

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