Grow appointed to fill vacant NC City Council seat
By Marianne Murray-Guess
It’s that time of year again – no, not pumpkin spice and turkey, people! I’m talking spooky, scary, and mysterious! So put down that latte and get into the spirit of things! As the weather gets cooler and the nights get longer, there’s no shortage of books that will pique your dark side. One or two of the following should catch your eyeball. (Okay, I’ll stop!) Any true crime sleuths out there? We even have a couple of puzzle books to test your crime-solving skills! Happy Haunting!
The Bitter Past – by Bruce Borgos. His Sheriff Beck series debut novel pairs a present-day, horrific murder with FBI intelligence from the past. Porter Beck is out of the Army and now a sheriff in the Nevada desert when a retired FBI agent is murdered. Not killed in the same sense as a person thinks when they hear the word. In this murder, parts of the victim’s body have been skinned, broken, and torched and his teeth have all been pulled out. Beck then has to investigate just what happened six decades ago that involved a KGB agent and a dirty bomb. Add a couple of complications, such as a beautiful female FBI agent and a quirky step-sister, and he has his work cut out for him. Be sure and check out the second book in the series, the recently released Shades of Mercy. A wave of illegal opioids, a military drone, and a teenage hacker make for quite an interesting puzzle for Sheriff Beck to put together.
The True Crime Puzzle Book and The Undercover Agent Puzzle Book – by international best-selling puzzle master Dr. Gareth Moore. These two Agatha Christie-like books should quench your thirst for true crime. The first book has over 90 “puzzling” cases to solve – Open the Vault, Identity Parade, and Snake in the Graph are just a few of the aptly-titled puzzles that present a fun challenge. The second one will test your crime-solving skills through eight escape room scenarios. For new and seasoned puzzlers alike!
Bewitched – by Laura Thalassa. Known as the author of The Four Horsemen series, here’s her newest endeavor, a witch fantasy romance series. Bewitched is Book 1 and introduces Selene, a woman hoping to be accepted into Henbane Coven, an academy for young witches. A requirement of taking a quest through the wilderness finds her on a plane to South America. As a supernatural force attempts to drag the airplane out of the sky, Selene’s magic is ignited to save her life. There’s a catch – as she uses her powers, her memories are taken from her, one by one. It gets worse before it gets better, and you won’t want to put the book down until you finish! Thalassa, a bestselling indie author as well as a BookTok bestseller, adds two more to this series, Bespelled and The Curse That Binds.
The Bones Remember – by Sara Johnson. “Lips may lie, but teeth never do.” This debut novel, first in the Alexa Glock Forensics Mystery series, follows Alexa, a traveling forensic investigator with an expertise in teeth, as she identifies the skeletal remains of a hunter on a remote New Zealand island. She discovers that a bullet that was lodged in his skull was not self-inflicted, and then a second body washes up on the beach, clearly a shark attack victim. Measuring bite patterns takes her to what or who is behind both of these deaths. First time we’ve carried this author, and it fits right in our spooky month theme! A Poison Pen book.
The House Next Door – by Darcy Coates. A family flees in the middle of the night, leaving everything behind. Even animals are avoiding the house. No one stays very long at the Marwick House. Josephine lives next door and thought she saw a women’s silhouette pacing in one of the upstairs windows. Now a new occupant, Anna, has moved in and the two women become friends. Although Josephine never intended to become involved with the house, it has now started to wake up and Anna has asked her to move in with her. Josephine realizes she has to do something to save Anna, and possibly herself. This story may remind more mature readers of the books of Victoria Holt. Victoria (real name: Eleanor Alice Hibbert) was an English writer of historical, gothic, and romantic fiction. Another Poison Pen book.
The Woman in the Garden – by Jill Johnson, Eustacia Rose #1. Eustacia Rose is a Professor of Botanical Toxicology living alone in London. Her plants are her only company. Did I mention they are poisonous? She keeps to herself, and she keeps to the same schedule. One day she hears a scream and has to investigate. She’s been watching her beautiful neighbor, Simone, through her telescope, and even has given nicknames to the four men who visit Simone. Then her garden is destroyed and someone close to Simone is murdered. The murder weapon? A toxin from a poisonous plant! Eustacia is implicated in the crime and has to take matters in her own hands to solve the mystery. The third book in this column brought to you by Poison Pen.