Talk about multi-talented fellows - Dan John Miller is known for his film work, is the lead guitarist and vocalist for a band, and has received accolades for his voice work. It has been said that he "always expertly captures the emotional heart of a novel with his audiobook performances...How does he do it? "I want to get into the mindset of the author," Miller says. "The book is someone else's work of art, and I want to respect that."

Well said and Die A Stranger is extremely well read as ace crime writer Steve Hamilton's popular Alex McKnight series continues with the author's usual clear, straight-talking presentation and slow mounting suspense. Die A Stranger is a pleasure.

Ex police officer Alex has been living a mostly solitary existence in Michigan's Upper Peninsula for some time. His best and perhaps only friend is Vinnie LeBlanc, an Ojibwa Indian who has left the reservation and built a cabin of his own. When Vinnie's mother dies he is devastated. He seems distraught by the idea that while on her death bed she mistook Vinnie for his father, a man who was serving time for killing some people while driving drunk. Vinnie has sworn off alcohol, would never touch the stuff because of what it did to his father. Thus, it's even more perplexing when Alex finds him on the night of his mother's funeral downing one Scotch after another.

To further muddy the waters the next day Vinnie is gone. Alex soon discovers that Buck, Vinnie's cousin is also missing. To top all of this off Alex's search for his friend takes him to the airport which is awash with police cars and there are five dead bodies. The explanation? "It looks like a drug delivery gone bad. That plane over there is Canadian registered and it's stuffed to the rafters with bags of marijuana..."

Surely Vinnie had nothing to do with this. The timing of Vinnie's disappearance coinciding with the killings is just coincidence. Or, is it? Next, things really get dicey when a stranger appears in town also looking for Vinnie.

Leave it to this skillful, imaginative author and stellar voice performer to hold readers enthralled with one more gripping tale.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke

Beautifully written, touching and honest Robert Goolrick's second novel portrays a time, a place and love. This author has that rare ability to handle major subjects delicately, if you will, leaving readers aware not only of his themes but of the power of his words.

Although set in Brownsburg, Virginia during the 1940s Heading Out To Wonderful is a timeless story, one that resonates long after the last page is turned. Brownsburg is a small valley town, perhaps 500 people and infested with pettiness. When a stranger appears Charlie Beale appears is noted immediately. Strangers don't often come to this valley town, especially not one carrying only two suitcases, one holding a great deal of money and the other all that he owns, which includes a set of German made butcher knives. Charlie is looking for something, he isn't quite sure what but thinks he may have found it in Brownsburg. It is a town where the people "belonged to the land, to this particular place, the way their cars or their tablespoons belonged to them." And the folks were religious, sometimes taught to be judgmental, harsh as we later learn.

Charlie soon finds work at the local butcher shop run by Will Haislett. Here he is accepted for his professionalism and courtesy. Will's young son, Sam, and Charlie become good friends. Sam accompanies him on meat buying trips, spends time with im in the country, and admires Charlie's prowess on a baseball field.

As it turns out Charlie does find what he wants in this small valley town and her name is Sylvan. She beautiful and childlike, married to the town's richest man, a fat bully who bought her from her father for land and a tractor. Sylvan is a young woman with dreams, most of which were born while watching movies or thumbing through movie magazines.

What ensues is initially not surprising but soon shocking and heartrending. Robert Goolrick has fashioned a powerful, haunting story - don't miss it!

- Gail Cooke

Set aside any prejudices you may have and settle in for a fast-paced intriguing story centering on a woman who does whatever she believes must be done in order to keep her son safe. This is a woman many would consider reprehensible or an object of sick humor, yet Edgar-winner Lippman paints an intensely compelling, commiserative portrait of her. We find ourselves rooting for Heloise Lewis, the proprietor of a successful call-girl service.

The setting is suburban Maryland, a residential area called Turner's Grove, which is a far cry from where Heloise grew up. The daughter of an abusive father and a mother who did nothing to protect her she believed the first person who showed her any kindness.. At the age of 16 she met Billy and thought they were in love, eventually she ran away with him thinking he would take care of her. But he was an addict, deeply in debt. "She got a job dancing" bringing all the money home, "and Billy, instead of paying the debts he owed, put it up his nose." She had no place to go. When she had called home to tell her father she was in Maryland and planning to marry, "..her father had called her a whore and slammed down the phone."

It was a long way from the room in a broken-down motel with Billy and the road was rough - from working for a pimp, Val Deluca, who is also the father of her son, Scott, to running her own call-girl service. A very profitable one. Her neighbors in Turner's Grove believed she was a young widow who kept very much to herself but never missed one of Scott's soccer games or picking him up at school. Heloise files taxes as a lobbyist, fighting for income parity with an agency called Women's Full Employment Network.

Val, not knowing he is Scott's father is in jail, given away by Heloise. But, he may be released from prison. And, there is the recent death of another Suburban Madam. It's ruled a suicide, but is it? Heloise fears she is in danger as well but again she has nowhere to go and no one to whom she can turn.

As a former reporter Lippman researched the world of sex workers and she brings that world to frightening life as well as penning a remarkable original story of a strong, assertive woman who is fearless in creating a life for herself and her son.

If you're interested in the memorable songwriting team of Rodgers and Hart, forget the squeaky clean film movie starring Mickey Rooney as Lorenz Hart and pick up a copy of Gary Marmorstein's gentle but honest, carefully researched story of Hart's all too short life.

Short might well be an operative word here as the adult Hart barely reached five feet. He was an immensely talented but deeply troubled soul. Together Rodgers and Hart had an enormous impact on the musical world in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. They gave us such hit Broadway shows as On Your Toes, Babes In Arms, Pal Joey and countless songs - My Funny Valentine, Blue Moon, I Wish I Were In Love Again, Where or When, and more that are loved, played and sung today.

Marmorstein has accomplished a yeoman's task in detailing the days of Hart's life from his iconic pairing with Rodgers to his disturbed personality to his sexuality to his alcoholism. Hart was not an easy working partner, later given to tardiness and sometimes total disappearance. Yet he seemed able to dash off his best in 30 minutes and was without peer as a lyricist - eloquent, witty, urbane, romantic, wistful. He felt the bars had not been pushed far enough in American musicals, and he did it with gusto and to great acclaim.

There are so many memorable ancillary characters coming and going in the lives of Rodgers and Hart that A Ship Without A Sail is always fascinating reading, brimming with anecdotes and quotations. Yet, for this reader the story is clouded with sadness sadness as Hart follows his self-destructive path. His early death was an immeasurable loss. But we will always have his unforgettable words - he gave us so much we cannot help but wish that life had given him more.

- Gail Cooke

With this, my first Charles Cumming novel, I find myself remembering the happy, total absorption I found years ago when reading my first John le Carre. Yes, A Foreign Country is that good - a premier spy thriller. This awareness of having found an exemplary story teller comes with the first few pages. It is Tunis in 1978 and an au pair has vanished leaving her besotted lover and employer "a married man of forty-one at the mercy of a broken heart..." Ah, but 20-year-old Amelia had not been just any nanny - in addition to making love both employer and employee had enjoyed "a shared aptitude for deceit."

The scene quickly shifts to the present day in Egypt where an older Parisian couple are enjoying the final days of their long dreamed of trip. It ends abruptly when they're found brutally murdered on a moonlit beach near their luxurious hotel. In Paris at approximately the same time a man, a target given only the nickname HOLST is kidnaped.

Could these three disparate events have anything to do with Amelia Levene, the first woman head of MI6 who disappears just before her appointment is to be announced? It falls to former British secret service agent Thomas Kell to find out. He's more than grateful for the opportunity as several months before he was forced out after two decades. He had to be the fall guy, and now he's a mess, in a strange bedroom with one more hangover, and this one "comparable in range and intensity to the reproduction Jackson Pollock hanging on the wall..." His mobile phone rings and he learns that Amelia has vanished. One of his former superiors says, "Find her and we can bring you in from the cold." Kell's not about to pass up this chance for redemption.

After traipsing across the globe he does find Amelia lolling beside a pool in Tunis in the company of a very handsome young man who "moved through the shallows with a slow, self-conscious swagger, a man used to being starred at by women." The reason for her disappearance now seems obvious, but no it was not that at all. Nor was the good looking man who Amelia believed him to be.

And that's just the beginning of personal and political tangles that could mean fini for both Tom and Amelia.

A Foreign Country is one of the most innovative, enthralling, surprising spy tales I've read in far too long. Cumming is an astounding author, his story intrigues pulling one in with every twist and turn, his words are polished. He has the ability to fully draw a character with few words. Cumming has been called an "elegant writer." True. If you don't usually read spy fiction, start here!

- Gail Cooke

If you like stories to have a hint of the supernatural, here's one for you. Christopher Coake (We're In Trouble) has fashioned a tale of conflicting emotions, a fighting couple and what many believe to be the impossible. Suffused with suspense You Came Back is the story of Mark Fife who believes his life is now on an even keel after the devastating loss of his young son and subsequent divorce from Chloe. He has not forgotten the past but has apparently learned to live with it.

It has been seven years since his son Brendan died, and Mark is planning to marry Allison. However, he is beleaguered by Connie, the woman who now owns the house where Brendan died. She insists that there is a presence in the house and it is Brendan. The still mournful and perhaps unclear Chloe wants to look into this, grasping at anything?

Mark, on the other hand, finds himself between unbelieving and believing. He is so conflicted that he returns to an old bad habit - drinking too much. Much of the plot hinges on the sparring between Mark and his ex-wife as well as the frustration felt by Allison due to the turn of events.

You Came Back is an intriguing contemporary Gothic tale well worth the read.

- Gail Cooke

Dark, dangerous, innocent, erotic, completely addictive reading as Edgar winner Megan Abbott takes us into the exclusive world of high school cheerleaders. These girls are adolescents, yes, but are told they have the hearts of warriors. Scars and bruises are signs of achievement, and a wanton flip of their skirts signals trouble. For them cheer is not simply an extra curricular activity, it is life As one girl puts it, "God, it must be terrible not to be on cheer. How would you know what to do?"

Beth has been the unchallenged captain of the cheerleaders squad barking orders in a rough voice and ridiculing those who can't comply. Addy, her best friend, has been her lieutenant always following in Beth's wake, never questioning. The girls text each other late into the night bonding, telling secrets and desires.

All of this changes when a new coach, Colette French, arrives. She's in command and going to turn the squad into a regional winner. They'll build up their strength, master stunts they would never have dared - pyramids that send the top girl flying into the air. All the girls save for Beth fall under coach's spell, sharing dreams, experiences, too much wine. Addy is coach's favorite, the one in whom she chooses to confide.

While the squad is being transformed into a top team Beth is on the outside, jealous, vengeful. However, all is not golden as the girls would have it appear - intense rivalries develop, eating disorders plague some, insecurities blossom along with their talent.

Then suddenly just before the important game there is a mysterious death that affects the coach and her girls. Addy finds herself caught between belief, loyalty and conscience.

Abbott has spun one more astute, compelling tale, a taut psychological thriller that reveals the troubled, questing minds of young girls.

Wonder if bestselling author Jance had any idea when she wrote her first novel starring Cochise County Sheriff Joanna Brady that she would some day have written a 15th that readers would be standing in line for. Whatever the case, she's done it - with Judgment Call.

Brady is as fascinating as ever and descriptions Of Bisbee, Arizona as real as a wide-screen video. And, as is her wont, deft author Jance keeps us guessing until the last page. Villains seems to become more vicious with each Brady adventure, and the latest tops them all. He's completely merciless and cares nothing for the innocent lives he takes as he pursues those he feels have wronged him.

Jenny, Brady's 15-year-old daughter, comes across a dead body while out on an early morning horseback ride. Her high school principal, Debra Highsmith, has been savaged. But, why? True, Highsmith was not the most popular high school faculty member, but murder? To complicate Brady's investigation Highsmith was an extremely private person, almost obsessively so and appears to have no next of kin.

While Brady spends 24/24 trying to discover anything about the mysterious Highsmith another murder occurs. Outside of the immediacy of this slaying could there be any connection between the two? Even more perplexing is that what Brady considers police information has been appearing on the internet.

Brady is wife, mother, sheriff, which at times seems more than she can do especially as she makes discoveries about her own family's past and the death of her father. Jance peoples her story with carefully drawn characters, especially a nosy older newspaper woman, Marliss Shackleford, and an arrogant medical examiner.

You can't miss a sentence or you may have trouble keeping up with who's who in relation to the others, but it's well worth the trip!

- Gail Cooke

It's always such a pleasure to discover a really fine debut novel and this one from Elizabeth Haynes is a zinger! Don't know what the current temperature is wherever you are, but it's mighty warm in the southwest - however, Into the Darkest Corner provides enough chills to cool anyone.

Haynes has crafted an excellent psychological thriller with an emphasis on OCD and the dreadful toll it takes. The author's job as a police intelligence analyst in which she explores criminal patterns and behavior has given her rare insights. Thus her characters are authentic, quite believable, often frighteningly so.

Catherine Haynes is a bit of a party girl, so it's not surprising when she's out one evening in Lancaster, England, and meets Lee Brightman. Sparks fly and instead of the usual one-nighter Catherine thinks she has met someone who might be permanent. How permanent she has no initial idea. Lee is not only great looking but attentive, a real charmer. How lucky can a girl be? Not very.

Shortly after they become serious and start making plans for a future together she begins to have questions - he has never told her anything about himself, not even his job. Plus what she once thought of as his attentiveness soon becomes oppressive - she feels she's being scrutinized at all times and he begins telling her what to do. It becomes progressively worse when in the name of what he calls love he monitors her every move, and has fits of temper.

Coming home late one evening Catherine is greeted with the back of his hand, and that first blow soon escalates into a fierce cruelty. She manages to escape Lee but just barely and he's jailed for almost killing her. But, her life will never be the same again.

Some four years after the beating that almost took her life she has assumed a new identity but is consumed by obsessive-compulsive syndrome - repeatedly checking the locks and windows of her flat, unable to engage in casual conversations and prone to sleeplessness, panic attacks. Despite what her life has become she is alive - but what if Lee were to be released from jail?

It seems every positive adjective available has been used to describe film, television and radio performer Scott Brick. And, for my money, they're all on target. He's simply one of the best voice performers; he brings reality, excitement and drama to his narrations. He has lots of explosive material to work with in Steve Berry's THE COLUMBUS AFFAIR.

So, settle back and consider a question - was Christopher Columbus Jewish? The answer to that question is of import as Berry's pulse pounding plot reveals. A formerly esteemed investigative journalist, Tom Sagan, is as close to suicide as possible and still be breathing. His life and career are in tatters - a news story from the Mideast has been seen as fraudulent and there is no way he can prove that the charge was orchestrated by an unknown enemy. Sagan has had to return his Pulitzer, his daughter, Alle Becket, no long speaks to him, he has become a pariah.

Enter rich Austrian Jew Zachariah Simon who believes that Columbus died knowing the location of a Jamaican gold mine. He also believes that Sagan is the one man who can help him find the gold so, of course, Simon wants his help. Sagan will help for the simple reason that Simon holds his daughter prisoner (or so a video purports to show). Intriguing? You bet!

Thus begins a torturous trek throughout the world, beginning in Florida, moving on to Vienna and Prague and finally to a mountainous region of Jamaica. The stakes are unbelievably high, but not for gold alone.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke