A Cadger's Curse by Diane Gilbert Madsen (Book Review)

A Cadger's Curse by Diane Gilbert Madsen. A DD McGil Mystery. Midnight Ink Trade Paperback, November 2009.

Diane Gilbert Madsen introduces former college English professor, now insurance investigator DD "don't ask me what DD stands for" McGil, who becomes embroiled in a complicated case of high tech fraud in A Cadger's Curse.

Read the full text of our review at Mysterious Reviews: A Cadger's Curse by Diane Gilbert Madsen.

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Mysterious Reviews is your source for the latest mystery, suspense, thriller, and crime novel reviews, edited by the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books.

Firsts on the 1st: New Series Characters Being Introduced in August 2010 Mysteries

The Hidden Staircase Mystery Books recently updated its list of August 2010 hardcover mysteries as well shelved new August paperbacks on The Mystery Bookshelf.

In this series of monthly posts, which we call Firsts on the 1st, we're introducing readers to new series characters who will make their mysterious debut during August.

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Title: Beneath the Dark Ice
Author: Greig Beck
Series Character: Alex Hunter
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Captain Alex Hunter leads a group of highly trained commandos.

His first assingment: When a plane crashes into the Antarctic ice, exposing an enormous cave system, a rescue and research team is dispatched. Twenty-four hours later, all contact is lost.

Captain Hunter and his team, along with a group of scientists, are fast tracked to the hot zone to find out what went wrong. Meanwhile, the alluring petrobiologist Aimee Weir is sent to follow up on the detection of a vast underground reservoir. If the unidentified substance proves to be oil, every country in the world will want to know about it—even wage war over it. Or worse.

Once suspended into the caves, Alex, Aimee, and the others can’t locate a single survivor—or even a trace of their remains. Nor is there a energy source, only specters of the dead haunting the tunnels. But soon they will discover that something very much alive is brewing beneath the surface. It is a force that dates back to the very dawn of time—an ancient terror that hunts and kills to survive …

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Title: Bridger
Author: James Patrick Hunt
Series Character: Daniel Bridger
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Daniel Bridger is a thief who works high dollar scores.

His first "case": Bridger is a disciplined professional and he has kept out of prison by sticking to a certain set of rules. Rule 1: never work with a partner. Rule 2: never, under any circumstances, work with the mob. But when Maggie Chan, his beautiful ex-girlfriend, comes along and talks him into stealing a four million-dollar coin collection, Bridger gets a little careless and forgets one of the most important rules: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. Before the job barely begins, he is beaten unconscious and framed for the murder of a corrupt judge and his mistress.

Now he's on the run from the mob and the police. Someone has set him up. And Bridger's going to make sure that someone's going to pay for it.

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Title: Treachery in the Yard
Author: Adimchinma Ibe
Series Character: Tamunoemi Peterside
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Tamunoemi Peterside is a homicide detective in Nigeria.

His first case: Detective Peterside is drawn into the politics of Nigeria when a bomb goes off at Mr. Pius Okpara’s home. Mr. Okpara is locked in a conflict with a political rival, as both men are seeking their party’s nomination prior to the general election.

As Detective Peterside investigates, one murder leads to another and soon events appear to be spiraling out of control. The more he digs, the more corruption surfaces. Soon he is not sure whom to trust, including even his own mentor.

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Title: Murder Past Due
Author: Miranda James
Series Character: Charlie Harris
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Charlie Harris is a librarian in Mississippi.

His first case: Everyone in Athena, Mississippi, knows Charlie and his Maine coon cat named Diesel that he walks on a leash. They also know his former classmate-turned-famous bestselling novelist, Godfrey Priest.

But someone in Athena took Godfrey off the bestseller lists -- permanently, and with extreme prejudice. Now, Charlie and Diesel must browse through the history section of the town's past to find a killer.

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Title: The Quick and the Thread
Author: Amanda Lee
Series Character: Marcy Singer
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Marcy Singer is a 30-something entrepreneur who owns an embroidery shop in a small town on the Oregon coast.

Her first case: When Marcy opens an embroidery specialty shop in quaint Tallulah Falls, she throws a soiree and a Stitch-In. Soon, Marcy's sign-up sheet for embroidery classes fills up and everyone in town seems willing to raise a glass -- or a needle -- to support the newly-opened Seven Year Stitch.

Then Marcy finds the shop's previous tenant dead in the store-room, a message scratched with a tapestry needle on the wall beside him. Now Marcy's shop has become a crime scene, and she's the prime suspect. She'll have to find the killer before someone puts a final stitch in her.

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Title: A Bad Day's Work
Author: Nora McFarland
Series Character: Lilly McFarland
Format: Trade Paperback

What we know about the character: Lilly Hawkins is a TV news camerawoman.

Her first case: Nothing seems to be going Lilly’s way. She’s one of the hardest working "shooters" at her hometown television station, but her pit-bull personality and a series of unlucky blunders have put her job in jeopardy.

So when an urgent story breaks in the middle of the night, Lilly is determined to turn her bad luck around and get the respect she deserves. But the pressure is on; either she delivers amazing video or she’s fired. After busting her butt and dodging the cops, Lilly has what could be the biggest scoop of her career—exclusive video of a murder scene. Or does she have it? Lilly is stunned when the tape played in front of the entire newsroom is nothing but dead air.

Soon she’s on the run from criminals and police, both of whom claim Lilly’s video is the key to solving the murder and think she pocketed the real tape. Can she escape her pursuers long enough to catch the killer, or will she end the day as the next victim?

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Title: Mirror Image
Author: Dennis Palumbo
Series Character: Daniel Rinaldi
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Daniel Rinaldi is a trauma expert who specializes in treating victims of violent crime. He works with the Pittsburgh Police Department.

His first case: A fragile, troubled college kid desperate for a role model, a sense of identity, Kevin Merrick has begun dressing like Rinaldi, acting like him, mirroring his appearance. Before Daniel has a chance to work this through with his patient, he finds Kevin brutally murdered. Stunned, he and the police suspect that he, not Kevin, had been the intended target.

Feeling responsible, Rinaldi is determined to help find the killer, who’s begun leaving death threats for the psychologist. His journey takes him through a labyrinth of friends and colleagues, any one of whom may be the killer. It also includes an affair with a beautiful, free-spirited Assistant DA with secrets of her own. And when Kevin’s identity as the estranged son of a Bill Gates-like biotech giant is revealed, the investigation of his murder turns into a national story … even as another person turns up dead.

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Title: Sketch Me If You Can
Author: Sharon Pape
Series Character: Rory McCain
Format: Mass Market Paperback

What we know about the character: Rory McCain is a police sketch artist.

Her first case: When her uncle dies, Rory gets a list of clients from his private detective business and a beautiful, old house with a ghostly inhabitant: Federal Marshal Ezekiel Drummond, aka Zeke.

Having a ghost as a housemate is bad enough, but as Rory's drawn into one of her uncle's unsolved cases and faces a cold-blooded killer, she may need the marshal's supernatural help to stay alive.

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Title: The Death of an Ambitious Woman
Author: Barbara Ross
Series Character: Ruth Murphy
Format: Hardcover

What we know about the character: Ruth Murphy is the acting police chief in a suburb of Boston.

Her first case: It's the first warm day of spring, and Ruth Murphy is in a terrific mood. She's just made the final cut in the selection process for permanent chief of police in New Derby, a large, economically divided suburb of Boston.

Then Tracey Kendall, a prominent New Derby businesswoman, slams her luxury SUV into a scenic New England stonewall. Because Tracey was talking on her cell phone with her young son seconds before impact, obvious causes like heart attack, falling asleep, and suicide are ruled out. When the handsome mechanic who worked on Tracey Kendall's car disappears, a world of suspects opens up, including Tracey's unfaithful artist husband, her greedy business partner, a jealous best friend, and the husband's desperate art dealer.

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For a list of more mysteries scheduled for publication during August, please visit our New Mysteries home page. If you're interested in new paperbacks, visit The Mystery Bookshelf, where you can discover a library of new mysteries, also updated with August 2010 releases.

Please also visit the Hidden Staircase Mystery Books where we are committed to providing readers and collectors of mystery books with the best and most current information about their favorite authors, titles, and series.

Harlequin Mira Mystery and Suspense Titles for August 2010

eHarlequin.com has announced the August 2010 titles for their Mira imprint, the brightest stars in women's fiction. From all titles available, we've only listed those that are mystery, thriller, or suspense on this page. For more information or to purchase any of the books below, click on the book title or book cover. (Previous months titles can be found on the backlist page.)

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Overkill by Joseph Teller
A Jaywalker Mystery (4th in series)

Harrison J. Walker—Jaywalker, to the world—is a frayed-at-the-edges defense attorney with a ninety-percent acquittal rate, thanks to an obsessive streak a mile wide. But winning this case will take more than just dedication.

Seventeen-year-old Jeremy Estrada killed another boy after a fight over a girl: shot him point-blank between the eyes. No one disputes those facts. This kid is jammed up big-time, but almost unable to help himself. He's got the face of an angel but can hardly string together three words to explain what happened that day … yet he's determined to go to trial.

All they've got is a "yesbut" defense, as in: "Did you kill him?" "Yes, but …" Jaywalker is accustomed to bending the rules—this case will stretch the law to the breaking point and beyond.

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Kiss of Death by P. D. Martin
A Sophie Anderson Mystery (5th in series)

A young woman's body is found with puncture marks on her neck, and soon the delicious word vampire is on everyone's lips. All of FBI profiler Sophie Anderson's skills—psychic and psychological—will be needed for her to determine whether this was a thrill kill or something even more sinister.

Exploring the blood bars and Goth clubs of L.A., Sophie immerses herself in the seductive culture of self-styled vampires. Posing as the alluring Lady Veronica and infiltrating a notorious clan, Sophie will learn just how deep the fantasy goes for some believers.

When life requires death, nothing is sacred.

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White Heat by Brenda Novak
A Department 6 Novel of Suspense (3rd in series)

A dangerous cult has recently taken over the desert ghost town of Paradise, Arizona. Members worship at the feet—and in the bed—of its charismatic leader, Ethan Wycliff, and obey his orders blindly. They've already tried to murder one woman and they're implicated in the disappearance of another.

Nate Ferrentino, who works for private security contractor Department 6, has been assigned to infiltrate this group. It's a challenge he welcomes—until he learns that colleague Rachel Jessop will be going undercover with him. Thanks to their shared history, he'd much rather go alone …

The problem is, only married couples can participate in cult rituals. So, like it or not—and they don't—Rachel and Nate must pretend to be husband and wife.

There's no choice. Because if Wycliff isn't exposed, if he isn't stopped, more people will die. And Rachel might be one of them.

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Black Friday by Alex Kava
A Maggie O'Dell Mystery (7th in series)

On the busiest shopping day of the year, a group of idealistic college students believe they're about to carry out an elaborate media stunt at the largest mall in America. They think the equipment in their backpacks will disrupt stores' computer systems, causing delays and chaos, disrupting capitalism, if only for a moment.

What they don't realize is that instead of jamming devices, their backpacks contain explosives. And they're about to become unwitting suicide bombers.

FBI profiler Maggie O'Dell must put her own political troubles aside to work with Nick Morrelli and figure out who's behind this terrorist plot—a massacre that's all the more frightening when a tip reveals that Maggie's brother is one of the doomed protestors.

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Swept Aside by Sharon Sala
A Storm Front Novel of Suspense (3rd in series)

Shell-shocked after a nightmarish school shooting, Amalie Pope retreats to an aging plantation house near Bordelaise, Louisiana, to heal, physically and emotionally. She's there barely an hour when a tornado rips through bayou country, mercifully leaving the house intact. She's stranded, but unafraid—until a knock on the door.

Four escaped prisoners barge inside, and in an instant Amalie is a hostage again. These men are wounded, desperate and dangerous—with one exception. Undercover DEA operative Nick Aroyo is on the run with the gang he's infiltrated. The only thing he wants more than this collar is to protect fragile, frightened Amalie, who has surrendered herself to his care, body, soul…and heart. But he'll have to play the thug in order to keep her—and his secret—safe, because even though the storm has passed, the danger remains …

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Kill Me Again by Maggie Shayne
A Secrets of Shadow Falls Novel of Suspense (2nd in series)

I'm not who they say I am.

Trust me.

But can she?

Reclusive novelist Aaron Westhaven, a man she's admired—and more—for years, has accepted Olivia Dupree's invitation to speak at a local fundraiser. But the day he's due to arrive, she gets a call summoning her to the bedside of a John Doe whose sole possession is her business card.

Can this undeniably compelling man—survivor of an execution-style gunshot wound—really be the novelist the lonely Olivia has grown to think of as a near soul mate? If not, he can be in Shadow Falls for only one reason: to kill her.

Olivia, too, has secrets. And discovering the truth about the man in the hospital bed means dredging up her own past—a past she's been hiding from for sixteen years.

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Ghost Night by Heather Graham
The Bone Island Trilogy (2nd in series)

A slasher movie turns real when two young actors are brutally murdered on a remote island film set. Their severed heads and arms are posed in macabre homage to a nineteenth-century pirate massacre.

Two years later, survivor Vanessa Loren is drawn back to South Bimini by a documentary being made about the storied region. Filmmaker Sean O'Hara aches to see how the unsolved crime haunts her … and Sean knows more than a little about ghosts.

Lured by visions of a spectral figurehead, Vanessa discovers authentic pirate treasures that only deepen the mystery. Are the murders the work of modern-day marauders, the Bermuda Triangle or a deadly paranormal echo of the island's violent history? As Vanessa and Sean grow closer, the killer prepares to resume the slaughter … unless the dead can intervene.

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