Review: Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French

A Mysterious Review of Waiting for Wednesday by Nicci French. A Frieda Klein Mystery.

Review summary: The two primary storylines of this well-structured mystery, while completely separate (and which never overlap), actually work quite well together. It takes a while to set the stage for all that is to come, but once in place and underway it is definitely worth the time spent seeing how it all plays out. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

Waiting for Wednesday
Nicci French
A Frieda Klein Mystery
Viking (April 2013)

Publisher synopsis: Ruth Lennox, housewife and mother of three, is found dead in a pool of her own blood. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson can't piece together a motive and calls in Frieda, hoping her talents will offer a new angle on the case.

When it emerges that the mother was hiding a scandalous secret, her family closes ranks. Frieda herself is distracted, still reeling from an attempt on her life, and struggling with her own rare feelings of vulnerability. Then a patient's chance remark sends Frieda down a dangerous path that seems to lead to a serial killer who's long escaped detection. Is Frieda getting closer to unraveling either case? Or is she just the victim of her own paranoid, fragile mind? Because, as Frieda knows, every step closer to a killer is one more step into a darkness from which there may be no return.

        

Double Espresso, A Loretta Kovacs Mystery by Anthony Bruno, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Double Espresso by Anthony Bruno, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Diversion Books.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (04/19/2014 at 5:00 PM ET). Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Double Espresso by Anthony Bruno
A Loretta Kovacs Mystery (2nd in series)
Publisher: Diversion Books

Loretta Kovacs races to keep one hitman from killing another. The intended victim is a valuable government witness against the mob, and a dirty FBI agent is helping the bad guys.

Loretta must fend off the advances of an amorous mob boss while babysitting the cantankerous witness in Seattle — Java City — as she desperately struggles to kick her caffeine habit.

  

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

A New MystereBook: Gone and Done It by Maggie Toussaint

Here is a mystery, suspense, or thriller ebook that we recently found by sleuthing (as it were) through new or recently reissued titles from independent publishers during April 2014 priced $4.99 or less …

Gone and Done It by Maggie Toussaint introduces amateur sleuth Baxley Powell, who's got challenges a-plenty. For starters, she inherited the family trait of dreamwalking, a talent that she didn't want. But it's growing on her, like the odd white streak in her forelock now that she's come into her full power.

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Gone and Done It by Maggie Toussaint
A Baxley Powell, Dreamwalker Mystery
Publisher: Five Star
Publication Date: April 18, 2014
Price: $3.99 (as of 04/19/14 4:30 PM ET)

While planting a cherry tree, landscaper Baxley Powell discovers a human skull buried in the sand. After calling the sheriff, Baxley uses her dreamwalking abilities to get a jump-start on identifying the victim. Then deputies arrive, and, believing she's tampering with evidence, taser her. Emotions flare, but the sheriff agrees to hire her as a consultant. With a daughter to support and bills she can't pay, Baxley is motivated to succeed.

Things get dicey when she unearths a murder victim on the same jobsite, planting Baxley in the suspect pool. For calling unwanted attention to her private retreat, Baxley's landscaping client fires her, stiffing her for the plants and labor.

Meanwhile, her father retires as county dreamwalker, passing the community service responsibility along to her.

Baxley's dreamwalking sideline competes for her time with her day jobs of landscaping and pet-sitting. Folks show up on her doorstep at all hours to pass messages to the departed. Though her money problems persist, food randomly appears at her door, and her hair develops a telltale white streak in the forelock overnight.

Just what every young woman wants, a permanent bad hair day.

Threats to her safety mount as Baxley delves into the victim's life — in both worlds. With a killer dogging her heels and spirits nipping at her mind, Baxley follows her dreams to find the truth.

  

Important Note: This book was listed for the price indicated on the date and time as shown. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Mr. Tea and the Traveling Teacup, A Madeline's Teahouse Mystery by Leslie Matthews Stansfield, Now at a Special Price

MystereBooks is pleased to feature Mr. Tea and the Traveling Teacup by Leslie Matthews Stansfield, now available at a special price, courtesy of the publisher, Cozy Cat Press.

The ebook format of this title was priced at $0.99 from the listed vendors (below) as of the date and time of this post (04/19/2014 at 4:00 PM ET). Prices are subject to change without notice. The price displayed on the vendor website at the time of purchase will be the price paid for the book. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your transaction.

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Mr. Tea and the Traveling Teacup by Leslie Matthews Stansfield
A Madeline's Teahouse Mystery (1st in series)
Publisher: Cozy Cat Press

After the death of their mother, sisters Terry and Karen Sutter turn their childhood home into a teahouse. It's a dream come true, but the dream begins to resemble a nightmare when teacups start crashing to the floor in the middle of the night. Could the teahouse be haunted?

There's a list of possible ghostly candidates: the prior owner who is rumored to have left behind a buried treasure, two spinster neighbors who disappeared without a trace over forty years ago, or perhaps it is Terry and Karen's own mother trying to communicate with them. Karen, the older sister, thinks running a haunted teahouse might be fun, until the sisters come home one night to find the attic stairs covered in a trail of what appears to be blood. Is it a ghost or is it a warning?

The teahouse's new mascot, a psychic macaw, may provide some unexpected clues, but the sisters will encounter many more surprises before they solve this mystery.

  

Important Note: This book was listed at the above mentioned price on the date and time of this post. Prices can and do change without prior notice. Please confirm the price of the book before completing your purchase.

Ghost of a Gamble by Sue Ann Jaffarian, New in Bookstores in April 2014

Today's featured paperback original mystery title, scheduled to be published during April 2014 by Berkley Prime Crime, is Ghost of a Gamble by Sue Ann Jaffarian.

For a list of more new paperback mysteries, thrillers, and novels of suspense published this month, visit our Mystery Bookshelf page for April 2014. For hardcover titles, visit New Mysteries for a selection of books published during April 2014.

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Ghost of a Gamble
Sue Ann Jaffarian
Series: A Ghost of Granny Apples Mystery

Spiritual medium Emma Whitecastle knows a good ghost when she feels one — like her own sweet Granny Apples, long gone but still as famous for her apple pies as she is for helping her great-great-great-granddaughter get to the core of the most baffling mysteries …

When Emma gets word of a sticky spirit problem in Las Vegas, she and the ghost of Granny Apples hit the road for Sin City. The spooked one is Dolly, a former showgirl. Dolly is haunted by Lenny, a dead Vegas hood worried about an aging mobster named Nemo coming after the leggy old bombshell. Dolly's playing dumb, but Emma's making a blind bet that she knows more about Nemo than she admits.

When Nemo is found dead, Dolly goes missing — and lands herself on a short list of suspects. Emma, Granny, and their pals comb Las Vegas to find her, only to discover the truth behind a casino heist gone bad, a hidden stash of stolen loot, and a missing wise guy who's not letting death come between him and setting things straight. And Emma and Granny Apples aren't about to fold until they save Dolly's neck and put her past to rest.