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World War II-era Los Angeles: In Paul D. Marks’s The Blues Don’t Care, Bobby Saxon, a young white pianist with a secret, wants to join Booker “Boom Boom” Taylor’s band in spite of—or perhaps because—it being all African-American group. But first, because as a caucasian Bobby can go where black men cannot, “Boom Boom” wants Bobby to prove that another band member isn’t guilty of murder

 

 

Paul plans a virtual launch of his book on Facebook, 5–6PM PDT, Monday June , 2020.

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It’s nice to see Jane Prescott, Mariah Fredericks’ protagonist, getting a bit of time off in Death of an American Beauty, the third installment of the series about the hardworking lady’s maid that takes place in New York City the second decade of the 20th Century. Of course, Jane may have time off to see the 1913 Armory Show—Modernism’s “shocking” introduction to America—but murder never takes a vacation

 

 

 

Photo of Mariah Fredericks ©Jonathan Elderfield

 

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Sloan McPherson, the protagonist of Andrew Mayne’s The Girl Beneath the Sea, just wants to live her life as an evidence-recovery diver for Lauderdale Shores PD, a mom to her daughter and a supportive member of her problematic family. But the discovery of a recently murdered young woman during a dive in a canal leads Sloan and frenemey George Solar—the DEA agent who put her uncle in prison—on a race through Florida’s waters to uncover a drug cartel’s sunken secrets

 

 

Andrew Mayne knows his way underwater—and in the company of not just sharks, but great white sharks: Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver on the Discovery Channel

 

 

 

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Upending Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “Little Girl,” Samantha Brinkman, the protagonist in Marcia Clark’s series that concludes—for now, at least—with Final Judgement, “When she was good/She was very good indeed/But when she was bad, she was even better.” As a defense attorney, Sam is relentless; but when she’s defending her boyfriend, you can add ruthless, fierce and ferocious. Sam will stop at nothing—just don’t lie to her

 

 

 

Photo of Marcia Clark ©Coral von Zumwalt

 

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Occupied Paris, 1940 and Kate Rees—an Oregonian sharpshooter by way of England—has been given a rifle and an assassination assignment in Three Hours in Paris, Cara Black’s first stand-alone thriller. The stakes—and the odds against her—couldn’t be higher, but Kate, raised on an Oregon ranch during the depths of the Depression, is descended from pioneers who only know how to get up after being knocked down

 

 

 

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It is in the best interest of Rachel Marin, the protagonist in Hide Away, Jason Pinter’s new crime fiction novel, to keep a low profile. But when a woman falls to her death in what initially looks like a suicide, the potential that the authorities might shortchange justice for expediency is more than Rachel can tolerate, even though speaking up might bring unwanted attention to her and her children

 

 

Photo of Jason Pinter ©Jason Rhee

 

 

 

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NYPD Homicide Detectives Sheryn Sterling and Rafael Mendoza return in Don’t Look Down, Hilary Davidson’s second installment in her Shadows of New York Series. The case the partners are called to seems like a slam-dunk: Cosmetics entrepreneur Jo Greaver is seen fleeing from an apartment where a man has been shot to death. And yet…well, Sheryn doesn’t believe it’s that straightforward. Told from four points of view, the story is a bit like a kaleidoscopic image that clicks satisfactorily together at the end

 

 

 

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Like England in 1943, Maggie Hope—the protagonist of Susan Elia MacNeal’s The King’s Justice, the ninth in her series—while keeping that famous stiff upper lift, isn’t doing quite so well on the inside. Having left the world of espionage, Maggie is simultaneously doing her best to get the serial killer she helped convict give up the location of the bodies of his other victims, diffuse unexploded bombs dropped by the Germans, locate missing conscientious objectors, some of whom were helping her with the bombs, and find a missing Stradivarius violin. That is, if she doesn’t kill herself first by driving through the streets of London at great speed and abandon on her motorcycle

 

 

 

Photo of Susan Elia MacNeal ©Noel MacNeal

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When veterinarian Cassie Larkin happens on a man brutally attacking a young women in No Bad Deed, Heather Chavez’s debut mystery, Cassie wonders how she would have acted if her children had been in the car. We’ll never know, because they weren’t and Cassie’s actions set her—and her family—on a collision course with a relentless foe whose purpose is nothing less than the complete and utter destruction of Cassie and everything she loves

 

 

 

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