As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
THE PICASSO SCAM (Detective Charlie Priest Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Charlie Priest isn’t your typical angst-ridden detective with a drink problem. He gets on well with his constables and has an actual sense of humour.
Yorkshire isn’t just picturesque villages and sheep stealing. Detective Priest is about to face international art scammers.
An exhibition with ten famous paintings, including a Picasso, is touring England. But four of the artworks have been secretly switched with fakes — forged by Priest’s old art teacher, Rudi Truscott.
Looks like crime doesn’t take a day off, but neither does Priest.
Before Priest can dig deeper, Truscott dies in a suspicious fire — nothing but a pile of ash remains of the poor sod.
With his only lead up in smoke, Priest needs to find the crooks . . . before they strike again.
Playing For Keeps (A Neighbor From Hell Series Book 1) (affiliate link)
Jason Bradford is about to do the one thing that he swore that he would never do, he’s about to fall in love in this romantic comedy from New York Times bestselling author R.L. Mathewson.
Haley Blaine was done with being the world’s biggest pushover and it was all thanks to the incredibly handsome man living next-door determined to make her life a living hell. After he’d finally pushed her too far, Haley decided to take matters into her own hands, and now…
She was terrified of falling for the one man that was guaranteed to break her heart. The last thing that Jason expected was for his incredibly shy neighbor to lose her goddamn mind and attack him with a hose, but now that she had, he couldn’t help but notice just how well she fit into his life. He liked having her around, loved the way that she felt in his arms and-
He was about to lose his goddamn mind.
Every Spy a Traitor (The Double Agent series Book 1) (affiliate link)
Trust no one. Suspect everyone.
It’s 1937. Fear and suspicion stalk the Continent. A million have died in Stalin’s Great Purge and the Nazi terror grips Germany. But British intelligence is still trying to work out who the enemy is.
As Europe heads towards war, treason is in the air. British spymasters know there is one Soviet agent in their ranks, codenamed Agent ‘Archie’, and there’s a frantic search to find them. What they don’t know is that he is not the only traitor.
The life of Charles Cooper, a young British writer travelling Europe to research his novel, is about to change for ever…
Off the Record (Avery Rich Mysteries Book 1) (affiliate link)
Driven and successful, Avery Rich can’t wait to start her new job as a detective. But she is soon forced to keep her investigation “off the record” and gets paired with an unusual consultant.
The world of crime and conspiracy takes on a dangerous edge as she finds herself dealing with kidnapped bankers, high stakes cover ups, and criminals who are determined to keep her quiet.
To save herself from the unthinkable, she must sort out the conspiracy from the crime and find out who she can trust to finish the case before they can derail her investigation, permanently!
Stand By Your Man (Almost In Love Book 2) (affiliate link)
Maddie’s a private Detective. Her sister Francie is in love with a criminal!
Francie wants Maddie to prove Sebastian’s innocent, but the Seattle Police have proof that he’s guilty.
Sebastian’s brother, Finn, has hired Maddie to find out the truth and set his brother free.
Finn makes Maddie’s blood boil and her bells ring—and she’s truly, madly, deeply in love with….his little daughter, Zoe. And she’s pretty certain Sebastian is guilty as charged, so she’s trying her best not to find evidence to the contrary. She’s doing the exact opposite of what Finn hired her to do, betraying the guy she—well, the guy she’s supposed to be working for, the guy she just might, maybe, almost be falling for because—
Maddie’s rigid parental units, the cop and the judge, want Sebastian safely in jail, and Francie somewhere safe-like a nunnery? And they want Maddie to make it all happen.
Imposter Syndrome (affiliate link)
How far will someone go to steal a life?
Melody Reed had the perfect life-a devoted husband, a beautiful home in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights, and a son she adores. But perfection is an illusion, and hers is starting to crack.
Michael Reed, her college sweetheart and a globally bestselling author, has changed. The man who once captivated readers with his psychological thrillers now stares at a blank page, unable to write. His warmth has vanished, replaced by an unsettling detachment. His habits are different. His touch unfamiliar.
At first, Melody chalks it up to stress, the weight of looming deadlines. But the longer she watches him, the stronger her unease grows. Something is off. Something is wrong.
Then she makes a discovery so chilling it upends everything she thought she knew.
The man she shares a bed with… isn’t the man she married.
Or is he?
The Memory Box (affiliate link)
Jenny Tanner opens the box she has cherished for decades. Contained within are her most precious mementoes, amongst them a pebble, a carving and a newspaper cutting she can hardly bear to read. But Jenny knows the time is finally here. After the war, in a mountainside village in Italy, she left behind a piece of her heart. However painful, she must return to Cinque Alberi. And lay the past to rest.
After a troubled upbringing, Candice Barnes dreams of a future with the love of her life – but is he the man she believes him to be? When Candice is given the opportunity to travel to Italy with Jenny, she is unaware the trip will open her eyes to the truth she’s been too afraid to face. Could a place of goodbyes help her make a brave new beginning?
The Summer Villa: A Novel (affiliate link)
Villa Dolce Vita, a rambling stone house on the Amalfi Coast, sits high above the Gulf of Naples amid dappled lemon groves and fragrant, tumbling bougainvillea. Kim, Colette and Annie all came to the villa in need of escape and in the process forged an unlikely friendship.
Now, years later, Kim has transformed the crumbling house into a luxury retreat and has invited her friends back for the summer to celebrate.
But as friendships are rekindled under the Italian sun, secrets buried in the past will come to light, and not everyone is happy that the three friends are reuniting… Each woman will have things to face up to if they are all to find true happiness and fully embrace the sweet life.
The Murders in Great Diddling: A Novel (affiliate link)
The small, rundown village of Great Diddling is full of stories—author Berit Gardner can feel it. The way the villagers avoid outsiders, the furtive stares and whispers in the presence of newcomers… Berit can sense the edge of a story waiting to be unraveled, and she’s just the person to do it. In fact, with a book deadline looming over her and no manuscript (not even the idea for a manuscript, truth be told), Berit doesn’t just want this story. She needs it.
Then, while attending a village tea party, Berit becomes part of the action herself. An explosion in the library of the village’s grand manor kills a local man, and the resulting investigation and influx of outsiders sends the quiet, rundown community into chaos. The residents of Great Diddling, each one more eccentric and interesting than any character Berit could have invented, rewrite their own narrative and transform the death of one of their own from a tragedy into a new beginning.
The Surgeon’s Daughter: A Novel (affiliate link)
Women’s work is a matter of life and death.
Nora Beady, the only female student at a prestigious medical school in Bologna, is a rarity. In the 19th century women are expected to remain at home and raise children, so her unconventional, indelicate ambitions to become a licensed surgeon offend the men around her.
Everything changes when she allies herself with Magdalena Morenco, the sole female doctor on-staff. Together the two women develop new techniques to improve a groundbreaking surgery: the Cesarean section. It’s a highly dangerous procedure and the research is grueling, but even worse is the vitriolic response from men. Most don’t trust the findings of women, and many can choose to deny their wives medical care.
Already facing resistance on all sides, Nora is shaken when she meets a patient who will die without the surgery. If the procedure is successful, her work could change the world. But a failure could cost everything: precious lives, Nora’s career, and the role women will be allowed to play in medicine.
Ten thousand years ago, the gods themselves forged weapons of war unmatched by any mortal steel. Most were lost to the mysteries of time. A few…were not.
Now Arkaria teeters on destruction as these ancient god-weapons resurface, fueling a brutal race for power among villains and kings.
When Cyrus Davidon’s gold-hunting warriors stumble into a dragon’s den, disaster strikes, forcing an alliance with Vara, a razor-tongued elven paladin whose secrets make her as dangerous as she is captivating, and Vaste, a humorous troll whose magic fluctuates between salvation and chaos. Together they must brave the lands of Arkaria and find out who is pulling the strings before the guild of Sanctuary and Arkaria are destroyed.
From sprawling battlefields to shadowed courts, every move could tip the balance.
Not Another Vampire Book (affiliate link)
… See the rest of today ‘s Book Picks here on page 2Page 2