Saturdays at the Café

 

Saturdays at the Café is a weekly feature hosted here to talk about and discuss the books I’ve discovered during the past week, added to my shelf and am excited about reading. They may be new/scheduled releases I’ve seen on NetGalley, at the library, or from publishers or they may be older titles my friends have reviewed and shared on Goodreads or blogs.

---

Propelled on a cross-country chase, devoted parents become desperate fugitives in a heart-racing novel of suspense by the author of Family Money and All He Has Left.

Thirteen years ago, Cole and Lisa Shipley were fostering an infant with hopes of adopting her. Overnight everything was turned upside down, when the child’s mother bled to death on their front doorstep. Her last He’s coming here…for her! Save her. Afraid, bewildered, and with a baby in their arms, they fled. The longer they hid, the guiltier they looked.

Now in a small Colorado town under assumed identities, they’ve been seemingly safe. But when a tip exposes them and Cole is framed for another murder, they take it on the run again, barreling across the western US—this time with a confused and resistant teenage girl awakening to a terrifying new reality. In the rearview is the relentless FBI agent who has never given up the hunt. And he’s not the only one.

Every frightening mile brings a family closer to the truth about that fateful night thirteen years ago. And to a killer who’s determined to finish what he started.

One of my Instagram friends posted a review that got my attention. I got the audiobook from NetGalley for review.

---

A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead in this earnestly spectacular debut by a stunning new voice.

Beloved romance author Margot Bradley has a dark she doesn’t believe in Happily Ever Afters. Not for herself, not for her readers, and not even for her characters, for whom she secretly writes alternate endings that swap weddings and babies for divorce papers and the occasional slashed tire. When her Happily Never After document is hacked and released to the public, she finds herself canceled by her readers and dropped by her publisher.

Desperate to find a way to continue supporting her chronically ill sister, Savannah, Margot decides to trade meet-cutes for murder. The fictional kind. Probably. But when Savannah books Margot a six-week stay in a remote Alaskan resort to pen her first murder mystery, Margot finds herself running from a moose and leaping into the arms of the handsome proprietor, making her fear she’s just landed in a romance novel instead.

The last thing Dr. Forrest Wakefield ever expected was to leave his dream job as a cancer researcher to become a glorified bellhop. What he’s really doing at his family’s resort is caring for his stubborn, ailing father, and his puzzle-loving mind is slowly freezing over—until Margot shows up. But Forrest doesn’t have any room in his life for another person he could lose, especially one with a checkout date.

As long snowy nights and one unlikely trope after another draw Margot and Forrest together, they’ll each have to learn to overcome their fears and set their aside assumptions before Margot leaves—or risk becoming a Happily Never After story themselves.

Thanks to Kim @ It’s All About the Thrill for her great review. It’s an audio review hopeful scheduled for release in April.

---

An American mathematician’s assignment in Russia spirals into a high-stakes maze of shifting loyalties and intrigue in a propulsive short thriller by #1New York Timesbestselling author Lee Child.

Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.

I was still thinking about this until I read the update by Yvo @ It’s All About the Books in her WWW Wednesday post. That was the nudge I needed and got the audiobook from NetGalley for review.

---

From the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-winning author Adrian McKinty comes the origin story of his most famous creation, Detective Sean Duffy.

Belfast, 1980, is the apocalypse. Bombings, riots, army on the streets, low flying helicopters, and ever-present rain. The grinding Northern Irish civil war between Protestants and Catholics has been going for a decade now. Hated by both sides are the police.

Sean Duffy Year 1takes us into that world. Newly promoted Detective Sergeant Sean Duffy is given his first command at Carrickfergus CID.

In this prequel novella, McKinty takes listeners through Duffy’s first two weeks on the job. A case to solve and a chance to impress his bosses, if, of course, he can get out of it alive.

I’ve wanted to start the Detective Sean Duffy series for some time so when this new prequel was offered for audio review, I quickly accepted.

---

A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends.

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her…

An Instagram friend told me about this upcoming August release. Downing is an auto read and this is a library audiobook hopeful.  

---

No one was supposed to know. I’ve always been so careful. My Darlings, how did we get here?

Evil lurks behind the perfectly manicured lawns, ornate iron gates, and long winding driveways of affluent DC–but not for long.

Stay-at-home mom Eloise Williams is PTO president and a respected local philanthropist who sits on the boards of many distinguished charities. In addition to being a doting wife and mother, she is also a serial killer.

But Eloise isn’t the only lady of society playing a part. As the hidden lives of Eloise’s inner circle are exposed, the body count rises. When an old friend returns, Eloise desperately clings to remain in control.

Money and power can only buy influence and safety for so long. Eventually, the curtains lift, exposing the chilling reality hiding in plain sight.

As soon as I red the review by Kim @ It’s All About the Thrill I knew I wanted this book. It’s on my Libro.fm and Audible wishlists.

---

When an outgoing musical maven meets the enigmatic neuroscientist next door, will their worlds clash in a dramatic showdown of art versus science, or will they discover that love is the ultimate experiment worth conducting?

When celebrated Broadway composer Hadley Olivier’s best friend receives a life-threatening diagnosis, Hadley says goodbye to her beloved home in NYC and sets off to the West Coast to endure a life of sunny skies and an inexplicable obsession with quinoa. Her new life in California comes complete with old friends, a potentially disastrous career change, and a gorgeous but reticent new neighbor, Dr. Alexsander “Lex” Strovinski, whose PhD might actually be in scowling with a minor in silent treatments.

As a world-renowned neurobiologist, Lex has dedicated his life to the single-minded pursuit of scientific breakthroughs, avoiding distractions at all costs. But now, a relentlessly chirpy new neighbor with an emerald green gaze seems intent on sabotaging his focus.

As Hadley and Lex find themselves repeatedly thrown together, what begins as one-sided banter eventually gives way to a profound heart-to-heart connection. But when Hadley’s loved one takes a turn for the worse and Lex is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity overseas, will their newfound connection unravel? Or will they discover that when it comes to opposites attracting, some bonds can never be broken?

This indie author contacted me about this being free on Amazon through Valentine’s Day and I pounced. It’s in Kindle Unlimited.

---

Ambitious young police officer Philomena McCarthy, the daughter of London’s most notorious mob boss, returns in the latest propulsive thriller by author Michael Robotham.

Philomena McCarthy has defied the odds to become a young officer with the Metropolitan Police because her father and her uncles are notorious London gangsters.

On patrol one night, Philomena finds a barefoot child, covered in blood, who says she can’t wake her mother. Meanwhile, three miles away, a London jeweler has a bomb strapped to his chest in his ransacked store and millions are missing.

These two events collide and threaten Philomena’s career, her new marriage, and her life. In too deep, and falling further, Phil must decide who she can trust—her family or her colleagues—and on what side of the thin blue line she wants to live.

One of my Instagram friends gave me the heads up that Robotham had a new book and series scheduled for release in July. It’s an audio review hopeful.

---

What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?