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NAL puts out so many good books every month--unfortunately there aren't enough weeks in the month to focus on each one of them, so this is the place to talk about them. For April:

Click on the titles of Books of the Week to go to the discussion threads.

• Blind Trust by Nancy Kopp
  
• The Diamond Key by Barbara Metzger **Book of the Week, April 8, 2003
  
• Forever and Ever by Patricia Gaffney
  
• Her Daughter's Eyes and When You Go Away by Jessica Barksdale Inclan **Book of the Week, May 6, 2003
  
• House of Shadows by Susan Bowden
  
• Impostress by Lisa Jackson **Book of the Week, April 22, 2003
  
• Lavender Blue by Sandra Heath
  
• Lily by Lauren Royal
  
• Miranda's Mistake by Jenna Mindel
  
• Murder Can Ruin Your Looks by Selma Eichler
  
• Murder of a Snake in the Grass by Denise Swanson
  
• Murder She Wrote: Majoring in Murder by Jessica Fletcher and Donald Bain
  
• Only By Your Touch by Catherine Anderson **Book of the Week, April 1, 2003
  
• Playing With Matches by Katherine Greyle, Karen Harbaugh, Sabeeha Johnson, and Cathy Yardley **Book of the Week, April 15, 2003
• Sleep Tight by Anne Frasier **Book of the Week, April 29, 2003

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Registered: Feb 2003
Location: Dallas, Texas
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Obviously, 7 books a week is NOT enough!

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Sara Reyes
Writerspace
Websites for Writers <> Communities for Readers

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Not that I'm recommending it, Sara, but dental surgery does wonders for reading time. I've read 9 books since Wednesday---it was the only thing that distracted me from watching the clock to see how long until I could take the next pill.

BTW, the April NAL books are great---I'll be posting something about them as soon as my brain can manage to come up with something more coherent than *ouch*.

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Murder of a Snake in the Grass

This was an interesting premise--a school psychologist as an amateur sleuth. It makes sense--she'd have the contacts to investigate, and being a psychologist would make her good at solving puzzles, particularly ones dealing with human nature and emotions.

There was a lot going on in this story: a murder mystery, a troubled (& trouble-making!) teen, the return of Skye's ex-fiance, and a budding new romance. It all kept me turning the pages.

The small town atmosphere was fun, and I loved Scumble River's bicentennial celebration. It reminds me of the town where I grew up.

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House of Shadows

This book, to me, was reminiscent of a Barbara Michaels book. Since I love Barbara Michaels books, that's a good thing.

The intriguing old house, people acting suspiciously, an air of tension surrounding everything.... It's a book I'll want to read more than once.

I loved the setting of Barbados, and the realism of the dichotomy between the island the tourists see and the island the residents know was well-done.

And what is it about arrogant heroes, anyway? At least as long as they come to their senses in the end, that is. Loved David, liked the premise of David & Vivien having to work together when both of them have strong reservations about it.

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This is a legal thriller with a lot of suspense and a bit of romance to lighten things up. I haven't read a lot of legal thrillers, other than the occasional Grisham, so I wasn't really sure what to expect. I suspected everyone, from Lorraine, the secretary who was so nasty to the woman with sensitivity to odors, to Flynn, who was so nice I was afraid he couldn't be real.

I really felt the tension and suspense in this one, and heaved a huge sigh of relief when the heroine survived the story.

I think I'll make a point of checking out more legal thrillers in the future.

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Registered: May 2003
Location: australia
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denise swanson

i would like to know if anyone can tell me what denise swanson write like as i know she writes mystery and would like to order her books ....but is her series good

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wendy

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Wendy, I've only read one of Denise Swanson's books: A Snake in the Grass. My comments are a couple of posts above. Her style is fairly straightforward, I thought, and the mystery was clever. I can't speak for the entire series, but I liked this one.

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Miranda of Miranda's Mistake is a respectable young widow. She's invited by friends to to a hunting party and to help prepare their marriageable daughter, Artemis, for a Season in London. Unfortunately, the man she jilted seven years earlier is one of the guests--and Artemis has decided he's the one she'll marry.

Definitely a prescription for sparks.

I'm not sure if Jenna Mindel will be writing a sequel to this, but I'd love to see how Artemis fares. I worried about her.

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This is a reissue of a 1996 release, but since I wasn't savvy enough to have read it the first time around, I'm grateful to get the chance now.

Our heroine, Sophie, finds herself running her father's copper mine after his death. Our hero, Connor, is a lowly laborer in the mine, but in reality, he's investigating mines to expose the dangerous working conditions. This is one of those books where it seems impossible for the hero & heroine to end up together happily at the end, and it's always such a relief when they do.

The book is full of Ms. Gaffney's trademark emotional depth and realism. I laughed and cried and made a note to pick up the rest of the series at TTP in July.

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Gotta love this detective--she's not skinny, and she's not apologetic about it. I'd like this book for that alone.

But there's more to like about this one. The mystery is fascinating. Identical twin sisters are shot. One dies, and the other is in a coma. Desiree is hired to find out which one survived.

This one's full of twists, and engaging characters. I'm definitely going to look for more of this series.

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I don't think I've ever read a paranormal regency before! What a lovely, fun surprise!

Our hero, Jovian, seems to be continually drunk, except for rare instances when our heroine, Anthea, sees him as he used to be, back when she fell in love with him.

I knew something was up, but the answer was a surprise. And in addition to the love story and the magic, there's a bit of suspense as well that kept me turning pages until the end. Quite a lot packed into only 231 pages!

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I hadn't realized this series was still out there. I remember watching the TV show years ago.

Like Good Hope Road, one of the May books, this one starts with a tornado, adding a touch of realism after all the tornadoes in the midwest this spring.

In this case, the tornado covers up a murder, and Jessica has to not only find out whodunit, but also prove that there even was a murder in the first place.

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It's hard to see how Lily and Rand can ever end up together, so much stands in their way--from Lily's promise to her sister Rose to help Rose snare Rand, to a murder mystery.

Lily is the second book in a trilogy. I'll have to look for Violet and keep an eye out for Rose this fall.

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