New Fiction from MIRA Books
Breaking the Silence
Chamberlain, Diane
Laura Brandon's promise to her dying father was simple: to visit an elderly woman she'd never heard of before. A woman who remembers nothing--except the distant past. Visiting Sarah Tolley seemed a small enough sacrifice to make.But Laura's promise results in another death. Her husband's. And after their five-year-old daughter, Emma, witnesses her father's suicide, Emma refuses to talk about it...to talk at all.Frantic and guilt ridden, Laura contacts the only person who may be able to help. A man she's met only once--six years before. A man who doesn't know he's Emma's real father.Guided only by a child's silence and an old woman's fading memories, the two unravel a tale of love and despair, of bravery and unspeakable evil. A tale that's shrouded in silence...and that unbelievably links them all.
Depraved Indifference
Teller, Joseph
A DRUNK DRIVING CASE IS ONLY A DRUNK DRIVING CASE... UNTIL SOMEONE DIES. An Audi sports car, speeding in the wrong lane, forces an oncoming van off the road. The van bursts into flames, killing all nine occupants...eight of them children.Criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, known simply as Jaywalker, is trying to keep his nose clean while serving a three-year suspension. But when a woman seduces him into representing the "Audi Assassin," a man who also happens to be her husband, things get messy.Struggling with the moral issues surrounding this case, Jaywalker tries to stay focused on his goal--limiting the damage to his client by exposing the legal system's hypocrisy regarding drunk driving. But when he rounds a blind corner in the case, he collides with a truth that could turn his entire defense into disaster.
Home in Time for Christmas
Graham, Heather
Melody Tarleton is driving home for Christmas when a man--clad in Revolutionary War-era costume--appears right in the path of her car. Shaken, she takes the injured stranger in, listening with concern to Jake Mallory's fantastic claim that he's a Patriot soldier, sentenced to death by British authorities. The last thing he remembers is the tug of the noose.Safe at her parents' house, Melody concocts a story to explain the handsome guest with courtly manners, strange clothes and bump on the head. Mark, her close friend who wishes he were more, is skeptical and her family is fascinated--though not half so fascinated as Melody herself. Jake is passionate, charming and unlike anyone she's ever met. Can he really be who he claims? And can a man from the past be the future she longs for? With the aid of enchanted petals, ancient potions and the magic of the season, Melody and Jake embark on an unimaginable Christmas adventure--and discover a love that transcends time.
Cold River
Neggers, Carla
Hannah Shay has finally shown the town of Black Falls what she's worth. Her Three Sisters Cafe is a success, and she's soon to become a prosecutor. When the cafe becomes an epicenter for investigators trying to pierce a violent crime ring that's leaving bloody trails on nearby Cameron Mountain, Hannah suspects a man from her past is involved.Sean Cameron returns to the snowy cold of his Vermont hometown to unmask his father's killer. Sean has the skills and resources to mount his own search, but he must convince the resistant Hannah to cooperate--because the killer is ready to strike again...and closer than anyone ever imagined.
A Gift To Last
Macomber, Debbie
The best gifts are the ones that don't come wrapped! Gifts of home, of family and friends, of love...Can This Be Christmas?On December 24, a crowded train is taking holiday travelers home for Christmas. But because of a snowstorm, this group of strangers ends up spending Christmas Eve together, stranded in a small New Hampshire station. Despite the cold and discomfort, they create an impromptu celebration that reminds them all what Christmas really means.Shirley, Goodness and MercyGreg Bennett hates Christmas. Divorced, virtually friendless and about to lose his business, he has no time for what he considers sentimental nonsense. It takes three wacky angels to show him the truth. Shirley, Goodness and Mercy shall follow him...until he learns what Christmas is all about!
The Gatekeeper
Gagnon, Michelle
From the moment sixteen-year-old Madison Grant is abducted, an unthinkable terrorist plot is set in motion--pitting Special Agent Kelly Jones against her most powerful adversary yet. The kidnapper's ransom demands aren't monetary...they come at a cost that no American can afford to pay.As Kelly's fiancé, Jake Riley, races to find Madison, Kelly is assigned to another disturbing case: the murder and dismemberment of a senator. At first the two cases don't appear to be related. But as Kelly navigates her way through the darkest communities of America--from skinheads to biker gangs to border militias--she discovers a horrible truth. A shadowy figure who calls himself The Gatekeeper is uniting hate groups, opening the door to the worst homegrown attack in American history.
New Releases
for the Week of November 29, 2009
Black Ribbon Affair
Clifford, Casey
Caitlin Donnelly's life is exactly how she wants it-except for the threatening notes. Deciphering who's after her, and why, isn't easy when the suspects include all her co-workers, along with a man from her past. Caitlin isn't sure who she can trust and danger escalates at a pace equaling her attraction to Mike. Mike Rafferty's life is in a mess. When his personal life disintegrates, he grasps an opportunity: a challenging new job and relocation to a different state. Finally, he has something to look forward to. He discovers an unexpected benefit in his new co-worker, a woman who turned him down years ago. Mike welcomes this unexpected chance to pick up a relationship worth waiting for. When Caitlin is kidnapped, Mike struggles to save the woman he loves while she learns to trust in his love to keep her alive.
The Dark Philosophers
Thomas, Gwyn
Sex, murder, and a devastating, humour mark these three novellas that Gwyn Thomas wrote in 1946. In 'Oscar', the narrator of death and exploitation fails to fend off the evil that envelops him. In 'Simeon', the abuse of sexual and family power ends with violent death, and in 'The Dark philosophers' itself, the grimly humorous philosophers gather in an Italian café to tell the tragic tale of revenge and manslaughter that they engineer.
Like No One Else
Smith, Maureen
She Can Run Ballet dancer Tommie Purnell has finally left her troubles behind her. After a devastating scandal derails her dancing career in New York, she flees to Houston for a fresh start. Once her new dance studio takes off, the rest of Tommie's life follows suit. But when a local woman connected to Tommie turns up dead, Tommie is petrified. . .and doesn't know where to turn. But She Can't HideWhen veteran homicide detective Paulo Sanchez walks through her door, Tommie wonders if her troubles have just doubled. She and Paulo had a torrid attraction years ago. . .but she's sworn off men because of too many broken dreams. Yet their sizzling attraction can't be denied, and as their passion intensifies, the killer's body count also rises. That's when all clues point toward the one person Tommie thought she could finally believe in. . .
Once Bitten
Willis, Clare
Is it more than just a one-bite stand? Angie McCaffrey has endured her share of liquid lunches and boardroom shmoozefests to win new advertising clients. But her latest account--a cosmetics line for wannabe vampires--involves some unusual customer research at San Francisco's hippest private nightclub. The "undead" patrons are about as genuine as Macabre Factor's press-on fangs, but one thing is very real--the skin-tingling connection Angie feels with her clients' mysterious friend, Eric Taylor. Still, there are a few problems with this hot new romance. 1) Eric is rumored to have dated Angie's scheming boss, Lucy. 2) Lucy, missing for days, just turned up dead and bloodless. And, oh yeah, 3) Angie has suddenly developed a teeny aversion to sunlight. Is Eric a real vampire, a killer, or both? Angie's got a lot riding on the answer--her heart, her life, and maybe even her soul. . ."Clare Willis offers a clever twist on the world of vampires."--Alexandra Ivy, author of Darkness Unleashed
Congratulate the Devil
Davies, Adrian
Starling knows a chemist called Roper, who knows a painter called Jourbert, who knows a man in Mexico who works for the government. Mescal has always had its routes into the world. There has been a new shipment, but not quite what anyone expected. This is a new drug. It opens the doors of perception for a man like Roper hiding away in his north London laboratory. He can make people work for him, turn his friends into fools or murderers, if only he could control his own mind.... Anita is such a beautiful woman but she could never love a man like Roper... Power, pleasure, always corrupt...
African American Firsts
Spindler, Erica
Did you know that. . .Barack Obama became the first African American elected President of the United States. . .Tony Dungy was the first African American NFL coach to win a Super Bowl game. . .Condoleezza Rice was the first African American woman appointed Secretary of State. . .Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie were the first African Americans to win Grammy awards. . .An African American doctor performed the first open-heart surgery. . .Excluded from history books, overlooked in classrooms, and neglected by media, African Americans have long been denied an accurate picture of their contributions to our nation, from colonial days to the present. But times have changed and the record will be set straight. From the inventors of the traffic light and the gas mask to winners of the Oscars and Olympic gold, this authoritative resource reveals over 450 "firsts" by African Americans--wonderful accomplishments achieved often despite poverty, discrimination, and racism.Leaders in government, entertainment, education, science and medicine, the law, military, and in the business world, African Americans have made their mark. African American Firsts is a clear reflection of that prideful legacy, and a signpost to an even greater future. "African American Firsts works, works well, and works brilliantly." -- St. Louis Post-Dispatch...
