January 2018 list by Donalee Jacobs
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The Black Painting
by Neil Olson
Four cousins in the Morse family are summoned by their grandfather to his mansion at Owl's Point. None of them have visited the family estate since they were children, when a prized painting disappeared: a self-portrait by Goya, rumored to cause madness or death upon viewing. Any hope that their grandfather planned to make amends evaporates when they arrive to find the old man dead, his horrified gaze pinned upon the spot where the painting once hung. The quest to find out why he died uncovers ugly family secrets and forces the cousins to confront those who would keep them hidden.
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Blood Fury
by J. R. Ward
In this paranormal romance novel set in the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, #1 New York Times bestselling author J. R. Ward tells the story of two couples—both fighting to find love in the midst of the war with the Lessening Society.
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The Bomb Maker
by Thomas Perry
An LAPD Bomb Squad team is dispatched to a house whose owner is away, and a bomb disguised inside photography equipment has exploded in the kitchen. But it is a second bomb hidden in the basement that has devastating consequences--half of the entire Bomb Squad is obliterated within seconds. The fragmented unit turns to Dick Stahl, a former Bomb Squad commander, who now operates his own private security company. As the shadowy organization sponsoring the campaign of terror puts increasing pressure on the bomb maker, and Stahl becomes dangerously entangled with a member of his own team, the fuse on this high-stakes plot only burns faster.
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City of Endless Night
by Douglas J. Preston and Lincoln Child
It begins as a manhunt for Grace Ozmian, the missing daughter of a wealthy tech billionaire. At first, the NYPD assumes Grace, beautiful, reckless, and a regular feature of the local tabloids, has simply sped off on another wild adventure. But the case becomes something altogether different when the young woman's body is discovered in an abandoned warehouse in Queens, the head nowhere to be found. Lieutenant CDS Vincent D'Agosta quickly takes the lead. He knows his investigation will attract fierce scrutiny, so D'Agosta is delighted when FBI Special Agent A.X.L. Pendergast shows up at the crime scene. But neither Pendergast nor D'Agosta are prepared for what lies ahead.
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Death at Nuremberg
by W. E. B. Griffin
Assigned to the Nuremberg war trials, special agent James Cronley, Jr., finds himself fighting wars on multiple fronts, in a dramatic entry in the popular series about the birth of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Cold War. By the author of Curtain of Death.
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A Distant Heart
by Sonali Dev
Kimi grows up in a mansion at the top of Mumbai's Pali Hill, surrounded by love and privilege. But at eleven years old, she develops a rare illness that requires her to be confined to a germ-free ivory tower in her home, with only the Arabian Sea churning outside her window for company ... until one person dares venture into her world. Rahul Savant shows up to wash Kimi's windows, and an unlikely friendship develops across the plastic curtain of her isolation room. As years pass, Rahul becomes Kimi's eyes to the outside world-and she becomes his inspiration to better himself. But when a life-saving heart transplant offers the chance of a real future, both must face all that ties them together and keeps them apart.
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The English Wife
by Lauren Willig
Annabelle and Bayard Van Duyvil live a charmed life in New York: he's the scion of an old Knickerbocker family, she grew up in a Tudor house in England, they had a fairy tale romance in London, they have three-year-old twins, and he's recreated her family home on the banks of the Hudson. Yes, there are rumors that she's having an affair with the architect, but rumors are rumors and people will gossip. But then Bayard is found dead with a knife in his chest, Annabelle goes missing, and the papers go mad. Bay's sister, Janie, forms an alliance with a reporter to uncover the truth, but the more she learns about her brother and his wife, the more everything she thought she knew about them starts to unravel. Who were her brother and his wife, really? And why did her brother die with the name George on his lips?
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Fools and Mortals
by Bernard Cornwell
New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell makes a dramatic departure with this enthralling, action-packed standalone novel that tells the story of the first production of A Midsummer Night's Dream—as related by William Shakespeare's estranged younger brother. Richard Shakespeare dreams of a glittering career in one of the London playhouses, a world dominated by his older brother, William. As William's star rises, Richard's onetime gratitude is souring and he is sorely tempted to abandon family loyalty. So when a priceless manuscript goes missing, he becomes entangled in a high-stakes game of duplicity and betrayal which threatens not only his career and potential fortune, but also the lives of his fellow players.
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The Girls in the Picture
by Melanie Benjamin
It is 1914, and Frances Marion has left her Northern California home for the lure of Los Angeles, where she is determined to live as an artist. But the word on everyone's lips these days is "flickers"—the silent moving pictures enthralling theatergoers. In this fledgling industry, Frances finds her true calling: writing stories for this wondrous new medium. She also makes the acquaintance of actress Mary Pickford, whose signature golden curls and lively spirit have earned her the title "America's Sweetheart." The two ambitious young women hit it off instantly, but their ambitions are challenged by both the men around them and the limitations imposed on their gender—and their astronomical success could come at a price.
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Grist Mill Road
by Christopher J. Yates
The year is 1982; the setting, an Edenic hamlet some ninety miles north of New York City. There, among the craggy rock cliffs and glacial ponds of timeworn mountains, three friends—Patrick, Matthew, and Hannah—are bound together by a terrible and seemingly senseless crime. Twenty-six years later, in New York City, living lives their younger selves never could have predicted, the three meet again—with even more devastating results.
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Iron Gold
by Pierce Brown
Ten years after the events of Morning Star, Darrow and the Rising are battling the remaining Gold loyalist forces and are closer than ever to abolishing the color-coded caste system of Society for good. But new foes will emerge from the shadows to threaten the imperfect victory Darrow and his friends have earned. Pierce Brown expands the size and scope of his impressive Red Rising universe with new characters, enemies, and conflicts among the stars.
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The Last Man in Tehran
by Mark Henshaw
When an attack on an Israeli port triggers a Mossad campaign of sabotage and assassination, new Red Cell chief Kyra Stryker turns to her former mentors, retired Red Cell chief Jonathan Burke and former CIA director Kathryn Cooke, to identify Langley moles who are helping the Mossad wage its covert war. By the author of Cold Shot.
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Murder in the Manuscript Room
by Con Lehane
Unofficially investigating the murder of a young woman staffer at New York City's iconic 42nd Street Library, Raymond Ambler, the library's curator of crime fiction, finds his efforts complicated by his growing feelings for Adele, Adele's interest in a darkly handsome Islamic scholar and the determination of the police to shut him out of the case.
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Operator Down
by Brad Taylor
"Former Delta Force Officer and New York Times bestselling author Brad Taylor delivers a heart-pounding thriller where Pike Logan's search for a Mossad agent and ally puts him on a collision course with a ruthless military coup in Africa--and tests his loyalties to the Taskforce. It was to be a simple mission. Nothing more than assessing whether a merchant in the fabled Israeli Diamond Exchange was involved in a scheme that could potentially embarrass the state of Israel. But nothing is ever simple in the world of intelligence, as Aaron Bergman--a former leader of an elite direct action team under the Mossad--should have known.
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Robicheaux
by James Lee Burke
James Lee Burke's most beloved character, Dave Robicheaux, returns in this gritty, atmospheric mystery set in the towns and backwoods of Louisiana. During a murder investigation, Robicheaux discovers he may have committed the homicide he's investigating, one which involved the death of the man who took the life of Dave's beloved wife. As he works to clear his name and make sense of the murder, Robicheaux encounters a cast of characters and a resurgence of dark social forces that threaten to destroy all of those whom he loves.
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Shroud of Eternity: Sister of Darkness
by Terry Goodkind
The formidable sorceress Nicci and her companions—the newly powerless Richard Rahl and the youthful Bannon—set out on another quest after driving ruthless Norukai slavers out of Renda Bay. Their mission: restore Rahl's magic and, for Nicci, save the world. Guided by the witch-woman Red's mysterious prophecy, the trio makes their way south of Kol Adair towards a wondrous city shrouded behind time, Ildakar. But the grotesque omens on their path to Rahl's salvation are just a taste of the unimaginable horrors that await within the Shroud of Eternity. Volume II of The Nicci Chronicles.
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The Spring Girls: A Modern-day Retelling of Little Women
by Anna Todd
The Spring Girls—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—are a force of nature on the New Orleans military base where they live. As different as they are, with their father on tour in Iraq and their mother hiding something, their fears are very much the same. Struggling to build lives they can be proud of and that will lift them out of their humble station in life, one year will determine all that their futures can become.
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Unbound
by Stuart Woods
In the wake of a personal tragedy, former CIA operative Teddy Fay takes a leave of absence to travel and grieve, and lands in Santa Fe in the company of his friends Stone Barrington and Ed Eagle. There, fate hands him an unexpected opportunity to exact quiet revenge for his recent loss, from a man who helped to cover up the crime. But when his enemy wises up to Teddy's machinations, a discreet game of sabotage escalates to a potentially lethal battle requiring all of Stone Barrington's diplomacy and skill to maneuver for Teddy's advantage while keeping innocents out of the crossfire.
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The Wanted
by Robert Crais
Investigator Elvis Cole and his partner, Joe Pike, embark on a seemingly simple case involving a client who fears her troubled teen son is dealing drugs, an investigation that reveals the young man's dangerous role in a string of high-end burglaries that have resulted in a murder and a disappearance.
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The Woman in the Window
by A. J. Finn
Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times ... and spying on her neighbors. Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn't, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.
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