Mailbox Mayhem 7/4/2010 - 7/10/2010

In My Mailbox is hosted Sundays at The Story Siren.  Mailbox Monday is currently hosted at The Printed Page, but will be going on tour after this month . Please visit these posts and take a look at what packages everybody else got this week!

Her Fearful Symmetry

by Audrey Niffenegger

(Regal Literary/August)

Julia and Valentina Poole are twenty-year-old sisters with an intense attachment to each other. One morning the mailman delivers a thick envelope to their house in the suburbs of Chicago. Their English aunt Elspeth Noblin has died of cancer and left them her London apartment. There are two conditions for this inheritance: that they live in the flat for a year before they sell it and that their parents not enter it. Julia and Valentina are twins. So were the girls' aunt Elspeth and their mother, Edie.

The girls move to Elspeth's flat, which borders the vast Highgate Cemetery, where Christina Rossetti, George Eliot, Stella Gibbons, and other luminaries are buried.  Julia and Valentina become involved with their living neighbors: Martin, a composer of crossword puzzles who suffers from crippling OCD, and Robert, Elspeth's elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. They also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including -- perhaps -- their aunt.

Think of a Number

by John Verdon

(Shelf Awareness)

Arriving in the mail one day is a taunting letter that ends with a simple declaration: "See how well I know your secrets -- just think of a number."  Eerily, those who comply find that the letter writer has predicted their random choice exactly. For Dave Gurney, just retired as the NYPD's top homicide investigator and forging a new life with his wife, Madeleine, in upstate New York, the letters are oddities that begin as a diverting puzzle but quickly ignite a massive serial-murder investigation. Brought in as an investigative "consultant," Gurney soon accomplishes deductive breakthroughs that have local police in awe. Yet, with each taunting move by his seemingly clairvoyant opponent, Gurney feels his tragedy-marred past rising up to haunt him, his marriage approaching a dangerous precipice, and, finally, a dark, cold fear building that he's met an adversary who can't be stopped.

The Bishop

(Book 4 in The Patrick Bowers Files)

by Steven James

(Baker Publishing tour - August)

FBI Special Agent Patrick Bowers's cutting-edge skills are about to be pushed to the limit when a young woman is found brutally murdered in Washington D.C. Her killers continue a spree of perfect crimes in the Northeast, but with nothing to link them to each other, Agent Bowers faces his most difficult case yet -- even as his personal life begins to crumble around him.

The Bishop is a gripping, adrenaline-laced story for readers who are tired of timid thrillers. Strap on your seat belt and get ready for a wild ride.

The Wolf of Tebron

(Book 1 in The Gates of Heaven series)

by C.S. Lakin

(Phenix and Phenix - August)

A young blacksmith must undertake a perilous journey to the four ends of the world to rescue his wife, who is held captive by the Moon. Along the way, he befriends a powerful wolf who encourages, protects, and ultimately sacrifices his life to save his human friend. A stirring allegory of God's love in classic fairy tale tradition.

 

Stash

by David Klein

(Shelf Awareness)

Gwen Raine has it all: She's an attractive, thirtyish stay-at-home mom who lives with her successful husband and two small children in the kind of tranquil, upscale suburban community where everything seems to be right -- yet so much can go wrong.

And it does, starting with a seemingly minor decision that turns Gwen's perfect life upside down. One summer morning, after dropping off her daughter at swim class, Gwen purchases a small bag of marijuana from an old flame. (She's counting on the pot to help her unwind that night, when she and her husband, Brian, have some precious private time after the kids are asleep.) On the way home, Gwen has a car accident that leaves her bruised and somewhat battered but leaves the other driver (an elderly man who crossed into her lane) dead. The cops know it's not her fault, but when they find the marijuana in Gwen's car, they throw the book at her. There have been problems with drugs in the schools, and they're determined to crack down.

Meanwhile, Brian, a pharmaceutical company executive, is embroiled in an ethical dilemma of his own over the marketing of a drug for "off-label" use. And Gwen's former lover, Jude, a local restaurateur and the supplier of the stash of the title, has gotten in way over his head with his little side business.

Told from multiple perspectives and driven by psychological suspense and an ever-thickening plot, this ambitious and deeply satisfying novel examines the moral complications that arise when a modern woman's fierce determination to do the right thing collides head-on with human fallibility and desire.

Once Wicked Always Dead

by T. Marie Benchley

(Shelf Awareness)

Molly Madison is unaware of the sociopath who is on the loose, creating havoc with a sense of his or her own justice. Her life is shattered by the sudden death of her beloved parents, and the revelation of her husband Phillip's affair -- with another man -- Molly leaves the life of Country Clubs and the luxury of city life in Florida and heads west to Montana, resolved to run the family ranch, and to move on with her life. Her attraction to Clayton Leatherbe, the ranch foreman, is instant. But before a romance can blossom, the ranch falls prey to sabotage by wealthy land developers determined to drive Molly out, and Clayton learns a family secret and collides with the sociopath that could put the ranch -- and Molly's life -- in jeopardy.

A sharp mystery that swirls with family secrets, betrayal, love and loss, Once Wicked Always Dead is a strong debut from an author with literary blood in her veins.

The Body Shop

by Paul Solotaroff

(Hachette - July with giveaway)

In January of 1976, Paul Solotaroff went off to college as a skin-and-bones loner in platform heels and a David Bowie mullet. When his father drove out to campus to bring him home at term's end, Paul was 190 pounds of shrink-wrapped muscle, having discovered the alchemies of the campus weight room and the new miracle of steroids. It was the summer that disco swept New York, and the city, nearly bankrupt and besieged by crime, forgot its troubles in a riot of sex and dancing that cranked till four in the morning.

Paul quickly discovered that his ripped physique made the velvet ropes swing open -- as if by magic -- at the hottest nightclubs New York had to offer. And his biceps threatened to tear the sleeves of his Nik Nik shirts as he met willing young women on dance floors populated by Gotham's elite. His life exploded in Day-Glo glamour: sleeping with beautiful tourists, becoming a main attraction of East Side orgies run by a kimono-clad millionaire, popping quaaludes and bennies in penthouse lofts. Caught in the throbbing beat of nonstop pleasure, Paul found a way to finance his addiction to drugs and Bottega boots: by stripping at bachelorette parties all over Long Island. It was up and up and up, bigger and bigger and bigger, until his body and his soul were stretched to the point of bursting.

Set at the dawn of the muscle culture -- when a flood tide of Schwarzenegger-inspired young men flocked to fitness clubs -- The Body Shop is a coming-of-age romp and a comedy of bad manners, good intentions, and really hideous clothes. Equal parts Boogie Nights and Saturday Night Fever, it sends up the era in a swath of wicked jokes. But woven into the stretchy fabric is a question of deadly seriousness: How does a kid who's been largely unfathered become an honorable man, and how far will he go to figure it out before he kills himself trying?

Amish Proverbs

by Suzanne Woods Fisher
(Baker Publishing tour and giveaway - August)

Through firsthand research and personal relationships, Suzanne Woods Fisher has collected more than 200 proverbs that uncover the rich heritage, folklore, faith, values, history, and essence of the Plain People. These proverbs serve as teaching tools and maxims for practical living -- but they're not just for the Amish. They're for anyone who seeks God's wisdom and truth for everyday circumstances.

Ranging from the simple to the profound, from the serious to the humorous, these sayings will stick with you through life's joys and sorrows. With beautiful full-color photos throughout, Amish Proverbs is the perfect gift for any occasion. 


WHAT DID YOU FIND IN YOUR MAILBOX?