Page 59 - Publishers_Weekly

REVIEWS ®

Scotland in the hot and sexy fourth Must gilding technique and the bubonic along with a suspect, but these develop-
Love time travel romance (after Must Love plague—is woven seamlessly throughout ments don’t create much narrative tension.
Kilts). Fiona Campbell, a determined and the narrative, resulting in a vivid, trans- Though Orr doesn’t explore her characters’
forthright woman, has travelled back in portive novel. psychological states in any depth, she suc-
time to the late 17th century, and thinks cessfully delivers a quiet story about unex-
that she is destined to fulfill the family The Road to Alexander pected life events and the honest love that
legend about a woman named Fiona who Jennifer Macaire. Accent Press, $12.99 trade binds no matter what.
saved her ancestor, William Campbell, from paper (368p) ISBN 978-1-78615-467-5
a MacCowan warrior bearing a crescent- Macaire’s imaginative opening entry in The Weight
shaped scar above a Celtic knot on his chest. the Time for Alexander series transports Hubert Crouch. Serpentine, $15 trade paper
But Duncan MacCowan, the man she must time-traveling journalist Ashley Riveraine (366p) ISBN 978-1-548323-96-7
protect William from, is also her newly back 3,000 years to 333 BCE via a frozen Crouch puts his years as a litigator to
handfasted partner. As Fiona and Duncan magnetic beam to interview the legendary good use in his third legal thriller featuring
travel with MacLeod warriors to Dunvegan king and military general Alexander the Fort Worth, Tex., attorney Jace Forman
Castle, the sizzling attraction between Great. Ashley loses her ability to return (after 2015’s The Word). Jace is approached
them becomes impossible to ignore, and home when Alexander pulls her out of the by Cal Connors, a prominent colleague who
they explore the possibility of making their beam believing she is the goddess specializes in going after Big Pharma, about
handfasting into a true marriage. Fiona tries Persephone. Alexander is unaware that representing him in a defamation suit. The
to reconcile her desire to be with Duncan Ashley is from the future, and she must not magazine Texas Matters has published a
with her duty to her family legend, and do or say anything to change history or she cover story accusing Connors of paying off
Duncan begins to open his heart to the pos- will be erased. She soon becomes Alexander’s an expert witness to file false reports about
sibility of love. With just the right amount lover (steamy scenes ensue) and a resourceful a medication’s side effects. After passing on
of period detail, scorching sensuality, and a operator in a society in which people rely on the opportunity, Jace ends up on the other
strong, independent heroine, Quarles’s omens, oracles, and gods in everyday life. side, defending the reporter, Leah Rosen,
latest brings historical Scotland to life. Alexander’s relationships—with his treach- against Connors’s claims. Meanwhile,
erous mother, Olympias, his three wives, Leah’s piece has prompted a federal investi-
The Painter’s Apprentice and his troops—are reasonably well-devel- gation into her target by an ambitious fed-
Laura Morelli. The Scriptorium, $19.99 trade oped. The book’s most engrossing sequence eral prosecutor, and both Connors and his
paper (406p) ISBN 978-1-942778-92-9 sees Alexander matching wits with the colleague and daughter, Christine, don’t
Morelli’s second entry in the Venetian Persian king, Bessus, while pursuing him in balk at considering murder to protect their
Artisans series (following The Gondola a grueling ride that sees many men and interests. Crouch extends the suspense out-
Maker) is a Renaissance story rich in art and horses die. A loose ending will entice readers side the courtroom with the acquittal of a
love, yet tempered by sacrifice and hard to find out what lies ahead in the series. creep, Michael Randazzo, who once
times during the bubonic plague’s siege of abducted and tormented Leah and is now
Venice in 1510. Lovely, titian-haired Maria The Unexpected Resolution: working on an elaborate revenge. Fast
Bartolini, daughter of Venice’s preeminent Book 10 of the Jolie Gentil Cozy pacing and believable characters will make
gold leaf artisan and a skilled gilder herself, Mystery Series this a treat for fans of Steve Martini.
falls in love with Cristiano Bianco, a low- Elaine L. Orr. Lifelong Dreams, $8.99 trade
born Saracen gold-beater working in their paper (264p) ISBN 978-0-9863380-6-9 ★ When They Were Young:
studio. Maria’s father discovers the romance, Orr’s family-focused 10th Jolie Gentil A Sam Dawson Mystery
and she is dispatched to illustrious painter mystery (after Holidays in Ocean Alley) finds Steven W. Horn. Granite Peak, $27.50 (316p)
Master Trevisan’s workshop to study pig- sometime sleuth Jolie and her fiancé, ISBN 978-0-9835894-8-8
ment technique until she can marry within Scoobie, preparing for their intimate New A well-crafted plot and flesh-and-blood
their guild. While helping Trevisan craft Year’s Eve wedding in Ocean Alley, N.J. characters lift Horn’s superior third Sam
gilded, decorative wooden panels for a con- Then Scoobie’s long-absent father shows up Dawson mystery (after 2015’s When Good
vent, Maria also keeps a secret and fends off in the local hospital following a car acci- Men Die). Sam, a gifted photographer whose
a meddlesome maid and an extortionist dent. After the father succumbs to his inju- images all tell a clear story with “a begin-
boatman. When her old neighborhood is ries, Scoobie meets the younger brother he ning, a middle, and an end,” has had the ill
quarantined, Maria loses contact with her didn’t know he had, Terry. As Scoobie and luck to repeatedly make grim discoveries.
family and Cristiano. As the Black Death Jolie come to terms with becoming Terry’s He makes another one while walking his
devastates the city and loved ones are sepa- guardian, Orr touches on such issues from dog in Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National
rated, the characters struggle for strength; the past as Scoobie’s abusive childhood and Forest—the frozen corpse of a 12-year-old
when the plague begins to lift, Maria at first Jolie’s disastrous first marriage. Suspicions girl. The coroner’s initial verdict is that the
struggles but eventually finds her calling. that Scoobie’s father’s death was a homicide child, identified as Lilly Darnell, who went
Substantive period detail—especially about arise only in the latter part of the novel, missing in Colorado months earlier, died of

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