The latest tomes from local authors
By Lynn Norusis
‘Peruasion’
by Martina Boone
Simon Pulse
Following the 2014 release of “Compulsion,” the first in Martina Boone’s young adult Heirs of Watson Island series, “Persuasion” picks up with the story of Barrie Watson, a young girl who broke free from the shut-in life she lived on a South Carolina plantation. After being away, Watson returns to the plantation to deal with throngs of people who are itching to find out more about the homes’ lurking spirits. Watson hires an archeologist to set things straight and get answers to her own questions about a family curse. (October 2015)
by Sarah Robinson
Loveswept
Sarah Robinson releases her debut novel, “Breaking a Legend,” the first in a planned Kavanagh Legends Series. This steamy novel introduces all of the Kavanagh brothers but focuses on Rory Kavanagh, a former mixed martial arts fighter who is trying to rebuild his life after an injury. After a year of physical healing, he still hasn’t rehabilitated his mental state until he meets Clare Ivers, a woman who moved to the Bronx to get away from her past, but it’s catching up to her. (September 2015)
by Kathy Flann
Texas Review Press
“Get a Grip” is a collection of short stories, penned by 2014 George Garrett Fiction Prize winner Kathy Flann, that makes readers realize life doesn’t have to be so hard. The fictitious lives of Baltimore residents reflect on what we all deal with in life, albeit in a more dramatic sense. We follow the tales of a woman who is addicted to pain, Estonian brothers trying to land basketball scholarships at Loyola and the pains of a 40th birthday. (October 2015)
by Mollie Cox Bryan
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Scrapbooking has never been so dangerous. When two sisters are murdered in a small town just one day apart, each found with a scrapbook page in their hand, multiple scenarios run rampant in the rumor mill. Immigration, family drama and small-town politics all come about as reporter Annie Chamovitz works on the stories surrounding the murders. Mollie Cox Bryan’s lastest tome in her Cumberland Creek series has readers guessing as to whodunnit with a surprise twist at the end. (September 2015)
by Colleen J. Shogan
Camel Press
With a job as the deputy director of Congressional Research Service and a husband who’s produced short films about Capitol Hill (Rob Raffety), there is no question Colleen Shogan has some insider knowledge of Washington personalities. She’s taken this awareness to write her first in a series of Washington Whodunit novels. “Stabbing in the Senate” focuses on Senate staffer Kit Marshall, who has become a prime murder suspect after her boss is found dead. To save her own life and career she must become her own advocate and find the killer before she becomes a victim. (November 2015)
by Bill Schweigart
Random House LLC
There is something roaming the woods of Four Mile Run. First an Arlington Parks and Rec employee goes missing, then a dog is dragged away by a beast in front of its owner, Ben McKelvie. As the attacks mount, he knows this beast must be taken down. With the help of a National Zoo curator, a cryptozoologist and a local police officer, they undergo a mission to take down what they’ve learned is not a beast but an ancient creature. (November 2015)
by Sherryl Woods
MIRA
Carrie Winters has returned from Paris, where she pursued a glamorous public relations job in the fashion industry. A broken heart and the crash and burn of her career brought her back home to Chesapeake Shores to reevaluate her priorities. She meets Sam Winslow, a man who is raising his 6-year-old nephew after his sister and brother-in-law were killed in an accident. New York Times best-selling author Sherryl Woods’ latest book about the O’Brien clan has readers focusing on what matters in life: love and family, and how there is never a perfect time to fall in love, just a perfect person to fall in love with. (October 2015)
by Jennifer Handford
Lake Union Publishing
Melissa Fletcher has lived her life around her father, attending a nearby college and then working at her father’s financial firm in Alexandria. After her father’s diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and then his sudden death, Melissa is now on her own. She decides to overcome her fears and sets off on often dreamed about trip to Italy, and with it comes the courage to live life for herself and rekindle a lost love. (November 2015)
‘Admen, Mad Men, and the Real World of Advertising’
by Dave Marinaccio
Arcade Publishing
Americans are exposed to over 3,000 advertisements day. And there are many theories behind the practices of marketing. Dave Marinaccio, a copywriter for an advertising company that has worked with big brands like Pizza Hut, 7-UP and the Holocaust Museum, has penned a book about the real advertising world. Is it a business book? Yes. But Marinaccio has written it in a tone for the average person, with humourous stories that showcase scenarios where we can all learn a little something about life and human nature.
(November 2015)
Photos credits: Persuasion (Courtesy of Simon & Schuster); Willow (Courtesy of Mira); Breaking A Legend (Courtesy of Random House Publishing Group); Get A Grip (Courtesy of Texas Review Press); Scrapbook (Courtesy of Kensington Publishing Corp); Senate (Courtesy of Camel Press); The Beast (Courtesy of Penguin Random House); Admen (Courtesy of Arcade Publishing); Flowers (Courtesy of Lake Union Publishing)