The nominees for Best Mystery or Cozy Mystery:
I Scream, You Scream by Wendy Lyn Watson
Killer Heels by Sheryl J Anderson
Looks to Die For by Janice Kaplan
House Rules by Jodi Picoult
Bulletproof Mascara by Bethany Maines
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
Jacob Hunt isn’t the average teenager. Though he is seemingly quite smart- especially with forensics analysis, he is terrible at reading social cues and expressing emotions, causing him to be an outcast among his school. But Jacob suffers from Asperger’s syndrome- a form of autism. While he can function at a higher level than those with autism, it doesn’t help him make friends any easier. The only person who really seems to understand Jacob is his tutor- until she is found dead, and Jacob is the prime suspect. Suddenly, Jacob’s family- which includes his single struggling mother and younger teenage brother- are under the spotlight. Could Jacob really have committed murder?
House Rules is a gripping, suspenseful novel by best-selling author Jodi Picoult. By examining different character point of views, readers can get a deeper understanding of the murder mystery at play. The clues help lead the plot along, but are never too informative, so I kept trying to read faster to find out who was the real killer. I had tears in my eyes while reading what Jacob’s mother went through during her daily life- what she needed to do when Jacob has tantrums in public and how she was coping during the days he was in jail. The story is powerful until the end, and keeps you thinking about the characters long after you have finished.
Jodi Picoult is a best-selling author with 17 titles published. Picoult studied creative writing at Princeton, and excelled quickly, having two short stories published in Seventeen magazine while still a student. After graduating, she went on to work as a technical writer for a Wall Street brokerage firm, as a copywriter at an ad agency, as an editor at a textbook publisher, and as an 8th grade English teacher. She also received her Master’s degree in education before having her first child and writing her first novel.
Picoult’s seventeen titles are: Songs of the Humpback Whale, Harvesting the Heart, Picture Perfect, Mercy, The Pact, Keeping Faith, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, Perfect Match, Second Glance, My Sister’s Keeper, Vanishing Acts, The Tenth Circle, Nineteen Minutes, Change of Heart, Handle With Care, and her latest- House Rules. Jodi Picoult currently lives in Hanover, New Hampshire with her husband and their three children.
In My Mailbox: Week of March 21st
Title: House Rules
By: Jodi Picoult
Received: From SheKnows.com for Review
Synopsis: They tell me I’m lucky to have a son who’s so verbal, who is blisteringly intelligent, who can take apart the broken microwave and have it working again an hour later. They think there is no greater hell than having a son who is locked in his own world, unaware that there’s a wider one to explore. But try having a son who is locked in his own world, and still wants to make a connection. A son who tries to be like everyone else, but truly doesn’t know how.
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject — in his case, forensic analysis. He’s always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do…and he’s usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger’s — not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, flat affect — can look a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them. For his mother, Emma, it’s a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it’s another indication of why nothing is normal because of Jacob. And over this small family the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacobcommit murder?
Emotionally powerful from beginning to end, House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, how autism affects a family, and how our legal system works well for people who communicate a certain way — and fails those who don’t.
Title: Bulletproof Mascara
Author: Bethany Maines
Received: From SheKnows.com
Synopsis: When Nikki Lanier signs up as a cosmetics rep at Carrie Mae, it’s hardly her idea of a dream job. With a degree in linguistics and a hard-core workout regimen, the twenty-six-year-old redhead once had hopes for a real career. But unemployed and desperate to escape life at home with her nagging mother, she’ll try anything – even selling make-up to housewives. But soon, Nikki learns that the powder and lipstick are simply cover-up for The Carrie Mae Foundation: a secret organization of international espionage and high-tech mascara founded for the purpose of “helping women everywhere.”
Whisked off to Thailand with her appointed partner, the legendary Carrie Mae agent Val Robinson, Nikki is soon in over her head. Between investigating the abduction of a human rights advocate, tracking down a murderous arms dealer, keeping up with her wildly dangerous new partner, and occasionally trying to have a dating life (with a hunk who may or may not be CIA), Nikki has to use all the courage and cosmetic technology she’s got to bring down the bad guys and get out alive.
With the support of the colorful Carrie Mae crew, a handsome yet suspicious stranger, and her wickedly unpredictable partner, Nikki will overcome even the most harrowing obstacles – including incessant phone calls from her mother – or die trying.
Title: Intimate Encounters
Author: Sierra Michaels
Received: From Sierra Michaels for Review
Synopsis: Cali is a graduate student paying her way through school giving sensual massages to strange men at an apartment with several other girls, where she leads a double life and internally struggles with the job she has chosen, the friendships she has made, and the lies she must tell.
At the university Cali is a star student trying to finish her master’s thesis on California archaeology. What the other students and professors must not know is that by night she makes money giving massages with a happy ending to strangers. At first, she truly enjoys working at the apartment, since it brings out the sensual side she lacks as a student. She forms a close friendship with two of the girls and a few of her regular customers, but struggles with the fact that she is doing something illegal, dangerous, and looked down upon in American society.
Intimate Encounters (by Sierra Michaels) is a humorous and occasionally serious account of the inner workings of the sensual massage business and the unique and sometimes pathological characters that work at and visit the apartment, as well as Cali’s life and struggles as a graduate student in doubt about her chosen field and her future.
