The Two Lila Bennetts by Liz Fenton. Published by Lake Union

I have read a lot of theories about String Theory and the Multiverse, how every decision we make could potentially end up being life changing. And that those different choices have actually created different worlds or universes where we live completely different lives, perhaps because of a split second decision. For Lila Bennett, a decent woman who has made some regrettable choices, this becomes a reality as she lives two different lives based on just such a decision. Lila is a criminal defense attorney and in one life she’s been taken captive and kept in a concrete cell, in the other she gets away, but is stalked by someone determined to bring her down, both professionally and personally. Is there some way Lila can uncover the person bent on destroying her? This book is so twisted and so good that I found myself unable to put it down once I started. Something tells me this will be THE summer blockbuster

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Big Sky by Kate Atkinson. Published by Little, Brown

It’s been nearly a decade since Atkinson published her last Jackson Brodie novel, but finally the long wait is over. The cop/soldier turned PI has moved to a quiet seaside village where he takes small time cases and hangs out with his ancient dog and gets occasional visits from his teenage son. He’s gathering intel on a cheating husband, cheating spouses being his bread and butter these days, when he comes across a man ready to end it all, a man who puts Brodie on a direct path to his past. This series is so good because Atkinson has created the perfect hero in Brodie, an ex soldier and cop with a tough exterior who also has a strong sense of right and wrong and kindness underneath his gruff exterior. Wonderful

Buried by Ellison Cooper. Published by St. Martins

After nearly being killed when her last assignment put her in the line of sight of a fellow FBI agent who was also a killer, Sayer Altair is back in the field. A hole filled with human remains has been found in Shenandoah National Park and the bones date back to the time a teenager disappeared. But it would appear the body dump site is still active because Sayer and her team find the bodies of two more recent kills among the skeletal remains. Remains that may have a connection to a woman and child recently abducted, a connection Sayer must unravel if she wants to save them. Help comes from a most unlikely source, Subject 037, one of the psychopaths Sayer has been interviewing. This incredibly well written nail biter borrows a page from the real life detectives who used serial killer Ted Bundy to help solve real murder cases.

Missing Daughter by Rick Mofina. Published by MIRA

It’s a parent’s worst nightmare, a child gone missing.Maddie disappears overnight from her own room. Her parents, Karen and Ryan find her bedroom open and their twelve-year-old daughter gone. There is no shortage of suspects with a new halfway house just around the corner and police aren’t willing to rule out Maddie’s family, her thirteen year old brother, the sometimes violent Ryan and Karen, a woman with a very unhappy past. As the search and investigation drags on with no resolution and the months become years, everyone assumes Maddie is dead. No one is prepared for the answers that finally surface. Mofina spins quite a tale, one that shows how little we really know the people we love

Ten Years a Nomad by Matthew Kepnes. Published by St. Martins

This is more a memoir than a travelogue, as we join Kepnes on his bid to see the world without much money. Kepnes is hooked on travel after his vacation to Costa Rica, where he meets travelers from all over the world, all of whom are stunned and disgusted with the paltry vacation time Americans receive. After talking with his new friends, Kepnes makes a bold decision, he goes home and quits his job, preparing to travel the world for a year. From the antics of his fellow travelers at hostels, to beautiful locations, love affairs that disintegrate as fast as they form and a longing to find roots after being rootless, this is a story of a man who actually did what most of us only dream of. A vicarious thrill ride

Forget Me Not by Claire Allan. Published by Avon

Elizabeth is out walking her dog on a sweltering summer day when she stumbles over, Claire, a woman bleeding out after being repeatedly stabbed. Elizabeth gets there just as Claire breathes her last, whispering a few words just before she dies. Elizabeth may not have wanted to get involved, but now she is, and if she doesn’t act quickly,there may be more victims, even closer to home. Allan’s book provides a good solid suspenseful read

A Plain Vanilla Murder by Susan Wittig Albert. Published by Perservero

This is such an entertaining series, Wittig combines food fact and lore along with murder most foul in each story. This time readers learn all about vanilla, where it’s grown, where it comes from, the labor intensive work requires to grow it and the surprisingly dangerous work requires to get it to market. Back home in Pecan Springs, China and Ruby have just had a workshop celebrating the vanilla bean when they hear a local professor has been murdered. Doe the murder have anything to do with the disastrous trip he and some of his students took to Mexico to visit vanilla plantations? The trip that left one student dead and others injured? Heavily pregnant police chief, Sheila Dawson is on the case, along with a little help from China.