26/30 - Blood Work by Michael Lister -
Did Ted Bundy kill Janet Leigh Lester before he was captured?
If so, where did he hide her body? If not, who did and where are her remains?
Was America’s most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, responsible for the Broken Heart Murder? If not, who was, and can John Jordan figure it out and redeem his childhood hero?
John’s dad is still haunted by a murder he couldn’t solve four decades ago.
On the same weekend Janet Leigh Lester was crowned Miss Valentine at the pageant and Queen at the Sweethearts dance, she disappeared, her car found in an empty field, its interior covered in blood.
The case is decades cold now, but a new clock is ticking and John Jordan has one last chance to get it right. With no jurisdiction, no support, and no real hope of solving such an old, cold case, John isn’t taking no for an answer. Can John do what his father was unable to?
27/30 - The Mouse and the Candle by Matthew S. Cox -
After eleven years as a priest living by these words, Father Antonio Molinari never imagined who would teach his strongest lesson of faith--a vampire.
As a member of a secret order within the Vatican, he investigates and debunks supernatural events. A case of possession brings him to the French countryside, where two local clergy offer him the chance of a lifetime. They claim to have captured a vampire, and beg his expertise in helping them study the fiend.
When their monster turns out to be a little girl, cursed to spend eternity hiding from the sun, he cannot bring himself to destroy her. The priests, mistaking his compassion for diabolism, panic, and his efforts to protect an innocent child prove fatal.
He awakes caught between light and darkness.
Hunted by the Church he once served as well as the fiends he once destroyed, Father Molinari clings to his faith there is still room for him in God's plan.
28/30 - The Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier -
Tracy Chevalier transports readers to a bygone time and place in this richly-imagined portrait of the young woman who inspired one of Vermeer's most celebrated paintings.
History and fiction merge seamlessly in this luminous novel about artistic vision and sensual awakening. Girl with a Girl Earring tells the story of sixteen-year-old Griet, whose life is transformed by her brief encounter with genius . . . even as she herself is immortalized in canvas and oil.
29/30 - The Roses of May by Dot Hutchinson - A sequel to The Butterfly Collector. Four months after the explosion at the Garden, a place where young women known as the Butterflies were kept captive, FBI agents Brandon Eddison, Victor Hanoverian, and Mercedes Ramirez are still entrenched in the aftermath, helping survivors in the process of adjusting to life on the outside. With winter coming to an end, the Butterflies have longer, warmer days of healing ahead. But for the agents, the impending thaw means one gruesome thing: a chilling guarantee that somewhere in the country, another young woman will turn up
dead in a church with her throat slit and her body surrounded by flowers.
Priya Sravasti’s sister fell victim to the killer years ago. Now she and her mother move every few months, hoping for a new beginning. But when she ends up in the madman’s crosshairs, the hunt takes on new urgency. Only with Priya’s help can the killer be found—but will her desperate hope for closure compel her to put her very life on the line?
I enjoyed all these books. The Roses of May was not as interesting as the Butterfly Collector but I still enjoyed it
