Bargain Book Roundup

I hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July! We are going to cook out (if the weather will co-operate) and I've turned up some cookbook deals (and a few others) at Amazon for us. First, Amazon has a number of (paper) cookbooks at 50% off right now. The best deals, of course, are in the Kindle store!

Be sure to enter the the Audible Wish List contest by July 14 - you can win up to $300 worth of audiobooks!

Slow Fire ($2.99 Kindle), by Lampe Ray, Anderson Famous Dave, Beisch Leigh and Leigh Beisch [Chronicle Books]. It's not too late to run down and pick up enough supplies to make Bacon and Blue Cheese Coleslaw for your picnic today.

Book Description
Great barbecue is as simple as meat, fire, smoke, and time. This ode to authentic meaty goodness gives barbecue beginners an essential guide to the tools, techniques, and recipes needed to make smoky, mouthwatering, fall-off-the-bone meats. And seasoned smokers will learn a thing or two, too! Ray Lampe, a.k.a. Dr. BBQ, brings decades of expertise as a barbecue master, providing indispensable wisdom alongside 68 of the best recipes he has encountered in his long and wide-ranging career, from tantalizing mains such as Competition-Style Beef Brisket to lip-smacking sides such as Bacon and Blue Cheese Coleslaw. For both stove-top smokers and regular backyard grills, Slow Fire makes it easy to cook irresistible slow-cooked barbecue right at home.

Southern Living Around the Southern Table: Coming home to comforting meals and treasured memories ($2.99 Kindle), by Rebecca Lang and the Editors of Southern Living Magazine [Oxmoor House]. I've grabbed a sample and if it isn't all bread, biscuits and cakes, I'll probably get this; I always read Southern Living Magazine and enjoyed skimming thru the recipes, back when it was a huge monthly magazine. It's a lot smaller than it used to be, but you can also now read a lot of the recipes online (and they have some nice Fourth of July articles, free for everyone to read).

Book Description
Sharing a meal around the table is the perfect expression of all things Southern: hospitality, grace, humor, and a devotion to great food. Author Rebecca Lang--a professionally trained chef and lifelong Southerner--makes the reader feel right at home, with pre-meal sips on the porch, indulgent dinners laced with bacon, decadent desserts, and messy morning-after breakfasts with biscuit crumbs and homemade jelly. These are the recipes that fill our memories of family and home, pull readers into the kitchen, and leave them fulfilled at the table.

Essays from well-known and much-loved Southerners--like Chick-Fil-A founder Truett S. Cathy and novelist Cassandra King--pepper the chapters with wisdom, humor, and insights gained from time spent at their own dining tables. Better yet, Around the Southern Table is filled with recipes for dishes that Southerners crave and cherish for everyday as well as special occasions. From mouthwatering main dishes like Shrimp and Grits or Stuffed Meatloaf to classic desserts like Lemon Pie or Pound Cake and Peach Ice Cream, every recipe tells a story, and, more importantly, is absolutely delicious. Each and every recipe is 100% homemade from-scratch and 100% Southern.

This book invites you to pull up a chair at your favorite table and make great food and unforgettable memories of your own.

The Complete Chile Pepper Book: A Gardener's Guide to Choosing, Growing, Preserving, and Cooking ($2.99 $2.51 Kindle), by Paul W. Bosland and Dave DeWitt [Timber Press]. I did pick this one up, as it is one of my favorite publishers for gardening books.

Book Description
Chile peppers are hot — in every sense of the word. They add culinary fire to thousands of dishes from a variety of cuisines and inspire near-fanatical devotion in those who have succumbed to their incendiary charms. In this comprehensive book, world chile experts Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland have assembled all the information that anyone with an interest in chile peppers could ever hope to find.

Detailed profiles of the 100 most popular chile varieties include information on how to grow chiles; how to diagnose and remedy problems, pests, and diseases; and post-harvest processing and preservation.

The book culminates in 85 mouth-watering recipes that make brilliant use of both the characteristic heat of chile peppers and of their more subtle flavor qualities.

Want to know what the hottest chile pepper in the world is? You'll find it in the fascinating story of 'Bhut Jolokia', acknowledged by Guinness World Records as the fieriest chile on earth. Confused about the identity of those chile peppers you bought? The authors' clear photographs and precise descriptions will clear up the mystery. The Complete Chile Pepper Book is the only guide to chiles you'll ever need. It's a scorcher.

Hot Sauce!: Techniques for Making Signature Hot Sauces, with 32 Recipes to Get You Started; Includes 60 Recipes for Using Your Hot Sauces ($2.51 Kindle), by Jennifer Trainer Thompson [Storey Publishing]

Book Description
Here are 32 recipes for making your own signature hot sauces, ranging from mild to blisteringly hot, as well as 60 recipes that use homemade or commercial hot sauces in everything from barbeque and Buffalo wings to bouillabaisse and black-bean soup. Try making chowders, tacos, ribs, salads, seafood, and more. There are even recipes for scorching cocktails, like Daiquiri Diablo and Slow-Burn Martinis! Author Jennifer Trainer Thompson, recognized as a leader in the spicy foods movement for her cookbooks and four hot sauce posters, has talked about hot sauce on hundreds of talk shows, including Live with Regis and Good Morning America. She has traveled her own personal "Trail of Flame," speaking at conventions and in the media about hot foods, and serving as guest chef at Hot Nights at restaurants in Boston, Philadelphia, and the Berkshires.

The Oxford Companion to Beer ($3.79 Kindle), by Garrett Oliver and Tom Colicchio [Oxford University Press], has a list price of $35 (and is $65 in print!).

Book Description
1st Place Winner of the 2012 Gourmand Award for Best in the World in the Beer category.

For millennia, beer has been a favorite beverage in cultures across the globe. After water and tea, it is the most popular drink in the world, and it is at the center of a $450 billion industry.

The first major reference work to investigate the history and vast scope of beer, The Oxford Companion to Beer features more than 1,100 A-Z entries written by 166 of the world's most prominent beer experts. Attractively illustrated with over 140 images, the book covers everything from the agricultural makeup of various beers to the technical elements of the brewing process, local effects of brewing on regions around the world, and the social and political implications of sharing a beer. Entries not only define terms such as "dry hopping" and "cask conditioning" but give fascinating details about how these and other techniques affect a beer's taste, texture, and popularity. Cultural entries shed light on such topics as pub games, food pairings and the development of beer styles. Readers will enjoy vivid accounts of how our drinking traditions have changed throughout history, and how these traditions vary in different parts of the world, from Japan to Mexico, New Zealand, and Brazil, among many other countries. The pioneers of beer-making are the subjects of biographical entries, and the legacies these pioneers have left behind, in the form of the world's most popular beers and breweries, are recurrent themes throughout the book.

Packed with information, this comprehensive resource also includes thorough appendices (covering beer festivals, beer magazines, and more), conversion tables, and an index. Featuring a foreword by Tom Colicchio, this book is the perfect shelf-mate to Oxford's renowned Companion to Wine and an absolutely indispensable volume for everyone who loves beer as well as all beverage professionals, including home brewers, restaurateurs, journalists, cooking school instructors, beer importers, distributors, and retailers, and a host of others.

Adrenaline ($0.99 Kindle), the first Sam Capra novel by Jeff Abbott [Grand Central Publishing]. Although it's not the same series, you can pre-order Trust Me ($2.99), a stand-alone novel that is finally making to ebook.

Adrenaline

Sam Capra is living the life of his dreams.

He's a brilliant young CIA agent, stationed in London. His wife Lucy is seven months pregnant with their first child. They have a wonderful home, and are deeply in love.

They have everything they could hope for...until they lose it all in one horrifying moment.

On a bright, sunny day, Sam receives a call from Lucy while he's at work. She tells him to leave the building immediately. He does...just before it explodes, killing everyone inside. Lucy vanishes, and Sam wakes up in a prison cell. As the lone survivor of the attack, he is branded by the CIA as a murderer and a traitor.

Escaping from the agency, Sam launches into a desperate hunt to save his kidnapped wife and child, and to reveal the unknown enemy who has set him up and stolen his family. But the destruction of Sam's life was only step on in an extraordinary plot-and now Sam must become a new kind of hero.

Trust Me

Luke Dantry finds the bad guys. . .before they're bad guys. He works for a Washington, D.C. think tank as a minor academic who studies the online venting of would-be extremists, trying to identify those who will move from threatening words to deadly action. Anonymously typing from his computer as he monitors a loose collection of enraged loners, Luke thinks his identity is safe--but he is wrong.

Suddenly kidnapped and left for dead in an isolated cabin, Luke soon realizes that the people he's been watching and studying are more organized and dangerous than he ever imagined. And they aren't the only ones who've kept an eye on him. Now with his former targets-and the federal government--tracking every move he makes, Luke must decipher a murderous web of connections that reaches into his own broken past. Only Luke can stop a looming threat that may kill countless people--including himself.

Deadly Sting ($1.99 Kindle) is the just released eighth novel in the Elemental Assassin series by Jennifer Estep [Simon and Schuster], with the companion audiobook for $3.49. A good series and a good author, I definitely didn't expect to see this one on sale so soon after release. I'd grab this one even if you're behind in the series, so that it's waiting for you when you get caught up.

Book Description
Red is definitely my color. Good thing, because in my line of work, I end up wearing it a lot.

Most people shy away from blood, but for an assassin like me— Gin Blanco, aka the Spider—it’s just part of the job. Still, it would be nice to get a night off, especially when I’m attending the biggest gala event of the summer at Briartop, Ashland’s fanciest art museum. But it’s just not meant to be. For this exhibition of my late nemesis’s priceless possessions is not only the place to be seen, but the place to be robbed and taken hostage at gunpoint as well. No sooner did I get my champagne than a bunch of the unluckiest thieves ever burst into the museum and started looting the place.

Unlucky why? Because I brought along a couple of knives in addition to my killer dress. Add these to my Ice and Stone magic, and nothing makes me happier than showing the bad guys why red really is my color.

For fans of Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series, be sure to check out the many titles on sale for $3.99, including a number of the Kindle with Audio/Video Editions that include a different piece of video footage from Eoin Colfer's one man stage show, Fairies, Fiends, & Flatulence in each title and some with companion audiobook editions (I've linked the one under $5). The A/V editions can be read on any Kindles, but the added content is available only on iThings.

Artemis Fowl #1 (companion audiobook)

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius—and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. These aren't the fairies of bedtime stories; these fairies are armed and dangerous. Artemis thinks he has them right where he wants them…but then they stop playing by the rules.

The Arctic Incident #2

Artemis Fowl receives an urgent e-mail from Russia. In it is a plea from a man who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya: his father. As Artemis rushes to his rescue, he is stopped by a familiar nemesis, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit. Now, instead of battling the fairies, Artemis must join forces with them if he wants to save one of the few people in the world he loves.

The Eternity Code #3 (A/V Edition)

Artemis Fowl is going straight. As soon as he pulls off the most brilliant criminal feat of his career. At least, that's the plan when he attempts to sell his C Cube, a supercomputer built from stolen fairy technology. When his efforts to broker a deal for the Cube with a powerful businessman go terribly wrong, his loyal bodyguard and friend Butler is mortally injured. The only thing that will save him is fairy magic, so once again he must contact his old rival, Holly Short. It's going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis's luck may have just run out.

The Opal Deception #4 (A/V Edition)

The evil pixie Opal Koboi has spent the last year in a self-induced coma, plotting her revenge on all those who foiled her attempt to destroy the LEPrecon fairy police. And Artemis Fowl is at the top of her list. After his last run-in with the fairies, Artemis had his mind wiped of his memories of the world belowground. But they have not forgotten about him. Once again, he must stop the human and fairy worlds from colliding – only this time, Artemis faces an enemy who may have finally outsmarted him.

The Lost Colony #5 (A/V Edition)

Demons are beginning to materialize without warning on Earth. If humans were to capture one, all fairies would be exposed. In order to protect themselves, the fairies must decipher complicated equations to determine where the next demon will appear. Not even the brilliant Foaly can make heads or tails of the formulas – but he knows someone who can: Artemis Fowl. When a very confused demon imp appears in a Sicilian theater, Artemis is there to meet him. But he is not alone. Someone else has unlocked the secrets of the fairy world…and she is only twelve years old. Now, in a race against time, a newly-reformed Artemis Fowl will have to dip into his bag of dirty tricks if he is to save his fairy friends from his latest nemesis, not to mention a power hungry demon warlord who is poised to invade our dimension with his savage army.

The Time Paradox #6 ($3.99 A/V Edition)

"When Artemis Fowl’s mother contracts a life-threatening illness, his world is turned upside down. The only hope for a cure lies in the brain fluid of the silky sifaka lemur. Unfortunately, the animal is extinct due to a heartless bargain Artemis himself made as a younger boy.

Though the odds are stacked against him, Artemis is not willing to give up. With the help of his fairy friends, the young genius travels back in time to save the lemur and bring it back to the present. But to do so, Artemis will have to defeat a maniacal poacher, who has set his sights on new prey: Holly Short.

The rules of time travel are far from simple, but to save his mother, Artemis will have to break them all…and outsmart his most cunning adversary yet: Artemis Fowl, age ten.

The Artemis Fowl Files ($3.49)

The Artemis Fowl Files is comprised of two original stories: “LEPrecon”: the story of Fairy Police Captain Holly Short’s move from Traffic to Recon following her initiation into the Fairy Police; and “The Seventh Dwarf”, featuring Mulch, Butler, and Artemis himself.

EXTRAS INCLUDE:
• “Behind-the-scenes” interviews with major characters including: Artemis, Holly, Foaly, Mulch, and Eoin
Colfer himself
• Coded section from the Fairy Book for kids to translate
• A section for Fairy Spotters including the different categories of Fairy and their physical characteristics
and personality traits, including: Elves, Trolls, Sprites, Pixies Goblins, Dwarves and Centaurs
• Technical diagrams of Foaly’s inventions

Not To Us ($3.99 Kindle), by Katherine Owen.

Book Description
If you get a second chance, do you take a different path?

There are all kinds of ways for a relationship to be tested, even broken, some, irrevocably; it's the endings we're unprepared for.

Ellie's perfect world unravels.
A best friend's betrayal ends her marriage.
An alarming diagnosis threatens her life.
Yet.
It all leads to Michael...
But, fate soon tests their perfect union.
And, begs the question: if you get a second chance, do you take a different path?

The Beach House ($1.99 Kindle) and Another Summer ($2.99 Kindle), by Georgia Bockoven [HarperCollins]

The Beach House (Update: back to regular price)

The beach house is a peaceful haven, a place to escape everyday problems. Here, three families find their feelings intensified and their lives transformed each summer.

When thirty-year-old Julia, mourning the death of her husband, decides to sell the Santa Cruz beach house they owned together, she sets in motion a final summer that will change the lives of all the families who rent it year after year. Teenaged Chris discovers the bittersweet joy of first love. Maggie and Joe, married sixty-five years, courageously face a separation that even their devotion cannot prevent. The married woman Peter yearns for suddenly comes within his reach. And Julia ultimately finds the strength to rebuild her life—something she once thought impossible.

With equal measures of heartbreak and happiness, bestselling author Georgia Bockoven's unforgettable novel tells of the beauty of life and the power of love, and speaks to every woman who has ever clung to a child or loved a man.

Another Summer

Georgia Bockoven’s enthralling Another Summer—the sequel to her phenomenal bestseller The Beach House—is a must for fans of Jodi Picoult and Marian Keyes. It is the moving and powerful story of four families, the conflicts that tear them apart…and the house that brings them together. Bestselling author Kristin Hannah says, “It will appeal to anyone who believes in the healing power of love,” and Mary Jo Putney advises you to, “Read Another Summer on a day when you want to laugh and cry and feel better about the world.” If you’re looking for the very best in heartbreaking, heart-soaring, uplifting fiction…come in.

Disguised Blessing ($0.99 Kindle), by Georgia Bockoven [HarperCollins]

Book Description
After years of being alone, Catherine Miller thinks she's finally found happiness. Engaged to an adoring, successful executive, she lives in a luxurious house, and her beautiful fifteen-year-old daughter, Linda, is on the brink of college and adulthood. Then, Catherine's rose-colored world is shattered. Her daughter is burned terribly in a freak accident, and just when Catherine needs him most, her fiancé abandons her. Now Catherine must call on every ounce of courage and strength she has to help her beloved daughter recover. Fortunately, she's got help in fire captain Rick Sawyer, an expert burn counselor. Ruggedly handsome, appealingly down-to-earth, Rick is like no man Catherine has ever met. But Catherine made the wrong choice before. How can she trust her emotions--especially when it's not just her heart at stake but her daughter's life, too?

In the tradition of Barbara Delinsky comes this poignant, moving story of the bonds of family, the strength of love, and the courage to dare.

Dust ($5.99 Kindle), by Hugh Howey, is now available for pre-order and I have it in my queue! I expect to be up late one or two nights in a row finishing it, as I did with Wool and Shift.

Book Description
WOOL introduced the silo and its inhabitants.

SHIFT told the story of their making.

DUST will chronicle their undoing.

Welcome to the underground.

Bargain Book Roundup

As we are approaching the July 4th holiday, I've been trolling thru the cookbooks at Amazon and a couple of my finds are below. I also ran across Smoke and Pickles: Recipes and Stories from a New Southern Kitchen ($9.18 Kindle), by Edward Lee [Artisan], which is on Amazon's Best Books of the Year So Far list for 2013. It may be a bit over my usual $5 limit, but it's a brand new release and looks pretty interesting (and his restaurant is "just up the road" from here).

Book Description
Chef Edward Lee's story and his food could only happen in America. Raised in Brooklyn by a family of Korean immigrants, he eventually settled down in his adopted hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, where he owns the acclaimed restaurant 610 Magnolia. A multiple James Beard Award nominee for his unique patchwork cuisine, Edward creates recipes--filled with pickling, fermenting, frying, curing, and smoking--that reflect the overlapping flavors and techniques that led this Korean-American boy to feel right at home in the South. Dishes like Chicken-Fried Pork Steak with Ramen Crust and Buttermilk Pepper Gravy; Collards and Kimchi; Braised Beef Kalbi with Soft Grits and Scallions; and Miso-Smothered Chicken all share a place on his table. Born with the storytelling gene of a true Southerner, Lee fills his debut cookbook with tales of the restaurant world, New York City, Kentucky, and his time competing on Top Chef, plus more than 130 exceptional recipes for food with Korean roots and Southern soul.

America's Best BBQ: 100 Recipes from America's Best Smokehouses, Pits, Shacks, Rib Joints, Roadhouses, and Restaurants ($2.99 Kindle), by Chef Paul Kirk and Ardie A. Davis [Andrews McMeel Publishing]. I snagged a review copy of this one and there is everything in there, from breakfast to dessert.

Book Description
Hungry for something different? Then try America's Best BBQ Here, two of the world's top barbecue experts present their favorite barbecue recipes from across America.Only Ardie and Paul, the go-to sources on barbecue, can earn the trust--and the secret recipes--from some of the nation's barbecue legends.Tasty sides include tips, tricks, techniques, fun memorabilia, full-color photos, and firsthand recollections of tales from the pits culled from over a century of combined barbecue experience.With more than 100 recipes for mouthwatering starters, moist and flavorful meats, classic side dishes, sauces and rubs, and decadent desserts, this book should come with its own wet-nap. Whether it's spicy or sweet, Texas or Memphis, this is the best collection of American barbecue recipes. Ardie's BBQ alter ego, Remus Powers, PhB, has earned profiles in many barbecue books, tons of magazines, and more than a few national newspapers. He's graced the Food Network and PBS, appearing in various documentaries on 'cue and great American cuisine. Paul has appeared on The Today Show, Discovery Channel, CBS This Morning, Talk Soup, and Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour: In Search of the Perfect Meal. He was also featured in AARP's Modern Maturity Magazine, Saveur, and The Calgary Herald, and he has written articles for Food and Wine, Fine Cooking, and Chili Pepper magazine.

Our Favorite Grilling Recipes Cookbook ($0.49 Kindle), by Gooseberry Patch; the description is from the paper edition and there is a recipe for Blue Cheese Burgers on the product page.

Book Description
Over 60 of our favorite recipes, with handy tips. "Purse-friendly size" make meal-planning on the go easy.

Midnight Rider and Innocence Undone ($3.79 Kindle) are backlist re-issues by Kat Martin [Macmillan].

Innocence Undone

Jessica Fox wasn't always the beautiful, composed young woman who is the toast of the London ton. Born in poverty, Jessica wandered the streets until fate found her a guardian in the aging Marquess of Belmore. Now, it is fate she tempts with her longing for the Marquess's son, the arrogant and handsome Captain Mathew Seaton.

Upon his return from the sea, Matthew is forced to confront the sensuous beauty he believes has set her sights on the Belmore title. Though his mind tells him to beware, his blood boils with thoughts of luring her into his bed. To win his love, Jessica will do anything. But when desire flames and the dark shadow of her childhood lengthens, she risks everything she has dreamed of in a dangerous dance of denial.

Midnight Rider

She was his captive. He was the one man she was forbidden to have...

As soon as the tall, handsome Spaniard leaned down from his stallion to offer her a rose, Caralee McConnell know California held danger. But all too quickly she was forced to deny the heat Ramon de la Guerra had sparked. Determined to please her uncle who had saved her from poverty, she must resign herself to marrying a man he has chosen for her...and ignore what is in her heart.

Behind Ramon de la Guerra's dark eyes throbbed the memory of his lands, stolen by the beautiful Americana's uncle. He had sworn to reclaim them-riding by night as the ruthless outlaw, El Dragon. In a moment of rage and revenge, he stole Caralee away to his mountain lair...but there, in a passion as sweet as California wine, he would reveal a secret that could cost him his life-and his heart's freedom.

Faith of the Fallen ($2.99 Kindle), the sixth novel in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind [Macmillan], with the companion audiobook for $3.49. I'll be picking this up to fill in my library (but at nearly 800 pages, it may be a while before I finish reading it).

Book Description
Terry Goodkind author of the enormously popular Sword of Truth novels, has forged perhaps his best novel yet, pitting Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell against threats to the freedom of the world that will take them to opposite ends of the world to defeat the forces of chaos and anarchy.

Emperor Jagang is rising once again in the Old World and Richard must face him, on his own turf. Richard heads into the Old World with Cara, the Mord-Sith, while his beloved Kahlan remains behind. Unwilling to heed an ancient prophecy, Kahlan raises an army and goes into battle against forces threatening armed insurrection in the Midlands.

Separated and fighting for their lives, Richard and Kahlan will be tested to the utmost.

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

Three of Jo Nesbo's Harry Hole novels are on sale for $2.99 apiece [HarperCollins]. Besides the Starred Reviews from Publisher's Weekly (amongst others), these have the Mom stamp of approval - after I picked up the first one and she read it, I had to pick up all the rest that had been translated to English for her. She's currently reading my review copy The Bat, which was only recently translated and can now be pre-ordered in the Kindle store.

The Redbreast #3 ($3.95 companion audiobook)

No disrespect meant to Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson, but Jo Nesbø, the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman, is the most exciting Scandinavian thriller writer in the crime fiction business. The Redbreast is a fabulous introduction to Nesbø’s tough-as-nails series protagonist, Oslo police detective Harry Hole. A brilliant and epic novel, breathtaking in its scope and design—winner of The Glass Key for best Nordic crime novel and selected as the best Norwegian crime novel ever written by members of Norway’s book clubs—The Redbreast is a chilling tale of murder and betrayal that ranges from the battlefields of World War Two to the streets of modern-day Oslo. Follow Hole as he races to stop a killer and disarm a ticking time-bomb from his nation’s shadowy past. Vogue magazine says that “nobody can delve into the dark, twisted mind of a murderer better than a Scandinavian thriller writer”…and nobody does it better than Jo Nesbø! James Patterson fans should also take note.

Nemesis #4

The #1 international bestseller from one of the most celebrated crime writers in Europe--the New York Times bestselling author of The Snowman--Jo Nesbø’s extraordinary thriller Nemesis features Norwegian homicide detective Harry Hole, “the next in the long line of great noir crime detectives,” (San Diego Union-Tribune) in a case as dark and chilling as an Oslo winter’s night. The second Harry Hole novel to be released in America—following the critically acclaimed publication of The Redbird—Nemesis is a superb and surprising nail-biter that places Jo Nesbø in the company of Lawrence Block, Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and other top masters of crime fiction. Nesbø has already received the Glass Key Award and the Booksellers’ Prize, Norway’s most prestigious literary awards. Nemesis is proof that there are certainly more honors in this extraordinary writer's future.

The Devil's Star #5

Oslo is sweltering in the summer heat when a young woman is murdered in her flat. One finger has been cut off and a tiny red diamond in the shape of a pentagram—a five-pointed star—is found under her eyelid. Detective Harry Hole is assigned the case with Tom Waaler, a colleague he neither likes nor trusts. He believes Tom is behind a gang of arms smugglers—and the murder of his partner. But Harry, an off-the-rails alcoholic, is barely holding on to his job and has little choice but to play nice.

Five days later, another woman is reported missing. When her severed finger is found adorned with a star-shaped red diamond ring, Harry fears a serial killer is on the loose. Determined to find the killer and expose the crooked Tom Waaler, Harry discovers the two investigations melding in unexpected ways. But pursuing the truth comes at a price, and soon Harry finds himself on the run and forced to make difficult decisions about a future he may not live to see.

One of the brightest stars of Scandinavian crime writing, Jo Nesbø has been compared to Ian Rankin, Michael Connelly, and Henning Mankell. His novels are bestsellers throughout Europe, acclaimed by critics and revered by aficionados of thrillers and mysteries. Brilliantly plotted and paced, The Devil's Star shows Nesbø at his absolute best, combining powerful emotional resonance with truly stunning suspense.

Sorcerer's Ring Bundle ($8.99 Kindle), by Morgan Rice; this contains the first three books in the series and apparently runs to around 800 pages in print (according to Google) or about 200,000 words.

Book Description
This bundle includes the first three books in Morgan Rice’s #1 Bestselling fantasy series THE SORCERER’S RING (A QUEST OF HEROES, A MARCH OF KINGS and A FEAST OF DRAGONS). These three bestselling novels are all here in one convenient file. It is a great introduction to the SORCERER’S RING series. Over 200,000 words of reading, all for an incredible price of just $8.99! It is a great deal, and it also makes the perfect gift!

The series tells the epic tale of the coming of age of Thorgrin, a special 14 year old boy, the least loved of his father, as he strives to become a warrior in the magical Kingdom of the Ring, and as he learns he has powers, and a destiny, he does not understand. An outsider, he must fight for acceptance as he strives to join the King’s elite Legion, and as he falls in love with the king’s 16 year old daughter. Most of all, he must learn who he really is, why his destiny is so important, and why the entire fate of The Ring depends on him.

With its sophisticated world-building and characterization, THE SORCERER’S RING is an epic tale of friends and lovers, of rivals and suitors, of knights and dragons, of intrigues and political machinations, of coming of age, of broken hearts, of deception, ambition and betrayal. It is a tale of honor and courage, of fate and destiny, of sorcery. It is a fantasy that brings us into a world we will never forget, and which will appeal to all ages and genders.

The Witness ($1.99 Kindle) and White Hot ($2.99 Kindle), by Sandra Brown

The Witness [Hachette]

The best public defender in Prosper, Kendall has stumbled upon the town's chilling secret - and her marriage to one of the town's most powerful men has become a living hell. Now Kendall is a terrified mother trying to save her child's life.

White Hot [Hachette]

When she hears that her younger brother Danny has committed suicide, Sayre Lynch relents from her vow never to return to Destiny, the small Louisiana town in which she grew up. She plans to leave immediately after the funeral, but instead soon finds herself drawn into the web cast by Huff Hoyle, her controlling and tyrannical father, the man who owns the town's sole industry, an iron foundry, and in effect runs the lives of everyone who lives there.

As she feared, Sayre learns that nothing has changed. Her father and older brother, Chris, are as devious as ever, and now they have a new partner-in-crime, a canny and disarming lawyer named Beck Merchant, who appears to be their equal in corruption.

Soon, Sayre is thrown in closer contact with Beck and becomes convinced that something more sinister is at play than her father's usual need to dominate people and events. As she sets out to learn just what did happen to Danny, she comes to realize that there are many secrets in Destiny -- secrets that hide decades of pain and anger, and that threaten at any moment to erupt and destroy not only her father and brother, but perhaps Sayre herself.

Underneath the rigid control that the Hoyles exert over the town, trouble is brewing. Old hatreds foster plans for revenge, past crimes resurface, and a maverick deputy sheriff determines that Danny Hoyle's death was not suicide, but murder.

As tensions mount, threatening to ignite a powder keg of long-held hostility, Sayre finds herself inextricably drawn into a struggle with striking laborers, her unscrupulous father, and her own emotions over the love/hate relationship that is growing with Beck, a man apparently with his own agenda, and mysteries of his own.

As she has shown in the dozens of bestselling novels in which she has combined hard-edged suspense with intense emotion, Sandra Brown is a master storyteller, and in her new novel she is at her very best.

Midst Toil and Tribulation ($2.99 Kindle), the sixth novel in the Safehold Military SciFi series by David Weber.

Book Description
David Weber's New York Times bestselling Safehold series of military Science Fiction adventure, which began with Off Armageddon Reef, continues with Midst Toil and Tribulation

WAR AND FAMINE

Once the Church of God Awaiting dominated all the kingdoms of Safehold. Then, after centuries of stasis, the island kingdom of Charis began to defy the edicts of Mother Church-egged on, some say, by the mysterious warrior-monk Merlin Athrawes, who enjoys the Charisian royal family's absolute trust.

What vanishingly few people know is that Merlin is the cybernetic avatar of a young woman a thousand years dead, felled in the war in which aliens destroyed Earth...and that since awakening, his task has been to restart the history of the long-hidden human race.

Now, reeling from the wars and intrigues that have cascaded from Charis's declaration of independence, the Republic of Siddermark slides into chaos. The Church has engineered a rebellion, and Siddermark's all-important harvest is at risk. King Cayleb and Queen Sharleyan struggle to stabilize their ally, which will mean sending troops-but, even more importantly, preventing famine. For mass starvation in Safehold's breadbasket is a threat even more ominous than civil war...

At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

New 99 cent Bargain Books (part II)

More 99 cent books from William Morrow (HarperCollins)

Green Girls ($0.99 Kindle), by Michael Kimball

Book Description
A writer, a father, a husband, the owner of a strictly ordered life, Jacob Winter is not a man prone to violence—until the day he walks in unexpectedly on his wife's affair. Awakening in a small-town Maine jail with no memory of his alleged rampage, he is bailed out by Alix Callahan, a mysterious ethnobotanist who claims to own a small piece of his past. Drawn into her obsessive relationship with July, an exotic Indian beauty from the rainforests of South America, Jacob is simultaneously mesmerized and unnerved by the two women's strange erotic dance as his meticulously controlled world slips even farther out of its orbit—leading him to a clandestine meeting at the top of a bridge, where he helplessly watches Alix plunge 250 feet into the raging waters below. A suicide, a murder, neither, or both pull Jacob Winter into a twisted game of dark deceptions and psychological terror, one that could destroy his sanity and his soul.

Body Language and Emotion of Cats ($0.99 Kindle), by Myrna Milani

Book Description
What does your cat really want when it rubs up against your leg?
Is it showing affection or aggression when it sucks a hole in your favorite sweater?
Why does it turn up its nose at the cat food you bought on sale, settling only for the most expensive meal?

Making use of the latest scientific evidence on animal consciousness, Dr. Milani shows how a thorough understanding of feline anatomy, physiology, and behavior can lead to a warm and lasting bond between cats and the people who love them. She also lets us know what our responses to feline behavior tell the cat about us and our emotions.

The Body Language and Emotion of Cats is a fascinating guide to understanding this enigmatic pet and provides a way to enrich and expand the bond between owner and cat.

The Witch Doctor's Wife with Bonus Material ($0.99 Kindle), by Tamar Myers (besides the starred reviews, my mother loved this).

Book Description
For a limited time at a special price, enjoy beloved mystery writer Tamar Myers' novel The Witch Doctor's Wife—an enthralling tale of duty, greed, danger, and miracles in equatorial Africa. As a bonus, you get an excerpt from The Headhunter's Daughter and The Boy Who Stole the Leopard's Spots, on sale May 8, 2012.

The Congo beckons to young Amanda Brown in 1958, as she follows her missionary calling to the mysterious "dark continent" far from her South Carolina home. But her enthusiasm cannot cushion her from the shock of a very foreign culture—where competing missionaries are as plentiful as flies, and oppressive European overlords are busy stripping the land of its most valuable resource: diamonds.

Little by little, Amanda is drawn into the lives of the villagers in tiny Belle Vue—and she is touched by the plight of the local witch doctor, a man known as Their Death, who has been forced to take a second job as a yardman to support his two wives. But when First Wife stumbles upon an impossibly enormous uncut gem, events are set in motion that threaten to devastate the lives of these people Amanda has come to admire and love—events that could lead to nothing less than murder.

The Gazebo: A Novel ($0.99 Kindle), by Emily Grayson

Book Description
The Gazebo is an elegantly written story of enduring love and loyalty, in the popular tradition of The Bridges of Madison County and The Notebook.

Once a year for half a century, a man and a woman have been meeting at the gazebo in the square of a small town in upstate New York. Martin Rayfiel and Claire Swift long ago married other people, yet they have remained faithful to their vow to love each other always. When Martin, now a handsome, elderly man, walks into the office of the town newspaper and tries to tell his tale to the young editor Abby Reston, she is too busy to listen. But the next day Abby finds herself drawn to the gazebo to watch for the annual arrival of Martin and Claire. She waits and waits, but they don't come. Puzzled and intrigued, Abby finds a briefcase that Martin left behind for her, and in it--in photographs, papers, tape recordings, and mementos--is the entire astonishing story of Martin and Claire, a love affair that spanned the globe and somehow survived for fifty years.

The only son of the town's wealthiest family, Martin dreamed of being a world-class chef, while Claire, born of poor parents, hoped to be a sculptor. Despite their disparate backgrounds, and in defiance of small-town morality, they left everything behind and traveled together through Europe, until family allegiances suddenly and unexpectedly called Claire home. Before they parted, they vowed that, no matter what, they would meet at the gazebo once a year. Now it's up to Abby to find out what drove these lovers apart, why they continued to meet over the decades, and where they are now.

From the picturesque square in the center of a small town to the hotels, restaurants, museums, and boulevards of Paris, Florence, and London, Martin and Claire's story offers a voyage of discovery that transforms Abby Reston's own life. The Gazebo is a haunting tale of love and faithfulness that no reader will ever forget.

Healthy Kids: Help Them Eat Smart and Stay Active--For Life ($0.99 Kindle), by Marilu Henner

Book Description
We all want our children to be fit and healthy, but the current invasion of fast food, sugary snacks, and oversize portions are creating an epidemic of overweight, inactive, and unhealthy kids. The powerful influences of the fast-food industry, omnipresent junk food advertising, and the vicious cycle of TV, computer games, and Internet addictions only make our children more susceptible to a sedentary lifestyle and a lifetime of bad habits and obesity. Now, health pioneer and dedicated mom Marilu Henner says it's time to say good-bye to sugarcoated cereals, artificially colored cheese puffs, oceans of sugary soft drinks, nutritionally deficient school lunches, and fastfood supermeals!

As Marilu explains, parents who want the best for their children need to feed them fresh, whole foods to grow by. In Healthy Kids she shows you how to create a healthy, balanced lifestyle for your kids and how to make the transition from dairy-, fat-, sugar-, and chemical-laden foods to the vibrant, natural, nourishing foods we were all meant to eat.

Healthy Kids offers a proven plan to help parents and kids alike learn to eat healthier and feel better.

Between Earth & Sky ($0.99 Kindle), by Karen Osborn; a quick check of the sample shows promise.

Book Description
Years ago, Abby Reynolds was given the letters written by her great-great-grandmother who traveled from Virginia to New Mexico in a covered wagon just after the Civil War. Now, at a crossroads in her life, Abby reads Abigail's letters and follows her ancestor's trail westward where she seeks to understand the other woman's life in a land that was so foreign to her family, they all but forgot her.

Between Earth and Sky records two journeys—Abby's search of New Mexico where she meets an old Hispanic woman whom she shares a strange kinship with, and Abigail's travels through Indian territory into a life filled with danger, forbidden love, children she could not have imagined, and always the wide arc of the sky and the strange but magical earth that lies beneath it. Part epistolary, part narrative, Between Earth and Sky forms a love letter to the land itself and to those who chose to people it.

The Heart of the Matter: The Three Key Breakthroughs to Preventing Heart Attacks ($0.99 Kindle), by Peter Salgo and Joe Layden

Book Description
By the head of the Open Heart ICU at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital––an incredibly persuasive and revolutionary approach for lowering the risks of heart disease –– this plan links high cholesterol and Chlamydia as risk factors and lays out a program to combat both.

We are on the cusp of an enormous breakthrough in preventing heart attacks – forever. We are in the same place we were just before penicillin revolutionized the treatment of infectious disease, before fluoride eradicated tooth decay, and just before the polio vaccine brought that disease under control in this country. In The Heart of the Matter, Dr. Peter Salgo, the associate director of the Open Heart ICU at New York Presbyterian Hospital, offers a simple formula to treat people before they get sick, which in turn will prevent heart attacks before they occur.

For the first time in history, we know what really causes heart attack. And that knowledge has led Dr. Salgo to this amazingly simple and straightforward program that will save millions of lives. Dr. Salgo recommends using statins, antibiotics, and aspirin to prevent coronary heart disease. This groundbreaking book also offers a self–test that readers can take to assess their own personal risk for heart disease.

The Heart of the Matter is the beginning of a change in the treatment of heart disease. It introduces a preventative program that includes traditional diet and exercise guidelines as well as a blanket recommendation that adults, even many young adults, incorporate medicines into the on–going pursuit for health and longevity – something that, until now, seemed impossible to many. Now, without using a lot of indecipherable medical jargon, this invaluable new guide will show you exactly how to attain that longer, healthier life that so many people wish for.

How Much Does Your Soul Weigh?: Diet-Free Solutions to Your Food, Weight, and Body Worries ($0.99 Kindle), by Dorie McCubbrey

Book Description
You hold in your hands a life-changing weight control revelation -- a holistic approach to help you overcome all eating and weight problems from anorexia to obesity. This innovative book will shed light on your unsuccessful attempts at dieting and help you begin to heal from the inside out, once and for all!

How many "miracle diets" have you tried? How many minutes and hours have you spent worrying about the numbers on the bathroom scale? How many times have you lost weight only to gain it back along with renewed disappointment and frustration? You've worried about how much your body weighs, but have you asked:

How Much Does Your Soul Weigh?

Dr. Doric McCubbrey, a weight-issues specialist whose practice boasts a 95 percent success rate, reveals that the weight of your soul may be preventing you from effecting the changes you want to see in your appearance and self-esteem. By starting Dr. Dorie's plan for "Intuitive Self-Care," you can begin to unburden your soul of all the "weighty attitudes" of the diet mentality -- rigid rules, negative self-talk, and unrealistic goals -- that lead to very real feelings of disappointment and hopelessness.

With empathy and insight, Dr. Doric explores and explains the importance of a soulful attitude toward your eating, exercise, and weight.

Child No More: A Memoir ($0.99 Kindle), by Xaviera Hollander

Book Description
In the bestselling The Happy Hooker and subsequent books, Xaviera Hollander became famous for her unforgettably candid and racy stories of life as a New York madam catering to a sophisticated international clientele during the 1960s and 70s. Yet this remarkable woman's sexual escapades form only a part of her own remarkable life story—a story she reveals for the first time in the pages of this literary memoir, Child No More. It was a life begun in terror: Two months after her birth, young Xaviera de Vries and her mother were confined in a prison camp during the WWII Japanese occupation of Indonesia; her father, a doctor, was imprisoned in another camp. Two years later, summoned to treat a sick child, he operated on his own daughter without realizing her identity. But that story is just the start of an extraordinary memoir in which she traces her own life—and sexuality—as it was influenced by the example of her parents: her father, a dapper and witty Jewish psychologist and intellectual, her mother the gorgeous daughter of conventional German parents, and a target of Nazi enmity for her association with a Jew. With breathtaking but entirely characteristic—frankness, Xaviera revisits how her parents' own tempestuous relationship (and her father's licentious lifestyle) shaped her own life story. As she chronicles her eventual departure for New York, her entree into the world of prostitution, and her years of international celebrity, she reveals for the first time how her parents' lives continued to entwine with her own, as she endured years of separation from her father, and even stood by her mother as she entered a fulfilling lesbian relationship in the last years of her life. Told in the utterly frank and unquenchably inquisitive voice that marks all her work—yet from an entirely new and ultimately more honest perspective—Child No More recounts a surprising and ultimately uplifting "voyage of discovery through three lives."

King of the City ($0.99 Kindle), by Michael Moorcock

Book Description
More than a decade ago, Michael Moorcock's extraordinary Mother London gave stunning new breath and style to contemporary literature. With Bruce Chatwin's Utz and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses, the novel was short-listed for Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize. Now, with scathing wit and enthralling vision, the author whom the Washington Post has praised as "one of the most exciting discoveries in the contemporary English novel [in] 40 or so years" returns to a city transformed and transforming, and in peril of its life.

These are the times and trials of Dennis Dover, former rock guitarist, photojournalist, and paparazzo. Denny inhabits a world of vibrant color, smell, and sound, where novel experience and unpredictability are anchored by steadfast tradition and history. Mother London's many vagaries give Denny Dover joy and succor, always seducing him home from the Earth's terrible places, where the face of death is as common as the blood that stains the local dirt. And London is where Rosie Beck is, when she isn't off elsewhere combating the planet's great ills.

Denny's brilliant, beautiful, socially conscious cousin has always been an indispensable part of his being -- his soul mate and his soul. Since childhood they have been inseparable, delighting in the daily discoveries of a life with no limits. But now the metropolis that nurtured them is threatened by a powerful, unstoppable force that consumes the past indiscriminately and leaves nothing of substance in its wake.

The terminator is named John Barbican Begg. A hanger-on from Denny and Rosie's youth, he has become the morally corrupt center of their London and the richest, most rapacious creature in the Western Hemisphere. Now, as their cherished landmarks tumble, conspiracy, secrets, lies, and betrayal become the centerpieces of Rosie and Dennis's days. For Barbican has but one goal: to devour the entire world. And the only choice left is to join in, drop out ... or plot to destroy.

A sprawling work of incomparable invention, King of the City is eccentric and remarkable, a unique urban love story with a pit-bull bite that confirms the unparalleled literary genius of the amazing Michael Moorcock.

Red, White & Liberal: How Left Is Right & Right Is Wrong ($0.99 Kindle), by Alan Colmes

Book Description
As one of the foremost liberal voices in television and radio today, Alan Colmes has long been braving the wilds of controversial issues and conservative slander. The host of the talk-radio show Fox News Live with Alan Colmes and cohost of Fox News Channel's hit debate show Hannity & Colmes, Colmes now offers this witty, passionate wake-up call to America.

Colmes takes on the fundamental question: How can we protect our nation without diminishing our liberties, and regain our place in the world as an example of democracy? Colmes urges Americans to see past the government's manipulation of the War on Terror to silence critics; the lies we've been force-fed about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan; and the conservative smear campaign that has turned "liberal" into a four-letter word. From debunking the myth of the liberal media to exposing conservative hypocrisy, Colmes presents the issues with thoughtful, provocative arguments, hard facts and logic, and searing humor.

Certain to spark debate and cause readers to reevaluate and reaffirm their beliefs, Red, White & Liberal powerfully argues that despite our differences, we must extend our hands across party lines to find solutions, protect our shores, and preserve our freedoms.

Test Pattern: A Novel ($0.99 Kindle), by Marjorie Klein

Book Description
A dazzling and strikingly original fiction debut from an exciting new talent

From the moment a new TV set arrives at the Palmer household in 1954 in Newport News, Virginia, change is in the wind. Eleven-year-old Cassie glimpses snapshots of the future in the hypnotic test pattern. Mesmerized, Cassie sees snippets from Kennedy's assassination, the Beatles' debut, man's landing on the Moon, and the O. J. Simpson trial. Her starstruck mother, Lorena, delights in the magical images flickering on the screen too, and finds the strength to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Lorena soon plunges into an affair with an old flame, whose cousin turns out to be a talent scout for Arthur Godfrey, and risks her marriage to Cassie's dad, an accident-prone, depressed construction worker. As Lorena learns that the path to fame and fortune is strewn with obstacles, Cassie's own eyes are being opened to the world outside of provincial Newport News-and to the even richer world within herself.

Brilliantly re-creating the innocence and energy of the '50s, Test Pattern is a tour de force of wit, spirit, and imagination. From the moment a new TV set arrives at the Palmer household in 1954 in Newport News, Virginia, change is in the wind. Eleven-year-old Cassie glimpses snapshots of the future in the hypnotic test pattern. Mesmerized, Cassie sees snippets from Kennedy's assassination, the Beatles' debut, man's landing on the Moon, and the O. J. Simpson trial. Her starstruck mother, Lorena, delights in the magical images flickering on the screen too, and finds the strength to pursue her dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Lorena soon plunges into an affair with an old flame, whose cousin turns out to be a talent scout for Arthur Godfrey, and risks her marriage to Cassie's dad, an accident-prone, depressed construction worker. As Lorena learns that the path to fame and fortune is strewn with obstacles, Cassie's own eyes are being opened to the world outside of provincial Newport News-and to the even richer world within herself.

Brilliantly re-creating the innocence and energy of the '50s, Test Pattern is a tour de force of wit, spirit, and imagination.

My Lucky Dog ($0.99 Kindle), by Mellon Tytell

Book Description
Hunter, my majestic eighty-six-pound mutt, was the love of my life for thirteen years. I was addicted to looking at him—every twitch of his ear was fascinating to me. I've taken thousands of photographs of him, dozens even in the same position. He was "my lucky dog."

I adopted Hunter when he was two. He came with that name, his former owner a fan of Hunter S. Thompson. I noticed Hunter's photo in the window of a pet store in Vermont and brought him home.

If I was the lucky break in his life, he was the transforming experience in mine. Before, I was a little wild. As a photographer, I traveled around the world, picking up and leaving on a dime. Life was exciting: photo shoots in Paris, Haiti, the Himalayas, the Andes, and even the Amazon.

Hunter tamed me. I couldn't be away from him for more than five hours at a time. I had no children of my own; Hunter taught me about responsibility, love, and devotion in a way that was inaccessible to me with "people."

—Mellon

New 99 cent Bargain Books

These are a part of the HarperCollins 99 cent sale, but since they are under their William Morrow Books imprint, they don't show up in the initial search I created.

Death by Chocolate Cakes: An Astonishing Array of Chocolate Enchantments ($0.99 Kindle), by Marcel Desaulniers

Book Description
In this scrumptious collection, revered chef Marcel Desaulniers serves up some of his most sinful, most seductive chocolate creations ever. An astonishing array of chocolate lovers from the "guru of ganache".

There are several cookbooks by Paul Prudhomme, all 99 cents on Kindle:

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Pure Magic

Over one hundred recipes show you how to bring a symphony of flavors to everyday meals. If you're looking for satisfying deep-down tastes, look no further. Here you'll find:

Sticky Chicken Lotsa Crab Crab Cakes Southern Smothered Spuds Sweet Potato Omelet Bronzed Fish Fresh Garlic Pasta Corn Chowder Black Bean Soup Really Rich Beef and MushroomsAlso included are all your Louisiana favorites, such as gumbos, jambalayas, and etouffées.

This collection of nearly 100 savory recipes brings out a symphony of flavors and smiles in the everyday dishes loved by all--meatloaf, mashed potatoes, salads, bronzed chicken--as well as Louisiana favorites such as gumbos, jamabalayas, and etouffees.

Fiery Foods That I Love

Chef Paul has traveled around the globe, brought back its flavors, and dreamed them into such mouthwatering, soul-satisfying recipes as Fire-Roasted Garlic Bread; Fennel and Split Pea Soup; Fried Eggplant coated in sesame seeds; Pepper Tomato Shrimp; Sweet Beef and Fresh Chiles; Smothered Potatoes, Cabbage, and Andouille; and much, much more. And he's even added his "Too Hot for Mrs. Podunk" recipes for those of you hungry for five-alarm flavor. Those in search of Chef Paul's favorites, just look for his trademark cap.

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America

When one of America's most talented and best loved chefs reinterprets the great American classics, the result is Chef Paul Prudhomme's Seasoned America, a beautifully illustrated collection of American favorites made even better.

In his new book, Chef Paul works his culinary magic on America's classic regional recipes--San Francisco cioppino, Texas chili, Maryland crab cakes, for example. The results are more than 150 recipes that represent a whole new way of interpreting traditional American cooking. Special sections encourage home cooks to experiment and take risks for the sheer taste of it..

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Tastes: Exciting Flavors from the State that Cooks

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen is an exciting exploration of the new flavors that have made Louisiana cooking even better.

Chef Paul Prudhomme put Louisiana cooking on the map. Now Chef Paul returns to his culinary roots to show us how Louisiana cooking has evolved.

Today, the culinary influences of Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and many other cuisines are being integrated into "traditional" Louisiana cooking. Chef Paul explores how Louisiana cooks have incorporated such newly available ingredients as lemongrass, fresh tamarind, and papaya into their dishes. As Chef Paul says, any Louisiana cook worth his or her salt will work with what's available — familiar or not — and turn it into something delicious. Andouille Spicy Rice gets its zing! from chipotle and pasilla chile peppers, and Roasted Lamb with Fire-Roasted Pepper Sauce is flavored with jalapeno peppers and fennel. Classic jambalaya, etouffee, and gumbo are reinvented with such far-flung ingredients as star anise, cilantro, yuca, plantain, and mango.

Chef Paul Prudhomme's Fork in the Road

Chef Paul Prudhomme, America's most innovative chef, invites you to take a Fork in the Road, a journey toward a different way of cooking. If your goal is to produce great-tasting, flavorful dishes that everyone will enjoy, yet are still good for you, then this is the cookbook for you!Chef Paul's new book offers not only recipes but a model for anyone who wants to modify his or her cooking to minimize the use of less healthful ingredients, yet retain the rich taste and texture that make them so delicious.

For instance, he uses puréed dried beans and reduced fruit juices to create viscosity and enhance flavors. Both add an enormous amount of richness with virtually no fat. Chef Paul provides you with specific recipes to show you how these ingredients work, and encourages you to try them with all your favorite dishes.

To make rich, flavorful sauces and gravies for great-tasting meat, poultry, or fish—without a drop of oil, butter, shortening, or other fat—he has developed recipes in which dry flour is browned before adding it to the dish. And he always tells you to start with a hot pan, so you can "bronze," or "caramelize," an ingredient without any added fat. These techniques will make all your food taste better—new recipes as well as your favorite standbys.

Perhaps the most exciting portion of this book is the chapter on Magic Brightening Broths. These delicious broths are based upon defatted stocks, and get extra goodness from carefully balanced seasonings that enhance but don't overwhelm the flavors of foods cooked in them. Chef Paul envisions that once you've discovered howeasy and enjoyable Magic Brightening is, you and your friends and family will want to cook this way several times a month.

From breads and breakfasts, through main and side dishes, to desserts and snacks, Chef Paul has streamlined his favorite recipes. He's taken out as much fat as possible, leaving the texture, the richness, and the taste for which he's famous. This is not a diet book, but one dedicated to healthful ways to cook.

Celebrate with Chocolate: Totally Over-the-Top Recipes ($0.99 Kindle), by Marcel Desaulniers

Book Description
Who can resists the lure of chocolate? In this rich new cookbook, America's No 1 expert, award-winning pastry chef Marcel Desaulniers, offers the biggest and best collection of chocolate desserts available - dozens of incredible treats of every variety, from cakes to cookies and puddings pops to pies. Going beyond ordinary desserts, Celebrate with Chocolate includes such decadent delights as Truffle Tart, Chocolate Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich Cookies, Chocolate Grasshopper Ice Cream Sandwich, Cocoa Roll, Chocolate Brioche French Toast, and more. With expert instructions and an informative section on equipment, ingredients and techniques, Celebrate with Chocolate is a chocoholic's dream come true - the ultimate must-have cookbook for every aficionado's shelf.

Stuff It!: Fun Filled Foods To Savor And Satisfy ($0.99 Kindle), by Lora & Max Brody

Book Description
Stuffed foods are homey, quick, fun to make and delicious to eat. Over 75 recipes for all types of stuff ed food are offered here, including Deep Dish Stuffed Pizza, Crab Stuffed Sole, Cream Filled Cupcakes and Stuffed Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce.

Made in Marseille: Food and Flavors from France's Mediterranean Seaport ($0.99 Kindle), by Daniel Young

Book Description
Marseille, once notorious for its assorted mischief, has recently experienced a cultural renaissance, establishing it as a Mediterranean capital of film, fashion, music, literature, and, most assuredly, cuisine. From the city's beloved, world-famous bouillabaisse to enticing émigré flavors to venerable street treats to classic and contemporary Provencal bistro fare, this culinary crossroads, the Paris of Provence, offers an exciting array of tempting foods that, while global in scope, have a folksy, made-in-Marseille personality. Join Daniel Young, author of The Paris Café Cookbook, as he explores the authentic flavors of France's oldest city, its great southern gateway, extending from the Marseille of antiquity, found intact in the limestone cliffs of the rocky coastline, to the Marseille of romantic intrigue, still apparent in the labyrinthine passageways of the historic Panier quarter, to its storied center, the Vieux Port. Of course there's bouillabaisse: an entire chapter on this legendary fish stew-soup, including rustic, home-style Marseille recipes adapted so they can successfully be made with North American fish—not entirely authentic but wholeheartedly delicious. There are many other definitive fish recipes from this seafood lovers' paradise as well, including the legendary pan-fried calamari with parsley and garlic from Chez Etienne and the foolproof formula for grilling fish from the Restaurant L'Escale. In addition, there are aromatic appetizers, traditional and newfangled desserts, savory pastries, meat and chicken dishes, and hearty vegetable stews, all prepared with the building blocks of the healthful, French-Mediterranean diet: olive oil, garlic, tomatoes, zucchini, fennel, eggplant, artichokes, olives, basil, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, almonds, figs, and honey.

It's a full cookbook, offering 120 recipes and also a remarkable portrait of France's "Second City." With evocative black-and-white photographs by Marseille native Sébastien Boffredo, Made in Marseille is a lively panorama of the food, flavors, culture, and mystique of France's vital and fascinating cosmopolitan seaport.

Pizza, Focaccia, Flat and Filled Breads For Your Bread Machine: Perfect Every Time ($0.99 Kindle), by Lora Brody

Book Description
Don't unplug that bread machine. Lora Brody's back with a guaranteed winner: Pizza, Focaccia, Flat, and Filled Breads from Your Bread Machine. As sales of this amazing machine continue to mushroom, demand for new and exciting recipes continue. Lora's new book fills the bill. Using the machine to make doughs for more than two hundred varieties of breads, pastries, and baked dishes, Lora expands the scope of the bread machine in ways that will appeal to bread machine devotees as well as new converts. Choose from such innovative recipes as Porcini Mushroom Focaccia, Ploughman's Pizza, Blue Corn Bread Sticks, and Macadamia Lavosh.

Try Lora's newest creation: Quitza, a cross between her favorite dishesquiche and pizza. For anchovy lovers there's finally a pizza with enough anchovies. For those with solid-gold palates there's a recipe for caviar pizza. Have a hankering for crackers? Try Pesto Crackers, Spicy Beer Cheese Crackers, or Cheddar Crisps. Also included are invaluable hints on buying and storing ingredients and on troubleshooting, as well as a mail-order guide for ingredients and equipment.

Bargain Book Roundup

Some of these are also on sale at B&N and Kobo, but links below are generally for Amazon.

Death of a Kitchen Diva ($1.99 Kindle, Kobo), the first novel in the Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mystery series by Lee Hollis [Kensington Books]

Book Description
Welcome to Bar Harbor, Maine, one of New England's most idyllic coastal towns. But as new food writer Hayley Powell is about to find out, the occasional murder can take a bite out of seaside bliss. . .

Single mom Hayley Powell is barely keeping her leaking roof over her head when her boss at the Island Times gives her a new assignment--taking over the paper's food column. Hayley's not sure she has the chops--she's an office manager, not a writer, even if her friends clamor for her mouth-watering potluck dishes. But the extra income is tempting, and Hayley's chatty first column is suddenly on everyone's menu--with one exception.

When rival food writer Karen Appelbaum is found face-down dead in a bowl of Hayley's creamy clam chowder, all signs point to Hayley. To clear her name, she'll have to enlist some help, including her BFFs, a perpetually pregnant lobster woman, and a glamorous real estate agent. As she whips up a list of suspects, Hayley discovers a juicy secret about the victim--and finds herself in a dangerous mix with a cold-blooded killer.

Includes seven delectable recipes from Hayley's kitchen!

Garfield...Recipes with Cattitude! ($0.99 Kindle), by Gooseberry Patch (free recipe for Meatball Pizza Pockets on the product page).

Book Description

Gooseberry Patch and Garfield the cat... it's a match made in food heaven! The first new Garfield cookbook in ten years, Garfield...Recipes with Cattitude! is packed with over 230 yummy recipes near and dear to Garfield's tummy. Gooseberry Patch fans will love this fun new twist on the quick & easy recipes they've come to expect. Garfield collectors will love the strips and quips by Jim Davis, while the simple recipes will entice even inexperienced cooks.

Garfield...Recipes with Cattitude! delivers heaps of homestyle flavor and Garfield's humor adds tons of fun to each page. Readers will love Cheesy Scramblin' Pizza for breakfast. Happy Burgers, Baked Chili Fries and Jim's Spicy Deviled Eggs (from Davis himself!) are on the lunch menu. Spicy Honey Chicken Wings and Crispy Bacon Bread Sticks are perfect for snacking and sharing.

At dinner, they'll love Bow-Tie Lasagna, Creamy Salmon Manicotti, and Meatball Pizza Pockets just as much as Garfield does. Even a bachelor like Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, can make Incredibly Easy Pot Roast and Spicy Roasted Potatoes with these simple-to-follow recipes. Of course, it isn't dinner without dessert, so treat yourself to Caramel Apple Pie.

Chapters include: Breakfast Is Served...Time to Get Up!; First Lunch, Then a Catnap; Snack Attack!; Lotsa Lasagna, Pasta & Pizza; It's Dinner Time...Now!; and Dinner is Over, What's for Dessert? There are plenty of Garfield gags and illustrations, plus easy cooking tips and simple substitutions... the kind of advice Gooseberry Patch fans have come to love.

Wild About You ($2.99 Kindle), the twelfth novel in the Love at Stake series by Kerrelyn Sparks [Avon/HarperCollins]; the next in the series, The Vampire With the Dragon Tattoo, can now be pre-ordered.

Book Description
New York Times bestselling author Kerrelyn Sparks pens the next installment in her witty Love at Stake series, featuring a band of vampires and shape-shifters—and those who dare to defy them, or desire them! In Wild about You, a warrior on a mission of revenge encounters the woman who may just be the key to his survival. Too bad the beauty who could save him is also the last woman he should fall in love with. If you love paranormal romances by Lynsay Sands, Katie MacAlister, and Mary Janice Davidson, you'll love Kerrelyn Sparks.

Vampires Gone Wild ($2.99 Kindle), by Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista, and Kim Falconer [Avon Impulse]

Book Description
Vampires Gone Wild brings together four paranormal romance novellas by Kerrelyn Sparks, Pamela Palmer, Amanda Arista, and Kim Falconer, authors and bloggers at Supernatural Underground.

Kerrelyn Sparks's demure Pamela and sexy vampire sidekick battle the Malcontents in "V is for Vampwoman." Kim Falconer's aqueous San Francisco vampires in "Blood and Water" want nothing from "landers" -- unless it's dinner, but that's until Stellan meets Angelina. Pamela Palmer carries readers to Vamp City in "A Forever Love" where trapped Lukas pines for his lost love. When she appears, Lukas will fight to keep her alive. It's been a hundred years since Valiance has dated; all is great until they're attacked, but quiet Esme will shock Valiance in Amanda Arista's "First Dates Are from Hell."

The Forbidden Lady ($1.99 Kindle), by Kerrelyn Sparks [Avon Impulse], originally published under the title FOR LOVE OR COUNTRY (and long out of print).

Book Description
Before New York Times bestselling author Kerrelyn Sparks created a world of vampires, there was another world of spies and romance . . .

Virginia Munro could not believe her ears. This bewigged, bejeweled, and bedeviling man was trying to buy her? As if she were some trollop on the Boston docks?

Before she's fully able to give in to her outrage, the fop moves on—and Virginia refuses to spare him another thought.

But Quincy Stanton is not what he seems. By day, he poses as a carefree Loyalist with an army of wigs and a wardrobe that favors lavender. By night, he wages a secret war against the British with an impressive collection of eighteenth-century spy gadgets. If anyone were to discover the truth, Quincy would hang, yet he can't seem to stay away from the lovely and saucy Virginia. Will their attraction lead to love . . . or danger?

Under a Vampire Moon and Immortal Ever After ($2.99 Kindle), the sixteenth and eighteenth novels in the Argeneau Family series by Lynsay Sands [Avon]; the next in the series, One Lucky Vampire, can now be pre-ordered for Sept. delivery.

Under a Vampire Moon

Lynsay Sands, the nationally bestselling author of the Argeneau/Rogue Hunter vampire series, is one of the superstars of paranormal romance. Her latest Argeneau novel, Under a Vampire Moon, features a recently single, romantically-wary mortal who encounters a gorgeous vampire male waiting for her on a pristine Caribbean beach. Under a Vampire Moon is a treat for fans of Charlaine Harris and her Sookie Stackhouse novels—for anyone, in fact, who appreciates a good island romance between a hot blooded human and a love-hungry immortal.

Immortal Ever After

New York Times bestselling author Lynsay Sands enthralls with Immortal Ever After, the latest entry in her sizzling paranormal vampire series featuring the wickedly alluring Argeneau family.

When Valerie is saved by the Argenau rescue team after being kidnapped by an immortal madman, Anders finds himself captivated by the strong, sultry woman. Engaged in a steamy affair, he promises to do everything in his power to protect Valerie while her abductor is still at large—and on the hunt.

Sexy, fun, and full of passion, Lynsay Sands’s Immortal Ever After delivers a tantalizing adventure and a smoldering romance.

Heartsong ($2.99 Kindle), Debbie Macomber's first published novel [Ballantine Books; reprint edition].

Book Description
One of beloved author Debbie Macomber’s classic novels, a heartwarming story of hope and possibility, is available for the first time in decades—and exclusively as an eBook.

Skye Garvin treasures her work as a volunteer in the pediatric ward of the local hospital. Bringing even a small amount of joy to a suffering child—whether through her playful attitude or her gift for music—is a blessing that Skye cherishes. But due to overcrowding, her favorite young patient’s new roommate is an adult—a man who catches Skye completely off guard. Despite his gruff exterior, Skye is compelled to help the unnerving man. But the old scars of personal tragedy—and a fundamental difference of faith—might undermine Skye’s chances at a happy ending.

Jordan Kiley can’t imagine anything more frustrating than his current situation. A car accident has left him confined to a hospital bed, his arm painfully pinned in traction. He can’t even feed himself. But when he first lays eyes on the beautiful volunteer, he knows there are far greater challenges awaiting him. Astutely, he senses that Skye’s sparkling wit hides a heart that has been unbearably broken. And Jordan has deep secrets of his own. Can he convince Skye that she is worthy of love—and earn her heart in the process?

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Debbie Macomber's Rose Harbor in Bloom.