The Devil Went Down to Austin by Rick Riordan

A slightly less entertaining Tres Navarre Mystery (Book 4) but still enjoyable. PW: Tres has taken a short term teaching job at the University of Texas at Austin. He is living with his brother Garrett, a computer wizard, and enjoying this easy assignment. But when Garrett’s business partner is murdered, Tres must switch from professor to detective. As Tres delves into Garrett's bizarre world to find the truth behind the murder, he comes face-to-face with the damaged relationships, violent lives, and billion-dollar schemes of a brave new high-tech world. Among the players: a corporate takeover artist with a trail of broken enemies in his wake and an overzealous desire to make Garrett's company his own; the victim's wife, a hard-edged beauty haunted by three generations of family failure; and the head of an oil-rich clan with more power than morals and enough skeletons in the closet to man a ghost ship. Connecting them all - the beautiful waters of Lake Travis and an unspeakable evil that lies within its depths.

Storm Front by John Sandford

Another fun Virgil Flowers episode. PW: In Israel, a man clutching a backpack searches desperately for a boat. In Minnesota, Virgil Flowers gets a message from Lucas Davenport: You're about to get a visitor. It's an Israeli cop, and she's tailing a man who's smuggled out an extraordinary relic - a copper scroll revealing startling details about the man known as King Solomon. Wait a minute, laughs Virgil. Is this one of those Da Vinci Code deals? The secret scroll, the blockbuster revelation, the teams of murderous bad guys? Should I be boning up on my Bible verses? He looks at the cop. She's not laughing. As it turns out, there are very bad men chasing the relic, and they don't care who's in the way or what they have to do to get it.

Sycamore Row by John Grisham

Just OK. PW Seth Hubbard is a wealthy man dying of lung cancer. He trusts no one. Before he hangs himself from a sycamore tree, Hubbard leaves a new, handwritten, will. It is an act that drags his adult children, his black maid, and Jake into a conflict as riveting and dramatic as the murder trial that made Brigance one of Ford County's most notorious citizens, just three years earlier.

The Fourth Deadly Sin by Lawrence Sanders

Excellent read, sadly the fifth and last book in the series. PW: Here is the gripping story of a brutally-murdered New York psychiatrist; ex-cop Edward X. Delaney, who must crack the high-profile case; and the only six suspects: the doctor's own patients. It's a blockbuster with twists and turns that will keep you up nights and suspense that "never lags" (The Washington Post). And it is a crowning achievement - by the man who wears the crown as king of the thriller.

Notches by Series Peter Bowen

Re-listened 2/17 Excellent. Wish this series would never end. PW The gruesome corpse of a young woman is found beside a long Montana highway called the Hi-Line. Her jaw and teeth are missing, and she is impossible to identify. Full of anger and without a clue, Du Pre begins to hunt the countryside for her murderer. As more dismembered corpses - all young women - are discovered, the small ranching community goes into shock. Madelaine, Du Pre's fierce and wise lover, makes him swear that he will do justice for the victims, whatever it takes. When Madelaine's own daughter goes missing, Du Pre becomes desperate for a clue. He cannot decipher the mysterious messages the Hi-Line Killer places in his murder scenes. Thinking like a hunter, Du Pre must imagine how a serial killer's mind works - and explore the troubling evidence that there might be two of them.