Reading Recommendations: Working Stiff, Annelise Ryan

Mattie Winston's decision to change careers had nothing to do with a mid-life crisis or desire to suddenly spend a lot of time with a bunch of corpses. But catching her surgeon husband David Winston with R.N. Karen Owenby was enough to make Mattie never want to show her face again in the hospital where they both worked. When her best friend Izzy suggests she'd be a natural as a deputy coroner, she reluctantly gives it a try. Now, instead of taking patients pulses, she'd weigh their hearts and lives.

But living in Izzy's cottage, which just happens to be next door to her ex's house, is a little too close for comfort, and Mattie can't resist spying on her husband one night. Peeking into a window, Mattie glimpses Karen Owenby and David in the middle of a heated argument, one that leads to David shaking Karen violently by the shoulders.

The next day when Izzy takes Mattie on her first homicide call, Mattie's shocked to discover the victim is none other than Karen. Recalling the previous nights scene, she refuses to believe David could be a killer. Keeping mum about what she saw, Mattie is also left speechless by the sight of hunky Detective Steve Hurley.

Mattie's investigation soon turns up a host of dizzying revelations, including the fact that Karen wasn't who she said she was. From learning the ropes in her new job to sorting out her feelings about her ex and dealing with her growing attraction to Detective Hurley, Mattie's in deep water and in danger of sinking quickly, especially when she places herself dead center in the path of a desperate yet determined killer.

Exciting, suspenseful and naughty!

And, Barack and Michelle, Portrait of an American Marriage, Christopher Anderson

They exploded onto the world scene and within a matter of a few short years captured the ultimate political prize. In so doing, they became a first couple like no other. He, the bi-racial son of a free-spirited Kansas born woman and a mercurial Kenyan father who abandoned him at an early age, was raised in Hawaii and Indonesia, educated at Columbia and Harvard, and launched his political career in America's heartland. She, by contrast, was the product of a solidly middle American family with roots planted firmly in Chicago's working class Southside, paving the way for her to achieve her dreams of an Ivy League education and a position at one of the nation's top law firms.

By the time they claimed the White House is one of the most hotly contested presidential races in modern history, Barack and Michelle Obama were seen by millions around the world as the new Jack and Jackie Kennedy, brilliant, attractive, elegant, youthful, exciting. Accompanied by their two young daughters, Malia and Sasha, the Obama's would arrive at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue with the promise of a new Camelot all but assured.

Given the obvious historic significance of what they have accomplished together, the marriage of Barack and Michelle stands as one of the great personal and political partnerships in American history. Yet incredibly, the true nature of that relationship has remained a mystery, until now.

Barack and Michelle: Portrait of an American Marriage is an intimate and ultimately riveting look at their unique partnership, and the humor, faith, fortitude, and grace that defines it.

And, The Murder of King Tut, The Plot to Kill The Child King. A Nonfiction thriller, James Patterson and Martin Dugard

A secret buried for centuries thrust onto Egypt's most powerful throne at the age of nine, King Tut was challenged from the first days of his reign. The veil of prosperity could not hide the bitter rivalries and jealousy that flourished among the boy King's most trusted advisers. Less than a decade from his elevation, King Tut suddenly perished, and in the years and centuries that followed, his name was purged from Egyptian history. To this day, his death remains shrouded in controversy.

The Keys to an unsolved Mystery

Intrigued by what little was known about Tut, and hoping to unlock the answers to the 3,000 year old mystery, Howard Carter made it his life's mission, to uncover the pharaoh's hidden tomb. He began his search in 1907 but encountered countless setbacks and dead ends before he finally discovered the long-lost crypt.

The Clues Point to Murder

Now, in The Murder of King Tut, James Patterson and Martin Dugard dig through stack's of evidence, X-Rays, Carter's files, forensic clues, and stories told through the ages , to arrive at their own account of King Tut's life and death. The result is an exhilarating true crime tale of intrigue, passion, and betrayal that casts fresh light on the oldest mystery of all.

See you at Rylander!