"Danger in the Wind"

New from Poisoned Pen Press: Danger in the Wind by Jane Finnis.

About the book, from the publisher:

A fine summer in 100 AD and good government under Trajan Caesar promise well for the Roman settlers in the frontier province of Britannia.

Aurelia Marcella runs a mansio on a busy road to York. June is always busy, but one day two unusual events occur: a soldier is murdered in his bed at the inn, and a letter arrives from Isurium, a small fort north of the city. It is from a cousin, Jovina, inviting Aurelia to a midsummer birthday party. But the missive also reads as a plea for help, referring to “danger in the wind.”

The murdered soldier also bore a message, locked in Aurelia’s strongbox, indicating violence would erupt at the very same fort on the day of the party.

At Isurium, Aurelia finds Jovina and her drunken husband and unruly children caught in a tangled web of greed, love, intrigue, and death. When violence engulfs the district, Aurelia suddenly finds herself in peril from enemies engaged in an anti- Roman plot and from family members bent on misguided or evil agendas of their own. This is the 4th in a series.

Jane Finnis' Aurelia Marcella novels tell of life and death in first-century Roman Britain, the turbulent province of Britannia, on the very edge of the Roman Empire. The three previous books in the series are Get Out or Die, A Bitter Chill, and Buried Too Deep.

The Page 69 Test: Buried Too Deep.

Visit the official Jane Finnis website and The Lady Killers blog.

Read--Coffee with a Canine: Jane Finnis & Copper and Rosie.

"Deep Sky"

New from Harper: Deep Sky by Patrick Lee.

About the book, from the publisher:

The anomaly called the Breach is the government’s most carefully guarded secret.

But there is another secret even less known ... and far more terrifying.

As the U.S. President addresses the nation from the Oval Office, a missile screams toward the White House. In a lightning flash, the Chief Executive is dead, his mansion in ruins, and two cryptic words are the only clue to the assassins’ motives: “See Scalar.”

Now Travis Chase of the covert agency Tangent—caretakers of the Breach and all its grim wonders—along with partner and lover Paige Campbell and technology expert Bethany Stewart, have only twenty-four hours to unearth a decades-old mystery once spoken of in terrified whispers by the long since silenced. But their breakneck race cross-country—and back through time and malleable memory—is calling the total destructive might of a shadow government down upon them. For Travis Chase has a dark destiny he cannot be allowed to fulfill...

Visit Patrick Lee's blog.

"Sex, Bombs, and Burgers"

New from Lyons Press: Sex, Bombs, and Burgers: How War, Pornography, and Fast Food Have Shaped Modern Technology by Peter Nowak.

About the book, from the publisher:

Guns, Germs, and Steel meets the age of technology in this rollicking history of how our pursuit of lust, gluttony, and rage has led to our greatest technological advancements. It is also a chronicle of popular culture, packed with surprising revelations. From the unexpected origins of aerosols, cold medicine, and Google to Saran Wrap, Tupperware, and video games, here is a fascinating look at modern life.

Visit the Sex, Bombs, and Burgers website and blog.

"Archon"

New from Harper Voyager: Archon: The Books of Raziel by Sabrina Benulis.

About the book, from the publisher:

There are some things worse than death...

For years, Angela Mathers has been plagued by visions of a supernatural being—an angel with beguiling eyes and magnificent wings who haunts her thoughts and seduces her dreams. Newly freed from a mental institution where she had been locked away for two years, Angela hopes that attending Westwood Academy, the Vatican’s exclusive university, will bring her peace and a semblance of normality.

But Angela isn’t normal. With her stain of dark red hair and alabaster skin, she is a blood head—a freak, a monster, and the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy. Blessed with strange, mystical powers, blood heads hold a special place in the Academy. Among them, one special blood head is more powerful than them all: the Archon, the human reincarnation of the dead angel Raziel. And when the Archon arises as foretold, it will rule the supernatural universe.

Barely in control of her own life, Angela has no ambition to conquer an entire universe, not when she’s suddenly contending with a dangerous enemy who is determined to destroy her and a magnetic novitiate who wants to save her. But the choice might not be her own...

Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, the young blood head must soon face the truth about herself and her world. It is she who holds the key to Heaven and Hell—and both will stop at nothing to possess her.

In Archon, Sabrina Benulis has created a dazzlingly imaginative tale set in a lush, vivid supernatural world filled with gargoyles and candlelight, magic and murder, in which humans, angels, demons, and those in between battle for supremacy—and survival.

Visit Sabrina Benulis's Facebook page.

"The Burning Edge"

New from Mira: The Burning Edge by Rick Mofina.

About the book, from the publisher:

Single mother Lisa Palmer has barely recovered from the sudden death of her husband when she is drawn into a new nightmare. On her way home from upstate New York, Lisa stops at a service center minutes before an armored car heist. Four men are executed before her eyes -- one of them an off-duty FBI agent Lisa tried to help. Now Lisa is the FBI's secret witness and the key to finding the fugitive killers.

Learn more about the book and author at Rick Mofina's website.

The Page 69 Test: Every Fear.

My Book, The Movie: A Perfect Grave.

The Page 69 Test: Six Seconds.

The Page 69 Test: Vengeance Road.

Writers Read: Rick Mofina.

My Book, The Movie: The Panic Zone.

"A Savage Empire"

New from Thomas Dunne Books: A Savage Empire: Trappers, Traders, Tribes, and the Wars That Made America by Alan Axelrod.

About the book, from the publisher:

A surprising and sweeping history that reveals the fur trade to be the driving force behind conquest, colonization, and revolution in early America

Combining the epic saga of Hampton Sides's Blood and Thunder with the natural history of Mark Kurlansky’s Cod, popular historian Alan Axelrod reveals the astonishingly vital role a small animal—the beaver—played in the creation of our nation. The author masterfully relays a story often neglected by conventional histories: how lust for fur trade riches moved monarchs and men to launch expeditions of discovery, finance massive corporate enterprises, and wage war. Deftly weaving cultural and military narratives, the author chronicles how Spanish, Dutch, French, English, and Native American tribes created and betrayed alliances based on trapping and trade disputes, producing a surprisingly complex series of loyalties that endured throughout the Revolution and beyond.

"Shattered Souls"

New from Philomel/Penguin: Shattered Souls by Mary Lindsey.

About the book, from the publisher:

A thrilling debut story of death, love, destiny and danger

Lenzi hears voices and has visions - gravestones, floods, a boy with steel gray eyes. Her boyfriend, Zak, can't help, and everything keeps getting louder and more intense. Then Lenzi meets Alden, the boy from her dreams, who reveals that she's a reincarnated Speaker - someone who can talk to and help lost souls - and that he has been her Protector for centuries.

Now Lenzi must choose between her life with Zak and the life she is destined to lead with Alden. But time is running out: a malevolent spirit is out to destroy Lenzi, and he will kill her if she doesn't make a decision soon.

Visit Mary Lindsey's website, blog, and the Shattered Souls Facebook page.

"You Might As Well Die"

New from Signet: You Might As Well Die: An Algonquin Round Table Mystery by J.J. Murphy.

About the book, from the publisher:

When second-rate illustrator Ernie MacGuffin's artistic works triple in value following his apparent suicide off the Brooklyn Bridge, Dorothy Parker smells something fishy. Enlisting the help of magician and skeptic Harry Houdini, she goes to a séance held by MacGuffin's mistress, where Ernie's ghostly voice seems hauntingly real...

Visit J.J. Murphy's website and Facebook page.

"Slash and Burn"

New from Soho Press: Slash and Burn (Dr. Siri Paiboun Series #8) by Colin Cotterill.

About the book, from the publisher:

Dr. Siri might finally be allowed to retire (again). Although he loves his two morgue assistants, he's tired of being Laos's national coroner, a job he never wanted in the first place. Plus, he's pushing 80, and wants to spend some time with his wife before his untimely death (which has been predicted by the local transvestite fortune teller).

But retirement is not in the cards for Dr. Siri after all. He's dragged into one last job for the Lao government: supervising an excavation for the remains of U.S. fighter pilot who went down in the remote northern Lao jungle ten years earlier. The presence of American soldiers in Laos is a hot-button issue for both the Americans and the Lao involved, and the search party includes high-level politicians and scientists. But one member of the party is found dead, setting off a chain of accidents Dr. Siri suspects aren't completely accidental. Everyone is trapped in a cabin in the jungle, and the bodies are starting to pile up. Can Dr. Siri get to the bottom of the MIA pilot's mysterious story before the transvestite fortune teller's prediction comes true?

Learn more about the book and author at Colin Cotterill's website.

The Page 69 Test: Anarchy and Old Dogs.

My Book, The Movie: Curse of the Pogo Stick.

The Page 69 Test: Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

My Book, The Movie: Killed at the Whim of a Hat.

Writers Read: Colin Cotterill.

"The Economics of Beer"

New from Oxford University Press: The Economics of Beer edited by Johan F. M. Swinnen.

About the book, from the publisher:

Beer has been consumed across the globe for centuries and was the drink of choice in many ancient societies. Today it is the most important alcoholic drink worldwide, in terms of volume and value. The largest brewing companies have developed into global multinationals, and the beer market has enjoyed strong growth in emerging economies, but there has been a substantial decline of beer consumption in traditional markets and a shift to new products. There is close interaction between governments and markets in the beer industry. For centuries, taxes on beer or its raw materials have been a major source of tax revenue and governments have regulated the beer industry for reasons related to quality, health, and competition.

This book is the first economic analysis of the beer market and brewing industry. The introduction provides an economic history of beer, from monasteries in the early Middle Ages to the recent 'microbrewery movement', whilst other chapters consider whether people drink more beer during recessions, the effect of television on local breweries, and what makes a country a 'beer drinking' nation. It comprises a comprehensive and unique set of economic research and analysis on the economics of beer and brewing and covers economic history and development, supply and demand, trade and investment, geography and scale economies, technology and innovation, health and nutrition, quantity and quality, industrial organization and competition, taxation and regulation, and regional beer market developments.