Great Reads: There could be a gift card in it for you

On a recent trip to the Maricopa Public Library, I took a gander at the prizes for this year’s Summer Reading Program located in the display case near the check-out desk and I found the prize I would want to win — one of the Barnes and Nobles gift cards.

Now, you’re probably thinking that it would be unfair of me to win one of those cards for the simple reason that I write the Great Reads column for InMaricopa.com.

However, as you are well aware, I am one serious book reader, a city resident and a participant in this year’s program and there’s no guarantee my name could be chosen as one of the winners. But you just never know as this could be my year to win a prize and if I do win I’ll be not only grateful, but overjoyed.

Now for those who need to fill their online or paper logs before time runs July 27, and you need a good book or two to read any one of the following titles may be of interest to you.

So, let’s begin.

Janet Evanovich’s newest book features returning characters Lizzy and Diesel in Wicked Business. Our crime-solving duo is investigating the death of Harvard University Professor Gilbert Reedy who just happened to be a serious romantic. As they search for the murderer, they become embroiled in the search for the Luxuria Stone and chaos ensues in the city of Boston.

Ridley Pearson launches a new series and introduces two new characters in The Risk Agent. Grace Chu, a forensic accountant, and John Knox, who is trained in combat and culture, team up in the search for a Chinese National working for an American company who disappears along with his bodyguard while walking in broad daylight in Shanghai.

The daughter of the U.S. president has been kidnapped and Commander Gray Pierce is enlisted to rescue her in Bloodline: A Sigma Force Novel by James Rollins. Aiding Pierce is former Army Ranger Capt. Tucker Wayne and his military dog Kane. As they set out on the rescue, they uncover a terror plot with serious repercussions.

When Jackie McMullen loses her husband an NYFD fireman, the loss is devastating for her and her son. To begin the healing process she and her son embark on a trip to her childhood home on Sullivan’s Island in Dorothea Benton’s Porch Lights.

Hollywood film star Fredric Stahl is set to begin his newest film in Paris and what the Nazis don’t know, is that he’s an American spy in Alan Furst’s Mission to Paris.

Professor Jeremy Logan is called in to investigate a series of disturbing occurrences creating havoc on an archeological dig where the search is on for the crown of Pharaoh King Narmer from 3200 B.C. in The Third Gate: A Novel by Lincoln Child.

Helping a former client adjust to life and sudden wealth when she is exonerated for a crime she didn’t commit comes just as Georgia attorney Mikala Aulani is about to retire in Tuesday’s Child by Fern Michaels.

Anne McCaffrey and her son Todd McCaffrey have written the final installment of the story begun with Todd’s book Dragonsblood. Sky Dragons of Pern is the story of two women, Xhianna the first female rider of a blue dragon and Jirana a girl who can see into the future.