Truly a murder mystery unlike any you've ever read! It's a brilliant and exciting study of the dichotomy of the friendship of loners living together in one house and trying to remain the way they are -- always. When Cassie Maddox enters this world undercover she does it as Lexie Madison who was part of this odd group of friends and has been murdered. She can do this because Lexie was her old undercover name. And, this dead Lexie looks just like Cassie. So, they tell the friends Lexie hasn't died and Cassie becomes a part of this weird circle of friends because at least one cop is convinced that someone in that house is a killer. Cassie finds it hard to separate herself from Lexie as she became and almost loses herself in a dangerous way to the comfort of always having a place and people who know you well enough to finish your sentences. Dangerous because she isn't really Lexie!
Recommended by Lee Kelley

I had no idea that the beautiful Akita was such an old breed. I did know it came from Japan but it’s thanks to an unusual man that the breed even exists at all. During WWII Morie Sawataishi took in and raised an Akita puppy when most people in Japan were killing them for their pelt and their meat. By the end of the war there were perhaps no more than sixteen left in the country. Morie takes his dogs and his city-born young wife into the snow country of Japan and over the years his passion creates an enduring breed that people all over the world can be proud to own. He rarely shows for money because the dog is more important. He often gives away puppies that someone else would sell for a lot of money because the person he gives it to helped him at some time or has the same passion he has. He is a man of old Japan and is rarely demonstrative with his wife and children but always greets his dogs with shows of affection. He is at his liveliest when drinking sake and talking to others about dogs. Eventually most people realize he’s a good man who has led an extraordinary life because it was the right thing to do. This is a piece of canine history that might have been left in obscurity if not for Martha Sherrill’s wonderful ability to bring Japan, Morie and his dogs to life.

Recommended by Lee Kelley

Isabel has a perfect life. She's an accomplished novelist and her husband is a brilliant inventor of high-tech games. Even after five years of marriage there is still romance in their relationship. Then one morning he tells her he loves her, goes to work, and completely disappears! People she thought she knew are not telling her what she needs to know. The FBI have taken over her husband's business. And then she finds out that the Marcus she married was dead – long dead! Isabel needs answers and she puts her life on the line to find them. Pick this up at your peril. You may not get any sleep if you start it in the evening – it's much too exciting to put down before you reach the end!

Recommended by Lee

First was Ariel. Ariel who came because of the Change. Now it's thirty years later and Fred lives in a time of magic. It's all he's ever known because he was born after the Change. But his father and others remember the way it used to be; the magic of electricity and mechanical engines. One day the lights just went out; it all stopped working. Fred's friend Yan thinks he can change it back to the way it was. But Yan goes to far and is told to leave Del Mar. Then the Unicorn Ariel, an old friend of Fred's father, arrives telling a tale of death. Death ultimately caused by Yan's magic. Now she, Fred, his father and Yan's father must find Yan and stop him before he destroys the world as it is now. It has to be done because Yan isn't just planning to put it back the way it used to be – at least not completely. Elegy Beach is a wonderful sequel to Ariel. The wait was worth it.

Recommended by Lee

Probably the most popular of Zane Grey's books this tale of a proud woman who stood alone against her church and villains who rustle and stampede her cattle set the tone for western novels. When Lassiter rides in and takes a job with Jane she makes him swear to forsake violence. Eventually she finds she must release him from that vow in order to save everything she loves. I started reading Zane Grey's westerns when I was twelve and I still can see and hear and feel the west as only he could describe it. Don't pass up this book or any of his others because they're westerns. Don't pass them up because you think the writing as old fashioned as the morals of the characters. This is a great book and anyone who enjoys any kind of western should read it and breathe in the dust of the chase and the smell of the purple sage.

Recommended by Lee Kelley

If you read Girl With Braided Hair I'm sure you liked it, and that makes Blood Memory a must! This mystery is a stand-alone from Ms. Coel's usual series of tales but she hasn't deserted the Native American theme. Catherine McLeod is an investigative reporter. She's working hard on a story about the Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes filing to reclaim twenty-seven million acres of their ancestral land. The elders agreed to speak with her because they consider her one of them. Is her pursuit of this story because she's bent on the truth getting out so the public is aware or does the betrayal at Sand Creek touch something in the Arapaho blood that runs through her veins? And why is someone trying to kill her? Can it be the story -- or is it the serial rapist they are trying to catch? The motive will surprise you and the documents and tales form long ago will touch your heart. The will also make you think!

Recommended by Lee Kelley

This provocative tale follows 12-year-old Twig as she tries to help her clan find safety from the horror she has dreamed about. Though a talented Dreamer her mother fears for her and won't allow her to learn from the only Shaman capable of teaching her. But Twig knows that the fire ball from the sky is coming closer and closer and she enlists the help of her best friend Greyhawk and the banished Shaman Screech Owl to convince their people of the danger and changes that are coming. Changes that will force a westward migration to the mysterious Duskland.

The authors are experienced archaeologists and with this book starts a series of tales about the prehistoric American heritage. Children of the Dawnland takes place at the end of the Pleistocene ice age when a comet exploded over North America destroying the Clovis mammoth hunters. Twig's tale is a wonderful way to open the door for learning more about our ancient Native American cultures.

Recommended by Lee

Lena Jones and her director friend Warren Quinn discover the mutilated body of a young girl while scouting locations for a film documentary. Trying not to step on the toes of local law enforcement and not particularly succeeding, Lena discovers a small town of people who are descendents of pioneers who fought Geronimo. But the small town isn't Eden and it's full of nasty secrets. Somehow, the new manufacturing plant is involved too. The plant is populated with a lot of immigrants from Africa, India and Egypt. And when Lena learns of the horrible way the young girl died, she knows she can't stop until she finds the woman they call the Cutter. Her own nightmares won't allow it.

Recommended by Lee Kelley