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A ruthlessly intelligent localization of the seven deadly sins, California style.

19 Years of Reviews

Meg, a rude, prickly, well dressed matchmaker goes to a celebrity resort with a famous actor, hiding his homosexuality. The resort promises privacy, secrecy, security. She spars and eventually falls in love with the owner. But instead of privacy and secrecy, the resort harbors someone who takes pictures of the actor and hisSeduced by Sunday by Catherine Bybee read by Tanya Eby

Wry, infinitely bored, softhearted ex-cop holes up in the Upper Peninsula, runs his snow plow up and down the block, and hangs out in a Scottish pub, drinking Canadian beer. Then trouble comes knocking at his door.... "You spend your whole life up here sitting in The Hunting Wind by Steve Hamilton read by Nick Sullivan

Another alcoholic ex-cop running a bar? Yes! This time in Fort Myers, living every cop's retirement dream: living on a houseboat, dating a Cuban woman and solving murders on the side. It's good. From the very first paragraph Jack feels like a detective, sounds like a detective, and makes it clear thatThe Dollar-A-Year Detective by William Wells

For those who do not like the Judge Knott series, Maron has penned this sweet perfectly turned out book about an heiress, an illustrator, granddaughter of a legendary children’s book publisher. Meek, sensitive, submissive as both wife and publishing executive, Amy Steadman finds herself alone, driving to theLast Days of Summer by Margaret Maron read by Kate Forbes

Geek gaming firm with mascots (wounded buzzard, psychopathic dog) sets up shop in small Western town but needs a Wendy to clean up and organize the Peter Pans. Enter Californian Meg Lanslow to clean up their books - and before she finds out whats going on everybody's least favoriteCrouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon by Donna Andrews read by Bernadette Dunne

Daughter of an Italian beauty who somehow wandered into the wrong mountains, Ave Maria is still considered a 'forner', despite spending 35 years in Big Stone Gap, driving the volunteer Rescue Squad truck, and directing the annual town play. Charming, stubborn, hot tempered Ave loves theatreBig Stone Gap by Adriana Trigiani read by Adriana Trigiani

Journalists must either eat or be eaten by more and more information. How to eat? Well, there's Excel. And if Excel can't make sense of "the new types of data" that Wikileaks was producing, then maybe a "data visualization expert" could make a pretty picture out of bomb explosion statistics.WikiLeaks by David Leigh, Luke Harding, Ed Pilkington, Robert Booth, Charles Arthur, narrated by Paul Michael Garcia

Lisa Gardner is a genius at thesis statements. My favorite is: "a family is a system" (Hide). Or maybe: "A computer is a portal, you know, an entry point into your home." (The Neighbor) This book's thesis statement is: "Pain has a flavor." And like all good thesis statements, it tellsLisa Gardner, Touch & Go

Jim Thompson's The Killer Inside Me hard boils the story from the start: London as the small bad city with its own 87th precinct: Brant, who cuts a bit off the top of every drug bust, makes himself loved by women, plays laid back surfer dude copCalibre by Ken Bruen read by Gerard Doyle

Timothy Van Bender's beautiful, disappointed wife signed a pre-nuptial agreement which protected Timothy's inherited wealth from the contingency of her (slightly embarrassing) lower class. When she commits suicide, Timothy is left with a failing hedge fund, a not-yet redecorated house in Silicon Valley, his membership at the Menlo Circus Club,Switchback by Mathew Klein read by Chris Patton

This is a charming very digestable story about one sister told by another. The sister in the spotlight is a freckled lovable morning news show host, with a perpetual trousseau of people who dress her, praise her, and advertise her friendship. A black limo brings herRise and Shine by Anna Quindlen read by Carol Monda

Have you ever wondered what a 70 year old ex-CIA agent is thinking while being greeted by an over-friendly young woman at a Senior Center? "Are you lost honey?", she asked in a volume more suitable for calling me from the other end of the hallway..." "Are you trained to speak louderGranny Under Cover by Harper Lin read by Sara Morsey

Campbell Smith wants only to lie behind the S of Mrs Douglas Alexander, soon to be Senator from the great state of Delaware, a place where Washingtonians go to hide. But a woman who is hiding does not make a good political wife, and Campbell soon takes to gardeningOut of Order by Bonnie MacDougal read by Barbara Rosenblat

Imagine a little fishing village with a general store somewhere in Texas where it rains. There is lots of kindness, and lots of very quirky individuals who don't mesh, but aggregate. Mostly around a lake. Old maids, young maids, poor beaten women, big burly men, volunteer firefighters, sheriffs, and brutes.Twisted Creek (& the Harmony series) by Jodi Thomas read by Scott Sowers & Julia Gibson

Frank has the waves, which is why he doesn't need much of anything else. Nevertheless he has an ex-wife, a girlfriend, 4 jobs and a routine, about which he is frankly religious. He has the "Gentleman's Hour" which is when other guys who don't need to be at work at 9The Winter of Frankie Machine by Don Winslow

Tag: morality tale

Savages by Don Winslow read by Michael Kramer