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Coming books
by Jean Sheldon
 Seven
Cities of Greed
The hand
carved, Spanish leather journal, Jacqueline Tracey buys at a
Chicago book auction, is supposed to lead to an adventure in
New Mexico for her and her friends. Instead, it almost leads
to disaster when they find themselves followed by a modern
day Conquistador, who will stop at nothing to get the
journal and the secrets it holds.
Pedro’s
journal said the expedition began in February of 1539, with
the priest, Marcos De Niza, leading the search for the Seven
Cities of Gold. Pedro made the journey disguised as a
priest, but his journal entries reveal he was anything but
holy.
Four hundred
and sixty years later, another group of adventurers gets
ready for the search. Nicole Jordan, retired Chicago Police
officer and owner of a struggling detective agency, gathers
maps, based on the journal and they prepare to go to New
Mexico. Jackie has additional reasons—a few demons still
sleep under her childhood bed.
Samuel Barnes
is furious that someone has his journal, and uses his wealth
and influence to track and follow the group to the Land of
Enchantment. As Nicki’s maps bring them closer to the
treasure, Barnes draws closer to them. A show down is all
that can stop the man who wants to be the Emperor of Cibola.
See a Book Teaser
Monet's Palette
The screams
are hers. They have to be, she’s the only one there, but why
is she screaming, and why is there Alizarin Crimson paint
splattered all over the back of the van? Then comes the
pain, and with it, the knowledge that, though she’s
breathing, her life is over.
An accident
crushes the hand that Rayna Hunt painted with for thirty
years. Not everyone believes that’s a bad thing. A few years
earlier, Ray discovered a forged Claude Monet acquired by
assistant curator at the Stratford Museum, Richard Keller.
He believes she ruined his career and sets out to destroy
her.
Rayna, her
students, the curator, and a Chicago Police detective
recovering from her own loss, go to work to stop Keller from
stealing masterpieces and killing Rayna.
See a Book Teaser
 Flowers
for Her Grave
Twenty years
earlier Louise Vandenberg came home to find her husband dead
and her six-year-old daughter gone. Finally able to put
together enough information to figure out who did it and
why, she committed suicide—or so it was thought.
Small towns
thrived on gossip, and Tracy Kendall, Raccoon Groves own
gossip columnist was a pro at dishing the dirt. With the aid
of Kate Chandler, retired beauty queen and town florist,
secrets are uncovered and nasty accidents begin to happen to
the two investigators.
Only when
Tracy and Kate organize a garden party for all those
involved do they find out what really happen the night
Kimberly disappeared and her father died. No one could have
guessed the truth.
See a Book Teaser
Fatal New Development
Six decades
after a 1945 diamond theft and murder in Chicago’s Union
Station, the event threatens to destroy the Saint Boniface
community. The development firm of Hamilton and Morley has
set their sights on the neighborhood, to replace the
single-family brick bungalows with condominiums. Residents
receive warning if they don’t sell at the offered price,
they’ll have the area declared blighted and take control by
eminent domain. The homeowners refuse to sell.
The presence
of developer, Jayne Hamilton, has little to do with building
condominiums. Generations of her family were a part of the
community that did nothing to help her or her mother. For
Jayne, revenge is the strongest incentive, but should she
discover where her grandfather hid the diamonds, she’d be
willing to take those too. It matters little that she’ll
have to bulldoze over blocks of houses and the church her
grandfather built.
Joanna Quinn
ends her self-imposed seclusion when she finds her attorney
murdered. For two years, she grieved the death of her
husband and partner in the Quinn Detective Agency, but now
there’s trouble in her neighborhood, Saint Boniface. The
number of seemingly unrelated deaths and accidents increase
and she investigates the players and the deadly
sixty-year-old game they play. What she finds is that a
small bag of stones is responsible for the suffering of a
great many people.
 The
Murders Grimm
When literary
agent Louise Denning rejects a manuscript called ‘The
Murders Grimm’, she doesn't know the author will someday
seek revenge.
Louis retires
from her agency, moves from Chicago to a small town in
Northern Wisconsin, and begins writing her own books. Jeremy
Prince sees her face in the local bookstore, and remembers
her rejection. He blames her for the unhappy condition of
his life and begins harassing her using Grimm Fairytales as
his guide.
Before Sheriff
Molly Townsend can find him, Jeremy kidnaps Louis and
intends to torture her to death. The sheriff, the community,
and Lou’s sister, Victoria, do everything they can to keep
that from happening.
Search for an Empty
Grave
In 1945, two
weeks after the detonation of the first nuclear bomb in ‘the
valley of the dead man’, New Mexico’s Jornada Del Muerto
Valley, Gil Eaton works with a crew to put a fence around
the site. At ground zero, he uncovers ancient bones, pots
and other items worth a fortune. Gil feels the site is
haunted and after helping a friend hide everything, decides
he wants nothing to do with the relics. With the sudden
death of his friend, they remain untouched until his own
death, when Gil’s sons find his journal and his secret. They
don’t take his fear of a curse seriously, and soon after
they reclaim the valuable relics, both brothers are dead.
Twenty-five
years later, Renee Eaton finds a letter from her mother in
their Fifth Avenue apartment. It has taken Renee ten years
to face going through her mothers personal belongings. In
the letter, Rose explains what Renee’s father and uncle had
done years earlier, and that she believes there is a curse
on the family. She had planned to go back to New Mexico,
find the remainder of the stolen articles, and return them
to the owners. Rose died before she could complete her
mission and Renee promises to carry on her mother’s quest.
With the help
of her cousin Julia, and Julia’s husband Bob, both
Archeology professors at UNM, and her aunt Katherine, who
runs the now flourishing Eaton Ranch, the E-Bar, Renee
searches for the artifacts. A few greedy ranch hands learn
about the relics and slow Renee’s efforts as they attempt to
find the old pots. Complicating things even more, a visiting
professor and another archeologist think Renee’s group is
looking for the mythical treasures of Victorio Peak. They
will do whatever it takes to beat them to the estimated two
billion dollar fortune.
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