Breakdown: An Alex Delaware Novel

            Dr. Alex Delaware, psychologist and consultant to the Los Angeles Police Department, gets a blast from the past when he receives a call about Zelda Chase, once a successful yet psychologically fragile TV actress but now a homeless person. Six years before, Alex was asked by Zelda’s psychologist, a friend of Alex, to observe her five-year-old son Ovid to determine if it was safe for him to remain under his mother’s care. Alex concluded that it was.

            Then, Alex is contacted again when Zelda turns up dead on the grounds of a palatial estate owned by a woman with an alibi. Lieutenant Milo Sturgis, Alex’s friend from the LAPD, is called in to investigate. Zelda’s death is originally thought to be caused by eating a poisonous plant; but then other dead bodies start to turn up. Alex is worried; what has happened to Ovid, now an eleven-year-old boy. Has he also been murdered?

            As Alex and Milo dig deeper, other secrets are uncovered. With their perseverance, the killers are brought to justice and a surprise denouement neatly wraps up the story.

More Seasonal Romance: Winter Themed Love Stories for Adults

     Here are some more seasonal romance novels recommended by librarian Nicole:

Blue: A Novel is written by perennially favorite author Danielle Steel. It tells the story of Ginny Carter, whose husband and son are killed in a car accident days before Christmas. She tries to avoid her grief by becoming involved in human rights work in New York.

Vision in White, written by Nora Roberts is about Mackensie “Mac” Elliot, a wedding photographer who is most at home behind the camera. But her focus is shattered moments before an important wedding rehearsal when she bumps into the bride-to-be’s brother . . . an encounter that has them both seeing stars.

A Virgin River Christmas is written by Robyn Carr. Last Christmas Marcie Sullivan said a final goodbye to her husband, Bobby. This Christmas she’s come to Virgin River to find the man who saved his life and gave her three more years to love him. Fellow marine Ian Buchanan dragged Bobby’s shattered body onto a medical transport in Fallujah four years ago, and then disappeared as soon as their unit arrived stateside. Since then, Marcie’s letters to Ian have gone unanswered.

Deep Kiss of Winter is written by Kresley Cole. Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela – the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can’t be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Can they conquer an agony of frustration and slake the overwhelming desire burning between them?

Seasonal Romance: Winter Themed Love Stories for Adults

            Librarian Nicole presents a selection of romance novels that will bring some heat to your winter days and nights. They include:

Echo Lake, written by Carla Neggers, is set against the scenic backdrop of a New England winter. This is a captivating tale of family, friends, and the possibility of new love.

Winter Street: A Novel, written by Elin Hilderbrand, is a heart-warming novel about coming home for the holidays. Before the mulled cider is gone, the delightfully dysfunctional Quinn family will survive a love triangle, an unplanned pregnancy, a federal crime, a small house fire, many shots of whiskey, and endless rounds of Christmas caroling.

Winter Stroll: A Novel is also written by Elin Hilderbrand. While preparing for Christmas at the Winter Street Inn, Kelley Quinn and his family find the holiday season thrown into chaos when three of their exes show up.

A Small Indiscretion: A Novel is written by Jan Ellison. At nineteen, Annie Black trades a bleak future in a washed-out California town for a London winter of drinking and abandon. Twenty years later, she is a San Francisco lighting designer and happily married mother of three who has put her reckless youth behind her. Then a photo from that distant winter in Europe arrives inexplicably in her mailbox, and an old obsession is awakened.