Almost Heaven Chris Fabry Paperback, 400 pp., $14.99 Tyndale (October 2010)
Billy Allman is a hillbilly genius. People in Dogwood, West Virginia, say he was born with a second helping of brains and a gift for playing the mandolin but was cut short on social skills. Though he’d gladly give you the shirt off his back, they were right. Billy longs to use his life as an ode to God, a lyrical, beautiful bluegrass song played with a finely tuned heart. So with spare parts from a lifetime of collecting, he builds a radio station in his own home. People in town laugh. But Billy carries a brutal secret that keeps him from significance and purpose. Things always seem to go wrong for him.
Ebram’s Story, Book 1: The Haunting Esther Locascio Paperback, 209 pp., $13.99 Tate Publishing (Feb 23, 2010)
Ebram Casas-Treski gets the shock of his life when he moves to a new town and learns that he will not be finishing elementary school at the top grade level but going to middle school instead. But loneliness, isolation, and bullies are only the beginning of his problem. Something mysterious is going on, on Texas Thistle Avenue, and it’s difficult to ignore. Ebram needs an answer, and the truth is not what he thinks.
Misfortune Cookies Linda P. Kozar Paperback, 256 pp., $4.97 Barbour Publishing (December 9, 2008)
When even the fortune cookies hint at calamity, watch out! Best friends Sue Jan and Lovita run a beauty shop in the little town of Wachita, Texas. But one day, over lunch in a Chinese restaurant, Lovita opens a fortune cookie with a sinister message: “Your father was murdered…” It’s a clue that leads them to God, an international spy ring, and several devastatingly handsome strangers. A most unlikely pair of detectives, these girlfriends “comb” the countryside with style, sarcasm, and lots of Szechwan. This tale is like good take-out food—definitely worth bringing home.
Faces in the Fire TL Hines Paperback, 400 pp., $14.99 Thomas Nelson (July 14, 2009)
The stories of four individuals collide in trademark T.L. Hines style where supernatural thriller meets mystery. Kurt Marlowe is a truck driver who is hearing strange things over his CB radio. At a truck stop, he ends up dining with a young woman with a stunning catfish tattoo on her arm. Inside the tattoo is a series of numbers that she didn’t even realize were there… but that have great significance. This collision sets off other interactions that leave the participants feeling that something fundamental changed, and yet they’ve also, somehow, been freed.