I had a new alarm clock.  I can’t say that I appreciated him at first, but I finally decided that he wasn’t going away anytime soon.  He wasn’t all that punctual either, but oh, was he persistent!  Peck, peck, peck, flutter, flutter, peck, flutter, peck.  Every ten minutes for an hour or more each morning.   A pair of cardinals lived at our place for several months.  I haven’t seen or heard him for awhile.  I think my alarm clock is gone.  I guess I miss ‘Red’.  I looked forward to seeing him fluttering and pecking at the brand new crystal clear windows even if I didn’t appreciate the earliness of the hour some days.  He never did figure out that he was fighting himself.  I guess people are a lot like him in that respect.  Fighting ourselves or each other when we should be fighting the enemy!

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside.  Travis Boyette is such a man.  In 1998 in East Texas he strangled a high school cheerleader, then watched as Donte Drumm, a local football star, was convicted and sent to death row.  Now nine years have passed, Travis has just been paroled for a different crime; Donte is four days away from execution.  Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor, and for the first time in his life wants to do the right thing.  But, can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?  Try reading John Grisham’s new legal thriller The Confession.

The residents of Southport, North Carolina, can’t help but notice that the lovely new waitress in town is very guarded.  Katie knows her sudden arrival has raised questions, but her past is her business and she’s determined to avoid forming any personal ties.  That’s why she’s almost angry with herself for allowing Alex, a handsome father of two, steal her heart.  Katie knows she should take her terrible secret and go back on the run before her dangerous past comes roaring back.  Before it’s too late, she needs to find a Safe Haven.   Written like only Nicholas Sparks can.

If you enjoy romantic mysteries, you will like The Girl In The Gatehouse by Julie Klassen.  Banished from the only home she’s ever known, Mariah Aubrey hides herself away in an abandoned gatehouse on a distant relative’s estate.  There she supports herself and her loyal servant the only way she knows how – by writing novels in secret.  Then Captain Matthew Bryant leases the estate.  This intriguing mystery takes readers inside the life of a secret authoress at a time when novel-writing was considered improper for ladies and the smallest hint of impropriety could change a woman’s life forever.   Come in and Check It Out. . .