I received a copy of Mariah Stewart’s Mercy Street in the mail. It’s a hardcover. Her first hardcover release, I think. Stewart is one of those authors where I see her covers all the time and do the “I need to try her” thing. Then I forget because my short-term memory is spotty. Stewart is also billed as a New York Times Bestseller, which makes me really wonder how I missed her before now.

Mercy Street sets up what I assume will be a new series for Stewart. Basically, a rich guy whose wife and child disappeared gets reluctantly involved in providing the financing to solve cold cases. Mercy Street is not the rich guy’s story - unfortunately because I really wanted that story. It’s the story about a discredited former copy named Mallory and a case where two teens are missing and two others are dead. The hero (not the rich guy, which was a most excellent choice on Stewart’s part because I did not want this guy to find love yet) and heroine are interesting and strong. The mystery part of the book didn’t totally click for me because I wanted it to be more of a whodunit (something that might be more my issue than Stewart’s), but the highlight for me was the rich guy. I wanted to know his story. I got sucked in and started wondering where his wife and kid are and how they got there.

In other words, Stewart hooked me in. I’ll now wait (impatiently) for the next installment to see if I learn more about the rich guy…and I better or I’ll be disgruntled. Maybe Mercy Street was not perfect for me, but Stewart somehow managed to make me want to read more and read it right now. That’s a skill.

Anyone read Mariah Stewart? Leave a comment here and you’ll be entered to win a copy. Did I mention it’s a hardcover? The requirements: (1) one entry per person; (2) you need to have a blog of some sort or access to one; and, (3) you need to read the book and post a review - you don’t have to love it, just be respectful - by mid-June. I’ll pick a winner on Thursday.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 5:30 am and is filed under About Authors, About Books, Author Spotlight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.