It was a dark and stormy night when a monster began to grow in the garden. The ghastly beast began as 10 innocent gourd seeds, which were to produce gourds three feet in diameter. I can’t recall why I wanted gourds that big, but at the time it seemed like a fun thing to grow. The awful organism is now a 250-square-foot living, breathing mass of dark, dense foliage spreading across the terrain. Each day it extends its lethal tendrils, clutching onto sweet flowers and tiny grass blades in a death grip. I believe the evil plan includes a hostage takeover of the tomatoes and perhaps the garden shed. In fact, just the other day, I felt a slimy twisting tendril slither across my ankle as I harvested the green beans. I gasped. Where was the chainsaw? I regain my composure long enough to look down and discover a mini-worm crossing my leg. So I didn’t really need to panic. As of today, the massive beast is approximately two feet from the garden shed. From there it could possibly creep over to our neighbors, the Richters, and then onto the Buss homestead, maybe even to Blue Mound Avenue and the power plant. I’m not predicting a worldwide apocalyptic event, but a sinister plot is definitely unfolding! Another sinister plot unfolds in the new book by Kay Hooper, "Hunting Fear." He’s no ordinary kidnapper. Not only does he strike again and again, but he collects the ransom, gets away and leaves his hostage dead. After months eluding the best law enforcement professionals available, this monster leaves nothing in his wake, but a cold trail of unconnected victims. He’s no ordinary cop. Lucas Jordan has an extraordinary skill: he locates missing people. But his uncanny ability comes with a price, and his methods rouse mistrust in the hard-nosed cops forced to call him into the investigation. Complicating the situation further, is the presence of someone who’s even more mistrusted, carnival psychic Samantha Burke, a woman from Jordan’s past. Now the killer is hunting Jordan and threatens the one life he values more than his own. Also new on the shelf this week is, "Slow Kill," by Michael McGarrity. Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin Kerney travels to a California ranch looking to buy some prime quarter horse breeding stock. Instead, he finds himself the prime suspect in a possible homicide when a guest at the ranch, Clifford Spalding, is found dead. Confronted by a determined cop unwilling to let him off the hook, Kerney decides to conduct his own investigation. As he digs into the victim’s background, he learns that Spalding’s ex-wife refuses to believe that her son, a soldier killed in Vietnam some 30 years ago, is dead. Kerney digs deeper and soon finds himself sharing the woman’s doubts: Did Spalding’s current wife, a much younger woman, orchestrate his murder with the help of a lover? Did a California cop collude with Spalding to keep his ex-wife from learning the truth about her son? "Slow Kill" races from West Coast to East Coast as Kerney attempts to find the answers to a 30-year-old mystery and extricate himself from a situation that could ruin his career.
