Some wonderful books to look forward to in early 2009 from Zondervan.

It’s shaping up to be a great year of reading! Enjoy the sneak peek 🙂

Daisy Chain by Mary DeMuth

The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1973 spins three lives out of control—Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is haunted by dreams of Daisy while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.

In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.

Daisy Chain is an achingly beautiful southern coming-of-age story crafted by a bright new literary talent. It offers a haunting yet hopeful backdrop for human depravity and beauty, for terrible secrets and God’s surprising redemption.

Releasing March, 2009

Deceived by James Scott Bell

Two bodies in an isolated canyon on the edge of L.A.

One with saddlebags filled with diamonds. That’s how it begins for Liz Towne, a stunning blonde with a devout husband who has given up a prime job for reasons Liz cannot understand—for “Mac” MacDonald, a Gulf War vet who’s done time in prison and is just now finding his way back to normal life—and for Roxanne “Rocky” Towne, Liz’s sister-in-law, who suspects things she cannot prove. All three are thrown together after a tragedy in Pack Canyon. After stumbling upon the stolen diamonds, Liz is faced with an escalating set of choices: Truth or lies? Love or money? Saint or sinner? Liz thinks she knows who she is and what she wants, but when the web gets terribly tangled, is her game of deception a clever lie or a deadly trap? A new suspense thriller from James Scott Bell, bestselling author of Presumed Guilty.

Releasing March, 2009

Double Minds by Terri Blackstock

As talented singer/songwriter Parker James struggles to make her mark on the Nashville music scene, she finds the competition can be fierce – even deadly.

When a young woman is murdered at the recording studio where Parker works, Parker is drawn into a mystery where nothing is as it seems.

Unraveling the truth puts her own life at risk when she uncovers high-level industry corruption and is terrorized by a menacing stalker. As the danger escalates, Parker begins to question her dreams, her future, and even her faith. Does stardom even matter anymore?

Double Minds is a compelling suspense novel that unfolds in the middle of the Christian music industry in Nashville.

Terri Blackstock, known for her Up All Night Fiction, grabs readers at page one and keeps them riveted until the final plot twist is untangled.

This well-turned mystery is Blackstock’s first stand-alone title in several years, and it was worth waiting for.

Releasing February, 2009

Take One by Karen Kingsbury

Filmmakers Chase Ryan and Keith Ellison have left the mission fields of Indonesia for the mission field of Hollywood with a dream bigger than both of them. Now they have done the impossible – raised enough money to independently produce a feature film with a message they hope will change the world. They have attached top talent to the picture, and are set to begin filming in Bloomington, Indiana, where Keith’s daughter is a freshman, when everything begins to unravel. With millions of dollars of investors’ money on the line, Chase and Keith make a desperate attempt to keep the film from falling apart. Along the way, trouble threatens key relationships for the producers and makes them question everything they’re trying to do. Soon the realization dawns on them that they are in over their heads, a couple of Davids in a world of Hollywood Goliaths. Is it possible to keep things above the line, to beat the odds and make a movie unlike anything done before, or will they lose everything in the process?

Releasing February, 2009

Turning the Paige by Laura Jensen Walker

At 35, Paige Kelley is feeling very “in between.”

She’s still working her temp job after two years, still not dating three years after her divorce, and still melting at every chubby-cheeked toddler she sees while her biological clock ticks ever louder.

Paige even moves back home to help her ailing, high-maintenance mother.

It’s not exactly the life she’d dreamed of! When her Getaway Girls book club members urge Paige to break free and get on with her life, she’s afraid.

How will her mother react?

How can Paige honor her widowed mother and still pursue her own life?

The answers come from a surprising source.

A trip to Scotland and a potential new love interest help launch an exciting new chapter in her life, and lead Paige to discover that God’s plan for her promises to be more than she ever imagined. This latest release in the Getaway Girls collection delivers a smart, funny, and warm account of one woman’s challenge to reconcile who she is – a dutiful Christian daughter – with the woman she longs to be.

Releasing March, 2009

Midnight in Madrid by Noel Hynd

When a mysterious relic is stolen from a Madrid museum, people are dying to discover its secrets. Literally.

U.S. Treasury agent Alexandra LaDuca returns from Conspiracy in Kiev to track down the stolen artwork, a small carving called The Pietà of Malta. It seems to be a simple assignment, but nothing about this job is simple, as the mysteries and legends surrounding the relic become increasingly complex with claims of supernatural power.

As aggressive, relentless, and stubborn as ever, Alex crisscrosses Europe through a web of intrigue, danger, and betrayal, joined by a polished, mysterious new partner. With echoes of classic detective and suspense fiction from The Maltese Falcon to The Da Vinci Code, Midnight in Madrid takes the reader on a nonstop spellbinding chase through a modern world of terrorists, art thieves, and cold-blooded killers.

Releasing March, 2009