...And Never Let Her Go, by Ann Rule

This is the true story of the murder of Anne Marie Fahey on June 27, 1996. She was secretary to the governor of Delaware, and disappeared that June 27th after a dinner out with her secret lover and prominent millionaire attorney & former state prosecutor, Thomas Capano. Capano was then separated from his wife, but had also been secretly seeing another woman named Debbie for 18 years. Thomas Capano was a seemingly likable, quiet family man, but after weeks & months of investigation, which included Anne Marie's diary entries, emails and interviews with countless people, it was discovered that Capano had another side: a manipulator driven by power and greed. It took three years to uncover the truth behind Anne Marie's disappearance and death, her family waiting the entire time to find out where their sister was. Capano had disposed of her body far out into the Atlantic Ocean, and her remains were never found. Capano was sentenced to death by lethal injection, but several years later after a lengthy appeal, his sentence has been changed to life in prison without possibility of parole (per internet).

The Mercedes Coffin, by Faye Kellerman

When a young billionaire woman reads about a crime in the L.A. newspapers about a man found shot in the head and stuffed into the trunk of his Mercedes, it reminds her of a similar crime from 15 years earlier, the murder of her favorite high school teacher, a crime that had never been solved. She contacts the police & offers a multi-million dollar award for the solving of the cold case. Upon investigation of the two cases, detectives discover many similarities. Certain students from the high school where the teacher had worked seemed to be connected, including two aspiring rap artists and members of a late-1980s punk rock band. Detective Peter Decker, although not involved in the most current murder investigation, pokes around at solving the cold case which turns out to be connected to the more recent murder. After many interviews with the former students and the original (now retired) detectives (one of whom apparently commits suicide the day after being questioned), all the clues start to fall into place and everything points to a guy named Rudy Banks, the former lead-singer of the punk band. Just when police are ready to arrest him, Rudy is trailed to a motel where he holds 3 women hostage. After a very long stand-off, Decker convinces Rudy to let go of the hostages and walk out of the motel with hands up, but someone else (another former band member) shoots & kills Rudy as soon as he is out in the open. This is the first Faye Kellerman book that I have read, but it definitely won't be the last.

Love The One You're With, by Emily Giffin

Photographer Ellen has been married to Andy for 100 days when she bumps into her ex-boyfriend, Leo, at a crosswalk in New York. She had never understood the reason for the breakup eight years earlier. Leo wants to be friends, and Ellen reluctantly says yes. The past relationship had been very intense. A few weeks later, Leo calls Ellen to offer her a photo shoot with a famous star that he is writing a magazine article for. The job is in L.A. and when she arrives there, she finds that Leo is there waiting. Having never felt closure about their separation, she asks him why he broke up with her. They end up sharing the plane ride home & Ellen feels old emotions start to stir. She doesn't contact him after the flight & a few months later, she & Andy move to Atlanta where he (a lawyer) works with his father & they live close to his family, including his sister, Margot (who happens to be Ellen's best friend since college). Ellen is not too happy living in Atlanta & longs to return to New York even though her husband seems to be happy with the move. When Ellen reads Leo's magazine article that accompanies her photos, she emails him to say she liked the article. He then invites her back to New York, the place she wishes she would've stayed, to take photos at Coney Island. While there, Leo reveals that he still has feelings for Ellen, and although she feels the same & considers leaving Andy & everything else behind, a phone call from her sister, Suzanne, brings her to realize that she could be making an irreversible mistake. She leaves Leo's place & calls Andy, who has flown to New York to find her. The choice between what is and what could have been is the theme throughout this book. I really enjoyed the writing style.

All That Matters, by Stef Ann Holm

Chloe, divorced & about to turn 40, has her own bakery shop called Not Just Cakes. Before her lease is up on the building where she does business, a large chain grocery store wants to take over her space, even offering her a settlement to move out early. She meets a lawyer, John, who talks with her on the details. But Chloe isn't budging from her location and is ready to fight to the very end. John keeps finding excuses to ask her to dinner and before long they are pretty serious about each other. Chloe's stubbornness toward the grocery chain pays off later when she is offered her own spot within the grocery store, a move that will increase her profits significantly. I read through this book quite quickly as it had me interested throughout to see what would happen between Chloe & John.

Dakota Home, by Debbie Macomber

The story picks up not long after the ending of the Dakota Born story. Lindsay & Gage are now married. Maddy, Lindsay's best friend, buys the Buffalo Valley grocery store & moves to town. She meets Jeb, a quiet, reclusive-type with a prosthetic leg, who she delivers groceries to. One night during a snowstorm she goes off the road and after running out of gas & nearly freezing to death, Jeb comes to her rescue. They end up spending several days together at Jeb's home during the snowstorm. After Maddy's return to her home in town, Jeb seems to want nothing to do with her, and Maddy is heartbroken, as well as pregnant. Lindsay & Gage are also expecting a baby. There's also Buffalo Bob, owner of 3 Of A Kind Bar, finally getting married to his on-again off-again waitress, Merrily. Merrily has kidnapped a severely abused child. She & Buffalo Bob plan to raise him as their own, until missing child flyers with his picture begin to circulate. What happens with that will most likely be answered in the third book, Always Dakota. There are a couple other weddings & engagements in the book as well.

Dakota Born, by Debbie Macomber

Buffalo Valley, North Dakota is a small (fictional) town that is slowly dying out. Then Lindsay Snyder arrives from Savannah, Georgia to visit her late grandmother's old home. She is offered a fill-in teaching position at the high school, which would've been closed down had she not taken the job. She is well liked by the high school kids & the rest of the town, including Gage Sinclair, a local farmer. Although there is much friction between them, they are helplessly falling for each other. Things start to brighten around the town as Lindsay's students put on a play at the old theater, have a Valentine's dance, and local business people are invited to the school to tell the kids about their careers. What I like most about this book is that it's a simpler kind of life, less crowded with technology, the kids are content with their one-room school, and the characters living in this town are warm and friendly. This book is the first of a trilogy, and I am reading the second book, Dakota Home, next.

One Fifth Avenue, by Candace Bushnell

Not my typical pick for a read, but this turned out to be entertaining. It's all about the residents of the One Fifth Avenue apartment building in Manhattan, the day-to-day 'struggles' of the filthy-rich and those around them. A lot of the characters were annoyingly self-centered and created plenty of drama, one standing out the most was Lola, a 22-year-old trying to stay in One Fifth no matter what she had to do or who she was involved with. There's also a famous actress, a screenplay writer, a book author, a hedge-fund manager, etc. I read through this pretty quickly, and while it passed the time nicely, there's not a whole lot of it that will likely stick with me for long.