I know there are new entrants to the weekly book giveaways, so I wanted to start the post with a reminder. When you email to enter a contest, I do ask for your name and mailing address. I don’t keep it. Once the weekly contest is over, all the entries are trashed. And, when someone wins, I don’t post their last name on the blog, just first name, last initial, and city and state. I don’t want anyone to feel as if I’m posting their identity. However, if you don’t include your name and mailing address, I don’t chase you down, either. I ask for your information so that I have it when the contest ends, and I can get the book in the mail to you the next day. If I have to email you, and wait for a response, I may not get it to you immediately. So, please include your name and mailing address in your entry.

Saying that, congratulations to the winners of the last contest. Aubrey H. from Vienna, VA will receive Ruth Sawtell Wallis’ No Bones About It/Cold Bed in the Clay. The Footsteps on the Stairs/The Troublemaker by Jean Potts is going to Rick R. from Portland, OR. The books are going out in the mail today.

This week, I’m giving away one of the most unusual mysteries I’ve read lately, Janice Hallett’s The Appeal. Written as an epistolary novel, in the form of emails and texts, this is the story of a community theater group headed by a powerful family. When the family says a young child has cancer and needs experimental therapy, the group rallies to raise funds. However, one of the newcomers to the group, a nurse, questions the treatment. Now, an attorney’s law students are asked to look at all the documents, and answer questions. The reader gets to answer those questions as well.

In Andrew Bourelle’s 48 Hours to Kill, Ethan Lockhart hopes to become a law-abiding member of society after he serves his ten-year sentence in a Nevada prison for armed robbery. When he’s given a forty-eight-hour furlough to attend his sister Abby’s funeral, he learns that her body was never found -just enough blood to declare her dead instead of missing. Ethan suspects there’s more to her death than was reported, and he decides to use his forty-eight-hour window to find out what happened. But to get t o the bottom of the mystery, he’ll have to return to his unsavory past.

Which book would you like to win? You can enter to win both, but I need separate entries. Email me at Lesa.Holstine@gmail.com. Your subject heading should read either “Win The Appeal” or “Win 48 Hours.” Please include your name and mailing address. Entries from the U.S. only, please. The giveaway will end Thursday, Feb. 3 at 5 PM CT.