Gretchen is in jail, Archie and Susan are on the trail of a new serial killer, and Portland is flooding!  A major character is poisoned.  A major character drowns.  And a major character gets hypothermia.  So there is a lot of derring-do.  That said, this is a good book for those of you who are new to the series.  You can read it without having read the other three, and there is less stabbing in this one.  Gretchen fans, do not be alarmed.  She's in this book.  Just a little.  And she'll be back in book five when the stabbing continues.  This book also features a lot of good tips that may save you from drowning at some point in the future.  An excellent investment in your safety. 

Det. Archie Sheridan is in the nuthouse.  Serial killer Gretchen Lowell is still at large.  That doesn’t seem fair, does it?  Bodies start turning up.  But is Gretchen to blame, or is it a wily bunch of psychotic followers?  Archie and Susan are on the case.  Voted one of Amazon’s “Best Books of 2009… So Far.”

Serial killer Gretchen Lowell escapes.  ’Nuff said.

Det. Archie Sheridan led the Beauty Killer Task Force for ten years, before the Beauty Killer (Gretchen Lowell) caught him, tortured him for ten days and then mysteriously let him go and turned herself in.  Now it’s two years later and Archie, addicted to pain pills and still obsessed with Gretchen, is called off medical leave to hunt a second serial killer.  Pink-haired girl journalist Susan Ward is assigned to profile Archie.  She knows he’s hiding something.  But what?  (It’s bigger than a breadbox.)

This is a funny book.  Not gory at all.  My husband and I co-wrote it and my friend Lia Miternique did the illustrations.  It has all sorts of useful hints for the introspective caped crusader.  Practical Costume Concerns, Advice for Sidekicks, What to do if Your Parent is a Super Villain, that sort of thing.  A send-up of both comics and self-help books.

This book is written from the point of view of Nancy Drew, looking back on her life and setting the record straight.  Also features lots of cameos from other series characters, including Cherry Ames, the Hardy Boys and Encyclopedia Brown.  This book is intended for grown-ups, not because it’s terribly risqué, but because grown-ups will get the jokes.  A perfect gift for anyone who’s ever been a Nancy Drew fan.  Your mom, for instance.  Or Sandra Sotomayor.