After spending a year in prison, Ralph Fisher has explicit plans for his first night of freedom: tonight, someone will be held accountable. He goes to murderous lengths to obtain the address of his former wife -- the woman he blames for his fate and against whom he has sworn vengeance....  more

After spending a year in prison, Ralph Fisher has explicit plans for his first night of freedom: tonight, someone will be held accountable. He goes to murderous lengths to obtain the address of his former wife -- the woman he blames for his fate and against whom he has sworn vengeance. Determined to bring her to his idea of justice, Ralph's next step is to travel from Florida's sandy beaches to Dayton, Ohio, where his ex-wife is struggling to make ends meet on Mad River Road. Also in Florida, Jamie Kellogg wakes from an agonizing nightmare of her mother's funeral, and assesses her life: a pretty but unaccomplished twenty-nine-year-old woman in a dead-end job, with an ex-husband in Atlanta, a married lover in the hospital, and a virtual stranger in her bed. But this stranger is everything the previous men in her life weren't: tender, attentive, and adventurous. After convincing Jamie to quit her miserable job and ditch her judgmental, perfectionist sister, he proposes a romantic getaway. While Jamie wonders if this thrilling man might finally be her Prince Charming, they plan a road trip to visit his son, who lives with his mother on a street called Mad River Road....  

Charley Web is a beautiful single mother who writes a successful and controversial column for the Palm Beach Post. She’s spent years building an emotional wall against scathing critics, snooty neighbors and her disapproving family. But when she receives a letter from Jill Rohmer, a young...  more

Charley Web is a beautiful single mother who writes a successful and controversial column for the Palm Beach Post. She’s spent years building an emotional wall against scathing critics, snooty neighbors and her disapproving family. But when she receives a letter from Jill Rohmer, a young woman serving time on death row for the murders of three small children, her wall slowly begins to crumble. Jill wants Charley to write her biography so that she can share the many hidden truths about the case that failed to surface during her trial — including the existence of a mysterious man she calls Jack, who may just be the actual killer. Seeing this as an opportunity to gain journalistic credibility, Charley begins her journey into the mind of this deeply troubled woman. But when a series of anonymous letters, threatening to harm her son and daughter, land in Charley’s in-box, she knows her assignment has gone way too far. As Charley races against time to save her family, she begins to understand the value of her seemingly intrusive neighbors, friends and relatives. As she discovers, this network of flawed but loving people might just be her only hope of getting out alive.

One rainy day in Brooklyn, Jennings Michael Burch's mother, too sick to care for him, left him at an orphanage, saying only, "I'll be right back." She never returned. Shuttled through a series of bleak foster homes and institutions, he never remained in any of them long enough to make a friend....  more

One rainy day in Brooklyn, Jennings Michael Burch's mother, too sick to care for him, left him at an orphanage, saying only, "I'll be right back." She never returned. Shuttled through a series of bleak foster homes and institutions, he never remained in any of them long enough to make a friend. Instead, Jennings clung to a tattered stuffed animal, his sole source of warmth in a frightening world. This is the poignant story of his lost childhood. But it is also the triumphant tale of a little boy who finally gained the courage to reach out for love-and found it waiting for him.

It's been six years since entertainment agent Myron Bolitar last played superhero, but all that changes when he asks two neighborhood high school students to make him a promise: that they will call him if they are ever in a bind but are afraid to call their parents. Several nights later, the...  more

It's been six years since entertainment agent Myron Bolitar last played superhero, but all that changes when he asks two neighborhood high school students to make him a promise: that they will call him if they are ever in a bind but are afraid to call their parents. Several nights later, the call comes at 2 am, and true to his word, Myron picks up one of the girls in midtown Manhattan and drives her to a quiet cul-de-sac in NJ where she says her friend lives. The next day, the girl's parents discover theat their daughter is missing. And that Myron was the last person to see her. Desperate to fulfill a well-intentioned promise turned nightmarishly wrong, Myron races to find her before she's gone forever. But this past will not be buried so easily--for trouble has always stalked him, and his loved ones often suffer. Now Myron must decide once and for all who he is and what he will stand up for if he is to have any hope of saving a young girl's life.

When newswoman Britt Shelley wakes up to find herself in bed with Jay Burgess, a rising star detective in the Charleston PD, she remembers nothing of how she got there...or of how Jay wound up dead. Handsome and hard-partying, Jay was a hero of the disastrous fire that five years earlier had...  more

When newswoman Britt Shelley wakes up to find herself in bed with Jay Burgess, a rising star detective in the Charleston PD, she remembers nothing of how she got there...or of how Jay wound up dead. Handsome and hard-partying, Jay was a hero of the disastrous fire that five years earlier had destroyed Charleston's police headquarters. The blaze left seven people dead, but the death toll would have been much higher if not for the bravery of Jay and three other city officials who risked their lives to lead others to safety. Firefighter Raley Gannon, Jay's lifelong friend, was off-duty that day. Though he might not have been a front-line hero, he was assigned to lead the investigation into the cause of the fire. It was an investigation he never got to complete. Because on one calamitous night, Raley's world was shattered. Scandalized, wronged by the people he trusted most, Raley was forced to surrender the woman he loved and the work to which he'd dedicated his life. For five years his resentment against the men who exploited their hero status to further their careers -- and ruin his -- had festered, but he was helpless to set things right. That changes when he learns of Jay Burgess's shocking death and Britt Shelley's claim that she has no memory of her night with him. As the investigation into Jay's death intensifies, and suspicion against Britt Shelley mounts, Raley realizes that the newswoman, Jay's last sexual conquest, might be his only chance to get personal vindication -- and justice for the seven victims of the police station fire. But there are powerful men who don't want to address unanswered questions about the fire and who will go to any lengths to protect their reputations. As Raley and Britt discover more about what happened that fateful day, the more perilous their situation becomes, until they're not only chasing after the truth but running for their lives. Friends are exposed as foes, heroes take on the taint of criminals, and no one can be trusted completely. A tale about audacious corruption -- and those with the courage to expose it -- Smoke Screen is Sandra Brown's most searing and intense novel yet.

On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic...  more

On a burn ward, a man lies between living and dying, so disfigured that no one from his past life would even recognize him. His only comfort comes from imagining various inventive ways to end his misery. Then a woman named Marianne Engel walks into his hospital room, a wild-haired, schizophrenic sculptress on the lam from the psych ward upstairs, who insists that she knows him -- that she has known him, in fact, for seven hundred years. She remembers vividly when they met, in another hospital ward at a convent in medieval Germany, when she was a nun and he was a wounded mercenary left to die. If he has forgotten this, he is not to worry: she will prove it to him.  And so Marianne Engel begins to tell him their story, carving away his disbelief and slowly drawing him into the orbit and power of a word he'd never uttered: love. 

  She's out to clear his father's name... and caught in killer's sights. The affluent town of Hoffman, New Jersey, was shattered when esteemed doctor Duncan Avery stabbed his wife to death one spring evening. Now, fifteen years later, struggling actress Nina...  more

  She's out to clear his father's name... and caught in killer's sights. The affluent town of Hoffman, New Jersey, was shattered when esteemed doctor Duncan Avery stabbed his wife to death one spring evening. Now, fifteen years later, struggling actress Nina Avery -- who never doubted her father's innocence -- returns to Hoffman when he is paroled and moves home. Not only does Dr. Avery want to repair his relationship with Nina and her two brothers, successful investment banker Patrick and recovering drug addict Jimmy, he wants to find the real killer. But when violence overturns the Averys' lives again, Nina no longer knows who she can trust. Relying only on herself and on the mysterious prison doctor who treated her father, she searches frantically for the truth. But she must dig deep down into the secrets of her family and her town if she stands the chance of catching the killer who has his sight set on the new target: her.

Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn “Button” Peters is nine the summer Winnalee and her fiery-spirited older sister, Freeda, blow into her small town–and from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other.Much to her mother’s dismay, Button is...  more

Wisconsin, 1961. Evelyn “Button” Peters is nine the summer Winnalee and her fiery-spirited older sister, Freeda, blow into her small town–and from the moment she sees them, Button knows this will be a summer unlike any other.Much to her mother’s dismay, Button is fascinated by the Malone sisters, especially Winnalee, a feisty scrap of a thing who carries around a shiny silver urn containing her mother’s ashes and a tome she calls “The Book of Bright Ideas.” It is here, Winnalee tells Button, that she records everything she learns: her answers to the mysteries of life. But sometimes those mysteries conceal a truth better left buried. And when a devastating secret is suddenly revealed, dividing loyalties and uprooting lives, no one–from Winnalee and her sister to Button and her family–will ever be the same.

It was only a prank: diverting cash from Wyatt Telecom's executive slush fund to throw a retirement bash for a member of the loading dock crew. But when corporate security catches up with Adam Cassidy, a low ambition junior staffer at the high-tech behemoth, they call it something else:...  more

It was only a prank: diverting cash from Wyatt Telecom's executive slush fund to throw a retirement bash for a member of the loading dock crew. But when corporate security catches up with Adam Cassidy, a low ambition junior staffer at the high-tech behemoth, they call it something else: embezzlement, to the tune of nearly $80 grand.Ruthless CEO Nick Wyatt is impressed by Adam's scheming, and offers him one way out-take on the role of a rising corporate hotshot and infiltrate Wyatt's rival, Trion Systems. His mission is to get close to Trion's legendary founder Jock Goddard, and his ultra-secret "Project Aurora," and report back to Wyatt.With Wyatt pulling the strings and a dramatically improved identity, Adam is set up as Trion's new boy genius. Suddenly, he's got a sweet new Porsche, a closet full of $1,500 suits, and even a lovely lady who thinks he's a dream. But it's all just a mirage, because Adam is about to learn that nothing is what it seems and that it isn't paranoia...everyone is out to get him...

A triumphant new novel from award-winner Kate Atkinson: a breathtaking story of families divided, love lost and found, and the mysteries of fate. Includes reading group guide with author interview and discussion questions. Case One: Olivia Land, youngest and most beloved of the Land girls,...  more

A triumphant new novel from award-winner Kate Atkinson: a breathtaking story of families divided, love lost and found, and the mysteries of fate. Includes reading group guide with author interview and discussion questions. Case One: Olivia Land, youngest and most beloved of the Land girls, goes missing in the night and is never seen again. Thirty years later, two of her surviving sisters unearth a shocking clue to Olivia's disappearance among the clutter of their childhood home... Case Two: Theo delights in his daughter Laura's wit, effortless beauty, and selfless love. But her first day as an associate in his law firm is also the day when Theo's world turns upside down... Case Three: Michelle looks around one day and finds herself trapped in a hell of her own making. A very needy baby and a very demanding husband make her every waking moment a reminder that somewhere, somehow, she'd made a grave mistake and would spend the rest of her life paying for it -- until a fit of rage creates a grisly, bloody escape. As Private Detective Jackson Brodie investigates all three cases, startling connections and discoveries emerge. Inextricably caught up in his clients' grief, joy, and desire, Jackson finds their unshakable need for resolution very much like his own. Kate Atkinson's celebrated talent makes for a novel that positively sparkles with surprise, comedy, tragedy, and constant, page-turning delight.

Delving into a murdered man's life, Detective Erlendur discovers that forty years ago he was accused of an appalling crime. Did his past come back to haunt him? Erlendur uses all the forensic sources available including Iceland's Genetic Research Centre in order to find the...  more

Delving into a murdered man's life, Detective Erlendur discovers that forty years ago he was accused of an appalling crime. Did his past come back to haunt him? Erlendur uses all the forensic sources available including Iceland's Genetic Research Centre in order to find the answers. Also published under the name Jar City.

Lustful Lord Rockleigh is the talk of the ton. He's never denied his amorous appetites, but he's furious that people are gossiping about his intimate intrigues, thanks to a slanderous newspaper editorial... Newspaperwoman Mercy Tatlock can't believe Rockleigh has the nerve to...  more

Lustful Lord Rockleigh is the talk of the ton. He's never denied his amorous appetites, but he's furious that people are gossiping about his intimate intrigues, thanks to a slanderous newspaper editorial... Newspaperwoman Mercy Tatlock can't believe Rockleigh has the nerve to file a libel suit against the editor of The Tiptree Trumpet, who just happens to be her very own father! Marshaling all of her charm and cunning, she dreams up some deliciously devious tricks to embarrass the rakish Roc -- tricks that will surely convince him to drop the charges. But Roc is not a man to be trifled with. For in his nefarious eyes, Mercy's nettling ways prove most arousing...

They were as different as a falcon and a butterfly: he, the subtle, soaring hunter; she, vulnerable and trembling with fear; he, the arrogant, iron-willed Lord Brockhaven; she, the ragged gypsy girl dragged from the woods to be jailed as a poacher, or -- worse still -- handed over to the...  more

They were as different as a falcon and a butterfly: he, the subtle, soaring hunter; she, vulnerable and trembling with fear; he, the arrogant, iron-willed Lord Brockhaven; she, the ragged gypsy girl dragged from the woods to be jailed as a poacher, or -- worse still -- handed over to the pleasure of Robert, the young master of Brockhaven's domain. The gold medallion around her neck was Liza's only protection -- the key to a new life and a fortune beyond her wildest dreams. But what was the worth of life as a fine English lady ...what was the use of a fortune if her wild gypsy heart forever longed for a love that could never be?

Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life...and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he's just trying to survive. But...  more

Arthur Nersesian's underground literary treasure is an unforgettable slice of gritty New York City life...and the darkly hilarious odyssey of an anonymous slacker. He's a perennial couch-surfer, an aspiring writer searching for himself in spite of himself, and he's just trying to survive. But life has other things in store for the fuck-up. From being dumped by his girlfriend to getting fired for asking for a raise, from falling into a robbery to posing as a gay man to keep his job at a porno theater, the fuck-up's tragi-comedy is perfectly realized by Arthur Nersesian, who manages to create humor and suspense out of urban desperation. "Read it and howl," says Bruce Benderson (author of User), "and be glad it didn't happen to you."

In MOONLIGHT FALLS, novelist and photo journalist Vincent Zandri asks the question "If you knew your life could end at any moment, how far would you go to prove you murdered your lover? " Albany, New York, is the setting of Zandri's paranoid thriller (in the Hitchcock tradition)...  more

In MOONLIGHT FALLS, novelist and photo journalist Vincent Zandri asks the question "If you knew your life could end at any moment, how far would you go to prove you murdered your lover? " Albany, New York, is the setting of Zandri's paranoid thriller (in the Hitchcock tradition) about Richard "Dick" Moonlight, former APD detective turned private investigator/massage therapist, who believes he killed Scarlet Montana -- his illicit lover and wife of his ex-boss, Chief of Detectives Jake Montana. The problem is ... Moonlight doesn't remember what happened!

A uniquely terrifying thriller that breaks all of the commandments...with a vengeance.Not since Cain and Abel have there been two brothers like...The Hancock Boys.What if two identical twin brothers decided to share a career, a family, a wife, a life? That is exactly what the Hancock boys...  more

A uniquely terrifying thriller that breaks all of the commandments...with a vengeance.Not since Cain and Abel have there been two brothers like...The Hancock Boys.What if two identical twin brothers decided to share a career, a family, a wife, a life? That is exactly what the Hancock boys decided to do. They took turns playing the role of the perfect husband, father, and bestselling novelist while the other lived out his wildest fantasies. It seemed the perfect setup. But what if one of them pushed the game too far? What if there was someone out there who knew their secret? And, worst of all, what if one of the brothers suspected the other of teetering on the edge of sanity? The Hancock boys both know their game is coming to an end. And they have the perfect plan to protect their marriage, their skyrocketing career, and their very lives. The two men must become one. But which brother is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice? And with so much at stake, can either truly trust the other?"Simpson has a terrific story to tell and plenty of talent to pull it off."--Chicago Tribune

Sam Adams had the perfect life: a beautiful wife and son, a job that he loved, and a comfortable home in the suburbs. But a flat tire one Easter Sunday led to the ultimate nightmare.  Now Sam must put his life back together. He rents a small cottage on a secluded country...  more

Sam Adams had the perfect life: a beautiful wife and son, a job that he loved, and a comfortable home in the suburbs. But a flat tire one Easter Sunday led to the ultimate nightmare.  Now Sam must put his life back together. He rents a small cottage on a secluded country estate.  His new landlord is beautiful, mysterious, and blind. Far from being a helpless victim of her blindness, Evelyn Richmond is playing a strange game with Sam's mind--and soul. What does the seductive and enigmatic Mrs. Richmond really want? Is she merely a bored and lonely woman--or a dangerous sexual temptress? Sam finds himself obsessed with and possessed by this sensuous and unsettling woman, caught in her carefully spun web of dark secrets and forbidden eroticism. Sam Adams has no idea how far Evelyn Richmond will go, beyond what limits she will push him, or where their bizarre courtship will end. Nor will you...If you think that you are beyond surprise, that nothing can shock you...think again.

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club, a secret society obsessed with notorious...  more

Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club, a secret society obsessed with notorious crimes, locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history. She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started. On the run from a killer.

"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart out of a fine spring afternoon... " That's how Detective C. W Sughrue ended one...  more

"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart out of a fine spring afternoon... " That's how Detective C. W Sughrue ended one search and began another -- a search for a girl in a dog-eared photo, ten years lost and gone. Now Sughrue has finally hit the big time, hunting down Betty Sue Flowers, the barmaid's beautiful daughter. Who, what, and where is Betty Sue Flowers? ... Ask the men who knew her, but never well enough ... ask the mobster who wants her dead... the friend who says she is ... But don't ask Sughrue -- who's putting his life on the line for 87 bucks and a passionate obsession for a girl in a dog-eared photo.

California, 1984. Three children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence....  more

California, 1984. Three children, running in the woods behind their school, stumble upon a partially buried female body, eyes and mouth glued shut. Close behind the children is their teacher, Anne Navarre, shocked by this discovery and heartbroken as she witnesses the end of their innocence. What she doesn't yet realize is that this will mark the end of innocence for an entire community, as the ties that bind families and friends are tested by secrets uncovered in the wake of a serial killer's escalating activity. Detective Tony Mendez, fresh from a law enforcement course at FBI headquarters, is charged with interpreting those now revealed secrets. He's using a new technique -- profiling -- to develop a theory of the case, a strategy that pushes him ever deeper into the lives of the three children, and closer to the young teacher whose interest in recent events becomes as intense as his own. As new victims are found and the media scrutiny of the investigation bears down on them, both Mendez and Navarre are unsure if those who suffer most are the victims themselves -- or the family and friends of the killer, blissfully unaware that someone very close to them is a brutal, calculating psychopath.

Set during the chaotic?beginnings of Napoleon's rule, this saga tells the story of Gabriel St. Croix, a street survivor searching for a place to belong. Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, he has never known friendship or affection. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy...  more

Set during the chaotic?beginnings of Napoleon's rule, this saga tells the story of Gabriel St. Croix, a street survivor searching for a place to belong. Abandoned as a child and raised in a brothel, he has never known friendship or affection. Hiding physical and emotional scars behind an icy facade, his only relationship is with a young boy he has spent the last five years protecting from the brutal reality of their environment. But all that is about to change. The boy's family has found him, and they are coming to take him home. Sarah Munroe blames herself for her brother's disappearance. When he's located, safe and unharmed despite where he has been living, Sarah vows to help the man who rescued and protected him in any way she can. With loving patience she helps Gabriel face his demons and teaches him to trust in friendship and love. But when the past catches up with him, Gabriel must face it on his own. Becoming a mercenary, pirate, and professional gambler, he travels to London, France, and the Barbary Coast in a desperate attempt to find Sarah again. On the way, however, he will discover the most dangerous journey and the greatest gamble of all is within the darkest reaches of his own heart.

After a failed career and marriage in California, Hugh Davoren is back in Helena, Montana, as a construction hand at the old Pettyjohn Ranch, home of many childhood memories -- including the seemingly accidental death of his teenaged first love, Celia. Hugh is just trying to get through...  more

After a failed career and marriage in California, Hugh Davoren is back in Helena, Montana, as a construction hand at the old Pettyjohn Ranch, home of many childhood memories -- including the seemingly accidental death of his teenaged first love, Celia. Hugh is just trying to get through another long workday on the ranch when he discovers two dead stallions. A further probe into the matter only pushes Hugh into dangerous corners, as he finds that the ranch's slick new owner, his beautiful wife, and even old Mr. Pettyjohn have terrible secrets to keep.

Author Siri L. Mitchell (The Cubicle Next Door) invites readrers to an exotic and mysterious land on a tender journey of self–discovery. Though reporter Allie O’Connor has lived in Japan for two years, she still barely copes as a foreigner. After an office romance ends badly, she...  more

Author Siri L. Mitchell (The Cubicle Next Door) invites readrers to an exotic and mysterious land on a tender journey of self–discovery. Though reporter Allie O’Connor has lived in Japan for two years, she still barely copes as a foreigner. After an office romance ends badly, she prays in her lonliness one moonlit night for a friend. Just a friend. Soon after this prayer she runs into Eric Larson at church, an old classmate from high school. Eric has been assigned to the U.S. embassy and lives in Allie’s district. In school he had been a young Republican. Allie had been a liberal Democrat. He is not the friend she was looking for. And yet...here she is. Here he is. Will Allie risk their fledgling friendship to find out if it can become something more? Readers’ hearts will resonate with Allie’s look at her past, present, and hope for the future.

Stuart Aysgarth, the new Viscount Mount Villiars, doesn't know he's playing with fire when he inadvertently runs afoul of Emma Hotchkiss. True, the exquisite Yorkshire lady is a mere sheep farmer, but she also guards a most colorful past that makes her only more appealing to the...  more

Stuart Aysgarth, the new Viscount Mount Villiars, doesn't know he's playing with fire when he inadvertently runs afoul of Emma Hotchkiss. True, the exquisite Yorkshire lady is a mere sheep farmer, but she also guards a most colorful past that makes her only more appealing to the handsome, haunted lord. Emma has come to him seeking justice -- and Stuart is determined that she will not leave until she has shared her secrets ... and his bed. Her clever revenge scheme must fail in the face of his soft words and tender caress -- and then he turns the tables on his bewitching adversary, seducing her into a daring deception of his own ...

A single act of loyalty becomes a desperate struggle for survival... Savannah von Hopf has no choice.  To save her uncle's life, she goes in search of Ken "WildCard" Karmody, a guy she barely knew in college who is now a military operative.  She must convince him to...  more

A single act of loyalty becomes a desperate struggle for survival... Savannah von Hopf has no choice.  To save her uncle's life, she goes in search of Ken "WildCard" Karmody, a guy she barely knew in college who is now a military operative.  She must convince him to help her deliver a cache of ransom money into the hands of terrorists halfway around the world.  What she doesn't expect is to end up in WildCard's arms before she can even ask for help. WildCard has always had a soft spot for beautiful women.  But when he discovers Savannah's hidden agenda, he is determined to end the affair.  But Savannah is bound for Indonesia with or without his protection, and he can't just walk away.  When her plan goes horribly wrong, they are trapped in the forsaken jungle of a hostile country, stalked by a lethal enemy.  As time is running out, they scramble to escape, risking both their lives to stop a nightmare from spinning even further out of control....

It was supposed to be a "dog and pony show" -- an elaborate demonstration of SEAL rescue techniques -- to celebrate a presidential visit to a California naval base.  Professional, no-nonsense White House staffer Joan DaCosta arrives early to scope out the area.  Assigned to...  more

It was supposed to be a "dog and pony show" -- an elaborate demonstration of SEAL rescue techniques -- to celebrate a presidential visit to a California naval base.  Professional, no-nonsense White House staffer Joan DaCosta arrives early to scope out the area.  Assigned to be her SEAL liaison is Lt. (jg) Mike Muldoon, a born leader -- strong, decisive, tough and fearless. Against her better judgment, Joan finds herself drawn to the handsome young officer.  Skilled at being "one of the guys" in the mostly male world of politics, she is dismayed when Muldoon breaks through her defenses.  While tension mounts between them, fueling their growing attraction, a far more sinister danger is lurking, as terrorists plot a daring attack against the president.  To protect their commander in chief, Joan and Muldoon must not only risk their hearts -- but their very lives....

A story of action, intrigue, and romance, as a U.S. Navy SEAL and an FBI agent race to unravel a mystery -- while confronting their own unresolved feelings for each other.... In his career as one of America's elite warriors, Lt. Sam Starrett can do no wrong.  In his private life,...  more

A story of action, intrigue, and romance, as a U.S. Navy SEAL and an FBI agent race to unravel a mystery -- while confronting their own unresolved feelings for each other.... In his career as one of America's elite warriors, Lt. Sam Starrett can do no wrong.  In his private life, Sam -- the king of one-night stands -- has done little right.  Now, he's waiting for a divorce and determined to stay active in his young daughter's life.  But when Sam shows up at the door of his ex-wife's home in Sarasota, Florida, he makes a grisly discovery.  His daughter is gone and the body of a brutally murdered woman lies on the floor. FBI agent Alyssa Locke's relationship with Sam has been overwhelmingly intense and nearly catastrophic, yet it refuses to end.  The last time she saw Sam was six months earlier, when they worked together to stop terrorists from assassinating the U.S. President.  Much to her dismay, Alyssa is assigned to help with the murder investigation and once again the two are face to face.  When explosive information surfaces linking Sam to the still unsolved assassination plot, the stakes are raised.  With her reputation hanging in the balance, and her loyalties in question, Alyssa is faced with an impossible dilemma:  arrest a man she believes to be innocent, or risk her career. While Alyssa tries to fight their intense attraction, Sam is determined to heat things up between them once again.  And the complex case pushes them both to the wrong side of the law -- and on the run to discover the truth.  As more agents step into the chase, and with Sam's daughter still unaccounted for, neither Alyssa nor Sam can predict how hot this deadly situation is about to become. A thrilling novel that ranges back into the days of World War II, into friendships, families, liaisons, betrayals, and the code of honor that binds the U.S. Navy SEALs, GONE TOO FAR is an electrifying experience in suspense -- and a brilliant tale of lives lived on the edge.

On the day she was abducted, Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old realtor, had three goals: sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as...  more

On the day she was abducted, Annie O'Sullivan, a thirty-two-year-old realtor, had three goals: sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape, her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor. The truth doesn't always set you free. Still Missing is that rare debut find: a shocking, visceral, brutal, and beautifully crafted novel.

It is the late 1970s and criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker for his rebellious tactics, is struggling to build his own practice when he receives a call from a desperate mother. Her son, Darren Kingston, has been arrested for raping five white women in Castle...  more

It is the late 1970s and criminal defense attorney Harrison J. Walker, better known as Jaywalker for his rebellious tactics, is struggling to build his own practice when he receives a call from a desperate mother. Her son, Darren Kingston, has been arrested for raping five white women in Castle Hill, an area of the Bronx long forgotten by the city. A young, good-looking black man, Darren is positively identified by four of the victims as the fifth prepares to do the same. Everyone -- from the prosecution to the community at large -- sees this as an open-and-shut case with solid eyewitness testimony. Everyone, that is, except Jaywalker. The young attorney looks deep into the crimes, studying both the characters involved and the character of our society. What he finds will haunt him for the rest of his career.

The Sinclair Brides: Three remarkable brothers and the women who capture their hearts and become The Sinclair Brides. THIS TIME THE EARL OF DARE HAD GONE TOO FAR Valentine Sinclair, the Earl of Dare, was an enigma, even to those who professed to know him well.  For while his morals...  more

The Sinclair Brides: Three remarkable brothers and the women who capture their hearts and become The Sinclair Brides. THIS TIME THE EARL OF DARE HAD GONE TOO FAR Valentine Sinclair, the Earl of Dare, was an enigma, even to those who professed to know him well.  For while his morals seemed suspect and his leisure pursuits as reckless as any of his well-heeled peers', there was something lurking beneath the facade of good looks, wit and charm that he so skillfully hid behind. Or so it had seemed, until the night Dare wagered a small fortune for a French gambler's English mistress, and won.  Now, with the stunning widow installed at his town house, even the Matchmaking Mamas of the town were doubting that the Earl of Dare would ever recover his good name, for it appeared that the infamous Mrs. Carstairs was destined to become a SINCLAIR BRIDE.  

Major Ian Sinclair knew firsthand that war made men do strange things. But to be named guardian of the daughter of the man responsible for ending his career -- and very nearly his life? -- was beyond the Pale. Yet now Anne Darlington was his responsibility, and he found himself longing for a...  more

Major Ian Sinclair knew firsthand that war made men do strange things. But to be named guardian of the daughter of the man responsible for ending his career -- and very nearly his life? -- was beyond the Pale. Yet now Anne Darlington was his responsibility, and he found himself longing for a future he'd thought he no longer believed in.... Cloistered in a remote boarding school, Anne Darlington had grown up never knowing any other life. Until fate thrust her into the strong arms of Ian Sinclair, a tortured nobleman whose secret connection to her father threatened her unspoken dream that Ian would someday return her love... and become her perfect husband.

HONORABLE, GALLANT, COURAGEOUS-- Sebastian Sinclair mirrored his notable brothers in every way, even when it came to pursuing an intense, impossible love. Surely the flame in his heart could be nothing else, for it drove him to rescue a brave and beautiful Spanish noblewoman - held prisoner...  more

HONORABLE, GALLANT, COURAGEOUS-- Sebastian Sinclair mirrored his notable brothers in every way, even when it came to pursuing an intense, impossible love. Surely the flame in his heart could be nothing else, for it drove him to rescue a brave and beautiful Spanish noblewoman - held prisoner to another man's dangerous desires! MI CORAZON, SHE WHISPERED. MY HEART... Dona Pilar tasted the sweetness of the epithet upon her lips and knew she'd named Sebastian Sinclair well. For the fearless Englishman had dared to snatch her from the grip of monstrous evil, had wed her to preserve her honor and had now become Her Dearest Sin....

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written...  more

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb. As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends -- and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society -- born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island -- boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever. Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises, and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

Edgar Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale's suspenseful mystery about forbidden love and murderous passion in 1950s East Texas is now in paperback.For young Stanley Mitchell, Jr., 1958 is quickly becoming a year of newfound joys and thrilling adventure. Beginning with the discovery of hidden love...  more

Edgar Award-winner Joe R. Lansdale's suspenseful mystery about forbidden love and murderous passion in 1950s East Texas is now in paperback.For young Stanley Mitchell, Jr., 1958 is quickly becoming a year of newfound joys and thrilling adventure. Beginning with the discovery of hidden love letters, Stanley learns about blues music, Sherlock Holmes, racism, and lost dreams. Through the natural course of growing up, he discovers the true nature of his father's heart; learns about love from his mother, sister, and house servant, Rosy; and becomes involved in a forbidden world that exists beneath Dewmont, Texas, like dirt swept under a beautiful carpet. But when Stanley enters a forbidden world of secrets filled with death and darkness, jealous lovers, and ghostly occurrences, he finds the real murderer of the young girl who wrote the once-secret love letters...and becomes the next target.

Since a mysterious childhood illness, Harry Wilkes has experienced horrific visions. Gruesome scenes emerge to replay themselves before his eyes. Triggered by simple sounds, these visions occur anywhere a tragic event has happened. Now in college, Harry feels haunted and turns to alcohol to dull...  more

Since a mysterious childhood illness, Harry Wilkes has experienced horrific visions. Gruesome scenes emerge to replay themselves before his eyes. Triggered by simple sounds, these visions occur anywhere a tragic event has happened. Now in college, Harry feels haunted and turns to alcohol to dull his visionary senses. One night, he sees a fellow drunk easily best three muggers. In this man, Harry finds not only a friend that will help him kick the booze, but also a sensei who will teach him to master his unusual gift. Soon Harry's childhood crush, Kayla, comes and asks for help solving her father's murder. Unsure of how it will affect him, Harry finds the strength to confront the dark secrets of the past, only to unveil the horrors of the present.

The man who calls himself David Loogan is leading a quiet, anonymous life in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He?s hoping to escape a violent past he would rather forget. But his solitude is broken when he finds himself drawn into a friendship with Tom Kristoll, the publisher of the...  more

The man who calls himself David Loogan is leading a quiet, anonymous life in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan. He?s hoping to escape a violent past he would rather forget. But his solitude is broken when he finds himself drawn into a friendship with Tom Kristoll, the publisher of the mystery magazine Gray Streets?and into an affair with Laura, Tom?s sleek blond wife. What Loogan doesn?t realize is that the stories in Gray Streets tend to follow a simple formula: Plans go wrong. Bad things happen. People die. Elizabeth Waishkey is a single mother. She?s also the most talented detective in the Ann Arbor Police Department. But when Tom Kristoll turns up dead, she doesn?t know quite what to make of David Loogan. Is he a killer, or an ally who might help her discover the truth? Loogan suspects his friend?s death is part of a much larger puzzle, and he?s not going to wait for someone else to put the pieces together. As Loogan and Elizabeth navigate their way through Kristoll?s world, they find no shortage of people with motives for murder, from a young graduate student obsessed with Laura Kristoll to a trio of bestselling writers, all of them with secrets they don?t want uncovered. But as the deaths start mounting up?some of them echoing stories published in Gray Streets?Loogan begins to look more and more like the most promising suspect. Soon it becomes clear that only Elizabeth can find the path to solving both the murders and the mystery of Loogan himself.

Was ever a betrayal so cruel? Jeanne du Marchand adored her dashing young Scotsman, Douglas MacRae, and every moment in his arms was pure rapture. But when her father, the Comte du Marchand, learned she was carrying Douglas's child, Jeanne was torn from the proud youth without a word of...  more

Was ever a betrayal so cruel? Jeanne du Marchand adored her dashing young Scotsman, Douglas MacRae, and every moment in his arms was pure rapture. But when her father, the Comte du Marchand, learned she was carrying Douglas's child, Jeanne was torn from the proud youth without a word of farewell -- and separated not long after from her newborn baby daughter. Jeanne feared her life was over, for all she truly cared about was lost to her. Can the power of love prevail? Once Douglas believed his lady's loving words -- until her betrayal turned his ardor to contempt. He cannot forget even now, ten years later, when destiny brings her to his native Scotland, broken in spirit but as beautiful as before. His pride will not let him play the fool again, although memories of a past -- secret, innocent, and fragile -- tempt him. Can passion lead to love and forgiveness?

Catherine Dunnan is devastated when her beloved goes off to war -- and only his promise to write often can sustain her in her loneliness. And what letters they are, filled with heartfelt emotions that move her to respond in kind. But then the unthinkable occurs. He is cruelly lost to her, and...  more

Catherine Dunnan is devastated when her beloved goes off to war -- and only his promise to write often can sustain her in her loneliness. And what letters they are, filled with heartfelt emotions that move her to respond in kind. But then the unthinkable occurs. He is cruelly lost to her, and his beautiful words of passion and devotion cease forever. When Moncrief agreed to write warm and loving missives in a fellow officer's name, he never expected he'd become so enamored of the incomparable lady who answered them, a woman he has never met. Returning to England to assume the unexpected title of duke, Moncrief is irresistibly drawn to the beauty who has unwittingly won his heart. More than anything, he yearns to ease Catherine's sadness with his tender kisses. But once she learns his secret, will his love be spurned?

He is a man of dark secrets -- wealthy, strong, majestically handsome -- the master of the ancient arts of a distant land. Scarred by a cruel childhood, he has sworn only to love chastely ... yet he burns with the heat of unfulfilled desire. She is innocent and nearly destitute, yet she...  more

He is a man of dark secrets -- wealthy, strong, majestically handsome -- the master of the ancient arts of a distant land. Scarred by a cruel childhood, he has sworn only to love chastely ... yet he burns with the heat of unfulfilled desire. She is innocent and nearly destitute, yet she possesses a beauty as incandescent as a heavenly orb. And she is drawn to this powerful stranger by a need she cannot deny. Never has such passion so consumed a man and a woman. But by giving his heart freely, the Shadow risks everything he believes in. And to follow her enigmatic warrior means the Star must enter his world of intrigue, vengeance, and desire -- and surrender to the most dangerous love there ever could be.

Danielle Parkman's sweet but mentally troubled adolescent son, Max, while being assessed at an Iowa psychiatric hospital, is found covered with blood at the scene of a murder and is accused of being the killer. Danielle, out on bail but confined to her motel as an accessory, defies a court...  more

Danielle Parkman's sweet but mentally troubled adolescent son, Max, while being assessed at an Iowa psychiatric hospital, is found covered with blood at the scene of a murder and is accused of being the killer. Danielle, out on bail but confined to her motel as an accessory, defies a court order despite herself being a lawyer. Desperate to save her child, she flees to Chicago and then Phoenix to seek out and finally find evidence against the true horrific killer. From the back cover: "Max Parkman, autistic and whip-smart, emotionally fragile and aggressive, is perfect in his mother's eyes. Until he's accused of murder. Attorney Danielle Parkman knows her teenage son Max's behavior has been getting worse-- using drugs and lashing out. But she can't accept the diagnosis she receives at a top-notch adolescent psychiatric facility that her son is deeply disturbed. Dangerous. Until she finds Max, unconscious and bloodied, beside a patient who has been brutally stabbed to death.

Rase Illion is a middle-aged captain of industry, a restrained man with a spotless reputation just emerging from the shadow of his vicious, driven father. Since his father's death five years ago, Rase has been living as though the old man were still alive, keeping up appearances with his...  more

Rase Illion is a middle-aged captain of industry, a restrained man with a spotless reputation just emerging from the shadow of his vicious, driven father. Since his father's death five years ago, Rase has been living as though the old man were still alive, keeping up appearances with his trophy wife and his huge house and his workaholic lifestyle. A chance meeting with a young man, Gabriel Chariton, in which Gabriel loses his temper and lashes out, unleashes Rase's carefully hidden submissive and masochistic tendencies. It is as though Rase is awakened from a long sleep by one night of sex and violence that ends in unexpected tenderness and comfort. He returns to his life to set things right, to begin to shape it in his own image. Though he frees himself from some of his lies and reconciles with his son, he cannot put Gabriel out of his head, and sets out to find the man who woke him up. But Rase isn't the only one shaken by their encounter. He has to negotiate carefully to convince Gabriel that he isn't the kind of man he pretended to be.

No sooner had supermodel Laura Ayers and Celtics star David Baskin said "I do" than tragedy struck. While honeymooning on Australia's Great Barrier Reed, David went out for a swim-and never returned. Now widowed and grieving, Laura's search for the truth will draw her into a...  more

No sooner had supermodel Laura Ayers and Celtics star David Baskin said "I do" than tragedy struck. While honeymooning on Australia's Great Barrier Reed, David went out for a swim-and never returned. Now widowed and grieving, Laura's search for the truth will draw her into a web of lies and deception that stretches back thirty years...

Myron Bolitar has always dreamed about the voluptuous femme fatale walking into his office and asking for help. The woman standing in his doorway has killer curves, all right: She's eight months pregnant, which kind of ruins the fantasy. Former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband,...  more

Myron Bolitar has always dreamed about the voluptuous femme fatale walking into his office and asking for help. The woman standing in his doorway has killer curves, all right: She's eight months pregnant, which kind of ruins the fantasy. Former tennis star Suzze T and her rock star husband, Lex, are both clients, and over the years Myron has negotiated his share of contracts for the power pair. But now Lex has disappeared and a very pregnant Suzze is in tears, fearing the online rumors questioning the baby's paternity have driven away the man she swears is the child's father. For Myron, questions of fatherhood couldn't hit closer to home, as his dad, Al, clings to life, and the brother who abandoned the family years ago resurfaces -- with danger following close behind. Myron is soon forced to confront deep secrets in Suzze's past, his family's mortality -- and before Live Wire is over, his own.

Linwood Barclay is back with more unexpected twists and superb characters in a spine-tingling, mesmerizing thriller about a husband whose wife disappears, along with everything he thought he knew about their life together. David Harwood, a reporter in Promise Falls, New York, is stressed...  more

Linwood Barclay is back with more unexpected twists and superb characters in a spine-tingling, mesmerizing thriller about a husband whose wife disappears, along with everything he thought he knew about their life together. David Harwood, a reporter in Promise Falls, New York, is stressed out. The newspaper he works for is outsourcing jobs to India, he can't get a solid lead on the corrupt for-profit prison moving to town, and his wife, Jan, is struggling with a bout of depression. As a much-needed break, David and Jan decide to take their four-year-old son, Ethan, to a local amusement park for a day of ice cream, rollercoasters, and carefree fun. But revelry is quickly replaced by panic when, within an hour of arriving at the park, Ethan goes missing. Though he is soon found, panic escalates to full-blown terror when Jan suddenly disappears. Confused and worried, David finds himself desperately searching for any clue that could lead him to his wife -- even if it means unraveling a tangle of lies and deception that become more complicated at every turn.

Scott Finn, rising star at a Boston law firm, has worked hard to pull himself out of the Charlestown projects. When the body of his co-worker and old flame, Natalie Caldwell, floats to the surface of Boston Harbor, Finn is grief stricken. But almost immediately, he’s tapped by the firm to...  more

Scott Finn, rising star at a Boston law firm, has worked hard to pull himself out of the Charlestown projects. When the body of his co-worker and old flame, Natalie Caldwell, floats to the surface of Boston Harbor, Finn is grief stricken. But almost immediately, he’s tapped by the firm to replace her in the defense of a high-profile client. As he retraces Natalie’s footsteps, Finn begins to unravel the awful mystery of her murder. But police lieutenant Linda Flaherty is also hot on the trail. What neither Finn nor Flaherty realize is what’s at stake if the truth is uncovered: billions of dollars, the careers of the Massachusetts elite, and their own survival.

Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston"s waterfront, disgorging its contents as a fifteen-foot-high wave of molasses that briefly traveled at thirty-five miles per hour. When the tide receded, a section...  more

Shortly after noon on January 15, 1919, a fifty-foot-tall steel tank filled with 2.3 million gallons of molasses collapsed on Boston"s waterfront, disgorging its contents as a fifteen-foot-high wave of molasses that briefly traveled at thirty-five miles per hour. When the tide receded, a section of the city"s North End had been transformed into a war zone. The Great Boston Molasses Flood claimed the lives of twenty-one people and scores of animals, injured 150, and caused widespread destruction. But the molasses flood was more than an isolated event. Its story overlays America"s story during a tumultuous decade in our history. Tracing the era from the tank"s construction in 1915 through the multiyear lawsuit that followed the tragedy, Dark Tide uses the drama of the flood to examine the sweeping changes brought about by World War I, Prohibition, the Anarchist movement, the Red Scare, immigration, and the role of big business in society. Stephen Puleo is a former award-winning newspaper reporter and now works in corporate public relations in the Boston area. He has done extensive research on Boston"s North End, where the molasses flood took place, and is a frequent contributor to American History magazine. He lives in the Boston area.

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride is suffering from an ugly case of deja vu. For the second time in a year, a beautiful teenage girl has disappeared off the streets of Duluth, Minnesota. The two victims couldn?t be more different, one bubbly and sweet, the other a strange, sexually charged wild child....  more

Lieutenant Jonathan Stride is suffering from an ugly case of deja vu. For the second time in a year, a beautiful teenage girl has disappeared off the streets of Duluth, Minnesota. The two victims couldn?t be more different, one bubbly and sweet, the other a strange, sexually charged wild child. The search for the killer carries Lieutenant Stride from the icy stillness of the north woods to the erotic heat of Las Vegas, where he must decide which facts are real and which are illusions.

Synopsis A fabulously fun, romantic comedy from a dynamic new talent. Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan?not in the courtroom and not in her personal life. So when she's assigned to coach People's "Sexiest Man Alive" for his role in the next big legal drama, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood...  more

Synopsis A fabulously fun, romantic comedy from a dynamic new talent. Nothing fazes Taylor Donovan?not in the courtroom and not in her personal life. So when she's assigned to coach People's "Sexiest Man Alive" for his role in the next big legal drama, she refuses to fall for the Hollywood heartthrob's charms. Even if he is the Jason Andrews.

When it comes to the laws of attraction, there are no rules The battle between the sexes is about to make these two lawyers hot under the collar. Opposites collide when two lawyers try to make partner at the same firm. Payton Kendall is a feminist to the bone. Cocky J.D. Jameson was born...  more

When it comes to the laws of attraction, there are no rules The battle between the sexes is about to make these two lawyers hot under the collar. Opposites collide when two lawyers try to make partner at the same firm. Payton Kendall is a feminist to the bone. Cocky J.D. Jameson was born privileged. But when they're asked to join forces on a major case, they gain a newfound awareness of each other's personal assets. The partnership spot will be offered to only one of them, though. The competition heats up. Sparks fly. Let the games begin.

Even the hardest heart can be softened by love... Cassandra Zerek is a true innocent in a wild and dangerous place -- but her indomitable spirit and gentle soul make her stronger than anyone suspects. The owner of a Colorado mining empire, Luke Taggart's wealth and position can buy him...  more

Even the hardest heart can be softened by love... Cassandra Zerek is a true innocent in a wild and dangerous place -- but her indomitable spirit and gentle soul make her stronger than anyone suspects. The owner of a Colorado mining empire, Luke Taggart's wealth and position can buy him anything, yet he has grown bored with a life of saloons, gambling, and loose women. Nothing soothes his restless inner yearning -- until he spies Cassandra, as fresh and pure as a spring morning, and vows he will possess her. The radiant, charmingly na?ve young beauty seems blind to the depth of Luke's desire or the lengths he is willing to go to seduce her. But the lady is wise, with an unwavering faith in the magical powers of love. And she's determined to awaken the good man hiding in Luke's tormented heart, for only one precious gift will truly win her: his deep, passionate, and unsullied love.

TROUBLE... Chelsea Ross's acting career has been a total bust. The closest she ever came to stardom was her brilliant performance as "Pretty Dead Girl #1." But leaving Hollywood to become the personal assistant to a famous hockey player could be her stupidest career move ever. MORE...  more

TROUBLE... Chelsea Ross's acting career has been a total bust. The closest she ever came to stardom was her brilliant performance as "Pretty Dead Girl #1." But leaving Hollywood to become the personal assistant to a famous hockey player could be her stupidest career move ever. MORE TROUBLE... Injured superstar Mark Bressler's glory days are over. The bad-boy ex-jock could at least be civil to the pint-sized, pink-haired bombshell who the Seattle Chinooks hired to be his P.A. If Chelsea didn't need the money, she'd be running from the world's biggest jerk as fast as her feet could carry her. BIG TROUBLE! Chelsea can deal with Mark's rotten attitude and dark moods. The problem is those biceps and that red-hot bod! And when the bad boy starts to put the moves on her, Chelsea knows it's time she banished him to the penalty box... if only she could resist the kind of trouble he has in mind!

Princess Elwytha wants revenge on the monster who murdered her brother. In a false exchange for peace, she offers herself in marriage to the enemy Prince. The plan? Kill the Prince's battle-scarred Commander-the man who ended King Thor's life with one filthy sword thrust through the back. ...  more

Princess Elwytha wants revenge on the monster who murdered her brother. In a false exchange for peace, she offers herself in marriage to the enemy Prince. The plan? Kill the Prince's battle-scarred Commander-the man who ended King Thor's life with one filthy sword thrust through the back. To her horror, the Commander agrees to take Elwytha as his bride. Worse, the wedding date will be sooner than expected. Not all is lost, however. Now she has more opportunity to be alone with him-and exact justice. But the deed becomes difficult to carry out. Fighting her innate sense of honor, she begins to see the ironclad integrity of the man behind the scars. And with this knowledge comes doubt. Did he slay her brother? What exactly is the new king's plan? Whom can she trust? Elwytha must decide well, for more than her life is at stake. Soon she must betray either allegiance to her kingdom-or the man who is quickly claiming her heart.

A debut novel of erotic intensity set in the Regency era. In the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Lady Isabella Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate...  more

A debut novel of erotic intensity set in the Regency era. In the Scottish countryside of Selkirk, Lady Isabella Stirling resides at Bowhill Park, serving penance for a sin that nearly ruined her family. For five years she has been condemned to a loveless marriage and confined to the estate where she does little more than tend her rose garden. With her husband absent for months at a time and few visitors, Bella lives a lonely existence, denying the passions that burn within her very soul. Then her cousin comes for a visit and makes an outrageous suggestion: what Bella needs is a lover. A hired lover. Despite her need, Bella says no. But soon Mr. Gideon Rosedale arrives - and he is at her service for two weeks. Indulging in what she intends to be a harmless flirtation, Bella is overcome by Gideon's intoxicating presence. And when she at last permits him to satisfy her desires, she discovers she's done the unthinkable - she's fallen in love.

Regency heiress Philomena Wellesley - Clegg has rather strong opinions about men and clothing. As to the former, so far two lords, a viscount, and a mad poet have fallen far short of her expectations. But she is about to meet Inigo Linsley, an unshaven, wickedly handsome man with a scandalous...  more

Regency heiress Philomena Wellesley - Clegg has rather strong opinions about men and clothing. As to the former, so far two lords, a viscount, and a mad poet have fallen far short of her expectations. But she is about to meet Inigo Linsley, an unshaven, wickedly handsome man with a scandalous secret. He's nothing she ever dreamed she'd want - why then can she not stop thinking about how he looks in his breeches? A delightful marriage of Pride and Prejudice with Bridget Jones's Diary, Janet Mullany's The Rules of Gentility transports us to the days before designer shoes, apple martinis, and speed dating — when great bonnets, punch at Almack's, and the marriage mart were in fashion — and captivates us with a winsome heroine who learns that some rules in society are made to be broken.

Ree Dolly's father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dolly family will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. With two young brothers depending on her, sixteen-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive....  more

Ree Dolly's father has skipped bail on charges that he ran a crystal meth lab, and the Dolly family will lose their house if he doesn't show up for his next court date. With two young brothers depending on her, sixteen-year-old Ree knows she has to bring her father back, dead or alive. Stalking him through the blighted wintry hollows of the Ozarks, Ree discovers unforeseen depths in herself and in the Dolly clan -- a family network that protects its own at any cost.  

Who wants to marry my daughter? Skye Titan's wealthy father thinks he can still dictate his daughter's choice in men. Now widowed and a single mother, Skye isn't the yes-girl she once was. Especially since the love of her life is back in Texas after eight long years. He...  more

Who wants to marry my daughter? Skye Titan's wealthy father thinks he can still dictate his daughter's choice in men. Now widowed and a single mother, Skye isn't the yes-girl she once was. Especially since the love of her life is back in Texas after eight long years. He won't like the answers to the questions he's asking. About why she left him at the altar. And about her eight-year-old daughter. Former Navy SEAL Mitch Cassidy comes home to find nearly everything different. His wounds from battle have changed the way people treat him. His cattle ranch is suddenly organic. But time hasn't touched his desire for Skye -- or the sting of her betrayal. Forget lip service. He’s asking that luscious mouth of hers to reveal the truth. But will Mitch be able to put the past aside to help Skye get out from under her father's thumb -- and help himself recover from a broken heart?

Lexi Titan can just see the headlines. All of Titanville will be buzzing. Not that she has any other choice. Faced with exactly thirty days to come up with two million dollars, she is out of options. Marry Cruz Rodriguez or lose everything; the successful day spa she built herself, her tyrant of...  more

Lexi Titan can just see the headlines. All of Titanville will be buzzing. Not that she has any other choice. Faced with exactly thirty days to come up with two million dollars, she is out of options. Marry Cruz Rodriguez or lose everything; the successful day spa she built herself, her tyrant of a father's respect. And the long-standing competition with her sisters for the family business. Cruz has money, success, smoldering good looks; everything but the blue blood needed to become a true member of Texas society. If Lexi agrees to be his fianc?e for six months, lending him her famous father's influence and connections, he'll hand her a check on the spot. And in six months they'll go their separate ways. But neither one is prepared for their long-ago shared passion to throw a wrench into what would seem to be the perfect deal…

Sometimes the greatest risks bring the greatest rewards … Izzy has always been the fearless Titan sister. But when an oil rig blows up, leaving her barely able to see, her sisters find themselves as concerned by her emotional withdrawal as by the possibility that the explosion was no...  more

Sometimes the greatest risks bring the greatest rewards … Izzy has always been the fearless Titan sister. But when an oil rig blows up, leaving her barely able to see, her sisters find themselves as concerned by her emotional withdrawal as by the possibility that the explosion was no accident. Are the mind games their long-lost brother Garth has been playing turning physical? Or is someone else out to get them? When her sisters enroll her in a survivor training camp, Izzy is not happy. Though Nick, her instructor, is determined that she won't be left in the dark. In more ways than one. But if he tells her the terrible truth behind why he's helping her, he'll probably never see her again. Unless they're both willing to take the biggest risk of all.

Sometimes bad boys are for keeps... As a girl, Dana Birch vowed never to put herself at the mercy of a powerful man. She became a deputy so that she could take care of herself and protect those she loved. Especially her best friends, the Titan sisters. Twenty years ago, Garth Duncan...  more

Sometimes bad boys are for keeps... As a girl, Dana Birch vowed never to put herself at the mercy of a powerful man. She became a deputy so that she could take care of herself and protect those she loved. Especially her best friends, the Titan sisters. Twenty years ago, Garth Duncan swore revenge on his father, a cruel man who abandoned Garth and his mother. Now a successful businessman, Garth has one goal -- take down Jed Titan, even if Jed's daughters get caught in the crosshairs. All that stands between him and his goal is Deputy Dana, her gun and a growing passion that can't be denied. Neither Garth nor Dana wants to surrender first. But sleeping with the enemy just might have its own rewards.

A FAMILY AFFAIR... Delacroix Landing was more of a prison than a mansion, but Margaret Jaffrey had no choice but to move in with her dead husband's eccentric Southern family so her nine-year-old daughter would have a better life. Before long Margaret found herself seduced by the...  more

A FAMILY AFFAIR... Delacroix Landing was more of a prison than a mansion, but Margaret Jaffrey had no choice but to move in with her dead husband's eccentric Southern family so her nine-year-old daughter would have a better life. Before long Margaret found herself seduced by the atmosphere, the slower pace... and Peter Andrew Jaffrey, who exerted a powerful fascination on her -- his cousin's widow. She'd been warned about Peter, but his sad smile and compelling green eyes were driving her crazy with desire. Was it reckless fantasy or love's intuition that drew her to him? BORN IN THE USA:  Love, marriage – and the pursuit of family!

Desperate to pay the man who is blackmailing her, Fleur Deslingnere reluctantly marries Anthony Camwell, the handsome but formal aristocrat whose repressed desire for Fleur has consumed him for years.

London party girl Chloe Flynt is the grandmaster of dumping fianc?s and boyfriends leaving them with their pride in tact. However, she realizes she has no skills except partying and her experiences are limited to ending three engagements. She needs a new start, but knows it must be far from...  more

London party girl Chloe Flynt is the grandmaster of dumping fianc?s and boyfriends leaving them with their pride in tact. However, she realizes she has no skills except partying and her experiences are limited to ending three engagements. She needs a new start, but knows it must be far from London where she has quite a reputation. She moves to Austin and opens up a personal service business as a professional break-up artist. Business is booming and she soon hires help, but her attraction to her next door neighbor Matthew Tanner goes nowhere because he has a girlfriend Brittany whose "Let's talk it out" motto is totally wrong for him; Chloe believes let's sex it out. However to persuade him that she is right for him will take a Texas size maneuver while she is an expatriate London swinger.

Silence is golden. But having the last word is delicious. "If Singletree's only florist didn't deliver her posies half-drunk, I might still be married to that floor-licking, scum-sucking, receptionist-nailing hack-accountant, Mike Terwilliger." Lacey Terwilliger's...  more

Silence is golden. But having the last word is delicious. "If Singletree's only florist didn't deliver her posies half-drunk, I might still be married to that floor-licking, scum-sucking, receptionist-nailing hack-accountant, Mike Terwilliger." Lacey Terwilliger's shock and humiliation over her husband's philandering prompt her to add some bonus material to Mike's company newsletter:  stunning Technicolor descriptions of the special brand of "administrative support" his receptionist gives him.  The detailed mass e-mail to Mike's family, friends, and clients blows up in her face, and before one can say "instant urban legend," Lacey has become the pariah of her small Kentucky town, a media punch line, and the defendant in Mike's defamation lawsuit. Her seemingly perfect life up in flames, Lacey retreats to her family's lakeside cabin, only to encounter an aggravating neighbor named Monroe.  A hunky crime novelist with a low tolerance for drama, Monroe is not thrilled about a newly divorced woman moving in next door.  But with time, beer, and a screen door to the nose, a cautious friendship develops into something infinitely more satisfying. Lacey has to make a decision about her long-term living arrangements, though.  Should she take a job writing caustic divorce newsletters for paying clients, or move on with her own life, pursuing more literary aspirations?  Can she find happiness with a man who tells her what he thinks and not what she wants to hear?  And will she ever be able to resist saying one... last... thing?  

Clay is disillusioned with his professional music career so he has returned home to nurse a broken heart and to help out at Uncle Pete's hardware store, while Pete seeks treatment for cancer. Jane has used her last dollar to buy a ticket to Last Chance, South Carolina. When she wakes up...  more

Clay is disillusioned with his professional music career so he has returned home to nurse a broken heart and to help out at Uncle Pete's hardware store, while Pete seeks treatment for cancer. Jane has used her last dollar to buy a ticket to Last Chance, South Carolina. When she wakes up beside Clay in the no-tell motel she knows she's made a cosmic mistake. She talks her way into a job at the Cut and Curl, the beauty shop owned by Clay's mother and this time, she's not going to look for rescue - she's going to rescue herself. Clay deals with the physical attraction he feels for Jane by denying it. A matchmaker believes she has a pipeline to the Almighty, and the Lord has told her that Clay should be watching the 9:30 pm bus from Atlanta. Miriam is certain his future bride will arrive on that bus. Over the next several days, two of Clay's ex-girlfriends also arrive on the 9:30 bus. Rekindling old flames is seductive, but Clay can't seem to put his one-night stand with Jane out of his mind. Which of the three women is the right one for him?

From the incomparable Jane Feather, author of national bestsellers Vanity, Violet, and Valentine, comes this enthralling new romance of daring deception and forbidden passion...Juliana drew the line at becoming a harlot. She had already begun the week as a bride...and ended it as a murderess....  more

From the incomparable Jane Feather, author of national bestsellers Vanity, Violet, and Valentine, comes this enthralling new romance of daring deception and forbidden passion...Juliana drew the line at becoming a harlot. She had already begun the week as a bride...and ended it as a murderess. She was sure no one would believe that she'd hit her elderly groom with a bed warmer and knocked him dead quite by accident. So she did the only thing she could--she ran. Yet now she was in noposition to turn down a shocking proposition from the dangerously handsome Duke of Redmayne: that she become one man's wife and another man's mistress--his mistress. Could she play such a role? Could she live up to such a bargain? And once she had tasted the pleasures of Redmayne's bed, would she ever want anything else?

In this Edgar Award–winning thriller, a young housewife with two lively daughters and an endlessly crying baby battles domestic chaos as well as growing suspicions of the household's new lodger. Are Louise's fears the product of sleep deprivation, as her unsympathetic husband...  more

In this Edgar Award–winning thriller, a young housewife with two lively daughters and an endlessly crying baby battles domestic chaos as well as growing suspicions of the household's new lodger. Are Louise's fears the product of sleep deprivation, as her unsympathetic husband suggests, or is there really something sinister about the respectable-seeming schoolmistress? During the hours before dawn, Louise suspects, people with a precarious grip on sanity are likeliest to slip over the edge into madness -- especially if there's someone ready to give them a push. Without spilling a drop of blood, this psychological thriller transforms everyday events and settings into the extraordinary, evoking an atmosphere of sheer terror.

Read Romeo and Juliet in all its brilliance and actually understand what it means. No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Romeo and Juliet on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.  Each No Fear Shakespeare...  more

Read Romeo and Juliet in all its brilliance and actually understand what it means. No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Romeo and Juliet on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.  Each No Fear Shakespeare contains The complete text of the original play A line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language A complete list of characters with descriptions Plenty of helpful commentary

In the first book of her sizzling new trilogy, Julia London introduces readers to the glamorous Lear family, whose dying patriarch has vowed to teach his spoiled, pampered daughters to appreciate the important things in life-like love.... Rich. Sexy. Beautiful. Robin Lear is all that--and...  more

In the first book of her sizzling new trilogy, Julia London introduces readers to the glamorous Lear family, whose dying patriarch has vowed to teach his spoiled, pampered daughters to appreciate the important things in life-like love.... Rich. Sexy. Beautiful. Robin Lear is all that--and her jet-set life is golden. Until the day her indestructible father sends her tumbling off her pedestal with the startling news that he is dying. Then he further shatters her illusions by demoting her from the cushy job in the family business to teach her "about life." In an instant her whole world unravels, and Robin is suddenly swimming in uncharted waters, including a bogus night in jail, a new job as the lackey of her toady ex-boyfriend, and a major distraction in the form of one very sexy contractor who's renovating her house. Jake Manning has had some tough knocks in life. Now all he wants is to make enough money to finish his degree and, maybe, get a nice house with a nice wife and a nice kid. But this Prada-clad ice princess is turning his life upside down with her sassy--and disastrous--ways. Jake's head tells him to run, don't walk, from this gorgeous train wreck of a woman. A man would have to be crazy to pursue someone like Robin Lear. But Jake is crazy--about her....

Rebecca Lear is tired of everyone thinking her life is perfect. Even though she comes from one of Texas' most wealthy families, is a former Miss Texas, and has a handsome husband and a young son, Rebecca's carefully cultivated life is quickly unraveling. After her car dealer husband trades her...  more

Rebecca Lear is tired of everyone thinking her life is perfect. Even though she comes from one of Texas' most wealthy families, is a former Miss Texas, and has a handsome husband and a young son, Rebecca's carefully cultivated life is quickly unraveling. After her car dealer husband trades her in for a newer-model wife, Rebecca discovers just how hard it is to find a job when you have no marketable skills, no college education, and no self-confidence. When Senator Tom Masters asks her to work on his political campaign, Rebecca sees a chance to finally gain some experience. The only drawback is an arrogant and sexy lawyer, Matt Parrish, who has no intention of working with a former beauty queen and political novice and doesn't mind telling her so. A wonderfully endearing heroine, a delightfully roguish hero, some sizzling chemistry, and writing that sparkles with sexy, sassy charm all come together beautifully in the second in London's fabulously entertaining Lear family trilogy.

From Debut Novelist David Klein – A Page-Turning Story of Suburbia and Its Secrets Gwen Raine is a woman readers will instantly recognize: an attractive, thirtyish stay-at-home mom who lives in the kind of tranquil suburban community where the wives spend their days ferrying the kids to...  more

From Debut Novelist David Klein – A Page-Turning Story of Suburbia and Its Secrets Gwen Raine is a woman readers will instantly recognize: an attractive, thirtyish stay-at-home mom who lives in the kind of tranquil suburban community where the wives spend their days ferrying the kids to and from school and music lessons and nature camps and where the husbands work long, grueling hours at stressful white-collar jobs in order to maintain the upscale standard of living to which the whole family has become all-too-accustomed. It’s a milieu in which everything seems to be right?yet so much can go wrong.    And it does?starting with a seemingly minor decision that turns Gwen’s perfect life upside down. It’s a typical Friday morning in late summer and Gwen is anticipating a long-awaited weekend away at the lake with her overworked husband, Brian, and their two small children. After dropping her daughter off at swim class, Gwen drives across town to purchase a small bag of marijuana from an old flame. She’s counting on the pot to help her unwind later that night in those precious private moments with Brian after the kids are asleep. Then, on the way home, Gwen gets into a car accident?an accident that leaves her bruised and somewhat battered but leaves the other driver (an elderly man who crossed over into her lane) dead. The local police know the accident isn’t her fault, but when they find the marijuana in Gwen’s car, they throw the book at her. There have been problems with drugs in the schools and they want to crack down on abusers, whoever and wherever they are. Before long, Gwen is in legal hot water?and the temperature keeps rising. Finally, under pressure from the police, her attorney, and her own husband, she reveals her source’s name.    Meanwhile, Brian is embroiled in a moral and legal dilemma of his own when the big pharmaceutical company he works for markets an anti-anxiety drug for "off-label" use as a weight-loss aid, only to discover that it can have deadly consequences. And Gwen’s former lover Jude, a local restaurateur and the supplier of the stash of the title, has gotten in way over his head with his little side business.    Told from multiple perspectives and revolving around a diverse set of vividly imagined characters, this rich, ambitious, and deeply satisfying novel takes a mordant look at our society’s ambivalent and often hypocritical attitude toward all manner of mood-altering substances, legal and illegal. Paced by psychological suspense and an ever-thickening plot, Stash ultimately is about the moral complications that arise when a modern woman’s fierce determination to do the right thing collides head-on with human fallibility and desire. 

From the co-creator and executive producer of the television show Cold Case Files, a fast-paced, stylish murder mystery featuring a tough-talking Irish cop turned private investigator who does for the city of Chicago what Elmore Leonard did for Detroit and Raymond Chandler did for Los...  more

From the co-creator and executive producer of the television show Cold Case Files, a fast-paced, stylish murder mystery featuring a tough-talking Irish cop turned private investigator who does for the city of Chicago what Elmore Leonard did for Detroit and Raymond Chandler did for Los Angeles. Chicago private investigator Michael Kelly is hired by his former partner, John Gibbons, to help solve an eight-year-old rape and battery case, a case it turns out his old friend was once ordered to forget. When Gibbons turns up dead on Navy Pier, Kelly enlists a team of his savviest colleagues to connect the dots between the recent murder and the cold case it revived: Diane Lindsay, a television reporter whose relationship with Kelly is not strictly professional; his best friend from childhood, Nicole Andrews, a forensic DNA expert; Nicole’s boyfriend, Vince Rodriguez, a detective with a special interest in rape cases; and Bennett Davis from the DA’s office, a friend since Kelly’s days on the force. To close the case, Kelly will have to face the mob, a serial killer, his own double-crossing friends, and the mean streets of the city he loves. Ferociously plotted and crackling with wit, The Chicago Way is first-rate suspense steeped in the glorious, gritty atmosphere of a great city: a marvelous debut.  

Martin Vail, the brilliant "bad-boy" lawyer every prosecutor and politician loves to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop. Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when...  more

Martin Vail, the brilliant "bad-boy" lawyer every prosecutor and politician loves to hate, is defending Aaron Stampler, a man found holding a bloody butcher's knife near a murdered archbishop. Vail is certain to lose, but Vail uses his unorthodox ways to good advantage when choosing his legal team -- a tight group of men and women who must uncover the extraordinary truth behind the archbishop's slaughter. They do, in a heart-stopping climax unparalleled for the surprise it springs on the reader...

Bestselling author Francine Rivers skillfully retells the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea as a tale set against the romantic backdrop of the California Gold Rush. The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel's...  more

Bestselling author Francine Rivers skillfully retells the biblical love story of Gomer and Hosea as a tale set against the romantic backdrop of the California Gold Rush. The heroine, Angel, is a young woman who was sold into prostitution as a child. Michael Hosea is a godly man sent into Angel's life to draw her into the Savior's redeeming love. This remarkable novel has sold over 200,000 copies and was among the top 10 on the ECPA fiction bestseller list for four years running. Now available in a fresh, contemporary cover! California's gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep. Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside. THEN SHE MEETS MICHAEL HOSEA. A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything. Michael Hosea obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation until, despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael Hosea does...the One who will never let her go. A powerful retelling of the book of Hosea, REDEEMING LOVE is a life-changing story of God's unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love.

The Sweet Gum Tree By Katherine Allred Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans—everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town....  more

The Sweet Gum Tree By Katherine Allred Sweet tea, corn bread, and soup beans—everyday fare for eight-year-old Alix French, the precocious darling of a respected southern family. But nothing was ordinary about the day she met ten-year-old Nick Anderson, a boy from the wrong side of town. Armed with only a tin of bee balm and steely determination, Alix treats the raw evidence of a recent beating that mars his back, an act that changes both of their lives forever. Through childhood disasters and teenage woes they cling together as friendship turns to love. The future looks rosy until the fateful night when Frank Anderson, Nick's abusive father, is shot to death in his filthy trailer. Suddenly, Nick is gone—leaving Alix alone, confused and pregnant. For the next fifteen years she wrestles with the pain of Nick's abandonment, a bad marriage, her family and friends. But finally, she's starting to get her life back together. Her divorce is almost final, her business is booming, and she's content if not happy -- until the day she looks up and sees Nick standing across the counter. He's back…and he's not alone. Once again Alix is plunged into turmoil and pain as Nick tries to win her love, something she resists with all her strength. Only one thing might break the protective wall she's built around her emotions—the truth about Frank Anderson's death. But when that truth comes out and those walls crumble, neither Alix nor Nick is prepared for the emotional explosion that could destroy as well as heal.

"This is the story of a promise that never should have been kept, but was. And of the strange consequences that occur when time is turned on its head." They are three children, brought together by loneliness and encroaching tragedy, who forge a friendship that will define their...  more

"This is the story of a promise that never should have been kept, but was. And of the strange consequences that occur when time is turned on its head." They are three children, brought together by loneliness and encroaching tragedy, who forge a friendship that will define their lives. To orphaned Kate, who idolizes Lily and feels a strange kinship to Jordan, this "threeness" becomes the touchstone of her identity. As adolescents on the eve of separation they make a promise to meet at their favorite place, an abandoned golf course, in fifteen years. Life sweeps them far from each other and along different paths, and the promise is forgotten. Then Kate, now a successful writer in New York, suddenly remembers the promise. She returns to the town of her youth and makes her way through the darkness to the appointed spot. What she finds will open the door to a destiny she had never dreamed of for herself. And not until love and obsession have made the sands of time flow in unpredictable directions will the stories of all three friends come to a surprising end.

The Last Round Up: Red Creek, Colorado's matchmaking matriarch rounds up two bachelors for the Forrest brothers! Lance Forrest was the sexiest thing Tamara Flynn had ever laid eyes on.  Once, he'd hightailed it out of Red Creek, Colorado, on his wild reputation, leaving behind a...  more

The Last Round Up: Red Creek, Colorado's matchmaking matriarch rounds up two bachelors for the Forrest brothers! Lance Forrest was the sexiest thing Tamara Flynn had ever laid eyes on.  Once, he'd hightailed it out of Red Creek, Colorado, on his wild reputation, leaving behind a string of broken hearts and a son he never knew about.  A son Tamara raised as her own. When he walked back into her life five years later, Tamara knew she could no longer deny Lance the knowledge of his son, or the joy of his company.  But the more time the three of them spent together, the more Lance started to feel like family.  Tamara had always thought Lance and marriage didn't mix... until now.  

The Last Round Up: Red Creek, Colorado's matchmaking matriarch rounds up two bachelors for the Forrest brothers! MAN OF HONOR... Jake Forrest had always believed in honor. It was how he lived his life, made his choices. Dressed in army greens, he stood tall and proud, his startling...  more

The Last Round Up: Red Creek, Colorado's matchmaking matriarch rounds up two bachelors for the Forrest brothers! MAN OF HONOR... Jake Forrest had always believed in honor. It was how he lived his life, made his choices. Dressed in army greens, he stood tall and proud, his startling blue eyes focused on the task at hand, his broad chest swelled with pride. Then it all disappeared, and Jake wanted only to forget... A PEACEFUL WOMAN... It was only in the arms of Ramona Hardy that Jake found peace. But the small-town doctor had fought demons of her own, and she knew the love growing between them could never last...until Jake stopped running from his past. Their future depended on it.

HER DREAM COME TRUE…? Tyler Forrest had everything he needed—his son and the wide-open beauty of the Colorado Mountains. He didn't want a big house, a lot of money…or a bride. But when sexy, outspoken Anna Passanante showed up on his doorstep, Tyler's long-celibate past gave...  more

HER DREAM COME TRUE…? Tyler Forrest had everything he needed—his son and the wide-open beauty of the Colorado Mountains. He didn't want a big house, a lot of money…or a bride. But when sexy, outspoken Anna Passanante showed up on his doorstep, Tyler's long-celibate past gave way to a weekend of passion… Three months later, he was faced with a very pregnant Anna—and a hasty wedding. But it would take more than vows for Tyler and Anna to become true husband and wife.

Raised in a gilded cage, she was the chubby twin sister no one noticed. Now her weight loss made Marissa Pierce the kind of woman every man desired - including Robert Martinez. If only she had the courage to return his seductive gaze... A proud Native American, Robert resented Marissa's...  more

Raised in a gilded cage, she was the chubby twin sister no one noticed. Now her weight loss made Marissa Pierce the kind of woman every man desired - including Robert Martinez. If only she had the courage to return his seductive gaze... A proud Native American, Robert resented Marissa's privileged lifestyle. Yet this elegant stranger understood his wounded heart. Now Robert was determined to show her how truly beautiful she was - before the princess could escape to her ivory tower forever.

Mattie O'Neal was on the run. She'd stolen a car, cut off her hair, changed her name and was slinging hash in a small Arizona town. She thought she was safe -- until Zeke Shephard walked through the door. His rugged, muscled body set every woman's heart aflutter -- but his probing questions made...  more

Mattie O'Neal was on the run. She'd stolen a car, cut off her hair, changed her name and was slinging hash in a small Arizona town. She thought she was safe -- until Zeke Shephard walked through the door. His rugged, muscled body set every woman's heart aflutter -- but his probing questions made Mattie weak for another reason. Still, when the bad guys caught up with her, it was Zeke who rescued Mattie and took her to his own retreat. Zeke who comforted her... protected her... and loved her. Although Zeke insisted he was just a guy for the moment, could Mattie persuade him to make that moment last a lifetime?

It all starts when Matthew observes a heroic scene in a convenience store: A man named Murdoch puts himself between an abusive father and his son. Matt is determined to get to know this man. And when, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt's mother, it seems as if life may become peaceful for the...  more

It all starts when Matthew observes a heroic scene in a convenience store: A man named Murdoch puts himself between an abusive father and his son. Matt is determined to get to know this man. And when, amazingly, Murdoch begins dating Matt's mother, it seems as if life may become peaceful for the first time. Matt and his sisters have never before known a moment of peace in a household ruled by their unpredictable, vicious mother. And so, after Murdoch inevitably breaks up with her and the short period of family calm is over, Matt sees that he needs to take action. He refuses to let his family remain at risk. Can he call upon his hero, Murdoch? And if not, what might his desperation lead him to do? A thought-provoking exploration of self-reliance and the nature of evil and a heart-wrenching portrait of a family in crisis, this is Nancy Werlin's most compulsively readable novel yet.

All women just naturally loved him -- at least until now, Kiernan FitzAllen noted, bemused. Mistress Glenys Seymour seemed immune to his roguish charms. Granted, he had kidnapped her, which could be somewhat off-putting. But ensorcellment had to be afoot for such a master thief to be so...  more

All women just naturally loved him -- at least until now, Kiernan FitzAllen noted, bemused. Mistress Glenys Seymour seemed immune to his roguish charms. Granted, he had kidnapped her, which could be somewhat off-putting. But ensorcellment had to be afoot for such a master thief to be so completely enchanted by this very practical maiden fair! Were she truly able to cast a spell, Glenys Seymour would whisk away any trace of the confusing yet compelling passion she felt for Kiernan FitzAllen. The man was an outlaw, an adventurer, a roue -- and yet the fabled Chosen One who would help her gain her secret heart's desire!

Ryan James, a minor league baseball star, was poised for the major leagues until the hit-and-run death of his beloved wife Chelsea destroyed his dream. Now he's a popular shock jock at a Boston radio station trying to raise his six-year-old daughter on his own. His life is somewhat coming...  more

Ryan James, a minor league baseball star, was poised for the major leagues until the hit-and-run death of his beloved wife Chelsea destroyed his dream. Now he's a popular shock jock at a Boston radio station trying to raise his six-year-old daughter on his own. His life is somewhat coming back to normal when prosecuting attorney Emma Carlisle contacts him about an anonymous note sent to her on this third anniversary of Chelsea's death, claiming the hit and run driver, who's never been found, intended to kill her. Ryan can't help wondering whether Chelsea's brother Babes, who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, sent the note and may know something about what really happened at the scene of the crime.

The first time she goes out after their daughter is born, Alice leaves the two-week-old infant at home with her husband, David. When she returns two hours later, she insists that the baby in the crib is not her child. Despite her apparent distress, David is adamant that she is wrong. The...  more

The first time she goes out after their daughter is born, Alice leaves the two-week-old infant at home with her husband, David. When she returns two hours later, she insists that the baby in the crib is not her child. Despite her apparent distress, David is adamant that she is wrong. The police are called to the scene. Detective Constable Simon Waterhouse is sympathetic, but he doubts Alice's story. His superior, Sergeant Charlie Zailer, thinks Alice must be suffering from some sort of delusion brought on by postpartum depression. With an increasingly hostile and menacing David swearing she must either be mad or lying, how can Alice make the police believe her before it's too late?  

Samantha Laschen, a doctor specialising in post-traumatic stress disorder, has moved to the Essex coast with her small daughter, Elsie, to escape the problems of her London life. Or so she thinks. Fiona Mackenzie barely survived the savage, murderous attack which left her parents dead. Now...  more

Samantha Laschen, a doctor specialising in post-traumatic stress disorder, has moved to the Essex coast with her small daughter, Elsie, to escape the problems of her London life. Or so she thinks. Fiona Mackenzie barely survived the savage, murderous attack which left her parents dead. Now she is in need of sanctuary and the police see Sam as the ideal person to offer her a safe house. Already overburdened with the demands of a new job and her mercurial lover Danny, Sam reluctantly agrees to take her in. But as Fiona makes her way into the hearts of her hosts, Sam discovers that the risks she has foreseen are nothing compared to the terrifying danger she actually faces . . .

It’s the morning of Nina Landry’s fortieth birthday. She’s supposed to have her kids ready to leave for the Christmas holidays with her new boyfriend. But her fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlie, is not yet home. She spent the night at a friend’s, and now she is nowhere to...  more

It’s the morning of Nina Landry’s fortieth birthday. She’s supposed to have her kids ready to leave for the Christmas holidays with her new boyfriend. But her fifteen-year-old daughter, Charlie, is not yet home. She spent the night at a friend’s, and now she is nowhere to be found. As time passes slower and slower by the hour, Nina’s worry builds to panic. Has Charlie run away, or has something worse happened? And why won’t anyone -- not the cops, not Charlie’s friends, not Charlie’s father -- take her disappearance seriously? As day turns to night and a series of ominous revelations leads Nina from sickening suspicion to blood-chilling certainty, she comes to the desperate realization that she has no one to turn to…but herself.

My name is different every month ? Brandy, Honey, Amy...sometimes Joe doesn't even bother to ask?but he never fails to arouse me with his body, his mouth, his touch, no matter what I'm called or where he picks me up. The sex is always amazing, always leaves me itching for more in those long...  more

My name is different every month ? Brandy, Honey, Amy...sometimes Joe doesn't even bother to ask?but he never fails to arouse me with his body, his mouth, his touch, no matter what I'm called or where he picks me up. The sex is always amazing, always leaves me itching for more in those long weeks until I see him again. My real name is Sadie, and once a month over lunch Joe tells me about his latest conquest. But what Joe doesn't know is that, in my mind, I'm the star of every X-rated one-night stand he has revealed to me, or that I'm practically obsessed with our imaginary sex life. I know it's wrong. I know my husband wouldn't understand. But I can't stop. Not yet.

This is what happened . . . I met him at the candy store. He turned around and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind you—this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your...  more

This is what happened . . . I met him at the candy store. He turned around and smiled at me and I was surprised enough to smile back. This was not a children's candy store, mind you—this was the kind of place you went to buy expensive imported chocolate truffles for your boss's wife because you felt guilty for having sex with him when you were both at a conference in Milwaukee. Hypothetically speaking, of course. I've been hit on plenty of times, mostly by men with little finesse who thought what was between their legs made up for what they lacked between their ears. Sometimes I went home with them anyway, just because it felt good to want and be wanted, even if it was mostly fake. The problem with wanting is that it's like pouring water into a vase full of stones. It fills you up before you know it, leaving no room for anything else. I don't apologize for who I am or what I've done in—or out—of bed. I have my job, my house and my life, and for a long time I haven't wanted anything else. Until Dan. Until now

Some lovers never leave you... Twenty years ago she had her whole life spread out before her like a mesmerizing map. She was Bess Walsh, a fresh-scrubbed, middle-class student ready to conquer the design world. And she was taken. Absolutely and completely. But not by Andy, her...  more

Some lovers never leave you... Twenty years ago she had her whole life spread out before her like a mesmerizing map. She was Bess Walsh, a fresh-scrubbed, middle-class student ready to conquer the design world. And she was taken. Absolutely and completely. But not by Andy, her well-groomed, intellectual boyfriend who hinted more than once about a ring. No. During that hot summer as a waitress and living on the beach, she met Nick, a dark haired, local bad boy. He was, to put it mildly, not someone she could take home to Daddy. Instead, Nick became her dirty little secret; a fervent sexual accomplice who knew how to ignite an all-consuming obsession she had no idea she carried deep within her. Bess had always wondered what happened to Nick after that summer, after their promise to meet again. And now, back at the beach house and taking a break from responsibility, from marriage, from life, she discovers his heartbreaking fate--and why he never came back for her. Suddenly Nick's name is on her lips...his hands on her thighs...dark hair and eyes called back from the swirling gray of purgatory's depths. Dead, alive, or something in-between, they can't stop their hunger. She wouldn't dare.

I pay strangers to sleep with me. I have my reasons…. But they're not the ones you'd expect. For starters, I'm a funeral director taking over my dad's business. Not exactly the kind of person you'd expect to fork over cash for the lust and urgency only live...  more

I pay strangers to sleep with me. I have my reasons…. But they're not the ones you'd expect. For starters, I'm a funeral director taking over my dad's business. Not exactly the kind of person you'd expect to fork over cash for the lust and urgency only live skin-to-skin contact can create. Looking at me, you wouldn't have a clue I carry this little secret so close it creases up like the folds of a fan. Tight. Personal. Ready to unravel in the heat of the moment. Unsurprisingly, my line of work brings me face-to-face with loss. So I decided long ago that paying for sex would be one of the best (and arousing) ways to save myself from the one thing that would eventually cut far too deep. But Sam was a mistake. Literally. I signed on to "pick up" a stranger at a bar, but took Sam home instead. And now that I've felt his heat, his sweat and everything else, can I really go back to impersonal? Let's just hope he never finds out about my other life.…

In his latest novel of unrelenting suspense, Edgar Award?winning author Thomas Cook journeys into the darkest corners of the human heart to tell a mesmerizing story of crime and retribution?and the forces that push even good people to the breaking point. THE INTERROGATION Albert Jay Smalls...  more

In his latest novel of unrelenting suspense, Edgar Award?winning author Thomas Cook journeys into the darkest corners of the human heart to tell a mesmerizing story of crime and retribution?and the forces that push even good people to the breaking point. THE INTERROGATION Albert Jay Smalls sits in an interrogation room accused of an unspeakable crime. The police have no witnesses, no physical evidence, but they are certain he is hiding the truth. With less than twelve hours before he must be released, Smalls will be put through one final interrogation. It is a search that leads into the shadowed recesses of one man?s shattered mind?and to the devastating secrets buried in a desolate seaside town. It is a quest that takes three desperate cops down a dark, twisting road as they race against the clock to find out what really happened one rainy autumn afternoon in 1952. The answers will be more shocking than anyone can imagine, blurring the boundaries between pursuers and prey, between the innocent and the guilty, between the truth that sets us free and the tragedies that haunt us to the grave.

From the author hailed as "an important talent, a storytelling writer of poetic narrative power" (Los Angeles Times Book Review) comes a dazzling novel of psychological suspense.  "This is the darkest story I've ever heard." With these haunting words, Thomas H. Cook begins a tale of...  more

From the author hailed as "an important talent, a storytelling writer of poetic narrative power" (Los Angeles Times Book Review) comes a dazzling novel of psychological suspense.  "This is the darkest story I've ever heard." With these haunting words, Thomas H. Cook begins a tale of love and its aftermath, of a town sent reeling from a moment of passionate betrayal. At its center was Kelli Troy and the town of Choctaw, Alabama. And on one hazy summer afternoon decades ago, a searing burst of violence engulfed Breakheart Hill. For one man who knows the truth about those shattering events, it is a memory that would become his awful secret.

It is autumn 1935 when a mystery woman appears in Port Alma, a small sea village nestled on the chilly coast of Maine. A fragile, green-eyed beauty, the woman arrives with little more than the clothes on her back and a wealth of unspoken secrets. Before a year goes by, she will flee Port Alma on...  more

It is autumn 1935 when a mystery woman appears in Port Alma, a small sea village nestled on the chilly coast of Maine. A fragile, green-eyed beauty, the woman arrives with little more than the clothes on her back and a wealth of unspoken secrets. Before a year goes by, she will flee Port Alma on the same bus that brought her there. But before she goes, she will irrevocably alter the lives of two brothers--leaving one dead, and the other perched on the edge of madness....In lyrical and sumptuous prose, Edgar Award-winning writer Thomas Cook has penned a mesmerizing novel of brotherly binds, damning betrayal, and the desperate acts people commit in the name of passion. It is a shattering tale that explores the catastrophic fate of a family torn apart by tragedy and time...and of a man who discovers that love has the power to heal the deepest wounds--but can also destroy those who resist it the most...

Twenty-five years ago, an unspeakable crime was committed and Roy Slater fled--from the life he thought he wanted, from the memories he couldn't avoid, and from the devastating suspicions of those he called friends. But now that his estranged father is dying, the prodigal son has returned to...  more

Twenty-five years ago, an unspeakable crime was committed and Roy Slater fled--from the life he thought he wanted, from the memories he couldn't avoid, and from the devastating suspicions of those he called friends. But now that his estranged father is dying, the prodigal son has returned to confront the past--and finds himself inextricably caught up with an old flame and a new murder, one that leads him inevitably back into the twisted web of deceit and violence from which he thought he'd escaped.In this haunting novel of literary suspense, Edgar Award-winner Thomas Cook once again delves deep into the realms of betrayal, passion and murder.

On a humid summer evening in 1963, following a hard day's work in the field, twelve-year-old Paul Graves came home to a nightmare. Snatched by a stranger, strapped to a chair in a sweltering farmhouse, he watched in horror as the man orchestrated the slow, deliberate, night-long brutalization...  more

On a humid summer evening in 1963, following a hard day's work in the field, twelve-year-old Paul Graves came home to a nightmare. Snatched by a stranger, strapped to a chair in a sweltering farmhouse, he watched in horror as the man orchestrated the slow, deliberate, night-long brutalization and murder of his older sister....Now, more than thirty years later, Graves is a marginally successful writer who has lost himself in the anonymity of Manhattan and in the mind-numbing world of his crime fiction. But still held captive by his memories, still haunted by this sister's agonized whispers, he writes chilling tales of cruelty and sadism, of evil triumphing over good. Stories so convincing, they have earned him an invitation to the Riverwood Estate. But not to practice his craft as a writer. Alison Davies, who runs the retreat, is convinced he's the one man capable of bringing closure to the mystery that has haunted her own family, asking him to investigate the fifty-year-old unsolved murder of 16-year-old Faye Harrision, Alison's best friend, who was tortured, strangled, and left to molder in the dark confines of a cave.Graves, more than anyone, knows where to look for the truth, where the instruments of night are brought to bear: In the deep basements, the dark caves, the lonely farmhouses where cowardice bows before corruption, where love cannot withstand the intimidation and pain. Compelled to peer into the chaos of twisted motives and tainted passions, he will confront the ultimate atrocity. Not about who killed Faye Harrison, or who killed his sister. Not about what he has witnessed and could never reveal. But about what he is capable of...and what he has done.

Frank Clevenger is a forensic psychiatrist who hates authority, fears intimacy, uses sex as an anesthetic, is tortured by his professional mistakes, and can't free himself from the shadows of a brutal, alcoholic father and an absent, unfeeling mother. But it is precisely this injured psyche...  more

Frank Clevenger is a forensic psychiatrist who hates authority, fears intimacy, uses sex as an anesthetic, is tortured by his professional mistakes, and can't free himself from the shadows of a brutal, alcoholic father and an absent, unfeeling mother. But it is precisely this injured psyche that allows him to understand the deranged behavior of the mental and emotional outcasts who cross his professional path. When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered, her body mutilated, Clevenger is shocked to discover that he knows the woman, she is a close friend of his girlfriend, and that the police department's main suspect, a schizophrenic homeless man, cannot have committed the crime. As evidence of more shocking murders begins to mount over the next seventy-two hours, Clevenger must race to stop the senseless, horrific murders in the fight of his life against a brutal killer with a horrific trademark and his own howling demons of sexual compulsion, self-destruction, and...DENIAL

In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college dropout, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and...  more

In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college dropout, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. Willie Traynor reported all the gruesome details, and his newspaper began to prosper. The murderer, Danny Padgitt, was tried before a packed courthouse in Clanton, Mississippi. The trial came to a startling and dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless, they found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison. But in Mississippi in 1970, "life" didn't necessarily mean "life," and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County, and the retribution began.

IN ONE MOMENT... Nick Conover is the CEO of a major corporation, a local boy made good, and once the most admired man in a company town. But that was before the layoffs. When a faceless stalker menaces his family, Nick, a single father of two since the recent death of his wife, finds...  more

IN ONE MOMENT... Nick Conover is the CEO of a major corporation, a local boy made good, and once the most admired man in a company town. But that was before the layoffs. When a faceless stalker menaces his family, Nick, a single father of two since the recent death of his wife, finds that the gated community they live in is no protection at all. He decides to take action, a tragedy ensues -- and immediately his life spirals out of control... EVERYTHING YOU LOVE... At work, Nick begins to uncover a conspiracy against him, involving some of his closest colleagues. He doesn't know who he can trust -- including the brilliant, troubled new woman in his life. Meanwhile, his actions are being probed by a homicide detective named Audrey Rhimes, a relentless investigator with a strong sense of morality -- and her own, very personal reason for pursuing Nick Conover. CAN BE DESTROYED... With everything he cares about in the balance, Nick discovers strengths he never knew he had. His enemies don't realize how hard he'll fight to save his company. And nobody knows how far he'll go to protect his family.

In his first collection of short stories John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill. Wheelchair-bound Inez Graney and her two older sons, Leon and Butch, take a bizarre road trip through the Mississippi Delta to visit the youngest...  more

In his first collection of short stories John Grisham takes us back to Ford County, Mississippi, the setting of his first novel, A Time to Kill. Wheelchair-bound Inez Graney and her two older sons, Leon and Butch, take a bizarre road trip through the Mississippi Delta to visit the youngest Graney brother, Raymond, who's been locked away on death row for eleven years. It could well be their last visit. Mack Stafford, a hard-drinking and low-grossing run-of-the-mill divorce lawyer gets a miracle phone call with a completely unexpected offer to settle some old, forgotten cases for more money than he has ever seen. Mack is suddenly bored with the law, fed up with his wife and his life, and makes drastic plans to finally escape. Quiet, dull Sidney, a data collector for an insurance company, perfects his blackjack skills in hopes of bringing down the casino empire of Clanton's most ambitious hustler, Bobby Carl Leach, who, among other crimes, has stolen Sidney's wife. Three good ol' boys from rural Ford County begin a journey to the big city of Memphis to give blood to a grievously injured friend. However, they are unable to drive past a beer store as the trip takes longer and longer. The journey comes to an abrupt end when they make a fateful stop at a Memphis strip club. The Quiet Haven Retirement Home is the final stop for the elderly of Clanton. It's a sad, languid place with little controversy, until Gilbert arrives. Posing as a lowly paid bedpan boy, he is in reality a brilliant stalker with an uncanny ability to sniff out the assets of those "seniors" he professes to love. One of the hazards of litigating against people in a small town is that one day, long after the trial, you will probably come face-to-face with someone you've beaten in a lawsuit. Lawyer Stanley Wade bumps into an old adversary, a man with a long memory, and the encounter becomes a violent ordeal. Clanton is rocked with the rumor that the gay son of a prominent family has finally come home, to die. Of AIDS. Fear permeates the town as gossip runs unabated. But in Lowtown, the colored section of Clanton, the young man finds a soul mate in his final days. Featuring a cast of characters you'll never forget, these stories bring Ford County to vivid and colorful life. Often hilarious, frequently moving, and always entertaining, this collection makes it abundantly clear why John Grisham is our most popular storyteller. Blood drive -- Fetching Raymond -- Fish files -- Casino -- Michael's room -- Quiet haven -- Funny boy

It's a beautiful summer night in Portland, Oregon.Ami Vergano, a young attorney and single mother, arrives at her son Ryan's Little League game with their tenant and new friend, Dan Morelli. When the assistant coach calls in sick, Morelli seems happy to help out. But then one player roughly...  more

It's a beautiful summer night in Portland, Oregon.Ami Vergano, a young attorney and single mother, arrives at her son Ryan's Little League game with their tenant and new friend, Dan Morelli. When the assistant coach calls in sick, Morelli seems happy to help out. But then one player roughly blocks another, and a fight erupts. Before the game ends, Ami witnesses violence that shocks and horrifies her and makes her question everything she thought she knew about Morelli. On the other side of the continent, in a cheap motel room in Washington, D.C., ex-mental patient Vanessa Kohler, a reporter for Exposed, a tabloid that specializes in alien-abduction stories, watches a piece on television about the Little League massacre and quickly places a call to the FBI. For years she's been telling anyone who will listen about a vast government conspiracy to conceal a secret military unit headed by Gen. Morris Wingate, a presidential candidate, and for years every-one has dismissed her stories. But when Vanessa sees Dan Morelli fighting, she believes she's found the key to proving that her theories are true. Vanessa hires Ami Vergano to represent Morelli, who is charged with attempted murder, and Ami is drawn into Vanessa's paranoid world. Are Vanessa, a former mental patient, and Morelli, a confessed mass murderer, telling the truth about one of the nation's most respected soldiers and politicians? Or are their charges a product of two sick minds? Ami has to decide who -- and what -- to believe, in Phillip Margolin's most exciting and surprising thriller since his breakout bestseller, Gone, But Not Forgotten.

Seven years ago, Phillip Margolin seized the imagination of thriller readers everywhere with his chilling breakout bestseller, Gone, but Not Forgotten. After five subsequent New York Times bestsellers, Margolin now returns to the haunting terrain of Gone, but Not Forgotten with a mesmerizing...  more

Seven years ago, Phillip Margolin seized the imagination of thriller readers everywhere with his chilling breakout bestseller, Gone, but Not Forgotten. After five subsequent New York Times bestsellers, Margolin now returns to the haunting terrain of Gone, but Not Forgotten with a mesmerizing tour de force of psychological suspense, an electrifying tale of revenge and retribution that shows a master storyteller at the very peak of his craft. Thursday: Subject is still combative after four days of applied pain, sleep deprivation and minimal food. Vice squad detective Bobby Vasquez, for months on the trail of a slippery underworld figure, receives an anonymous tip that directs him to a mountain cabin. He races through the idyllic Oregon woods, expecting to close the book on a long-standing vendetta. What he finds instead opens a Pandora's box of horror that will haunt him to his dying day. 8:10: Subject bound and gaffed and placed in upstairs closet at end of hall. Turned out lights in house, drove off, then parked and doubled back. Watched from woods. Within hours, Vincent Cordoni -- a brilliant surgeon with a history of violence and drug abuse -- is arrested for a heinous crime. Facing a seemingly insurmountable wall of evidence, he turns to Portland's top criminal defense attorney, Frank Jaffe-who, along with his ambitious daughter, Amanda, must put on an inspired defense. Amanda's first taste of criminal defense work is as intoxicating as it is chilling, but it raises moral questions she's loath to address. Is she defending an innocent man? Or is she using her considerable skills to set a monster free? Then Cardoni disappears under bizarre circumstances. Four years later, a second set of murders has begun .... 8:55: Subject exits house, naked and barefoot, armed with kitchen knife. Remarkable strength of character. Breaking her will be a challenge. Has Cardoni resurfaced to ply his deadly trade anew? Is there a copycat killer? Or has the real killer been someone else all along? The police will do everything they can to stop Cardoni -- but they have to find him first. Following a twisting trail of clues, including a harrowing diary that clinically records the killer's horrible deeds, Amanda Jaffe and Bobby Vasquez join the hunt-and themselves become targets of the twenty-first century's first genuinely monstrous psychopath. :

The Face in the Window Just a second. That was all it took. In that second Anita Sherwood saw the face of the young boy in the window of the bus as it stopped at the curb -- and she knew it was her son. The son who had been kidnapped two years before. The son who had never been found and who...  more

The Face in the Window Just a second. That was all it took. In that second Anita Sherwood saw the face of the young boy in the window of the bus as it stopped at the curb -- and she knew it was her son. The son who had been kidnapped two years before. The son who had never been found and who had been declared legally dead. A Mother's Desperate Search But now her son was alive. Anita knew it in her heart. She was certain that the boy was her son, but how could she get anyone to believe her? She'd given the police leads before that ended up going nowhere, so they're not exactly eager to waste much time on another dead end on a dead case. It's going to be up to Anita. With only one unexpected ally, she'll stop at nothing to get her son back. He's already been taken from her once. She won't lose him again.

How far would you go for justice?  Rob and Beth are very much in love.  He has just proposed to her, but she won't live to see the wedding/  Instead, Beth is intentionally sideswiped by an angry driver and knocked off her bike - to her death.  Rob witnesses the whole...  more

How far would you go for justice?  Rob and Beth are very much in love.  He has just proposed to her, but she won't live to see the wedding/  Instead, Beth is intentionally sideswiped by an angry driver and knocked off her bike - to her death.  Rob witnesses the whole thing, but he can only stand by helplessly as the driver gets off with a slap on the wrist. Rob is devastated.  He becomes obsessed with making Beth's killer pay.  Then, one day, a strange man approaches Rob with what seems to be the answer to his prayer.  He offers Rob the justice he's been so desperately seeking.  He tells Rob about  "The Circle," a small group of people with one thing in common:  They all want revenge for something.  Together they will find it.  But Rob will learn only too late that there's a catch...

Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales exec for a major electronics company in Boston. He’s witty and well-liked but, to the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks like Jason’s career has hit a ceiling. He lacks the one thing that could help him get ahead: the KILLER INSTINCT ...  more

Jason Steadman is a thirty-year-old sales exec for a major electronics company in Boston. He’s witty and well-liked but, to the chagrin of his ambitious wife, it looks like Jason’s career has hit a ceiling. He lacks the one thing that could help him get ahead: the KILLER INSTINCT All that changes when Jason meets Kurt Semko, a former Special Forces officer just back from Iraq. Looking for a decent pitcher for the company softball team, Jason gets Kurt, who was once drafted by the majors, a job in Corporate Security. Soon, good things start to happen for Jason -- and bad things start to happen to Jason’s rivals. Too late does Jason discover that Kurt has been paving his path to the top by the most efficient, devious means available. Now that his new best friend has become the most dangerous enemy imaginable, Jason stands to lose far more than his job….

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is poised on the edge of the big time. So is Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback and Myron's prized client. But when Christian gets a phone call from a former girlfriend, a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead, the deal starts to go sour....  more

Sports agent Myron Bolitar is poised on the edge of the big time. So is Christian Steele, a rookie quarterback and Myron's prized client. But when Christian gets a phone call from a former girlfriend, a woman who everyone, including the police, believes is dead, the deal starts to go sour. Trying to unravel the truth about a family's tragedy, a woman's secret, and a man's lies, Myron is up against the dark side of his business--where image and talent make you rich, but the truth can get you killed. In novels that crackle with wit and suspense, Edgar Award winner Harlan Coben has created one of the most fascinating and complex heroes in suspense fiction--Myron Bolitar--a hotheaded, tenderhearted sports agent who grows more and more engaging and unpredictable with each page-turning appearance.

Peter Robertson's novel Angel made him the most famous author in the world. Chronicling the sordid world of a teenage prostitute, it was the biggest bestseller of the year. It broke conventions, inspired a cult following, and made Peter Robertson rich, admired...and scared. There, on the edge...  more

Peter Robertson's novel Angel made him the most famous author in the world. Chronicling the sordid world of a teenage prostitute, it was the biggest bestseller of the year. It broke conventions, inspired a cult following, and made Peter Robertson rich, admired...and scared. There, on the edge of the crowd, he always sees her. She not only looks like Angel, she embodies the desperate creature he created. Everywhere Peter goes, she goes, obsessed with everything about him. What could she possibly want? Soon, curiosity will get the best of him. So will the girl with the haunted eyes. Because what she's really after is something that will explode Peter's world.

This is how it starts. With a joke. Two brothers -- Will and Jeff -- and their friend Tom are out one night at their favorite South Beach bar, the Wild Zone, and decide to make a bet on who can be the first to seduce a mysterious-looking young woman drinking by herself. Pretty, dark-haired,...  more

This is how it starts. With a joke. Two brothers -- Will and Jeff -- and their friend Tom are out one night at their favorite South Beach bar, the Wild Zone, and decide to make a bet on who can be the first to seduce a mysterious-looking young woman drinking by herself. Pretty, dark-haired, blue-eyed Suzy has an innocent, almost ordinary girl-next-door way about her. Just waiting for Prince Charming to hit on her, Jeff says. Little do they know the secrets she hides from the outside world, particularly those having to do with the daily horror she experiences under the watchful eye of her abusive husband. Little do they know she has an agenda of her own. Little do they know their harmless bet is about to take on a life of its own, a life full of deadly consequences for all concerned.

The first time Darby almost died was on the night of her sixteenth birthday. Out with her two best friends, she witnessed a horrible scene - a woman who was tortured and beaten and left for dead in the woods. After being chased by the criminal, Darby looked to her constant savior - her father,...  more

The first time Darby almost died was on the night of her sixteenth birthday. Out with her two best friends, she witnessed a horrible scene - a woman who was tortured and beaten and left for dead in the woods. After being chased by the criminal, Darby looked to her constant savior - her father, "Big Red," a local police officer, and her hero. As always, he made Darby feel safe by promising to find who did this and bring him to justice. Years later, Darby is now also a cop, having designed her career after her late father's. She is investigating a serial killer who has already slaughtered several young women. There is something eerie about this case from the beginning, and Darby is dismayed when she learns that two of the victims are her childhood friends - the same girls she was with the night she saw the woman in the woods. Soon, it becomes clear that this is no coincidence. Darby is targeted as the next victim, and this time Big Red is not around to save her. Instead, Darby delves further into the investigation, and quickly discovers evidence linking her father to the killer. With no one to save her and not knowing who to trust, Darby struggles to preserve her father's memory as she fights to defend herself against a ruthless killer - one with an unknown motive and a clear plan for murder.

Michael Centella is a rising star at Wall Street investment bank Saxton Silvers. Everything is going according to plan until the love of his life, Ivy Layton, vanishes on their honeymoon in the Bahamas. Seven years later, Michael's got undercover FBI agents afoot, spyware on his computer,...  more

Michael Centella is a rising star at Wall Street investment bank Saxton Silvers. Everything is going according to plan until the love of his life, Ivy Layton, vanishes on their honeymoon in the Bahamas. Seven years later, Michael's got undercover FBI agents afoot, spyware on his computer, and mysterious e-mails from a "JBU." Embroiled in corporate espionage, he's desperate to clear his name. He doesn't want to believe it, but the signs point to his first wife, Ivy. Could she be back from the dead to destroy him?

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something 'real dead... buried in your marsh. The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it's a prank, but when a young woman's body turns up in L.A.'s Bird Marsh preserve no one's laughing. And when the bones of...  more

The anonymous caller has an ominous tone and an unnerving message about something 'real dead... buried in your marsh. The eco-volunteer on the other end of the phone thinks it's a prank, but when a young woman's body turns up in L.A.'s Bird Marsh preserve no one's laughing. And when the bones of more victims surface, homicide detective Milo Sturgis realizes the city's under siege to an insidious killer. Milo's first move: calling in psychologist Alex Delaware. The murdered women are prostitutes -- except the most recent victim; a brilliant young musician from the East Coast, employed by a wealthy family to tutor a musical prodigy, Selena Bass seems out of place in the marsh's grim tableau. Conveniently -- perhaps ominously -- Selena's blueblood employers are nowhere to be found, and their estate's jittery caretaker raises hackles. But Milo's instincts and Alex's insight are too well-honed to settle for easy answers, even given the dark secrets in this troubled man's past. Their investigation unearths disturbing layers -- about victims, potential victims, and suspects alike-plunging even deeper into the murky marsh's enigmatic depths. Bizarre details of the crimes suggest a devilish serial killer prowling L.A.'s gritty streets. But when a new murder deviates from the pattern, derailing a possible profile, Alex and Milo must look beyond the suspicion of madness and consider an even more sinister mind at work. Answers don't come easy, but the darkest of drives and desires may fuel the most devious of foes.

'This is not my world. Something is wrong, askew. . . I am Ellie Falkner, thirty-four years old and married to Greg Manning. Although two police officers have just come to my door and told me he is dead . . . ' It's devastating to hear that your husband has died in a horrific car...  more

'This is not my world. Something is wrong, askew. . . I am Ellie Falkner, thirty-four years old and married to Greg Manning. Although two police officers have just come to my door and told me he is dead . . . ' It's devastating to hear that your husband has died in a horrific car accident. But to learn that he died with a mystery woman as his passenger is torment. Was Greg having an affair? Drowning in grief, Ellie clings to Greg's innocence, and her determination to prove it to the world at large means she must find out who Milena Livingstone was and what she was doing in Greg's car. But in the process those around her begin to question her sanity and motive. And the louder she shouts that Greg must have been murdered, the more suspicion falls on Ellie herself. Sometimes it's safer to keep silent when someone dies.

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace...  more

Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women: Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone. Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken. Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own. Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed. In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women -- mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends -- view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost...  more

When Jacob Jankowski, recently orphaned and suddenly adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, grifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. Beautifully written, Water for Elephants is illuminated by a wonderful sense of time and place. It tells a story of a love between two people that overcomes incredible odds in a world in which even love is a luxury that few can afford.

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a “lucky” bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck…. BAD LUCK Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of...  more

Trenton, New Jersey, bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has inherited a “lucky” bottle from her Uncle Pip. Problem is, Uncle Pip didn’t specify if the bottle brought good luck or bad luck…. BAD LUCK Vinnie, of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds, has run up a gambling debt of $786,000 with mobster Bobby Sunflower and is being held until the cash can be produced. GOOD LUCK Being in the business of tracking down people, Stephanie, office manager Connie, and file clerk Lula have an advantage in finding Vinnie. BAD LUCK Finding a safe place to hide Vinnie turns out to be harder than raising $786,000. Not even local stoner Walter “Moon Man” Dunphy is up to the task. GOOD LUCK Between a bonds office yard sale, Mooner’s Hobbit-Con charity event, and Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle, they just might raise enough money to save the business, and Vinnie, from ruin. BAD LUCK Saving Vincent Plum Bail Bonds means Stephanie can keep her job as a bounty hunter—and keep hunting down a man wanted for polygamy, a turnpike toilet paper bandit, and a drug dealer with a pet alligator named Mr. Jingles. GOOD LUCK Being a bounty hunter comes with its perks, namely Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli, and the dark and dangerous security expert, Ranger. With any luck at all, Uncle Pip’s lucky bottle will have Stephanie getting lucky—the only question is…with whom?

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list. Short on time to find evidence proving...  more

Dead bodies are showing up in shallow graves on the empty construction lot of Vincent Plum Bail Bonds. No one is sure who the killer is, or why the victims have been offed, but what is clear is that Stephanie’s name is on the killer’s list. Short on time to find evidence proving the killer’s identity, Stephanie faces further complications when her family and friends decide that it’s time for her to choose between her longtime off-again-on-again boyfriend, Trenton cop Joe Morelli, and the bad boy in her life, security expert Ranger. Stephanie’s mom is encouraging Stephanie to dump them both and choose a former high school football star who’s just returned to town. Stephanie’s sidekick, Lula, is encouraging Stephanie to have a red-hot boudoir “bake-off.” And Grandma Bella, Morelli’s old-world grandmother, is encouraging Stephanie to move to a new state when she puts “the eye” on Stephanie. With a cold-blooded killer after her, a handful of hot men, and a capture list that includes a dancing bear and a senior citizen vampire, Stephanie’s life looks like it’s about to go up in smoke. 

Welcome to Beach Road Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in legendary East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him in paper clips. His principal clients make a living serving the rich. The billionaires and megacelebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their...  more

Welcome to Beach Road Tom Dunleavy has a one-man law firm in legendary East Hampton. But his job barely keeps him in paper clips. His principal clients make a living serving the rich. The billionaires and megacelebrities swarming the beaches already have lawyers on their payroll. EXPENSIVE Then a friend of Tom's is arrested for a triple murder near a movie star's mansion. Tom knows in his gut that Dante Halleyville is innocent. Dante asks him to represent him in what could be the Trial of the Century. EXCLUSIVE Tom recruits Manhattan superlawyer Kate Costello to help. She's a tough hire, because Kate is his ex-girlfriend-but she agrees. In their search to find who really executed three locals, Tom orchestrates a series of revelations to expose the killer-and what emerges is staggering. EXPLOSIVE The final scenes of Beach Road unveil a truth that will leave readers gasping in shock. Written with the precision that has made James Patterson America's #1 suspense writer, Beach Road is his most thrilling novel ever.

Jack Mullen is a driven student of the law. His brother Peter is a servant of the rich, parking the cars of the Hamptons' elite -- and perhaps satisfying their more intimate needs as well. Then Peter's body is found on the beach. Jack knows the drowning was no accident, but someone's...  more

Jack Mullen is a driven student of the law. His brother Peter is a servant of the rich, parking the cars of the Hamptons' elite -- and perhaps satisfying their more intimate needs as well. Then Peter's body is found on the beach. Jack knows the drowning was no accident, but someone's unlimited power and money have bought the cops, the judges, the system. Now Jack is learning a lesson in justice he never got in law school -- and his astonishing plan to beat the billionaires will have you reeling -- and cheering -- to the very last page.

When FBI agent John OHara first sees her, she seems perfect. She has the looks. The career. The clothes. The wit. The sophistication. The tantalizing sex appeal. The whole extraordinary packageand men fall in line to court her. So why is the FBI so interested in Nora Sinclair? Because mysterious...  more

When FBI agent John OHara first sees her, she seems perfect. She has the looks. The career. The clothes. The wit. The sophistication. The tantalizing sex appeal. The whole extraordinary packageand men fall in line to court her. So why is the FBI so interested in Nora Sinclair? Because mysterious things keep happening to people around her, especially the men. With the irresistible attraction of the greatest Hitchcock thrillers, Honeymoon is a sizzling, twisting tale of a woman with a deadly appetite and the men who dare to fall for herand James Patterson will keep readers guessing until the last deadly kiss.

Secrets can scandalize . . . In a lovely suburban town just north of New York City, the gossip mill runs more efficiently than the commuter-train line. And in every impeccably decorated house, they're talking about Lauren Walsh. They say that nothing could be worse than being abandoned...  more

Secrets can scandalize . . . In a lovely suburban town just north of New York City, the gossip mill runs more efficiently than the commuter-train line. And in every impeccably decorated house, they're talking about Lauren Walsh. They say that nothing could be worse than being abandoned by your husband for another woman. They're wrong . . . Secrets can shock . . . All Lauren wants is to protect her children from the pain of her messy divorce. But when their father goes missing, a case of mistaken identity puts all their lives in danger, and a stealthy predator lurks in the shadows, watching . . . waiting . . . Secrets can kill . . . Lauren is about to uncover an unfathomable truth -- a truth this cold-blooded mastermind would never let her live to tell . . .

To save her own life, Nina Bloom vanished.  Now, to rescue an innocent man, she confronts the killer she thought she escaped forever. The perfect life A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she's built in New York -- including...  more

To save her own life, Nina Bloom vanished.  Now, to rescue an innocent man, she confronts the killer she thought she escaped forever. The perfect life A successful lawyer and loving mother, Nina Bloom would do anything to protect the life she's built in New York -- including lying to everyone, even her daughter, about her past. But when an innocent man is framed for murder, she knows that she can't let him pay for the real killer's crimes. The perfect lie Nina's secret life began 18 years ago. She had looks to die for, a handsome police-officer husband, and a carefree life in Key West. When she learned she was pregnant with their first child, her happiness was almost overwhelming. But Nina's world is shattered when she unearths a terrible secret that causes her to run for her life and change her identity. The perfect way to die Now, years later, Nina risks everything she's earned to return to Florida and confront the murderous evil she fled. In a story of wrenching suspense, James Patterson gives us his most head-spinning, action filled story yet -- a Hitchcock-like blend of unquenchable drama and pleasure.

Keith Lafleur, Louisiana's largest and greediest building contractor, thinks he's cut the deal of a lifetime. The huge old, two-story, clapboard house is his for the taking as long as he can move it to a new location. It's too big to move as it is, but Lafleur's solution is simple: divide it in...  more

Keith Lafleur, Louisiana's largest and greediest building contractor, thinks he's cut the deal of a lifetime. The huge old, two-story, clapboard house is his for the taking as long as he can move it to a new location. It's too big to move as it is, but Lafleur's solution is simple: divide it in half. He has no idea, though, that by splitting the house he'll be dividing a family -- a family long dead, a family that still exists in the house, including a mother who will destroy anyone who keeps her apart from her children.

In April 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title. A tribe of Native Americans had made her their weroanza -- a word that meant "big chief." The news was received with great joy, both by the Queen and her favorite, Sir Walter Ralegh. His first American expedition had...  more

In April 1586, Queen Elizabeth I acquired a new and exotic title. A tribe of Native Americans had made her their weroanza -- a word that meant "big chief." The news was received with great joy, both by the Queen and her favorite, Sir Walter Ralegh. His first American expedition had brought back a captive, Manteo, who caused a sensation in Elizabethan London. In 1587, Manteo was returned to his homeland as a lord, with more than one hundred English men, women, and children. The mystery of what happened to these colonists, who seem to have vanished without a trace, lies at the heart of this hugely entertaining and brilliantly researched work. Contents:     1. Savages Among the Icebergs -- 2. Sir Humfrey and the Cannibals -- 3. Jolly Tribesman -- 4. Harriot's Devils -- 5. Storms, Sprites, and Goblins -- 6. Governor Lane's Sandcastle -- 7. Enter Sir Francis -- 8. Smoke Into Gold -- 9. Unfortunate Master Coffin -- 10. Arise, Lord Manteo -- 11. Sounding a Trumpet -- 12. One Bess for Another -- 13. A Miracle Among Savages -- 14. King's Dearest Daughter -- 15. Mr. and Mrs. Rolfe Go to England.

The good New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons -- the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police's fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered...  more

The good New York's Lombardo's Steak House is famous for three reasons -- the menu, the clientele, and now, the gruesome murder of an infamous mob lawyer. Effortlessly, the assassin slips through the police's fingers, and his absence sparks a blaze of accusations about who ordered the hit. The bad Seated at a nearby table, reporter Nick Daniels is conducting a once-in-a-lifetime interview with a legendary baseball bad-boy. In the chaos, he accidentally captures a key piece of evidence that lands him in the middle of an all-out war between Italian and Russian mafia forces. NYPD captains, district attorneys, mayoral candidates, media kingpins, and one shockingly beautiful magazine editor are all pushing their own agendas -- on both sides of the law. And the dead Back off -- or die -- is the clear message Nick receives as he investigates for a story of his own. Heedless, and perhaps in love with his beautiful editor, Nick endures humiliation, threats, violence, and worse in a thriller that overturns every expectation and finishes with the kind of flourish only James Patterson knows.

"A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing." -- Albert Camus "I suppose every hundred million dollars has its own sordid story and the hundred million I am chasing is no exception..." So begins Veritas, William Lashner's riveting follow-up to his bestselling debut novel,...  more

"A taste for truth at any cost is a passion which spares nothing." -- Albert Camus "I suppose every hundred million dollars has its own sordid story and the hundred million I am chasing is no exception..." So begins Veritas, William Lashner's riveting follow-up to his bestselling debut novel, Hostile Witness. Victor Carl--lawyer, loser, hapless hero of Hostile Witness, and a Philadelphian way out of his element--has come to the sweat-drenched jungles of Berize to chase his fortune. Finding it is something else entirely. Coerced into defending an unpleasant parade of mob enforcers, two-bit hoods, and other Philadelphian riffraff, Carl wants out of his shabby, squalid life more than ever. So when a terrified young woman offers Carl an unusual--but substantial--proposition, he leaps at the opportunity to trade in his grubby existence for a life of wealthy excess. The job--proving that the recent suicide of wealthy Philadelphian heiress Jacqueline Shaw was not a suicide at all but murder--plunges Carl into an eerie shadow world, where events buried deep in the past exert an awful weight in the present, a world of overturned gravesites, gruesome secrets, and a haunted, lonely estate that houses the broken and dying heirs of a once-powerful family. Simultaneously caught up in an exploding mob war and the machinations of an avaricious cult, Carl realizes too late that he's in way over his head, as he races against time to collect his fee and get out alive. As Carl edges closer to the truth, a truth that is concealed in the mists of a bygone era and now awaits him in the rainforests of Belize, he learns firsthand that the most terrifying darkness crouches not in the heart of the jungle surrounding him but in the deepest yearnings of the human soul.

Kyle McAvoy grew up in his fathers small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania.  He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to...  more

Kyle McAvoy grew up in his fathers small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania.  He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential. But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget.  The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn't want even though it's a job most law students can only dream about. Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed.

Hard-luck Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl is just itching for the opportunity to sell out. Then good fortune comes knocking at his door in the guise of William Prescott III, a blue-blood attorney from one of the city's most prestigious firms. Prescott wants Victor to represent a...  more

Hard-luck Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl is just itching for the opportunity to sell out. Then good fortune comes knocking at his door in the guise of William Prescott III, a blue-blood attorney from one of the city's most prestigious firms. Prescott wants Victor to represent a councilman's aide who is on trial, along with his boss, for extortion, arson, and murder. It's the juiciest, highest-profile courtroom extravaganza in years -- and all Carl has to do is show up, shut up, and follow Prescott's lead. But it soon becomes clear that someone's setting him and his client up to take a long, hard fall. Victor Carl may be desperate and unethical but he's no one's patsy. And to survive in this legal snake pit of secrets, lies, and lethal double-crosses, he's going to play the game his way.

Twenty years after his mother and father jumped to their deaths from a balcony, Philippe Grimbert has written a gripping novel about the hidden memories that dominated their lives. A colossal bestseller in Europe, Memory is the story of a family haunted by the secret of their past: an...  more

Twenty years after his mother and father jumped to their deaths from a balcony, Philippe Grimbert has written a gripping novel about the hidden memories that dominated their lives. A colossal bestseller in Europe, Memory is the story of a family haunted by the secret of their past: an illicit love affair, a lost child, and a devastating betrayal dating back to the Second World War. The day after my fifteenth birthday, I finally learned what I had always known.... Growing up in postwar Paris as the sickly only child of glamorous athletic parents, the narrator invents for himself a make-believe older brother, stronger and more brilliant than he can ever be. It is only when the boy begins talking to an old family friend that he comes to realize that his imaginary sibling had a real predecessor: a half brother whose death in the concentration camps is part of a buried family secret that he was intended never to uncover. A spare, erotic, and ultimately cathartic narrative, Memory is a mesmerizing tale of coming to terms with one's shameful past through the unraveling of a series of dark desires.

Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be, So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1 - she's five-foot-eleven inches of rock-solid girl power and #2 - she's cursed with...  more

Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be, So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1 - she's five-foot-eleven inches of rock-solid girl power and #2 - she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers. While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over--although he seems to have gotten over her just fine. Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys....

Lucy Lang isn't looking for fireworks... She's looking for a nice, decent man. Someone who'll mow the lawn, flip chicken on the barbeque, teach their future children to play soccer. But most important... someone who won't inspire the slightest stirring in her heart... or...  more

Lucy Lang isn't looking for fireworks... She's looking for a nice, decent man. Someone who'll mow the lawn, flip chicken on the barbeque, teach their future children to play soccer. But most important... someone who won't inspire the slightest stirring in her heart... or anywhere else. A young widow, Lucy can't risk that kind of loss again. But sharing her life with a cat named Fat Mikey and the Black Widows at the family bakery isn't enough either. So it's goodbye to Ethan, her hot but entirely inappropriate "friend with privileges" and hello to a man she can marry. Too bad Ethan Mirabelli isn't going anywhere. As far as he's concerned, what she needs might be right under her nose. But can he convince her that the next best thing can really be forever?

Some victims deserve nothing less than the truth . . . Ethically adventurous Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl usually does the right thing, but often for the wrong reasons. When old law school classmate Guy Forrest is accused of murdering his beautiful lover, Hailey Prouix, in their Main Line...  more

Some victims deserve nothing less than the truth . . . Ethically adventurous Philadelphia lawyer Victor Carl usually does the right thing, but often for the wrong reasons. When old law school classmate Guy Forrest is accused of murdering his beautiful lover, Hailey Prouix, in their Main Line love nest, Carl agrees to represent him -- while keeping silent about his own prior romantic involvement with the victim, and his present determination to see that his client is punished for the brutal crime. But once Carl sets the machinery of retribution in motion, it may be impossible to stop it, even after his certainty begins to crack. Now Victor Carl must race across the country to uncover shocking truths: Who, really, was Hailey Prouix? And why is a killer still waiting in her shadow?

When Grace Emerson's ex-fianc? starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right?...  more

When Grace Emerson's ex-fianc? starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone…exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart. Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so…right?

It means something to be a client. It means he gets my loyalty, whether he deserves it or not. It means he gets my absolute best for the price of an hourly fee. It means in a world where every person has turned against him there is one person who will fight by his side for as long as there is a...  more

It means something to be a client. It means he gets my loyalty, whether he deserves it or not. It means he gets my absolute best for the price of an hourly fee. It means in a world where every person has turned against him there is one person who will fight by his side for as long as there is a battle to be fought. -- Victor Carl A defense attorney who lives his life in shades of gray, Victor Carl fights all the right fights for all the wrong reasons. With a failing legal practice, a dead-end love life, a pile of unpaid traffic tickets, and a talent for mixing it up in tough working-class bars and sparring with obstinate cops, Victor skates on the razor's edge of legal ethics in search of the easy buck. But the one absolute in Victor's life is loyalty, especially to a client -- even if he happens to be dead. Like Joey Cheaps, a no-account who takes a knife to the throat down on the waterfront, but not before he shares with his lawyer his part in a terrible crime. With his client murdered, Victor must search for a killer. But solving the crime means investigating the darkest spot in Joey Cheaps's misspent youth, sending Victor on a twisting journey that leads to a missing suitcase stuffed with money, photographs of a mysterious naked woman, and a Supreme Court justice with a secret to hide. And most dangerous of all, Victor steps into the crosshairs of a vengeful enemy with a past full of pain and a taste for blood. As thrilling as it is darkly evocative, Past Due is a superb tale of crime and justice that takes the intrepid Victor Carl into brilliant new territory and confirms William Lashner's place among the top suspense writers of our time.

It must have been a hell of a night. One of those long, dangerous nights where the world shifts and doors open. A night of bad judgment and wrong turns, of weariness and hilarity and a hard sexual charge that both frightens and compels. A night where your life changes irrevocably, for better or...  more

It must have been a hell of a night. One of those long, dangerous nights where the world shifts and doors open. A night of bad judgment and wrong turns, of weariness and hilarity and a hard sexual charge that both frightens and compels. A night where your life changes irrevocably, for better or for worse, but who the hell cares, so long as it changes. It must have been a night just like that, yeah, if only I could remember it. All Victor Carl knows is that he's just woken up with his suit in tatters, his socks missing, and a stinging pain in his chest thanks to a new tattoo he doesn't remember getting: a heart inscribed with the name Chantal Adair. My apartment is trashed, my partnership is cracking up, I'm drinking too much, flirting with reporters, sleeping with Realtors. Frankly, I'm in desperate need of something hard and clean in my life, and finding Chantal is all I have. Is Chantal Adair the love of Victor's life or a terrible drunken mistake? Victor intends to find out, but right now he's got bigger concerns. His client, a wanted man, needs to come in out of the cold, and he's got a stolen painting for Victor to use as leverage. But someone is not happy that the painting has surfaced. Or that the client is threatening to tell all. Or that Victor is sniffing around for information about Chantal Adair. The closer Victor comes to figuring it all out, the deeper into danger he falls, as the ghosts of the past return to claim what's theirs.

There's nothing easier than falling in love with an old girlfriend. That's what Philly lawyer Victor Carl finds out when he hooks up again with a femme fatale who's definitely bad for his health. In the middle of the night, a knock on Victor's door can only mean trouble. Two cops invite...  more

There's nothing easier than falling in love with an old girlfriend. That's what Philly lawyer Victor Carl finds out when he hooks up again with a femme fatale who's definitely bad for his health. In the middle of the night, a knock on Victor's door can only mean trouble. Two cops invite themselves in, asking where Victor has been. They also ask him about a doctor named Wren Davis. Victor sends them packing. As soon as they leave, a beautiful woman steps out of Victor's bedroom, a towel around her naked body. "Who was that?" she asks. "The cops," says Victor. "What did they want?" she asks. "To tell me that your husband is dead." Her name is Julia. She's ridiculously lovely. Women like her date athletes and marry tycoons. They don't hang out with second–rate lawyers on the edge of insolvency. But back in the day, Julia had agreed to marry Victor Carl. Then she deserted him, running off to marry a doctor. Now she's back and she's trouble with a capital T. Her husband has been murdered, Julia's incriminated, and there are big bucks at stake. Naturally, Victor is on the case.

In this gritty noir novel, John Rector weaves an intensely sinister tale. Dexter McCray is a farmer with a dark past that continues to haunt him. As a man struggling with alcoholism, he?s used to being looked at with pity and suspicion in his community. So, after waking from a blackout to...  more

In this gritty noir novel, John Rector weaves an intensely sinister tale. Dexter McCray is a farmer with a dark past that continues to haunt him. As a man struggling with alcoholism, he?s used to being looked at with pity and suspicion in his community. So, after waking from a blackout to discover the body of a teenage girl in the nearby cottonwood grove, he can't be entirely sure he's innocent. With no memory of the previous night, he sees no choice but to investigate the crime himself. Fortunately he?s not alone. He has some help?in the shape of the dead girl herself. In The Grove, readers are treated to more than a warped and imaginative mystery. With plot twists on every page, Rector breathes life into a story that pits reality against hallucination, truth against improbability. Is Dexter motivated by guilt or insanity, reason or folly? And how will the young victim provide the help he desperately needs? This is a novel about one man haunted by the reality of his failed life.

Paris is stunning in the summer NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer. The killing is simply...  more

Paris is stunning in the summer NYPD detective Jacob Kanon is on a tour of Europe's most gorgeous cities. But the sights aren't what draw him--he sees each museum, each cathedral, and each cafe through the eyes of his daughter's killer. The killing is simply marvelous Kanon's daughter, Kimmy, and her boyfriend were murdered while on vacation in Rome. Since then, young couples in Paris, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, and Stockholm have been found dead. Little connects the murders, other than a postcard to the local newspaper that precedes each new victim. Wish you were here Now Kanon teams up with the Swedish reporter, Dessie Larsson, who has just received a postcard in Stockholm--and they think they know where the next victims will be.

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard -- their secret hiding place -- and promises...  more

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard -- their secret hiding place -- and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released. Sixty Years Later: Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own future.  Includes Reading Group Gold info with conversation with the author, some historical perspective info, a short bibliography, and reading group questions.

Jordan won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Mudbound, her first novel. The prize was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit. In addition to meeting all of the above qualifications, Jordan has written a story filled with characters...  more

Jordan won the 2006 Bellwether Prize for Mudbound, her first novel. The prize was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to reward books of conscience, social responsibility, and literary merit. In addition to meeting all of the above qualifications, Jordan has written a story filled with characters as real and compelling as anyone. In 1946, Laura McAllan, a college-educated Memphis schoolteacher, becomes a reluctant farmer's wife when her husband, Henry, buys a farm on the Mississippi Delta, a farm she aptly nicknames Mudbound. Laura has difficulty adjusting to life without electricity, indoor plumbing, readily accessible medical care for her two children and, worst of all, life with her live-in misogynous, racist, father-in-law. Her days become easier after Florence, the wife of Hap Jackson, one of their black tenants, becomes more important to Laura as companion than as hired help.  Catastrophe is inevitable when two young WWII veterans, Henry's brother, Jamie, and the Jacksons' son, Ronsel, arrive, both battling nightmares from horrors they've seen, and both unable to bow to Mississippi rules after eye-opening years in Europe.  Jordan convincingly inhabits each of her narrators, though some descriptive passages can be overly florid, and the denouement is a bit maudlin. But these are minor blemishes on a superbly rendered depiction of the fury and terror wrought by racism.

In a clinic on Manhattan's Upper West Side, a doctor has dedicated his life to eradicating a devastating disease. One by one, his patients are getting well. And one by one, they're being targeted by a serial killer. There's only one cure, but many ways to die...

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright — a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now....  more

I am a beast. A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright — a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster. You think I'm talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It's no deformity, no disease. And I'll stay this way forever — ruined — unless I can break the spell. Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I'll tell you. I'll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I'll tell you how I became perfectly... beastly.

Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts -- until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that...  more

Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his gorgeous girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts -- until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail -- but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever.

WHAT IF you had to choose between: your seven-figure salary your fancy house in the exclusive suburb your memberships at a posh health club and even posher country club your marriage (not your soul; you've been renting it out for so long, it's as good as sold) and doing...  more

WHAT IF you had to choose between: your seven-figure salary your fancy house in the exclusive suburb your memberships at a posh health club and even posher country club your marriage (not your soul; you've been renting it out for so long, it's as good as sold) and doing the right thing And what if in doing the right thing, all of the above still wasn?t enough and you risked having to pay the ultimate price? This is the choice that Scott Fenney faces when he?s assigned a political hot potato of a pro bono defense case in Mark Gimenez?s debut legal thriller, The Color of Law. A poor-boy college football hero turned successful partner at a prominent Dallas firm--who long ago checked his conscience at the door--catches a case that forces him to choose between his enviable lifestyle and doing the right thing in this masterful debut legal thriller. Clark McCall, ne'er-do-well son of Texas millionaire senator and presidential hopeful Mack McCall, puts a major crimp in his father's election plans when he winds up murdered--apparently by Shawanda Jones, a heroin-addicted hooker--after a tawdry night of booze, drugs, and rough sex. Scott Fenney, who's worked his way to being a partner at an elite Dallas law firm, is assigned to provide Shawanda's pro bono defense after the federal judge on the case hears him deliver an inspiring, altruistic--and completely insincere--speech to the local bar association. Scott plans to farm the case out to an old law school buddy, do-good-attorney Bobby Herrin. But his plans go awry when Shawanda puts her foot down in court and refuses to be passed off to the lawyer she considers the lesser attorney. As the case unfolds, pressure is exerted on Scott to deter him from being too aggressive in his defense of Shawanda. That pressure becomes palpable as Scott is slowly stripped of the things he's come to care for most. Will he do the right thing--at a terrible cost--or the easy thing and keep his hard-earned fabulous life?  

HONOR YOUR WIFE.SERVE YOUR COUNTRY.CONCEAL THE TRUTH.Do you ever really know the person you married?Claire Heller Chapman, a Harvard Law School professor and a high-powered attorney, has just attained a national reputation for her work on several high-profile cases. Her second husband, Tom...  more

HONOR YOUR WIFE.SERVE YOUR COUNTRY.CONCEAL THE TRUTH.Do you ever really know the person you married?Claire Heller Chapman, a Harvard Law School professor and a high-powered attorney, has just attained a national reputation for her work on several high-profile cases. Her second husband, Tom Chapman, is a successful moneymanager who adores Claire and her six-year-old daughter. They live in a beautiful house and lead a glamorous and happy life.Then a random burglary turns their world upside down. A routine police investigation reveals that Tom is not who he says he is. He never attended the college he said he did. He once had a different name. He once was, Claire learns, a secret operative for the U.S. government. When he is suddenly arrested and put on trial for a crime he insists he didn't commit -- an unspeakable atrocity carried out thirteen years ago -- she puts her reputation on the line to defend him. The case is tried in a top-secret court-martial conducted by the Pentagon, in which all the evidence is classified, and the rules are unlike any Claire has ever known.She struggles to work within the system, passionately trying to believe in Tom's innocence, even as all the evidence seems to indicate that her husband is a cold-blooded murderer.MURDER IN THE LINE OF DUTYA MARRIAGE IN THE LINE OF FIREA Main Selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club

Newcomer Craig Holden, one of the new generation of outstanding contemporary fiction writers, delivers a riveting novel set in the stark, bleak plains of the Midwest -- the Midwest of strip malls and dilapidated, long-abandoned steel mills. The Midwest of Morgantown General Hospital in southern...  more

Newcomer Craig Holden, one of the new generation of outstanding contemporary fiction writers, delivers a riveting novel set in the stark, bleak plains of the Midwest -- the Midwest of strip malls and dilapidated, long-abandoned steel mills. The Midwest of Morgantown General Hospital in southern Michigan. When a burn victim is brought into the ER, a young doctor's life is changed irrevocably. For the arrival of John Doe is just the beginning of a nightmare that will hurtle Dr. Adrian Lancaster into the netherworld of violence and obsession that once nearly destroyed him. Suddenly Lancaster finds himself the prime suspect in a string of murders. Shadowed by police and seeking refuge in the arms of a mysterious young woman, Lancaster risks his career and his life to follow the body-strewn trail that could lead him to the murderer. On the road and underground, only facing the terrifying truth will save him. A brilliant novel that hits hard from page one, The River Sorrow moves us, haunts us... and holds us spellbound until the final unforgettable scene.

The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie and steal and smoke cigars (even the girls). They talk dirty, hit little kids, cuss their teachers, set fire to Fred Showmaker's broken-down toolhouse and take the name of the Lord in vain. So no one is...  more

The Herdmans are absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie and steal and smoke cigars (even the girls). They talk dirty, hit little kids, cuss their teachers, set fire to Fred Showmaker's broken-down toolhouse and take the name of the Lord in vain. So no one is prepared when the Herdmans invade church one Sunday -- and decide to take over the annual Christmas pageant.

When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny. All children mythologize their birth. . . . So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The...  more

When Margaret Lea opened the door to the past, what she confronted was her destiny. All children mythologize their birth. . . . So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter's beloved collection of stories, long famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale. The enigmatic Winter has always kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she summons a biographer to tell the truth about her extraordinary life: Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth remains an ever-present pain. Disinterring the life she meant to bury for good, Vida mesmerizes Margaret with the power of her storytelling. Hers is a tale of gothic strangeness, featuring the Angelfield family -- including the beautiful and willful Isabelle, and the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline -- a ghost, a governess, and a devastating fire. Struck by a curious parallel between their stories, Margaret demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them. The Thirteenth Tale is a return to that rich vein of storytelling that our parents loved and we loved as children. Diane Setterfield will keep you guessing, make you wonder, move you to tears and laughter, and in the end, deposit you breathless yet satisfied back upon the shore of your everyday life. Read by Ruthie Henshall & Lynn Redgrave, abridged, 6 CDs, 7 hrs.

When quiet Ellen Lang enters Elvis Cole's Disney-Deco office, she's lost something very valuable -- her husband and young son. The case seems simple enough, but Elvis isn't thrilled. Neither is his enigmatic partner and firepower Joe Pike. Their search down the seamy side of...  more

When quiet Ellen Lang enters Elvis Cole's Disney-Deco office, she's lost something very valuable -- her husband and young son. The case seems simple enough, but Elvis isn't thrilled. Neither is his enigmatic partner and firepower Joe Pike. Their search down the seamy side of Hollywood's studio lots and sculptured lawns soon leads them deep into a nasty netherworld of drugs and sex -- and murder. Now the case is getting interesting, but it's also turned ugly. Because everybody, from cops to starlets to crooks, has declared war on Ellen and Elvis.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Victor Carl series comes a stunning stand-alone novel about a young man forced to confront the dark truths of his past For a son, every funeral before his father's death is a rehearsal and every funeral thereafter is a memorial. Kyle Byrne,...  more

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Victor Carl series comes a stunning stand-alone novel about a young man forced to confront the dark truths of his past For a son, every funeral before his father's death is a rehearsal and every funeral thereafter is a memorial. Kyle Byrne, the illegitimate son of a prominent Philadelphia lawyer, had to sneak into his father's funeral when he was fourteen years old. Twelve years later, his father's death still casts a shadow upon his heart. Now amiable and handsome, Kyle finds himself drifting through a life of slack. With his house in foreclosure and his part-time job lost, he spends his days playing Xbox and his nights in Philly bars, drinking way too much and sleeping with the wrong type of women. Life is, well, actually pretty damn sweet. But when his father's former law partner is brutally murdered, the cops see Kyle as a possible suspect and start asking uncomfortable questions about his father's death. And after a strange encounter with one of his father's former clients, Kyle enters into a search for answers that leads from his father's past to the highest pinnacles of power?and forces Kyle to lay bare the deceptions and losses in his own life. Just when it seems he's close to learning the truth about his father and the murder, Kyle is reminded of that old adage "be careful what you wish for." Because Kyle Byrne's most fervent wish is suddenly about to come true?with a vengeance.

A murdered woman. Her grieving husband. Their violent son -- a mentally retarded adult who has killed before. Leo Hewitt -- the onetime Assistant District Attorney blamed for setting free the nation's most notorious child killer -- eager to redeem himself, digs below the...  more

A murdered woman. Her grieving husband. Their violent son -- a mentally retarded adult who has killed before. Leo Hewitt -- the onetime Assistant District Attorney blamed for setting free the nation's most notorious child killer -- eager to redeem himself, digs below the surface of this throw-away case to find an emotionally disturbed wife, a husband who would kill to escape his torturous marriage, and a son who can't defend himself from the accusation of murder. Leo finds himself propelled into a world of sexual obscenities, a corrupt legal system, and, at the heart of it all, two brothers who share a dark bond.

 THESE OLD SHADES Justin Alastair, the notorious Duke of Avon known as 'Satanas', flourishes amid the corruption and intrigue of Paris in the reign of Louis XV. He is planning a long over due revenge on the Comte de St Vire when he plucks Leon, a red-headed urchin with strangely...  more

 THESE OLD SHADES Justin Alastair, the notorious Duke of Avon known as 'Satanas', flourishes amid the corruption and intrigue of Paris in the reign of Louis XV. He is planning a long over due revenge on the Comte de St Vire when he plucks Leon, a red-headed urchin with strangely familiar looks, from a dark Parisian backstreet. Among the splendors of Versailles and the grand mansions of England, Justin unfolds his sinister plans - until, that is, Leon becomes the ravishing beauty Leonie... DEVIL'S CUB The Excesses of the young Marquis of Vidal are even wilder than his father's before him.  Not for nothing is the reckless duelist and gamester called 'the Devil's Cub'.  But when he is forced to leave the country, Mary Challoner discovers his wicked plans to abduct her sister. And only by daring to impersonate her can Mary save her sister from certain ruin.

This book is a novelization of a teleplay by Johnny Dawkins based on a short story by Ron Jones.  The Wave is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic...  more

This book is a novelization of a teleplay by Johnny Dawkins based on a short story by Ron Jones.  The Wave is based on a true incident that occurred in a high school history class in Palo Alto, California, in 1969. The powerful forces of group pressure that pervaded many historic movements such as Nazism are recreated in the classroom when history teacher Burt Ross introduces a "new" system to his students. And before long "The Wave," with its rules of "strength through discipline, community, and action, " sweeps from the classroom through the entire school. And as most of the students join the movement, Laurie Saunders and David Collins recognize the frightening momentum of "The Wave" and realize they must stop it before it's too late.

Bradley Warren had lost something very valuable, something that belonged to someone else: a rare thirteenth-century Japanese manuscript called the Hagakure. Everything PI Elvis Cole knew about Japanese culture he'd learned from reading SHOGUN, but he knew a lot of crooks - and what he didn't...  more

Bradley Warren had lost something very valuable, something that belonged to someone else: a rare thirteenth-century Japanese manuscript called the Hagakure. Everything PI Elvis Cole knew about Japanese culture he'd learned from reading SHOGUN, but he knew a lot of crooks - and what he didn't know, his sociopathic sidekick Joe Pike did. Together their search begins in LA's Little Tokyo, the nest of the notorious Japanese mafia, the yakuza, and leads to a white-knuckled adventure filled with madness, murder and sexual obsession - just another day's work for Elvis Cole.

From Dennis Lehane, the award-winning author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and the Kenzie-Gennaro series, comes a surprisingly different collection of five short stories: "Running Out the Dog" "ICU" "Gone Down to...  more

From Dennis Lehane, the award-winning author of Mystic River, Shutter Island, and the Kenzie-Gennaro series, comes a surprisingly different collection of five short stories: "Running Out the Dog" "ICU" "Gone Down to Corpus" "Mushrooms" "Until Gwen" At turns suspenseful, surreal, romantic, and tragically comic, these tales journey headlong into the heart of our national myths-about class, gender, freedom, and regeneration through violence-and reveal that the truth waiting for us there is not what we'd expect. Unabridged - 3 CDs - 3.5 hours - Read by Stanley Tucci

New York Times bestselling author William Lashner returns with a brilliantly twisty tale that probes the dark side of the law -- and man Unlike the rest of you, I cheerfully admit to my own utter selfishness. I am self-made, self-absorbed, self-serving, self-referential, even self-deprecating,...  more

New York Times bestselling author William Lashner returns with a brilliantly twisty tale that probes the dark side of the law -- and man Unlike the rest of you, I cheerfully admit to my own utter selfishness. I am self-made, self-absorbed, self-serving, self-referential, even self-deprecating, in a charming sort of way. In short, I am all the selfs except selfless. Yet every so often, I run across a force of nature that shakes my sublime self-centeredness to its very roots. Something that tears through the landscape like a tornado, leaving nothing but ruin and reexamination in its wake. Something like Bob. --Victor Carl A beautiful young woman is dead, her husband convicted of the murder. In seeking a new trial for the husband, defense attorney Victor Carl must confront not only a determined prosecutor and a police detective who might have set up his client, but also a strange little busybody named Bob. Bob has the aspiration, one could even say compulsion, to help those around him. And it usually works out well for all concerned, except when it ends in blood. But Victor doesn’t know that . . . yet. Thanks to Bob, Victor is suddenly dressing better, dating a stunning woman, and both his economic prospects and his teeth are gleaming. It’s all good, until Victor finds a troubling connection between Bob and the murdered wife. Is Bob a kind of saint or is this obsessive Good Samaritan, in reality, a murderer? Filled with the keen wit, deep poignancy, twisting suspense, and dark realism that has entranced readers, impressed reviewers, and made William Lashner’s previous novels bestsellers, Falls the Shadow is a riveting novel sure to leave readers eager for more.