Recreation

New Titles Fiction December 2018 (arrived in November)

ADVENTURE

Long road to mercy, David Baldacci.
Her name is Atlee Pine, FBI Special Agent assigned to the wilds of the western US. She has to cover, often solo, vast tracts of area: Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, Arizona. Working with the locals who respect, and also sometimes fear her, and have never really been allowed to know her. In the end, she will have to confront not only a new monster, but also the old one of her nightmares.
Abyss, Greig Beck.
Cate Granger is chasing ghosts.The monster shark she once encountered was a remnant of the ancient world; one that had escaped an underwater lair previously sealed off for millions of years. At great cost, Cate and her allies had killed the beast. So, no more ghosts, no more shadows. All gone, or so Cate thought.
War of the wolf, Bernard Cromwell.
At the fortress of the eagles, three kings will fight. Uhtred of Bebbanburg has won back his ancestral home but, threatened from all sides by enemies both old and new, he doesn't have long to enjoy the victory.
Sea of greed, Clive Cussler.
After an explosion in the Gulf of Mexico destroys three oil rigs trying to revive a dying field, Kurt Austin and the NUMA Special Projects Team are tapped by the President of the United States to find out what's gone wrong. The trail leads them to a brilliant billionaire in the alternative energy field. Her goal is the end of the oil age, but is she an environmental hero, or a rogue genetic engineer?
Face off, David Hagberg.
Kirk McGarvey is lunching in the Eiffel Tower when terrorists attempt to bring the Paris icon down. He springs into action to stop the attack, only to find there's a much larger plot at stake. One that aims to force the incompetent US President out by pitting him against Russia.
Absolution, Paul E. Hardisty.
It is 1997, eight months since vigilante justice-seeker Claymore Straker fled South Africa after his explosive testimony to Desmond Tutu's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In Paris, Rania LaTour, journalist, comes home to find that her son and her husband, a celebrated human rights lawyer, have disappeared. On an isolated island off the coast of East Africa, the family that Clay has befriended is murdered as he watches. So begins the fourth instalment in the Claymore Straker series, as Clay and Rania fight to uncover the mystery behind the disappearances and murders, and find those responsible.
Red war: a Mitch Rapp novel, Vince Flynn.
When Russian president Maxim Krupin discovers that he has inoperable brain cancer, he's determined to cling to power. His first task is to kill or imprison any of his countrymen who can threaten him. Soon, though, his illness becomes serious enough to require a more dramatic diversion; war with the West. The only way to avoid a confrontation that could leave millions dead is to send Mitch Rapp to Russia under impossibly dangerous orders.
Trust no one, Anthony Mosawi.
Sara Eden has been held in a Cold War sensory deprivation chamber. Beyond her name she has only a few small clues: a cheap gold necklace, small scraps of paper, and a Polaroid of a stranger with one line: 'Don't trust this man'. As she begins to unravel her past, Sara becomes the target of a manhunt.
The three secret cities, Matthew Reilly.
When Jack West Jr won the Great Games, he threw the four legendary kingdoms into turmoil. Now these dark forces are coming after Jack in ruthless fashion. With the end of all things rapidly approaching, Jack must find the Three Secret Cities, three incredible lost cities of legend. It's an impossible task by any reckoning, but Jack must do it while he is being hunted.
Head hunters, Chris Ryan.
The Regiment is beset by a mysterious run of suicides. When Danny Black becomes part of an SAS hit squad to seek out and eliminate Taliban leaders he has to steel himself for the pressures of a constant round of killing. What he can't prepare himself for is the accusation that he has massacred an entire family, and an old enemy in the Military Police is on his tail, determined to put him away.
A death in Sweden, Kevin Wignall.
Dan Hendricks, a former CIA operative, is now an agent for hire by foreign powers on the hunt for dangerous fugitives. His next job is his biggest yet. The death of Jacques Fillon, who gave up his life trying to save a fellow passenger following a bus crash in northern Sweden. exposes the fact that he never existed at all. Dan is tasked with uncovering Fillon's true identity, but can he do so before his own past catches up with him?

FANTASY

Magic triumphs, Ilona Andrews.
Kate has come a long way from her origins as a loner taking care of paranormal problems in post-Shift Atlanta. She's found love and started a family with Curran Lennart, the former Beast Lord and Kate and her father, Roland, currently have an uneasy truce, but when he starts testing her defenses again, she knows that sooner or later a confrontation is inevitable. When a mysterious box is delivered to Kate's doorstep, a threat of war from the ancient enemy who nearly destroyed her family, she knows her time is up.
Malice of crows, Lila Bowen.
The Ranger known as Rhett has shut down a terrible enterprise running on the blood of magical folk, but failed to catch the dark alchemist behind it. And now the Shadow refuses to let him rest. Rhett must make the ultimate transformation if he has any hope of stopping the alchemist or fulfilling his destiny; he must become the leader of a new Rangers outpost.
Treason of hawks, Lila Bowen.
Rhett Walker is looking for peace, the memories of all he's lost haunting his dreams. Now the Shadow tugs him West, back to where his journey began. With the lawless Rangers on his heels and monster attacks surging, Rhett is surrounded on all sides. This time it's not all about horses and land. This time, it feels personal.
The little shop of found things, Paula Brackston.
Xanthe and her mother Flora leave London behind for a fresh start, taking over an antique shop in the historic town of Marlborough. Xanthe has always had an affinity with some of the antiques she finds. When she touches them, she can sense something of the past they come from and the stories they hold. So when she has an intense connection to a beautiful silver chatelaine she has to know more.
The monster Baru Cormorant, Seth Dickinson.
Baru Cormormant's world was shattered by the Empire of Masks. To exact her revenge, she has clawed her way up razor-edged rungs of betrayal, sacrifice, and compromise, becoming the very thing she seeks to destroy. Unable to trust anyone and pursued across the ocean by enemies determined to punish her for her treachery, Baru now seeks the key the starting a war that will either rip apart the Masquerade once and for all, or the world itself, and with it, all that remains of her soul.
The second collected tales of Bauchelain & Korbal Broach, Steven Erikson.
The intrepid necromancers Bauchelain and Korbal Broach; scourges of civilization, raisers of the dead, reapers of the souls of the living, devourers of hope, betrayers of faith, slayers of the innocent and modest personifications of evil, have a lot to answer for and answer they will, but first they must lie, murder and cheat their way through three more escapades in some of the harsher fringes, deprived wastelands and impoverished communities of the Malazan Empire.
The magicians: a novel, Lev Grossman.
As a senior in high school Quentin Coldwater became preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory. After graduating from college and being admitted into a highly exclusive, secret society of magic in upstate New York, he makes a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin's fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined.
The price of faith, Rob J. Hayes.
Separated and miserable, Thanquil Darkheart and Jezzet Vel'urn both have their reasons for wanting to leave the Dragon Empire. Jezzet flees from the wrathful fury of an Empress scorned while accompanied by the ever insidious Drake Morrass, and Thanquil sets out to find and judge his one heretical loose end.
The poppy war, R. F. Kuang.
When Rin aced the Keju; the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to study at the academies, it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn't believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin's guardians, who always thought they'd be able to marry Rin off to further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was now finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence.
Arcanum unbounded: the Cosmere collection, Brandon Sanderson.
This first short story collection by Brandon Sanderson will include nine works in all. These wonderful works, originally published on Tor.com and elsewhere individually, convey the expanse of the Cosmere and tell exciting tales of adventure Sanderson fans have come to expect, including the Hugo Award-winning novella, "The Emperor's Soul" and an excerpt from the graphic novel "White Sand."
Legion: the many lives of Stephen Leeds, Brandon Sanderson.
A genius of unrivaled aptitude, Stephen can learn any new skill, vocation, or art in a matter of hours. However, to contain all of this, his mind creates hallucinatory people; Stephen calls them aspects, to hold and manifest the information. When a company hires him to recover stolen property; a camera that can allegedly take pictures of the past, Stephen finds himself in an adventure crossing oceans and fighting terrorists.
Archangel's prophecy, Nalini Singh.
The stakes are even higher as the struggle for power among the angels threatens to tear the world apart. Midnight and dawn, Elena's wings are unique among angelkind and now they're failing. The first mortal to be turned into an immortal in angelic memory, she's regressing. Becoming more and more human. Elena and Raphael must unearth the reason for the regression before it's too late, and Elena falls out of the sky.
Heartstone, Elle Katharine White.
Aliza Bentaine has already lost one sister to the invading gryphons. So when Lord Merybourne hires a band of Riders to hunt down the horde, Aliza is relieved her home will soon be safe again. She doesn't expect a clash of wills with dragonrider, Alastair Daired, nor the mystery that follows them from Merybourne Manor; something far more sinister than gryphons.

FICTION

The Penguin book of the contemporary British short story, Philip Hensher.
Philip Hensher, following the success of his definitive Penguin Book of British Short Stories, has scoured a vast trove of material and chosen thirty great stories for this new volume of works written between 1997 and the present day.
Friday black, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.
A piercingly raw debut story collection from a young writer with an explosive voice; a treacherously surreal, and, at times, heartbreakingly satirical look at what it's like to be young and black in America. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Adjei-Brenyah reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that black men and women contend with every day.
The next person you meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom.
Fifteen years ago, in Mitch Albom's beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran- turned- amusement park mechanic who died saving the life of a young girl named Annie. Eddie's journey to heaven taught him that every life matters. Now, in this magical sequel, Mitch Albom reveals Annie's story.
The heart radical, Boyd Anderson.
Esteemed human rights lawyer Su-Lin Tan barely recognises Professor Paris Thumboo when he delivers a history lecture in London. For the last time she saw him was in a crowded Malayan courtroom more than half a century ago, during the trial that would change her life.
Echoes in the walls, Virginia Andrews.
Wyndemere House is a labyrinth, containing as many secrets as it does corners obscured in shadow. Home to the Davenports, a wealthy and distinguished family, Fern Corey and her mother have lived there as servants for Fern's entire young life. Despite their difference in station, Fern and Dr. Davenport's son, Ryder, have always been extremely close. When Wyndemere's secrets finally unfold, everyone party to them will become entangled in a treachery more complete than any could have imagined. For the past is never really past, no matter what age you are.
The deeper the water the uglier the fish: a novel, Katya Apekina.
It's 16-year-old Edie who finds their mother Marianne dangling in the living room from an old jump rope. Upstairs, 14-year-old Mae had fallen into one of her trances, often a result of feeling too closely attuned to her mother's dark moods. After Marianne is unwillingly admitted to a mental hospital, Edie and Mae are forced to move from their childhood home in Louisiana to New York to live with their estranged father, Dennis, a former civil rights activist and literary figure on the other side of success.
Heads you win, Jeffrey Archer.
Alexander Karpenko is no ordinary child, and from an early age, it is clear he is destined to lead his countrymen. But when his father is assassinated by the KGB for defying the state, he and his mother will have to escape from Russia if they hope to survive.
Murder in the dark, Margaret Atwood.
These short fictions and prose poems are bizarre: bread can no longer be conceived as wholesome comforting loaves and a poisonous brew is concocted by cynical five- year-olds. Intent on breaking the forces of convention, this collection should captivate the reader's imagination.
The bus on Thursday, Shirley Barret.
It wasn't just the bad breakup that turned Eleanor Mellett's life upside down. It was the cancer. And all the demons that came with it. Luckily, Eleanor finds that Talbingo, a remote little town, needs a primary-school teacher, but she is living alone in a remote cabin, with no phone service or wifi, wondering why there are so many locks on the front door, and who is knocking on it late at night?
Better times: short stories, Sara Batkie.
Divided into three sections covering the recent past, our current era, and the world to come, the stories gathered here; with characters stymied by loneliness, motherhood, illness, even cataclysmic climate change, interrogate the idea that so-called better times ever existed, particularly for women.
Barefoot: a story of surrendering to God, Sharon Garlough Brown.
The spiritual journey takes unexpected turns for the women of Sensible Shoes in this third book of the series. Having been challenged to persevere in hope, can they now embrace the joy of complete surrender? Join these four women in a poignant story that reveals the joy that comes from laying our lives at the feet of God and standing barefoot on holy ground.
Xx, Angela Chadwick.
When Rosie and Jules discover a ground-breaking clinical trial that enables two women to have a female baby, they jump at the chance to make history. Fear-mongering politicians and right-wing movements are quick to latch on to the controversies surrounding Ovum-to-Ovum (o-o) technology and stoke the fears of the public. In this toxic political climate, Jules and Rosie try to hide their baby from scrutiny, but when the news of Rosie's pregnancy is leaked to the media, their relationship is put under a microscope and they're forced to question the loyalty of those closest to them, and battle against a tirade of hate that threatens to split them apart.
Middle England, Jonathan Coe.
Beginning eight years ago on the outskirts of Birmingham, where car factories have been replaced by Poundland, and London, where frenzied riots give way to Olympic fever, Middle England follows a brilliantly vivid cast of characters through a time of immense change.
Hippie, Paulo Coelho.
In 1969, Paulo is a young Brazilian who wants to become a writer. He sets off on a journey in search of freedom and a deeper meaning for his life and meets Karla, a 20 year old Dutch woman who convinces Paulo to join the Magic Bus that travels across Europe and Central Asia to Kathmandu. They embark on a journey in the company of fascinating fellow travellers, each of whom has a story to tell, and each of whom will undergo a transformation, changing their priorities and values along the way.
An island Christmas, Jenny Colgan.
On the remote Scottish island of Mure, the Christmas season is stark, windy, and icy, yet incredibly festive and beautiful. It's a time for getting cozy in front of whisky barrel wood fires, and enjoying a dram and a treacle pudding with the people you love, unless, of course, you've accidentally gotten pregnant by your ex-boss, and don't know how to tell him.
Agnes & the hitman, Jennifer Crusie.
Rescued during a break-in by an unlikely hit man who has been directed by the mob to protect her, food writer Cranky Agnes finds her situation further complicated by a missing cache of money that becomes a key factor in a Southern mafia wedding.
News of our loved ones: a novel, Abigail DeWitt.
Over four long years, the Delasalle family has struggled to live in their Nazi occupied village in Normandy. Maman, Oncle Henri, Yvonne, and Françoise silently watched as their Jewish neighbours were arrested or wordlessly disappeared. Now in June 1944, when the sirens wail each day, warning of approaching bombers, the family wonders if rumors of the coming Allied invasion are true and if they will survive to see their country liberated.
Rough animals: a novel, Rae DelBianco.
Ever since their father's untimely death five years before, Wyatt Smith and his inseparably close twin sister, Lucy, have scraped by alone on their family's isolated ranch in Box Elder County, Utah. That is until one morning when, just after spotting one of their bulls lying dead in the field, Wyatt is hit in the arm by a hail of gunfire that takes four more cattle with it.
Pretty things, Virginie Despentes.
Claudine has always been pretty and Pauline has always been ugly. But when Claudine wants to become famous, she enlists gloomy Pauline, with her angelic voice, into pretending they are the same person. Yet just as things take off, Claudine commits suicide. Pauline hatches a new scheme, pulling on her dead sister's identity, inhabiting her apartment, and reading her mail.
Francis Plug: writer in residence, Paul Ewen.
Francis Plug is back! Adjusting to life as a newly published author; interviews and publicity are coming his way, not to mention considerable acclaim. But Francis can't understand why people think he was writing fiction. He also has other problems, and very little money. Fortunately, he's handed a lifeline when he lands a job as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Greenwich.
The waiter, Matias Faldbakken.
"The Hill's" is Oslo's most esteemed restaurant. A neurotic waiter tends to the desires of his regular, and irregular, clientele. Aristocrats and artistes, wealthy widows and roguish entrepreneurs, he observes all their dramas with a wit as sharp as a filleting knife. A young, beautiful, mysterious guest will prove a challenging new flavour, throwing into disarray our waiter's nerves, and the delicately balanced ingredients of the room.
Phoebe's light, Suzanne Woods Fisher.
Phoebe Starbuck has always adjusted her sails and rudder to the whims of her father. Now, for the first time, she's doing what she wants to do: marrying Captain Phineas Foulger and sailing far away from Nantucket. As she leaves on her grand adventure, her father gives her two gifts, both of which Phoebe sees little need for. The first is an old sheepskin journal from Great Mary, her highly revered great-grandmother. The other is a "minder" on the whaling ship in the form of cooper Matthew Mitchell, a man whom she loathes.
The light before day, Suzanne Woods Fisher.
After three years on a whaling voyage, Henry Macy returns to Nantucket to news that his grandmother has passed, bequeathing her vast fortune to him and his sister, Hitty. But Lillian Coffin was no fool. The inheritance comes with a steep cost, including when they should marry and whom.
The survivors, Kate Furnivall.
Germany, 1945. Klara Janowska and her daughter Alicja have walked for weeks to get to Graufeld Displaced Persons camp. In the cramped, dirty, dangerous conditions they, along with 3,200 others, are the lucky ones. They have survived and will do anything to find a way back home. But when Klara recognises a man in the camp from her past, a deadly game of cat and mouse begins.
An unreliable man, Jostein Gaarder.
Jakop is a lonely man. Divorced from his wife, with no friends apart from his constant companion Pelle, he spends his life attending the funerals of people he doesn't know, obscuring his identity in a web of improbable lies. As his addiction spirals out of control, he is forced to reconcile his love of language and stories with the ever more urgent need for human connection.
Atmospheric disturbances, Rivka Galchen.
While everyone else may be fooled, Leo knows she cannot be his real wife, and sets off on a quixotic journey to reclaim his lost love. With the help of his psychiatric patient Harvey; who believes himself to be a secret agent who can control the weather, Leo attempts to unravel this mystery.
Breakout at Stalingrad, Heinrich Gerlach.
Captured by the Soviets after the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943, Heinrich Gerlach wrote a novel based on his experiences. In 1949, however, the KGB confiscated his 600-page manuscript. Gerlach returned to Germany in 1950, and, under hypnosis, recalled parts of his narrative. In 1957, it was published under the title The Forsaken Army and became a bestseller. In 2011 Carsten Gansel, an academic, made a sensational find in a Moscow archive: the original manuscript of Gerlach's novel.
The crazed wind, Nod Ghosh.
The core relationship between a daughter and her father is examined with psychological astuteness that lends itself to compassion towards both. Using a hybrid of fiction, non- fiction, prose poetry, and playful structures, Ghosh creates an entertaining, unexpected series of pieces that blend to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
The boatbuilder, Daniel Gumbiner.
At 28 years old, Eli "Berg" Koenigsberg has never encountered a challenge he couldn't push through, until a head injury leaves him with lingering headaches and a weakness for opiates. Berg moves to a remote Northern California town, seeking space and time to recover, but soon finds himself breaking into homes in search of pills.
Red birds, Mohammed Hanif.
An American pilot crash lands in the desert and takes refuge in the very camp he was supposed to bomb. Hallucinating palm trees and worrying about dehydrating to death isn't what Major Ellie expected from this mission.
Becoming Mrs. Lewis: a novel: the improbable love story of Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis, Patti Callahan.
When poet and writer Joy Davidman began writing letters to C. S. Lewis, known as Jack, she was looking for spiritual answers, not love. Love, after all, wasn't holding together her crumbling marriage. Everything about New Yorker Joy seemed ill-matched for an Oxford don and the beloved writer of Narnia, yet their minds bonded over their letters. Embarking on the adventure of her life, Joy travelled from America to England and back again, facing heartbreak and poverty, discovering friendship and faith, and against all odds, finding a love that even the threat of death couldn't destroy.
Companions, Christina Hesselholdt.
Camilla, Charles, Alma, Edward, Alwilda and Kristian are a circle of friends hurtling through mid-life. Structured as a series of monologues jumping from one friend to the next, Companions follows their loves, ambitions, pains and anxieties as they age, fall sick, have affairs, grieve, host dinner parties and move between the Lake District, Berlin, Lisbon, Belgrade, Mozambique, New York and Denmark.
Rainsongs, Sue Hubbard.
Newly widowed, Martha Cassidy has returned to a remote cottage in a nearly abandoned village on the west coast of Ireland. There, she reflects on another loss in her life: that of her ten-year-old son, Bruno, who met an untimely death twenty years earlier. As the days unfold, Martha searches for a way forward beyond grief, but finds herself drawn into a standoff between the successful hotel developer Eugene Riordan and an elderly local hill farmer Paddy O'Connell.
Lost without you, Rachael Johns.
Paige MacRitchie's mother collapses during the speeches at her book launch. In the aftermath, and terrified of losing her, Paige decides she wants to make the ultimate tribute to her parents' perfect marriage: she will wear her mother's wedding dress for her own big day. As she tries to track down the elusive gown, she discovers that Rebecca has a long-hidden secret, that, if revealed, could blow her whole family apart.
Fen, Daisy Johnson.
Fen is a liminal land. Real people live their lives here. They wrestle with familiar instincts, with sex and desire, with everyday routine. But the wild is always close at hand, ready to erupt. This is a place where animals and people commingle and fuse, where curious metamorphoses take place, where myth and dark magic still linger. So here a teenager may starve herself into the shape of an eel. A house might fall in love with a girl. A woman might give birth to a well what?
The fragments, Toni Jordan.
Inga Karlson died in a fire in New York in the 1930s, leaving behind three things: a phenomenally successful first novel, the scorched fragments of a second book-and a literary mystery that has captivated generations of readers. Nearly fifty years later, Brisbane bookseller Caddie Walker is driven to find the clues that will unlock the greatest literary mystery of the twentieth century.
Two old men dying, Thomas Keneally.
Learned Man is the child of the extraordinary cognitive leap that created humankind, as we know it, thought to have sprung from the Rift Valley in Africa and soon after travelling to ancient Australia. Shelby, the acclaimed documentary-maker, like Learned Man influenced by Heroes, thinks embattled Eritrean society holds promise that it might represent the new cognitive leap, the one that will reconcile our tenderness and our savagery, our reason and our emotions so that we are no longer a dichotomy between the two.
The ice shelf: an eco-comedy, Anne Kennedy.
On the eve of flying to Antarctica to take up an arts fellowship, thirty-something Janice, recently separated, has a long night of remembrance, regret and realisation as she goes about the city looking for a friend to take care of her fridge while she's away. En route she discards section after section of her novel in the spirit of editing until there is nothing left to edit. The Ice Shelf, a novel written as Acknowledgements, is an allegory for the dangers of wasting love and other non- renewable resources.
Elevation, Stephen King.
Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That's why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition: he's losing weight, without getting thinner, and the scales register the same when he is in his clothes or out of them, however heavy they are.
Eden: a novel, Andrea Kleine.
Every other weekend, Hope and Eden; backpacks, walkmans, and homework in hand, wait for their father to pick them up, as he always does, at a strip-mall bus stop. It's the divorce shuffle; they're used to it. Only this weekend, he's screwed up, forgotten, and their world will irrevocably change when a stranger lures them into his truck with a false story and smile.
The first love, Beverly Lewis.
It's the summer of 1951, and Maggie Esh is in need of some hope. Sweet-spirited and uncommonly pretty despite struggling with chronic illness, she is used to being treated kindly by the young men of her Old Order Amish church district. Yet Maggie wishes she were more like other courting-age girls so she could live a normal, healthy life.
Open me: a novel, Lisa Locascio.
Roxana Olsen has always dreamed of going to Paris, and after high school graduation finally plans to travel there on a study abroad program; a welcome reprieve from the bruising fallout of her parents' divorce. But a logistical mix-up brings Roxana to Copenhagen instead, where she's picked up at the airport by Søren, a twenty-eight year old guide who is meant to be her steward.
China dream, Ma Jian.
A poetic and unflinching fable about tyranny, guilt, and the erasure of history, by the banned Chinese writer hailed as 'China's Solzhenitsyn. In seven dream-like episodes, Ma Jian blends tragic and absurd reality with myth and fantasy. This dystopian novel is a portrait not of an imagined future, but of China today.
Berta Isla, Javier Marías.
Berta and Tomás meet in Madrid and, though both young, they decide to spend their lives together. Eighteen and betrothed, Tomás leaves to study at Oxford. His talent for languages quickly catches the interest of a certain government agency, but Tomás resists their offers; until one day he makes a mistake that will affect the rest of his life, and that of his beloved Berta.
Where the river runs, Fleur McDonald.
Ten years ago, thirty-year-old Chelsea Taylor left the small country town of Barker and her family's property to rise to the top as a concert pianist. With talent, ambition and a determination to show them all at home, Chelsea thought she had it made. Yet here she was, back in Barker, with her four-year-old daughter, Aria, readying herself to face her father, Tom. The father who'd shouted down the phone ten years ago never to come home again.
Sold on a Monday: a novel, Kristina McMorris.
2 children for sale. The sign is a last resort. It sits on a farmhouse porch in 1931, but could be found anywhere in an era of breadlines, bank runs and broken dreams. For struggling reporter Ellis Reed, the gut-wrenching scene evokes memories of his family's dark past. He snaps a photograph of the children, not meant for publication. But when it leads to his big break, the consequences are more devastating than he ever imagined.
Sleep of memory, Patrick Modiano.
Revisits moments of the author's past to produce a spare yet moving reflection on the destructive underside of love, the dreams and follies of youth, the vagaries of memory, and the melancholy of loss. Writing from the perspective of an older man, the narrator relives a key period in his life through his relationships with several enigmatic women.
Ghost wall, Sarah Moss.
Teenage Silvie and her parents are living in a hut in Northumberland as an exercise in experimental archaeology. Her father is a difficult man, obsessed with imagining and enacting the harshness of Iron Age life. Haunting Silvie's narrative is the story of a bog girl, a young woman sacrificed by those closest to her, and the landscape both keeps and reveals the secrets of past violence and ritual as the summer builds to its harrowing climax.
Dog symphony, Sam Munson.
Boris Leonidovich, a North American professor who specializes in the history of prison architecture, has been invited to Buenos Aires for an academic conference. He's planning to present a paper on Moscow's feared Butyrka prison, but most of all he's looking forward to seeing his enigmatic, fiercely intelligent colleague (and sometime lover) Ana again. As soon as Boris arrives, however, he encounters obstacle after unlikely obstacle.
The betrayals, Fiona Neill.
Best friends Rosie and Lisa's families had always been inseparable. But that summer, Lisa had an affair with Rosie's husband, Nick. None of them would forget that week on the wild Norfolk seacoast. Relationships were torn apart. Friendships shattered. And childish innocence destroyed. Now, after years of silence, a letter arrives that begs for help. A letter that exposes dark secrets.
The children's house, Alice Nelson.
Marina and her husband, Jacob, were each born on a kibbutz in Israel. They meet years later at a university in California, when Jacob is a successful psychiatrist with a young son, Ben, from a disastrous marriage. The family moves to a brownstone in Harlem, formerly a convent inhabited by elderly nuns. Outside the house one day Marina encounters Constance, a young refugee from Rwanda, and her toddler, Gabriel. Unmoored and devastated, Constance and Gabriel quickly come to depend on Marina; and her bond with the little boy intensifies.
The stylist: a novel, Rosie Nixon.
When fashion boutique worker Amber Green is mistakenly offered a job as assistant to infamous, jet-setting 'stylist to the stars' Mona Armstrong, she hits the ground running, helping to style some of Hollywood's hottest starlets. As awards season spins into action Mona is in hot demand and Amber's life is turned upside down. Suddenly she's caught the attention of two very different suitors, TV producer Rob and Hollywood bad boy rising star Liam.
Dear Evelyn, Kathy Page.
Born between the wars in a working-class South London street, Harry Miles is a sensitive and capable boy who attends school on a scholarship and grows into a thoughtful young man. Full of energy and literary ambition, he visits Battersea Library in search of New Writing: instead, he discovers Evelyn, a magnetic and independent-minded woman. This is a love story about two people who shape each other as they, their marriage and their country change.
The butcherbird stories, A. S. Patric.
Eleven stories. Each like a matchstick struck to illuminate the darkness. Evocations of place ranging from a Bangla jungle to the deep, blue Danube to a winter beach in Melbourne excite and seduce. But what truly draws the reader in are the unexpected landscapes of people's lives, explored with rare sensitivity, grace and a fearless truthfulness.
The town, Shaun Prescott.
It was only possible to see the full extent of the town if you spent many years there. Only then could you see the barriers shimmer at its edges, and know what the edges meant. A radio station broadcasts tapes to an audience of none; an ex-musician drives a bus that no-one ever boards; a publican runs an empty hotel with no patrons. When a writer arrives in this New South Wales town to research vanishing Australian settlements, he is plunged into an abyss of weirdness from which he, and the town itself, might never recover.
The Italian, Ann Radcliffe.
First published in 1797, The Italian, with its archetypal villain Schedoni, its intense romance and its sublime depiction of landscape, is the masterpiece of Gothic fiction. Enlisted by the Marchesa di Vivaldi, the perfidious monk Schedoni casts a malevolent presence throughout the book as he tries to thwart the passion of the two young lovers Vincenzo di Vivaldi and Elena di Rosalba.
A key to treehouse living, Elliot Reed.
William Tyce is growing up without parents, near a river in the rural Midwest. In a glossary-style list, he imparts his particular wisdom on subjects ranging from A to Z; his quest is to create a reference volume specific to his existence. As this quest takes him on a journey down the river by raft, he seeks to discover how his mother died and find reasons for his father's disappearance.
Rumpus room and other stories from the suburbs, Tim Ross.
Comedian Tim Ross draws inspiration from his acclaimed ABC television series Streets Of Your Town with this selection of short stories from the suburbs. From the beachside holiday house to the backyard pool and the rumpus room, the architecture of the suburbs forms the backdrop to a uniquely Australian way of life. Ross roams through these familiar places to paint a picture of Australian domesticity and its relationship to the Australian psyche in all its funny, nostalgic, ironic and often acutely cringe-worthy glory.
Salt and saffron, Kamila Shamsie.
Aliya may not have inherited her family's patrician looks, but she is as much a prey to the legends of her family that stretch back to the days of Timur Lang. Aristocratic and eccentric-the clan has plenty of stories to tell, and secrets to hide. Like salt and saffron, which both flavour food but in slightly different ways, it is the small, subtle differences that cause the most trouble in Aliya's family.
Crocodile, Daniel Shand.
It's the summer before high school and Chloe is being sent away. Her mother can't cope and needs something that her daughter cannot provide. All Chloe wants is to get away from her grandparents and back to her mother, her friends, and the life she knows. That is until she falls in with a local gang of outsiders and begins to experience the world she has been missing.
Every breath, Nicholas Sparks.
Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At 36, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.
The Gabriel Hounds, Mary Stewart.
Legend has it that when the Gabriel Hounds run howling over the crumbling palace of Dar Ibrahim, high in the Adonis Valley of Lebanon, death will follow on their heels. When rich, spoilt Christie Mansel arrives at the decaying palace to look after her eccentric Aunt Harriet, she arrives to the sound of howling dogs. The palace is riddled with hidden passages and the servants are unwilling to let anyone see Harriet during the day. It seems the palace hides an extraordinary secret, one that somebody is willing to kill to keep.
The Christmas lights, Karen Swan.
December 2018, and free-spirited influencers Bo Loxley and her partner Zac are living a life of wanderlust, travelling the globe and sharing their adventures with their millions of fans. Booked to spend Christmas in the Norwegian fjords, they set up home in a remote farm owned by enigmatic mountain guide Anders and his fierce grandmother Signy. Surrounded by snowy peaks and frozen falls, everything should be perfect. But the camera can lie and with every new post, the 'perfect' life Zac and Bo are portraying is diverging from the truth.
An Irish country cottage, Patrick Taylor.
The New Year brings challenges and changes to the colourful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. The Christmas holidays have barely passed before a fire engulfs the humble thatched cottage housing Donal Donnally and his family. Although the family escapes the blaze more or less unsinged, Donal, his wife, their three small children, and their beloved dog find themselves with nothing left but the clothes on their back.
A gushing fountain: a novel, Martin Walser.
Appearing for the first time in English, this masterful novel by one of the foremost figures of postwar German literature is an indelible portrait of Nazism slowly overtaking and poisoning a small town. Semi-autobiographical, it is also a remarkably vivid account of a childhood fraught with troubles, yet full of remembered love and touched by miracle.
Family trust: a novel, Kathy Wang.
Meet Stanley Huang: father, husband, ex-husband, man of unpredictable tastes and temper, newly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. For his son Fred, the inheritance Stanley has long alluded to would soothe the pain caused by years of professional disappointment.
Still life with monkey, Katharine Weber.
Duncan Wheeler is a successful architect who savors the quotidian pleasures in life until a car accident leaves him severely paralyzed and haunted by the death of his young assistant. Now, Duncan isn't sure what there is left to live for. Katharine Weber is a masterful observer of humanity, and Still Life with Monkey, full of tenderness and melancholy, explores the conflict between the will to live and the desire to die.
The changeling, Joy Williams.
When we first meet Pearl; young in years but advanced in her drinking, she's sitting at a hotel bar in Florida, throwing back gin and tonics. Cradled in the crook of her arm is her infant son. But the relief she feels at having fled her abusive husband, and the Northeastern island his family calls home, doesn't last for long. Soon she's being shepherded back. The island, for Pearl, is a place of madness and pain. Through the lens of Pearl's fragile consciousness, readers encounter the horror and triumph of both childhood and motherhood.
Not our kind: a novel, Kitty Zeldis.
One rainy morning in June, two years after the end of World War II, a minor traffic accident brings together Eleanor Moskowitz and Patricia Bellamy. Their encounter seems fated: Eleanor, a teacher and recent Vassar graduate, needs a job. Patricia's difficult thirteen-year-old daughter Margaux, recovering from polio, needs a private tutor. Though she feels out of place in the Bellamys' rarefied and elegant Park Avenue milieu, Eleanor forms an instant bond with Margaux.
Bridge of Clay, Markus Zusak.
Five Dunbar brothers are living; fighting, loving, grieving, in the perfect chaos of a house without grown-ups. Today, the father who left them has just walked right back in. He has a surprising request: Who will build a bridge with him?

GRAPHIC NOVEL

Action Comics #1000, Dan Jurgens.
Now celebrate 1,000 issues of Action Comics with this collector's item hardcover, Action Comics #1000: The Deluxe Edition. Including an all-star lineup of writers and artists.
Anthony Bourdain's hungry ghosts, Anthony Bourdain.
On a dark, haunted night, a Russian Oligarch dares a circle of international chefs to play the samurai game of 100 Candles; where each storyteller tells a terrifying tale of ghosts, demons and unspeakable beings, and prays to survive the challenge. Inspired by the Japanese Edo period game of Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai, Hungry Ghosts reimagines the classic stories of yokai, yorei, and obake, all tainted with the common thread of food.
Harrow County. [8], Done come back, Cullen Bunn.
Upgrade soul: a graphic novel, Ezra Claytan Daniels.
For their 45th anniversary, Hank and Molly Nonnar decide to undergo an experimental rejuvenation procedure, but their hopes for youth are dashed when the couple is faced with the results: severely disfigured yet intellectually and physically superior duplicates of themselves. Can the original Hank and Molly coexist in the same world as their clones?
Brat, Michael Deforge.
A major star of minor crime struggles for delinquency relevancy as she ages out of the delinquent scene she pioneered. Michael DeForge presents the mid-career crisis of a merry prankster in his singular style that blurs the banal with the absurd.
Girl Genius. [11], Agatha Heterodyne & the hammerless bell: a gaslamp fantasy with adventure, romance & mad science, Kaja Foglio.
Girl genius. [4], Agatha Heterodyne & the circus of dreams: a gaslamp fantasy with adventure, romance & mad science, Kaja Foglio.
Girl genius. [6], Agatha Heterodyne & the golden trilobite: a gaslamp fantasy with adventure, romance & mad science, Kaja Foglio.
A study in emerald, Neil Gaiman.
This supernatural mystery set in the world of Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos features a brilliant detective and his partner as they try to solve a horrific murder. The complex investigation takes the Baker Street investigators from the slums of Whitechapel all the way to the Queen's Palace as they attempt to find the answers to this bizarre murder of cosmic horror!
The wicked + the divine. Vol. 6, Imperial phase. Part 2, Kieron Gillen.
The wicked + the divine. Vol. 7, Mothering invention, Kieron Gillen.
Three sisters: a love and rockets book, Gilbert Hernandez.
The children are growing up and lovers have come and gone. Luba, Petra, and Fritz are moving on to the next phases of their lives and careers, which puts their own pasts and relationships in perspective, and, since they've all settled in Los Angeles, showbiz comes calling. Venus shoots a backyard superhero movie, Fritz becomes a B movie actress, and children's TV show host Doralís has the grandest of finales.
Tokyo ghoul: re. 6, Sui Ishida.
Uzumaki: spiral into horror, Junji Itō.
Kurôzu-cho, a small fogbound town on the coast of Japan, is cursed. According to Shuichi Saito, the withdrawn boyfriend of teenager Kirie Goshima, their town is haunted not by a person or being but by a pattern: uzumaki, the spiral, the hypnotic secret shape of the world.
X-O Manowar. [Vol. 5], Barbarians, Matt Kind.
Oblivion song. 1, Robert Kirkman.
A decade ago 300,000 citizens of Philadelphia were suddenly lost in Oblivion. The government made every attempt to recover them, but after many years they gave up. Nathan Cole won't. He makes daily trips, risking his life to try to rescue those lost, alone and afraid, living in the apocalyptic hellscape of Oblivion. But maybe, Nathan is looking for something else? Why can't he resist the siren call of the Oblivion Song?
Royal City. Volume 3, We all float on, Jeff Lemire.
Red Hood and the Outlaws. Vol.2, Who is Artemis?, Scott Lobdell.
Strong female protagonist. Book one, Brennan Lee Mulligan.
With superstrength and invulnerability, Alison Green used to be one of the most powerful superheroes around. Fighting crime with other teenagers under the alter ego Mega Girl was fun until an encounter with Menace, her mind reading arch enemy. He showed her evidence of a sinister conspiracy, and suddenly battling giant robots didn't seem so important.
Batman: white knight, Sean Murphy.
The impossible has happened: the Joker has become sane. Now calling himself Gotham's newest protector, the Joker now spearheads a task force to take down the dangerous masked vigilante known as Batman. After years of epic battles, the Dark Knight finally finds a way to cure the twisted mind of his archenemy.
Golden kamuy. 6, Satoru Noda.
Infidel, Pornsak Pichetshote.
A horror tale for the 21st century, Infidel follows an American Muslim woman and her multi-racial neighbours who move into a building haunted by entities fueled by xenophobia.
Calexit. [1], Matteo Pizzolo.
In Calexit, the citizens of California struggle to seize power back from an autocratic government. Jamil, a 25-year old courier (aka smuggler), and Zora, a 27-year old leader in the Mulholland Resistance, attempt to escape from Occupied Los Angeles, where martial law has been in place for the past year; ever since America's demagogue President signed an executive order to deport all immigrants, and California responded by proclaiming itself a Sanctuary State.
Out in the open, Javi Rey.
After suffering violence and betrayal at home, a young boy flees into an uncompromising landscape ravaged by drought. Without food or water, exposed to the heat of the sun and the violence of his pursuers, the boy sets out across the Spanish plains. An encounter with an elderly goatherd offers hope of survival. The old man can help him stay ahead of the dangers that lie outside; but he can't fix the internal drama that plays out in the boy's mind.
Home after dark: a novel, David Small.
Wildly kaleidoscopic and furiously cinematic, Home After Dark is a literary tour-de-force that renders the brutality of adolescence in the so-called nostalgic 1950s, evoking such classics as The Lord of the Flies. Thirteen-year-old Russell Pruitt, abandoned by his mother, follows his father to sun-splashed California in search of a dream. Suddenly forced to fend for himself, Russell struggles to survive in Marshfield, a dilapidated town haunted by a sadistic animal killer and a ring of malicious boys who bully Russell for being "queer".
Harley Quinn. Vol. 6, Angry bird, Frank Tieri.

HISTORICAL

Girl in a blue dress, Gaynor Arnold.
Alfred Gibson's funeral has taken place at Westminster Abbey, and Dorothea, his wife of twenty years, has not been invited. The Great Man's will favours his children and a clandestine mistress over his estranged wife. Dorothea is left only with the comforts of her feisty youngest daughter Kitty, whose attempts to demonise her father challenges Dorothea's memories. When an invitation for a private audience with Queen Victoria arrives, she begins to examine her own life more closely.
Blood's revolution, Angus Donald.
Newly returned from years of secret work in Paris, Lieutenant Holcroft Blood, must now face King James II's enemies on the battlefields of the British Isles. But after the victory at Sedgemoor; and its cruel aftermath, the Bloody Assizes, in which the Duke of Monmouth's rebellion was ruthlessly crushed, many powerful men have grown tired of Catholic James' brutal, autocratic rule and seek to invite William, the Protestant Prince of Orange, to seize the thrones of the Three Kingdoms.
Washington Black: a novel, Esi Edugyan.
When two English brothers take the helm of a Barbados sugar plantation, Washington Black; an eleven year-old field slave, finds himself selected as personal servant to one of these men. The eccentric Christopher 'Titch' Wilde is a naturalist, explorer, scientist, inventor and abolitionist, whose single-minded pursuit of the perfect aerial machine mystifies all around him. Titch's idealistic plans are soon shattered and Washington finds himself in mortal danger.
The pasha of cuisine: a novel, Sayg?n Ersin.
A Pasha of Cuisine is a rare talent in Ottoman lore. Only two, maybe three are born with such a gift every few centuries. A natural master of gastronomy, he is the sovereign genius who reigns over aromas and flavors and can use them to influence the hearts and minds, even the health, of those who taste his creations. In this fabulous novel, one such chef devises a plot bring down the Ottoman Empire; should he need to, in order to rescue the love of his life from the sultan's harem.
A well-behaved woman: a novel of the Vanderbilts, Therese Anne Fowler.
Alva Smith, her southern family destitute after the Civil War, married into one of America's great Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New York's old-money circles and determined to win respect, she designed and built 9 mansions, hosted grand balls, and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. Alva also defied convention for women of her time, asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the women's suffrage movement.
Gentian Hill, Elizabeth Goudge.
Unable to bear the prospect of life at sea, young Anthony O'Connell deserts his ship at Torquay and escapes into the Devonshire countryside under a new name. When Stell Sprigg, adopted daughter of a local farmer, encounters 'Zachary', the pair instantly know they are destined to be together.
The Macedonian, Nicholas Guild.
On a cold, snow-swept night in the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, a son is born to the king's principal wife. His mother hates him for being his father's child. His father hardly notices him. With two elder brothers, obscurity seems his destiny. The boy is sent off to be nursed by the chief steward's wife. Yet, in a moment of national crisis, when Macedon is on the verge of being torn apart, the prince raised by a servant finds himself proclaimed the king.
Whiskey when we're dry, John Larison.
In the spring of 1885, seventeen-year-old Jessilyn Harney finds herself orphaned and alone on her family's homestead. Desperate to fend off starvation and predatory neighbors, she cuts off her hair, binds her chest, saddles her beloved mare, and sets off across the mountains to find her outlaw brother Noah and bring him home. A talented sharpshooter herself, Jess's quest lands her in the employ of the territory's violent, capricious Governor, whose militia is also hunting Noah–dead or alive.
Smile of the wolf, Tim Leach.
In the darkness of midwinter, two friends set out on an adventure but end up killing a man. Kjaran, a travelling poet who trades songs for food and shelter, and Gunnar, a feared warrior, must make a choice: conceal the deed or confess to the crime and pay the blood price to the family. For the right reasons, they make the wrong choice.
Dark water: being a history by Dr. Hiram Carver of Boston, Massachusetts, Elizabeth Lowry.
Boston, 1833. Aboard the USS Orbis as it embarks from Boston and surges south to round Cape Horn, Hiram Carver takes up his first position as ship's doctor. Callow and anxious among the seasoned sailors, he struggles in this brutal floating world until he meets William Borden.
Four soldiers, Hubert Mingarelli.
Hubert Mingarelli's simple, powerful, and moving stories of men in combat have established him as one of the most exciting new voices in international fiction. In Four Soldiers he tells the story of four young soldiers in 1919, members of the Red Army during the Russian civil war. It is set in the harsh dead of winter, just as the soldiers set up camp in a forest in Galicia near the Romanian front line.
Playthings, Alex Pheby.
A hallucinatory, fragmentary, and tragic fictional telling of one of the most famous psychotherapy cases in history, Alex Pheby's Playthings offers a visceral and darkly comic portrait of paranoid schizophrenia. Based on the true story of nineteenth-century German judge Daniel Paul Schreber, Playthings artfully shows the disorienting human tragedy of Schreber's psychosis, in vertiginous prose that blurs the lines between madness and sanity.
Preservation, Jock Serong.
On a beach not far from the isolated settlement of Sydney in 1797, a fishing boat picks up three shipwreck survivors, distressed and terribly injured. They have walked hundreds of miles across a landscape whose features, and inhabitants, they have no way of comprehending. They have lost fourteen companions along the way. Their accounts of the ordeal are evasive. It is Lieutenant Joshua Grayling's task to investigate the story.

HORROR

Eight ghosts: the English heritage book of new ghost stories, Rowan Routh.
Rooted in place, slipping between worlds; a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories. Eight authors were given after hours freedom at their chosen English Heritage site. Immersed in the history, atmosphere and rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories.
Tales from the dead of night: thirteen classic ghost stories, Cecily Gayford.
Thirteen master storytellers pull back the veil of everyday life to reveal the nightmares which lurk just out of sight.
Bad man: a novel, Dathan Auerbach.
Eric disappeared when he was three years old. Ben looked away for only a second at the grocery store, but that was all it took. His brother was gone leaving Ben's life in ruins. Now twenty and desperate for work, Ben takes a night stock job at the only place that will have him: the store that blinked Eric out of existence. Ben can feel that there's something wrong there.
The chrysalis, Brendan Deneen.
Barely employed millennials Tom and Jenny Decker have to grow up fast when they lose their cheap Manhattan apartment. Leaving "the city" is hard, but the blow is softened when they stumble upon a surprisingly affordable house in the suburbs. Then Tom finds the thing in the basement.
In the house in the dark of the woods, Laird Hunt.
In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.
Lady in the Coat, Anna Ryan.
Why does she scare you so, The Lady in the Coat? Isaac is having a night out with some of his work mates and sees The Lady in the Coat kidnap a man from the table next to his. All of his mates tell him that he was drunk and had imagined it. A short while after this incident, Isaac runs into high flying accountant, Axton Thatcher. They both admit they have had near-death/terrifying experiences with The Lady in the Coat.
Thirty-seven: a novel, Peter Stenson.
The Survivors, their members known only by the order in which they joined, live alone in a rural Colorado mansion. They believe that sickness bears honesty, and that honesty bears change. Fueled by the ritualized Cytoxan treatments that leave them on the verge of death, they instigate the Day of Gifts, a day that spells shocking violence and the group's demise.
Dracul, Dacre Stoker.
It is 1868, and a twenty-one-year-old Bram Stoker waits in a desolate tower to face an indescribable evil. Armed only with crucifixes, holy water, and a rifle, he prays to survive a single night, the longest of his life. Desperate to record what he has witnessed, Bram scribbles down the events that led him here.
Husk, Dave Zeltserman.
Charlie is a Husker on the prowl in the New Hampshire wilderness when he falls in love with one of them: a girl named Jill. Loving Jill means leaving the Husk clan, with its gruesome cannibalistic rituals, and that will be far more difficult, and dangerous, than Charlie could have foreseen. It's only in New York City that the secret to ending his terrible cravings may reveal itself; if it doesn't kill him and everything he has grown to love first.

MYSTERY

The Darling Dahlias and the poinsettia puzzle, Susan Wittig Albert.
Mildred Kilgore and Earlynne Biddle are planning to open a bakery on the square; if they can come up with the right recipes. Charlie Dickens faces two of the biggest puzzles of his career as an investigative reporter, and one of them involves his wife. Lizzy must enlist the Dahlias to protect her while she herself is confronted by a romantic puzzle, and Sheriff Norris is forced to reopen a puzzling mystery that the town thought was solved.
Uneasy lies the crown, Tasha Alexander.
On her deathbed, Queen Victoria asks to speak privately with trusted agent of the Crown Colin Hargreaves, slipping him a letter with her last, parting command: Une sanz pluis. Sapere aude. "One and no more. Dare to know." The year is 1901 and the death of Britain's longest-reigning monarch has sent all of the Empire into mourning. A body has been found in the Tower of London, posed to look like the murdered medieval king Henry VI.
The new girl, Ingrid Alexandra.
When Rachel moves into the spare room in Mary's flat in Sydney, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that there's something strange about her.When Rachel starts sleepwalking, the flatmates' fears grow. But there's something about the new girl that Mary can't help but trust, and having recently escaped a toxic relationship, she needs the support.
Lark! the herald angels sing: a Meg Langslow mystery, Donna Andrews.
It's Christmastime in Caerphilly and Meg, full of holiday spirit, is helping out with the town's festivities. While directing a nativity pageant and herding the children participating in it, she finds a surprise in the manger: a live baby. A note from the mother, attached to the baby girl's clothes, says that it's time for her father to take care of her, and implicates Meg's brother, Rob, as the father.
Down to the woods, M. J. Arlidge.
There is a sickness in the forest. First, it was the wild horses. Now it's innocent men and women, hunted down and murdered by a faceless figure. Lost in the darkness, they try to flee, they try to hide. In desperation, they call out for help. But there is no-one to hear their cries here. DI Helen Grace must face down a new nightmare. The arrow-ridden victims hang from the New Forest's ancient oaks, like pieces of strange fruit. Why are helpless holidaymakers being targeted in peak camping season?
The girl from Berlin, Ronald H. Balson.
An old friend calls Catherine Lockhart and Liam Taggart to his famous Italian restaurant to enlist their help. His aunt is being evicted from her home in the Tuscan hills by a powerful corporation claiming they own the deeds, even though she can produce her own set of deeds to her land. Catherine and Liam's only clue is a bound handwritten manuscript, entirely in German, and hidden in its pages is a story long-forgotten. Ada Baumgarten was born in Berlin in 1918, at the end of the war.
After nightfall, A.J. Banner.
Imagine your closest friend utterly betraying you. Years later, when she seeks forgiveness, you invite her to your engagement party as a gesture of reconciliation. But seething hostilities rise to the surface, ruining everyone's evening. After an awful night, your friend's battered, lifeless body is found at the bottom of a rocky cliff. Newly engaged Marissa Parlette is living this nightmare.
A noise downstairs, Linwood Barclay.
Paul Davis forgets things. Why he walked into a room. Who he spoke to, and what they said. What he promised his wife he'd do. Sometimes it's too much, and the panic takes hold. But he wasn't always like this. Eight months ago, Paul was attacked, left for dead after seeing something he shouldn't have and has been piecing his life back together ever since.
November Road, Lou Berney.
Frank Guidry's luck has finally run out. A loyal street lieutenant to New Orleans' mob boss Carlos Marcello, Guidry knows too much about the crime of the century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Within hours of JFK's murder, everyone with ties to Marcello is turning up dead. Suspecting he's next, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas.
The midnight witness, Sara Blaedel.
A young woman is found strangled in a park, and a male journalist has been killed in the backyard of the Royal Hotel in Copenhagen. Detective Louise Rick is put on the case of the young girl, but very soon becomes entangled in solving the other homicide too when it turns out her best friend, journalist Camilla Lind, knew the murdered man.
The syndicate, Guy Bolton.
June 1947. Eight years have passed since the events of The Pictures. Jonathan Craine has left his old life in Hollywood behind him, content to live out his days on a farm in rural California with his teenage son. But when infamous mobster and Las Vegas founder Bugsy Siegel is killed at his home in Beverly Hills, Craine is forced to face his past once again. Summoned to Las Vegas to meet mob head Meyer Lansky, Craine is given the impossible task of finding Siegel's murderers.
The spy of Venice, Benet Brandreth.
August, 1585. England needs its greatest hero to step forward. When he is caught by his wife in one ill-advised seduction too many, young William Shakespeare flees Stratford to seek his fortune. Cast adrift in London, Will falls in with a band of players, but greater men have their eye on this talented young wordsmith. England's very survival hangs in the balance and Will finds himself dispatched to Venice on a crucial assignment.
In the Galway silence, Ken Bruen.
After much tragedy and violence, Jack Taylor has at long last become contented. Once again, trouble comes to him, this time in the form of a wealthy Frenchman who wants Jack to investigate the double-murder of his twin sons.
Cut and run, Mary Burton.
Medical examiner Faith McIntyre is called in on the case of an unconscious woman clinging to life after a hit and run. The woman is FBI agent Macy Crow, Faith's mirror image; the twin sister she never knew she had. Faith knew that she was adopted, but now she and Texas Ranger Mitchell Hayden are following a trail of clues Macy left behind.
In the darkest hour: a Gin Sullivan mystery, Anna Carlisle.
Small-town secrets don't stay buried for long, and no one know that better than former Chicago medical examiner Gin Sullivan. On extended leave from her job, Gin is back in her hometown of Trumbull, PA, settling into a quiet life with her old high school sweetheart, Jake Crosby. But the demons of Gin's past are lying in wait, and when Jake's estranged mother turns up dead in a local motel from a heroin overdose, life in Trumbull begins to unravel one thread at a time.
Heaven sent, Alan Carter.
Detective Sergeant Philip 'Cato' Kwong is light on sleep but high on happiness, with his new wife Sharon Wang and their baby girl. But contentment is not compatible with life in the Job, and soon a series of bizarre murders gets in the way of Cato's newfound bliss. The city of Fremantle has a problem with homeless people, and someone wants to purge the city of its rough sleepers.
Missing, Melanie Casey.
On any night, 1 person in 200 is homeless. Someone is targeting Adelaide's homeless. Men are disappearing off the streets, and body parts are turning up in a local dump. Still haunted by her last run-in with a serial killer, Cass Lehman is trying hard to focus on the future. That's not easy when she has the 'gift' of retrocognition; the ability to spontaneously re-live the last minutes of a person's life.
Past tense, Lee Child.
Jack Reacher plans to follow the autumn sun on an epic road trip across America, from Maine to California. He doesn't get far. On a country road deep in the New England woods, he sees a sign to a place he has never been; the town where his father was born. He takes the detour. But is told no one named Reacher ever lived in that town. Now he wonders, was he ever there in the first place?
You don't own me, Mary Higgins Clark.
Laurie Moran is approached by Robert and Cynthia Bell, parents of Dr. Martin Bell, a famously charming and talented physician who was shot dead as he pulled into the driveway of his Greenwich Village carriage house five years ago. The Bells are sure that Martin's disgraced and erratic wife, Kendra, carried out the murder. But once Laurie dives into the case, she learns that Martin wasn't the picture-perfect husband, father, and doctor he appeared to be and was carrying secrets of his own.
Dark sacred night, Michael Connelly.
Renée Ballard returns to Hollywood Station from working the night beat. She finds a stranger rifling through old file cabinets; retired detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin. Ballard checks into this case of the death of fifteen-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway on the streets of Hollywood who was brutally murdered and her body left in a dumpster.
Overkilt, Kaitlyn Dunnett.
Liss MacCrimmon's meddlesome mother is back in Moosetookalook, Maine, to serve a hefty portion of trouble in time for Thanksgiving. But when a scandalous murder case threatens to leave Liss alone at the table, family drama takes on a terrifying new meaning.
Look alive 25, Janet Evanovich.
Red River Deli in Trenton is world-famous for its pastrami, cole slaw, and for its disappearing managers. Over the last month, three have vanished from the face of the earth, and the only clue in each case is one shoe that's been left behind. The police are baffled. Lula is convinced that it's a case of alien abduction.
Bright young dead, Jessica Fellowes.
Meet the Bright Young Things, the rabble-rousing hedonists of the 1920s whose treasure hunts were a media obsession. One such game takes place at the 18th birthday party of Pamela Mitford, but ends in tragedy as cruel, charismatic Adrian Curtis is pushed to his death from the church neighbouring the Mitford home.
Christmas cake murder, Joanne Fluke.
Hannah's life matches the hectic December hustle and bustle in Lake Eden, especially when she agrees to help recreate a spectacular Christmas Ball from the past in honor of Essie Granger, an elderly local in hospice care. She pours over Essie's old notebooks and the tale of a woman escaping danger on the streets of New York. Hannah's surprised by Essie's secret talent for penning crime fiction, and is even more surprised when the story turns real.
Sins of the fathers, Anthea Fraser.
Mark Richmond attended Peter Kingsley's sixtieth birthday party; the father of his now-estranged wife, Sophie, where Peter was unexpectedly taken ill. Mark's father, Charles, has been friends with Peter for forty years, but how well does he really know him? As Peter's health continues to deteriorate, it seems the Richmonds and the Kingsleys are inextricably entwined by devastating secrets, resentment, betrayal and deceit.
The witch elm, Tana French.
Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who's dodged a scrape at work and is celebrating with friends when the night takes a turn that will change his life. He surprises two burglars who beat him and leave him for dead. Struggling to recover from his injuries, beginning to understand that he might never be the same man again, he takes refuge at his family's ancestral home to care for his dying uncle Hugo. Then a skull is found in the trunk of an elm tree in the garden.
Hold the dark, William Giraldi.
Wolves have come for the children of Keelut. Three children have been taken from this isolated Alaskan village, including the six-year-old boy of Medora and Vernon Slone. Wolf expert Russell Core arrives in Keelut to investigate the killings and learns of the horrifying darkness at the heart of Medora.
European travel for the monstrous gentlewoman, Theodora Goss.
Mary Jekyll's life has been peaceful since she helped Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson solve the Whitechapel Murders. Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Mary's sister Diana Hyde have settled into the Jekyll household in London, and although they sometimes quarrel, the members of the Athena Club get along as well as any five young women with very different personalities. At least they can always rely on Mrs. Poole. But when Mary receives a telegram that Lucinda Van Helsing has been kidnapped, the Athena Club must travel to the Austro-Hungarian Empire to rescue yet another young woman who has been subjected to horrific experimentation.
The strange case of the alchemist's daughter, Theodora Goss.
Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capturea reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes. But her hunt leads her to Hyde's daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns.
The stranger diaries, Elly Griffiths.
Clare Cassidy is no stranger to tales of murder. As a literature teacher specialising in the Gothic writer R.M. Holland, she teaches a short course on them every year. Then Clare's life and work collide tragically when one of her colleagues is found dead, a line from an R.M. Holland story by her body.
The reckoning, John Grisham.
Pete Banning was Clanton's favourite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbour, and a faithful member of the Methodist Church. Then one cool October morning in 1946. he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn't shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it was 'I have nothing to say'.
Stall turns: a Claire Hardcastle mystery, Penelope Haines.
When Claire stumbles over human remains in a swamp, she and her partner are happy to leave the investigation in the hands of the police and continue their holiday. Then Claire meets two men searching for their father.Soon nothing is as it seems and before long she'll be fighting for her life!
Pulse: a novel, Michael Harvey.
Boston, 1976. Daniel Fitzsimmons is just sixteen years old and totally on his own; his parents are long dead, and his beloved brother, Harry, is off at Harvard, the star of the football team. When Harry is murdered, Daniel wrestles not only with inconsolable grief but with strange new powers he never knew he possessed. Powers he's not sure he can control.
Little comfort, Edwin Hill.
Harvard librarian Hester Thursby knows that even in the digital age, people still need help finding things. Using her research skills, Hester runs a side business tracking down the lost. Usually, she's hired to find long-ago prom dates or to reunite adopted children and birth parents. Her new case is finding the handsome and charismatic Sam Blaine. Sam has no desire to be found.
The comforts of home: a Simon Serrailler case, Susan Hill.
DC Simon Serrailler's last, devastating case was nearly the death of him and left him confronting a new reality. Recovering on a remote Scottish island, his peace doesn't last long. He is pulled in to a murder inquiry by the overstretched local police. A newcomer, popular with the islanders, has died in perplexing circumstances.
Mortal friends: a novel, Jane Stanton Hitchcock.
Reven Lynch is a keen observer of luxurious life in her chic Georgetown neighborhood. Perhaps that's why-in the wake of a murder that inconveniently occurred at her favorite jogging spot-the intriguingly smooth Detective Gunner asks her to feed him inside information from deep within the rarefied world of embassy dinners and symphony balls.
Wrecked: an IQ novel, Joe Ide.
Isaiah Quintabe, IQ for short, has a PI business. So when a young painter approaches IQ for help tracking down her missing mother, he falls victim to a threat even a genius can't see coming.
Absolute proof, Peter James.
Investigative reporter Ross Hunter nearly didn't answer the phone call that would change his life, and possibly the world, forever. 'I'd just like to assure you I'm not a nutcase, Mr Hunter. My name is Dr Harry F. Cook. I know this is going to sound strange, but I've recently been given absolute proof of God's existence, and I've been advised there is a writer, a respected journalist called Ross Hunter, who could help me to get taken seriously.'
Cold case, Quintin Jardine.
When a murder investigation that's been closed for thirty years is suddenly re-opened, former Chief Constable Bob Skinner is quickly drawn into the action. The story of the Body in the Quarry was well-known around Edinburgh all those years ago: a popular priest found dead in a frozen quarry; a suspect with a clear motive charged; a guilty verdict. But with a journalist uncovering new evidence, the cold case has come back to haunt Skinner's old mentor Jimmy Proud; and only one man can help him.
Vendetta, Iris Johansen.
With his dying breath, Carl Venable, head of the CIA task force on terrorism and Jude Brandon's final link to terrorist ringleader Max Huber, gives Brandon a mandate: to keep his daughter, Rachel, safe at any cost. But Rachel Venable has a shocking, twisted past of her own, one that comes rushing back after her medical clinic in Guyana is attacked by Huber; the same man who murdered her father and kept her imprisoned for months.
We can see you, Simon Kernick.
An isolated cottage, three dead bodies and a kidnapped girl who isn't there. The only survivor is celebrity life coach, Brook Connor. Caught redhanded by two detectives with a bloodstained knife in her hand, she denies she killed anyone. and she has a terrifying story to tell.
The feral detective: a novel, Jonathan Lethem.
Phoebe Siegler first meets loner Charles Heist in a shabby trailer in the desert outside of Los Angeles. She's on a quest to find her friend's missing daughter, Arabella, and hears that Heist is preternaturally good at finding people who don't want to be found.
The devil's dust, James Lovegrove.
It is 1884, and when a fellow landlady finds her lodger poisoned, Mrs Hudson turns to Sherlock Holmes. The police suspect the landlady of murder, but Mrs Hudson insists that her friend is innocent. Upon investigating, the companions discover that the lodger, a civil servant recently returned from India, was living in almost complete seclusion, and that his last act was to scrawl a mysterious message on a scrap of paper.
No further questions, Gillian McAllister.
The unthinkable has happened to Martha. She thought her baby daughter would be safe with her sister Becky while she was called away with work. Becky might be more relaxed than Martha, but she's a good parent to her own son. But the news of her baby's death and, later, her own sister's arrest turns her whole world upside down.
The vogue, Eoin McNamee.
Late 1944, and two teenagers dance the Vogue in silence on the projectionist's floor of the Cranfield Aerodrome. She draws the outlines of their footwork in eyebrow pencil on the white sheet. Decades later, a ghost returns to Mourne to identify a body found in the shifting sands. Names have long since been changed, children long since cast out, lies long thought forgotten.
A step so grave, Catriona McPherson.
Wedding bells are set to ring as Dandy Gilver, family in tow, arrives in windswept Wester Ross on Valentine's Day. They've come to celebrate Lady Lavinia's fiftieth birthday and to meet her daughter Mallory, a less-than-suitable bride-to-be for Dandy's son Donald. But soon love is the last thing on Dandy's mind when the news breaks that Lady Lavinia has been found dead, brutally murdered in the middle of her famous knot garden.
Go to my grave, Catriona McPherson.
Donna Weaver has put everything she has into restoring The Breakers, an old bed and breakfast on a remote stretch of beach in Galloway. Donna's first guests, a contentious group of estranged cousins, soon realize that they've been here before, years ago. Decades have passed, but that night still haunts them: a sixteenth birthday party that started with peach schnapps and ended with a girl walking into the sea.
Leave no trace: a novel, Mindy Mejia.
There is a place in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes and untouched forests called the Boundary Waters. Ten years ago a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned. Search teams found their campsite ravaged by what looked like a bear. They were presumed dead until a decade later the son appeared.
The breakers, Marcia Muller.
On a foggy summer morning, private investigator Sharon McCone receives a call from her former neighbors, the Curleys. Their usually dependable daughter Chelle hasn't been answering their calls for weeks. Would Sharon check on her? Sharon arranges to visit the building Chelle had been living in and rehabbing in southwest San Francisco. Once it was a nightclub and bar, she learns, and a favorite destination for the city's elite during Prohibition. But there's something sinister about the space, and Sharon quickly discovers why.
The girl without skin, Mads Peder Nordbo.
When a mummified Viking corpse is discovered in a crevasse out on the edge of an ice sheet, journalist Matthew Cave is sent to cover the story. The next day the mummy is gone, and the body of the policeman who was keeping watch is found naked and flayed; exactly like the victims in a gruesome series of murders that terrified the remote town of Nuuk in the 1970s. As Matt investigates, he is shocked by the deprivation and brutal violence the locals take for granted.
Tell me you're mine, Elisabeth Norebäck.
Where is the line between hope and madness? Stella and her boyfriend were teenagers when their one-year-old daughter, Alice, vanished during a beach vacation. Though her body was never found, Alice was assumed to have drowned. Twenty-one years later, Stella is a successful therapist. But everything falls apart when a new patient walks into her office. The young woman introduces herself as Isabelle; but Stella is sure it's Alice.
The house on Vesper Sands, Paraic O'Donnell.
It is the winter of 1893, and in London the snow is falling. It is falling as Gideon Bliss seeks shelter in a Soho church, where he finds Angie Tatton lying before the altar. His one-time love is at death's door, murmuring about brightness and black air, and about those she calls the Spiriters. In the morning she is gone.
Shell game, Sara Paretsky.
Legendary sleuth V.I. Warshawski returns to the Windy City to save an old friend's nephew from a murder arrest. The case involves a stolen artifact that could implicate a shadowy network of international criminals. As V.I. investigates, the detective soon finds herself tangling with the Russian mob, ISIS backers, and a shady network of stock scams and stolen art that stretches from Chicago to the East Indies and the Middle East.
Target Alex Cross, James Patterson.
Men and women from across the nation line the streets of Washington D.C. to mourn the unexpected death of the President. Hit by painful memories of the loss of his first wife, Alex Cross is left reeling by this tragedy. A sniper's bullet strikes another devastating blow to the heart of Washington with the assassination of a prominent Senator. The shock of this attack puts huge pressure on the police to deliver a speedy response.
A Christmas revelation: a novel, Anne Perry.
An orphan boy investigates a woman's kidnapping; and discovers there's more at stake than a disappearance. When Worm, a young orphan boy who works at the local clinic, sees Eloise being kidnapped by two men in the days leading up to Christmas, he immediately recruits Squeaky Robinson to help rescue her. But as they track Eloise down, they're surprised to hear that she does not, in fact, wish to be rescued.
Homesick, Marc Raabe.
Jesse Berg is a successful paediatrician. Newly divorced, he spends his time caring for his young daughter, Isa. But Jesse has secrets in his past. Things he doesn't talk about. When Jesse's ex-wife is murdered and his daughter abducted, his life spirals out of control. At the scene of the murder there is a message left for him. A message that makes it clear that he was the intended target of the attack.
All this I will give to you, Dolores Redondo.
When novelist Manuel Ortigosa learns that his husband, -lvaro, has been killed in a car crash, it comes as a devastating shock, but it won't be the last. He's now arrived in Galicia where -lvaro died. It's where the case has already been quickly closed as a tragic accident. It's also where -lvaro hid his secrets.
Babylon, Yasmina Reza.
Elisabeth is a woman whose curiosity and passion far exceed the borders of her quiet middle-class life. She befriends a neighbor, organizes a small dinner party. And then, quite suddenly, finds herself embarked with him on an adventure that is one part vaudeville and one part high tragedy. A quiet novel of manners turns into a police procedural thriller.
By the pricking of her thumb: a real-town murder, Adam Roberts.
Private Investigator Alma is caught up in another impossible murder. One of the world's four richest people may be dead; but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim.
Tombland, C.J. Sansom.
It is Spring, 1549. Two years after the death of Henry VIII, England is sliding into chaos. The nominal king, Edward VI, is eleven years old. His uncle Edward Seymour, Lord Hertford, rules as Protector. The economy is in collapse, inflation rages and rebellion is stirring among the peasantry. The gruesome murder of the wife of a distant Norfolk relation of Elizabeth's mother, John Boleyn – which could have political implications for Elizabeth – brings Matthew Shardlake and his assistant Nicholas Overton to the summer assizes at Norwich.
Maigret and the tramp, Georges Simenon.
When a tramp is recovered from the Seine, after being badly beaten, Maigret must delve into the man's personal circumstances to figure out just who wanted to kill him.
Maigret at Picratt's, Georges Simenon.
He opened the door for her and watched her walk away down the huge corridor, then hesitate at the top of the stairs. Heads turned as she passed. You sensed she came from a different world, the world of the night, and there was something almost indecent about her in the harsh light of a winter's day." A young cabaret dancer in a black silk dress leads Inspector Maigret into a seamy world of nightclubs, drug addiction and exploitation on the streets of Montmartre.
Maigret sets a trap, Georges Simenon.
Detective Chief Inspector Maigret is known for his infallible instinct, for getting at the truth no matter how complex the case, but when someone starts killing women on the streets of Montmartre, he finds himself confounded. Under increasing pressure, Maigret brings together officers from across the city in a trap to lure the murderer out.
Maigret's holiday, Georges Simenon.
At what point in the day could the note have been slipped into his pocket, his left breast pocket? It was an ordinary sheet of glazed squared paper, probably torn out of an exercise book. The words were written in pencil, in a regular handwriting that looked to him like a woman's. For pity's sake, ask to see the patient in room 15. When Inspector Maigret's wife falls ill on their seaside holiday, a visit to the hospital leads him on an unexpected quest to find justice for a young girl.
The colors of all the cattle, Alexander McCall Smith.
When Mma Potokwane suggests to Mma Ramotswe that she run for a seat on the City Council, Mma Ramotswe is at first unsure. But when she learns about the proposed construction of the flashy Big Fun Hotel next to a graveyard, she allows herself to be persuaded. Her opponent is none other than Violet Sephotho, who is in the pocket of the hotel developers.
Fear of falling, Cath Staincliffe.
What if your child ends up hurting those you love? Lydia and Bel have been best friends for years, from wild teenage days all the way through to motherhood, but circumstances push their relationship to breaking point.
A forgotten place: a Bess Crawford mystery, Charles Todd.
The fighting has ended, the Armistice signed, but the war has left wounds that are still agonizingly raw. Battlefield Nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees, and the Welsh patients worry her.
The hangman's hold, Michael Wood.
DCI Matilda Darke is facing her worst nightmare: a serial killer pursuing his own brand of lethal justice, whose campaign of violence is spreading fear throughout the city. And he is closer than you think. As the body count rises, Matilda is personally targeted and even her most trusted colleagues fall under suspicion.
Desperate measures, Stuart Woods.
Returning to the states from a European jaunt, Stone Barrington makes the acquaintance of a stunning woman who seems like she could be an ideal candidate to meet some of his professional, and personal needs. When New York City is rocked by a series of disturbing crimes, it looks as if his hew hire might be the next target. The task of protecting her requires constant vigilance and a bit of luck.
The blue kingfisher: a novel, Erica Wright.
What happens when a master of disguise tries to be herself for once? If you're private investigator Kat Stone, trouble seems to find you with or without your favorite wig. Kat knows she's living on borrowed time, waiting for her violent past to catch up with her. Still, she doesn't expect men to start falling from the sky.
The other sister, Sarah Zettel.
Geraldine Monroe is the bad sister. Reckless and troubled, she ran away shortly after the mysterious death of their mother twenty years ago. Marie, on the other hand, has always been the good sister. She is the obedient daughter and a loving mother to her son. Now Geraldine has come home, for good it seems, and no one; not the aunts or uncles or cousins, really knows why.

New Zealand Fiction

The kingfisher's debt, Kura Carpenter.
Within the small coastal city of Dunedin, local translator, Tamsin Fairchild has a reputation she hates. People think she's psychic. Newcomer, rookie cop Scott Gale is forced to team-up with Tamsin when they investigate the disappearance of a newborn baby and a bizarre crime scene–satanic ritual or hoax? More and more the blame starts to point towards Tamsin. Tamsin must uncover who's framing her, find the baby before it's too late.
From the ashes, Deborah Challinor.
It is Auckland,1956. Allie Manaia works at Smith and Caughey's department store. It's been two years since the Dunbar and Jones fire, where some of her friends perished, but she still has nightmares. Kathleen Lawson - rich, lonely and bored - is one of Allies' customers at the make-up counter. Kathleen takes a shine to Allie, but when she discovers Allie's husband is Māori, Kathleen's attitude changes. Sonny's beautiful younger sister, Polly, is living a vibrant but wayward life as a waitress-model-goodtime girl while leaving her young daughter to be raised by her mother. Then one day Polly disappears.

ROMANCE

Tempted by Mr Off-limits, Amy Andrews.
Lola Fraser knows better than to fall for her best friend's brother, paramedic Hamish Gibson. Living together whilst he's training could get awkward, fast! But as they work together on a heartrending case, they can't resist the temptation to take their minds off work. Surely one night will be enough, until they discover it isn't!
Most eligible Texan, Jules Bennett.
Matt Galloway, Texas's most eligible tycoon, is the star Rachel Kincaid needs for the charity bachelor auction. But her scheme to recruit him sets their own passions blazing, even though he's her friend and totally off-limits! And why is he back now when he was gone for so long? The truth may have her winning Matt for herself, or ending their romance for good.
Kidnapped for her secret son, Andie Brock.
Billionaire Jaco Valentino is furious when Leah McDonald leaves him without explanation. But when he discovers Leah's given birth to his heir he's determined to shield them from his adoptive family's wicked intentions! Jaco kidnaps Leah and his son, whisking them away to his remote Sicilian island for their own safety. Except the sinful flame still burning between him and Leah feels infinitely dangerous.
A home for Lydia, Vannetta Chapman.
Aaron Troyer simply wants to farm like his father and grandfather before him. But instead he finds himself overseeing the family's small group of guest cabins nestled along the banks of Pebble Creek. That also means he must work with the cabins' housekeeper, Lydia Fisher. Lydia is the most outspoken Amish woman Aaron has ever met, and she has strong opinions about how the guest cabins are to be run. She also desperately needs this job.
A wedding for Julia, Vannetta Chapman.
Julia Beechy is so stunned, she can hardly breathe. Her mother's announcement that she must either marry or move from the family home upon her mother's imminent death catches Julia by surprise. How can she leave the only home she has ever known? What about her dream of opening her own Plain café?
Sheikh's princess of convenience, Dani Collins.
Sheikh Karim is as ruthless as the harsh desert that forged him. Entertaining bubbly Princess Galila at a royal wedding seems frivolous; until she reveals his family's darkest secret. To protect their honour, Karim must seduce Galila into silence! The raw heat of their encounter stuns him, and inspires a more permanent solution. To prevent a scandal Karim will make impetuous Galila his convenient bride!
Christmas with the duke, Katrina Cudmore.
Ciara Harris hopes her first Christmas working back at Loughmore Castle will mark a fresh start, but the return of Tom, now Duke of Bainsworth, threatens to uncover feelings she thought long-buried. Being snowed in on Christmas Eve with Tom forces Ciara to face the truth; there's still something magical between them.
Second chance with her army doc, Dianne Drake.
Heart surgeon Sloane Manning and army doc Carter Holmes were the perfect couple. Until Carter walked away, leaving Sloane heartbroken. Determined to finally move on, Sloane heads off for a desert vacation, only to find Carter's there too!
Reunited with her brooding surgeon, Emily Forbes.
Grace Gibson loves her job as a transplant coordinator at a Sydney hospital. But she's blindsided when a ghost from her past reappears. Devastatingly handsome surgeon Marcus Washington was her childhood neighbour, but he's all man now, and hiding a wealth of pain.
My heart needs, Nicole S. Goodin.
For Violet, born with a life threatening heart defect that has controlled her twenty-one-years, life has been anything but easy. When reality is a high-risk game of trial and error, Violet finds solace the only way she knows how - with a brush in her hand.
My heart wants, Nicole S. Goodin.
It's been three years since the transplant that saved Violet's life… three years since the man with the blue eyes disappeared from her sight but not her dreams. Violet is living the life she never thought she'd get - while Rylan is merely surviving his. Fate collides past and future together in a way neither thought possible, leaving them both questioning everything they thought they knew - and all that might be.
The shy nurse's Christmas wish, Abigail Gordon.
Darcey Howard has come to the beautiful seaside town of Seahaven for a fresh start. Working over Christmas on the children's ward at Oceans House will help her to forget her traumatic past. But her quiet, safe existence is shattered by gorgeous surgeon Daniel Osbourne. Enigmatic Daniel is the last man she should fall for, but he's just too tempting to resist!
A diamond in the snow, Kate Hardy.
Needing help to organise the Christmas party of the decade, Victoria Hamilton hires the very unconventional yet very charming Sam Weatherby as her PA. With pressure from their parents, they find they both need each other's help. When Sam; normally a banker!, is quickly promoted to fake fiance until the party is over, neither realises that in the most unexpected place they might have actually found true love!
Christmas at the chalet, Anita Hughes.
It's the day after Christmas, and Felicity Grant is at a gorgeous ski chalet in St. Moritz for the biggest fashion show of her career. Felicity is a rising star on the bridal design scene, and this is her best collection yet. But when her boyfriend gives her a spa day instead of a diamond ring for Christmas, she has to face the possibility that she may never walk down the aisle in one of her own stunning designs.
In at the deep end, Penelope Janu.
Harriet Scott, the fiercely independent daughter of famous adventurers, grew up travelling the world on the environmental flagship The Watch. So when Harriet's ship sinks in Antarctica and she has to be rescued by Commander Per Amundsen, an infuriatingly capable Norwegian naval officer and living breathing action hero, her world is turned upside down.
The Italian's unexpected love-child, Miranda Lee.
A luxury villa on Capri will be the latest jewel in playboy Leonardo Fabrizzi's crown, until he discovers Veronica Hanson stands to inherit it. She's the only woman to ever resist his charms.
Bound by a one-night vow, Melenie Milburne.
Heiress Isabella Byrne is on a deadline. She has twenty-four hours to wed or she'll lose her inheritance! Her father's protégé, hotel magnate Andrea Vaccaro, knows she can't refuse his arrogant proposition for a temporary union. They'll seal the deal at the altar that very night.
The Spaniard's pleasurable vengeance, Lucy Monroe.
Ruthless tycoon Basilio Perez, famed for his familial loyalty, has a new target in sight. Miranda Smith is poised to bring the Perez name into disrepute; she must be stopped! But when he meets her Basilio is captivated by her innocence and shy appeal.
Consequence of the Greek's revenge, Trish Morey.
Athena Nikolides is wary of being exploited for her newly inherited fortune. But charismatic Alexios Kyriakos is already a billionaire, and with their overwhelmingly intense desire Athena feels safe with him.
NY doc under the northern lights, Amy Ruttan.
When surgeon Betty Jacinth's heart is broken once again, she takes a job in Iceland for a change of scenery. She expects cold weather, but not the frosty welcome she receives from gorgeous but brooding Dr Axel Sturlusson! Now father to his orphaned niece, Axel gradually thaws and a flame is ignited.
The billionaire's legacy, Reese Ryan.
Tech billionaire Benjamin Bennett can't resist a steamy weekend with Sloane Sutton; his crush on her goes way back. But when he tracks her down, she's pregnant, with twins! Now their fling needs trust to survive.
Billionaire's baby of redemption, Michelle Smart.
When Spanish tycoon Javier Casillas learns his explosive night with Sophie Johnson has left her pregnant, he's adamant that they wed!
The tycoon's ultimate conquest, Cathy Williams.
When lawyer Rose Tremain places his latest business deal in jeopardy, billionaire Arturo da Costa plans to challenge her in the boardroom. Yet when he meets spirited Rose, the sizzling connection between them is irresistible!
Cinderella's New York Christmas, Scarlet Wilson.
Anissa Lang was going for gold when an accident ended her skiing dream. Now she's cleaning mountain chalets - until she meets brooding millionaire Leo Baxter. He can't resist whisking her to New York for a date, and under the twinkling Manhattan lights these kindred spirits glimpse a new future. But they must confront their pasts before their Christmas wishes can come true!
Wedding the Greek billionaire, Rebecca Winters.
After a painful divorce Zoe Perkins has sworn off men until a car crash in Patras brings Andreas Gavras and his adorable toddler hurtling into her life! Single dad Andreas knows exactly what he wants; Zoe as his bride. But can Zoe trust this gorgeous Greek with her bruised heart?

SAGA

The invitation, Belinda Alexandra.
It is Paris, 1899. Emma Lacasse has been estranged from her older sister for nearly twenty years, since Caroline married a wealthy American and left France. So when Emma receives a request from Caroline to meet her, she is intrigued. Caroline invites Emma to visit her in New York, on one condition: Emma must tutor her shy, young niece, Isadora, and help her prepare for her society debut.
Suitcase of dreams, Tania Blanchard.
After enduring the horror and chaos of post-war Germany, Lotte Drescher and her family arrive in Australia full of hope for a new life. It's a land of opportunity, where Lotte and husband Erich hope to give their children the future they have always dreamed of.
A lonely heart, Kay Brellend.
Growing up in fear of their cruel, drunken father, Olivia Bone and her siblings haven't had an easy start in life. When Livvie's fiancé Joe is killed at Ypres and he bequeaths her his house in Islington, it seems like the Bone family might finally escape the worst street in north London.
Wartime at Woolworths, Elaine Everest.
Fun loving Maisie, is devoted to her young family and her work at Woolworths. But her happy life with her RAF officer husband and their baby daughter leads her to think of the family she left behind. With the war now into its fourth year, what will she find when she sets about searching for them?
The blessed child, Rosie Goodwin.
Nuneaton, 1865. Nessie Carson will do anything to keep her family together after her mother is killed, her father abandons them and they are evicted from their cosy little Nuneaton home. She and her brothers and sisters take on jobs as live-in assistants to a local undertaker. She is soon entwined in fortunes of her employer, Andre, who is forced to live a lie, and the local doctor; someone she's attracted to but can never have.
The pearl thief, Fiona McIntosh.
Severine Kassel is asked by the Louvre in 1963 to aid the British Museum with curating its antique jewellery, her specialty. Her London colleagues find her distant and mysterious, her cool beauty the topic of conversations around its quiet halls. No one could imagine that she is a desperately damaged woman, hiding her trauma behind her chic, French image.
The moon sister: Tiggy's story, Lucinda Riley.
After the death of her father; Pa Salt, an elusive billionaire who adopted his six daughters from around the globe, Tiggy D'Apliese , trusting her instincts, moves to the remote wilds of Scotland. There she takes a job doing what she loves; caring for animals on the vast and isolated Kinnaird estate, employed by the enigmatic and troubled Laird, Charlie Kinnaird.

SCIENCE FICTION

The future is female!: 25 classic science fiction stories by women, from pulp pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin, Lisa Yaszek.
American Science Fiction expert Lisa Yaszek presents the best of this female tradition, from the pioneers of the Pulp Era to the radical innovators of the 1960s New Wave, in a landmark anthology that upends the common notion that Science Fiction was conceived by and for men.
Wastelands: stories of the apocalypse, John Joseph Adams.
Presents a collection of short stories from such authors as Stephen King, Orson Scott Card, John Langan, and Octavia E. Butler that focus on the end of the world.
Street freaks, Terry Brooks.
"Go into the Red Zone. Go to Street Freaks." his father directs Ashton Collins before the vid feed goes suddenly silent. The Red Zone is the dangerous heart of mega-city Los Angeles; it is a world Ash is forbidden from and one he knows little about. As Ash is hunted, he must unravel the mystery left behind by his father and discover his role in this new world.
Dreams before the start of time, Anne Charnock.
In a near-future London, Millie Dack places her hand on her belly to feel her baby kick, resolute in her decision to be a single parent. Across town, her closest friend; a hungover Toni Munroe, steps into the shower and places her hand on a medic console. The diagnosis is devastating. In this stunning, bittersweet family saga, Millie and Toni experience the aftershocks of human progress as their children and grandchildren embrace new ways of making babies.
Rejoice: a knife to the heart, Steven Erikson.
An alien AI has been sent to the solar system as representative of three advanced species. Its mission is to save the Earth's ecosystem - and the biggest threat to that is humanity. But we are also part of the system, so the AI must make a choice. Should it save mankind or wipe it out?
The psychology of time travel, Kate Mascarenhas.
It is 1967. Four female scientists invent a time travel machine. They are on the cusp of fame: the pioneers who opened the world to new possibilities. Then one of them suffers a breakdown and puts the whole project in peril.
Thin air, Richard K. Morgan.
On a Mars where ruthless commercial interests violently collide with a homegrown independence movement, as Earth-based overlords battle for profits and power, Hakan Veil is an ex-corporate enforcer equipped with military-grade body tech that's made him a human killing machine. But he's had enough of the turbulent red planet, and all he wants is a ticket back home.
After Atlas: a planetfall novel, Emma Newman.
Govcorp detective Carlos Moreno was only a baby when Atlas left Earth to seek truth among the stars. But in that moment, the course of Carlos's entire life changed. Atlas is what took his mother away; what made his father lose hope; what led Alejandro Casales, leader of the religious cult known as the Circle, to his door.
Red moon, Kim Stanley Robinson.
It is twenty-five years since China established the first colony on the moon, and the lives of three people are about to collide. American Fred Fredericks is making his first trip there, his purpose to install a communications system for China's Lunar Science Foundation. But hours after his arrival he witnesses a murder and is forced into hiding.
The consuming fire, John Scalzi.
The Interdependency, humanity's interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it; unless desperate measures can be taken.
The tropic of eternity, Tom Toner.
In the Westerly Provinces of the Old World, the hunt is on for the young queen Arabis, and the beast that holds her captive. In the brutal hominid Investiture, revolution has come. The warlord Cunctus, having seized the Vulgar worlds, invites every Prism to pick a side.
Bannerless, Carrie Vaughn.
Decades after economic and environmental collapse destroys much of civilization in the United States, the Coast Road region isn't just surviving but thriving by some accounts, building something new on the ruins of what came before. A culture of population control has developed in which people, organized into households, must earn the children they bear by proving they can take care of them and are awarded symbolic banners to demonstrate this privilege.
The druid gene, Jennifer Foehner Wells.
Darcy has a ten-thousand-year-old secret buried in her genetic code. As a second year medical student, her life revolves around classes, studying, and her boyfriend Adam, until she treks through the desert, touches some mysterious stacked stones, and a network of glowing blue lines radiates under her skin. Then she saw the spaceship, and it was coming for her.
The master of time, David Wingrove.
The war for time is reaching its end. As the German and Russian forces seek to destroy a third, seemingly-unstoppable faction, Otto Behr reluctantly finds himself at the centre of all timelines, his very existence the catalyst by which reality itself will be reset or destroyed. For Otto, the battle to become the Master of Time has become a fight for family, love and reality itself.