Book Index by Date

The unhappy child of two powerful parents who despise each other, young Lilly turns to the ocean to find solace, which she finds in the form of the eloquent and intelligent sea monster Octavius, a kraken.In Octavius’s many arms, Lilly learns of friendship, loyalty, and family. When Octavius, forbidden by Lilly to harm humans, is captured by seafaring traders and sold to a circus, Lilly becomes his only hope for salvation. Desperate to find him, she strikes a bargain with a witch that carries a shocking price.

At an exclusive school somewhere outside of Arlington, Virginia, students are taught to persuade. They harness the hidden power of language to manipulate the mind and learn to break down individuals by psychographic markers in order to take control of their thoughts. The very best will graduate as “poets”: adept wielders of language who belong to a nameless organization that is as influential as it is secretive.

Touched by a very public tragedy, musician Rob Quillen comes to Cloud County, Tennessee, in search of a song that might ease his aching heart. There, in the isolated ridges and hollows of the Smoky Mountains, Rob finds both music and mystery. Close-lipped locals guard their secrets, even as Rob gets caught up in a subtle power struggle he can’t begin to comprehend. Change is coming to Cloud County, and only the night wind knows what part Rob will play when the last leaf falls from the Widow’s Tree…and a timeless curse must be broken at last.

Years have passed since a young woman was found brutally slain at an exclusive Cape Cod golf club, and no one has ever been charged. Cornered by the victim’s father, George, a lawyer, can’t explain why certain leads were never explored—leads that point in the direction of a single family—and he agrees to look into it.

By the stunning white dome of one of Venice’s grandest landmarks a body with two slugs in the back of the head has been pulled from the icy waters. The victim is a woman, dressed in the sacred robes of a Catholic priest --- a desecration that becomes known as the Abomination. Working her first murder case, Captain Kat Tapo embarks on a trail that proves as elusive and complicated as the city’s labyrinthine backstreets.

Margie has always had a soft spot for helpless creatures. When she falls for Simon Mellinkoff, her charismatic, obviously troubled Latin professor, the two embark on an unconventional romance, and Simon introduces Margie to his small coterie of animal rights activists. But Margie’s increasingly reckless actions force her to flee her California college town, say goodbye to her fragile dad, and seek shelter on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana. Here, Margie meets a soap opera-loving grandmother, an intriguing, ink-splattered man, and an inscrutable 11-year-old girl --- and makes unexpected discoveries about her heart. 

Charming ladies’ man Rory Randall dies with one last trick up his sleeve: His will includes a calculating clause mandating a summer-long reunion for his daughters, all from different marriages --- that is, if they hope to inherit his posh Nantucket house. Relations among the three sisters are sour thanks to long-festering jealousies, resentments and misunderstandings. When a visitor drops by the house with shocking news, the past comes screaming back with a vengeance.

Living in today's culture, it's easy to forget that contentment is one of the greatest privileges of the Christian faith. Approaching the subject from a historical and biblical perspective, Dr. Richard Swenson takes you on a journey where you'll discover that true contentment is the gateway to joy, freedom, godliness, rest, grace, simplicity, generosity, and more.
 

You don't have to pretend you have it all together --- when you don't! Dr. Crabb's bestseller encourages you to take an honest look at your innermost struggles and bring them before God. Only then can you be set free from them, and experience a truly fulfilling Christian life. This 25th anniversary edition includes a new preface and final chapter.

Rebecca Solnit explores the ways we make our lives out of stories, and how we are connected by empathy, by narrative, by imagination. In the course of unpacking some of her own stories --- of her mother and her decline from memory loss, of a trip to Iceland, of an illness --- Solnit revisits fairytales and entertains other stories. Woven together, these stories create a map that charts the boundaries and territories of storytelling, reframing who each of us is and how we might tell our story.

When Lucy Lovett’s husband loses his job, she is forced to give up her posh life in London and move their family to a tiny apartment in Manhattan, where he has managed to secure a lowly position. Homesick and resentful at first, Lucy soon embarks on the love affair of her life --- not with her husband, but with New York City and the three women who befriend her.

As Germany’s elite are celebrating Shrove Tuesday of 1784 with a masked ball, the beautiful Lady Martesen is murdered. Daniel Clode, brother-in-law to Harriet Westerman, is found near the body. All evidence points to him as the killer. As Daniel awaits execution, Westerman and her reclusive companion, anatomist Gabriel Crowther, arrive and quickly encounter a court full of opulence, intrigue and deadly secrets.

When Rachel Chu agrees to spend the summer in Singapore with her boyfriend, Nicholas Young, she has no idea that Nick’s family home looks like a palace, that she'll ride in more private planes than cars, and that with one of Asia's most eligible bachelors on her arm, Rachel might as well have a target on her back. Initiated into a world of dynastic splendor beyond imagination, Rachel meets, among others, Nick's formidable mother, a woman who has very strong feelings about who her son should --- and should not --- marry.

Part memoir, part passionate call for liberty, reason and doing work that matters, MY ISL@M tells the tale of how the Internet opened the eyes and heart of a once fearful young Muslim to a world beyond the dogmatism of his upbringing, and recounts his transformation into a defiant digital activist.

Andrew Yancy has a human arm in his freezer. There’s a logical explanation for that, but not for how and why it parted from its owner. Yancy thinks the boating-accident/shark-luncheon explanation is full of holes, and if he can prove murder, the sheriff might rescue him from his grisly Health Inspector gig. But first, he must negotiate an obstacle course of wildly unpredictable events with a crew of even more wildly unpredictable characters.

Noa P. Singleton was found guilty of first-degree murder 10 years ago. Now, just six months away from her execution date, Noa is visited by Marlene Dixon, an attorney who is also the heartbroken mother of the woman Noa was imprisoned for killing. She tells Noa that she has had a change of heart and will do everything in her power to convince the governor to commute the sentence to life in prison -- if Noa will finally reveal what led her to commit her crime.

As the lives and marriages of four couples unfold in surprising ways, we meet Frances Gerety, a young advertising copywriter in 1947. Frances is working on the De Beers campaign and she needs a signature line, so, one night before bed, she scribbles a phrase on a scrap of paper: “A Diamond Is Forever.” And that line changes everything.

A Los Angeles church, considered by some to be a powerful cult, charges Rich Baxter with embezzling millions. Rich reaches out to Parker Stern to come to his defense. Parker hasn’t entered a courtroom since developing severe stage fright after his mentor, Harmon Cherry, committed suicide. Rich claims that Cherry did not kill himself; he was murdered by someone connected to the church. At first, Parker doesn’t believe it --- until disturbing events force him to question what’s really happening.

One morning before school, two children find the naked bodies of five men hanging from the gym ceiling. The case leads Detective Konrad Simonsen and his murder squad to the school janitor, who may know more about the killings than he is telling. Soon, Simonsen realizes that each of the five murdered men had a dark and terrible secret in common. And when Simonsen’s own daughter is targeted, he must race to find the culprit before his whole world is destroyed.

When a series of setbacks shake Leslie Anne Greene Carter’s world and push her to the edge, she decides to take some time for herself --- in the familiar comforts and stunning beauty of Charleston, her beloved hometown. In her brother’s stately historic home, she’s going to reclaim the carefree girl who spent lazy summers sharing steamy kisses with her first love on Sullivans Island.

As America's Mercury Seven astronauts were launched on death-defying missions, television cameras focused on the brave smiles of their young wives. Overnight, these women were transformed from military spouses into American royalty and quickly grew into fashion icons. The wives would eventually form the Astronaut Wives Club, meeting regularly to provide support, and have now been friends for more than 50 years.

Cotton Malone and his 15-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown --- an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets.

In Fumihiro Kuki’s wealthy family, it’s tradition that a patriarch, when reaching the end of his life, will beget one last child to dedicate to causing misery in a world that cannot be controlled or saved. Eleven-year-old Fumihiro will be specially educated to learn to create as much destruction and unhappiness in the world around him as a single person can. But as his education progresses, he begins to question his father's mandate.

Kerrigan is writing a guide book to his adopted city of Copenhagen. Specifically, it’s a guide to the city's drinking establishments, of which there are more than 1,500. Kerrigan, an American expat fleeing a brutal family tragedy, has plenty he wants to numb.The only problem with his project is his research associate, a voluptuous, green-eyed gal who makes him tremble with forgotten desire.

People who suffer from alcoholism as well as their families and friends know that while it is possible to get sober, there is no one “right” way to do this. Now, award-winning mystery writer Martha Grimes and her son, Ken Grimes, offer two points of view on their struggles with alcoholism. In alternating chapters, they share their stories --- stories of drinking, recovery, relapse, friendship, travel, work, success and failure.

Manhattan journalist McKenna Jordan is chasing the story of an unidentified woman who heroically pulled a teenage boy from the subway tracks. When she locates footage of part of the incident, she is shocked to discover that the woman in the video bears a strong resemblance to Susan Hauptmann, a close friend who disappeared a decade earlier. This sends McKenna on a dangerous search for the missing woman --- a search that will force her to unearth long-buried truths much closer to home.

In a futuristic world nearly destroyed by religious extremists, Justin March lives in exile after failing in his job as an investigator of religious groups and supernatural claims. But Justin is given a second chance when Mae Koskinen comes to bring him back to the Republic of United North America. When Justin and Mae are assigned to work together to solve a string of ritualistic murders, they soon realize that their discoveries have exposed them to terrible danger.

For Pandora, cooking is a form of love. But her husband, Fletcher, now spurns her “toxic” dishes and spends hours each day to manic cycling. Then, when Pandora picks up her brother Edison at the airport, she doesn’t recognize him. In the years since they’ve seen one another, the once slim, hip New York jazz pianist has gained hundreds of pounds. After Edison has more than overstayed his welcome, Fletcher delivers his wife an ultimatum: It’s him or me.

The nation's most renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate the murder of an American citizen who was targeted by the US government and assassinated in the Bahamas. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim's steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself. As details of the case start to emerge, the pair discovers that not all is what it seems.

Almost a decade has passed since Andy Sachs quit working for Miranda Priestly at Runway magazine. Andy and Emily, her former nemesis and co-assistant, have since joined forces to start a highend bridal magazine. When she discovers a secret letter with crushing implications, Andy’s wedding-day jitters turn to cold dread. She realizes that nothing --- not her husband, nor her beloved career --- is as it seems.