Skip to main content

Anna Quindlen, author of More Than Enough

High school English teacher Polly Goodman can talk about everything and anything with the women in her book club, which is why they’ve become her closest friends and, along with her veterinarian husband, the bedrock of her life. Her students, her fraught relationship with her mother, her struggles with IVF --- Polly’s book club friends have heard about it all. But when they give Polly an ancestry test kit as a joke, the results match her with a stranger. It is clear to Polly that this match is a mistake, but still she cannot help but comb through her family history for answers. Then, when it seems that the book club circle of four will become three, Polly learns how friendships can change your life in the most profound ways.

Tayari Jones, author of Kin

Vernice and Annie, two motherless daughters raised in Honeysuckle, Louisiana, have been best friends and neighbors since earliest childhood but are fated to live starkly different lives. Raised by a fierce aunt determined to give her a stable home in the wake of her mother’s death, Vernice leaves Honeysuckle at 18 for Spelman College, where she joins a sisterhood of powerfully connected Black women and discovers a world of affluence, manners, aspiration and inequality. Annie, abandoned by her mother as a child and fixated on the idea of finding her and filling the bottomless hole left by her absence, sets off on a journey that will take her into a world of peril and adversity, as well as love and adventure, culminating in a battle for her life.

Lily King Book Group Event

Lily King Book Group Event

Editorial Content for Cross and Sampson: An Alex Cross and John Sampson Thriller

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

It has been quite a ride for James Patterson, who burst onto the literary scene 50 years ago and now sits atop the world as the best-selling author on the planet. In my opinion, none of his fame would have been possible without the connection he has made with readers thanks to his long-running series starring Washington, DC-based homicide detective Alex Cross and his partner, John Sampson. Read More

Teaser

Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. “Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We’ve got a suspected terrorist attack here.” In Chapel Hill, NC, Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student --- his own son, Damon. Has following in his famous father’s footsteps made Damon a target? From FBI headquarters, in police stations, on airplanes, and at murder scenes, the detectives track crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. It will take more than distance to weaken the partnership of Sampson & Cross. 

Promo

Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. “Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We’ve got a suspected terrorist attack here.” In Chapel Hill, NC, Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student --- his own son, Damon. Has following in his famous father’s footsteps made Damon a target? From FBI headquarters, in police stations, on airplanes, and at murder scenes, the detectives track crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. It will take more than distance to weaken the partnership of Sampson & Cross.

About the Book

In the latest thriller from the world’s most popular storyteller, detective partners Alex Cross and John Sampson are called to separate locations to investigate a pair of serious crimes.

In Washington, DC...

Metro PD detective John Sampson stands in a crater in the middle of a DC street, calling in the bomb squad. “Dispatch, this is Sampson. Contact the FBI and the ATF. We’ve got a suspected terrorist attack here.”

In Chapel Hill, NC...

Alex Cross searches the apartment of a missing psychology grad student --- his own son, Damon. Has following in his famous father’s footsteps made Damon a target?

From FBI headquarters, in police stations, on airplanes, and at murder scenes, the detectives track crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. It will take more than distance to weaken the partnership of Sampson & Cross. 

Audiobook available, read by Isaiah Mustafa and Dion Graham

Editorial Content for Trust No One

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

A James Rollins novel is always cause for celebration. You are guaranteed a well-researched adventure filled with action that is typically based on some piece of lost ancient history that forms the premise of an eye-opening and insightful read. TRUST NO ONE is a stand-alone novel that allows Rollins to briefly step away from his stellar Sigma Force series. Read More

Teaser

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore and spiritualism. All evidence points to Sharyn Karr, an American student. Prior to the professor’s death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an 18th-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one. Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the 16th in line to the British Crown. The pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book’s opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

Promo

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore and spiritualism. All evidence points to Sharyn Karr, an American student. Prior to the professor’s death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an 18th-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one. Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the 16th in line to the British Crown. The pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book’s opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

About the Book

From the #1 New York Times bestselling master of international intrigue comes a shocking new stand-alone thriller that thrusts a group of university students, falsely accused of murder, into a treacherous hunt across Europe, all to unlock the secrets buried within a centuries-old book that could change humankind forever.

Knowledge can be magic --- until it falls into the wrong hands.

The ritualistic murder of a British professor at the University of Exeter points to a startling cast of suspects: his own students. All are enrolled in a postgraduate program covering the history of witchcraft, folklore and spiritualism.

All evidence points to Sharyn Karr, an American student. Prior to the professor’s death, he had thrust a centuries-old book upon her. It appears to be the handwritten and encrypted diary of an 18th-century mystic and occultist, the Comte de Saint-Germain. The professor begged her to keep the text safe, ending with a warning: Trust no one.  

Such a responsibility forces her into cooperation with Duncan Maxwell, a fellow postgrad and the 16th in line to the British Crown. Already, Duncan has proven himself a savant with encryptions. Unfortunately, the pair clash at every level, but they both need one another. Especially when they discover the book’s opening words: Herein lies the secret to my immortality. Come find me, if you dare.

As dark forces close upon the pair, she and her friends are forced to flee, pursued by law enforcement and hunted by a powerful cabal. In an explosive chase across Europe --- from the Tower of London to Parisian chateaus to a fortress in the Italian Alps --- Sharyn must learn the true secret hidden in Saint-Germain’s text. It will send her and the others across history and deep into the heart of one of the world’s greatest mysteries, a secret buried at the roots of Western Civilization, a discovery that could topple empires and change humanity forever.

For what lies at the end of Saint-Germain’s diary is as shocking as its opening words.

Audiobook available, read by Simon Vance

Editorial Content for Crown City: A Japantown Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Edgar Award-winning author Naomi Hirahara has earned quite a reputation for producing stories that detail the Japanese experience in America. In her latest effort, CROWN CITY, which is set in Pasadena, California, in 1903, 18-year-old Japanese orphan Ryunosuke “Ryui” Wada is ready to reinvent himself as a Japanese art dealer’s apprentice. Read More

Teaser

Pasadena, 1903: Eighteen-year-old Ryunosuke “Ryui” Wada staggers off the boat from Yokohama, Japan, ready to reinvent himself after the untimely deaths of his parents. He does his best to settle into his work as an art dealer’s apprentice while adjusting to his new home. From his enigmatic photographer roommate, Jack, to the beautiful seamstress living downstairs, Ryui finds himself surrounded by colorful characters and unbelievable opportunities and is soon utterly swept up in all that “Crown City” has to offer. But tensions are seething under Pasadena’s bustling prosperity. Ryui is the victim of an anti-Japanese attack, and a painting is stolen from the studio of Toshio Aoki, Pasadena’s most successful Japanese artist, who then hires Ryui and Jack to investigate. It’s not long before their sleuthing leads them into real danger.

Promo

Pasadena, 1903: Eighteen-year-old Ryunosuke “Ryui” Wada staggers off the boat from Yokohama, Japan, ready to reinvent himself after the untimely deaths of his parents. He does his best to settle into his work as an art dealer’s apprentice while adjusting to his new home. From his enigmatic photographer roommate, Jack, to the beautiful seamstress living downstairs, Ryui finds himself surrounded by colorful characters and unbelievable opportunities and is soon utterly swept up in all that “Crown City” has to offer. But tensions are seething under Pasadena’s bustling prosperity. Ryui is the victim of an anti-Japanese attack, and a painting is stolen from the studio of Toshio Aoki, Pasadena’s most successful Japanese artist, who then hires Ryui and Jack to investigate. It’s not long before their sleuthing leads them into real danger.

About the Book

Two Japanese American men hired to investigate an art theft discover something much more sinister in turn-of-the-century California --- from the Mary Higgins Clark Award–winning author of CLARK AND DIVISION.

Pasadena, 1903: Eighteen-year-old Ryunosuke “Ryui” Wada staggers off the boat from Yokohama, Japan, ready to reinvent himself after the untimely deaths of his parents. Though battling loneliness and culture shock, Ryui does his best to settle into his work as an art dealer’s apprentice while adjusting to his new home. From his enigmatic photographer roommate, Jack, to the beautiful seamstress living downstairs, Ryui finds himself surrounded by colorful characters and unbelievable opportunities and is soon utterly swept up in all that “Crown City” has to offer.

But tensions are seething under Pasadena’s bustling prosperity. Ryui is the victim of an anti-Japanese attack, and a painting is stolen from the studio of Toshio Aoki, Pasadena’s most successful Japanese artist, who then hires Ryui and Jack to investigate. It’s not long before their sleuthing leads them into real danger. Ryui is a naive young man in a foreign country. Has he bitten off more than he can chew?

In this fish-out-of-water mystery, studded with cameos by real historical figures, Edgar Award winner Naomi Hirahara brings to life a little-known slice of California history.

Audiobook available, read by Brian Nishii 

Editorial Content for First Sign of Danger: A Haven's Rock Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

A big draw of Kelley Armstrong's Rockton and Haven’s Rock series is the frigid Yukon setting. The books take place in small settlements that were created as sanctuaries for those desperate to hide from their "normal" lives for a few years. Some of those fleeing to safety in the Yukon include financial victims, people who testified against cartels and can't be kept safe, and those escaping abusive spouses. Read More

Teaser

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed. When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down.

Promo

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed. When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down.

About the Book

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong continues the atmospheric Haven's Rock series as Casey Duncan investigates a threat to their off-the-grid Yukon town. 

Detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, are entering a new chapter of life as parents to their six-month-old baby. Their family is hidden away in the sanctuary town of Haven's Rock where they can live safe and private lives. But when they encounter hikers too close to the borders of Haven's Rock, they realize they're in danger of being exposed.

When they find one of the hikers dead the next day, they realize that their paranoia was justified, but they're no closer to finding out who these people were and what they were doing in the vicinity of Haven's Rock. Only by tracing the hikers' movements, as well as examining the recent behavior of their closest neighbors, the workers of a secretive mining camp, will they be able to figure out where the threat is coming from and shut it down. Otherwise, the lives of everyone in Haven's Rock --- and their safe, secure new existence --- are at risk.

Audiobook available, read by Thérèse Plummer 

Editorial Content for The Girls Before

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Kate Alice Marshall’s latest novel, THE GIRLS BEFORE, is a chilling work of suspense that pairs a small-town legend of female rage with a pattern of missing girls and a search-and-rescue volunteer who refuses to give up the chase. Read More

Teaser

Stranger is trapped in the dark, with only her imagination and the scribbles on the wall left by long-dead girls to keep her company. Nearly out of food and water, she makes one last attempt to escape. Audrey is a search-and-rescue expert who never stopped looking for her ex-best friend, Janie, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Janie used to love the local legend of a forest witch who saves girls from bad men, but Audrey knows now that for every one saved, there’s always another one lost. When she stumbles upon evidence in the forest that a teenage runaway might have actually been kidnapped from land belonging to the town’s most prominent family, she will have to dig through decades of secrets to reveal the biggest one of all: what happened to the girls before.

Promo

Stranger is trapped in the dark, with only her imagination and the scribbles on the wall left by long-dead girls to keep her company. Nearly out of food and water, she makes one last attempt to escape. Audrey is a search-and-rescue expert who never stopped looking for her ex-best friend, Janie, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Janie used to love the local legend of a forest witch who saves girls from bad men, but Audrey knows now that for every one saved, there’s always another one lost. When she stumbles upon evidence in the forest that a teenage runaway might have actually been kidnapped from land belonging to the town’s most prominent family, she will have to dig through decades of secrets to reveal the biggest one of all: what happened to the girls before.

About the Book

A search-and-rescue expert. A kidnapped woman. The lost girls who haunt them both.

Kate Alice Marshall, the bestselling author of WHAT LIES IN THE WOODS, NO ONE CAN KNOW and A KILLING COLD, is back with a thrilling new novel that Ashley Winstead calls, "magnetic, shocking, heartbreaking, and unputdownable."

There is a girl in a basement.
The door has stopped opening.
The light is gone.

Stranger is trapped in the dark, with only her imagination and the scribbles on the wall left by long-dead girls to keep her company. Nearly out of food and water, she makes one last attempt to escape. But if the door opens at last, will it mean salvation, or only the beginning of her fight to survive?

Audrey is a search-and-rescue expert who never stopped looking for her ex-best friend, Janie, who disappeared when they were teenagers. Janie used to love the local legend of a forest witch who saves girls from bad men, but Audrey knows now that for every one saved, there’s always another one lost. When she stumbles upon evidence in the forest that a teenage runaway might have actually been kidnapped from land belonging to the town’s most prominent family, she will have to dig through decades of secrets to reveal the biggest one of all: what happened to the girls before.

Audiobook available, read by Ina Barrón and Karissa Vacker

Editorial Content for Evil Genius

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

In an author's note at the end of EVIL GENIUS, Claire Oshetsky notes that one of the inspirations for the novel is John Cheever's short story, "The Five-Forty-Eight." As Oshetsky writes, the book is intended "to put a weapon in Ms. Dent's hand," to flip the script and transform a woman from a passive victim into someone capable not only of defending herself but of becoming the heroine of her own story. Read More

Teaser

Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at the phone company and to be married to Drew. Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered, though, when a woman she knows from work is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die for love --- or to kill for love? Before she knows it, her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. Suddenly she’s playing hooky from work and searching for a love tryst of her very own. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range and thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.

Promo

Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at the phone company and to be married to Drew. Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered, though, when a woman she knows from work is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die for love --- or to kill for love? Before she knows it, her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. Suddenly she’s playing hooky from work and searching for a love tryst of her very own. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range and thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.

About the Book

An exuberant, brutally hilarious novel about a young woman’s insatiable quest to carve her own path --- even if she needs to step over a few dead bodies along the way

It’s 1974, and San Francisco is full of mystery and menace. Nineteen-year-old Celia Dent keeps telling herself how lucky she is to be working at a steady job and married to her Drew, a man who says he loves her. Celia’s contentment with her little life is shattered, though, when a woman she knows from work is murdered in a love tryst gone awry. What would that be like, Celia wonders, to die for love --- or to kill for love? What would it be like to live each moment passionately and with full awareness that each breath is bringing her closer to her last?

Before Celia knows it, her musings about love-and-death happenings are bleeding into daily life. Suddenly she’s playing hooky from work and searching for a love tryst of her very own. She’s practicing her marksmanship at a local gun range and thinking about how good it would feel to bury something sharp inside her domineering husband’s ear. It’s all pretend, though, until the night comes when Celia finally goes too far, and she and Drew are set on a deadly collision course.

Exhilarating, surreal and bitingly clever, EVIL GENIUS is a comic noir exploring obsession and desire --- and what happens when a sweetly seditious young woman dares to imagine a better life.

Audiobook available, read by Kimberly Farr