Skip to main content

Editorial Content for The Housekeeper

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Eileen Zimmerman Nicol

Jodi Bishop needs a break. She’s the breadwinner in her family; her mother, Audrey, has Parkinson’s disease; and her older sister, Tracy, is too flighty to count on. Her husband Harrison’s first novel was a success, but he’s having trouble finishing his second, and resents having to care for their two young children when realtor Jodi has to work weekends showing houses or spend time with her parents. Her cantankerous father, Vic, denies that he needs help caring for her mother, but he is 79 and their home is large. Read More

Teaser

Jodi Bishop is a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison, is a middling writer who resents his wife’s success. Jodi’s father, Vic, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson’s 10 years ago, and now Jodi starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for her parents. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow who seems perfect for the job. Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until Elyse shuts Jodi out. And Audrey’s condition worsens --- rapidly. Who is this woman suddenly wearing her mother’s jewelry? What is she after? And how far will she go to get it?

Promo

Jodi Bishop is a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison, is a middling writer who resents his wife’s success. Jodi’s father, Vic, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson’s 10 years ago, and now Jodi starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for her parents. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow who seems perfect for the job. Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until Elyse shuts Jodi out. And Audrey’s condition worsens --- rapidly. Who is this woman suddenly wearing her mother’s jewelry? What is she after? And how far will she go to get it?

About the Book

A woman hires a housekeeper to care for her aging parents --- only to watch as she takes over their lives in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author Samantha M. Bailey calls “an ingenious master of domestic suspense.”

In the end, I have only myself to blame. I’m the one who let her in.

Jodi Bishop knows success. She’s the breadwinner, a top-notch real estate agent. Her husband, Harrison...not so much. Once, he had big dreams. But now, he’s a middling writer who resents his wife’s success.

Jodi’s father, Vic, now in his late 70s and retired, is a very controlling man. His wife, Audrey, was herself no shrinking violet. But things changed when Audrey developed Parkinson’s 10 years ago and Vic retired to devote himself to her care. But while still reasonably spry and rakishly handsome, Vic is worn down by his wife’s deteriorating condition.

Exhausted from trying to balance her career, her family and her parents’ needs, Jodi starts interviewing housekeepers to help care for Audrey and Vic. She settles on Elyse Woodley, an energetic and attractive widow in her early 60s, who seems perfect for the job. While Vic is initially resistant, he soon warms to Elyse’s sunny personality and engaging ways.

And Jodi is pleased to have an ally, someone she can talk to and occasionally even confide in. Until...

She shuts Jodi out. And Audrey’s condition worsens --- rapidly. Who is this woman suddenly wearing her mother’s jewelry? What is she after? And how far will she go to get it?

Audiobook available, read by Finlay Stevenson

Editorial Content for Love in the Time of Serial Killers

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

Phoebe Walsh is used to being alone. She hasn’t really had many close friends since her divorced parents’ custody agreement fell apart when she was a teenager. That’s when she stopped being very close with her younger brother, Conner, since he stayed with their dad full-time while she lived with their mom. Read More

Teaser

PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation --- if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years. It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer. It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier --- a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.

Promo

PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation --- if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years. It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer. It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier --- a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.

About the Book

Turns out that reading nothing but true crime isn't exactly conducive to modern dating --- and one woman is going to have to learn how to give love a chance when she's used to suspecting the worst.

PhD candidate Phoebe Walsh has always been obsessed with true crime. She's even analyzing the genre in her dissertation --- if she can manage to finish writing it. It's hard to find the time while she spends the summer in Florida, cleaning out her childhood home, dealing with her obnoxiously good-natured younger brother, and grappling with the complicated feelings of mourning a father she hadn't had a relationship with for years.

It doesn't help that she's low-key convinced that her new neighbor, Sam Dennings, is a serial killer (he may dress business casual by day, but at night he's clearly up to something). It's not long before Phoebe realizes that Sam might be something much scarier --- a genuinely nice guy who can pierce her armor to reach her vulnerable heart.

Audiobook available, read by Lee Daniels

Editorial Content for Do No Harm: A Lucas Page Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

For years, Robert Pobi has been one of the most unheralded writers of thriller fiction working today. His most recent series featuring Lucas Page is one of the best in the business. The latest entry is DO NO HARM, which centers on a mystery surrounding doctors who are losing their lives in various ways. This hits close to home as Page’s wife, Erin, is a gifted plastic surgeon. Read More

Teaser

Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Lucas Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on rebuilding the rest of his life. But he is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the FBI knocking at his door again and again. Page's wife, Erin, loses a friend --- a gifted plastic surgeon --- to suicide, and Page begins to realize how many people Erin knew who have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, he begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there's a pattern --- a bad one. These deaths don't make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer.

Promo

Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Lucas Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on rebuilding the rest of his life. But he is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the FBI knocking at his door again and again. Page's wife, Erin, loses a friend --- a gifted plastic surgeon --- to suicide, and Page begins to realize how many people Erin knew who have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, he begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there's a pattern --- a bad one. These deaths don't make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer.

About the Book

In Robert Pobi's thriller, DO NO HARM, a series of suicides and accidental deaths in the medical community are actually well-disguised murders. Only Lucas Page can see the pattern and discern the truth that no one else believes.

Lucas Page is a polymath, astrophysicist, professor, husband, father of five adopted children, bestselling author, and ex-FBI agent --- emphasis on "ex." Severely wounded after being caught in an explosion, Page left the FBI behind and put his focus on the rebuilding the rest of his life. But Page is uniquely gifted in being able to recognize patterns that elude others, a skill that brings the FBI knocking at his door again and again.

Page's wife, Erin, loses a friend, a gifted plastic surgeon, to suicide, and Page begins to realize how many people Erin knew that have died in the past year, in freak accidents and now suicide. Intrigued despite himself, Page begins digging through obituaries and realizes that there's a pattern --- a bad one. These deaths don't make sense unless the doctors are being murdered, the target of a particularly clever killer. This time, the FBI wants as little to do with Page as he does with them, so he's left with only one option --- ignore it and go back to his normal life. But then, the pattern reveals that the next victim is likely to be...Erin herself.

Audiobook available, read by Will Damron

Editorial Content for Long Gone: A Detective Annalisa Vega Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Joanna Schaffhausen’s mysteries featuring detective Annalisa Vega has continued to provide solid looks into the dark crimes that consume the streets of the Chicago area. Most recently in the series, Annalisa had to make an incredibly difficult decision that involved the eventual turning over of her father to her own department for his role in a murder case. This move did not sit well with her family and caused a serious schism in her household. Read More

Teaser

Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line. Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he has a new woman in his sights --- Annalisa’s best friend.

Promo

Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line. Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he has a new woman in his sights --- Annalisa’s best friend.

About the Book

LONG GONE is the next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen's critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.

Chicago detective Annalisa Vega shattered her life, personally and professionally, when she turned in her ex-cop father for his role in a murder. Her family can’t forgive her. Her fellow officers no longer trust her. So when detective Leo Hammond turns up dead in a bizarre murder, Annalisa thinks she has nothing to lose by investigating whatever secrets he hid behind the thin blue line.

Annalisa quickly zeroes in on someone who had good reason to want Hammond dead: a wealthy, fast-talking car salesman who’d gotten away with murder once and wasn’t about to let Hammond take a second shot. Moe Bocks remains the number one suspect in his girlfriend’s brutal unsolved death, and now he’s got a new woman in his sights --- Annalisa’s best friend.

Annalisa is desperate to protect her friend and force Bocks to pay, either for Hammond’s death or his earlier crime. But when no one else believes the connection, she takes increasingly risky chances to reveal the truth. Because both Hammond and Bocks had secrets to die for, and if she doesn’t untangle them soon, Annalisa will be next.

Editorial Content for Just Like Home

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Sarah Gailey, the acclaimed author of THE ECHO WIFE and MAGIC FOR LIARS, returns with JUST LIKE HOME, a gothic thriller about the dangers lurking under our beds, in our homes and, perhaps most insidiously, in our closest relationships. Read More

Teaser

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories, she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family. Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting. But who else could it possibly be? There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House.

Promo

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories, she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family. Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting. But who else could it possibly be? There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House.

About the Book

JUST LIKE HOME is a darkly gothic thriller from nationally bestselling author Sarah Gailey, perfect for fans of Netflix's "The Haunting of Hill House," as well as HBO's true crime masterpiece "I'll Be Gone in the Dark."

“Come home.” Vera’s mother called and Vera obeyed. In spite of their long estrangement, in spite of the memories --- she's come back to the home of a serial killer. Back to face the love she had for her father and the bodies he buried there, beneath the house he'd built for his family.

Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting. But who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.

Audiobook available, read by Xe Sands

Editorial Content for Dragons of Deceit: Dragonlance Destinies, Volume 1

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stephen Hubbard

Dragonlance was birthed into the world at a time when I was entranced by all things Dungeons & Dragons. My friends and I were heavily invested in the game, and the introduction of the novels only fed our hunger. The Dragonlance Chronicles earned a special place in my heart, and the subsequent Dragonlance Legends trilogy was just as welcome in my personal library. Many books in the line would come and go, but I really only found myself interested in those from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. They never let me down. Read More

Teaser

Destina Rosethorn believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. She loses not only her beloved father but also the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan --- to go back in time and prevent his death. First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying. But to change time, she’ll need another magical artifact --- the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest sets in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past and forever change the future.

Promo

Destina Rosethorn believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. She loses not only her beloved father but also the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan --- to go back in time and prevent his death. First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying. But to change time, she’ll need another magical artifact --- the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest sets in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past and forever change the future.

About the Book

Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman return to the unforgettable world of the New York Times bestselling Dragonlance series as a new heroine --- desperate to restore her beloved father to life --- sets off on a quest to change time.

Destina Rosethorn --- as her name implies --- believes herself to be a favored child of destiny. But when her father dies in the War of the Lance, she watches her carefully constructed world come crashing down. She loses not only her beloved father but also the legacy he has left her: the family lands and castle. To save her father, she hatches a bold plan --- to go back in time and prevent his death.

First, she has to secure the Device of Time Journeying, last known to be in the possession of the spirited kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot. But to change time, she’ll need another magical artifact --- the most powerful and dangerous artifact ever created. Destina’s quest takes her from the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin to the town of Solace and beyond, setting in motion a chain of disastrous events that threaten to divert the course of the River of Time, alter the past and forever change the future.

Audiobook available, read by Kirsten Potter

Editorial Content for Dark Earth

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Carly Silver

The plot of Rebecca Stott’s DARK EARTH twines slowly throughout much of its 336 pages, moving in big, gentle sweeps rather than short, sharp twists and turns.

This meandering pace is mirrored by the quiet tedium of the setting: a nearly abandoned island surrounded by mud flats, not far from the now-abandoned city of Londinium, in post-Roman Britain. The story gains momentum as the urgency of the protagonists’ journey comes to a head, peaking just before the book ends in an ultimately satisfying conclusion. Read More

Teaser

The year is 500 AD. Sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the bank of the River Thames. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords --- formidable blades that cannot be broken --- and cast out from the community. When he dies suddenly, the sisters find themselves facing enslavement by the local warlord and his cruel, power-hungry son. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins.

Promo

The year is 500 AD. Sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the bank of the River Thames. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords --- formidable blades that cannot be broken --- and cast out from the community. When he dies suddenly, the sisters find themselves facing enslavement by the local warlord and his cruel, power-hungry son. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins.

About the Book

A “superb” (The Guardian) novel about two sisters fighting for survival in Dark Ages Britain that weaves “a dazzling blend of history and fantasy” (BuzzFeed).

The year is 500 AD. Sisters Isla and Blue live in the shadows of the Ghost City, the abandoned ruins of the once-glorious mile-wide Roman settlement Londinium on the bank of the River Thames. But the small island they call home is also a place of exile for Isla, Blue, and their father, a legendary blacksmith accused of using dark magic to make his firetongue swords --- formidable blades that cannot be broken --- and cast out from the community.

When he dies suddenly, the sisters find themselves facing enslavement by the local warlord and his cruel, power-hungry son. Their only option is to escape to the Ghost City, where they discover an underworld of rebel women living secretly amid the ruins. But if Isla and Blue are to survive the men who hunt them, and protect their new community, they will need to use all their skill and ingenuity --- as well as the magic of their foremothers --- to fight back. 

With an intimate yet cinematic scope, DARK EARTH recreates an ancient world steeped in myth and folklore, and introduces us to unforgettable women who come to vibrant life on the page. A heart-in-mouth adventure full of moments of tenderness, this is a beautiful, profound novel about oppression and power that puts a female perspective on a historical period dominated by men’s stories.

Audiobook available, read by Hannah Morrish

Editorial Content for Line of Darkness: A Colleen Hayes Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

In 1979 San Francisco, it’s spring. Jimmy Carter is president. Russia will invade Afghanistan in December, and Iran takes US Embassy staff hostage. Read More

Teaser

When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been. Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.

Promo

When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been. Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.

About the Book

Post-war darkness may be the darkest of them all --- Nazi-hunters reach deep into 1979 San Francisco.

When a German businesswoman in 1979 San Francisco hires ex-con PI Colleen Hayes to find a missing relative, supposedly in town to visit, she thinks it’s a simple job. But she soon discovers that the “nephew” is linked to an international vigilante group hunting down ex-Nazis. Then the body of a mysterious woman turns up on San Francisco’s Municipal Railway, mirroring a murder committed the week before in Buenos Aires where the “nephew” had just been.

Colleen’s search uncovers a World War II banknote and the 1942 SS ID of a German officer long thought dead. When Colleen fails to heed warnings to stop her investigation, her pregnant daughter is attacked.

The so-called nephew is nowhere to be found. The German businesswoman has fled town. Colleen’s search leads her to Italy where the infamous Vatican Ratlines helped escaped ex-Nazis forge new identities around the globe. Deep in the Italian Alps, she uncovers a secret project hatched in a concentration camp. Colleen has no choice but to push ahead if the killing is to stop and justice prevail.

Catherine Ryan Howard, author of Run Time

Feeling her stardom fading, struggling soap actress Adele Rafferty is ready to give up on her dreams when she gets a last-minute offer to play the lead in an upcoming horror film, Final Draft. Could this be her big break? Will she have redemption for what happened the last time she was on a film set? Adele doesn’t think twice before signing on the dotted line. Adele quickly makes her way to the set, deep into the isolated and wintry woods of West Cork, Ireland, miles away from civilization and cell service. When real life on the set starts to somehow mirror the sinister events portrayed in the script, Adele fears the real horror lies off the page. Isolated and unsure who in the crew she can trust, is there anywhere or any time left to run?

Julian Barnes, author of Elizabeth Finch

Julian Barnes’ novel of platonic unrequited love springs into being around the singular character of the stoic, exacting Professor Elizabeth Finch. Neil, the narrator, takes her class “Culture and Civilisation,” taught not for undergraduates but for adults of all ages. We are drawn into his intellectual crush on this private, withholding yet commanding woman. While other personal relationships and even his family drift from Neil’s grasp, Elizabeth’s application of her material to the matter of daily living remains important to him, even after her death, in a way that nothing else does.