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Sunset Hall is abuzz with anticipation of Bernadette’s upcoming wedding. But her best friend, Agnes Sharp, isn’t a fan of her plan to leave the house share and its residents behind. Nevertheless, Agnes and the not-so-sprightly gang of pensioners launch into wedding-planning mode after a spot opens at the high-class Foxglove Manor --- in just two weeks. Just when they think they have the guest list squared away, a threatening note appears at the house. Agnes and the others decide to handle it themselves, not wanting to cause the betrothed stress. With some assistance from a private investigator, Agnes digs into the case of the poison-pen letter, determined to ensure the wedding goes off without a hitch…aside from the bodies they’ve already had to hide from the bride.
Clark Rickert was once the most prolific big game poacher throughout the Rocky Mountain west, but when he lost his wife and son, he turned away from hunting. Now a game warden working for the very law enforcement officers who once pursued him so aggressively, Clark is overwhelmingly successful at his job. So when there’s a string of disappearances in rural Montana, Clark is selected to join a task force on an operation targeting a mysterious, violent cult in the area. As he works to uncover the truth, Clark begins to be plagued by visions and starts to realize that there is a deeper purpose to his assignment. The cult might be up to something far more terrifying than anyone could have guessed.
Rational and cynical Aly Orlean’s life in her psychic hometown of Wyndale, Florida, couldn’t be more hectic. It’s all about running her business, raising a teenage sister, sending out holiday greetings --- and her new task: finding a killer. For her Museum of Unusual Occurrence not only houses odd curiosities but now has a brand-new display: the body of Rose Dempsey, a local 20-year-old, set up in one of the exhibits as if she has been ritually sacrificed. With the police clueless, Aly is worried that this is a vicious warning for her and her solitary way of life. Fearing for her sister Merope’s well-being, she’s determined to find out why the killer murdered Rose and how her body was placed in Aly’s museum. But might the killer be someone hiding in plain sight?
Summer 1816: London is a hostile place for the newly disembarked Mehrunissa Begum, who’s come to deliver her brother’s letter of inheritance before returning to her comfortable life in Lucknow, India. But she can’t find her brother anywhere and has no money for the return trip. With nowhere else to go, Mehr finds refuge in a boardinghouse for Indian maids. She is soon hired at the English estate of Mary and Percy Shelley. Mary asks Mehr to accompany the Shelleys and her stepsister, Claire --- as well as the eccentric Lord Byron and his physician, John Polidori --- to Lake Geneva for the summer. Almost immediately, she notices strange, ghostly events at the villa. As Mary begins work on what will become her earth-shattering literary phenomenon, Mehr finds herself trapped in the villa as the rest of its inhabitants descend into madness.
1937. It’s been seven years since the dust storms started in Colorado. High school student Martha Helen Kessler and her family are luckier than most; they still eke out a living from the land. Even so, evidence of the Dust Bowl’s grim impact on families is everywhere. When Martha Helen’s compassionate mother insists they take in Otis Hobbs, a handsome drifter who saves a local boy from a vicious storm, she quickly discovers a darker side to their rural community. Suspicion, jealousy and prejudice grip their neighbors --- and emotions reach a frenzy after Martha Helen’s best friend, Frankie, disappears and is then found murdered. Ultimately, Martha Helen is forced to make sense of her conflicting feelings and loyalties in order to help find retribution and to reconcile the difference between the law and justice.
Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator, but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects or hope. So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house. Once there, though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light. What happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thieves”? With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road.
Social media influencer Elly Parker had the perfect life --- that is until she discovered her husband had been having an affair with her best friend. But as hurt, betrayed and unmoored as Elly is, she has made it her mission to help others in need. When Elly meets a man on the steps to the subway platform, crutches in one hand and a yellow suitcase by his feet, she can’t help but feel sorry for him. This small act of kindness sets off a chain of events more terrifying than anything she ever could imagine. To survive, Elly will need to convince the world that what happened to her was real. She needs a lawyer who can bend the rules to find the truth. Eddie Flynn and his team must find the stranger with the yellow suitcase. But little do they know this cunning killer is a master manipulator and is always one step ahead.
At over 300 pounds, retail worker Emmett Truesdale carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous. As Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight. Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing. When the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he’s human?
Every family has its stories and secrets. Laurie Hertzel’s family had more than its share. At an early age, Laurie --- the seventh of the 10 Hertzel children --- took on the challenge of sorting them out. Not old enough to be one of the Big Kids, yet too old to be with the Three Little Kids, she spent most of her time alone, reading, wandering and observing her family as they moved around her in their house in Duluth. Though her parents were not warm, there were moments of closeness in those years, but everything shattered after the sudden death of Laurie’s oldest sibling, 18-year-old Bobby, when she was just nine years old. Moving back and forth in time, Laurie reflects on Bobby’s death and what happens to a family’s story when no one can talk about a tragedy and its toll.
Lieutenant Carl Sarabia, a newly retired homicide detective, moves with his wife, Greta, from Houston, Texas, to Glamis, Connecticut, to be closer to their daughter, Sarah, and her family. The idyllic river town is upended when Merlin Glenmore is found murdered on April Fools' Day, midway through his seance-themed birthday party at the place he despised the most, The Glenmore-Pace Castle, a gothic mansion built by his great-great grandfather, and now a museum run by his sister, Jade. Merlin is notorious in Glamis for his abrupt second marriage to a much younger woman only a month after his first wife's tragic death. There is no shortage of suspects present at the party who wanted Merlin dead. Only two of the guests do not have alibis --- and one of them is Carl's son-in-law.
