Adult

The events that took place in Germany between 1919 and 1945 were dramatic and terrible, but there were also moments of confusion, of doubt --- even of hope. How easy was it to know what was actually going on, to grasp the essence of National Socialism, to remain untouched by the propaganda, or predict the Holocaust? TRAVELERS IN THE THIRD REICH is an extraordinary history of the rise of the Nazis based on fascinating first-hand accounts, drawing together a multitude of voices and stories, including politicians, musicians, diplomats, schoolchildren, communists, scholars, athletes, poets, fascists, artists, tourists, and even celebrities like Charles Lindbergh and Samuel Beckett.

Toby is a happy-go-lucky charmer who has 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 --- and as detectives close in, Toby is forced to face the possibility that his past may not be what he has always believed.

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy moves in rarified circles. Eager to escape the watchful eye of her strict mother, Rose, the antics of her older brothers, Jack and Joe, and the erratic behavior of her sister Rosemary, Kick is ready to strike out on her own and is soon swept off her feet by Billy Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire. But their love is forbidden, as Kick's devout Catholic family and Billy's staunchly Protestant one would never approve their match. When war breaks like a tidal wave across her world, Billy is ripped from her arms as the Kennedys are forced to return to the States. Kick gets work as a journalist and joins the Red Cross to get back to England, where she will have to decide where her true loyalties lie --- with family or with love.

The year: 2000. The setting: Los Angeles. A gorgeous virtuoso of an actress agreed to star in a random play, and a basement-dwelling scenic carpenter said he would assay a supporting role in the selfsame pageant. At the first rehearsal, she surveyed her fellow cast members, determining if any of the men might qualify to provide her with a satisfying fling. Her gaze fell upon the carpenter, and like a bolt of lightning the thought struck her: no dice. Moving on. Yet, unbeknownst to our protagonists, Cupid had merely set down his bow and picked up a rocket launcher…that fired a love rocket (not a euphemism). The players were Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, and the resulting romance, once ignited, was…epic. Beyond epic. It resulted in a coupling that has endured to this day.

It is 1868, and a 21-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. A sickly child, Bram spent his early days bedridden in his parents' Dublin home, tended to by his caretaker, a young woman named Ellen Crone. When a string of strange deaths occur in a nearby town, Bram and his sister Matilda detect a pattern of bizarre behavior by Ellen --- a mystery that deepens chillingly until Ellen vanishes suddenly from their lives. Years later, Matilda returns from studying in Paris to tell Bram the news that she has seen Ellen --- and that the nightmare they've thought long ended is only beginning.

Over the past decade, Simon Van Booy has been listening to people’s stories. With these personal accounts as a starting point, he has crafted a new collection of short fiction that takes readers into the innermost lives of everyday people. From a family saved from ruin by a mysterious benefactor, to a downtrodden boxer who shows unexpected kindness to a mugger, these tales reveal not only the precarious balance maintained between grief and happiness in our lives, but also how the echoes of personal tragedy can shape us for the better.

Bob Spitz's REAGAN is a richly detailed chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan's epic life --- giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics, and his rocky but ultimately successful run as California governor. His iconic presidency, from Iran-Contra to "Tear down this wall!" to an assassination attempt, receives a balanced reckoning in the form of an absorbing, even revelatory narrative.

Detective Renée Ballard is working the night beat and returns to Hollywood Station to find a stranger rifling through old file cabinets. The intruder is retired detective Harry Bosch, working a cold case that has gotten under his skin. Ballard can't let him go through department records, but when he leaves, she looks into the case herself and feels a deep tug of empathy and anger. The murder, unsolved, was of 15-year-old Daisy Clayton, a runaway on the streets of Hollywood who was brutally killed. Now Ballard joins forces with Bosch to find out what happened to Daisy, and to finally bring her killer to justice. But this new partnership is put to the test when the case takes an unexpected and dangerous turn.

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 that her best friend, journalist Camilla Lind, knew the murdered man. Louise tries to keep her friend from getting too involved, but Camilla has never been one to miss out on an interesting story. And this time, Camilla may have gone too far.

My mom would never leave me. This has been Mariah Dunning's motto. So when she glimpses her mother --- who's been missing for the past year --- on the other side of a food court, Mariah's conviction becomes stronger than ever. Or is she losing her mind? When Beth Dunning disappeared without a trace, suspicion for her murder immediately fell upon Mariah's father. Until Mariah stumbles upon two other recent disappearances from Lakehaven. And all three women had the same name: Beth. Mariah would give anything to find out what happened to her mother and clear her father's name. But the truth may be more devastating than she could have imagined.