Adult

Donna Leon’s memoir, WANDERING THROUGH LIFE, gave her legions of fans a colorful tour through her life --- from her childhood in New Jersey to her adventures in China and Iran, to her love of Venice and opera. Nowhere, however, did she discuss her writing life. In BACKSTAGE, Donna reveals her admiration for, and inspiration from, the great crime novelists Ruth Rendell and Ross Macdonald, examining their approach to storytelling as she dissects her favorite books of theirs. She expresses her love for Charles Dickens’ GREAT EXPECTATIONS and her appreciation for Sir Walter Scott’s generosity of spirit. And she chronicles the amount of research she undertakes to be able to present authentically, through Guido Brunetti and his colleagues, places and characters far from her own experience.

Kelly Sundberg’s abusive marriage nearly broke her, and finding the courage to leave and begin the difficult process of putting herself back together was only the beginning of her story. THE ANSWER IS IN THE WOUND deftly explores the trials and joys Sundberg encountered not only as a newly single parent but also as someone in full pursuit of life. She developed an appreciation for new spiritual practices, reclaimed her body through tattoos, and even became “the problem” rather than going along to get along in her professional life. From erasure poetry crafted from emails and a court-mandated apology letter from her ex-husband, to engaging with the research of some of the most prominent voices in 50 years of trauma psychiatry and psychology, this book is a profound meditation on trauma and its lasting effects.

When a body is found in a bog in northwest England, Agnes, an American forensic anthropologist, is called to investigate. But this body is not like any she's ever seen. Though its bones prove it was buried more than two thousand years ago, it is almost completely preserved. Soon Agnes is drawn into a mystery from the distant past, called to understand and avenge the death of an Iron Age woman more like her than she knows. Along the way, she must contend with peat-cutters who want to profit from the bog and activists who demand that the land be left undisturbed. Then there's the moss itself: a complex repository of artifacts and remains, with its own dark stories to tell. As Agnes faces the deep history of what she has unearthed, she's also forced to question what she thought she knew about her talent, her self-reliance, and her place in the world.

Alchemy is an exclusive power wielded by crime syndicates that market it to the world’s elites in the form of sand, a drug that enhances those who take it into a more perfect version of themselves. Within Angel City, alchemy is controlled by two rival syndicates: Grand Central and Lumines. But when two childhood friends step into that delicate equation, the city --- and their lives --- will be irrevocably transformed. The daughter of a poor single mother, Sam would do anything to claw her way into the ranks of Grand Central in search of a better life. Plucked away from his family as a boy to become a Lumines apprentice, Ari is one of the syndicates' brightest rising stars. As the two alchemists face off across opposite sides of an ever-escalating conflict, no transformation may be perfect enough for them both to survive the coming war.

In early 1985, Michael J. Fox was one of the biggest stars on television. His world was about to get even bigger. Fox’s days were already dedicated to rehearsing and taping the hit sitcom "Family Ties," but soon, he committed his nights to a new time-travel adventure film being directed by Robert Zemeckis and produced by Steven Spielberg --- Back to the Future. Sitcom during the day, movie at night --- day after day, for months. Fox’s nightly commute from a soundstage at Paramount to the back lot at Universal Studios, from one dream job to another, would become his own space-time continuum. In FUTURE BOY, Fox tells the remarkable story of playing two landmark roles at the same time.

Lawyer Andy Carpenter can't wait to finally relax and watch the football games during Christmas. But when there's a murder related to an old case in Paterson, New Jersey, Andy puts the games on pause. Two years ago, a gas leak in an office building led to a tragic explosion that killed seven people. Jeff Wheeler was there to pick up his girlfriend and ran into the building to help. All he heard was the barking of a dog, Rufus, and was able to save him. The pup was the sole survivor and Jeff was named a hero. Jeff met Andy, liked him, and allowed him to adopt Rufus. Since then, Jeff and Rufus have formed an unbreakable bond. The accident never sat right with Jeff. He believed that one of the building owners was responsible for the tragedy. Now that the owner has been murdered and Jeff is arrested for the crime, Rufus is left with Jeff's sister, who begs Andy to take the case. 

When a series of deaths within the small Cotswolds birdwatching community begins to unravel her village, Agatha and her team at Raisin Investigators are certain there has been foul play involved. Now, they must dig up decades' worth of tempestuous relationships and simmering secrets among the birdwatching enthusiasts of the village in order to prevent any further deaths. But with Agatha's own relationship with John Glass on the rocks after he is called away on his job as a cruise ship dance instructor, and Sir Charles Fraith now attempting to step into John’s shoes as her lover, Agatha has her work cut out for her. 

When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in 14 years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body. But when she does attend the reading of the will, she discovers that her grandfather left her the lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. When her aunt goes missing a couple of days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.

Margaret lives with a rare autoimmune condition that has destroyed her life, leaving her isolated, until she’s offered a fully paid-for spot in an experimental medical trial at Graceview Memorial. The conditions are simple: she will live at the hospital as a full-time patient, subjecting herself to the near-total destruction of her immune system and its subsequent regeneration. The trial will essentially kill most of, but not all of her. But as the treatment progresses and her body begins to fail, she stumbles upon something sinister living and spreading within the hospital. Unsure of what's real and what is just medication-induced delusion, Margaret struggles to find a way out as her body and mind succumb further to the darkness lurking throughout Graceview's halls.

Young Kōrero finds herself thrust into a fantastical world when a mysterious visitor lands on her island, a place so remote its inhabitants have forgotten the word for stranger. Her people are desperate and on the brink of starvation, and the wayward stranger offers them an impossible choice: they can remain in the only home they’ve ever known and await the uncertainty to come, or Kōrero can join him and venture into unfamiliar waters. What Kōrero and her people don’t know is that the promised refuge is no utopia --- Tonga is an empire at war and on the verge of collapse. Together, the stranger and Kōrero embark upon an epic voyage --- one that will deliver them either to salvation or to the depths of the Pacific.