Adult

Maplemead Castle is crawling with ghosts, and the new owners need them gone. When Melody Bittersweet and the Girls’ Ghostbusting Agency arrive on scene, they quickly identify the main troublemaker swinging from the chandeliers. A century ago, stunning trapeze artist Britannia Lovell plunged to her death in the castle's grand ballroom and has continued to haunt it ever since. But did she really just fall, or was there something more to her demise? Forced to work with Leo Dark, her scoundrel ex, and the infuriating, irresistible reporter Fletcher Gunn, Melody’s investigative powers are under the strain of a heart pulled in two directions. Somewhere, hidden in the castle, is a heartbreaking secret. But what will it take to find it? And is there a chance it could set Britannia free, or is she doomed to repeat her last fateful act forever?

It’s hunting season in the foothills of Virginia, and “Sister” Jane Arnold is content to spend it alongside her friends, particularly one Olivia Bradford. Olivia is a formidable figure in town --- not least because she keeps the peace between her sons, Winston and Andrew --- but when she passes away, the brothers return to their squabbling ways. Faced with contention over their inheritance, tensions escalate, and the two get into a fierce fight --- and soon after, one of them turns up dead. All eyes turn to the surviving brother, the suspect with the most obvious motive. But Sister can’t fathom that he’s capable of murder, and soon suspects begin to reveal themselves left and right. The more she learns, the more Sister begins to doubt the people she’s hunted with for decades. Could the killer be hiding in plain sight?

Clay Edison has left behind the Alameda County coroner’s office to strike out on his own as a private investigator. He’s perfectly happy working low-stakes embezzlement cases --- that is, until PI Regina Klein calls him with a mystery only he can solve. The son of a wealthy couple has washed up dead on the shores of San Francisco Bay with drugs in his system and a head injury. The police are calling it an accident. But the parents are adamant that something is not right --- and as Clay digs deeper, he uncovers a horrifying tangle of betrayal and lies.

Avery and Reed Bond grew up sharing a close-knit relationship. Even so, Avery often finds herself exasperated by her brother’s relentless matchmaking, while Reed can’t resist teasing his sister. Facing their first Christmas without their beloved Grams, the woman who lovingly raised them, Reed and Avery decide to spend the holiday together at Reed’s home. However, their plans take an unexpected turn when the ferry Avery is traveling on stalls in the middle of Puget Sound, stranding its passengers and leaving Reed waiting a now undetermined length of time for her arrival. What is at first an inconvenience threatens to ruin the plans of a number of commuters, but Avery and Reed soon discover that this unforeseen delay might end up being a perfectly timed blessing in disguise.

Gabrielle Hamilton took pride in her unsentimental, idiosyncratic family. She grew up to find enormous success, first as a chef and then as the author of award-winning, bestselling books. But her family ties frayed in ways both seismic and mundane until eventually she was estranged from them all. In the wake of one brother’s sudden death and another’s suicide, Hamilton was compelled to examine the sprawling, complicated root system underlying her losses. She began investigating her family’s devout independence and individualism with a nearly forensic rigor, soon discovering a sobering warning in their long-held self-satisfaction. By the time she was called to care for her declining mother, Hamilton had realized a certain freedom, one made possible only through a careful psychological autopsy of her family.

The new year had barely begun when Grace White and Henry Adler both lost their spouses. Now, nearly a year later, the first holiday season since their "Great and Terrible Sadnesses" approaches. Although their mothers scheme to matchmake the two surviving spouses, it’s clear that neither is ready to date again. Yet no one understands what they are going through better than each other, and a delicate friendship is born. When Henry sees an ad for a Christmas movie marathon --- once an annual tradition for him and his wife --- Grace offers to watch some films with him, despite her aversion to a few of his picks. With each movie, Grace and Henry’s shared grief eases as they start to see a life beyond the sadness. But as they draw closer, other romantic possibilities leave them uncertain about their future together.

When New York architect Tate Donovan arrives in Cape Cod to design his best friend’s summer home, he is hoping to make a fresh start. Recently discharged from an upscale psychiatric facility where he was treated for acute depression, he is still wrestling with the pain of losing his beloved sister. Sylvia’s deathbed revelation --- that she can see spirits who are still tethered to the living world --- sits uneasily with him. But when Tate takes up residence at a historic bed-and-breakfast on the Cape, he encounters a beautiful young woman named Wren who will challenge every assumption he has about his logical and controlled world. They forge an immediate connection. But below the surface of Wren’s idyllic small-town life, hatred, jealousy and greed are festering, threatening their fragile relationship just as it begins to blossom.

On the eve of the American Revolution, half a million enslaved African Americans were embedded in the North American population. The slave trade was flourishing, even as the 13 colonies armed themselves to defend against the idea of being governed without consent. This paradox gave birth to what Joseph J. Ellis calls the “great contradiction”: How could a government that had been justified and founded on the principles articulated in the Declaration of Independence institutionalize slavery? How could it permit a tidal wave of western migration by settlers who understood the phrase “pursuit of happiness” to mean the pursuit of Indian lands? In THE GREAT CONTRADICTION, Ellis addresses the questions that lie at America’s twisted roots --- questions that turned even the sharpest minds of the Revolutionary generation into mental contortionists.

Gish’s mother, Loo Shu-hsin, is born in 1924 to a wealthy Shanghai. Her beloved nursemaid is torn from her even as she is constantly reprimanded: “Bad bad girl! You don’t know how to talk!” Sent to a modern Catholic school by her progressive father, she receives not only an English name --- Agnes --- but a first-rate education. Agnes finds solace in books and, in 1947, announces her intention to pursue a PhD in America. As the Communist revolution looms, she sets sail --- never to return. Lonely and adrift in New York, she begins dating Jen Chao-Pe, an engineering student. They do their best to block out the increasingly dire plight of their families back home and successfully establish a new American life. By the time Gish is born, though, the news from China is proving inescapable; their marriage is foundering; and Agnes recapitulates the harshness of her own childhood.

Simon Latch is a lawyer in rural Virginia, making just enough to pay his bills while his marriage slowly falls apart. Then into his office walks Eleanor Barnett, an elderly widow in need of a new will. Apparently, her husband left her a small fortune, and no one knows about it. Once he hooks the richest client of his career, Simon works quietly to keep her wealth under the radar. But soon her story begins to crack. When she is hospitalized after a car accident, Simon realizes that nothing is as it seems, and he finds himself on trial for a crime he swears he didn’t commit: murder. Simon knows he’s innocent. But he also knows the circumstantial evidence is against him, and he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. To save himself, he must find the real killer.