Adult

All the beloved, irascible Auntie Poldi wanted from her Sicilian retirement was time to enjoy the sunshine, a free-flowing supply of wine, and a sultry romance with Chief Inspector Vito Montana. But then her idyll is rudely disrupted by the last person she wants to see on her doorstep: John Owenya, detective inspector with the Tanzanian Ministry of Home Affairs, who is also her estranged lying cheat of a husband. Not only is John's sudden reappearance putting a kink in Poldi's dreamy love affair with Montana, but his presence also comes with a plea for help --- and unwanted clashes with the Mafia. Where is John's half-brother? What is the 10-million-dollar "it" that John's brother was last seen with, which has both the Sicilian and the Tanzanian mobs in a frenzy?

In VESPER FLIGHTS, Helen Macdonald brings together a collection of her best-loved essays, along with new pieces on topics ranging from nostalgia for a vanishing countryside to the tribulations of farming ostriches to her own private vespers while trying to fall asleep. Meditating on notions of captivity and freedom, immigration and flight, Helen invites us into her most intimate experiences: observing the massive migration of songbirds from the top of the Empire State Building, watching tens of thousands of cranes in Hungary, seeking the last golden orioles in Suffolk’s poplar forests. She writes with heart-tugging clarity about wild boar, swifts, mushroom hunting, migraines, the strangeness of birds’ nests, and the unexpected guidance and comfort we find when watching wildlife.

In the summer of 1996, two boys run from a playground into the adjoining woods, but only one comes out. DS Tom Thorne takes on a case that quickly spirals out of control when two people connected with the missing boy are murdered. As London prepares to host the European Soccer Championships, Thorne fights to keep on top of a baffling investigation while also dealing with the ugly fallout of his broken marriage.

It is Super Bowl Sunday in the year 2022. Five people, dinner, an apartment on the east side of Manhattan. The retired physics professor and her husband and her former student waiting for the couple who will join them from what becomes a dramatic flight from Paris. The conversation ranges from a survey telescope in North-central Chile to a favorite brand of bourbon to Einstein’s 1912 Manuscript on the Special Theory of Relativity. Then something happens, and the digital connections that have transformed our lives are severed.

As the test subject of an experimental drug, Charlotte Rowe was infused with extraordinary powers. As the secret weapon of a mysterious consortium, she baits evil predators and stops them in their tracks. But it takes more than fear to trigger what’s coursing through Charlotte’s blood. She needs to be terrorized. Serial killer Cyrus Mattingly is up to the task. Cyrus is a long-haul truck driver, and his cargo bay is a gallery of horrors on wheels. To stop his bloodshed, Charlotte will become his next victim, reining in her powers so she can face each of his evils in turn. Before she can unleash vengeance on a scale this killer has never seen, Charlotte and her team will have to go the distance into hell.

Private Investigator Roland Ford has taken a job for a fellow Marine and a rising politician, Dalton Strait. His wife, Natalie, has gone missing, leaving behind a cryptic plea for help. Strait has made many enemies during his time in politics, all of whom could be looking for revenge. But as Ford digs into the details of a troubled marriage, Natalie's disappearance becomes more and more complicated. Meanwhile, the bombings in the city intensify, with a mysterious group known only as the Chaos Committee claiming responsibility. Ford soon learns that the seemingly random attacks may be connected to the case he's on --- and suddenly, his hunt for a missing woman might decide the fate of an entire city.

The shocking suicide of Beth Daniels’ father, a prominent surgeon, has thrown the FBI agent into a tailspin. But when Beth heads to Saint Augustine, Florida, for the funeral, she’ll need more than the emotional support of her boyfriend, retired detective Jon Lancaster. She’ll need his gut instinct for solving a mystery. No sooner do they arrive than suspicions are aroused. There’s the pair of Russians who seem to be watching every move the family makes. A final, cryptic phone call Martin Daniels made to his granddaughter. Strange blood evidence on his estate. More than $1 million missing from Martin’s account. And his cell phone, wiped clean, along with clues to a double life. To Beth, it’s disturbingly clear: the man she loved was a stranger.

Allie Lang is a professional ghostwriter and a perpetually broke single mother. Years of navigating her own and America’s cultural definitions of motherhood have left her a lapsed idealist. Lana Breban is a powerhouse lawyer, economist and advocate for women’s rights with designs on elected office. She and her staff have decided she needs help softening her public image and that a memoir about her life as a mother will help. When Allie lands the job as Lana’s ghostwriter, it seems as if things will finally go Allie’s way. But then childcare arrangements unravel, she falls behind on her rent, it turns out that Lana is better at critiquing than actually providing material, and Allie’s boyfriend decides to go on a road trip toward self-discovery.

Stone Barrington and his friends are vacationing in Maine when their leisure is suddenly disrupted by extreme weather. To make matters worse, the inclement conditions allow for a menacing adversary to sneak in unnoticed and deliver a chilling message. Soon it becomes clear that the target of the incident is one of Stone's closest companions, and that these enemies have a grander scheme in mind. From the bustling streets of New York City to the sun-drenched shores of Key West, Stone intends to nab the criminals that appear behind him at every step. But his search only leads him further down a trail of peril and corruption, and he'll soon find that at the end of the road is a more dangerous foe than he could have imagined.

Georgie’s best friend, Belinda, inherits a spooky house in Cornwall and asks Georgie to go with her to inspect the property. When they arrive, they meet Rose, a woman Belinda knew as a child when she spent her summers with her grandmother in Cornwall. Rose is now married to Tony Summers, Belinda’s childhood crush, but confides that she thinks Tony killed his first wife. She asks Georgie and Belinda to observe Tony’s behavior and their surroundings. But during a thunderstorm, the lights go out and Tony is found dead. All clues point to Belinda as the prime suspect. Now Georgie must uncover the secrets that led to Tony’s death and find out if he was villain or victim before Belinda takes the fall for his murder.