Adult

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH is more than an “inspiring” story of how a man born with spinal muscular atrophy --- a congenital and incurable neuromuscular condition --- survived childhood, graduated from Harvard, married an able-bodied woman, built a family and established a successful career in journalism. As Ben Mattlin considers the many times his relationship has been met with surprise or speculation by outsiders, he issues a challenge to readers: Why should the idea of an “interabled” couple be regarded as either tragic or noble? Through conversations with more than a dozen other couples of varying abilities, ethnic backgrounds and orientations, Mattlin sets out to understand if these pairings are as unusual as onlookers seem to think.

Spanning the years 1930 to 2014, DROPS OF CERULEAN chronicles the lives of Ilona, the daughter of a Greek restaurateur, who marries into a prominent Houston family; her son, Cadmus, who becomes a professor and then moves into a retirement home after his husband passes away; and Delphina, an anxiety-ridden woman with a mysterious recurring dream. Ilona and Cadmus have a falling out when Cadmus is a young man, and before they are able to reconcile, Ilona dies. Cadmus is plagued with guilt and feels responsible for the death of his mother. Two worlds collide when, years later, Delphina comes to understand that she had been Ilona, Cadmus' mother, in her previous life.

When Dr. Alex Taylor opens her eyes, she is hooked up to an IV, is bound to an operating table, and her legs are raised in stirrups. But the man standing over her is no doctor she recognizes at the hospital where she works as a successful and respected doctor. He’s a stranger --- and he’s calmly and methodically telling her how he's about to attack her. Before Alex can even scream for help, she succumbs to another dose of anesthesia, rendering her unable to defend herself. When she comes to on a gurney, she finds herself surrounded by her colleagues and immediately reports the attack and rape. Despite Alex's adamant claims, no one believes her, leaving her to wonder if she has, in fact, lost her mind. Until she meets the next victim.

Sylvie’s sister, Persephone, was killed 16 years ago, yet her murder remains unsolved. In the present day, Sylvie returns home to care for her estranged mother, Annie, as she undergoes treatment for cancer. Their once-close bond dissolved in the weeks after their loss, making for an uncomfortable reunion all these years later. Worse, Persephone’s former boyfriend, Ben, is now a nurse at the cancer center where Annie is being treated. Sylvie has always believed Ben was responsible for the murder, though she also carries her own guilt about that night. As she navigates the complicated relationship with her mother, Sylvie begins to uncover the secrets that fill their house --- and what really happened the night Persephone died.

In July 1865, "Wild Bill" Hickok shot and killed Davis Tutt in Springfield, MO --- the first quick-draw duel on the frontier. Thus began the reputation that made him a marked man to every gunslinger in the Wild West. Even before his death, Wild Bill became a legend, with fiction sometimes supplanting fact in the stories that surfaced. The legend of Wild Bill has only grown since his death in 1876, when cowardly Jack McCall famously put a bullet through the back of his head during a card game. Bestselling author Tom Clavin has sifted through years of western lore to bring Hickock fully to life in this rip-roaring, spellbinding true story.

For four years, Iris Massey worked side by side with PR maven Smith Simonyi, helping clients perfect their brands. But Iris has died, taken by terminal illness at only 33. Adrift without his friend and colleague, Smith is surprised to discover that in her last six months, Iris created a blog filled with sharp and often funny musings on the end of a life not quite fulfilled. She also made one final request: for Smith to get her posts published as a book. With the help of his charmingly eager, if overbearingly forthright, new intern Carl, Smith tackles the task of fulfilling Iris’ last wish. Before he can do so, though, he must get the approval of Iris’ big sister Jade, a haute cuisine chef who’s been knocked sideways by her loss.

Bridget has a secret that she keeps from everyone, even her husband. It threatens to explode when her childhood music teacher, Carmichael, walks into her dress shop. With him is a young girl on the cusp of adulthood who reminds Bridget of herself at that age. Bridget wants him away --- away from her, away from that girl. But Carmichael won’t leave her alone. And Bridget is not a little girl anymore. When he pushes her too far, she snaps. But what she thought was a decisive act only unravels more insidious threats --- more than she ever could have imagined --- and from which no one is safe, not even her family.

Summoned to a run-down former strip joint, Dr. Alex Delaware and LAPD Lieutenant Milo Sturgis find themselves crashing a wild "Saints and Sinners"–themed wedding reception. But they’re not the only uninvited guests. A horrified bridesmaid has discovered the body of a young woman, dressed to impress in pricey haute couture and accessorized with a grisly red slash around her neck. What’s missing is any means of identification, or a single partygoer who recognizes the victim. The baffled bride is convinced the stranger snuck in to sabotage her big day --- and the groom is sure it’s all a dreadful mistake. But Delaware and Sturgis have a hundred guests to question, and a sneaking suspicion that the motive for murder is personal.

When marriages, friendships and families come undone, to what lengths do we go to keep it all together? That question lies at the heart of Brendan Mathews' debut story collection. A young mother watches as her desperate husband, convinced that a hidden poison lurks inside their walls, tears their home apart. Two journalists bruised by romance and revolution, one a survivor of the Bosnian war, trade tales of lost lovers. A father and his sons haggle over the family business during a high-stakes round of golf. And a lovesick circus clown tries to explain the accidents that bound him to a trapeze artist and a witless lion tamer.

There's a stranger living in Kimber Hannon's house. He tells the police that he has every right to be there, and he has the paperwork to prove it. But Kimber definitely didn't invite this man to move in. He tells her that he knows something about her, and he wants everyone else to know it too. "I was there. I saw what you did." These words reveal a connection to Kimber's distant past, and dark secrets she'd long ago left buried. This trespasser isn't after anything as simple as her money or her charming Craftsman bungalow. He wants to move into her carefully orchestrated life --- and destroy it.