Florence Grimes is a 31-year-old party girl who always takes the easy way out. Single, broke and unfulfilled after the humiliating end to her girl band career, she has only one reason to get out of bed each day: her 10-year-old son, Dylan. But then Alfie Risby, her son’s bully and the heir to a vast frozen food empire, mysteriously vanishes during a class trip, and Dylan becomes the prime suspect. Florence, for once, is faced with a task she can’t quit: She has to find Alfie and clear her son’s name, or risk losing Dylan forever. The only problem? Florence has no useful skills, let alone investigative ones, and all the other school moms hate her. Oh, and Florence has a reason to suspect that Dylan might not be as innocent as she’d like to believe.

Anna first fell in love with London at her hometown library. Its Jane Austen balls were a far cry from her life of food stamps and hand-me-downs. But when she finally arrives after college, the real London is a moldy flat and the same paycheck-to-paycheck grind --- that fairy-tale life still out of reach. Then Anna meets the Wilders, who fly her to Saint-Tropez to tutor their teenage daughter. Swept up by the sphinxlike elder sister, Anna soon finds herself plunged into a heady whirlpool of parties and excess, a place where confidence is a birthright. There she meets two handsome young men --- one who wants to whisk her into his world in a chauffeured car, the other who sees through Anna’s struggle to outrun her past. It’s like she’s stepped into the pages of a glittering new novel. But what will it cost her to play the part?

When Charlotte Sitterly’s husband is arrested for a white-collar crime, she and her daughter, Iris, are locked out of their house by the FBI and thrust into the spotlight of @JuniperShoresSocialite, the town’s snarky anonymous Instagram account. Cut off from her bank accounts and feeling desperate, Charlotte takes up an acquaintance’s offer to stay at a beachfront former bed-and-breakfast that’s home to a community of single mothers and draws plenty of gossip in the small coastal North Carolina town. But when the women discover a secret link between them, it changes everything they thought they knew about the unconventional family they’ve created and leaves them wondering if their coming together was a coincidence at all.

Settle in and take a trip back to Scotland’s favorite fictitious street with Bertie, Irene, Big Lou, newcomer Galactica Macfee, and all the rest. Once more, we catch up with the delightful goings-on in 44 Scotland Street. With his singular warmth and charm, Alexander McCall Smith gives us another installment in this popular series, where anything could happen to Bertie and the gang.

Books can seduce you. They can, Sarah Chihaya believes, annihilate, reveal and provoke you. She calls books that have this effect “Life Ruiners.” Her Life Ruiner, Toni Morrison’s THE BLUEST EYE, became a talisman for her in high school when its electrifying treatment of race exposed her deepest feelings about being Japanese American in a predominantly white suburb of Cleveland. But Sarah had always lived through her books, seeking escape, self-definition and rules for living. She built her life around reading, wrote criticism, and taught literature at an Ivy League University. Then she was hospitalized for a nervous breakdown, and the world became an unreadable blank page. In the aftermath, she was faced with a question. Could we ever truly rewrite the stories that govern our lives?

She thought the lovely farm in the heart of West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle would be the perfect refuge from DC politics. But this seemingly peaceful new home is anything but safe for former FBI director Irene Rivers and her children. After Irene’s 12-year-old nephew finds a body in a cave on her property, grim evidence points to a long-ago murder and cover-up. Soon Irene’s family is the target of the kinds of threats and intimidation she’s seen before. But this time, the enemy determined to tear them down is local, and the motive is personal. Then comes the attack she most fears. Irene knows she won’t get any help from the local police force. And she’s burned too many bridges in Washington to get help from the feds. This time, Irene Rivers is on her own. Her adversaries are in big trouble.

In CARE AND FEEDING, Laurie Woolever traces her path from a small-town childhood to working at revered restaurants and food publications, alternately bolstered and overshadowed by two of the most powerful men in the business. But there’s more to the story than the two bold-faced names on her resume: Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. Behind the scenes, Laurie’s life is frequently chaotic, an often pleasurable buffet of bad decisions at which she frequently overstays her welcome. As the food world careens toward an overdue reckoning and Laurie’s mentors face their own high-profile descents, she is confronted with the questions of where she belongs and how to hold on to the parts of her life’s work that she truly values: care and feeding.

After a childhood riddled with trauma and unanswered questions, Isabelle Archer vows to chase down the truth. So when her estranged mother dies, the investigative journalist returns to the one story that still haunts her. Isabelle was 13 when her three foster siblings died tragically in a fire. The blaze was ruled an accident, and despite the neglect, Isabelle never wanted to believe her mother was a killer. But 25 years later, the accusations linger. Back in Cedarloch to settle the estate, Isabelle revisits her childhood home. A familiar dread permeates the surrounding woods. And when autopsy reports cast new suspicions, Isabelle unearths much more than just terrifying memories. With help from her ex, Isabelle frantically digs for answers. What they find could poison long-held memories --- and incinerate everything she thought to be true.

Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain that a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends. Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it's a good thing that Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.

Chicky Diaz is everyone’s favorite doorman at the Bohemia, the most famous apartment house in the world. But gathered in the Bohemia’s bowels, the building’s almost entirely Black and Hispanic working-class staff is taking in the news that just a few miles uptown, a Black man has been killed by the police, leading to a demonstration, a counterdemonstration, and a long night of violence across the tinderbox city. As Chicky changes into his uniform for tonight’s shift, he finds himself breaking a cardinal rule of the job. Tonight, he’ll be carrying a gun, bought only hours earlier, but before he knew of the pandemonium taking over the city. Chicky knows that there’s more going on in his patch of sidewalk in front of the Bohemia than anyone is aware of.

After losing her job and her fiancé, and moving back from the city to live with her parents, Shell Pine needs some help. And according to the sign in the window, the florist shop in the mall does too. Shell gets the gig, and the flowers she works with are just the thing she needs to cheer up. Or maybe it’s Neve, the beautiful shop manager, who is making her days so rosy. But you have to get your hands dirty if you want your garden to grow --- and Neve’s secrets are as dark and dangerous as they come. In the back room of the flower shop, a young sentient orchid actually runs the show. He is hungry...and he has a plan for them all.

It’s been almost four decades since Edie Marshall’s little brother, Charlie, vanished on his walk home from day camp. In her 50s now, Edie teaches at her old high school and has returned to her childhood home to care for her ailing mother. When the long-dormant tip line set up for Charlie rings for the first time in years, Edie assumes it’s a wrong number. But on the other end is Jericho Jenkins, the only person of interest ever identified in the investigation. Jericho believes he’s found something of Charlie’s on his property, and with this news, all the pain and uncertainty of that summer rushes back to Edie, including vivid memories of her best friend, Trill: their shared secrets and the devastating lie Edie told that could have changed everything. Now Jericho is under suspicion again, Trill is coming home, and her mother’s hope is renewed.

The Kenner siblings are at odds. Jenn is a harried mom struggling under the weight of family obligations. Fred is a novelist who can’t write, maybe because she’s lost faith in storytelling itself. Jude is a recovering corporate lawyer with her own story to tell, and a grudge against her former favorite sister, Fred. George, the baby, is estranged from his wife and harboring both a secret about his former employer and an ill-advised crush on one of his sisters’ friends. Gathered after a major loss, each sibling needs the others more than ever --- if only they could trust each other.

When Diane Schwebe, the director of a major New York museum, is awakened in the early morning by a text message from the museum’s lawyer, it is the start of a 24-hour roller-coaster ride. Diane has sacrificed many things in her life to help the fading institution stave off irrelevance and financial ruin. In this battle, she’s surrounded by her stalwart supporters. Orbiting her is a motley assortment of museum employees, each on the precipice of collapse or revelation --- among them a line cook staring down a huge opportunity he’s not sure he wants; a costume curator stuck in an inescapable rut; and the ambivalent curator of the museum’s film program, whose first day on the job might very well be his last. On this day of the museum’s annual gala, every plate that Diane has kept spinning will fall --- and by daybreak, someone will be dead.

June 1975. The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets. Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write. After 50 years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions. Walden is good at her job --- no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its 600 students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity that Walden most needs to keep her school safe from…is herself.

Crime writer Gregg Dryer returns to his Pennsylvania campus for Homecoming weekend to revisit the death of his girlfriend, Jess. During their freshman year, everyone assumed she took her own life when she fell from the roof of D’Amelio Hall --- everyone except Gregg. After 30 years of struggling with grief, guilt and personal demons, Gregg still has his doubts about how and why Jess really died that night. His search for answers is also a chance to reconnect with four friends from his college class. As Gregg’s investigation leads deeper into a past he doesn’t recognize, the trail grows darker and more dangerous with each new revelation. As a reunion among old friends becomes one of secrets and suspicions, Gregg must confront his own troubled history --- and a truth with which he may not be able to live.

Tina Knowles, the mother of iconic singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, Solange Knowles and bonus daughter Kelly Rowland, is known the world over as a Matriarch with a capital M: a determined, self-possessed, self-aware and wise woman who raised and inspired some of the great artists of our time. But this story is about so much more than that. MATRIARCH begins with a precocious, if unruly, little girl growing up in 1950s Galveston. As the realities of race and the limitations of girlhood set in, she begins to dream of a more grandiose world. Her life’s journey --- through grief and tragedy, creative and romantic risks and turmoil, the nurturing of superstar offspring and of her own special gifts --- is the remarkable story she shares with readers here.

Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz --- just 60 years old --- collapsed and died. After spending their early years together in conflict zones as foreign correspondents, Geraldine and Tony settled down to raise two boys on Martha’s Vineyard. But all of this ended abruptly when, on Memorial Day 2019, Geraldine received the phone call we all dread. The demands were immediate and many. Without space to grieve, the sudden loss became a yawning gulf. Three years later, she flew to a remote island off the coast of Australia to finally give herself time to mourn.

For 63-year-old Mebel, retirement means her husband of more than 40 years announcing that he's leaving her for their private chef. Mebel has the perfect plan: she’s going to win back her husband. No one knows what he needs better than her. And if he wants a wife who can cook, she will simply go to cooking school. And where better to learn to cook for your husband than France, the most romantic country in the world? However, Mebel quickly learns that she has mistakenly enrolled in a culinary school not in glamorous Paris but rather in England. Despite the less-than-warm welcome from her much younger classmates, Mebel manages to befriend Gemma, the breakout star of the program. And this unlikely friendship starts to show Mebel that maybe there’s more to her than being the perfect trophy wife.

1954: When her former novice’s dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda’s letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest, it’s time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.

In the wake of a catastrophic storm, Cora sets off with her nine-year-old daughter, Maia, to register her son's birth. Her husband, Gordon, respected in the community but a controlling presence at home, intends for her to follow a long-standing family tradition and name the baby after him. But when faced with the decision, Cora hesitates. Spanning 35 years, what follows are three alternate and alternating versions of their lives, shaped by Cora’s last-minute choice of name. In richly layered prose, THE NAMES explores the painful ripple effects of domestic abuse, the messy ties of family, and the possibilities of autonomy and healing.

Mandy, Emma and Jill O'Toole are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket but have scattered around the country. When their beloved grandmother passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her 99th birthday, she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learn that they've inherited Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants. They had no idea that she was the silent owner of a restaurant, and no idea how they're going to handle this kind of inheritance. There is, of course, a catch. She left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma and Jill --- and also to Paul, the executive chef for the past 15 years. And before they can sell, all three women need to work at the restaurant for a period of one year.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, the bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation. Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series. Filming wraps, and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way, but nothing will stop their nuptials. That is, until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Since a violent confrontation tore apart a family five years ago, brothers and fellow cops Russell and Evan haven’t spoken a word to each other. When they’re both assigned to the murder of a young journalist in the tiny town of Redbelly Crossing, their paths are forced to cross again. This was supposed to be the week Russell could repair things with his teenage daughter. Instead, he has to drag her on a murderous ride into the middle of snake-infested nowhere. For Evan, this case is exactly what he needed: a high-profile investigation that will give him the chance to rebuild his career after a terrible mistake that nearly ended it. Then a dark discovery leaves Evan with only one way out: to bury the truth Russell is so determined to uncover.

In 1992, Sarah Lingate is found dead below the cliffs of Capri, Italy, leaving behind her three-year-old daughter, Helen. Despite suspicions that the old-money Lingates are involved, Sarah’s death is ruled an accident. And every year, the family returns to prove it’s true. But on the 30th anniversary of her death, the Lingates arrive at the villa to find a surprise waiting for them --- the necklace Sarah was wearing the night she died. Haunted by the specter of that night, the paranoid, insular Lingate family begins to crack, and Helen seizes the opportunity with the help of Lorna Moreno, the family assistant. But then Lorna disappears, and the investigation into Sarah’s death is reopened. As long-hidden secrets about that night boil to the surface, one thing becomes clear: Not everyone will leave the island alive.

Mrs. Korthaus has always been ahead of her time --- an educator who inspired her students to dream bigger, think deeper, and live boldly. For decades, she led an English classroom with caring and conviction, but it’s not until she’s retired, and then fighting cancer, that she begins to share her story: long ago marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., building a corporate career, and overcoming heartbreak before “accidentally” becoming a teacher and forever shaping the lives of countless young adults --- including bestselling author Kristine Gasbarre. In SHOW, DON'T TELL, Kristine reflects on her 30-year friendship with this extraordinary teacher who shaped her life so significantly.

1937. Young nurse Sona is drawn to the renowned, feisty, scandalous painter Mira Novak when they meet while the latter is recovering at a Bombay hospital, and the two women bond over their half-Indian identities. But when Mira dies suddenly and mysteriously, Sona falls under suspicion. The key to proving Sona's innocence may lie in a cryptic note and four paintings Mira left in her care, sending the young woman across a tumultuous Europe to meet Mira’s former lovers and friends. As Sona travels from Bombay to Istanbul, Prague, Paris, Florence and London uncovering Mira's life story, she learns that behind the charming facade was a complicated, troubled woman with dangerous secrets. But will Sona discover them in time to clear her name?

Teddy Fay whisks away to join Peter and Hattie Barrington in Palm Springs. But his hope for a relaxing vacation vanishes when he attends a prominent actor’s annual birthday party, where he witnesses a heated squabble between two women, only for one of them to turn up dead the next day. Teddy investigates who might be lurking in the shadows and uncovers a web of intrigue involving a sinister plan to take over a cutting-edge energy company. If he doesn’t act fast, valuable secrets risk falling into the wrong hands, but more importantly innocent lives could be in jeopardy.

Madison Bettencourt has moved back home to Montana to care for her grandmother, who is slipping further and further away. She has called off her wedding and worries that her dreams of a family are fading with it. Bliss Morgan transformed eight-year-old Madison with her loyalty, and for a while, the two girls were as close as can be. But Madison never understood why Bliss suddenly vanished, leaving only a friendship bracelet and a message etched into a matchbook. Before she can begin again, Madison must uncover what happened to Bliss, and Liam McKettrick --- a widowed dad trying to repair his relationship with his two children --- becomes her unlikely ally. Yet there are mysteries that Madison hesitates to explore with anyone, and strange energies in Bettencourt Hall that blur the lines between past and present.

Thierry Villar is a well-known tavern poet, familiar with the rogues and shadows of that world, but not at all with courts and power. He is an unlikely person to be caught up in the deadly contests of ambitious royals, assassins and invading armies. But he is indeed drawn into all these things on a savagely cold night in his beloved city of Orane. Thierry must use all the intelligence and charm he can muster as political struggles merge with a decades-long war to bring his country to the brink of destruction. As he does, he meets his poetic equal in an aristocratic woman and is drawn to more than one unsettling person with a connection to the world beyond this one. He also crosses paths with an extraordinary young woman driven by voices within to try to heal the ailing king --- and help his forces in war.