Who is Claire Gravesend? So wonders PI Lee Crowe when he finds her dead on top of a Rolls Royce in the most dangerous neighborhood in San Francisco. Claire’s mother, Olivia, doesn’t believe the coroner’s ruling that she killed herself and hires Crowe to investigate. But the questions about the Gravesend family pile up fast. First, the autopsy reveals round scars running down Claire’s spine, old marks Olivia won’t explain. Then, Crowe visits Claire’s Boston townhouse and has to fend off an armed intruder. He leaves Boston afraid, but finds his way to Claire’s secret San Francisco pied-à-terre. It’s there that his questions come to a head. Sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, he finds Claire, and as far as he can tell, she’s alive.

Annie Marlow has been through the worst. Rocked by tragedy, she heads to the one place that makes her happy: Oceanside in the Pacific Northwest, the destination of many family vacations when she was a teenager. Once there, Annie begins to restore her broken spirit, thanks in part to the folks she meets. Chief among them is Keaton, a local painter whose quiet, peaceful nature offers her both comfort and reprieve from her grief, and the two begin to grow closer. Then events threaten to undo the idyll Annie has come to enjoy. And when the opportunity of a lifetime lands in her lap, she is torn between the excitement of a new journey toward success and the safe and secure arms of the haven --- and the man --- she’s come to call home.

A.M. Homes exposes the heart of an uneasy America in her new collection --- exploring our attachments to each other through characters who aren't quite who they hoped to become, though there is no one else they can be. In "A Prize for Every Player," a man is nominated to run for president by the customers of a big box store, while he and his family do their weekly shopping. At a conference on genocide(s) in the title story, old friends rediscover themselves and one another --- finding spiritual and physical comfort in ancient traditions. And in "Hello Everybody" and "She Got Away," Homes revisits a Los Angeles family obsessed with the surfaces and frightened of what lives below.

In FIGHT NO MORE, Nina, a lonely real-estate broker estranged from her only relative, is at the center of a web of stories connecting a community through the houses they inhabit. With crackling satire and surprising tenderness, Lydia Millet introduces an indelible cast of untidy teens, beastly men and strong-minded women whose stories begin to outline the fate of one particular family being torn apart by forces they recognize but cannot control. Millet’s intellect and beautiful prose deliver profound insight into human behavior, from the ordinary to the bizarre, and draws startling contrasts between house and home.

Once caged in an illusory realm by blood relatives, Alice Marin has been freed into a world where the last remnants of magic are quickly passing away. Dissolving with them is the unity among witches...and their sanity. Grappling with the revelations of her true parentage --- and her burgeoning relationship with Nathalie Boudreau, a psychic with her own demons --- Alice and her allies, both living and dead, must draw on every skill they possess. It’s the only way to defeat the destructive forces borne of the horrifying history of Alice’s own family. That means unlocking the final secrets of The Book of Unwinding. But the revelations that lie ahead may be too dark to escape.

The Great War has ended, and battlefield nurse Bess Crawford has been assigned to a clinic for amputees. She does her best to help them, but it’s clear that they have nothing to go home to. Their officer, Captain Williams, writes to describe their despair, and his own at trying to save his men. Bess feels compelled to look into their situation, so she travels to Wales but is told Williams has left the valley. Fearing that he intends to kill himself, Bess follows Williams to an isolated, storm-battered peninsula. Deserted by her frightened driver, Bess is stranded among strangers suspicious of outsiders. She quickly discovers these villagers are hiding something, and she’s learned too much to be allowed to leave.

In 2001, a two-year-old girl was killed by a speeding car. The marriage of her grief-stricken parents dissolved in the wake of the accident, and not long thereafter, her mother died under mysterious circumstances. The girl’s father, Jonas, was convicted of his ex-wife’s murder and sentenced to 12 years in prison. But police investigator Kjell Bonsaksen knew he was innocent. Now it’s 2016, and an uncomfortable chance encounter with Jonas prompts Kjell to dig out Jonas’ case files for Detective Henrik Holme. Henrik doesn’t take long to convince his beloved mentor, Hanne Wilhelmsen, that Jonas was wrongly convicted. As their investigation evolves, Hanne and Henrik uncover eerie connections to the recent suicide of a right-wing extremist blogger whose fanatic ideologies seem incompatible with a desire to die.

The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the “last resort” offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera. Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony’s intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems --- and neither are Miles and Grace themselves.

Mary Bennet possesses neither the beauty of her eldest sister, Jane, nor the high-spirited wit of second-born Lizzy. Even compared to her frivolous younger siblings, Kitty and Lydia, Mary knows she is lacking in the ways that matter for single, not-so-well-to-do women in 19th-century England who must secure their futures through the finding of a husband. As her sisters wed, one by one, Mary pictures herself growing old, a spinster with no estate to run or children to mind, dependent on the charity of others. At least she has the silent rebellion and secret pleasures of reading and writing to keep her company. But even her fictional creations are no match for the scandal, tragedy and romance that eventually visit Mary’s own life.

Roxana Olsen has always dreamed of going to Paris, and after high school graduation finally plans to travel there on a study abroad program. But a logistical mix-up brings Roxana to Copenhagen instead, where she is picked up at the airport by Søren, a 28-year-old guide who is meant to be her steward. Instantly drawn to one another, Roxana and Søren’s relationship turns romantic, and when he asks Roxana to accompany him to a small coastal town for the rest of the summer, she doesn’t hesitate to accept. But as their relationship deepens, Søren’s temperament darkens, and Roxana finds herself increasingly drawn to a local outsider, Zlatan, whom she learns is a Muslim refugee from the Bosnian War.

Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son --- a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor and faithful member of the Methodist church. Then, one cool October morning, he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed his pastor and friend, the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder wasn’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it --- to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury and to his family --- was: "I have nothing to say." He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.

Rumor has it that a notorious killer, who committed a brutal crime as a child, has been living a new life under an assumed identity in Joanna’s seaside town. So who is the criminal hidden in their midst? Suspicion falls on everyone. As Joanna becomes obsessed with the case, her curiosity will expose her son and his father to the supposedly reformed murderer --- who may be ready to kill again. She will learn how dangerous one rumor can become…and just how far she must go to protect those she loves. She is going to regret the day she ever said a word.

West Berlin, 1979. Helen Abell oversees the CIA's network of safe houses. Her world is upended when, during her routine inspection of an agency property, she overhears a meeting between two agents speaking a coded language that hints at shadowy realities far beyond her comprehension. Before the day is out, she witnesses a second unauthorized encounter, one that will place her firmly in the sights of one of the most ruthless and powerful men at the agency. Her attempts to expose the truth about what she has seen will create repercussions that reach across decades and continents into the present day, when two people are gruesomely murdered. Now Helen's daughter, Anna, aided by a jaded Washington fixer, must chase down what is buried in her mother's past and face the chilling fact that old secrets never die.

Born on a farm and named in a field by her parents --- artist Chrisann Brennan and Steve Jobs --- Lisa Brennan-Jobs’ childhood unfolded in a rapidly changing Silicon Valley. When she was young, Lisa’s father was a mythical figure who was rarely present in her life. As she grew older, her father took an interest in her, ushering her into a new world of mansions, vacations and private schools. His attention was thrilling, but he could also be cold, critical and unpredictable. When her relationship with her mother grew strained in high school, Lisa decided to move in with her father, hoping he’d become the parent she’d always wanted him to be. Part portrait of a complex family, part love letter to California in the '70s and '80s, SMALL FRY is a poignant coming-of-age story.

Overwhelmed at the office and reeling from betrayals involving the people she loves, Poppy feels as if her world has tipped sideways. With her colleague, Annalise, she creates an invitation-only Facebook group that quickly takes off. Suddenly, Poppy feels like she’s back in control --- until someone begins leaking the group’s private posts and stirring up a nasty backlash. Feeling judged by disapproving female colleagues and her own disappointed children, Frankie, too, is careening towards the breaking point. She also knows something shocking about her boss. As things begin to slide disastrously and dangerously out of control, carefully concealed secrets and lies are exposed with devastating consequences.

After a series of missteps in the face of his newfound fame, actor Charlie Outlaw flees to a remote island in search of anonymity and a chance to reevaluate his recent breakup with his girlfriend, actress Josie Lamar. But soon after his arrival on the peaceful island, his solitary hike into the jungle takes him into danger he never anticipated. The star of a cult TV show, Josie has spent the 20 years since searching for a role to equal that one, and feeling less and less like her character. As she gets ready for a reunion of the cast at a huge fan convention, she thinks all she needs to do is find a part and replace Charlie. But she can't forget him, and to get him back she'll need to be a hero in real life.

Jen and Hugh Maddox have just survived every parent’s worst nightmare. Their 15-year-old daughter, Lana, was found bloodied, bruised and disoriented after going missing for four days during a mother-daughter vacation in the country. She lies mute in her hospital bed, unwilling or unable to articulate what happened to her during that period. Even when she returns to the family home and her school routine, Lana only provides the same frustrating answer over and over: "I can’t remember." Without telling Hugh or their pregnant older daughter Meg, Jen sets off to retrace Lana’s steps, a journey that will lead her to a deeper understanding of her youngest daughter, her family and herself.

Each of the six stories in YOUR DUCK IS MY DUCK, Deborah Eisenberg’s first collection since 2006, has the heft and complexity of a novel. With her own inexorable but utterly unpredictable logic and her almost uncanny ability to conjure the strange states of mind and emotion that constitute our daily consciousness, Eisenberg pulls us as if by gossamer threads through her characters --- a tormented woman whose face determines her destiny; a group of film actors shocked to read a book about their past; a privileged young man who unexpectedly falls into a love affair with a human rights worker caught up in an all-consuming quest that he doesn't understand.