The queen is Marie of Roumania. A famous beauty who was married at 17 into Roumania’s young dynasty, Marie singlehandedly transformed Roumania from a backwater into a force. The castle is Bran: a tall, quirky, ancient structure perched on high rocks overlooking the border between Roumania and its newly regained territory of Transylvania. The threat is…well, that is less clear. Shadowy figures, vague whispers, the fears of girls, dangers that may be only accidents. When Queen Marie calls, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes are as dubious as they are reluctant. But surely it won’t take long to shine light on this unlikely case of what would seem to be strigoi. Or, as they are known in the West…vampires.

With her sister’s medical bills mounting, Diana Parker can’t say no to a high-paying opportunity like this: accompany a wealthy couple to Aspen and nanny their precocious five-year-old son for three months. Necessary qualifications? She must know how to ski and teach math, speak fluent French, excel at social graces, and hold a master’s degree in childhood development. Who will be the wiser that Diana’s only skill is packing for Colorado? But she’s doing this for her sister. And the perks are pretty irresistible. Wary of gold diggers and scandal, England’s most eligible bachelor is nevertheless falling for Diana and sweeping her off her feet. Sooner or later, she will have to come clean.

Long Island homicide detective Maggie D'arcy and her teenage daughter, Lilly, are still recovering from the events of last fall when a strange new case demands Maggie's attention. The body of an unidentified Irish national turns up in a wealthy Long Island beach community. With little to go on but the scars on his back, Maggie once again teams up with Garda detectives in Ireland to find out who the man was and what he was doing on Long Island. As she gets closer to the truth about the murder, what she learns leads her back to her home turf and into range of a dangerous and determined killer who will do anything to keep the victim's story hidden forever.

The Annurian Empire is disintegrating. The advantages it used for millennia have fallen to ruin. The ranks of the Kettral have been decimated from within, and the kenta gates, granting instantaneous travel across the vast lands of the empire, can no longer be used. In order to save the empire, one of the surviving Kettral must voyage beyond the edge of the known world through a land that warps and poisons all living things to find the nesting ground of the giant war hawks. Meanwhile, a monk turned con-artist may hold the secret to the kenta gates. But time is running out. Deep within the southern reaches of the empire, an ancient god-like race has begun to stir. What they discover will change them and the Annurian Empire forever. If they can survive.

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, she is in trouble. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.

Jada Townsend-Matthews is the most reviled woman in America after turning down a proposal on a reality dating show. When she comes home to lick her wounds, Jada finds herself working at San Diego's newest cupcake bakery, Sugar Blitz, alongside the uptight owner and professional football player Donovan Dell. When a reporter mistakenly believes Jada and Donovan are an item, they realize they can use the misunderstanding to their advantage to help the struggling bakery and rehabilitate Jada's image. Faking a relationship should be simple, but sometimes love is the most unexpected ingredient.

In the series of linked stories at the heart of FILTHY ANIMALS, set among young creatives in the American Midwest, a young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family; menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night; a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink; and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort and cruelty.

Everyone knows the legend. Of Arthur, destined to be a king. Of the beautiful Guinevere, who will betray him with his most loyal knight, Lancelot. Of the bitter sorceress, Morgana, who will turn against them all. But Elaine alone carries the burden of knowing what is to come --- for Elaine of Shalott is cursed to see the future. On the mystical isle of Avalon, Elaine runs free and learns of the ancient prophecies surrounding her and her friends --- countless possibilities, almost all of them tragic. When their future comes to claim them, Elaine, Guinevere, Lancelot and Morgana accompany Arthur to take his throne in stifling Camelot, where magic is outlawed, the rules of society chain them, and enemies are everywhere. Yet the most dangerous threats may come from within their own circle.

Georgie, Lissa and Bronwyn have been inseparable since dominating their college swim team. Swimming has always been an escape from their own problems, but now their shared passion has turned deadly. How can it be true that Lissa, the strongest swimmer they know, drowned? Granted, there is something strange about Kanu Cove, where Lissa was last seen, swimming off the coast of the fabulous island resort she owned with her husband. Lissa’s closest friends gather at the resort to honor her life, but Georgie and Bron can’t seem to stop looking over their shoulders. As the weather turns ominous, trapping the funeral guests together on the island, nobody knows who they can trust.

June is a brilliant but difficult girl with a gift for mechanical invention who leaves home to begin grueling astronaut training at the National Space Program. Six years later, she has gained a coveted post as an engineer on a space station but is haunted by the mystery of Inquiry, a revolutionary spacecraft powered by her beloved late uncle’s fuel cells. The spacecraft went missing when June was 12 years old, and she alone has evidence that makes her believe the crew is still alive. As June and her uncle’s former protégé, James, work to solve the fuel cell’s fatal flaw, the relationship that develops between them threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create --- and any chance of bringing the Inquiry crew home alive.

On the little Scottish island of Mure, Flora MacKenzie and her fiancé, Joel, are planning the smallest of “sweetheart weddings,” a high summer celebration surrounded only by those very dearest to them. Not everyone on the island is happy about being excluded, though. The temperature rises even further when beautiful Olivia MacDonald --- who left Mure 10 years ago for bigger and brighter things --- returns with a wedding planner in tow. Her fiancé has oodles of family money, and Olivia is determined to throw the biggest, most extravagant, most Instagrammable wedding possible. And she wants to do it at Flora’s hotel, the same weekend as Flora’s carefully planned micro-wedding. As the summer solstice approaches, can Flora handle everyone else’s Happy Every Afters --- and still get her own?

Lacy Stoltz meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered 20 years earlier in a case that remains unsolved. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. Along the way, she has discovered other victims. He is the most cunning of all serial killers. He knows forensics, police procedure and, most important, the law. He is a judge who is under Lacy’s jurisdiction. He has a list, with the names of his victims and targets, all unsuspecting people unlucky enough to have crossed his path and wronged him in some way. How can Lacy pursue him without becoming the next name on his list?

Susan Lentigo’s daughter was murdered 20 years ago --- and now, at long last, this small-town waitress sets out on a road trip all the way from Upstate New York to North Dakota to witness the killer’s execution. On her journey she discovers shocking new evidence that leads her to suspect the condemned man is innocent --- and the real killer is still free. Even worse, her prime suspect has a young daughter who’s at terrible risk. With no money and no time to spare, Susan sets out to uncover the truth before an innocent man gets executed and another little girl is killed. But the FBI refuses to reopen the case. Reaching deep, Susan finds an inner strength she never knew she had.

Ruth Galloway is back as head of archaeology at the University of North Norfolk when a group of local metal detectorists --- the so-called Night Hawks --- uncovers Bronze Age artifacts on the beach, alongside a recently deceased body, just washed ashore. Not long after, the same detectorists uncover a murder-suicide --- a scientist and his wife found at their farmhouse, long thought to be haunted by the Black Shuck, a humongous black dog, a harbinger of death. The further DCI Nelson probes into both cases, the more intertwined they become, and the closer they circle to David Brown, the new lecturer Ruth has recently hired, who always seems to turn up wherever Ruth goes.

“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called HERBERT THE NEAR-SIGHTED PIGEON, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals and how they abide by us. Now, in ON ANIMALS, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career. These stories consider a range of creatures --- the household pets we dote on, the animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, the creatures who could eat us for dinner, the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with who are central to human life.

In 1866, with the country barely recovered from the Civil War, new war breaks out on the western frontier --- a clash of cultures between the Native tribes who have lived on the land for centuries and a young, ambitious nation. Colonel Henry Carrington arrives in Wyoming’s Powder River Valley to lead the US Army in defending the opening of a new road for gold miners and settlers. Carrington intends to build a fort in the middle of critical hunting grounds, the home of the Lakota. Red Cloud, one of the Lakota’s most respected chiefs, and Crazy Horse, a young but visionary warrior, understand full well the implications of this invasion. For the Lakota, the stakes are their home, their culture, their lives.

It’s the spring of 1969, and henna artist Lakshmi, now married to Dr. Jay Kumar, directs the Healing Garden in Shimla. Her protégé, Malik, has finished his private school education. At 20, he has just met a young woman named Nimmi when he leaves to apprentice at the Facilities Office of the Jaipur Royal Palace. Their latest project: a state-of-the-art cinema. Power and money move seamlessly among the wealthy class, and favors flow from Jaipur’s Royal Palace, but only if certain secrets remain buried. When the cinema’s balcony tragically collapses on opening night, blame is placed where it is convenient. But Malik suspects something far darker and sets out to uncover the truth.

It's 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more. Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome and wealthy, Archie is the only man she has ever met who seems to accept her modern ways --- her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage, he starts to change his tune. Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

When a young man is found gruesomely murdered in a London houseboat, it triggers questions about three women who knew him. Laura is the troubled one-night-stand last seen in the victim’s home. Carla is his grief-stricken aunt, already mourning the recent death of yet another family member. And Miriam is the nosy neighbor clearly keeping secrets from the police. Three women with separate connections to the victim. Three women who are --- for different reasons --- simmering with resentment. When it comes to revenge, even good people might be capable of terrible deeds. How far might any one of them go to find peace? How long can secrets smolder before they explode into flame?

Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, the tycoon’s henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad. A heartbroken yet defiant Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant known only as the prophet. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge on the men who destroyed Ming, aided by a troupe of magic-show performers --- some with supernatural powers --- whom they meet on the journey.

Samantha Raymond's life has begun to come apart: her mother is ill, her teenage daughter is increasingly remote, and at 52 she finds herself staring into "the Mids" --- that hour of supreme wakefulness between three and four in the morning in which women of a certain age suddenly find themselves contemplating motherhood, mortality and, in this case, the state of our unraveling nation. When she falls in love with a beautiful, decrepit house in a hardscrabble neighborhood in Syracuse, she buys it on a whim and flees her suburban life --- and her family --- as she grapples with how to be a wife, a mother and a daughter in a country that is coming apart at the seams.