Is there any difference between memory and invention? This question haunts Alexander Cleave, whose stunted acting career is suddenly revived by a movie role portraying a man who may not be who he says he is. Cleave explores memories of his first love affair with his best friend's mother, as well as those of his daughter, lost to a kind of madness of mind and heart that he can only fail to understand.

As a police launch speeds across Miami's Biscayne Bay --- with officer Nestor Camacho on board --- Tom Wolfe introduces the Cuban mayor; the black police chief; a wanna-go-muckraking young journalist and his Yale-marinated editor; an Anglo sex-addiction psychiatrist and his Latina nurse; a billionaire porn addict; a nest of shady Russians; and many more unforgettable characters.

Inspector Harry Hole of the Oslo Crime Squad is dispatched to Sydney to observe a murder case. The victim is a 23-year-old Norwegian woman who is a minor celebrity back home. Never one to sit on the sidelines, Harry befriends the lead detectives and a witness. They discover that this is only one in a string of unsolved murders, and the pattern points to a psychopath working his way across the country. Harry fears that no one is safe, least of all those investigating the case.

When the renowned choir director at a monastery is murdered, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache and Jean-Guy Beauvoir of the Sûreté du Québec are called in to investigate. They learn that one of the brothers, in this life of prayer and contemplation, has been contemplating murder. As the peace of the monastery crumbles, Gamache is forced to confront some of his own demons, as well as those roaming the remote corridors.

After more than 20 years of marriage, Chloe comes home one night to find that her husband, Nate, is gone. All he has left behind is a cryptic note explaining that he has returned to their childhood town, a place Chloe never wants to see again. While trying to reach Nate, Chloe stumbles upon a notebook tucked inside his antique copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Written in code, the pages contain long-buried secrets from their past, and clues to why he went home after all these years.

Thirty-six-year-old Gal Garner lives a regimented life. Only at home, in her garden, does she come alive. It's here that she experiments with Hulthemia roses. But even her passion has a highly structured goal: Gal wants to win Queen of Show in a major competition and bring that rose to market. Then one afternoon Gal's teenaged niece Riley, the daughter of her estranged sister, arrives unannounced. Neither one of them will ever be the same.

When Mark Shillingford calls a race in which his twin sister, Clare, comes in second when she could have won, he believes that she lost on purpose. After confronting her with his suspicions, Clare storms off. Hours later, she jumps to her death from the balcony of a London hotel. Devastated and guilty over her death, Mark goes in search of answers. What had led Clare to take her own life? Or was it not suicide at all?

Hoping to bring some Hollywood money to the Valley, the mayor lures a movie studio to town to shoot their next major production starring Thad Perry. Known for his bad behavior, Thad needs a babysitter, and the mayor hires Chet and Bernie for the job. When they dig into the details of an old crime, they discover that Thad has links to the Valley that go way back. To complicate matters, Thad’s cat seems hellbent on making trouble for Chet.

Hallucinations range from the shimmering zigzags of a visual migraine to powerful visions brought on by fever, injuries, drugs, sensory deprivation, exhaustion, or even grief. Drawing on his own experiences, a wealth of clinical cases from among his patients, and famous historical examples ranging from Dostoevsky to Lewis Carroll, legendary neurologist Oliver Sacks investigates the mystery of these sensory deceptions: what they say about the working of our brains, how they have influenced our folklore and culture, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all.

Harry Lipkin is a tough-talking, soft-chewing, rough-around-the-edges, slow-around-the-corners private investigator who specializes in the sort of cases that cops can't be bothered with. His latest client, Mrs. Norma Weinberger, informs him that someone is stealing sentimental trinkets and the occasional priceless jewel from her; someone she employs, trusts, cares for, and treats like family. It is up to Harry to figure out whodunit before the thief strikes again.

Phillip Quinn has done everything to make his life seem perfect, but one look at Seth reminds him of the boy he once was. While Phillip intended to fulfill his father’s dying request and considered Seth to be a duty, he has grown to love Seth. When a stranger arrives in town to secretly study the Quinns, Phillip is determined to uncover her motives. But the secret she holds threatens the life the brothers have made for Seth.

Portland detective Archie Sheridan gets a message from serial killer Gretchen Lowell, who claims to have inside knowledge about the grisly murder of a man who was found gagged, skinned, and hanging by his wrists from a tree. Archie agrees to visit Gretchen because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. But the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper and more complex than he’s willing to admit.

Elsa Emerson relishes appearing onstage, where she soaks up the approval of her father and the embrace of the audience. But when tragedy strikes her family, her acting becomes more than a child's game of pretend. While still in her teens, Elsa marries and flees to Los Angeles. There she is discovered by Irving Green, one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood, who refashions her as a serious, exotic brunette and renames her Laura Lamont.

Andy Carpenter is a lawyer who never forgets his clients. So when he gets a phone call from Joey Desimone, a man convicted of murder nine years ago who he always believed was innocent, Andy figures he owes him one. This is how Andy finds himself visiting Joey’s elderly uncle at his rest home. Is it possible that the old man holds the key to Joey’s freedom?

When Emily and her husband move to the wealthy enclave of Clairmont, Texas, she hopes she can finally escape --- and outrun the stalker who has taunted her for years. But as she is drawn into a nest of secretive Texas women --- and into the company of their queen, Caroline Warwick --- Emily finds that acceptance is a very dangerous game. It isn’t long before Caroline mysteriously disappears and Emily is facing a rash of anonymous threats.

Lovable rogue and sleuth extraordinaire Sam Levitt is back in another beguiling romp through the South of France. Will Sam survive this latest caper unscathed? Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed --- with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam’s friends --- in the novel’s climax.

Summer, 1942. Kitty, an army driver stationed in Sussex, meets Ed, a Royal Marine commando, and Larry, a liaison officer with Combined Ops. She falls instantly in love with Ed, who falls in love with her. So does Larry. Both men go off to war, and Ed wins the highest military honor for his bravery. But sometimes heroes don’t make the best husbands. MOTHERLAND follows Kitty, Ed and Larry as they make choices that will determine the challenges and triumphs of their lives.

As Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth struggle to link three gruesome crimes, they learn that there have been similar murders in other cities around the U.S. Piece by piece, evidence accumulates, pointing to a suspect that shocks them to the core, uncovering a motive that puts the entire Midwest on high alert and Monkeewrench in the direct line of fire.

“No one believed I was destined for greatness.” So begins Isabella’s story, in C. W. Gortner’s novel about one of history’s most famous and controversial queens --- the warrior who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to discover a New World.

Grace D’Angelo is a woman at her wits' end, barely managing her job, her rebellious teenager, and the horrifying fact that her lifelong best friend, Leeza, is dying of cancer. When Leeza succumbs to her illness, Grace realizes she must take drastic action to get her life back on track and repair her most precious relationships. She and her daughter move back to their hometown, where she comes to terms with the past, rediscovers the healing power of cooking, and connects with friends old and new.

Hannah Goodman’s mother, Gray, is an award-winning photojournalist with little time for the banalities of child-rearing --- Hannah’s grandmother is the closest thing she has to a traditional matriarch. But Gray is determined that Hannah make her own way in the world, and she does just that when she becomes a successful lawyer in New York City. However, one day the carefully constructed pieces of her life break apart and she discovers that where happiness is concerned, you don’t have to stick to the recipe.

Sunny Mann has masterminded a life for herself and her family in a quiet Virginia town. But when a fender bender on an average day sends her coiffed blonde wig sailing out the window, her secret is exposed. As her facade begins to unravel, we discover the singular world of Sunny, an everywoman searching for the perfect life, and Maxon, an astronaut on his way to colonize the moon.

Fatma, a mostly bedridden widow, awaits the annual summer visit of her grandchildren. Her servant’s nephew, Hasan, is a high school dropout who has lately fallen in with right-wing nationalists. He will draw the visiting family into the growing political cataclysm issuing from Turkey’s tumultuous century-long struggle for modernity.

For 20 years after Tara Martin disappeared from her small English town, her parents and her brother, Peter, have lived in denial of the grim fact that she was gone for good. And then suddenly, on Christmas Day, a disheveled and slightly peculiar-looking Tara stands on her parents’ doorstep. It's a miracle, but Tara's story just doesn't add up. And, incredibly, she barely looks a day older than when she vanished.

Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong finds herself investigating the murder of the oil-rig crew that had found the wreckage of the Mother Mary, a slave ship that once carried invaluable treasure. The crew uncovered something beneath the surface of the sea that was connected to a terrorist attack about to be launched by a mad American-born cleric who has recruited an army of homegrown terrorists. Caitlin now must find the connection between the secret treasures of the Mother Mary and the terrorists.

Set in 1972 during the Cold War, England's legendary intelligence agency MI5 embarks on an operation code-named "Sweet Tooth" to fund writers whose politics align with those of the government. Cambridge student Serena Frome is hired to infiltrate the literary circle of a promising young writer named Tom Haley. But when she begins to fall in love with him, she wonders how long she can conceal her undercover life.

Thomas Kilbride is a map-obsessed schizophrenic so affected that he rarely leaves the self-imposed bastion of his bedroom. But with a computer program called Whirl360.com, he travels the world while never so much as stepping out the door. Then he sees something that anyone else might have stumbled upon --- but has not --- in a street view of downtown New York City: an image in a window. An image that looks like a woman being murdered.

In this ninth installment of Alexander McCall Smith’s Isabel Dalhousie series, the Edinburgh philosopher and amateur sleuth answers an unexpected appeal from a wealthy Scottish collector who has been robbed of a valuable painting. She soon discovers that the thieves may be closer to the owner than he ever would have expected. Against the backdrop of this intriguing case, Isabel copes with life’s issues, large and small.