Adult

It is said there are 99 Arabic words for love. Bea, an American exchange student, has learned them all: In search of deep feeling, she travels to a Middle Eastern country known to hold "The Astonishing Text," an ancient, original manuscript of a famous Arabic love story that is said to move its best readers to tears. Once in this foreign country, though, Bea finds that instead of intensely reading Arabic, she is entwined in her host family's complicated lives. But as the country drifts toward explosive unrest, Bea wonders how many secrets she can keep, and how long she can fight for a romance that does not belong to her.

Once the most wanted man in America, Pat Crowe is a forgotten folk hero who captivated the nation as an outlaw for economic justice. WORLD, CHASE ME DOWN resurrects him, telling the electrifying story of the first great crime of the last century. In 1900, the out-of-work former butcher kidnapped the teenage son of Omaha’s wealthiest meatpacking tycoon for a ransom of $25,000 in gold, and then burgled, safe-cracked and bond-jumped his way across the country and beyond, inciting a manhunt that was dubbed “the thrill of the nation” and a showdown in the court of public opinion between the haves and have-nots --- all the while plotting a return to the woman he never stopped loving.

Cash McLendon has journeyed to Mountain View in the Arizona Territory with one goal: to convince Gabrielle Tirrito that he’s a changed man and win her back from schoolteacher Joe Saint. As they’re about to depart by stage for their new life in San Francisco, Gabrielle is kidnapped by enforcer Killer Boots, who is working on orders from crooked St. Louis businessman Rupert Douglass. Cash, once married to Douglass’ troubled daughter, fled the city when she died of accidental overdose --- and Douglass vowed he’d track Cash down and make him pay. Now McLendon, accompanied by Joe Saint and Major Mulkins, hits the trail in pursuit of Gabrielle and Killer Boots, hoping to make a trade before it’s too late.

Throughout its history, America has been torn in two by debates over ideals and beliefs.  Randall Fuller takes us back to one of those turning points, in 1860, with the story of the influence of Charles Darwin’s just-published ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES on five American intellectuals, including Bronson Alcott, Henry David Thoreau, the child welfare reformer Charles Loring Brace, and the abolitionist Franklin Sanborn. Each of these figures seized on the book’s assertion of a common ancestry for all creatures as a powerful argument against slavery, one that helped provide scientific credibility to the cause of abolition.

Victorian adventuress and butterfly hunter Veronica Speedwell receives an invitation to visit the Curiosity Club, a ladies-only establishment for daring and intrepid women. There she meets the mysterious Lady Sundridge, who begs her to take on an impossible task --- saving society art patron Miles Ramsforth from execution. Accused of the brutal murder of his artist mistress Artemisia, Ramsforth will face the hangman’s noose in a week’s time if Veronica cannot find the real killer. But Lady Sundridge is not all that she seems, and unmasking her true identity is only the first of the many secrets Veronica must uncover.

As a young partner at Dunn & Sullivan, one of New York’s most prestigious law firms, Carney Blake has represented dozens of high-profile clients. But being a pawn of Big Law often means defending the corporate dirt bags of the world --- the spillers, the drillers and the killers. When Carney is suddenly asked by his firm’s chairman to represent the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit --- and not, as usual, the corporate bad guys --- he warily accepts. As Carney digs deeper into the case, he uncovers corruption and maliciously orchestrated schemes that go straight to the top of Dunn & Sullivan --- along with the true motives behind his placement on the case.

When Ceci Renard hires Ludlow and Associates to sue the hip new church that she believes has brainwashed her daughter, Fina Ludlow is assigned to the case. Covenant Rising Church has all the trappings of a less-than-holy organization, including a slick young pastor and devoted congregants who seem eager to part with their money. Fina wonders if Ceci disapproves of Covenant Rising’s theology or the pastor’s ability to solicit generous donations --- until a prominent church member dies unexpectedly. Fina’s investigation requires her to delve into the woman's life and ask a host of difficult questions. Is the pastor leading his flock astray? Did the church have a hand in the death, or were there less savory elements in the woman's life outside the parish?

While on a trip to the towering redwoods of northern California, war veteran Peter Ash meets investigative journalist June Cassidy, who just days ago escaped a kidnapping by the men who are still on her trail. She suspects they’re after something belonging to her mother, a prominent software designer who recently died in an accident. June needs time to figure out what’s going on, and help from someone with Peter’s particular set of skills. Only one step ahead of their pursuers, Peter and June must race to unravel this peculiar mystery. What they find leads them to an eccentric recluse, a shadowy pseudo-military organization, and an extraordinary tool that may change the modern world forever.

Warning: This is Not a Cookbook! FOOD AND FEAST does, however, contain over a hundred recipes --- medieval recipes in their original medieval form, medieval recipes in modern terms, traditional Scottish recipes, modern midwest American, recipes for eating in the wilderness, and even exotic and slightly dangerous recipes, drawn from scenes in the acclaimed Blue Bells Chronicles. In an eclectic mix, FOOD AND FEAST also digs into tasty morsels of history, succulent songs, meaty medieval philosophy, and medieval and Scottish poems, about food and drink. Here be fire-breathing roasts and live bird pies alongside oatcakes cooked on the campaign trail.

Michael “Zig” Danziger projects a certain devil-may-care persona. But don’t let the larger-than-life, hail-fellow-well-met routine fool you --- there is far more to his story than being born on third base. Zig’s intense experience as a Yale oarsman is a case study on the journey itself being the reward. He was never going to make the first varsity boat, or the second. Not even the third boat. But he worked his butt off to earn a seat in the fourth boat --- and became a Yale Crew legend. SMALL PUDDLES tells the story of those years at Yale and the people who shaped Zig’s one-of-a-kind view of the world.