Adult

This beautiful and mesmerizing novel by a queer Vietnamese American writer is a brilliant and unclassifiable work of fiction that takes the form of a series of letters written by the unnamed narrator to her lover in Italy: part of a stream-of-consciousness narrative that is by turns poignant, bawdy, funny and disturbing --- and often beautifully poetic. Along the way, the story touches on the immigrant experience, LGBTQIA identity, social class, writing, betrayal, sex and homesickness.

Best friends Darcy, Camilla and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset and embrace a fresh start in life. Darcy is learning how to be a free woman at 42. Camilla has found the perfect calling as a fitness and wellness influencer with a devoted following. And Kate is finally working on the book she was meant to write after years of telling other people’s stories. Their dream getaway? The exclusive and isolated Sapphire Island Resort. With luxurious private villas, crystal-clear waters and sun-drenched white sand beaches, relaxation is guaranteed. But this is no ordinary friendship, and they’re not the only guests on the island with secrets. Who left the body on the beach --- and who’s next?

Los Angeles, 1916: Photographer Bill Ogden has opened a portrait studio in the seedy noir world of early Hollywood, where he is joined by his granddaughter, Flavia, who is need of a fresh start after bludgeoning her drunken, abusive husband to death in Wichita. Though his business is mainly legit, Bill finds himself brushing up against the “blue movie” porn industry growing in the shadows of the motion picture mainstream. When a series of grisly murders take place across the city, Bill and his capable granddaughter are pulled into events as tricky and tangled as anything this side of The Big Sleep. We meet dreamers, opportunists, washed-up former stars and starry-eyed newcomers --- a cast of unforgettable characters living on the margins looking to make a quick buck, launch a career or just keep their family together.

On a cold December night, single mother Rebecca Carter drives her van into a snowbank to avoid hitting an elk on a desolate mountain highway. She is at the end of her rope, out of money and food. Still, she refuses help from a passing stranger. Rebecca’s adolescent daughter, Moonflower, is on the run from a grisly secret, and the last thing they can afford is to be remembered. Meanwhile, Special Agent Donner of the FBI has been hunting down a gruesome serial killer who drains their victims of blood before severing their spinal cords. As Agent Donner’s investigation brings him closer to the Carters, the life that Rebecca has fought so hard to hold together for her daughter becomes increasingly imperiled.

The disappearance of a local politician’s teenage daughter is major news in Minnesota. As a huge manhunt is launched to find her, Cork O’Connor’s grandson stumbles across the shallow grave of a young Ojibwe woman --- but nobody seems that interested. Nobody, that is, except Cork and the newly formed Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. As Cork and the tribal officers dig into the circumstances of this mysterious and grim discovery, they uncover a connection to the missing teenager. And soon, it’s clear that Cork’s grandson is in danger of being the killer’s next victim.

Ten years ago, June’s beloved husband, Josh, drowned on their honeymoon, and his body was never found. Now, a decade later, June is finally ready to move on. She owns a natural wine bar in Brooklyn and is engaged to a patient, supportive man named Kyle. But out of the blue, she sees Josh. Is this just a hallucination from the guilt June carries about finally moving on, or is it possible that he never died in the first place? Soon enough, she stumbles across a website for a winery in Napa, and the owner in the photo is identical to her dead husband. With her upcoming wedding looming, June secretly flies to Napa for answers. But she’s not prepared for all the secrets she’s about to unlock because everything she thought she knew about her first love is a lie.

Years ago, Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. But her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column "Dear Constance," and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times. When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies. Against all odds, she is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But she soon begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’ murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface.

In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance. Seeking reprieve from her recent hardships and her family’s addiction to their devices, May splurges on passes for her family to spend three nights' respite in the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams and animals still thrive. But when her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives to save her family.

Maddy Wight is hired to ghostwrite the memoir of world-renowned cosmetic surgeon Dr. Angela Reynolds. She travels to Angela’s remote estate in the Scottish Highlands to hunker down and learn everything she can. Sharing the estate is Angela’s enigmatic business partner, Scott, whose mercurial moods change as quickly as the conditions on the darkening moors outside --- and Maddy finds herself drawn ever closer to him. Returning to London once the book is finished, Maddy is excited for their future together. But her dreams are shattered at the book launch when Angela learns that Scott has leapt to his death from the Scottish cliffs. Which is why Maddy is completely blindsided months later when she sees Scott entering the Tube station just in front of her. It can’t be him, can it?

June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson, M.D. is operating on the wounded full-time when his labors are interrupted by a knock on his door, revealing Sherlock Holmes, with a black eye, a missing tooth and a cracked rib. The story he has to tell will set in motion a series of world-changing events in the most consequential case of the detective’s career. Amid rebellion in Ireland and revolution in Russia, Germany has a secret plan to win the war, and Sir William Melville of the British Secret Service dispatches the two aging friends to learn what the scheme is before it can be put into effect. In pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram sent from Berlin to an unknown recipient in Mexico, Holmes and Watson seek to foil the schemes of Holmes’ nemesis, the escaped German spymaster Von Bork.