Adult

Violet Everly is the last of her line. For centuries, her family has seen their best and brightest taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Violet has 10 years to find her mother, Marianne, the latest victim of the curse. If she fails, she will take Marianne's place. As her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge, time starts to run out. Violet will have to travel to the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.

In New York City, three intriguing, smart and stylish private investigators open Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. Who are these detectives with famous names and mysterious, untraceable pasts? Brendan Holmes (The Brain) identifies suspects via deduction and logic. Margaret Marple (The Eyes) possesses powers of observation too often underestimated. Auguste Poe (The Muscle) chases down every lead no matter how dangerous or dark. The agency’s daring methodology and headline-making solves attract the attention of NYPD Detective Helene Grey. Her solo investigation into her three unknowable competitors rivals the best mysteries of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe.

Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he admits: “I actually did it.” To which Hightower responds: “Yeah, no kidding.” The ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con. Fourteen-year-old Matilda Finnerty has been diagnosed with leukemia, but that’s not going to stop her from tackling the most important mystery of her life: Is her father guilty of murder? Jeanie Hightower mends family trees for a living, but the genealogist is unable to repair her own marriage. And her soon-to-be ex may have entangled her in a scheme that has drawn the bloody wrath of The Bear, a prolific serial killer who disappeared 40 years ago and is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right.

Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures. While the girls were never convicted, Joni capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality. Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?

As the fact checker for a popular magazine, Gabby DiMarco believes in absolute, verifiable Truths --- until they throw the facts of her own life into question. The genealogy test she took as research for an article has yielded a baffling result: Gabby has a sister. Except, as Gabby’s beloved parents would confirm if they were still alive, that’s impossible. Isabella Ruiz can still picture the face of her baby sister, who disappeared from the streets of San Juan 25 years ago. Isabella, an artist, has fought hard for the stable home and loving marriage she has today --- yet the longing to find Marianna has never left. At last, she’s found a match, and Gabby has agreed to come to Puerto Rico. But Gabby, as defensive and cautious as Isabella is impulsive, offers no happy reunion. She insists there’s been a mistake.

It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl. Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl. It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. But their parents kind of seem to hate each other. Still, Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little 20-year-old heartbreak. Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage.

Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love --- and betrayal.

New York, 1804. Alexander Hamilton lies dead after a duel with Aaron Burr. Eliza Hamilton’s 18-year-old son, Alexander Jr., was seen fighting with a man in a tavern the night before his father’s duel and quickly comes under suspicion for murder when the man turns up dead. Eliza searches for ways to clear her son’s name, but as she combs through her late husband’s papers, she finds evidence of a plot to steal money from the government during his tenure as secretary of state. Deep in debt and despair, with eight children to support, Eliza turns to selling her handmade lace --- and is drawn into a mysterious network of widow lacemakers who are intimately connected to New York’s high-society families. They know their dead husbands’ secrets --- and Eliza soon begins to piece together the truth.

In this finely wrought collection of essays, Martín Solares examines the novel in all its forms, exploring the conventions of structure, the novel as a house that one must build brick by brick, and the objects and characters that build out the world of the novel in unique and complex ways. With poetic, graceful prose that reflects the power of fascination with literary fiction, Solares uses line drawings to realize the ebb and flow of the novel. A novelist, occasional scholar and former acquiring editor in Mexican publishing, Solares breaks out of the Anglo-American-dominated canon of many craft books, ranging across Latin and South America as well. He considers how writers invent (or discover) their characters, the importance of place (or not) in the novel, and the myriad forms the novel may take.

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police on her step. They have arrived to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what --- or who --- is she willing to leave behind?