Adult

The mystery of Evie Cormac’s background has followed her into adulthood. As a child, she was discovered hiding in a secret room where a man had been tortured to death. Many of her captors and abusers escaped justice, unseen but not forgotten. Now, on a hot summer’s day, the past drags Evie back as she watches the bodies of 17 migrants wash up on a Lincolnshire beach. There is only one survivor, a teenage boy, who tells police their small boat was deliberately rammed and sunk. Psychologist Cyrus Haven is recruited by the police to investigate the murders --- but recognizes immediately that Evie has some link to the tragedy. By solving this crime, he could finally unlock the secrets of her past. But what dark forces will he set loose? And who will pay the price?

In a city ravaged by a mysterious plague, a woman tries to understand why her world is falling apart. An algae bloom has poisoned the previously pristine air that blows in from the sea. Inland, a secretive corporation churns out the only food anyone can afford --- a revolting pink paste, made of an unknown substance. In the short, desperate breaks between deadly windstorms, our narrator stubbornly tends to her few remaining relationships: with her difficult but vulnerable mother; with the ex-husband for whom she still harbors feelings; with the boy she nannies, whose parents sent him away even as terrible threats loomed. Yet as conditions outside deteriorate further, her commitment to remaining in place only grows --- even if staying means being left behind.

Patricia Walsh Chadwick grew up in a religious community-turned-cult in the Boston area. At the age of 17, she was forced out of her home, leaving behind her entire family. From her first job as a receptionist at a brokerage firm, she clawed her way up the ladder in that bastion of male chauvinism: Wall Street. By going to college at night, she achieved her degree in economics from Boston University and headed to New York City. With a drive that earned her the moniker “Witch of Wall Street,” she rose from the ranks of research analyst to portfolio manager. A turning point in her life was giving birth to twins at the age of 45, and she continued forward in her career, becoming a global partner at Invesco. At the turn of the millennium, she left Wall Street behind and embarked on a second career as a corporate board director.

Set on the Louisiana coastline during the historic 2010 oil spill, PEARCE OYSTERS follows the Pearce family, local oyster farmers whose business, family and livelihood are all on the brink of collapse. It highlights the grit and beauty of lives lived in an overlooked corner of the American South and the interdependence of nature and man. Diving deep into the bonds of family, culture, community, class and industry, debut novelist Joselyn Takacs elevates the voices of her deeply sympathetic characters: Jordan, the reluctant head of his family’s storied oyster business; May, his distressed, widowed mother who has her own unexpected drama; and Benny, the beatnik musician brother who returns from New Orleans to help with the crisis.

After a decade of exile precipitated by the tragic death of his mother, Will Seems returns home from Richmond to rural Southern Virginia, taking a job as deputy sheriff in a landscape given way to crime and defeat. His efforts to go about his life are wrecked when a mysterious, brutal homicide claims the life of an old friend, Tom Janders, forcing Will to face the true impetus for his return: not to honor his mother's memory, but to pay a debt to a Black friend who, in an act of selfless courage years ago, protected Will and suffered permanent disfigurement for it. Meanwhile, a man Will knows to be innocent is arrested for Tom's murder. Will must weigh his personal guilt against his public duty when the local Black community hires Bennico Watts, an unpredictable private detective from Richmond, to help him find the real killer.

Clete Purcel is Dave Robicheaux’s longtime friend and partner in detective work. But he has a troubled past. When Clete leaves his car at the local car wash, only to return to find it ransacked by a group of thugs tied to the drug trade from Mexican cartels to Louisiana, it feels personal. Just as Clete starts to trail the culprits, Clara Bow hires Clete to investigate her scheming ex-husband, and a string of brutal deaths all link back to a heavily tattooed man who seems to lurk around every corner. Clete is experiencing shockingly lifelike hallucinations and questioning Clara’s ulterior motives when he and Dave start to hear rumors of a dangerous substance with potentially catastrophic effects. The thugs who destroyed his car might have been pawns in a scheme far darker than they could have imagined.

In February 1944, a ragtag collection of British clerks, drivers, doctors, muleteers and other base troops managed to defeat a much larger and sophisticated contingent of some of the finest infantry in the Japanese army on their march towards India. What became known as the Battle of the Admin Box turned the battle for Burma. Not only was it the first decisive victory for Allied troops against the Japanese, it demonstrated how the Japanese could be defeated. Lessons learned in this otherwise insignificant corner of the Far East set up the campaign in Burma that would follow, as General William Slim’s Fourteenth Army finally turned the tide of the war in the East. In BURMA ’44, acclaimed World War II historian James Holland offers a dramatic tale of victory against incredible odds.

It’s 1945. The Nazi occupation of Italy is in its closing days. But risk is ever present. It’s been nearly two years since Sarah Zinsi found tenuous sanctuary in Switzerland. Unmoored in a foreign land, she heeds a rumor that her village on the Lake Como shore has been liberated. Clutching her young daughter, Sarah navigates the arduous mountain trek back home to be with Luca Benedetto, the father of her child. A resister to the end, Luca has one last assignment: assassinate Mussolini, the man who destroyed everything Luca cherished and who forced the love of his life to flee. Sarah’s path crosses that of a charismatic and kindly black marketeer turned partisan spy. He vows to keep mother and child safe as Luca’s perilous mission escalates and the Nazis’ final moves devolve into chaos.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller --- she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property. The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are --- for the other women who also have gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

Midnight. A grisly murder scene at an isolated farm on the outskirts of Oxford. A man lies dead in the kitchen, shot point blank. The farm’s elderly owners claim the shooting was self-defense against a burglar. But something about the crime scene doesn’t sit right with DI Adam Fawley, whose gut tells him there’s more to their story. If the victim came to rob the house, why wasn’t he wearing gloves or carrying tools? Why didn’t the owner of the house call the police right after the shooting? Why did his wife wash his blood-splattered clothes immediately? Digging deeper, the police realize this is no ordinary burglary gone wrong. There’s an unmistakable link to an infamous case from years earlier involving a child’s murder and an alleged miscarriage of justice.