Adult

The newly hired personal assistant to a handsome, wealthy photographer is ready to greet her boss with coffee and good cheer. Instead, she finds him slumped in bed, shot to death. The victim recently had received rave media attention for his latest project: images of homeless people in their personal “dream” situations, elaborately costumed and enacting unfulfilled fantasies. There are some, however, who view the whole thing as nothing more than crass exploitation. Has disgruntlement blossomed into homicidal rage? Or do the roots of violence reach down to the victim’s family? Then new murders arise, and Dr. Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis begin peeling back layer after layer of intrigue and complexity, culminating in one of the deadliest threats they’ve ever faced.

The epitome of floral beauty, orchids have long fostered works of art, tales of adventure and scientific discovery. Tenacious plant hunters have traversed continents to collect rare specimens; naturalists and shoguns have marveled at orchids’ seductive architecture; royalty and the smart set have adorned themselves with their allure. In ORCHID MUSE, historian and home grower Erica Hannickel gathers these bold tales of the orchid-smitten throughout history, while providing tips on cultivating the extraordinary flowers she features.

Olivia Bender desperately wants to be a mother. Fertility treatments and IVF keep failing. And just when she feels she’s at her lowest point, the police deliver shocking news to Olivia and her husband, Park. DNA results show that the prime suspect in a murder investigation is Park’s son. Olivia is relieved, knowing this is a mistake. Despite their desire, the Benders don’t have any children. Then comes the confession. Many years ago, Park donated sperm to a clinic. He has no idea how many times it was sold --- or how many children he has sired. As the murder investigation goes deeper, more terrible truths come to light. With every revelation, Olivia must face the unthinkable. The man she married has fathered a killer. But can she hold that against him when she keeps such dark secrets of her own?

Beginning on August 17, 1942, American heavy bomber crews of the Eighth Air Force took off for combat in the hostile skies over occupied Europe. The final price was staggering. 4,300 B-17s and B-24s failed to return. Nearly 21,000 men were taken prisoner or interned in a neutral country, and a further 17,650 made the ultimate sacrifice. LUCK OF THE DRAW is more than a war story. It’s the incredible, inspiring story of Frank Murphy, one of the few survivors from the 100th Bombardment Group, who cheated death for months in a German POW camp after being shot out of his B-17 Flying Fortress.

While checking on a former patient at her isolated Victorian house, Dr. Amy Winslow discovers in the cellar a secret, cobweb-covered 1899 electrochemical laboratory containing a Jules Verne-esque steam-punk sarcophagus out of which springs a wild-eyed, half-mummified, crypt-keeper-like man. He claims to be a real-life Victorian master chemist and detective named Holmes, who allowed Conan Doyle to write stories based on his cases. Holmes and his reluctant new Watson, Amy, find themselves unexpectedly attracted to each other while perilously involved in reclaiming his proof of identity. It’s all connected to a horrific death-by-tiger, only the first of several bizarre, mystifying murders being committed by an exquisitely fiendish descendant of Holmes’ Victorian archenemy, Professor Moriarty.

When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city’s latest Jane Doe. Meanwhile, Ruby Jones is also trying to reinvent herself. After traveling halfway around the world, she’s lonelier than ever in the Big Apple. Until she stumbles upon a woman’s body by the Hudson River and suddenly finds herself unbreakably tied to the unknown dead woman. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her short life and tragic death. Ruby just wants to forget what she saw, but she can’t seem to stop thinking about the young woman she found. If she keeps looking, can she give this unidentified Jane Doe the ending and closure she deserves?

As Frank Costello looks back over his life as head of the most powerful crime family in America, he doesn't focus on the triumphs of his bootlegging empire, his nationwide gambling network, or his de facto control of Tammany Hall. Instead, Costello --- the politically connected "Prime Minister of the Underworld" --- remembers the lies he's told, the mistakes he's made, and his fateful decision to testify before the televised Kefauver hearings investigating organized crime in America. The novel reaches its climax as Costello --- in a naïve attempt to preserve the patina of respectability he's spent his life creating --- tries to defend himself before senators out to expose the full extent of the Mafia's reach. The result is a humiliating, very public lesson about who holds the real power in America.

A millionaire’s son is kidnapped, and private eye Nathan Heller is called in to help. But when half of the record $600,000 ransom goes missing, Heller must wade through a morass of deception and depravity to blow the lid off a notorious crime, the consequences of which reach into the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., where Bobby Kennedy works tirelessly to take down crooked union boss Jimmy Hoffa.

Adam Kasper is a historian delving into the archives of an old museum. Traveling with him is journalist Joan Templeton. Although they have come to Poland together in hopes that their new romance might flourish, Adam's work is all-consuming, and Joan finds better company with Rudy Vander Lage, a lecturer at the university. By chance, they cross paths with Pawel Radincki, a man of unstable mind who hopes to transform his life by means both criminal and occult. Adam's obsession with his research leads him to commit a serious breach of academic protocol. Although their relationship is disintegrating, Joan decides to help him with a bold and risky plan, and she enlists the aid of Rudy. Neither realizes that the risks they take will stymie Pawel's plans and put Joan's life in danger.

Set in 1982, in rural, racially divided Ricksville, Mississippi, WADE IN THE WATER tells the story of Ella, a Black, unloved, precocious 11-year-old, and Ms. St. James, a mysterious white woman from Princeton who appears in Ella’s community to carry out some research. Soon, Ms. St. James befriends Ella, who is willing to risk everything to keep her new friend in a town that does not want her there. The relationship between Ella and Ms. St. James, at times loving and funny and other times tense and cautious, becomes more fraught and complex as Ella unwittingly pushes at Ms. St. James’ carefully constructed boundaries that guard a complicated past, and dangerous secrets that could have devastating consequences.