Adult

Josephine Thomas has heard every conceivable theory about her mother's disappearance. The most worrying charge is that she was a witch. In a world where witches are real, peculiar behavior raises suspicions, and a woman --- especially a Black woman --- can find herself on trial for witchcraft. Fourteen years have passed, and Jo is finally ready to let go of the past. Yet her future is in doubt. The State mandates that all women marry by the age of 30 --- or enroll in a registry that allows them to be monitored, effectively forfeiting their autonomy. At 28, Jo is ambivalent about marriage. When she’s offered the opportunity to honor one last request from her mother's will, Jo leaves her regular life to feel connected to her one last time.

At 35, Mika Suzuki is at the lowest point of her life when she receives a phone call from Penny, the daughter she placed for adoption 16 years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother; in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What starts as a tiny white lie slowly snowballs into a fully fledged fake life. The harder-won heart belongs to Thomas Calvin, Penny’s adoptive widower father. What starts as a rocky, contentious relationship slowly blossoms into a friendship and, over time, something more. But can Mika really have it all --- love, her daughter, the life she’s always wanted --- or will her deceptions ultimately catch up to her?

DANGEROUS RHYTHMS tells the symbiotic story of jazz and the underworld: a relationship fostered in some of 20th-century America’s most notorious vice districts. For the first half of the century, mobsters and musicians enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership. By offering artists like Louis Armstrong, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne and Ella Fitzgerald a stage, the mob --- including major players Al Capone, Meyer Lansky and Charlie “Lucky” Luciano --- provided opportunities that would not otherwise have existed. Even so, at the heart of this relationship was a festering racial inequity. The musicians were mostly African American, and the clubs and means of production were owned by white men.

When she was 12 years old, Kirra Mandarian’s parents were murdered. Fourteen years later, Kirra is a commonwealth attorney, and her goal is to find out who killed her parents and why. She quickly learns that big-time criminals are very dangerous indeed and realizes she needs Dillon Savich’s help. Emma Hunt, a piano prodigy and the granddaughter of powerful crime boss Mason Lord, was only six years old when she was abducted. She was saved by her adoptive father, San Francisco federal judge Ramsey Hunt. Now a 12-year-old with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she narrowly saves herself from a would-be kidnapper. Lacey Sherlock and officers from METRO are assigned to protect her, but things don’t turn out as planned.

1943. As war in the Pacific rages on, Isabel Cooper and her codebreaker colleagues huddle in “the dungeon” at Station HYPO in Pearl Harbor, deciphering secrets plucked from the airwaves in a race to bring down the enemy. Isabel, who only wishes to avenge her brother’s death, meets his best friend, a hotshot pilot with secrets of his own. 1965. Fledgling journalist Lu Freitas comes home to Hawai'i to cover the grand opening of the glamorous Mauna Kea Beach Hotel. When a high-profile guest goes missing, Lu forms an unlikely alliance with an intimidating veteran photographer to unravel the mystery. The two make a shocking discovery that stirs up memories and uncovers an explosive secret from the war days. A secret that only a codebreaker can crack.

Cassie Quinn knows a few things. One: money can’t buy happiness, but it’s certainly better to have it. Two: family matters most. Three: her younger brother, Billy, is not a rapist. When Billy, a junior at Princeton, is arrested for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Cassie joins forces with her big brother, Nate, and their parents, Lawrence and Eleanor. The Quinns scramble to hire the best legal minds money can buy, but Billy fits the all-too-familiar sex-offender profile --- white, athletic and privileged --- that makes headlines and sways juries. As reporters converge outside their Upper East Side landmark building, Cassie vows she’ll do whatever it takes to save Billy. But what if that means exposing her own darkest secrets to the world?

When audiobook narrator Sewanee Chester arrives in Las Vegas last-minute for a book convention, she unexpectedly spends a whirlwind night with a charming stranger. On her return home, she discovers that one of the world’s most beloved romance novelists wanted her to perform her last book --- with Brock McNight, the industry’s hottest, most secretive voice. As Sewanee begins working on the project, resurrecting her old romance pseudonym, she and Brock forge a real connection, hidden behind the comfort of anonymity. Soon, she is dreaming again. But secrets are revealed, and the realities of life come crashing down around her once more.

By the time she retires from tennis, Carrie Soto is the best player the world has ever seen. She has shattered every record and claimed 20 Grand Slam titles. And if you ask Carrie, she is entitled to every one. But six years after her retirement, Carrie finds herself sitting in the stands of the 1994 US Open, watching her record be taken from her by a brutal, stunning player named Nicki Chan. At 37 years old, Carrie makes the monumental decision to come out of retirement for one last year in an attempt to reclaim her record. Even if the sports media says that they never liked “the Battle-Axe” anyway. Even if her body doesn’t move as fast as it did. And even if it means swallowing her pride to train with a man she once almost opened her heart to: Bowe Huntley.

Though Frances Mayes is known for her travels, she has always sought a sense of home wherever she goes. In this poetic testament to the power of place in our lives, Mayes reflects on the idea of home, from the earliest imprint of four walls to the startling discoveries of feeling the strange ease of homes abroad, friends’ homes, and even momentary homes that spark desires for other lives. Her musings are all the more poignant after so many have spent their long pandemic months at home. From her travels across Italy --- Tuscany, of course, but also Venice and Capri --- to the American South, France and Mexico, Mayes examines the connective tissue among them through the homes she’s inhabited.

In the waning days of the turbulent 1970s, in the wake of unsolved child killings that have shocked Detroit, the lives of several residents are drawn together with tragic consequences. There is Hannah, wife of a prominent local businessman, who has begun an affair with a darkly charismatic stranger whose identity remains elusive; Mikey, a canny street hustler who finds himself on a chilling mission to rectify injustice; and the serial killer known as Babysitter, an enigmatic and terrifying figure at the periphery of elite Detroit. As Babysitter continues his rampage of abductions and killings, these individuals intersect with one another in startling and unexpected ways.