Adult

Claudia Lin --- mystery novel superfan and, until recently, clichéd underemployed English major --- has scored her dream job: co-running Veracity, a dating detective agency for chronically online New Yorkers who want to know if their prospective partners are telling the truth. Unfortunately, along the way, she and her colleagues have uncovered a far-reaching AI conspiracy. And the corporate matchmakers may be resorting to murder to protect their secrets. In the wake of a client’s sudden death, Claudia convinces his ex, an industry insider, to turn on his employer and feed the verifiers information about what the powerful dating platforms are really up to. But even as Claudia starts to get a feel for this new genre, she fears that her beloved older brother is unwittingly being drawn into the matchmakers’ deadly web.

THE VOYAGE HOME follows the young Ritsa and the unpredictable Cassandra on their perilous return journey to Mycenae. Cassandra has acquired the powers of prophecy from the kiss of Apollo, but the very same god has taken away the people’s belief in her abilities. Though she warns of the carnage that awaits the Greek warrior king Agamemnon --- who numbs himself with alcohol on the storm-plagued trip home --- her shipmates disregard her. While Cassandra’s prophecies fall on deaf ears, Ritsa instead remains focused on surviving once they make land. When a mysterious young girl begins to shadow them, and Agamemnon’s cruelty takes a new turn, Ritsa must find a safe place for Cassandra, whose mood alternates between cruelty and frenzy. But it’s the ongoing ire between Queen Clytemnestra and Agamemnon that could prove fatal for everyone.

The stupendous publication of Edna Ferber's GIANT in 1952 set off a storm of protest over the novel's portrayal of Texas manners, money and mores, with oil-rich Texans threatening to shoot, lynch or ban Ferber from ever entering the state again. In GIANT LOVE, Julie Gilbert writes of the internationally bestselling Ferber, one of the most widely read writers in the first half of the 20th century --- her evolution from mid-west maverick girl-reporter to Pulitzer Prize-winning, beloved American novelist, from her want-to-be actress days to becoming Broadway's acclaimed prize-winning playwright whose collaborators were, along with Ferber herself, the most successful playwrights of their time. Here is the making of an American classic novel and the film that followed in its wake.

Thirty years ago, musicians Emilia Oliveras and Paul Winstead were married in Puerto Rico. Forty-eight hours later, Paul vanished from their honeymoon cruise, leaving Emilia devastated --- and the prime suspect in his disappearance. So she ran for her life, leaving behind her love, her dreams and her identity. Today, “Emily Oliver” is a divorced music teacher and mother of two daughters who know nothing about her past: Gracie, a talented attorney who excels in the courtroom but grapples with personal relationships, and Meg, a gifted concert pianist who wrestles with her ambition and purpose. When a cryptic caller claims the unthinkable --- that Paul is alive --- Emily returns to Puerto Rico in search of the truth. What she doesn’t know is that her daughters aren’t far behind. Gracie and Meg wonder how much of their lives have been a lie.

On a December night in 1978, Courtney Lund O’Neil’s mother, teenager Kim Byers, saw her friend, Rob Piest, alive for the last time. At the end of his shift at the pharmacy where they both worked, 15-year-old Rob went outside to speak to a contractor named John Wayne Gacy about a possible job. That night, Rob became Gacy’s final victim; his body was later found in the Des Plaines River. Kim’s testimony --- along with a receipt belonging to her found in Gacy’s house, proving that Rob had been there --- would be pivotal in convicting the serial killer who assaulted and killed over 30 young men and boys. Though she grew up far from Des Plaines, Courtney has lived in the shadow of that nightmare, keenly aware of its impact on her mother. In search of deeper understanding and closure, Courtney and Kim travel back to Illinois.

One year after a devastating hurricane, bride-to-be Ruth Bancroft is marrying her perfect groom in a quaint fishing village on the Gulf Coast. The weekend is carefully curated, with the displays of pomp and social media magic meant to promote an area still struggling to rebuild as well as bring Ruth’s estranged family back together. Yet as good intentions often go, this road to wed is hell and paved in complications. With tensions rising between the family and the bridal party, long-buried secrets come to light, and accusations start flying. Things officially spiral out of control when the oceanfront rehearsal dinner is rocked by a series of gunshots, and a high-profile guest goes missing. As the investigation gets underway, it turns out that everyone has something to hide.

Detective Evan Bolton is gutted by his latest investigation. His friend and mentor, retired detective Rod McLeod, has been murdered, his body left in the trunk of a junkyard car. When McLeod’s daughter and grandson abruptly vanish, Evan knows it’s not a coincidence. Search-and-rescue canine specialist Rowan Wolff agrees as she and her dog, Thor, track the missing family. The two cases converge in a puzzling twist. Evan discovers that McLeod has been reinvestigating old crimes --- solved but not forgotten. Evan takes them on, one by one, and a disturbing suspicion forms that someone in law enforcement has something to hide and would do anything to keep those secrets buried. But Evan and Rowan’s time is slipping away. They have to find the killer now. Before someone else disappears. Before someone else dies.

Unwanted and neglected from birth, Barbara Graham had to overcome the odds just to survive. Her record of petty crimes spoke to a life that constantly teetered on the brink of disaster. But in 1953, when a robbery spiraled out of control and escalated into a brutal murder, Barbara became the centerpiece of a media circus. Her beauty enraptured the press, and they were quick to portray her as a villainous femme fatale despite abundant evidence to the contrary --- a fiction the prosecution eagerly promoted. The frenzy of public interest and willful distortion paved a treacherous path for Barbara Graham. In TRIAL BY AMBUSH, Marcia Clark investigates the case, exposing the fallacies in the demonizing picture they painted and the critical evidence that was never revealed.

STORIES I LIVED TO TELL is more than a selection of stories from revered mountain storyteller Gary Carden. It is a testimony of a distinguished culture, sense of place and spirit of community that connects the Appalachian past to its present. This memoir-in-stories invites the reader to move beyond stereotypes to experience the scenes, characters and community of the author's childhood and formative years, intersecting with the regional folktales and mythologies that fired his imagination. It is not only a fascinating window into an Appalachian community in the middle of the 20th century but also an insightful reminder of who that community is today, in spite of the external changes.

Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something is not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same: Have you tried eating better? Exercising more? Establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on and wakes up to find she has walked over 40,000 steps in the night. What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?