Adult

Catherine Williams earns her living shucking oysters in a filthy, mosquito-infested shed, like all Geechee women in Pin Point, Georgia, in 1904. When the owner of the oyster cannery makes an unwanted sexual advance toward Catherine’s daughter Licia, Catherine is forced to hide Licia with her son Willie on Skidaway Island, the epicenter of fine-liquor smuggling and manufacture of moonshine. She struggles to keep her job and home, both of which depend on pleasing her boss. The mayor entices Licia into sex and rum-running, building her a secret house on Burnt Pot Island, where even voodoo and Christian prayer aren’t enough to keep her safe. Federal agents close in for a raid, forcing Catherine to choose between abandoning everything she has worked for and saving her children.

Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the recently dead and give voice to their final wishes and revelations. Inherited from her father, this gift has enabled the family undertakers to flourish in their small Irish town. Yet she has always been uneasy about censoring some of the dead's last messages to the living. She also is unsure about the choice she made when she left school 17 years ago: to stay or leave for a new life in London with her charismatic teenage sweetheart. So when Jeanie's parents unexpectedly announce their plan to retire, she is jolted out of her limbo.

Claudia is used to disregarding her fractious family’s model-minority expectations: she has no interest in finding either a conventional career or a nice Chinese boy. She’s also used to keeping secrets from them, such as that she prefers girls --- and that she's just been stealth-recruited by Veracity, a referrals-only online-dating detective agency. A lifelong mystery reader who wrote her senior thesis on Jane Austen, Claudia believes she's landed her ideal job. But when a client vanishes, Claudia breaks protocol to investigate --- and uncovers a maelstrom of personal and corporate deceit.

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother, Ben, didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up --- to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? --- he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

Maggie, the newest teacher at Downey House, is determined to make her mark. She’s delighted by her new teaching job, but will it come at the expense of her relationship with her safe, dependable boyfriend, Stan? Simone is excited and nervous: she has won a scholarship to the prestigious boarding school and wants to make her parents proud. Forced to share a room with the glossy, posh girls of Downey House, she needs to find a friend, fast. Fliss is furious. She has never wanted to go to boarding school and hates being sent away from her home. As Simone tries desperately to fit in, Fliss tries desperately to get out. Over the course of one year, friendships will bloom and lives will be changed forever.

After Hitler’s invasion of Russia, Mila Pavlichenko must forge herself from studious girl to deadly sniper --- a lethal hunter of Nazis known as Lady Death. When news of her 300th kill makes her a national heroine, Mila is sent to America on a goodwill tour. She finds herself isolated and lonely in the glittering world of Washington, DC --- until an unexpected friendship with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and an even more unexpected connection with a silent fellow sniper offer the possibility of happiness. But when an old enemy from Mila’s past joins forces with a deadly new foe lurking in the shadows, Lady Death finds herself battling her own demons and enemy bullets in the deadliest duel of her life.

Charismatic Marie Antoine is the daughter of the richest man in 19th-century Montreal. She has everything she wants, except for a best friend --- until clever, scheming Sadie Arnett moves to the neighborhood. Immediately united by their passion and intensity, Marie and Sadie attract and repel each other in ways that thrill them both. Their games soon become tinged with risk, even violence. Forced to separate by the adults around them, they spend years engaged in acts of alternating innocence and depravity. And when a singular event brings them back together, the dizzying effects will upend the city.

Dark Fell Barn is a “perfectly isolated” retreat, or so says its website when Jayne books a reservation for her friends. A quiet place, far removed from the rest of the world, is exactly what they need. The women arrive for a girls’ night ahead of their husbands. Ex-Army Jayne is hardened and serious but also damaged. Ruth is a driven doctor and new mother who is battling demons of her own. Young Emily, just wed and insecure, is the newest addition to this tight-knit band. Missing this year is Edie, who was the glue holding them together, until her husband died suddenly. But what they hoped would be a relaxing break soon turns to horror. Upon arrival at Dark Fell Barn, the women find a devastating note claiming one of their husbands will be murdered.

Bestselling novelist Sara Medlar is skilled at sharing stories about other people, but she hoped the truth about her own family would never surface. Her home in Lachlan, Florida, is her refuge, and she loves having her niece, Kate, and dear friend, Jack Wyatt, together under her roof. The Medlar Three have sworn off getting involved in any more murder investigations. When the sheriff unexpectedly leaves on vacation, Jack is surprised to find himself appointed as deputy. So when Kate stumbles upon a dead body, the Medlar Three are back in the sleuthing game. Kate also has a charming new real estate client with a mysterious past. He seems to be followed by trouble, and that makes Sara and Jack uneasy.

At an elite private school nestled in the Colorado mountains, Natalie, an office assistant, dreams of having a life like the school moms she deals with every day. Women like Brooke --- a gorgeous heiress, ferociously loving mother and serial cheater --- and Asha, an overprotective mom who suspects her husband of having an affair. Their fates are bound by the handsome assistant athletic director Nicholas, whom Natalie loves, Brooke wants and Asha needs. But when two bodies are carried out of the school one morning, it seems the tension between mothers and daughters, rival lovers and the haves and have-nots has shattered the surface of this isolated, affluent town --- where people stop at nothing to get what they want.