Adult

The story begins in 1618, in the German duchy of Württemberg. Plague is spreading. The Thirty Years' War has begun, and fear and suspicion are in the air throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In the small town of Leonberg, Katharina Kepler is accused of being a witch. Katharina is an illiterate widow, known by her neighbors for her herbal remedies and the success of her children. So when the deranged and insipid Ursula Reinbold accuses Katharina of offering her a bitter, witchy drink that has made her ill, she is in trouble. Facing the threat of financial ruin, torture and even execution, Katharina tells her side of the story to her friend and next-door neighbor Simon, a reclusive widower imperiled by his own secrets.

On January 28, 1986, NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded after blasting off from Cape Canaveral. Christa McAuliffe, America’s “Teacher in Space,” was instantly killed, along with the other six members of the mission. At least that's what most of us remember. Kevin Cook tells us what really happened on that ill-fated, unforgettable day. He traces the pressures --- leading from NASA to the White House --- that triggered the fatal order to launch on an ice-cold Florida morning. Cook takes readers inside the shuttle for the agonizing minutes after the explosion, which the astronauts did indeed survive. He uncovers the errors and corner-cutting that led an overconfident space agency to launch a crew that had no chance to escape.

Detective Lindsay Jackman is investigating the murder of a young journalist and soon learns that the victim was writing an exposé. Her subject: a charismatic wellness guru. When Marnie Spellman was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her off the ground and toward the sunlight, illuming her spiritual connection with nature --- an uncanny event on which Marnie built a cosmetics empire and became the queen of holistic health and eternal beauty. In her inner circle is an intimate band of devotees called the Hive. Determined to uncover the possibly deadly mysteries of the group, Lindsay focuses her investigation on Marnie and the former members of the Hive, who are just as determined to keep Lindsay from their secrets as they are to maintain their status.

Rowan Darling, an adrift 33-year-old, owns a record store on a run-down block in Philadelphia. Then news of his estranged brother’s death forces a return to Maybee, Illinois, the hometown Rowan left in the dust years ago. Rowan’s plan is to dart in for the funeral, support his mother and then disappear just as quickly. Unfortunately, as Rowan’s flash visit spirals beyond his control, he must face everything he has dodged for too long. The woman he can’t have. The memory of the brother he thought he knew. His own dwindling prospects back in Philadelphia. But Rowan also starts to see things more clearly --- what’s worth fighting for, what he can let go of, and how long he can keep running.

A former translator for the United Nations, Katharina Edgeworth --- now the wife of a beloved pediatric surgeon and heir to a shipping fortune --- is desperate to escape the constraints of domesticity. So when she is approached by the FBI and asked to join their ranks as an informant, Katharina seizes the opportunity. A man from her past has become a high-level Soviet spy, but no one has been able to infiltrate his circle. Enter Katharina, the perfect woman for the job. Navigating the demands of the FBI and the secrets of the KGB, she becomes a courier, carrying stolen government documents from D.C. to Manhattan. But as those closest to her lose their covers, and their lives, Katharina’s secret soon threatens to ruin her.

Sadie Way Scott has been avoiding her family and hometown of Sugarberry Cove, Alabama, since she nearly drowned in the lake just outside her mother’s B&B. Eight years later, Sadie is the host of a much-loved show about southern cooking and family. But despite her success, she wonders why she was saved. Sadie’s sister, Leala Clare, is still haunted by the guilt she feels over the night Sadie almost died. Now, at a crossroads in her marriage, Leala has everything she ever thought she wanted. So why is she so unhappy? When their mother suffers a minor heart attack, the two sisters come home to run the inn while she recovers. With a little help from the inn’s quirky guests, they may come to terms with their strained relationships, accept the past and rediscover a little lake magic.

In 1345, China lies under harsh Mongol rule. When the Zhu family’s eighth-born son, Zhu Chongba, is given a fate of greatness, everyone is mystified as to how it will come to pass. The fate of nothingness received by the family’s clever and capable second daughter, on the other hand, is only as expected. When a bandit attack orphans the two children, though, it is Zhu Chongba who succumbs to despair and dies. Desperate to escape her own fated death, the girl uses her brother's identity to enter a monastery as a young male novice. After her sanctuary is destroyed for supporting the rebellion against Mongol rule, Zhu takes the chance to claim another future altogether: her brother's abandoned greatness.

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive. As Alice is getting to know her neighbors, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before. Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets, and things are not as perfect as they seem.

Jen Dixon of Overland Park, Kansas --- fearless mother of a fifth-grade boy and two thirty-something daughters --- is used to juggling a lot. But when the PTA president throws her a mandate to raise $10,000 for the fifth-grade class, even unflappable Jen is going to need more than her regular spin class to get her through this final year at William Taft Elementary School. In the midst of new complications --- organizing the class overnight to Topeka, an unexpected spin class fan in the form of her husband’s crazy ex-wife, and trying to navigate her parents’ sudden descent into apparent delusions --- Jen hardly has the patience to listen to yet another half-baked idea from WeFUKCT (We Fundraise Until Kingdom Come Team), her fundraising committee. But if anyone can get elementary parents to pull off the impossible, it’s Jen Dixon.

When zillionairess Zelda Zoransky throws a party, she means business. Assistant extraordinaire Deidre “Foxtrot” Lancaster knows she’s in for a night when anything can --- and will --- happen. The evening’s festivities include a high-stakes game between two escape artists locked in a bitter rivalry. The magic turns tragic when one of the escape artists ends up dead. This is no disappearing act --- it’s murder. The suspects include a scientist with a 3D printer, a psychedelically impaired rock star, and a serpent-tongued ghost with ties to the Garden of Eden. Now it’s up to Foxtrot, Tango and Whiskey to figure out which guest committed the crime before they reach the end of this deadly game of Clue.