Adult

Alma DeGeer Dunahew, the mother of three young boys, works as the maid for a prominent citizen and his family in West Table, Missouri. Her husband is mostly absent, and, in 1929, her scandalous, beloved younger sister is one of the 42 killed in an explosion at the local dance hall. Who is to blame? Alma thinks she knows the answer --- and that its roots lie in a dangerous love affair.

Well-respected journalist Dawson Scott, who has recently returned from Afghanistan, is covering the disappearance and presumed murder of former Marine Jeremy Wesson, the biological son of the pair of terrorists who remain on the FBI's Most Wanted list. As Dawson delves into the story, he finds himself developing feelings for Wesson's ex-wife, Amelia, and her two young sons. But when Amelia's nanny turns up dead, the case takes a stunning new turn, with Dawson himself becoming a suspect.

James Franco's debut novel is a dark, genre-bending work that mixes memoir and pure invention --- an audacious, obsessive examination of the addictions of celebrity, acting, and the making of fictions.

The author of HEAT WAVE takes us to the beach in winter, when Nantucket is also a delight --- especially as the famous Christmas Stroll winds through its charming, bedecked streets. It’s not so delightful for island newcomer Nicole Somerset, however, since the holidays also bring stepdaughter Kennedy, who can’t accept her parents’ divorce. There with her husband and three-year-old, pregnant Kennedy makes every effort to wreck Nicole’s Christmas plans. Then Kennedy’s oh-so-elegant mother shows up.

Most men go courting with roses, wine and chocolates. But not dog-lover and prolific author Jon Katz, whose choice is beef jerky. He is a man with a mission: to woo and win Maria Wulf, an emotionally fragile artist who has lost confidence in her art. Maria owns a rottweiler-shepherd  mix who does not like men and will not let anyone near her owner. Katz has his work cut out for him.

Three climbers who set out to summit the world’s highest mountain arrange funding from Lady Bromley, whose son disappeared on Mt. Everest in 1924. She refuses to believe he’s dead and pays the trio to bring him home. Joined by the missing boy's female cousin, they find themselves being pursued through the night by someone or something.

William von Becker ran one of the largest privately held investment banks in North America, until the whole edifice was demonstrated to be a fraud. After von Becker dies in prison, financial investigator Jason Stafford is hired by his family to find the missing money before the Feds do --- and certain other parties, some of whom are nowhere near as scrupulous in their methods.

Mary DiNunzio has just been promoted to partner and is about to take on her most unusual case yet, brought to the all-female law firm of Rosato & Associates by a 13-year-old genius with a penchant for beekeeping. Allegra Gardner’s sister Fiona was murdered six years ago, and it appeared that the accused, Lonnie Stall, was the culprit. But Allegra believes Lonnie is innocent and has been wrongly imprisoned.

Robert "Bobby" Astor is a fearless New York hedge-fund gunslinger on the verge of making his biggest killing ever. But everything changes when his father, the venerable chief executive of the New York Stock Exchange, is murdered along with the head of the Federal Reserve. In the moments before his death, Bobby's father sends him a mystifying text message that offers the only clue to the identity of the killer and the terrifying motivation behind the attack.

An American who has lived in Jerusalem for decades and has been voted one of Israel’s most popular novelists, Ragen here offers the story of sisters Rose and Pearl Weiss, who grow up in an ultra-Orthodox family in 1950s Brooklyn. Caught leading a secret life after she begins questioning the strictures of her upbringing, Rose guiltily agrees to an arranged marriage, then defies her family so boldly that all ties are cut. Decades later, Rose’s niece Rivka learns about the family black sheep and seeks her out.