Adult

Waking to sirens in the night is hardly unusual for Samantha Owens. No longer a medical examiner, she doesn't lose sleep over them, but a routine police investigation in her neighborhood has her curious. When her homicide detective friend, Darren Fletcher, invites her to look over the evidence, she immediately realizes the crime scene has been staged. What seems to be a clear case of murder/suicide is anything but. The discovery of toxic substances in hidden vials indicates that something much more sinister is at play.

Ruth Ardingly has just been released from prison to serve out a sentence of house arrest for arson and suspected murder at her farm, The Well. Beyond its borders, some people whisper she is a witch; others a messiah. For as soon as Ruth returns to The Well, rain begins to fall on the farm. And it has not rained anywhere else in the country in over three years. Ruth must piece together the tragedy that shattered her marriage, her family and her dream. She believes her grandson’s death was no accident, and that the murderer is among the people she trusted most.

Three very different people find themselves bound together by need and torn apart by blind obsessions and conflicting goals: Henry “Schuler” Jefferson, son of German immigrants from Midwestern farm country; Cora Rose Haviland, a young woman of privilege whose family has lost their fortune; and Charles “Gil” Gilchrist, an emotionally damaged WWI veteran pilot. Each one holds a secret that, if exposed, would destroy their friendship. But their journey of adventure and self-discovery has a price --- and one of them won’t be able to survive it.

One night, Nick Finn and his partner and brother-in-law, Diego Jimenez, track a phantom boat off the Los Angeles coast, but it disappears before they can intercept it. They find a dead body in its wake, ravaged by sharks. Their investigation into the floater stalls when Finn is accused of using excessive force following the death of a suspected drug smuggler. Then Diego is murdered --- and Finn is the number-one suspect. As he races to find the real killer, Finn must smuggle narcotics by sea into the United States…and avoid the net that his colleagues have cast for him.

Charlie Finn earned a life-changing scholarship to Harvard, where he learned how to survive and thrive on the outskirts of privileged society. That skill served him well in the cutthroat business world, as it does in more lucrative but dangerous ventures he now operates off the coast of Miami. Charlie tries to separate relationships from work. But when his choices produce devastating consequences, he sets out to right wrongs. He travels to Central America where he will meet those who have paid for his actions, including a woman and her young daughter.

At 23, best friends Mickey Montauk and Halifax Corderoy had planned to move together to Boston for graduate school, but global events have intervened. Montauk has just learned that his National Guard unit will deploy to Baghdad at the end of the summer. Meanwhile, Corderoy’s girlfriend, Mani, has just been evicted, and he must decide whether or not to abandon her when she needs him most. He turns to Montauk for help. His decision that night, and its harrowing outcome, sets in motion a year that will transform all three of them.

Katherine Emerson was born to fulfill a dark prophecy centuries in the making, but she doesn't know it yet. However, one man does: a killer stalking the women of New York City, a monster the media dubs the "Sickle Man" because of the weapon he uses to turn his victims' bodies into canvases for his twisted art. He takes more than just his victims' lives, and each death brings him closer to the one woman he must possess at any cost. Meanwhile, Katherine finds herself involved in a complicated love triangle. But how well does she really know either of her suitors?

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power. Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for 10 years. Agnieszka is afraid that the Dragon will take Kasia, her dearest friend in the world. But when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

Who is the real author of The Black Insignia? Is it H. R. Sanders, whose name is printed on the cover of every installment of the wildly successful young adult adventure series? Or is it Daniel Roche, the enigmatic world traveler who disappears for months at a time? When Daniel’s great-niece, Hélène, moves to Paris to study archaeology, she does not expect to be searching for answers to these questions. In so doing, she uncovers an explosive secret dating back to the darkest days of the Occupation.

Spring has sprung in Crozet, Virginia --- a time for old friends to gather and bid farewell to the doldrums of winter. Harry and her husband, Fair, are enjoying a cozy dinner with some of the town’s leading citizens, including beloved University of Virginia history professor Greg “Ginger” McConnell and several members of UVA’s celebrated 1959 football team. But beneath the cloak of conviviality lurks a sinister specter from the distant past that threatens to put all their lives in jeopardy.