Adult

From Mary Higgins Clark’s first-ever published story, to classic tales featuring Alvirah and Willy, My Gal Sunday and many more, DEATH WEARS A BEAUTY MASK AND OTHER STORIES gives readers the chance to revisit the short story highlights from the “Queen of Suspense.” The jewel of this collection is the title novella showcasing the dazzling and dangerous world of high fashion in 1970s New York City. Mary began the story in 1974 but put it aside to write WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?, the book that launched her career. Fortunately, she returned to it nearly 40 years later.

Annabel Beam spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals with a rare and incurable digestive disorder that prevented her from ever living a normal, healthy life. When she was able to go outside and play with her sisters one day, she fell three stories headfirst inside an old, hollowed-out tree. Implausibly, she survived without a scratch. While unconscious inside the tree, with rescue workers struggling to get to her, she visited Heaven. After being released from the hospital, she defied science and was inexplicably cured of her chronic ailment.

With her weight issues at the forefront of her mind, Seraphina Darling prefers to place herself comfortably in the background. But when her best friend and older brother announce their engagement, she vows to make a permanent change in her appearance and her life. Meanwhile, her younger sister, Amy, lands her dream job: coordinating the restoration of the community theater’s arts programs. As the deadline for the project’s completion approaches, Amy continues to run herself ragged, struggling to delegate and trust anyone but herself.

FBI Agent Laurel Evertson’s investigation into a scam targeting the elderly takes an unexpected twist when key evidence leads her to Morton Wilmington, a felon she arrested five years ago on her first undercover assignment. Houston Police Officer Daniel Hilton fears his grandparents may be the scammer’s next targets, and he’ll do anything to protect his family --- even force interagency cooperation. But he’s quickly drawn to Laurel’s empathy and zeal, and agrees to follow her lead...even if it means teaming up with a felon.

Long before anyone would christen it “The Dust Bowl,” Nola Merrill senses the destruction. She’s been drying up bit by bit since the day her mother died. A hasty marriage to a young preacher didn’t bring the escape she desired. Now, 12 years later with two children to raise, new seeds of dissatisfaction take root. When Jim, a mysterious drifter and long-lost friend from her husband’s past, takes refuge in their home, Nola slowly springs to life under his attentions until a single, reckless encounter brings her to commit the ultimate betrayal of her marriage.

The Bible can seem like a big, intimidating book. How can 21st-century readers make sense of it all? Author Stan Guthrie’s answer: begin by zooming in on one key verse for each of the Bible’s 66 books. Seeking to bring clarity and simplicity to the study of God’s Word, Guthrie has written a concise, easy-to-digest collection of wisdom anchored by one verse for each book, from Genesis to Revelation --- a verse that summarizes or lays the foundation for that book, placing it in context with the rest of the Scriptures.

Well-known biblical phrases --- "in the fullness of time," "fearfully and wonderfully made," "in the beauty of holiness" and others --- suggest and evoke and invite. In WHAT'S IN A PHRASE?, Marilyn Chandler McEntyre offers brief reflections on more than 50 such scriptural phrases that prompt readers to pay attention, to pause where we sense a beckoning. The three sections of the book --- "Assurance," "Invitation" and "Surprise" --- organize the reflections by tone as well as theme.

Catherine Ling is one of the CIA's most prized operatives. Just as she is building a relationship with her son, who was kidnapped nine years ago, it seems that someone from Catherine's past is playing a deadly game with her. Someone is picking off the people she cares about one by one, with the circle narrowing closer and closer to those she loves the most. Catherine has no choice but to weed through her past to find out who is targeting her now, and then go after the vicious killer herself.

The first order of business for Forensic Instincts is to find out who's targeting their client, Madeline Westfield. Under the leadership of Casey Woods, the investigative team has the resources to do just that, working inside the law --- and outside it. FI's strength is its members, among them Casey's associate Marc Devereaux, former navy SEAL and a man who's equal to any situation. Except maybe this one…

From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, ON THE MOVE is infused with Oliver Sacks’ restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California, where he struggled with drug addiction, and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, we see how his engagement with patients comes to define his life.