Medallion Honoree ***Cyrus Konami is the Chief Inspector on the first colony vessel, Aotea, to leave Earth's solar system. Deep within the machinery of the ship, a suspicious death upends the routine on board. Mysterious signals from deep space add to the confusion, along with a series of debilitating malfunctions.Cy and Lieutenant Beatriz Mattoso dig into the deceased crewman's background. The first signs point to a tragic accident. Ship scuttlebutt points to the deep-space signals -- is a mysterious force trying to prevent humanity from spreading into deep space? Or are the radical pacifists and cultural separatists who funded the journey somehow involved?With an increasingly uncooperative populace, a shocking assassination attempt, and a spaceship falling apart around them, Cy and Bea must unravel secrets that threaten the lives of thousands before it's too late...

    On the surface, Lydia Fitzsimons has the perfect life—wife of a respected, successful judge, mother to a beloved son, mistress of a beautiful house in Dublin. That beautiful house, however, holds a secret. And when Lydia’s son, Laurence, discovers its secret, wheels are set in motion that lead to an increasingly claustrophobic and devastatingly dark climax.From the international bestselling author of Unraveling Oliver, an “unputdownable psychological thriller with an ending that lingers long after turning the final page” (The Irish Times) about a Dublin family whose dark secrets and twisted relationships are suddenly revealed.

    Blood on the stone wall. Rust on the cell’s bars. The glance of a gladiator sitting in his cell. The soldier’s sandals stepping in front of her. Amora grasped every detail as her world moved in slow motion, drawing her closer to her fate. The stench of death permeated the suffocating darkness, making a mockery of the heightened vitality within her. Her chains rattled, gears ground, animals roared, and people cheered. She gave them no heed. Amora, in an elegant white gown, moved with natural grace in front of a cell of prisoners. Her sixteen-year-old chained slave, Maria, followed behind wearing a simple tunic; a second soldier brought up the rear…”With that introduction, author Grant Hallstrom draws you into the world of ancient Rome with its intrigue and contrasts, where he explores the timeless struggles between revenge and forgiveness, hope and despair, and loss and redemption.This award-winning bestseller follows Amora on her path of self-discovery from her opulent teenage wedding with Leo through her life full of personal disappointment, tragedy, and betrayal, ultimately leading to peace in the face of death. We watch Leo withdraw into his dark private world of despair as he struggles to maintain his standing in society while trying to escape from the ever-present pain of loss. We delight in the romance between two slaves and champion the young man’s quest to avenge his lover’s untimely death. The sweeping panorama of this immersive story includes the suspense of battles and the action of gladiators fighting to survive in the arena as well.The author weaves a well-crafted and deeply researched historical fiction based on a true story that will captivate the reader’s attention from the start. The book is filled with non-stop action and suspense, so you are never sure what’s about to happen on the next page. This superbly written and richly descriptive novel with brilliantly drawn characters and settings will have you turning pages from beginning to end. Skillfully constructed, cinematic in presentation and deeply inspiring, this thought-provoking book makes a solid impact.Even though the book shows how new Christian ideas influenced some characters, it does not try to convert the reader. It simply tells the story including the role that religion played in their lives. Amora is ultimately a story about love, family, friendships, faith, trials and forgiveness. It is well worth the read!

    Gretchen believes making the movie will be cathartic. But instead of freeing her, embarking upon the film production unleashes a sequence of events that lead Gretchen to conclude that she’s the reincarnation of the young man. Regina Wilson has always wanted to be an actress. When her agent gets her an audition for a role in Gretchen’s film, which eerily mirrors one of the worst events of her life—the unsolved murder of her older brother, Robert—she’s hard-pressed to go through with it. Upon fleeing, she leaves behind a keepsake that features Robert’s photo. Gretchen sees the picture and recognizes Robert from her dreams. She tracks down Regina, and after being rebuffed and called crazy, Gretchen’s unexplainable knowledge of events in Robert’s life eventually convinces Regina that Gretchen is Robert reincarnated.The two decide to have his case reopened, but their significant others are dead set against it, and the police, who believe that Robert’s death was gang-related, are less than cooperative. However, Gretchen is desperate to get justice for her former self, and Regina wants justice for her brother. The women piece together the final week of Robert’s life. And the deeper they delve into his past; one shocking revelation follows another, leaving them wondering who they can trust and if they’ll live long enough to find Robert’s killer and bring him to justice.

    For Rachel, struggling to maintain the facade of a picture-perfect life, it’s an escape from an emotionally abusive marriage. Then Andy receives an anonymous note warning him to end the affair. Or else.Whoever’s been watching is going to make Andy pay. Weeks later, Rachel’s husband, David, is shot to death. Rachel and her two young sons vanish without a trace. One misstep, one careless reveal, and Andy could look as guilty as sin. Clue by clue, as his investigation into the mystery unfolds, Andy discovers that he and Rachel weren’t the only ones keeping secrets.Nothing in this quiet neighborhood is as it seems. No one peeking from behind the curtains of their homes can be trusted. And the worst is yet to come. Because David isn’t the only one who will die.

    But she's seldom seen her Hollywood-based sibling. More on the shy side, Chantel is perfectly happy with her own modest singing career and quiet Missouri hometown life. But when their mother dies and Chantel's world is upended, she hopes that moving to Los Angeles will give her a fresh start--and a chance to know Jett better. But the truth is, she doesn't know Jett at all.When Jett rebuffs her efforts to bond, Chantel learns a devastating secret she never could have imagined. Reeling and angry, Chantel soon comes up with the perfect vengeful weapon: a bestselling tell-all book that will reveal Jett's stormy past--and wreak havoc on the stardom she prizes more than anything or anyone. But Jett guards her private life for a reason and will stop at nothing to keep the past from being exposed. Now, between hard hidden truths and bitter new revelations, Chantel must decide how much payback is too much--and if the reward is worth the life-altering price.

    Luckily, he discovered the med error quickly and was able to save the patient. Mortified, Brandt decided not to mention his mistake to his coworkers, and to his surprise, he was hailed as a hero for his diagnostic skill. Afterward, he began to consider not just the implications, but the potential. Could this advance his career? Could it impress a certain female coworker? OR scrub nurse Kaycee Blair is gorgeous and knows it. Her tastes run to the finer things in life, and she is not above using her beauty to advance her goals. Though she’s currently dating Brandt, the brilliant ICU nurse whose career is on the upswing, Kaycee finds herself drawn to Dr. Salazar, the hospital’s new robotic heart surgeon. Dr. Dominic Salazar is a man blessed with Mediterranean good looks, supreme confidence, and obvious wealth. He is also a virtuoso with the Michelangelo robotic surgical system. However, due to a prior indiscretion, he was forced to give up his prestigious chairmanship of robotic surgery at Mass General and relocate to Swatara Regional Hospital. Dom is determined to rehabilitate his reputation, repair his marriage, and return to a more suitable academic center. But when he meets Kaycee—someone he knows should be off limits—all bets are off. Anesthesiologist Luke Daulton is back after his harrowing brush with death at the hands of Dr. Katz. A series of unexplainable—and deadly—post-surgical complications eventually entangle Luke in the tumultuous love triangle between Brandt, Kaycee, and Salazar; a triangle rife with sex, jealousy, anger, and revenge—where murder is just a matter of time.

    But this wasn’t science fiction; this was a journey of harsh reality, pain, hunger, danger, and death. George Downwind, an American Indian, an Ojibwa, grew up in the isolation of a twentieth-century reservation. But instead of succumbing to the alcoholism and hopelessness around him, his outlook was shaped by the myths and legends of an earlier time. From countless stories told by old men around campfires, he thought he knew what life had been like for his people in the time before the white man. In his imagination he lived this life, passed the tests of manhood and tasted battle. When the end came he experienced the depression of watching his people be defeated and disintegrate as a culture. To the west of the battlefields in Vietnam during the 1960’s and early ‘70’s, across the border in the neutral country of Laos, another war raged. This war was seldom mentioned in the news and when it was, it was referred to as the “Secret War.” Few people heard of it and fewer still knew who was doing the fighting. It was the Hmong, a minority ethnic group who had survived for a thousand years in their mountain sanctuaries through slash and burn agriculture, and a resolute adherence to their culture. They valued freedom, family, and wanted nothing more than to be left alone. They were a primitive people without a written language living in a primitive land. And, just as with the American Indian tribes, each of the Hmong clans had their own approach to survival. Some fought, some forged alliances, and other just tried to say out of the way. Grievously injured in the chaos of battle in Vietnam in the early days of that war, George Downwind, a private in the U.S. Army, was rescued from certain death and nursed back to heath by one of these clans. During his time with them he experienced the full brutality of the life they lived—the same life that had been the fate of his ancestors. When it came time for him to leave Laos and the Hmong, he had a debt to repay. He owed his life to the Hmong and vowed to make the payments.

    But when a real-life murder mystery lands at her feet, she discovers that everyone has secrets—some more deadly than others. The sticky situation is further complicated by a handsome widower, an adorable dog, and a slew of sketchy characters. Can the sassy southern sleuth find “whodunit” without adding herself to the body count?

    In present-day California she struggles to care for her teenage daughter and manage the considerable stressors of her own complicated life. She is stunned to receive a call from the sheriff in Eden.Construction crews working on the site of her childhood home have made a hideous discovery. They have unearthed the decades-old remains of a girl, strands of hair and clothing still attached to the bones. Evelyn is devastated by the phone call. The Eden coroner informs her officials there suspect the remains may be those of her sister.Evelyn, who has mentally reduced her childhood to a series of blotchy Images and fragmented memories, fears something sinister may await her in Eden. Perhaps something she is unable to remember. She has no desire to return. Her fragile internal world is suddenly threatened with collapse by this discovery and the pressure to return home to help identify the remains.The discovery of the body sets in motion a series of events leading inevitably to the uncovering of secrets dating back multiple generations; terrible events that may involve the entire town of Eden. As Evelyn pursues the answers to the mysteries presented she finds her sanity, her life, and the life of her daughter threatened. She must face truths about her mother, Gwen, and her father as well as the rest of her family. Ultimately she must peel back the layers of her own consciousness, face her memories, and delve deeper into painful questions about her sister, and finally herself.Eden is a complex novel. Set against a background thick and sensuous with Southern beauty and imagery-the the live oak and Spanish moss and cypress swamps play roles nearly as big as the characters themselves-the book explores the devastating nature of secrets When played as a silent conspiracy between generations and yet the ultimate power of love to overcome.

    Over dinner of lamb tagine, his wife, Sophie, would share news about chorus rehearsals for the upcoming holiday concert, and their teenage daughter, Lucy, would chatter about French club and field hockey. Only Lucy never came home. Her body was found, days later, in the woods.The Eastern Seaboard town of Port Fortune used to be Will’s comfort. Now, there’s no safe harbor for him. Not even when Father Gervase asks Will to paint portraits of saints for the new cathedral. Using the townspeople as models, Will sees in each face only a mask of the darkness of evil. And he just might be painting his daughter’s killer.As Will navigates his rage and heartbreak, Sophie tries to move on; Father Gervase becomes an unexpected ally; and Rain, Lucy’s best friend, shrouds herself in a near-silent fugue. Their paths collide in a series of inextricably linked, dark, dangerous moments that could lead to their undoing…or to their redemption.

    It’s the life in your years.” – Abraham Lincoln.Max and Olivia met as teenagers on covert operations during WW2. After the war they married and under the guise of a doddering vicar and his wife, continued a life of secrets as cold war spies. Now 87 years old, left and forgotten in nursing home, they are called back into action. With the fate of London and much of the world hanging in the balance, somehow they must escape and travel to the United Kingdom.There are six books in the Max and Olivia series, captivating espionage adventures of quirky seniors.

    It starts with a body—a young woman found dead in an Iowa cornfield, on one of the few family farms still managing to compete with the giants of Big Agriculture.When Sergeant Riley Fisher, newly promoted to head of investigations for the Black Hawk County Sheriff’s Office, arrives on the scene, an already horrific crime becomes personal when she discovers the victim was a childhood friend, connected to a dark past she thought she’d left behind.The investigation grows complicated as more victims are found. Drawn deeper in, Riley soon discovers implications far beyond her Midwest town.

    Two years after his mother and father were murdered in an attack on their California-bound wagon train, little Tommy Dunning crouches in an old root cellar, quivering with cold—and raw fear. Somewhere just above him, men are searching, army men who want to take him away from the only home he remembers. Local settler Eva Dunning believes with every thread of her being that God delivered the orphan to be raised by her. She watches and prays the soldiers will not find the child. But forces beyond her control are closing in. Major James Carleton has orders to collect the boy, Eva’s husband Bennet is threatening to expose their secret, and back in Arkansas, the aging Ruby Seddon is hiring a ruthless gunslinger to help rescue her grandson, no matter the cost in blood or gold. The Last Orphan is the journey of a precocious five-year old and two strong women, each of whom believes God has chosen her to raise the boy in love and the “correct” faith tradition.

    You can't keep the secret.You can't tell the truth.You can't escape the past...Marianne was seventeen when she fled her home in Nusstead – leaving behind her family, her boyfriend, Jesse, and the body they buried. Now, thirty years later, forced to return to in order to help care for her sick mother, she can feel the past closing around her. And Jesse, who never forgave her for leaving in the first place, is finally threatening to expose the truth.Marianne will do anything to protect the life she's built, the husband and daughter who must never know what happened all those years ago. Even if it means turning to her worst enemy for help... But Marianne may not know the whole story – and she isn't the only one with secrets they'd kill to keep.