Classmates are shocked to find journalist Angie Osborne suddenly dead. The medical examiner’s report isn’t what anyone expects. Oddly, the death scene reminds anthropologist Duncan McCloud of a thovile, a Sri Lankan ritual he’s spent years studying.When Duncan’s new employer, a pharmaceutical giant, sends him overseas under shadowy pretenses, and his wife, Dr. Grace McCloud, starts to receive anonymous warnings to doubt everyone and everything, the threads of a sweeping conspiracy begin to unravel. Risking more than their own lives, Duncan and Grace embark on a treacherous journey through occult ceremonies and their own hidden pasts to discover a secret worth killing for.In taut, precise language, Ruvanee Pietersz Vilhauer’s debut novel The Mask Collectors tells a story about deception, the power of belief, and what is left unspoken between husbands and wives.

    He wins approval from his tough gang of friends by spotting an opportunity for a robbery at a local supermarket. He just never thought they'd go through with it. Even though they escape with more money than they'd anticipated, it is a botched job and cataclysmic events unfold. To make matters worse, Kelly Jenkins, the girl Trick has been in love with since he was seven years old, is planning her escape from their small town. If he doesn't tell her how he feels now, he risks losing her forever.A gritty fast-paced story full of suspense and intrigue, Trick is about friendship, love and a good kid’s determination to make something of his life, against all the odds.

    While onstage and strapped to a giant bullseye, Sawyer’s magician father hurls knives at her, but she’s not the one who ends up dead. Her father’s ex is found lifeless backstage making her dad the number one suspect. The timer steadily counts down as Sawyer desperately searches for clues. She has to solve the crime before her boyfriend, Dylan, the sheriff, arrests her father. Meanwhile, her uncle is trying to steal her bookshop and inheritance while she fights to hang on to her mother’s legacy. With her book club pal’s help, can Sawyer find the real murderer, put her nasty uncle in his place, and salvage her relationship with Dylan without getting burned?

    Luna always had a mean streak and, as a teenager, her selfishness culminated in an almighty betrayal from which Serena thought she’d never recover.Years later the twins are reunited by tragedy and Luna is a changed woman. The arrogance and spite of her youth are gone and, at a time when Serena really needs support, Luna sets aside her own life to come to the rescue. But her generosity is not what it seems and before long she does something so devastating that her past conduct pales into insignificance.Distraught once more, Serena and her vicar boyfriend, Will, move to a country parish for a fresh start, but Luna casts a long shadow over their dream of a happy family life. Serena wants nothing to do with her sister, but while Luna has the upper hand, it’s impossible for her to move on.These twins, torn apart by bad blood, discover that you can’t choose your relatives—and sometimes you can’t escape them either.

    But as a murder mystery blooms in the sleepy New England town, can a green thumb weed out a killer?With hundreds flocking to her inaugural garden party, meticulous Lilly Jayne hasn't left a single petal out of place. But the picture-perfect gathering turns unruly upon the arrival of Merilee Frank, Lilly's ex-husband's catty third wife. Merilee lives for trouble, so no one is surprised after she drinks too much, shoves a guest into the koi pond, and gets escorted off the property. The real surprise comes days later--when Merilee is found dead in a pile of mulch . . .Lilly wishes she could stick to pruning roses and forget about Merilee's murder--until her best friend and ex become suspects in an overgrown homicide case. Now, aided by the Garden Squad, an unlikely group of amateur crime solvers with a knack for planting, Lilly knows she has limited time to identify the true culprit and restore order to Goosebush. Because if the murderer's plot isn't nipped in the bud, another victim could be pushing up daisies!

    At twenty-seven, Marissa’s moved beyond the trauma and is working under a new name as a freelance photographer. But when she accepts a job covering a string of macabre murders in Portland, it’s impossible for Marissa not to remember.Everything is eerily familiar. The same underground lairs. Sad trinkets and toys left behind, identical to those Marissa had as a child. And then there is the note meant just for her that freezes Marissa’s blood: See you soon, Missy.To determine the killer’s next move, Marissa must retrieve her long-forgotten memories and return to a past she’s hidden away. But she won’t be facing her fears alone. Someone is waiting for her in the dark.

    Family Ties is a new mystery romance series by USA Today Bestselling Author Kathi Daley based on the setting first described in the book The Road to Christmas Past. The series features a small town where friends and families are tied one to another in the intricate web of life that unites us all. Each story will feature a strong female lead who risks it all to follow her heart while simultaneously solving a mystery. Book 1 in the series features Harper Hathaway, a former member of the armed services who is on her way home to Moosehead after suffering a personal tragedy. Her plans to enjoy a relaxing road trip are upended when a puppy runs onto the road alerting her to a vehicle which had been in an accident but is not visible from the road. Her attempt to avoid hitting the puppy lands her in the ditch herself. Unharmed she tries to help the occupants of the vehicle which include a man, a woman, and a baby. The driver of the vehicle demands that she hide the baby who, as it turns out, is being sought by powerful men intent on harming her. In order to protect the baby, and find a way out of the mess she has gotten herself into, Harper calls her old friend Ben Holiday, a former cop and current PI, who hooks her up with his friend Michael Maddox, a computer genius with a particular skill set that will aide Harper in her quest to bring the baby to safety. With the men who are searching for the baby on their heels, Harper and Michael set off across the country with the baby and the puppy, and a desire in their hearts, to find the answers they’ll need to ensure the safety of the child.

    But Franki soon learns that solving crime in The Big Easy is no Bourbon Street party. Case in point, her first investigation involves the murder of a beautiful boutique manager who was strangled with a cheap yellow scarf, and her primary suspect is her client. When Franki’s not on the clock, she hopes to get cozy with a handsome bank executive named Bradley, but her meddlesome Sicilian nonna has other ideas about who she should date. As Mardi Gras approaches and the boutique mystery deepens, Franki must decipher the odd ramblings of a voodoo priestess, or she could end up single—and the next strangling victim. Limoncello Yellow is book 1 in the Franki Amato Mysteries, but it can be read as a standalone. If you like zany characters and laugh-out-loud humor with a splash of suspense, then you’ll drink up this fun series by USA Today Bestselling Author Traci Andrighetti. Cheers!

    Laura Valorian is an emergency room physician who, because of severe emotional trauma after a missed diagnosis, vows to perfect her diagnostic skills and, as a result, detects subtle evidence of foul play in a surgeon who is declared dead in her ER. When she cannot let go of her suspicions and eventually convinces a private investigator of the possibility of a crime, she begins a relentless quest for suspects and evidence. Now, with angry suspects to deal with, an attempt on her own life, and her struggle with personal demons, she must fight to salvage her self-respect and her professional reputation while pursuing her mission to get at the truth.

    This left him unconscious on the floor of my home. Amazingly, this bullet did not kill him. Ten years ago I adopted Blue as a present to myself after I broke up with my boyfriend one hot, early summer night with the windows open and the neighborhood listening. The next morning I went straight to the pound in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Articles on buying your first dog tell you never to buy a dog on impulse. They want you to be prepared for this new member of your family, to understand the responsibilities and challenges of owning a dog. Going to the pound because you need something in your life that's worth holding onto is rarely, if ever, mentioned. I asked the man at the pound to show me the biggest dogs they had. He showed me some seven-week-old Rottweiler-German shepherd puppies that he said would grow to be quite large. Then he showed me a six-month-old shepherd that would get pretty big. Then he showed me Blue, the largest dog they had. The man called him a Collie mix and he was stuffed into the biggest cage they had, but he didn't fit. He was as tall as a Great Dane but much skinnier, with the snout of a collie, the markings of a Siberian husky, the ears and tail of a shepherd and the body of a wolf, with one blue eye and one brown. Crouched in a sitting position, unable to lie down, unable to sit all the way up, he looked at me from between the bars, and I fell in love. "He's still underweight," the man in the blue scrubs told me as we looked at Blue. "I'll tell you, lady, he's pretty but he's skittish. He sheds, and I mean sheds. I don't think you want this dog." But I knew I wanted him. I knew I had to have him. He was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. Blue cost me $108. I brought him home, and we lived together for years. He was, for most of our relationship, my only companion. But when I first met Blue, a lifetime ago now, I had family and friends. I worked at a crappy coffeehouse. I was young and lost; I was normal. Back then, at the beginning of this story, before I'd ever seen a corpse, before Blue saved my life, before I felt what it was like to kill someone in cold blood, I was still Joy Humbolt.I'd never even heard the name Sydney Rye.P.S. The dog does not die.**Beware: If you can’t handle a few f-bombs, you can’t handle this series.**

    Homicide cop Buddy Lock knows there isn’t a chance in hell that this is some tragic accident. But as soon as his investigation begins, so do the warnings to back off. They’re not only coming from within the NYPD; they’re hitting close to Buddy’s heart: his new family has become the killer’s target.When people start disappearing from Chinatown, Buddy finds himself on the trail of a killer whose motives are more twisting and far-reaching than the detective imagined. A killer who knows just how to get to him—by pursuing everyone he loves. Now Buddy can trust only himself—even as his relentless pursuit of justice plunges him into the most brutal waters of his career.

    Luna is torn between two allegiances, with each superpower controlling a dome on the home world's moon. In the asteroid belt, six mining colonies govern themselves. In the midst of it all is the Transport Guild.Erik Frost is the captain of a guild freighter. He took command when his father died four years ago, left with large debts and a rattling old ship badly in need of an overhaul. When he is offered a mysterious job with few details and a high payout, he can't resist the opportunity it represents. He and his crew head deep into the system for the asteroid belt to deliver their cargo, unprepared for the dangers they would soon face.They say some things are too good to be true, and this job could be one of them.

    The sheriff, desperate for more positive press, makes Eve the youngest female homicide detective in the department’s history.Now Eve, with a lot to learn and resented by her colleagues, has to justify her new badge. Her chance comes when she and her burned-out, soon-to-retire partner are called to the blood-splattered home of a missing single mother and her two kids. The horrific carnage screams multiple murder—but there are no corpses.Eve has to rely on her instincts and tenacity to find the bodies and capture the vicious killer, all while battling her own insecurities and mounting pressure from the media, her bosses, and the bereaved family. It’s a deadly ordeal that will either prove her skills…or totally destroy her.

    Following the death of his wife four years ago, Crawford, a Texas Ranger, fell into a downward spiral that left him doing deskwork rather than fieldwork, and with his five-year-old daughter Georgia in the custody of her grandparents. But Crawford has cleaned up his act, met all the court imposed requirements, and now the fate of his family lies with Judge Holly Spencer.Holly, ambitious and confident, temporarily occupies the bench of her recently deceased mentor. With an election upcoming, she must prove herself worthy of making her judgeship permanent. Every decision is high-stakes. Despite Crawford's obvious love for his child and his commitment to being an ideal parent, Holly is wary of his checkered past. Her opinion of him is radically changed when a masked gunman barges into the courtroom during the custody hearing. Crawford reacts instinctually, saving Holly from a bullet. But his heroism soon takes on the taint of recklessness. The cloud over him grows even darker after he uncovers a horrifying truth about the courtroom gunman and realizes that the unknown person behind the shooting remains at large . . .and a threat. Catching the real culprit becomes a personal fight for Crawford. But pursuing the killer in his customary diehard fashion will jeopardize his chances of gaining custody of his daughter, and further compromise Judge Holly Spencer, who needs protection not only from an assassin, but from Crawford himself and the forbidden attraction between them. FRICTION will keep you on the edge of your seat with breathtaking plot twists and the unforgettable characters that make Sandra Brown one of the world's best-loved authors. It is an extraordinary novel about the powerful ties that bind us to the ones we love and the secrets we keep to protect them.

     That evening goes horribly wrong. After Luella wakes up in hospital, she’s kept prisoner at home with her mother acting as her warden. Lara is sent to school to keep up the pretence that she is fine, her sister is fine, and the world is fine. Except they aren’t. The local storekeeper, sensing that something’s wrong, pushes her son to befriend Lara but the results of her meddling are deadly...