Matthew Bannon, a poor art student living in New York City, finds a duffel bag filled with diamonds during a chaotic attack at Grand Central Station. Plans for a worry-free life with his stunning girlfriend Katherine fill his thoughts--until he realizes that he is being hunted, and that whoever is after him won't stop until they have reclaimed the diamonds and exacted their revenge. Trailing him is the Ghost, the world's greatest assassin, who has just pulled off his most high-profile hit: killing Walter Zelvas, a top member of the international Diamond Syndicate. There's only one small problem: the diamonds he was supposed to retrieve from Zelvas are missing. Now, the Ghost is on Bannon's trail--but so is a rival assassin who would like nothing more than to make the Ghost disappear forever. From "America's #1 storyteller" (Forbes) comes a high-speed, high-stakes, winner-take-all thrill ride of adrenaline-fueled suspense.

****The dark side of love is no fairy tale.... And while we may like to believe that crimes of the heart only victimize those who aren't careful, this page-turning collection of must-read accounts will convince you otherwise. America's #1 true-crime writer, Ann Rule reveals how lovers become predators, how sex and lust can push ordinary people to desperate acts, and how investigators and forensics experts work to unravel the most entangled crimes of passion. Extracting behind-the-scenes details, Rule makes these volatile relationships utterly real, and masterfully re-creates the ill-fated chains of events in such cases as the ex-Marine and martial arts master who seduced vulnerable women and then destroyed their lives...the killer whose calling card was a single bloodred rose...the faithless wife who manipulated and murdered without conscience...the blind date that set the stage for a killer's brutality...and more. In every case, the victim -- young and innocent or older and experienced -- unknowingly trusted a stranger with the sociopathic skill to hide their dark motives, until it was too late to escape a web of deadly lies, fatal promises, and homicidal possession.

I'm not who they say I am.Trust me.But can she?Reclusive novelist Aaron Westhaven, a man she's admired—and more—for years, has accepted Olivia Dupree's invitation to speak at a local fundraiser. But the day he's due to arrive, she gets a call summoning her to the bedside of a John Doe whose sole possession is her business card.Can this undeniably compelling man—survivor of an execution-style gunshot wound—really be the novelist the lonely Olivia has grown to think of as a near soul mate? If not, he can be in Shadow Falls for only one reason: to kill her.Olivia, too, has secrets. And discovering the truth about the man in the hospital bed means dredging up her own past—a past she's been hiding from for sixteen years.About the AuthorMaggie Shayne is the bestselling author of more than forty novels, including the groundbreaking vampire series Wings in the Night, the most recent of which is called Prince of Twilight. Her numerous awards include two Romantic Times Career Achievement Awards, the National Readers Choice Award, and the coveted Romance Writers of America RITA Award. Maggie lives in a small town in southern central New York. Find her at www.maggieshayne.com. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Today was the day Olivia Dupree was going to meet the only man on the planet who saw life the way she did—as one long series of disappointments, as a perilous journey best navigated entirely solo—for the very first time, and she didn't have a thing to wear.Not that what she wore really mattered. She wasn't that sort of fan. Not only didn't she think he would care what she looked like, but she would also be extremely disappointed if he did.And yet she'd given in to the inner idiotic teenager that had never been her and stood on her bed, so she could gauge her appearance in the big mirror that was part of her dresser. She didn't own a full-length mirror. She'd never thought she needed one and still held that opinion. Her ordinary style was pretty basic. For work she wore skinny, knee-length pencil skirts with matching blazers when it was cool, and sensible pumps with two-inch heels. She kept her dark hair in a tight bun and applied her makeup in the same minimalist fashion every weekday. College English students didn't really care what their professor looked like, after all. And she wasn't out to capture the attention of anyone who might.On weekends, she traded the suits for jeans, the bun for a ponytail and the makeup for sunscreen.Now she needed something in between. Something relaxed but attractive. Not seductive, just attractive. She was not a doe-eyed, adoring fan. But she'd never met Aaron Westhaven before, and she wanted to make a good impression.Nothing more.Freddy, her very best friend in the entire world—and the only specimen of the male gender, canine or otherwise, she trusted with her heart—tipped his massive head from one side to the other as he watched her standing somewhat unsteadily on the mattress. Standing was not what the bed was for, he seemed to be thinking.She glanced down at him. "It's okay, boy. I'll get down momentarily. And standing on the bed is still verboten when it comes to you, okay?"He heaved a giant sigh and lowered his two-hundred-pound, brindle-patterned bulk to the floor. He was only average size for an adult male English mastiff, but even she had trouble believing how big he was, and she'd had him for three years.She hoped Mr. Westhaven didn't have an aversion to dogs. He hadn't written dogs into any of his novels, so she couldn't be sure, but she suspected he would love Freddy. Because anyone with a heart would love Freddy, and Westhaven certainly had a heart.She felt as if she knew him well. The reclusive author's heartbreakingly tragic novels lined her shelves and spoke to her soul. They were her own guilty little secret. But they so reflected the way she felt about life and love. You really couldn't depend on anyone but yourself. He seemed to understand that. God knew she did.And now she was about to meet him—right here in Shadow Falls, Vermont.She glanced at the combination she now wore, a pair of dressy black trousers and a lavender button-down blouse with a black blazer over it. Too stiff. She unbuttoned the blazer and thought she still looked too formal. Then she took it off and thought she looked too casual.Frustrated, she threw the blazer down by her feet. Big mistake. Freddy saw that as an invitation, sprang upright and bounded onto the bed with a giant "woof" that reverberated through her chest. The mattress sank, the box springs squeaking in protest."I couldn't see anything from the waist down," she explained, as she tried to keep her balance. He bounced in response to her words, and the mattress tidal-waved beneath her. Laughing, she fell onto her butt among the rumpled covers, and Freddy moved over her, trying to lick her face as she laughed too hard to breathe. "You're a lug. Get down!"He obeyed immediately, then stood there waiting for her to join him. She got down, traded the trousers for a skirt, slid her feet into a pair of sandals and looked at the clock on the nightstand, then at her wristwatch. "Gee, Freddy. Mr. Westhaven is late." She frowned as a little knot of worry tightened in her stomach."He's really late."And she was concerned. Because though she admired him, she didn't entirely trust him, simply because he was male. The fact that he'd agreed to be the surprise guest speaker at the English Department's summer fundraiser had been nothing less than a stunner. She'd invited him with every expectation that he would decline, if he replied at all. The man never made public appearances. She'd been shocked—and a little bit suspicious—when he'd accepted the invitation.But she'd chalked that up to her own man issues, and tried to count on him to show up as promised and not pull a no-show.Maybe that had been a mistake.Time would tell, she supposed. She brushed the dog hairs off her lavender blouse and exchanged it for a sleeveless silk shell in jade green. It would just have to do.Samuel Overton wasn't supposed to be driving at all without his mom in the car, much less driving a big Ford Expedition that wasn't even theirs. But he was doing it anyway. He didn't really know how she expected him not to. It was the Funkmaster Flex Edition, not just any SUV.And it was freakin' sweet. Checkered flag design on the dashboard and console, unique black-and-red paint job, sound system to die for. Better yet, it had a 300 horsepower, 5.4-liter iron-block, 24-valve V-8 in it. Hell, this thing was a dream vehicle. Car-show worthy.Besides, he didn't have any reason to think his mom would find out.Kyle Becker, Sam's best friend, cranked up the music, and Sam shoved his hand away from the dial and turned it back down. "It's distracting.""It's Metallica. You don't turn down Metallica.""Then turn it off.""No way. It'll do you good to get used to distractions," Kyle said, with the wisdom that came from being a licensed sixteen-year-old, and a whole six weeks older than Sam. "And while you're at it, you might want to go faster than thirty-five."Sam pressed on the gas pedal, picked up speed and sent a cloud of dust up behind them. They'd taken a back road where there would be little traffic, so he could practice driving a car that had a little more guts than his mother's minivan.He felt a little ping and knew he was throwing up pebbles in addition to the dust cloud. Shaking his head, he hit the brakes and pulled over. "This is stupid. This dirt road's no good for a cherry ride like this.""I told you, we'll wash it before we take it back," Kyle insisted. "No one will ever know.""Right, unless I end up dinging it or something.Professor Mallory will notice that when he comes back from Europe, even if Mom doesn't." Sam sighed, frustrated with himself as he slowly realized there was almost zero chance he was going to get away with this undetected. Mom always found out. "I must have been a moron to have let you talk me in to this.""No, you weren't. You've got to practice on something, right? How are you going to pass your test next week if you don't? And you can't take your mother's minivan when she has it parked outside the damn hospital all day every day.""Yeah, well, I can't keep taking Mallory's dream machine out, either. I mean, I shouldn't. He left it with Mom for safekeeping while he's away. I doubt this is what he had in mind.""Why the hell not? You're not hurting it any. And he did ask your mom to drive it once in a while to keep it loose, right? You're helping him, dude.""You wouldn't be saying that if it was your dream machine I was driving over a cow path," Sam said. "If Mom finds out, she'll have a freakin' breakdown.""She's not gonna find out." Kyle said it as if he were offering his personal guarantee that it was true.The dust was clearing, and Sam sighed. "Let's just go. We still have to gas it up and wash it, and hope to hell nobody sees us driving it back.""Yeah," Kyle said. "We probably better get on that. But we can take it straight back to your mom's garage, bring the gas in a can and wash it right there, so we don't draw notice. You want me to drive it back?"Sam nodded. "Just in case we meet a cop or something," he said. "Mom would be even more pissed if I got a ticket for driving on a learner's permit without a licensed over-eighteen driver along." He opened his door, getting out of the SUV to go around to the passenger side.Kyle got out his own side, but then he just stood there, staring toward the side of the road a dozen or so yards ahead of them.And then he went really tense all of a sudden, and his mouth opened."What?" Sam asked, trying to see what he was looking at.Kyle lifted a finger and pointed. "Holy shit, is that a body?""No way!" Sam turned and spotted the lump that had caught his friend's attention. Something that, he had to admit, looked like a person lay in the deep grass at the bottom of a patch of a slope.The two boys headed for the human-shaped lump of clothing. When they got as close as they could without leaving the road, Kyle said, "Sure as shit, Sam, there's a guy down there. And he isn't moving."Elbowing his friend, Sam said, "Go see if he's alive." Then he tugged his cell phone out of his shirt pocket."Screw you, you go see if he's alive!""Fine." Sam held out the phone. "You can call 911… and my mom at the hospital."Sighing, Kyle shook his head. "I'm not calling your mom. I'll go see if he's alive."When her telephone finally rang, Olivia had all but given up on her special guest. He was known to be rabid about his privacy. She should have trusted the instinct that told her to distrust his promise to appear. But at the time she'd been convinced that the director of special events would never agree to Aaron Westhaven's terms anyway. No press, no announcement, no photogra...

I practise my shock-horror face in the mirror for the seventh time. 'My husband, he's . . . dead.' Bethan Phillips has only one thing on her mind: killing her rich and elderly husband for his fortune. But after several thwarted attempts, it is a horrific accident while holidaying together in Snowdonia that takes Humphrey down. Now she must pretend he's alive, continuing social gatherings alone under the guise he is undertaking business abroad. Because someone witnessed her leaving Humphrey to die, and should the police investigate his death they'll discover the series of 'accidents' he's survived in the previous few days... and it won't take them long to connect the dots. There are many reasons Bethan would rather the police didn't look too closely at her. Or the life she lived before becoming Bethan Philips. Unfortunately for her, DI Emma Locke is on the case. A gripping new psychological thriller, Kiss Me, Kill Me is smart, sly and...

MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF 2022 by The New York Times, Bustle, Goodreads, The Boston Globe, LitHub, and more! The debut novel from television WRITER/PRODUCER OF THE CHI, NARCOS, and BEL-AIR tells a fierce and riveting queer coming-of-age story following the personal and political awakening of a young, gay, Black man in 1980s New York City. "This book is a truly unique queer coming-of-age novel." —Buzzfeed "Full of joy and righteous anger, sex and straight talk, brilliant storytelling and humor... A spectacularly researched Dickensian tale with vibrant characters and dozens of famous cameos, it is precisely the book we've needed for a long time." —Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less Earl "Trey" Singleton III arrives in New York City with only a few dollars in his pocket. Born into a wealthy Black Indianapolis family, at 17, he is...

Billy had said the word "murder". Worse, he'd said "serial murder". This was definitely not a game anymore.Back from his tour of duty in Germany-and desperately missing his Momma-Elvis Aron Presley just isn't turned on by the music the way he used to be. Between his Machiavellian manager, the hangers-on and childhood pals crowding his Graceland mansion, and his own propensity for fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches, the King tries desperately to get his heart back into Rock and Roll.But how can the King sing when young girls-the presidents of his fan clubs-are dying all over Tennessee? Elvis suspects foul play; to prove it, and to find the killer, he'll need to navigate the resentment, squareness, and bigotry that hound-dog him at every turn. Only by allying himself with a self-taught doctor in a small black community, his alluring-and forbidden-nurse, and a mysterious early Elvis impersonator, can Presley hope to Take Care of Business in time to save the...

A gripping new psychological thriller from the highly acclaimed author of WITHOUT TRACEBooker's fast paced, twisting thrillers are a must-read for anyone who loves a good page turner' Simon Kernick 'A must-read' Mark Billingham 'Val McDermid meets Stephen King' Hadley Freeman Karl Savage is dead. He must be. His ex, Anjelica, is in prison for murdering him in an arson attack. Multiple forensic experts testified to finding his charred remains. So when Anjelica begs investigative journalist Morgan Vine to prove her innocence, it seems an impossible task. It doesn't matter that Karl was abusive. That Anjelica has a baby to care for. That she's petrified of fire. The whole world knows Karl is dead. Then he turns up outside Morgan's window . . . Praise for KILL ME TWICE and Simon Booker 'Full of twists, turns, surprises. Everything you want in a pacy, page-turning thriller' Neil Dudgeon, Midsomer Murders 'Booker's long experience in writing for television has granted him a sure...

What if the only person you can trust is secretly plotting to kill you? Fashion photographer Anna Burgin faces a career in ruins after her studio is destroyed, but when armed police burst into her home, she realises it's the least of her worries. Murders in Seattle, Frankfurt, Venice and London all point to one common killer - and the chief suspect has just been in her house. The evidence is compelling, the body count is rising, but as news emerges of a corrupt business network that reaches into the heart of the police, nothing can be taken for granted - especially the promises of the person who offers to protect her.

How do you top your best work? In Hollywood, you make a sequel. That's the plan in 1947 when filming begins on a follow-up to the wartime romance Passage to Lisbon. The screenwriter is accused of being a Communist. Enter Scott Elliott, a former actor and soldier who is struggling to find a place in a changing Hollywood. To save the movie, Elliott must untangle a tale of murder, sin and redemption.

A long-ago act of kindness to a desperate woman changed Dr. Carrie Overton's life forever. Before disappearing, the grateful stranger had given Carrie her newborn son. When the woman is murdered, the secret becomes Carrie's alone. She has kept both it and her son, Sam, safe for sixteen years. But now a friend of Sam's has gone missing. The police believe he's a runaway—until he's found dead. Then another teen disappears, and talk turns to that long-ago murder. Newcomer Gabriel Cain is asking too many questions, befriending Sam, getting too close. Carrie distrusts him even as she finds herself falling for him. But Gabriel has secrets, too…. Is it time for the lying to end?Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.Present Day"Go, Sam! Woohoo!" Carrie pumped her fist in the air when her lanky teenage son nailed the soccer ball with the inside of his size-ten foot, sending it like a bullet past the goalie and into the net. He glanced her way, gave her a half smile that didn't reach his eyes, then tapped the yellow band on his arm to remind everyone watching who that goal was for.As she sat down again, Carrie was embarrassed by her outburst. It was inappropriate, given the circumstances.The game continued, and she looked around at the other spectators. Parents and other locals, mostly, lining the bleachers at the edge of an extensive and well-groomed field behind Shadow Falls Central High. School hadn't yet started—even though preseason games and practices had begun for soccer, track and cheerleading.September in Shadow Falls had a definite scent to it, and a distinct feeling to it, as well. You'd know autumn was coming even if you couldn't see or hear a thing. The leaves were beginning to turn, though they were nowhere near their peak just yet. The sun was just as bright as it had been all summer long, but not as hot anymore, and the breeze had a brisk snap that was missing in the summer months. Fall was rolling in. You could feel it, taste it in the air.But there was something besides autumn hanging in the air around Shadow Falls. There was a pall that was hard to miss. A lingering darkness that hadn't let up for five days. It only grew, in fact. Every day that Kyle Becker didn't come home, Shadow Falls got a little grimmer, a little grayer.Even the tourists must know the reason for the town's unusual melancholy mood by now. It was hard to miss, with the Teen Runaway posters stapled to every telephone pole, fence post and unsuspecting maple tree, and the thrice-daily gathering and dispatching of volunteer search parties in front of the old firehouse, just in case something had happened to him, a possibility no one wanted to contemplate too intently.Every player on both soccer teams, the Blackberry Chiefs as well as the Shadow Falls Vikings, wore a yellow armband to show unity in hoping the missing sixteen-year-old would come home soon. Five days. Carrie didn't know what the kid was thinking."Nice boot," someone said nearby.Carrie looked up to see local cop Bryan Kendall, in uniform, sitting four feet to her right. "It was, wasn't it?" she said. "How are you, Bryan?"He shrugged. "Been better.""I imagine you're over your head in wedding plans about now, aren't you? What have you got, six weeks to go?""Just under. But it's not the wedding plans weighing me down. Though I gotta tell you, I'd just as soon elope and get straight to the honeymoon.""I'll bet.""It's this Kyle Becker thing," he said.She nodded, sighing. "The timing couldn't be much worse, could it?""Not much. Tough checking out every stranger in town at the kickoff of leaf-peeper season."She nodded in sympathy as she scanned the bleachers, spotting a few unfamiliar faces among the locals, even here. Not many. The tourists preferred winery tours and foliage photo-ops to high school sporting events. But a few of them had discovered the soccer match and settled in to watch. One in particular caught her eye. He sat a few rows down and off to the left, and he was immersed in a supermarket tabloid with Shadow Falls' latest scandal splashed on its front page.Dead Woman Misidentified for More Than Sixteen Years.Anonymous Source Puts Up Half-Million-Dollar Reward for Her Missing Baby.Carrie closed her eyes, shook her head, wishing the story of her son's birth mother would just go away already. But it was everywhere. And the idiot offering the reward wasn't helping.All those years ago, the dead woman had been identified as one Sarah Quinlan. It was only in the past few weeks that her true identity, Olivia Dupree, had been revealed. That had renewed interest in the case, and the additional information that the dead woman had given birth only weeks prior to her murder had given the story legs.No one in Shadow Falls had known Olivia was pregnant or heard anything about a baby, but now everyone in the U.S. of A. suddenly seemed to be interested in speculating on what had become of it. Especially with the huge reward thrown into the mix.Carrie hadn't known the dead woman's name when her body had been trundled into her hospital's morgue for autopsy. But she'd recognized her face. It had been only six weeks since she'd last seen it, after all. She'd been searching Shadow Falls for the young woman, hoping to get her to sign the adoption papers that would officially make Sam Carrie's own. On that horrible day, she'd realized it would never happen.She alone knew what had become of the murder victim's missing baby. He'd just scored a goal on the soccer field, and he didn't even know he was adopted."You know that guy?" Bryan asked.Carrie blinked and realized that her eyes were still glued to the tourist with the tabloid. He had long, honey and caramel hair, pulled back and held with a black rubber band. He had whiskers, too. Not a beard, exactly. Just a neatly trimmed layer of bristles that was probably supposed to be sexy.Okay, it was sexy. Just not to her.He wore jeans, and a T-shirt with several guitars on the front of it and some words underneath, but she was too far away to read them clearly."Carrie?" Bryan nudged."No, no, I don't know him. I was just thinking he looks like a hippie.""Nah, they usually travel in groups." He was being funny.She wasn't laughing. "So maybe he's a lone hippie. Can't say I approve of his choice of reading material.""He probably doesn't care." Bryan nodded in a direction slightly farther left. "That one's reading the same thing, but since he's wearing a buttoned-up suit, you probably don't find it as offensive."She looked beyond the long-haired man to where Bryan had indicated. Another man sat there, light brown hair in a neat cut that seemed a little too short and too severe for his face. It was a nice face, though. He had a deep tan that stood in sharp contrast to his pale brows and even paler blue eyes, giving him a striking appearance. And his suit was impeccable, not to mention expensive."It's just as offensive. Though I'm more surprised to see an intelligent-looking guy like that reading it.""I think he looks like an Oompa-Loompa."She elbowed Bryan in the rib cage but had to laugh, and it broke a little of the tension. "You're just not used to seeing sun-worshippers at the peak of their color.""The man is orange.""He's not orange. He's deeply tanned. And he looks harmless. The hippie, on the other hand…""Doesn't look the least bit suspicious to me," Bryan said."Never trust a guy in a ponytail," she told him. "If you're still checking out tourists, I'd suggest you move that guy to the top of the list."Bryan rolled his eyes. "I don't seriously think we're looking at a stranger abduction here, Carrie. Do you?""Of course not. Kyle's sixteen. Same as Sam. God, it's hard to believe they're only two years from legal, isn't it?" She sighed. "Anyway, it was a bonehead move on Kyle's part to leave without a word, though… Sammy insists Kyle would never run off without telling him.""You think he's right about that?" Bryan asked.She looked across the soccer field at her son. "You know how kids are at this age—it's all about the drama. And my son's second favorite activity is drama club.""I don't blame him. He kicked ass in 'The Wizard of Oz.'"She smiled, remembering. "He's a natural. I think he could be a professional actor if he wanted to.""I agree. I also think he watches too much CSI.""I hope that's it," Carrie said. "I just don't want to believe child abduction is something that can happen here in Shadow Falls." She watched Bryan's face as she spoke, hoping for some confirmation of her theories.He looked away as he said, "I just wish we'd get a lead on Kyle so we would know one way or the other."Her heart skipped a little. "Bryan, are you saying… are you saying there's a chance Sam's right? That Kyle didn't run away?"He shrugged. "There's no evidence that anything happened to him. Every indication is that he just took it into his head to run off. I just wish he'd call his family and fess up already. It's cruel, putting them through this. They're good people.""I never thought of Kyle as a cruel kid," she said.Bryan averted his eyes. "Yeah, I know. It does seem out of character, and that's what's bothering me about all this."It sounded to Carrie as if Bryan might be rethinking the current popular theory about Kyle's disappearance, and that realization sent a chill up her spine. But before she could question him further, she saw his eyes widen and followed his gaze to the field just in time to witness a teeth-jarring impact between a player and the ground. There was no one near the kid, so obviously no one had hit him. He was clutching his chest, and his mouth was open wide."Gotta go, Bry!" Carrie grabbed her medical bag, always nearby at sporting events, and bounded between spectators to get to the field.The crowd was on its feet but parted to let her through. She wasn't in a panic—this happened on a fairly regular basis, and it was usually nothing. As she cleared the knot of players and parents being held at bay by the coaches and refs, she saw the boy.The kid on his back was Marty Sheffield, and he had a full-blown asthma attack going on. She could tell that his pulse was skyrocketing; his eyes were rolling back already, and his lips were blue."Okay, Marty, easy now. Easy." She yanked an inhaler from her bag. She also kept one in her glove compartment and two at her house. The number of asthmatic tee...

Five teenage girls have been viciously attacked. One survived. Only she can reveal the secrets of a disturbing ring of people who kidnap and sell teenage girls on the black market. But those responsible for the crimes will do whatever it takes to maintain her silence. Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadopoulos have both sworn to stop the murderers for their own personal reasons. The investigation leads them to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where anyone can mask his or her identity. They soon discover a chain of deception so intricate they don't know whom to trust. Finding comfort in each other's arms, they begin to unravel the intricately knotted threads, but the killers are ruthless and determined, and won't hesitate to take extreme measures to insure their anonymity and keep their business intact. When Susannah proves to be inexplicably linked to the crimes, her life is soon in danger, and Luke will do everything he can to save the woman he loves.From Publishers WeeklyBestseller Rose concludes her thriller trilogy that began with Scream for Me and Die for Me with a bang. In Dutton, Ga., where 13 years earlier a secret rape club flourished among the bratty sons of the towns elite, an elderly monster known only as Charles and his depraved minions steal teenage girls to sell to perverts in a lucrative human trafficking scheme. Hot on their trail are the Georgia Bureau of Investigations special agent Daniel Vartanian; his partner, special agent Luke Papadopoulos; and his long-suffering sister, Susannah Vartanian, a New York City ADA. A botched raid spurs the murders of five girls and the removal of abused assets to another hiding place. Two courageous teen survivors provide the GBI with help, but a mole in the GBI working for Charles complicates the takedown. Rose juggles a large cast, a huge body count and a complex plot with terrifying ease. The sweet romance between Luke and Susannah provides welcome relief from the many scenes of brutality. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistSusannah Vartanian, the troubled heroine of Die for Me (2007) and Scream for Me (2008), returns in another gripping thriller. Again teaming up with Georgia Bureau of Investigation special agent Luke Papadopoulos, her best friend, Susannah puts her own life in danger to catch the people who are kidnapping teenage girls and selling them to the highest bidder. Readers familiar with the first two Vartanian novels are well aware of Susannah’s deeply troubled past, and here the author explores in even greater detail Susannah’s family history and the incidents that scarred her for life. This is a gritty, unsettling novel in which Susannah confronts not only some especially nasty villains but also her own inner demons. The novel appears to bring the Vartanian trilogy to a close, but there are many nooks and crannies of Susannah’s life left to be explored. High reader demand could easily lead to more volumes in the series. --David Pitt

Lawyers can really suck...Fresh out of law school, Linnet Ellery is offered a position at of one the most prestigious law firms in New York. However, the office of Ishmael, McGillary, and Gold, as a White-Fang law practice, caters to supernatural clients who are among some of the most powerful beings in existence.Linnet will need all of her vaunted luck to avoid the cutthroat office politics, backroom deals, supernatural killers, and centuries-old schemers that surround her on a case that could shake the halls of power both mortal and immortal to their foundations...What happens when The Firm meets Anita Blake? Buy This Case Is Gonna Kill Me to dive into Linnet's supernatural legal adventures today! "... real-world problems intersect with fantasy problems in unexpected ways — the legal system being one of them!"—SF Literature.com

He wakes up. She kills him. It won't stop happening. On a dark and stormy night, Seth wakes up—only to be murdered by his own wife. Then he wakes up and she does it again. And again. And again. He's stuck in a loop that nobody else knows about. It's not just a bad dream—and no amount of pleading, reasoning, or fighting with her makes a difference. It all ends the same way. Every single time. Seth doesn't know why she wants him dead, but he'll have to learn. He'll have to find out what's really happening and why—if he wants to figure out how to stop it. And for that, he'll have to experiment. To die over and over and over, learn as much as he can each time, and collect the pieces of this terrifying puzzle. He will not accept defeat. He already knows what happens when he fails, and having it happen...

EDITORIAL REVIEW: **YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR FAMILY...** Death by Chocolate is her favorite dessert. And those knitting needles aren't just for craft projects. To most people, Gin Bombay is an ordinary single mom. Then again, they don't know she's from a family of top secret assassins. Somewhere between leading a Girl Scout troop for her kindergartner--would nooses count for a knot badge?--and keeping their puppy from destroying the furniture, Gin now has to take out a new target. **BUT YOU CAN PICK THEM OFF** Except this target has an incredibly hot Australian bodyguard who knows just how to make her weak in the knees. But with a mole threatening to expose everything, Gin doesn't have much time to let her hormones do the happy dance. She's got to find the leak and clear her assignment...or she'll end up next on the Bombay family hit list.

Jason Schmidt wasn't surprised when he came home one day during his junior year of high school and found his father, Mark, crawling around in a giant pool of blood. Things like that had been happening a lot since Mark had been diagnosed with HIV, three years earlier.Jason's life with Mark was full of secrets—about drugs, crime, and sex. If the straights—people with normal lives—ever found out any of those secrets, the police would come. Jason's home would be torn apart. So the rule, since Jason had been in preschool, was never to tell the straights anything. A List of Things That Didn't Kill Me is a funny, disturbing memoir full of brutal insights and unexpected wit that explores the question: How do you find your moral center in a world that doesn't seem to have one?

He has chosen to die and signed a contract with the right people to make it happen. Everything will go as planned, even if he changes his mind. Which he has. And all he can do now is keep looking over his shoulder.

"Timmy Reed writes like a whacked-out angel." —Amber Sparks, author of The Unfinished World and May We Shed These Human Bodies Miles Lover is an imaginative but insecure adolescent skateboarder with an unfortunate nickname, about to face his first semester of high school in the fall. In Kill Me Now, Miles exists in a liminal space—between junior high and high school, and between three houses: his mother's, his father's, and the now vacant house his family used to call home in a leafy, green neighborhood of north Baltimore. Miles struggles against his parents, his younger identical twin sisters, his probation officer, his old friends, his summer reading list, and his personal essay assignment (having to keep a journal). More than anything, though, he wrestles with himself and the fears that come with growing up. It's not until Miles begins a mutually beneficial friendship with a new elderly neighbor—whom his sisters spy on and...

Lethal assassin Victor lands in the middle of a Guatemalan cartel war in the latest nonstop thriller from the international bestselling author of The Final Hour.KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSE...Victor is the killer who always delivers...for the right price. And Heloise Salvatierra, patron of Guatemala's largest cartel, is ready and willing to pay him just that to eliminate the competition: her sister. Heloise has been battling Maria for control of the cartel in an endless and bloody war. Now Victor decides who survives. An easy job if it weren't for the sudden target on his back....AND THEIR ENEMIES CLOSER.Victor's not the only one on the hunt. Someone else has Maria in the crosshairs and will do anything to get the kill. In the middle of cartel territory with enemies closing in from all sides, Victor must decide where to put the bullet before one is placed in his head....

It galled luscious, golden-haired Alma Chrysler to be tied to a husband as stodgy and unexciting as Norman. She didn't think a man should spend his evenings tinkering with a car.Variety was the spice of love, Almla believed, and proved her theory with Scotty, Jim, Bob, and others she could hardly remember.Now it was Ward Green and he was the best of the lot — a slave to her passion for her — but could she maneuver him into going along with her plan for the permanent removal of her husband?Only time and her exquisitely formed body would decide whether she could manipulated Ward's hunger for her, giving and then withholding, sating and then starving, until he was ready to obey her slightest command...

The dark side of love is no fairy tale.... And while we may like to believe that crimes of the heart only victimize those who aren't careful, this page-turning collection of must-read accounts will convince you otherwise. America's #1 true-crime writer, Ann Rule reveals how lovers become predators, how sex and lust can push ordinary people to desperate acts, and how investigators and forensics experts work to unravel the most entangled crimes of passion. Extracting behind-the-scenes details, Rule makes these volatile relationships utterly real, and masterfully re-creates the ill-fated chains of events in such cases as the ex-Marine and martial arts master who seduced vulnerable women and then destroyed their lives...the killer whose calling card was a single bloodred rose...the faithless wife who manipulated and murdered without conscience...the blind date that set the stage for a killer's brutality...and more. In every case, the victim -- young and innocent or older and...

The course of true love never did run smooth for PI Mike Hammer. His secretary and partner Velda has walked out on him without explanation, and Mike is just surfacing from a four-month bender. But then an old cop turns up murdered, an old cop who once worked with Velda on the NYPD Vice Squad. What's more, Mike's pal Captain Pat Chambers has discovered that Velda is in Florida, the moll of gangster and drug runner Nolly Quinn. Hammer hits the road and drives to Miami, where he enlists the help of a horse-faced newspaperman and a local police detective. But can they find Velda in time? And what is the connection between the murdered vice cop in Manhattan, and Mike's ex turning gun moll in Florida?

Nathan Stiedowe is seeking perfection -- and he has been learning from the best. Recreating some of the most sickening murders in history, his objective appears chillingly simple, but his true motive remains unclear.On the trail of this sadistic monster is FBI Special Agent Dana Whitestone. Driven by the brutal childhood slaying of her parents, Dana's relentless pursuit of the most evil and twisted criminals has seen her profile many violent cases. But never has she encountered a maniac as demented as Stiedowe, or a mind as horrifyingly disturbed...

Patricia Amble might be down, but she's not dead--yet. Tish has left the Detroit suburbs for her next renovation project: an old log cabin in Michigan's remote Upper Peninsula. And the fun part—it's the same cabin where she spent her childhood summers. The fresh air and solitude are just what she needs after her flight from romance and her brushes with death. As Tish arrives at her new home, her hope for peace and quiet is shattered when she finds a torn photo of her dead mother with the words "don't ask why" written across her face. Mysterious relatives, old rivalries, and a dangerous drug ring may make this twenty-six-year-old mystery more than she can handle. Tish must put together the pieces of her mother's death or risk losing everything—including her own life. Book 2 in the Patricia Amble Mystery series, Kill Me If You Can is a suspense-packed story of family secrets, long-distance romance, and renovations of the heart.

From Publishers WeeklyBerrier, an award-winning journalist for the Roanoke Times tells the fascinating story of his grandfather Clayton and great-uncle Saford Hall, two Virginia musicians who were playing bluegrass before the term was even coined. The Halls played together until Saford's death in 1999 (he performed his last gig just months before with the help of oxygen), but it was ultimately the draft that cut their promising career short. Before WWII, the band they were part of had played for thousands, released records, and were heard six days a week on regional radio programs; after the war their careers stalled and the brothers took factory jobs to survive. Berrier writes with an appreciation for Appalachia, a colloquial voice ("There were just too many puissant high school boys catting around"), and nostalgia for how things were in his grandfather's time, "the good old days, which you and I will only know through the stories we inherit." But he's not sentimental, noting the darkness inherent in the stories and music, the "unholy communion of desperation, poverty, hunger and violence" in Depression-era Virginia. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From BooklistLots of books are written about performers who have made it big in show business. Berrier tells the story of twin brothers, Saford and Clayton Hall, both talented musicians, who did not. Regional celebrities in Roanoke, Virginia, and regulars on the radio in that city, where they played “hillbilly music,” the Hall brothers never quite broke into national prominence. Then the momentum of their career was cut short by World War II, never to be fully regained. Berrier, the grandson of Clayton Hall, uses interviews with family members and his mother’s brief memoir of her father to recount their lives and careers, from a childhood spent in rural poverty to an adolescence in which the twin brothers discovered a talent for music, and an early adulthood in which it looked, for a time, like they were escaping a dirt-poor world where the best job was working at the local furniture factory. Berrier, a reporter at the Roanoke Times, combines a journalist’s love of getting the facts right with the art of a front-porch storyteller. --Jack Helbig

(The Pierre Chambrun Mysteries, 19)A group of thugs storms the Beaumont Hotel, and only Pierre Chambrun can stop the chaos.  There has been trouble in Central Park. Free concerts given on the great lawn have been ending in upheaval as gangs of toughs maraud through the crowd with bats, chains, and knives—taking what they want and crushing those who stand in their way. During a performance by red-hot diva Donna Ward, the park is peaceful. But afterward, the horde descends on the Beaumont Hotel, smashing the bar and storming the elevators in search of beautiful things to steal or destroy.  In the chaos, someone takes three shots at Victoria Haven, the onetime beauty queen who has, for decades, occupied the penthouse. After the throng is expelled from the premises, manager Pierre Chambrun tries to discover who would want to kill this harmless old glamour girl. But his investigation is about to be upended—for the riot is only the beginning of his trouble.

SUMMARY: When 16-year-old Scarlett Wakefield transfers from St. Tabby’s to Wakefield Hall Collegiate, she is relieved that no one knows her dark, haunting secret. A few months ago, Scarlett was invited to an elite party with a guest list full of the hottest names in British society, including Dan McAndrew. Before the party, Scarlett had only imagined what it would be like to have her first kiss with Dan, but on the penthouse terrace, Dan leaned in close and she no longer had to wonder. Their kiss was beautiful and perfect and magical, and then . . . Dan McAndrew took his last breath as she held him in her arms. No one knows how or why Dan died, and everyone at St. Tabby’s believes Scarlett had something to do with it. But now that she’s safely hidden away at Wakefield Hall, Scarlett would rather forget that it ever happened. Only she can’t. Especially when she receives an anonymous note that will set her on the path to clearing her name and finding out what really happened to the first and last boy she kissed.From the Hardcover edition.

SUMMARY: YOU CAN'T PICK YOUR FAMILY... Death by Chocolate is her favorite dessert. And those knitting needles aren't just for craft projects. To most people, Gin Bombay is an ordinary single mom. Then again, they don't know she's from a family of top secret assassins. Somewhere between leading a Girl Scout troop for her kindergartner--would nooses count for a knot badge?--and keeping their puppy from destroying the furniture, Gin now has to take out a new target. BUT YOU CAN PICK THEM OFF Except this target has an incredibly hot Australian bodyguard who knows just how to make her weak in the knees. But with a mole threatening to expose everything, Gin doesn't have much time to let her hormones do the happy dance. She's got to find the leak and clear her assignment...or she'll end up next on the Bombay family hit list.

New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose delivers another pulse-pounding suspense novel that ties into SCREAM FOR ME. Five teenage girls have been murdered. One survived, and only she can reveal the secrets of a disturbing ring of people who kidnap and sell teenage girls on the black market. But those responsible for the crimes will do whatever it takes to maintain her silence. Susannah Vartanian and Luke Papadopoulos have both sworn to stop the murderers for their own reasons. Susannah, the sister of the hero in SCREAM FOR ME, suffers from a mysterious past that is connected to the sinister black market. Luke is an investigative agent and a computer expert who refuses to let another child predator get away. Susannah and Luke are instantly attracted to each other, but their troubled pasts prevent them from immediately acting upon their feelings. The case will lead them to the shady realm of Internet chat rooms, where anyone can mask their identity. As Susannah and Luke draw closer to the criminals, they discover a chain of deception so intricate they don't know who to trust. Susannah and Luke find comfort in one another's arms, but the killers are ruthless and determined, and will take extreme measures to insure their anonymity and keep their business intact.

Love At First SightAngel-faced Paula Guitierrez was 15 when she met 14-year-old Nestor (Chino) DeJesus on a subway platform in New York City. Almost immediately they began a torrid affair fueled by sex and marijuana. But while Chino charmed Paula's parents, behind closed doors he was a sadistic control freak who forced Paula into submission and beat her when she tried to escape.And A Gun With A PlanMoving to Tampa, Florida, the couple found themselves penniless and hungry with a two-year-old daughter to feed. The only thing going for them was a semiautomatic Mac 11 pistol and a reckless plan. On the morning of July 6, 2001, the sordid saga of Paula and Chino finally reached its inevitable violent end.Make A Deadly PactHats and bandannas over their faces, the desperate duo rushed into a bank with their gun raised and walked out with $10,000. Believing they'd made a clean getaway, within the hour they found themselves in a tense standoff with...

From the author of Play Me Backwards and I Kissed a Zombie and I Liked It comes a dark comedy about one teen's unusual summer job as a ghost tour guide in Chicago.Megan Henske isn't one to heed warnings... When the last letters in her alphabet cereal are D, I, and E, she doesn't crawl right back into bed. When her online girlfriend won't text a photo, she just sends more of herself. And when she realizes that Cynthia, her boss at a Chicago ghost tour company, isn't joking about making stops more haunted by killing people there, she doesn't quit her job—she may even help. But who is responsible for the deaths of prominent figures in the murdermonger industry? Could it be the head of the rival tour company? Or could it be someone near and dear to Megan? Soon after she learns that she has an uncanny resemblance to a flapper who disappeared in 1922, Megan receives a warning she can't ignore: the next ghost on the tour...

What happens when The Firm meets Anita Blake? You get the Halls of Power—our modern world, but twisted. Law, finance, the military, and politics are under the sway of long-lived vampires, werewolves, and the elven Alfar. Humans make the best of rule by “the Spooks,” and contend among themselves to affiliate with the powers-that-be, in order to avoid becoming their prey. Very loyal humans are rewarded with power over other women and men. Very lucky humans are selected to join the vampires, werewolves, and elves—or, on occasion, to live at the Seelie Court. Linnet Ellery is the offspring of an affluent Connecticut family dating back to Colonial times. Fresh out of law school, she’s beginning her career in a powerful New York “white fang” law firm. She has high hopes of eventually making partner.  But strange things keep happening to her. In a workplace where some humans will eventually achieve...

Usually, Samantha Leiffer wouldn't be caught dead using one of her mother's cheesy catchphrases, like sympathy vulture, to describe anything—especially not her ex-boyfriend. But since her self-help guru mom got her own radio show, her pearls of wisdom—broadcast everywhere—seem stuck in her head. Is she "magically thinking"—or in real danger? Mom claims Sam sees danger where it doesn't exist. But Sam isn't so sure. Is her live-in boyfriend, detective John Krull, just quiet and remote, or deeply troubled? Is her ex trying to be friends, or stalking her? When a nerdy stranger gives Sam a note warning her of danger unless she calls him, she thinks he's just hitting on her—until one by one, people vaguely connected to her start getting killed. And is someone trying to date her—or kill her? Suddenly Sam knows she's not imagining the murderer, who preys on the weak, who waits patiently for death. With nowhere...

"Clever fun."--Kirkus Reviews"Incorporating suspense and romance, this contemporary, edgy, Grimm-based novel is an entertaining and well-written entry in the crowded but popular genre."--BooklistMirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday--and discovers a world she never could have imagined.In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems--the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale...