Fiction Thriller Suspense

Christmas in Winterspell means ice skating, hot cocoa by the barrel, and frosted gingerbread houses. I was almost looking forward to it. The merriment screeches to a halt when two elves show up, claiming to have been sent by Santa himself, on a mission to track down an ancient grimoire. A grimoire with the power of Christmas itself woven through the pages. Without it, Christmas isn't happening, and Santa himself is in grave danger. Could Winterspell hold the key to saving Christmas?

Dashing detective Lord Peter Wimsey is caught up in the murder trial of mystery writer Harriet Vane. Her fiance has died of poisoning exactly as described in one of Harriet's novels, so naturally she is the prime suspect. As Peter looks on, he not only falls in love with the accused but eagerly helps with Harriet's defense when the first trial ends in a hung jury. Will she be convicted and executed for the crime, or can he save her life and win her hand in marriage?

Jessica and her friend, Dr. Seth Hazlitt, get the shock of their lives when they travel to a Florida retirement community for the funeral of their old friend, Portia Shelby, only to discover she has been murdered. Needless to say, America's most beloved sleuth soon finds herself with a Palm Beach potboiler on her hands. Who would want to kill her dear friend? One thing is certain: the beach umbrellas aren't the only shady things in the seemingly innocent community.

In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces listeners to one of his most powerful creations: Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.

Eighteen years have passed since Jonas Taylor last crossed paths with Carcharodon megalodon. Now a middle-aged father of two, he is overwhelmed by mountains of bills and the daily strife of raising a family. But life is about to change. A Hollywood television producer wants Jonas to join his new survival series: Daredevils. For the next six weeks, two teams of crazy daredevils on a South Pacific Ocean voyage will try to outperform one another in front of the cameras.

Victoria can't wait to start college, but there's a hitch - she can't remember anything before arriving on campus. Her memories finally spark when she sees her ruggedly handsome math professor, but she senses something terrible happened. The shock on his face affirms her fears. Toby is an alpha wolf who never thought he'd see his true love again - not after she died in his arms. Nothing could have prepared him for her walking into his class. But to his dismay, not only has she forgotten the past, she doesn't even know who she is.

RITA Award finalist and Christy Award winner Julie Klassen delivers historical romances brimming with the eloquence and intensity of Jane Austen. In an abandoned gatehouse on an old estate, Mariah Aubrey lives in seclusion. She supports herself by writing novels in secret—at a time when such writing is considered improper and unladylike. Soon the wealthy and ambitious Captain Bryant leases the estate and is intrigued by the beautiful girl in the gatehouse.

The kids in the third grade at Bailey Elementary are so hard to handle that all of their teachers have quit. But their new teacher, Mrs. Jeepers, is different, to say the least. She's just moved from the Transylvanian Alps, and she seems to have some strange powers that help her deal with these mischief-makers. Her methods may be a little unconventional, but, then again, Mrs. Jeepers may be just what the Bailey School kids need.

The sequel to Winter Dark sees the return of Winter – and this time she has her work cut out. With only a week to go until the world's leaders convene for a summit in London, she is hot on the trail of the Guardsman, Firestorm’s top hitman. What is he planning for the summit and what are the disturbing experiments he is running? From London to Virginia, Marseille to Moscow, just how do all the strands connect? What is the final countdown and who can she really trust?

Sophie Saunders has the perfect life. Happily married to handsome Matt and expecting her first baby, she is the envy of her childhood friend, Lou. Lou's family has splintered. Her husband is dead and her son has left home. She would give anything to turn back the clock. But there's a secret buried deep in their past that the two friends can never forget. And when Sophie's world starts spiraling out of control, it's her new friend Roz to whom she turns. Trouble is, secrets have a habit of unraveling. And when they do, you can kiss your perfect life goodbye

When a local man, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, goes missing, his parents have good reason to be concerned. Emily Willows is a friend of the family and says that she knows just the person to find him - and, as Summer Lane soon points out, the fact that this also fits in with Emily's plan to set up her very own detective agency is surely just a fortuitous coincidence.

For over three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror listeners crave. Now, with the eighth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the audio of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman; Kelley Armstrong; Stephen King; Linda Nagata; Laird Barron; Margo Lanagan; and many others.

In a renovated Gothic church on Long Island lives Jonathan Hemlock, an art professor and a world-renowned mountain climber who finances his black-market art collection by working as a freelance assassin. Now, Hemlock is being tricked into a hazardous assignment that involves an attempt to scale one of the most treacherous mountain peaks in the Swiss Alps: the Eiger. His target is one of his three fellow climbers. The problem is that the CII can't tell him which one.

When it comes to heists, Parker believes in some cardinal rules. On this job, he breaks two of them: never bring a dame along - especially not one you like - and never, ever, work with amateurs. Nevertheless, with the help of a creep named Billy, and the lure of a classy widow, he agrees to set up a heist of a coin convention. But Billy’s a rookie with no idea how to pull off a score, and the lady soon becomes a major distraction. The Rare Coin Score marks the first appearance of Claire, who will steal Parker’s heister’s heart - while together they steal two million dollars’ worth of coins.

What does the tragic death of a 27-year-old Portland beauty have to do with a suburban mother in Houston? Everything. Only Meghan Bishop doesn't know it yet. When the married mother stumbles upon evidence suggesting someone close to her may have ties to the heinous crime the nation can't stop talking about, she's forced to dive headfirst into an ocean of secrets she never knew existed. Unraveling her life one startling piece at a time, Meghan realizes she believed all the pretty lies she'd been told.

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred. It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night.

Ruthless, clever, and unbelievably violent, the Russian mafia has rapidly taken over the criminal underworld in the US, and law enforcement has been unable to stem the tide. When a powerful Russian mob family declares war by publicly executing two high-profile American politicians, the message is unmistakable - opposition will be met with overwhelming deadly force. With no other viable options, the President creates a clandestine assassinations team to find and eliminate the unreachable men running this deadly criminal operation.

Reports of a haunted house soon have amateur sleuth Agatha Raisin snooping around, only to discover the victim of the haunting is a universally disliked old biddy on whom someone is playing a practical joke. But then the old lady is murdered and, for Agatha, solving a crime is much more fun than ghost-busting. Very soon she’s up to her usual tricks, involving the villagers, local police, and, naturally, her handsome new neighbor.

RITA Award winner Irene Hannon has also won the Holt Medallion for her romantic suspense. In this pulse-pounding thriller, the White House orders elite FBI operator Evan Cooper to secure Monica Callahan from a terrorist threat. But since Monica refuses all calls from her senior diplomat father, she sees no need for his round-the- clock protection—until a chilling “message” leaves no doubt.

The first rule of being a ghost whisperer: Don't tell anyone. Seriously. Don't. Sure, it might sound harmless. A fun party trick, even. I assure you, it's not. How do I know? Well, let's just say that I've had a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and nine times out of 10, it turns into an all-consuming disaster.