Private Family

Harry Starke loves a cold case, but this one is really cold, more than a hundred years cold. Family Matters is a tale that takes place on the lonely coast of Maine, where Amanda, a true believer in the paranormal, has inherited—you guessed it—a haunted house. At least that’s what the rumors say. It all begins when Amanda inherits the house, substantial assets, and a large sum of money from her grandmother. The windfall comes with a request to look into the disappearance of Elizabeth, Amanda’s great-great-grandmother, more than a hundred years ago.

Windsor, 1943. Britain is in the grip of war and treachery is afoot. The body of controversial former courtier Lord Blackwater is found in the abandoned Fort Belvedere, once the country bolthole of the King’s wayward brother. And all signs point to murder. Royal confidant Guy Harford is called in to solve the mystery quickly and quietly, before any hint of scandal reaches the public. Investigating with the help of Rodie, his roguish burglar girlfriend, his enquiries lead him into the world of the Royal Ballet, where on-stage glamour hides an undercurrent of off-stage deceit.

Shanna McGuire is convinced a strange man is following her. When he approaches her on the street, he shocks her with a story that makes her question her family history. She asks Simm to investigate the man's claim. A simple case of genealogy and the search for a possible treasure are perfect for Simm, a former private investigator, and his wife Charlie, both pub owners in Downtown Montreal.

After a year in Battle Lake, Minnesota, aspiring PI Mira James would kill not to stumble over another dead body. Given her latest discovery, though, it isn’t looking good. An ominous note hidden in an old book not only mentions Battle Lake’s former librarian, who vanished into thin air, but also Mira’s own father, who died thirteen years ago. The word “HELP” scrawled at the top is even more unnerving. But who’s in danger? And why? As if the note isn’t mystery enough, a girl’s sudden disappearance adds another case to Mira’s plate.

"Ich glaube, das siebte Lebensjahr des Menschen wird gnadenlos unterschätzt. Alle starren immer nur auf die Pubertät, aber die Pubertät beginnt im Grunde viel früher. Es muss sich erst einmal vieles ansammeln, bis es dann explosionsartig austritt." So furios beginnt das neue Buch von Margit Schreiner, in dem es nicht nur um die Entwicklung der Siebenjährigen geht, sondern auch um den Blick der Erwachsenen auf das Kind, das sie einmal war.

In ihrem ersten Erinnerungsbuch "Vater. Mutter. Kind. Kriegserklärungen" erzählt Margit Schreiner von der siebenjährigen Margit, die sich ein Dackelmädchen namens Bella erfindet, das nie von ihrer Seite weicht (das Hörbuch ist auch im derDiwan Hörbuchverlag erschienen). In "Mütter. Väter. Männer. Klassenkämpfe" besetzt ein paar Jahre später ein Maharadscha ihre Fantasien, während das Mädchen ihm als Panther zu Füßen liegt. Doch auch diese wunderbare Zeit endete irgendwann, "und ich saß an meinem Schreibtisch und löste Rechenaufgaben".

Small-time private investigator Ray Lovell veers between paralysis and delirium in a hospital bed. But before the accident that landed him there, he'd been hired to find Rose Janko, the wife of a charismatic son of a traveling Gypsy family, who went missing seven years earlier. Half Romany himself, Ray is well aware that he's been chosen more for his blood than his investigative skills.

Returning to Seattle after a business trip, retired PI Leo Waterman is shocked to find his girlfriend, Rebecca Duvall, unconscious on the bathroom floor, her house filled with gas. Officials believe it was a suicide attempt in the wake of a humiliating scandal. Under investigation for dereliction of duty, she'd been suspended from her job as medical examiner for King County. Leo knows Rebecca too well - and is determined to prove her innocence and clear her name. Most important, he wants to find out who tried to kill her.

As usual, 17-year-old Alice Teale walked out of school at the end of a bright spring day. She's not been seen since. Alice was popular and well-liked, and her boyfriend, friends and family are desperate to find her. But when the police start asking questions, it becomes clear that almost everyone has something to hide. Torn between a host of suspects, Detectives Beth Winter and Lucas Black don't know which way to turn. But then they receive a disturbing package: pages from Alice's precious diary. Who could have sent them? And have they done with Alice?

Amy is a typical teenager at Bethel Christian School. She's popular and always has a party to attend. So, why does life feel so empty? Why is it so hard to get out of bed every morning? After a bad grade in math and finding out her parents are getting a divorce, Amy makes a choice that will change her life forever.

Nero Wolfe mischt sich nicht in anderer Leute Ehen ein. Doch kurz nachdem er den Fall der reichen Erbin Sarah Rackham abgelehnt hat, wird eine Bombe in Form eines Würstchenpakets angeliefert. Der Absender ist sein Erzfeind Arnold Zeck. Nero Wolfe ist klar: Wenn er jetzt nachgibt, wird er sein Handwerk nie wieder ausüben können. Und so beschließt er, unterzutauchen. Sarah Rackham weiß, dass ihr Mann sie nur des Geldes wegen geheiratet hat.

Riley Brodin is the granddaughter of Walter Muehlenhaus - a man as rich, powerful, and connected as anyone since the days of J. P. Morgan. Despite her family’s connections, it’s McKenzie she reaches out to when her relatively new boyfriend goes missing. Despite his reservations about getting involved with the Muehlenhaus family - again - Mac McKenzie agrees to look for one Juan Carlos Navarre. What he finds, though, is a man who appears to be a ghost.

After seventeen-year-old Claire Alalay’s father's death, only music has helped her channel her grief. Claire likes herself best when she plays his old piano, a welcome escape from the sadness - and her traditional Filipino mother’s prayer groups. In the hopes of earning a college scholarship, Claire auditions for Paul Avon, a prominent piano teacher, who agrees to take Claire as a pupil. Soon Claire loses herself in Paul’s world and his way of digging into a composition’s emotional core.

Veronica is late, and Julián is increasingly convinced she won't ever come home. To pass the time, he improvises a story about trees to coax his stepdaughter, Daniela, to sleep. He has made a life as a literature professor, developing a novel about a man tending to a bonsai tree on the weekends. He is a narrator, an architect, a chronicler of other people's stories. But as the night stretches on before him, and the hours pass with no sign of Veronica, Julián finds himself caught up in the slipstream of the story of his life—of their lives together.

When the biggest villain in the country makes you an offer you can't refuse, what should you do? In my case, I decided to accept that offer, made by Mr. Vincent Vanzetti. Vanzetti hired me to find his missing daughter, Vittoria, while threatening reprisals should I fail in my task. While searching for Vittoria, I had to deal with the other members of the Vanzetti clan.

Zac was a straight A student, class president, most likely to succeed, but by the age of 25, he was a college drop out. Zac peaked too soon.... He was once the golden child who was ever blindly falling forward. That is until tragedy stops him short. Now, failing out of college, he begrudgingly moves back home, with frazzled over protective parents and an older sister who can no longer stand him. Lost, he finds solace in old acquaintances and new friends that causes ripples of change in all of their lives.

For Kirsten McKenna, the world is crumbling. Her parents are barely speaking to each other, and her best friend has come under the spell of the school's queen bee, Brianna. Only Kirsten's younger science-geek sister is on her side. Meanwhile, for Walker Jones, the goal is to survive at the new white private school his mom has sent him to because she thinks he's going to screw up like his cousin.

Chrissy Livingstone grieves over her dad's sudden death. While she cleans out his old things, she discovers something she can't explain: seven photos of schoolboys with the year 1987 stamped on the back. Unable to turn off her desire for the truth, she hunts down the boys in the photos only to find out that three of the seven have committed suicide…. Tracing the clues from Surrey to Santa Monica, Chrissy unearths disturbing ties between her father's work as a financier and the victims.

A suave baron takes a fancy to twelve-year-old Edgar's mother, while the three are holidaying in an Austrian mountain resort. His initial advances rejected, the baron befriends Edgar in order to get closer to the woman he desires. The initially unsuspecting child soon senses something is amiss, but has no idea of the burning secret that is driving the affair, and that will soon change his life for ever.

Die neunte Tür des Sherlock Holmes-Adventkalenders: Holmes und Watson kommen schließlich in Jerusalem an. Als sie im Haus ihres palästinensischen Kollegen Sallah zu Gast sind, erfahren sie erstaunliche Details über diesen.