Romance Mystery Psychological

The charm of spending the Christmas holidays in South Wales, with its crumbling castles and ancient myths, seems the perfect distraction from the nightmares that have plagued literary agent Lyn Ravenshaw since the loss of her baby five years ago. Instead she meets an emotionally fragile young widow who's convinced that Lyn's recurring dreams have drawn her to Castle Farm for an important purpose - and she's running out of time.

None of this was supposed to happen. It all started so innocently. Charlie only stopped in Redemption, Wisconsin, because she was lost. She never meant to stay. She never meant to fall in love. She never meant to bring the danger she was running from into this wholesome midwestern town. Except Redemption had some secrets of its own...and they were even more deadly than what she was trying to escape.

In his three novellas, In Short Measures, Strong Conspirators, and Sally Forth, Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual love - and the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades. Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelity - what are one's obligations toward one's spouse, one's family, and one's heart?

When Dr. Rennie Newton goes to jury duty, she delivers a "not guilty" verdict in the murder case against contract killer Ricky Lozada. She will learn to regret this decision, because Rennie's trial with Lozada doesn't end with his acquittal. A colleague of hers is soon brutally slain and when Lozada begins an earnest courtship, it becomes clear that he is obsessed with having her. In order to defeat Lozada, Rennie forms an uneasy alliance with a detective who has a personal agenda for Lozada.

I offer advice for a living. I encourage my patients to make wise decisions, and I help them help themselves to walk through life stronger, healthier, happier. Isn’t that the goal; to live our best lives? If only I practiced what I preach. I wasn’t always like this. Every move I make lately is the opposite of smart. These questionable life choices are a new development. They started the day a certain Vitale barged into my life. Brand Vitale might look like a hero to the rest of the world, but looks can be deceiving.

Twenty years ago, wild child Jessie Brentwood vanished from St. Elizabeth's high school. Most in Jessie's tight circle of friends believed she simply ran away. Few suspected that Jessie was hiding a shocking secret - one that brought her into the crosshairs of a vicious killer.

Libbie Havens is fine on her own. When she chances upon the secluded house on Cub Creek, she purchases it. She'll show her cousin Liz, and other doubters, that she can rise above her past and live happily and successfully on her own terms. Libbie has emotional problems born of a troubled childhood. Raised by a grandmother she could never please, Libbie is more comfortable not being comfortable with people. She knows she's different from most. She has special gifts, or curses, but are they real? Or are they products of her history and dysfunction?

Seattle Chief of Detectives Mort Grant cannot reconcile the memories of his vibrant, headstrong young daughter with the cold, deadly woman she has become. The head of one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world, Allie Grant seized power by wrenching it away from her lover, a notorious Russian gangster. Only two other people know the truth about Allie: the vigilante known as The Fixer, and Mort's best friend, Larry, who's undergoing a crisis of his own. Someone close to Larry has been slain in a mass murder at a sweat lodge deep in the woods....

At a literary festival, a poet named Linda Fallon meets for the first time in years a fellow poet, Thomas Janes, whose fame has grown during a decade of seclusion. This is no chance meeting. Thomas saw that Linda was scheduled to appear and chose this moment to reestablish contact with a woman he had passionately pursued years earlier. Their affair was disastrous for them both, a turning point in their lives, and the damage they did in those years still haunts them both.

My sweet captive doesn't like to be touched. She will learn. She no longer has the right to refuse. She flinches at the sight of my scarred face, but the way she whimpers and trembles makes perverse pleasure stir within me. I captured the little FBI agent while she was trying to take down my drug empire, and I can't allow that. No one will ever touch her again - especially not my cruel brother. Samantha is mine to keep and protect. Mine to play with and punish. All mine.

London, 1765. Lady Isabella Gerard, a respectable member of Georgian society, orders her maid to take her new golden gown and destroy it, its shimmering beauty tainted by the actions of her brutal husband the night before. Three months later, Lord Gerard stands at the shoreline of the lake, looking down at a woman wearing the golden gown. As the body slowly rolls over to reveal her face, it’s clear this was not his intended victim…

At any given time, there could be as many as 50 serial killers active. I’m looking for one. He’s been killing successfully for more than three decades. I suspect even longer. A year ago, the unsub’s methods changed. Instead of one or two bodies a year, five have been dropped. Either the unsub has a partner or he’s about to become a spree killer. It’s only a matter of time before someone puts the coin into the right slot and the kill song begins. Finding the unsub is my obsession. It was my father’s. He died without solving the mystery. I won’t.

Cherokee Pointe, Tennessee, has seen murder before, but nothing like what has claimed the life of Jamie Upton, heir to the Upton fortune. The crime is so vicious, so personal and filled with hatred, the authorities are certain it had to be someone he knew.... The number-one suspect is Jamie's former lover Jazzy Talbot. The girl from the wrong side of the tracks has always been Cherokee Point's favorite target for gossip and worse. Jazzy knows she didn't kill Jamie...just as she knows she's being watched, stalked like prey....

Nell Calder is the docile, plain wife of a powerful financier. She is content to live in the shadows of his elegant international life. Suddenly one night, at a lavish party, a hit man targets her husband. Nell’s face and body are deeply marred by the same violent hand. But from the ensuing surgery and rehabilitation, Nell emerges beautiful, strong, and bent on revenge. To develop the skills she needs to face her attacker, Nell must conquer her fear and face almost impossible odds.

Kicked out of her house because her father can no longer tolerate her constant delinquency, Roxy wanders the streets of New York, living in a fleabag hotel. Spotted by an "agent" for Madam Brittany, a sophisticated woman who runs an escort service, Roxy is taken into the Madam's "training program" where she is educated and set up with her own boutique apartment.

Pippa wants a second chance. Recently divorced and unhappy at work, she uproots her life to move to a beautiful farmhouse in the countryside, determined to make a fresh start. But Pippa soon realizes that troubles are never far behind. One night, when Pippa is at home alone, a stranger arrives at her front door. Pippa invites him in and, in a moment of madness, makes him an offer she believes could change everything.

Despite their differences, Noah and Gracie are searching for answers to the same questions, and, together, they set out to uncover the truth about the Austin Police Department's dark and messy past. But the scandal that emerges is bigger than they bargained for, and goes far higher up than they ever imagined.

Two strangers in a foreign city, Thora and Santi meet in a chance encounter. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit - someone who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Before their friendship can blossom, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

Lost on the streets of a foreign city, Molly Clary is attacked after a book signing. An unknown hero steps in to protect her, but her relief turns to terror when her savior's true intentions are revealed. Connor Reilly doesn't just want to save her. He wants to take her for himself.

On a leafy suburban street in Dublin, beautiful, poised Stella Greene lives with her successful husband, Matt. They're the perfect couple in every way, and Stella appears to have it all. Next door, at number 72, however, lives Rea Brady. Gruff, bad tempered and rarely seen besides the twitching of her net curtains, rumour has it she's lost it all...including her marbles, if you believe the neighbourhood gossip. But appearances can be deceiving, and when Stella and Rea's worlds collide they realise they have much in common.