Society Mystery

When the quaint English town of York hosts a Jane Austen Society conference, bookseller Erin Coleridge is glad to get out of Kirkbymoorside for a while—until featured speaker Barry Wolf suddenly perishes from what appears to be a heart attack. Erin is suspicious, since Barry had no history of heart disease. But who did him in? Was it the decedent's assistant, Stephen, who was observed chatting to Barry's young wife Luca earlier that night? Might it have been Barry's ex-wife Judith, who was seen arguing with her erstwhile betrothed at the bar?

Nine-year-old Nicholas Benedict has more problems than most children his age. Not only is he an orphan with an unfortunate nose, but he also has narcolepsy, a condition that gives him terrible nightmares and makes him fall asleep at the worst possible moments. Now he's being sent to a new orphanage, where he will encounter vicious bullies, selfish adults, strange circumstances—and a mystery that could change his life forever. Luckily, he has one important thing in his favor: He's a genius.

At Princeton University, a famed geneticist dies inside a biohazard lab. In Rome, a Vatican archaeologist is found dead in St. Peter's Basilica. In Africa, a U.S. senator's son is slain outside a Red Cross camp. The three murders on three continents bear a horrifying connection: all the victims are marked by a Druidic pagan cross burned into their flesh. The bizarre murders thrust Commander Gray Pierce and Sigma Force into a race against time to solve a riddle going back centuries.

Dark Adventure Radio Theatre presents Robert E. Howard's tale of horrors in Eastern Europe in a 1930s-style radio drama. Charlie Tower seeks refuge from the horrors of the Great War in Berlin's most notorious nightclubs. There a chain of events is set in motion that will lead him across Europe to investigate the mysterious Black Stone. Is it merely a creation of superstitious peasants, or is it a nexus for hideous gods of the ancient world to set foot into ours?

Entering the world of conspiracy theories and secret societies is like stepping into a distant, parallel universe where the laws of physics have completely changed: black means white, up is down, and if you want to understand what's really going on, you need a good reference book. That's where Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies for Dummies comes in. Whether you're a skeptic or a true believer, this fascinating guide, packed with the latest information, walks you through some of the most infamous conspiracy theories - such as Area 51 and the assassination of JFK.

Orson Reid: college freshman, gamer, and quite possibly the legendary boogeyman of the magical world. And you thought your life was weird. It all started the night Orson kissed his best friend, Elyse, and she kissed him back. Yes, the kiss was life changing, but in ways Orson never could have imagined. It seems he contracted a "virus" that is making him taller, faster, and stronger. But his life doesn't go completely off the rails until the night Elyse shows up at his house, strips out of her clothes, and shape-shifts into a giant cat - a panther, to be exact.

Esoteric scholar Manly P. Hall covers a lot of areas relating to the ancient mysteries, including common roots in religious and ritual practices, the practices of the Druids and how they relate to Masonry, the rites of Mithras, Simon Magus and the Gnostics, Abraxas, the Egyptian Serapis, the Odinic mysteries and how they compare, the rites of Eleusis, the Orphic mysteries, Bacchus, Dionysos, and much more.

An indispensable guide, Cults, Conspiracies, and Secret Societies connects the dots and sets the record straight on a host of greedy gurus and murderous messiahs, crepuscular cabals, and suspicious coincidences. Some topics are familiar - the Kennedy assassinations, the Bilderberg Group, the Illuminati, the People's Temple and Heaven's Gate - and some surprising, like Oulipo, a select group of intellectuals who created wild formulas for creating literary masterpieces, and the Chauffeurs, an 18th-century society of French home invaders, who set fire to their victims' feet.

The war on drugs has been lost but for want of the courage to face the fact that the whole world is rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From pop stars and princes to crack whores and street kids. From the Groucho Club toilets to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime.

September, 1923. Despite closing her first case, high society lady detective Olive Belgrave hasn’t found a new client. She’s taken a job as a hat model to pay for her poky boarding house room. But then a job offer comes her way—make discreet inquiries about a famous author who’s disappeared. Olive travels to the English countryside to hunt for the missing mystery author. But soon after she arrives in the sleepy village, a body is discovered. Then a second murder focuses the police’s attention on Olive, and she must clear her name before the murderer pens a plot that frames her.

Spirited debutante Lady Olivia McLeod, cherished daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Strathaven, has two interests: solving mysteries and winning the love of her rescuer and secret crush, the infamous Duke of Hadleigh. When Livy joins Lady Charlotte Fayne's charity for young ladies and discovers that it is a front for a covert investigative agency, she is thrilled. Livy dedicates herself to solving a deadly case. Little does she realize that the path to danger will also lead to her heart's deepest desire.

My name is Gus Bailey...It should be pointed out that it is a regular feature of my life that people whisper things in my ear, very private things, about themselves or others. I have always understood the art of listening. The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. His propensity for gossip has finally gotten him into troubl - $11 million worth. His problems begin when he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake story from an unreliable source and repeats it on a radio program.

A timeless murder mystery with the fascinating, glamorous Mitford sisters at its heart, The Mitford Trial is the fourth installment in the Mitford Murders series from Jessica Fellowes, inspired by a real-life murder in a story full of intrigue, affairs and betrayal....

Audrey and Ivy, determined to bring their fellow student Lola Radcliffe's killer to justice, find themselves in the middle of another mystery when a friend disappears in suspicious circumstances. Their only clue is a mysterious card left by the enigmatic Magpie Society. With time running out and the police baffled, Audrey and Ivy must delve deeper than ever into the dark secrets that their school is hiding. But someone is playing a deadly game. And to beat them, Audrey and Ivy have to start rewriting the rules....

As the owner of Miracle Books, Nora Pennington figures all the wet weather this spring is at least good for business. The local inns are packed with stranded travelers. Since a little rain never hurt anyone, Nora rides her bike over to the flea market one sodden day and buys a bowl from Danny, a Cherokee potter. But the next day, a little rain turns into a lot of rain, and the Miracle River overflows its banks. Amid the wreckage of a collapsed footbridge, a body lies within the churning water. Nora and the sheriff both doubt the ruling of accidental drowning.

Everyone's heard the rumours about elite gentlemen's clubs, where the champagne flows freely, the parties are the height of decadence...and the secrets are darker than you could possibly imagine. DS Maeve Kerrigan finds herself in an unfamiliar world of wealth, luxury and ruthless behaviour when she investigates the murder of a young journalist, Paige Hargreaves. Paige was working on a story about the Chiron Club, a private society for the richest and most privileged men in London. Then she disappeared.

Evan Michaels is back in a new life as a Syrian refugee. When strange memories of his former lives lead him back to Zurich, headquarters of his old family of fellow reincarnationists, the Cognomina, he must reacquire their trust to rejoin their ranks. On the last leg of this journey, he is intercepted by an excommunicated member of the Cognomina who holds some serious grudges. She’s on a mission to wipe out large portions of the world’s population to save the planet from destruction. She proposes a union of the Cognomina and her own group of reincarnationists.

Since she can remember, Katarina's relatives have been grooming her for the family business - thieving. But when Kat tries to go straight and leave the Life for a normal life, she's promptly kicked out of her new school for stealing the headmaster's car and mounting it on the school fountain. Although she could have done it without breaking a sweat, ironically, this time, she's innocent.

Thirty-year-old Black woman Sidney Taylor is a talented early American history professor, working in fast-paced Washington DC, with her eyes on promotion. She's also currently persona non grata. Who knew that making an inconvenient historical discovery would see her stuck at her desk, shuffling paper? So when she receives an anonymous and very cryptic invitation to visit historic small-town Robbinsville, North Carolina and hunt for a missing archaeological treasure—with a million-dollar payout at stake—it's one she can't refuse.

Nora Pennington, the owner of Miracle Books, believes that a well-chosen novel can bring healing and hope. But she and the rest of the members of the Secret, Book, and Scone Society know that, sometimes, practical help is needed, too. Such is the case with the reed-thin girl hiding in the fiction section of Nora's store, wearing a hospital ID and a patchwork of faded bruises. She calls herself Abilene, and, although Nora and her friends offer work, shelter, and a supportive ear, their guest isn't ready to divulge her secrets.