DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS: A J.J. GRAVES MYSTERY

J.J. Graves has seen a lot of dead bodies in her line of work...

She's not only in the mortuary business, but she's also the coroner for King George County, Virginia. When a grisly murder is discovered in the small town of Bloody Mary, it's up to J.J. and her best friend, Detective Jack Lawson, to bring the victim justice.

The murders are piling up...

When a popular mystery writer shows up on J.J.'s doorstep with plans of writing his new book about the Bloody Mary Serial Killer, J.J. has to decide if he might be going above and beyond the call of duty to create the spine tinglers he's so well known for.

Passions are rising...

J.J and Jack discover each victim had a shocking secret, and the very foundation of J.J.'s life is in danger of crumbling when it turns out she’s harboring secrets of her own—secrets that make her a perfect target in a deadly game.


OTHER MYSTERY/SUSPENSE TITLES BY LILIANA HART:

WHISKEY REBELLION: AN ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERY
WHISKEY SOUR: AN ADDISON HOLMES MYSTERY
A DIRTY SHAME: A J.J. GRAVES MYSTERY
CADE: A MACKENZIE NOVEL
SECRETS AND SATIN
SHADOWS AND SILK
SINS AND SCARLET LACE
KILL SHOT
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN



What Readers Are Saying:

"Look out Janet Evanovich, here comes Liliana Hart!"

"This is my first book by Liliana Hart but not my last."

"Ms. Hart has constructed a well-developed plot with enough twists to keep me reading long past bedtime."

THE NATIONAL BESTSELLER

Fiona Davis, author of The Dollhouse, returns with a compelling novel about the thin lines between love and loss, success and ruin, passion and madness, all hidden behind the walls of The Dakota—New York City’s most famous residence.

After a failed apprenticeship, working her way up to head housekeeper of a posh London hotel is more than Sara Smythe ever thought she’d make of herself. But when a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of the grand New York apartment house The Dakota, leads to a job offer, her world is suddenly awash in possibility—no mean feat for a servant in 1884. The opportunity to move to America, where a person can rise above one’s station. The opportunity to be the female manager of The Dakota, which promises to be the greatest apartment house in the world. And the opportunity to see more of Theo, who understands Sara like no one else...and is living in The Dakota with his wife and three young children.

In 1985, Bailey Camden is desperate for new opportunities. Fresh out of rehab, the former party girl and interior designer is homeless, jobless, and penniless. Two generations ago, Bailey’s grandfather was the ward of famed architect Theodore Camden. But the absence of a genetic connection means Bailey won’t see a dime of the Camden family’s substantial estate. Instead, her “cousin” Melinda—Camden’s biological great-granddaughter—will inherit almost everything. So when Melinda offers to let Bailey oversee the renovation of her lavish Dakota apartment, Bailey jumps at the chance, despite her dislike of Melinda’s vision. The renovation will take away all the character and history of the apartment Theodore Camden himself lived in...and died in, after suffering multiple stab wounds by a madwoman named Sara Smythe, a former Dakota employee who had previously spent seven months in an insane asylum on Blackwell’s Island.

One hundred years apart, Sara and Bailey are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages—for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the free-flowing drinks and cocaine in the nightclubs of New York City—and take refuge and solace in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress. But a building with a history as rich—and often tragic—as The Dakota’s can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers in its basement could turn everything she thought she knew about Theodore Camden—and the woman who killed him—on its head.

With rich historical detail, nuanced characters, and gorgeous prose, Fiona Davis once again delivers a compulsively readable novel that peels back the layers of not only a famed institution, but the lives—and lies—of the beating hearts within.

Book one of the New York Times–bestselling All Souls trilogy—"a wonderfully imaginative grown-up fantasy with all the magic of Harry Potter and Twilight” (People)

Deborah Harkness’s sparkling debut, A Discovery of Witches, has brought her into the spotlight and galvanized fans around the world. In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782, deep in Oxford's Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar's depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, and concludes with The Book of Life.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

The #1 New York Times bestseller.

New York Times Book Review 10 Best Books of 2017

Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Chernow returns with a sweeping and dramatic portrait of one of our most compelling generals and presidents, Ulysses S. Grant.
 
Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and an inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.
 
Before the Civil War, Grant was flailing. His business ventures had ended dismally, and despite distinguished service in the Mexican War he ended up resigning from the army in disgrace amid recurring accusations of drunkenness. But in war, Grant began to realize his remarkable potential, soaring through the ranks of the Union army, prevailing at the battle of Shiloh and in the Vicksburg campaign, and ultimately defeating the legendary Confederate general Robert E. Lee. Along the way, Grant endeared himself to President Lincoln and became his most trusted general and the strategic genius of the war effort. Grant’s military fame translated into a two-term presidency, but one plagued by corruption scandals involving his closest staff members.

More important, he sought freedom and justice for black Americans, working to crush the Ku Klux Klan and earning the admiration of Frederick Douglass, who called him “the vigilant, firm, impartial, and wise protector of my race.” After his presidency, he was again brought low by a dashing young swindler on Wall Street, only to resuscitate his image by working with Mark Twain to publish his memoirs, which are recognized as a masterpiece of the genre.
 
With lucidity, breadth, and meticulousness, Chernow finds the threads that bind these disparate stories together, shedding new light on the man whom Walt Whitman described as “nothing heroic... and yet the greatest hero.” Chernow’s probing portrait of Grant's lifelong struggle with alcoholism transforms our understanding of the man at the deepest level. This is America's greatest biographer, bringing movingly to life one of our finest but most underappreciated presidents. The definitive biography, Grant is a grand synthesis of painstaking research and literary brilliance that makes sense of all sides of Grant's life, explaining how this simple Midwesterner could at once be so ordinary and so extraordinary.

Named one of the best books of the year by Goodreads • Amazon • The New York Times • Newsday • BookPage • Barnes and Noble • Wall Street Journal

No Christmas will ever be the same after Cole and Maia meet on a snowy western ranch… Find out why in #1 New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan’s romantic holiday e-novella!

When Cole Steele, a womanizer rumored to have killed his father, meets Maia Armstrong, a veterinarian rumored to practice magic, the sizzling romance could melt all the snow on his Wyoming ranch. And when an injured horse brings them together, Cole can’t help but believe that Maia casts spells on animals—and men. What else could explain the burning passion he feels for her and the thawing of his heart just in time for Christmas?

From New York Times bestselling author, Deanna Chase, comes the first book in the Last Witch Standing series featuring the badass witch, Phoebe Kilsen.

Trouble is brewing in New Orleans. Shifters are moving in and vampires are being picked off in record numbers. And vampire hunter Phoebe Kilsen is right in the middle of the war.

When Phoebe’s best friend goes missing along with the consort of the most powerful vampire in New Orleans, Phoebe betrays her heart and her shifter partner by teaming up with the one vampire she’s never trusted. Now, not only does she have the city's vampires to worry about, but there's a new vigilante shifter pack who claim to be protecting the citizens of the Crescent City. Only they aren't at all who they claim to be. Trust will be broken. Betrayal and secrets will be revealed, and through it all, Phoebe will do whatever it takes to bring her friend home, even if means she might not make it out alive.

Look out for Pam's new book, The Lost Girls of Paris, a story of friendship and courage centered around three women and a ring of female spies during World War II—coming soon!

A New York Times bestseller!

"Readers who enjoyed Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale and Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants will embrace this novel. " —Library Journal

"Secrets, lies, treachery, and passion…. I read this novel in a headlong rush." —Christina Baker Kline, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Orphan Train

A powerful novel of friendship set in a traveling circus during World War II, The Orphan's Tale introduces two extraordinary women and their harrowing stories of sacrifice and survival 

Sixteen-year-old Noa has been cast out in disgrace after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby. She lives above a small rail station, which she cleans in order to earn her keep… When Noa discovers a boxcar containing dozens of Jewish infants bound for a concentration camp, she is reminded of the child that was taken from her. And in a moment that will change the course of her life, she snatches one of the babies and flees into the snowy night. 

Noa finds refuge with a German circus, but she must learn the flying trapeze act so she can blend in undetected, spurning the resentment of the lead aerialist, Astrid. At first rivals, Noa and Astrid soon forge a powerful bond. But as the facade that protects them proves increasingly tenuous, Noa and Astrid must decide whether their friendship is enough to save one another—or if the secrets that burn between them will destroy everything.

Will desire be the salvation or ruin of an entire clan?
Includes Books 1-3

CALLUM-BOOK ONE

I want them to suffer…

For years, the Clan has lived through that curse, trying and failing to break free of the shackles that hold them to it. Now, an obscure text gives five cousins hope…

His duty was all that mattered.

Callum Lennon has one goal in life: protect his cousins. His failure in the past to do just that is what drives every action. When they discover a chance for redemption, Callum is willing to try. But trusting an outsider isn’t acceptable.

A woman in need of a new beginning.

An expert in archeology, Phoebe has always felt dwarfed by her parents’ shadow. In college by thirteen, she’s never measured up to her parents’ high standards. When the Lennons contact her, she decides to take a chance…and finds herself intrigued by the most insufferable man.

A passion impossible to ignore.

One argument leads to a kiss and to an unbearable desire they cannot seem to fight. When an old enemy threatens their fragile new love, Callum will have to choose between believing his mind or trusting his heart.



ANGUS-BOOK TWO
A man who only believes in fact.

Even after everything the Clan has endured, Angus has always held onto his scientific leanings. He isn’t a believer of instant attraction, so, he is surprised by the force of his attraction to Irishwoman Maggie O’Conner. He doesn’t trust her, but she soon become an obsession he can’t seem to shake.

A woman who defies every logic.

Single mother Maggie comes from a long line of magickal women, but she walked away from that part of her life. When Angus bursts into her life, she tries to ignore the handsome Scot, but soon finds that she needs his protection. She knows he’s not normal, but she never expected him to be the one man who could capture her heart.

A passion they could not deny.

As they work together, their need for each other threatens to consume them both. But just as they close in on the next jewel, a new enemy emerges and puts everything they hold dear into jeopardy.

LOGAN - BOOK THREE
A man who always sees beneath the surface.

Logan has lived his dream of being an artist for hundreds of years. He’s painted some of the most beautiful women in the world, but none of them compare to Meghan Campbell. When they are paired up to go after the next jewel, resisting her becomes almost impossible, but he knows he must. The witch is hiding something and until he knows what that is, he cannot fully trust her.

A woman who can lure any man.

As a witch with siren abilities, Meg has never had a problem with the opposite sex. That is, until she met Logan. The irritating man seems to be the one person in the world who doesn’t succumb to her spell. Unfortunately, he is the one man she really wants. No matter how hard she tries, he resists her.

As they embark on their quest for the next jewel, tempers flare and passion ignites. But when a new layer of the curse is revealed, they discover their failure could put lives in danger. The two must work together to fight the rising power against them and hope that those who support the Clan survive the fight.

Based on a true story and written by Hannah Howe, author of the Amazon #1 Sam Smith Mystery Series, Saving Grace, "the courtroom drama of the year."

The Western Mail

2 August 1876

Sensation in the Charles Petrie Case!

Readers may recall that a young banker, by name Mr Charles Petrie, with every opportunity of succeeding in his profession, and commanding a not illiberal income, returned home after riding his horse to dine with his wife, Grace, and her companion, Mrs Quinn. During and after dinner he had nothing to excite him save the receipt of a letter which somewhat annoyed him, and that his wife consumed rather more wine than he considered to be good for her health. Immediately after retiring to his room he was seized with symptoms of irritant poisoning, and despite every effort made on his behalf, he succumbed to its effects. An inquest was held, which vexed the minds of the Coroner’s jury to a degree without precedent in Coroners’ Inquest Law, and an open verdict was returned. However, the matter will not rest there, for after questions in Parliament, a second inquest has been called under suspicion that Mr Charles Petrie was murdered.

* * *

Who poisoned Charles Petrie? Dr James Collymore, a man familiar with poisons, a man harbouring a dark secret that, if exposed, would ruin his career; Florrie, the maid who supplied Charles with his bedtime drink; Bert Kemp, a disgruntled groom, who used poisons in his work, who four months previously had predicted Charles’ dying day; Mrs Jennet Quinn, a lady’s companion with a deep knowledge of poisons, and a deep fear of dismissal; or Grace Petrie, Charles’ wife of four months, a woman with a scandalous past, a woman shunned by polite society.

With crowds flocking to the courtroom and the shadow of suspicion falling upon Grace in the shape of the hangman’s noose, could dashing young advocate, Daniel Morgan, save her?

Get the prequel for free (copy and paste paladinchronicles.com  into your browser).

Book one of the Epic Sword and Sorcery Fantasy set in Middle East on the cusp of an invasion by the unbeatable Makedóne army from the west and the appearance of a new and far more dangerous barbarian far to the East.

The final destruction of the Elves has been foretold two thousand years before,and now the time is all but upon them. Only through an ancient prophecy can they be saved, but it will require every bit of love, sacrifice and courage that a group of extraordinary people have to give.

An Elf Princess, an eleven year old gypsy orphan girl, and a mercenary tribesman are the first to be called. They must unite in a desperate search through Anatole for the key to the survival of the Elves, but first they have to stay alive!
 (some adult content).

All proceeds from sales of this and subsequent books will be given to registered charities see neilport.com/ for details.

Small town Holly Point wasn’t big enough to hold the dreams of golden girl Maggie Benson. So when she left at eighteen, she flew right through college and into the adrenaline-pumping life of a navy fighter pilot. But without warning, a devastating crash destroys the career she loves and sends her back to her overly protective family to heal. Maggie can’t imagine how she can reconnect with the woman she was until the hot local high school basketball coach steps up to show her the way.

Former NBA star Will Fitzgerald knows how an injury can derail more than a career. Still, he’s happy with his life as a teacher and coach at Holly Point High School, until his quiet life is upended by the beautiful, brilliant, and hurting Maggie. Blindsided by the intense attraction, Will wonders if pursuing the woman of his dreams will answer the question of what’s been missing in his life.

Can Maggie trust enough again to let Will past her wounds, inside and out, so that they can both find the Christmas magic they’ve been searching for?

From USA Today Best Selling Author, Ali Parker...

Everyone seems to be in love but me. Why is that?

Relationship after relationship and nothing.

I’m always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.

It’s getting old. Fast.

And just at the moment I start to give up, he walks into my life.

Sexy, strong, older. One of my students' father.

It’s against the rules to feel the way I do about him, but I can’t help myself.

A single father with a sexy demeanor and deep pockets.

But that’s not what gets me about him.

It’s the way he looks at me. As if he already owns me.

The relationship can be our little secret.

Or can it?

A thrilling new fantasy series—full of deadly magic, double crosses, and a dangerous quest in a new world—from Sara Raasch, the New York Times bestselling author of the Snow Like Ashes series.

Adeluna is a soldier. Five years ago, she helped the magic-rich island of Grace Loray overthrow its oppressor, Agrid, a country ruled by religion.

But adjusting to postwar life has not been easy. When an Argridian delegate vanishes during peace talks with Grace Loray’s new Council, Argrid demands brutal justice—but Lu suspects something dangerous is at work.

Devereux is a pirate. As one of the stream raiders who run rampant on Grace Loray, he scavenges the island’s magic plants and sells them on the black market. But after Argrid accuses raiders of the diplomat’s abduction, Vex becomes a target. An expert navigator, he agrees to help Lu find the Argridian—but the truth they uncover could be deadlier than any war.

Benat is a heretic. The crown prince of Argrid, he harbors a secret obsession with Grace Loray’s forbidden magic. When Ben’s father, the king, gives him the shocking task of reversing Argrid’s fear of magic, Ben has to decide if one prince can change a devout country—or if he’s building his own pyre.

As conspiracies arise, Lu, Vex, and Ben will have to decide who they really are . . . and what they are willing to become for peace.

She loves Christmas. He can’t stand it. Could getting trapped together in an avalanche bring new joy to both their worlds?

Riley McKinley has always loved Christmas, and is heartbroken when she's called out of town to broker a real estate deal over the holidays. Still, she knows this could be a career-maker for her—even if it means being away from her family during the most wonderful time of the year.

Ski instructor, Sebastian Rockwell, wants nothing more than to escape the holiday frenzy back home. When he's offered some extra hours at his Fairbanks resort, he jumps at the chance for a no-stress holiday. Unfortunately, stress still finds him in the form of a snowmobiling misadventure that leaves him and Riley trapped behind an avalanche wall on Christmas Eve.

Will these two opposites find their way out of disaster and into each other's hearts, or will this be the last Christmas either of them ever sees? Don't miss your chance to find out what happens next in this sweet contemporary romance, perfect for holiday lovers and grinches alike!

"The most beautiful love letter ever is found within the pages... Ms. Storm blends beautiful scenery with an epic romance in a short but sweet tale." ★★★★★ from Isha Coleman

"Melissa Storm has done it again... This is one of her best books ever." ★★★★★ from Rose

"I loved this book. It was not only romance but about changes you make for love. Melissa Storm has done it again!" ★★★★★ from Lenda Burns

ABOUT THE SERIES: The Alaska Sunrise Romances are quick, light-hearted romances that will put a smile on your face and a song in your heart. It's time to indulge in a sweet Alaskan get-away!

•Book 1: Must Love Music
•Book 2: Must Love Military
•Book 3: Must Love Mistletoe
•Book 4: Must Love Mutts
•Book 5: Must Love Mommy
•Book 6: Must Love Moo
•Book 7: Must Love Mustangs
•Book 8: Must Love Miracles
•Book 9: Must Love Mermaids
•Book 10: Must Love Movie Star

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Melissa Storm is a mother first, and everything else second. Writing is her way of showing her daughter just how beautiful life can be, when you pay attention to the everyday wonders that surround us. So, of course, her USA Today bestselling fiction is highly personal and often based on true stories.

Melissa loves books so much, she married fellow author Falcon Storm. When she's not reading, writing, or child-rearing, she spends time relaxing at home in the company of her six dogs, cockatiel, and a rescue cat named Schrödinger. She never misses an episode of The Bachelor, because priorities.

Sometimes the dragon wins!

When a dungeon quest to slay a dragon goes awry, the primal dragons unite to punish mankind. God-like in power, the dragons control elemental forces like fire and ice, stone and sea, the sun and storms. Now, a rag-tag band of swashbuckling rogues must fight their way through the nightmarish realms of the damned in a last ditch effort to stop the dragon apocalypse! 


DRAGON APOCALYPSE: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION, gathers all four novels of the critically acclaimed series by James Maxey, author of the bestselling BITTERWOOD series. It also includes the bonus novella GREATSHADOW: ORIGINS.

GREATSHADOW

Infidel is a sword-for-hire, enchanted with impervious skin and the strength of ten men. When her closest companion dies, she decides to retire in style by stealing the treasure horde of the dragon Greatshadow. To do so, she joins an expedition organized by the Church of the Book, who've assembled a team of the world's most dangerous mercenaries to kill the dragon. Unfortunately, she's known as "Infidel" because she once stole a priceless relic from the church. With half the team sworn to kill her if they discover her true identity, can she survive her own companions long enough to face the dragon?

HUSH

Infidel must travel to the frozen wastes to fulfill a promise made to a dying friend. When she stumbles across a plot by Hush, the primal dragon of cold, to murder Glorious, the dragon of the sun, will she be able to save the world from eternal winter?

WITCHBREAKER

Long ago, Stark Tower, the Witchbreaker, used his hell-forged sword to destroy the kingdom of the witch-queen Avaris. Now, a young woman named Sorrow is on a quest to recover the lost secrets of witchcraft. Sorrow has tapped into the power of Rott, the primal dragon of death, for the might needed to fight her numerous enemies. In the ruins of the land once ruled by Avaris, she discovers a sleeping warrior who awakens with no memory. A brave and skillful fighter, the man joins Sorrow on her quest. But is Sorrow's new ally secretly her greatest enemy, the long-vanished Witchbreaker?

CINDER

It's the end of the world! Twenty years after the attack on Greatshadow, the primal dragon Tempest has torn down the gates of Hell. His army of the damned pour out onto a world already in ruins from blizzards, floods, and earthquakes. Infidel's daughter Cinder was born with the power to walk between the realms of the living and the dead. Can she rescue Sorrow and her allies from Hell in time to defend the last stronghold of mankind from the assembled dragons?

All four individual novels of the Dragon Apocalypse Saga are also available in audio format.

Anna is clearly different from others. With obvious physical differences and powerful abilities, she’s never quite fit in… anywhere. Having no knowledge of her parents, she sets out to discover her true origin. On the run for most of her life, she’s become a master at eluding capture, even a little cocky you might say. When a sticky situation forces her hand, she hitches a ride with a wizard, who whisks her away to another world, where, according to him, she’d been exiled from as a child. This new magical place seems oddly familiar as Anna discovers powerful enemies and treasured allies on her quest for answers. The dangerous journey thrust her headlong into the arms of Kriston, who finds himself caught between sworn-duty and insatiable curiosity.

When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly sixty years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the nineteenth century with a twenty-first-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades. Though she owned palatial homes in California, New York, and Connecticut, why had she lived for twenty years in a simple hospital room, despite being in excellent health? Why were her valuables being sold off? Was she in control of her fortune, or controlled by those managing her money?
 
Dedman has collaborated with Huguette Clark’s cousin, Paul Clark Newell, Jr., one of the few relatives to have frequent conversations with her. Dedman and Newell tell a fairy tale in reverse: the bright, talented daughter, born into a family of extreme wealth and privilege, who secrets herself away from the outside world.
 
Huguette was the daughter of self-made copper industrialist W. A. Clark, nearly as rich as Rockefeller in his day, a controversial senator, railroad builder, and founder of Las Vegas. She grew up in the largest house in New York City, a remarkable dwelling with 121 rooms for a family of four. She owned paintings by Degas and Renoir, a world-renowned Stradivarius violin, a vast collection of antique dolls. But wanting more than treasures, she devoted her wealth to buying gifts for friends and strangers alike, to quietly pursuing her own work as an artist, and to guarding the privacy she valued above all else.
 
The Clark family story spans nearly all of American history in three generations, from a log cabin in Pennsylvania to mining camps in the Montana gold rush, from backdoor politics in Washington to a distress call from an elegant Fifth Avenue apartment. The same Huguette who was touched by the terror attacks of 9/11 held a ticket nine decades earlier for a first-class stateroom on the second voyage of the Titanic.
 
Empty Mansions reveals a complex portrait of the mysterious Huguette and her intimate circle. We meet her extravagant father, her publicity-shy mother, her star-crossed sister, her French boyfriend, her nurse who received more than $30 million in gifts, and the relatives fighting to inherit Huguette’s copper fortune. Richly illustrated with more than seventy photographs, Empty Mansions is an enthralling story of an eccentric of the highest order, a last jewel of the Gilded Age who lived life on her own terms.

Advance praise for Empty Mansions
 
“Empty Mansions is a dazzlement and a wonder. Bill Dedman and Paul Newell unravel a great character, Huguette Clark, a shy soul akin to Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird—if Boo’s father had been as rich as Rockefeller. This is an enchanting journey into the mysteries of the mind, a true-to-life exploration of strangeness and delight.”—Pat Conroy, author of The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son

“Empty Mansions is at once an engrossing portrait of a forgotten American heiress and a fascinating meditation on the crosswinds of extreme wealth. Hugely entertaining and well researched, Empty Mansions is a fabulous read.”—Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire

In Kristi Ann Hunter's "Legacy of Love," Sarah Gooding never suspected returning a brooch to an elderly woman would lead to a job . . . and introduce her to the woman's grandson, a man far above her station.

In Karen Witemeyer's "Gift of the Heart," widow Ruth Albright uses the family brooch as collateral for a loan from the local banker. But the more she comes to know the man behind the stern businessman, the more she hopes for a second chance at love.

In Sarah Loudin Thomas's "A Shot at Love," Fleeta Brady's rough-and-tumble childhood means she prefers hunting to more feminine activities. She never expected her family's brooch might be how a fellow hunter turns her attention from competition to romance.

In Becky Wade's "Because of You," Maddie Winslow has spent years in love with a man whose heart was already spoken for. When a church Christmas project brings them together and she stumbles upon an old family brooch, might it finally be her turn for love?

SANDRA DALLAS is the author of fourteen novels, including A Quilt for Christmas, Fallen Women, True Sisters, The Bride's House, Whiter Than Snow, Prayers for Sale, Tallgrass and New Mercies. She is a former Denver bureau chief for Business Week magazine and lives in Denver, Colorado.

Doctor Christopher Ravello is driven by an unquenchable desire to avenge his mother's senseless murder. He forsakes a lucrative career in medicine, and plunges headlong into the brutal, unforgiving world of a New York City homicide detective. Head of the new Division of Medical Crimes, Ravello's first case pits him against a brilliant, sadistic serial killer. Known only as The Giver, he is hell bent on subjecting young women and their unborn babies to his illicit experiments. As the body count rises, New York City is engulfed in fear. Fighting an illness which threatens his job, immersed in turmoil at home due to his radical career change, Ravello struggles to understand who The Giver is and where he will strike next. Just as he discovers the killer's identity the unspeakable happens, and Ravello is confronted with an agonizing choice: will he play it safe or make the ultimate sacrifice to save his loved ones and the city he is sworn to protect and serve?