Collection: Adult

In this next enthralling mystery in Tasha Alexander's bestselling series, Lady Emily chases down a killer in India along the misty banks of the sacred river Narmada.

1908: Lady Emily and her husband Colin Hargreaves, along with an eccentric group of English tourists, are vacationing in India at Ahilya Fort, the old home to the Maharaja's family, when a man is found shot along the Narmada River. Emily and Colin jump into action, but their suspect list is large, including a wonderful spinster and her not-so-wonderful companion; a local doctor; a widow who lives nearby; an English explorer; and an Englishman who now runs a tea plantation near Darjeeling.

1740: Fifteen-year-old Ahilyabai has been married to the son of Malharrao Holkar, the Lord of the Malwa territory, for seven years. Now the time has finally come to produce an heir. But though Ahilya's in-laws have shown her nothing but kindness, her notoriously-drunken husband remains a mystery to her, having rarely spoken to Ahilya since their wedding as children. Faced with this tortured and distant man, Ahilya's sense of loyalty is tested as she attempts to balance fulfilling her duty with forging her own destiny. Her decisions will have ripple effects across time--including Lady Emily's investigation almost two hundred years later.

Lady Emily's case takes a dramatic turn when a shocking new person arrives at the fort--and when the killer strikes again shortly afterwards, she and Colin must race to uncover the villain's identity before it's too late.

From the author of the bestselling phenomenon Dietland comes a razor-sharp, subversive thriller about motherhood, obsession, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Violet "West" Shelley has unwillingly spent her life in the spotlight as the only daughter of a legendary poet and feminist icon who died tragically young. Now, as the self-described "lowbrow" crime journalist approaches fifty--burned out, creatively blocked, and far older than her mother ever was--she retreats to her hometown in the Colorado mountains hometown to finish a long-overdue book about the "Crying Killer," a notorious serial killer who sobs for his mother after committing his crimes.

But what begins as a bid for solitude quickly spirals into something far more sinister. A stalker emerges--mysterious, relentless, with accusations disturbingly intimate: this invisible stranger insists that West is their long-lost mother, though West has never had children. As the threats escalate and her carefully defended privacy starts to shatter, West is drawn into a chilling psychological web where the boundaries between fiction and reality begin to collapse.

Is she being watched? Hunted? Or is her own mind turning against her?

Gripping, provocative, and laced with pitch-black humor, Furious Violet is a psychological thrill ride and a fierce exploration of mothers (real and imagined), fame, and the question of who can lay claim to women's bodies of work--and their bodies themselves. Once again, Sarai Walker has delivered a subversively brilliant heroine unlike any other: damaged, defiant, and utterly unforgettable.

On Kentucky's Blood River, a Sheriff's Deputy investigates the death of her ex-fiance, whose brutal occultist murder strongly resembles a similar murder decades ago, for readers of Tana French, Gillian Flynn, Megan Abbott, and fans of True Detective

Deputy Sheriff Alicia Moore is thrust into the center of a chilling murder investigation when she discovers a victim identifiable only by his hauntingly familiar tattoo--her name inked onto the knuckles of her ex-fiancé, Jake.

Years earlier, Alicia's father, the then-Sheriff, had arrested a teenage occultist for a nearly identical murder, believed to be driven by the suspect's worship of demonic entities. Now, with Jake's murder mirroring that past crime, doubts arise about whether the true culprit was ever caught. The mystery deepens with the arrival of Lucas Masterson, a Criminology PhD student studying the confluence between religious trauma and occult crime, who is eager to lend his expertise to the investigation. As Lucas delves into the case, his profound knowledge of the town's grim history and his outsider perspective strain the local social fabric, while Alicia grapples with her suspicion towards his unsettling familiarity with the crimes. Caught between her strained relationship with her father, the community's watchful eyes on a female deputy, and her own harrowing ties to the case, Alicia must navigate a maze of potential occultists, convicts, corrupt officials, and clergy to prevent a gruesome history from repeating itself once again.

For what lies at the heart of Blood River--is it an ancient malicious force seeking to harm the townfolk, or is there a deeper prejudice in a town that continues to punish women in a way that it does not punish the men?

A mysterious realm on the other side of our screens. A dark force that draws victims into its static. The unlikely hero called to save them and herself from this electric hell. Public Access Afterworld is the profound, binge-all-night, headrush of a novel by the celebrated filmmaker of I Saw the TV Glow

"Beautiful, funny, and scathing . . . I stayed up all night binge-reading."--SenLinYu
"Gave me a vertiginous thrill I haven't encountered since David Mitchell."--Torrey Peters
"Heart-wrenching, hilarious, visionary, and so damned smart, this novel is a major work by a major writer."--Paul Tremblay
"Utterly hypnotic."--Lev Grossman

Find the receiver. Make it real.

At 5:35pm on September 3rd, 1988, Dallas weatherman Ray "Can You Say Sunshine" Davino makes passing reference to Public Access Afterworld during a rambling monologue, right before he puts a gun to his head on live television and pulls the trigger.

On June 12th, 2009, David Sawyer and Erin Morrison, two lonely, TV-obsessed suburban teens who might be falling in love, gather in Erin's basement to watch TV's analog-to-digital transition. But in the static that follows, Erin witnesses surreal broadcasts from a pirate TV network called Public Access Afterworld and their lives are changed forever.

Seventeen years later, Bethany Peters toils through the night shift at megacorp GlobalVill's bleak Austin campus. A trans content moderator, she spends her evenings reviewing an endless stream of horrific videos. But then a young streamer begins to crop up in her feed calling out to Public Access Afterworld.

But what is Public Access Afterworld?

Spanning decades and realities, with an unforgettable ensemble of outcasts and nerds, especially the messy but wholly relatable Bethany who must overcome paranoia and self-doubt to transform into a hero of our times, Public Access Afterworld will have you reading through the night and rooting for its characters to survive. A mesmerizing mashup of speculative fiction, horror, and conspiracy, it marks the arrival of a major new force in contemporary fiction by a groundbreaking filmmaker who's been compared to David Lynch and Paul Thomas Anderson.

"I have never had so much fun watching a fictional character try to figure out if she killed someone or not. Wild, outrageous, silly, smart, Tilly is a heroine for the ages and Mary Lowry writes like no one else. A damn delight."

--Rufi Thorpe, Author of Margo's Got Money Troubles

A suspenseful, bighearted, and laugh-out-loud story of a single mom trying to do it all--including solve a murder she may or may not have committed...

When Tilly Turner signed up for an introductory pole-dancing class, she was looking for a distraction. Reeling from her mother's passing, and with her career as a stand-up comedian in ruins, Tilly has just moved back to the Idaho hometown she was desperate to leave, with her twin daughters in tow.

But Tilly gets more than she bargained for after a night out with her new pole-dancing pals. She wakes to a raging hangover, no memory of the evening before, and a dead body in the trunk of her car.

Who was the dead man? And more importantly, who killed him? Tilly has no alibi and needs answers. But investigating a murder is complicated, especially with an old frenemy circling, childcare plans falling through, and pole-dancing classes to attend. And don't even mention the sexy ATF agent who she's trying (and failing) to keep at arm's length.

As Tilly races to solve the mystery before the police come knocking, she finds herself implicated in a larger plot that includes political subterfuge and arms dealing. But who knows--maybe busting a criminal enterprise will be just the shake-up she needs.

Balancing both heart and hilarity, and with a witty take on the struggles of modern motherhood, Last Night Was Killer is a charming introduction to the most unlikely--and likable--of sleuths.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Club comes a gripping mystery about time travel tourism and the dangerous consequences which ensue when the privileged make the past their playground.

Mercurial tech entrepreneur Inigo Frank has perfected commercial time travel, though it is tightly regulated and so expensive that it's open only to the very wealthiest.

His company, Tempus Tours, has so far been approved for just one route: a journey back to London in 1941, to the days of the Blitz, allowing the super-rich to experience the awesome sights and sounds of the aerial bombardment of the capital during World War II. It's a slick operation--routes across the wartime city are meticulously plotted, guides are extensively trained, and rules for the time tourists are strictly enforced.

To immortalize his achievement, Frank enlists award-winning filmmaker Phoebe Hunt to create a fly-on-the-wall documentary. On her first day shadowing Inigo, she is set to witness the return of a billionaire property developer and his family from their trip to the past. But instead of their awe-filled return, she captures the group arriving bloodied and traumatized, with one of their number missing.

Not only that, but Phoebe recognizes the missing woman, and knows not only that she's not who she claims to be but that she has every reason to harbor a grudge against her. And as events begin to unravel in the present day, it seems increasingly clear that she had sinister motives for returning to the past--and that people close to Phoebe are in danger.

Phoebe must race to untangle the truth--before past and the future are rewritten.

With this inventive, propulsive and genre-bending page turner, the bestselling author of The Club and The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby once again delivers an enthralling tale of legacy and wealth, history and technology with a gripping mystery at its core.

NATALIE SUE'S WRITING IS: "For someone who needs a good laugh."--Taylor Jenkins Reid - "A true delight."--Glamour - "Wickedly funny."--People - "Surprisingly sweet and totally made my day."--Shelby Van Pelt - "So good and also so unexpected."--Julia Quinn

From the bestselling author of I Hope This Finds You Well comes a sharply funny, surprisingly tender novel about a woman stuck in place, her nosy neighbors, and the journey to find where she belongs--with all the heart of a grown-up The Breakfast Club.

Mona thought her living situation was bad... but the real mess is just beginning.

One day is all it takes for Mona's life to implode. After years of climbing at her marketing firm, she was supposed to be getting promoted and finally moving out of her crumbling apartment building. Instead, she's jobless, aimless, and still stuck in a space barely big enough for a yoga mat.

Then her eccentric landlady takes a tumble and asks Mona to step in as the building's reluctant super. The deal is simple: help prep the place for sale, and she can secure the upgrade she's been chasing. But that's easier said than done when the neighbors treat "boundaries" as optional. There's the shouting couple, the mysterious shut-in, a possible panty thief in the laundry room--and Sami, the relentlessly cheerful diner owner who keeps showing up with coffee and unsolicited ideas about community. As Mona gets pulled deeper into the building's chaos--and closer to the people inside it--she's forced to confront what, and who, she's really been trying to outrun. Sometimes, the place you're desperate to leave is the one that finally shows you who you are.

Wise, heartfelt, and laugh-out-loud funny, Natalie Sue's sophomore novel is a story about burning out, starting over, and finding your people in the most unexpected places--perfect for fans of The Wedding People and Anxious People.

A mesmerizing, fable-like debut novel about a mysterious young Black woman whose arrival in an insular neighborhood threatens to shake its foundations

When Baby appears in Original Hill, her name is on everyone's lips. A young Black woman is a rare sight in this part of town, and she sits all day on the Foxes' garden wall, swinging her bare feet and speaking to no one. That is, until the charismatic Lucius "Lucky" Foote comes along and touches her, sparking their romance. Arm-in-arm with Baby, who seems to exert a seemingly supernatural pull on the other residents, Lucky is confident he will secure the open city council seat away from Baby's uncle Eugene Fox, the back-from-retirement white incumbent.

With protestors reopening old wounds around the Black neighborhood that was leveled by the nearby highway decades ago and Lucky threatening his position, Fox believes it's not just a city council seat at stake, but the "soul" of Original Hill.

As Baby is woven further into the unraveling community, she begins to stray from Fox's strict rules and question everything, from where she came from to who--and what--she truly is.

A rollicking, enlightening examination of humanity's changing relationship to creativity, written from the perspectives of the Greek Muses.

The thing that sets humans apart from other animals is our ability to create, to imagine how one thing could become something else. For millennia, art and science, fueled by creativity, have driven the advancement of civilization. From Socrates to Galileo to Ella Fitzgerald, so-called geniuses have left indelible marks on culture, but the creative's role in society is shifting. The artists and scientists who were once seen as bastions of innovation and enlightenment have been reduced to mere entertainment in the age of media and celebrity. This degradation of art is as harmful as it is boring, putting undue pressure on fallible individuals and eroding the magic of true creative expression. But if you know how to look for them, the powerful and (mostly) benevolent Greek Muses can be seen uplifting creativity as they inspire humanity's major inventions throughout history.

In Mothers of Invention, the Greek Muses reveal how they meddled in mortal manners, from using astronomy to make sense of the universe to harnessing electricity to transform life on earth--and Olympus. They show the healing power of art through jazz, the equalizing power of science through healthcare, and the communing power of creativity when we broadcast our stories to the world. In sharing their perspectives on human history, the Muses offer insights into the origins of religion, democracy, and physics, providing a decidedly mythical birds-eye view of these monumental developments. The result is a compelling call to creative action, recognizing the power of collaboration and reframing what it really means when inspiration strikes.

The outspoken liberal voice on the Fox News show The Five shows us how to stay true to our values, find common ground, and communicate with confidence when engaging across political and social divides.

Imagine you're sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, knowing it's going to get heated. One uncle is ready to argue about politics, another relative has very different views, and you usually try to stay out of it, even though you have strong opinions yourself. Conversations like these have split some families up. Now imagine that dinner table debate broadcast daily to millions.

Welcome to the world of Jessica Tarlov, an unflappable liberal voice on Fox News Channel's The Five. When you're outnumbered four to one on a daily basis, you better know your stuff. When you're outnumbered four to one on the highest-rated show on cable news, you better have your beliefs on lockdown.

In the conservative fishbowl of The Five, Tarlov is no stranger to navigating thorny, often contentious debates with poise, authenticity, and conviction. In this riveting guide, Jessica Tarlov shows us how she does it. Because at some point or other, we all face disagreements--whether with colleagues, family, or friends--and want to walk away with both our values and our relationships intact.

Tarlov models an important and accessible route to building bravery for these conversations. She demonstrates that navigating contentious situations is a skill that requires radical honesty, knowing how to engage with numbers and statistics, understanding when to listen and when to talk, and articulating the common threads that unite us all. Tarlov has honed these skills with practice, and here, she reveals her tools of the trade for the first time.

Whether you find yourself at a charged debate with the in-laws, or in a tricky conversation with your boss, Jessica Tarlov will prepare you to stand up for what you believe in, even if it means standing alone--and why standing alone doesn't mean standing apart.

An intimate memoir portraying a life spent trying to describe the indescribable, from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Hours and Day

Go ahead. Try using language to slit the skin of mortality to see what's on the other side.

At the age of three, Michael Cunningham began obsessively collecting the names of things: oak, Chevrolet, finch, tulip, Tupperware. . . . Each word rendered the world ever so slightly more understandable, more describable, kicking off a lifelong love affair with language--one that would, eventually, maybe inevitably, lead him to become a writer.

In Unsayable, Cunningham's memories spill forth, and with them reflections on the craft of writing. He is fifteen, in a swimming pool at night, gazing at the first boy he ever fell in love with, who is lost in contemplative silence. He is a new college graduate, setting off for nowhere in a Dodge Dart, hoping to pull meaning (and a novel) from the expanse of America. He is on Cape Cod, regaling an elderly couple with invented tales of sexual escapades. He is in an art gallery, unwittingly having the first in a lifetime of conversations with the man he would marry. A thread ties each beautifully wrought moment to the next: what is unspoken, what won't yield to language, what is embellished beyond recognition, what is still left to say.

Luminous, perceptive, and powerful, Unsayable is an ode to literature, a meditation on craft, and an intimate account of a life spent trying to put into words that which resists depiction. This, it turns out, is the lifeblood of the fiction writer: the impossibility of capturing the human experience, and the relentless desire to try.

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Now that AI has a will, it's up to us to find a way. For decades, we built software that did what it was told--and nothing else. Agentic AI breaks this bargain: systems that remember, reason, and pursue goals. They arrive less like code and more like colleagues--tireless, fast, and, like any new hire, occasionally in need of supervision.

In Cognitive Kin, Christophe Kolb and Jan Rosen map the threshold where artificial intelligence stops being a feature and becomes a workforce. Drawing on firsthand experience at the frontier of agentic AI, they show how digital labor becomes viable, why org charts give way to networks of intent, and how leadership shifts to orchestration. They translate the machinery--memory, feedback loops, tool use--into plain language, then follow the shockwave into strategy, culture, and governance.

This isn't tomorrow's speculation. It's a present-tense transition that is reshaping the meaning of work and creating new sources of value. The advantage will belong to firms that learn to think with thinking things--working alongside intelligent systems without outsourcing judgment, meaning, or responsibility.