Collection: Mystery, Thrillers, & Crime

Summer 1781. Passy, France. George Washington's two least likely spies for liberty, Rebecca Parcell and Daniel Alloway, are determined to marry and leave their undercover past behind- until a plot to bribe Benjamin Franklin leads to murder.

Becca is eager to reach Paris to marry Daniel, who's gone ahead to take up a new post there. But their idyllic prenuptial life unravels when they accept an invitation to reside with Dr. Benjamin Franklin, America's brilliant, enigmatic ambassador to France.

It's bad enough that someone is stealing Dr. Franklin's correspondence and sending it to London. But then he receives a mysterious letter offering him a bribe to help England. And when a murdered man is found on the roof of Dr. Franklin's home outside of Paris, and he calls upon Becca and Daniel his two new houseguests-former spies for George Washington-to investigate. The duo find themselves searching for the murderer through the labyrinth of 18th century Paris, a city brimming with danger, secrets, and the ever-present whispers of revolution.

With time running out, Becca and Daniel must determine whether the killer is a member of Dr. Franklin's inner circle or a cunning outsider. And as the couple race from the cobblestone streets of Paris to the gilded halls of Versailles, they discover that their own lives are in grave danger and that the stakes for Dr. Franklin and America are even higher than they could have imagined.

Will Becca and Daniel find the killer before the murderer strikes again, and will they ever manage to marry?

A young couple fleeing a criminal family confronts a reluctant assassin in this heart-pounding thriller from E.A. Aymar.

When Melissa Cruz falls hard for a dreamy-eyed photographer named Jake, she can't resist the urge to run away with him. The problem is that she already has a boyfriend, a rising star in his family's crime organization. Betrayed and humiliated, Chris isn't going to just let her go.

To find Melissa, Chris turns to Lucky Wilson, one of his family's professional assassins. But Lucky has his own problems. After years of lying about his day job, his marriage is in shambles and he suffers from relentless panic attacks. He'll do this job if Chris will let him out of the killing life.

Lucky knows this is his best chance at salvaging the home life he always craved. But Melissa and Jake aren't going to abandon their chance at something real--something they've both been lacking in their lives. But they aren't the only ones desperate to survive, and a powerful criminal family isn't the only danger.

And soon, it's clear that an unlikely partnership might be the only way for any of them to make it out alive...

It's finally time! Detective Lindsay Boxer is in labor-while two killers are on the loose.
Lindsay Boxer's beautiful baby is born! But after only a week at home with her new daughter, Lindsay is forced to return to work to face two of the biggest cases of her career.
A rising star football player for the San Francisco 49ers is the prime suspect in a grisly murder. At the same time, Lindsay is confronted with the strangest story she's ever heard: An eccentric English professor has been having vivid nightmares about a violent murder and he's convinced is real. Lindsay doesn't believe him, but then a shooting is called in-and it fits the professor's description to the last detail.
Lindsay doesn't have much time to stop a terrifying future from unfolding. But all the crimes in the world seem like nothing when Lindsay is suddenly faced with the possibility of the most devastating loss of her life.

Librarian Josie Way moved to small-town Oregon to lay low. Instead, thanks to newfound magic abilities--and a killer on the loose--she's leapt out of the frying pan and into a cauldron of trouble . . .

Josie Way loved working among the Library of Congress's leather-scented stacks--until she uncovered corruption and made herself a target. As Wilfred, Oregon's new librarian, Josie can stay undercover until the case goes to court. But life in this little town isn't as subdued as she expected. The library, housed in a a Victorian mansion, is slated to be bulldozed. Still digesting the news that her safe haven is about to become scrap lumber, Josie discovers a body in the woods . . .

Almost as shocking, Josie learns that she's descended from a long line of witches--and her powers have suddenly sprung to life. With help from a spoiled alley cat who just may be her familiar, Josie's thumbing through a catalog of suspects, hoping she can conjure a way to save her library--and her life. . .

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Truth of the Divine is the latest alternate-history first-contact novel in the Noumena series from the instant New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times bestselling author Lindsay Ellis.

The human race is at a crossroads; we know that we are not alone, but details about the alien presence on Earth are still being withheld from the public. As the political climate grows more unstable, the world is forced to consider the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons. How do you define "person" in the first place?

Cora Sabino not only serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones but also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them could have anticipated. Despite this, Ampersand is still keen on keeping secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when investigative journalist Kaveh Mazandarani, a close colleague of Cora's unscrupulous estranged father, witnesses far more of Ampersand's machinations than anyone was meant to see.

Since Cora has no choice but to trust Kaveh, the two must work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying, powerful, or malicious they may seem. Making this case is hard enough when the public doesn't know what it's dealing with--and it will only become harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of an agent of chaos that will light an already-unstable world on fire.

With a voice completely her own, Lindsay Ellis deepens her realistic exploration of the reality of a planet faced with the presence of extraterrestrial intelligence, probing the essential questions of humanity and decency, and the boundaries of the human mind.

While asking the question of what constitutes a "person," Ellis also examines what makes a monster.

Chance Hale is more interested in running around with fascinating women than following in his father's footsteps as head of the billion-dollar tech company Halcyon Enterprises. Called home for an important announcement, Chance seeks to liven up the weekend retreat by bringing along the first interesting woman he finds: an alluring young lady named Cadence Turing, who claims to be visiting his home planet Arrhidaeus from the planet Paraesepe. But when someone turns up murdered, all evidence points to Chance and all ideas of a future for him are erased. Of all the house's guests, his weekend companion seems to believe she can prove his innocence, though she's hesitant to admit how. Can the two help each other before it's too late?

Join Thea Stilton and the Thea Sisters on an adventure through Mouseford Academy!

Anna Winmouse, the fabumouse editor-in-chief of Cosmouse magazine, is renting Cheddarton House, a cottage that overlooks Whale Island's Seashell Beach. She's trying to get away from the media for a while, but it hasn't been easy. Can the Thea Sisters help her keep her visit to Whale Island a secret?

Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum and Trenton vice cop Joe Morelli join forces to find the madman killer who shot and barbecued the youngest son of international black-market arms dealer Alexander Ramos.

Carlos Manoso, street name Ranger, is caught on video just minutes before the crime occurs. He's at the scene, he's with the victim, and he's the number-one suspect. Ranger is former special forces turned soldier of fortune. He has a blue-chip stock portfolio and no known address. He moves in mysterious circles. He's Stephanie's mentor--the man who taught her everything she knows about fugitive apprehension. And he's more than her friend.

Now he's the hunted and Stephanie's the hunter, and it's time for her to test her skills against the master. But if she does catch him...what then? Can she bring herself to turn him in?

Plus there are other things keeping Stephanie awake at night. Her maternal grandmother has set up housekeeping in Stephanie's apartment, a homicidal maniac has selected Stephanie as his next victim, her love life is in the toilet, she's adopted a dog with an eating disorder, and she can't button the top snap on her Levi's.

Experience the world of Plum--in Janet Evanovich's new thriller. It's surreal, it's frenetic, it's incendiary. Hot Six. It's the best yet.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A pillar of the community who towered over local law and politics for forty years, Judge Atlee is now a shadow of his former self--a sick, lonely old man who has withdrawn to his sprawling ancestral home in Clanton, Mississippi.

Knowing that the end is near, Judge Atlee has issued a summons for his two sons to return to Clanton to discuss his estate. Ray Atlee is the elder, a Virginia law professor, newly single, still enduring the aftershocks of a surprise divorce. Forrest is Ray's younger brother, the family's black sheep.

The summons is typed by the Judge himself, on his handsome old stationery, and gives the date and time for Ray and Forrest to appear in his study. Ray reluctantly heads south to his hometown, to the place he now prefers to avoid. But the family meeting does not take place. The Judge dies too soon, and in doing so leaves behind a shocking secret known only to Ray . . . and perhaps to someone else.

Don't miss John Grisham's new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

"One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century . . . Simenon was unequaled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories." --The Guardian

In Simenon's iconic first novel featuring Inspector Maigret, the laconic detective is taken from grimy bars to luxury hotels as he traces a fraudster's true identity

Inspector Jules Maigret, a taciturn detective and commissaire of the Paris Brigade Criminelle, receives notice from Interpol that a notorious conman known only as Peitr the Latvian is en route to France. Armed with a broad description and a scant few clues, Maigret plans to intercept him at the train station outside Paris. But when he arrives, he finds that there are several suspects--some living, and some dead--who meet the description uncannily well.

Who is Pietr the Latvian, truly? A vagrant, a seaman, a businessman, a corpse? Russian, Norwegian, American or Latvian? In Pietr the Latvian, the iconic first novel of Simenon's classic series that made Inspector Maigret a legendary figure in the annals of detective fiction, Maigret must use his every instinct to unravel the mystery and track down the truth.

2022 Edgar Award Nominee for Best Novel

"A fantastic novel. . . . You are going to like this a lot."--Stephen King

"What's more thrilling than a fictional character speaking to us in a voice we haven't heard before, a voice so authentic and immediate--think Huck Finn, Holden Caulfield, Mattie Ross--that we suspect it must've been there all along, that we somehow managed to miss it? Daniel, the protagonist of Will Leitch's smart, funny, heartbreaking new novel How Lucky, is just such a voice, and I'm not sure it will ever completely leave my head, or that I want it to."--Richard Russo

For readers of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Nothing to See Here, a first novel as suspenseful and funny as it is moving, the unforgettable story of a fiercely resilient young man living with a physical disability, and his efforts to solve a mystery unfolding right outside his door.

Daniel leads a rich life in the university town of Athens, Georgia. He's got a couple close friends, a steady paycheck working for a regional airline, and of course, for a few glorious days each Fall, college football tailgates. He considers himself to be a mostly lucky guy--despite the fact that he's suffered from a debilitating disease since he was a small child, one that has left him unable to speak or to move without a wheelchair.

Largely confined to his home, Daniel spends the hours he's not online communicating with irate air travelers observing his neighborhood from his front porch. One young woman passes by so frequently that spotting her out the window has almost become part of his daily routine. Until the day he's almost sure he sees her being kidnapped...

In this gripping and emotionally-charged thriller, New York Times bestselling author Heather Gudenkauf shows how all it takes is a single moment to change everything.



In the midst of a sudden spring snowstorm, a man armed with a gun walks into a school.

Officer Meg Barrett holds the responsibility of the children of Broken Branch in her hands. Will Thwaite stands by helplessly and wonders if he has failed his child again. Trapped in her classroom, Evelyn Oliver watches for an opportunity to rescue the children in her care. And thirteen-year-old Augie Baker will risk her own safety to protect her little brother.

As tension mounts with each passing minute, and as the people of Broken Branch race to uncover the identity of the stranger, small acts of fear and courage reveal hidden truths that will alter the town forever.



Previously published.

Don't miss Heather's upcoming twisty locked-room thriller, EVERYONE IS WATCHING!


And don't miss these other great stories by Heather!

The Weight of Silence
These Things Hidden
Little Mercies
Missing Pieces
Not a Sound
Before She Was Found
This is How I Lied
The Overnight Guest

Nick Willard may be three years her junior but he has pined for Annie Kurtz since they were both prep school students. After 9/11, however, Annie joins the Marines, eventually making a split-second decision her superiors never wanted her to make and leaving her to wrestle with whether she should have followed orders or her conscience.

After her return from a combat deployment to Afghanistan, Nick, now a successful journalist, must grapple with his own conscience as he uncovers the reasons for the changes to the schoolgirl he has long deified. Together, Nick and Annie explore the tensions between love and friendship, even those between morality and law, as they come of age amid the psychological traumas that result when war makers sweep reality under a rug of ridiculous details.

Things are starting to look up for Fortune Redding. Even though her life was at stake, the CIA assassin had balked at taking on a new identity in Sinful, Louisiana. But instead of hating it like she'd thought she would, Fortune now has friends she cares about and just finished up an incredible first date with the sexiest deputy in the state. Sure, there's been a murder or two that she's gotten mixed up in since she arrived in town, but she's hoping all of that is behind her.

But when someone almost kills Deputy Carter LeBlanc, Fortune tosses her dreams of peace and quiet into the muddy bayou and shifts back into being the deadly trained professional that she is. With the help of Ida Belle and Gertie, Fortune launches a manhunt, intending to find a killer before he tries again.

My mother tried to destroy me. She doesn't exist to me anymore and my father, the one who raised me and the biological one, are both works in progress. The only two people that I can trust are Mason and Logan, and they're the two people who I could lose. It won't happen. I won't let it. No matter the truth, no matter who loves me, I won't let anything or anyone come between us.
They're my world. They're my life.
They're my family.

In her most ambitious novel to date, New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard returns to the themes that are the hallmarks of her most acclaimed work in a mesmerizing story of a family--from the hopeful early days of young marriage to parenthood, divorce, and the costly aftermath that ripples through all their lives

Eleanor and Cam meet at a crafts fair in Vermont in the early 1970s. She's an artist and writer, he makes wooden bowls. Within four years they are parents to three children, two daughters and a red-headed son who fills his pockets with rocks, plays the violin and talks to God. To Eleanor, their New Hampshire farm provides everything she always wanted--summer nights watching Cam's softball games, snow days by the fire and the annual tradition of making paper boats and cork people to launch in the brook every spring. If Eleanor and Cam don't make love as often as they used to, they have something that matters more. Their family.

Then comes a terrible accident, caused by Cam's negligence. Unable to forgive him, Eleanor is consumed by bitterness, losing herself in her life as a mother, while Cam finds solace with a new young partner.

Over the decades that follow, the five members of this fractured family make surprising discoveries and decisions that occasionally bring them together, and often tear them apart. Tracing the course of their lives--through the gender transition of one child and another's choice to completely break with her mother--Joyce Maynard captures a family forced to confront essential, painful truths of its past, and find redemption in its darkest hours.

A story of holding on and learning to let go, Count the Ways is an achingly beautiful, poignant, and deeply compassionate novel of home, parenthood, love, and forgiveness.