He Might Save Her Former police psychologist Ronni Alexander had it all before a poison attacked her heart and gave her a death sentence. Now, on her last leg, she has an opportunity to live if she mates a vampire. A real vampire. One night of sex and a good bite, and she’d live forever with no more weaknesses. Well, except for the vampire whose dominance is over the top, and who has no clue how to deal with a modern woman who can take care of herself. She Might Kill Him Jared Reese, who has no intention of ever mating for anything other than convenience, agrees to help out his new sister in law by saving her friend’s life with a quick tussle in bed. The plan seems so simple. They’d mate, and he move on with his life and take risks as a modern pirate should. Except after one night with Ronni, one moment of her sighing his name, and he wants more than a mating of convenience. Now all he has to do is convince Ronni she wants the same thing. Good thing he’s up for a good battle.

While playing around with hypnotism at a party, Kira remembers fleeing a war-torn country with her mother, speaking a language she can't identify. A few days later her mother disappears, and a woman who calls herself Kira's aunt Memory takes Kira to Crythe, a country that doesn't officially exist, in order to rescue her -- or so she says. Kira soon learns that Aunt Memory is not what she seems, and Kira and her mother are both in terrible danger. There are memories locked in Kira's mind that could get her and her mother killed. But those memories are the only things that might save them...

SUGAR, COCOA, CARAMEL, CHOCOLATE -- A MISSING CANDY FORMULA MAKES A STICKY MESS! What could be sweeter than a visit to Zuckerman's Zonked Candy Factory? Nancy and her class will see how their favorite candy is made, and even get free samples. Mr. Zuckerman himself gives the grand tour past the sparkling machines that spit out Sticky Gummy Goo, Karamel Krunchettes, Frostee Jewels, and more. Then Mr. Zuckerman tells the kids he has dreamed up the perfect candy. He even shows them the paper with the secret recipe. But when the visit is over, the recipe has disappeared and no one can find it! Is the greatest candy lost for good?

Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts, and the game warden--especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way--is far from popular. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police. As Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. The closer Joe comes to the truth behind the outfitter murders, the endangered species and InterWest, the closer he comes to losing everything he holds dear.

Someone is trying to sabotage the Shoppe, a new ice cream store, and the owner asks the Alden children to help him discover the culprit. 

*I never could have imagined that Derek and I would willingly turn back into vampires. But there are some things in life that you just can't predict. Like the strange human disappearances that had started happening on the coasts surrounding us. There would have been nothing mysterious about these kidnappings so close to our own turf, had The Shade's vampires not given up drinking human blood almost two decades ago...*

Normally the most violent thing that happens on the campus of Midstate University is a football game, but that all changes when Dr. Christmas Connery and her basset hound find the director of the Midstate Museum of Art on the gallery floor, murdered, in the middle of a kinetic sculpture exhibit.Normally the most violent thing that happens on the campus of Midstate University is a football game, but that all suddenly changes. Dr. Christmas Connery and her basset hound find Elizabeth Page, the director of the Midstate Museum of Art, dead on the gallery floor in the middle of a kinetic sculpture exhibit shortly after a successful opening. It gets even more complicated when it’s discovered she was killed with a very unusual weapon, one that crushed the side of her skull with a half-inch steel ball bearing. The list of people who were not fond of Page is a long one. She could charm the big bucks out of even the stingiest donors, but she rarely wasted her energy on even being polite to her colleagues. Chris’s murder-buff mother, Pansy, while visiting Chris, works her wiles on the police detective in charge, whose unwelcome presence on campus shakes the ivy-covered walls to their foundations. When the most obvious suspect is murdered, even Chris herself is suddenly in danger.

TODAY: Sulis, a teenage girl with a mysterious past, arrives in Bath, England, with a new identity. She feels safe at the King’s Circus, a ring of old, strange stone houses where she lives with her foster family—until she spots the one person she’s been trying to outrun. THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO: Zac is apprenticed to a mad architect who plans to create the world’s first circular street, King’s Circus. Zac probes the mysticism surrounding the structure, but he has his own secret agenda. THE ANCIENT PAST: The mythical first builder of the city of Bath, a leprous druid king, discovers its healing waters . . . but to what end? In each voice, unexpected mysteries entwine, linking together three haunting stories as they hurtle toward a smart and brilliantly intriguing climax.

After receiving a call from her friend Helen Corning, Nancy agrees to help solve a baffling mystery. Helen's Aunt Rosemary has been living with her mother at the old family mansion, and they have noticed many strange things. They have heard music, thumps, and creaking noises at night, and seen eerie shadows on the walls. Could the house be haunted? Just as soon as she hangs up the phone, a strange man visits Nancy's house to warn her and her father that they are in danger because of a case he is working on buying property for a railroad company. This warning leads Nancy and her father Carson to search for the missing Willie Wharton, a landowner, who can prove he signed away his land to the railroad and save the railroad from a lawsuit. Will Nancy be able to find the missing landowner and discover how these mysteries are related?

Rob Cooper, self-confessed football fanatic and editor of the United FC fanzine, Wings Of A Sparrow, returns from watching his team succumb to yet another defeat to discover that not only has he inherited an estate worth in excess of six million pounds, but that it has been left to him by an uncle he never knew he had. However, even as Rob is struggling to come to terms with these two bombshells, he is hit with another. For the estate contains ownership of an almost bankrupt professional football club. And the terms of the will are such that Rob will only receive his inheritance if he takes over the running of the club and manages to keep them going for the coming season. The problem is, the club concerned are the local and very bitter rivals of the club Rob and his family have passionately supported all their lives. But after wrestling with his conscience, and driven by his wife’s desire for instant wealth, he accepts the challenge with a promise to the United faithful that he will do whatever he can to ensure that whilst his new club might survive, its supporters are about to experience the most depressing season in their history! And so, in the full glare of the media spotlight, he sets out to do what most football fans could only ever dream about; humiliate their local rivals. The trouble is, it just doesn’t work out like that!

Who do you trust when everyone around you has secrets? Stephanie Cooper's fateful meeting with James Knox, guitarist for indie band The Fury, in Carlswick village sets off an unforeseen chain of events. A family feud dating back to World War II threatens to keep them apart, but however great the danger Stephanie knows she must uncover the secrets hidden beneath the ancient roof of Knox ManorHonorable Mention San Francisco Book Festival 2014“Move over Nancy Drew. There’s a new teenage heroine in town, and her name is Stephanie Cooper…This page-turning novel will be devoured by young adults and mystery lovers.”Stephanie Cooper is visiting her grandmother in the English village of Carlswick before starting her university studies. Her new relationship with the charismatic guitarist for local indie band The Fury looks promising, but an unexplained death and a family feud dating back to World War II threatens to keep them apart. As Stephanie delves into the mysterious circumstances surrounding her great-aunt’s death, she begins to uncover the secrets and deceptions of a previous generation. Village gossip about a tragic wartime romance is mingled with whispers of clandestine visitors, art smuggling and perhaps, collaboration with the Nazis.Someone does not want Stephanie to discover the truth about her family's past. That someone may kill to stop her.

A Selection of Barnes & Noble Recommends A gripping novel about one man's dogged pursuit of a serial killer against the opposition of Stalinist state security forces, Child 44 is at once suspenseful and provocative. Tom Rob Smith's remarkable debut thriller powerfully dramatizes the human cost of loyalty, integrity, and love in the face of totalitarian terror. A decorated war hero driven by dedication to his country and faith in the superiority of Communist ideals, Leo Demidov has built a successful career in the Soviet security network, suppressing ideological crimes and threats against the state with unquestioning efficiency. When a fellow officer's son is killed, Leo is ordered to stop the family from spreading the notion that their child was murdered. For in the official version of Stalin's worker's paradise, such a senseless crime is impossible an affront to the Revolution. But Leo knows better: a murderer is at large, cruelly targeting children, and the collective power of the Soviet government is denying his existence. Leo's doubt sets in motion a chain of events that changes his understanding of everything he had previously believed. Smith's deftly crafted plot delivers twist after chilling twist, as it lays bare the deceit of the regime that enveloped an impoverished people in paranoia. In a shocking effort to test Leo's loyalty, his wife, Raisa, is accused of being a spy. Leo's refusal to denounce her costs him his rank, and the couple is banished from Moscow. Humiliated, renounced by his enemies, and deserted by everyone save Raisa, Leo realizes that his redemption rests on finding the vicious serial killer who is eviscerating innocent children and leaving them to die in the bleak Russian woods. The narrative unfolds at a breathless pace, exposing the culture of fear that turns friends into foes and forces families to hide devastating secrets. As Leo and Raisa close in on the serial killer, desperately trying to stay a step ahead of the government's relentless operatives, the reader races with them through a web of intrigue to the novel's heart-stopping conclusion. About the Author The serial killer in Child 44, Tom Rob Smith's first novel, was suggested by the true story of Andrei Chikatilo, who murdered over 50 women and children in Russia during the 1980s. By setting his fiction three decades before Chikatilo's crimes, the author has added powerful elements of political suspense to his page-turning tale. "I moved it to the 1950s," Smith explains, "because that's when opposing the state was most dangerous. You'd lose your life in the '50s; if you did it in the '80s you'd lose your apartment." His considerable research into Stalin's Soviet Union supports the powerful human drama at his story's heart. Though Child 44 is Smith's first novel, his skill as a storyteller and his experience as a screenwriter are apparent in the book's absorbing plot and suspenseful pacing. He points to his days on commuter trains as another influence. "There was no way to do that journey without a book: a book you could get wrapped up in, a book you could read standing up, a book you'd miss your tube stop for. That was the kind of book I wanted to write." Originally from Norbury in South London, the 28-year-old Smith started writing plays in school and continued while he attended Cambridge, from which he graduated in 2001. After spending a year in Italy on a creative writing scholarship, he became assistant story editor for a British soap opera, then moved to Phnom Penh with the BBC to be the story consultant for Cambodia's first soap opera. He currently lives in London. From Our Booksellers A pulse-raising, edge-of-your-seat thriller! --Laura Brauman, Bourbonnais, IL Expertly atmospheric and brilliantly quease-inducing. --Seth Christenfeld, White Plains, NY If Thomas Harris had set a story in the Gulag, this would have been it. --Melissa Willits, Carmel, IN A fascinating look into Stalinist Russia. --Michele Williams, Long Beach, CA A brilliant debut thriller that fans of Gorky Park will devour. --Margie Turkett, Annapolis, MD

"A well-crafted tale of murder begotten by the collision of two incompatible worlds."-Kirkus Reviews The death of a teenage Amish girl in a cornfield looks like an accident, but sheriff Serenity Adams suspects foul play. To solve the murder, she must investigate the nearby Amish community with the help of a man who was shunned years ago. Lamb to the Slaughter is a story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely people in an Indiana Amish Community and the devastating results when a rebellious teenage girl is found shot to death in a corn field during the harvest. Serenity Adams is the newly elected young sheriff in the country town of Blood Rock and besides dealing with the threatening behavior of her predecessor, she now has a dead Amish girl on her plate. At first glance, the case seems obvious. The poor girl was probably accidentally shot during hunting season, but when the elders of the Amish community and even the girl’s parents react with uncaring subdued behavior, Serenity becomes suspicious. As she delves deeper into the secretive community that she grew up beside, she discovers a gruesome crime from the past that may very well be related to the Amish girl’s shooting. Serenity enlists the help of the handsome bad-boy building contractor, Daniel Bachman, who left the Amish when he was nineteen and has his own dark reasons to help the spunky sheriff solve the crime that the family and friends who shunned him are trying desperately to cover up. Serenity’s persistence leads her to a stunning discovery that not only threatens to destroy her blossoming romance with Daniel, but may even take her life in the end.