New Fiction November 2023

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other. On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder. But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold - discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing - and no one - is ever as it seems.

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It's been twenty-five years since the shocking disappearance of a female student and a professor who died while searching for her. Now, the college President is bringing together faculty, donors, and alumni to honour the victims from all those years ago. But as a storm descends, people begin to depart, leaving a group of alumni who were the last ones taught by the esteemed professor. When an alumna dies in a shockingly similar way to a written story, and then another succumbs to a similar fate, they realize someone has decided at long last to avenge the crimes of the past.

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Abandoned as a baby, twenty-five-year-old Lizzie Bartholomew spent her childhood moving between foster homes and has had more than her fair share of troubles. Now a holiday in Morocco seems to be the perfect escape. Especially when she meets Philip, a fellow tourist. After a brief affair, Lizzie returns to England, only to find a solicitor's letter waiting for her. Philip Samson has died and in his will, has left Lizzie a gift of £15,000. But there are conditions attached to this unexpected legacy that will soon force Lizzie to confront terrifying secrets from her past life.

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"Consumed with grief, driven by vengeance, a man undertakes an unrelenting odyssey across the lawless post-Civil War frontier seeking redemption"-- Provided by publisher.

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In this heartwarming story of hope and second chances, Emma and Mel are about to discover that sometimes life is about the journey, not the destination... Classic forgetful Emma--she's done it again, this time accidentally ruining a Valentine's Day surprise for her best friend Mel. Desperate to make up for it, she promises Mel a birthday trip to Edinburgh--a girls' weekend to end all girls' weekends. There's just one massive hitch... Emma has already promised her grandma that she'll go on a coach trip with her to scatter her grandad's ashes...In Edinburgh. On Mel's birthday weekend. Oh God. That's right, with one innocent but inevitable diary clash, two very different road trips are thrust together. Surrounded by a bunch of septuagenarians who seem to have forgotten how to have fun, can Emma support Grandma through her grief and give Mel a birthday to remember? Or is their friendship doomed to become roadkill? She's about to find out...

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When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won't be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now. When the Connellys' secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.

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New York City, 1938. Gloria Downing is done with lies. Eager to distance herself from a family scandal, what she needs is a total makeover and a friend she can lean on--and into her path walks a young, idealistic woman named Estée Lauder. The chance encounter changes Gloria's life, giving her the fresh start she seeks. For the first time, Gloria has power and a voice--both of which she earned herself--and opens the door for Estéeʹs ambitions to come true. Just when it looks as though nothing can stop them, an outsider threatens to expose secrets that both women have kept, even from each other..

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1940 - Stasia always found comfort in the idyllic French countryside where she spent her childhood summers, roaming the gardens of an old chateau and finding inspiration for fairy tales full of bravery and courage. But these days are much darker, and with Nazis storming across Europe, she soon finds herself one of the most hunted agents of the Resistance. The only safe haven she can think of is Chateau de Montissaire. Present day - When Isabelle purchases a crumbling chateau in Rouen, it's not just a renovation project-it's a chance to reconnect with her sister, Emilie. As the siblings piece together the incredible truth behind the fairy tales written by their great-grandmother Stasia, they discover an exciting tale of courage in the face of treachery and an explosive secret that will change everything they believed about their family.

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Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it's been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening. No one can know Ruth's history. There is a reason why Ruth kept them moving every few years. But danger is closing in.

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Melbourne-based journalist Olive Groves worked on the story as a junior reporter and became obsessed by the case. Now, nine years later, the missing housemate turns up dead on a remote property. Olive is once again assigned to the story, this time reluctantly paired with precocious millennial podcaster Cooper Ng. As Oli and Cooper unearth new facts about the three housemates, a dark web of secrets is uncovered. The revelations catapult Oli back to the death of the first housemate, forcing her to confront past traumas and insecurities that have risen to the surface again.

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Alex Sand was spending the evening at home playing basketball with his two young sons when all three were shot in cold blood. A wealthy federal judge, there's no short list of people who could have a vendetta against Sands, but the gruesome murders, especially that of his children, turn their St. Paul community on its head. Sand was on the verge of a major donation to a local housing charity, Heart/Twin Cities, and with the money in limbo, eyes suddenly turn to his grieving widow, Margaret Cooper, to see what she might do with the money. Margaret, distraught over the death of her family, struggles to move forward, and can't imagine how or why anyone would target her husband. With public pressure mounting and both the local police force and FBI hitting dead end after dead end, Lucas Davenport and Virgil Flowers are called in to do what others could not: find answers. With each potential lead flawed, Davenport and Flowers are determined to chase every theory until they figure out who killed the Sands. But when they find themselves being stonewalled by the most unlikely of forces, the two wonder if perhaps each misdirection could lead them closer to the truth"-- Provided by publisher.

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After Del Walker fled her small hometown and its cult-like church, she vowed to never return. Six years later, the man she loved, Lars, is suddenly killed, and she's convinced it couldn't have been an accident. When Del returns to her hometown for the funeral, she discovers the now mega-church - and the insidious, patriarchal teachings of Pastor Rick Franklin - has grown not only in size but in influence. Del is determined to cut through the church's lies and corruption to find out who killed Lars - even if it means confronting the religious trauma she's spent years trying to bury.

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"Deep in the remote wilderness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Nora is growing up within a militant apocalyptic religious cult. When her father, the group's charismatic leader, discovers his young daughter's gift for speaking in tongues and prophesying, he employs her to recruit people in their community. But as she grows older, Nora begins to question her faith, her father and her predesignated role, and must choose between committing herself fully, or being exiled into the foreign and frightening world beyond. Several years later, Nora is working as a hospice nurse in Chicago, struggling to navigate the baffling customs of the "normal" life she is now leading. When a letter arrives, warning her to "prepare herself," the lockbox of Nora's childhood is thrown open, sending her hurtling back into the shattering truth of what really happened on the day of her escape". -- Google Books

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"Nothing brings an estranged family together like a murder next door. High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of: her keen intelligence, impeccable taste, and the L.A. real estate empire she's built. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana is stuck counting otters instead of square footage -- and hoping that boredom won't kill her before the cancer does. Then Jack -- tiny in stature but fiercely independent -- stumbles upon a dead body while kayaking near their bungalow. Jack quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation, and the Rubicon women are thrown into chaos. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She'll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family, and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth's help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas, and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers. But as their amateur snooping advances into ever-more dangerous territory, the headstrong Rubicon women must learn do the one thing they've always resisted: depend on each other."-- Provided by publisher.

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"A starry-eyed romantic, a cynical writer, and (the ashes of) an elderly woman take the road trip of a lifetime that just might upend everything they believe about true love. Millicent Watts-Cohen is on a mission. When she promised her elderly best friend that she'd reunite her with the woman she fell in love with nearly eighty years ago, she didn't expect that would mean traveling to Key West with three tablespoons of Mrs. Nash's remains in her backpack. But Millie's determined to give her friend a symbolic happily ever after, before it's (really) too late-and hopefully reassure herself of love's lasting power in the process. She just didn't expect to have a (living) travel companion. After a computer glitch grounds flights, Millie is forced to catch a ride with Hollis Hollenbeck, an also-stranded acquaintance from her ex's MFA program. Hollis certainly does not believe in happily-ever-afters, symbolic or otherwise, and makes it quite clear that he can't fathom how Millie's plan could possibly end well for anyone. But as they contend with odd bed-and-breakfasts, peculiar small-town festivals, and suicidal deer, Millie begins to suspect that her reluctant travel partner might enjoy her company more than he lets on. Because for someone who supposedly doesn't share her views on romance, Hollis sure is becoming invested in the success of their journey. And the closer they get to their destination, the more Millie has to admit that maybe this trip isn't just about Mrs. Nash's love story after all-maybe it's also about her own"-- Provided by publisher.

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Montreal, 1950s. Kitty's life is perfect. She married her childhood sweetheart and her detective novels, written under a plausibly male nom de plume, are bestsellers. But Kitty is suffocating under the truth of her life. Her publishers convince her to go on a writing retreat to a beautiful remote island, Cape Breton. Kitty arrives in Cape Breton to a leaky, drafty shack and a cast of characters unlike anyone she's ever met. Soon Kitty's writing retreat turns her life upside down, and she has to face which parts of her life are non-negotiable and which she must cut loose.

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The damage caused by the Great Fire still overshadows the capital. When a man's brutally disfigured body is discovered in the ruins of an ancient almshouse, architect Cat Hakesby is ordered to stop restoration work. It is obvious he has been murdered, and Whitehall secretary James Marwood is ordered to investigate. It's possible the victim could be one of two local men who have vanished - the first, a feckless French tutor connected to the almshouse's owner; the second, a possibly treacherous employee of the Council of Foreign Plantations. The pressure on Marwood mounts as Charles II's most influential courtiers, Lord Arlington and the Duke of Buckingham, show an interest in his activities - and Marwood soon begins to suspect the murder trail may lead right to the heart of government. Meanwhile, a young, impoverished Frenchwoman has caught the eye of the king, a quiet affair that will have monumental consequences.

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"In Locksburg, Pennsylvania, a former coal and steel town whose best days seem long past, five thousand residents have toughed it out, and have reasons for both worry and hope as this neglected place teeters between decay and renewal. For some of them, their biggest troubles have just arrived. After years of just scraping by, three restless souls have their lives upended: Nathan, a volunteer fireman who uncovers a secret stash of money in a burning building and takes it; Callie, a nurse whose tender patient may not have long to live, despite the girl's fundamentalist parents' ardent beliefs; and Andy, a recovering heroin addict who undertakes a nightmare mission to hunt down and stop a serial predator. Before long, Nathan's stolen riches threaten to destroy everyone around him as he tries to cover his haphazard trail of lies. Callie risks her career to grant her young patient a final, and likely illegal, wish. And Andy's hunger for vigilante justice becomes a fierce obsession that may end in violence. As their stories barrel toward unexpected ends, Nathan, Callie, and Andy struggle to endure - or escape. They each face their pasts and gamble on their futures, and confront the underside of their rough Rust Belt town."-- Provided by publisher.

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True-crime podcaster Jess Keeler has returned to Deeton County, North Carolina, to pick up where her grandfather left off. Sheriff's Deputy Big Jim Ballard, her grandfather, was a respected detective - until it all came crashing down during a 1972 murder investigation. Working from her grandfather's disjointed notes, Jess is sure that she can finally put the cold case - and her family's shame - to rest. Soon Jess discovers ugly truths about the first investigation, which was shaped by corruption, egos, and a family secret that may be the key to the crime.

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The Tower of London. Impenetrable. Well protected. Secure. Home to the most valuable jewels on earth. But once a year, the Metropolitan Police must transport the Crown Jewels across London. For decades, the elite squad at Scotland Yard have been in charge of the operation. But this year, everything is about to change. Because a master criminal has set his sights on pulling off the most outrageous theft in history - and with a man on the inside, the odds are in his favour. Unless the team can stop him before it's too late.

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Cornwall, 1944. When Rupert Dash is declared missing, during the Battle of Arnhem, his wife, Florence, is devastated. When she finds a poem called "Wait for Me," she believes it's a promise that he will return to her. London, 1988. Since childhood Max has suffered from a recurring nightmare. Desperate to understand why he is haunted by such terrible visions, Max embarks on a journey that leads him to Cornwall and a man named Rupert Dash. Melbourne, 1995. Florence receives a letter from a stranger saying he remembers a life that belonged to another before him. Could this be the one person Florence has waited fifty-one years to meet again?

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Ryanna Raines is the host of a popular true-crime podcast. Her specialty is investigative journalism, her style is truth-seeking moxie, and with millions of listeners along for the ride, her star is rising. But when an intriguing message is left on her tip-line, the reporter is pulled into the most challenging case of her career. The mangled bodies of a husband and wife have been discovered in their multi-million-dollar estate in Southern California. The prime suspects are their twenty-two-year-old son and his girlfriend, two college theater students who are now facing arrest and indictment. In a surprising move, they only want to speak with Ryanna, offering exclusive interviews in exchange for her help getting their side of the story told. Instead of a badge or a weapon, Ryanna carries her voice recorder onto the battlefield of the high-profile murder investigation. Through a series of interviews, Ryanna examines her subjects from multiple angles and diverse points of view, breaking past the walls of "he said, she said" to pierce at a dark and horrible truth. Written in the style of a true-crime podcast, With a Kiss We Die is a heart-racing mystery and thought-provoking tale about love and secrets that unfolds episode by episode as it hurtles towards an explosive conclusion. L. R. Dorn has crafted a suspenseful examination of our cultural obsession with true crime, the complicated moral obligations between journalists and their subjects, and the often-deadly line between performance and deceit.

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