Better Than Average Fiction
Discover the best fiction beyond the mainstream with our curated list of better-than-average books. From gripping mysteries by Denise Swanson and Daniel Silva to captivating historical tales and romance by Nora Roberts, explore standout titles like *Murder of a Snake in the Grass*, *The Confessor*, and *Truly Madly Manhattan*. Perfect for readers seeking quality storytelling and unique narratives in contemporary fiction.
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On His Terms
by Linda Howard
Loving Evangeline - How to describe successful tycoon Robert Cannon? "Cool, ruthless and with a hint of cruelty," said his enemies. "Seductive, passionate and charming", claimed the women he dated But what would Evangeline Shaw think when she became Robert's next target - in both ways? One More Chance - A night of passion brought Dr. Luke Trahern more than a respite than professional burnout. Upon discovering that Melanie Summerville was carrying his child, he insisted on knowing her motives - but Melanie wasn't about to listen to his demands!
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Lionhearted
by Diana Palmer
A New York Times Bestselling AuthorAs the holiday season approached, the residents of Jacobsville were whispering about Janie Brewster's hopeless crush on Leo Hart. Up till now, all her efforts to lasso the dynamic cattleman had crumbled, but this time the starry-eyed debutante had come up with the perfect self-improvement campaign to dazzle Leo - she'd become a courageous cowgirl! So why did her transformation seem to rouse Leo's formidable temper more than ever?
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Truly Madly Manhattan
by Nora Roberts
General Adult. Single mother Hester Wallace reluctantly begins to care about comic book creator Mitch Dempsey; and cynical Booth DeWitt becomes unwillingly fascinated with actress Ariel Kirkwood, who is playing the role of his cruel ex-wife.
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Lord of the Silent
by Elizabeth Peters
In the newest "Amelia Peabody Mystery", the intrepid Egyptologist risks life, limb, and her second-best hat in 1915 Cairo. Amelia and her handsome archeologist husband defy German submarines and warring Senussi to embark on another season of exploration and crime solving. Endpaper maps
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Head Over Heels
by Susan Andersen
Who said, "you can't go home again"? In Veronica Davis's case, who'd want to—especially when you hail from Fossil, Washington? But now she's back among the kooks and crazies, the small-time losers and the jerks who think she's fair game just because she's in a waitress uniform. The truth is, Veronica's the boss—at least until she can sell the family saloon and skip town again as fast as her pretty legs can carry her—and nobody knows that better than Cooper Blackstock. From his place behind the bar, the former Special Forces Marine sees everything. And his undercover agenda has made the feisty boss-lady's troubles his own. And her troubles are considerable, what with a family in turmoil, a pseudo-bartender with dangerous secrets, a murder investigation and death threats. Though the town surprisingly rallies in support, it's still a good thing that Cooper will be there to catch Veronica if she stumbles—if he doesn't start falling himself.
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This Must Be Love
by Kasey Michaels
Jane Preston agrees to take the place of her news reporter cousin Molly at a beach front retreat for bigwigs who may recognize Molly from her disastrous Washington internship. Gaining admittance with a nerdy reporter, who's really a bestselling author going incognito for ideas for his next novel, Jane is soon on a sizzling summer adventure. Original.
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Trust No One
by Meryl Sawyer
Even though she is engaged to a wealthy vintner, a widow is swept away into a forbidden passion with his identical twin brother, Brody. Tori sets out with Brody to solve the mysterious death of his father, uncovering a tangle of betrayals along the way. Author signings.
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Le Fin
by Victoria Taylor Murray
The Lambert Series (Thief Of Hearts, Forbidden and Friendly Enemies), is centered around one earth-shattering week in the life of Nouri St. Charles Sommers, a beautiful young woman that rushed into marriage with a mysterious billionaire...a man she knew nothing about. Two short years later, Nourias fairytale marriage suddenly turns into a nightmare changing her life forever a].Falling in love a] out of love a] in love againa]a fairytale marriage turned nightmarea]implicated and then cleared in two gruesome murdersa]surviving a death threat after being forced into hiding from a stalkera]Nourias one week from hell continues. Now six weeks later, Nourias life continues to spin out of control, drawing the reader deeper and deeper into the turmoil of The Lambert Series with the final book to the series, Le Fin. Nourias billionaire husband, Ethan Sommers, has been shot and killed. Her former lover, high-powered attorney Clint Chamberlain, is feared dead after his car plummets off a bridge in Paris during a rain storm, and if those things arenat bad enough for her to deal with, Nouri suddenly discovers that the man she has finally chosen over both Clint Chamberlain and Charles Mason, homicide detective Gabe Baldwin, has returned to Boston to wed his former fiancA(c)e after an argument Nouri and Gabe had while they were still in France.
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The Defiant Hero
by Suzanne Brockmann
In The Unsung Hero, award-winning author Suzanne Brockmann dazzled readers with her remarkable cast of tough and tender U.S. Navy SEALs. Now her daring men in uniform return for THE DEFIANT HERO—a thrilling novel of steadfast courage, intimate passions, and the profound risks that are taken in the name of love. . . . "The United States refuses to negotiate with terrorists." Meg Moore remembered the warning from her job as a translator in a European embassy. Those same words will spell out a death sentence for her daughter and grandmother who have been kidnapped by a lethal group called the Extremists. Meg will do anything to meet their unspeakable demands; anything—even kill—to save her child. When Navy SEAL Lieutenant, junior grade, John Nilsson is summoned to Washington, D.C., by the FBI to help negotiate a hostage situation, the last person he expects to see holding a foreign ambassador at gunpoint is Meg. He hasn't seen her in years, but he's never forgotten how it feels to hold her in his arms. John could lose his career if he helps her escape. She will lose her life if he doesn't. . . .
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I Am Madame X
by Gioia Diliberto
Follows the life of Virginie Gautreau, the subject of John Singer Sargent's controversial portrait "Madame X," from her Creole youth and flight to France during the American Civil War, to her marriage to a prominent banker.
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Cover Her Face
by P.D. James
Headstrong and beautiful, the young housemaid Sally Jupp is put rudely in her place, strangled in her bed behind a bolted door. Coolly brilliant policeman Adam Dalgliesh of Scotland Yard must find her killer among a houseful of suspects, most of whom had very good reason to wish her ill. Cover Her Face is P. D. James's electric debut novel, an ingeniously plotted mystery that immediately placed her among the masters of suspense.
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Q is for Quarry
by Sue Grafton
Eighteen years after the body of an unidentified young woman is discovered in a quarry off California's Highway 1, two police detectives nearing retirement enlist Kinsey Millhone's aid to help identify the long-ago murder victim.
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The Confessor
by Daniel Silva
A Latin-speaking thief of research sets Israeli agent Gabriel Allon on the trail of buried secrets.
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Final Justice
by W. E. B. Griffin
Matt Payne finds himself saddled with three homicide cases and then is additionally challenged with showing a movie star "the real stuff" for the making of a police movie.
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The Duke
by Catherine Coulter
One of Catherine Coulter's first novels—lavishly rewritten. The #1 New York Times bestselling author turned The Generous Earl into The Duke—and fans swooned over the tale of romance and suspense set in 19th-century Scotland. Penderleigh Castle is the home of the Robertsons, who have just been dealt a terrible blow. Their new master, already an English duke, has just been named the Scottish Earl of Penderleigh. Ian Carmichael, Duke of Portmaine, is proud, aristocratic, handsome as the devil’s right hand, and kinder than any grousing Robertson has a right to expect. Brandy Robertson—the old earl’s granddaughter—takes one look at the duke and her heart goes ballistic. The problem is, the duke is already engaged, and if that isn’t bad enough, someone wants to kill him...
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The Man with a Load of Mischief
by Martha Grimes
Inspector Richard Jury is dispatched to Long Piddleton, Northants, to help solve many murders.
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Murder of a Snake in the Grass
by Denise Swanson
After over two years, school psychologist Skye Denison is still in Scumble River trying to figure out why she’s still in Scumble River. But with all the town’s quirks and crimes, life there is never dull, and besides, it’s home. Scumble River is celebrating its bicentennial in style—with Historical Society Reenactments, a bingo tent, Crazy Craft Race, and a coal-tossing tournament. Serving as the guest of honor is none other than the town founder’s great-great-grandnephew, Gabriel Scumble. But his visit turns out to be short-lived when Skye’s students, Frannie and Justin, find him dead, a pickax protruding from the chest area of his authentic buckskin costume. Meanwhile, Skye’s deceitful ex-fiancé Luc St. Amant has appeared out of the blue, creating turmoil in her love life. Does the real danger lie in the possibility that Luc will drive away the men in Skye’s life, or is there a more menacing connection between Luc’s arrival and Gabriel Scumble’s murder?
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Edith
by Rosamond McPherson Young
Roz Young's hilarious account of Edith, the most famous cat in Dayton, Ohio, and their move to a condo apartment and the cat's adjustments to it's new home.
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A Presumption of Death
by Jill Paton Walsh
Sixty years after Dorothy L. Sayers began her unfinished Lord Peter Wimsey novel, Thrones Dominations, Booker Prize finalist Jill Paton Walsh took on the challenge of completing the manuscript---with extraordinary success. “The transition is seamless,” said the San Francisco Chronicle; “you cannot tell where Sayers leaves off and Walsh begins.” “Will Paton Walsh do it again?” wondered Ruth Rendell in London’s Sunday Times. “We must hope so.” Jill Paton Walsh fulfills those hopes in A Presumption of Death. Although Sayers never began another Wimsey novel, she did leave clues. Drawing on “The Wimsey Papers,” in which Sayers showed various members of the family coping with wartime conditions, Walsh has devised an irresistible story set in 1940, at the start of the Blitz in London. Lord Peter is abroad on secret business for the Foreign Office, while Harriet Vane, now Lady Peter Wimsey, has taken their children to safety in the country. But war has followed them there---glamorous RAF pilots and even more glamorous land-girls scandalize the villagers, and the blackout makes the nighttime lanes as sinister as the back alleys of London. Daily life reminds them of the war so constantly that, when the village’s first air-raid practice ends with a real body on the ground, it’s almost a shock to hear the doctor declare that it was not enemy action, but plain, old-fashioned murder. Or was it? At the request of the overstretched local police, Harriet reluctantly agrees to investigate. The mystery that unfolds is every bit as literate, ingenious, and compelling as the best of original Lord Peter Wimsey novels.
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The Thorne Maze
by Karen Harper
The queen and her court, who are spending the summer at Hampton Court, are threatened by a multiple murderer who can disappear at will.