Spy Family Volume 16
By: Tatsuya Endo
When Melinda comes to Loid for counseling, he lucks into a great opportunity to gather intel. During their session, even Loid is shocked by what he learns about Donovan Desmond. Meanwhile, it’s a new term at Eden Academy, and Anya’s found herself in the middle of an international dispute!
The Beast and the Bethany
Battle of the Beast
By: Jack Meggitt-Phillips
After being vanquished in spectacular fashion that included an umbrella with human-puddling capabilities and a darn good show, the beast is transferred to a hidden island and placed in an impenetrable cage where it can no longer hurt anyone or carry out its dastardly plan to make Bethany its next meal. Meaning Bethany and Ebenezer’s lives are finally beast free and they can pursue their do-gooding activities in peace—even if the “gooding” part is questionable.
But when it’s revealed that the beast has lost its memory and D.0.R.R.I.S. declares that it’s no longer dangerous, the beast is delivered back where it came Ebenezer and Bethany’s house.
Can the beast really be good? Or, if its newfound manners aren’t to be trusted, what could it be planning next?
The Beast and the Bethany
The Final Feast
By: Jack Meggitt-Phillips
Ebenezer Tweezer has spent the best part of 512 years doing whatever he wanted, but that all changed when he met Bethany – a rude, snotty-nosed prankster. Ebenezer has come to care for this strange, slightly smelly little scowler more than he has cared about anyone or anything before.
It’s just as well, because when this story begins, Bethany needs a friend. She has just discovered that her parents Augustus and Gemima were dreadful criminals before they died in an only slightly more dreadful fire.
Except – it seems her father did NOT die at all. Augustus returns to Bethany’s life, begging for Bethany’s help to clear his name and show him how to live a life that is free from crime.
As the action barrels towards celebrations for Ebenezer’s 513th birthday, Ebenezer, Miss Muddle and Geoffrey have to figure out Augustus’ true motives for coming back into Bethany’s life. Can they show Bethany the true meaning of family, before it’s too late?
The Lincoln Conspiracy
By: Brad Meltzer
Everyone knows the story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, but few are aware of the original conspiracy to kill him four years earlier in 1861, literally on his way to Washington, DC, for his first inauguration.
The conspirators were part of a pro-Southern secret society that didn’t want an anti-slavery President in the White House. They planned an elaborate scheme to assassinate the brand-new President in a Baltimore train station as Lincoln’s inauguration train passed through en route to the Capital. The plot was investigated by famed detective Allan Pinkerton, who infiltrated the group with undercover agents, including one of the first female private detectives in America. Had the assassination succeeded, there would have been no Lincoln Presidency, and the course of the Civil War and American history would have forever been altered.
The bestselling team that brought you The First Conspiracy now turns their attention to the story of the secret society that tried to kill Abraham Lincoln and the undercover detectives who foiled their plans.
We Chase Shadows
By: Richard Osman
Back together.
Back on the case.
And back to solving murders . . .
At sunrise, high in the Italian hills, a body is found on the steps of a beautiful private villa. On the body is a threatening note, signed by a mystery man.
Back at We Solve Murders HQ, Amy, Rosie, and Steve leap at the chance to take on their first proper case. So, what if their new client seems to have his own reasons for avoiding the police? All they need to do is uncover who left the note and then find them. Simple.
But once they start digging, the suspects keep piling up: there’s Sweden’s most-wanted criminal, a canny ex-wife and a fierce business rival – yet the murderer keeps evading them. And as the trio chase a villain through the shadows, danger travels closer to home . . .
Between Italy and Palm Springs, via Barcelona and Steve’s village pub, can the team catch an elusive killer who knows EXACTLY where to hide?
Taipei Story
By: R. F. Kuang
College freshman Lily Chen is off to spend the summer in Taipei at an intensive language program like so many Chinese American students before her, hoping to connect with the culture she inherited but never fully understood. But a promising start quickly unravels. Her classes are grueling, her roommate is driving her insane, and a reckless trip to the hot springs with a guy she barely knows soon has her classmates viciously gossiping. She feels adrift, a foreigner in a country she thought would feel like home.
Then shocking news Lily’s grandfather has passed away. The loss forces her to grapple with now-unanswerable questions about her family history. As Lily grieves, she’s drawn into a journey of self-discovery—piecing together memories, stories, and silences over a series of hilarious and devastating attempts at connection.
In the Spirit of French Murder
By: Colleen Cambridge
After moving to France, Tabitha Knight has a new friend in fellow expat and Cordon Bleu student Julia Child, whose culinary tips can come in quite handy. But something’s cooking in postwar Paris, and it isn’t just cheese soufflé…
Tabitha has enjoyed an entertaining afternoon in Julia’s kitchen, but her return home is a bit jarring. As she arrives at her grandfather’s rue de l’Universitémansion, a woman bursts out the door babbling about messages from spirits and a warning Grand-père must heed. Oncle Rafe angrily sends the woman on her way, and neither man will answer Tabitha’s questions.
It’s not the last she sees of the mysterious visitor. While she’s on a date that evening, she’s accosted by her again—and learns that Madame Vierca is a medium who claims to have visions of a dark fate that awaits Grand-père and Oncle Rafe. The very next night, Tabitha’s messieurs host a soiree at their new restaurant, inviting fellow Resistance fighters from the war known as the Nine Bluets. To commemorate the work of the Resistance network, the vase on the dinner table sports nine of the pretty blue flowers.
But shortly after the revelers leave the restaurant, one of Grand-père’s old friends is found dead on the street . . . and one of the nine flowers is missing from the vase. When a second member of the Nine Bluets is found poisoned the next day, and a bluet flower is left with the body, Tabitha cannot ignore Madame Vierca’s frightening predictions about her dear messieurs. She has no choice but to share her suspicions and fears with the enigmatic and unruffled Inspecteur Merveille.
Tabitha soon finds herself caught up in an investigation that takes her and Merveille to the seediest, most dangerous parts of the Left Bank—home of strange, fantastical legends, disquieting events, and unusual people. As she and Merveille desperately try to find a killer, they know they don’t have much time before the rest of the Nine Bluets are targeted . . . including Grand-père and Oncle Rafe.
Our Strange Duet
By: Erin A. Craig
Christine Daaé. Her Voice. Her Story. As it's never been told before.
Our Strange Duet is a reimagining of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera, told through the eyes of Christine Daaé as she rises to fame while torn between love, ambition, and the haunting secrets of the opera house, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Erin A. Craig.
She was never just the voice he shaped . . .
A rising soprano with a gift she is only just learning to embrace, Christine Daaé has moved through the glittering world of the Opera Populaire longing to find her purpose. Instead, she finds herself caught between two men who refuse to let her slip quietly into the chorus.
One is Raoul, her childhood friend turned devoted admirer, offering her a future filled with warmth, safety, and a love that feels like sunlight. The other is a mysterious masked figure who lurks beneath the opera The Phantom. His brilliance, obsession, and dangerous devotion to nurturing Christine’s talents ignites a dark and complicated passion in her heart. As Christine’s star ascends, so does the tension between Raoul and the Phantom. She must decide who she is when the curtain falls – and what she’s willing to risk for the life she wants.
Set against the haunting, romantic world of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera, Our Strange Duet allows Christine Daaé to take centre stage to tell her own story.
