Includes excerpt from The edge of the shadows.

An Edgar Award winner blends Mark Twain's humor and Stephen King's suspense in this darkly compelling novel of three friends determined to take their friend's ashes to Hollywood. May Lynn was once a pretty girl who dreamed of becoming a Hollywood star. Now she's dead, her body dredged up from the Sabine River. Sue Ellen, May Lynn's strong-willed teenage friend, sets out to dig up May Lynn's body, burn it to ash, and take those ashes to Hollywood to spread around. If May Lynn can't become a star, then at least her ashes will end up in the land of her dreams. Along with her friends Terry and Jinx and her alcoholic mother, Sue Ellen steals a raft and heads downriver to carry May Lynn's remains to Hollywood. Only problem is, Sue Ellen has some stolen money that her enemies will do anything to get back. And what looks like a prime opportunity to escape from a worthless life will instead lead to disastrous consequences. In the end, Sue Ellen will learn a harsh lesson on just how hard growing up can really be.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this thrilling new novel from the author of Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen again demonstrates her talent for creating spellbinding period pieces. At the Water’s Edge is a gripping and poignant love story about a privileged young woman’s awakening as she experiences the devastation of World War II in a tiny village in the Scottish Highlands. After disgracing themselves at a high society New Year’s Eve party in Philadelphia in 1944, Madeline Hyde and her husband, Ellis, are cut off financially by his father, a former army colonel who is already ashamed of his son’s inability to serve in the war. When Ellis and his best friend, Hank, decide that the only way to regain the Colonel’s favor is to succeed where the Colonel very publicly failed—by hunting down the famous Loch Ness monster—Maddie reluctantly follows them across the Atlantic, leaving her sheltered world behind. The trio find themselves in a remote village in the Scottish Highlands, where the locals have nothing but contempt for the privileged interlopers. Maddie is left on her own at the isolated inn, where food is rationed, fuel is scarce, and a knock from the postman can bring tragic news. Yet she finds herself falling in love with the stark beauty and subtle magic of the Scottish countryside. Gradually she comes to know the villagers, and the friendships she forms with two young women open her up to a larger world than she knew existed. Maddie begins to see that nothing is as it first appears: the values she holds dear prove unsustainable, and monsters lurk where they are least expected. As she embraces a fuller sense of who she might be, Maddie becomes aware not only of the dark forces around her, but of life’s beauty and surprising possibilities. Praise for At the Water’s Edge “Breathtaking . . . a daring story of adventure, friendship, and love in the shadow of WWII.”—Harper’s Bazaar “A gripping, compelling story . . . Gruen’s characters are vividly drawn and her scenes are perfectly paced.”—The Boston Globe “A page-turner of a novel that rollicks along with crisp historical detail.”—Fort Worth Star-Telegram “Powerfully evocative.”—USA Today “Gruen is a master at the period piece—and [this] novel is just another stunning example of that craft.”—Glamour

Everybody Out of the Pond At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us. We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago. In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.

The Edgar and Agatha Award-nominated novel from #1 New York Times bestseller Elizabeth George! On Whidbey Island, nothing is as it seems. Becca's ability to hear "whispers"—the thoughts of others—has put her at risk from her criminal stepfather. So Becca escapes to Whidbey Island, where she hopes to find safety. But when a terrible accident affects everyone on the island, Becca finds herself wrapped up in a complicated situation, and she isn't the only one with a secret. This compelling coming-of-age story, the first of an ongoing sequence of books set on Whidbey Island, has elements of mystery, the paranormal, and romance. "Blending mystery, family drama, teen angst and a dose of paranormal, this novel rises above many in the young adult genre." —USATODAY.com "George has hit the nail on the proverbial head with this action-packed, mysterious, and somewhat 'creepy' novel." —Suspense Magazine An Edgar Award Nominee An Agatha Award Nominee

Now in his mid fifties, Doug Wallace takes a look back at the summer that not only changed, but directed his life for almost thirty years. Although the novel is set in the sixties, it is not about the sixties. Anyone who has ever worked a summer job away from home or who remembers what it was like to start making adult decisions during their teen years will recall memories of that certain summer. This work is one part “Catcher in the Rye,” one part “Stand By Me,” and a little bit of “Trainspotting.” There are a few tears, a lot of laughs and some of the most colorful people the South has to offer. [Author bio]Mike McNabb, an English teacher in Greenville, South Carolina, has been writing for two years. Prior to becoming a teacher and writer, he worked as a sales manager and sales trainer for Michelin North America. He and his wife, Kay, have been married for thirty years and have two grown sons. The Edge of the Water is his first novel.

Shortly before her fortieth birthday, Molly, receives a letter from a daughter she had given up for adoption when she was a teenager. At a point in her life where Molly needs to find answers about her own identity, she sets out across the country to meet her estranged daughter on Ridgeport Island, a small island in Maine. A future beyond any of Molly's expectations waits for her discovery if only she can unlock the door she had closed on her past. The daughter, Electra, offers Molly that key, and a local bachelor helps her to use it, opening her heart to the possibilities.