THE STORY: Vera and John are lounging in their summer house on a July weekend, playing a game of one-upmanship, comparing how much they hate one another and loosely planning to kill their weekend houseguests, Gale and Manny. The fuddy duddy pair of

The first collection in English of an endlessly surprising, master storyteller Like those of Kafka, Poe, Leonora Carrington, or Shirley Jackson, Amparo Dávila’s stories are terrifying, mesmerizing, and expertly crafted—you’ll finish each one gasping for air. With acute psychological insight, Dávila follows her characters to the limits of desire, paranoia, insomnia, and fear. She is a writer obsessed with obsession, who makes nightmares come to life through the everyday: loneliness sinks in easily like a razor-sharp knife, some sort of evil lurks in every shadow, delusion takes the form of strange and very real creatures. After reading The Houseguest—Dávila’s debut collection in English—you’ll wonder how this secret was kept for so long.

"A compelling page-turner one won't want to put down.”—New York Journal of Books Two women. Two families. Two lifetimes' worth of secrets. In the wake of her husband’s sudden death, Cassie Costas finds her relationship with her teenage stepdaughter unraveling. After their move to historic Tarpon Springs, Florida, Savannah hates her new town, her school and most of all her stepmom, whom she blames for her father’s death. Cassie has enough to contend with as she searches for answers about the man she shared a life with, including why all their savings have disappeared. When Savannah’s rebellion culminates in an act that leaves single mother Amber Blair and her sixteen-year-old son homeless, Cassie empathizes with the woman’s predicament and invites the strangers to move in. As their lives intertwine, Cassie realizes that Amber is hiding something. She’s evasive about her past, but the fear in her eyes tells a darker story. Cassie wonders what the woman living under her roof is running from…and what will happen if it finally catches up to her.

The movie Argo was fake before it was real. This is the story of the original Argo and of the six Americans who escaped the capture of the American Embassy in Iran in 1979. Lijek, one of the six, explains why they were in Iran, what went wrong and how they managed to escape the embassy compound. As chaos increasingly gripped Iran and its government fell, the Americans survived tension-filled days before reaching sanctuary with the Canadians. Then came an emotional roller-coaster ride, long days of boredom punctuated by nerve-wracking episodes, against the background of concern for their hostage colleagues and fear Washington had forgotten them. Finally the excitement of Argo, the arrival of CIA operative Tony Mendez and his daring scheme to exfiltrate the "houseguests," as they were called in secret communications between Tehran, Ottawa and Washington. Lijek explains how the six reacted to the CIA's "best bad idea" and what it was like to exit the airport with false papers, hoping the plan would work as advertised. He presents an overview of the years that followed, during which they repeatedly lied to hide the CIA's participation. He ends with the controversy that erupted when the CIA announced its role and continues to this day, as what had been the "Canadian Caper" became something else, at least in the eyes of many.

An "evocative" historical novel set on the eve of America's involvement in World War II that follows a Russian immigrant family who agree to take in a dazzling Jewish actress to save her from the atrocities raging through Europe (The New York Times). It is the summer of 1941 and Abe Auer, a Russian immigrant and small–town junkyard owner, has become disenchanted with his life. So when his friend Max Hoffman, a local rabbi with a dark past, asks Abe to take in a European refugee, he agrees, unaware that the woman coming to live with him is a volatile and alluring actress named Ana Beidler. Ana regales the Auer family with tales of her lost stardom and charms and mystifies Abe with her glamour and unabashed sexuality, forcing him to confront his own desire as well as the ghost of his dead brother. As news filters out of Europe, American Jews struggle to make sense of the atrocities. Some want to bury their heads in the sand while others want to create a Jewish army that would fight Hitler and promote bold, wide–spread rescue initiatives. And when a popular Manhattan synagogue is burned to the ground, our characters begin to feel the drumbeat of war is marching ever closer to home. Set on the eve of America's involvement in World War II, The Houseguest examines a little–known aspect of the war and highlights the network of organizations seeking to help Jews abroad, just as masses of people seeking to escape Europe are turned away from American shores. It moves seamlessly from the Yiddish theaters of Second Avenue to the junkyards of Utica to the covert world of political activists, Jewish immigrants, and the stars and discontents of New York's Yiddish stage. Ultimately, The Houseguest is a moving story about identity, family, and the decisions that define who we will become.

**A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller** A year after a summer guest dies under suspicious circumstances, her best friend lives under a cloud of grief and suspicion in this “fast-paced and gripping” (People) thriller filled with “dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings” (The New York Times Book Review). Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her. “A riveting read…from master of suspense, Megan Miranda,” (Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl) The Last House Guest is a clever, twisty mystery that brilliantly explores the elusive nature of memory and the complexities of female friendships.

The House Guests, a classic memoir of animal companionship from John D. MacDonald, the beloved author of Cape Fear and the Travis McGee series, is now available as an eBook. A master of the noir novel turns his sharp insights and considerable narrative talents to the human-animal bond in this charming work of nonfiction. In The House Guests, John D. MacDonald tells the story of his family’s unforgettable pets: tomcats Roger and Geoffrey, two mischievous boys whose zany habits and remarkable senses of humor endeared them to everyone they met, and an extraordinary goose called Knees. Both a rare peek inside MacDonald’s private life and a fascinating compendium of information about the animal kingdom, The House Guests is by turns touching, hilarious, and absorbing, sure to mesmerize MacDonald fans and pet lovers alike. Features a new Introduction by Dean Koontz Praise for John D. MacDonald “The great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.”—Stephen King “My favorite novelist of all time.”—Dean Koontz “To diggers a thousand years from now, the works of John D. MacDonald would be a treasure on the order of the tomb of Tutankhamen.”—Kurt Vonnegut “A master storyteller, a masterful suspense writer . . . John D. MacDonald is a shining example for all of us in the field. Talk about the best.”—Mary Higgins Clark