Fifteen years after the publication of Evidence of Things Unseen, National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Marianne Wiggins returns with a novel destined to be an American classic: a sweeping masterwork set during World War II about the meaning of family and the limitations of the American dream. Rockwell "Rocky" Rhodes has spent years fiercely protecting his California ranch from the LA Water Corporation. It is here where he and his beloved...

"One night in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California, a first-year student stumbles into her dorm room, falls asleep--and doesn't wake up. She sleeps through the morning, into the evening. Her roommate, Mei, cannot rouse her. Neither can the paramedics, nor the perplexed doctors at the hospital. When a second girl falls asleep, and then a third, Mei finds herself thrust together with an eccentric classmate as panic takes hold...

"When Meredith Collins was a child, the little beach town of Cape Sanctuary lived up to its name. Spending summers there with her grandmother, Meredith finally felt safe and loved.Now she's returning in disgrace. Her late ex-husband swindled investors out of millions of dollars and made Meredith a figure of scorn-though she knew nothing about his scheme. But she still has the beach cottage she inherited from her grandmother and half ownership of the...

Tough, cynical PI Sam Spade, a man who, as his creator explained, is "able to take care of himself in any situation, able to get the best of anybody he comes in contact with," is hired by the story's irresistible femme fatale, Brigid O'Shaughnessy, to locate the client's sister by tailing her companion. Spade's partner, Miles Archer, takes on the assignment, and quickly both he and the man he was shadowing are murdered. As Spade pursues the mystery...

"Ryan Eames is a policewoman and single mother dedicated most of all to her lonely, uniquely gifted son. Stretched thin by double shifts and grappling with an out-of-season coastal wildfire, Christmas cheer feels as far away as a distant carol on a winter night. Until duty draws her into the life of a stranger. Ethan Lange is alive because Ryan reached his canyon home before the blaze. Christmas is only days away, and Ethan has lost everything. A...

After the death of his wife, Texas ranch hand JT Tucker took his three small daughters to California to start a new life. With almost no money, a will of iron, and hard work, he eventually built the biggest ranch in California. Caroline, the youngest, was overlooked by her father for her entire life and fled to become a wife, mother, and writer in Marin County. Gemma, his declared favorite, sought out Hollywood glamour and success and became a major...

Lenny, a mentally retarded child-man, and his lifelong friend George, dream of having their own ranch some day, until unintentional violence brings tragic consequences.

Moose Flanagan, who lives on Alcatraz along with his family and the families of the other prison guards, is frightened when he discovers that noted gangster Al Capone, a prisoner there, wants a favor in return for the help that he secretly gave Moose.

"James Byrne's The Gatekeeper introduces Dez Limerick in the most anticipated new thriller in years. A highly trained team of mercenaries launches a well-planned, coordinated attack on a well-guarded military contractor--but they didn't count on one thing, the right man being in the wrong place at the right time. Desmond Aloysius Limerick ("Dez" to all) is a retired mercenary, and enthusiastic amateur musician, currently in Southern California, enjoying...

"As the owner of Coffee, Books, and More, Jill Gardner likes to support other Main Street businesses, so she attends a paint-and-sip event where, sadly, her brushstrokes look more like blobs. It's still fun, though--aside from some disruption by a couple doing more sipping than painting. Jill's police-detective boyfriend is on alert, but a designated driver volunteers to take the drunken pair back to their bed and breakfast, and everything seems resolved....