Early Fiction

The cat walked through the world, with its whiskers, ears, and paws. In this glorious celebration of observation, curiosity, and imagination, Brendan Wenzel shows us the many lives of one cat and how perspective shapes what we see. When you see a cat, what do you see?

While the snow swirls outdoors and the fire crackles in the hearth, Mr. Putter decides to write a mystery book. But he soon learns that writing isn't as easy as he thought it would be.

Daisy Lee Monroe thought she'd brushed the dust of Lovett, Texas, off her high-heeled shoes years ago, but she's come back home only to find that little has changed. Her sister is still crazy, and her mom still has pink plastic flamingos in her front yard. And Jackson Lamott Parrish, the bad boy she'd left behind, is still so sexy it hurts. She'd like nothing better than to avoid this particular man, but she can't. Daisy has something to say to Jackson, and she's not going anywhere until he listens.

Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.

Dumped by her boyfriend and burnt out by her job, Kate Hamilton has returned to Gospel, Idaho, where a Mountain Momma Crafters' original poetry reading is about as good as it gets on a Friday night. Then her first attempted seduction of a hunky stranger is completely rejected. So much for her self-esteem! It turns out that Rob Sutter, former ice hockey madman, owner of Sutter's Sports - and the hunky stranger who told her to get lost - has been more than burned by love and isn't looking for a relationship.

Verily, the story Biff has to tell is a miraculous one, filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes. Even the considerable wiles and devotion of the Savior's pal may not be enough to divert Joshua from his tragic destiny. But there's no one who loves Josh more (except maybe "Maggie," Mary of Magdalan) and Biff isn't about to let his extraordinary pal suffer and ascend without a fight.

Waterhouse leads a quiet, ordered life as a retired police detective - a life that takes a surprising turn when she encounters Kelly Cross, a habitual offender, dragging a young child through town. Both appear miserable and better off without each other-or so decides Tracy, in a snap decision that surprises herself as much as Kelly. Suddenly burdened with a small child, Tracy soon learns her parental inexperience is actually the least of her problems, as much larger ones loom for her and her young charge.

Mr. Stamford meets Sherlock Holmes while studying at St. Bartholomew's Medical College in London. With his intense stare and unorthodox methods of doing things, Holmes has already gained a reputation as an eccentric but brilliant man. When suspected intruders are sighted at the British Museum, Holmes is called upon to give his opinion of what happened. But before he can come to any conclusions, something horrifying happens—one of the great treasures of the world, the priceless Rosetta Stone, is stolen from the museum.

Originally a novella in The Backcountry Brides Collection The daughter of a fur trader, Laurette Pettigrew grew up in the northern frontier. Hers is a lonely existence avoiding the British in the fort and the French voyagers who populate the area in the summer months. The local Ojibwe are her only friends. Sickly and weak, Henry Bedlow arrives at Fort Michilimackinac against his will. He wears the red coat and shoulders a musket, but in his heart, he isn't a soldier. But his choices were to join the army or prison. Their chance meeting changes everything. Will a deadly clash of cultures ...

What is Clare Wingate doing? One minute she's suffering in a pretty-in-pink gown she'll never wear again, and the next thing she knows, it's morning and she has the nastiest hangover of her life. To make matters worse, she's wearing nothing but a spritz of Escada and lying next to Sebastian Vaughan, her girlhood crush turned sexy, globe-trotting journalist. Somewhere between the toast and the toss of the bouquet, she got herself into a whole lot of trouble.

On October 20, 1973, in San Francisco, a White couple strolling down Telegraph Hill was set upon and butchered by four young Black men. Thus began a reign of terror that lasted six months and left 15 Whites dead and the entire city in a state of panic. The perpetrators wanted nothing less than a race war.

All is not right in the forest realm of Trellis. Birds have left their nests, and bears have abandoned their dens, as a mysterious magic threatens the natural order of the deep, dark woods. Together with a band of knights, Prince Lucas and Clara set out on an adventure that pits them against a dreaded sorcerer's shadow. There's only one problem: How can a shadow be defeated?

Daughter of parents who counted President Washington as a friend, Sarah had a bright future. Until... she's caught up in a scandal and cast outside society. Three lonely years pass and to start afresh, she forsakes the thirteen United States for faraway French Colonial New Orleans. But sailing south through the pirate-ridden Caribbean is no place for an unprotected lady. Douglas “Mac” McKuen is hired to protect her. Though also outcast, at first he believes the ill-founded gossip. But during the dangerous voyage, the two forge a bond to face whatever comes—as friends. Mac plans to ...

On her 18th birthday, Jane Yellowrock leaves the children’s home where she was raised, and heads north to her first job. But she makes a detour and discovers where she came from, who she is, and what she is.

On a hot summer night, a scientist from the Centers for Disease Control is grabbed by unknown assailants in a shopping center parking lot. Vanished into thin air, the authorities are desperate to save the doctor. One month later, the serenity of a sunny Sunday afternoon is shattered by the boom of a ground-shaking blast - followed by another seconds later. One of Atlanta's busiest and most important neighborhoods - the location of Emory University, two major hospitals, the FBI headquarters, and the CDC - has been bombed.

This collection of 25 Hercule Poirot adventures is compiled from short stories written by Agatha Christie for The Sketch magazine in 1923 from March to December. In these stories, including "The Disappearance of Mr. Davenheim", "The Veiled Lady", and "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb", the eccentric private detective slowly and surely solves mysteries involving jealousy, revenge, and greed. These stories were well-received at the time and cemented Christie's reputation as the worthy successor to Arthur Conan Doyle.

Jack and Annie travel back to the morning of the great San Francisco earthquake. While they are there, they meet a reporter and help get some kids to safety.

From the author of Newbery Medal winner Moon Over Manifest comes the odyssey-like adventure of two boys’ incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail. When Jack Baker’s father sends him from his home in Kansas to attend a boys’ boarding school in Maine, Jack doesn’t know what to expect. Certainly not Early Auden, the strangest of boys. Early keeps to himself, reads the number pi as a story, and refuses to accept truths others take for granted. Jack, feeling lonely and out of place, connects with Early, and the two become friends.

When a little girl gets a plush stingray for her birthday, it makes friends with some of her other toys as they all try to navigate in the world of real people.

A little subdued, a little stubborn, a little tired of going out on blind dates with men who drive vans with sofas in the back, Jane Alcott is living the Single Girl existence in the big city. She is also leading a double life. By day she's a reporter covering the raucous Seattle Chinooks hockey team - especially their notorious goalie, Luc Martineau. By night she's a writer, secretly creating the scandalous adventures of "Honey Pie"...the magazine series that has all the men talking.