SelectEditions--Volume 5 2002

Ghost moon / Karen Robards Set in rural Louisiana, Karen Robards's Ghost Moon finds prodigal daughter Olivia Martin returning home to reconcile with her stepfamily. Her sudden arrival after nearly a decade throws the family into a tizzy, and sets off her grandfather's heart attack. With entrances like this, you know the drama won't be skimpy.

Trying to reconnect with her family, Olivia searches through her past memories and unearths disturbing recollections of her mother's drowning. With the help of sexy step-cousin Seth, Olivia begins to rebuild her life and find happiness. Unfortunately, a crazed psychopath is haunting the neighborhood, and he's got eyes for Olivia's daughter.

Part romance and part suspense-thriller with supernatural elements thrown in, Ghost Moon has something for everyone. The chapters focusing on the killer's history of abducting girls are chilling and ominous, and the slow development of Olivia's relationships is both realistic and satisfying, making for a pleasing if sometimes terrifying read.

The empty chair / Jeffery Deaver Lincoln Rhyme, the renowned criminalist from The Bone Collector and The Coffin Dancer, faces his ultimate opponent: a kidnapper and murderer dubbed the Insect Boy. But Rhyme is in for a surprise when he learns that catching a criminal is one thing ... keeping him is another. Now Rhyme finds himself hunting a ruthless killer in the heart of a southern swampland--and going head-to-head with his protege, Amelia Sachs, in a rivalry that tests the limits of both their expertise and their love.

Hawke's Cove / Susan Wilson "Lovable" is the way Entertainment Weekly described Susan Wilson's debut novel, and Library Journal raved, "Beauty is wonderful...a little gem." Now the acclaimed author delivers a stunning new tale of passion, loss, and remembrance as the paths of a World War II wife and a handsome stranger cross in the little New England town known as Hawke's Cove.

The year is 1944. After the loss of her first child, Evangeline Worth returns to her beloved grandmothers farm in Hawke's Cove. Once the enchanting place of her youth, this small coastal town is now a sanctuary for her solitude. With her husband, John, across the Atlantic on the war front, Vangie does the best she can to put her life, and heart, back together. All of that changes one day when a man appears on her doorstep searching for work.

Joe Green looks able enough, and though she wanders why he isn't in the service, Vangie takes him in on instinct. As a rich friendship develops between them, the Army informs Vangie that John is MIA. At the same time, rumors in town circulate about a downed Hellcat plane and its missing pilot. Smoothing away each other's loneliness, Vangie and Joe fed their relationship deepening into a forbidden passion. Then John is suddenly found alive, and the lovers separate -- but cannot bear to sever their bond.

In 1993, Vangie's son Charlie lands a plum reporting assignment: to unlock the puzzle of the recently dredged-up Hellcat in Hawke's Cove. To investigate the fifty-year-old mystery, he heads to Hawke's Cove, where he meets respected local Joe Green and his daughter, Maggie. As a romantic relationship blossoms between Charlie and Maggie, Vangie and Joe realize that they must open up the past -- and the secrets they'd buried along with it.

A mesmerizing tale of joy and sorrow, misbegotten dreams and desires, Hawke's Cove is peopled with characters who are at once mysterious and unabashedly revealing. With a rare capacity for love and forgiveness, they draw us into their lives through their most private journals, letters, and inner thoughts. Susan Wilson's tenderly crafted love story is guaranteed to leave readers with an intense desire to explore their own hearts.

The color of hope / Susan Madison All her life she had feared death by water…

Ruth Carter, her gentle husband Paul and their two children spend idyllic summers at their holiday retreat on the beautiful and rugged coast of Maine. But one year, as son Will celebrates his fourteenth birthday, a sailing trip goes tragically wrong and their beautiful, troubled daughter Josie is swept overboard. She disappears without trace.

Trapped in a spiral of guilt, grief and denial, Ruth finds her life beginning to fall apart. But fate has an even crueller trick up its sleeve, one which threatens to take from her everything that she holds most dear. The only thing she has to keep her going is hope -- hope that a miracle will happen, hope that her family can rebuild their love for one another and recapture the joys of the past.

The Colour of Hope -- a powerful and uplifting story of love, courage and hope for the future.