Madeleine Lambert

Soloing the detective agency when her long-term partner leaves for a new job, Aimee is hired by a mysterious elderly Russian man to protect a valuable painting that is stolen before Aimee can start her work, a situation that is complicated by the client's murder and dangerous adversaries who also seek the painting.

Twelve interlocking stories set in Los Angeles describe a broken family through the homes they inhabit.

At 18, Tré Miller-Rodríguez gave her newborn daughter up for adoption. At 19, her only sibling was killed in a car crash. At 34, she lost her husband to a sudden heart attack. Then, at 36, her now-teenaged daughter found her on Facebook-and began to reshape the course of Tré's life. With sharp, immediate prose, Tré unpacks the experience of being young and widowed in New York City: the "dumb sh*% people say"; the "brave face" she wears to work...

Ghosts from Lizard's past-and the man who wants to be her future. The empty places in Elsie's soul-and the temptations of raspberry-laced courage. Walk once more with Jennie's students as they come to the end of their WitchLight journeys.

Lizard and Elsie are under way, but the WitchLight journey isn't an easy one. There are bumps and obstacles inside their own hearts. There are meddling witches, helpful knitters, and a fearsome duo with water pistols.And there is the greatest challenge of all: the one they will pick for each other.

It's been almost a year since Jenna Samuels' stoner brother, Casey, bit the dust and returned as her guardian angel; a year since Casey and his "angel boss," Amber Velasco, saved Jenna's life and helped her foil the bad guys, more or less; a year in which Jenna has solved the true mystery of the universe: how to get one Ryan Sloboda to ask her out. Jenna's feeling mighty cheery about life and love. But Casey, whose doomed relationship with Lanie...

After thwarting a deadly coup and saving the alliance between their worlds, Cara and Aelyx have finally earned a break. Their tiny island colony is everything they dreamed it would be-days spent gathering shells on the beach and nights in each other's arms. But the vacation is short-lived. The treaty between Earth and L'eihr has awakened an ancient force that threatens to destroy them all. The Aribol, mysterious guardians charged with maintaining...

Amy learned a lot in her babysitting course-but not what to do if two thugs show up, intent on kidnapping. When Amy agreed to babysit little Kendra Edgerton, she had no idea she was stepping into a kidnapping plot. Armed with misinformation and a weapon, the two men force the girls out of the house and take them to a remote cabin in the woods. There they make videos of the girls and mail them to Kendra's wealthy parents in an effort to get ransom...

Two years ago, the aliens made contact. Humans and L'eihrs have nearly identical DNA, but cold, infuriatingly brilliant Aelyx couldn't seem more alien. Handpicked to host the L'eihr student, Cara knows that no human boy is this good-looking. When Cara's classmates get swept up by anti-L'eihr paranoia, Cara is threatened. Aelyx isn't just her only friend; she's fallen hard for him. But soon Cara will be in for the fight of her life, and for the boy...

"Who gives a damn about their reputation? Oh, that would be me! Especially since mine had gone straight to hell in the span of thirty minutes."Maysie Ardin is soaking up the summer before her junior year of college, shopping, hanging by the pool and shopping some more. But when her black belt in spending lands her in trouble with her parents, she is forced to take a second job at a local bar to dig herself out of a deep financial pit.She thought she'd...