Award Winners & Short Listers

Valentine's Day, Pelican, Louisiana. The air at Crozat Plantation B&B turns decidedly frigid when celebrity chef Phillippe Chanson checks in. And when the arrogant Phillippe -- in town to open his newest Cajun-themed restaurant -- perishes in a fiery boat crash, Maggie Crozat's friend JJ lands in very cold water. Did JJ murder Phillippe because he feared the competition? When Maggie receives a series of anonymous gifts that begin as charming but grow...

From some of the most successful mystery writers in the business, an invaluable guide to crafting mysteries, from character development and plot to procedurals and thrillers.

Within forty-eight hours, Yaya Betancourt will go from discovering teeth between her thighs to being hunted by one of the most powerful corporations in America. She assumes the vagina dentata is a side effect of a rare genetic condition caused by AlphaBeta Pharmaceutical, decades ago, when she and several thousand others were still in the womb. But, when ABP corporate goons upend her life, she realizes her secondary teeth might be evidence of a...

"An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options. In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass - still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire - face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity....

"An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals, and landscapes of the American South -- and a revelatory argument for why you must understand the South in order to understand America"-- The idiosyncrasies, dispositions, and habits of the South are stranger and more complex than much of the country tends to acknowledge. Perry shows that an understanding of its history and culture is the key to understanding the nation as a whole. Sharing...

A family extending from Pakistan to California deals with generations of young love, old regrets, and forgiveness. Lahore, Pakistan. Then. Misbah is a dreamer and storyteller, newly married to Toufiq in an arranged match. After their young life is shaken by tragedy, they come to the United States and open the Clouds' Rest Inn Motel, hoping for a new start. Juniper, California. Now. Salahudin and Noor are more than best friends; they are family. Growing...

"An explosive novel about the chaos of revolution, Glory centres around the unexpected fall of Old Horse, a long-serving leader of a fictional African country, and the drama that follows for an unruly nation of animals on the path to true liberation. Inspired by the unexpected fall by coup, in November 2017, of Robert Mugabe--Zimbabwe's president who took office in 1980 and ... never left -- Bulawayo's bold, vividly imagined novel shows a country...

"Strout's iconic heroine Lucy Barton recounts her complex, tender relationship with William, her first husband -- and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidante."-- Lucy Barton is a writer, but her ex-husband, William, remains a hard man to read. William, she confesses, has always been a mystery to me. Another mystery is why the two have remained connected after all these years. They just are. So Lucy is both surprised and not surprised when...

"Nina is a Lipan girl in our world. She's always felt there was something more out there. She still believes in the old stories. Oli is a cottonmouth kid, from the land of spirits and monsters. Like all cottonmouths, he's been cast from home. He's found a new one on the banks of the bottomless lake. Nina and Oli have no idea the other exists. But a catastrophic event on Earth, and a strange sickness that befalls Oli's best friend, will drive their...