A man accused of murder has the perfect alibi—he was killing someone else. John Beckett stands accused of the brutal murder of his wife, but he knows the truth: he is innocent. However, **his alibi only makes things worse—he was committing premeditated murder at the time of his wife’s death.** Talk about being caught between a rock and a hard place. Confess to one murder to prove you didn’t commit another? That’s one hell of a legal strategy. 🔪

As the evidence stacks against him and the investigation led by a driven female detective grows more intense, Beckett must face the horrifying reality that someone has framed him for his wife’s murder. Was it the police chief, a jilted lover seeking revenge on Laura for leaving him? Or perhaps the town’s notorious peeping tom, whose twisted desires may have turned violent? Beckett’s own brother-in-law, an alcoholic with a history of violence, could also be a suspect. And then there’s his alluring young neighbor who claims to know the truth about Laura’s death—but she carries a knife and may not be as innocent as she seems. 🕵️

As Beckett fights to clear his name and stay out of prison, he finds himself drawn to his beautiful defense attorney. But as their attraction grows stronger, so does the danger surrounding them. Will they discover the true killer before it’s too late? The tension builds as secrets are uncovered and dark motives are revealed, leading to a shocking climax both inside and outside the courtroom that will leave readers on the edge of their seats. With every suspect having motive and opportunity, the question isn’t just who killed Laura—it’s whether Beckett can prove his innocence without revealing his own crime. ⚖️

What makes this twisted: Man accused of wife’s murder has perfect alibi—he was committing different premeditated murder, driven female detective investigating while evidence stacks against him, suspects include police chief jilted lover and knife-carrying neighbor, falling for beautiful defense attorney while danger escalates, and shocking courtroom climax revealing true killer.

He’s the prime suspect. She’s the only one who believes him. Can love survive the truth? Alex is fighting to clear his name and keep his life together as **a newly single dad and the primary suspect in his wife’s disappearance.** Accusatory glares and whispers from the residents of the charming small town where he has lived his entire life tear him apart, transforming familiar streets into a gauntlet of judgment. His daughter needs stability, but everywhere they go, people assume the worst. 💔

Desperate for help, he turns to Josie, a former Olympic hopeful whose own dreams were shattered by injury and circumstance, to become the nanny for his daughter Hannah. What should be a simple employment arrangement becomes complicated when Josie forms strong bonds with both heartbroken Alex and his adorable little girl. She sees past the accusations to the devoted father struggling to hold his family together while police investigate and neighbors gossip. 👨‍👧

Will Alex and Josie’s growing attraction be able to survive the truth about what really happened to Alex’s wife, or will it all come crashing down? As Josie gets closer to Alex and Hannah, she uncovers secrets that make her question everything. Between defending Alex to suspicious townspeople, caring for a traumatized child, and fighting her own feelings for a man who might be guilty, Josie must decide whether to trust her heart or protect herself. In a small town where everyone thinks they know what happened, the real truth might be the most shocking revelation of all. 🔍

What makes this compelling: Single dad as prime suspect in wife’s disappearance facing accusatory small town, desperate hiring of former Olympic hopeful as nanny, shattered dreams connecting them, strong bonds forming with adorable daughter Hannah, growing attraction amid investigation, and question of whether love survives the truth.

Meet Detective Anna McArthur. Back at work after being stabbed in the line of duty. And solving serious crimes in West Norfolk. She went for a walk to clear her head. **She found a dead woman carved with a message.** Detective Constable Anna McArthur is off duty, off the case—and barely holding it together. Ten months after a near-fatal knife attack that nearly ended her career, she’s still haunted by flashbacks and struggling with PTSD that makes even routine tasks feel overwhelming. 🔪

But when she stumbles across a body beneath the medieval chapel in King’s Lynn’s historic park during what should have been a peaceful walk, instincts override fear. **The victim is young, female, anonymous. The word “catfish” is cut into her skin.** There’s no ID, no witnesses, and most disturbingly, no one has reported her missing. It’s as if this woman never existed—until someone wanted to make a very public statement with her death. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Drawn back into Norfolk’s Serious Crimes team before she’s officially fit for duty, Anna must navigate the hostile suspicion of colleagues who question whether she’s ready and the looming shadow of her past trauma. But as another body surfaces with the same mutilation carved into the skin, Anna realizes this isn’t random—and the killer is only getting started. Between managing her own psychological recovery, proving herself to skeptical teammates, and racing to decipher what “catfish” means before the body count rises, Anna discovers that some monsters don’t stay in nightmares. They hunt in historic parks. 🕵️

What makes this gripping: Detective barely holding together ten months after near-fatal stabbing, stumbling on body carved with “catfish” message beneath medieval chapel, young anonymous victim no one reported missing, returning to hostile Serious Crimes team before fit for duty, second body with same mutilation appearing, and PTSD-haunted detective racing to stop killer who’s just started.

Dr. Ruth Coldwell is **the world’s worst matchmaker.** Mostly because she has never been in a functioning relationship herself—ironic for someone with a doctorate in relationship psychology. But if she cannot convince her boss she actually knows something about love, she will be out of a job and back to being a heartbroken academic with a useless doctorate. So Ruth blurts out the only thing that might save her career: she claims to be married. To someone. Anyone. Details to follow. 💍

Which is how Callum Reed finds himself with a fake wife he’s never met. Cal marches into a speed-dating event ready to tell off the so-called expert who keeps matching him with disasters—women who think “hiking” means walking to Starbucks and “outdoorsy” means eating on a patio. Instead, he discovers Ruth needs a fake husband, and he needs a fake girlfriend to get his meddling family off his back. Their problems line up a little too neatly, so Cal proposes a deal: she pretends to be his partner at family events, and he pretends to be her devoted spouse at work functions. 💑

Easy. Simple. No feelings required. Except fake dating quickly turns into lingering looks, **steamy “anatomy lessons,”** and chemistry that does not feel staged at all. And just when Ruth begins to believe she might deserve a real chance at love, a figure from her past resurfaces to remind her why she ran from romance in the first place—and why Cal should never risk his heart on her. Between teaching each other about relationships while pretending to be in one, dodging nosy coworkers, and accidentally falling for each other, Ruth and Cal discover that sometimes the best love stories start with the biggest lies. 😘

What makes this delightful: World’s worst matchmaker with relationship doctorate never been in functioning relationship, claiming to be married to save job, angry speed-dating client needing fake girlfriend, fake marriage arrangement with steamy anatomy lessons, chemistry feeling too real, and figure from past resurfaces explaining why she ran from love.

Bath might seem like any other quaint English city, and I might appear to be just another hopeful writer. But let’s get real. **Bath is a magical treasure trove, and me? Well, I’m a budding witch named Minnie Wells, navigating my new life working at a vampire-owned tea room.** Bath, with its mystical springs and tea room run by a vampire with more charm than customers, isn’t just your average English city. When you throw magical springs into the mix, leaving this place gets harder than you think. ☕

As Minnie Wells, soon-to-be divorcee and fledgling witch still figuring out which end of the wand is which, I’m just trying to keep my magic under control and secure a job that doesn’t involve explaining why the teacups occasionally levitate. Yet before I can perfect my brew or master basic spellcasting, **an employee dies during my interview.** Now I’m not just pouring tea and dodging my vampire boss’s sarcastic comments, but scrambling to solve a murder before it buries the teahouse’s reputation—and possibly me along with it. 🔮

See? Just your typical day in Bath. Between learning witchcraft from scratch, serving supernatural customers who have very specific (and sometimes deadly) preferences, dealing with a divorce, and investigating a murder that happened literally as I walked in the door, I’m discovering that magical employment comes with complications the career counselor never mentioned. But hey, at least the tea is excellent, the vampire boss is devastatingly handsome, and the magical springs make everything sparkle. What could possibly go wrong? 🧙

What makes this enchanting: Budding witch Minnie Wells working at vampire-owned Bath tea room, employee dying during her job interview, soon-to-be divorcee scrambling to solve murder, magical treasure trove city with mystical springs, vampire with more charm than customers, and fledgling witch navigating new life while clearing tea room’s reputation.

Natchez, Mississippi, once had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in America, and its wealth was built on slavery and cotton. Today it has the greatest concentration of antebellum mansions in the South and a culture full of unexpected contradictions. Prominent white families dress up in hoopskirts and Confederate uniforms for ritual celebrations of the Old South, yet Natchez is also progressive enough to elect a gay Black man for mayor with 91% of the vote. 🏛️

Much as John Berendt did for Savannah in *Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil* and the hit podcast S-Town did for Woodstock, Alabama, Richard Grant does for Natchez in *The Deepest South of All*. With humor and insight, he depicts a strange, eccentric town with an unforgettable cast of characters. There’s Buzz Harper, a six-foot-five gay antique dealer famous for swanning around in a mink coat with a uniformed manservant and a very short German bodybuilder. There’s Ginger Hyland, “The Lioness,” who owns 500 antique eyewash cups and decorates 168 Christmas trees with her jewelry collection. 💎

Interwoven through these colorful contemporary stories is the more somber and largely forgotten account of Abd al Rahman Ibrahima, a West African prince who was enslaved in Natchez and became a cause célèbre in the 1820s, eventually gaining his freedom and returning to Africa. There’s also Nellie Jackson, a Cadillac-driving brothel madam who became an FBI informant about the KKK before being burned alive by one of her customers. Grant masterfully balances the absurd with the tragic, revealing a town where contradictions define everything. 🌟

What makes this fascinating: Natchez once had more millionaires per capita than anywhere in America built on slavery, greatest concentration of antebellum mansions, families celebrating Old South while electing gay Black mayor with 91% vote, eccentric characters from mink-coat-wearing antique dealer to jewelry-hoarding Lioness, and West African prince enslaved then freed in 1820s.

*Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All* is the story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Maoris of New Zealand, told partly as a history of the complex and bloody period of contact between Europeans and Maoris in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and partly as the story of Christina Thompson’s marriage to a Maori man known as “Seven.” The title itself comes from a challenge shouted by Maori warriors to European sailors—a greeting both threatening and darkly humorous. 🌊

As an American graduate student studying history in Australia, Thompson traveled to New Zealand and met Seven. Their relationship is one of opposites: he is a tradesman, she is an intellectual; he comes from a background of rural poverty, she from one of middle-class privilege; he is a “native,” she descends directly from “colonizers.” Nevertheless, they shared a similar sense of adventure and a willingness to depart from the customs of their families and forge a life together on their own terms. 💑

In this book, which grows out of decades of reading and research, Thompson explores cultural displacement through the ages and the fascinating history of Europeans in the South Pacific, beginning with Abel Tasman’s discovery of New Zealand in 1642 and Cook’s circumnavigation of 1770. She weaves together her personal story with historical narrative, examining how two cultures—and two people—navigate the complicated legacy of colonization, violence, and ultimately, understanding. Between cannibalism accounts and contemporary love, Thompson creates a nuanced portrait of cultural collision and connection. 🗺️

What makes this profound: Cultural collision between Westerners and Maoris told through personal marriage to Maori man, American intellectual from colonizer background marrying native tradesman from rural poverty, exploring late 18th and early 19th century bloody contact period, decades of research from Abel Tasman to Cook’s circumnavigation, and weaving personal love story with history of displacement.

The wealthy, powerful Snæberg clan has gathered for a family reunion at a futuristic hotel set amongst the dark lava flows of Iceland’s remote Snæfellsnes peninsula. What should be a celebration quickly becomes something far more sinister. Petra Snæberg, a successful interior designer, is anxious about the event and worried about her troubled teenage daughter Lea, whose social media presence has attracted the wrong kind of followers who seem to know too much about their plans. 🏨

Aging carpenter Tryggvi is an outsider, only tolerated because he’s the boyfriend of Petra’s aunt, but he’s struggling to avoid alcohol because he knows what happens when he drinks—and the family gathering is testing his resolve. Humble hotel employee Irma is excited to meet this rich and famous family and observe them at close quarters, perhaps too close, as she begins to notice things that don’t add up about the guests and their relationships. ❄️

As the weather deteriorates into a full-blown Icelandic storm and the alcohol flows freely, one of the guests disappears without explanation. It becomes clear that there is a prowler lurking in the dark lava fields surrounding the isolated hotel. But is the real danger outside in the wilderness, or inside within the family itself? Masterfully cranking up the suspense, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir draws us into an isolated, frozen setting where nothing is as it seems and no one can be trusted, as the dark secrets and painful pasts of the Snæberg family are uncovered and the shocking truth revealed. 🌨️

What makes this atmospheric: Wealthy Snæberg clan gathering at futuristic hotel on Iceland’s remote lava flows, troubled teen daughter with stalker followers, aging carpenter struggling with alcohol demons, guest disappearing as storm traps them, prowler lurking in dark, and dark family secrets revealing real danger is within.

1754. Inseparable since birth and growing up in India, Theo and Connie Courtney are torn apart by the tragic death of their parents. The twins, who once shared everything, suddenly find themselves on wildly divergent paths shaped by guilt, abuse, and the brutal realities of 18th-century colonial life. Their childhood bond becomes a ghost haunting them both as they struggle to survive continents apart. 💔

Theo, wracked with guilt over his role in his parents’ deaths, strikes a solitary path through life. Haunted by the spirits of lovers and family members, he is determined to atone for his mistakes through sacrifice and suffering. He seeks salvation in combat and conflict, joining the British in the war against the French and Indian army, hoping that violence and duty might somehow redeem him. His journey takes him from India’s oppressive heat to North America’s frozen battlefields. ⚔️

Believing herself abandoned by her brother and abused and brutalized by a series of corrupt guardians who exploit her vulnerability, Connie vows never to let any man own her again. Instead, she uses her beauty and intelligence to manipulate her way to France, where she is welcomed into high society. But Connie once again finds herself at the mercy of vicious men whose appetite for war and glory lead her to the frontlines of the French battlefield in North America. As the siblings find their destinies converging once more in the brutal conflict, they realize that the vengeance and redemption they both desperately seek could cost them their lives. 🔥

What makes this epic: Twin siblings torn apart by parents’ tragic death in 1754 India, guilt-wracked Theo seeking redemption in combat against French and Indian army, abused Connie manipulating way to French high society then battlefield, both haunted by past and seeking vengeance, and destinies converging in North American war zone where redemption could cost everything.

A full-speed-ahead oral history of the nearly two-decade making of the cultural phenomenon *Mad Max: Fury Road*—with more than 130 new interviews with key members of the cast and crew, including Charlize Theron, Tom Hardy, and director George Miller, from the pop culture reporter for *The New York Times*, Kyle Buchanan. It won six Oscars and has been hailed as the greatest action film ever, but it is a miracle *Mad Max: Fury Road* ever made it to the screen, or that anybody survived the production. 🎬

The story of this modern classic spanned nearly two decades of wild obstacles as visionary director George Miller tried to mount one of the most difficult shoots in Hollywood history. Production stalled several times due to wars, financial collapses, and weather disasters. When filming finally began in the brutal Namib Desert, stars Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron clashed repeatedly in the harsh conditions, barely speaking to each other between takes. Miller’s crew engineered death-defying action scenes that were among the most dangerous ever committed to film, with real explosions, real crashes, and real stunts performed at high speeds. 🏜️

Even accomplished Hollywood figures are flummoxed by the accomplishment. As director Steven Soderbergh has said, “I don’t understand how they’re not still shooting that film, and I don’t understand how hundreds of people aren’t dead.” Through intimate interviews, Buchanan reveals the chaos, artistry, and sheer determination that went into creating one of cinema’s most stunning achievements—a film that defied every odd and somehow emerged as a masterpiece. From pre-production nightmares to on-set battles to post-production miracles, this is the definitive account of filmmaking at its most extreme. 🔥

What makes this essential: Oral history of *Mad Max: Fury Road*’s nearly two-decade journey with 130+ interviews including Theron and Hardy, six-Oscar-winning film hailed as greatest action movie, production that almost killed people in brutal Namib Desert, stars clashing repeatedly on set, death-defying stunts Hollywood can’t comprehend, and Steven Soderbergh’s quote about miracle of its completion.