Flowers Fiction

Eight deliciously talented mystery authors have lent their skills of crafting murder and suspense to this collection of gripping short stories. Each of these eight provocative tales is designed to entertain and mystify—and maybe even chill you to your core. Get lost in the wild imaginations of such New York Times bestselling writers as Andrew Child, Heather Graham, Reed Farrel Coleman, and John Gilstrap, plus authors Rick Bleiweiss, Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, Amanda Flower, and Don Bruns.

In my defense, I never claimed to be professional.... At least that’s my excuse for why I mistook a billionaire for a waiter, made off-color comments, and accidentally dumped a plate of food all over him. Embarrassing myself is a daily occurrence, just like my unpaid bill notices. But being in a wedding instead of planning one is not. I shall live vicariously through this high-end wedding and forget about the rent payments I’ve missed, the fact that my tiny apartment has no hot water, and that I’m about to be evicted anyway so it doesn’t even matter, anyway! Yay!

In Flower Net, Lisa See gives us a China not often seen: An extraordinary nation that is at once admirable and frightening. Here the veil is ripped away from modern China--its venerable culture, its teeming economy, its institutionalized cruelty--and the inextricable link between China's...

For her entire life, the Name-Bearer's sole purpose has been to receive and deliver the names of the future monarchy from the Flowers of Prophecy. But when the child is finally born and the Name-Bearer is sent to the Flowers, they refuse to name him. Instead they deliver a prophecy; another child was born who is more worthy of the Naming, and if they are found and brought before them it will usher in a reign of peace. Having failed in her duties the Name-Bearer is considered a traitor to the crown, and must hide among an elite sect of warrior women.

Harvest, Ohio, is a long way from New York City, where Bailey King left a coveted job as a head chocolatier to take over Swissmen Sweets, her Amish grandparents' candy shop. But between lavender blueberry fudge and chocolate cherry ganache truffles, Bailey may have bitten off more than she can chew when the search for a missing pot-bellied pig turns up a body suffering from sugar overload - the fatal kind....

Dammit , just how many toes was she going to have to stomp on before people realized she was a delicate freakn' flower? Naomi doesn't want to follow tradition and settle down with a violence-loving, chest-thumping shapeshifter. She grew up in a household with five testosterone-laden brothers where none of the dishes ever matched, the ugly-as-sin furniture could withstand any catastrophe, and Krazy Glue was bought by the case.

Amanda Flower presents Book 6 in the Amish Matchmaking series.

A woman meets her next-door neighbor and loans her a spatula, then starts suffering horrific gaps in her memory. A man, feeling jilted by an unrequited love, becomes obsessed with sorting through his neighbors' garbage in the belief that it will teach him how to better relate to people. A landlord decides to raise the rent, and his tenants hatch a plan to kill him at a team-building retreat. In 10 captivating, unnerving stories, Flowers of Mold presents a range of ordinary individuals who have found themselves left behind by an increasingly urbanized and fragmented world.

Dagoberto Gilb has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Sonny Bravo is a young Mexican American struggling to become a man while living with his mom and step-father in a small urban community known as the Flowers. There the assorted residents teach Sonny life lessons, even as racial tensions simmer in the city around them.

For years she trained in the safety of the Danrayan Temple until she was ready to face her destiny. Then, with the help of her friends, she scoured the continent and found the prince that was promised. And yet, despite finally having the key to her people's fate in her grasp, the Name-Bearer's journey is far from over. The capital is overrun with monstros. Her greatest champion is out of her reach. And every ally she thought she could rely on is losing faith in her and her mission

Rose and Elmer have created an idyllic sanctuary for themselves and their five daughters in Mexico's Baja California desert. Out there in the middle of nowhere, blissfully cut off from the burdens of modern society, they're free to raise their beautiful family...and preserve its secret.

Centuries ago, we lost our world. Planetary Acquisitions keeps us alive solely to maintain their vast fleet of gate ships in an endless quest to find them new worlds to settle - or to conquer. Years flutter by like a tree shedding its spring petals, and so we desperately cling to this chunk of dirt-and-machine we call home.

Peony Bellefleur runs Betwitching Blooms, the charming flower shop in a picture-perfect Cotswold village in England. Her flowers seem to make the sick improve, wedding days happier, and birthdays more special because she infuses her bouquets with a little magic. Peony’s a witch in a village that seems too perfect to be true. Probably because it is. She’s got her hands full between running her flower shop, managing her mother—who’s a medium with a habit of conversing with the dead wherever she happens to be—and helping her protégé to embrace her newfound powers.

Responsible, practical Miss Hermione Rogers, has been crafting stories as the notorious Mr. Michael Michaelmas and selling them for a meager wage to support her siblings. The only real way to ensure her family's ruinous debts are paid, however, is to marry. Tall, thin, and plain, she has no expectation of success. In London for her first Season she seizes the chance to write the tale of a brooding duke. In her research, she finds Sebastian Fitzhugh, the Fifth Duke of Mallen.

Sidney and his family have moved to the Great Plains. With his father, they build a house made of sod, or grassy dirt. Together, they all learn about the adventures of living in a home made of dirt! Unlike Sidney, his family can’t wait to build a new house.

The best-laid plans of geroo and ringel often go awry. Nobody knows that as well as the crew of the White Flower II, the geroo ship whose captain still bears the literal scars of his last failure. Despite their best efforts, his ship and its crew still languish in slavery to the cruel krakun. But when a new opportunity for freedom presents itself, will the geroo be able to pull off an even more daring escape plan - right under the nose of a krakun overseer?

In the United States, about 840,000 children are reported missing each year. This is more than 2,100 children daily, or one child discovered missing every 40 seconds. However, another 500,000 children go missing without ever being reported. The Flower Girls is a story about three girls of different descent growing up in Chicago's Southside from the 1960s to the 1980s. Rose, Iris, and Lily find a bond and connection that transcends time. The Flower Girls evolves into something big, frightening, haunting, and timely. The story follows these three girls who become fast friends in the fifth grade.

As Emily and Kazimir navigate parenthood, darkness emerges to shatter their peace. The unspeakable has occurred, triggering the Lion to roar. Yet, when one thinks that the Lion and Mouse could never come back from the horror, they are empowered by not only their love, but also the undying support of their friends and family, who are just as dangerous and willing to shed blood to protect them. But don't let the darkness fool you.

Lochlann Wilde walks in the shadow of his father, a legendary summoner who commanded mythical beasts in battle. But Locke isn't legendary. He’s barely a summoner, never passing his academy’s trial of the elements. And then he accidentally summons a fae prince with a beautiful body and a bad attitude. Sylvan is fiery and ferocious, stronger than anything Locke has ever encountered. And hotter, too. But time is running out. Locke must tame the prince’s wild heart. If he fails his trial, he’ll lose his inheritance and ruin his family's name.

Bailey King is living the sweet life as assistant chocolatier in New York City. But then her grandmother calls with news that her grandfather's heart condition has worsened. Bailey rushes to Harvest, Ohio, where her grandparents still run Swissmen Sweets, an Amish candy shop. She finds her grandfather is doing better than she feared. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a local Englisch developer, whom Bailey finds dead in the candy shop kitchen - with Jebediah King's chocolate knife buried in his chest.