Literature Tragedy

Julia Bechtel's life seems to have reached a dead end. Her daughter, 21, is off on her own. Her husband has grown more and more distant, more and more domineering, and the result has been a further diminishing of Julia's feeling of self-worth. In an effort to buy some time and to try to figure some things out, Julia visits her daughter who has taken a summer job off the coat of Maine. When Julia misses the last ferry boat from the mainland, she catches a lobster boat that carries passengers to the island.

Rashid is a young Black man from Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, with a complicated life. Looking for an escape from a neighborhood few ever leave, he finds it in Rachel - married, twenty years his senior, and the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. It begins with a flirtation and a tryst. It becomes an intense romance, exhilarating and enriching, that defies the expectations of Rashid’s friends and family. What draws Rachel to Rashid is his curiosity, his need for intimacy, and his adoration - everything lacking in her crumbling marriage.

Get ready to lose yourself in this collection of tragic stories from our authors that will fill your heart and tear it out at the same time. Sometimes a happy ending is not possible despite our best hopes, and things end in a way we never anticipated. Prepare to have your heart strings pulled and your resolve tested as these heart-breaking stories of love and tragedy leave you spinning.

Business is booming, a certain silver-fox contractor named Cary Mann is hot in pursuit (wink-wink), and me and my bestie Fab are as tight as ever. Life is good—newly inherited boggart-in-a-crystal ball aside (don't ask; he's a handful. And libidinous. And it's more of a snow globe than a crystal ball . . .) Good, that is, until the next ghost shows up with an untimely demise to solve. Turns out, she's a blast from my past . . . a painful one at that, one I could have gone the rest of my life without ever seeing again. My loved ones—both living and dead—all have my back though.

Step into a world of ancient wonders and heart-wrenching drama with "Escape from Pompeii: A Journey of Love and Tragedy." This captivating historical novel transports you from a quaint Bavarian village, where Anya, a young Celtic beauty, is brutally ripped from her loving home and family, captured by soldiers, and marched into Rome to be sold in the city’s slave market. Follow her plight as she’s purchased and enslaved by a powerful aristocratic family where she’s determined to survive the degradation and humiliation of slavery and servitude.

When Dr. Watson returns to London from a weekend seminar, he finds hat Sherlock Holmes has been arrested. Inspector Lestrade refers Watson to a questionable psychiatric hospital where Holmes is jailed for mental incapacity.

The Tragedy of Errors is the lengthy and detailed plot outline for the final but never published Ellery Queen novel, containing all the hallmarks of the greatest Queen mysteries - the dying message, the succession of false solutions before the astonishing truth is revealed, and scrupulous fair play to the listener. And the theme is one that Queen had been developing for many years: the manipulation of events in a world going mad by people who aspire to the power of gods.

At some point in your life, you will contemplate the end and question what it is like to depart from the only thing you’ve known. Hesitation and uncertainty might consume you to the core, or a sensation of comfort and contentment will set you free. In Four Seasons, Chris Widener shares the relatable journey of Jonathan Blake and his family through a year in their life, confronted with unavoidable tragedy. After he is diagnosed with cancer, Jonathan reflects on the growth of his children, watching them take life into their own hands and create light in the darkest of times.

What has become known as “The House of Sand Killings” ended Detective Jake Anderson’s career with a psychotic break. Now, four years later, it continues to haunt him, as a familiar face embarks on a murder spree unlike any other, with Jake and his family in the crosshairs. With supernatural abilities that defy explanation, the killer weaves a tapestry of violence across multiple cities, taunting Jake at every turn and leaving him desperate to catch up. What’s happening shouldn’t be possible. What Jake has seen can’t be real. But his obsession won’t let him quit.

I thought I had life figured out: Finish high school, go to college, and become a Pulitzer prize winning journalist with a passion for activism. Simple, right? Then, my smart mouth got me in trouble and I wound up as the tutor for cocky star athlete Gabriel Johnson. I expected him to be unbearable. Thankfully, I was proven wrong when he gifted me a glimpse of his charming, softer side. What develops between us could truly be incredible...if he could shake off the persona others have cast him in.

In Agatha Christie’s short story, “The Tragedy at Marsdon Manor,” Poirot investigates the case of a middle-aged man who died under suspicious circumstances just weeks after insuring his life for 50,000 pounds. Could the man, who was in financial straits, have killed himself to benefit his beautiful young wife? This short story originally appeared in the April 18, 1923 issue of The Sketch magazine.

An aging, heavily-insured country squire whose estate is in financial ruin is thought to have committed suicide. Hercule Poirot investigates, in the guise of a representative of the victim's insurance company, to uncover the identity of the real murderer.

It's 1915 when young Bess Ravenhart, recently widowed, leaves her baby son, Frazer, with her mother-in-law, Cora, while she sails from India to Britain to set up a home. But Cora has no intention of returning Frazer to his mother's care. Though Bess makes a new life in Edinburgh and knows the joy - and pain - of motherhood with further children, her heart always aches for the little boy she left behind. When Frazer travels to Scotland 20 years later, it seems Bess' dreams of a reconciliation will come true.

When Celine Lowry leaves Viewpoint, Virginia for the west with her husband and four children, the last thing she expects is to lose her whole family and be captured by Indians. Thinking that her life might be over, she’s surprised when she gets a second chance at love with a recently widowed man too.

Married couples in discord often disagree, yet manage to discuss their problems amicably. If they cannot resolve the marital conflict, then they may opt for divorce. Unfortunately, that is not the path Christian Wright chose after entering into wedded bliss with Chloe Abbott. Shortly into their unified journey, they realize they are unequally yoked. They seek counseling and are on the verge of ending it all when they learn Chloe is with child. Sadly, the birth of their son isn't the blessed event they hoped it would be. A flimsy façade of family perfection is perpetuated for years.

Susan Cameron, a young Missouri woman, arrives in Wyoming Territory determined to homestead on her own. Her nearest neighbors, Ellen Watson Averell and James “Jimmy” Averell, operate a small road ranch not far from the Oregon Trail on homestead land formerly grazed illegally by Albert Bothwell’s cattle. Ellen purchased a small herd of cattle and brand, but Bothwell claimed the Averells were operating a rural brothel and that Ellen took calves for her “favors.” Trouble haunts Susan, her veterinarian friend, Michael, and the Averells from the moment Susan attempts to take possession of her new homestead land, culminating in the hangings of both Ellen and Jimmy Averell by six prominent cattlemen, who then spread vicious lies in their controlled Cheyenne newspaper, calling Ellen “Cattle Kate.” The mystery deepens when the cattlemen are brought to trial and all the witnesses to the hangings have died or disappeared and Susan and Michael are kidnapped by hired gunmen...

Archaeology student Chione has vivid dreams about the discovery of an opulent tomb. After the founder of the Institute of Archaeology learns that Chione’s dreams might be connected to events in Egypt, he accepts an offer to examine a mysterious site in the Valley of the Queens. When they discover a burial chamber, ancient spells transport Chione and her ex-boyfriend, archaeologist Aaron Ashby, 3,500 years into the past. There, they learn of Tutankhamon and Tauret, a priestess in Pharaoh's Court.

In thirteen fascinating chapters, Charlotte Van den Broeck goes in search of buildings that were fatal to their architects-architects who either killed themselves or are rumored to have done so. They range across time and space from a church with a twisted spire in seventeenth-century France to a theater that collapsed mid-performance in 1920s Washington, DC, and an eerily sinking swimming pool in the author's hometown.

Once upon a time, my parents saved the world. But it's still broken, and I'm supposed to fix it. Everything had been going perfectly until the dragons showed up. They need me, the Healer of Realms, to save their land. A land of prophecies, beautiful princes, and ancient monsters. I don't need a seer to know this quest is larger than anything I’ve known. Between the nightmares, monster attacks, and a prince I can’t seem to stop kissing, only fate knows if I’ll lose my heart or my life to a kingdom that isn’t even mine.

Senior year already drains enough of spellcaster Sophie Morris’ time. But when her pre-law-student boyfriend discovers an underhanded corporate conspiracy to destroy a rival, she dives in to dig up the clues needed to expose the truth. And as soon as the corrupt conglomerate gets wind of her interest, Sophie and her sweetheart become the targets of their under-the-table heavies.