Rural Town Fiction

For three years Investigator Cassie Dewell has been on a hunt for a serial killer known as the Lizard King whose hunting grounds are the highways and truck stops where runaways and prostitutes are most likely to vanish. Cassie almost caught him...once. Working for the Bakken County, North Dakota, sheriff's department, Cassie has set what she believes is the perfect trap, and she has lured him and his truck to a depot. But the plan goes horribly wrong, and the blame falls on Cassie.

It was always Samantha's dream to run her beautiful rescue centre, Hedgehog Hollow, full-time. But just as her wish comes true, she becomes a victim of her own kindness when she finds herself with a house full of guests - all with their own problems and secrets - looking to her for support. When her self-absorbed cousin, Chloe, unexpectedly turns up at the farm - swiftly handing over her baby to Samantha to care for - trouble is definitely brewing. Especially as Chloe won’t tell anyone why she’s left her husband, James.

A remarkable collection of stories, Bad Dirt is filled with the vivid characters for which Annie Proulx has become known. In every story in this book, Proulx displays her wit and her knowledge of the West, of history, and, most of all, of characters who must use sheer will and courage to make it in tough territory.

Conner Gilroy was my brother’s best friend. Popular. Smart. Gorgeous. With his cocky grin and perfect family, he was the fantasy of almost every girl I knew, including mine. And for some reason, he wanted me. Me, Henley O’Connell; the ugly bookworm with bright orange hair. Poor white trash with a quick temper and a chip on her shoulder. He confused me and made me angry. He treated me like I was something more than what I was. Like maybe what I wanted wasn’t just a silly fantasy.

Eliza Carter has a secret. And it's not the recipe for her world-famous tiramisu. With her bakery undergoing a remodel, her son struggling in school, and planning her best friend's wedding, Eliza's secret is the last thing on her mind. Until her high school sweetheart reappears, stirring up old feelings faster than her electric mixer.

A body is found on a quiet lane in Exmoor, victim of a hit and run. He has no ID, no wallet, no phone, and - after being dragged along the road - no recognisable face. Meanwhile, fresh from his last case, DCI Craig Gillard is unexpectedly called away to Devon on family business. Gillard is soon embroiled when the car in question is traced to his aunt. As he delves deeper, a dark mystery reveals itself, haunted by family secrets, with repercussions Gillard could never have imagined. The past has never been deadlier.

In Claire-Louise Bennett's shimmering debut, an unnamed young woman - wry, somewhat misanthropic, keenly observant - chronicles her life on the outskirts of a small coastal village.The charms of bananas and oatcakes in the morning and Spanish oranges after sex; the small pleasures and anxieties of throwing a party, exchanging salacious emails with a new lover, sitting in the bath as it storms outside. Broken oven knobs prompt a meditation on survival that's both haunting and playful.

When her last two plays are dismal failures and her relationship with her temperamental mentor falls apart, writer Bree O’Brien abandons Chicago and the regional theater where she hoped to make a name for herself to return home. Opening Flowers on Main promises to bring her a new challenge and a new kind of fulfillment. But not all is peaceful and serene in Chesapeake Shores, with her estranged mother on the scene and her ex-lover on the warpath.

Wo der Schnee leise fällt, flüstert die Liebe ...Philomena glaubt an Listen, Ordnung und daran, dass man für alles einen Plan braucht. Bis ihr Exfreund ihr vorwirft, sie sei zu kontrolliert fürs Leben. Kurzentschlossen verbringt sie die Weihnachtstage mit ihrer Freundin Jana in einer verschneiten Villa. Womit sie nicht rechnet, ist Lambert, Janas attraktiver Schwager, der Philos Gefühle durcheinanderwirbelt. Lambert ist charmant, aber auch zurückhaltend aus Angst, sein Herz zu verlieren.

After her mother is sent to prison for art forgery, Edie Brown returns to Northern Vermont to rebuild her family’s fine art and antiques business. She’s certain she can do it now that her mother is gone. After all, butting heads with her mom over bad business practices was what drove Edie away three years ago, including a screw-up that landed Edie on probation for selling stolen property. When Edie scores a job appraising a waterfowl decoy collection at a hoarder’s farmhouse, she’s determined to take advantage of the situation to rebuild the business’s tarnished reputation.

Annie McIntyre has a love/hate relationship with Garnett, Texas. Recently graduated from college and home waitressing, lacking not in ambition but certainly in direction, Annie is lured into the family business—a private investigation firm—by her supposed-to-be-retired grandfather, Leroy, despite the rest of the clan’s misgivings.

Vallée de l'Asse. Provence. Été 1965. Il vit dans une station-service avec ses vieux parents. Les voitures qui passent sont rares. Shell ne va plus à l'école. Il est différent. Un jour, il décide de partir. Pour aller à la guerre et prouver qu'il est un homme. Mais sur le plateau qui surplombe la vallée, nulle guerre ne sévit. Seuls se déploient le silence et les odeurs du maquis. Et une fille, comme un souffle, qui apparaît devant lui. Avec elle, tout s'invente et l'impossible devient vrai.

After two back-to-back life-changing events, first grade teacher Katie McGrath leaves Albuquerque for a fresh start in Borden's Gap, Tennessee. She is finally back in the classroom where she belongs, but it will take a little while for her to heal and truly feel like herself. She'll need to dig deep to find the courage to try again—in life and in love—but with some help from her neighbor Sam Youngblood and his adorable twin daughters, her future is looking brighter than she dared imagine.

Emily is growing up as a talented, unique person with great insight, wit, and imagination, and conveying it in poetry and her diary.

Former Hollywood darling River Lane's acting career is tanking fast. Determined to start fresh behind the camera, she agrees to film a documentary about the picturesque small town of Moose Springs, Alaska. The assignment should have been easy, but the quirky locals want nothing to do with River. Well, too bad: River's going to make this film and prove herself, no matter what it takes. Or what (literal) mountain she has to climb.

In midwinter in an English village, a teenage girl has gone missing and everyone is called upon to join the search. The villagers fan out across the moors as the police set up roadblocks, and a crowd of news reporters descends on what is usually a place of peace. As the seasons unfold and the search for the missing girl goes on, there are births and deaths, secrets kept and exposed, livelihoods made and lost, small kindnesses, and unanticipated betrayals. Reservoir 13 explores the rhythms of the natural world and the repeated human gift for violence.

After Mariah McKenna lands in the hospital with a life-threatening anaphylactic reaction she knows she didn't cause, she realizes her cheating, vindictive husband would rather have a dead wife than a divorce. Afraid that he will succeed in killing her next time, Mariah goes to Grizzly Harbor to hire one of the Alaska Force special operatives to help her. Griffin Cisneros traded in a comfortable future for boot camp, where he learned the virtue of patience and focus-skills. Few things get to him, but something about Mariah's mix of toughness and vulnerability gets right under his skin.

In her compelling, beautifully crafted novel, New York Times best-selling author Marie Bostwick celebrates friendships old and new - and the unlikely threads that sometimes lead us exactly where we need to go. Christmas is fast approaching, and New Bern, Connecticut, is about to receive the gift of a new pastor, hired sight unseen to fill in while Reverend Tucker is on sabbatical. Meanwhile, Margot Matthews’ friend, Abigail, is trying to matchmake, even though Margot has all but given up on romance.

No hay lugar más universal que el más pequeño de los pueblos. Lea tiene 19 años, un ardor en la tripa y una vida entera en un pueblo con cuatro calles, una iglesia, un ultramarinos y un bosque que nunca ha cruzado. Sentada a la sombra, ve aparecer un señor que ha perdido a su perro y, en lo que dura un cigarrillo con hierba, le cuenta por qué ayer se acabó el mundo.

26 ans de Marine nationale, 91 ans de mauvaise foi... Quand Zoé, 17 ans, emménage dans le Finistère chez un oncle qu’elle connait à peine, elle ne décolère pas. Pour la lycéenne solitaire qui ne rêve que d’Amérique et de voyages, la petite ville de Saint-Renan ressemble à son pire cauchemar. Déterminée à en partir dès que possible, elle compte les jours qui la séparent de sa liberté. Mais toutes ses certitudes sont mises à rude épreuve par Pierre, son voisin nonagénaire au caractère bien trempé.