Frank Carlson Library

Friction. Mafia turmoil. Hollywood snakes and Wall Street vipers. That's what Jed Stephens has got. And, a body...Or, he would, if a certain species of vicious little fish couldn't strip a corpse bare in under a minute. Jed should have known better, when his shady cousin insisted they take a trip down the Amazon, to see the sights and check out the local color... Jed can't say he's surprised when their scenic Amazonian vacation turns into an enormous...

In the late nineteenth century, Newport, Rhode Island, was a cauldron of money, excess, and unapologetic greed, where reputations were made and lost in a whirlwind of parties and fancied slights. But amid the glamour of yacht races, tennis matches, and costume balls raged undeclared class warfare, scandalous doings, even madness. In 1893, railroad mogul Sam Driver, one of the few surviving robber barons of the lawless years after the Civil War, knocks...

A Golden Heart Award winner, Maureen Lang pens gripping historical novels celebrating God's grace. Set in the early 1880s, Bees in the Butterfly Garden finds 18-year-old Meg Davenport in New York City after her father dies. Never close to the man-having been raised in an exclusive prep school-Meg is surprised to learn he was not a wealthy businessman but an accomplished thief. Determined to succeed on her own, Meg decides to take up her father's trade-but...

Reimagines the midlife world of Edith Wharton and the impact of her affair with a young journalist on her longtime friendship with disapproving literary secretary Anna Bahlmann, in a tale told against the backdrop of Gilded Age Paris.

"A compelling debut novel about an ambitious woman who, after a lifetime of conning alongside her mother, wants to leave her dark past behind and marry the heir to one of the country's wealthiest families. Like any enterprising woman, Bea knows what she's worth and is determined to get all she deserves--it just so happens that what she deserves is to marry rich. After a lifetime of forced instruction in the art of swindling men by her mother, Bea...

"Lady Anne Deveril doesn't spook easily. A woman of lofty social standing known for her glacial beauty and starchy opinions, she's the unofficial leader of her small group of equestriennes. Since her mother's devastating plunge into mourning six years ago, Anne voluntarily renounced any fanciful notions of love and marriage. And yet, when fate puts Anne back into the entirely too enticing path of Mr. Felix Hartford, she's tempted to run . . . right...

With the dawn of the twentieth century on the horizon, the fortunes of the venerable Vanderbilt family still shine brightly in the glittering high society of Newport, Rhode Island. But when a potential scandal strikes, the Vanderbilts turn to cousin and society page reporter Emma Cross to solve a murder of a fortune teller and the disappearance of Consuelo Vanderbilt. Responding to a frantic call from her cousin, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Emma Cross arrives...

"Amy Chua's debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change. In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs....