Central Kansas Library System

"Chew on this," says Melrose Plant to Richard Jury, who's in the hospital being driven crazy by Hannibal, a nurse who likes to speculate on his chances for survival. Jury could use a good story, preferably one not ending with his own demise. Plant tells Jury of something he overheard in The Grave Maurice, a pub near the hospital. A woman told an intriguing story about a girl named Nell Ryder, granddaughter to the owner of the Ryder Stud Farm in Cambridgeshire,...

"Luke Hadley never imagined he would be left for dead with a chest full of bullets on the day of his wedding. All he wanted to do was tend to his farm with his new wife, Audrey, and begin their lives together. But when the Rhodes gang crashes his wedding party, they wreak havoc and abduct his bride, leaving the lifeless bodies of his guests. Luke has only a sparse trail of clues to follow, but with help from a phony Pinkerton badge and a mysterious...

Operation Treadstone made Jason Bourne, but he's not the only agent they trained. After the revival of Operation Treadstone, former operative Adam Hayes has retreated to Africa, determined to escape the black-ops CIA program for good. Hayes knows just how destructive the program can be, as it turns government agents into nearly superhuman assassins. But his quiet life in Africa changes irrevocably, when Hayes is attacked by extremists while flying...

Drifting along a sweltering Texas landscape, Jack Widow waits at a dusty bus station, when he meets Claire Hood, a grandmother, clearly in distress. Turns out, Claire is on a solo mission to rescue her abducted granddaughter. If that wasn't enough, the next thing that happens is unthinkable. Claire drops dead -- natural causes. Right there. Widow isn't the kind of guy to let wrongs go. He picks up her bus ticket and takes her place on a quest that...

For two years, Oriana Paredes has been a spy among the social elite of the Golden City, reporting back to her people, the sereia, sea folk banned from the city's shores.... When her employer and only confidante decides to elope, Oriana agrees to accompany her to Paris. But before they can depart, the two women are abducted and left to drown. Trapped beneath the waves, Oriana's heritage allows her to survive while she is forced to watch her only friend...

"January Billings is starting over after bringing her husband's murderer to justice, when a stranger shows up at her ranch door. The sheriff, weaseling out of his duties, has sent him to enlist her help in recovering a horse that's been stolen from him by a young girl. Eli Pasco hadn't expected the deputy to be a woman, and he's none too pleased with having to deal with her. Even so, they set out to find the girl and his horse. It isn't long before...

After years on the run, sixteen-year-old Phoenix and mom Nina travel back to Nina's hometown to get revenge on the man she says ruined her life. Phoenix and mom Nina have spent years on the road, swindling and stealing to get by. Now they've back in Mom's hometown, Jasper Hollow. The plan: bring down Ellis Bowman, the man who ruined Nina's life. After Phoenix gets caught spying, she spins a convincing story that inadvertently gives her full access...

Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: the world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. Life hasn't been great for Henry: his mom is held together by a thin layer of cigarette smoke; his brother is a jobless dropout. And Henry is still dealing with the grief of his boyfriend's suicide last year. Weighing the...

"One terrible day, fourteen-year-old Leif Gunnarson returns from school to find his family home on fire, and a gruesome scene inside: his parents are tied up, on the brink of death amongst the hellish flames, and his sister is nowhere to be found. His father can barely gasp a name: Luther Simkins. And with that Leif has his life's mission: to track down Simkins, notorious outlaw and gang leader, and find his sister. Along the way, Leif finds a temporary...