Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. Yet one day, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things of life as he found it in that comfortable home. To remedy this, he formed the idea of journeying about his house from room to room to “write a history of the world without leaving home.” The bathroom provides...

A whirlpool of darkness churns at the heart of a macabre ballet between two lonely young women in an internet chat room in the early 2000s—a darkness that threatens to forever transform them once they finally succumb to their most horrific desires. A couple isolate themselves on a remote island in an attempt to recover from their teenage son’s death, when a mysterious young man knocks on their door during a storm… And a man confronts his...

"Jane Darrowfield is using her retirement years to work as a professional busybody in her West Cambridge, Massachusetts community--but this time her client is a woman next door who thinks someone is following her... Megan, who's purchased the house next to Jane's, needs some help from her snooping neighbor. Megan's been having blackouts, hearing voices--and feeling like someone's following her. Are these symptoms of an illness--or signs that she's...

For anyone who adores the art of creating small things, The Art of the Miniature provides a treasure trove of practical techniques and ingenious approaches. In this captivating guide, noted artist Jane Freeman shows readers, step by step, how to use modified kit components and found and handmade objects to create intensely detailed miniature constructions. Readers will learn the entire process of creating a miniature room, structure, or landscape,...

"Grimsby, a junior Auditor in the magical Department of Unorthodox Affairs, finds himself on the other side of the law in this spellbinding urban fantasy. Grimshaw Griswald Grimsby may have one case under his belt, but he's still a novice Auditor in Boston's Department of Unorthodox Affairs. And he's already made mistakes. Desperate to repair his fraying friendships, he doesn't ask too many questions when a mysterious patron offers him the chance...