St Martin's Press

The incredible untold story of how the world''s greatest magician, Harry Houdini, waged war upon Spiritualism, uncovering unknown magic, political conspiracies, and surprising secrets along the way.You won?t live forever, Houdini. You?ve got to DIE. I put a curse on you . . .During a séance in 1924, Houdini?the greatest entertainer in the world?was cursed by a vengeful spirit, who said his days were numbered. Houdini laughed. He believed talking to the dead was impossible.By 1926, Houdini was dead. This is the untold story of the last performance of Harry Houdini, who after becoming inspired by his hero Abraham Lincoln, devotes himself full-time to a personal crusade against Spiritualism, the practice of speaking to the dead. In a spellbinding journey across Jazz Age America, haunted by the aftermath of the Great War and a deadly pandemic, Houdini encounters all the modern forms of haunted houses, warlocks, and monsters, and uncovers a shocking conspiracy that stretches all the way back to Lincoln himself.In a compelling dual-timeline narrative alternating between Houdini?s 1926 dramatic courtroom testimony before Congress and the last otherworldly cases he takes on that lead him there, Lincoln''s Ghost is a powerful examination of deception, love, politics, the afterlife, and the very nature of magic itself.

The next riveting summer suspense by the author of THE BLOCK PARTY and ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY, Jamie Day. WILL THIS BE THE BEST WEEK OF THEIR LIVES... OR THE LAST? JULIA, DAVID, AND ERIKA grew up together spending summers at their idyllic Vermont lake homes for as long as they can remember. Now adults? with their own sullen teens, endless mortgages, and low-voltage sex lives? the three friends have amassed secrets over the years. This summer, David is eager to show off his newly renovated home?which now blocks his friends? cherished lake views?and his much-younger girlfriend. He also, unwittingly, brings a nanny with a hidden agenda. What could possibly go wrong? When David?s girlfriend mysteriously vanishes after a shouting match, Julia and Erika wonder just how well they know their lifelong friend. The lake harbors a harrowing past: two young women, with no known connection, vanished without a trace thirty years ago. Did the lake take another? As a search is mounted, an intricate web of lies, deceits, and betrayals spanning generations starts to surface, and everyone finds themselves in danger of becoming the next victim. Of the lake, or something darker.

Kendal Carter is out in thecold and she wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s been four years since herdaughter Rosie was born and Kendal has kept her miles away from the danger ofher former life as a spy. But when their hiding place is discovered, Kendal isforced to turn to old contacts for help. Her longtime friend and ex-handlerRico doesn’t miss his chance to pull his best spy back in. Whisking them toLondon, Rico offers them a luxury safe house in an area with good schools. Howcan Kendal resis? ut there’s a catch, of course. Rico wants Kendal to come back to work for hisespionage agency Bon Temps. He’s offering an assignment with no apparentdownside, investigating one of the dads at Rosie’s new school who works at oneof London’s biggest, murkiest tech firms and suspected of being up to no good. It should be easy enough for someone with her experience, and luckily, motheris the perfect cover. However, it doesn’t take long for Kendal to realize that Rico’s got an agendaof his own. The tech firm may be dealing in darker and more deadly secrets thanthey all realize, plus the world of coffee mornings and playdates comes withits own web of allegiances and betrayals. Kendal soon finds herself in way toodeep . . . A gripping blend of suspenseful spy thriller with heartfelt women’s fiction, I,Spy is the first in a propulsive debut series about the masks we all wear,whether as a spy or as a parent.

Set in a world of powerful female nobles and the women who love them... Kate, Duke of Howard, is known throughout Europe as a merciless autocrat not to be crossed. Consumed by a bitter rivalry, she avoids society and has vowed never to trap a woman into marriage with a monster like herself. The beautiful, ambitious courtesan Celine Genet once threw herself on the mercy of the visiting Duke of Howard. She was desperate to escape the guillotine. But after a night of searing passion, the duke left her to the ravages of Revolutionary Paris and didn’t look back. Now Celine is in London and in possession of a dangerous letter that proves the Duke of Howard committed treason as a child - and possibly even murder. Celine wants a titled husband in return for keeping the duke’s secret, leaving Kate no choice but to parade her around the most fashionable ballrooms. But as Celine takes society by storm, Kate finds herself growing fond of the woman set on destroying her. And as their attraction mounts, Kate faces an impossible choice: keep her childhood secret, or win the woman she loves. Anna Cowan's The Duke is an utterly unforgettable, page-turning romance featuring two women who, separately, are a danger to each other, but together, could be the most powerful duo London has ever seen.

Gilgamesh is the story of the godlike ruler of the ancient Mesopotamian city Uruk. The start of the poem finds Gilgamesh as a brutal tyrant, whose potency is unmatched and unchecked. The god Aruru fashions him a match, a wild man called Enkidu, who fights the ruler but soon becomes Gilgamesh’s beloved companion and friend. The story of their shared heroism, the pain of Enkidu’s untimely death, and of Gilgamesh’s quest for immortality was told across a series of cuneiform clay tablets. It is said to be the oldest recorded literary work. David Ferry’s elegant verse rendering transmutes the ancient epic into the language of our time. Much like Robert Fitzgerald’s Odyssey or Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, Ferry’s Gilgamesh is a work whose poetic invention and lyrical rendering makes new that which is ancient, and draws forth the antique echoes that persist in our moment.

Glory Brown is finally set to start her training as a junior spherinaut at the Parliamentarium. Will she turn out to be an owl, a bee, a fox, or a magpie, like her mama? She's been waiting a lifetime for this adventure . . . and yet all she wants to do is make her family proud and try not to be homesick for the Seam and all its charm. As Glory struggles to find her place as the new kid - one with a lot of questions and a soft spot for monsters - she's also coping with the after-effects of Paxton's treachery, like the curse that still plagues her. In fact, the worlds of the Outersphere are all in the process of recovering - and Glory suspects they haven't seen the last of Paxton, either. When top secret spherinautical charts go missing, parcels are tampered with, and the pocket-orreries go haywire, the Parliamentarium of Junior Spherinauts plunges into chaos. Now, Glory, Marcus, and their new friends must work together to figure out who the thief is and if they have what it takes to save the worlds again.

1900: Twenty-eight-year-old Anna Bradley is spending the summer on a rugged island off the coast of Haven Point, Maine, supervising her niece, Julia Demarest, and two other spirited girls. As the children race through the woods playing pirates, treasure hunters, and Roughriders, Anna—an ambitious college graduate determined to chart her own path—finds unexpected inspiration. She secretly pens Liberty Island, a bold, imaginative novel celebrating girls unbound by the expectations of marriage and motherhood. The book becomes a runaway hit with young readers, but draws scorn from the social elite, who see it as dangerous and unbecoming. As the book's popularity grows and Anna’s carefully kept secret teeters on the edge of exposure, she must also navigate a burgeoning romance—and reconsider everything she thought she wanted for her future. 1922: Julia Demarest, now twenty-nine, was once enchanted by her aunt’s bestselling books. But times have changed—and so has she. Disillusioned by the restrictions of her privileged upbringing and disenchanted by a failed romance with a bohemian intellectual, Julia finds herself adrift and estranged from her family. When a sudden call brings her back to Haven Point, she must reckon with the ghosts of her past, the ideals she once dismissed, and what freedom truly means to her. Rich with heart and history, Liberty Island is an unforgettable story of love, legacy, and belonging.

Lou did what the children of parents with backbreaking, poorly paying jobs are supposed to do: pulled up her bootstraps, went to college, and got an office gig with coworkers who won’t stop talking about their multilevel marketing scheme disguised as self-betterment. When Lou accepts a property appraisal assignment in the rural hills of Ohio, she knows it's her last chance to save her job and keep making rent. But she quickly finds herself stranded in the middle of nowhere with a sabotaged truck, her dog, and someone--or something--stalking her through the ancient Appalachian woods. If she can’t escape the woods in time, she’ll see firsthand that her job isn’t the only thing that wants to eat her alive. Morsel is The Blair Witch Project meets The Ritual, with a generous helping of The Menu, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Cassandra Khaw, and Paul Tremblay

Fall is in full flush in the charming hamlet of Ashland, Oregon, and baker Juliet Capshaw is excited to celebrate the season with a night at the theatre. Lance Rousseau, Ashland’s renowned theatre director and one of Jules’ closest friends, has put his own spin on a production of the Broadway classic Perfect Crime, drawing the audience into a cosy New York apartment as a nefarious set of suspects pulls off the perfect murder. As the final show approaches, Jules and the team at Torte are eagerly whipping up a murderous feast for the cast party, baking a bevy of treats like panna cotta eyeballs with blood orange coulis, deviled eggs, and savory cheese fingers with pumpkin dipping sauce. On the day of the soirée, life seems to imitate art when a storm rolls over the Siskiyou Mountains, ushering in gusty winds and unrelenting rain. The audience buzzes with electric energy as the lights flicker and the actors take the stage. After the actors take their final bow, the cast trickles into Carpenter Hall, ready for a night of frivolity. But when an actor is discovered dead in his dressing room, Jules wonders if she’s just witnessed the real perfect murder.

On April 18, 1775, a Boston-based silversmith, engraver, and anti-British political operative named Paul Revere set out on a borrowed horse to fulfill a dangerous but crucial mission: to alert American colonists of advancing British troops, which would seek to crush their nascent revolt. Revere was not the only rider that night, and indeed, he had completed at least 18 previous rides throughout New England, disseminating intelligence about British movements. But this ride was like no other, and its consequences in the months and years to come - as the American Revolution morphed from isolated skirmishes to a full-fledged war - became one of our founding stories. In The Ride, Kostya Kennedy presents a new narrative informed by fresh research into archives, family letters and diaries, contemporary accounts, and more. Kennedy reveals Revere’s ride to be more complex than it is usually portrayed - a coordinated series of rides by numerous men, near-disaster, capture by British forces, and finally success. While Revere was central to the ride and its plotting, Kennedy reveals the other men (and, perhaps, a woman with information about the movement of British forces) who helped to set in motion the events that would lead to America’s independence. Thrillingly written in a dramatic, unstoppable narrative, The Ride recreates an essential American story for a new generation of readers.

In Nashville, carpenter Whitney Whitaker is ecstatic when she discovers an abandoned barn perfect for her next project. However, since the surrounding former farmland has now developed into a shiny new shopping center, it seems the decrepit antebellum barn that once served as a livery stable should be torn down to make way for something more modern. Even so, Whitney can’t help but think the barn should be preserved. While unproven, it’s rumored the building once served as a hiding place for escaped slaves as part of the Underground Railroad. She convinces her cousin to take a chance on the old property. After all, the barn would make a unique retail space or, with its high ceilings and wide walls, could be turned into an arthouse cinema. When a local print journalist reporting on the renovation is found dead on the property, investigators suspect he might have been murdered for any one of several exposés he’d published about local politicians, movers, and shakers. Whitney suspects there’s more to the story, and that the journalist’s fate might be tied directly to the stable renovation. Can she solve the murder and bring a killer to justice? Or might this goal be too lofty?

Beau has dreams of being an artist and leaving the Chicago projects she’s grown-up in. But after her older sister, Katia, is killed by an off-duty police officer, Beau knows she has to clear her name by finding the only witness to the murder; Katia’s boyfriend, Jordan, who has gone missing. If she doesn't find him and tell the world what really happened, Katia's death will be ignored, like the deaths of so many other Black women before her. Beau sets up a Twitter account to gather anonymous tips. But the more that Beau finds out about her sister's death, the more danger she finds herself in. And with a new relationship developing and the struggle to keep her family together, Beau is soon in way over her head. How much is she willing to risk to clear her sister's name and make sure she's not forgotten?

In Fear No Pharaoh, the journalist and historian Richard Kreitner sets this question at the heart of the Civil War era. He tells the intertwined stories of six American Jews who helped to shape a tumultuous time, including Judah Benjamin, the secretive lawyer who became Jefferson Davis’s trusted confidante; Morris Raphall, a Swedish-born rabbi who defended slavery as biblically justified; and Raphall’s rival rabbis - Isaac Mayer Wise, who urged Jews to stay out of the slavery controversy to avoid attracting attention, and David Einhorn, whose fiery sermons condemning bondage led to a pro-slavery mob threatening his life. We also meet August Bondi, a veteran of Europe’s 1848 revolutions, who fought with John Brown in Bleeding Kansas and later in the Union Army, and the Polish émigré Ernestine Rose, a feminist, atheist, and abolitionist who championed “emancipation of all kinds.”As he tracks these characters, Kreitner illuminates the shifting dynamics of Jewish life in America - and the debates about religion, morality, and politics that endure to this day.

Small acts of courage matter. Sometimes, they change the world. Our history books are filled with the stories of those who fought for democracy and freedom - for idealism itself - against all odds, from Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. These iconic struggles for social change illustrate the importance of engagement and activism and offer a template for the battles we are fighting today. But using the right words is often easier than taking action; action can be hard, and costly. More than a century ago, MSNBC host Ali Velshi’s great-grandfather sent his seven-year-old son to live at Tolstoy Farm, Gandhi’s ashram in South Africa. This difficult decision would change the trajectory of his family history forever. From childhood, Velshi’s grandfather was imbued with an ethos of public service and social justice, and a belief in absolute equality among all people - ideals that his children carried forward as they escaped apartheid, emigrating to Kenya and ultimately Canada and the United States. In Small Acts of Courage, Velshi taps into 125 years of family history to advocate for social justice as a living, breathing experience - a way of life more than an ideology. With rich detail and vivid prose, he relates the stories of regular people who made a lasting commitment to fight for change, even when success seemed impossible. This heartfelt exploration of how we can breathe new life into the principles of pluralistic democracy is an urgent call to action - for progress to be possible, we must all do whatever we can to make a difference.

But success has never come easy. Fear of failure set in during high school. In college, Sara competed through a results-obsessed culture that carried into her professional career. She battled anxiety and imposter syndrome, alongside outside pressure to quit the sport and instead devote herself to supporting her husband, Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall, and later, her kids. Yet Sara never gave up on the dream of reaching her potential. Fueled by faith, family, and an unbridled love of exploring her limits, Sara has proven the doubters wrong at every turn. When she and Ryan adopted four daughters from Ethiopia, motherhood only made her faster, running personal bests year after year and landing on podiums at the world’s most competitive races. Along the way, she discovered that choosing love over fear allowed her to take risks. For the Love of the Grind is a love letter to running, and the story of Sara’s growth as an athlete, wife, and mum.

Summer in Brittany has carried into October, bringing warm, sunny days and balmy nights. For Commissaire Georges Dupin and his team, it also brings a heavy blow. Second inspector Kadeg’s aunt has passed away after being struck by a series of omens of death. And when Kadeg travels to the former abbey where his aunt lived, he’s attacked and critically injured. Determined to find out what happened, Dupin and his team head to the aunt’s estate on the Côte des Légendes. It’s a place that at any other time would be paradise. Dupin has always believed that monks always knew where to settle, in the most beautiful and safest of places. But the more the team looks into what happened at the former abbey, the more questions are uncovered, and the more secrets Kadeg’s family seems to have.