Love can propel us to our greatest heights . . . and darkest depths. In this new compendium of Agatha Christie short stories, witness the dark side of love—crimes of passion, games of the heart, and deadly deceits. This pulse-pounding compendium features beloved detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, master of charades Parker Pyne, the enigmatic Harley Quin, and the adventurous Tommy and Tuppence, all at the ready to solve tantalizing mysteries.

Linda Martin understands what is to be lonely: her parents died when she was young, and she was raised in an orphanage. When she is hired as a governess to the orphaned young Philippe, Comte de Valmy, Linda finds a kindred spirit in the lonely little boy. But Philippe is the heir to a vast estate in Savoy, and his dangerously handsome uncle may be willing to kill to ensure that Philippe never inherits it.

Turning 27. No problem. Inheriting my grandfather's winery. Been waiting all my life. Moving back to my hometown. I can handle it. Getting married to my old high-school sweetheart. Wait, what? We hate each other's guts. But I only have 30 days to turn my company around or lose it forever, so I don't have time to worry about that. Besides, she's days away from declaring bankruptcy, and merging is our only chance. There's a big problem though - only one winery can survive.

Jackson “The Beast” Boudreaux is rich, gorgeous, and unbelievably rude to the staff at Chef Bianca Hardwick’s New Orleans restaurant. Bianca would sooner douse herself in hot sauce than cook for Jackson again, but when he asks her to cater his fund-raiser, Bianca can’t refuse, knowing the cash will help pay her mother’s medical bills.

Nicholas Arthur Frederick Edward Pembrook, Crowned Prince of Wessco, aka His Royal Hotness, is wickedly charming, devastatingly handsome, and unabashedly arrogant - hard not to be when people are constantly bowing down to you. Then, one snowy night in Manhattan, the prince meets a dark-haired beauty who doesn't bow down. Instead she throws a pie in his face.

They say your first kiss should be earned. Mine was stolen by a devil in a masquerade mask under the black Chicago sky. They say the vows you take on your wedding day are sacred. Mine were broken before we left church. They say your heart only beats for one man. Mine split and bled for two rivals who fought for it until the bitter end. I was promised to Angelo Bandini, the heir to one of the most powerful families in the Chicago Outfit. Then taken by Senator Wolfe Keaton, who held my father’s sins over his head to force me into marriage.

No matter how Flynn Dalton tries to avoid it, the supernatural finds her. At first, it’s not so bad. Flynn’s girlfriend, Genesis, is a nationally known psychic, which makes Flynn uncomfortable for both paranormal and financial reasons, but she can handle it. As long as no one makes her talk about it.

Everything has a price, and the price of truth is steepest of all. Eden has an ironclad five-year plan. In three months, she's saying good riddance to Los Angeles and returning to the Pacific Northwest for medical school. Nothing is going to get in her way. Nothing... but the impossible. When she glimpses her doppelgänger at a party, the seemingly accidental meeting turns her life in a direction she never imagined, shredding everything she knows about herself and where she comes from.

It’s a new semester at Regalia University, and by the end of it, five men will die. My sister was good, kind, loving, and the Royals of Regalia bullied her till she killed herself. I set foot on campus ready to right some wrongs when the most handsome bunch of stone-cold weirdos asked if I needed a little help…Don’t get me started on Lucien. He fancies himself a vampire—complete with sharpened canines, cape, and a coffin, but if anyone knows how to make a man bleed, it’s him.

On the morning before her 67th death, it is business as usual for Agent Jesse Sullivan: Meet with the mortician, counsel soon-to-be-dead clients, and have coffee while reading the latest in regeneration theory. Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, she is one of the rare people who can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don't have to. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself - or die trying.

They call me an abomination. A mutant. A curse on their kind. I don't let it bother me. Much. My name is Holly James, and what they say is true. I'm a freak of nature - a null. My mere presence saps the magic from others, rendering them powerless. That's why they hate me. But here's the kicker: I've found a way to profit from my lack of mojo. Whether it's acting as a mystical wet blanket in a dispute between pyromancers or keeping hormonal shifters from changing during a sweet 16 party, I provide a highly specialized service.

Troy Brennan: Every Southie in Boston knows that name. The son of a dead mobster. The heartthrob with steel-blue eyes. "The Fixer" who can make or break you in this city. Oh, and my new husband. Sparrow Raynes: That's me. No one seemed to remember my name up until he barged into my life. But then he caged me. Kidnapped me. And killed every chance I had to run away from the place where we grew up.

Scarlett Kelly is the poster child for responsible living. Growing up as the daughter of the town floozy, she's made it her mission to be the exact opposite of her mother. So when she wakes up naked and hung over in bed with a bad-boy rock star, she bolts immediately. There's only one problem: Scarlett's bedmate is her new husband. Gavin needs to repair his image, or his music career will go down the tubes. He's also just learned he has a son he never knew existed. He needs to settle down, and bribing his new wife to stay married may just fit everything into place.

When Lyle Cummings is left standing at the altar on his wedding day, all of his carefully composed plans for the future come crashing down around him. The pragmatic surgeon is left questioning his well-ordered existence and wondering if there might be more to life than the achievements of wealth and career. When he meets fiery lounge singer Katrina Giordano, his mundane life is turned upside down. He will learn that what he thought was love really wasn't at all. But will Katrina's dark past and ties to organized crime threaten the happiness they have found?

All I want to do is get to work on time. But he’s trying to steal my cab, and that’s not going to happen. In the midst of the battle, I discover I don’t have my wallet. So I bargain - a free ride for a kiss. His lips taste like mint, and when he tugs me closer, I can feel the hard muscles beneath his expensive suit. The kiss ends just as we reach our destination, and I’m so taken aback by the explosiveness of it, I rush out without so much as a good-bye.

Ex-Marine Nate "Ghost" Weller is an expert at keeping his cool - and his distance - which makes him one hell of a sniper. It's also how he keeps his feelings for Ali Morgan in check. Sweet, sexy Ali has always revved his engine, but she's his best friend's baby sister ... and totally off limits. Ali's never seen anything sexier than Nate Weller straddling his custom Harley - or the flash of danger in his eyes when she tells him she's in trouble. First, something happened to her brother, and now she's become the target of a nasty organization.

It was one freaking kiss with a stranger. I wasn't looking for a hero the day Brent Eden charged into my life. He saw a damsel in distress facing humiliation. We played pretend. Swore I was his. Baited sweet chaos. Blew apart everything. My dating disaster? Gone. Our kiss? Electric. Divine. Toe-curling. His mistake? Oh, boy. Dropping the ultimate F-bomb: fiancée. Especially when my gossipy cousin tells the whole family.

So what if he's a bit older and usually regards a human female as dinner, not a dinner date? Yes, Roman Draganesti is a vampire, but a vampire who lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn't have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lopsided eater for all eternity. Things aren't going well for Shanna Whelan either... After witnessing a gruesome murder by the Russian mafia, she's next on their hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she's afraid of blood.

Madison Nichols, aspiring actress, is floundering. Her rent is due and she needs a job. Desperately. After getting a tip about an open position, she rushes to Jameson Technologies and meets CEO Jared Jameson. Unfortunately, due to a misunderstanding, she is put in the awkward position of pretending to be his girlfriend. Not the job she was applying for. And when she finds out Jared lied to her to get what he wanted, she decides to get back at him. In front of his family.

All I want to do is get to work on time. But he’s trying to steal my cab, and that’s not going to happen. In the midst of the battle, I discover I don’t have my wallet. So I bargain - a free ride for a kiss. His lips taste like mint, and when he tugs me closer, I can feel the hard muscles beneath his expensive suit. The kiss ends just as we reach our destination, and I’m so taken aback by the explosiveness of it, I rush out without so much as a good-bye.

These are not the mild-mannered maidens of your childhood. These are fallen princesses and fierce women with no recollection of who they are, where they came from, or how they arrived in a mysterious town called Everafter. All they know is that they've been sentenced to a stretch in a half-way house by a malicious judge with an ax to grind. They've been stripped of their freedom, their kingdoms, and their true loves. Now, they have nothing left to lose.

From Romance Writers of America comes a never-before-published collection of tales that showcases the breadth and complexity of the world's most popular genre of fiction!

Zoë Merrick lived an ordinary life until late one night, she was brutally attacked and left for dead. She survived, saved by a stranger who witnessed her undergo a physical transformation. That's not the only thing that's different. Zoë is unable to control an unexplainable energy coursing through her body. Justus De Gradi is a man who can teach her that control. He's handsome, arrogant, and not entirely human. He reveals that she is a Mage - an immortal made of light, not magic. She must now make a choice: Rebuild her life in the human world with the man who saved her, or live with Justus and learn how to use her extraordinary gifts. Justus has sworn an oath to protect her life, but can he guard her from the one man who has a right to claim it?

Zoey Daniels has been tossed from foster home to foster home, where she grows up fast and tough. When she is placed in her "last chance" home, she finds a reason to stay and turn her life around: her foster sister, Lexie, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. After high school, Zoey is hired by a special government agency, the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), where she meets the other reason to remain: Daniel, her coworker. The man she loves. But there is something unique about Zoey.

From New York Times best-selling author Kim Karr comes a flirty new love story. The whole stethoscope-and-white coat thing isn't my cup of tea. I prefer a man with an artistic vein in his body and 9-to-5 hours. And I can definitely do without the half-lidded, sleepy bedroom eyes. (Okay, so those are kind of sexy.) Tall, dark, and handsome doesn't change the fact that he's arrogant, cocky, and rude. Not that I care, but he's made it clear he wants nothing to do with a quirky girl like me, which is why he said no. Turns out no isn't an option.

Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex-boyfriend Caleb Drake has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back.

Charley sees dead people. That's right, she sees dead people. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

Humanitarian aid worker Gia Andrews chases disasters around the globe for a living. It's the perfect lifestyle to keep her far away from her own personal ground zero. Sixteen years ago, Gia's father was imprisoned for brutally killing her stepmother. Now he's come home to die of cancer, and she's responsible for his care - and coming to terms with his guilt.

From over a thousand miles away, I watched on the screen of my phone as two men murdered my wife. And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories - until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine.

Unleashing your inner tigress isn't easy when you're a doormat by nature! Still, after escaping a wretched marriage to a cheating SOB, Dallas party planner Naomi Delacroix isn't about to let another man sweet-talk her into sheathing her protective claws. Not even hunky millionaire Royce Powell, who's hired her to arrange his mother's surprise party. Even if he does make her purr like a kitten with one heated glance....