Alexis Champon Book order (chronological)

Suspense. Story of love, obsession and revenge.

Internationally acclaimed Martha Grimes once again turns her hand to crafting a story of such rich atmosphere and intricate suspense that she transports the reader to a world unlike any other. — A once-fashionable, now fading resort hotel. A spinster Aunt living in an attic. Dirt roads that lead to dead ends. A house full of secrets and old, dusty furnishings, uninhabited for almost half a century. A twelve-year-old girl with a passion for double-chocolate ice-cream sodas, and decaying lake-fronts, and an obsession with the death by drowning of another young girl, forty years before. Like all important events in the past, there are repercussions and ramifications in the present. In the world as seen by Martha Grimes, those repercussions simmer and seethe and wind their way through hearts and souls. The ramifications can be subtle. Or exhilarating. Passionate. And they can also be deadly. Hotel Paradise is a delicate yet excruciating view of the pettiness and cruelty of small town America. It is a look at the difficult decisions a young girl must make on her way to becoming an adult and the choices she must make between right and wrong, between love and truth, between life and death. It is a novel with extraordinary range and depth that ultimately becomes a thrilling morality play.

Jean Auel's fourth volume in the Earth's Children sequence is a massive work that retains the sweeping historical saga and detail that characterized the earlier books. Following the groundbreaking The Clan of the Cave Bear, which set a new standard in the genre, the series continued with The Valley of Horses and The Mammoth Hunters, captivating readers with vivid depictions of an ancient world. In this installment, protagonists Ayla and Jondalar leave the safety of their life with mammoth hunters by the Black Sea to embark on a daunting journey across the continent to Jondalar's childhood Cro-Magnon settlement. Their odyssey is filled with peril, accompanied only by their half-tame wolf, the stallion Racer, and the mare Whinney. Auel's evocative scene-setting enhances the high adventure, immersing readers in stunning landscapes. While characterisation may be functional rather than inspired, it complements the vivid descriptions that bring the world to life. The prose captures breathtaking moments, such as the rising sun illuminating a dazzling white plain under a uniquely colored sky, reflecting the red dawn and glacial ice. Auel's ability to create such striking imagery continues to define her work.