Andrew D. Zelenetz

The philosopher asks: "Faced with the mutually exclusive choice between moral principle and the survival of your family, which is the correct path?" Philosophers love to pose such questions, and in the day-to-day struggle, such thinkers rarely attain to a level of relevance rivaling that of the simple hunger pang. Their careful considerations dissipate under the leveled gun. We do not feel their disapproving gaze when The Others draw near. When the world sends doom, the survivors do not hesitate. The survivors do what is necessary.

Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown—an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets.

The novel traces the princess Panchaali's life, beginning with her birth in fire and following her spirited balancing act as a woman with five husbands who have been cheated out of their father's kingdom. Panchaali is swept into their quest to reclaim their birthright, remaining at their side through years of exile and a terrible civil war involving all the important kings of India.

LAPD lieutenant detective Decker and his wife, Rina, have willingly welcomed fifteen-year-old Gabriel Whitman into their home. While the enigmatic teen seems to be adapting easily, Decker knows only too well the secrets adolescents keep - witnessed by the tragic suicide of another teen, Gregory Hesse, a student at Bell and Wakefield, one of the city’s most exclusive prep schools. Gregory’s mother refuses to believe her son shot himself and convinces Decker to look deeper. What he finds disturbs him. The gun used in the tragedy was stolen....

In the summer of 1143, William of Lythwood returns to Shrewsbury from pilgrimage, in a coffin. His young attendant Elave, sets about searching for a burial place in the abbey for his 'heretic' master. Unfortunately, Elave has heretical views of his own and having drunkenly expressed them, he faces capital charges from the mighty prelate Gerbert. The beautiful Fortunata, whom Elave adores, becomes a reluctant prosecution witness and before long a violent death takes place.