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Moniteau County Library
Hours: M-W-F: 9AM - 5PM | T-Th: 9AM - 6PM | Sat: 9AM - 12PM | Sun: Closed
Return of the Spider by James Patterson
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf

She thought she was alone…

True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.

As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage

Lexi Villiers is a 29-year-old Englishwoman doing her medical residency in Hobart, working too hard, worried about her bank balance, and living with friends. It's a good life, and getting even better, because as the dawn is breaking on New Year's Day, Lexi is about to kiss the man she loves for the very first time.

But by midnight, everything will change. Because Lexi is in fact not an ordinary young woman. She is Princess Alexandrina, third in line to the British throne - albeit estranged from the rest of her family and living in voluntary exile on the other side of the world. But following a terrible accident, Lexi - the black sheep of her family and, until this moment, always destined to be the spare - is now the heir apparent, first in line to the throne once her grandmother, the elderly Queen, dies. Called back to do her duty, she arrives in London to a Palace riven with power plays and media leaks, all the while guarding painful secrets of her own. Palace waters are treacherous, rumours are rife, and selling each other's secrets is a family tradition. And with the Crown just within her grasp, Lexi must choose what bonds she will keep ... and what she is willing to leave behind.

How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates

How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates

It was supposed to be the party of the century: miles of idyllic white sand beaches, lush jungle foliage...and a dark legend nobody dreamed might be all too true.

When an online influencer and several hundred of his most loyal fans land on Prosperity Island, the plan is simple: five days of elaborate games, drinking, and suntanned fun.

A week in paradise should have been a welcome respite. The only survivor of an infamous cult, Ruth wants nothing more than to keep her head down and not draw attention. She's spent decades outrunning her blood-soaked childhood, and her identity is a closely held secret.

But then the true history of the island is revealed…along with its sinister connection to Ruth's past. As guests go missing and games turn deadly, Ruth and the rest of the attendees are forced to question whether they've really been invited to paradise...or whether something much darker―and far bloodier―is waiting for them just beyond the bonfire's light.

Forget You Saw Here by Noelle Ihli

Forget You Saw Here by Noelle Ihli

A missing girl. A frantic mother. A desperate search.

Across the country, notes taped to restroom stalls read, “On a date that isn’t going well? Ask for Andrea at the bar. We’ll make sure you get home safe.”

But Andrea—the girl behind the campaign—didn’t make it home safe. 

She disappeared without a trace at seventeen. The police labeled her a runaway, and the case went cold. That is, until her mother, Sabina, starts digging for answers.

But the closer she gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that not everyone wants Andrea to be found. A predator is hiding in plain sight, keeping close tabs on the search. And he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure his secrets stay buried. 

Forget You Saw Her is the chilling standalone prequel to the international bestseller Ask for Andrea.

Alchemised by SenLinYu

Alchemised by SenLinYu

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

The Mistletoe House by Mia Kent

The Mistletoe House by Mia Kent

After losing her job, her fiancé, and her home in one fell swoop, Natalie Belmont leaves the city without a plan… and without a working car. Suddenly stranded on the snowy backroads of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Natalie only needs a place to stay for the night, but the charming—and incredibly persuasive—innkeeper at The Mistletoe House has something much more festive in mind.

Now cast as one of Santa’s helpers in the tiny town of Chestnut Cove, Natalie is thrust into a Christmas wonderland brought to life, complete with a magical workshop, a snow-dusted sleigh, and a real-life reindeer. A very aromatic reindeer, one with a spleen-shattering hind kick.

For some people, this might be a dream come true (minus the reindeer), but Natalie has a problem, and it’s a big after a holiday tragedy upended her childhood, she no longer has the Christmas spirit.

But Chestnut Cove has a way of making miracles happen, and maybe a warm and welcoming community, a hundred-foot Christmas tree, and a small-town doctor with a heart of gold can change Natalie’s mind… and help her discover that the life she’s always dreamed of can be found in the most unexpected of places.

The Village by Krissy Webb

The Village by Krissy Webb

Seven college students set out to explore an abandoned 1800s mining ghost town and Native American village with their Anthropology professor, Dr. Bailey. One student does not return from the trip. His death is ruled an accident. Eighteen years later, the students are invited back to the same town to enjoy the preview opening of a new resort, The Village, that has been built from the remains of an old saloon in hopes of growing the town again. But the invitation is deceiving. The resort's owner is unknown, and the group of adults can't find any information about it online. Slowly, the guests start dying. Will the former Anthropology students find out who is behind this trip before they all end up dead?

A blizzard has arrived, trapping the former students with no contact with the outside world. As people start dying one by one, they have to figure out who has invited them back to The Village for revenge. Set in an old mining town in rural Montana, this locked room mystery will keep readers guessing until the end.

Only the Brave by Danielle Steel

Only the Brave by Danielle Steel

In 1930s Berlin, dark days dawn under Hitler’s Third Reich. For nineteen-year-old Sophia Alexander, life will never be the same. The daughter of a respected doctor, Sophia has always believed that her destiny is to look after others, and as the persecution of Jewish families begins, she joins a group of dissidents who are committed to helping them to safety.

As war is declared, Sophia answers her religious calling and enters a convent, where she continues to fight bravely against the Nazi regime. That is until the fateful day she is arrested and taken to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where her only hope of survival is to escape and successfully make the dangerous journey to the border.

Sophia’s situation is further complicated when she meets a US airman, shot down nearby. As she nurses him back to health, they grow close, but she is still resolute that her destiny is with the Church.

As Sophia looks for a sign of which path to follow, will she have the strength to question what she has committed her whole life to?

The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey

The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey

Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.

Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can’t stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.

She also knows she’s next.

Order of Swans by Jude Deveraux

Order of Swans by Jude Deveraux

To Kaley Arens, a PhD student and expert in folklore, fairy stories have always had a power and an allure beyond mere entertainment.

It’s only when Kaley accompanies her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home that she realizes how much she still has to learn. Bellis isn’t the remote island that she believed it to be. It’s another world—a stunningly beautiful and seductive one, with its own royalty, its own rules, and inhabitants who breathe life into the tales she was taught were fiction.

Kaley’s presence is no simple holiday. She has a mysterious connection with Jobi and with Bellis, and abilities that may help determine this world’s fate. Tasked with locating a lost prince, Kaley and her companions—the enigmatic Tanek, a member of the Order of Swans, and Sojee, Kaley's colossal bodyguard—journey through a land both thrilling and terrifying, where the uncanny and the familiar go hand in hand.

But in fairy tales, heroes and villains are easy to discern. Here, nothing is quite as it seems. And though Kaley is discovering that she can change the outcome of the fairy tales she knows so well, her own story is unfolding in ways impossible to predict, with a destiny she could never have foretold…

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood Home in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. Under the watchful eye of the stern Miss Wellwood, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. There’s Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to find a way to keep her baby and escape to a commune. And Zinnia, a budding musician who knows she’s going to go home and marry her baby’s father. And Holly, a wisp of a girl, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Everything the girls eat, every moment of their waking day, and everything they’re allowed to talk about is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid…and it’s usually paid in blood.

NYPD Red 8: The 11:59 Bomber by Marshall Kapp/James Patterson series

NYPD Red 8: The 11:59 Bomber by Marshall Kapp/James Patterson series

It’s 11:59.

And the city that never sleeps is afraid to get out of bed.

A bomb explodes in a crowded New York subway station at exactly 11:59 a.m. The next day, a second blast rips through a busy department store—again at 11:59.

As the bombs go off with clockwork precision, the death toll climbs and businesses shut their doors as the city hunkers down in fear.

NYPD Red Detectives Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan face their most twisted case ever, as they race against the clock in search of one man who has vowed “to destroy New York City the way it destroyed my family.”

Showdown by Mike Lupica/Robert B Parker series

Showdown by Mike Lupica/Robert B Parker series

Vic Hale isn’t anyone’s idea of a father figure. He is one of the biggest – and loudest -- podcasters in the nation and got there by spewing overheated rhetoric that’s reviled by some but loved by even more. His particular brand of “entertainment” is so successful, he’s about to sign the biggest contract in the history of online broadcasting. Vic’s riding high...until he gets a visit from Spenser, who specializes in bringing guys like Hale back down to Earth.

Spenser is there on behalf of Daniel Lopez, a young man who believes Hale may be his father. It’s a potentially explosive revelation for a man in the podcaster’s position and it might even be enough to blow up his massive new deal.  That could explain the bodies that start popping up – bodies connected in one way or another with the mystery surrounding Daniel’s birth. There are a lot of questions remaining, and Spenser’s going to have to find the answers before someone shuts Hale or Daniel up for good.

The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

The House of My Mother by Shari Franke

From eldest daughter Shari Franke, the shocking true story behind the viral 8 Passengers family vlog and the hidden abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother, and how, in the face of unimaginable pain, she found freedom and healing.

Shari Franke’s childhood was a constant battle for survival. Her mother, Ruby Franke, enforced a severe moral code while maintaining a façade of a picture-perfect family for their wildly popular YouTube channel 8 Passengers, which documented the day-to-day life of raising six children for a staggering 2.5 million subscribers. But a darker truth lurked beneath the surface—Ruby’s wholesome online persona masked a more tyrannical parenting style than anyone could have imagined.

As the family’s YouTube notoriety grew, so too did Ruby’s delusions of righteousness. Fueled by the sadistic influence of relationship coach Jodi Hildebrandt, together they implemented an inhumane and merciless disciplinary regime.

Ruby and Jodi were arrested in Utah in 2023 on multiple charges of aggravated child abuse. On that fateful day, Shari shared a photo online of a police car outside their home. Her caption had one word: “Finally.”

For the first time, Shari will reveal the disturbing truth behind 8 Passengers and her family’s devastating involvement with Jodi Hildebrandt’s cultish life coaching program, “ConneXions.” No stone is left unturned as Shari exposes the perils of influencer culture and shares for the first time her battle for truth and survival in the face of her mother’s cruelty.

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson

Well-read and world-weary, Sheriff Walt Longmire has been maintaing order in Wyoming's Absaroka County for more than thirty years, but in this riveting seventh outing, he is pushed to his limits. Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian, has just confessed to murdering a boy ten years ago and burying him deep within the Big Horn Mountains. After transporting Shade and a group of other convicted murderers through a snowstorm, Walt is informed by the FBI that the body is buried in his jurisdiction-and the victim's name is White Buffalo. Guided only by Indian mysticism and a battered paperback of Dante's Inferno, Walt pursues Shade and his fellow escapees into the icy hell of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, cheating death to ensure that justice-both civil and spiritual-is served.

The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by James Patterson

The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by James Patterson

In the early hours of Sunday, August 5, 1962, Marilyn Monroe’s live-in housekeeper wakes with a sinking feeling. She knocks loudly at her employer’s locked bedroom door, and when there is no answer, she calls Monroe’s psychiatrist, Ralph Greenson.

           Greenson breaks into Monroe’s bedroom and finds a horrifying the thirty-six-year-old movie star lying naked, lifeless, face down on her bed, still clutching the telephone receiver.

           At 4:20 a.m., Greenson alerts the LAPD. 

It is established protocol for the chief medical examiner to conduct celebrity autopsies, but inexplicably, junior medical examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi performs the procedure on the five-four, 118-pound actress. When you are a coroner, Noguchi believes, you start from the assumption that every body you examine might be a murder victim. 
​
In those final summer days, did Marilyn Monroe have more enemies than friends?

How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women by Zoe Venditozzi

How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women by Zoe Venditozzi

Scotland, 1563: Crops failed. People starved. And the Devil's influence was stronger than ever—at least, that's what everyone believed. If you were a woman living in Scotland during this turbulent time, there was a very good chance that you, or someone you knew, would be tried as a witch.

During the chaos of the Reformation, violence against women was codified for the first time in the Witchcraft Act—a tool of theocratic control with one chilling to root out witches and rid the land of evil. What followed was a dark and misogynistic chapter in history that fanned the flames of witch hunts across the globe, including in the United States and beyond.

In How to Kill a Witch, Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, hosts of the popular Witches of Scotland podcast, unravel the grim yet absurdly bureaucratic process of identifying, accusing, trying, and executing women as witches. With sharp wit and keen feminist insight, they reveal the inner workings of a patriarchal system designed to weaponize fear and oppress women.

This captivating (and often infuriating) account, which weaves a rich tapestry of trial transcripts, witness accounts, and the documents that set the legal grounds for the witch hunts, exposes how this violent period of history mirrors today's struggles for justice and equality. How to Kill a Witch is a powerful, darkly humorous reminder of the dangers of superstition, bias, and ignorance, and a warning to never forget the past… while raising the question of whether it could ever happen again.

The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly

The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly

Harry Bosch is California's newest private investigator. He doesn't advertise, he doesn't have an office, and he's picky about who he works for, but it doesn't matter. His chops from thirty years with the LAPD speak for themselves.

Soon one of Southern California's biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire is nearing the end of his life and is haunted by one regret. When he was young, he had a relationship with a Mexican girl, his great love. But soon after becoming pregnant, she disappeared. Did she have the baby? And if so, what happened to it?

Desperate to know whether he has an heir, the dying magnate hires Bosch, the only person he can trust. With such a vast fortune at stake, Harry realizes that his mission could be risky not only for himself but for the one he's seeking. But as he begins to uncover the haunting story--and finds uncanny links to his own past--he knows he cannot rest until he finds the truth.

At the same time, unable to leave cop work behind completely, he volunteers as an investigator for a tiny cash-strapped police department and finds himself tracking a serial rapist who is one of the most baffling and dangerous foes he has ever faced.

I'll Wait by Buck Turner

I'll Wait by Buck Turner

THE REST OF THE STORY...

Buck Turner, Author of The Long Road Back To You, brings you the highly anticipated companion novel I'll Wait

We all know Charlie's side of the story. Now, see the beloved romance through the eyes of Anna, his true love. In I'll Wait, get a fresh perspective from the young woman who experienced it all. From the first breathless moment, when she fell in love, to the day she finally overcame the obstacles and found true happiness.

This story goes back to the beginning, to the early days when Charlie caught Anna's eye. Watch as Anna falls in love, endures countless tragedies, and becomes a strong woman along the way.

Heart-warming and heart-breaking, this is not just a love story, it's a life story.

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart.

Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother's enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?

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Previous Next
The Overnight Guest by Heather Gudenkauf
The Heir Apparent by Rebecca Armitage
How Bad Things Can Get by Darcy Coates
Forget You Saw Here by Noelle Ihli
Alchemised by SenLinYu
The Mistletoe House by Mia Kent
The Village by Krissy Webb
Only the Brave by Danielle Steel
The Quarry Girls by Jess Lourey
Order of Swans by Jude Deveraux
Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix
NYPD Red 8: The 11:59 Bomber by Marshall Kapp/James Patterson series
Showdown by Mike Lupica/Robert B Parker series
The House of My Mother by Shari Franke
Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson
The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by James Patterson
How to Kill a Witch: The Patriarchy's Guide to Silencing Women by Zoe Venditozzi
The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly
I'll Wait by Buck Turner
The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb
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