The summer of the bonepile monster

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Elizabeth Peters

Radcliffe Emerson, the irascible husband of fellow archaeologist and Egyptologist Amelia Peabody, has earned the nickname "Father of Curses" -- and at Mazghunah he demonstrates why. Denied permission to dig at the pyramids of Dahshoor, he and Amelia are resigned to excavating mounds of rubble in the middle of nowhere. And there is nothing in this barren area worthy of their interest -- until an antiquities dealer is murdered in his own shop. A second sighting of a sinister stranger from the crime scene, a mysterious scrap of papyrus, and a missing mummy case have all whetted Amelia's curiosity. But when the Emersons start digging for answers in an ancient tomb, events take a darker and deadlier turn -- and there may be no surviving the very modern terrors their efforts reveal.

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Betsy Byars

At the eerie Hunt mansion, Herculeah Jones has been reading aloud to Lionus Hunt, an elderly stroke victim who can only communicate by blinking his eyes (once for yes, twice for no). Mr. Hunt seems to be trying to tell Herculeah something, but his gruff nurse won't allow her to ask any questions. What is Mr. Hunt trying to say? Is it related to a murder that took place in the mansion's black tower years ago? And who is the creepy old lady who lives in the mansion? Herculeah's friend Meat thinks she may be asking for trouble, but Herculeah Jones won't quit until she gets to the bottom of this mystery.

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Christopher Golden

"Why would anyone want to tear out someone's heart?" That's the very real question facing college freshman Jenna Blake, and it has nothing to do with romance and heartbreak. A second grisly murder mystery is unfolding at Somerset University, and her job as a pathology assistant at the local hospital brings Jenna too close to the haunting crimes. Everyone has a theory on the nature of the killings, including Jenna's older half-brother, Pierce Logan, who's new in town and has some odd ideas about why someone would want to steal a human heart. Meanwhile, Jenna begins working on her own heart when she meets a fascinating older man. But there's little time for dating when the Thief of Hearts declares Somerset the perfect hunting ground -- and someone very close to Jenna is the prey.

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Karen Briner

Ever Indigo Nikita Stein (or Einstein, as her classmates at the School for Children of Gifted Parents mockingly call her) knows she's a magnet for bad luck. How else can she explain her parents' mysterious disappearance nine years ago? Since then she's lived with the Doc--a sweet, reclusive inventor of invisible ice cream--feeling inadequate and a bit lonely.Things get worse the day Ever discovers the Doc has gone missing. Inventors like him are in trouble worldwide.The only ones who can help Ever save him and catch the perpetrator of these crimes against ingenious humanity is an unlikely pair: Harry Snowize, a once-intrepid spy, and Snitch, a dignified rat. As the case takes the trio from Africa to Asia to Europe and back, Ever comes to realize that perhaps she's not so inadequate after all.