Showing results by author "Jim Payne" in All Categories

Abandoned by her mother one Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Now one of the unadoptable "big girls" at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum, she fights each day to keep her spirit unbowed. Birdie Calhoun, unmarried and outspoken, has come to Oxford to ask her socialite sister to help the struggling family she’s left behind. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie discovers her sister’s seemingly charmed life is a tapestry of lies.

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible. In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth - from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds - collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground. The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot.

The ratings and views are off the chart. The fans just can't get enough. The dungeon gets more dangerous each day. But in a grinder designed to chew up and spit out crawlers by the millions, Carl and Princess Donut need to work harder than ever just to survive. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered prostitutes rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING PHENOMENON A Katie Couric Book Club Pick A Jen Hatmaker Book Club Pick “[A] word-of-mouth smash hit.” —The New York Times “A treasure.” —Hoda Kotb “To Kill a Mockingbird for this generation.” —The Dallas Morning News One spring morning, a...

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade”. The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds. As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside, tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.

Blythe Abney's opulent beachside wedding should have been flawless. As the founder of a billion-dollar lifestyle brand, Blythe built an empire on her carefully curated image—with her three adult daughters, Allison, Grace, and Kit, an essential part of its public face. But beneath the façade, their family is irrevocably broken.

A pantheon of forgotten gods. An old grudge between a talk show host, an heiress, and the man they shattered along the way. A rapidly deteriorating AI system. An inconvenient tiara upon the head of a friend.

From Sally Hepworth, the New York Times bestselling author of The Soulmate and The Good Sister, comes a twist-filled, darkly funny mystery about the two kinds of people no one ever expects to be murderers: little girls and old ladies. “Vivid performances emphasize resilience and the power of...

As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon. Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. After each race, they pick an upgrade for their vehicle and the track gets more challenging. It all seems a little too normal, a little too simple.

In her debut Audible memoir, Lady Miss Jacqueline (Oscar-winning child star, nightclub magnate, crystal empress, and self-proclaimed beacon of hope) finally tells her story in her own inimitable voice. From a gold-plated birth canal in Newport to surviving a shipwreck in nothing but a satin nightgown, from inspiring talk show legends to gifting Rolls Royces by Zeppelin to her nightclub staff in Ibiza, Lady Miss recounts the greatest moments of her lives (past and present) with the confidence of a woman who has never once been wrong, and the heart of one who occasionally suspects she might be.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

When private chef, Isla Merrin accepts a summer position at Maplehurst Manor, she's not there for the prestige or the pay. She's there because her twin sister Clemmie worked in these kitchens and weeks after leaving, took her own life. Nestled in the exclusive hills of the Cotswolds, behind Maplehurst's honey-stone walls and manicured lawns lies a darker truth. Staff members flee in terror. Young women disappear into silence. And all the while, the show goes on.

Block 42 Lot 17 is the most coveted oceanfront property in Shore Haven, and both Damon Burke and Jade Buchanan are certain it’s already theirs. The elderly owner, Clarabelle Spicket, promised it to Damon. She also promised it to Jade. Awkward… Now thanks to a provision in the will, the town’s coldest real estate shark and its fiercest power player are forced to spend the next four months living there together or else they forfeit the property.

Acclaimed actress Claire Danes burnishes an epic story of heroes, gods, and monsters in a groundbreaking translation of The Odyssey, the first great adventure story in the Western literary tradition. When the wily warrior-king Odysseus sets off for home after the Trojan War, he doesn’t realize this simple undertaking will become a perilous journey of 10 years. Beset at every turn, he encounters obstacles, detours, and temptations—both supernatural and human—while his wife Penelope fends off would-be suitors desperate to take the throne.

They're just friends. At least, that's what she thinks. Him? He has other plans. Bennett Brinkman is San Francisco baseball's golden boyfocused, disciplined, and very bad at ignoring the one woman he shouldn't want. Falling for his sister's best friend was inevitable, even though she's always seen him as safe, familiar, and firmly off-limits.

Get ready to be transported to the world of Harry Potter in a captivating production that features hundreds of unique voices and immersive sound design that brings the wizarding world vividly to life in Dolby Atmos. You’ll hear footsteps echoing through the corridors of Hogwarts and the heart-racing whoosh of the Golden Snitch as it darts past your ears in the heat of a Quidditch match. Also featuring an electrifying new musical score, The Full-Cast Audio Editions present J.K. Rowling’s iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family.

What is a happily ever after really worth? Naomi was living the quintessential love story. Boy meets girl. They fall in love, get married, buy a dream house, start a family . . . Then—he kicks her out, hires the city’s best divorce lawyers, drains their accounts, and takes up with a...

Instant New York Times Bestseller! New York Times Editors' Choice One of People's 15 Most Anticipated Books of Summer The Next Big Idea Club's July 2026 Must-Read Books One of the New York Times Nonfiction Everyone Will Be Reading This Summer Sunset Magazine's 15 New Books You Don't Want to Miss...

Get ready to be transported to the world of Harry Potter in a captivating production that features hundreds of unique voices and immersive sound design that brings the wizarding world vividly to life in Dolby Atmos. You’ll hear footsteps echoing through the corridors of Hogwarts and the heart-racing whoosh of the Golden Snitch as it darts past your ears in the heat of a Quidditch match. Also featuring an electrifying new musical score, The Full-Cast Audio Editions present J.K. Rowling’s iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family.

Get ready to be transported to the world of Harry Potter in a captivating production that features hundreds of unique voices and immersive sound design that brings the wizarding world vividly to life in Dolby Atmos. You’ll hear footsteps echoing through the corridors of Hogwarts and the heart-racing whoosh of the Golden Snitch as it darts past your ears in the heat of a Quidditch match. Also featuring an electrifying new musical score, The Full-Cast Audio Editions present J.K. Rowling’s iconic series as a truly spellbinding listening event for the whole family.