This book tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, a young girl growing up in the Hispanic quarter of Chicago, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty. Esperanza doesn't want to belong, not to her run-down neighborhood, and not to the low expectations the world has for her. Capturing her thoughts and emotions in poems and stories, she is able to rise above hopelessness and create a quiet space for herself in the midst of her oppressive...

Annabelle, the lone failure in a family of overachievers, is determined to make her matchmaking business a success by signing sports agent Heath Champion, one of the most eligible bachelors in Chicago, but she must first deal with competition from Portia Powers, owner of the slick Power Matches, as well as her own growing attraction to her wealthy client.

The daughter of a prominent Chicago judge and his socialite wife, inner-city art teacher Mia Dennett is taken hostage by her one-night stand, Colin Thatcher, who, instead of delivering her to his employers, hides her in a secluded cabin in rural Minnesota to keep her safe from harm.

Law firm partners Oscar Finley and Wally Figg see a chance for huge financial gain when they learn of a pending class action lawsuit against the makers of Krayoxx, a popular cholesterol-reducing drug suspected of causing heart attacks.

Forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan wakes to find herself tied up in a small, dark, enclosed space and tries to think back over her most recent activities--accompanying the remains of a missing heiress from Montréal to the Chicago morgue, and battling an accusation of mishandling an autopsy--in an attempt to figure out where she is and who is responsible.

"William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love him. So it's a relief when his skill on the basketball court earns him a scholarship to college, far away from his childhood home. He soon meets Julia Padavano, a spirited and ambitious young woman who surprises William with her appreciation of his quiet steadiness. With Julia comes her family; she is inseparable from her three...

Practicing wizard Harry Dresden dedicates his life to protecting mortals from the unseen world of vampires, werewolves, zombies, and other supernatural creatures that inhabit present-day Chicago-and the rest of the world. When he discovers that a half dozen evil necromancers are all vying for possession of an ancient manuscript that promises to endow one of them with supreme power, Harry's life becomes a fast and furious race against time to find...

The White Council of Wizards has drafted Harry Dresden as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in Chicago. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in the Windy City, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob.

In a plot to overthrow the U.S. government, Montana neo-Nazis abduct the daughter of the nation's top general and her male companion. The companion is Jack Reacher, a former military policeman and he turns the tables on the captors.

Private investigator V. I. Warshawski, having agreed to help find a man who has been missing for forty years, uncovers racially charged secrets from the 1960s, while also tracking down a cousin who went missing while in town to work on a political campaign.