Many of the greatest stories in the Bible leave us yearning for more details. This author has written a story involving the family from the Bethlehem Inn during the year before the birth of Jesus. Jesus' birth brings about a dramatic change in the inkeeper's life, who is perhaps the first convert to Jesus. The year before Jesus is born in Bethlehem, Zaham the innkeeper hires a traveling builder to convert a feed storage room at the back of the inn to a secret room for his valuables. The oldest son, Jubal, is a traveling courier who comes upon a young woman alone at night on the road north of Bethsaida. her name is Kerith and she is the only member of an extended family to escape abduction by a band of Roman army deserters. This entire group travels by horseback east into the unknown toward Babylon, eventually bound for Egypt. Jubal and Kerith fall in love, marry and walk home to Bethlehem. They find lodging with a couple in Nazareth (Joseph and Mary), for two night. At home in Bethlehem Kerith is popular with all except Jubal's parents. by winter, Jubal reckons the band holding Kerith's family may cross the salt sea to the south heading west. he makes an excuse for business to leave home and travels south to the wells at Punon, the area's main water source south of the salt sea. He learns a band resembling the one he seeks passed by four days before. Jubal pursues the group on a camel and finally catches up to them days later at dusk. he attacks the enemy by cutting loose their tethered mounts and frightens them into stampeding over the camp of sleeping men. he frees Kerith's parents and the three of them and the camel begin walking north for Bethlehem. When Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem for the census, Zaham refuses to even talk about a room for them. Kerith takes them to an animal shelter in a cave behind her house because her own house is full of travelers, some of whom are ill. Kerith makes them as comfortable as possible and calls in a midwife. The angel who first talked to Mary, then Joseph, appears to them and assures them all will be well and Jesus is born at that time. Meanwhile, Zaham had a bad day because of a promise by Johannan the census taker to reward him with extra money and a gold piece for the use of his secret room was cancelled due to a disagreement with a courtesan. She leaves Johanan abruptly, and Johanan leaves Bethlehem for Jerusalem. Zaham is beside himself with anger and self-pity. Sleepless, he decides to murder his family, commit suicide, and end everyone's misery at once. the angel appears to Zaham in his bedroom. He shows him the error of his ways and points out how all the things that he dislikes are actually projects that needed to be accomplished, including the secret room, for the safety of the holy family. Zaham finally sees the light and commits himself and his family to the well-being of Jesus' early years.

Tess and inn guest Elliott MacIntosh have found half of a rare slave tag on property that was once part of the Underground Railroad. Tippi Coddlesworth, an old friend - and sometimes rival - from Tess's college days may know more about the tag than she lets on.

Dina Demille runs a quaint Victorian Bed and Breakfast in a small Texas town... but her broom is a deadly weapon; her Inn thinks for itself, and is a lodging for otherworldly visitors. The only permanent guest is a retired Galactic aristocrat who can't leave the grounds because she's responsible for the deaths of millions and someone might shoot her on sight. Now something with wicked claws and deepwater teeth has begun to hunt at night. To keep her neighbors and guests safe, Dina has to juggle dealing with annoyingly attractive, ex-military, new neighbor, Sean Evans-- an alpha-strain werewolf -- and the equally arresting cosmic vampire soldier, Arland.

Subterranean Press is pleased to present, from NYT #1 bestselling author Ilona Andrews, an omnibus of the first three novels in the Innkeeper series. Our edition will be huge (over 760 pages), with an original full-color wraparound dust jacket, as well as full-color and black-and-white interior illustrations by Doris Mantair.

"A gritty, steamy series opener full of dark twists and hot trysts." – Grace Burrowes, New York Times bestselling author "An immersive and suspenseful Regency romance" – Publishers Weekly *One of the most requested romance books on NetGalley* In the twilight of a November evening, Sir Henry March, a man of wealth and charm — and a secret agent for the Crown — comes across a badly beaten Eliza Broad, desperate to escape her cruel stepfather. Knowing she has nowhere to go, Sir Henry takes her to his home to recover, and introduces her to a world of culture, art, and literature she never knew existed. But Eliza's brutal world follows her to London, where elite aristocratic salons coexist with the back alleys of the criminal underworld. As romance blossoms between them, Eliza unearths an old secret that leads them into the dark, sadistic world of sex trafficking, and allows Henry to finally identify a traitor responsible for selling military secrets and causing the death of thousands. A natural at the spy game, Eliza proves herself a worthy partner in the fight for truth and justice. But with time running out, and the fate of one girl hanging in the balance, Henry and Eliza must find a way to outwit a nasty pimp and eliminate a dangerous enemy agent. Look for the second book in the The Gentleman Spy Mysteries series, The Gentleman's Daughter.

An epic fantasy series—now available as one volume—that follows three women of legendary skill on a quest to save the world’s most powerful wizard and the innkeeper’s assistant whose heartbreak will bear witness from the author of the bestselling The Last Unicorn. On a night like any other, three mysterious women arrive to an inn separately, one with a fox that is more than it seems. Karsh, the innkeeper, has no choice but to let the tangled drama unfold beneath his roof. His stable boy, Rosseth, is so mesmerized by the three cloaked women, a warrior nun, a fabled adventurer, and a girl who was saved from drowning, that he soon uncovers a deep secret that was better off remaining hidden. And then there is Tikat, overwhelmed by tragedy, who continues his journey to the inn, refusing to let death bring an end his love. Told in alternating points of view, fantasy master Peter S. Beagle has crafted an unforgettable novel of heartbreak and hope.

From the New York Times #1 bestselling author, Ilona Andrews, comes a new tale from the Innkeeper Chronicles “Ilona Andrews’s books are guaranteed good reads.”—Patricia Briggs, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Fire Touched Dina Demille may run the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, but she caters to a very particular kind of guest... the kind that no one on Earth is supposed to know about. Guests like a former intergalactic tyrant with an impressive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced-and-superhot werewolf; so don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage. But what passes for Dina’s normal life is about to be thrown into chaos. First, she must rescue her long-distant older sister, Maud, who’s been exiled with her family to a planet that functions as the most lawless penal colony since Botany Bay. Then she agrees to help a guest whose last chance at saving his civilization could bring death and disaster to all Dina holds dear. Now Gertrude Hunt is under siege by a clan of assassins. To keep her guests safe and to find her missing parents, Dina will risk everything, even if she has to pay the ultimate price. Though Sean may have something to say about that!