An introduction to the physical characteristics, behavior, and habitat of brown recluse spiders.

"Aaliya Sohbi lives alone in her Beirut apartment, surrounded by stockpiles of books. Godless, fatherless, childless, and divorced, Aaliya is her family's 'unnecessary appendage.' Every year, she translates a new favorite book into Arabic, then stows it away. The thirty-seven books that Aaliya has translated over her lifetime have never been read-- by anyone. After overhearing her neighbors, 'the three witches,' discussing her too-white hair, Aaliya...

Accused of ruining a champion dog's career after an unfortunate incident at a mall show, Luthor is sent to the pound, prompting a skeptical Griffin to hatch a daring plan involving a sinister saboteur, a reclusive trainer, and large supply of red dye.

In 1959, Haruko marries the Crown Prince of Japan, becoming the first commoner to enter the mysterious and reclusive world of Japanese royalty, confronting the cruelty and suspicions of the court, until, three decades later, she helps arrange the marriage of her son.

Ptolemy Grey is a 91-year-old man, suffering from dementia and living as a recluse in his Los Angeles apartment. Then Robyn Small, a 17-year-old family friend, appears and helps clean up his apartment and straighten out his life. A reinvigorated Ptolemy volunteers for an experimental medical program that restores his mind, and he uses his last days--shortened now by the medical experiment--to delve into the mystery of the recent drive-by shooting...

The Seaside Knitters for Sea Harbor, Massachusetts, band together to prove the innocence of one of their own, after Cass Halloran is accused of murdering a local fisherman.

A story of a 66 year old surgeon, who following an act of medical negligence has retreated to live as a recluse on an island in a Swedish archipelago. After 12 years of this, the intrusion of 4 females into his life in a short period of time force him to reassess his past, and consider the future.The descriptions of the harsh landscape echo the protaganist's inner state, but this is a meditation on aging, death, self-discovery, and the consequences...

Set in the beach community of a tiny Connecticut town, our heroine is a single mom who works for a famous--and famously reclusive--novelist. When she stumbles on a secret that the great man has kept hidden for years, she knows that there are plenty of women in town who would love to get their hands on it--including some who fancy the writer for themselves.

After retrieving fresh lobster nets from a local Laundromat, Cass Halloran rushes to attend a last-minute gathering with her knitting circle. But Cass cant stop worrying about the lonely boy seen hanging around the dryers, and the school uniform he left behind in a hurry. When the ladies return the lost clothing the next day, they find the child and his younger sister alone, seemingly abandoned by their mother . . . The knitters intend to facilitate...

Delivering books to the housebound residents of the Thumb Islands, just a short boat ride from the town of Briar Creek, library director Lindsey Norris has befriended two elderly brothers, Stewart and Peter Rosen. She enjoys visiting them in their treasure-filled, ramshackle Victorian on Star Island until she discovers that Peter has been killed and Stewart is missing. Now she's determined to solve a murder and find Stewart before he suffers his brother's...