New audiobooks for December

Twelve years ago, eight friends ran an exclusive group at university: The Murder Masquerade Society. The mysteries they solved may have been grisly, but they were always fictional - until their final Christmas Masquerade, when one of the group disappeared, never to be seen again. Now, the remaining members of the group receive an invitation to a reunion masquerade, to be held in a beautiful and remote country house in Scotland. When they arrive they are each assigned a new identity themed around the Twelve Days of Christmas - they become Lady Partridge or Mr Gold; Lord Leapworth or Doctor Swan. The game begins, and it feels just like old times. Until the next morning, when Lady Partridge is found hanging from a pear tree.

Emerson Wilde has built the life of her dreams. Youngest Chamber of Commerce president in St. Cyprian history, successful indie bookstore owner, and lucky enough to have her best friends as found family? Done. But when Emerson is attacked by creatures that shouldn’t be real, and kills them with what can only be called magic, Emerson finds that the past decade of her life has been…a lie. St. Cyprian isn't your average Midwestern river town—it’s a haven for witches. When Emerson failed a power test years ago, she was stripped of her magical memories. Turns out, Emerson’s friends are all witches. And so is she.

1940s: Young and romantic, Veronica cannot help falling in love, even with unattainable men like handsome film star Jack Bannock. Her other passion is St Elfwy, the windswept jewel of an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire. It becomes her retreat, a refuge from war and a place to recover from lost love. But even peaceful St Elfwy cannot prevent tragedy and heartbreak.

Present Day: When Romy arrives on St Elfwy, now a bird sanctuary and retreat, she only has the enigmatic warden for company. As she devotes herself to understanding the lure of this beautiful, haunting place, she is drawn into the past and the tale of Veronica Mindenhall. The island hides stories of betrayal and loss, as well as redemption - but it is a perilous path to discover its secrets.

When a dispute over her parents’ will grows bitter, Bergljot is drawn back into the orbit of the family she fled twenty years before. Her mother and father have decided to leave two island summer houses to her sisters, disinheriting the two eldest siblings from the most meaningful part of the estate. To outsiders, it is a quarrel about property and favoritism. But Bergljot, who has borne a horrible secret since childhood, understands the gesture as something very different—a final attempt to suppress the truth and a cruel insult to the grievously injured.