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Week of December 5, 2016

New in Paperback

Week of December 5, 2016

Paperback releases for the week of December 5th include FAMILY JEWELS, yet another thrilling installment in Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington series; THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS, Edan O'Brien's first novel in 10 years, about one woman's struggle to reclaim a life shattered by betrayal; THE ABSOLUTION, the mesmerizing finale to Jonathan Holt's Carnivia Trilogy, following THE ABOMINATION and THE ABDUCTION; and BROWSINGS by Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda, a collection of 50 of his witty and wide-ranging reflections on literary journalism, book collecting, and the writers he loves.

The Absolution by Jonathan Holt - Mystery/Thriller

December 6, 2016


On Venice’s popular Lido beach, a man is found lying on the shore, his throat slit and his tongue viciously torn out, and his face covered by an unusual antique mask. Superiors inside the Venice Carabinieri have finally given Captain Kat Tapo permission to run her first murder case. But when she learns that the mask is a Masonic “hoodwink” --- and that the circumstances of the man’s death are eerily similar to the Masonic punishment for betrayal --- she suspects that her appointment has darker implications.

Browsings: A Year of Reading, Collecting, and Living with Books by Michael Dirda - Literary Criticism/Essays

December 6, 2016


Michael Dirda's latest volume collects 50 of his witty and wide-ranging reflections on literary journalism, book collecting, and the writers he loves. Reaching from the classics to the post-moderns, his allusions dance from Samuel Johnson, Ralph Waldo Emerson and M. F. K. Fisher to Marilynne Robinson, Hunter S. Thompson and David Foster Wallace. Dirda's topics are equally diverse: literary pets, the lost art of cursive writing, novelists in old age, Oberlin College, a year in Marseille, writer's block and much more, not to overlook a few rants about Washington life and American culture.

Brutality by Ingrid Thoft - Mystery

December 6, 2016


When soccer mom Liz Barone is attacked in her kitchen and left with a life-threatening injury, Fina Ludlow is hired by Liz’s mother to identify her attacker. Twenty years earlier, Liz was a soccer star at New England University known for her physical toughness. She’s now convinced that her aggressive style of play --- and the university’s willingness to ignore head injuries in favor of wins --- has put her health and future in jeopardy. Was Liz attacked to stop her lawsuit, or were there other secrets in the seemingly innocent woman’s life?

The Chosen by Kristina Ohlsson - Mystery/Thriller

December 6, 2016


On a cold winter’s day, a pre-school teacher is shot to death in front of parents and children at the Jewish Congregation in Stockholm. Just a few hours later, two Jewish boys go missing on their way to tennis practice, and an unexpected blizzard destroys any trace of the perpetrator. As investigative analyst Fredrika Bergman and police superintendent Alex Recht struggle to pin down a lead, someone or something called the Paper Boy --- a mysterious old Israeli legend of a nighttime killer --- keeps popping up in the police investigation. But who was the Paper Boy really? And how could he have resurfaced in Stockholm?

Conspiracy of Silence: The Tox Files, Book 1 by Ronie Kendig - Thriller/Adventure

December 6, 2016


Four years after a tragic mission decimated his team, Cole "Tox" Russell has been disavowed by the United States. But when a dormant, centuries-old disease is unleashed, he is lured back into action. Tox and his former Special Forces team regroup to work with FBI deception expert Kasey Cortes and fiery archaeologist Tzivia Khalon to search the globe for answers --- and a cure. As the mission leads from one continent to another, it becomes clear they're not just fighting a plague but battling an ancient secret society whose true goals remain hidden. Tox and his team soon realize that their sole chance might be to reach back through centuries of silence to find the only answer that can save them all.

Family Jewels: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods - Thriller/Adventure

December 6, 2016


Stone Barrington’s newest client seems to be a magnet for trouble. A poised lady of considerable wealth, she’s looking for help discouraging the attentions of a tenacious gentleman. But no sooner does Stone fend off the party in question than his client becomes involved in two lethal crimes. With suspects aplenty, Stone must probe deep into his client’s life to find the truth, and he discovers that the heart of the mystery may be a famous missing piece of history, a stunningly beautiful vestige of a bygone era. It’s a piece with a long and storied past and untold value…the kind of relic someone might kill to obtain.

The Gardens of Consolation written by Parisa Reza, translated by Adriana Hunter - Fiction

December 6, 2016


In the early 1920s, in the remote village of Ghamsar, teenagers Talla and Sardar fall in love and marry. Sardar brings his young bride with him across the mountains to the suburbs of Tehran, where the couple settles down and builds a home. From the outskirts of the capital city, they will watch as the Qajar dynasty falls and Reza Khan rises to power as Reza Shah Pahlavi. Into this family of illiterate shepherds is born Bahram, a boy whose brilliance and intellectual promise are apparent from a very young age. Through his education, Bahram will become a fervent follower of reformer Mohammad Mosaddegh and will participate first-hand in his country's political and social upheavals.

The Knife Slipped: The Lost Cool & Lam Mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner - Hard-boiled Mystery

December 6, 2016


Lost for more than 75 years, THE KNIFE SLIPPED was meant to be the second book in the Cool & Lam series, but was shelved when Erle Stanley Gardner’s publisher objected to (among other things) Bertha Cool’s tendency to “talk tough, swear, smoke cigarettes, and try to gyp people.” But this tale of adultery and corruption, of double-crosses and triple identities --- however shocking for 1939 --- shines today as a glorious present from the past, a return to the heyday of private eyes and shady dames, of powerful criminals, crooked cops, blazing dialogue and delicious plot twists.

Like Family written by Paolo Giordano, translated by Anne Milano Appel - Fiction

December 1, 2015


When Signora A first enters the narrator’s home, his wife, Nora, is experiencing a difficult pregnancy. First as their maid and nanny, then their confidante, this older woman begins to help her employers negotiate married life, quickly becoming the glue in their small household. She is the steady, maternal influence for both husband and wife, and their son, Emanuele, whom she protects from his parents’ expectations and disappointments. But the family’s delicate fabric comes undone when Signora A is diagnosed with cancer.

The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien - Fiction

December 6, 2016


Vlad, a stranger from Eastern Europe masquerading as a healer, settles in a small Irish village where the locals fall under his spell. One woman, Fidelma McBride, becomes so enamored that she begs him for a child. All that world is shattered when Vlad is arrested, and his identity as a war criminal is revealed. A disgraced Fidelma flees to England and seeks work among the other migrants displaced by wars and persecution. But it is not until she confronts him --- her nemesis --- at the tribunal in The Hague that her physical and emotional journey reaches its breathtaking climax.

Opening Belle by Maureen Sherry -

December 6, 2016


In 2008, Isabelle appears to have it all: an Upper West Side apartment, three healthy children, a handsome husband and a high-powered job. But her reality is something else. Her work environment resembles a 1980s frat party, her husband feels that employment is beneath him, and the bulk of childcare and homecare still falls to Belle. As she deals with her former college fiancé, Henry, becoming her biggest client and a group of sexually harrassed women beginning to organize, Belle can sense the financial markets heading toward their soon-to-be historic crash and that something has to give.

The Other Widow by Susan Crawford - Psychological Thriller

December 6, 2016


It isn’t safe. That’s what Joe tells Dorrie when he ends their affair --- moments before their car skids off an icy road in a blinding snowstorm and hits a tree. Desperate to keep her life intact, Dorrie will do everything she can to protect herself. Joe’s death has left his wife in free fall as well. Trying to cope with grief is devastating enough without the constant fear that someone is watching you. Insurance investigator Maggie Devlin is suspicious of the latest claim that’s landed on her desk --- a man dying on an icy road shortly after buying a lucrative life insurance policy. As the fates of these three women become more tightly entwined, layers of lies and deception begin to peel away.

The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

December 6, 2016


Caleb Maddox is a San Francisco toxicologist studying the chemical effects of pain. He’s out drinking after a bad breakup when a hauntingly seductive woman sits down at his side. He talks to Emmeline over absinthe, but their encounter is fleeting. She brushes her lips on his ear and disappears. He must find her. As Caleb scours the city, he begins helping the city’s medical examiner with a serial-murder investigation. Soon the search for the killer entwines with Caleb’s hunt for Emmeline, and the closer he gets to each, the more dangerous his world becomes.

Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?: Stories by Kathleen Collins - Fiction/Short Stories

December 6, 2016


WHATEVER HAPPENED TO INTERRACIAL LOVE? is a never-before-published collection of stories from African-American artist and filmmaker Kathleen Collins, whose stories masterfully blend the quotidian and the profound in a personal, intimate way, exploring deep, far-reaching issues --- race, gender, family and sexuality --- that shape the ordinary moments in our lives. Her work seamlessly integrates the African-American experience in her characters’ lives, creating rich, devastatingly familiar, full-bodied men, women and children who transcend the symbolic, penetrating both the reader’s heart and mind.

Young Elizabeth: The Making of the Queen by Kate Williams - Biography

December 6, 2016


We can hardly imagine a Britain without Elizabeth II on the throne. It seems to be the job she was born for. And yet, for much of her early life, the young princess did not know the role that her future would hold. Kate Williams reveals how the 25-year-old young queen carved out a lasting role for herself amid the changes of the 20th century. Her monarchy would be a very different one to that of her parents and grandparents, and its continuing popularity in the 21st century owes much to the intelligence and elusive personality of this remarkable woman.