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February 9, 2016

February 9, 2016
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Here you will find books releasing the weeks of February 8th and February 15th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar. This week, we are calling attention to the "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com and our latest Paperback Spotlight on Bookreporter.com.

We also continue to share details about Signature-Reads.com's "Winter Reading Essentials" Sweepstakes, which gives readers the opportunity to win five buzzworthy books and other fabulous prizes.

Know a friend or family member who you think may enjoy this newsletter? Then please forward it on to them!

Enter for a Chance to Win Your Own Cozy Winter Reading Essentials from Signature!
Signature, the latest news with a literary slant, wants you to bundle up and hunker down with your very own set of cozy reading essentials, including:

  • 5 buzzworthy books
  • A cotton herringbone blanket from Kaufmann Mercantile
  • A pair of Warby Parker glasses ($95)
  • A $25 Starbucks gift card
Enter for your chance to win today!
This Week's Bonus News: "What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?" Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com and Bookreporter.com's Latest Paperback Spotlight
"What's Your Book Group Reading This Month?": Win 12 Copies of ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes
Each month on ReadingGroupGuides.com, we ask book groups to share the titles they are reading that month and rate them. From all entries, three winners will be selected, and each will win 12 copies of that month’s prize book for their group. In anticipation of the movie adaptation --- which hits theaters in June --- February's prize book is ME BEFORE YOU, the heartbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller by Jojo Moyes. Louisa Clark takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. When she learns of his shocking plans to end his own life, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

-Click here to enter the contest by Wednesday, March 9th at noon ET.



Paperback Spotlight: BETTYVILLE: A Memoir, by George Hodgman
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself --- an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook --- in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. As these two unforgettable characters try to bring their different worlds together, Hodgman reveals the challenges of Betty’s life and his own struggle for self-respect, moving readers from their small town --- crumbling but still colorful --- to the star-studded corridors of Vanity Fair.

-Click here to read more in our Paperback Spotlight.
On Sale the Week of February 8th in Hardcover

February 8th

NELLY DEAN: A Return to Wuthering Heights
by Alison Case (Fiction)
Young Nelly Dean has been Hindley’s closest companion for as long as she can remember, living freely at the great house, Wuthering Heights. But when the benevolence of the master brings a wild child into the house, Nelly learns she must give herself over completely to the demands of the Earnshaw family. As death, illness and passion sweep through the house, Nelly suffers heartache and betrayals at the hands of those she cherishes most, tempting her to leave it all behind. But when a new heir is born, a reign of violence begins that will test even Nelly’s formidable spirit as she finds out what it is to know true sacrifice.
Pegasus * 9781605989617

PIECE OF MIND by Michelle Adelman (Fiction)
At 27, Lucy knows everything about coffee, comic books and Gus (the polar bear at the Central Park Zoo), and she possesses a rare gift for drawing. But since she suffered a traumatic brain injury at the age of three, she has had trouble relating to most people. When unexpected circumstances force her out of the comfortable and protective Jewish home where she was raised and into a cramped studio apartment in New York City with her college-age younger brother, she must adapt to an entirely different life --- one with no safety net.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393245707


February 9th

ARCADIA
by Iain Pears (Supernatural Thriller/Fantasy)
In 1960s Oxford, Professor Henry Lytten is attempting to write a fantasy novel that forgoes the magic of his predecessors, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. He finds an unlikely confidante in his quick-witted, inquisitive young neighbor, Rosie. One day, while chasing Lytten’s cat, Rosie encounters a doorway in his cellar. She steps through and finds herself in an idyllic, pastoral land where Storytellers are revered above all others. There she meets a young man who is about to embark on a quest of his own --- and may be the one chance Rosie has of returning home. These breathtaking adventures ultimately intertwine with the story of an eccentric psychomathematician whose breakthrough discovery will affect all of these different lives and worlds.
Knopf * 9781101946824

THE ARRANGEMENT by Ashley Warlick (Historical Fiction)
Los Angeles, 1934. Mary Frances is young, restlessly married, and returning from her first sojourn in France. She is hungry, and not just for food: she wants Tim, her husband Al’s charming friend, who encourages her writing and seems to understand her better than anyone. After a night’s transgression, it’s only a matter of time before Mary Frances claims what she truly desires, plunging all three of them into a tangled triangle of affection that will have far-reaching effects on their families, their careers and their lives.
Viking * 9780525429661

THE BATTLE FOR ROOM 314: My Year of Hope and Despair in a New York City High School by Ed Boland (Memoir/Education)
In a fit of idealism, Ed Boland left a 20-year career as a non-profit executive to teach in a tough New York City public high school. But his hopes quickly collided headlong with the appalling reality of his students' lives and a hobbled education system unable to help them. In the end, Boland isn't hoisted on his students' shoulders and no one passes AP anything. This is no urban fairy tale of at-risk kids saved by a Hollywood hero, but a searing indictment of schools that claim to be progressive but still fail their students.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455560615

BLACK RABBIT HALL by Eve Chase (Fiction)
Amber Alton knows that the hours pass differently at Black Rabbit Hall, her London family’s country estate, where no two clocks read the same. More than three decades later, Lorna is determined to be married within the grand, ivy-covered walls of Pencraw Hall, known as Black Rabbit Hall among the locals. But as she’s drawn deeper into the overgrown grounds, half-buried memories of her mother begin to surface. Lorna soon finds herself ensnared within the manor’s labyrinthine history, overcome with an insatiable need for answers about her own past and that of the once-happy family whose memory still haunts the estate.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399174124

BREAKING WILD by Diane Les Becquets (Mystery/Adventure)
It is the last weekend of the season for Amy Raye Latour to get away. But her venture into a remote area presents a different set of dangers than she has planned for, and she finds herself on the verge of the precarious edge that she’s flirted with her entire life. When Amy Raye doesn’t return to camp, ranger Pru Hathaway responds to the missing person’s call. Even after an unexpected snowfall turns the operation into a search and recovery, Pru’s discoveries lead her to suspect that Amy Raye is still alive. Her search becomes an obsession for a woman whose life is just as mysterious as the clues she has left behind.
Berkley * 9780425283783

FIND HER by Lisa Gardner (Thriller)
Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora Dane was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, she learned just how much one person can endure. Miraculously alive after her ordeal, she has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life. When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime --- a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him --- she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante?
Dutton * 9780525954576

THE FIRST CONGRESS: How James Madison, George Washington, and a Group of Extraordinary Men Invented the Government by Fergus M. Bordewich (History/Politics)
The First Congress was the most important in US history, says prize-winning author and historian Fergus Bordewich, because it established how our government would actually function. Had it failed, it’s possible that the United States as we know it would not exist today. The Constitution was a broad set of principles. It was left to the members of the First Congress and President George Washington to create the machinery that would make the government work. Fortunately, James Madison, John Adams, Alexander Hamilton and others less well known today rose to the occasion.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451691931

GEORGIA: A Novel of Georgia O'Keeffe by Dawn Tripp (Historical Fiction)
In 1916, Georgia O’Keeffe is a young, unknown art teacher when she travels to New York to meet Alfred Stieglitz, the famed photographer and art dealer, who has discovered O’Keeffe’s work and exhibits it in his gallery. O’Keeffe is quickly drawn into Stieglitz’s sophisticated world, becoming his mistress, protégé and muse, as their attraction deepens into an intense and tempestuous relationship and his photographs of her create a sensation. Yet as her own creative force develops, Georgia begins to push back against what critics and others are saying about her and her art. And soon she must make difficult choices to live a life she believes in.
Random House * 9781400069538

THE GIRL BEHIND THE DOOR: A Father’s Quest to Understand His Daughter’s Suicide by John Brooks (Memoir)
Early one Tuesday morning, John Brooks went to his teenage daughter’s room to make sure she was getting up for school and found her room dark and “neater than usual.” Casey was gone, but he found a note: The car is parked at the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m sorry. Several hours later, a security video was found that showed Casey stepping off the bridge. Brooks spent months after Casey’s suicide trying to understand what led his 17-year-old daughter to take her life. In THE GIRL BEHIND THE DOOR, Brooks shares what he learned and asks, “What did everyone miss? What could have been done differently?”
Scribner * 9781501128349

HOSTILE WITNESS: A Kate Ford Mystery by Leigh Adams (Mystery)
When single mom and computer security specialist Kate Ford is suddenly and mysteriously put on administrative leave, she finds herself drawn into the drama of a lurid kidnapping case with ties to her company. Kate has enough on her plate dealing with a condition that leaves her extra-sensitive to stimuli, but the case is too juicy to leave untouched. However, what begins as simple curiosity quickly leads her to the country’s darkest corners of power and leaves her and her family the target of a ruthless network of war profiteers, who will stop at nothing to protect their billion-dollar interests.
Crooked Lane Books * 9781629531991

ICE CHEST by J. D. Rhoades (Comic Crime Fiction)
Clarissa Cartwright is about to take the stage wearing a fortune in jewels. In the wings, a motley crew of bumbling crooks is scheming to make off with the biggest heist of their careers: five and a half million dollars in precious stones. When the robbers find themselves pursued by both the intimidating ex-cop tasked with protecting the world’s most valuable piece of lingerie and Clarissa's insanely jealous and mobbed-up ex-boyfriend, things get ugly. Especially when Clarissa decides she's had quite enough of being an object and resolves to turn the tables on both the crooks and the fashion world.
Polis Books * 9781940610801

IN EUROPE'S SHADOW: Two Cold Wars and a Thirty-Year Journey Through Romania and Beyond by Robert D. Kaplan (History)
Robert Kaplan first visited Romania in the 1970s, when he was a young journalist and the country was a bleak Communist backwater. It was one of the darkest corners of Europe, but few Westerners were paying attention. What ensued was a lifelong obsession with a critical, often overlooked country --- a country that, today, is key to understanding the current threat that Russia poses to Europe. Through the lens of one country, Kaplan examines larger questions of geography, imperialism, the role of fate in international relations, the Cold War, the Holocaust and more.
Random House * 9780812996814

IN OTHER WORDS written by Jhumpa Lahiri, translated by Ann Goldstein (Memoir)
Jhumpa Lahiri’s love for the Italian language first captivated and capsized her during a trip to Florence after college. Although Lahiri studied Italian for many years afterward, true mastery always eluded her. Seeking full immersion, she decides to move to Rome with her family, for “a trial by fire, a sort of baptism” into a new language and world. There, she begins to read, and to write --- initially in her journal --- solely in Italian. Presented in a dual-language format, IN OTHER WORDS investigates the process of learning to express oneself in another language, and describes the journey of a writer seeking a new voice.
Knopf * 9781101875551

INCARCERATION NATIONS: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World by Baz Dreisinger (Social Science/Penology)
Beginning in Africa and ending in Europe, INCARCERATION NATIONS is a first-person odyssey through the prison systems of the world. Professor, journalist and founder of the Prison-to-College-Pipeline, Baz Dreisinger looks into the human stories of incarcerated men and women and those who imprison them, creating a jarring, poignant view of a world to which most are denied access, and a rethinking of one of America’s most far-reaching global exports: the modern prison complex.
Other Press * 9781590517277

INTO OBLIVION: An Icelandic Thriller by Arnaldur Indridason (Thriller)
A woman swims in a remote, milky-blue lagoon. Steam rises from the water, and as it clears, a body is revealed in the ghostly light. Miles away, a vast aircraft hangar rises behind the perimeter fence of the US military base. A sickening thud is heard as a man's body falls from a high platform. Many years before, a schoolgirl went missing. The world has forgotten her, but Erlendur has not. Erlendur is a newly promoted detective with a battered body, a rouge CIA operative, and America's troublesome presence in Iceland to contend with.
Minotaur Books * 9781250077349

LIAR: A Memoir by Rob Roberge (Memoir)
When Rob Roberge learns that he's likely to have developed a progressive memory-eroding disease from years of hard living and frequent concussions, he’s terrified by the prospect of becoming a walking shadow. In a desperate attempt to preserve his identity, he sets out to (somewhat faithfully) record the most formative moments of his life. But the process of trying to remember his past only exposes just how fragile the stories that lay at the heart of our self-conception really are. As LIAR twists and turns through Roberge’s life, it turns the familiar story of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll on its head.
Crown * 9780553448061

THE LION’S MOUTH: A Hanne Wilhelmsen Novel by Anne Holt (Mystery)
Less than six months after taking office, the Norwegian Prime Minister is found dead. Was it a politically motivated assassination or personal revenge? Hanne Wilhelmsen, Chief Inspector of the Norwegian Police, is on leave in California, but when this death shakes the country to its core, she knows she can’t remain on the sidelines of such a crucial investigation. When secrets begin to unravel from the Prime Minister’s past, Hanne and her partner, Billy T., must piece together the crime before a private tragedy becomes a public outcry.
Scribner * 9781501123238

MY FATHER, THE PORNOGRAPHER: A Memoir by Chris Offutt (Memoir)
When Andrew Offutt died, his son, Chris, inherited a desk, a rifle and 1,800 pounds of porn. Andrew had been considered the “king of 20th century smut,” a career that began as a strategy to pay for his son’s orthodontic needs and soon took on a life of its own, peaking during the ’70s when the commercial popularity of the erotic novel was at its height. Over one long summer in his hometown, helping his mother move out of the house, Chris began to examine his deceased father’s possessions and realized he finally had an opportunity to come to grips with the mercurial man he always feared but never understood.
Atria * 9781501112461

PACIFIC BURN: A Jim Brodie Thriller by Barry Lancet (Thriller)
In recognition for his role in solving the Japantown murders in San Francisco, antiques dealer and sometime-PI Jim Brodie has just been brought on as the liaison for the mayor’s new Pacific Rim Friendship Program. He recruits his friend, the renowned Japanese artist Ken Nobuki, who ends up being shot by a sniper and lies comatose in the hospital. Brodie soon realizes that, with the suspicious and untimely death of Nobuki’s oldest son a week earlier in Napa Valley, someone may be targeting his friend’s family --- and killing them off one by one.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476794884

THE RAMBLERS by Aidan Donnelley Rowley (Fiction)
Clio Marsh, whose bird-watching walks through Central Park are mentioned in New York Magazine, is taking her first tentative steps towards a relationship while also looking back to the secrets of her broken childhood. Her best friend, Smith Anderson, the seemingly perfect daughter of one of New York’s wealthiest families, organizes the lives of others as her own has fallen apart. And Tate Pennington has returned to the city, heartbroken but determined to move ahead with his artistic dreams. Rambling through the emotional chaos of their lives, this trio learns to let go of the past and make room for the future.
William Morrow * 9780062413314

SHUTTER MAN by Richard Montanari (Mystery)
Killing is in Billy's bloodline, as a member of Philadelphia's dangerous Farren crime family. Plagued with a rare disease that prevents him from recognizing faces, Billy carries a photograph in his pocket that is his only way of identifying his next target. Killing is in Billy's bloodline, as a member of Philadelphia's dangerous Farren crime family. While Billy stalks Philadelphia, Detective Kevin Byrne is assigned to a series of bizarre home-invasion cases and is joined by his former partner-turned-assistant district attorney, Jessica Balzano. Their investigations circle Byrne's childhood neighborhood of Devil's Pocket, and they find themselves revisiting a crime from Byrne's past that has haunted him for decades.
Mulholland Books * 9780316244770

THE VATICAN PRINCESS: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C. W. Gortner (Historical Fiction)
Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized 15th-century Renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? THE VATICAN PRINCESS is the first novel to describe Lucrezia’s coming-of-age in her own voice.
Ballantine Books * 9780345533975

VIOLENT CRIMES: An Amanda Jaffe Novel by Phillip Margolin (Thriller)
Dale Masterson has become wealthy and successful representing the interests of oil and coal companies. But when his colleague is found dead, his business practices are put under surveillance and a lower-level employee stands accused. The controversy surrounding the firm is magnified when Dale is found beaten to death in his mansion. His son, Brandon, confesses to killing him on behalf of all the people whose lives are being destroyed by his questionable clients. Veteran lawyer Amanda Jaffe is hired to represent Brandon, but what seems like an open-and-shut case quickly begins to unravel.
Harper * 9780062266552

WAYS TO DISAPPEAR
by Idra Novey (Fiction)
Deep in gambling debt, the celebrated Brazilian writer Beatriz Yagoda abruptly vanishes. In Pittsburgh, her American translator Emma hears the news and flies immediately to Brazil. There, in the sticky, sugary heat of Rio, Emma and her author's children conspire to solve the mystery of Yagoda's curious disappearance and staunch the colorful demands of her various outstanding affairs: the rapacious loan shark with a zeal for severing body parts, and the washed-up and disillusioned editor who launched Yagoda's career years earlier.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316298490

WEST OF EDEN: An American Place by Jean Stein (History)
Jean Stein transformed the art of oral history in her groundbreaking book EDIE: American Girl, an indelible portrait of Andy Warhol “superstar” Edie Sedgwick, which was edited with George Plimpton. Now, in WEST OF EDEN, she turns to Los Angeles, the city of her childhood. Stein vividly captures a mythic cast of characters: their ambitions and triumphs as well as their desolation and grief. These stories illuminate the bold aspirations of five larger-than-life individuals and their families.
Random House * 9780812998405

THE WOLVES: A John Wells Novel by Alex Berenson (Thriller)
John Wells has just barely managed to stop an operation designed to drive the United States and Iran into war, but the instigator himself disappeared behind an impenetrable war of security. Now it’s time for him to pay, and Wells has made it his personal mission. But the White House doesn’t want anybody stirring the pot; his old CIA bosses have their own agendas; and other countries are starting to sniff around, sensing something unusual. It is when Russia and China enter the mix, however, that the whole affair is set to combust. With alarming speed, Wells is once again on his own…and the wolves are closing in.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399176142

WRECK AND ORDER by Hannah Tennant-Moore (Fiction)
Elsie has a tumultuous relationship with an abusive boyfriend, a dead-end job at a newspaper, and a sharp intelligence that’s constantly at odds with her many bad decisions. When her initial attempts to improve her life go awry, Elsie decides that a dramatic change is the only solution. So she travels to Paris and Sri Lanka, hoping to accumulate experiences, create connections, and discover a new way to live. Along the way, she meets men and women who challenge and provoke her towards the change she genuinely hopes to find. But in the end, she must still come face-to-face with herself.
Hogarth * 9781101903261
On Sale the Week of February 8th in Paperback

February 8th

LINCOLN’S BODY: A Cultural History by Richard Wightman Fox (History)
The very roughness of Lincoln's appearance made him seem all the more common, one of us ---- as did his sense of humor about his own awkward physical nature. Nineteenth-century African Americans felt deep affection for their "liberator" as a "homely" man who did not hold himself apart. During Reconstruction, Southerners felt a nostalgia for the humility of Lincoln, whom they envisioned as a "conciliator." Later, teachers glorified Lincoln as a symbol of nationhood that would appeal to poor immigrants.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393352634


February 9th

17 CARNATIONS: The Royals, the Nazis, and the Biggest Cover-Up in History by Andrew Morton (History)
Andrew Morton tells the story of the feckless Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor; his American wife, Wallis Simpson; and the bizarre wartime Nazi plot to make him a puppet king after the invasion of Britain and the attempted cover-up by Churchill, General Eisenhower and King George VI of the duke's relations with Hitler. From the alleged affair between Simpson and the German foreign minister to the discovery of top secret correspondence about the man dubbed "the traitor king" and the Nazi high command, 17 CARNATIONS is a saga of intrigue, betrayal and deception.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455527106

AS CHIMNEY SWEEPERS COME TO DUST: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
Shortly after 12-year-old Flavia de Luce arrives at Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy boarding school, a charred and mummified body tumbles out of a bedroom chimney. Now, while attending classes, making friends (and enemies), and assessing the school’s stern headmistress and faculty (one of whom is an acquitted murderess), Flavia is on the hunt for the victim’s identity and time of death, as well as suspects, motives and means.
Bantam * 9780345539946

BEFORE HE FINDS HER by Michael Kardos (Thriller)
Everyone in the quiet Jersey Shore town of Silver Bay knows the story: on a Sunday evening in September 1991, Ramsey Miller threw a blowout block party, then murdered his beautiful wife and three-year-old daughter. But everyone is wrong. The daughter got away, has lived 15 years in the Witness Protection Program, and is coming back to reconcile her past. In the quest to find her father before he finds her, Melanie’s story becomes one about love, faith and fear --- and how the most important things can become terribly distorted when we cling to them too fiercely.
Mysterious Press * 9780802124708

A BLINK OF THE SCREEN: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy/Short Stories)
The first career-spanning collection of short fiction by Sir Terry Pratchett --- one of the most beloved and bestselling writers of our time --- A BLINK OF THE SCREEN charts the development of Pratchett’s creative vision throughout his prolific career, from his early writings in school to the dizzy mastery of the phenomenally successful Discworld series. Along the way, we are introduced to the first published pieces from Pratchett’s stint as a young journalist, the experimental stories that originated his later works, and the lyrics to the national anthem of Ankh-Morpork, among other treats.
Anchor * 9780804169219

CITY OF ROSE by Rob Hart
(Noir Mystery)
Paperback Original
Between his own violent tendencies, the shadow cast by his father's death, and a self-destructive revenge quest, Ash McKenna made a mess of his life in NYC. He is now in Portland, where he has taken a job as a bouncer in a vegan strip club. When one of the club's dancers asks Ash for help finding her daughter, he declines. But soon he is held at gunpoint by a man in a chicken mask and told to keep away from the girls. As Ash navigates an unfamiliar city, he finds himself embroiled in a labyrinthine plot involving a ruthless drug cartel and a scandal that could reach one of the most powerful men in Portland.
Polis Books * 9781940610511

THE DAMNED by Andrew Pyper (Supernatural Thriller)
Despite surviving a fire that claimed the life of his twin sister, Ashleigh, Danny Orchard has never been able to enjoy his second chance at life. Ash had been a budding psychopath who privately terrorized her family --- and death hasn’t changed her wicked ways. She has haunted her brother for 20 years, and now, just when he’s met the love of his life, she wants more than ever to punish him for being alive. So she sets her sights on Danny’s new wife and stepson.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476755120

GET IN TROUBLE: Stories by Kelly Link (Fiction/Short Stories)
Kelly Link’s story collection presents nine tales of the fantastic and the bizarre. The protagonists, most of them young women, include a teenager who hears voices in her head, an actress from a ghost-hunting reality show, a 15-year-old gamer who travels from Iowa to New York to meet an older man she met online, and a woman who departs from a bar in the company of a man who claims to be a wolfman.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812986495

THE INVENTION OF FIRE by Bruce Holsinger (Historical Thriller)
London, 1386: A mass murder has taken place within the city walls. Sixteen corpses have been dumped where they are sure to be found, bearing wounds like none seen before. John Gower, middling poet and expert trader in secrets, is summoned to investigate the killings even as the ruthless mayor of London seeks to thwart an open inquiry for reasons unknown. Gower learns that the men have fallen victim to handgonnes, new and terrifying weapons that threaten to change the future of war.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062356468

THE LIFE OF ELVES written by Muriel Barbery, translated by Alison Anderson
(Fiction)
Paperback Original
Maria lives in a remote village in Burgundy, where she learns that she has a gift for communicating with nature. Hundreds of miles away in Italy, Clara discovers that she possesses a stunning musical genius and is sent from the countryside to Rome to develop her preternatural abilities. THE LIVES OF THE ELVES tells the story of two children whose extraordinary talents will bring them into contact with magical worlds and malevolent forces. If, against all odds, they can be brought together, their meeting may shape the course of history.
Europa Editions * 9781609453152

MAKING NICE by Matt Sumell (Fiction)
Our hero Alby flails wildly against the world around him --- he punches his sister (she deserved it), "unprotectos" broads (they deserved it and liked it), gets drunk and picks fights (all deserved), defends defenseless creatures both large and small, and spews insults at children, slow drivers, old ladies, and every single surviving member of his family. In each of these stories, Alby distills the anguish, terror, humor and strange grace --- or lack of --- he experiences in the aftermath of his mother’s death.
Picador * 9781250081582

THE MAPMAKER’S CHILDREN by Sarah McCoy (Historical Fiction)
When Sarah Brown, daughter of abolitionist John Brown, realizes that her artistic talents may be able to help save the lives of slaves fleeing north, she becomes one of the Underground Railroad’s leading mapmakers, taking her cues from the slave code quilts and hiding her maps within her paintings. She boldly embraces this calling after being told the shocking news that she can’t bear children. But as the country steers toward bloody civil war, Sarah faces difficult sacrifices that could put all she loves in peril.
Broadway Books * 9780385348928

MORT(E) by Robert Repino (Science Fiction/Post-Apocalyptic Thriller)
Former housecat turned war hero, Mort(e) is famous for taking on the most dangerous missions and fighting the dreaded human bio-weapon EMSAH. But the true motivation behind his recklessness is his ongoing search for a pre-transformation friend --- a dog named Sheba. When he receives a mysterious message from the dwindling human resistance claiming Sheba is alive, he begins a journey that will take him from the remaining human strongholds to the heart of the Colony, where he will discover the source of EMSAH and the ultimate fate of all of earth's creatures.
Soho Press * 9781616956219

A MURDER OF MAGPIES by Judith Flanders (Mystery)
It’s just another day at the office for London book editor Samantha “Sam” Clair. Checking jacket copy for howlers, wondering how to break it to her star novelist that her latest effort is utterly unpublishable, lunch scheduled with gossipy author Kit Lowell, whose new book will dish the juicy dirt on a recent fashion industry scandal. Little does she know the trouble Kit’s book will cause before it even goes to print. Someone doesn't want Kit's manuscript published, and unless Sam can put the pieces together in time, they'll do anything to stop it.
Minotaur Books * 9781250080943

OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk (Fiction)
OUTLINE is a novel in 10 conversations that follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her students in storytelling exercises, meets other visiting writers for dinner and discourse, and goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her neighbor from the plane. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast --- a portrait of a woman learning to face a great loss.
Picador * 9781250081544

PRUDENCE by David Treuer (Fiction)
On a sweltering day in August 1942, Frankie Washburn returns to his family’s rustic Minnesota resort for one last visit before he joins the war as a bombardier. But before the homecoming can be celebrated, the search for a German soldier, escaped from the POW camp across the river, explodes in a shocking act of violence, with consequences that will reverberate years into the future for all of them and that will shape how each of them makes sense of their lives.
Riverhead Books * 9781594634079

THE REVOLVING DOOR OF LIFE: A 44 Scotland Street Novel by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Things are looking up for seven-year-old Bertie Pollock. The arrival of his spirited grandmother and the absence of his meddlesome mother bring unforeseen blessings: no psychotherapy, no Italian lessons and no yoga classes. Meanwhile, surprises await Scotland Street’s grown-ups. Matthew makes a discovery that could be a major windfall for his family, but also presents a worrisome dilemma. Pat learns a secret about her father’s fiancée that may shake up her family, unless she can convince the perpetually narcissistic Bruce to help her out. And the Duke of Johannesburg finds himself in sudden need of an explanation --- and an escape route --- when accosted by a determined guest at a soirée.
Anchor * 9781101971918

THE RUMOR by Elin Hilderbrand (Fiction)
Madeline King and Grace Pancik are best friends and the envy of Nantucket for their perfect marriages, their beautiful kids, and their Sunday night double dates with their devoted husbands. But this summer, something's changed, and if there's anything Nantucket likes better than cocktails on the beach at sunset, it's a good rumor. As the gossip escalates, and they face the possible loss of the happy lives they've worked so hard to create, Grace and Madeline try mightily to set the record straight --- but the truth might be even worse than rumor has it.
Back Bay Books * 9780316334518

SEASON OF FEAR by Brian Freeman (Psychological Thriller)
As a fierce tropical storm swirls toward the Florida coast, the state's powerful political circles are experiencing turbulence of their own. The leading candidate for governor, Diane Fairmont, has received a death threat that promises to repeat a massacre from 10 years before. Bad weather and bad blood await Detective Cab Bolton, who must withstand the malevolent cyclone in order to stop this murderous cycle.
Quercus * 9781623657185

A SMALL INDISCRETION by Jan Ellison (Fiction)
At 19, Annie Black trades a bleak future in her washed-out hometown for a London winter of drinking and abandon. Some two decades later, in San Francisco, she is a successful lighting designer married to a good man and the mother of three children. Then, one June morning, a photograph arrives in her mailbox, igniting an old longing and setting off a chain of events that threaten to overturn her family’s hard-won happiness.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812985429

SMALL MERCIES by Eddie Joyce (Fiction)
Ten years after the loss of Bobby --- the Amendola family’s youngest son --- everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighter’s unexpected death. Bobby’s mother Gail; his widow Tina; his older brothers Peter, the corporate lawyer, and Franky, the misfit; and his father Michael have all dealt with their grief in different ways. But as the family gathers together for Bobby Jr.’s birthday party, they each must find a way to accept a new man in Tina’s life while reconciling their feelings for their lost loved one.
Penguin Books * 9780143107873

THE STRANGER by Harlan Coben (Thriller)
The Stranger appears out of nowhere. His identity is unknown, and his motives are unclear. But his information is undeniable. He whispers a few words in your ear and disappears, leaving you picking up the pieces of your shattered world. Adam Price has a lot to lose: a comfortable marriage to a beautiful woman, two wonderful sons, and all the trappings of the American Dream. Then he runs into the Stranger. When he learns a devastating secret about his wife, he confronts her, and the mirage of perfection disappears as if it never existed at all.
Dutton * 9780451414137

WASHINGTON’S CIRCLE: The Creation of the President by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (History/Politics)
In 1789, as George Washington became the first president of the United States, the world was all but certain that the American experiment in liberty and representative government would founder. More than a few Americans feared that the world was right. In WASHINGTON’S CIRCLE, we see how Washington and his trusted advisers, close friends and devoted family defied the doomsayers to lay the foundation for an enduring constitutional republic.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812981599

WASHINGTON’S REVOLUTION: The Making of America's First Leader by Robert Middlekauff (History)
George Washington was famously unknowable, a man of deep passions hidden behind a facade of rigid self-control. Yet before he was a great general and president, Washington was a young man prone to peevishness and a volcanic temper. His greatness as a leader evolved over time, the product of experience and maturity but also a willed effort to restrain his wilder impulses. Focusing on Washington’s early years, Robert Middlekauff penetrates his mystique, revealing his all-too-human fears, values and passions.
Vintage * 9781101872390

WHAT THE WAVES KNOW by Tamara Valentine (Historical Fiction/Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Tillings Island witnessed the biggest event of Izabella Rae Haywood's life. For it was there, on Iz's sixth birthday, that her father left...and took her voice with him. Eight years later in the summer of 1974, Iz’s mother is through with social workers, psychiatrists and her daughter's silence. In one last attempt to return Iz’s voice, the motley pair board the ferry to Tillings in hopes that the journey will help Izabella heal herself by piecing together splintered memories of the day her words fled. But heartbreak is a difficult puzzle to solve, and everyone in Tillings seems to know something Iz does not.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062413857

WHISPERING SHADOWS by Jan-Philipp Sendker (Mystery/Thriller)
American expat Paul Leibovitz was once an ambitious advisor, dedicated father and loving husband. But after living for nearly 30 years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul’s marriage unravels in the fallout. Now Paul is living as a recluse on an outlying island of Hong Kong. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than 24 hours later, Elizabeth’s son is found dead, and Paul sets out to investigate the murder on his own.
Atria/37 Ink * 9781476793658

THE WHITES by Richard Price (Crime Fiction/Mystery)
When Sergeant Billy Graves is called to a 4:00 a.m. fatal slashing of a man in Penn Station, his investigation of the crime moves beyond the usual handoff. And when he discovers that the victim was once a suspect in the unsolved murder of a 12-year-old boy, the bad old days are back in Billy's life with a vengeance, tearing apart enduring friendships forged in the urban trenches and even threatening the safety of his family.
Picador * 9780312621308

THE WONDER GARDEN by Lauren Acampora (Fiction)
A man strikes an under-the-table deal with a surgeon to spend a few quiet seconds closer to his wife than he's ever been; a young soon-to-be mother looks on in paralyzing astonishment as her husband walks away from a 20-year career in advertising at the urging of his spirit animal; an elderly artist risks more than he knows when he's commissioned by his newly arrived neighbors to produce the work of a lifetime. In her debut collection, Lauren Acampora brings to the page the myriad lives of a suburban town and lays them bare.
Grove Press * 9780802124814
On Sale the Week of February 15th in Hardcover

February 15th

A MOTHER'S RECKONING: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold (Memoir)
On April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Over the course of minutes, they would kill 12 students and a teacher and wound 24 others before taking their own lives. For the last 16 years, Sue Klebold, Dylan’s mother, has lived with the indescribable grief and shame of that day. In A MOTHER’S RECKONING, she chronicles with unflinching honesty her journey as a mother trying to come to terms with the incomprehensible.
Crown * 9781101902752

THE STRUGGLE FOR SEA POWER: A Naval History of the American Revolution by Sam Willis (History)
The American Revolution involved a naval war of immense scope and variety, including no fewer than 22 navies fighting on five oceans --- to say nothing of rivers and lakes. In no other war were so many large-scale fleet battles fought, one of which was the most strategically significant naval battle in all of British, French and American history. In THE STRUGGLE FOR SEA POWER, Sam Willis traces every key military event in the path to American independence from a naval perspective.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393239928


February 16th

ALL THE WINTERS AFTER by Seré Prince Halverson (Fiction)
Alaska doesn't forgive mistakes. That's what Kachemak Winkel's mother used to tell him. A lot of mistakes were made that awful day 20 years ago, when she died in a plane crash with Kache's father and brother --- and Kache still feels responsible. He fled Alaska for good, but now his aunt Snag insists on his return. She admits she couldn't bring herself to check on his family's house in the woods --- not even once since he's been gone. Kache is sure the cabin has decayed into a pile of logs, but he finds smoke rising from the chimney and a mysterious Russian woman hiding from her own troubled past.
Sourcebooks Landmark * 9781492615354

BACK BLAST: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Court Gentry was the CIA’s best agent. Until the day the Agency turned against him and put out a kill on sight order. That’s when the enigmatic international assassin called the Gray Man was born --- and Court has been working for himself ever since. Now, Court is back in Washington, determined to find out what happened all those years ago that made the Agency turn against him. What he doesn’t realize is that the questions that arose from that mission are still reverberating in the U.S. intelligence community, and he’s stumbled onto a secret that powerful people want kept under wraps.
Berkley * 9780425282793

COMETH THE HOUR by Jeffrey Archer (Historical Fiction)
COMETH THE HOUR, the penultimate book in the Clifton Chronicles, opens with the reading of a suicide note, which has devastating consequences for Harry and Emma Clifton, Giles Barrington and Lady Virginia. Harry Clifton remains determined to get Anatoly Babakov released from a gulag in Siberia, following the international success of his acclaimed book, Uncle Joe. But then something unexpected happens that none of them could have anticipated.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250061621

A DOUBTER'S ALMANAC by Ethan Canin (Fiction)
Milo Andret is born with an unusual mind. A lonely child growing up in the woods of northern Michigan, he gives little thought to his own talent. But with his acceptance at U.C. Berkeley, he realizes the extent --- and the risks --- of his singular gifts. California in the ’70s is a seduction, opening Milo’s eyes to the allure of both ambition and indulgence. The research he begins there will make him a legend; the woman he meets there --- and the rival he meets alongside her --- will haunt him for the rest of his life. For Milo’s brilliance is entwined with a dark need that soon grows to threaten his work, his family, even his existence.
Random House * 9781400068265

THE FALL OF MOSCOW STATION by Mark Henshaw (Thriller/Adventure)
Decorated CIA analyst Mark Henshaw continues his Red Cell series with THE FALL OF MOSCOW STATION, which follows CIA analyst Jonathan Burke and agent Kyra Stryker as they try to save the CIA’s sources in Russia after a major intelligence breach leaves Moscow Station in ruins.
Touchstone * 9781501100314

FREE MEN by Katy Simpson Smith (Historical Fiction)
In 1788, three men converge in the southern woods of what is now Alabama. Cat, an emotionally scarred white man, is on the run after abandoning his home. Bob is a talkative black man fleeing slavery on a Pensacola sugar plantation, and Istillicha, edged out of his Creek town’s leadership, is bound by honor to seek retribution. The makeshift trio commits a shocking murder that soon has the forces of the law bearing down upon them. A probing French tracker named Le Clerc must decide which has a greater claim: swift justice, or his own curiosity about how three such disparate, desperate men could act in unison.
Harper * 9780062407597

THE GIRL IN THE RED COAT by Kate Hamer (Psychological Thriller)
Newly single mom Beth worries that her eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, who has a tendency to wander off, will one day go missing. And then it happens: The two get separated at a local outdoor festival, and Carmel vanishes. Beth sets herself on the grim and lonely mission to find her daughter. Carmel, meanwhile, is on a strange and harrowing journey of her own --- to a totally unexpected place that requires her to live by her wits, while trying desperately to keep in her head a vision of her mother.
Melville House * 9781612195001

THE IMMORTALS by Jordanna Max Brodsky (Fantasy/Thriller)
The city sleeps. Selene DiSilva walks her dog along the banks of the Hudson. She is alone --- just the way she likes it. She doesn't believe in friends, and she doesn't speak to her family. Most of them are simply too dangerous. In the predawn calm, Selene finds the body of a young woman washed ashore, gruesomely mutilated and wreathed in laurel. Her ancient rage returns. And so does the memory of a promise she made long ago --- when her name was Artemis.
Orbit * 9780316347181

INTERIOR DARKNESS: Selected Stories by Peter Straub (Literary Horror/Short Stories)
"Mr. Clubb and Mr. Cuff" is a darkly comic masterpiece in which a stern estate lawyer known as the Deacon hires a pair of "Private Detectives Extraordinaire" to investigate and seek revenge on his unfaithful wife. In "The Ballad of Ballard and Sandrine," a man and his much younger lover explore their decadent and increasingly sinister fantasies on a luxurious yacht in the remotest stretch of the Amazon River. "Blue Rose" finds violence and power in the hands of the most innocent among us, leading to a conclusion that is fully surprising and devastating. The stories assembled here represent Peter Straub’s astonishing range and his ability to terrify, transport and hold a reader hostage.
Doubleday * 9780385541053

LEONARD: My Fifty-Year Friendship with a Remarkable Man by William Shatner, with David Fisher (Biography)
Thanks to the “Star Trek” TV and movie franchise, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner grew to know each other more than most friends could ever imagine. Over the course of half a century, they saw each other through personal and professional highs and lows. In LEONARD, Shatner tells the story of a man who was his friend for five decades, recounting anecdotes and untold stories of their lives on and off set, as well as gathering stories from others who knew Nimoy well, to present a full picture of a rich life.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250083319

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY by Matt Ruff (Historical Fantasy)
When his father goes missing, Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to find him. On his journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite --- heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus’ ancestors --- he encounters both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits. At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son, Caleb --- which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his --- and the whole Turner clan’s --- destruction.
Harper * 9780062292063

MASTER OF CEREMONIES: A Memoir by Joel Grey (Memoir)
MASTER OF CEREMONIES is a memoir of a life lived in and out of the limelight, but it is also the story of the man behind the stage makeup. Coming of age in a time when being yourself tended to be not only difficult but also dangerous, Joel Grey has to act both on and off the stage. Romances with to-die-for Vegas Showgirls are balanced with late night liaisons with like-minded guys, until finally Joel falls in love and marries a talented and beautiful woman. But 24 years later when the marriage dissolves, Joel once again has to find his place in a world that has radically changed.
Flatiron Books * 9781250057235

MIDNIGHT SUN by Jo Nesbø (Thriller)
He calls himself Ulf, and the only thing he’s looking for is a place where he won’t be found by Oslo’s most notorious drug lord: the Fisherman. He was once the Fisherman’s fixer, but after betraying him, Ulf is now the one his former boss needs fixed --- which may not be a problem for a man whose criminal reach is boundless. The agonizing wait for the inevitable moment when the Fisherman’s henchmen will show forces him to question if redemption is at all possible or if, as he’s always believed, “hope is a real bastard.”
Knopf * 9780385354202

NO SHRED OF EVIDENCE: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
On the north coast of Cornwall, an apparent act of mercy is repaid by an arrest for murder. Four young women have been accused of the crime. A shocked father calls in a favor at the Home Office. Scotland Yard is asked to review the case. However, Inspector Ian Rutledge is not the first Inspector to reach the village. Following in the shoes of a dead man, he is told the case is all but closed. Even as it takes an unexpected personal turn, Rutledge will require all his skill to deal with the incensed families of the accused, the grieving parents of the victim, and local police eager to see these four women sent to the infamous Bodmin Gaol.
William Morrow * 9780062386182

THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE by Joshilyn Jackson (Fiction)
A fiercely independent divorce lawyer learns the power of family and connection when she receives a cryptic message from her estranged mother in this latest novel from Joshilyn Jackson, the nationally bestselling author of SOMEONE ELSE’S LOVE STORY and GODS IN ALABAMA. THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYONE is an emotionally resonant tale about the endurance of love and the power of stories to shape and transform our lives.
William Morrow * 9780062105684

PERFECT DAYS by Raphael Montes (Psychological Thriller)
Teo Avelar is a loner who only feels honest human emotion in the presence of his medical school cadaver --- that is, until he meets Clarice. She's almost his exact opposite. An aspiring screenwriter, Clarice is working on a screenplay called Perfect Days about three friends who go on a road trip across Brazil in search of romance. An obsessed Teo begins to stalk Clarice and ultimately kidnaps her, at which point they embark upon their very own twisted odyssey across Brazil, tracing the same route outlined in her screenplay.
Penguin Press * 9781594206405

THE QUALITY OF SILENCE by Rosamund Lupton (Psychological Thriller)
THE QUALITY OF SILENCE is the story of Yasmin, a beautiful astrophysicist, and her precocious deaf daughter, Ruby, who arrive in a remote part of Alaska to be told that Ruby's father, Matt, has been the victim of a catastrophic accident. Unable to accept his death as truth, Yasmin and Ruby set out into the hostile winter of the Alaskan tundra in search of answers. But as a storm closes in, Yasmin realizes that a very human danger may be keeping pace with them. And with no one else on the road to help, they must keep moving, alone and terrified, through an endless Alaskan night.
Crown * 9781101903674

TENDER by Belinda McKeon (Psychological Thriller)
When they meet in Dublin in the late ’90s, Catherine and James become close friends. She’s a sheltered college student, while he’s an adventurous, charismatic young artist. In a city brimming with possibilities, he spurs her to take life on with gusto. But as Catherine opens herself to new experiences, James' life becomes a prison, walled off by a truth he feels unable to share. When crisis hits, Catherine finds herself at the mercy of uncontrollable feelings, leading her to jeopardize everything.
Lee Boudreaux Books * 9780316344326

WHY WE CAME TO THE CITY by Kristopher Jansma (Fiction)
Five years after their college graduation, five devoted friends remain as inseparable as ever. Amid cheerful revelry and free-flowing champagne at a posh holiday party, they toast themselves and the new year ahead --- a year that holds many surprises in store. They must navigate ever-shifting relationships with New York City and with one another, determined to push onward in pursuit of their precarious dreams. And when a devastating blow brings their momentum to a halt, the group is forced to reexamine their aspirations and chart new paths through unexpected losses.
Viking * 9780525426608

THE WIDOW by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller)
There's a lot Jean hasn't said over the years about the crime her husband was suspected of committing. She was too busy being the perfect wife, standing by her man while living with the accusing glares and the anonymous harassment. Now her husband is dead, and there's no reason to stay quiet. There are people who want to hear her story. They want to know what it was like living with that man. But the one lesson Jean has learned in the last few years is that she can make people believe anything.
NAL * 9781101990261
On Sale the Week of February 15th in Paperback

February 16th

ALERT: A Detective Michael Bennett Thriller by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge (Thriller)
After two inexplicable high-tech attacks, New York City is on edge. Detective Michael Bennett, along with his old pal, the FBI's Emily Parker, have to catch the shadowy criminals who claim responsibility. In the wake of a shocking assassination, Bennett begins to suspect that these mysterious events are just the prelude to the biggest threat of all. Soon he's racing against the clock to save his beloved city before everyone's worst nightmare becomes a reality.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455585106

THE BEAUTIFUL POSSIBLE by Amy Gottlieb (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In 1946, Walter Westhaus, a German Jew, meets Sol Kerem, a promising rabbinical student. A brilliant nonbeliever, Walter is the perfect foil for Sol’s spiritual questions --- and their extraordinary connection is too wonderful not to share with Sol’s free-spirited fiancée, Rosalie. Soon Walter and Rosalie are exchanging notes, sketches and secrets, and begin a transcendent love affair. Months later they shatter their impossible bond, retreating to opposite sides of the country. A chance meeting years later reconnects Walter, Sol and Rosalie --- catching three hearts and minds in a complex web of desire, heartbreak and redemption.
Harper Perennial * 9780062383365

EPITAPH: A Novel of the O.K. Corral by Mary Doria Russell (Historical Fiction)
On October 26, 1881, Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers faced off against the Clantons and the McLaurys in Tombstone, Arizona. It should have been a simple misdemeanor arrest. Thirty seconds and 30 bullets later, three officers were wounded and three citizens lay dead in the dirt. Wyatt Earp was the last man standing, the only one unscathed. The lies began before the smoke cleared, but the gunfight at the O.K. Corral would soon become central to American beliefs about the Old West.
Ecco * 9780062198778

FLOODGATE by Johnny Shaw (Thriller)
Paperback Original
After discovering explosive information that reveals corruption within the highest levels of the police department, Andy Destra is kicked off the force, framed and disgraced, left to wage a lonely one-man crusade against conspiracies he can’t prove. Andy’s investigation plunges him into a blackly comic maelstrom of one-armed gang members, slick pickpockets, criminal syndicates, hired mercenaries, escaped convicts, sewer dwellers and one sinister ice cream truck. At the same time, he must contend with a mystery closer to home: the true identity of his parents.
Thomas & Mercer * 9781503950351

THE FLYING CIRCUS by Susan Crandall (Historical Fiction)
Three very different people find themselves bound together by need and torn apart by blind obsessions and conflicting goals: Henry “Schuler” Jefferson, son of German immigrants from Midwestern farm country; Cora Rose Haviland, a young woman of privilege whose family has lost their fortune; and Charles “Gil” Gilchrist, an emotionally damaged WWI veteran pilot. Each one holds a secret that, if exposed, would destroy their friendship. But their journey of adventure and self-discovery has a price --- and one of them won’t be able to survive it.
Gallery Books * 9781476772165

HEAD OF STATE by Andrew Marr (Fiction)
It’s September 2017, and the United Kingdom is on the verge of a crucial referendum that will determine if the country remains a member of the European Union or goes its own way. Yet, unknown to all but a handful of members of the Prime Minister’s innermost circle, there is a shocking secret at the very heart of government that could change everything in an instant. A group of ruthlessly determined individuals will stop at nothing --- including murder --- to prevent that from happening.
The Overlook Press * 9781468312577

IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE by Shari Goldhagen (Fiction)
In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam, it's a last-ditch effort to connect with a girl before he leaves town for good. Sharon skips school so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends. And Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way. Over the next two decades, these characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250087195

KILLERS OF THE KING: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I by Charles Spencer (History)
On August 18, 1648, the royalist garrison holding Colchester Castle surrendered and Oliver Cromwell’s army firmly ended the rule of Charles I of England. The rebels executed four of the senior officers captured at the castle. Yet still, the king refused to accept he had lost the war. As France and other allies mobilized in support of Charles, a tribunal was hastily gathered and a death sentence was passed. On January 30, 1649, the King of England was executed. This is the account of the 59 regicides, the men who signed Charles I’s death warrant.
Bloomsbury Press * 9781620409145

THE KING OF FEAR: A Garrett Reilly Thriller by Drew Chapman (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Garrett Reilly recognizes a string of events that could lead to economic Armageddon in the US: banks closing, grocery shelves lying empty, the nation’s currency rendered worthless. He and the Ascendant team reunite to face enemies on all sides: a wounded Russia bent on keeping its crumbling empire in place, a cyber genius fixated on Garrett, a femme fatale willing to do anything to establish a new world order. In the midst of this, Garrett must also confront his own demons.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476725918

KNOW YOUR BEHOLDER by Adam Rapp (Fiction/Humor)
As winter deepens in snowbound Pollard, Illinois, thirty-something Francis Falbo is holed up in his attic apartment, recovering from a series of traumas. Other than the agoraphobia that continues to hold him hostage, all he has left is his childhood home, the remaining rooms of which he rents to a cast of eccentric tenants. The tight-knit community has already survived a blizzard, but there is more danger in store for the citizens of Pollard before summer arrives.
Back Bay Books * 9780316368926

MADISON’S GIFT: Five Partnerships That Built America by David O. Stewart (History)
Historian David O. Stewart restores James Madison, sometimes overshadowed by his fellow Founders, to his proper place as the most significant framer of the new nation. Short, plain, balding, neither soldier nor orator, low on charisma and high on intelligence, Madison cared more about achieving results than taking the credit. To reach his lifelong goal of a self-governing constitutional republic, he blended his talents with those of key partners.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451688597

NIGHT NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT by Hallie Ephron (Mystery)
When Deirdre Unger arrived in Beverly Hills to help her bitter, disappointed father sell his dilapidated house, she discovers his lifeless body floating face down in the swimming pool. At first, she assumes his death was a tragic accident. But the longer she stays in town, the more she suspects that it is merely the third act in a story that has long been in the making. The sudden re-surfacing of Deirdre’s childhood best friend, Joelen Nichol, seems like more than a coincidence.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062117649

NO CURE FOR LOVE by Peter Robinson (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Sarah Broughton, the star of a hit cop show on TV, has put her dark past behind her…as well as her old name, Sally Bolton. When Sarah begins receiving letters mysteriously signed with the letter “M,” she thinks they’re from a harmless admirer…until her real name appears in the third letter. And then she finds that name inscribed in the sand near her home --- next to a body. The message is clear: Someone is watching Sarah’s every move. Someone so obsessed with her that he won’t stop at just one murder in order to prove his love.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062405104

RADIANT STATE by Peter Higgins (Historical Fantasy/Thriller)
The Vlast stands 200 feet tall, 4,000 tons of steel ready to be flung upwards on the fire of atom bombs. Ready to take the dream of President-Commander of the New Vlast General, Osip Rizhin, beyond the bounds of this world. But not everyone shares this vision. Vissarion Lom and Maroussia Shaumian have not reached the end of their story, and in Mirgorod a woman in a shabby dress carefully unwraps a sniper rifle. And, all the while, the Pollandore dreams its own dreams.
Orbit * 9780316219655

THE SWIMMER by Joakim Zander (Thriller)
Klara Walldéen, an EU Parliament aide in Brussels, has accidentally seen something she shouldn’t have: a laptop containing information so sensitive that someone will kill to keep hidden. Suddenly, she is thrown into a terrifying chase across Europe, with no idea who is hunting her or why. Meanwhile, in Virginia, an old spy hides from his past. He is the only man who can save Klara…and she is the only woman who can allow him to lay old ghosts to rest.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062337269

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