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Editorial Content for Ragdoll

Book

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub and L. Dean Murphy

- Click here to read L. Dean Murphy's review.

 

Review #1 by Joe Hartlaub Read More

Teaser

William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under psychological evaluation, Fawkes returns to the force eager for a big case. When his former partner and friend, Detective Emily Baxter, calls him to a crime scene, he’s sure this is it: the body is made of the dismembered parts of six victims, sewn together like a puppet --- a corpse that becomes known as “The Ragdoll.” Fawkes is tasked with identifying the six victims, but that gets dicey when his reporter ex-wife anonymously receives photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names, and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them. The final name on the list is Fawkes.

Promo

William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under psychological evaluation, Fawkes returns to the force eager for a big case. When his former partner and friend, Detective Emily Baxter, calls him to a crime scene, he’s sure this is it: the body is made of the dismembered parts of six victims, sewn together like a puppet --- a corpse that becomes known as “The Ragdoll.” Fawkes is tasked with identifying the six victims, but that gets dicey when his reporter ex-wife anonymously receives photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names, and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them. The final name on the list is Fawkes.

About the Book

William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under psychological evaluation, Fawkes returns to the force eager for a big case. When his former partner and friend, Detective Emily Baxter, calls him to a crime scene, he’s sure this is it: the body is made of the dismembered parts of six victims, sewn together like a puppet --- a corpse that becomes known as “The Ragdoll.”

Fawkes is tasked with identifying the six victims, but that gets dicey when his reporter ex-wife anonymously receives photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names, and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them.

The final name on the list is Fawkes.

Baxter and her trainee partner, Alex Edmunds, hone in on figuring out what links the victims together before the killer strikes again. But for Fawkes, seeing his name on the list sparks a dark memory, and he fears that the catalyst for these killings has more to do with him --- and his past ---than anyone realizes.

With a breakneck pace, a twisty plot and a wicked sense of humor, RAGDOLL announces the arrival of the hottest new brand in crime.

Audiobook available, performed by Alex Wyndham

Editorial Content for City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Kate Ayers

Paris in the late 1600s was a far different place from the city of today. The streets looked nothing like they do now. When it rained, they were bogs of mud and blood, filth and garbage, with no sidewalks. Travel on foot was precarious at best, made even more dangerous by heavy traffic. Along with the muck underfoot, there lurked the constant danger from overhead of a tenant chucking his chamber pot contents out the window. Or, just as unpleasant, coming across a drunken townsman relieving himself against the side of a building. Parisians of the day were loud, brash and lawless. Read More

Teaser

Appointed to conquer the “crime capital of the world,” the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light. The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches and renegade priests. As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis’ mistresses be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.

Promo

Appointed to conquer the “crime capital of the world,” the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light. The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches and renegade priests. As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis’ mistresses be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.

About the Book

Appointed to conquer the “crime capital of the world,” the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.

The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic --- not even the Sun King. In a world where a royal glance can turn success into disgrace, the distance between the quietly back-stabbing world of the king’s court and the criminal underground proves disturbingly short. Nobles settle scores by employing witches to craft poisons and by hiring priests to perform dark rituals in Paris’s most illustrious churches and cathedrals.

As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis’s mistresses could be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.

From secret courtrooms to torture chambers, CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF POISON is a gripping true-crime tale of deception and murder. Based on thousands of pages of court transcripts and La Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, as well as on letters and diaries, Tucker’s riveting narrative makes the fascinating, real-life characters breathe on the page.

Audiobook available, read by Kate Reading

Editorial Content for The Drowning King: A Fall of Egypt Novel

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Carly Silver

In CLEOPATRA’S SHADOWS, author Emily Holleman recreated the fall of ancient Egypt and the life of its final queen, Cleopatra VII, through the eyes of Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe. Arsinoe carved out a unique niche for herself as a slightly immature but engaging and prophetic princess in the first Fall of Egypt novel. But it’s in this second book that she comes into her own as a woman and embraces her royal heritage --- and all the deadly consequences that has to offer. Read More

Teaser

It's the dawn of a new era for Egypt as Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy, are welcomed to the throne after their father's death. Long overlooked by his father in favor of the beguiling Cleopatra, Ptolemy is determined to prove his ability as both man and king --- but, at 11, he is no match for his elder sister, who's quick to assert her primacy throughout the land. Their sister Arsinoe is torn between her siblings in one of history's greatest power struggles. When Cleopatra is forced to flee a rebel uprising, Arsinoe decides she has no choice but to follow her sister into exile. Yet while Cleopatra gathers an army to retake the crown, Arsinoe begins to doubt whether her sister is the champion Egypt needs.

Promo

It's the dawn of a new era for Egypt as Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy, are welcomed to the throne after their father's death. Long overlooked by his father in favor of the beguiling Cleopatra, Ptolemy is determined to prove his ability as both man and king --- but, at 11, he is no match for his elder sister, who's quick to assert her primacy throughout the land. Their sister Arsinoe is torn between her siblings in one of history's greatest power struggles. When Cleopatra is forced to flee a rebel uprising, Arsinoe decides she has no choice but to follow her sister into exile. Yet while Cleopatra gathers an army to retake the crown, Arsinoe begins to doubt whether her sister is the champion Egypt needs.

About the Book

Ancient Egypt, 51 B.C. Sisters Arsinoe and Cleopatra face a devastating choice: to allow Rome's army to siphon power from their ailing father, or to take matters --- and the dynasty --- into their own hands.

It's the dawn of a new era for Egypt as Cleopatra and her brother, Ptolemy, are welcomed to the throne after their father's death. But joint rule breeds its own conflicts: can the Nile be shared? Long overlooked by his father in favor of the beguiling Cleopatra, Ptolemy is determined to prove his ability as both man and king --- but, at 11, he is no match for his elder sister, who's quick to assert her primacy throughout the land.

Their sister Arsinoe is torn between her siblings in one of history's greatest power struggles. As the palace echoes with rumors, scandals and betrayal, Arsinoe's love for her childhood friend Alexander deepens into a forbidden passion that could endanger both their lives. When Cleopatra is forced to flee a rebel uprising, Arsinoe decides she has no choice but to follow her sister into exile.

Yet while Cleopatra gathers an army to retake the crown, Arsinoe begins to doubt whether her sister is the champion Egypt needs. Faced with the choice of betraying her family or her country, Arsinoe will determine a kingdom's fate and the course of history.

Editorial Content for A Simple Favor

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Joe Hartlaub

You are going to be hearing a lot about A SIMPLE FAVOR. Debut author Darcey Bell manages to cram a lot of living, if you will, into a standard-length novel with some extremely contemporary, “right-now” elements and enough sordid episodes and surprises to fill a couple of books. Bell also infuses her story with a cinematic narrative, so it’s no surprise that the book was optioned for film development even before it was published. Read More

Teaser

When Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son, Nicky, after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and Stephanie’s son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together --- just like she and Emily. But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong; Emily would never leave Nicky. Terrified, she reaches out to Emily’s husband, Sean, offering emotional support. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over. Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing --- not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor --- is as simple as it seems.

Promo

When Emily asks Stephanie to pick up her son, Nicky, after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and Stephanie’s son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together --- just like she and Emily. But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong; Emily would never leave Nicky. Terrified, she reaches out to Emily’s husband, Sean, offering emotional support. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over. Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing --- not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor --- is as simple as it seems.

About the Book

She’s your best friend.

She knows all your secrets.

That’s why she’s so dangerous.

A single mother's life is turned upside down when her best friend vanishes in this chilling debut thriller in the vein of GONE GIRL and THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN.

It starts with a simple favor --- an ordinary kindness mothers do for one another. When her best friend, Emily, asks Stephanie to pick up her son Nicky after school, she happily says yes. Nicky and her son, Miles, are classmates and best friends, and the five-year-olds love being together --- just like she and Emily. A widow and stay-at-home mommy blogger living in woodsy suburban Connecticut, Stephanie was lonely until she met Emily, a sophisticated PR executive whose job in Manhattan demands so much of her time.

But Emily doesn’t come back. She doesn’t answer calls or return texts. Stephanie knows something is terribly wrong --- Emily would never leave Nicky, no matter what the police say. Terrified, she reaches out to her blog readers for help. She also reaches out to Emily’s husband, the handsome, reticent Sean, offering emotional support. It’s the least she can do for her best friend. Then, she and Sean receive shocking news. Emily is dead. The nightmare of her disappearance is over.

Or is it? Because soon, Stephanie will begin to see that nothing --- not friendship, love, or even an ordinary favor --- is as simple as it seems.

A SIMPLE FAVOR is a remarkable tale of psychological suspense --- a clever and twisting free-fall of a ride filled with betrayals and reversals, twists and turns, secrets and revelations, love and loyalty, murder and revenge. Darcey Bell masterfully ratchets up the tension in a taut, unsettling and completely absorbing story that holds you in its grip until the final page.

Editorial Content for Tell Me How This Ends Well

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Norah Piehl

In David Samuel Levinson’s new novel, the year is 2022, which once upon a time would have felt like some kind of distant future, but now feels like it’s just over the horizon. The political climate in this fictional world is also uncomfortably close to our present reality; the state of Israel has been dissolved, and the resulting Jewish diaspora is encountering an ever-more-virulently anti-Semitic world. Read More

Teaser

In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe and anti-Semitic landscape at home. Against this backdrop, the Jacobson family gathers for Passover in Los Angeles. But their immediate problems are more personal than political, with the three adult children in various states of crisis, the result, each claims, of a lifetime of mistreatment by their father, Julian. The siblings have begun to suspect that Julian is hastening their mother Roz's demise, and years of resentment boil over as they debate whether to go through with the real reason for their reunion: an ill-considered plot to end their father’s iron rule for good. That is, if they can put their bickering, grudges, festering relationships and distrust of one another aside long enough to act.

Promo

In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe and anti-Semitic landscape at home. Against this backdrop, the Jacobson family gathers for Passover in Los Angeles. But their immediate problems are more personal than political, with the three adult children in various states of crisis, the result, each claims, of a lifetime of mistreatment by their father, Julian. The siblings have begun to suspect that Julian is hastening their mother Roz's demise, and years of resentment boil over as they debate whether to go through with the real reason for their reunion: an ill-considered plot to end their father’s iron rule for good. That is, if they can put their bickering, grudges, festering relationships and distrust of one another aside long enough to act.

About the Book

Why is tonight different from all other nights?
Tonight we kill dad.

In 2022, American Jews face an increasingly unsafe and anti-Semitic landscape at home. Against this backdrop, the Jacobson family gathers for Passover in Los Angeles. But their immediate problems are more personal than political, with the three adult children, Mo, Edith and Jacob, in various states of crisis, the result, each claims, of a lifetime of mistreatment by their father, Julian. The siblings have begun to suspect that Julian is hastening their mother Roz’s demise, and years of resentment boil over as they debate whether to go through with the real reason for their reunion: an ill-considered plot to end their father’s iron rule for good. That is, if they can put their bickering, grudges, festering relationships and distrust of one another aside long enough to act. 

And God help them if their mother finds out...

TELL ME HOW THIS ENDS WELL presents a blistering and prescient vision of the near future, turning the exploits of one very funny, very troubled family into a rare and compelling exploration of the state of America, and what it could become.

Audiobook available, read by Michael Goldstrom

Editorial Content for Foxlowe

Book

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Sarah Rachel Egelman

Far from the bustle of London and out on the moors stands a grand old estate called Foxlowe. Its ballroom and staircases are in contrast to an ancient ring of stones that create an optical illusion on the summer solstice. Once the home of a wealthy family and surrounded by lush gardens, Foxlowe was later inherited by one of the family’s children and became the retreat of a cult-like commune and the sight of years of brutal abuse of three children. The house is the looming physical and symbolic center of Eleanor Wasserberg’s debut novel, FOXLOWE. Read More

Teaser

Foxlowe is a crumbling old house in the moors --- a wild, secluded and magical place. For Green, it is not just home, but everything she knows. Outside, people live in little square houses, with unhappy families and tedious jobs. At Foxlowe, Green runs free through the hallways and orchards, in the fields and among the Standing Stones. Outside, people are corrupted by money. At Foxlowe, the Family shares everything. Outside, the Bad is everywhere. At Foxlowe, everyone in the Family is safe --- as long as they follow Freya’s rules and perform her rituals. But as Green’s little sister, Blue, grows up, she shows more and more interest in the Outside. Before long she starts to talk about becoming a Leaver.

Promo

Foxlowe is a crumbling old house in the moors --- a wild, secluded and magical place. For Green, it is not just home, but everything she knows. Outside, people live in little square houses, with unhappy families and tedious jobs. At Foxlowe, Green runs free through the hallways and orchards, in the fields and among the Standing Stones. Outside, people are corrupted by money. At Foxlowe, the Family shares everything. Outside, the Bad is everywhere. At Foxlowe, everyone in the Family is safe --- as long as they follow Freya’s rules and perform her rituals. But as Green’s little sister, Blue, grows up, she shows more and more interest in the Outside. Before long she starts to talk about becoming a Leaver.

About the Book

An astonishing literary debut about a young girl’s coming of age in the haunting, enchanting world of an English commune --- a modern gothic novel with echoes of ROOM and NEVER LET ME GO

Foxlowe is a crumbling old house in the moors --- a wild, secluded and magical place. For Green, it is not just home, but everything she knows.

Outside, people live in little square houses, with unhappy families and tedious jobs. At Foxlowe, Green runs free through the hallways and orchards, in the fields and among the Standing Stones. Outside, people are corrupted by money. At Foxlowe, the Family shares everything. Outside, the Bad is everywhere. At Foxlowe, everyone in the Family is safe --- as long as they follow Freya’s rules and perform her rituals. But as Green’s little sister, Blue, grows up, she shows more and more interest in the Outside. Before long she starts to talk about becoming a Leaver.

Building inexorably to its terrifying climax, FOXLOWE tells a chilling, irresistible story of superstition and survival, betrayal and redemption, and a utopia gone badly wrong.

Audiobook available, read by Charlie Sanderson

Editorial Content for Gumshoe for Two

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

The Great Gumshoe is back! Novice private investigator Mortimer Angel --- a former “wallet wringer” for the IRS, “our nation’s Gestapo” --- returns with Jeri DiFrazzia, who is now Mort’s boss and fiancée. Read More

Teaser

Ex-IRS agent turned gumshoe-in-training Mortimer Angel is approached by a beautiful hooker, Holiday, in a casino bar in Reno. Mort first met Holiday two months ago, but now learns that she’s not really a hooker. She’s a college engineering student, searching for her younger sister, Allie, who disappeared three months ago. While in the bar with Mort, Holiday gets an unexpected phone call from Allie, who says she’s in Gerlach, a small town in Nevada. The phone call is cut off. Holiday hires Mort on the spot, dragging him off to Gerlach. When Mort finds a connection between Allie and US Senator Harry Reinhart, a presidential candidate who vanished without a trace three days ago, things quickly turn deadly --- very deadly.

Promo

Ex-IRS agent turned gumshoe-in-training Mortimer Angel is approached by a beautiful hooker, Holiday, in a casino bar in Reno. Mort first met Holiday two months ago, but now learns that she’s not really a hooker. She’s a college engineering student, searching for her younger sister, Allie, who disappeared three months ago. While in the bar with Mort, Holiday gets an unexpected phone call from Allie, who says she’s in Gerlach, a small town in Nevada. The phone call is cut off. Holiday hires Mort on the spot, dragging him off to Gerlach. When Mort finds a connection between Allie and US Senator Harry Reinhart, a presidential candidate who vanished without a trace three days ago, things quickly turn deadly --- very deadly.

About the Book

Ex-IRS agent turned gumshoe-in-training Mortimer Angel is approached by a beautiful hooker, Holiday, in a casino bar in Reno. Mort first met Holiday two months ago, but now learns that she’s not really a hooker. She’s a college engineering student, searching for her younger sister, Allie, who disappeared three months ago. Having seen Mort in the news, Holiday knows he’s a PI who finds missing persons. While in the bar with Mort, Holiday gets an unexpected phone call from Allie, who says she’s in Gerlach, a small town in Nevada. The phone call is cut off.

Holiday hires Mort on the spot, dragging him off to Gerlach. On the way out of town, Mort picks up a FedEx package. Opening it the following morning, he finds the severed hand of U.S. Senator Harry Reinhart, a presidential candidate in the upcoming general election. Reinhart’s hand doesn’t appear to be Mort’s problem, but as he looks into Allie’s disappearance, he makes a connection between her disappearance and Reinhart’s hand that quickly turns deadly --- very deadly.

Don Rickles

When you stand alone and sell yourself, you can't please everyone. But when you're different, you can last.

Attribution

Don Rickles

The Women in the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

April 2017

I have often wondered what life was like in Germany after World War II. We know of the Nazis and those who joined the resistance, but what happened when those descriptive words no longer defined the day-to-day lives of people? In THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE, Jessica Shattuck tells the stories of three of these women, as they picked up their lives after the war.

April 6, 2017

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlightsa book that we know people will be talking about this spring. Read more about it, and enter our Spring Preview Contest by Friday, April 7th at 11:59am ET for a chance to win one of five copies of THE HALF WIVES by Stacia Pelletier, which is now available. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!