August 20, 2024

August 20, 2024

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Please note: There will be no "On Sale This Week" newsletter on Tuesday, August 27th as we take our annual summer break, so we are covering releases from now through the week of September 2nd in this edition. Our next "On Sale This Week" newsletter will be sent on Tuesday, September 3rd.

In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of August 19th, August 26th and September 2nd 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 our Fall Reading Contests and Feature, a series of 24-hour giveaways that are taking place on select days through October. Enter for your chance to win titles that we think will be great fall reading picks.

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are three upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, August 21st at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Jessa Maxwell about her new book, I NEED YOU TO READ THIS, which is the F&F Pick of the Month.

Wednesday, August 21st at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: Sarah Stewart Taylor and P. J. Tracy will talk about their latest mysteries. Sarah's AGONY HILL is the first installment in a new historical series, and P. J.'s CITY OF SECRETS marks the return of LAPD Detective Margaret Nolan.

Tuesday, August 27th at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle and Heather Gudenkauf will talk to their fellow "Killer Author Club" host Kaira Rouda about her new book, THE SECOND MRS STROM, a completely gripping psychological thriller that will have you hooked in and turning pages late into the night.

This Week's Bonus News:
Bookreporter.com's 14th Annual
Fall Reading Contests and Feature

On Sale the Week of August 19th in Hardcover

August 20th

BY ANY OTHER NAME by Jodi Picoult (Historical Fiction)
Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor, Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn’t level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym. In 1581, Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling. But she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theater productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage --- by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
Ballantine Books | 9780593497210

CITY OF SECRETS: A Margaret Nolan Mystery by P. J. Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
Los Angeles Police Detective Margaret Nolan and her partner have worked a lot of different cases, ones where things aren’t always as they appear. And it’s Nolan’s job to find the truth in the darkness around her. When they’re called to the scene of what looks like a fatal carjacking, Nolan soon realizes her victim was a founder of a company about to sell for millions, and within a day of his death, his partner’s wife is abducted. As Nolan learns more about the victim and his life, she gets pulled into a disturbing world of sex, violence and big business --- and an even darker world, where whispers of an "Angel of Death" are beginning to surface.
Minotaur Books | 9781250334350

COWPUPPY: An Unexpected Friendship and a Scientist’s Journey into the Secret World of Cows by Gregory Berns (Memoir)
When Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns and his wife decided to venture into sustainable farming in rural Georgia, they knew that cows were a key part of a successful operation. But that was where his knowledge of cattle ended. As Berns and his small herd of three miniature zebus acclimated to each other and Berns received a crash course in being a cattleman, he turned his powers of scientific observation and innovation on his new charges. This wasn’t the first time he’d studied animals through the lens of neuroscience. Years earlier, Berns had applied his knowledge to man’s best friend, resulting in two books and important advances in how we understand dogs’ thoughts and emotions. Now it was time to see what he --- and all of us --- could discover about the interior worlds of cows.
Harper Horizon | 9781400338801

A DARKNESS RETURNS: Book One of The Dragonwar Saga by Raymond E. Feist (Fantasy/Adventure)
Hatushaly, last scion of the Firemane dynasty; his beloved Hava; and their dubious friend, Donte, have been transported across space and time from their war-torn world of Garn to the relative peace of Midkemia. There, on Sorcerer’s Isle, Hatu will explore and expand his unique magical abilities: for if Garn is to be saved, they will be needed. With the evil Pride Lords defeated, the Church of the One has risen to bring death and destruction to Hatu’s home world. The kingdom of Ilcomen has fallen, and now the Church is sending forces to Marquensas, where Daylon Dumarch has declared himself king, and master swordsmith Declan Smith finds himself suddenly raised to the status of prince and war commander. But there are even greater menaces than the Church of the One waiting in the wings, beings from the Void, creatures born of Darkness.
Harper Voyager | 9780062315847

DEATH AND THE VISITORS: A Mary Shelley Mystery by Heather Redmond (Historical Mystery)
1814, London: Foreign diplomats are descending on London in advance of the Congress of Vienna meetings to formulate a new peace plan for Europe following Napoleon’s downfall. Mary and Jane’s father, political philosopher William Godwin, is hosting a gathering with an advance party of Russian royal staff. Following their visit, Jane overhears her father reassuring his pushiest creditor that the Russians have pledged diamonds to support his publishing venture, the Juvenile Library, relieving his financial burden. But when Godwin is told the man who promised the diamonds was pulled from the River Thames, his dire financial problems are further complicated by the suspicion that the family may have been involved in the murder. Stepsisters Mary and Jane resolve to find the real killer to clear the family name.
Kensington | 9781496749031

HOLLOW OUT THE DARK by James Wade (Historical Fiction/Gothic Adventure)
A veteran of the Great War, Jesse Cole is grateful for the quiet life he now leads. But when his closest friend runs afoul of local criminals, Frog and Squirrel Fenley, Jesse is forced to spin his moral compass and enter a violent and volatile underworld. There he encounters corrupt lawmen, hired assassins and a dark family secret that will upend all he once knew. Complicating matters are Texas Ranger Amon Atkins --- who arrives to investigate the Fenleys just as their empire is threatened by a deadly new competition --- and the green-eyed, raven-haired Adaline, a love Jesse thought he'd lost forever. With resources scarce and winter falling hard on the town, a desperate Jesse must choose between the law and the lawless and find a way to survive while still protecting the people he loves.
Blackstone Publishing | 9781982601119

NO SAFE PLACE by Michael Ledwidge (Thriller)
While he's hiding out off the grid on a trout stream in the middle of rural New England, the last thing Mike Gannon is looking for is any more trouble. But then he bumps into an old girlfriend who is an investigator up from New York City looking into the mysterious death of a student at a nearby prestigious college. And soon what Mike wants and what he’s about to get become two very different things. First a whistleblower comes forward with evidence of a deadly scandal. Then shortly after arrives a group of dangerous men who will do anything to keep secrets buried. Then the lights go out.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335000415

OUT OF THE DARKNESS: The Mystery of Aaron Rodgers by Ian O'Connor
(Sports/Biography)
Aaron Rodgers is among the two or three most talented players to ever hold the most important job in American team sports --- quarterback. He also stands as the most mysterious and polarizing figure in the modern-day national pastime that is professional football. From his controversial COVID stance to his methods of spiritual awakening to his estrangement from his family to his high-profile romances to his devastating Achilles injury a mere four plays into his New York Jets career, Rodgers has long dominated the NFL’s news cycle. Ian O’Connor uses hundreds of original interviews to pull back the curtain and answer the most penetrating questions about the league’s most enigmatic player. He reveals all sides of an all-time great and delivers a portrait of a complex man that will forever shape the way he is viewed.
Mariner Books | 9780063297869

PARADISE BRONX: The Life and Times of New York's Greatest Borough by Ian Frazier (History)
For the past 15 years, Ian Frazier has been walking the Bronx. PARADISE BRONX reveals the rich and tumultuous history of this amazingly various piece of our greatest city. From Jonas Bronck, who bought land from the local Native Americans, to the formerly gang-wracked South Bronx that gave birth to hip-hop, Frazier’s loving exploration is a moving tour de force about the polyglot culture that is America today.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374280567

SOMEONE IN THE ATTIC by Andrea Mara (Domestic Thriller)
Anya is enjoying a relaxing bath when she hears a noise coming from the ceiling. Through the open bathroom door, she sees the attic hatch swing down, and a masked figure drops to the floor. Thirty seconds later, Anya is dead. Across town, Anya's old school friend, Julia, sees an online video of a masked figure climbing out of an attic. She suddenly realizes why the footage is eerily familiar: it was filmed inside her own house in a luxury gated community, designed to keep intruders out. Why would a stranger target Julia? Unless of course, it's not a stranger at all.
Pamela Dorman Books | 9780593831434

SPIRIT CROSSING by William Kent Krueger (Mystery)
The disappearance of a local politician’s teenage daughter is major news in Minnesota. As a huge manhunt is launched to find her, Cork O’Connor’s grandson stumbles across the shallow grave of a young Ojibwe woman --- but nobody seems that interested. Nobody, that is, except Cork and the newly formed Iron Lake Ojibwe Tribal Police. As Cork and the tribal officers dig into the circumstances of this mysterious and grim discovery, they uncover a connection to the missing teenager. And soon, it’s clear that Cork’s grandson is in danger of being the killer’s next victim.
Atria Books | 9781982179243

THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY by Elif Shafak (Fiction)
In the ancient city of Nineveh, on the bank of the River Tigris, King Ashurbanipal of Mesopotamia --- erudite but ruthless --- built a great library that would crumble with the end of his reign. From its ruins, however, emerged a poem, the Epic of Gilgamesh, that would infuse the existence of two rivers and bind together three lives. THERE ARE RIVERS IN THE SKY entwines these outsiders with a single drop of water, a drop that remanifests across the centuries. Both a source of life and a harbinger of death, rivers --- the Tigris and the Thames --- transcend history, transcend fate: “Water remembers. It is humans who forget.”
Knopf | 9780593801710

THIS IS WHY WE LIED by Karin Slaughter (Mystery/Thriller)
For GBI investigator Will Trent and medical examiner Sara Linton, McAlpine Lodge seems like the ideal getaway to celebrate their honeymoon. Set on a gorgeous, off-the-grid mountaintop property, it’s the perfect place to unplug and reconnect. Until a bone-chilling scream cuts through the night. Mercy McAlpine, the manager of the Lodge, is dead. With a vicious storm raging and the one access road to the property washed out, the murderer must be someone on the mountain. But as Will and Sara investigate the McAlpine family and the other guests, they realize that everyone here is lying. Trapped on the resort, they must untangle a decades-old web of secrets to discover what happened to Mercy. And with the killer poised to strike again, the trip of a lifetime becomes a race against the clock.
William Morrow | 9780063336728

TOM CLANCY SHADOW STATE: A Jack Ryan Jr. Novel by M. P. Woodward
(Thriller/Adventure)
The vibrant economy of the new Vietnam is a shiny lure for Western capital. Companies are racing to uncover ideal opportunities. Not wanting to be left behind, Hendley Associates has sent their best analyst, Jack Ryan, Jr., to mine for investment gold. And he may have found some in a rare earth mining company: GeoTech. But a trip with a Hendley colleague to the Highlands to observe the company’s operations takes a treacherous turn when their helicopter is shot down. Some things haven’t changed, and Vietnam is still the plaything of powerful neighbors. The Chinese are determined to keep Jack from finding the truth about what exactly is being processed at the isolated factory. Now Jack is in a race for his life. He has to stay one step ahead of a pack of killers while supporting his wounded friend.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593717943

VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED by Frances White (Mystery/Fantasy)
For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a 12-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain. Aboard are the 12 heirs of the provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing. All except one: Ganymedes Piscero --- class clown, slacker and all-around disappointment. When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people and without a Blessing to protect him, Ganymedes’ odds of survival are slim. But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their secret Blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?
Mira | 9780778387428

YOU WILL NEVER BE ME by Jesse Q. Sutanto (Psychological Thriller)
Influencer Meredith Lee didn’t teach Aspen Palmer how to blossom on social media just to be ditched as soon as Aspen became big. So can anyone really blame her for doing a little stalking? Then, Mer gets lucky; she finds one of Aspen’s kids’ iPads and swipes it. Now, she has access to everything. Would anyone else be able to resist tweaking things a little here and there, showing up in Aspen’s place for meetings with potential sponsors? Meanwhile, Aspen doesn’t understand why her perfectly filtered life is falling apart. If she doesn’t find out who’s behind everything, she just might lose it all. When Meredith suddenly goes missing, Aspen’s world is upended, and mysterious threats begin to arrive. But she won’t let anything get in the way of her perfect life again.
Berkley | 9780593546949

On Sale the Week of August 19th in Paperback

August 20th

THE BALL AT VERSAILLES by Danielle Steel (Historical Fiction)
It’s the summer of 1959, and the Palace of Versailles is hosting an event that will make history. It is an exclusive dusk-to-dawn ball in which a select group of American and French debutantes will be presented to international society and royalty. Four young women, all with something to prove, receive what some see as the invitation of a lifetime: Amelia Alexander, who hopes to eventually attend law school; Felicity Smith, whose family is prominent in the Dallas social scene; Caroline Taylor, the beautiful ingénue and daughter of Hollywood legends; and Samantha Walker, an art history major with an overprotective father. For all these young women, Paris and one transcendent night will change their lives forever.
Dell | 9780593498361

BLACK SHEEP by Rachel Harrison (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Vesper Wright left home at 18 and never looked back --- mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep. Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin, Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper has been given special treatment. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen. When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith.
Berkley | 9780593545867

THE BROKEN TRUTH: A Tucker Snow Thriller by Reavis Z. Wortham (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Special Agent Tucker Snow knows there's big money roaming the fields under the wide Texas sky --- and the cattle rustlers committing large-scale thefts on remote ranches know it, too. But when a prominent local rancher dies unexpectedly and his property is quietly sold to an unknown buyer, Tucker suspects there's something more sinister going on in his jurisdiction than the usual steal-and-resell racket. Still raw after the tragic death of his wife and young daughter, the lawman can't bear the thought of more innocent lives destroyed by people whose greed poisons everything around them. Working alongside his brother, Harley, Tucker uncovers a dark ring of organized crime that goes well beyond cattle rustling --- a breed of deception and greed that has turned into a silent killer and will take down anyone who crosses its path.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728256733

THE CONTINENTAL AFFAIR by Christine Mangan (Historical/Literary Thriller)
Meet Henri and Louise. Two strangers, traveling alone, on the train from Belgrade to Istanbul. Except this isn't the first time they have met. It's the 1960s, and Louise is running. From her past in England, from the owners of the money she has stolen --- and from Henri, the person who has been sent to collect it. Across the Continent Henri follows, desperate to leave behind his own troubles. The memories of his past life as a gendarme in Algeria that keep resurfacing. His inability to reconcile the growing responsibilities of his current criminal path with this former self. But Henri soon realizes that Louise is no ordinary mark. As the train hurtles toward its final destination, Henri and Louise must decide what the future will hold --- and if it involves one another.
Flatiron Books | 9781250788474

DEADLY DEPTHS by John F. Dobbyn (Mystery/Thriller)
Matthew Shane is a law professor in Salem, Massachusetts, where he enjoys a rewarding mentorship with Professor Barrington Holmes, a well-known archaeologist. So when Professor Holmes is found dead in his office and the police rule it a suicide, something doesn't sit right with Matthew. He becomes determined to find the true cause of Holmes’ death and bring closure to his widow. Matthew soon learns that Professor Holmes belonged to a group of notable archaeologists dubbed “The Monkey’s Paw,” who were all entangled in an expedition to find an unknown object of unprecedented historical and financial value. Each member had been given one piece of the instructions to find the object, but some of the men had encountered horrific twists of fate before the group could reunite to continue in their search.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096220

DISSOLVED by Sara Blaedel and Mads Peder Nordbo (Thriller)
Everything is peaceful in Tommerup, Denmark, until a young mother disappears in the middle of an idyllic summer day. There’s no trace of the missing woman when Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called to investigate. When another person goes missing, and Liam and Dea find a strange note linking the second missing person to the first crime, they suspect the disappearances may be the work of a serial killer. As the investigation continues, dark secrets about the victims from the past are revealed. Is someone targeting them because of this? As more people vanish, it’s a race against time for Liam and Dea, who find themselves face to face with horrifying footage that reveals what is happening to the victims --- and what will happen to future targets if they can’t stop the killer.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639109166

THE GREAT TRANSITION by Nick Fuller Googins (Dystopian Science Fiction)
Emi Vargas, whose parents helped save the world, is tired of being told how lucky she is to have been born after the climate crisis. But following the public assassination of a dozen climate criminals, Emi’s mother, Kristina, disappears as a possible suspect. A determined Emi and her father, Larch, journey from their home in Nuuk, Greenland, to New York City, now a lightly populated storm-surge outpost built from the ruins of the former metropolis. Thirty years earlier, Larch first came to New York with a team of volunteers to save the city from rising waters and torrential storms. Kristina was fighting massive wildfires that ravaged the western United States. They became part of a movement that changed the world --- The Great Transition --- forging a new society and finding each other in the process.
Atria Books | 9781668010761

THE HIKE by Lucy Clarke (Psychological Thriller)
Burned out by both her marriage and work, Liz is desperate for an escape. More than that, she craves an adventure, a total reset. So when she plans a vacation with her three best friends, she persuades them to spend four nights camping in the stunning mountains of Norway. Following a trail that climbs through lush valleys, towering peaks and past jewel-blue lakes, Liz is sure that the hike is just what they need. But as they stride farther from civilization, it becomes clear that the women are not the only ones looking to lose themselves in the mountains. The wilderness hides secrets darker than they ever could have imagined, and if they’re not careful, not all of them will return.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593422694

I DIDN’T BELIEVE HIM by Irene Daria, Ph.D. (Memoir)
Paperback Original
Today, Irene Daria is a cognitive developmental psychologist and reading tutor to the stars. At the time of this story, she was a graduate student and “just” a mom thrilled that her son had been accepted to one of the most esteemed schools in Manhattan. Sure that he was on the path to a venerable education, she did not listen when her five-year-old told her that he --- like millions of other children --- was not being taught how to read in school. An entire, very painful school year passed before Eric got her to realize he was right. Follow along as Daria begins a perplexing but ultimately empowering journey to save his academic life. She finds herself pitted against well-intentioned teachers and administrators, people she would have loved to trust if only they weren’t so misinformed.
Steps Publishing | 9780986432958

THE LAST OUTLAWS: The Desperate Final Days of the Dalton Gang by Tom Clavin (History)
The dreaded Dalton Gang consisted of three brothers and their rotating cast of colorful accomplices who saw themselves as descended from the legendary James brothers. They soon became legends themselves, beginning their career as common horse thieves before graduating to robbing banks and trains. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang attempted their boldest and bloodiest raid yet: robbing two banks in broad daylight in Coffeyville, Kansas, simultaneously. For the first time ever, the full story of the Dalton Gang's life of crime, culminating in one of the Wild West’s most violent events, are chronicled in detail --- a last gruesome gasp of the age of gunfights.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250852540

THE LAST PARTY by A. R. Torre (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Perla Wultz lives with her husband, Grant, and their precious daughter, Sophie, in a gated Pasadena community. Perla plays the part of loving wife and mother to perfection. It seems an ideal life, if not for a decades-old crime that has become her dark and consuming secret obsession. Twenty-three years ago, Leewood Folcrum confessed to murdering two young girls during a birthday party. Though he’s been condemned to a life sentence, his crime is not forgotten. Not by Perla, nor by an inquisitive doctoral student interviewing Folcrum for his dissertation. He’s getting the killer to open up --- about his motives, his confession and the truth of what really happened on that horrible night. As the past and the present entwine, the deceptions behind the infamous murder begin to surface. But who’s deceiving who now? And why?
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662519574

THE LONGMIRE DEFENSE: A Longmire Mystery by Craig Johnson (Mystery)
Sheriff Walt Longmire and Dog are called on a routine search and rescue to Wyoming’s Big­horn Mountains, where Walt finds himself on a rock outcropping remembering when his father told him about the first time he saw a man die. In the late '40s, Bill Sutherland was shot, but the investigation was stymied because no mem­ber of the elk camp --- where he was found --- was carrying the caliber rifle that killed the state accountant. When Dog discovers the miss­ing weapon, the sheriff of Absaroka County is plunged headfirst into a cold case. His inves­tigation quickly finds ties to a hidden mineral fund that someone is willing to kill to keep secret. In his relentless pursuit of the truth, Walt discovers the rifle in question belonged to none other than his infamous and uncompromis­ing grandfather, Lloyd Longmire.
Penguin Books | 9780593297339

THE LOST WIFE by Susanna Moore (Historical Fiction)
In the summer of 1855, Sarah Brinton abandons her husband and child to make the long and difficult journey from Rhode Island to Minnesota Territory, where she plans to reunite with a childhood friend. When she arrives at a small frontier post on the edge of the prairie, she quickly remarries and has two children. Anticipating unease and hardship at the Indian Agency, where her husband is the new resident physician, Sarah instead finds acceptance and kinship among the Sioux women at a nearby reservation. The Sioux tribes, however, are wary of the white settlers and resent the rampant theft of their land. During the Sioux Uprising of 1862, Sarah and her children are abducted by the Sioux, who protect her. But because she sympathizes with her captors, Sarah becomes an outcast to the white settlers.
Vintage | 9780345807304

MURDER IN DRURY LANE: A Lady Worthing Mystery by Vanessa Riley (Historical Mystery)
Pressed into a union of convenience, Lady Abigail Worthing knew better than to expect love. Her marriage to an absent lord does at least provide some comforts, including a box at the Drury Lane theater, owned by the playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Abigail has always found respite at the theater, away from the ton’s judgmental stares and the risks of her own secret work to help the cause of abolition --- and her fears that someone from her past wants her permanently silenced. But on one particular June evening everything collides, and the performance takes an unwelcome turn. Abigail soon discovers a tangled drama that rivals anything brought to the stage, involving gambling debts, a beautiful actress with a parade of suitors, and the very future of the Drury Lane theater.
Kensington | 9781496738707

NORTH OF NOWHERE by Allison Brennan (Mystery/Thriller)
After five years in hiding from their murderous father, the day Kristen and Ryan McIntyre have been dreading has arrived: Boyd McIntyre, head of a Los Angeles crime family, has at last tracked his kids to a small Montana town and is minutes away from kidnapping them. They barely escape in a small plane, but gunfire hits the fuel line. The pilot manages to crash land in the middle of the Montana wilderness. The siblings hike deep into the woods, searching desperately for safety --- unaware of the severity of the approaching storm. But there is a greater threat to Kristen and Ryan out there. More volatile than the incoming blizzard, more dangerous than the family they ran from or the natural predators they could encounter. Who finds them first could determine if they live or die.
Minotaur Books | 9781250341792

THE PARIS GOWN by Christine Wells (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Three friends, who parted as very young women, reunite in Paris years later. Claire has been working hard to become a Michelin-starred chef, but her dream is to own a Dior gown. This seemed like a far-off fantasy, until the eccentric Madame Vaughn abruptly leaves town and makes Claire a very special gift: a stunning Dior gown. Meanwhile, Gina lands on Claire’s doorstep nursing a broken heart and a broken engagement. Gina has returned to Paris in the hopes of pursuing her dream. But when her father begs her to attend the United States Embassy ball, she is torn. And what on earth is she going to wear? Claire insists Gina wear the Dior gown to the ball. At Gina’s fitting, who should assist them but Margot, living in Paris under an assumed name. Is their close friendship at an end? Or will the wonder and delight of the Dior gown bring these young women back together?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063336889

QUEEN OF THE COURT: The Many Lives of Tennis Legend Alice Marble by Madeleine Blais (Sports/Biography)
In August 1939, Alice Marble graced the cover of Life magazine, photographed by the famed Alfred Eisenstaedt. She was a glamorous worldwide celebrity, having that year won singles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles tennis titles at both Wimbledon and the US Open, then an unprecedented feat. Yet today one of America’s greatest female athletes and most charismatic characters is largely forgotten. QUEEN OF THE COURT places her back on center stage.
Grove Press | 9780802163455

RISE AND DIVINE: A Witches of Thistle Grove Novel by Lana Harper (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Even in a family of chaotic necromancers, Daria “Dasha” Avramov has always been an outlier. An event planner at the Arcane Emporium occult megastore, Dasha is also a devil eater: a rare necromantic witch with an affinity for banishing demons and traversing the veil, the boundary between this realm and the next. Her worst regret is a devastating breakup with the wise, empathetic and sensual Ivy Thorn, her event-planning counterpart at Honeycake Orchards. When they’re thrown together to plan the Cavalcade --- a month-long festival celebrating Thistle Grove’s ceremonial founding --- Dasha hopes that the third time might be the charm, while Ivy refuses to let herself be hurt again. As they confront the pain and passion lingering between them, Dasha and Ivy also must stand against an otherworldly threat unlike anything Thistle Grove has faced before.
Berkley | 9780593637982

SISTER OF STARLIT SEAS by Terry Brooks (Fantasy)
Auris’ adoptive sister, Char, is certain that her headstrong, impulsive behavior, the quality her family sees as her greatest weakness, is actually her greatest strength: the willingness to instantly brave danger and leap to the rescue when anyone she loves is threatened. Char knows she will never grow into the woman she was meant to be under her family’s loving but repressive eye, so a month before she turns 15, she runs away and joins a Human pirate crew in the warm southerly regions of her world. Then, three years into her pirate career, her captain --- the man she is convinced she loves --- is captured by the leaders of the slave trade he has been fighting. When Char leaps in to rescue him, she finds herself thrust into an adventure that will uncover secrets she never suspected about herself.
Del Rey | 9780593129821

THE ST. AMBROSE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS by Jessica Ward (Psychological Thriller)
When Sarah Taylor arrives at the exclusive St. Ambrose School, she’s carrying more baggage than just what fits in her suitcase. St. Ambrose’s queen bee, Greta Stanhope, picks Sarah as a target from day one. Thankfully, Sarah makes an ally out of her roommate, Ellen “Strots” Strotsberry, a cigarette-huffing, devil-may-care athlete. Also down the hall is Nick Hollis, the devastatingly handsome RA, and the object of more than one St. Ambrose student’s fantasies. Between Strots and Nick, Sarah hopes she can make it through the semester, dealing with not only her schoolwork and a recent bipolar diagnosis, but Greta’s increasingly malicious pranks. But when scandal unfolds, and someone ends up dead, her world threatens to unravel in ways she never could have imagined.
Gallery Books | 9781982194871

TERRACE STORY by Hilary Leichter (Fiction)
Annie, Edward and their young daughter, Rose, live in a cramped apartment. One night, without warning, they find a beautiful terrace hidden in their closet. It wasn’t there before, and it seems to only appear when their friend Stephanie visits. But every extra bit of space has a hidden cost, and the terrace sets off a seismic chain of events, forever changing the shape of their tiny home, and the shape of the world. TERRACE STORY follows the characters who suffer these repercussions and reverberations. How far can the mind travel when it’s looking for something that is gone? Where do we put our loneliness, longing and desire? What do we do with the emotions that seem to stretch beyond the body, beyond the boundaries of life and death?
Ecco | 9780063265820

WILD FAILURE: Stories by Zoe Whittall (Fiction/Short Stories)
Paperback Original
In WILD FAILURE, characters encounter feelings of shame, desire, attachment and disconnection as they find themselves navigating their way through bad decisions, unusual situations and fraught relationships. In “Oh, El,” a dominant woman can’t stop herself from toying with the tender heart of her co-worker. The title story, “Wild Failure,” is a doomed love story between an agoraphobic and a wilderness hiker. In “Half Pipe,” a teen girl’s heterosexual ambivalence results in chaos at a skate park. A group of idealistic roommates find themselves the subject of a true crime podcast in “Murder at the Elm Street Collective House.” In “The Sex Castle Lunch Buffet,” a woman reflects on her brief stint at a ’90s strip club after she learns of the death of a former client.
Ballantine Books | 9780593499917

ZERO SUM: A Jonathan Grave Thriller by John Gilstrap (Political Thriller)
Paperback Original
Jonathan Grave long ago lost faith with the so-called war on drugs, a futile campaign that enables cartels to make billions under the protection of corrupt officials on both sides of the border. But when a 12-year-old dies after consuming fentanyl disguised as candy inside the dormitory at Resurrection House, the school he created for the children of incarcerated parents, Jonathan knows it’s time to use his special talents to change the game. Gathering his Security Solutions team, Jonathan activates Operation Heat Seeker. Nobody and nothing will stop them from ending the flow of poison --- not even a vow of revenge from the President of the United States himself.
Pinnacle | 9780786050109

On Sale the Week of August 26th in Hardcover

August 27th

THE MADNESS by Dawn Kurtagich (Gothic Thriller/Horror)
With one unexpected email from her estranged best friend, Lucy, Mina Murray’s carefully curated life is turned upside down. Leaving behind her psychiatric practice in London, she returns home to the windswept shores of Wales. Faced with everything she’s left behind, she soon discovers that Lucy’s symptoms mirror those of her mysterious amnesiac patient hundreds of miles away. With nothing but an untreatable sickness connecting the two women, and with Lucy’s life on the line, Mina finds herself asking questions and being drawn ever-deeper into a web of secrets, missing girls, and the powerful, nameless force at its center --- one that has been haunting her for years. As terrible, ancient truths begin to reveal themselves, Mina prepares to confront her own darkest secrets and, with them, an evil beyond comprehension.
Graydon House | 9781525809811

RED RIVER ROAD by Anna Downes (Psychological Thriller)
Katy Sweeney is looking for her sister. A year earlier, her free-spirited younger sister, Phoebe, vanished without a trace on the remote, achingly beautiful coastal highway in Western Australia. With no witnesses, no leads and no DNA evidence, the case has gone cold. But Katy refuses to give up on her. Using Phoebe’s social media accounts as a map, Katy retraces her sister’s steps, searching for any clues the police may have missed. Was Phoebe being followed? Who had she met along the way, and how dangerous were they? And then Katy’s path collides with that of Beth, who is on the run from her own dark past. Katy realizes that Beth might be her best --- and only --- chance of finding the truth, and the two women form an uneasy alliance to find out what really happened to Phoebe.
Minotaur Books | 9781250868015

SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE TELEGRAM FROM HELL: A World War I Adventure by Nicholas Meyer (Historical Mystery)
June, 1916. With a world war raging on the continent, exhausted John H. Watson, M.D. is operating on the wounded full-time when his labors are interrupted by a knock on his door, revealing Sherlock Holmes, with a black eye, a missing tooth and a cracked rib. The story he has to tell will set in motion a series of world-changing events in the most consequential case of the detective’s career. Amid rebellion in Ireland and revolution in Russia, Germany has a secret plan to win the war, and Sir William Melville of the British Secret Service dispatches the two aging friends to learn what the scheme is before it can be put into effect. In pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram sent from Berlin to an unknown recipient in Mexico, Holmes and Watson seek to foil the schemes of Holmes’ nemesis, the escaped German spymaster Von Bork.
Mysterious Press | 9781613165331

TALKING TO STRANGERS by Fiona Barton (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
When Karen Simmons is murdered on Valentine’s Day, Detective Elise King wonders if she was killed by a man she met online. Karen was all over the dating apps, leading some townspeople to blame her for her own death, while others band together to protest society’s violence against women. Into the divide comes Kiki Nunn, whose aggressive newsgathering once again antagonizes Elise. A single mother of a young daughter, Kiki is struggling to make a living in the diminished news landscape. Getting a scoop in the Simmons murder would do a lot for her career, and she’s willing to go up against not just Elise but the killer himself to do it.
Berkley | 9781984803078

THAT LIBRARIAN: The Fight Against Book Banning in America by Amanda Jones (Memoir)
In 2022, when small-town librarian Amanda Jones caught wind of a local public hearing that would discuss “book content,” she knew what was at stake. Schools and libraries nationwide have been bombarded by demands for books with LGBTQ+ references, discussions of racism and more to be purged from the shelves. Amanda would be damned if her community were to ban stories representing minority groups. She spoke out that night at the meeting. Days later, she woke up to a nightmare that is still ongoing. Amanda Jones has been called a groomer, a pedophile and a porn-pusher. She has faced death threats and attacks from strangers and friends alike. But she wouldn't give up without a fight. She sued her harassers for defamation and urged others to join her in the resistance.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639733538

On Sale the Week of August 26th in Paperback

August 27th

12 MONTHS TO LIVE by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (Legal Thriller)
Tough-as-nails criminal defense attorney Jane Smith is hip-deep in the murder trial of the century. Actually, her charmless client might’ve committed several murders. She’s also fallen in love with a wonderful guy. And an equally wonderful dog, a mutt. But Jane doesn’t have much time. She’s just received a terminal diagnosis giving her 12 months. Unless she’s murdered before her expiration date.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710821

ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL by Kerri Maher (Historical Fiction)
Chicago, early 1970s: Who does a woman call when she needs help? Jane. The best-known secret in the city, Jane is an underground women’s health organization composed entirely of women helping women, empowering them to live lives free from the expectations of society by offering reproductive counseling and safe, illegal abortions. Veronica, Jane’s founder, prides herself on the services she has provided to thousands of women, yet the price of others’ freedom is that she leads a double life. When she’s not at Jane, Veronica plays the role of a conventional housewife --- which becomes even more difficult during her own high-risk pregnancy.
Berkley | 9780593102220

THE BERLIN APARTMENT by Bryn Turnbull (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Berlin 1961: When Uli Neumann proposes to Lise Bauer, she has every reason to accept. He offers her love, respect and a life beyond the strict bounds of the East German society in which she was raised. But only two short days after their engagement, Lise and Uli are torn violently apart when barbed wire is rolled across Berlin, splitting the city into two hostile halves: capitalist West Berlin, an island of western influence isolated far beyond the iron curtain; and the socialist East, a country determined to control its citizens by any means necessary. Soon, Uli and his friends in West Berlin hatch a plan to get Lise and her unborn child out of East Germany. But as distance and suspicion bleed into their lives and as weeks turn to months, how long can true love survive in the divided city?
Mira | 9780778305453

THE CHAOS AGENT: A Gray Man Novel by Mark Greaney (Thriller)
Someone is killing the world’s leading experts on robotics and artificial intelligence. Is it a tech company trying to eliminate the competition, or is it something even more sinister? The Gray Man’s quest for a quiet life has led him to Central America, where he and his lover, Zoya Zakharova, have assumed new identities. With a list of enemies that includes billionaires, terrorists and governments, they need to keep a low profile. Eventually, though, they’re tracked down and offered a job by an old acquaintance of Zoya’s. He needs their help extracting a Russian scientist who is on the kill list. They reject the offer, but just being seen with him is enough to put assassins on their trail. Now they’re back on the run, but no matter which way they turn, it's clear that whoever is tracking them is always going to be one step ahead.
Berkley | 9780593548165

DEMON COPPERHEAD by Barbara Kingsolver (Fiction)
Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, DEMON COPPERHEAD is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.
Harper Perennial | 9780063251984

THE FALL OF NÚMENOR: And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-earth written by J. R. R. Tolkien and edited by Brian Sibley, with illustrations by Alan Lee (Fantasy/Adventure)
Guided by the Dark Lord Sauron, the Elves of Eregion forge the Rings of Power. Yet in secret, he has begun building the Barad-dûr in Mordor. And here, in the fires of Mount Doom, he makes the One Ring. Seeking to rule Middle-earth, Sauron begins to wage terrible war upon them. On the island-kingdom of Númenor, the Men of the West become mighty, building great ships to increase their influence throughout Middle-earth. But as their power grows, the seed of their downfall is sown. Only by uniting in alliance with the Elves can they hope to overcome Sauron. Adhering to “The Tale of Years” timeline in The Lord of the Rings, Brian Sibley assembles a new chronicle of Middle-earth. It's a tragic tale of pride, envy and downfall told substantially in the words of J. R. R. Tolkien from the various published texts originally edited by Christopher Tolkien, and illustrated with pencil drawings by Alan Lee.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063280694

GOING INFINITE: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis (Business & Economics)
When Michael Lewis first met him, Sam Bankman-Fried was the world’s youngest billionaire and crypto’s Gatsby. CEOs, celebrities and leaders of small countries all vied for his time and cash after he catapulted, practically overnight, onto the Forbes billionaire list. Who was this rumpled guy in cargo shorts and limp white socks, whose eyes twitched across Zoom meetings as he played video games on the side? In GOING INFINITE, Michael Lewis sets out to answer this question, taking readers into the mind of Bankman-Fried, whose rise and fall offers an education in high-frequency trading, cryptocurrencies, philanthropy, bankruptcy and the justice system.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324105817

A GRANDMOTHER BEGINS THE STORY by Michelle Porter (Fiction)
Carter is a young mother on a quest to find the true meaning of her heritage, which she only learned of in her teens. Allie is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her get to her ancestors in the afterlife. And Geneviève is determined to conquer her demons --- before the fire inside burns her up --- with the help of the sister she lost but has never been without. Meanwhile, Mamé, in the afterlife, knows that all their stories began with her. She must find a way to cut herself from the last threads that keep her tethered to the living, just as they must find their own paths forward. And a young bison wants to understand why he keeps being moved and if he should make a break for it and run for his life.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755199

THE HOUSE ON GRAVEYARD LANE: A Rachel Savernake Golden Age Mystery by Martin Edwards (Historical Mystery)
Paperback Original
The woman in white --- surreal artist Damaris Gethin --- has invited a select group to the opening of her exhibit, "Artist in Crime," held in the eerie subterranean Hades Gallery. As costumed models reenact famously violent deaths, the artist herself portrays Marie Antoinette on the day of her execution, complete with a guillotine on the stage. It's not a prop. Within 10 minutes of Rachel's promise to solve Damaris' future murder, the artist slips her neck into the collar of the device, and the very real blade sends her head rolling at the feet of her horrified audience. As everyone reels from the shock, Rachel quickly learns that Damaris herself accomplished the deed with the push of a button --- a suicide. So then why did she ask Rachel to solve her "murder?"
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781728297989

I’LL HAVE WHAT HE’S HAVING by Adib Khorram (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Newly heartbroken --- again --- substitute teacher Farzan Alavi is drowning his sorrows at Kansas City’s newest wine bar. But instead of being crowded between strangers, he’s escorted to a VIP table for one. The way the hot sommelier flirts with Farzan ignites instant sparks. There’s just one problem: David Curtis thinks Farzan is Kansas City’s most influential food critic. The truth only comes out after the two spend an unforgettably hot night together. It turns out that David is studying to become a master sommelier and has no interest in a relationship. Neither expects their paths to cross again...until Farzan inherits his family’s bistro. The two agree to a friends-sans-benefits exchange: David will share his industry knowledge, and Farzan will help David study. But business turns to pleasure when neither can ignore the attraction still sizzling between them.
Forever | 9781538739518

LONG LIVE EVIL by Sarah Rees Brennan (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
When her whole life collapsed, Rae still had books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favorite fantasy series. She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, in a kingdom on the brink of war. Home to dangerous monsters, scheming courtiers and her favorite fictional character: the Once and Forever Emperor. He’s impossibly alluring, as only fiction can be. And in this fantasy world, she discovers she's not the heroine, but the villainess in the Emperor's tale. So be it. The wicked are better dressed, with better one-liners, even if they're doomed to bad ends. She assembles the wildly disparate villains of the story under her evil leadership, plotting to change their fate. But as the body count rises and the Emperor's fury increases, it seems Rae and her allies may not survive to see the final page.
Orbit | 9780316568715

MAGICAL MEET CUTE by Jean Meltzer (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Faye Kaplan is a potter in Woodstock, New York, who lacks a perfect guy in her life. Not that she needs one. She’s definitely happy alone. That is, until she finds her town papered with anti-Semitic flyers after yet another failed singles event at the synagogue. Desperate for comfort, Faye drunkenly turns to the only thing guaranteed to soothe her --- pottery. A golem protector is just what her town needs…and adding all the little details to make him her ideal man can’t hurt, right? When a seriously hot stranger mysteriously turns up the next day, Greg seems too good to be true --- if you ignore the fact that Faye hit him with her bike and that he subsequently lost his memory. But otherwise, the man checks every single box, causing Faye to wonder if Greg’s sudden and spicy appearance might be anything but a coincidence.
Mira | 9780778334415

SAVING MYLES by Carl Vonderau (Thriller)
Wade, a respected banker in La Jolla, CA, and his estranged wife, Fiona, make the unbearable decision to send their teenage son, Myles, away to an expensive treatment center after a streak of harmful behavior. After a year of treatment, Myles comes home, seemingly rehabilitated. But soon, he sneaks off to Tijuana to buy drugs --- and is kidnapped. When the ransom call comes, Fiona is frantic and accepts help from Andre, the Quebecois whose charity Fiona runs. In order to get the ransom money, Wade makes a deal with Andre: He’ll work for Andre’s bank in exchange for the cash. But as Wade races to rescue Myles before his kidnappers lose their patience, he realizes he’s wrapped up in more crime than just a kidnapping. He’s now indebted to a cartel.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096237

THE SECRET HOURS by Mick Herron (Thriller)
Two years ago, a hostile Prime Minister launched the Monochrome inquiry, investigating "historical over-reaching" by the British Secret Service. Monochrome’s mission was to ferret out any misconduct by any MI5 officer --- and allowed Griselda Fleet and Malcolm Kyle, the two civil servants seconded to the project, access to all confidential information in the Service archives. Now that the administration that created Monochrome has been ousted, the investigation is a total bust --- and Griselda and Malcolm are stuck watching as their career prospects are washed away. Until the eve of Monochrome’s shuttering, when an MI5 case file appears without explanation. It is the buried history of a classified operation in 1994 Berlin whose cover-up has rewritten 30 years of Service history.
Soho Crime | 9781641296007

THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW by David Joy (Noir Mystery)
Toya Gardner, a young Black artist from Atlanta, has returned to her ancestral home in the North Carolina mountains to trace her family history and complete her graduate thesis. But when she encounters a still-standing Confederate monument in the heart of town, she sets her sights on something bigger. Meanwhile, local deputies find a man sleeping in the back of a station wagon and believe him to be nothing more than some slack-jawed drifter. Yet a search of the man’s vehicle reveals that he is a high-ranking member of the Klan, and the uncovering of a notebook filled with local names threatens to turn the mountain on end. After two horrific crimes split the county apart, every soul must wrestle with deep and unspoken secrets that stretch back for generations.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780525536932

WOLF TRAP by Connor Sullivan (Thriller)
Under the direction of the Special Activities Center in the Operations Directorate of the CIA, over 300 highly trained agents operate in the darkest shadows of the country’s covert wars. Plucked from the highest echelons of America’s special mission units, these individuals go through rigorous training by the Agency to perfect the arts of assassination, sabotage, infiltration and guerrilla warfare. When diplomacy and military intervention fails, the President of the United States calls upon them to solve America’s most dangerous crises. Brian Rhome thought his time within this elite group was over. But now he’s on a desperate race against time around the globe as he confronts the traumas of his past and unravels a deadly conspiracy that threatens the highest levels of American democracy.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books |  9781668054420

THE WREN, THE WREN by Anne Enright (Fiction)
Nell McDaragh never knew her grandfather, the celebrated Irish poet Phil McDaragh. But his love poems seem to speak directly to her. Restless and wryly self-assured, at 22 Nell leaves her mother Carmel’s orderly home to find her own voice as a writer. As she chases obsessive love, damage and transcendence, her grandfather’s poetry seems to guide her home. Carmel knows the magic of her Daddo’s poetry too well. In his poems to her, Phil envisions his daughter as a bright-eyed wren ascending in escape from his hand. But it is Phil who departs, abandoning his wife and two young daughters. Carmel struggles to reconcile “the poet” with the father whose desertion scars her life, along with that of her fiercely dutiful sister and their gentle, cancer-ridden mother.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324076032

On Sale the Week of September 2nd in Hardcover

September 3rd

AGNES SHARP AND THE TRIP OF A LIFETIME written by Leonie Swann, translated by Amy Bojang (Mystery/Humor)
Agnes, Charlie, Marshall and the other elderly residents of Sunset Hall are going stir-crazy at home. And to top it all off, another series of murders is rocking the hamlet of Duck End. So when Edwina manages to slip onto Marshall’s computer in an unobserved moment and promptly wins a stay in an exclusive coastal hotel in Cornwall, the Sunset Hall crew waste no time in joining her. But Agnes sees something unsettling from the terrace of the hotel: two figures in hoods walk away from the hotel along the cliffs, but only one returns. Worried she’s witnessed a murder, Agnes tells the others. At first nobody really believes her. But when the hotel ends up isolated from the outside world after a storm, it becomes clear that a murderer really is on the loose --- and they’re trapped, just like all of the other guests.
Soho Crime | 9781641295802

BECOMING ELIZABETH ARDEN: The Woman Behind the Global Beauty Empire by Stacy A. Cordery (Biography)
Elizabeth Arden was a household name on six continents and a millionaire several times over before her death in 1966. Arden counted British royalty and social elites from the overlapping worlds of New York, Hollywood, London and Paris among her clients. She revolutionized skin care and cosmetics, making it acceptable for all women to embrace glamour and wear makeup. She created a successful international business empire before women gained the vote and at a time when virtually no woman owned or ran a national company. She developed the first luxury spa and insisted on a holistic understanding of health and beauty. In BECOMING ELIZABETH ARDEN, acclaimed biographer Stacy Cordery does full justice to one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs.
Viking | 9780525559764

BLUE SISTERS by Coco Mellors (Fiction)
The three Blue sisters are exceptional --- and exceptionally different. Avery, the eldest and a recovering heroin addict turned strait-laced lawyer, lives with her wife in London; Bonnie, a former boxer, works as a bouncer in Los Angeles following a devastating defeat; and Lucky, the youngest, models in Paris while trying to outrun her hard-partying ways. They also had a fourth sister, Nicky, whose unexpected death left the family reeling. A year later, as they each navigate grief, addiction and ambition, they find they must return to New York to stop the sale of the apartment in which they were raised. As the sisters reckon with the disappointments of their childhood and the loss of the only person who held them together, they realize that the greatest secrets they’ve been keeping might not have been from one another but from themselves.
Ballantine Books | 9780593723760

THE BOOK SWAP by Tessa Bickers (Romance)
Still reeling from a recent tragedy, Erin Connolly knows she needs to start living, but she has no idea how. When she accidentally donates her favorite book --- a heavily annotated copy of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD containing a memento she can’t be without --- to a local community library, she’s devastated. But then the book turns up a week later, back in the library with fresh notes in the margins, along with an invitation in a copy of GREAT EXPECTATIONS to meet her newfound pen pal. A life-changing conversation, written only in the margins of beloved classic books, begins between Erin and her Mystery Man. Following each other through the pages of their favorite novels as the book exchange continues, they both begin to open up, falling into a friendship…and maybe something more. But Erin and her pen pal have a shared history that neither of them has guessed.
Graydon House | 9781525836701

CAPTURE OR KILL: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Don Bentley (Political Thriller)
April 2011: On a remote mountaintop overlooking the remains of the Iranian nuclear weapons program, Azad Ashani witnesses a Quds Force demonstration of a capability meant to upend America’s war in the Middle East. Ashani, director of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, recognizes the demonstration’s true significance and the nation-ending conflict it will provoke. Alone, Ashani stands no chance of preventing this rush to madness. But with the help of one man, he just might. In Washington, DC, CIA director Irene Kennedy briefs the president that the operational window to kill or capture Osama bin Laden at his recently discovered compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, is rapidly closing. But before he’ll authorize a commando raid on Pakistani soil, the president demands irrefutable proof of bin Laden’s presence. Proof he trusts just one man to provide.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668045831

CLIVE CUSSLER GHOST SOLDIER: A Novel of the Oregon Files by Mike Maden (Thriller/Adventure)
When African jihadis attack a Nigerian regiment using American weapons, Juan Cabrillo and the Oregon crew are on the case, investigating from Afghanistan to Kuala Lumpur to track a mysterious arms dealer known only as the Vendor. Cabrillo goes undercover to find the Vendor’s base, but his adversary isn’t just an arms smuggler. He’s an arms maker, and Cabrillo just walked into a lethal military game alongside the most dangerous mercenaries in the world, designed to test the Vendor’s cutting-edge AI arsenal. And yet, surviving an arena full of flame-throwing robots isn’t even his biggest problem. The Vendor has an army of high-speed drones headed for a pivotal military site, and if the Oregon crew can’t stop them from releasing a deadly neurotoxin, the entire globe will erupt in conflict.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593719244

COLORED TELEVISION by Danzy Senna (Fiction/Humor)
Jane and her family are living in luxury for a year, house-sitting in the hills above Los Angeles. The gig magically coincides with Jane’s sabbatical, giving her the time and space she needs to finish her second novel --- a centuries-spanning epic that her artist husband, Lenny, dubs her “mulatto WAR AND PEACE.” Finally, some semblance of stability and success seems to be within her grasp. But things don’t work out quite as hoped. Desperate for a plan B, Jane turns her gaze to Hollywood. When she finagles a meeting with Hampton Ford, a hot producer with a major development deal at a streaming network, he seems excited to work with a “real writer,” and together they begin to develop “the Jackie Robinson of biracial comedies.” Things finally seem to be going right for Jane --- until they go terribly wrong.
Riverhead Books | 9780593544372

CREATION LAKE by Rachel Kushner (Fiction)
CREATION LAKE is about a secret agent --- a 34-year-old American woman of ruthless tactics, bold opinions and clean beauty --- who is sent to do dirty work in France. “Sadie Smith” is how the narrator introduces herself to her lover, to the rural commune of French subversives on whom she is keeping tabs, and to the reader. Sadie has met her love, Lucien, a young and well-born Parisian, by “cold bump” --- making him believe the encounter was accidental. Like everyone Sadie targets, Lucien is useful to her and used by her. In this region of centuries-old farms and ancient caves, Sadie becomes entranced by a mysterious figure named Bruno Lacombe, a mentor to the young activists who communicates only by email. Bruno believes that the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past.
Scribner | 9781982116521

DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK: A Jackson Brodie Book by Kate Atkinson (Mystery)
In his sleepy Yorkshire town, ex-detective Jackson Brodie is staving off boredom and malaise. His only case is the seemingly tedious matter of a stolen painting. But Jackson soon uncovers a string of unsolved art thefts that lead him down a dizzying spiral of disguise and deceit to Burton Makepeace, a formerly magnificent estate now partially converted into a hotel hosting Murder Mystery weekends. As paying guests, impecunious aristocrats and old friends collide, we are treated to Atkinson’s most charming and fiendishly clever mystery yet, one that pays homage to the masters of the genre --- from Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers to the modern era of Knives Out and "Only Murders in the Building."
Doubleday | 9780385547994

THE GODS BELOW by Andrea Stewart (Fantasy/Adventure)
A divine war shattered the world, leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And, as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms --- if they survived at all. Desperate to protect herself and her sister, Rasha, Hakara flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate. She discovers she can channel the magic from the mysterious gems they are forced to mine for Kluehnn. With that discovery comes another: Rasha is alive, and only the rebels plotting to destroy the God Pact can help rescue her. But only if Hakara goes to war against a god.
Orbit | 9780316564892

GUIDE ME HOME: A Highway 59 Novel by Attica Locke (Mystery)
Texas Ranger Darren Mathews is in the midst of remaking his life with the woman he loves when he is visited by someone who always has been bent on tearing his life apart. His mother. Armed with a tall tale about a missing Black college student, Sera (whose white sorority sisters insist she isn’t missing at all). Darren must decide if he can trust that his mother is telling the truth --- and what her ulterior motive may be. He gets his hooks into the investigation, along the way discovering things about Sera’s family and her hometown that are odd at best, vaguely sinister at worst. Hamstrung by local law enforcement and the Texas Rangers who likewise doubt the account of a missing girl, if Darren wants answers, he’ll need help from the person whom he swore to never trust again --- his mother.
Mulholland Books | 9780316494618

THE HAUNTING OF MOSCOW HOUSE by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
(Gothic Horror/Historical Mystery)
It is the summer of 1921, and a group of Bolsheviks have taken over Irina and Lili Goliteva’s ancestral home in Moscow. The remaining members of their family are ordered to move into the cramped attic, while the officials take over an entire wing of grand rooms downstairs. The sisters know they must forget their noble upbringing to make their way in this new Soviet Russia. But the house begins to whisper of a traumatic past not as dead as they thought. Eager to escape it and their unwelcome new landlords, Irina and Lili find jobs with the recently arrived American Relief Administration. But at home, the spirits of their deceased family awaken, desperate to impart what really happened to them during the Revolution. Soon one of the officials living in the house is found dead. Was his death caused by something supernatural, or by someone all too human?
Berkley | 9780593547007

THE LIFE IMPOSSIBLE by Matt Haig (Fiction)
When retired math teacher Grace Winters is left a run-down house on a Mediterranean island by a long-lost friend, curiosity gets the better of her. She arrives in Ibiza with a one-way ticket, no guidebook and no plan. Among the rugged hills and golden beaches of the island, Grace searches for answers about her friend’s life and how it ended. What she uncovers is stranger than she ever could have dreamed. But to dive into this impossible truth, Grace must first come to terms with her past.
Viking | 9780593489277

MADWOMAN by Chelsea Bieker (Fiction)
Clove has gone to extremes to keep her past a secret. Thanks to her lies, she’s landed the life of her dreams, complete with a safe husband and two adoring children who will never know the terror that was routine in her own childhood. If her buried anxiety threatens to breach the surface, Clove (if that is really her name) focuses on finding the right supplement, the right gratitude meditation. But when she receives a letter from a women’s prison in California, her past comes screeching into the present, entangling her in a dangerous game with memory and the people she thought she had outrun. As we race between her precarious present-day life in Portland, Oregon, and her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise with her mother and father, Clove is forced to finally unravel the defining day of her life.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316573290

THE NIGHT GUEST written by Hildur Knútsdóttir, translated by Mary Robinette Kowal (Psychological Thriller/Horror)
Iðunn is in yet another doctor's office. She knows her constant fatigue is a sign that something is not right, but practitioners dismiss her symptoms and blood tests haven't revealed any cause. When she talks to friends and family about it, the refrain is the same: Have you tried eating better? Exercising more? Establishing a nighttime routine? She tries to follow their advice, buying everything from vitamins to sleeping pills to a step-counting watch. Nothing helps. Until one night Iðunn falls asleep with the watch on and wakes up to find she has walked over 40,000 steps in the night. What is happening when she’s asleep? Why is she waking up with increasingly disturbing injuries? And why won’t anyone believe her?
Tor Nightfire | 9781250322043

ON THE HUNT by Iris Johansen (Thriller)
Kira Drake has come to Paris with her highly trained Golden Retriever, Mack, to investigate the horrific bombing of a museum in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. What she doesn’t know is that one powerful man has a special reason to find the person responsible. Jack Harlan has all the money in the world, but it can’t bring his brother back. His sibling was murdered during the theft of a scientific discovery that could have made the world a better place. Now, after a four-year search, Harlan learns that this bombing was the work of the same twisted man. Kira and her dog are in demand from law enforcement agencies all over the world, but Harlan convinces her to continue the investigation for his own purposes, wherever it may lead. So against her better judgment, Kira finds herself on the hunt, placing her trust in Harlan.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538726419

PASSIONS IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
On a hot August night, Lt. Eve Dallas and her husband, Roarke, speed through the streets of Manhattan to the Down and Dirty club, where a joyful, boisterous pre-wedding girls’ night out has turned into a murder scene. One of the brides lies in a pool of blood, garroted in a private room where she was preparing a surprise for her fiancée --- two scrimped and saved-for tickets to Hawaii. Despite the dozens of people present, useful witnesses are hard to come by. Eve knows that the level of violence and the apparent premeditation involved suggest a volatile mix of hidden, heated passion and ice-cold calculation. This is a crime that can be countered only by hard detective work and relentless dedication. Eve will not stop until she finds the killer who destroyed this couple’s dreams before the honeymoon even began.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250289568

SAFE ENOUGH: And Other Stories by Lee Child (Thriller/Short Stories)
For the past 20 years, Lee Child has been one of the best-selling authors in the world, thanks to the popularity of his iconic and instantly recognizable hero, Jack Reacher. But even at the height of Reacher’s fame, Child’s short story writing was not confined to the series. Throughout the course of his career, he published tales about a range of characters on both sides of the law, including assassins, a bodyguard, CIA and FBI agents, gangsters and more. Meticulously plotted and packed with Child’s trademark action and suspense, the stories show his mastery of the short form. They’ve never been collected before now.
Mysterious Press | 9781613165669

SMALL RAIN by Garth Greenwell (Fiction)
A poet's life is turned inside out by a sudden, wrenching pain. The pain brings him to his knees and eventually to the ICU. Confined to bed, plunged into the dysfunctional American health care system, he struggles to understand what is happening to his body, as someone who has lived for many years in his mind. This is a searching, sweeping novel set at the furthest edges of human experience, where the forces that give life value --- art, memory, poetry, music, care --- are thrown into sharp relief. Time expands and contracts. Sudden intimacies bloom. SMALL RAIN surges beyond the hospital to encompass a radiant vision of human life: our shared vulnerability, the limits and possibilities of sympathy, the ideal of art and the fragile dream of America. Above all, this is a love story of the most unexpected kind.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374279547

WE'RE ALONE: Essays by Edwidge Danticat (Essays)
Tracing a loose arc from Edwidge Danticat’s childhood to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent events in Haiti, the essays gathered in WE’RE ALONE include personal narrative, reportage, and tributes to mentors and heroes such as Toni Morrison, Paule Marshall, Gabriel García Márquez and James Baldwin that explore several abiding themes: environmental catastrophe, the traumas of colonialism, motherhood and the complexities of resilience. From hurricanes to political violence, from her days as a new student at a Brooklyn elementary school knowing little English to her account of a shooting hoax at a Miami mall, Danticat has an extraordinary ability to move from the personal to the global and back again. Throughout, literature and art prove to be her reliable companions and guides in both tragedies and triumphs.
Graywolf Press | 9781644453025

WHAT TIME THE SEXTON'S SPADE DOTH RUST: A Flavia de Luce Mystery by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
Flavia de Luce has taken on the mentorship of her odious moon-faced cousin Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother. When Major Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms, suspicion falls on the de Luce family’s longtime cook, Mrs. Mullet. After all, wasn’t it she who’d picked the mushrooms, cooked the omelet and served it to Greyleigh moments before his death? But Flavia knows she is innocent. Together with Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and the obnoxious Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer and clear Mrs. Mullet’s good name. Little does she know that following the case’s twists and turns will lead her to a most surprising discovery --- one with the power to upend her entire life.
Bantam | 9780593724514

THE WHITEWASHED TOMBS: An Emma Djan Investigation by Kwei Quartey (Mystery)
Marcelo Tetteh, a 27-year-old LGBTQ+ activist, is butchered one night after being lured on a dating app to a deserted building site. With rampant homophobia in Ghana, Marcelo’s wealthy father doesn’t trust the Ghana Police Service to find the killer. So he goes to the Sowah Private Investigators Agency for help, partly because he still feels guilty for disowning his son when he came out. PI Emma Djan is assigned the case and goes undercover in the International Congress of Families, a powerful organization seeking to criminalize homosexuality in African countries. As Emma infiltrates the ICF, she uncovers a web of deceit and hypocrisy and discovers that the mastermind behind the murders is someone much closer than she ever imagined.
Soho Crime | 9781641295888

On Sale the Week of September 2nd in Paperback

September 1st

DIVORCE TOWERS by Ellen Meister (Romance)
Paperback Original
Addison Torres has no job, no fiancé, no parents to lean on. So when Uncle Arnie offers her a concierge gig in sunny California, she hops on a plane without looking back. Before it all came crashing down, Addison had a matchmaking career and handsome partner. Then she got a little too cozy with a client. Digging her way out of the wreckage, she’s taken a strict vow of celibacy. Unfortunately, Addison’s new home is where such promises go to die. As concierge at the luxurious Beekman Towers --- nicknamed “Divorce Towers” due to the constant influx of the newly single --- she’s in constant demand by Beverly Hills’ most eligible and entitled bachelors. Addison thinks she’s ready for anything except love. But in Divorce Towers, the world’s toughest concierge may have finally met her match.
Montlake | 9781662520891

FATAL INTRUSION by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Carmen Sanchez is a tough Homeland Security agent who plays by the rules. But when her sister is attacked, revealing a connection to a series of murders across Southern California, she realizes that a conventional investigation will not be enough to stop the ruthless perpetrator. With nowhere else to turn, Sanchez enlists the aid of Professor Jake Heron, a brilliant and quirky private security expert who believes rules are merely suggestions. The two have a troubled past, but he owes her a favor. They team up to catch the assailant, who has no discernible motive and fits no classic criminal profile. All they have to go on is a distinctive tattoo and a singular obsession that gives this chillingly efficient tactician his nickname: Spider. Over the next 72 hours, Sanchez and Heron find themselves in the midst of a lethal chess match with the killer as they race to stop the carnage.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662518720

September 3rd

ACT LIKE A LADY, THINK LIKE A LORD by Celeste Connally (Historical Mystery)
After losing her beloved fiancé in an accident three years earlier, Lady Petra Forsyth announces in front of London’s loosest lips that she will never marry. A woman of independent means, Petra sees no reason to cede her wealth and freedom to any man now that the love of her life is gone. Instead, she plans to continue enjoying the best of society without any expectations. But when ballroom gossip suggests that a longtime friend has died of a fit due to her “melancholia” while in the care of a questionable physician, Petra vows to use her status to dig deeper --- uncovering a private asylum where men pay to have their wives and daughters locked away, or worse. Just as Petra has reason to believe her friend is alive, a shocking murder proves that more danger is afoot than she thought.
Minotaur Books | 9781250867575

ALL HALLOWS by Christopher Golden (Thriller/Horror)
It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, secrets are being revealed. And all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save the children of Parmenter Road?
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250322005

AMAZING GRACE ADAMS by Fran Littlewood (Fiction)
Grace Adams gave birth, blinked, and now suddenly she is 45, perimenopausal and stalled --- the unhappiest age you can be, according to the Guardian. And today she’s really losing it. Stuck in traffic, she finally has had enough. To the astonishment of everyone, Grace gets out of her car and simply walks away. Grace sets off across London, armed with a £200 cake, to win back her estranged teenage daughter on her 16th birthday. Today is the day she’ll remind her daughter that no matter how far we fall, we can always get back up again. Because Grace Adams used to be amazing. Her husband thought so. Her daughter thought so. Even Grace thought so. But everyone seems to have forgotten. Grace is about to remind them...and, most important, remind herself.
Holt Paperbacks | 9781250857002

THE BEE STING by Paul Murray (Fiction)
The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie’s once-lucrative car business is going under --- but Dickie is spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife, Imelda, is selling off her jewelry on eBay and half-heartedly dodging the attention of fast-talking cattle farmer Big Mike, while their teenage daughter, Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge drink her way through her final exams. As for 12-year-old PJ, he’s on the brink of running away. If you wanted to change this story, how far back would you have to go? To the infamous bee sting that ruined Imelda’s wedding day? To the car crash one year before Cass was born? All the way back to Dickie at 10 years old, standing in the summer garden with his father, learning how to be a real man?
Picador | 9781250338259

CREEP: Accusations and Confessions by Myriam Gurba (Sociology/Essays)
A creep can be a singular figure, a villain who makes things go bump in the night. Yet creep is also what the fog does --- it lurks into place to do its dirty work, muffling screams, obscuring the truth, and providing cover for those prowling within it. CREEP is Myriam Gurba’s informal sociology of creeps, a deep dive into the dark recesses of the toxic traditions that plague the United States and create the abusers who haunt our books, schools and homes. Gurba studies the ways in which oppression is collectively enacted, sustaining ecosystems that unfairly distribute suffering and premature death to our most vulnerable. She also examines how we as individuals, communities and institutions can challenge creeps and rid ourselves of the fog that seeks to blind us.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781982186487

DARK RIDE by Lou Berney (Thriller)
Twenty-one-year-old Hardy “Hardly” Reed, a minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, notices two children sitting all alone on a bench. He checks if they’re okay and sees injuries on both of them, so he reports the incident to Child Protective Services. But the more research he does, the less he trusts that they will do anything about it. Gradually, Hardly develops investigative skills and discovers he’s smarter and more capable than he ever imagined. But he also discovers that the situation is more dangerous than he ever expected. The abusive father who has been hurting these children isn’t just a lawyer --- he also runs a violent drug-dealing operation. The mother claims she wants to escape with the kids, but Hardly isn't sure he can trust her.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062663887

DEVILS ISLAND by Midge Raymond and John Yunker (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Devils Island is home to abundant wildlife, making it the ideal place to reintroduce endangered Tasmanian devils. Working to rescue, rehabilitate and release devils has been Kerry’s job and passion for years, but a new opportunity to work as a naturalist guide for a tour company offers her a respite from the emotionally grueling task of trying to save an endangered species. When one of the guests disappears on the first night, the group assumes she has wandered too far in the stormy weather. Yet it turns out she has a secret connection to one of the other guests. When another hiker is found dead in camp, the group finds itself isolated by the worsening storm and wondering who among them might be responsible.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608096145

THE FRAUD by Zadie Smith (Historical Fiction)
It is 1873. Mrs. Eliza Touchet is the Scottish housekeeper --- and cousin by marriage --- of a once-famous novelist, William Ainsworth, with whom she has lived for 30 years. Mrs. Touchet suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr. Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. The “Tichborne Trial” --- wherein a lower-class butcher from Australia claimed he was in fact the rightful heir of a sizable estate and title --- captivates Mrs. Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud?
Penguin Books | 9780525558989

FROM A FAR AND LOVELY COUNTRY: No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (24) by Alexander McCall Smith (Mystery)
Mma Ramotswe and Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni are approached by an American woman who seeks the help of Botswana’s premier detective. Julia’s beloved late grandfather was Botswanan, and he instilled in her an abiding love of his homeland. Now, years after his passing, Julia has come to visit the land he had spoken of so often and to find her relatives. Meanwhile, a second case leads Mma Ramotswe to look for assistance from an unexpected quarter. For the first time, Charlie leads his own investigation at the detective agency, going undercover into a dubious, word-of-mouth get-together known as the Cool Singles Evening Club, where married men are encouraged to pretend to be single and meet women under false pretenses. Who could be behind such a distasteful venture?
Vintage | 9780593468395

GOOD BAD GIRL by Alice Feeney (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth. Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything. Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good. With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders and one victim. If they do, they just might find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her and the connections that bind them.
Flatiron Books | 9781250843982

HOLLY by Stephen King (Thriller/Horror)
When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly Gibney is reluctant to accept the case. Her partner, Pete, has COVID. Her (very complicated) mother has just died. And Holly is meant to be on leave. But something in Penny Dahl’s desperate voice makes it impossible for Holly to turn her down. Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability, but they are harboring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie’s disappearance. And it will prove nearly impossible to discover what they are up to: they are savvy, they are patient, and they are ruthless.
Scribner | 9781668014943

LET US DESCEND by Jesmyn Ward (Historical Fiction)
LET US DESCEND is a reimagining of American slavery --- a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation. Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with spirits: of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take.
Scribner | 9781982104504

THE LOCK-UP by John Banville (Historical Mystery)
In 1950s Dublin, young history scholar Rosa Jacobs is found dead in her car. Renowned pathologist Dr. Quirke and DI St. John Strafford begin to investigate the death as a murder, but it’s the victim’s older sister Molly, an established journalist, who discovers a lead that could crack open the case. One of Rosa’s friends, it turns out, is from a powerful German family that arrived in Ireland under mysterious circumstances shortly after World War II. But as Quirke and Strafford close in, their personal lives may put the case --- and everyone involved --- in peril, including Quirke’s own daughter.
Hanover Square Press | 9781335009180

THE LOST CAUSE by Cory Doctorow (Science Fiction)
It’s 30 years from now. We’re making progress, mitigating climate change, slowly but surely. But what about all the angry old people who can’t let go? For young Americans a generation from now, climate change isn't controversial. It's just an overwhelming fact of life. And so are the great efforts to contain and mitigate it. But there are still those Americans, mostly elderly, who cling to their red baseball caps, their grievances, their huge vehicles, their anger. To their "alternative" news sources that reassure them that their resentment is right and pure and that "climate change" is just a giant scam. And they're your grandfather, your uncle, your great-aunt. And they're not going anywhere. And they’re armed to the teeth.
Tor Books | 9781250865946

MISINTERPRETATION by Ledia Xhoga (Fiction)
Paperback Original
In present-day New York City, an Albanian interpreter reluctantly agrees to work with Alfred, a Kosovar torture survivor, during his therapy sessions. Despite her husband’s cautions, she soon becomes entangled in her clients’ struggles: Alfred’s nightmares stir up her own buried memories, and an impulsive attempt to help a Kurdish poet leads to a risky encounter and a reckless plan. As ill-fated decisions stack up, jeopardizing the nameless narrator’s marriage and mental health, she takes a spontaneous trip to reunite with her mother in Albania, where her life in the United States is put into stark relief. When she returns to face the consequences of her actions, she must question what is real and what is not.
Tin House Books | 9781959030805

MOTHER-DAUGHTER MURDER NIGHT by Nina Simon (Mystery)
High-powered businesswoman Lana Rubicon has a lot to be proud of. But when she finds herself trapped 300 miles north of the city, convalescing in a sleepy coastal town with her adult daughter Beth and teenage granddaughter Jack, Lana hopes that boredom won’t kill her before the cancer does. Then Jack happens upon a dead body while kayaking and quickly becomes a suspect in the homicide investigation. Beth thinks Lana should focus on recovery, but Lana has a better idea. She’ll pull on her wig, find the true murderer, protect her family and prove she still has power. With Jack and Beth’s help, Lana uncovers a web of lies, family vendettas and land disputes lurking beneath the surface of a community populated by folksy conservationists and wealthy ranchers.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063315051

MURDER, SHE WROTE: FIT FOR MURDER by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
Evelyn Phillips, the former editor of the Cabot Cove Gazette, is back in Cabot Cove. Evelyn tells Jessica and Seth that she got a couple of really weird notes from Bertha Mae Cormier, so she’s come back to town to check on her old friend. Jessica does become somewhat concerned when Bertha Mae starts to talk about her new neighbor, Martin Terranova, who teaches yoga and meditation in his pool house. Jessica attends one of his classes and notices that Terranova is flirtatious with several elderly clients, especially Bertha Mae. Evelyn is becoming convinced that Terranova is after Bertha Mae’s money. A short while later, Martin turns up dead in his weight room. What at first blush seems to be an accident soon proves to be murder, and Evelyn becomes the prime suspect.
Berkley | 9780593640708

THE POLE by J. M. Coetzee (Fiction)
Wittold Walccyzkiecz is a vigorous, extravagantly white-haired pianist and interpreter of Chopin who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his concert in Barcelona. Although Beatriz, a married woman, is initially unimpressed by Wittold, she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into his world. As the journeyman performer sends her countless letters, extends invitations to travel, and even visits her husband’s summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though only on Beatriz’s terms. The power struggle between them intensifies, eventually escalating into a full-fledged battle of the sexes. But is it Beatriz who limits their passion by paralyzing her emotions? Or is it Wittold trying to force into life his dream of love?
Liveright | 9781324095668

PRIME TIME ROMANCE by Kate Robb (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
A newly divorced Brynn thought she had found her happy ending. But now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she has “Carson’s Cove,” her beloved 2000s teenage soap, to binge. The show ended on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. When a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted: a happily ever after. The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove, and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh. They’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593596555

THE REAPING: A Steinbeck and Reed Thriller by Jess Lourey (Thriller)
Paperback Original
In 1998, an Alku, Minnesota, family of five was brutally murdered in their sleep. The event shook the insulated community but, without any solid leads, was relegated to the cold case files, where it moldered for 25 years. Until today. Agent Harry Steinbeck hoped never to return to the northland, a place that holds terrible memories of his sister’s abduction. But when a recent homicide is connected to Alku’s unsolved mass murder, he and cold case agent Evangeline Reed have no choice but to investigate. The case grows impossibly darker as, one by one, the children of Alku begin disappearing. Harry and Van can’t shake the sensation that someone is watching every move they make --- and the elusive killer’s trail leads to a truth more sinister than either imagined.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662513985

THE SEPTEMBER HOUSE by Carissa Orlando (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
When Margaret and her husband, Hal, bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street, they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee. Margaret is not most people. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine --- who knows nothing about the hauntings --- arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Berkley | 9780593548622

TOO MANY BULLETS by Max Allan Collins (Historical Thriller/Mystery)
It began with John F. Kennedy in 1963. Then Malcolm X in 1965. Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968. And then, in June of the same year, President Kennedy’s brother, Robert, fell before an assassin’s bullets at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. But how many shooters were there, really? And who sent them? In TOO MANY BULLETS, Max Allan Collins takes Nathan Heller, “Private Eye to the Stars,” from the scene of the crime to Hollywood’s seediest haunts, from strip joints to Washington, D.C.’s corridors of power to a deadly desert showdown outside Las Vegas, all in pursuit of the truth about a conspiracy that may have put the wrong man in jail, let the real killers go free, and snuffed out the life of a man poised to become the next president of the United States.
Hard Case Crime | 9781789099485

THE TRAP by Ava Glass (Thriller)
Paperback Original
Emma Makepeace is headed to Edinburgh for the global G7 Summit when her team is tipped off about a high-profile assassination the Russians are planning. But they have no idea who the target is. Surrounded by the world’s most powerful political leaders in a gridlocked city, Emma must set a trap and use herself as bait. With time running short, Emma faces the most perilous mission of her career. How far will she go to catch the killer?
Bantam | 9780593972212

VAMPIRES OF EL NORTE by Isabel Cañas (Supernatural Western/Horror)
As the daughter of a rancher in 1840s Mexico, Nena knows a thing or two about monsters. Her home has long been threatened by tensions with Anglo settlers from the north. But something more sinister lurks near the ranch at night, something that drains men of their blood and leaves them for dead. Something that once attacked Nena nine years ago. Believing Nena dead, Néstor has been on the run from his grief ever since. But no amount of drink can dispel the night terrors of sharp teeth; no woman can erase his childhood sweetheart from his mind. When the United States invades Mexico in 1846, the two are brought abruptly together on the road to war. But the shock of their reunion is quickly overshadowed by the appearance of a nightmare made flesh.
Berkley | 9780593436738

WEST HEART KILL by Dann McDorman (Mystery)
When private detective Adam McAnnis joins an old college friend for the Bicentennial weekend at the exclusive West Heart club in upstate New York, he finds himself among a set of not-entirely-friendly strangers. Then the body of one of the members is found at the lake’s edge; hours later, a major storm hits. By the time power is restored on Sunday, two more people will be dead.
Vintage | 9780593685839

WHERE THEY LAST SAW HER by Marcie R. Rendon (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Quill has lived on the Red Pine reservation in Minnesota her whole life. She knows what happens to women who look like her. Just a girl when Jimmy Sky jumped off the railway bridge and she ran for help, Quill realizes now that she’s never stopped running. As she trains for the Boston Marathon early one morning in the woods, she hears a scream. All she finds are tire tracks and a single beaded earring. When she hears that a second woman has been stolen, she is determined to do something about it. As Quill closes in on the truth about the missing women, someone else disappears. In her quest to find justice for all of the women of the reservation, she is confronted with the hard truths of their home and the people who purport to serve them. When will she stop losing neighbors, friends and family?
Bantam | 9780593974872

WHILE YOU WERE OUT: An Intimate Family Portrait of Mental Illness in an Era of Silence by Meg Kissinger (Memoir)
Growing up in the 1960s, Meg Kissinger’s family seemed to live a charmed life. With eight kids and two loving parents, the Kissingers radiated a warm, boisterous energy. But behind closed doors, a harsher reality was unfolding --- a heavily medicated mother hospitalized for anxiety and depression, a manic father prone to violence, and children in the throes of bipolar disorder and depression, two of whom would take their own lives. Through it all, the Kissingers faced the world with their signature dark humor and the unspoken family rule: never talk about it. WHILE YOU WERE OUT begins as the personal story of one family’s struggles and then opens outward, as Kissinger details how childhood tragedy catalyzed a journalism career focused on exposing our country’s flawed mental health care.
Celadon Books | 9781250877031

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