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Editorial Content for Drawn Testimony: My Four Decades as a Courtroom Sketch Artist

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ron Kaplan (www.RonKaplansBaseballBookshelf.com)

In a world where just about everyone has a camera at their fingertips, photography is still not allowed in most courtrooms. That leaves the visual recording of such momentous events in the hands of the sketch artist.

How often have you seen these drawings on the evening news, depicting the events of the day from major trials? There are certain professions, especially within the arts, that most people don’t think about. The courtroom artist is one of those. DRAWN TESTIMONY will give the reader insight into and a new appreciation for a job that often falls just out of view. Read More

Teaser

For over 40 years, Jane Rosenberg has been at the heart of the news cycle, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system as a courtroom sketch artist, including the most recent Donald Trump hush money trial. In DRAWN TESTIMONY, Rosenberg brings us into the dramatic high-stakes world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front-row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history. Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception and what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general.

Promo

For over 40 years, Jane Rosenberg has been at the heart of the news cycle, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system as a courtroom sketch artist, including the most recent Donald Trump hush money trial. In DRAWN TESTIMONY, Rosenberg brings us into the dramatic high-stakes world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front-row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history. Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception and what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general.

About the Book

From America’s top courtroom sketch artist, a penetrating, compulsively readable memoir about her dramatic four-decade career.

For over 40 years, Jane Rosenberg has been at the heart of the news cycle, covering almost every major trial that has passed through the New York justice system as a courtroom sketch artist, including the most recent Donald Trump hush money trial.

In DRAWN TESTIMONY, Rosenberg brings us into the dramatic high-stakes world of her craft, where art, psychology and courtroom drama collide. Over the course of her legendary career, Jane has had a front-row seat to some of the most iconic and notorious moments in our nation’s recent history, including cases pertaining to:

  • Mick Jagger
  • Martha Stewart
  • Tom Brady's "Deflategate" scandal
  • John Lennon’s murder trial
  • Ghislaine Maxwell
  • John Gotti
  • Harvey Weinstein
  • The Boston Marathon bomber
  • Donald Trump

Readers will learn how she has honed her unique powers of perception and also what her portraits reveal, not only about her subjects, but about the human condition in general.

Fearless, fascinating and gorgeously written, DRAWN TESTIMONY captures the unique career of an artist whose body of work depicts history as it’s happening.

Audiobook available, read by Gabra Zackman

Editorial Content for Betrayal at Blackthorn Park: An Evelyne Redfern Mystery

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Pamela Kramer

Fans of Julia Kelly's historical novels met Evelyne Redfern in A TRAITOR IN WHITEHALL, where she is hired as a typist in the war department of the British government during WWII. There she stumbles upon a murder, and she and spy David Poole, who becomes her romantic interest, solve the crime. Read More

Teaser

Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, former typist Evelyne Redfern is eager for her first assignment as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment. Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both strait-laced and dashing in annoyingly equal measure. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance. When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated.

Promo

Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, former typist Evelyne Redfern is eager for her first assignment as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment. Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both strait-laced and dashing in annoyingly equal measure. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance. When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated.

About the Book

With mystery, intrigue and the hints of romance international bestselling author Julia Kelly is known for, Evelyne Redfern returns in BETRAYAL AT BLACKTHORN PARK.

Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, former typist Evelyne Redfern is eager for her first assignment as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment.

Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both strait-laced and dashing in annoyingly equal measure. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance.

When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated. Evelyne must use all of her --- and David’s --- detection skills to root out who is responsible and uncover layers of deception that could change the course of the war.

Audiobook available, read by Marisa Calin

Editorial Content for The Last Dream

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Jana Siciliano

At the Venice Film Festival in September, Spanish film director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar received an 18-minute standing ovation for his first English-language movie, The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton. His storied career takes a new turn with the arrival of his first book of stories --- some are personal and comic, while others are fables and a little gothic fiction. Read More

Teaser

With this debut collection, two-time Academy Award-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar delivers a tantalizing glimpse into his world, formed by 12 stories carefully selected from his personal writings dating from the late ‘60s to the present. Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused…. I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little enigmatic.” Each entry reflects Almodóvar's most intimate obsessions, as well as his evolution as an artist.

Promo

With this debut collection, two-time Academy Award-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar delivers a tantalizing glimpse into his world, formed by 12 stories carefully selected from his personal writings dating from the late ‘60s to the present. Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused…. I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little enigmatic.” Each entry reflects Almodóvar's most intimate obsessions, as well as his evolution as an artist.

About the Book

Making his English language debut, the iconoclastic, two-time Academy award-winning writer and director reveals his singular mind as never before in this collection of 12 remarkable stories spanning memoir, comedy, autofiction, parody, pastiche and gothic fiction.

With this debut collection, two-time Academy Award-winning writer and director Pedro Almodóvar delivers a tantalizing glimpse into his world, formed by 12 stories carefully selected from his personal writings dating from the late ‘60s to the present. Almodóvar writes: “I’ve been asked to write my autobiography more than once, and I’ve always refused…. I’ve never kept a diary, and whenever I’ve tried, I’ve never made it to page two; in a sense, then, this book represents something of a paradox. It might be best described as a fragmentary autobiography, incomplete and a little enigmatic.”

Each entry reflects Almodóvar's most intimate obsessions, as well as his evolution as an artist. In the title story, “The Last Dream,” Almodóvar reflects on the death of his mother. Other entries in the collection include a love story between Jesus and Barabbas, a story of retribution that formed the basis for the film Bad Education, a manic adventure about a film director searching for painkillers on a bank holiday weekend, and a gothic tale centered around a repentant vampire.

Audiobook available; read by Colman Domingo, Rachel Weisz, Juan Diego Botto, Norbert Leo Butz, Taylour Paige, Michael Cera and Edoardo Ballerini

Editorial Content for The Usual Silence: An Arles Shepherd Thriller

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

In THE USUAL SILENCE, award-winning author Jenny Milchman introduces readers to a highly complex character. Arles Shepherd is a psychologist who suffers from childhood trauma and now finds herself tending to troubled and mistreated children in her own practice. The book has the expected clever plotting that Milchman is famous for and features a number of characters she brilliantly will link together by fate, with the “silence” metaphor playing a heavy role in the narrative. Read More

Teaser

Psychologist Arles Shepherd treats troubled children, struggling with each case to recover from her own traumatic past. Having just set up a new kind of treatment center in the remote Adirondack wilderness, Arles longs to heal one patient in particular: a 10-year-old boy who has never spoken a word --- or so his mother, Louise, believes. Hundreds of miles away, Cass Monroe is living a parent’s worst nightmare. His 12-year-old daughter has vanished on her way home from school. With no clues, no witnesses and no trail, the police are at a dead end. Fighting a heart that was already ailing, and struggling to keep both his marriage and himself alive, Cass turns to a pair of true-crime podcasters for help. Arles, Louise and Cass will soon find their lives entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated.

Promo

Psychologist Arles Shepherd treats troubled children, struggling with each case to recover from her own traumatic past. Having just set up a new kind of treatment center in the remote Adirondack wilderness, Arles longs to heal one patient in particular: a 10-year-old boy who has never spoken a word --- or so his mother, Louise, believes. Hundreds of miles away, Cass Monroe is living a parent’s worst nightmare. His 12-year-old daughter has vanished on her way home from school. With no clues, no witnesses and no trail, the police are at a dead end. Fighting a heart that was already ailing, and struggling to keep both his marriage and himself alive, Cass turns to a pair of true-crime podcasters for help. Arles, Louise and Cass will soon find their lives entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated.

About the Book

A psychologist haunted by childhood trauma must unearth all that is buried in her past in this twisting, lyrical novel of suspense by Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author Jenny Milchman.

Psychologist Arles Shepherd treats troubled children, struggling with each case to recover from her own traumatic past, much of which she’s lost to the shadows of memory. Having just set up a new kind of treatment center in the remote Adirondack wilderness, Arles longs to heal one patient in particular: a 10-year-old boy who has never spoken a word --- or so his mother, Louise, believes.

Hundreds of miles away, Cass Monroe is living a parent’s worst nightmare. His 12-year-old daughter has vanished on her way home from school. With no clues, no witnesses and no trail, the police are at a dead end. Fighting a heart that was already ailing, and struggling to keep both his marriage and himself alive, Cass turns to a pair of true-crime podcasters for help.

Arles, Louise and Cass will soon find their lives entangled in ways none of them could have anticipated. And when the collision occurs, a quarter-century-old secret will be forced out of hiding. Because nothing screams louder than silence.

Audiobook available, read by Sarah Mollo-Christensen

Editorial Content for Queen Macbeth

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

The front cover depicts a red rose framed by thorny branches with bright red blood dripping from the tip of a single thorn. The inside cover states: "Shakespeare fed us the myth of the Macbeths as murderous conspirators. But now Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history. Expect the unexpected…" Read More

Teaser

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions --- a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her --- because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.

Promo

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions --- a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her --- because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.

About the Book

Shakespeare created the myth of the Macbeths as indefensible murderous conspirators. But now internationally bestselling author Val McDermid drags the truth out of the shadows, exposing the patriarchal prejudices of history.

Britain’s reigning “Queen of Crime” (The Scotsman), Val McDermid has ensnared audiences worldwide for over 30 years with her thrilling and masterfully plotted crime oeuvre. A radical, rip-roaring counternarrative drawing on the historical record, QUEEN MACBETH delivers an illuminating portrait of Shakespeare’s most famous villain, and the treacherous pursuit of ambition that made her legendary.

A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions --- a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her --- because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.

Immersive and utterly riveting, QUEEN MACBETH is an electric reimagining of one of Shakespeare’s most celebrated tragedies and reaffirms McDermid as one of the preeminent writers of our day.

Audiobook available, read by Lesley Harcourt

Editorial Content for The Life and Death of Rose Doucette

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

L. Dean Murphy

Dallas homicide detective “Rose Doucette was a cop’s cop. Despite being headstrong, she was well liked within the department” during a stellar 22-year career. While investigating the dubious suicide of her brother Boyd’s childhood friend, Josh Gannon, she’s suspended. Leaving the verboten crime scene, she is tailed and shot in the head. Her ex, former cop Dylan Fisher, follows the two cars and is bushwhacked. He’s staged as the killer, his fingerprints on the murder weapon. Read More

Teaser

Dallas private investigator Dylan Fisher hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rose, in three years --- which is why he’s surprised when she asks him to meet her at a hotel. Rose Doucette is a homicide detective, and she wants Dylan’s help with a murder investigation that she’s been asked to step back from but can’t seem to let go. They review the details of the case and part ways --- but as Rose is leaving the parking lot, Dylan sees a suspicious car begin to follow her. He tails the car and tries to warn Rose, but he’s too late --- the driver of the car shoots her, killing her instantly. The police are determined to pin the murder on Dylan, so he’s left with no choice but to find the killer himself. Teaming up with Rose’s widower, the pair dive into Rose’s past to figure out who could’ve wanted to kill the woman they both loved --- and what they were trying to hide.

Promo

Dallas private investigator Dylan Fisher hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rose, in three years --- which is why he’s surprised when she asks him to meet her at a hotel. Rose Doucette is a homicide detective, and she wants Dylan’s help with a murder investigation that she’s been asked to step back from but can’t seem to let go. They review the details of the case and part ways --- but as Rose is leaving the parking lot, Dylan sees a suspicious car begin to follow her. He tails the car and tries to warn Rose, but he’s too late --- the driver of the car shoots her, killing her instantly. The police are determined to pin the murder on Dylan, so he’s left with no choice but to find the killer himself. Teaming up with Rose’s widower, the pair dive into Rose’s past to figure out who could’ve wanted to kill the woman they both loved --- and what they were trying to hide.

About the Book

Dallas PI Dylan Fisher thought he was done with his ex-wife --- but now he’s solving her murder.

Dallas private investigator Dylan Fisher hasn’t seen his ex-wife, Rose, in three years --- which is why he’s surprised when she asks him to meet her at a hotel. Rose Doucette is a homicide detective, and she wants Dylan’s help with a murder investigation that she’s been asked to step back from but can’t seem to let go.

They review the details of the case and part ways --- but as Rose is leaving the parking lot, Dylan sees a suspicious car begin to follow her. Feeling uneasy, he tails the car and tries to warn Rose, but he’s too late --- the driver of the car shoots her, killing her instantly, before speeding away.

The police are determined to pin the murder on Dylan, so he’s left with no choice but to find the killer himself. Teaming up with Rose’s widower, a defense attorney named Tito, the pair dive into Rose’s past to figure out who could’ve wanted to kill the woman they both loved --- and what they were trying to hide.

Editorial Content for The Woman Who Lied

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

The prologue of Claire Douglas’ new work of psychological suspense is set in London in May 2022. Author Emilia Ward wants to bring an end to her popular mystery/thriller series and plans to kill off her protagonist, Detective Miranda Moody, in the yet-to-be-released final installment, The Last Chapter. Read More

Teaser

Emilia Ward lives in suburban London with her husband, their young son, and a teenager from her first marriage. Emilia is an ordinary mom --- and she’s also the bestselling author of the Miranda Moody detective novels. But when writing her 10th --- and most difficult --- book, life takes a disturbing turn: an incident mimicking the plot of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, right? Until it happens again. And again. Then someone she knows dies in the same way as a victim in the book she's currently writing. Why is someone doing this? What do they want? How could they possibly know what she’s thinking --- and writing? Is Emilia and her family next?

Promo

Emilia Ward lives in suburban London with her husband, their young son, and a teenager from her first marriage. Emilia is an ordinary mom --- and she’s also the bestselling author of the Miranda Moody detective novels. But when writing her 10th --- and most difficult --- book, life takes a disturbing turn: an incident mimicking the plot of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, right? Until it happens again. And again. Then someone she knows dies in the same way as a victim in the book she's currently writing. Why is someone doing this? What do they want? How could they possibly know what she’s thinking --- and writing? Is Emilia and her family next?

About the Book

A bestselling detective novelist and her family are in danger when chilling events from her novels begin happening around her in this gripping thriller from the British sensation --- the #1 internationally bestselling author of THE GIRLS WHO DISAPPEARED and THE COUPLE AT NUMBER 9.

Emilia has a dream life. But someone knows the truth.

Emilia Ward lives in suburban London with her husband, their young son, and a teenager from her first marriage. Emilia is an ordinary mom --- and she’s also the bestselling author of the Miranda Moody detective novels.

But when writing her 10th --- and most difficult --- book, life takes a disturbing turn: an incident mimicking the plot of one of her novels occurs in real life. Just an unsettling coincidence, right?

Until it happens again. And again.

Then someone she knows dies in the same way as a victim in the book she's currently writing.

Why is someone doing this?

What do they want?

How could they possibly know what she’s thinking --- and writing?

Is Emilia and her family next?

Audiobook available, read by Ayesha Antoine and Gemma Whelan

Editorial Content for The Wee Ice Mon Cometh: Ben Hogan's 1953 Triple Slam and One of Golf's Greatest Summers

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Stuart Shiffman

In the world of golf, great names continue to be fondly remembered and exalted. 2024 saw Scottie Scheffler rise to the #1 ranking and win multiple tournaments on the PGA Tour, including the Players Championship, the Masters, the FedEx Cup and the Olympic gold medal. This comes at a time when professional golf is divided into two groups: the traditional PGA and the LIV Tour, a Saudi Arabian-funded enterprise that seeks to change the way that golf is traditionally played. Read More

Teaser

It is considered by many the greatest season in golf history. In 1953, Ben Hogan provided a fitting exclamation point to his miraculous comeback from a near-fatal auto accident by becoming the first player to win golf’s Triple Crown --- the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open --- within a span of four months. It was closer than anyone had gotten to the modern-day Grand Slam of winning all four of golf’s major tournaments. THE WEE ICE MON COMETH is the first book to detail Hogan’s historic accomplishment. Ed Gruver weaves together interviews with members of Hogan’s family, golf historians, playing partners and business partners, along with extensive research and eyewitness accounts of each tournament.

Promo

It is considered by many the greatest season in golf history. In 1953, Ben Hogan provided a fitting exclamation point to his miraculous comeback from a near-fatal auto accident by becoming the first player to win golf’s Triple Crown --- the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open --- within a span of four months. It was closer than anyone had gotten to the modern-day Grand Slam of winning all four of golf’s major tournaments. THE WEE ICE MON COMETH is the first book to detail Hogan’s historic accomplishment. Ed Gruver weaves together interviews with members of Hogan’s family, golf historians, playing partners and business partners, along with extensive research and eyewitness accounts of each tournament.

About the Book

It is considered by many the greatest season in golf history. In 1953, Ben Hogan provided a fitting exclamation point to his miraculous comeback from a near-fatal auto accident by becoming the first player to win golf’s Triple Crown --- the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open --- within a span of four months. It was closer than anyone had gotten to the modern-day Grand Slam of winning all four of golf’s major tournaments.

THE WEE ICE MON COMETH is the first book to detail Hogan’s historic accomplishment. His 1953 season remains the world’s greatest, and golfers seek to match his achievement every year. Bobby Jones in 1930 and Tiger Woods in 2000–2001 achieved comparable “slams,” but the Hogan Slam stands alone due to the car crash four years before that left Hogan on shattered legs. He nonetheless won with record-setting performances on three of the most challenging courses in the world: Augusta National at the Masters, the U.S. Open at Oakmont and the British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland. Ed Gruver weaves together interviews with members of Hogan’s family, golf historians, playing partners and business partners, along with extensive research and eyewitness accounts of each tournament.

Seventy years after his historic feat, the Hogan Slam still serves as a symbol for the many comebacks Hogan had to make throughout his life --- his father’s death by suicide when Ben was a boy, desperate days during the Great Depression, frustrating failures in tournaments early in his career, and the horrific accident that nearly killed him just as he was finally reaching the pinnacle of his profession.

Sarah Smarsh, author of Bone of the Bone: Essays on America by a Daughter of the Working Class

In BONE OF THE BONE, National Book Award finalist Sarah Smarsh brings her graceful storytelling and incisive critique to the challenges that define our times --- class division, political fissures, gender inequality, environmental crisis, media bias, the rural-urban gulf. Smarsh, a journalist who grew up on a wheat farm in Kansas and was the first in her family to graduate from college, has long focused on cultural dissonance that many in her industry neglected until recently. Now, this thought-provoking collection of more than 30 of her highly relevant, previously published essays from the past decade (2013–2024) --- ranging from personal narratives to news commentary --- demonstrates a life and a career steeped in the issues that affect our collective future.

Freida McFadden, author of The Boyfriend

Sydney Shaw has terrible luck with dating. She's seen it all: men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot. Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming and handsome, and he works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet. Then the brutal murder of a young woman --- the latest in a string of deaths across the coast --- confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them. Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can't shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn't get to the truth, she'll be the killer's next victim.