Skip to main content

April 2, 2024

This Bookreporter.com Special Newsletter spotlights a book that we know people will be talking about this spring. Read more about it, and enter our Spring Preview Contest by Wednesday, April 3rd at noon ET for a chance to win one of five copies of DAUGHTER OF MINE by Megan Miranda, which releases on April 9th and will be a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick. Please note that each contest is only open for 24 hours, so you will need to act quickly!

April 2024

April's Books on Screen roundup includes the series premieres of "Ripley" on Netflix, "The Sympathizer" on HBO, and "Franklin" on Apple TV+; the season premieres of Hallmark Channel's "When Calls the Heart" and Apple TV+'s "The Big Door Prize"; the conclusion of "Manhunt" on Apple TV+; the continuation of "A Gentleman in Moscow" on Paramount+ with Showtime, "Palm Royale" on Apple TV+, "We Were the Lucky Ones" on Hulu, "Tracker" on CBS, and "Will Trent" on ABC; the films Someone Like You in theaters and One Bad Apple: A Hannah Swensen Mystery on Hallmark Mystery; and the DVD releases of Mean Girls, Which Brings Me to You, The Promised Land and Madame Web.

March 30, 2024

Last Thursday night, I went to an event that Allison Pataki was doing for her latest historical novel, FINDING MARGARET FULLER. The book is an epic reimagining of the life of Margaret Fuller --- America’s forgotten leading lady and the central figure of the Transcendentalist movement. What amazes me about Allison’s work is not just her writing, which always draws me in, but her ability to introduce me to a woman in history who I feel like I should know about. And I wonder why I did not.

Dervla McTiernan, author of What Happened to Nina?

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home. His explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fueled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive "fans." Nina’s family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters --- finding their daughter.

Kristen Perrin, author of How to Solve Your Own Murder

It’s 1965, and teenager Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’ night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly 60 years later, when Frances is found murdered. In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’ lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager just might have a motive for her murder.

Heather Gudenkauf, author of Everyone Is Watching

The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive. Five contestants have been chosen to compete for $10 million on the game show “One Lucky Winner.” The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live-streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated. When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show. Someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are.

Lisa Scottoline, author of The Truth About the Devlins

TJ Devlin is the charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, all of whom are lawyers at their highly successful firm --- except him. After a stint in prison and rehab for alcoholism, TJ can’t get hired anywhere except at the firm, in a make-work job with the title of investigator. But one night, TJ’s world turns upside down after his older brother, John, confesses that he murdered one of their clients, an accountant he’d confronted with proof of embezzlement. It seems impossible coming from John, the firstborn son and Most Valuable Devlin. TJ plunges into the investigation, seizing the chance to prove his worth and save his brother. But in no time, TJ and John find themselves entangled in a lethal web of deception and murder. TJ will fight to save his family, but what he learns might break them first.

Editorial Content for The Angel of Indian Lake

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

At one point in THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE, the final entry in Stephen Graham Jones’ Indian Lake trilogy, Jade Daniels asks, “Do you like scary movies, Mr. Holmes? I used to. Until I had to try to live through them.” Read More

Teaser

THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE is the final installment in Stephen Graham Jones’ trilogy that kicked off with MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW and continued in DON’T FEAR THE REAPER. It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend, Letha, and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation and the town have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.

Promo

THE ANGEL OF INDIAN LAKE is the final installment in Stephen Graham Jones’ trilogy that kicked off with MY HEART IS A CHAINSAW and continued in DON’T FEAR THE REAPER. It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend, Letha, and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation and the town have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.

About the Book

The “riotously entertaining” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) final installment in the most lauded trilogy in the history of horror novels picks up four years after DON'T FEAR THE REAPER as Jade returns to Proofrock, Idaho, to build a life after the years of sacrifice --- only to find the Lake Witch is waiting for her in New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones’ finale.

It’s been four years in prison since Jade Daniels last saw her hometown of Proofrock, Idaho, the day she took the fall, protecting her friend, Letha, and her family from incrimination. Since then, her reputation and the town have changed dramatically. There’s a lot of unfinished business in Proofrock, from serial killer cultists to the rich trying to buy Western authenticity. But there’s one aspect of Proofrock no one wants to confront…until Jade comes back to town. The curse of the Lake Witch is waiting, and now is the time for the final stand.

New York Times bestselling author Stephen Graham Jones has crafted an epic horror trilogy of generational trauma from the Indigenous to the townies rooted in the mountains of Idaho. It is a story of the American west written in blood.

Audiobook available; read by Isabella Star LaBlanc, Barbara Crampton, Angela Goethals and Andrew J. Robinson

Editorial Content for Murder Road

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Rebecca Munro

Simone St. James, the bestselling author of such works as THE BOOK OF COLD CASES and THE SUN DOWN MOTEL, returns with her trademark blend of thriller and horror. MURDER ROAD is a decades-old ghost story set in a deserted town featuring an unlucky couple who just might be the key to ending it. Read More

Teaser

April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years, and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work.

Promo

April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them. When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years, and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work.

About the Book

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of THE BOOK OF COLD CASES.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work --- something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

Audiobook available, read by Brittany Pressley

Editorial Content for The Mystery Writer

Contributors

Reviewer (text)

Ray Palen

Sulari Gentill has dabbled in the literary thriller and fantasy genres with her various series. However, her past couple of stand-alone novels have earned well-deserved praise for the elevated mystery narratives she has created that are meant to keep even the most astute reader thinking right up until the dénouement. Read More

Teaser

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister, he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself.

Promo

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister, he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself.

About the Book

From 2023 Edgar Award nominee and bestselling author Sulari Gentill comes a literary thriller about an aspiring writer who meets and falls in love with her literary idol --- only to find him murdered the day after she gave him her manuscript to read.

There's nothing easier to dismiss than a conspiracy theory --- until it turns out to be true

When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother's doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?

What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die. 

Audiobook available, read by Katherine Littrell