Lily Tomlin
Reality is the leading cause of stress among those in touch with it.
Attribution
August 14, 2020
Last weekend, we picked up a bushel of peaches. You may ask, "How many peaches come in a bushel?" 65! We have them ripening on a counter in the kitchen. I feel like I need to get THE PEACH TRUCK COOKBOOK. But I also will be happy to see your best peach recipes; shoot them to me at Carol@bookreporter.com with the subject line “Peach.” This weekend, I am going to make the Peach Caprese Salad with burrata instead of mozzarella.
The thought of baking with these peaches brought back a memory. When I was little, my sister and I would play “cooking show.” I am not sure what show was our inspiration, but I think it was something on the local PBS channel. We would line up cake mix, eggs, oil and water and talk to the imaginary camera. There was one time when we were making a cake for my mom’s birthday. One of us tripped putting it into the oven, and the batter dripped into the oven and the oven door. We called my dad at the office to ask him what to do. He said, “Turn off the oven, and I will pick up a cake.” Good advice.
Editorial Content for The Midwife Murders
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Reviewer (text)
James Patterson possesses a seemingly inexhaustible creative vein from which to mine interesting and capable protagonists, as well as memorable criminals of every stripe against whom to pit them. In THE MIDWIFE MURDERS, Patterson and co-author Richard DiLallo present the prickly but effective Lucy Ryuan, who finds herself conducting a solo crusade against an antagonist committing a series of heinous crimes. Read More
Teaser
To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition, it's her life's work. But when two kidnappings and a vicious stabbing happen on her watch in a university hospital in Manhattan, her focus abruptly changes. Something has to be done, and Lucy is fearless enough to try. Rumors begin to swirl, blaming everyone from the Russian Mafia to an underground adoption network. The feisty single mom teams up with a skeptical NYPD detective to solve the case, but the truth is far more twisted than Lucy ever could have imagined.
Promo
To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition, it's her life's work. But when two kidnappings and a vicious stabbing happen on her watch in a university hospital in Manhattan, her focus abruptly changes. Something has to be done, and Lucy is fearless enough to try. Rumors begin to swirl, blaming everyone from the Russian Mafia to an underground adoption network. The feisty single mom teams up with a skeptical NYPD detective to solve the case, but the truth is far more twisted than Lucy ever could have imagined.
About the Book
In this psychological thriller, a missing patient raises concerns in a New York hospital --- but as others start disappearing, every dark possibility becomes more and more likely.
To Senior Midwife Lucy Ryuan, pregnancy is not an unusual condition, it's her life's work. But when two kidnappings and a vicious stabbing happen on her watch in a university hospital in Manhattan, her focus abruptly changes. Something has to be done, and Lucy is fearless enough to try.
Rumors begin to swirl, blaming everyone from the Russian Mafia to an underground adoption network. The feisty single mom teams up with a skeptical NYPD detective to solve the case, but the truth is far more twisted than Lucy ever could have imagined.
Audiobook available, read by Sophie Amoss
Editorial Content for The Hollow Ones: The Blackwood Tapes, Vol. 1
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan are back with another collaborative effort. Those who read their Strain trilogy or watched the television series adaptation on FX are probably still experiencing nightmares, or perhaps comparing our current crisis to the one that took place in the latter stages of the story. Apparently, Del Toro and Hogan are not permitting any mental or emotional respite to occur among their readers. Their newly published novel, THE HOLLOW ONES, promises wild literary rides for some time to come. Read More
Teaser
Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles her isn't the tragedy itself --- it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death. A low-level assignment puts Odessa on the trail of a mysterious figure named Hugo Blackwood, who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.
Promo
Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles her isn't the tragedy itself --- it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death. A low-level assignment puts Odessa on the trail of a mysterious figure named Hugo Blackwood, who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.
About the Book
A horrific crime that defies explanation, a rookie FBI agent in uncharted territory, and an extraordinary hero for the ages: an investigation spirals out of control in this heart-pounding thriller.
Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles Odessa isn't the tragedy itself --- it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death.
Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Hardwicke accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her on the trail of a mysterious figure named Hugo Blackwood, a man of enormous means who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.
From the authors who brought you The Strain Trilogy comes a strange, terrifying and darkly wondrous world of suspense, mystery and literary horror. THE HOLLOW ONES is a chilling, spell-binding tale, a hauntingly original new fable from Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Chuck Hogan featuring their most fascinating character yet.
Audiobook available, read by Brittany Pressley
Editorial Content for The Boy in the Field
Book
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Reviewer (text)
THE BOY IN THE FIELD is compelling in its simplicity and complexity. Each page is rich with understanding of how lives fit together and fall apart. Margot Livesey never pounds the reader with the same, obvious information or a wise authorly voice. She tells the seemingly simple story of a horrific and life-changing discovery by three young siblings --- Matthew, a senior in high school; 15-year-old Zoe, who has a gift for finding things; and Duncan, their artistic 13-year-old adopted brother. Read More
Teaser
One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed. Matthew becomes obsessed with tracking down the assailant, secretly searching the local town with the victim’s brother. Zoe wanders the streets of Oxford, looking at men, and one of them, a visiting American graduate student, looks back. Duncan, who has seldom thought about being adopted, suddenly decides he wants to find his birth mother. Overshadowing all three is the awareness that something is amiss in their parents’ marriage.
Promo
One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed. Matthew becomes obsessed with tracking down the assailant, secretly searching the local town with the victim’s brother. Zoe wanders the streets of Oxford, looking at men, and one of them, a visiting American graduate student, looks back. Duncan, who has seldom thought about being adopted, suddenly decides he wants to find his birth mother. Overshadowing all three is the awareness that something is amiss in their parents’ marriage.
About the Book
The New York Times bestselling author of THE FLIGHT OF GEMMA HARDY delivers another “luminous, unforgettable and perfectly rendered” (Dennis Lehane) novel --- a poignant and probing psychological drama that follows the lives of three siblings in the wake of a violent crime.
One September afternoon in 1999, teenagers Matthew, Zoe and Duncan Lang are walking home from school when they discover a boy lying in a field, bloody and unconscious. Thanks to their intervention, the boy’s life is saved. In the aftermath, all three siblings are irrevocably changed.
Matthew, the oldest, becomes obsessed with tracking down the assailant, secretly searching the local town with the victim’s brother. Zoe wanders the streets of Oxford, looking at men, and one of them, a visiting American graduate student, looks back. Duncan, the youngest, who has seldom thought about being adopted, suddenly decides he wants to find his birth mother. Overshadowing all three is the awareness that something is amiss in their parents’ marriage. Over the course of the autumn, as each of the siblings confronts the complications and contradictions of their approaching adulthood, they find themselves at once drawn together and driven apart.
Written with the deceptive simplicity and power of a fable, THE BOY IN THE FIELD showcases Margot Livesey’s unmatched ability to “tell her tale masterfully, with intelligence, tenderness and a shrewd understanding of all our mercurial human impulses” (Lily King, author of EUPHORIA).
Audiobook available, read by Imogen Church
Editorial Content for No Offense
Book
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Reviewer (text)
Last year, Meg Cabot launched a new series centered on the idyllic island of Little Bridge in the Florida Keys. Readers who fell in love with this tight-knit, vividly realized community in NO JUDGMENTS will gladly sign up for a return trip. Read More
Teaser
A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note-covered desk. But fate --- in the form of a newborn left in the restroom --- has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment.” When John Hartwell insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave. Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s. Good thing she doesn’t work for him, considering how attracted he is to her.
Promo
A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note-covered desk. But fate --- in the form of a newborn left in the restroom --- has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment.” When John Hartwell insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave. Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s. Good thing she doesn’t work for him, considering how attracted he is to her.
About the Book
New York Times bestselling author Meg Cabot returns with a charming romance between a children's librarian and the town sheriff in the second book in her Little Bridge Island series.
Welcome to Little Bridge, one of the smallest, most beautiful islands in the Florida Keys, home to sandy white beaches, salt-rimmed margaritas and stunning sunsets --- a place where nothing goes under the radar and love has a way of sneaking up when least expected
A broken engagement only gave Molly Montgomery additional incentive to follow her dream job from the Colorado Rockies to the Florida Keys. Now, as Little Bridge Island Public Library’s head of children’s services, Molly hopes the messiest thing in her life will be her sticky-note-covered desk. But fate --- in the form of a newborn left in the restroom --- has other ideas. So does the sheriff who comes to investigate the “abandonment.” When John Hartwell folds all six-feet-three of himself into a tiny chair and insists that whoever left the baby is a criminal, Molly begs to differ and asks what he’s doing about the Island’s real crime wave (if thefts of items from homes that have been left unlocked could be called that). Not the best of starts, but the man’s arrogance is almost as distracting as his blue eyes. Almost…
John would be pretty irritated if one of his deputies had a desk as disorderly as Molly’s. Good thing she doesn’t work for him, considering how attracted he is to her. Molly’s lilting librarian voice makes even the saltiest remarks go down sweeter, which is bad as long as she’s a witness but might be good once the case is solved --- provided he hasn’t gotten on her last nerve by then. Recently divorced, John has been having trouble adjusting to single life as well as single parenthood. But something in Molly’s beautiful smile gives John hope that his old life on Little Bridge might suddenly hold new promise --- if only they can get over their differences.
Clever, hilarious and fun, NO OFFENSE will tug at readers’ heartstrings and make them fall in love with Little Bridge Island and its unique characters once again.
Audiobook available, read by Piper Goodeve
Editorial Content for Half Moon Bay
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Reviewer (text)
I have been waiting for HALF MOON BAY. It is always a special event when the Kellermans collaborate in any manner. That said, Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman’s Clay Edison series is a particular favorite of mine. Clay is a deputy coroner for Alameda County, California, which is known for being the locale of the University of Southern California at Berkeley. Read More
Teaser
Clay Edison has his hands full. He has a new baby who won't sleep and is working the graveyard shift. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there? No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call --- this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing fifty years ago, the man says. Or at least I think she did. It’s a little complicated. Clay’s relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. And it can be murderous.
Promo
Clay Edison has his hands full. He has a new baby who won't sleep and is working the graveyard shift. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there? No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call --- this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing fifty years ago, the man says. Or at least I think she did. It’s a little complicated. Clay’s relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive. And it can be murderous.
About the Book
Deputy Coroner Clay Edison discovers that buried secrets can be deadly in this riveting thriller from a father-son team of bestselling authors who write “brilliant, page-turning fiction” (Stephen King).
Clay Edison has his hands full. He’s got a new baby who won't sleep. He’s working the graveyard shift. And he’s trying, for once, to mind his own business. Then comes the first call. Workers demolishing a local park have made a haunting discovery: the decades-old skeleton of a child. But whose? And how did it get there?
No sooner has Clay begun to investigate than he receives a second call --- this one from a local businessman, wondering if the body could belong to his sister. She went missing fifty years ago, the man says. Or at least he thinks she did. It’s a little complicated.
And things only get stranger from there. Clay’s relentless search for answers will unearth a history of violence and secrets, revolution and betrayal. Because in this town, the past isn’t dead. It’s very much alive.
Audiobook available, read by Dennis Boutsikaris
Editorial Content for The Living Dead
Book
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Reviewer (text)
Night of the Living Dead is one of those movies that nearly everyone has either heard of or seen. To this very day, it influences modern cinema and television. Anyone who has ever produced, written and/or enjoyed a work dealing with zombies, the undead, walkers or reanimators owes a nod of thanks to George A. Romero, who originally conceived, wrote and directed the classic flick with co-creator John A. Russo. Read More
Teaser
A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly risen friends and family. On a U.S. aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones, while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In D.C., an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.
Promo
A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead. In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly risen friends and family. On a U.S. aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones, while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In D.C., an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come. Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead. We think we know how this story ends. We. Are. Wrong.
About the Book
New York Times bestselling author Daniel Kraus completes George A. Romero's brand-new masterpiece of zombie horror, the massive novel left unfinished at Romero's death!
George A. Romero invented the modern zombie with Night of the Living Dead, creating a monster that has become a key part of pop culture. Romero often felt hemmed in by the constraints of film-making. To tell the story of the rise of the zombies and the fall of humanity the way it should be told, Romero turned to fiction. Unfortunately, when he died, the story was incomplete.
Enter Daniel Kraus, co-author, with Guillermo del Toro, of the New York Times bestseller THE SHAPE OF WATER (based on the Academy Award-winning movie) and TROLLHUNTERS (which became an Emmy Award-winning series), and author of THE DEATH AND LIFE OF ZEBULON FINCH (an Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Book of the Year). A lifelong Romero fan, Kraus was honored to be asked, by Romero's widow, to complete THE LIVING DEAD.
Set in the present day, THE LIVING DEAD is an entirely new tale, the story of the zombie plague as George A. Romero wanted to tell it.
It begins with one body.
A pair of medical examiners find themselves battling a dead man who won’t stay dead.
It spreads quickly.
In a Midwestern trailer park, a Black teenage girl and a Muslim immigrant battle newly risen friends and family. On a US aircraft carrier, living sailors hide from dead ones while a fanatic makes a new religion out of death. At a cable news station, a surviving anchor keeps broadcasting while his undead colleagues try to devour him. In DC, an autistic federal employee charts the outbreak, preserving data for a future that may never come.
Everywhere, people are targeted by both the living and the dead.
We think we know how this story ends.
We. Are. Wrong.
Audiobook available; read by Bruce Davison, Lori Cardille and Daniel Kraus
Editorial Content for The Death of Vivek Oji
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Once again, Akwaeke Emezi proves themself to be one of the most skilled, powerful writers crafting today. Their latest book, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI, is the echo of a raw cry, the present and the aftermath blurring together, a sharp, singeing masterpiece. Read More
Teaser
Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.
Promo
Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.
About the Book
What does it mean for a family to lose a child they never really knew?
One afternoon, in a town in southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son’s body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious.
Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings. As adolescence gives way to adulthood, he finds solace in friendships with the warm, boisterous daughters of the Nigerwives, foreign-born women married to Nigerian men. But Vivek’s closest bond is with Osita, the worldly, high-spirited cousin whose teasing confidence masks a guarded private life. As their relationship deepens --- and Osita struggles to understand Vivek’s escalating crisis --- the mystery gives way to a heart-stopping act of violence in a moment of exhilarating freedom.
Propulsively readable, teeming with unforgettable characters, THE DEATH OF VIVEK OJI is a novel of family and friendship that challenges expectations --- a dramatic story of loss and transcendence that will move every reader.
Audiobook available, read by Yetide Badaki and Chukwudi Iwuji
Editorial Content for Eliot Ness and the Mad Butcher: Hunting a Serial Killer at the Dawn of Modern Criminology
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In 1934, Cleveland, Ohio, welcomed the most famous G-Man at the time: Eliot Ness. He was fresh off his huge successes in Chicago, Illinois, where he and his self-proclaimed team, the Untouchables, had cleaned up the Windy City by putting away the infamous gangster Al Capone and several of his cronies. Now, Ness was expected to do the same on a lesser scale in Cleveland. Read More
Teaser
In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.
Promo
In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer. Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun. Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.
About the Book
In the spirit of DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY comes a true detective tale of the highest standard: the haunting story of Eliot Ness' forgotten final case --- his years-long hunt for "The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run," a serial killer who terrorized Cleveland through the Great Depression.
In 1934, the nation’s most legendary crime-fighter --- fresh from taking on the greatest gangster in American history --- arrived in Cleveland, a corrupt and dangerous town about to host a world's fair. It was to be his coronation, as well as the city's. Instead, terror descended, as headless bodies started turning up. The young detective, already battling the mob and crooked cops, found his drive to transform American policing subverted by a menace largely unknown to law enforcement: a serial murderer.
Eliot Ness' greatest case had begun.
Now, Max Allan Collins and A. Brad Schwartz --- the acclaimed writing team behind SCARFACE AND THE UNTOUCHABLE --- uncover this lost crime epic, delivering a gripping and unforgettable nonfiction account based on decades of groundbreaking research.
Ness had risen to fame in 1931 for leading the “Untouchables,” which helped put Chicago’s Al Capone behind bars. As Cleveland's public safety director, in charge of the police and fire departments, Ness offered a radical new vision for better law enforcement. Crime-ridden and devastated by the Depression, Cleveland was preparing for a star-turn itself: in 1936, it would host the "Great Lakes Exposition," which would be visited by seven million people. Late in the summer of 1934, however, pieces of a woman’s body began washing up on the Lake Erie shore --- first her ribs, then part of her backbone, then the lower half of her torso. The body count soon grew to five, then 10, then more, all dismembered in gruesome ways.
As Ness zeroed in on a suspect --- a doctor tied to a prominent political family --- powerful forces thwarted his quest for justice. In this battle between a flawed hero and a twisted monster --- by turns horror story, political drama and detective thriller --- Collins and Schwartz find an American tragedy, classic in structure, epic in scope.
Audiobook available, read by Malcolm Hillgartner





