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Week of February 11, 2019

New in Paperback

Week of February 11, 2019

Paperback releases for the week of February 11th include THE PERFECT COUPLE, Elin Hilderbrand's first murder mystery, in which a body is discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before Celeste Otis and Benji Winbury are planning to tie the knot --- and everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect; ALL THE PIECES MATTER by Jonathan Abrams, the definitive oral history of the iconic and beloved TV show "The Wire," as told by the actors, writers, directors and others involved in its creation; A TREACHEROUS CURSE, Deanna Raybourne's third Veronica Speedwell mystery, in which members of an Egyptian expedition fall victim to an ancient mummy’s curse; and WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?, a new essay collection from Marilynne Robinson, who trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith.

All the Pieces Matter: The Inside Story of “The Wire” by Jonathan Abrams - Performing Arts

February 12, 2019

Since its final episode aired in 2008, HBO’s acclaimed crime drama "The Wire" has only become more popular and influential. The issues it tackled, from the failures of the drug war and criminal justice system to systemic bias in law enforcement and other social institutions, have become more urgent and central to the national conversation. But while there has been a great deal of critical analysis of the show and its themes, until now there has never been a definitive, behind-the-scenes take on how it came to be made. With unparalleled access to all the key actors and writers involved in its creation, Jonathan Abrams tells the astonishing, compelling and complete account of "The Wire," from its inception and creation through its end and powerful legacy.

All Roads End Here by David Moody - Science Fiction/Horror

February 12, 2019

It’s taken Matthew Dunne almost three months to get home. Never more than a few meters from the Haters at any time, every single step has been fraught with danger. But he’s made it. In his absence, his home city has become a sprawling, walled-off refugee camp. But the camp --- and the entire world beyond its borders --- is balanced on a knife-edge. During his time in the wilderness, Matt developed a skill that is in high demand: the ability to anticipate and predict Hater behavior. It’s these skills that will thrust him into a web of subterfuge and danger. As the pressure mounts inside the camp, he finds himself under scrutiny from all sides.

Any Means Necessary: A Leona Lindberg Thriller by Jenny Rogneby - Hard-boiled Thriller

February 12, 2019

A man blows himself up outside the Parliament House in Stockholm, but miraculously survives. Was he a lone wolf, or are there more heinous acts to follow? Leona Lindberg is put on the case. But Leona, who has barely escaped her trials from the last case, is focused on other things. Her family is shattered, she is living under threat and desperately needs liquid assets. It's lucky, then, that she can think outside the box like no other detective. With one foot on each side of the law, she mounts a special operation of grand proportions. And the higher the risk, the higher the rewards.

Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks - Thriller

February 12, 2019

One Tuesday evening, Melanie Barrick goes to pick up her son, Alex, from childcare only to discover he's been removed by Social Services. Her nightmare mushrooms when she arrives home to learn her house has been raided by sheriff's deputies, who have found enough cocaine to send Melanie to prison for years. Meanwhile, assistant commonwealth's attorney Amy Kaye --- who has been assigned Melanie's case --- has her own troubles. She's been dogged by a cold case no one wants her to pursue: a serial rapist who has avoided detection by wearing a mask and whispering his commands. Over the years, he has victimized dozens of women. Including Melanie. Yet now her attacker might be the key to her salvation…or her undoing.

In the Shadow of Agatha Christie: Classic Crime Fiction by Forgotten Female Writers: 1850-1917 edited by Leslie S. Klinger - Mystery/Short Stories

February 12, 2019

Agatha Christie burst onto the literary scene in 1920, with THE MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR AT STYLES; her last novel was published in 1976, a career longer than even Arthur Conan Doyle’s 40-year span. The truth is that it was due to the success of writers like Anna Katherine Green in America; L. T. Meade, C. L. Pirkis, the Baroness Orczy and Elizabeth Corbett in England; and Mary Fortune in Australia that the doors were finally opened for female crime writers. So, while Agatha Christie may still reign supreme, it is important to remember that she did not ascend that throne except on the shoulders of the women who came before her --- and inspired her --- and who are now removed from her shadow once and for all.

In Sickness and in Health: Love, Disability, and a Quest to Understand the Perils and Pleasures of Interabled Romance by Ben Mattlin - Memoir

February 12, 2019

IN SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH is more than an “inspiring” story of how a man born with spinal muscular atrophy --- a congenital and incurable neuromuscular condition --- survived childhood, graduated from Harvard, married an able-bodied woman, built a family and established a successful career in journalism. As Ben Mattlin considers the many times his relationship has been met with surprise or speculation by outsiders, he issues a challenge to readers: Why should the idea of an “interabled” couple be regarded as either tragic or noble? Through conversations with more than a dozen other couples of varying abilities, ethnic backgrounds and orientations, Mattlin sets out to understand if these pairings are as unusual as onlookers seem to think.

The Kiss: Intimacies from Writers edited by Brian Turner - Fiction/Essays

February 12, 2019

In this wide-ranging collection of essays, stories, graphic memoir and cross-genre work, writers explore the deeply human act of kissing and share their thoughts on a specific kiss --- the unexpected and unforgettable, the sublime and the ambiguous, the devastating and the regenerative. Selections from beloved authors “tantalize with such grace that they linger sweetly in your mind for days” (New York Times Book Review), as they explore the messy and complicated intimacies that exist in our actual lives, as well as in the complicated landscape of the imagination.

The Lost Girls of Camp Forevermore by Kim Fu - Fiction

February 12, 2019

At Forevermore, a sleepaway camp in the Pacific Northwest, campers are promised adventures in the woods, songs by the fire and lifelong friends. Bursting with excitement and nervous energy, five girls set off on an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island. But before the night is over, they find themselves stranded, with no adults to help them survive or guide them home. THE LOST GIRLS OF CAMP FOREVERMORE follows Nita, Andee, Isabel, Dina and Siobhan beyond this fateful trip, showing us the lives of the haunted and complex women these girls become.

Our Little Secret by Roz Nay - Psychological Thriller

February 12, 2019

The police have been interrogating Angela Petitjean for hours, asking about Saskia Parker. Saskia is the wife of Angela’s high school sweetheart, HP, and the mother of his child --- and she has vanished. Homicide Detective J. Novak believes Angela knows what happened to Saskia. But Angela has a different story to tell. It began more than a decade ago when she and HP met in high school. They became friends, fell in love and dated senior year. Everything changed when Angela went to college and Saskia entered the picture. Detective Novak needs to stop asking questions and listen to what Angela is telling him. And once he understands everything, he’ll have the truth he so desperately wants.

The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand - Mystery

February 12, 2019

The Otis-Winbury wedding promises to be an event to remember: the groom's wealthy parents have spared no expense to host a lavish ceremony at their oceanfront estate. But it's going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons after tragedy strikes: a body is discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony --- and everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash interviews the bride, the groom, the groom's famous mystery-novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, he discovers that every wedding is a minefield --- and no couple is perfect.

Sadness Is a White Bird by Moriel Rothman-Zecher - Fiction

February 12, 2019

The story begins in an Israeli military jail, where Jonathan recalls the series of events that led him there. Two years earlier: Moving back to Israel after several years in Pennsylvania, Jonathan is ready to fight to preserve and defend the Jewish state. But he is also conflicted about the possibility of having to monitor the occupied Palestinian territories, a concern that grows deeper and more urgent when he meets Nimreen and Laith --- the twin daughter and son of his mother’s friend. From that morning on, the three become inseparable. But then that fateful day arrives, the one that lands Jonathan in prison and changes his relationship with the twins forever.

The Sisters Hemingway by Annie England Noblin - Fiction

February 12, 2019

The Hemingway Sisters of Cold River, Missouri are local legends. Raised by a mother obsessed with Ernest Hemingway, they were named after the author’s four wives: Hadley, Pfeiffer, Martha and Mary. The sisters couldn’t be more different --- or more alike. Now they’re back in town, reunited to repair their fractured relationships. Together, they must stay in their childhood home, faced with a puzzle that may affect all their futures. As they learn the truth of what happened to their mother --- and their youngest sister, Mary --- they rekindle the bonds they had as children, bonds that have long seemed broken.

A Theory of Love by Margaret Bradham Thornton - Fiction

February 12, 2019

Helen Gibbs, a British journalist on assignment on the west coast of Mexico, meets Christopher Delavaux, an intriguing half-French, half-American lawyer-turned-financier who has come alone to surf. Living lives that never stop moving, Helen and Christopher must decide how much they exist for themselves and how much they exist for each other. In an effort to build his firm, Christopher leads a life full of speed and ambition with little time for Helen and even less when he suspects his business partner of illegal activity. Meanwhile, Helen searches far and wide for reporting work that will “take a bite out of her soul” --- refugees in Calais, a mountain climber in Chamonix, an orphaned circus performer in Cuba.

A Treacherous Curse: A Veronica Speedwell Mystery by Deanna Raybourn - Historical Mystery

February 12, 2019

Victorian adventuress Veronica Speedwell can’t resist the allure of an exotic mystery --- particularly one involving her enigmatic colleague, Stoker. His former expedition partner has vanished from an archaeological dig with a priceless diadem unearthed from the newly discovered tomb of an Egyptian princess. This disappearance is just the latest in a string of unfortunate events that have plagued the controversial expedition, and rumors abound that the curse of the vengeful princess has been unleashed as the shadowy figure of Anubis himself stalks the streets of London. But the perils of an ancient curse are not the only challenges Veronica must face as sordid details and malevolent enemies emerge from Stoker’s past.

What Are We Doing Here?: Essays by Marilynne Robinson - Essays

February 12, 2019

Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including LILA, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and GILEAD, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection, she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America like Emerson and Tocqueville inform our political consciousness, or discussing the way that beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson’s peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.

The Which Way Tree by Elizabeth Crook - Western

February 12, 2019

Early one morning, a panther savagely attacks a family of homesteaders, mauling a young girl named Samantha and killing her mother. Samantha and her half-brother, Benjamin, survive, but she is left traumatized. THE WHICH WAY TREE is the story of Samantha's unshakeable resolve to stalk and kill the infamous panther and avenge her mother's death. In their quest, she and Benjamin enlist a charismatic Tejano outlaw and a haunted, compassionate preacher with an aging but relentless tracking dog. As the members of this unlikely posse hunt the panther, they are in turn pursued by a hapless but sadistic Confederate soldier with troubled family ties to the preacher and a score to settle.