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Week of June 8, 2020

New in Paperback

Week of June 8, 2020

Paperback releases for the week of June 8th include A MINUTE TO MIDNIGHT by David Baldacci, which finds FBI Agent Atlee Pine returning to her Georgia hometown to investigate her twin sister's abduction, only to encounter a serial killer; AMERICAN PREDATOR, in which journalist Maureen Callahan takes us on a journey into the chilling, nightmarish mind of a relentless killer, and to the limitations of traditional law enforcement; Lauren Willig's THE SUMMER COUNTRY, a sweeping Victorian epic of lost love, lies, jealousy and rebellion set in colonial Barbados; THE WHISPER MAN, Alex North's multi-generational story of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town; and THE LAST BOOK PARTY by debut novelist Karen Dukess, a propulsive tale of ambition and romance, set in the publishing world of 1980s New York and the timeless beaches of Cape Cod.

500 Miles from You by Jenny Colgan - Romantic Comedy

June 9, 2020

Lissa is a nurse in a gritty, hectic London neighborhood. Always terribly competent and good at keeping it all together, she’s been suffering quietly with PTSD after helping to save the victim of a shocking crime. Her supervisor quietly arranges for Lissa to spend a few months doing a much less demanding job in the little town of Kirrinfeif in the Scottish Highlands. Lissa will be swapping places with Cormack, an Army veteran who is Kirrinfeif’s easygoing nurse/paramedic/all-purpose medical man. These two strangers are now in constant contact, taking over each other’s patients, endlessly emailing about anything and everything. They discover a new depth of feeling…for their profession and for each other. But what will happen when they finally meet?

Always the Last to Know by Kristan Higgins - Fiction

June 9, 2020

Barb and John Frost, married almost 50 years, are testy and bored with each other. Who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters --- Barb's favorite, the perfect, brilliant Juliet; and John's darling, the free-spirited Sadie. But when John suffers a stroke, their house of cards comes tumbling down. Now Sadie has to put her career as a teacher and struggling artist in New York on hold to come back and care for her beloved dad --- and face the love of her life, whose heart she broke, and who broke hers. Now Juliet has to wonder if people will notice that she's spending an increasing amount of time in the closet having panic attacks. And now Barb and John will finally have to face what's been going on in their marriage all along.

American Predator: The Hunt for the Most Meticulous Serial Killer of the 21st Century by Maureen Callahan - True Crime

June 9, 2020

Israel Keyes was a predator who struck all over the United States. He would break into a stranger's house, abduct his victims in broad daylight, and kill and dispose of them in mere hours. And then he would return home to Alaska, resuming life as a quiet, reliable construction worker devoted to his only daughter. When journalist Maureen Callahan first heard about Keyes in 2012, she was captivated by how a killer of this magnitude could go undetected by law enforcement for over a decade. And so began a project that consumed her for the next several years --- uncovering the true story behind how the FBI ultimately caught Israel Keyes, and trying to understand what it means for a killer like Keyes to exist.

The Beauty of Broken Things by Victoria Connelly - Fiction

June 9, 2020

After the tragic loss of his wife, Helen, Luke Hansard is desperate to keep her memory alive. In an effort to stay close to her, he reaches out to an online friend Helen often mentioned: a reclusive photographer with a curious interest in beautiful but broken objects. But first he must find her --- and she doesn’t want to be found. Orla Kendrick lives alone in the ruins of a remote Suffolk castle, hiding from the haunting past that has left her physically and emotionally scarred. When Luke tracks Orla down, he is determined to help her in the way Helen wanted to: by encouraging her out of her isolation and back into the world. But Orla has never seen her refuge as a prison, and when painful secrets and dangerous threats begin to resurface, Luke’s good deed is turned on its head.

The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon - Romantic Comedy

June 9, 2020

Samiah Brooks never thought she would be "that" girl. But a live tweet of a horrific date just revealed the painful truth: she's been catfished by a three-timing jerk of a boyfriend. Suddenly, Samiah --- along with his two other "girlfriends," London and Taylor --- have gone viral online. Now the three new besties are making a pact to spend the next six months investing in themselves. No men and no dating. For once Samiah is putting herself first, and that includes finally developing the app she's always dreamed of creating. Which is the exact moment she meets the deliciously sexy Daniel Collins at work. What are the chances? But is Daniel really boyfriend material, or is he maybe just a little too good to be true?

Bunny by Mona Awad - Fiction/Dark Humor

June 9, 2020

Samantha Heather Mackey couldn't be more of an outsider in her small, highly selective MFA program at New England's Warren University. She is utterly repelled by the rest of her fiction-writing cohort, a clique of unbearably twee rich girls who call each other "Bunny." But everything changes when Samantha receives an invitation to the Bunnies' fabled "Smut Salon," and finds herself inexplicably drawn to their front door --- ditching her only friend, Ava, in the process. As Samantha plunges deeper and deeper into the sinister yet saccharine world, beginning to take part in the ritualistic off-campus "Workshop" where they conjure their monstrous creations, the edges of reality begin to blur. Soon, her friendships with Ava and the Bunnies will be brought into deadly collision.

A Dangerous Language: A Rowland Sinclair Mystery by Sulari Gentill - Historical Mystery

June 9, 2020

When Rowland Sinclair offers to fly internationally renowned Czech novelist and peace advocate Egon Kisch to Melbourne to kick off a speaking tour, he has no clue that the government has charged the Attorney General with preventing Kisch from stepping foot on Australian soil. Then Jim Kelly, a known Communist, is ruthlessly murdered on the Parliament House steps. It is soon evident that an extreme fascist group is also intent on keeping Kisch's words from ever reaching their countrymen's ears. Rowland, meanwhile, reconnects with his first love, who has returned after years abroad and seeks him out. When the two are photographed in flagrante delicto by reporters, Rowland fears he has ruined her reputation, and proposes marriage --- despite the fact that his heart belongs to someone else.

House of Desire: A Claire Scanlan Haunted House Mystery by Margaret Lucke - Paranormal Mystery

June 9, 2020

Reluctant psychic Claire Scanlan perceives spirits and strange energies that no one else can detect. At a preservation group’s fundraiser to save a grand San Francisco Victorian, Claire encounters a mysterious young woman, Roxane, who is invisible to everyone but her. Roxane flees into what she calls the Future House when she needs to escape the most brutal of the men who buy her favors. When the leader of the preservation group is murdered, Roxane is the only witness. Terrified, she returns to her own time and enlists the only true gentleman she has ever met to help her find justice for the victim. The prime suspect is Claire’s brother-in-law, Peter, who is having an affair with one of the mansion’s owners. To find Roxane and clear Peter’s name, Claire must risk venturing into a past century --- a perilous journey from which she may never return.

The Last Book Party by Karen Dukess - Fiction

June 9, 2020

In the 1980s, famed New Yorker writer Henry Grey and his poet wife Tillie throw Cape Cod’s most unmissable party each summer’s end, a legendary fête for the literary elite. Twenty-five-year-old aspiring writer Eve Rosen finagles her way into this Gatsbyesque orbit, which is completely different from her conventional, Jewish upbringing. But moving into one sphere means leaving another behind, and as Eve tries to negotiate the differences between her family values and this glittering world, she learns the risks of unbridled ambition and the importance of making her own choices about who she wants to be.

A Minute to Midnight: An Atlee Pine Thriller by David Baldacci - Thriller

June 9, 2020

FBI Agent Atlee Pine's life was never the same after her twin sister, Mercy, was kidnapped --- and likely killed --- 30 years ago. After a lifetime of torturous uncertainty, Atlee's unresolved anger finally gets the better of her on the job, and she finds she has to deal with the demons of her past if she wants to remain with the FBI. Atlee and her assistant, Carol Blum, head back to Atlee's rural hometown in Georgia to see what they can uncover about the traumatic night Mercy was taken and Pine was almost killed. But soon after Atlee begins her investigation, a local woman is found ritualistically murdered, her face covered with a wedding veil --- and the first killing is quickly followed by a second bizarre murder.

Montauk by Nicola Harrison - Historical Fiction

June 9, 2020

Montauk, Long Island, 1938. For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. Beatrice Bordeaux was looking forward to a summer of reigniting the passion between her and her husband, Harry. Instead, tasked with furthering his investment interest in Montauk as a resort destination, she learns she’ll be spending 12 weeks sequestered with the high society wives at The Montauk Manor --- a 200-room seaside hotel --- while Harry pursues other interests in the city. Bea ultimately finds herself drawn to a man who is nothing like her husband. Inspiring a strength and courage she had almost forgotten, his presence forces her to face a haunting tragedy of her past and question her future.

The Other Mrs. Miller by Allison Dickson - Psychological Thriller

June 9, 2020

Phoebe Miller isn't sure when the rusty car started showing up in the cul-de-sac she calls home, or why its driver would be spying on her. What could be interesting about an unhappy housewife who drowns her sorrows in ice cream and wine and barely leaves her house? When a new family moves in across the street --- the exuberant Vicki, who just might become the gossipy best friend Phoebe's always wanted, and her handsome college-bound son, Jake, who offers companionship of a different variety --- Phoebe finds her dull routine infused with the excitement she's been missing. But with her head turned, she's no longer focused on the woman in the car. And she really should be.

Paris, 7 A.M. by Liza Wieland - Historical Fiction

June 9, 2020

June 1937. Elizabeth Bishop, still only a young woman and not yet one of the most influential poets of the 20th century, arrives in France with her college roommates. They are in search of an escape, and inspiration, far from the protective world of Vassar College where they were expected to find an impressive husband, live a quiet life and act accordingly. But the world is changing, and as they explore the City of Light, the larger threats of fascism and occupation are looming. There, they meet a community of upper-crust expatriates who bring them along not only on a life-changing adventure, but also into an underground world of rebellion that will quietly alter the course of Elizabeth’s life forever.

Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning by Elliot Ackerman - Memoir

June 9, 2020

Toward the beginning of PLACES AND NAMES, Elliot Ackerman sits in a refugee camp in southern Turkey, across the table from a man named Abu Hassar, who fought for Al Qaeda in Iraq and whose connections to the Islamic State are murky. At first, Ackerman pretends to have been a journalist during the Iraq War, but after establishing a rapport with Abu Hassar, he reveals that in fact he was a Marine special operation officer. It turns out that they had shadowed each other for some time, a realization that brought them to a strange kind of intimacy. The rest of Ackerman's memoir is in a way an answer to the question of why he came to that refugee camp and what he hoped to find there.

Red Sky Over Hawaii by Sara Ackerman - Historical Fiction

June 9, 2020

The attack on Pearl Harbor changes everything for Lana Hitchcock. Arriving home on the Big Island too late to reconcile with her estranged father, she is left alone to untangle the clues of his legacy, which lead to a secret property tucked away in the remote rain forest of Kilauea volcano. When the government starts taking away her neighbors as suspected sympathizers, Lana shelters two young German girls, a Japanese fisherman and his son. As tensions escalate, they are forced into hiding --- only to discover the hideaway house is not what they expected. When a detainment camp is established nearby, Lana struggles to keep the secrets of those in her care. Trust could have dangerous consequences.

Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle - Psychological Thriller

June 9, 2020

When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned. At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.

The Summer Country by Lauren Willig - Historical Fiction

June 9, 2020

When her grandfather dies, Emily Dawson --- the poor cousin in a prosperous English merchant clan --- receives an unexpected inheritance: Peverills, a sugar plantation in Barbados that her grandfather never told anyone he owned. When Emily accompanies her cousin and his new wife to Barbados, she finds Peverills a burnt-out shell, reduced to ruins in 1816, when a rising of enslaved people sent the island up in flames. Why would her practical-minded grandfather leave her a property in ruins? Why are the neighboring plantation owners, the Davenants, so eager to acquire Peverills? The answer lies in the past --- a tangled history of lies, greed, clandestine love, heartbreaking betrayal and a bold bid for freedom.

Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald - Historical Fiction

June 9, 2020

On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite and an aspiring artist whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again --- and again --- will become the focus of his love and his life.

Very Nice by Marcy Dermansky - Fiction/Humor

June 9, 2020

Rachel Klein never meant to kiss her creative writing professor, but with his long eyelashes, his silky hair and the sad, beautiful life he laid bare on Twitter, she does, and the kiss is very nice. Zahid Azzam never planned to become a houseguest in his student's sprawling Connecticut home, but with the sparkling swimming pool, the endless supply of Whole Foods strawberries and Rachel's beautiful mother, he does, and the home is very nice. Becca Klein never thought she'd have a love affair so soon after her divorce, but when her daughter's professor walks into her home, bringing with him an apricot standard poodle named Princess, she does, and the affair is...a very bad idea.

What We've Lost Is Nothing by Rachel Louise Snyder - Fiction

June 9, 2020

Nestled on the edge of Chicago’s gritty west side, Oak Park is a suburb in flux. To the west, theaters and shops frame posh houses designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. To the east lies a neighborhood still recovering from urban decline. In the center of the community sits Ilios Lane, a pristine cul-de-sac dotted with quiet homes that bridge the surrounding extremes of wealth and poverty. On the first warm day in April, Mary Elizabeth McPherson, a lifelong resident of Ilios Lane, skips school with her friend Sofia. As the two experiment with a heavy dose of ecstasy in Mary Elizabeth’s dining room, a series of home invasions rocks their neighborhood. At first the community is determined to band together, but rising suspicions soon threaten to destroy the world they were attempting to create.

The Whisper Man by Alex North - Thriller

June 9, 2020

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes that a fresh start will help him and his young son, Jake, heal. But the town of Featherbank has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night. Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must find the boy before it is too late. And then Jake begins acting strangely. He hears a whispering at his window...

You Can't Catch Me by Catherine McKenzie - Psychological Thriller

June 9, 2020

Twelve years ago, Jessica Williams escaped a cult. Thanks to the private detective who rescued her, she reintegrated into society, endured an uncomfortable notoriety, and tried to put it all behind her. Then, at an airport bar, Jessica meets a woman with an identical name and birth date. It appears to be just an odd coincidence --- until a week later, when Jessica finds her bank account drained and her personal information stolen. Following a trail of the grifter’s victims, each with the same name, Jessica gathers players --- one by one --- for her own game. According to her plan, they’ll set a trap and wait for the impostor to strike again. But plans can go awry, and trust can fray, and as Jessica tries to escape the shadows of her childhood, the risks are greater than she imagined.