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Week of November 19, 2018

New in Paperback

Week of November 19, 2018

Paperback releases for the week of November 19th include PROMISE ME, DAD, Joe Biden’s deeply moving memoir that chronicles the year following his son Beau’s devastating diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor that ultimately took his life in May 2015; THE GATE KEEPER, the 20th installment in Charles Todd's mystery series featuring Inspector Ian Rutledge, whose encounter with a frightened woman standing over a body launches an inquiry that leads him into the lair of a stealthy killer and the dangerous recesses of his own memories; and THE WAY IT WAS, a candid and eye-opening inside look at the final decades of Frank Sinatra's life told by his longtime manager and friend, Eliot Weisman.

The Broken Girls by Simone St. James - Supernatural Thriller

November 20, 2018

Vermont, 1950. There are rumors that Idlewild Hall, a boarding school, is haunted. Four roommates bond over their whispered fears, but then one of them mysteriously disappears. Vermont, 2014. Journalist Fiona Sheridan cannot stop revisiting the events surrounding her older sister's death. Though her sister's boyfriend was tried and convicted of murder, Fiona can't shake the suspicion that something was never right about the case. When Fiona discovers that Idlewild Hall is being restored by an anonymous benefactor, she decides to write a story about it. But a shocking discovery during the renovations will link the loss of her sister to secrets that were meant to stay hidden in the past.

The Gate Keeper: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd - Historical Mystery

November 20, 2018

A restless Ian Rutledge drives aimlessly, haunted by the past, and narrowly misses a motorcar stopped in the middle of a desolate road. Standing beside the vehicle is a woman with blood on her hands and a dead man at her feet. She swears she didn’t kill Stephen Wentworth. A stranger stepped out in front of their motorcar and fired a single shot before vanishing into the night. Although he is a witness after the fact, Rutledge persuades the Yard to give him the inquiry, since he’s on the scene. But is he seeking justice --- or fleeing painful memories in London? When a second suspicious death occurs, the evidence suggests that a dangerous predator is on the loose, and that death is closer than Rutledge knows.

Insidious Intent by Val McDermid - Mystery/Thriller

November 20, 2018

In the north of England, single women are beginning to disappear from weddings. A pattern soon becomes clear: Someone is crashing the festivities and luring the women away --- only to leave the victims’ bodies in their own burned-out cars in remote locations. Psychologist Tony Hill and former police detective Carol Jordan are called upon to investigate, but this may be the toughest case they’ve ever had to face. Meanwhile, Detective Sergeant Paula McIntyre and her partner Elinor must deal with a cruel cyber-blackmailer targeting their teenage ward, Torin.

A Map of the Dark by Karen Ellis - Thriller

November 20, 2018

A teenage girl has disappeared from Forest Hills, Queens, and during the critical first hours of the case, a series of false leads obscures the fact that she did not go willingly. As the hours tick by, the hunt for the girl deepens into a search for a man --- who may have been killing for years. FBI Agent Elsa Myers' carefully compartmentalized world begins to collapse around her. Everything she has buried --- her fraught relationship with her sister and niece, her self-destructive past, her mother's death --- threatens to resurface, with devastating consequences. Can our most painful childhood secrets be forgotten? Or will they always find their way back into our adult lives?

Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden - Memoir

November 20, 2018

In November 2014, 13 members of the Biden family gathered on Nantucket for Thanksgiving, a tradition they had been celebrating for the past 40 years. It was the one constant in what had become a hectic, scrutinized and overscheduled life. The Thanksgiving holiday was a much-needed respite, a time to connect, a time to reflect on what the year had brought, and what the future might hold. But this year felt different from all those that had come before. Joe and Jill Biden's eldest son, Beau, had been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor 15 months earlier, and his survival was uncertain. PROMISE ME, DAD chronicles the year that followed, which would be the most momentous and challenging in Joe Biden’s life and career.

Stalin: Waiting for Hitler, 1929-1941 by Stephen Kotkin - Biography

November 20, 2018

In 1929, Joseph Stalin, having already achieved dictatorial power over the vast Soviet Empire, formally ordered the systematic conversion of the world’s largest peasant economy into “socialist modernity,” otherwise known as collectivization, regardless of the cost. What it cost, and what Stalin ruthlessly enacted, transformed the country and its ruler in profound and enduring ways. Building and running a dictatorship, with life and death power over hundreds of millions, made Stalin into the uncanny figure he became. Stephen Kotkin’s STALIN: WAITING FOR HITLER, 1929–1941 is the story of how a political system forged an unparalleled personality and vice versa.

The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell - Dystopian Fantasy

November 20, 2018

Khaim, The Blue City, is the last remaining city in a crumbled empire that overly relied upon magic until it became toxic. It is run by a tyrant known as The Jolly Mayor and his devious right hand, the last archmage in the world. Together they try to collect all the magic for themselves so they can control the citizens of the city. But when their decadence reaches new heights and begins to destroy the environment, the people stage an uprising to stop them. In four interrelated parts, THE TANGLED LANDS is an evocative and epic story of resistance and heroic sacrifice in the twisted remains surrounding the last great city of Khaim.

The Way It Was: My Life with Frank Sinatra by Eliot Weisman and Jennifer Valoppi - Memoir

November 20, 2018

By the time Eliot Weisman met Frank Sinatra in 1976, he was already the Voice, a man who held sway over popular music and pop culture for 40 years. Passionate and generous on his best days, sullen and unpredictable on his worst, Sinatra invited Weisman into his inner circle, an honor that the budding celebrity manager never took for granted. With Weisman's help, Sinatra orchestrated in his final decades some of the most memorable moments of his career. Over their years together, Weisman became a confidant to the man who trusted few, and he came to know Sinatra's world intimately. Ultimately Weisman, who had become the executor of Sinatra's estate, was left alone to navigate the infighting and hatred between those born to the name and the wife who acquired it.

The Widows of Malabar Hill: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay by Sujata Massey - Historical Mystery

November 20, 2018

Perveen Mistry, the daughter of a respected Zoroastrian family, has just joined her father’s law firm. Mistry Law has been appointed to execute the will of Mr. Omar Farid, a wealthy Muslim mill owner who has left three widows behind. But as Perveen examines the paperwork, she notices something strange: all three of the wives have signed over their full inheritance to a charity. The Farid widows live in full purdah --- in strict seclusion, never leaving the women’s quarters or speaking to any men. Are they being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous guardian? Perveen tries to investigate and realizes her instincts were correct when tensions escalate to murder.