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January 6, 2015

January 6, 2015

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of January 5th and January 12th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

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Happy New Year!

On Sale the Week of January 5th in Hardcover


January 6th

AS CHIMNEY SWEEPERS COME TO DUST: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
Shortly after 12-year-old Flavia de Luce arrives at Miss Bodycote’s Female Academy boarding school, a charred and mummified body tumbles out of a bedroom chimney. Now, while attending classes, making friends (and enemies), and assessing the school’s stern headmistress and faculty (one of whom is an acquitted murderess), Flavia is on the hunt for the victim’s identity and time of death, as well as suspects, motives and means.
Delacorte Press * 9780345539939

BEFORE I GO by Colleen Oakley (Fiction)
On the eve of what was supposed to be a triumphant “Cancerversary” with her husband, Jack, to celebrate three years of being cancer-free, Daisy suffers a devastating blow: her doctor tells her that the cancer is back, but this time it’s an aggressive stage four diagnosis. Terrified of what will happen to Jack when she’s no longer there to take care of him, Daisy resolves to find him another wife. But as the thought of her husband with another woman becomes all too real, Daisy is forced to decide what’s more important in the short amount of time she has left: her husband’s happiness, or her own.
Gallery Books * 9781476761664

THE BODY SNATCHERS AFFAIR: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini (Historical Mystery)
For John Quincannon, this is a first: searching a Chinatown opium den for his client's husband, missing in the middle of a brewing tong war set to ignite over the stolen corpse of Bing Ah Kee. Meanwhile, his partner, Sabina Carpenter, searches for the corpse of a millionaire, stolen from a sealed family crypt and currently being held for ransom. Is there a connection between the two body snatchers? Or is simple greed the answer to this one?
Forge Books * 9780765331762

DEATH OF A DISHONORABLE GENTLEMAN by Tessa Arlen (Historical Mystery)
Lady Montfort has been planning her annual summer costume ball for months with scrupulous care. But when her husband's degenerate nephew is found murdered, it's more than the ball that’s ruined. In fact, Lady Montfort fears that the official police enquiry is pointing towards her son as a potential suspect. Taking matters into her own hands, she enlists the help of her pragmatic housekeeper, Mrs. Jackson, to investigate the case, track down the women who vanished the night of the murder, and clear her son's name.
Minotaur Books * 9781250052490

DESCENT by Tim Johnston (Literary Thriller)
DESCENT is the story of a family undone by the disappearance of a daughter who went out for a morning run and didn’t come back. The girl’s vanishing is the beginning of the family’s harrowing journey down increasingly divergent and solitary paths, until all that continues to bind them to each other are the questions they can never bring themselves to ask: At what point does a family stop searching? At what point does a girl stop fighting for her life?
Algonquin Books * 9781616203047

THE EMPTY THRONE by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
Æthelred, the ruler of Mercia, is dying, leaving no legitimate heir. The West Saxons want their king, but Uhtred has long supported Æthelflaed, sister to King Edward of Wessex and widow of Æthelred. Widely loved and respected, Æthelflaed has all the makings of a leader --- but could Saxon warriors ever accept a woman as their ruler? The stage is set for rivals to fight for the empty throne.
Harper * 9780062250711

A FINE SUMMER’S DAY: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
On a fine summer’s day in June 1914, Ian Rutledge pays little notice to the assassination of an archduke in Sarajevo. An Inspector at Scotland Yard, he is planning to propose to the woman whom he deeply loves, despite intimations from friends and family that she may not be the wisest choice. Meanwhile, a widow’s death will set off a series of murders across England, seemingly unconnected, that Rutledge will race to solve in the weeks before the fateful declaration in August that will forever transform his world.
William Morrow * 9780062237125

GALAPAGOS REGAINED by James Morrow (Historical Fiction)
Chloe Bathurst is an unemployed Victorian actress who finds work on Charles Darwin’s estate. When she gets wind of the Great God Contest --- £10,000 to the first petitioner who can prove or disprove the existence of a Supreme Being --- she decides that Mr. Darwin’s materialist theory of speciation might just turn the trick. Before she knows it, her ambitions send her off on a wild adventure bound for the Galápagos archipelago, where she intends to demonstrate evolutionary theory to the contest judges.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250054012

GOLDEN SON: Book II of the Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown (Science Fiction/Dystopian Thriller)
GOLDEN SON continues the saga of Darrow, a rebel forged by tragedy, battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. In this highly anticipated sequel to Pierce Brown’s RED RISING, Darrow continues his work to bring down Society from within by inserting himself into the world of the elite Golds.
Del Rey * 9780345539816

HER by Harriet Lane (Psychological Thriller)
Isolated and exhausted by early motherhood, Emma finds that her confidence is fading fast. Nina --- sophisticated, generous, effortlessly in control --- seems to have all the answers. It's easy to see why Emma is drawn to Nina. But what does Nina see in her? A seemingly innocent friendship slowly develops into a dangerous game of cat and mouse as Nina eases her way into Emma's life. It soon becomes clear that Nina wants something from the unwitting Emma --- something that might just destroy her.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316369879

HONEYDEW: Stories by Edith Pearlman (Fiction/Short Stories)
In HONEYDEW, Edith Pearlman writes with warmth about the predicaments of being human. Whether the characters we encounter are a special child with pentachromatic vision, a group of displaced Somali women adjusting to life in suburban Boston, or a staid professor of Latin unsettled by a random invitation to lecture on the mystery of life and death, Pearlman knows each of them intimately and reveals them to us with unsurpassed generosity.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316297226

I THINK YOU’RE TOTALLY WRONG: A Quarrel by David Shields and Caleb Powell (Literary Criticism)
Caleb Powell always wanted to become an artist, but he overcommitted to life, whereas his former professor, David Shields, always wanted to become a human being, but he overcommitted to art. Shields and Powell spend four days together at a cabin in the Cascade Mountains, talking about everything they can think of in the name of exploring and debating their central question (life and/or art?): marriage, family, sports, sex, happiness, drugs, death, betrayal --- and, of course, writers and writing.
Knopf * 9780385351942

INSATIABLE APPETITES: A Stone Barrington Novel by Stuart Woods (Thriller)
It’s a time of unexpected change for Stone Barrington. A recent venture has achieved a great victory, but is immediately faced with an underhanded foe who’s determined to wreak havoc at any cost. When Stone finds himself responsible for distributing the estate of a respected friend and mentor, the process unearths secrets that range from merely surprising to outright alarming. And when a lethal beauty from Stone’s past resurfaces, there’s no telling what chaos will follow in her wake.
Putnam Adult * 9780399169151

THE MAN WHO WOULD NOT BE WASHINGTON: Robert E. Lee's Civil War and His Decision That Changed American History by Jonathan Horn (History)
On the eve of the Civil War, one soldier embodied the legacy of George Washington and the hopes of leaders across a divided land. Both North and South knew Robert E. Lee as the son of Washington’s most famous eulogist and the son-in-law of Washington’s adopted child. Each side sought his service for high command; Lee could choose only one. Former White House speechwriter Jonathan Horn reveals how the officer most associated with Washington went to war against the union that Washington had forged.
Scribner * 9781476748566

THE MARTINI SHOT: A Novella and Stories by George Pelecanos (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316284370

MASTERING LIFE BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE: 10 Biblical Strategies for a Lifetime of Purpose by Robert J. Morgan (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
A lifelong student of the Bible, Pastor Rob Morgan has spent 40 years learning about maximizing each day and becoming purposeful and productive. Now he has found a simple plan that works --- featuring 10 biblical principles that transcend human wisdom. These patterns can be implemented today whether you’re a student or an octagenarian, a novice or an executive, and help you develop a perpetually effective life.
Howard Books * 9781451664744

A NEW SEASON: A Robertson Family Love Story of Brokenness and Redemption by Al and Lisa Robertson, with Beth Clark (Memoir)
Infidelity, deceit, distrust and shame. Unfortunately, these are recurring themes in many of today’s marriages in America --- even in the family-values-promoting, Christian-based Robertson family. But this is not a book about a marriage gone wrong. It is a candid story of rescued love and renewed commitment. After nearly getting divorced, Alan and Lisa Robertson came to terms with what went wrong in their marriage, and both began the hard work of making it right.
Howard Books * 9781476773209

A PLEASURE AND A CALLING by Phil Hogan (Psychological Thriller)
Mr. Heming is a real estate agent who has the keys to every home he's ever sold in town. He has kept them all so he can observe his neighbors, not just on the street, but also behind locked doors. His disturbing hobby soon begins to form a clear pattern, and the reasons behind it come into focus. But when the quiet routine of the village is disrupted by strange occurrences, including a dead body found in the backyard of a client's home, Mr. Heming realizes it may be only a matter of time before his secrets are found out.
Picador * 9781250060631

THE REMARKABLE EDUCATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS by Phyllis Lee Levin (Biography/History)
A patriot by birth, John Quincy Adams’ destiny was foreordained. He was not only “The Greatest Traveler of His Age,” but also his country’s most gifted linguist and most experienced diplomat. His world encompassed the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the early and late Napoleonic Age. In THE REMARKABLE EDUCATION OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, Phyllis Lee Levin provides the deeply researched and definitive biography of one of the most fascinating and towering early Americans.
Palgrave Macmillan Trade * 9781137279620

RUSSIAN TATTOO: A Memoir by Elena Gorokhova (Memoir)
In A MOUNTAIN OF CRUMBS, Elena Gorokhova describes coming of age behind the Iron Curtain and leaving her mother and her Motherland for a new life in the United States. Now, in RUSSIAN TATTOO, Elena learns that the journey of an immigrant is filled with everyday mistakes, small humiliations and a loss of dignity. But through perseverance and resilience, she gradually adapts to her new country.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451689822

THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (Fiction)
The town of Medgar, Kentucky, is beset by a massive Mountaintop Removal operation that is blowing up the hills and back filling the hollows. Fourteen-year-old Kevin's grandfather and others in town attempt to rally the citizens against the “company” and its powerful owner to stop the plunder of their mountain heritage. When Kevin’s friend, Buzzy, witnesses the brutal murder of the opposition leader, a sequence is set in play that tests Buzzy and Kevin to their absolute limits in an epic struggle for survival in the Kentucky mountains.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455551927

THE THIRD TARGET by Joel C. Rosenberg (Thriller)
When New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins hears rumors that an al-Qaeda splinter cell --- ISIS --- has captured a cache of chemical weapons inside Syria, Collins knows this is a story he must pursue at all costs. Knowing that terrorist forces are already trying to bring down two Arab governments in the region --- Iraq and Syria --- can Collins uncover the truth before it’s too late? Or will the terrorists succeed in setting their sights on the third target and achieving genocide?
Tyndale House Publishers * 9781414336275

TRUST NO ONE by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
Awkward doesn’t begin to describe Grace Elland’s evening with venture capitalist Julius Arkwright. She has nothing in common with a man who lives to make money, but the intense former Marine does have some skills that Grace can use --- and he’s the perfect man to help her when it becomes clear she is being stalked. Ultimately, Julius will help Grace step into her past to uncover a devious plan to destroy not only her, but also everyone around her.
Putnam Adult * 9780399165139

UNCLE JANICE by Matt Burgess (Fiction)
Janice Itwaru is an "uncle" --- an undercover narcotics officer --- trying to meet the impossibly high quota of drug busts needed to make detective, or be sent back down to uniformed patrol. With rumors circulating that Internal Affairs has her unit under surveillance, Janice is running very short on luck as her quota deadline approaches. Now she has to decide which evil to confront: the faceless bureaucrats at One Police Plaza, or the violent drug dealers who already may be onto her identity.
Doubleday * 9780385536806

WAITING ON GOD: Strength for Today and Hope for Tomorrow by Charles F. Stanley (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
Are you waiting for God to answer your prayers? Do the days, weeks and years go by without evidence that your deepest longings could ever come true? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, you are facing a common faith-building challenge in the Christian life, and WAITING ON GOD has the guidance you need to endure victoriously. Dr. Charles Stanley gives you the practical wisdom you need to make the most of the delays and follow God’s lead to the blessings you long for.
Howard Books * 9781476794037

WILDALONE by Krassi Zourkova (Supernatural Fantasy/Romance)
Arriving at Princeton for her freshman year, Thea Slavin finds herself alone. Away from her family and her Eastern European homeland for the first time, she struggles to adapt to unfamiliar American ways and the challenges of college life --- including an enigmatic young man whose brooding good looks and murky past intrigue her. Drawn to the elusive Rhys and his equally handsome and mysterious brother, Jake, she ventures into a sensual mythic underworld as irresistible as it is dangerous.
William Morrow * 9780062328021

WINTER AT THE DOOR by Sarah Graves (Mystery/Thriller)
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Snow was first introduced in the final book of Sarah Graves’ previous series, in which she helped Jake Tiptree investigate the murder of a girl whose body was found in a church steeple. Now, Lizzie has taken over as Eastport’s police chief, and is quickly finding the job --- and her life --- more complicated than she expected. Then she learns that a perilous piece of her past has followed her from Boston back to Maine, a mysterious stalker whose chilling intentions drive her to the edge.
Bantam * 9780345535016


January 8th

THE CARRIER: A Zailer and Waterhouse Mystery by Sophie Hannah (Psychological Thriller)
When Gaby’s plane is delayed, she is forced to share a hotel room with a stranger: Lauren, who is terrified of her. But why is she scared of Gaby in particular? Lauren won’t explain. Instead, she blurts out something about an innocent man going to prison for murder. Gaby soon suspects that Lauren’s presence on her flight isn’t a coincidence, because the murder victim is Francine Breary, the wife of the only man Gaby has ever truly loved.
Putnam Adult * 9780670785865

On Sale the Week of January 5th in Paperback

January 6th

THE ACCIDENT by Chris Pavone (Thriller)
Literary agent Isabel Reed is turning the final pages of a mysterious, anonymous manuscript that contains explosive revelations about powerful people. Veteran CIA operative Hayden Gray, determined that this sweeping story be buried, is suddenly staring down the barrel of a gun. And the author himself is hiding in a shadowy expat life while always looking over his shoulder. Over the course of one long day, these lives collide as the book begins its dangerous march toward publication.
Broadway Books * 9780385348478

AT HOME IN LAST CHANCE: A Place to Call Home, Book 3 by Cathleen Armstrong (Romance)
Paperback Original
In Last Chance, New Mexico, Kaitlyn Reed is working to reestablish a relationship with the seven-year-old daughter she left behind six months earlier. Meanwhile, Steven Braden is trying to prove to his family that he is not the irresponsible charmer they have always known him to be. As Kaitlyn and Steven find themselves drawn to one another, one big question keeps getting in the way: How will they learn to trust each other when they don't even trust themselves?
Revell * 9780800722487

BEYOND ALL DREAMS by Elizabeth Camden (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Anna O'Brien leads a quiet life as a map librarian at the Library of Congress until she stumbles across the baffling mystery of a ship disappeared at sea. Thwarted in her attempts to uncover information, she turns to dashing congressman Luke Callahan for help. Anna and Luke are soon embroiled in secrets much bigger and more perilous than they ever imagined. Is bringing the truth to light worth risking all they've ever dreamed for their futures?
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764211751

A CIRCLE OF WIVES by Alice LaPlante (Psychological Thriller)
When Dr. John Taylor is found dead in a hotel room in his hometown, the local police find enough incriminating evidence to suspect foul play. Detective Samantha Adams is innocently thrown into a high-profile murder case that is more intricately intertwined than she ever could imagine. It turns out that Dr. Taylor was married to three very different women in three separate cities. And when these three unsuspecting ladies show up at his funeral, suspicions run high.
Grove Press * 9780802122926

DEATH OF A NIGHTINGALE: A Nina Borg Novel written by Lene Kaaberbøland Agnete Friis, translated from the Danish by Elisabeth Dyssegaard (Mystery/Thriller)
Danish Red Cross nurse Nina Borg has been following Natasha Doroshenko's case for years now. Nina, who had tried to help Natasha leave her abusive Danish fiancé more than once, can't see the young Ukrainian mother as a vicious killer. But in her effort to protect Natasha's daughter and discover the truth, Nina realizes there is much she didn't know about this woman and her past.
Soho Crime * 9781616954512

ESTHER: ROYAL BEAUTY: A Dangerous Beauty Novel by Angela Hunt (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
When Xerxes, king of Persia, issues a call for beautiful young women, Hadassah, a Jewish orphan, is forcibly taken to the pagan ruler's palace. The girl known to the Persians as Esther eventually wins the king's heart and a queen's crown. She keeps her ethnic identity a secret until she learns that an evil and ambitious man has won the king's permission to exterminate all Jews. Purposely violating an ancient Persian law, Esther risks her life in order to save her people...and bind her husband's heart.
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764216954

FIGHT BACK WITH JOY: Celebrate More. Regret Less. Stare Down Your Greatest Fears by Margaret Feinberg
(Memoir/Inspirational)
Paperback Original
When Margaret Feinberg learned she had cancer, she knew she would need great strength to overcome it. She believed the weapon she selected for the battle would change everything. And she decided that weapon would be joy. Here Margaret shares her journey of using joy to fight back fear, regret and pain. Whatever you face today, discover with Margaret how to embrace a way of living that’s deeper and fuller than you’ve ever known --- a life radiant with joy.
Worthy Publishing * 9781617950896

GIDEON by Alex Gordon (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Paperback Original
When Lauren’s father dies, she makes a shocking discovery. The man she knew as John Reardon was once a completely different person, with a different name. Now, she’s determined to find out who he really was, even though her only clues are an old photograph, some letters, and the name of a town --- Gideon. But someone or something doesn’t want her to discover the truth. A strange man is stalking her, appearing everywhere she turns, and those who try to help her end up dead.
Harper Voyager * 9780061687372

THE GIRL WITH A CLOCK FOR A HEART by Peter Swanson (Thriller)
George Foss’s comfortable, predictable life is shattered when a beautiful woman who vanished without a trace 20 years ago sits down next to him at a bar. Ex-girlfriend Liana Dector, the first love George couldn’t quite forget, needs his help. Ruthless men believe she stole some money and will do whatever it takes to get it back. George makes a choice that will plunge him into a terrifying whirlpool of lies, secrets, betrayal and murder from which there is no sure escape.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062267504

JFK IN THE SENATE: Pathway to the Presidency by John T. Shaw (History/Politics)
Before John F. Kennedy became a legendary young president, he was the junior senator from Massachusetts. The Senate was where JFK's presidential ambitions were born and first realized. In the first book to deal exclusively with JFK's Senate years, author John T. Shaw looks at how the young Senator was able to catapult himself on the national stage.
Palgrave Macmillan Trade * 9781137279491

THE KEPT by James Scott (Historical Fiction)
In the winter of 1897, a trio of killers descends upon an isolated farm in upstate New York. Midwife Elspeth Howell returns home to the carnage: her husband and four of her children are murdered. Before she can discover her remaining son Caleb, alive and hiding in the kitchen pantry, another shot rings out over the snow-covered valley. Twelve-year-old Caleb must tend to his mother until she recovers enough for them to take to the frozen wilderness in search of the men responsible.
Harper Perennial * 9780062236654

LIKE A FLOWER IN BLOOM by Siri Mitchell (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
For years, Charlotte Withersby has been free to pursue her love of plants and flowers by assisting her botanist father. But an intrusive uncle has convinced her father that Charlotte's future is to be a wife and mother. Her father is so dependent on her assistance that Charlotte believes he'll soon change his mind...and then Edward Trimble shows up. Suddenly juggling more suitors than she knows what to do with, Charlotte is caught in a trap of her own making. Will she have no choice but to leave her beloved flowers behind?
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764210372

LOST LAKE by Sarah Addison Allen (Fiction)
Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby Pim’s past. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires. It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250019820

LOVE GENTLY FALLING by Melody Carlson (Romance)
Paperback Original
Rita Jansen's mother is healing from a stroke but facing a long recovery. Without being able to run their family-owned salon, she could lose the business. Rita decides to help, but only has until Valentine's Day to come up with a plan. She finds herself renewing friendships with her childhood best friend, Marley, as well as her classmate Johnny. Though Rita believes Johnny is only being kind, with romance kindling in the air, their friendship may just fall into something more.
Center Street * 9781455528103

MR. MERCEDES by Stephen King (Thriller)
A retired cop named Bill Hodges is still haunted by the unsolved case of a lone driver who plowed through a crowd in a stolen Mercedes, running over the innocent, backing up and charging again. When he gets a crazed letter from someone who self-identifies as the “perk” and threatens an even more diabolical attack, Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing another tragedy.
Gallery Books * 9781476754475

THE PAGAN LORD by Bernard Cornwell (Historical Fiction/Adventure)
At the onset of the 10th century, England is in turmoil. Alfred the Great is dead, and his son, Edward, reigns as king. Wessex survives, but peace cannot hold: the Danes in the north, led by Viking Cnut Longsword, stand ready to invade and will never rest until the emerald crown is theirs. Uhtred, once Alfred’s great warrior but now out of favor with the new king, must lead a band of outcasts north to recapture his old family home.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780061969720

THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL by Nadia Hashimi (Fiction)
In Kabul, 2007, Rahima and her sisters can only sporadically attend school and can rarely leave the house. Their only hope lies in the ancient custom of bacha posh, which allows young Rahima to dress and be treated as a boy until she is of marriageable age. A century earlier, her great-aunt, Shekiba, saved herself and built a new life the same way. Crisscrossing in time, THE PEARL THAT BROKE ITS SHELL interweaves the tales of these two women separated by a century who share similar destinies.
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062244765

THE POLARIS PROTOCOL: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are in Turkmenistan with the Taskforce --- a top-secret antiterrorist unit that operates outside US law --- when Jennifer gets a call from her brother, Jack. Working on an investigative report into the Mexican drug cartels, Jack Cahill has unknowingly gotten caught between two rival groups. His desperate call to his sister is his last before he is kidnapped. In their efforts to rescue Jack, Pike and Jennifer uncover a plot much more insidious than illegal drug trafficking.
Signet Select * 9780451467676

THE POPE AND MUSSOLINI: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe by David I. Kertzer (History)
THE POPE AND MUSSOLINI tells the story of two men who came to power in 1922, and together changed the course of 20th-century history. In most respects, they could not have been more different. One was scholarly and devout, the other thuggish and profane. Yet Pope Pius XI and Italian dictator Benito Mussolini had many things in common, and each relied on the other to consolidate his power and achieve his political goals.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812983678

PRECIOUS THING by Colette McBeth (Mystery)
When Rachel and Clara met in high school, they instantly fell under one another’s spell. Now in their late 20s, Rachel has a television career, an apartment and a boyfriend, while Clara’s life is spiraling further out of control. Yet despite everything, they remain inextricably bound. Then Rachel’s news editor assigns her to cover a police press conference, and she is shocked when she arrives to learn that the subject is Clara, who has been reported missing. Is it abduction, suicide --- or something else altogether?
Minotaur Books * 9781250041203

PRISCILLA: The Hidden Life of an Englishwoman in Wartime France by Nicholas Shakespeare (Biography)
When Nicholas Shakespeare stumbled across a trunk full of his late aunt’s personal belongings, he was unaware of where this discovery would take him and what he would learn about her hidden past. As a young boy, Shakespeare had always believed that his aunt was a member of the Resistance and had been tortured by the Germans. The truth turned out to be far more complicated.
Harper Perennial * 9780062297044

QUARRY'S CHOICE by Max Allan Collins
(Hard-boiled Crime Fiction)
Paperback Original
Quarry is a pro in the murder business. When the man he works for becomes a target himself, Quarry is sent South to remove a traitor in the ranks. But in this wide-open city --- with sin everywhere, and betrayal around every corner --- Quarry must make the most dangerous choice of his deadly career: Who to kill?
Hard Case Crime * 9781783290840

RADIANCE OF TOMORROW by Ishmael Beah (Fiction)
Benjamin and Bockarie are two longtime friends who return to their hometown of Imperi after the civil war in Sierra Leone. As more villagers begin coming back, they try to forge a new community by taking up their former posts as teachers, but they’re beset by such obstacles as a scarcity of food and a rash of murders, thievery, rape and retaliation. As Benjamin and Bockarie search for a way to restore order, they’re forced to reckon with the uncertainty of their past and future alike.
Sarah Crichton Books * 9780374535032

RIVER ROAD by Jayne Ann Krentz (Romantic Suspense)
It’s been 13 years since Lucy Sheridan was in Summer River. The last time she visited her aunt Sara there, she’d been sent home suddenly after being dragged out of a wild party by the guy she had a crush on. Mason Fletcher was the overprotective type who thought he had to come to her rescue. Now, returning after her aunt’s fatal car accident, Lucy is learning there was more to the story than she realized at the time.
Jove * 9780515155020

THE SECRET OF MAGIC by Deborah Johnson (Historical Fiction)
Regina Robichard works for Thurgood Marshall, who receives an unusual letter asking the NAACP to investigate the murder of a returning black war hero. It is signed by M. P. Calhoun, the most reclusive author in the country. Once down in Mississippi, Regina finds that nothing in the South is as it seems. She must navigate the muddy waters of racism, relationships, and her own tragic past.
Berkley Trade * 9780425272787

STEADFAST HEART: Brides of Seattle, Book One by Tracie Peterson (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
Twenty-year-old Lenore Fulcher's father wants to marry his daughter off to one of his business partners --- who is 17 years her senior --- an idea that is out of the question for Lenore. Kolbein Booth, a young lawyer from Chicago, arrives in Seattle looking for his headstrong sister, who he believes may have answered an advertisement for mail-order brides. Is this the man Lenore has been searching for? She may not have long to find out...
Bethany House Publishers * 9780764210617

THE STRING DIARIES by Stephen Lloyd Jones (Horror/Thriller)
Hannah frantically drives through the night --- her daughter asleep in the back, her husband bleeding out in the seat beside her. In the trunk of the car rests a cache of diaries dating back 200 years, tied and retied with strings through generations. The diaries carry the rules for survival that have been handed down from mother to daughter since the 19th century. But how can Hannah escape an enemy with the ability to look and sound like the people she loves?
Mulholland Books * 9780316254458

TESLA: A PORTRAIT WITH MASKS by Vladimir Pistalo (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Nikola Tesla was a man forever misunderstood. From his boyhood in what is present-day Croatia, where his father, a Serbian Orthodox priest, dismissed his talents, to his tumultuous years in New York City, where his heated rivalry with Thomas Edison yielded triumphs and failures, Tesla was both demonized and lionized. TESLA: A PORTRAIT WITH MASKS captures the whirlwind years of the dawn of the electrical age, when his flair for showmanship kept him in the public eye.
Graywolf Press * 9781555976972

THE WEIGHT OF BLOOD by Laura McHugh (Mystery/Thriller)
Lucy Dane is haunted by the murder of her friend, Cheri, along with the disappearance of her mother who she never knew. With the help of a local boy, Daniel, she sets out to uncover the mystery behind Cheri’s death. What Lucy discovers is a secret that pervades the secluded Missouri hills, and beyond that horrific revelation is a more personal one concerning what happened to her mother more than a decade earlier.
Spiegel & Grau * 9780812985337

WRONGFUL DEATH by Lynda La Plante (Mystery)
Paperback Original
Six months ago, London nightclub owner Josh Reynolds was found dead. Ruled a suicide, the police investigation was closed. Then a young man, awaiting trial for armed robbery, tells his guards that Reynolds was murdered and that he has information to share. DCI Anna Travis, who is called upon to review the case, finds herself faced with a dangerous choice. Will she close ranks to protect her people, or push to find the truth no matter what the consequences?
Bourbon Street Books * 9780062355935
On Sale the Week of January 12th in Hardcover

January 13th

AMNESIA by Peter Carey (Fiction)
When Gaby Baillieux releases the Angel Worm into Australia’s prison computer system, hundreds of asylum-seekers walk free. And because the Americans run the prisons, the doors of some 5,000 jails in the United States also open. Is this a mistake, or a declaration of cyber war? Felix Moore, known to himself as “our sole remaining left-wing journalist,” is determined to write Gaby’s biography in order to find the answers. But how can he get Gaby --- on the run, scared, confused and angry --- to cooperate?
Knopf * 9780385352772

AN APPETITE FOR VIOLETS by Martine Bailey (Historical Fiction)
Forced to accompany her new mistress to Italy, under-cook Biddy Leigh documents her adventures and culinary discoveries in an old household book of recipes. In London, she finds herself attracted to her mistress’s younger brother. In France, she discovers her mistress’s dark secret. At last, in Italy, Biddy becomes embroiled in a murderous conspiracy, knowing that the secrets she holds could be the key to a better life --- or her downfall.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250056917

BONITA AVENUE by Peter Buwalda (Fiction)
Siem Sigerius is a beloved, brilliant professor of mathematics with a promising future in politics. But there are elements of Siem's past that threaten to upend the peace and stability that he has achieved. When he stumbles upon a deception that’s painfully close to home, things begin to fall apart. A cataclysmic explosion in a fireworks factory, the advent of Internet pornography, and the reappearances of a discarded, dangerous son all play a terrible role in the spectacular fragmentation of the Sigerius clan.
Hogarth * 9780553417852

COLD COLD HEART by Tami Hoag (Psychological Thriller)
Dana Nolan was a promising young TV reporter until a notorious serial killer tried to add her to his list of victims. Struggling with the torment of post-traumatic stress syndrome, Dana returns to her hometown in an attempt to begin to put her life back together. Her harrowing story and return to small town life have rekindled police and media interest in the unsolved case of her childhood best friend, Casey Grant, who disappeared without a trace the summer after their graduation from high school.
Dutton Adult * 9780525954545

THE DEEP by Nick Cutter (Horror)
A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget, and then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, a heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered --- possibly a universal healer. It’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.
Gallery Books * 9781476717739

THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Elisabeth de Mariaffi (Literary Thriller)
Rookie crime beat reporter Evie Jones is haunted by the unsolved murder of her best friend, Lianne Gagnon, who was killed in 1982, back when both girls were 11. The suspected killer, a repeat offender named Robert Cameron, was never arrested, leaving Lianne’s case cold. Now 21 and living alone for the first time, Evie is obsessively drawn to finding out what really happened to Lianne. She leans on another childhood friend, David Patton, for help --- but every clue they uncover seems to lead to an unimaginable conclusion.
Touchstone * 9781476779089

DONE IN ONE by Grant Jerkins and Jan Thomas (Thriller)
SWAT sniper Jake Denton and his wife, his department-ordered psychiatrist, are beginning to question just how these sanctioned kills are affecting Jake’s mental health. Nobody wants him to end up like Lee Staley, his mentor and ex-partner --- now out on permanent psych leave and the prime suspect in a series of shootings that have paralyzed Northern California. Jake doesn't believe that Staley is guilty, but when their job has taught them to kill, how easy would it be for his friend to cross over to the other side? How easy would it be for Jake?
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250054869

THE FIRST BAD MAN by Miranda July (Fiction)
Cheryl is haunted by a baby boy she met when she was six, who sometimes recurs as other people’s babies. She is also obsessed with Phillip, a philandering board member at the women’s self-defense nonprofit where she works. She believes they’ve been making love for many lifetimes, though they have yet to consummate in this one. When Cheryl’s bosses ask if their 21-year-old daughter, Clee, can move into her house for a little while, Cheryl’s eccentrically ordered world explodes.
Scribner * 9781439172568

THE GIRL FROM HUMAN STREET: Ghosts of Memory in a Jewish Family by Roger Cohen (Memoir)
Award-winning New York Times columnist Roger Cohen turns a compassionate yet discerning eye on the legacy of his own forebears. As he follows them across continents and decades, mapping individual lives that diverge and intertwine, vital patterns of struggle and resilience, valued heritage and evolving loyalties (religious, ethnic and national) converge into a resonant portrait of cultural identity in the modern age.
Knopf * 9780307594662

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN by Paula Hawkins (Psychological Thriller)
Rachel takes the same commuter train every morning. Every day she rattles down the track, flashes past a stretch of cozy suburban homes, and stops at the signal that allows her to daily watch the same couple breakfasting on their deck. She’s even started to feel like she knows them. Their life --- as she sees it --- is perfect. Not unlike the life she recently lost. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything has changed.
Riverhead Hardcover * 9781594633669

THE ICE QUEEN by Nele Neuhaus (Mystery)
Ninety-two-year-old Jossi Goldberg, a Holocaust survivor and an American citizen, is found shot to death execution-style in his house near Frankfurt. The autopsy reveals an old and unsuccessfully covered tattoo on the body’s arm --- a blood type marker once used by Hitler's SS. Two more, similar murders happen, and slowly the connections between the victims become evident: All of them were lifelong friends with Vera von Kaltensee --- baroness, well-respected philanthropist, and head of an old, rich family that she rules with an iron fist.
Minotaur Books * 9780312604264

IN SOME OTHER WORLD, MAYBE by Shari Goldhagen (Fiction)
In December 1992, three groups of teenagers head to the theater to see the movie version of the famed Eons & Empires comic books. For Adam, it's a last-ditch effort to connect with a girl before he leaves town for good. Sharon skips school so she can fully appreciate the flick without interruption from her vapid almost-friends. And Phoebe and Ollie simply want to have a nice first date and maybe fool around in the dark, if everyone they know could just stop getting in the way. Over the next two decades, these characters criss-cross the globe, becoming entwined by friendship, sex, ambition, fame and tragedy.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250047991

THE LAST AMERICAN VAMPIRE by Seth Grahame-Smith (Horror)
In Reconstruction-era America, vampire Henry Sturges is searching for renewed purpose in the wake of his friend Abraham Lincoln's shocking death. It will be an expansive journey that will send him first to England for an unexpected encounter with Jack the Ripper, then to New York City for the birth of a new American century, the dawn of the electric era of Tesla and Edison, and the blazing disaster of the 1937 Hindenburg crash.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455502127

LILLIAN ON LIFE by Alison Jean Lester (Fiction)
Born in the Midwest in the 1930s, Lillian lives, loves and works in Europe in the ’50s and early ’60s. She settles in New York and pursues the great love of her life in the ’60s and ’70s. Now it’s the early ’90s, and she’s taking stock. Throughout her life, walking the unpaved road between traditional and modern choices for women, Lillian grapples with parental disappointment and societal expectations, wins and losses in love, and develops her own brand of wisdom.
Putnam Adult * 9780399168895

THE MAGICIAN’S LIE by Greer Macallister (Historical Mystery)
The Amazing Arden is the most famous female illusionist of her day, renowned for her notorious trick of sawing a man in half on stage. One night in Waterloo, Iowa, with young policeman Virgil Holt watching from the audience, she swaps her trademark saw for a fire ax. Is it a new version of the illusion, or an all-too-real murder? When Arden's husband is found lifeless beneath the stage later that night, the answer seems clear, and she has only one night to convince a small-town policeman of her innocence.
Sourcebooks Landmark * 9781402298684

MIRACLE ON VOODOO MOUNTAIN: A Young Woman's Remarkable Story of Pushing Back the Darkness for the Children of Haiti by Megan Boudreaux (Memoir)
MIRACLE ON VOODOO MOUNTAIN is the inspirational memoir of an accomplished and driven 24-year-old who quit her job, sold everything and moved to Haiti by herself --- all without a clear plan of action. Megan Boudreaux had visited Haiti on a few humanitarian trips, but each trip multiplied the sense that someone needed to address the devastation --- especially with the children, many of whom were kept as household slaves on the poverty-stricken and earthquake-devastated Caribbean island.
Thomas Nelson * 9780529110947

OUTLINE by Rachel Cusk (Fiction)
OUTLINE is a novel in 10 conversations that follows a novelist teaching a course in creative writing during one oppressively hot summer in Athens. She leads her students in storytelling exercises, meets other visiting writers for dinner and discourse, and goes swimming in the Ionian Sea with her neighbor from the plane. The people she encounters speak volubly about themselves. And through these disclosures, a portrait of the narrator is drawn by contrast --- a portrait of a woman learning to face a great loss.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9780374228347

PUBLISHING: A Writer's Memoir by Gail Godwin (Memoir)
PUBLISHING is a personal story of a writer's hunger to be published, the pursuit of that goal, and then the long haul --- for Gail Godwin, 45 years of being a published writer and all that goes with it. The book reflects on the influence of her mother's writing hopes and accomplishments, and recalls her experiences with teachers Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Coover; John Hawkins, her literary agent for five decades; John Irving and other luminaries; and her editors and publishers.
Bloomsbury USA * 9781620408247

RESILIENCE: Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness by Jessie Close with Pete Earley (Memoir)
Jessie Close first started to exhibit symptoms of severe bipolar disorder as a child. She embarked on a series of destructive marriages as the condition worsened, and her mental illness was passed on to her son, Calen. It wasn't until Calen entered McLean's psychiatric hospital that Jessie herself was diagnosed. In RESILIENCE, she and her sister, actress Glenn Close, share their story of triumphing over her illness.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455548828

SAINT ODD: An Odd Thomas Novel by Dean Koontz (Supernatural Thriller)
Two years after the cataclysmic events that sent him journeying into mystery, Odd Thomas has traveled full circle, back to his beloved hometown of Pico Mundo and the people he loves. Odd has come to save them --- and perhaps humanity --- from the full flowering of evil. He prepares to confront the terrible forces arrayed against him and possibly to journey still farther, to his long-awaited reunion with his lost love, Stormy Llewellyn.
Bantam * 9780345545879

THE UNDERTAKER’S DAUGHTER: A Memoir by Kate Mayfield (Memoir)
After Kate Mayfield was born, she was taken directly to a funeral home. Her father was an undertaker, and for 13 years the family resided in a place nearly synonymous with death. A place where the living and the dead entered their house like a vapor. The place where Kate would spend the entirety of her childhood. In a memoir that reads like a Harper Lee novel, the author draws the reader into a world of Southern mystique and ghosts.
Gallery Books * 9781476757285

THE UNQUIET DEAD by Ausma Zehanat Khan (Mystery)
Detective Rachel Getty is asked by her boss, Esa Khattak, to look into the death of Christopher Drayton, who may have been a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. But as Rachel and Khattak dig deeper into Drayton’s life and death, every question seems to lead only to more questions. Had the specters of Srebrenica returned to haunt Drayton at the end, or had he been keeping secrets of an entirely different nature?
Minotaur Books * 9781250055118

WEST OF SUNSET by Stewart O'Nan (Historical Fiction)
In 1937, F. Scott Fitzgerald was a troubled, uncertain man whose literary success was long over. In poor health, with his wife consigned to a mental asylum and his finances in ruins, he struggled to make a new start as a screenwriter in Hollywood. By December 1940, he would be dead of a heart attack. Those last three years of Fitzgerald’s life, often obscured by the legend of his earlier Jazz Age glamour, are the focus of Stewart O’Nan’s new novel.
Viking Adult * 9780670785957
On Sale the Week of January 12th in Paperback

January 13th

APPLE TREE YARD by Louise Doughty (Psychological Thriller)
Yvonne Carmichael, a renowned geneticist, public authority and mother of two, has become involved in an affair. So thrilled and absorbed is she in her newfound sexual power that she fails to notice the real danger about to blindside her from a seemingly innocuous angle. Then, reeling from an act of violence, Yvonne discovers that her desire for justice and revenge has already been compromised. Everything hinges on one night in a dark little alley called Apple Tree Yard.
Picador * 9781250062031

DIVINE APPLAUSE: Secrets and Rewards of Walking with an Invisible God by Jeff Anderson (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
Paperback Original
How do we have a relationship with a God we can’t see? There must be more to the Christian life than silence, and more to God than a vacant stare. DIVINE APPLAUSE weaves together biblical insights and personal stories that illustrate the surprising ways God connects with us. Let Jeff Anderson show you how to use your spiritual senses to experience God.
Multnomah Books * 9781601425300

THE EMPIRE OF NECESSITY: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World by Greg Grandin (History)
Drawing on research on four continents, THE EMPIRE OF NECESSITY explores the multiple forces that culminated in a remarkable slave rebellion one morning in 1805. Historian Greg Grandin uses the dramatic happenings of that day to map a new transnational history of slavery in the Americas, capturing the clash of peoples, economies and faiths that was the New World in the early 1800s.
Picador * 9781250062109

THE EXILES RETURN by Elisabeth de Waal (Historical Fiction)
Vienna is demolished by war, the city an alien landscape of ruined castles, a fractured ruling class, and people picking up the pieces. THE EXILES RETURN is the postwar story of Austria’s fallen aristocrats, unrepentant Nazis, and a culture degraded by violence. Elisabeth de Waal’s novel follows a number of exiles, each returning under very different circumstances, who must come to terms with a city in painful recovery.
Picador * 9781250063748

FROM THE DEAD: A Tom Thorne Novel by Mark Billingham (Mystery)
A decade ago, Alan Langford’s charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife, Donna, was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and sentenced to 10 years in prison. But before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. How is it possible that he’s still alive? Where is he? Who sent the picture, and why?
Grove Press * 9780802122919

THE HOUSEMAID’S DAUGHTER by Barbara Mutch (Historical Fiction)
When Cathleen Harrington leaves her home in Ireland in 1919 to travel to South Africa, she knows that she does not love the man she is to marry there. Her only real companions are her diary and her housemaid, and later the housemaid's daughter, Ada. When Ada disappears one day, scorned by her own community, Cathleen must make a choice: Should she conform to society, or search for the girl who has become closer to her than her own daughter?
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250054463

RED 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach (Psychological Thriller)
When three red-haired women receive chilling letters in the mail from a killer known only as the Wolf, their lives are upended as they spend every waking moment fearing that their lives could be snuffed out at any time. The Wolf is stalking them, biding his time, waiting for the perfect opportunity to complete his master plan. Yet the one thing this cunning and devious killer didn't plan for is the Reds discovering each other.
Mysterious Press * 9780802122988

A THING OF BEAUTY by Lisa Samson (Romance)
Paperback Original
When former child star Fiona Hume's money finally runs out, she decides to rent out the maid’s quarters to a local blacksmith named Josia Yeu. Josia is everything Fiona isn’t: gregarious, peaceful, in control without controlling...in short, happy. As the light from the maid’s quarters begins to permeate the dank rooms of Fiona’s world, something else begins to transform as well --- something inside Fiona. Something even she can see is beautiful.
Thomas Nelson * 9781595545473

UNLUCKY 13 by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Mystery/Thriller)
San Francisco Detective Lindsay Boxer is loving her life as a new mother. Then the FBI sends Lindsay a photo of a killer from her past, and her happy world is shattered. The picture captures a beautiful woman at a stoplight. But all Lindsay sees is the psychopath behind those seductive eyes: Mackie Morales, the most deranged and dangerous mind the Women's Murder Club has ever encountered.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455516001

UNREMARRIED WIDOW: A Memoir by Artis Henderson (Memoir)
In her memoir, Artis Henderson not only recounts the unlikely love story she shared with her husband, Miles, and her unfathomable recovery in the wake of his death --- from the dark hours following the military notification to the first fumbling attempts at new love --- but also reveals how Miles’ death mirrored her father’s death in a plane crash, which Artis survived when she was five years old and left her own mother a young widow.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451649291

WHERE MONSTERS DWELL by Jørgen Brekke (Mystery)
A murder at the Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, bears a close resemblance to one in Trondheim, Norway. Richmond homicide detective Felicia Stone and Trondheim police inspector Odd Singsaker find themselves working on similar murder cases, committed the same way, but half a world away. And both murders are somehow connected to a 16th-century palimpsest book that appears to be a journal of a serial murderer back in 1529 Norway, a book bound in human skin.
Minotaur Books * 9781250060808

WHY I READ: The Serious Pleasure of Books by Wendy Lesser (Literary Criticism)
In WHY I READ, Wendy Lesser draws on a lifetime of pleasure reading and decades of editing to describe a life lived in and through literature. As Lesser examines work from such perspectives as “Character and Plot,” “Novelty,” “Grandeur and Intimacy” and “Authority,” the reader will discover a definition of literature that is as broad as it is broad-minded. In addition to novels and stories, Lesser explores plays, poems and essays, along with mysteries, science fiction and memoirs.
Picador * 9781250062093

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