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THE STOLEN QUEEN is an Utterly Addictive New Novel from Fiona Davis

The book transports readers from New York City’s most glamorous party to the labyrinth streets of Cairo and back.

THE NOTE is a Page-Turning Novel from One of Our Greatest Contemporary Suspense Writers

In Alafair Burke's latest thriller, a vacation in the Hamptons goes terribly wrong for three friends with a complicated history.

WAKE UP AND OPEN YOUR EYES Holds a Mirror to Our Divided Nation

This relentless social horror novel is about a family on the run from a demonic possession epidemic that spreads through media.

Don't Miss THE SINNERS ALL BOW

Kate Winkler Dawson tells the true story of the scandalous murder investigation that became the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorne’s THE SCARLET LETTER and the first true-crime book published in America.

Olivia Campbell's New Book is a Riveting Historical Account of Women in Science

SISTERS IN SCIENCE is the true story of four female pioneers in physics during WWII and their daring escape out of Nazi Germany.

We're Giving Away a Different Winter Reading Title on Select Days in January and February

Our next contest will be up on Tuesday, January 21st at noon ET. The prize book will be THE BUSINESS TRIP by Jessie Garcia.

Latest Features and Contests


Bookreporter.com's 10th Annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature

At Bookreporter.com, we are kicking off 2025 with our 10th annual Winter Reading Contests and Feature! On select days in January and February, we are hosting a series of 24-hour contests spotlighting a book releasing this winter and giving five lucky readers the chance to win it. We also are sending a special newsletter to announce the day's title, which you can sign up for here.

Our next contest will be up on Tuesday, January 21st at noon ET. The prize book will be THE BUSINESS TRIP, Jessie Garcia's gripping, page-turning debut novel that takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing who?

» Click here to read all the contest details and learn more about our featured titles.


Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for January

Each month, we share top book picks from Indie Next and LibraryReads. We also feature a number of other prominent selections, including the Barnes & Noble Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, Oprah’s Book Club, the PBS Books Readers Club, the "Read with Jenna" Book Club, Reese's Book Club, and the Target Book Club.

THE LIFE CYCLE OF THE COMMON OCTOPUS by Emma Knight is January's Barnes & Noble and "Read with Jenna" book club picks. This witty, atmospheric and brilliantly told novel offers compelling portraits of womanhood, motherhood and female friendship, along with the irresistible intrigue surrounding an extraordinary British family.

» Click here for January's Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks.


Bookreporter.com's Word of Mouth Contest: Tell Us What You've Read --- and You Can Win Two Books!


Let us know by Friday, January 31st at noon ET what books you’ve read, and you’ll have a chance to win GOOD DIRT by Charmaine Wilkerson and MORE OR LESS MADDY by Lisa Genova in our Word of Mouth contest.

In GOOD DIRT, the daughter of an affluent Black family pieces together the connection between a childhood tragedy and a beloved heirloom. MORE OR LESS MADDY is about a young woman diagnosed with bipolar disorder who rejects the stability and approval found in a traditionally “normal” life for a career in stand-up comedy. Both books are Bookreporter.com Bets On picks.

» Click here to enter the contest.

Bookreporter Talks To...

As part of our mission to expand The Book Report Network, we have been shooting video interviews with authors and posting them on our YouTube channel. We also have been making them available as podcasts. Carol loves interviewing authors, so this feels like a natural.

MORE OR LESS MADDY, which will be a Bets On selection, is Lisa Genova's new novel. Lisa shares what drew her to write about a young woman with bipolar disorder and her research on the subject, which included conversations with people who have been diagnosed with it. She talks about how both the diagnosis and the treatment of bipolar disorder can be challenging; there is no one way to treat it, and treatment takes time. Maddy longs to be a stand-up comedian, and Lisa explains how she learned more about that topic, including her own set on stage to give it a try. As always, Lisa speaks about wanting to have readers leave her books with empathy and understanding. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Carol had the pleasure of talking to Fiona Davis about her latest novel, THE STOLEN QUEEN, which is set in Egypt in 1936 and New York City in 1978. The iconic New York building that is featured in this book, which will be a Bets On title, is the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fiona and Carol talk about the museum's King Tut exhibit, as well as the Met Gala and how it has changed through the years. And yes, they share an admiration for fashion columnist and editor Diana Vreeland. Fiona also reveals many details about her research, and she notes a book for further reading. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

Sharon Virts' new historical mystery, THE GRAYS OF TRUTH, was inspired by true events involving one of Baltimore’s most powerful families and is a Bets On pick. Sharon discusses why the Reconstruction era is such a poignant time in American history. She also explains the challenges of creating Jane, her protagonist, and the Edgar Allan Poe quotes that lead off sections of the book. In addition to giving us hints about what is next for her, Sharon talks about the work of the Virts Miller Foundation, as well as the large online book club that she hosts. Watch the video or listen to the podcast.

» Click here for a complete list of our "Bookreporter Talks To" videos and podcasts, along with upcoming interviews.

Latest Reviews

Success has come quickly to Holmes, Marple & Poe Investigations. The New York City agency led by three detectives --- Brendan Holmes, “the brain”; Margaret Marple, “the eyes”; and Auguste Poe, the “muscle” --- with famous names and mysterious pasts is one major case away from cementing its professional reputation. But as a series of child abductions tests the PIs’ legendary skills, the cerebral Holmes’ absence leaves a gaping hole in the agency roster. Only by closing ranks and solving the mystery within can they recover all that’s been lost.

At 40, Peter, an asylum lawyer in New York City, is overworked and isolated. He spends his days immersed in the struggles of immigrants only to return to an empty apartment and occasional hook-ups with a man who wants more than Peter can give. But when the asylum case of a young gay man pierces Peter's numbness, the event that he has avoided for 20 years returns to haunt him. Ann, his mother, who runs a women's retreat center she founded after leaving his father, is hurt by the estrangement from Peter but cherishes the world she has built. She long ago put behind her the decision that divided her from her son. But as Peter’s case plunges him further into the fraught memory of his first love and the night of violence that changed his life, he and his mother must confront the secret that tore them apart.

The body of a young man is found floating in Tokyo Bay. But his death was no accident; Ryota Uetsuji was shot. He'd been reported missing the week before by his live-in girlfriend, Sonoka Shimauchi. But when detectives from the Homicide Squad go to interview her, she is nowhere to be found. When they learn that she was the victim of domestic abuse, they presume she was the killer. But her alibi is airtight; she was hours away in Kyoto when Ryota disappeared, forcing Detectives Kusanagi and Utsumi to restart their investigation. But if Sonoko didn't kill her abusive lover, then who did? A thin thread of association leads them to their old consultant, brilliant physicist Manabu Yukawa, known in the department as "Detective Galileo." With Sonoko still missing, the detectives investigate other threads of association.

The Players by Minette Walters - Historical Fiction

England, 1685. Decades after the end of the English Civil War, the country is once again divided when Charles II's illegitimate son, the Protestant Duke of Monmouth, arrives in Dorset to incite rebellion against his Catholic uncle. Armed only with pitchforks, Monmouth's army is quickly defeated by King James II's superior forces and charged with high treason. Those found guilty will be hanged, drawn and quartered. As Dorset braces for carnage, the formidable Lady Jayne Harrier and her enigmatic son, assisted by the reclusive daughter of a local magistrate, contrive ways to save men from the gallows.

On a December night in 1978, Courtney Lund O’Neil’s mother, teenager Kim Byers, saw her friend, Rob Piest, alive for the last time. At the end of his shift at the pharmacy where they both worked, 15-year-old Rob went outside to speak to a contractor named John Wayne Gacy about a possible job. That night, Rob became Gacy’s final victim; his body was later found in the Des Plaines River. Kim’s testimony --- along with a receipt belonging to her found in Gacy’s house, proving that Rob had been there --- would be pivotal in convicting the serial killer who assaulted and killed over 30 young men and boys. Though she grew up far from Des Plaines, Courtney has lived in the shadow of that nightmare, keenly aware of its impact on her mother. In search of deeper understanding and closure, Courtney and Kim travel back to Illinois.

In 11 stories, THE WORLD WITH ITS MOUTH OPEN follows the inner lives of people in Kashmir as they walk the uncertain terrain of their days, fractured from years of war. From a shopkeeper’s encounter with a mannequin, to an expectant mother walking on a precarious road, to a young boy wavering between dreams and reality, to two dogs wandering the city, these stories weave in larger, devastating themes of loss, grief, violence, longing and injustice with the threads of smaller, everyday realities that confront the characters’ lives in profound ways. Although the stories circle the darker aspects of life, they are --- at the same time --- an attempt to run into life, into humor, into beauty, into another person who can offer refuge, if momentarily.

Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson - Paranormal Romantic Comedy

Following the death of her father, Keyanna “Key” MacKay finds herself thrust into the world he’d always refused to speak of. With just a childhood bedtime story about a monster that saved her father’s life and the name of her estranged grandmother to go off of, Key has no idea what she’ll find in Scotland. Lachlan Greer has his own secrets to keep, especially from the bonnie lass he pulls to safety from the slippery shore. He’s looking for answers as well, and Key’s presence on the grounds they both now occupy presents a real problem. It’s even more troublesome when he gets a front row seat to the lukewarm welcome Key receives from her family and the strange powers she begins to develop. When their secrets collide, it becomes clear that Lachlan could hold the answers Keyanna is after --- and that she also might be the key to uncovering his.

River of Lies by James L'Etoile - Mystery/Thriller

When the homeless camps spread throughout the city of Sacramento fall victim to a string of devastating arson attacks, Detective Emily Hunter and her partner, Javier Medina, dive into the investigation and become acquainted with the real people whose lives have been destroyed. The attacks only begin to draw attention when two of the victims are identified as the city’s former anti-homeless mayor and a camp social worker. But rather than strengthening the push for justice, the movement to completely abolish the camps intensifies. The investigation becomes politically charged when Emily discovers who stands to gain from burning the homeless out of their shelters. It uncovers an unlikely suspect and a reluctant witness standing between Emily and the shocking truth.

Woo Woo by Ella Baxter - Fiction

WOO WOO follows Sabine, a conceptual artist on the verge of a photo exhibition she hopes will be pivotal, as she plunges deeper into her neuroses and seeks validation in relationships --- with her frustratingly rational chef husband, her horde of devoted Gen Z TikTok followers, and even a mysterious, potentially violent stalker. Accompanying her throughout are Sabine’s strange alter egos, from hyperrealistic puppets of her as a baby to the ghost of conceptual artist Carolee Schneemann, who shows up with inscrutable yet sage life advice.