September 3, 1902. Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Theodore Roosevelt has been president for less than a year when his horse-drawn carriage is broadsided by an electric trolley. Roosevelt is thrown clear, but his Secret Service bodyguard is killed instantly. Accident? Or assassination gone awry? Roosevelt has earned enemies galore and is convinced of foul play. He sets John Hay, the secretary of state, to investigate. Hay will cross paths with Emma Goldman and J.P. Morgan to discover the truth…and along the way he will pick up a sidekick, the crusading journalist Nellie Bly. Blending real events and novelistic logic, Hay uncovers a shocking solution that may protect the man who wants to transform the nation, but at the cost of upending the compass of his own life.

It is a time of political turmoil once more as the fading King Edward begins to lose control over his successors and their supporters. Uhtred of Bebbanburg cares solely about his beloved Northumbria and its continuing independence from southern control. But an oath is a strong, almost sacred commitment, and such a promise had been exchanged between Uhtred and Aethelstan, his one-time companion in arms and now a potential king. Uhtred was tempted to ignore the demands of the oath and stay in his northern fastness, leaving the quarrelling Anglo-Saxons to sort out their own issues. But an attack on him by a leading supporter of one of the candidates and an unexpected appeal for help from another drives Uhtred south into the battle for kingship --- and England’s fate.

At the start of World War II, the US Army had two cavalry divisions --- and no mountain troops. The German Wehrmacht, in contrast, had many well-trained and battle-hardened mountain divisions. Starting from scratch, the US Army developed a unique military fighting force, the 10th Mountain Division, drawn from the ranks of civilian skiers, mountaineers and others with outdoor experience. The resulting mix of Ivy League students, park rangers, Olympic skiers and European refugees formed the first specialized alpine fighting force in US history. By the time it deployed to Italy at the beginning of 1945, this ragtag group had coalesced into a tight-knit unit. In the months that followed, at a terrible cost, they spearheaded the Allied drive in Italy to final victory.

Nearly a century after Harry Houdini died, he feels as modern and alive as ever. The name Houdini still leaps to mind whenever we witness a daring escape. Every generation produces new disciples of the magician, from household names in magic like David Copperfield and David Blaine to countless other followers whose lives have been transformed by the power of Houdini. But the unique phenomenon of Houdini was always more than his death-defying stunts or his ability to escape handcuffs and straitjackets. It is also about the power of imagination and self-invention. Fueled by Joe Posnanski’s personal obsession with the magician --- and magic itself --- THE LIFE AND AFTERLIFE OF HARRY HOUDINI is a poignant odyssey of discovery that traces Houdini’s metamorphosis into an iconic figure who has inspired millions.

Just after 4pm on September 6, 1901, 28-year-old anarchist Leon Czolgosz pumped two shots into the chest and abdomen of President William McKinley. Both law enforcement and the press insisted that Czolgosz was merely the tip of a vast and murderous conspiracy, likely instigated by the “high priestess of anarchy,” Emma Goldman. To untangle its threads and bring the remaining conspirators to justice, the president’s most senior advisors choose two other Secret Service agents, Walter George and Harry Swayne. What they uncover will not only absolve the anarchists, but also expose a plot that will threaten the foundations of American democracy and likely cost them their lives.

It was a Thursday at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, mostly sunny with the wind blowing out. Nobody expected an afternoon game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs on May 17, 1979, to be much more than a lazy early-season contest matching two teams heading in opposite directions --- the first-place Phillies and the Cubs, those lovable losers --- until they combined for 13 runs in the first inning. “The craziest game ever,” one player called it. “And then the second inning started.” TEN INNINGS AT WRIGLEY is Kevin Cook’s vivid account of a game that only could have happened at this ballpark, in this era, with this colorful cast of heroes and heels.

When Andrew and Abby Borden were brutally hacked to death in Fall River, Massachusetts, in August 1892, the arrest of the couple’s younger daughter Lizzie turned the case into international news and her murder trial into a spectacle unparalleled in American history. Reporters flocked to the scene. Well-known columnists took up conspicuous seats in the courtroom. The defendant was relentlessly scrutinized for signs of guilt or innocence. Everyone --- rich and poor, suffragists and social conservatives, legal scholars and laypeople --- had an opinion about Lizzie Borden’s guilt or innocence. Was she a cold-blooded murderess or an unjustly persecuted lady? Did she or didn’t she?

In 1801, a genial and brilliant Revolutionary War veteran and politician became the fourth chief justice of the United States. He would hold the post for 34 years (still a record), expounding the Constitution he loved. Before he joined the Supreme Court, it was the weakling of the federal government, lacking in dignity and clout. After he died, it could never be ignored again. Through three decades of dramatic cases involving businessmen, scoundrels, Native Americans and slaves, Marshall defended the federal government against unruly states, established the Supreme Court's right to rebuke Congress or the president, and unleashed the power of American commerce.

While Uhtred of Bebbanburg might have regained his family’s fortress, it seems that a peaceful life is not to be --- as he is under threat from both an old enemy and a new foe. The old enemy comes from Wessex, where a dynastic struggle will determine who will be the next king. And the new foe is Sköll, a Norseman, whose ambition is to be King of Northumbria and who leads a frightening army of wolf-warriors, men who fight half-crazed in the belief that they are indeed wolves. Uhtred, believing he is cursed, must fend off one enemy while he tries to destroy the other. In this new chapter of the Saxon Tales series, Uhtred returns to fight once again for the destiny of England.

Mike Hodge --- veteran of the Great War, big shot of the Chicago Tribune, medium fry --- probably shouldn’t have fallen in love with Annie Walsh. Then again, maybe the man who killed Annie Walsh should have known better than to trifle with Mike Hodge. Mixing some of his most brilliant fictional creations with actual figures of the era and exploring questions of honor, deceit, revenge and devotion, CHICAGO --- David Mamet’s first novel in more than two decades --- is a book that combines spectacular elegance of craft with a kinetic wallop as fierce as the February wind gusting off Lake Michigan.