Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid 16-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. His fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security and the safety of his family on the line.

This new collection brings together more than 50 poems and showcases the deft mixing of the playful and the serious that has made Billy Collins one of our country’s most celebrated and widely read poets. Here are poems that leap with whimsy and imagination, yet stay grounded in the familiar, common things of everyday experience. Collins takes us for a walk with an impossibly ancient dog, discovers the original way to eat a banana, meets an Irish spider, and even invites us to his own funeral. Sensitive to the wonders of being alive as well as the thrill of mortality, WHALE DAY builds on and amplifies Collins’ reputation as one of America’s most interesting and durable poets.

It’s easy to forget that the New England Patriots were once the laughingstock of the NFL, a nearly bankrupt team that had never won a championship and was on the brink of moving to St. Louis. Everything changed in 1994, when Robert Kraft acquired the franchise and brought on board head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. Since then, the Patriots have become a juggernaut. How was their dynasty built, and how did it last for two decades? In THE DYNASTY, acclaimed journalist Jeff Benedict provides richly reported answers in a sweeping account based on exclusive interviews with more than 200 insiders, as well as never-before-seen recordings, documents and electronic communications.

This story starts with a family. For now, it is a father and a mother with two sons --- one with his father’s violence in his blood, one with his mother’s artistry. One leaves. One stays. They will be joined by others whose deeds will determine their fate. It is a beginning. Their stories will intertwine and evolve over the course of 2,000 years. They will meet again and again at different times and in different places. From Palestine at the dawn of the first millennium and journeying across 50 countries to a life among the stars in the third, the world will change around them, but their destinies remain the same. It must play out as foretold.

There are rules for murder mysteries. There must be a victim. A suspect. A detective. Grant McAllister, an author of crime fiction and professor of mathematics, once sat down and worked them all out, publishing seven perfect detective stories to demonstrate the rules of murder. But that was 30 years ago. Now Grant lives in seclusion on a remote Mediterranean island --- until Julia Hart, a sharp, ambitious editor, knocks on his door. His early work is being republished, and together the two of them must revisit those old stories. But as she reads the stories, Julia is unsettled to realize that there are parts that don't make sense. Intricate clues seem to reference a real murder --- one that's remained unsolved for 30 years. If Julia wants answers, she must triumph in a battle of wits with a dangerously clever adversary.

The town of Bentley holds two things dear: its football and its secrets. When star quarterback Dylan Whitley goes missing, fear grips this remote corner of Texas. Dylan’s brother, Joel, a gay man with secrets of his own, is convinced there is more to the disappearance than meets the eye, as does Sheriff’s Deputy Starsha Clark. But their search for answers will bring them to the dark truth behind an urban legend whispered about in the locker rooms and bleachers of this All-American town: The Bright Lands.

Mason "Mace" Reid lives on the outskirts of Chicago and specializes in human remains detection. He trains dogs to hunt for the dead. Reid is coming off a taxing year --- mourning the death of a beloved springer spaniel, as well as the dissolution of his marriage. He adopts a rescue dog with a mysterious past --- a golden retriever named Vira. And when Reid begins training Vira as a cadaver dog, he comes to realize just how special the newest addition to his family truly is. Suddenly, Reid and his prize pupil find themselves hurled into a taxing murder case, which will push them to their very limits. Paired with determined Chicago Police Officer Kippy Gimm, Mace must put all his trust in Vira's abilities to thwart a serial killer who has now set his sights on Mace himself.

Elizabeth Carlyle’s prestigious New York law firm is working on the most high-stakes case in company history, defending a prominent bank. When Elizabeth gets the news that one of her junior associates has lost his phone --- and the secret documents that were on it --- she desperately needs help. Enter ex-CIA officer Valencia Walker, a high-priced fixer who gets called in when governments, corporations and plutocrats need their problems solved discretely. But things get complicated when the missing phone is retrieved: somebody has already copied the documents, and now they’re blackmailing the firm. The situation gets murkier still when stories about the documents start appearing in the press and a tragic suicide seems staged, hinting that darker forces may be churning below the surface.

HERE WE ARE is Benjamin Taylor's unvarnished portrait of his best friend and one of America's greatest writers. Philip Roth's place in the canon is secure, but less clear is what the man himself was like. Here, we see Roth as a mortal man, experiencing the joys and sorrows of aging, reflecting on his own writing, and doing something we all love to do: passing the time in the company of his closest friend. An ode to friendship and its wondrous ability to brighten our lives in unexpected ways, Taylor’s memoir pays tribute to a friend in the way that only a writer can.