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Week of August 23, 2021

New in Paperback

Week of August 23, 2021

Paperback releases for the week of August 23rd include ROBERT B. PARKER’S FOOL’S PARADISE by Mike Lupica, which revolves around the murder of an unknown man in Paradise and Police Chief Jesse Stone's investigation into who he was --- and what he was seeking; Emily Gray Tedrowe's THE TALENTED MISS FARWELL, an electrifying page-turner of greed and obsession, survival and self-invention, that is a piercing character study of one unforgettable female con artist; SISTERS, a one-two punch of wild fury and heartache --- a taut, powerful and deeply moving account of sibling love and what happens when two sisters must face each other’s darkest impulses; and DEAR CHILD by Romy Hausmann, a twisty and psychologically clever thriller that the publisher describes as "GONE GIRL meets ROOM," in which a woman held captive finally escapes --- but can she ever really get away?

Dear Child by Romy Hausmann - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

August 24, 2021

A windowless shack in the woods. A dash to safety. But when a woman finally escapes her captor, the end of the story is only the beginning of her nightmare. She says her name is Lena. Lena, who disappeared without a trace 14 years prior. She fits the profile. She has the distinctive scar. But her family swears that she isn’t their Lena. The little girl who escaped the woods with her knows things she isn’t sharing, and Lena’s devastated father is trying to piece together details that don’t quite fit. Lena is desperate to begin again, but something tells her that her tormentor still wants to get back what belongs to him…and that she may not be able to truly escape until the whole truth about what happened in the woods finally emerges.

Fraternity: Stories by Benjamin Nugent - Fiction/Short Stories

August 24, 2021

In a Massachusetts college town stands a dilapidated colonial: Delta Zeta Chi. Here, we meet Newton, the beloved chapter president; Oprah, the sensitive reader; Petey, the treasurer, loyal to a fault; Claire, the couch-surfing dropout who hopes to sell them drugs; and a girl known, for unexpected reasons, as God. Though the living room reeks of sweat and spilled beer, the brothers know that to be inside is everything. FRATERNITY celebrates the debauched kinship of boys and girls straddling adolescence and adulthood: the drunken antics, solemn confessions and romantic encounters that mark their first years away from home. Beneath each episode lies the dread of exclusion.

Hot to Trot: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton, with R.W. Green - Mystery

August 24, 2021

When Private Detective Agatha Raisin learns that her friend and one-time lover, Charles Fraith, is to be married to a mysterious socialite, Miss Mary Brown-Field, she sees it as her duty to find out what she can about the woman. Coming up empty, Agatha does the only sensible thing she can think of: she crashes their wedding, which ends in a public altercation. Nursing a hangover the next morning, she gets a phone call from Charles with even more disturbing news: Mary has been murdered. Agatha takes on the case and quickly becomes entrenched in the competitive equestrian world, in which Mary had been enmeshed --- as well as the victim’s surprisingly violent past.

The Last Uncharted Sky: Book Three in The Risen Kingdoms by Curtis Craddock - Historical Fantasy

August 24, 2021

Isabelle and Jean-Claude undertake an airship expedition to recover a fabled treasure and claim a hitherto undiscovered craton for l'Empire Celeste. But Isabelle, resulting from a previous attack that tried to subsume her body and soul, suffers from increasingly disturbing and disruptive hallucinations. Disasters are compounded when the ship is sabotaged by an enemy agent, and Jean-Claude is separated from the expedition. In a race against time, Isabelle must figure out how to ward off her ailment before it destroys her and reunite with Jean-Claude to seek the fabled treasure as ancient secrets and a royal conspiracy threaten to undo the entire realm.

The Less Dead by Denise Mina - Mystery/Thriller

August 24, 2021

Dr. Margo Dunlop’s adoptive mom just passed away, and she can't begin to empty the house --- or, it seems, get her brother on the phone. Not to mention she's newly single, secretly pregnant and worried about her best friend's dangerous relationship. In an effort to cheer herself up, she goes in search of her birth mother. Instead she finds Nikki, her mother's sister. Aunt Nikki isn't what Margo expects, and she brings upsetting news: Margo's mother is dead. Worse, she was murdered years ago, and her killer is still at large --- and sending Nikki threatening letters. Then Margo receives a letter, too. Someone out there has been waiting and watching, and in Margo sees the spitting image of her mother.

Nicotine: A Love Story Up in Smoke written by Gregor Hens, translated by Jen Calleja - Memoir

August 24, 2021

Written with the passion of an obsessive, NICOTINE addresses a lifelong addiction, from the thrill of the first drag to the perennial last last cigarette. Reflecting on his experiences as a smoker from a young age, Gregor Hens investigates the irreversible effects of nicotine on thought and patterns of behavior. He extends the conversation with other smokers to meditations on Mark Twain and Italo Svevo, the nature of habit, and the validity of hypnosis. With comic insight and meticulous precision, Hens deconstructs every facet of dependency, offering a brilliant analysis of the psychopathology of addiction.

Ordinary Hazards by Anna Bruno - Fiction

August 24, 2021

It’s 5pm on a Wednesday when Emma settles into her hometown bar with a motley crew of locals, all unaware that a series of decisions over the course of a single night is about to change their lives forever. As the evening unfolds, key details about Emma’s history emerge, and the past comes bearing down on her like a freight train. Why has Emma, a powerhouse in the business world, ended up here? What is she running away from? And what is she willing to give up to recapture the love she once cherished?

Payback by Mary Gordon - Fiction

August 24, 2021

Quin Archer is the revenge-loving queen of the reality TV show "Payback," and has dedicated her life to confronting and outing the guilty. But long before she was a star, Quin was an angry teenage student at a private New England girls’ school, whose closest confidant was her art teacher, Agnes. But when Quin (then known as Heidi) turned to Agnes for help in a moment of desperate need, Agnes’ stunned response devastated them both.

Robert B. Parker's Fool's Paradise: A Jesse Stone Novel by Mike Lupica - Mystery

August 24, 2021

When a body is discovered at the lake in Paradise, Police Chief Jesse Stone is surprised to find that he recognizes the murder victim --- the man had been at the same AA meeting as Jesse the evening before. But otherwise, Jesse has no clue as to the man's identity. Their single lead is from a taxi company that recalls dropping off the mysterious stranger outside the gate at the mansion of one of the wealthiest families in town. Meanwhile, after Jesse survives a hail of gunfire on his home, he wonders if it could be related to the mysterious murder. When both Molly Crane and Suitcase Simpson also become targets, it is clear that someone has an ax to grind against the entire Paradise Police Department.

Sisters by Daisy Johnson - Fiction

August 24, 2021

Born just 10 months apart, July and September are thick as thieves, never needing anyone but each other. Now, following a case of school bullying, the teens have moved away with their single mother to a long-abandoned family home near the shore. In their new, isolated life, July finds that the deep bond she has always shared with September is shifting in ways she cannot entirely understand. A creeping sense of dread and unease descends inside the house. Meanwhile, outside, the sisters push boundaries of behavior --- until a series of shocking encounters tests the limits of their shared experience, and forces shocking revelations about the girls’ past and future.

The Talented Miss Farwell by Emily Gray Tedrowe - Thriller

August 24, 2021

At the end of the 1990s, with the art market finally recovered from its disastrous collapse, Miss Rebecca Farwell has made a killing at Christie’s in New York City, selling a portion of her extraordinary art collection for a rumored 900 percent profit. To some, the elusive Miss Farwell is a shark with outstanding business acumen. To others, she’s a heartless capitalist whose only interest in art is how much she can make. But a thousand miles from the Big Apple, in the small town of Pierson, Illinois, Miss Farwell is someone else entirely --- a quiet single woman known as Becky who works tirelessly as the town’s treasurer and controller. How long can the talented Miss Farwell continue to pull off her double life?

Total Power: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Vince Flynn and Kyle Mills - Political Thriller

August 24, 2021

When Mitch Rapp captures ISIS’s top technology expert, he reveals that he was on his way to meet a man who claims to have the ability to bring down America’s power grid. Rapp is determined to eliminate this shadowy figure, but the CIA’s trap fails. The Agency is still trying to determine what went wrong when ISIS operatives help this cyber terrorist do what he said he could --- plunge the country into darkness. With no concept of how this unprecedented act was accomplished, the task of getting the power back on could take months. Perhaps even years. Rapp and his team embark on a desperate search for the only people who know how to repair the damage. But his operating environment is like nothing he’s experienced before.

Turn a Blind Eye: A Detective William Warwick Novel by Jeffrey Archer - Mystery

August 24, 2021

Newly promoted to Detective Inspector, William Warwick is tasked to go undercover and expose corruption at the heart of the Metropolitan Police Force. His team is focused on following Detective Jerry Summers, whose lifestyle exceeds his income. But the investigation risks being compromised when Nicky falls for Summers. Meanwhile, notorious drug baron Assem Rashidi goes on trial; the prosecutors are William’s father, Sir Julian, and his sister, Grace. William’s wife, Beth, makes a surprising new friend in Christina Faulkner --- the ex-wife of William’s former rival, criminal financier Miles --- who has a new-found source of income when Faulkner dies suddenly of a heart attack and she stands to be sole inheritor of his estate.

When the Summer Was Ours by Roxanne Veletzos - Historical Fiction

August 24, 2021

Hungary, 1943: As war encroaches on the country’s borders, willful young Eva César arrives in the idyllic town of Sopron to spend her last summer as a single woman on her aristocratic family’s estate. Longing for freedom from her domineering father, she counts the days to her upcoming nuptials to a kind and dedicated Red Cross doctor. But Eva’s life changes when she meets Aleandro, a charming and passionate Romani fiddler and artist. With time and profound class differences against them, Eva and Aleandro still fall deeply in love --- only to be separated by a brutal act of hatred. As each are swept into the tides of war, they try to forget their romance. Yet the haunting memory of that summer will reshape their destinies and lead to decisions that are felt through generations.