Skip to main content

Week of December 5, 2022

New in Paperback

Week of December 5, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of December 5th include Brendan Slocumb's THE VIOLIN CONSPIRACY, a beautifully rendered and complex debut novel in which a shocking theft sends a Black classical musician on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world; THE DICKENS BOY, a vibrant and engaging novel about the adventures of Charles Dickens’ son in the Australian Outback during the 1860s --- from the award-winning author of modern classics such as SCHINDLER'S LIST and NAPOLEON'S LAST ISLAND, Thomas Keneally; and the paperback original SO LONG, CHESTER WHEELER by Catherine Ryan Hyde, an uplifting novel about looking deeper into the heart and soul to form bonds with the last people we’d expect --- only to discover that they’re the ones who need it most.

AMOK: A Dox Thriller by Barry Eisler - Thriller

December 6, 2022

1991. A restless young man called Dox is back home in Texas. His friends have missed him, and his mother and sisters need him. But after four years as a Marine and another two as a CIA contractor fighting the Soviet Union alongside the Afghan mujahideen, small-town life in Abilene is a suffocating dead end. Another secret war, this one in Southeast Asia, offers a big payday and the solution to his family’s troubles. But secret wars are never what they’re billed to be, and Dox is about to get the education of his young life. Among the lessons --- the only thing more dangerous than war is falling in love with your enemy.

Beasts of a Little Land by Juhea Kim - Historical Fiction

December 6, 2022

In 1917, deep in the snowy mountains of occupied Korea, an impoverished local hunter on the brink of starvation saves a young Japanese officer from an attacking tiger. In the aftermath, a young girl named Jade is sold by her family to Miss Silver’s courtesan school, an act of desperation that will cement her place in the lowest social status. When she befriends an orphan boy named JungHo, who scrapes together a living begging on the streets of Seoul, they form a deep friendship. As they come of age, JungHo is swept up in the revolutionary fight for independence, and Jade becomes a sought-after performer with a new romantic prospect of noble birth. Soon Jade must decide whether she will risk everything for the one who would do the same for her.

Bibliolepsy by Gina Apostol - Fiction

December 6, 2022

It is the mid-’80s, two decades into the kleptocratic, brutal rule of Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippine economy is in deep recession, and civil unrest is growing by the day. But Primi Peregrino has her own priorities: tracking down books and pursuing romantic connections with their authors. For Primi, the nascent revolution means that writers are gathering more often, and with greater urgency, so that every poetry reading she attends presents a veritable “Justice League” of authors for her to choose among. As the Marcos dictatorship stands poised to topple, Primi remains true to her fantasy: that she, “a vagabond from history, a runaway from time,” can be saved by sex, love and books.

BOX 88 by Charles Cumming - Thriller

December 6, 2022

Lachlan Kite is a member of BOX 88, an elite transatlantic black ops outfit so covert that not even MI6 and the CIA are certain of its existence. But even the best spy can’t anticipate every potential threat in a world where dangerous actors lurk around every corner. At the funeral of his childhood best friend, Lachlan falls into a trap that drops him into the hands of a potentially deadly interrogation, with his pregnant wife, also abducted, being held as collateral for the information he’s sworn on his own life to protect. In order to save his family, Lachlan will be forced to revisit painful memories of a special assignment from 30 years ago that allowed him special access to one of Iran’s most dangerous men.

The Circus Train by Amita Parikh - Historical Fiction

December 6, 2022

1938. Lena Papadopoulos has never quite found her place within the circus, even as the daughter of the extraordinary headlining illusionist, Theo. Lena, who uses a wheelchair after a childhood bout with polio, yearns for the real-world magic of science and medicine, her mind stronger than the limitations placed on her by society. Then her unconventional life takes an exciting turn when she rescues Alexandre, an orphan with his own secrets and a mysterious past. As World War II escalates around them, their friendship blossoms into something deeper while Alexandre trains as the illusionist’s apprentice. But when Theo and Alexandre are arrested and made to perform in a town for Jews set up by the Nazis, Lena is separated from everything she knows.

Cursed Bunny: Stories written by Bora Chung, translated by Anton Hur - Fiction/Short Stories

December 6, 2022

From an author never before published in the United States, CURSED BUNNY blends horror, sci-fi, fairy tales and speculative fiction into stories that defy categorization. “The Head” follows a woman haunted by her own bodily waste. “The Embodiment” takes us into a dystopian gynecology office where a pregnant woman is told that she must find a father for her baby or face horrific consequences. Another story follows a young monster, forced into underground fight rings without knowing the force of his own power. The titular fable centers on a cursed lamp in the approachable shape of a rabbit, fit for a child’s bedroom but for its sinister capabilities.

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason - Mystery

December 6, 2022

A frozen body is discovered in the icy depths of Langjökull glacier, apparently that of a businessman who disappeared 30 years before. At the time, an extensive search and police investigation yielded no results --- one of the missing man’s business associates was briefly held in custody, but there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him. Now the associate is arrested again, and Konrad, the retired policeman who originally investigated the disappearance, is called back to reopen the case that has weighed on his mind for decades. When a woman approaches him with new information that she obtained from her deceased brother, progress can finally be made in solving this long-cold case.

The Death of My Father the Pope: A Memoir by Obed Silva - Memoir

December 6, 2022

Weaving between preparations for his father’s funeral and memories of life on both sides of the U.S.–Mexico border, Obed Silva chronicles his father’s alcoholism --- a lifelong love that ended only at his death at the age of 48, having poisoned himself one Carta Blanca at a time. Addiction respects no borders. The havoc Silva’s father wreaked on his family not only followed them north, where mother and son moved to escape his violent drunken rages, but would make itself felt even from the grave. With a wry cynicism; a profane, profound anger; an antic, brutally honest voice; and a hard-won classical frame of reference, Silva channels the heartbreak of mourning while wrestling with the resentment and frustration resulting from addiction.

The Deepest of Secrets: A Rockton Novel by Kelley Armstrong - Mystery

December 6, 2022

It’s not always easy to live in the hidden town of Rockton, something Detective Casey Duncan knows firsthand. Tucked away in the Yukon wilderness, the community survives and thrives because the residents' many secrets stay just that --- secret. But what happens when these secrets start to come out? Overnight, no one is safe. Casey and her boyfriend, Sheriff Eric Dalton, need to find the culprit while protecting those who have been thrust into the spotlight. For a place built on privacy and new beginnings, Rockton isn’t handling these revelations very well. People are turning on one another, and when one of the loudest complainers turns up barely alive, it's clear that their trickster is actually a murderer.

The Dickens Boy by Thomas Keneally - Historical Fiction

December 6, 2022

Edward Dickens, the 10th child of England’s most famous author Charles Dickens, has consistently let his parents down. Unable to apply himself at school and adrift in life, the teenaged boy is sent to Australia in the hopes that he can make something of himself --- or at least fail out of the public eye. He soon finds himself in the remote Outback, surrounded by Aboriginals, colonials, ex-convicts, ex-soldiers and very few women. Determined to prove to his parents and, more importantly, himself that he can succeed in this vast and unfamiliar wilderness, Edward works hard at his new life amidst various livestock, bushrangers, shifty stock agents and frontier battles.

Last Circle of Love by Lorna Landvik - Fiction

December 6, 2022

Newly installed at All Souls Lutheran, Mallory “Pastor Pete” Peterson soon realizes that her church isn’t merely going through turbulent waters, it’s a sinking ship. With the help of five loyal members of the Naomi Circle, the young, bold minister brainstorms fundraising ideas. They all agree that the usual recipe book won’t add much to the parish coffers, but maybe one with all the ingredients on how to heat up relationships rather than casseroles will. But not everyone in the congregation is on board with this “scandalous” project. As the voices of opposition grow louder, Pastor Pete and these intrepid women will have to decide how hard they’re willing to fight for this book and the powerful stories within.

The Last Invitation by Darby Kane - Psychological Thriller

December 6, 2022

Over the last few years, prominent people have died in a series of fluke accidents and shocking suicides. There’s no apparent connection, no signs of foul play. Behind it all is a powerful group of women, the Sophie Foundation, who meet over wine and cheese to review files of men who behave very, very badly and then mete out justice. Jessa Hall jumped at the mysterious, exclusive invitation to this secret club. The invite comes when she’s at her lowest, aching for a way to take back control. After years of fighting and scratching to get ahead, she’s ready for a chance to make the “bad guys” lose. Jessa soon realizes, though, just how far she’s willing to go and how dangerous this game has become. Once in the group, it’s impossible to get out.

The Mirror Man: A Killer Instinct Novel written by Lars Kepler, translated by Alice Menzies - Psychological Thriller/Mystery

December 6, 2022

Sixteen-year-old Jenny Lind is kidnapped in broad daylight on her way home from school and thrown into the back of a truck. She’s taken to a dilapidated house, where she and other girls face horrors far beyond their worst nightmares. Though they’re desperate to escape, their captor foils every one of their attempts. Five years later, Jenny’s body is found hanging in a playground. As the police are scrambling to find a lead in the scant evidence, Detective Joona Linna recognizes an eerie connection between Jenny’s murder and a death declared a suicide years before. And when another teenage girl goes missing, it becomes clear to Joona that they’re dealing with a serial killer --- and his murderous rampage may have just begun.

Murder, She Wrote: Killer on the Court by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran - Mystery

December 6, 2022

Jessica Fletcher is delighted when her nephew, Grady, invites her to spend a few days with his family in an oceanside New York bungalow. She packs her bags and heads down to the city, ready to spend some quality time with Grady; his wife, Donna; and their young son, Frank. But the morning after Jessica’s arrival, Donna finds her boss dead on a tennis court, and Jessica’s dreams of a relaxing visit are quashed. Everyone in the small beachside community is a suspect, and the local authorities --- headed by an old colleague of Cabot Cove sheriff Mort Metzger --- have asked that no one leave town. Will Jessica be able find a killer and salvage the rest of her trip?

My Annihilation written by Fuminori Nakamura, translated by Sam Bett - Psychological Thriller

December 6, 2022

With MY ANNIHILATION, Fuminori Nakamura, master of literary noir, has constructed a puzzle box of a narrative in the form of a confessional diary that implicates its reader in a heinous crime. Delving relentlessly into the darkest corners of human consciousness, the novel interrogates the unspeakable thoughts all humans share that can be monstrous when brought to life, revealing with disturbing honesty the psychological motives of a killer.

Observations by Gaslight: Stories from the World of Sherlock Holmes by Lyndsay Faye - Mystery/Short Stories

December 6, 2022

OBSERVATIONS BY GASLIGHT is a thrilling volume of both new and previously published short stories and novellas narrated by those who knew the Great Detective, Sherlock Holmes. Beloved adventuress Irene Adler teams up with her former adversary in a near-deadly inquiry into a room full of eerily stopped grandfather clocks. Learn of the case that cemented the lasting friendship between Holmes and Inspector Lestrade, and of the tragic crime that haunted the Yarder into joining the police force. And witness Stanley Hopkins’ first meeting with the remote logician he idolizes, who one day will become his devoted mentor. 

Out There: Stories by Kate Folk - Fiction/Short Stories

December 6, 2022

With a focus on the weird and eerie forces that lurk beneath the surface of ordinary experience, Kate Folk’s debut collection is perfectly pitched to the madness of our current moment. A medical ward for a mysterious bone-melting disorder is the setting of a perilous love triangle. A curtain of void obliterates the globe at a steady pace, forcing Earth’s remaining inhabitants to decide with whom they want to spend eternity. A man fleeing personal scandal enters a codependent relationship with a house that requires a particularly demanding level of care. And in the title story, a woman in San Francisco uses dating apps to find a partner despite the threat posed by “blots,” preternaturally handsome artificial men dispatched by Russian hackers to steal data.

The Paris Bookseller by Kerri Maher - Historical Fiction

December 6, 2022

When bookish young American Sylvia Beach opens Shakespeare and Company on a quiet street in Paris in 1919, she has no idea that she and her new bookstore will change the course of literature itself. Shakespeare and Company is more than a bookstore and lending library: Many of the prominent writers of the Lost Generation, like Ernest Hemingway, consider it a second home. It's where some of the most important literary friendships of the 20th century are forged --- none more so than the one between Irish writer James Joyce and Sylvia herself. When Joyce's controversial novel ULYSSES is banned, Beach takes a massive risk and publishes it under the auspices of Shakespeare and Company. Doing so comes with steep costs.

Sea State: A Memoir by Tabitha Lasley - Memoir

December 6, 2022

In her mid-30s and newly free from a terrible relationship, Tabitha Lasley quit her job at a London magazine, packed her bags, and poured her savings into a six-month lease on an apartment in Aberdeen, Scotland. She decided to make good on a long-deferred idea for a book about oil rigs and the men who work on them. Why oil rigs? She wanted to see what men were like with no women around. In Aberdeen, Tabitha became deeply entrenched in the world of roughnecks, a teeming subculture rich with brawls, hard labor and competition. The longer she stayed, the more she found that her presence had a destabilizing effect on the men --- and her.

Sharpe's Assassin: Richard Sharpe and the Occupation of Paris, 1815 by Bernard Cornwell - Historical Fiction

December 6, 2022

Bernard Cornwell's iconic hero, Richard Sharpe, is dispatched to a new battleground: the maze of Paris streets, where lines blur between friend and foe. And in search of a spy, he will have to defeat a lethal assassin determined to kill his target...or die trying.

So Long, Chester Wheeler by Catherine Ryan Hyde - Fiction

December 6, 2022

Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask. Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish: drive Chester to Arizona in his rust bucket of a Winnebago to see his ex-wife for the first time in 32 years --- for the last time. To Lewis, it becomes an illuminating journey into the life and secrets of a vulnerable man he’s finally beginning to understand.

Things We Found When the Water Went Down by Tegan Nia Swanson - Mystery/Magical Realism

December 6, 2022

When brutish miner Hugo Mitchum is found murdered on the frozen shore of a North Country lake, the local officials and town gossips of Beau Caelais are quick to blame Marietta Abernathy, an outspoken environmental activist and angry, witchy recluse. But Marietta herself has disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Living on an isolated island with her father, Marietta’s 16-year-old daughter, Lena, begins sifting through her mother’s journals and collected oddities in an attempt to find her. While her father’s grief threatens to consume him and her adoptive aunt Bea reckons with guilt and acceptance, it is the haunting town outcast Ellis Olsen who might have the most to lose if Lena fails to find her mother.

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb - Mystery/Thriller

December 6, 2022

Growing up Black in rural North Carolina, Ray McMillian’s life is already mapped out. But Ray has a gift and a dream --- he’s determined to become a world-class professional violinist, and nothing will stand in his way. When he discovers that his beat-up family fiddle is actually a priceless Stradivarius, all his dreams suddenly seem within reach. Together, Ray and his violin take the world by storm. But on the eve of the renowned and cutthroat Tchaikovsky Competition, the violin is stolen, a ransom note for five million dollars left in its place. Without it, Ray feels like he's lost a piece of himself. As the competition approaches, Ray not only must reclaim his precious violin, he must prove to himself --- and the world --- that no matter the outcome, there has always been a truly great musician within him.

We Know You Remember by Tove Alsterdal - Mystery

December 6, 2022

It’s been more than 20 years since Olof Hagström left home. Returning to his family’s house, he knows instantly that something is amiss. The front door key, hidden under a familiar stone, is still there. Inside, there’s a panicked dog, a terrible stench and water pooling on the floor: the father Olaf has not seen or spoken to in decades is dead in the bathroom shower. For police detective Eira Sjödin, the investigation of this suspicious death resurrects long-forgotten nightmares. She was only nine when Olof Hagström, then 14, was found guilty of raping and murdering a local girl. The case left a mark on the town’s collective memory and tinged Eira’s childhood with fear. Too young to be sentenced, Olof was sent to a youth home and exiled from his family. He was never seen in the town again. Until now.

Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca - Romantic Comedy

December 6, 2022

Louisa "Lulu" Malone is a high-powered attorney from a success-oriented family. Her cousin, Mitch, introduced her to the world of Renaissance Faires, and when she spies one at a time just when she needs an escape, she leaps into the welcoming environment of turkey legs, taverns and tarot readers. The only drawback? Dex MacLean: a guitarist with a killer smile, the Casanova of the Faire…and her traveling companion for the summer. Dex has never had to work for much in his life. Touring with his brothers as The Dueling Kilts is going great, and he always finds a woman at every Faire. But when Lulu proves indifferent to his many plaid charms and a shakeup threatens the fate of the band, Dex must confront something he never has before: his future.

The Women I Love written by Francesco Pacifico, translated by Elizabeth Harris - Fiction

December 6, 2022

Marcello, an editor and poet, is on the brink of his 40s. Like everyone in his life, including his sister-in-law, he’s writing a novel. This novel. This novel will be about women. Love. Growing older. Maybe even taking responsibility. But unfortunately for Marcello, the women in his life resist definition. They flit and flicker constantly between archetype and actuality: sirens and saviors, subordinates and savants, vixens and villains. So Marcello cannot write plainly about love. Instead, he tries to write into the complexities of his many relationships: Eleonora, the junior editor, his former protegeé and sometime lover; Barbara, his claustrophobic girlfriend; his estranged gay sister; and his elegant mother.

You Never Said Goodbye by Luca Veste - Psychological Thriller

December 6, 2022

Sam Cooper is on the verge of a happy life --- a true feat after his disastrous childhood. Sam's mother, Laurie, died tragically and his father was torn apart by grief. But now, after years of silence, Sam's father makes a shocking confession on his deathbed. Who was Laurie Cooper? What happens when you discover you've been lied to for 25 years? Sam is determined to find out, but someone wants to silence the truth forever. Following a trail from London to Connecticut, Sam will have to uncover exactly what his mother did and why --- no matter the cost.