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Week of January 15, 2024

New in Paperback

Week of January 15, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of January 15th include HORSE by Geraldine Brooks, a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history that revolves around a discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history; THE 9th MAN, a thrilling, action-packed adventure from Steve Berry and Grant Blackwood that sends Luke Daniels on an international manhunt for the truth about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy; Patricia Engel's THE FARAWAY WORLD, a collection of 10 exquisite, award-winning short stories set across the Americas and linked by themes of migration, sacrifice and moral compromise; and REALLY GOOD, ACTUALLY by Monica Heisey, a hilarious and painfully relatable debut novel about one young woman’s messy journey to find joy in the wake of a devastating breakup.

The 9th Man: A Luke Daniels Thriller by Steve Berry with Grant Blackwood - Thriller/Adventure

January 16, 2024

Luke Daniels receives a frantic call from an old friend. Jillian Stein made a mistake, and now her life may be in danger. A shadow team of highly trained operatives are on the hunt in Belgium. Intervening, Luke finds himself embroiled in a war between two determined sides --- one seeking the truth, the other trying to escape the past. Thomas Rowland is a Washington insider but also a man with a past. For him, everything turns with what happened on November 22, 1963. What history has recorded is wrong. There is much more to the story, and Rowland is at the center of that terrible reality. He will do anything to keep the world from learning what actually occurred on that fateful day --- including killing Luke, Jillian and anyone else who might be a threat.

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham - Psychological Thriller

January 16, 2024

One year ago, Isabelle Drake's life changed forever. Her toddler son, Mason, was taken out of his crib in the middle of the night while she and her husband were asleep in the next room. With little evidence and few leads for the police to chase, the case quickly went cold. However, Isabelle cannot rest until Mason is returned to her. In hopes of jarring loose a new witness or buried clue, she agrees to be interviewed by a true-crime podcaster --- but his interest in Isabelle's past makes her nervous. His incessant questioning paired with her severe insomnia has brought up uncomfortable memories from her own childhood, making Isabelle start to doubt her recollection of the night of Mason’s disappearance, as well as second-guess who she can trust...including herself.

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita - Mystery/Thriller

January 16, 2024

When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel. After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town --- all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village. Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide.

Dream Town by Lee Goldberg - Thriller

January 16, 2024

Hidden Hills is a private celebrity enclave of white picket fences and horse trails that seems to exist in a dreamworld. But when reality superstar Kitty Winslow is killed within their gates and corpses are found in the vast state park outside them, LASD detective Eve Ronin realizes there is a deadly, razor-thin line between what’s real and what’s imagined. Eve discovers that Kitty’s surreal on- and off-camera life, a blur of fact and fantasy, shockingly mirrors her own as she struggles to investigate the killings, wade into a music industry war, and battle a vicious Chilean gang. Her grip on reality and the case is strained to the breaking point as the slayings continue, the media frenzy reaches a fever pitch, and the only inescapable truth she can see is death…and it’s coming for her.

The Faraway World: Stories by Patricia Engel - Fiction/Short Stories

January 16, 2024

Two Colombian expats meet as strangers on the rainy streets of New York City, both burdened with traumatic pasts. In Cuba, a woman discovers that her deceased brother’s bones have been stolen, and the love of her life returns from Ecuador for a one-night visit. A cash-strapped couple hustles in Miami, to life-altering ends. THE FARAWAY WORLD is a collection of arresting stories from the New York Times bestselling author of INFINITE COUNTRY, Patricia Engel. Intimate and panoramic, these stories bring to life the liminality of regret, the vibrancy of community, and the epic deeds and quiet moments of love.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks - Historical Fiction

January 16, 2024

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom. New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner, becomes obsessed with a 19th-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance. Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse.

The London Bookshop Affair: A Novel of the Cold War by Louise Fein - Historical Fiction

January 16, 2024

London, 1962: Celia Duchesne longs for a career, but with no means or qualifications, she passes her time working at a dusty bookshop. The day a handsome American enters the shop, she thinks she might have found her way out of the monotony. Just as the excitement of a budding relationship engulfs her, a devastating secret draws her into the murky world of espionage. France, 1942: Nineteen-year-old Anya Moreau was dropped behind enemy lines to aid the resistance, sending messages back home to London via wireless transmitter. When she was cruelly betrayed, evidence of her legacy and the truth of her actions were buried by wartime injustices. As Celia learns more about Anya --- and her unexpected connection to the undercover agent --- she becomes increasingly aware of furious efforts to protect state secrets.

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall - Fiction

January 16, 2024

2017: When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto. 1971: As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen” women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption. She proceeds to join the Jane Network as an abortion provider. 1980: After discovering a shocking secret about her family, Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she locates “Jane” and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.

Murder Book by Thomas Perry - Thriller

January 16, 2024

When a sudden crime wave hits several small midwestern towns, the U.S. Attorney for the region calls on Harry Duncan to investigate. The ex-cop is reluctant to go up against a widespread criminal organization. But the attorney in question is Ellen Leicester, the wife who left him 15 years earlier, and he can’t say no to her. Initially brought in as a consultant to determine if the racketeering is severe enough to require an all-out investigation by the FBI, Duncan quickly finds himself in conflict with a syndicate far more violent than first suspected. As the investigation develops, he begins compiling a “murder book,” the notebook in which a detective keeps records, interviews, photos --- everything he needs to build his case. But his scrutiny of the gang soon makes Duncan a target, as well as Ellen.

The New Life by Tom Crewe - Historical Fiction

January 16, 2024

In the summer of 1894, John Addington and Henry Ellis begin writing a book arguing that what they call “inversion,” or homosexuality, is a natural, harmless variation of human sexuality. Though they have never met, John and Henry both live in London with their wives, Catherine and Edith, and in each marriage there is a third party: John has a lover, a working class man named Frank, and Edith spends almost as much time with her friend, Angelica, as she does with Henry. Shortly before the book is to be published, Oscar Wilde is arrested. John and Henry must decide whether to go on, risking social ostracism and imprisonment, or to give up the project for their own safety and the safety of the people they love.

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey - Fiction/Humor

January 16, 2024

Maggie is fine. She’s doing really good, actually. Sure, she’s broke, her graduate thesis on something obscure is going nowhere, and her marriage only lasted 608 days. But at the ripe old age of 29, Maggie is determined to embrace her new life as a Surprisingly Young Divorcée™. Now she has time to take up nine hobbies, eat hamburgers at 4am, and “get back out there” sex-wise. With the support of her tough-loving academic advisor, Merris; her newly divorced friend, Amy; and her group chat (naturally), Maggie barrels through her first year of single life, intermittently dating, occasionally waking up on the floor and asking herself tough questions along the way.

Scorched Grace: A Sister Holiday Mystery by Margot Douaihy - Mystery

January 16, 2024

When Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their surrounding New Orleans community are thrust into chaos. Patience is a virtue, but punk rocker turned nun Sister Holiday isn’t satisfied to just wait around for officials to return her home and sanctuary to its former peace, instead deciding to unveil the mysterious attacker herself. Her investigation leads her down a twisty path of suspicion and secrets, turning her against colleagues, students and even fellow Sisters along the way. And to piece together the clues of this high-stakes mystery, she must at last reckon with the sins of her own past.

The Search Party by Hannah Richell - Mystery/Thriller

January 16, 2024

Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their 12-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears. Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room and the catastrophic weekend, THE SEARCH PARTY is about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children.

Stash: My Life in Hiding by Laura Cathcart Robbins - Memoir

January 16, 2024

After years of hiding her addiction from everyone --- stockpiling pills in her Louboutins and elaborately scheduling her withdrawals between PTA meetings, baby showers and tennis matches --- Laura Cathcart Robbins is running out of places to hide. She has learned the hard way that even her high-profile marriage and Hollywood lifestyle can’t protect her from the pain she’s keeping bottled up inside. Facing divorce, the possibility of a grueling custody battle, and the insistent voice of internalized racism that nags at her as a Black woman in a startlingly white world, Laura wonders just how much more she can take. Now, with courageous and candid openness, she reveals how she started the long journey towards sobriety, unexpectedly found new love, and dismantled the wall she had built around herself, brick by brick.

This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer - Supernatural Thriller/Horror

January 16, 2024

Dylan’s geologist friend, Clay, has discovered an untouched cliff face in the Kentucky wilderness, and she is going to be the first person to climb it. Together with Clay, his research assistant Sylvia, and Dylan’s boyfriend Luke, Dylan is going to document her achievement on Instagram and finally cement her place as the next rising star in rock climbing. Seven months later, three bodies are discovered in the trees just off the highway. All are in various states of decay: one a stark, white skeleton; the second emptied of its organs; and the third a mutilated corpse with the tongue, eyes, ears and fingers removed. But Dylan is still missing --- and no trace of her, dead or alive, has been discovered. Were the climbers murdered? Did they succumb to cannibalism? Or are their impossible bodies the work of an even more sinister force?