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Week of May 23, 2022

New in Paperback

Week of May 23, 2022

Paperback releases for the week of May 23rd include THE MADNESS OF CROWDS, the 17th installment in Louise Penny's bestselling mystery series starring Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, which our reviewer calls "perhaps Penny’s most powerful novel as it explores the psychological and emotionally charged national and international conundrums of the post-pandemic world"; THE MAIDENS by Alex Michaelides, a spellbinding tale of psychological suspense, weaving together Greek mythology, murder and obsession; MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS, Joshua Henkin's sweeping and compassionate novel about a young woman who falls in love and marries a hotshot young Shakespeare professor --- at which point her life takes a turn she never could have anticipated; and WAR ON THE BORDER by Jeff Guinn, a dramatic account of the “Punitive Expedition” of 1916 that brought Pancho Villa and Gen. John J. Pershing into conflict, and whose reverberations continue in the Southwestern US to this day.

Autopsy: A Scarpetta Novel by Patricia Cornwell - Mystery/Thriller

May 24, 2022

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has come almost full circle, returning to Virginia as the chief medical examiner, the state where she launched her storied career. Just weeks on the job, she’s called to a scene by railroad tracks where a woman’s body has been shockingly displayed, her throat cut down to the spine. At the same time, a catastrophe occurs in a top-secret laboratory in outer space, endangering at least two scientists aboard. Appointed to the highly classified Doomsday Commission that specializes in sensitive national security cases, Scarpetta is summoned to the White House and tasked with finding out exactly what happened. But even as she works the first potential crime scene in space remotely, an apparent serial killer strikes again very close to home.

Bath Haus by P. J. Vernon - Psychological Thriller

May 24, 2022

Oliver Park, a recovering addict from Indiana, finally has everything he ever wanted: sobriety and a loving, wealthy partner in Nathan, a prominent DC trauma surgeon. Despite their difference in age and disparate backgrounds, they've made a perfect life together. With everything to lose, Oliver shouldn't be visiting Haus, a gay bathhouse. But through the entrance he goes, and it's a line crossed. Inside, he follows a man into a private room, and it's the final line. Everything goes wrong, terribly wrong, and Oliver barely escapes with his life. He races home in full-blown terror as the hand-shaped bruise grows dark on his neck. The truth will destroy Nathan and everything they have together, so Oliver does the thing he used to do so well: he lies.

CenterStage: My Most Fascinating Interviews — from A-Rod to Jay-Z by Michael Kay - Sports/Entertainment

May 24, 2022

Emmy Award–winning television announcer and interviewer Michael Kay’s 18 years as host of “CenterStage” have given him access to many remarkable figures in sports and entertainment. Now, this selection of the best, most revealing --- and often surprising --- interviews are available in one collection, including some behind-the-scenes stories that didn’t appear on camera. Among the interviews featured in the book are those with Red Auerbach, Charles Barkley, Mike Tyson, Bobby Orr, Sly Stallone, Jay-Z, Lorne Michaels, Paul Simon, John McEnroe, Rob Reiner, Seth Meyers, Serena Williams, Alan Alda, David Halberstam, Larry David, Bob Costas, Billy Crystal, Lindsey Vonn, Chris Evert and Quentin Tarantino.

Complications by Danielle Steel - Fiction

May 24, 2022

The Hotel Louis XVI has been the most lauded boutique hotel in all of Paris for decades, attracting an international clientele of the rich and famous. Now, after four years of renovations and the death of its legendary and beloved manager, it is set to reopen its doors at last. An esteemed group of loyal returning guests will descend upon the hotel, joined by a number of new faces who have managed to secure coveted bookings in the wake of last-minute cancellations. Awaiting them all is the Louis XVI’s new manager, Olivier Bateau, and his level-headed assistant manager, Yvonne Philippe. But they quickly realize that anything can happen at any moment, and on one cool September evening, everything does.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey - Domestic Thriller/Science Fiction

May 24, 2022

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be. And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband. Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up. Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.

Girlhood by Melissa Febos - Essays

May 24, 2022

When her body began to change at 11 years old, Melissa Febos understood immediately that her meaning to other people had changed with it. By her teens, she defined herself based on these perceptions and by the romantic relationships she threw herself into headlong. Over time, Febos increasingly questioned the stories she'd been told about herself and the habits and defenses she'd developed over years of trying to meet others' expectations. The values she and so many other women had learned in girlhood did not prioritize their personal safety, happiness or freedom, and she set out to reframe those values and beliefs. In GIRLHOOD, Febos charts how she and others like her have reimagined relationships and made room for the anger, grief, power and pleasure that women have long been taught to deny.

The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jónasson - Mystery/Thriller

May 24, 2022

Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar, Una finds herself more often than not in her rented attic space --- the site of a local legendary haunting --- drinking her loneliness away. She is plagued by nightmares of a little girl in a white dress singing a lullaby. And when a sudden tragedy echoes an event long buried in Skálar’s past, the villagers become even more guarded, leaving a suspicious Una seeking to uncover a shocking truth that’s been kept secret for generations.

Heal Your Living: The Joy of Mindfulness, Sustainability, Minimalism, and Wellness by Youheum Son - Self-Help/Personal Growth

May 24, 2022

HEAL YOUR LIVING is about more than just getting rid of your stuff. It's a holistic approach to a more fulfilling life, in harmony with your deepest aspirations. Youheum Son, the founder of the YouTube lifestyle channel with over 250,000 subscribers, identifies four areas that comprise the Heal Your Living approach: 1) Mindfulness: Meditation and insight, 2) Sustainability: Low-waste, eco-friendly lifestyle, 3) Minimalism: Simple living, and 4) Wellness: Self-care and healing. Separated into these four sections, this guide contains easy-to-use daily reflections for emotional and physical decluttering, as well as journaling prompts, planners, checklists, affirmations and mantras. With Youheum's guidance, you can recognize a better way of living and arrive at a turning point to release negative habits.

The Heathens: A Quinn Colson Novel by Ace Atkins - Thriller

May 24, 2022

Before he was an Army Ranger who came home to become Tibbehah County Sheriff and take down a corrupt system, Quinn Colson was a kid who got into a lot of trouble. So when juvenile delinquent TJ Byrd insists that she doesn’t know who killed her mother --- an unreliable addict who has disappeared --- Quinn is inclined to believe her. But no one else does. When she senses she’s about to take the fall for her mother’s murder, TJ, her boyfriend, her best friend and her nine-year-old brother go on the run. As Quinn’s friend and former deputy, U.S. Marshal Lillie Virgil, tracks the kids across a trail of burglaries, stolen cars and even a kidnapping, intent on bringing TJ to justice, Quinn sets out to find the truth back in Tibbehah.

The Honeymoon Cottage by Lori Foster - Romance

May 24, 2022

When it comes to creating the perfect happily-ever-after, Yardley Belanger is a bona fide miracle worker. But when it comes to her own love life, she’s completely clueless. The 31-year-old has poured her heart and soul into her business and doesn’t have time for anything --- or anyone --- else. And that’s something not even the gorgeous older brother of her newest client can change. Right? All Travis Long wanted was to give his little sister, Sheena, the wedding of her dreams. Ever since the tragic death of their parents, he’s done everything he can to make her feel loved and give her everything she needs. Yardley seems to know exactly what to do and how to do it --- and Travis finds himself falling for her a little more each day.

The Hour of Fate: Theodore Roosevelt, J.P. Morgan, and the Battle to Transform American Capitalism by Susan Berfield - History

May 24, 2022

In the summer of 1901, J.P. Morgan was assembling his next mega-deal: Northern Securities, an enterprise that would affirm his dominance in America's most important industry --- the railroads. Then a bullet from an anarchist's gun put an end to the business-friendly presidency of William McKinley. A new chief executive bounded into office: Theodore Roosevelt. By March 1902, battle lines were drawn: the government sued Northern Securities for antitrust violations. But as the case ramped up, the coal miners' union went on strike, and the anthracite pits that fueled Morgan's trains and heated the homes of Roosevelt's citizens went silent. With millions of dollars on the line and revolution in the air, it was a crisis that neither man alone could solve.

Imposter Syndrome by Kathy Wang - Thriller/Satire

May 24, 2022

In 2006, Julia Lerner is recruited by Russia’s largest intelligence agency. By 2018, she’s in Silicon Valley as COO of Tangerine, one of America’s most famous technology companies. In between her executive management, self-promotion and work in gender equality, she funnels intelligence back to the motherland. But now Russia is asking for more, and Julia is getting nervous. Alice Lu is a first generation Chinese American whose parents are delighted she’s working at Tangerine. One afternoon, Alice discovers some unusual activity, and now she’s burdened with two powerful but distressing suspicions: Tangerine’s privacy settings aren’t as rigorous as the company claims they are, and the person abusing this loophole might be Julia Lerner herself.

The Madness of Crowds by Louise Penny - Mystery

May 24, 2022

Professor Abigail Robinson will be giving a lecture at a nearby university, and Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is asked to provide security for it. He discovers an agenda so repulsive that he begs the university to cancel the lecture. They refuse, citing academic freedom, and accuse Gamache of censorship and intellectual cowardice. Before long, Professor Robinson’s views start seeping into conversations so that truth and fact, reality and delusion, are so confused it’s nearly impossible to tell them apart. When a murder is committed, it falls to Gamache, his second-in-command Jean-Guy Beauvoir and their team to investigate the crime, as well as this extraordinary popular delusion. And the madness of crowds.

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides - Psychological Thriller

May 24, 2022

A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Edward Fosca is adored by staff and students alike --- particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens. Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge. She becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships.

Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin - Fiction

May 24, 2022

Ohio-born Pru Steiner arrives in New York in 1976. When she falls in love with and marries Spence Robin, her hotshot young Shakespeare professor, her life takes a turn she couldn’t have anticipated. Thirty years later, something is wrong with Spence. With their daughter, Sarah, away at medical school, Pru must struggle on her own to care for him. One day, feeling especially isolated, Pru meets a man, and the possibility of new romance blooms. Meanwhile, Spence’s estranged son from his first marriage has come back into their lives. Arlo, a wealthy entrepreneur who invests in biotech, may be his father’s last, best hope.

Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton - Historical Fiction

May 24, 2022

Barcelona, 1964. Exiled from Cuba after the revolution, Isabel Perez goes to Spain in search of her missing sister, Beatriz. But it’s an unearthed piece of family history that ultimately transforms her life. Barcelona, 1936. Alicia Perez arrives in Barcelona after a difficult voyage from Cuba, her marriage in jeopardy and her young daughter, Isabel, in tow. When Cubans journey to Spain to join the International Brigades, Alicia’s past comes back to haunt her as she is unexpectedly reunited with the man who once held her heart. Alicia and Isabel’s lives intertwine, and the past and present collide, as a mother and daughter are forced to choose between their family’s expectations and following their hearts.

Paradox Lake by Vincent Zandri - Psychological Thriller

May 24, 2022

Sculptor and single mom Rose Conley is haunted by her tragic past and anxious about her uncertain future. She needs to get away from it all. On sabbatical from the college where she teaches art, she and her daughter rent a house for three months in the Adirondack lakeside community of Paradox. Rose desperately needs time alone with her 12-year-old daughter before the teenage years hit. In the wake of the premature deaths of her oldest daughter, Allison, and her husband, Charlie, Rose wants nothing more than to nurture Anna every moment she can. But idyllic Paradox Lake transforms into a nightmare when a monster from the past invades Rose’s retreat --- and targets her daughter for his special brand of horror.

Phase Six by Jim Shepard - Apocalyptic Thriller

May 24, 2022

In a tiny settlement on the west coast of Greenland, 11-year-old Aleq and his best friend, frequent trespassers at a mining site exposed to mountains of long-buried and thawing permafrost, carry what they pick up back into their village. PHASE SIX follows Aleq, one of the few survivors of the initial outbreak, through his identification and radical isolation as the likely index patient. While he shoulders both a crushing guilt for what he may have done and the hopes of a world looking for answers, we also meet two Epidemic Intelligence Service investigators dispatched from the CDC --- Jeannine, an epidemiologist and daughter of Algerian immigrants, and Danice, an M.D. and lab wonk. As they attempt to head off the cataclysm, Jeannine does what she can to sustain Aleq.

A Special Place for Women by Laura Hankin - Fiction

May 24, 2022

For years, rumors have swirled about an exclusive, women-only social club where the elite tastemakers of New York City meet. People in the know whisper all sorts of claims: Membership dues cost $1,000 a month. Last time Rihanna was in town, she stopped by and got her aura read. The women even handpicked the city's first female mayor. But no one knows for sure. That is, until journalist Jillian Beckley decides she's going to break into the club. But the deeper she gets into this new world, the more she learns that bad things happen to those who dare to question the club's motives or giggle at its outlandish rituals. The select group of women who populate the club may be far more powerful than she ever imagined. And far more dangerous too.

Tall Men, Short Shorts: The 1969 NBA Finals: Wilt, Russ, Lakers, Celtics, and a Very Young Sports Reporter by Leigh Montville - Sports

May 24, 2022

It's 1969, and the greatest basketball player of all time --- Bill Russell --- and his juggernaut Boston Celtics squeak through one more playoff run and land in the NBA Finals again. Russell’s opponent is the fearsome seven-foot, one-inch next-generation superstar, Wilt Chamberlain, recently traded to the Los Angeles Lakers to form the league’s first dream team. Covering this epic series is a wide-eyed young sportswriter named Leigh Montville, who would go on to become an award-winning legend himself at The Boston Globe and Sports Illustrated, and who is sent to L.A. (for the first time!) to write about his luminous heroes, the biggest of big men. What follows is a raucous, colorful, joyous account of one of the greatest seven-game series in NBA history.

War on the Border: Villa, Pershing, the Texas Rangers, and an American Invasion by Jeff Guinn - History

May 24, 2022

Jeff Guinn, chronicler of the Southwestern US and of American undesirables, tells the riveting story of Pancho Villa’s bloody raid on a small US border town that sparked a violent conflict with the US. The “Punitive Expedition” was launched in retaliation under Pershing’s command and brought together the Army, National Guard and Texas Rangers --- who were little more than organized vigilantes with a profound dislike of Mexicans on both sides of the border. Opposing this motley military brigade was Villa, a guerrilla fighter who commanded an ever-changing force of conscripts in northern Mexico.