On Sale This Week

September 16, 2025

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of September 15th and September 22nd that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers, along with Bonus News, where we call out a contest, feature or review that we want to let you know about so you have it on your radar.

This week, we are calling attention to a HUGE contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com. The Grand Prize will be all eight of Marie Benedict’s solo historical novels and her novella AGENT 355, which released as an Audible Original in 2020 and is now available in a print edition. Three runners-up will receive up to 12 copies of her most recent novel, THE QUEENS OF CRIME, for their book group. The deadline for your entries is Wednesday, October 8th at noon ET.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Special Contest on ReadingGroupGuides.com
Enter to Win Copies of Marie Benedict's Solo Historical Novels, Plus a Novella We Want to Get on Your Radar!

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

Here are four upcoming virtual book and author events that you may be interested in attending. Click on the links for more info and to register.

Wednesday, September 17th at 7pm ET: “Friends & Fiction”: Join “Friends & Fiction” for a conversation with Hank Phillippi Ryan about her new thriller, ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS, in which a glamorous book tour becomes a deadly cat-and-mouse chase.

Wednesday, September 17th at 8pm ET: The Poisoned Pen Bookstore: P. J. Tracy will talk about her latest novel, THE DEEPEST CUT. The Monkeewrench team is back in a brand-new nail-biting thriller.

Tuesday, September 23rd at 7pm ET: Barnes & Noble and Waterstones: Join Barnes & Noble and Waterstones as they welcome Patrick Ryan for a live virtual event to discuss his eagerly awaited new novel, BUCKEYE. Patrick will be interviewed by internationally bestselling author Ann Patchett for this special event.

Tuesday, September 23rd at 9pm ET: Killer Author Club: Kimberly Belle, Heather Gudenkauf and Kaira Rouda will talk to Chevy Stevens about her latest book, THE HITCHHIKERS, which is a chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page.

On Sale the Week of September 15th in Hardcover

September 16th

THE ACADEMY by Elin Hilderbrand and Shelby Cunningham (Fiction)
It’s move-in day at Tiffin Academy, and America Today just ranked Tiffin the number-two boarding school in the country. It’s a 17-spot jump. Was there a typo? The dorms need to be renovated, their sports teams always come in last place, and let’s just say Tiffin students are known for being more social than academic. On the other hand, the campus is exquisite, and they do have fun with lots of parties and school dances. But just as the rarefied air of Tiffin is suffused with self-congratulation, the wheels begin to turn --- and then they fall off the bus. One by one, scandalous blind items begin to appear on phones across Tiffin’s campus, thanks to a new app called ZipZap, and nobody is safe. As the year unfolds, bonds are forged and broken, secrets are shared and exposed, and the lives of Tiffin’s students and staff are changed forever.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316567855 

AMONG THE BURNING FLOWERS by Samantha Shannon (Fantasy)
It has been centuries since the Draconic Army took wing, almost extinguishing humankind. Marosa Vetalda is a prisoner in her own home, controlled by her cold father, King Sigoso. Over the mountains, her betrothed, Aubrecht Lievelyn, rules Mentendon in all but name. Together, they intend to usher in a better world. A better world seems impossibly distant to Estina Melaugo, who hunts the Draconic beasts that have slept across the world for centuries. And now the great wyrm Fýredel is stirring, and Yscalin will be the first to fall.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639736010 

BRADY VS. BELICHICK: The Dynasty Debate by Gary Myers (Sports)
The greatest dynasty in NFL history stood on two pillars: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Together they forged a working relationship that provided thrilling results that would change the NFL forever. But what was the nature of that relationship? How did these two figures come together on a national --- and global --- stage and create the most dominant team in the NFL? The answer is more complex and more fraught than anyone really understands. Brady vs. Belichick: Who deserves the credit for nine Super Bowl appearances and six Super Bowl championships? Gary Myers draws on his unique and unparalleled access to Belichick and Brady, but also to the myriad players, coaches, personnel and family, to get to the bottom of this argument and resolve it once and for all.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250381194 

EXILES by Mason Coile (Science Fiction/Mystery & Horror)
The human crew sent to prepare the first colony on Mars arrives to find the new base half-destroyed and the three robots sent to set it up in disarray. The machines have formed alliances, chosen their own names, and picked up some disturbing beliefs. Each must be interrogated. But one of them is missing. In this barren, hostile landscape where even machines have nightmares, the astronauts will need to examine all the stories --- especially their own --- to get to the truth.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593851630 

FIEND by Alma Katsu (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
The Berisha family runs one of the largest import-export companies in the world, and they’ve always been lucky. Their rivals suffer strokes. Inconvenient buildings catch on fire. Earthquakes swallow up manufacturing plants, destroying harmful evidence. Things always seem to work out for the Berishas. They’re blessed. At least that is what Zef, the patriarch, has always told his three children. And each of them knows their place in the family. But when things stop going as planned, and the family blessing starts looking more like a curse, the Berishas begin to splinter, each hatching their own secret scheme. They didn’t get to be one of the richest families in the world without spilling a little blood, but this time, it might be their own.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593714348 

GOOD AND EVIL AND OTHER STORIES written by Samanta Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell (Fiction/Short Stories)
The characters of GOOD AND EVIL find themselves at a point of no return, dazzled by the glare of impending tragedy. Vulnerable and profoundly human, they become trapped in the instant in which the uncanny has lurched into their lives. Some are transformed, some are isolated, others waver between guilt or tenderness. All of them are riven by uncertainty. Samanta Schweblin’s prose uses tension and truth to construct a literary universe in which the monsters of everyday life come so close to us that we can almost feel their breath. Her writing provokes awe and disquiet, a state of alarm that at the same time transports us to a hypnotic world as recognizable as it is strange.
Knopf | 9780593803103 

GRAY DAWN: An Easy Rawlins Mystery by Walter Mosley (Mystery)
The name Easy Rawlins stirs excitement in the hearts of readers and fear in the hearts of his foes. His success has bought him a thriving detective agency, with its first female detective; a remote home, shared with children and pets and lovers, high atop the hills overlooking gritty Los Angeles; and more trouble, more problems and more threats to those whom he loves. In other words, he’s still beset on all sides. A number of below-the-law powerbrokers plead with Easy to locate a mysterious, dangerous woman --- Lutisha James, though she’s gone by another name that Easy will immediately recognize. 1970s Los Angeles is a transient city of delicate, violent balances, and Lutisha has disturbed that. She also has a secret that will upend Easy’s own life, painfully closer to home.
Mulholland Books | 9780316573238 

HISTORY MATTERS written by David McCullough, edited by Dorie McCullough Lawson and Michael Hill (Essays)
HISTORY MATTERS brings together selected essays by beloved historian David McCullough, some published here for the first time, written at different points over the course of his long career, but all focused on the subject of his lifelong passion: the importance of history in understanding our present and future. Edited by McCullough’s daughter, Dorie McCullough Lawson, and his longtime researcher, Michael Hill, this book is a tribute to a master historian and offers fresh insights into McCullough’s enduring interests and writing life. It also features a foreword by Jon Meacham.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668098998 

I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY: A Memoir by Reality Winner (Memoir)
Reality Winner was a 25-year-old translator for the NSA when she read a classified document revealing what she assumed would make headlines during a time of unprecedented leaking: After blatant lies by the Trump administration and public silence by the NSA, there had in fact been foreign interference in the 2016 US election. In a breach of NSA protocol, she impulsively printed it, smuggled it out of the building, and mailed it to The Intercept, which published it and then promptly informed the NSA. For her crime, she received the longest prison sentence ever imposed on a government-affiliated employee convicted of a single count of leaking classified information and spent more than four years in federal prison. Now, for the first time, Winner tells her own story.
Spiegel & Grau | 9781954118843 

OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES by Clare Mackintosh (Psychological Thriller)
The Hill is the kind of place where everyone wants to live: luxurious, exclusive and safe. But now someone is breaking and entering these Cheshire homes one by one, and DS Leo Brady suspects that the burglar is looking for something, or someone, in particular. Over the border in Wales, DC Ffion Morgan recovers the body of an estate agent from the lake. There's no love lost between Ffion and estate agents, but who hated this one enough to want her dead --- and why? As their cases collide, Ffion and Leo discover that people will pay a high price to keep their secrets behind closed doors.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728296548

REPLACEABLE YOU: Adventures in Human Anatomy by Mary Roach
(Science/Humor)
The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available --- sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies and breasts from petroleum by-products. Today we’re attempting to grow body parts from scratch using stem cells and 3D printers. How are we doing? Are we there yet? In REPLACEABLE YOU, Mary Roach explores the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. 
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324050629 

SHE'S UNDER HERE: A Memoir by Karen Palmer (Memoir)
“Once upon a time, I disappeared.” So begins Karen Palmer’s harrowing and redemptive memoir, SHE’S UNDER HERE. In 1989, shortly after her second marriage, Palmer and her new husband quit their jobs without notice. They pulled her two young daughters out of school and buckled them into the rear seat of a used car purchased with cash. The trunk was packed with clothing and toys, pillows and blankets, four place settings, one pot, one pan, and a sack that contained every penny they had. Living with the fear of Palmer’s dangerous ex-husband had become untenable: This was DIY witness protection. In this searingly honest and heartwrenching account, Palmer examines why she ended up trapped, how she escaped, and the ongoing perils of life constructed around a false identity.
Algonquin Books | 9781643757544 

THE SUMMER WAR by Naomi Novik (Fantasy/Adventure)
Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother, Argent, left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love. While Argent wanders the world, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him. Yet even as she grows from a girl to a woman, she cannot find the solution --- until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her own people and the summerlings, immortal beings who hold a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbors. Now, with the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to both undo her eldest brother’s curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War.
Del Rey | 9780593984703 

TO CLUTCH A RAZOR by Veronica Roth (Fantasy)
When Dymitr is called back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get his hands on his family's most guarded relic --- a book of curses that could satisfy the debt he owes legendary witch Baba Jaga. But first he'll have to survive a night with his dangerous, monster-hunting kin. As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies becomes razor-thin, and Dymitr’s new loyalties are pushed to their breaking point. Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr’s just might be fatal.
Tor Books | 9781250855503 

THE WASP TRAP by Mark Edwards (Psychological Thriller)
Six friends reunite in London to celebrate the life of their recently deceased ex-employer, a professor who brought them together in 1999 to help build a dating website based on psychological testing. But what is meant to be a night of bittersweet nostalgia soon becomes a twisted and deadly game. The old friends are given an ultimatum: reveal their darkest secrets to the group or pick each other off one by one. It soon becomes clear that their current predicament is related to their shared past. The love questionnaire they helped develop in 1999 for the dating site was also turned into a tool for weeding out psychopaths: The Wasp Trap. This experiment and the other tragic events of that summer long ago may help reveal the truth behind a killer hiding in plain sight.
Atria Books | 9781668204771 

WATCHING EVIL DEAD: Unearthing the Radiant Artist Within by Josh Malerman (Memoir/Self-Help)
One night, bestselling author Josh Malerman --- then just an aspiring writer --- watched Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead with his fiancée and two friends. It was a gathering that could’ve gone unnoticed, another date night with a movie. But for Malerman, it became a landmark. It changed the course of his life, and it will inspire you to reflect on your own journey and to discover existing triumphs that are within you already. Describing the course of the night, Malerman reflects on his life, from his career as a musician to his stack of rough drafts, written prior to ever being published --- and on how meeting the love of his life, a fellow creative, opened him to new experiences and new ways of viewing the world they now quest through together. 
Del Rey | 9780593983270

WE THE PEOPLE: A History of the U.S. Constitution by Jill Lepore (History)
Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding --- the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions --- WE THE PEOPLE offers a wholly new history of the Constitution. “One of the Constitution’s founding purposes was to prevent change,” Lepore writes. “Another was to allow for change without violence.” Relying on the extraordinary database she has assembled at the Amendments Project, Lepore recounts centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to realize the promise of the Constitution. Yet nearly all those efforts have failed. Challenging both the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation and the flawed theory of “originalism,” Lepore contends in this “gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past” that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism.
Liveright | 9781631496080 

THE WHISTLER by Nick Medina (Supernatural Thriller/Horror)
Henry Hotard was on the verge of fame, gaining a following and traction with his eerie ghost-hunting videos. Then his dreams came to a screeching halt. Now, he's learning to navigate a new life in a wheelchair, back on the reservation where he grew up. And he’s being haunted. His girlfriend, Jade, insists he just needs time to adjust to his new reality as a quadriplegic, that it’s his traumatized mind playing tricks on him, but Henry knows better. As the specter haunting him creeps closer each night, Henry battles to find a way to endure, to rid himself of the horror stalking him. Worried that this dread might plague him forever, he realizes the only way to exile his phantom is by confronting his troubled past and going back to the events that led to his injury. It all started when he whistled at night.
Berkley | 9780593820407 

THE WILDERNESS by Angela Flournoy (Fiction)
Desiree, Danielle, January, Monique and Nakia are in their early 20s and at the beginning. Of their careers, of marriage, of motherhood, and of big-city lives in New York and Los Angeles. Together, they are finding their way through the wilderness, that period of life when the reality of contemporary adulthood --- overwhelming, mysterious, and full of freedom and consequences --- swoops in and stays. As these friends move from the late 2000s into the late 2020s, from young adults to grown women, they must figure out what they mean to one another --- amid political upheaval, economic and environmental instability, and the increasing volatility of modern American life.
Mariner Books | 9780063318779 

WOLF BELLS by Leni Zumas (Fiction)
On a bluff above a river rises The House, where elderly and disabled residents live alongside young people who help out in exchange for free rent. The community is led by a former punk singer who never wanted to be responsible for anyone yet now finds herself the caretaker of this precarious collection of lives. It’s not a family, exactly, but it has the complicated, sometimes painful, sometimes hilarious, dynamics of kinship. When two kids --- Nola and her little cousin, James --- show up on The House’s back porch in need of refuge, the whole experiment is thrown into question. All are welcome here, or that was the idea. But the authorities are looking for these children, and The House’s finances are teetering on the edge. 
Algonquin Books | 9781643756578

On Sale the Week of September 15th in Paperback

September 16th

ALIAS O. HENRY by Ben Yagoda (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
O. Henry, born William Sidney Porter, arrived in New York City fresh from the Ohio Penitentiary, where he had served three-and-a-half years for embezzlement. The American magazine had just reached its pinnacle as an enterprise, and the short story was the most popular medium in entertainment. Porter was in the city to write. From his cell, he already had sold a number of stories to big magazines, and within five years of arriving in Manhattan, he would become the most successful fiction writer in the country. But he never --- never --- said anything about his prison experience, or, indeed, anything about his past life. Anything true, that is. In life as well as on the page, Porter was a yarn-spinner of the highest order. In this twisting tale, Ben Yagoda uses the novelist’s art to get at the truth that lay behind Porter’s reticence, and in doing so, he presents an iridescent portrait of New York at the time.
Paul Dry Books | 9781589882065

AMERICAN RAPTURE by CJ Leede (Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction/Horror)
A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust. Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must traverse the hellscape of the midwest to try to find her family while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin. The end times are coming.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250857941

THE AUTHOR’S GUIDE TO MURDER by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig and Karen White (Mystery)
There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead --- under bizarre circumstances --- in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems that the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for literary Americans, finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists. Why did these authors really come to Castle Kinloch?
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063259874

BETRAYAL AT BLACKTHORN PARK: An Evelyne Redfern Mystery by Julia Kelly (Historical Mystery)
Freshly graduated from a rigorous training program in all things spy craft, former typist Evelyne Redfern is eager for her first assignment as a field agent helping Britain win the war. However, when she learns her first task is performing a simple security test at Blackthorn Park, a requisitioned manor house in the sleepy Sussex countryside, she can’t help her initial disappointment. Making matters worse, her handler is to be David Poole, a fellow agent who manages to be both strait-laced and dashing in annoyingly equal measure. However, Evelyne soon realizes that Blackthorn Park is more than meets the eye, and an upcoming visit from Winston Churchill means that security at the secret weapons research and development facility is of the utmost importance. When Evelyne discovers Blackthorn Park’s chief engineer dead in his office, her simple assignment becomes more complicated.
Minotaur Books | 9781250865526

BEYOND HER REACH by Melinda Leigh (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
In a quiet suburban neighborhood in upstate New York, single mom Kelly Gibson is slain in her home --- the victim of a rage killing. Right away, Sheriff Bree Taggert has three persons of interest: an angry soon-to-be ex-husband, a furtive rebound boyfriend, and an obsessive neighbor. But as Bree and investigator Matt Flynn work together to narrow the field, there’s a shocking twist in the case: a second woman is murdered in the same brutal fashion. While investigating, Bree is attacked and left for dead. When another woman is kidnapped, Bree and Matt must act quickly to unravel the deceptions in Kelly’s life and death and find a killer before someone else dies.
Montlake | 9781662522086

BRINGER OF DUST by J. M. Miro (Historical Fantasy)
Agrigento, Sicily, 1883. With the orsine destroyed, Cairndale lies in ruins, and Marlowe has vanished. His only hope of rescue lies in a fabled second orsine --- long-hidden, thought lost --- which might not even exist. But when a body is discovered in the shadow of Cairndale, a body wreathed in the corrupted dust of the drughr, Charlie and the Talents realize there is even more at stake than they'd feared. For a new drughr has arisen, ferocious, horned, seemingly able to move in their world at will --- and it is not alone. A malevolent figure, known only as the Abbess, desires the dust for her own ends. And deep in the world of the dead, a terrible evil stirs --- an evil that the corrupted dust just might hold the secret to reviving or destroying forever.
Flatiron Books | 9781250833877

DEADBEAT by Adam Hamdy (Thriller)
Peyton Collard was a good man once, but his life changed after a horrific car accident. Divorced, drunk and severely damaged, Peyton is offered a life-changing sum of money to kill an evil man. But as he goes on a vigilante journey that leaves a trail of bodies across California, Peyton wonders about the identity of his anonymous patron. Soon, his questions become an obsession, and he embarks on a tense and potentially deadly investigation to discover the truth about the murders he’s committed.
Atria Books | 9781668031537

ELAINE by Will Self (Fiction)
In this brilliantly conceived novel, Will Self turns his forensic eye and technicolor imagination to the troubled life of his mother, Elaine. Standing by the mailbox outside 1100 Hemlock Street in Ithaca, New York, Elaine thinks of her husband and child inside her house and wonders: Is this…it? As she begins to push back against the strictures of her life in 1950s America, she undertakes a disastrous affair that places her marriage to an Ivy League academic and former Communist Party member in peril. Based on the intimate diaries that Self’s mother kept for over 40 years, ELAINE is a writer’s attempt to reach the almost unimaginable realm: a parent’s interior life prior to his own existence.
Grove Press | 9780802165435

ENTITLEMENT by Rumaan Alam (Fiction)
Brooke wants. She isn’t in need, but there are things she wants. A sense of purpose, for instance. She wants to make a difference in the world, to impress her mother along the way, to spend time with friends and secure her independence. Her job assisting an octogenarian billionaire in his quest to give away a vast fortune could help her achieve many of these goals. It may inspire new desires as well: proximity to wealth turns out to be nothing less than transformative. What is money, really, but a kind of belief?
Riverhead Books | 9780593718476

THE FAERIE MORGANA by Louisa Morgan (Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
To the other priestesses of the Nine, a powerful council at the Lady’s Temple, Morgana is haughty and arrogant as she performs feats of magic no human should be capable of. Rumors start that she must be a fearsome fae. To King Arthur, Morgana is a trusted and devoted advisor, but his court is wary of her and her prodigious talent at divination. But his wife sees Morgana as a rival and a malevolent witch. To Braithe, Morgana’s faithful acolyte, she is simply the most powerful priestess Camelot has seen. Morgana doesn’t know why she’s so different from everyone else, and she doesn’t much care. But when she aids Arthur to ascend the throne before his time, she sets off a series of events that will change everything Morgana believes about her power.
Redhook | 9780316585118

THE FAIREST: An Arles Shepherd Thriller by Jenny Milchman (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Author Kara Parsons is at a book signing in the town where she was raised. Before it’s over, a young girl approaches with a copy of Kara’s book containing a handwritten inscription: I am a missing child. Most people would alert the police, but Kara knows what happens to the young and vulnerable when the system fails them. She turns to her former therapist, Arles Shepherd, who finds something off about this girl who refuses to reveal her own name. What is she running from? And how much of what she says can be believed? When a man with a gun manages to locate Arles’ remote wilderness home, the true threat is revealed, and Arles and Kara go on the run. But to save this child, Arles must allow her to be found. And that’s when the real danger begins.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662518447

THE HITCHCOCK HOTEL by Stephanie Wrobel (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with 50 crows. To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in 16 years, not after what happened. But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it. After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.
Berkley | 9780593547137

THE HOUSE OF CROSS: An Alex Cross Thriller by James Patterson (Thriller)
In Washington, DC, the president-elect is tapping the country’s brightest legal minds as candidates for the Supreme Court. Then one of them is gunned down. Another is stabbed. A third is murdered near midnight on a city street. Now it’s up to Detective Alex Cross, the FBI’s top expert in criminal behavior, to go inside the mind of a diabolical killer and protect the country’s best hope for justice. 
Little, Brown and Company | 9781538710609

KEEPING THE FAITH: God, Democracy, and the Trial That Riveted a Nation by Brenda Wineapple (History)
“No subject possesses the minds of men like religious bigotry and hate, and these fires are being lighted today in America.” So said legendary attorney Clarence Darrow as hundreds of people descended on the sleepy town of Dayton, Tennessee, for the trial of a schoolteacher named John T. Scopes, who was charged with breaking the law by teaching evolution to his biology class in a public school. In KEEPING THE FAITH, Brenda Wineapple explores how and why the Scopes trial quickly seemed a circus-like media sensation, drawing massive crowds and worldwide attention. She takes us into the early years of the 20th century --- years of racism, intolerance and world war --- to illuminate, through this pivotal legal showdown, a seismic period in American history.
Random House Trade Paperbacks | 9780593229941

MIDNIGHT BURNING: An Einstein-Chaplin Thriller by Paul Levine (Historical Thriller)
Paperback Original
In 1937, clouds of war gather over Europe, and American fascists march at home. While the FBI chases suspected communists, Nazi agents plot an armed insurrection. When the world's two most famous men --- Albert Einstein and Charlie Chaplin --- uncover the scheme, which includes the assassinations of Hollywood's biggest stars, they fight back with nothing but their ingenuity, raw courage, and the fierce resolve of Georgia Ann Robinson, the LAPD's first Black female officer. A dangerous chase takes our heroes into the heart of darkness, a fascist encampment in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles where a militia armed with machine guns plans its attack. It's brains versus brawn in an explosive, unforgettable finale.
Blank Slate Press | 9781943075966

THE NIGHT COLLECTOR by Victor Methos (Legal Thriller)
Paperback Original
The abduction of two teenagers from their Vegas wedding isn’t a case Detective Lazarus Holloway wants to take; it’s one he has to take. His only clue is a bracelet, etched with a Mayan symbol of death and vengeance --- two things the detective is familiar with. With no other leads, Lazarus enlists the help of guardian ad litem Piper Danes. They have a complicated history, but Piper shares his compulsion to save children in need, no matter the personal cost. Unfortunately, that cost gets higher with every new revelation. As they tread further into the dangerous network surrounding the case, secrets from Lazarus’ past follow close behind. He soon finds himself entangled with the players in this game of life, death and disappearances. And if he can’t figure out how he fits in, there may be no getting out.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662528439

THE ROOM OF LOST STEPS by Simon Tolkien (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Barcelona 1936. Theo Sterling helps the Anarchist workers defeat the army that is trying to overthrow the democratically elected government, and he is reunited with his true love, Maria. But all too soon, his joy turns to terror as the Anarchists turn on him, led by a rival for Maria’s affection. Lucky to escape with his life, Theo returns to England to study at Oxford. But his heart is in Spain, now torn apart by a bloody civil war, and he is quick to abandon his new life when his old schoolmate, Esmond, offers him the chance to fight the Fascists. He is unprepared for the nightmare of war that crushes his spirit and his hope until, back in Barcelona, Theo is confronted with a final terrible choice that will define his life forever.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662528668

THE SECOND COMING by Garth Risk Hallberg (Fiction)
When 13-year-old Jolie Aspern drops her phone onto the subway tracks in 2011, her estranged dad, Ethan, seems like the furthest thing from her mind. A convicted felon and recovering addict, Ethan has long struggled to see beyond himself. But then a call from New York makes him fear that his daughter is in deeper trouble than anyone realizes. And believing he’s the only one who can save her, he decides to return home. So begins the journey that, in time, will push Jolie and Ethan --- child and adult, apart and together, different yet the same --- out past their depths.
Vintage | 9780593471012

SKY FULL OF ELEPHANTS by Cebo Campbell (Fiction/Magical Realism)
One day, all of the white people in America walk into the nearest body of water. A year later, Charlie Brunton is a Black man living in an entirely new world. Having served time in prison for a wrongful conviction, he’s now a professor of electric and solar power systems at Howard University when he receives a call from his 19-year-old daughter, Sidney, who was left behind by her white mother and stepfamily. Traumatized by the event and terrified of the outside world, Sidney has spent a year in isolation in Wisconsin. Desperate for help, she turns to the father she never met, a man she has always resented. Sidney and Charlie meet for the first time as they embark on a journey across a truly “post-racial” America in search of answers. But neither of them are prepared for this new world and how they see themselves in it.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668034934

THE SLEEP OF EMPIRES: Book #1 of The Book of the Null by David Annandale (Dark Fantasy/Adventure)
Paperback Original
Eloran is a world of imperious elves, fractious human realms, and the hated, skeletal kaul. When Latanna Forgrym’s despised father tries to betroth her to the youngest son of a powerful, manipulative family, she forges a new path by instead marrying a man she respects but doesn’t love. A chance encounter with a pair of mercenaries leads Latanna to a lost crown, a relic of forces the world has tried desperately to forget, and gives her the means to break free from her corrupt family --- but at a terrible price. A kaul mercenary travels through the human realms with a companion of no nation, identifiable species or memories. Latanna’s crown sets the warrior on the path to recovering first his name --- Vorykas --- and then fragments of his past. When a forbidden book resurfaces, threatening to reveal the knowledge Vorykas seeks, enemy forces move to conceal the book and any hint of its contents.
Pyr | 9781645061137

On Sale the Week of September 22nd in Hardcover

September 23rd

107 DAYS by Kamala Harris (Memoir/Politics)
Your Secret Service code name is Pioneer. You are the first woman in history to be elected vice president of the United States. On July 21, 2024, your running mate, Joe Biden, announces that he will not be seeking reelection. The presidential election will occur on November 5, 2024. You have 107 days. For the first time, and with surprising and revealing insights, Kamala Harris tells the story of one of the wildest and most consequential presidential campaigns in American history.
Simon & Schuster | 9781668211656 

AWAKE: A Memoir by Jen Hatmaker (Memoir)
At 2:30am on July 11, 2020, Jen Hatmaker woke up to her husband of 26 years whispering in his phone to another woman from their bed. It was the end of life as she knew it. In the months that followed, she went from being a shiny, funny, popular leader, to a divorced wreck on antidepressants and anti-anxiety meds parenting five kids alone with no clue about her own bank accounts. Having led millions of women for over a decade --- urging them to embrace authenticity, find radical agency, and create healthy relationships --- this seemed nothing less than total failure. In AWAKE, Jen shares for the first time what happened when she found herself completely lost at sea --- and how she made it to shore.
Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster | 9781668083680 

BEINGS by Ilana Masad (Historical/Science Fiction)
In 1961, an interracial couple drove through the dark mountains of New Hampshire when a mysterious light began to follow them. Years later, through hypnosis, they recalled an unbelievable brush with extraterrestrial life. In BEINGS, the couple's experience serves as one part of a trio of intertwined threads. Known only by their roles as husband and wife, Ilana Masad explores the pair's trauma and its aftermath and questions what it means to accept the impossible. In the second thread, letters penned by a budding science-fiction writer, Phyllis, to her beloved, Rosa, expose the raw ache of queer yearning, loneliness and alienation in the repressive 1960s. In the present day, a reclusive and chronically ill Archivist attempts to understand a strange forgotten childhood encounter while descending into obsession over both Phyllis' letters and the testimony of the first alien abductees.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639737000 

CIRCLE OF DAYS by Ken Follett (Historical Fiction)
Seft, a talented flint miner, walks the Great Plain in the high summer heat to witness the rituals that signal the start of a new year. He is there to trade his stone at the Midsummer Fair and to find Neen, the girl he loves. Joia, Neen’s sister, is a priestess with a vision and an unmatched ability to lead. As a child, she watches the Midsummer ceremony and dreams of a miraculous new monument, raised from the biggest stones in the world. But trouble is brewing among the hills and woodlands of the Great Plain. Joia’s vision of a great stone circle, assembled by the divided tribes of the Plain, will inspire Seft and become their life’s work. But as drought ravages the earth, mistrust grows between the herders, farmers and woodlanders --- and an act of savage violence leads to open warfare.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538772775

A DARK AND DEADLY JOURNEY: An Evelyne Redfern Mystery by Julia Kelly (Historical Mystery)
When a British Intelligence informant in Portugal mysteriously disappears just after hinting that he has vital information about German plans that could tip the balance of World War II, typist-turned-field agent Evelyne Redfern and her dashingly irksome partner, David Poole, are sent headed to Lisbon to find him. Once they land, Evelyne and David aren't even able to leave the airport, before she discovers one of their fellow aeroplane passengers murdered and uncovers a diary with a clear link between the victim and their missing informant. With their mission in jeopardy before it can truly begin, Evelyne and David fight to keep their cover intact as they descend deeper into the shadows that surround Lisbon’s glittering collection of wealthy expats and dangerous spies.
Minotaur Books | 9781250865540 

DARK HORSE: A Dick Francis Novel by Felix Francis (Thriller)
Imogen Duffy is an up-and-coming Irish jump jockey making her mark in steeplechase racing. But not all is well in Imogen's life. Jealous of her success, Imogen’s controlling boyfriend, Liam, is stalking her, and when she tries to break it off with him, he turns violent. Fleeing to England, Imogen hopes to leave Liam behind. But Liam vehemently refuses to let her go --- until he’s found dead, stabbed with a knife bearing Imogen’s fingerprints. Imogen’s father, convinced of her innocence, seeks out Sid Halley to ask for his help uncovering the truth, and Sid reluctantly agrees to investigate. The case becomes all too personal soon after, when Sid realizes he is being stalked and threatened. Is it the killer? With his life and reputation on the line, Sid races to solve the case before someone else ends up dead.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892422604

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TENSION: New and Selected Stories by Jonathan Lethem (Fiction/Short Stories)
This dazzling, genre-defying collection from Jonathan Lethem features seven major stories published since his last collection, along with his best work spanning more than three decades. A major new story, “The Red Sun School of Thoughts,” never published before, follows a teenage boy coming to terms with figures of authority and power --- those in both his biological family and the family he creates for himself. Elsewhere we meet “Super Goat Man,” a down-at-the-heels bohemian superhero; “The Porn Critic,” whose accidental expertise wrecks his own romantic aspirations; and “Sleepy People,” who pose interpersonal conundrums without ever rousing from their slumber. 
Ecco | 9780063388840 

END GAME by Jeffrey Archer (Mystery/Thriller)
London, 2012. The eyes of the world are on Britain as the country prepares to host the Olympic Games. But the glare of the spotlight makes London a target for some of the most dangerous people on earth. And the moment the bid is won, an international conspiracy is set in motion to unleash a devastating attack that will leave the world in chaos. One man stands between triumph and disaster: Commander William Warwick, heading up Scotland Yard's elite team. But as he pursues the shadowy organization, he sets off a deadly game of cat and mouse that will take him from the bustling streets of London to the hidden corridors of power. Can Warwick stop the assassin before the greatest show on earth becomes a catastrophe?
HarperCollins | 9780008640286 

INSPIRED BY CATS: Writers and Their Mews(es) by Nava Atlas and Bob Eckstein (Essays)
Cats and writers are a match made in book heaven. Throughout history, our feline friends have served as trusted desk mates from the composition of a single poem to the creation of the first English dictionary. In INSPIRED BY CATS, author Nava Atlas and illustrator Bob Eckstein capture these endearing, enduring relationships in a witty, sophisticated collection featuring 60 famous authors and their beloved companions. Novelists, poets, humorists, short story writers and memoirists from all eras are represented --- from Mark Twain, Colette and Ernest Hemingway to Ray Bradbury and Toni Morrison.
Countryman Press | 9781682689493

THE KILLER QUESTION by Janice Hallett (Mystery)
Sue and Mal Eastwood run an isolated rural pub called The Case is Altered, where a weekly trivia game has revived its flagging fortunes --- that is, until a body is found in the nearby river. Soon after, a mysterious new team arrives and shakes up the diverse field of regulars by scoring top marks in every round...every week. Meanwhile, Sue and Mal have a secret of their own. Before arriving here, they were caught up in a secret police operation that meant they had to leave town --- and whatever happened back then seems to have finally caught up with them. Five years later, the pub lies derelict, and their nephew, Dominic, is determined to make a documentary about their story. What happened at this unassuming pub? And can a single question really kill?
Atria Books | 9781668083536 

A KILLER WEDDING by Joan O'Leary (Mystery/Humor)
The iconic Gloria Beaufort, founder of the billion-dollar beauty empire Glo, has personally chosen Christine to cover her grandson’s wedding for Bespoke, the cult fashion magazine that every A-list bride dreams of being featured in. A career-making scoop and a free trip to a castle turned five-star hotel on the Emerald Isle? It feels too good to be true. Because it is. Gloria is found dead on the very first morning of the celebratory weekend, and her entire family wants to keep her death a secret and for the wedding to march on. When Gloria’s heirs issue a chilling warning to Christine to keep things quiet, she can’t help but wonder if one of them is guilty. As Christine navigates a world where glamour masks grimy secrets and everyone she meets is a suspect, she realizes that among this glitzy elite, nothing is as it seems.
William Morrow | 9780063432215 

THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY by Kiran Desai (Fiction)
When Sonia and Sunny first glimpse each other on an overnight train, they are immediately captivated yet also embarrassed by the fact that their grandparents had once tried to matchmake them, a clumsy meddling that served only to drive Sonia and Sunny apart. Sonia, an aspiring novelist who recently completed her studies in the snowy mountains of Vermont, has returned to her family in India. She fears that she is haunted by a dark spell cast by an artist to whom she had once turned for intimacy and inspiration. Sunny, a struggling journalist resettled in New York City, is attempting to flee his imperious mother and the violence of his warring clan. Uncertain of their future, Sonia and Sunny embark on a search for happiness together as they confront the many alienations of our modern world.
Hogarth | 9780307700155 

ONE OF US by Dan Chaon (Historical Thriller)
It’s 1915, and life is falling apart for 13-year-old twins Bolt and Eleanor. When their mother dies, they are forced to leave home under the care of a vicious con man who claims to be their long-lost uncle Charlie. During a late-night poker game, when one of his rages ends in murder, they decide to flee. Salvation arrives in the form of Mr. Jengling, founder of the Emporium of Wonders. He adopts Bolt and Eleanor, who travel by train across the vast, sometimes brutal American frontier with their new family, watching as the exhibitions spark amazement wherever they go. But as Bolt falls in deeper with their new clan, he finds Eleanor pulling further away from him. And when Uncle Charlie picks up their trail, the twins find themselves facing a peril that will forever alter the trajectory of their lives.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250175236

THE PHOEBE VARIATIONS by Jane Hamilton (Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Phoebe was never interested in her birth family. But on the cusp of her high school graduation, her adoptive mother, Greta, insists on a visit to meet her biological parents and siblings. The encounter is a jolt, a revelation that derails Phoebe. With the help of her best friend, Luna, Phoebe runs away --- as far as their friend Patrick O’Connor’s chaotic home, where she hopes to go unnoticed among his 13 siblings. But when Phoebe asks Patrick to chop off her hip-length hair, she’s suddenly transformed. Patrick’s older brothers can’t help but notice the striking, Peter Pan–like stranger who suddenly has appeared in their midst. What starts as an adolescent rebellion soon spirals into a whirlwind of self-discovery and unexpected connections. 
Zibby Publishing | ‎9798991140287 

THE SISTERHOOD: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander (Historical Mystery)
London, 1907. When the Season's most accomplished and elegant debutante, Victoria Goldsborough, collapses and dies at her engagement ball, the great and good of London Society prepare to mourn the tragic loss of an upstanding young woman. But all is not what it seems, and after a toxic beverage is revealed to be the cause of death, the king himself instructs Lady Emily and her husband, Colin Hargreaves, to unearth the truth. Who would want to harm one of the most popular women of the year? Emily and Colin’s investigation leads to a centuries-old tomb in the center of London with a mysterious link to another death dating back to Roman times and the violent reign of Boudica, ancient Britain's fearsome warrior queen. As the stakes rise and the clock ticks down, Emily must find the killer before they strike again.
Minotaur Books | 9781250374981 

A SLOWLY DYING CAUSE: A Lynley Novel by Elizabeth George (Mystery)
Michael Lobb has just been found dead on the floor of his family’s tin and pewter workshop. It’s suspicious enough that his body was found by a representative of Cornwall EcoMining, a company keen on acquiring his family’s land, and it’s made even worse when he’s revealed to have been the majority owner of the business and the sole obstacle preventing a deal from being made. But it doesn’t take long for Inspector Beatrice Hannaford to unearth the layers of estrangement that surrounded Michael in his final days, pointing suspicions elsewhere. In comes Kayla, a young woman half Michael’s age, who has just been made his widow. Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers are brought in to help solve the crime and search for justice in a community where lust, greed and family traditions collide with devastating consequences.
Viking | 9780593493588 

SOFTLY, AS I LEAVE YOU: Life After Elvis by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley with Mary Jane Ross (Memoir)
Priscilla Presley’s divorce from Elvis left his fans incredulous. From the outside, life in Elvis’ mansion looked glamorous and enviable. But inside the mansion, her husband was constantly surrounded by a male entourage, while at the gates, lines of beautiful women waited hopefully for an audience with the King. From the time she was 17, that life was all Priscilla had known. During her 10 years with Elvis, it became painfully apparent that she had no idea who she was outside Elvis’ world. The only way to find herself was to leave that world and seek a new life of her own, because leaving was the only way to survive --- for herself and for her daughter. SOFTLY, AS I LEAVE YOU is the deeply personal story of what Priscilla lost and what she found when she walked away from the man she loved.
Grand Central Publishing | 9780306836480

SPREAD ME by Sarah Gailey (Science Fiction/Horror)
Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the isolation and the way the desert keeps temptations from the civilian world far out of reach. When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it inside. But the longer it's there, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer. One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host --- and one of them is the perfect candidate.
Tor Nightfire | 9781250387332 

THIEF OF NIGHT by Holly Black (Supernatural Thriller/Dark Fantasy)
Charlie Hall, crooked from the day she was born, may have finally met her match. After defeating Salt and stealing her lover --- the powerful shadow, Vince --- back from under the noses of the powerful Cabal leaders, she thought she’d won. Agreeing to become the Hierophant and risking her life hunting down dangerous rogue shadows seemed a small price to pay if she got to do it while being tethered to Vince. But Vince is no longer the man she loved. The tethering process wiped away his memories of the last year, leaving only Red --- the ruthless shadow who spent years as a killer for a cruel, mercurial billionaire. Red doesn’t remember Charlie and doesn’t like her. So when Charlie is ordered to track down the Blight responsible for a massacre at a local church, she’s worse than just alone, heartbroken and outmatched. She’s vulnerable.
Tor Books | 9781250812223 

WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY by Mona Awad (Fiction/Dark Humor)
In BUNNY, Samantha Heather Mackey, a lonely outsider student at a highly selective MFA program in New England, was first ostracized and then seduced by a clique of creepy-sweet rich girls who call themselves “Bunny.” An invitation to the Bunnies’ Smut Salon leads Samantha down a dark rabbit hole (pun intended) into the violently surreal world of their off-campus workshops where monstrous creations are conjured with deadly and wondrous consequences. When WE LOVE YOU, BUNNY opens, Sam has just published her first novel to critical acclaim. But at a New England stop on her book tour, her one-time frenemies, furious at the way they’ve been portrayed, kidnap her. Now a captive audience, it’s her (and our) turn to hear the Bunnies’ side of the story.
S&S/Marysue Rucci Books | 9781668059869 

WHAT WE CAN KNOW by Ian McEwan (Dystopian Science Fiction/Romance)
2014: At a dinner for close friends and colleagues, renowned poet Francis Blundy honors his wife’s birthday by reading aloud a new poem dedicated to her, “A Corona for Vivien.” Little does anyone gathered around the candlelit table know that for generations to come, people will speculate about the message of this poem, a copy of which has never been found and remains an enduring mystery. 2119: Just over 100 years in the future, much of the western world has been submerged by rising seas following a catastrophic nuclear accident. Thomas Metcalfe, a lonely scholar and researcher, longs for the early 21st century as he chases the ghost of one poem, “A Corona for Vivien.” When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the elusive poem’s discovery, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a brutal crime that destroys his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.
Knopf | 9780593804728 

WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER YOU by Patricia Lockwood (Fiction/Humor)
Amid a global pandemic, one young woman is trying to keep the pieces together --- of her family, stunned by a devastating loss, and of her mind, left mangled and misfiring from a mystifying disease. She’s afraid of her own floorboards, and “WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON’T HURT ME” plays over and over in her ears. She hates her friends, or more accurately, she doesn’t know who they are. Has the illness stolen her old mind and given her a new one? Does it mean she’ll get to start over from scratch, a chance afforded to very few people? The very weave of herself seems to have loosened: time and memories pass straight through her body. “I’m sorry not to respond to your email,” she writes, “but I live completely in the present now."
Riverhead Books | 9780593718551

On Sale the Week of September 22nd in Paperback

September 23rd

AMERICA FIRST: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War by H. W. Brands (History)
Hitler's invasion of Poland launched a momentous period of decision-making for the United States. With fascism rampant abroad, should America take responsibility for its defeat? For Charles Lindbergh, saying no to another world war only 20 years after the first was the obvious answer. Lindbergh had become famous and adored around the world after his historic first flight over the Atlantic. In the years since, he had emerged as a vocal critic of American involvement overseas, rallying Americans against foreign war as the leading spokesman for the America First Committee. While Hitler advanced across Europe and threatened the British Isles, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggled to turn the tide of public opinion. Aided by secret British disinformation efforts in America, he readied the country for war.
Vintage | 9780593686577

DARK SPACE by Rob Hart and Alex Segura (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Jose Carriles is the pilot of the Mosaic, a massive ship taking the Interstellar Union's first-ever mission to outside our solar system. His former friend, Corin Timony, should have been the best spy at the Bazaar, the lunar colony's international intelligence arm. Instead, she's been demoted to admin duties. But when the Mosaic experiences a series of strange malfunctions, and Carriles is forced to take a wild gamble to save the ship, he begins to suspect the reasons behind the exploratory mission weren't exactly on the up and up. At the same time, Timony's old instincts kick in as she realizes that the distress call she received from the Mosaic has been wiped without a trace. As people start to end up dead and loyalties are tested, Timony and Carriles find themselves entangled in a star-spanning conspiracy.
Blackstone Publishing | 9798228396265

DEATH BY MISADVENTURE: A Lady Emily Mystery by Tasha Alexander (Historical Mystery)
In the winter of 1906, Lady Emily and her husband, Colin, are invited to the opulent home of Baroness Ursula von Duchtel in the Bavarian alps. Outside is a mountainous winter wonderland with a view of Mad King Ludwig’s fairy tale castle. Inside, the villa hosts a magnificent but eclectic art collection --- as well as an equally eclectic collection of fellow guests. Among them are a musician, an art dealer, a coquette from the demi-monde, and Kaspar, the Baroness’ boorish son-in-law, whom, it begins to appear, someone wants dead. Emily continues to investigate Kaspar's increasingly lethal “mishaps" when tragedy strikes, ensnaring the guests in a web of fear and suspicion. It’s up to Emily to sift through old secrets and motivations, some stretching far into the past, to unmask the killer.
Minotaur Books | 9781250872388

THE EMPUSIUM: A Health Resort Horror Story written by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones (Historical/Gothic Horror)
September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone --- or something --- seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world. Little does the newcomer realize, as he tries to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.
Riverhead Books | 9780593712955

FAMOUS by Blake Crouch (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Meet Lance. Thirty-eight years old. Works a meaningless job. Still lives above his parents’ garage. By all accounts, a world-class loser. Save for one glaring exception: He has a million-dollar face. Lance has been mistaken 87 times for the Oscar-winning movie star James Jansen, and for the last 10 years, he has saved his money and studied Jansen’s films, his moves, his idiosyncrasies --- even the way he speaks. Now, after an unceremonious termination from his job, Lance has decided that the time has come to go after his dream of truly becoming Jansen. From New York’s avant-garde, off-off Broadway scene to the glitter of Los Angeles, Lance embarks on a journey toward becoming James Jansen that will take him closer to the star than even he had dreamed --- and to darker lengths than he could’ve possibly imagined.
Ballantine Books | 9798217091560

GOING HOME IN THE DARK by Dean Koontz (Thriller)
As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams --- and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. After two decades, not a lot has changed in Maple Grove, especially Ernie’s obnoxious, scary mother. But they begin to remember a hulking, murderous figure and weirdness piled on mystery that they were made to forget. As Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him. For Rebecca, Bobby and Spencer, time is running out to remember the terrors of the past in a perfect town where nothing is what it seems.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781662517792

THE GUEST IN ROOM 120 by Sara Ackerman (Historical Mystery/Romance)
Paperback Original
1905: As the mother of a university and a woman with an iron will, Jane Stanford has made her share of enemies. After a scare at her mansion in San Francisco and on the advice of her doctor, she flees to Honolulu and the fashionable new Moana hotel. But as fate would have it, the island is not as safe as it seems. 2005: Zoe Finch is a bestselling author who desperately needs a jump-start on her next novel, and she makes a split decision to attend a writers' conference at the Moana under an assumed name. As a storm brews offshore, she begins having nightmares that feel hauntingly real. Terrified, Zoe enlists the help of mystery writer Dylan Winters and, over the course of the week, races to uncover the shocking truth of what happened in the hotel 100 years ago almost to the day.
Mira | 9780778387220

HARD TOWN by Adam Plantinga (Thriller)
Still working through his grief over the passing of his wife, ex-Detroit cop Kurt Argento finds himself house-sitting for a friend with his loyal companion, Hudson, a Chow Chow-Shepard mix. Then Kristin Reed shows up with her young son, Ethan, and begs Argento to help find her missing husband. Argento starts to notice that Fenton, Arizona, is more than meets the eye. First there's the large, overly equipped public safety team complete with specialized tactics and sophisticated weaponry. Then there's the unusual financial boosting of failing small businesses by the U.S. government. Finally, there's a man with no name who seems to have an unprecedented control over the town. Argento finds himself unraveling not just the truth behind the disappearance of a family, but a conspiracy that's taken a whole town to cover up.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538739914

INTERMEZZO by Sally Rooney (Fiction)
Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. Peter is a Dublin lawyer in his 30s. In the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two very different women --- his enduring first love, Sylvia, and Naomi, a college student for whom life is one long joke. Ivan is a 22-year-old competitive chess player. In the early weeks of his bereavement, he meets Margaret, an older woman emerging from her own turbulent past, and their lives become rapidly and intensely intertwined. For two grieving brothers and the people they love, this is a new interlude --- a period of desire, despair and possibility; a chance to find out how much one life might hold inside itself without breaking.
Picador | 9781250397560

A LITTLE LESS BROKEN: How an Autism Diagnosis Finally Made Me Whole by Marian Schembari (Memoir)
Marian Schembari was 34 years old when she learned she was autistic. By then, she'd spent decades hiding her tics and shutting down in public, wondering why she couldn't just act like everyone else. Therapists told her she had Tourette's syndrome, obsessive-compulsive disorder, sensory processing disorder, social anxiety and recurrent depression. They prescribed breathing techniques and gratitude journaling. Nothing helped. It wasn't until years later that she finally learned the truth: she wasn't weird or deficient or moody or sensitive or broken. She was autistic. In this deeply personal and researched memoir, Schembari's journey takes her from the mountains of New Zealand to the tech offices of San Francisco, from her first love to her first child, all with unflinching honesty and good humor.
Flatiron Books | 9781250895776

THE LOST HOURS by Lynn Tavernier (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
Detective Andrea Stuart thought her weeklong escape to the quiet shores of Jamestown would be a time to rest. But a blocked call in the early hours of the morning pulls her back into a world she’s been trying to leave behind --- and into a case no one wants her to solve. Hope Philbrick, heir to one of Rhode Island’s most powerful families, has fallen to her death from a seaside cliff after her lavish pre-wedding celebration. Everyone says it was an accident. Her fiancé is grieving. The family wants silence. And Andrea has been told, in no uncertain terms, to keep her head down and follow orders. But something about the scene doesn't sit right. The deeper she digs, the more the glittering façade of privilege cracks. To uncover the truth, Andrea must risk her career --- and confront a haunting past she’s never truly escaped.
Crooked Lane Books | 9798892422871

MIDNIGHT AND BLUE: An Inspector Rebus Novel by Ian Rankin (Mystery)
A convict is brutally murdered in his locked cell deep in the heart of Scotland’s most infamous prison. Sleeping in a cell across the floor lies John Rebus, the equally notorious detective. Stripped of his badge and estranged from his police family, he is now fighting for his own life --- protected by an old nemesis but always one wrong move away from the shank. As new allies and old enemies circle, and the days and nights bleed into each other, even this legendary figure struggles to keep his head. They say old habits die hard, though. The death stirs Rebus’ deductive --- and manipulative --- impulses, setting off a domino-chain of scheming criminals, corrupt prison guards, and perhaps only one or two good souls who may see it all through. But how do you find a killer in a place full of them?
Mulholland Books | 9780316473958

THE MOST WONDERFUL CRIME OF THE YEAR by Ally Carter
(Romantic Comedy/Mystery)
Maggie Chase is the new Queen of the Cozy Mystery. Ethan Wyatt is Mr. Big-time Thriller Guy. She hates his guts. He thinks her name is Marcie (no matter how many times she’s told him otherwise). But when they both accept a cryptic invitation to attend a Christmas house party at the English estate of a reclusive fan, neither is expecting their host to be the most powerful author in the world: Eleanor Ashley, the Duchess of Death herself. That night, the weather turns, and the next morning Eleanor is gone. She vanished from a locked room, and Maggie has to wonder: Is Eleanor in danger? Or is it all some kind of test? Is Ethan the competition? Or is he the only person in that snowbound mansion she can trust? As the snow gets deeper and the stakes get higher, every clue will bring Maggie and Ethan closer to the truth --- and each other.
Avon | 9780063276710

PASSIONTIDE by Monique Roffey (Fiction)
Everyone on the small island of St. Colibri is sleeping peacefully. Everyone except Sora Tanaka, a young pan player lying under the cannonball tree. Sora, a professional musician, had been visiting St. Colibri to take part in the island’s famous steel pan competition. But Sora isn’t asleep; she’s dead --- brutally murdered and still in her costume. And as the women of this island know all too well, Sora is far from the first woman to be killed, and she probably won’t be the last. In PASSIONTIDE, Sora’s death is the last straw and the beginning of something much larger, a "revolution" some are calling it. The event draws together four women who have never before seen each other as allies: a friend of the victim, the organizer of a sex workers’ collective, a local activist, and the prime minister’s wife.
Vintage | 9780593688526

QUEEN MACBETH by Val McDermid (Historical Thriller)
A thousand years ago in an ancient Scottish landscape, a woman is on the run with her three companions --- a healer, a weaver and a seer. The men hunting her will kill her --- because she is the only one who stands between them and their violent ambition. She is no lady: she is the first queen of Scotland, married to a king called Macbeth. As the net closes in, what unfurls is a tale of passion, forced marriage, bloody massacre and the harsh realities of medieval Scotland. At the heart of it is one strong, charismatic woman, who survived loss and jeopardy to outwit the endless plotting of a string of ruthless and power-hungry men. Her struggle won her a country. But now it could cost her life.
Grove Press | 9780802165459

REDNECKS by Taylor Brown (Historical Fiction)
REDNECKS dramatizes the 1920 to 1921 events of the West Virginia Mine Wars --- from the Matewan Massacre through the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed conflict on American soil since the Civil War, when some one million rounds were fired, bombs were dropped on Appalachia, and the term “redneck” would come to have an unexpected origin story. In a land where the coal companies use violence and intimidation to keep miners from organizing, “Doc Moo" Muhanna, a Lebanese-American doctor, toils amid the blood and injustice of the mining camps. When Frank Hugham, a Black World War I veteran and coal miner, takes dramatic steps to lead a miners' revolt with a band of fellow veterans, Doc Moo risks his life and career to treat sick and wounded miners, while Frank's grandmother, Beulah, fights her own battle to save her home and grandson.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250329356

ROAD TRIP WITH A VAMPIRE by Jenna Levine (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Reformed bad witch Grizelda “Zelda” Watson had hoped to never see another vampire again when she slipped away to sunny California for a fresh start. But when a vampire with amnesia unexpectedly shows up on her doorstep with a letter from her old friend, Reggie, and asks for her help, she can’t say no. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that Peter Elliott is tall and gorgeous, and looks great in yoga shorts. Peter soon becomes the only person in Zelda’s new life who knows the truth about what she is. If she can help him decipher the cryptic notes in his journal, the only clues to his lost memories, she might as well try before sending him on his way. But when an alarming message from Peter's past coincides with a clear sign that Zelda can't keep running from her own, they embark on a cross-country road trip for answers.
Berkley | 9780593819913

SHE-WOLVES: The Untold History of Women on Wall Street by Paulina Bren (History)
First came the secretaries from Brooklyn and Queens --- the “smart cookies” who saw that making money, lots of it, might be within their grasp. Then came the first female Harvard Business School graduates, who were in for a rude awakening because an equal degree did not mean equal opportunity. But by the 1980s, as the market went into turbodrive, women were being plucked from elite campuses to feed the belly of a rapidly expanding beast, playing for high stakes in Wall Street’s bad-boy culture by day and clubbing by night. In SHE-WOLVES, award-winning historian Paulina Bren tells the story of how women infiltrated Wall Street from the swinging '60s to 9/11 --- starting at a time when “No Ladies” signs hung across the doors of its luncheon clubs and (more discretely) inside its brokerage houses and investment banks.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9781324117650

THE SING SING FILES: One Journalist, Six Innocent Men, and a Twenty-Year Fight for Justice by Dan Slepian (Memoir)
In 2002, Dan Slepian, a veteran producer for NBC’s “Dateline,” received a tip from a Bronx homicide detective that two men were serving 25 years to life in prison for a 1990 murder they did not commit. Haunted by what the detective had told him, Slepian began an investigation of the case that eventually resulted in freedom for the two men and launched him on a two-decade personal and professional journey into a deeply flawed justice system fiercely resistant to rectifying --- or even acknowledging --- its mistakes and their consequences. THE SING SING FILES is Slepian’s account of challenging that system.
Celadon Books | 9781250897725

SISTER SNAKE by Amanda Lee Koe (Fiction)
Sisterhood is difficult for Su and Emerald. Su leads a sheltered, moneyed life as the picture-perfect wife of a conservative politician in Singapore. Emerald is a nihilistic sugar baby in New York, living from whim to whim and using her charms to make ends meet. But they share a secret: once, they were snakes, basking under a full moon in Tang dynasty China. A thousand years later, their mysterious history is the only thing still binding them together. When Emerald experiences a violent encounter in Central Park and Su boards the next flight to New York, the two reach a tenuous reconciliation for the first time in decades. Su convinces Emerald to move to Singapore so she can keep an eye on her, but she soon begins to worry that Emerald’s irrepressible behavior will out them both.
Ecco | 9780063355071

SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE SEA by TJ Klune (Urban Fantasy)
Arthur Parnassus is the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six magical and so-called dangerous children who live there. He works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home --- one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from --- Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.
Tor Books | 9781250881229

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