On Sale This Week

December 5, 2023

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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of December 4th and December 11th 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 our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks feature for December, which includes Indie Next, LibraryReads, Reese's Book Club, the "Read with Jenna" Today Show Book Club, the "Good Morning America" Book Club, and more.

Carol Fitzgerald's latest “Bookreporter Talks To” interview is with Douglas Brunt, whose book, THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF RUDOLF DIESEL: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I, was an instant New York Times bestseller when it released in September. Apple Books has selected it as one of the 20 best books of 2023, and it already was named one of the Best History Books of the Year by Audible.

Doug talks about the origin of the story, which came about as he bought an older boat, and how his fascination with the character of Rudolf Diesel sprang from there. Many know about Diesel fuel, but few are aware that it was named for the man who invented it, along with the first Diesel engine. Doug explains why he chose to include a wider view of what was going on in the world at the time, as well as theories about Diesel’s fate. He goes on to present his thoughts on what really happened; to him, it was neither suicide nor murder. He also reveals his inspiration for his podcast, “Dedicated with Doug Brunt”, where he speaks with authors --- and shares cocktails. Click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.

Last Thursday night, we hosted our final “Bookaccino Live” Book Group event of 2023. Our guest was Dani Shapiro, and she talked to Carol about her novel, SIGNAL FIRES, a Bookreporter.com Bets On pick that recently released in paperback.

Bookreporter readers loved SIGNAL FIRES and were quick to ask questions about the characters, who drive this story. Dani had put the book away a while ago, and when she came back to it, it was with fresh eyes and a new perspective. She shares why she pivoted in time to tell the story and how the accident that opens the novel radiated through the lives of the Wilf family in very different ways. She also explains why Waldo stole a piece of her heart, as well as that of readers.

People from 22 states, along with DC and Canada, were part of the audience. As a result, there was a question about the city of Roseville, Michigan, being mentioned in the book as a reader lived close to there. Click here to watch the video or here to listen to the podcast.

P.S. For those of you who shop online, if you use the store links that appear on our site for shopping, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and IndieBound. As you read our reviews and features, we would appreciate your considering this as you buy!

Upcoming Virtual Book and Author Events

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

Wednesday, December 6th at 3pm ET: Barnes & Noble Book Club: Join Barnes & Noble as they welcome Alice McDermott for a live virtual event to discuss ABSOLUTION, November's B&N Book Club pick. She will be in conversation with Shannon DeVito, the Sr. Director of Book Strategy and Customer Experience at B&N, and Miwa Messer, the host and Executive Producer of B&N's “Poured Over” podcast.

Wednesday, December 6th at 7pm ET: "Friends and Fiction": The "Friends and Fiction" authors --- Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, Kristy Woodson Harvey and Patti Callahan Henry --- will talk to Tessa Bailey about her new novel, WRECK THE HALLS, a sexy, hilarious stand-alone holiday rom-com about the adult children of two former rock stars who team up to convince their estranged mothers to play a Christmas Eve concert.

Wednesday, December 6th at 8pm ET: "Bookaccino Live" Reviewer Event: Join us for a special “Bookaccino Live” evening event as eight of our reviewers share their favorite books of 2023. Our guests will be Kate Ayers, Harvey Freedenberg, Pamela Kramer, Rebecca Munro, Eileen Zimmerman Nicol, Ray Palen, Norah Piehl and Stuart Shiffman.

This Week's Bonus News:
Our Favorite Monthly Lists & Picks for December

On Sale the Week of December 4th in Hardcover

December 4th

WHAT REALLY HAPPENS IN VEGAS: True Stories of the People Who Make Vegas, Vegas by James Patterson and Mark Seal (Biography)
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas --- until now. In WHAT REALLY HAPPENS IN VEGAS, full of surprises for both newcomers and Las Vegas regulars, James Patterson and Vanity Fair contributing editor Mark Seal transport readers from the thrill of adrenaline-fueled vice to the glitter of A-list celebrity and entertainment.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316406901

December 5th

AIRPLANE MODE: An Irreverent History of Travel by Shahnaz Habib (Cultural History/Travel Essays)
The color of one’s skin and passport have long dictated the conditions of travel. For Shahnaz Habib, travel and travel writing have always been complicated pleasures. Habib threads the history of travel with her personal story as a child on family vacations in India, an adult curious about the world, and an immigrant for whom roundtrips are an annual fact of life. Tracing the power dynamics that underlie tourism, AIRPLANE MODE parses who gets to travel and who gets to write about the experience. Threaded through the book are analyses of obvious and not-so-obvious travel artifacts: passports, carousels, bougainvilleas, guidebooks, trains, the idea of wanderlust itself. Together, they tell a subversive history of travel as a Euro-American mode of consumerism. But as any traveler knows, travel is more than that.
Catapult | 9781646220151

BECOMING ELLA FITZGERALD: The Jazz Singer Who Transformed American Song by Judith Tick (Biography)
In this first major biography since Ella Fitzgerald’s death, historian Judith Tick offers a sublime portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist. BECOMING ELLA FITZGERALD clears up long-enduring mysteries. Archival research and in-depth family interviews shed new light on the singer’s difficult childhood in Yonkers, New York, the tragic death of her mother, and the year she spent in a girls’ reformatory school --- where she sang in its renowned choir and dreamed of being a dancer. Rarely seen profiles from the Black press offer precious glimpses of Fitzgerald’s tense experiences of racial discrimination and her struggles with constricting models of Black and white femininity at midcentury.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393241051

THE CURSE OF PENRYTH HALL by Jess Armstrong (Historical/Gothic Mystery)
After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and housemate in Exeter. She’s avoided dwelling on the past, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in 30 years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse.
Minotaur Books | 9781250886019

DAUGHTER OF ASHES: A Teresa Battaglia Novel written by Ilaria Tuti, translated by Ekin Oklap (Mystery/Thriller)
Superintendent Teresa Battaglia, a trailblazing criminal detective on the Italian police force, is on sick leave, recovering from her recent brush with death in pursuit of a killer. But none of her colleagues, not even her partner, know that her Alzheimer’s is getting worse, and that she is unsure she will ever return to work. Teresa’s plans for retirement are shelved, however, when she is urgently summoned to meet with menacing serial killer Giacomo Mainardi. Refusing to speak with anyone but Teresa, whose investigative work 27 years prior landed him in maximum security prison, Mainardi has disconcerting news: somebody is after him, and only Teresa holds the key to keeping everyone, including herself, safe. To solve the case, Teresa must come face to face with a history she thought she’d buried.
Soho Crime | 9781641294171

DEATH WRITES: An Inishowen Mystery by Andrea Carter (Mystery)
Preparations are underway for Glenfest, Glendara’s literary festival. Phyllis Kettle, the local bookshop owner, is especially pleased to have persuaded Gavin Featherstone, the local bestselling recluse writer, to take part. The festival begins, and an eager crowd awaits Featherstone’s appearance on stage. He is unexpectedly engaging, but when he stands to read from his new book, he stumbles and keels over on the platform. Solicitor Benedicta “Ben” O’Keeffe discovers that she holds Featherstone’s will at the office, drafted by her predecessor. Soon, she’s drawn into a complicated legal wrangle over the man’s estate involving his family and the assistant who lived with him. But nothing can be resolved yet, as a killer cannot inherit from their victim --- and Gavin Featherstone’s death was a murder.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608095667

DISSOLVED by Sara Blaedel and Mads Peder Nordbo (Thriller)
Everything is peaceful in Tommerup, Denmark, until a young mother disappears in the middle of an idyllic summer day. There’s no trace of the missing woman when Chief Superintendent Liam Stark and Superintendent Dea Torp are called to investigate. When another person goes missing, and Liam and Dea find a strange note linking the second missing person to the first crime, they suspect the disappearances may be the work of a serial killer. As the investigation continues, dark secrets about the victims from the past are revealed. Is someone targeting them because of this? As more people vanish, it’s a race against time for Liam and Dea, who find themselves face to face with horrifying footage that reveals what is happening to the victims --- and what will happen to future targets if they can’t stop the killer.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639105953

THE END OF THE WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC: Stories by Louise Kennedy (Fiction/Short Stories)
In THE END OF THE WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC, women’s lives are etched by poverty --- material, emotional, sexual --- but also splashed by beauty, sometimes even joy, as they search for the good in the cards they’ve been dealt. A wife is abandoned by her new husband in a derelict housing estate, with blood on her hands. An expectant mother’s worst fears about her husband’s entanglement with a teenage girl are confirmed. A sister is tormented by visions of the man her brother murdered during the Troubles. A woman struggles to forgive herself after an abortion threatens to destroy her marriage.
Riverhead Books | 9780593540923

FLORES AND MISS PAULA by Melissa Rivero (Fiction)
Thirtysomething Flores and her mother, Paula, still live in the same Brooklyn apartment, but that may be the only thing they have in common. It’s been nearly three years since they lost beloved husband and father Martín. One day, cleaning beneath his urn, Flores discovers a note written in her mother’s handwriting: Perdóname si te falle. Recuerda que siempre te quise. (“Forgive me if I failed you. Remember that I always loved you.”) But what would Paula need forgiveness for? Now newfound doubts and old memories come flooding in, complicating each woman’s efforts to carve out a good life for herself and support the other in the same. When Flores and Paula learn they will be forced to move, they finally must confront their complicated past --- and decide if they share the same dreams for the future.
Ecco | 9780063272491

THE FOURTH RULE by Jeff Lindsay (Thriller)
Impossible doesn’t belong in Riley Wolfe’s vocabulary. He’s a master of heists and disguises, whose life's work is swindling the rich out of their undeserved treasures. Now rumors surrounding a dangerous new figure of international crime are spreading through the underworld. And this ruthless collector, the Cobra, has a personal vendetta against Riley. With the aid of his new partner, Caitlin, Riley prepares to take on the most powerful cultural institution in the world and bring home the supposedly unstealable Rosetta Stone. With the Cobra waiting for the right moment to strike, Riley is put to the ultimate test as he faces this most venomous villain --- and tries to make it out alive.
Dutton | 9780593186251

THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon (Historical Mystery)
Maine, 1789: The Kennebec River freezes, entombing a man in the ice. Martha Ballard is summoned to examine the body and determine the cause of death. As the local midwife and healer, Martha is good at keeping secrets. Her diary is a record of every birth and death, every murder and debacle that unfolds in the town of Hallowell. In that diary she also documented the details of an alleged rape that occurred four months earlier. Now, one of the men accused of that heinous attack has been found dead in the ice. While Martha is certain she knows what happened the night of the assault, she suspects that the two crimes are linked. Over the course of one long, hard winter, Martha’s diary lands at the center of the scandal and threatens to tear both her family and her community apart.
Doubleday | 9780385546874

GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD: The True Story of America's Most Hated Man by Jack Kelly (History)
Benedict Arnold committed treason. For more than two centuries, that’s all that most Americans have known about him. Yet Arnold was much more than a turncoat --- his achievements during the early years of the Revolutionary War defined him as the most successful soldier of the era. GOD SAVE BENEDICT ARNOLD tells the gripping story of Arnold’s rush of audacious feats --- his capture of Fort Ticonderoga, his Maine mountain expedition to attack Quebec, the famous artillery brawl at Valcour Island, the turning-point battle at Saratoga --- that laid the groundwork for our independence.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250281951

HERE IN THE DARK by Alexis Soloski (Psychological Thriller)
A former actress, Vivian Parry now works as the junior theater critic at a major Manhattan magazine. Her nights are spent beyond the lights, in a reserved seat, giving herself over to the shows she loves. By day, she savages them. Angling for a promotion, she reluctantly agrees to an interview, a conversation that reveals secrets she thought she had long since buried. Then her interviewer disappears, and she learns --- from his devastated fiancée --- that she was the last person to have seen him alive. When the police refuse to investigate, Vivian does what she promised herself she would never do again: she plays a part. Assuming the role of amateur detective, she turns her critical gaze toward an unsanitary private eye, a sketchy internet startup, a threatening financier, fake blood and one very real corpse.
Flatiron Books | 9781250882943

THE LOST TOMB: And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder by Douglas Preston (True Crime/History)
From the jungles of Honduras to macabre archaeological sites in the American Southwest, Douglas Preston's journalistic explorations have taken him across the globe. He broke the story of an extraordinary mass grave of animals killed by the asteroid impact that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, he explored what lay hidden in the booby-trapped Money Pit on Oak Island, and he roamed the haunted hills of Italy in search of the Monster of Florence. THE LOST TOMB brings together an astonishing and compelling collection of true stories about buried treasure, enigmatic murders, lost tombs, bizarre crimes, and other fascinating tales of the past and present.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538741221

MANNER OF DEATH by Robin Cook (Medical Thriller)
After Dr. Jack Stapleton’s near-death confrontation with a medical serial killer, his wife, NYC Chief Medical Examiner Laurie Montgomery, is carrying the load both at work and at home. When Laurie insists that Dr. Ryan Sullivan --- an underperforming senior pathology resident --- assist her on a suicide autopsy in hopes of stimulating his interest in the field, the last thing she expects is to be unwittingly drawn into a major conspiracy that puts her own life in jeopardy. Desperate to avoid performing as many forensic autopsies as possible, Ryan offers to participate in a research project on a series of suicides put together by one of the medical legal investigators. These suicides, like the case Ryan analyzes with Laurie, hint at some bothersome questions about their "manner of death."
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593713891

THE MAYORS OF NEW YORK: A Lydia Chin/Bill Smith Mystery by S. J. Rozan (Mystery)
In January, New York City inaugurates its first female mayor. In April, her son disappears. Called in by the mayor's chief aide --- a former girlfriend of private investigator Bill Smith --- to find the missing 15-year-old, Bill and his partner, Lydia Chin, are told the boy has run away. Neither the press nor the NYPD know that he’s missing, and the mayor wants him back before a headstrong child turns into a political catastrophe. But as Bill and Lydia investigate, they turn up more questions than answers. Why did the boy leave? Who else is searching for him, and why? What is his twin sister hiding? Then a teen is found dead, and another is hit by gunfire. Are these tragedies related to each other, and to the mayor's missing son?
Pegasus Crime | 9781639365258

MURDER CROSSED HER MIND: A Pentecost and Parker Mystery by Stephen Spotswood (Historical Mystery)
Vera Bodine, an elderly shut-in with an exceptional memory, has gone missing, and famed detective Lillian Pentecost and her crackerjack assistant, Willowjean “Will” Parker, have been hired to track her down. But there’s no shortage of people who might like to get ahold of what’s in Bodine’s head. Does her disappearance have to do with the high-profile law firm whose secrets she still keeps; the violent murder of a young woman, with which Bodine had lately become obsessed; or is it the work she did with the FBI hunting Nazi spies intent on wartime sabotage? Any and all are on the suspect list, including their client, Forest Whitsun, hotshot defense attorney and no friend to Pentecost and Parker. The clock is ticking to get Bodine back alive, but circumstances conspire to pull both investigators away from the case.
Doubleday | 9780385549288

ORBITAL by Samantha Harvey (Science Fiction)
ORBITAL deftly snapshots one day in the lives of six women and men hurtling through space --- not towards the moon or the vast unknown, but around our planet. Selected for one of the last space station missions of its kind before the program is dismantled, these astronauts and cosmonauts have left their lives behind to travel at a speed of over 17,000 miles an hour as the earth reels below. We glimpse moments of their earthly lives through brief communications with family, their photos and talismans; we watch them whip up dehydrated meals, float in gravity-free sleep, and exercise in regimented routines to prevent atrophying muscles; we witness them form bonds that will stand between them and utter solitude. Most of all, we are with them as they behold and record their silent blue planet.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802161543

THE OTHER MOTHERS by Katherine Faulkner (Domestic Thriller)
When a young nanny is found dead under mysterious circumstances, new mom Tash is intrigued. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she also has been searching for new friends to help her navigate motherhood. She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. A group of sleek, sophisticated women. When the mothers welcome her into their circle, Tash discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of and is quickly swept up into their wealthy world. But when another young woman is found dead, it’s clear there’s much more to the community than meets the eye. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason that she has been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world?
Gallery Books | 9781668024782

PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch (Dystopian Fiction)
On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police on her step. They have arrived to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. Ireland is falling apart, caught in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny. As the life she knows and the ones she loves disappear before her eyes, Eilish must contend with the dystopian logic of her new, unraveling country. How far will she go to save her family? And what --- or who --- is she willing to leave behind?
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802163011

SONGS ON ENDLESS REPEAT: Essays and Outtakes by Anthony Veasna So (Essays/Fiction)
The late Anthony Veasna So’s debut story collection, AFTERPARTIES, was a landmark publication. And he was equally known for his comic, soulful essays, published in n+1, The New Yorker and The Millions. SONGS ON ENDLESS REPEAT gathers those essays together, along with previously unpublished fiction. Written with razor-sharp wit and an unflinching eye, the essays examine his youth in California, the lives of his refugee parents, his intimate friendships, loss, pop culture and more. And in linked fiction following three Cambodian American cousins who stand to inherit their late aunt’s illegitimate loan-sharking business, So explores community, grief and longing with inimitable humor and depth.
Ecco | 9780063049963

SUNSET, WATER CITY by Chris McKinney (Noir Science Fiction/Thriller)
2160: It's been 10 years since the cataclysmic events of Eventide, Water City, where 99.97 percent of the human population was possessed or obliterated by Akira Kimura, Water City’s renowned scientist and Earth’s former savior. Our nameless antihero and his daughter, Ascalon, navigate through a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by barbaric Zeroes --- the permanent residents of the continent’s biggest landfill, The Great Leachate --- who cling to the ways of the old world. They live in opposition to Akira’s godlike domination of the planet. She has taken control of the population that viewed her as a god and converted them into her Gardeners, zombie-like humans who plod along to build her vision of a new world. What that world exactly entails, Ascalon is not entirely sure, but she intends to find out.
Soho Crime | 9781641295130

UNFINISHED WOMAN: A Memoir by Robyn Davidson (Memoir)
In 1977, while she was in her 20s, Robyn Davidson set off with a dog and four camels to cross 1,700 miles of Australian desert to the sea. A life of almost constant traveling followed --- from the Outback to Sydney's underworld; from ’60s street life to the London literary scene; from migrating with nomads in India and Tibet to marrying an Indian prince. The only territory she avoided was the past. In UNFINISHED WOMAN, she ventures into that unknown, unearthing an ache for a lost but barely remembered mother and an unmet desire to feel at home in her freedom. Adventurous but guarded, fearless yet broken, Davidson asks: How can we live with pain and uncertainty to find beauty in the strangeness of being?
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781620401620

WELCOME HOME, STRANGER by Kate Christensen (Fiction)
An environmental journalist in Washington, DC, Rachel has shunned her New England working-class family for years. Divorced and childless in her middle age, she’s a true independent spirit with the pain and experience to prove it. Coping with challenges large and small, she thinks her life is in free fall --- until she’s summoned home to deal with the aftermath of her mother’s death. Then things really fall apart. Surrounded by a cast of sometimes comic, sometimes heartbreakingly serious characters --- an arriviste sister, an alcoholic brother-in-law and, most importantly, the love of her life recently married to the sister’s best friend --- Rachel must come to terms with her past, the sorrow she has long buried, and the ghost of the mother who, for better and worse, made her the woman she is.
Harper | 9780063299702

WHERE THE DEAD WAIT by Ally Wilkes (Supernatural Thriller/Gothic Horror)
William Day should be an acclaimed Arctic explorer. But after a failed expedition, in which his remaining men only survived by eating their dead comrades, he returned in disgrace. Thirteen years later, his second-in-command, Jesse Stevens, has gone missing in the same frozen waters. Perhaps this is Day’s chance to restore his tarnished reputation by bringing Stevens --- the man who’s haunted his whole life --- back home. But when the rescue mission becomes an uncanny journey into his past, Day must face up to the things he’s done. Aboard ship, Day also must contend with unwanted passengers. Following a trail of cryptic messages, gaunt bodies and old bones, their search becomes more and more unnerving, as it becomes clear that the restless dead are never far behind.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781982182823

THE WILDEST SUN by Asha Lemmie (Historical Fiction)
When tragedy forces Delphine Auber, an aspiring writer on the cusp of adulthood, from her home in postwar Paris, she seizes the opportunity to embark on the journey she's long dreamed of: finding the father she has never known. But her quest --- spanning from Paris to New York’s Harlem, to Havana and Key West --- is complicated by the fact that she believes him to be famed luminary Ernest Hemingway, a man just as elusive as he is iconic. She desperately yearns for his approval, as both a daughter and a writer, convinced that he holds the key to who she's truly meant to be. But what will happen if she's wrong, or if her real story falls outside of the legend of her parentage that she’s revered all her life?
Dutton | 9780593185711

THE WONDER OF IT ALL: A House of Falconer Novel by Barbara Taylor Bradford (Historical Fiction)
James Falconer, a tycoon and a self-made man, seems to have the world in the palm of his hand. But the Great War looms, and James decides to fight for king and country. He returns a changed man, with wounds both physical and mental. His beloved wife is dead, but a new woman returns to help nurse him back to health. Georgiana Ward once held James in her thrall, but years have passed and bitterness has set in. Still, the old attraction is there, and James is determined to make amends to both Georgiana and his child, Leonie --- now a grown woman and someone he hasn't seen in decades. Leonie is having none of it and is embarking on a dangerous journey with a man who might very well destroy her. As James fights to return to the man he once was, he needs to find a way to heal his body, soul and family.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250187482

YOURS FOR THE TAKING by Gabrielle Korn (Dystopian Fiction)
The year is 2050. Ava and her girlfriend live in what's left of Brooklyn. Although they love each other, it's hard to find happiness while the effects of climate change rapidly eclipse their world. Soon, it won't be safe outside at all. The only people guaranteed survival are the ones whose applications are accepted to The Inside Project, a series of weather-safe, city-sized structures around the world. When Ava is accepted to live Inside and her girlfriend isn’t, she’s forced to go alone. But her heartbreak is quickly replaced with a feeling of belonging: Inside seems like it’s the safe space she’s been searching for...most of the time. Other times she can’t shake the feeling that something is deeply off.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250283368

On Sale the Week of December 4th in Paperback

December 5th

ANATOMY OF 55 MORE SONGS: The Oral History of Top Hits That Changed Rock, Pop and Soul by Marc Myers (Music/History)
Songs that sell the most copies become hits, but some of those hits become something more --- iconic recordings that not only inspire a generation but also change the direction of music. In ANATOMY OF 55 MORE SONGS, based on his column for the Wall Street Journal, music journalist and historian Marc Myers tells the story behind 55 rock, pop, R&B, country and soul-gospel hits through intimate interviews with the artists who wrote and recorded them. The book ranges from Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” to Dionne Warwick’s “Walk On By,” The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” Through an absorbing, chronological, song-by-song analysis of the most memorable post-war hits, Myers provides a sweeping look at the evolution of pop music between 1964 and today.
Grove Press | 9780802161260

ASHES OF MAN: The Sun Eater, Book Five by Christopher Ruocchio (Space Opera/Fantasy)
With the Cielcin united under one banner, the Sollan Empire stands alone after the betrayal of the Commonwealth. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to burn the worlds of men. Worse, there are rumors...whispers that Hadrian Marlowe is dead, killed in the fighting. But Hadrian survived with the help of the witch, Valka, and together they escaped the net of the enemy having learned a terrible truth: the gods that the Cielcin worship are real and will not rest until the universe is dark and cold. What is more, the Emperor himself is in danger. The Prophet-King has learned to track his movements as he travels along the borders of Imperial space. Now the Cielcin legions are closing in, their swords poised to strike off the head of all mankind.
DAW | 9780756416614

BAD CREE by Jessica Johns (Mystery/Horror)
When Mackenzie wakes up with a severed crow's head in her hands, she panics. Only moments earlier she had been fending off masses of birds in a snow-covered forest. In bed, when she blinks, the head disappears. Night after night, Mackenzie’s dreams return her to a memory from before her sister Sabrina’s untimely death: a weekend at the family’s lakefront campsite, long obscured by a fog of guilt. But when the waking world starts closing in, too, Mackenzie knows this is more than she can handle alone. Traveling north to her rural hometown in Alberta, she finds her family still steeped in the same grief that she ran away to Vancouver to escape. They welcome her back, but their shaky reunion only seems to intensify her dreams --- and make them more dangerous.
Anchor | 9780593467947

BEFORE WE WERE INNOCENT by Ella Berman (Fiction)
Ten years ago, after a sun-soaked summer spent in Greece, best friends Bess and Joni were cleared of having any involvement in their friend Evangeline’s death. But that didn’t stop the media from ripping apart their teenage lives like vultures. While the girls were never convicted, Joni capitalized on her newfound infamy to become a motivational speaker. Bess resolved to make her life as small and controlled as possible so she wouldn’t risk losing everything all over again. And it almost worked. Except now Joni needs a favor, and when she turns up at her old friend's doorstep asking for an alibi, Bess has no choice but to say yes. But as the two friends try desperately to shake off their past, they have to face reality. Can you ever be an innocent woman when everyone wants you to be guilty?
Berkley | 9780593099551

BLOOD & INK: The Scandalous Jazz Age Double Murder That Hooked America on True Crime by Joe Pompeo (True Crime/History)
On September 16, 1922, the bodies of Reverend Edward Hall and Eleanor Mills were found on an abandoned farm outside of New Brunswick, New Jersey. The killer had arranged the bodies in a pose conveying intimacy. The murder of Hall --- a prominent clergyman whose wife, Frances Hall, was a proud heiress with illustrious ancestors and ties to the Johnson & Johnson dynasty --- would have made headlines on its own. But when authorities identified Eleanor Mills as a choir singer from his church married to the church sexton, the story shocked locals and sent the scandal ricocheting around the country, fueling the nascent tabloid industry. BLOOD & INK freshly chronicles what remains one of the most electrifying but forgotten murder mysteries in U.S. history.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063001749

THE CITY BETWEEN THE BRIDGES: 1794 by Niklas Natt och Dag (Historical Thriller)
Stockholm, 1794: A young nobleman, Eric Three Roses, languishes in a hospital as the rest of the city claims that he belongs in a madhouse. Riddled with guilt, he writes down the memories of his lost love --- his beautiful wife who died on their wedding night. The young woman’s mother also mourns her death and, desperate for justice, begs for help from the only person who will listen to her: Jean Mickel Cardell, the one-armed watchman. But she isn’t the only person seeking him out. Emil, younger brother to the brilliant lawyer and detective Cecil Winge, finds the watchman to demand his late brother’s pocket watch back. Instead, Cardell enlists Emil’s help to discover what really happened at the Three Roses estate that dreaded wedding night.
Washington Square Press | 9781982145927

THE COUPLE IN THE PHOTO by Helen Cooper (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Paperback Original
Lucy and her husband, Adam, have been best friends with another couple, Cora and Scott, for years. They vacation together, co-own a beach cottage, and their children are inseparable. So Lucy is devastated when, while looking at a colleague’s photos of a trip to the Maldives, she spots a picture of Scott, apparently on vacation with another woman. Then she learns that the woman in the photo has gone missing. Lucy can’t help but fear that Scott was involved. But searching for answers might uncover secrets about Scott, Cora and even her own husband that could destroy the picture-perfect lives they have built together. Or maybe she was never part of the picture at all. Is it possible that everyone knows more than they are letting on? If so, what are the consequences of exposing the truth?
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780593544907

A DIFFERENT KIND OF GONE by Catherine Ryan Hyde (Fiction)
Paperback Original
When 19-year-old Jill Moss goes missing near the Utah-Arizona border, everyone has an opinion. Only Norma Gallagher, a search-and-rescue volunteer, knows the real story. Norma already has found Jill, huddled in a cave and terrified that her abusive boyfriend, Jake, will kill her. To protect Jill from a dangerous man, Norma quietly delivers the girl to her grateful parents in California, even though she’s conflicted. Keeping Jill safe and hidden from Jake, the press and the public will be their secret. Five years later, the disappearance stirs a new media frenzy when Jake is arrested for the murder of Jill Moss --- and Norma knows he didn’t kill her. As Jake is about to stand trial, lust for retribution inflames public opinion, and Jill’s family refuses to come forward, forcing Norma to make a life-changing decision.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781662504402

EMPIRE OF ICE AND STONE: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy (History)
In the summer of 1913, the wooden-hulled brigantine Karluk departed Canada for the Arctic Ocean. At the helm was Captain Bob Bartlett, considered the world’s greatest living ice navigator. The expedition’s visionary leader was a flamboyant impresario named Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who was hungry for fame. Just six weeks after the Karluk departed, giant ice floes closed in around her. As the ship became icebound, Stefansson disembarked with five companions and struck out on what he claimed was a 10-day caribou hunting trip. Most on board would never see him again. Captain Bartlett now made a difficult and courageous decision. He would take one of the young Inuit hunters and attempt a 1,000-mile journey to save the shipwrecked survivors. It was their only hope.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250871633

ENDPAPERS by Jennifer Savran Kelly (Fiction)
A bookbinder who works in conservation at the Met, Dawn Levit spends her free time scouting the city’s street art, hoping something might spark inspiration. Instead, everything looks like a dead end. And wherever she turns, her gender identity clashes with the rest of her life. Then, one day at work, Dawn finds something hidden behind the endpaper of an old book: the torn-off cover of a ’50s lesbian pulp novel, Turn Her About. On the front is a campy illustration of a woman looking into a handheld mirror and seeing a man’s face. And on the back is a love letter. Dawn latches onto the coincidence, becoming obsessed with tracking down the note’s author. Her fixation only increases when her best friend, Jae, is injured in a hate crime, for which she feels responsible.
Algonquin Books | 9781643755403

THE ENGAGEMENT PARTY by Darby Kane (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Emily Hunt went missing from her affluent liberal arts school on graduation weekend. Her body was found floating in a river, and a quiet loner died by suicide. A tenuous link --- one text --- bound the two dead students together and was enough for law enforcement to close the case. But they got it wrong, and now someone is determined to set it right. Twelve years later, college friends gather to celebrate an engagement over a long-overdue getaway on a swanky private island in Maine --- with only one way in and one way out. Sierra Prescott, invited as a guest and unconnected to past events, is the only person who soon senses not all is what it seems. The tension in the air is ignited when they find a dead man in the trunk of a car with a note: time to tell the truth. And things only get worse.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063225626

THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Only a year out of residency, Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever date: Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General. With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps. It’s worked for years, until an anonymous tip has everything coming to light. The chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asking him to be her fake boyfriend on the same day he’s called to meet the board has to be kismet, right? But when the fake-mate act turns into a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur.
Berkley | 9780593549377

FIVE BAD DEEDS by Caz Frear (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Teacher, mother, wife and all-around good citizen Ellen Walsh is juggling nonstop commitments --- from raising a teen and two toddlers to job-hunting to finally renovating her dream home, the Meadowhouse. Amidst the chaos, an ominous note arrives in the mail, declaring: People have to learn there are consequences, Ellen. And I’m going to teach you that lesson. Right under your nose. Why would someone send her this? Ellen has no clue. But someone blames her for all the bad they’ve experienced. Could the five bad deeds that come to haunt Ellen explain why things have gone so horribly wrong? As she races to discover who’s set on destroying her reputation and her future, Ellen continues to receive increasingly threatening messages…each one hitting closer to everything she cherishes.
Harper Paperbacks | 9780063091115

THE GIFTS by Liz Hyder (Historical Fantasy/Speculative Fiction)
October 1840. A young woman staggers alone through a forest in the English countryside as a huge pair of impossible wings rip themselves from her shoulders. In London, rumors of a "fallen angel" cause a frenzy across the city, and a surgeon desperate for fame and fortune finds himself in the grips of a dangerous obsession, one that will place the women he seeks in the most terrible danger. A spellbinding tale told through five different perspectives and set against the luminous backdrop of 19th-century London, THE GIFTS explores science, nature and religion, enlightenment, the role of women in society, and the dark danger of ambition.
Sourcebooks Landmark | 9781728271699

A HARD DAY FOR A HANGOVER by Darynda Jones (Mystery/Humor)
Some people greet the day with open arms. Sheriff Sunshine Vicram would rather give it a hearty shove and get back into bed, because there’s just too much going on right now. There’s a series of women going missing, and Sunny feels powerless to stop it. There’s her persistent and awesomely rebellious daughter Auri, who’s out to singlehandedly become Del Sol’s youngest and fiercest investigator. And then there’s drama with Levi Ravinder, the guy she’s loved and lusted after for years. The guy who just might be her one and only. The guy who comes from a family of disingenuous vipers looking to oust him --- and Sunshine --- for good. Like we said, the new day can take a hike.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250266965

THE HOUSE IN THE PINES by Ana Reyes (Psychological Thriller)
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank. Seven years later, Maya’s past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. She heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer --- the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey. At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born.
Dutton | 9780593186732

THE HOUSE OF WOLVES by James Patterson and Mike Lupica (Thriller)
The Wolfs, the most powerful family in California, have a new head --- 36-year-old former high school teacher Jenny Wolf. That means Jenny now runs the prestigious San Francisco Tribune. She also controls the legendary pro football team, the Wolves. And she has a murdered father to avenge --- if she can survive the killers all around her.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781538710807

THE INGENUE by Rachel Kapelke-Dale (Psychological Thriller)
When former piano prodigy Saskia Kreis returns home to Milwaukee after her mother's unexpected death, she expects to inherit the family estate, the Elf House. But with the discovery that her mother's will bequeathed the Elf House to a man with whom Saskia shares a complicated history, she is forced to reexamine her own past --- and the romantic relationship that changed the course of her life --- for answers. Can she find a way to claim her heritage while keeping her secrets buried, or will the fallout from digging too deep destroy her? Set against a post #MeToo landscape, THE INGENUE delves into mother-daughter relationships, the expectations of talent, the stories we tell ourselves, and what happens when the things that once made you special are taken from you.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250834584

MEDUSA by Jessie Burton (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Exiled to a far-flung island after being abused by powerful Gods, Medusa has little company other than the snakes that adorn her head instead of hair. Haunted by the memories of a life before everything was stolen from her, she has no choice but to make peace with her present: she is Medusa the Monster. But when the charmed and beautiful Perseus arrives on the island, her lonely existence is blown open, unleashing desire, love --- and betrayal.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639732685

MEET THE BENEDETTOS by Katie Cotugno (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
A few years after a reality TV show skyrocketed the Benedettos to pop-culture fame, the five twentysomething sisters are nearly broke and living together in their parents’ crumbling McMansion. Lilly, the sensible second-eldest sister, is all too aware that her family is viewed as a spectacle, but she’s focused on holding herself and her family together. The Benedettos’ fortunes finally appear to be brightening when Charlie Bingley, the dashing star of Captain Fantastic, moves into their Los Angeles neighborhood with his friend, Will Darcy, in tow. It isn’t long before Charlie falls for the warm and lovely eldest sister, June. Lilly has no such luck: the arrogant and judgmental Will Darcy, a man plagued by his own private demons, seems ready to clash with her at every turn --- yet the two can’t seem to stay away from each other.
Harper Perennial | 9780063324145

MURDER AT HAVEN’S ROCK by Kelley Armstrong (Mystery)
Deep in the Yukon wilderness, a town is being built. A place for people to disappear, a fresh start from a life on the run. Haven’s Rock isn’t the first town of this kind, something detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, know firsthand. They met in the original town of Rockton. But greed and deception led the couple to financing a new refuge for those in need. This time around, they get to decide which applicants are approved for residency. There’s only one rule in Haven’s Rock: stay out of the forest. When two of the town's construction crew members break it and go missing, Casey and Eric are called in ahead of schedule to track them down. When a body is discovered, Casey and Eric must find out what happened to the dead woman and locate those still missing.
Minotaur Books | 9781250865434

NEWSROOM CONFIDENTIAL: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life by Margaret Sullivan (Memoir)
In NEWSROOM CONFIDENTIAL, Margaret Sullivan chronicles her years in the trenches battling sexism and throwing elbows in a highly competitive newsroom. In 2012, Sullivan was appointed the public editor of the New York Times, the first woman to hold that important role. She was in the unique position of acting on behalf of readers to weigh the actions and reporting of the paper's staff, parsing potential lapses in judgment, unethical practices and thorny journalistic issues. Sullivan recounts how she navigated the paper’s controversies, from Hillary Clinton's emails to the need for greater diversity in the newsroom. In 2016, Sullivan left for the Washington Post, where she had a front-row seat to the rise of Donald Trump in American media and politics.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250906007

QUEENS OF THE AGE OF CHIVALRY: England's Medieval Queens, Book Three by Alison Weir (History)
The Age of Chivalry describes a period of medieval history dominated by the social, religious and moral code of knighthood that prized noble deeds, military greatness, and the game of courtly love between aristocratic men and women. It also was a period of high drama in English history, which included the toppling of two kings, the Hundred Years' War, the Black Death and the Peasants’ Revolt. Feudalism was breaking down, resulting in social and political turmoil. Against this dramatic milieu, Alison Weir describes the lives and reigns of five queen consorts: Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois.
Ballantine Books | 9781101966747

RAIDERS OF THE LOST HEART by Jo Segura (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Archaeologist Dr. Socorro “Corrie” Mejía has a bone to pick. Literally. It’s been Corrie’s life goal to lead an expedition deep into the Mexican jungle in search of the long-lost remains of her ancestor, Chimalli, an ancient warrior of the Aztec empire. But when she is invited to join an all-expenses-paid dig to do just that, Corrie is sure it’s too good to be true...and she’s right. As the world-renowned expert on Chimalli, by rights Corrie should be leading the expedition, not sharing the glory with her disgustingly handsome nemesis. But as the dig begins, it becomes clear they’ll need to work together when they realize a thief is lurking around their campsite, forcing the pair to keep their discoveries --- and lingering attraction --- under wraps.
Berkley | 9780593547465

REBECCA, NOT BECKY by Christine Platt and Catherine Wigginton Greene (Fiction)
Paperback Original
De’Andrea Whitman, her husband Malik, and their five-year-old daughter, Nina, are new to the upper-crust white suburb of Rolling Hills, Virginia. To ease the transition, De’Andrea’s therapist proposes a challenge: make a white girlfriend. When Rebecca Myland learns about her new neighbors, she's thrilled. As chair of the Parent Diversity Committee at her daughters’ school, she’s championed racial diversity in the community. What could be better than a brand-new Black family? It’s serendipitous when her daughter, Isabella, and Nina become best friends on the first day of kindergarten. Following her therapist’s suggestion, De’Andrea reluctantly joins Rebecca’s committee. When Rolling Hill’s rising racial sentiments bring the two women together in common cause, they find it isn’t the only thing they have in common.
Amistad | 9780063213586

ROSES, IN THE MOUTH OF A LION by Bushra Rehman (Fiction)
Razia Mirza grows up amid the wild grape vines and backyard sunflowers of Corona, Queens, with her best friend, Saima, by her side. When a family rift drives the girls apart, Razia’s heart is broken. She finds solace in Taslima, a new girl in her close-knit Pakistani-American community. But when Razia is accepted to Stuyvesant, a prestigious high school in Manhattan, the gulf between the person she is and the daughter her parents want her to be widens. At Stuyvesant, Razia meets Angela and is attracted to her in a way that blossoms into a new understanding. When their relationship is discovered by an Aunty in the community, Razia must choose between her family and her own future.
Flatiron Books | 9781250834805

SECOND CHANCES IN NEW PORT STEPHEN by TJ Alexander (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Eli Ward hasn’t been back to his suffocating hometown of New Port Stephen, Florida, in ages. Post-transition and sober, he’s a completely different person from the one who left years ago. But when a scandal threatens his career as a TV writer and comedian, he has no choice but to return home for the holidays. Just when he thinks this trip couldn’t get any worse, Eli bumps into his high school ex, Nick Wu, who’s somehow hotter than ever. Divorced and in his 40s, Nick’s world revolves around his father, his daughter and his job. But even a busy life can’t keep him from being intrigued by the reappearance of Eli. Against the backdrop of one weird Floridian Christmas, the two must decide whether to leave the past in the past…or move on together.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781668021965

SINGER DISTANCE by Ethan Chatagnier (Literary Science Fiction/Mystery)
In December 1960, Crystal Singer, her boyfriend Rick and three other MIT grad students take a cross-country road trip from Boston to Arizona to paint a message in the desert. Mars has been silent for 30 years, since the last time Earth solved one of the mathematical proofs the Martian civilization carved onto its surface. The latest proof, which seems to assert contradictory truths about distance, has resisted human understanding for decades. Crystal thinks she’s solved it, and Rick is intent on putting her answer to the test --- if he can keep her from cracking under the pressure on the way. But Crystal’s disappearance after the experiment will set him on a different path than he expected, forever changing the distance between them.
Tin House Books | 9781959030164

THE SNOW HARE by Paula Lichtarowicz (Historical Fiction)
Lena has lived a long, quiet life on her farm in Wales, alongside her husband and child. But as her end approaches, buried memories begin to return. Of her childhood in Poland, and her passion for science. Of the early days of her marriage, reluctant wife to an army officer. Of the birth of her daughter, whose arrival changed everything. Memories less welcome return, too. Her Polish village, transformed overnight by the Soviets, and the war that doomed her entire family to the frigid work camps of the Siberian tundra. And buried in that blinding snow, amongst the darkness of survival, the most haunting memory of all: that of an extraordinary new love.
Back Bay Books | 9780316461375

TECHNICALLY YOURS by Denise Williams (Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. She has the chance to make lasting change at OurCode --- a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code --- but a recent scandal puts its reputation at risk. Further complicating things, Pearl didn't expect the one man she never stopped thinking about to join as the newest member of her board of directors. Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator eight years ago. But when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn't for him. When they reconnect after years with no contact, Cord is tempted to consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.
Berkley | 9780593437216

THIS SPELLS LOVE by Kate Robb (Paranormal Romantic Comedy)
Paperback Original
When Gemma gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she gets drunk with her sister, kooky aunt and best friend, Dax. After one too many margaritas, they decide to perform a love-cleansing spell, which promises to erase Gemma’s ex from her memory. They follow all the instructions, including a platonic kiss from Dax to seal the deal. When Gemma wakes up, she realizes that this silly spell has worked. Not only does it seem that she never dated her ex, the rest of her life is completely unrecognizable. The worst part: Dax has no idea who she is. To reverse the spell and get back to her old life, Gemma must convince her once-best-friend-now-near-stranger to kiss her. But as she carries out her plans, she finds herself falling for him --- hard. Soon, Gemma begins to wonder if she even wants to go back to the way things once were.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780593596531

WE KNEW ALL ALONG by Mina Hardy (Domestic Thriller)
Jewelann Jordan has one thing on her mind when she attends her class reunion, and that's making sure her old crush, Christian Campbell, sees exactly what he lost all those years ago. A late night, a hotel room, a rekindled flame that burns even hotter than it did back then. What could go wrong? Everything. The night with Christian isn't the first secret Jewelann has kept from her husband, Ken, so one more shouldn't be much harder --- except that Christian shows up without warning, seemingly determined to do his best to mess up Jewelann's life in any way he can. Worse than that, he seems to have his sights set on charming her son, Eli, and befriending her husband. Fighting to keep it all from spiraling out of control, Jewelann discovers that Christian is not the man he claims to be.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639105366

WEIGHTLESS: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul by Evette Dionne (Memoir)
In WEIGHTLESS, acclaimed writer Evette Dionne explores the minefields that fat Black woman are forced to navigate in the course of everyday life. From her early experiences of harassment to adolescent self-discovery in internet chat rooms to diagnosis with heart failure at age 29, Dionne tracks her relationships with friendship, sex, motherhood, agoraphobia, health, pop culture and self-image. Along the way, she lifts back the curtain to reveal the subtle, insidious forms of surveillance and control levied at fat women. But Dionne’s unflinching account of our deeply held prejudices is matched by her fierce belief in the power of self-love.
Ecco | 9780063076372

On Sale the Week of December 11th in Hardcover

December 12th

THE FINAL CURTAIN written by Keigo Higashino, translated by Giles Murray (Mystery)
A decade ago, Tokyo Police Detective Kyoichiro Kaga went to collect the ashes of his recently deceased mother. Years before, she ran away from her husband and son without explanation or any further contact, only to die alone in an apartment far away. Now in Tokyo, Michiko Oshitani is found dead many miles from home. She lived far away in Sendai, with no known connection to Tokyo --- and neither her family nor her friends have any idea why she would have gone there. Hers is the second strangulation death in that approximate area of Tokyo --- the other was a homeless man, killed and his body burned in a tent by the river. As the case unfolds, an unexpected connective emerges between the murder (or murders) now and the long-ago case of Detective Kaga's missing mother.
Minotaur Books | 9781250767523

HOW TO DRAW A NOVEL by Martín Solares (Literary Criticism/Essays)
In this finely wrought collection of essays, Martín Solares examines the novel in all its forms, exploring the conventions of structure, the novel as a house that one must build brick by brick, and the objects and characters that build out the world of the novel in unique and complex ways. With poetic, graceful prose that reflects the power of fascination with literary fiction, Solares uses line drawings to realize the ebb and flow of the novel. A novelist, occasional scholar and former acquiring editor in Mexican publishing, Solares breaks out of the Anglo-American-dominated canon of many craft books, ranging across Latin and South America as well. He considers how writers invent (or discover) their characters, the importance of place (or not) in the novel, and the myriad forms the novel may take.
Grove Press | 9780802159304

THE LACE WIDOW: An Eliza Hamilton Mystery by Mollie Ann Cox (Historical Mystery)
New York, 1804. Alexander Hamilton lies dead after a duel with Aaron Burr. Eliza Hamilton’s 18-year-old son, Alexander Jr., was seen fighting with a man in a tavern the night before his father’s duel and quickly comes under suspicion for murder when the man turns up dead. Eliza searches for ways to clear her son’s name, but as she combs through her late husband’s papers, she finds evidence of a plot to steal money from the government during his tenure as secretary of state. Deep in debt and despair, with eight children to support, Eliza turns to selling her handmade lace --- and is drawn into a mysterious network of widow lacemakers who are intimately connected to New York’s high-society families. They know their dead husbands’ secrets --- and Eliza soon begins to piece together the truth.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781639105281

On Sale the Week of December 11th in Paperback

December 12th

THE BIG BUNDLE by Max Allan Collins (Historical Thriller/Mystery)
A millionaire’s son is kidnapped, and private eye Nathan Heller is called in to help. But when half of the record $600,000 ransom goes missing, Heller must wade through a morass of deception and depravity to blow the lid off a notorious crime, the consequences of which reach into the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., where Bobby Kennedy works tirelessly to take down crooked union boss Jimmy Hoffa.
Hard Case Crime | 9781789098549

BOMBAY MONSOON by James W. Ziskin (Historical Thriller)
The year is 1975. Danny Jacobs is an ambitious, young American journalist who’s just arrived in Bombay for a new assignment. He’s soon caught up in the chaos of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s domestic “Emergency.” Willy Smets is Danny’s enigmatic expat neighbor. He’s a charming man but with suspicious connections. As a monsoon drenches Bombay, Danny falls hard for Sushmita, Smets’ beguiling and clever lover --- and the infatuation is mutual. "The Emergency," a virtual coup by the prime minister, is only the first twist in the high-stakes drama of Danny’s new life in India. The assassination of a police officer by a Marxist extremist, as well as Danny’s obsession with the inscrutable Sushmita, conspire to put his career --- and life --- in jeopardy.
Oceanview Publishing | 9781608095841

A DEATH IN TOKYO written by Keigo Higashino, translated by Giles Murray (Mystery)
In the Nihonbashi district of Tokyo, an unusual statue of a Japanese mythic beast --- a kirin --- stands guard over the district from the classic Nihonbashi Bridge. In the evening, a man who appears to be very drunk staggers onto the bridge and collapses right under the statue of the winged beast. The patrolman who sees this scene unfold goes to rouse the man, only to discover that the man is dead and was stabbed in the chest. The key to solving the crime is to find out where he was attacked and why he made such a superhuman effort to carry himself to the Nihonbashi Bridge. That same night, a young man named Yashima is injured in a car accident while attempting to flee from the police. Found on him is the wallet of the murdered man.
Minotaur Books | 9781250905291

ESSEX DOGS by Dan Jones (Historical Thriller)
July 1346. Ten men land on the beaches of Normandy. They call themselves the Essex Dogs: an unruly platoon of archers and men-at-arms led by a battle-scarred captain whose best days are behind him. The fight for the throne of the largest kingdom in Western Europe has begun. Heading ever deeper into enemy territory toward Crécy, this band of brothers knows they are off to fight a battle that will forge nations and shape the very fabric of human lives. But first they must survive a bloody war in which rules are abandoned and chivalry itself is slaughtered.
Penguin Books | 9780143137634

A LIFE IN LIGHT: Meditations on Impermanence by Mary Pipher (Memoir/Essays)
In her luminous new memoir in essays, Mary Pipher --- as she did in her New York Times bestseller WOMEN ROWING NORTH --- taps into a cultural moment, to offer wisdom, hope and insight into loss and change. Drawing from her own experiences and expertise as a psychologist specializing in women, trauma and the effect of our culture on our mental health, she looks inward in A LIFE IN LIGHT to what shaped her as a woman, one who has experienced darkness throughout her life but was always drawn to the light. Her plainspoken depictions of her hard childhood and life's difficulties are dappled with moments of joy and revelation, tragedies and ordinary miseries, glimmers and shadow.
Bloomsbury Publishing | 9781639731633

MURDER, SHE WROTE: DEATH ON THE EMERALD ISLE by Jessica Fletcher and Terrie Farley Moran (Mystery)
Jessica Fletcher is quick to accept an invitation to replace a speaker who couldn’t attend a book festival in Belfast, Ireland. When her Cabot Cove neighbor, Maeve O'Bannon, hears about the trip, she asks Jessica to deliver some paintings to her family in the village of Bushmills. Happy to extend her travels and see more of the Irish countryside, Jessica agrees. The festival goes off without a hitch, and it seems like Jessica is in for a relaxing vacation. But then Maeve’s cousin, Michael, is discovered dead under suspicious circumstances. Jessica finds herself once again in the midst of a murder investigation, and she’ll have to dig into the O'Bannon family’s secrets to unmask the killer.
Berkley | 9780593333709

NO ONE LEFT TO COME LOOKING FOR YOU by Sam Lipsyte (Mystery/Dark Humor)
Manhattan’s East Village, 1993. Crime is high, but rent is low, luring hopeful, creative kids from sleepy suburbs around the country. One of these is Jack S., a young New Jersey rock musician. Just a few days before his band’s biggest gig, their lead singer goes missing with Jack’s prized bass, presumably to hock it to feed his junk habit. Jack’s search for his buddy uncovers a sinister entanglement of crimes tied to local real estate barons looking to remake New York City --- and who also might be connected to the recent death of Jack’s punk rock mentor. Along the way, Jack encounters a cast of colorful characters, including a tough-talking cop who fancies himself a retro-cool icon of the homicide squad but is harboring a surprising secret.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501146138

NO WAY OUT: A DI Adam Fawley Thriller by Cara Hunter (Mystery/Thriller)
Paperback Original
It's Christmas in Oxford, and firefighters have pulled two children from the smoking ruin of their home. The mystery deepens when it becomes clear that the parents are nowhere to be found. Why were the children left in the house alone? Why is neither parent answering their phone? Were they kidnapped? Murdered? From the start, DI Adam Fawley knows that this house fire is the scene of a crime, not an accident. Then new evidence comes to light and confirms the team’s worst suspicions. The blaze was arson. Who would have torched a seemingly happy family’s home on Christmas? As DI Fawley and his team of detectives sift through the evidence, old tensions and new problems in the family are slowly revealed. Something terribly out of the ordinary has happened, and the truth slowly begins to reveal itself.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780063260894

WINTER WORK by Dan Fesperman (Thriller)
On a chilly early morning walk on the wooded outskirts of Berlin, Emil Grimm finds the body of his neighbor, a fellow Stasi officer named Lothar, with a gunshot wound to the temple and a pistol in his right hand. Despite appearances, Emil suspects murder. A few months earlier he would have known just what to do, but now, as East Germany disintegrates, being a Stasi colonel is more of a liability than an asset. More troubling still is that Emil and Lothar were involved in a final clandestine mission, one that has clearly turned deadly. Now Emil must finish the job alone, on uncertain ground where old alliances seem to be shifting by the day.
Vintage | 9780593466957

WOLF TRAP by Connor Sullivan (Thriller)
Under the direction of the Special Activities Center in the Operations Directorate of the CIA, over 300 highly trained agents operate in the darkest shadows of the country’s covert wars. Plucked from the highest echelons of America’s special mission units, these individuals go through rigorous training by the Agency to perfect the arts of assassination, sabotage, infiltration and guerrilla warfare. When diplomacy and military intervention fails, the President of the United States calls upon them to solve America’s most dangerous crises. Brian Rhome thought his time within this elite group was over. But now he’s on a desperate race against time around the globe as he confronts the traumas of his past and unravels a deadly conspiracy that threatens the highest levels of American democracy.
Pocket Books | 9781982166434

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