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December 23, 2014 |
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The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of December 22nd and December 29th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.
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Happy Holidays!
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On Sale the Week of December 22nd in Hardcover
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December 23rd
A STRING OF BEADS: A Jane Whitefield Novel by Thomas Perry (Thriller)
One morning, Jane Whitefield is met by an unusual sight: all eight clan mothers, the female leaders of the Seneca clans, parked in her driveway in two black cars. A childhood friend of Jane’s from the reservation, Jimmy, is wanted by the police for the murder of a local white man. But instead of turning himself in, he has fled, and no one knows where he is hiding out. At the clan mothers’ request, Jane retraces a walking trip she and Jimmy took together when they were 14 in hopes that he has gone the same way again.
Mysterious Press * 9780802123299 |
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On Sale the Week of December 22nd in Paperback
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December 23rd
ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER DAY by Sarah Rayner (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Three people are crying out for help. Karen is about to lose her father, Abby’s son has autism and needs constant care, and Michael is a family man on the verge of bankruptcy. As each sinks under the strain, they’re brought together at Moreland’s Clinic. Here, behind closed doors, they reveal their deepest secrets, confront and console one another, and share plenty of laughs. But how will they cope when a new crisis strikes?
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250055651
THE NEW COUNTESS by Fay Weldon (Historical Fiction)
THE NEW COUNTESS is the final novel in Fay Weldon's trilogy that began with HABITS OF THE HOUSE and continued with LONG LIVE THE KING. The bestselling novelist and award-winning writer of the pilot episode of the original "Upstairs Downstairs" lifts the curtain on British society, upstairs and downstairs, under one roof.
St. Martin's Griffin * 9781250049339
NYPD RED 2 by James Patterson and Marshall Karp (Thriller)
A woman of vast wealth and even greater connections is the fourth in a string of shocking murders that have hit New York City. As the public pressure mounts, and political and personal secrets of the highest order hang in the balance, Detective Zach Jordan and his partner, Kylie MacDonald, must find out what's really behind the murderer's rampage. But Kylie has been acting strange recently --- and Zach knows whatever she's hiding could threaten the biggest case of their careers.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455515981 |
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On Sale the Week of December 29th in Hardcover
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December 30th
THE ASSASSINATION OPTION: A Clandestine Operations Novel by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Historical Thriller/Adventure)
James Cronley’s first successful mission for the about-to-be-official new Central Intelligence Directorate has drawn all kinds of attention. However, complications are springing up on all sides. He's discovered a surprising alliance between the former German intelligence chief and, of all things, the Mossad. A German family that Cronley never knew he had has suddenly, and suspiciously, emerged. And he’s due for a rendezvous with an undercover agent against the Soviets known only as Seven K.
Putnam Adult * 9780399171246
THE BISHOP'S WIFE by Mette Ivie Harrison (Mystery)
One cold winter night, a young wife and mother named Carrie Helm disappears, leaving behind everything she owns. Carrie’s husband, Jared, claims his wife has always been unstable and that she has abandoned the family. Linda Wallheim, a devout Mormon and the wife of a bishop, doesn’t trust him. As Linda snoops in the Helm family’s circumstances, she becomes convinced that Jared has murdered his wife and painted himself as a wronged husband.
Soho Crime * 9781616954765
DIE AGAIN: A Rizzoli & Isles Novel by Tess Gerritsen (Thriller)
Boston Detective Jane Rizzoli is on the case of a big game hunter found dead in his apartment. Medical examiner Maura Isles connects the case to a number of seemingly unrelated deaths where the victims have all been found hanging upside down. Rizzoli ultimately uncovers the unsolved mystery of a deadly camping safari in Botswana four years prior. When she realizes the two cases are connected, Rizzoli must track down the sole survivor of the tragic trip to discover who --- or what --- is behind these gruesome deaths.
Ballantine Books * 9780345543851
FIFTY MICE by Daniel Pyne (Thriller)
One weekday afternoon, Jay Johnson is abducted on a Los Angeles Metro train, tranquilized, interrogated, and his paper trail obliterated. What did he see, what terrible crime --- or criminal --- is he keeping secret? Furious and helpless, and convinced that the government has made a colossal mistake, Jay is involuntarily relocated to a community on Catalina Island, where the only way out is through the twisted maze of lies and unreliable memories swirling through his own mind.
Blue Rider Press * 9780399171642
HUCK FINN'S AMERICA: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece by Andrew Levy (Literary Criticism)
Award-winning biographer Andrew Levy shows how modern readers have been misunderstanding HUCKLEBERRY FINN for decades. Mark Twain’s masterpiece is often discussed either as a carefree adventure story for children or a serious novel about race relations, yet Levy argues it is neither. Instead, HUCK FINN was written at a time when Americans were nervous about youth violence and “uncivilized” bad boys, and a debate was raging about education, popular culture and responsible parenting --- casting Huck’s now-celebrated “freedom” in a very different and very modern light.
Simon & Schuster * 9781439186961
HUSH by Karen Robards (Romantic Suspense)
When Riley Cowan finds her estranged husband, Jeff, dead in his palatial home, she’s sure it’s no coincidence. The police rule it a suicide, but Riley thinks someone’s out for blood. Finn Bradley, a Philly-based FBI agent and Riley’s love interest from way back when, agrees to help Riley, and the two reignite sparks they both thought were extinguished long ago. But can they discover the killer’s identity in time before he resurfaces --- and strikes again?
Gallery Books * 9781476766584
NO FORTUNATE SON: A Pike Logan Thriller by Brad Taylor (Thriller/Adventure)
Not long after veteran operator Pike Logan and partner Jennifer Cahill are released from the Taskforce --- their longtime employer and one of the world's foremost top secret counterterrorist units --- a high-profile hostage crisis throws the U.S. government into turmoil. Why were Logan and Cahill let go so suddenly? Can they still help decipher the web of lies and chaos spread by a mysterious enemy? And what are the real costs of diffusing such a threat?
Dutton Adult * 9780525953999
RAIN ON THE DEAD by Jack Higgins (Thriller/Adventure)
On a dark summer night, two Chechen mercenaries intend to kill the former president of the United States, Jake Cazalet. Unfortunately for them, Cazalet has guests with him, including black ops specialist Sean Dillon and his colleague, Afghan war hero Captain Sara Gideon. The Chechens do not survive the night, but Dillon is curious as to how they even got on the island. What he discovers sends a chill through his bones --- a name from very far back in Dillon’s past.
Putnam Adult * 9780399171949
ROBERT B. PARKER'S THE BRIDGE by Robert Knott (Mystery/Western)
Territorial Marshals Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch are back in Appaloosa, where their work enforcing the law has been exceptionally quiet. All that is about to change. An ominous storm rolls in, and along with it a band of night riders with a devious scheme, who show up at the Rio Blanco camp, where a 300-foot bridge is under construction. As clouds over Appaloosa continue to gather, things get much worse for Cole and Hitch.
Putnam Adult * 9780399171130
THE ROSIE EFFECT by Graeme Simsion (Humor/Romance)
The Wife Project is complete, and Don Tillman and Rosie Jarman are happily married and living in New York. But they’re about to face a new challenge because Rosie is pregnant. Fortunately, Don’s best friend, Gene, is on hand to offer advice: he’s left Claudia and moved in with Don and Rosie. As Don tries to schedule time for pregnancy research, and getting Gene and Claudia to reconcile, he almost misses the biggest problem of all: he might lose Rosie when she needs him the most.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476767314
SAVING GRACE by Jane Green (Fiction)
As Ted and Grace Chapman’s picture-perfect life begins to crumble, they are rescued by Beth, an assistant promising to calm Ted’s rages and lend Grace emotional support. But Grace harbors dark secrets in her past, and Beth’s persona might be too good to be true. It soon appears that this new interloper might be the biggest threat of all, one that could cost Grace her marriage, her reputation and even her sanity.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250047335
VANESSA AND HER SISTER by Priya Parmar (Historical Fiction)
London, 1905: The city is alight with change, and the Stephen siblings are at the forefront. Vanessa, Virginia, Thoby and Adrian are leaving behind their childhood home and taking a house in the leafy heart of avant-garde Bloomsbury. There they bring together a glittering circle of bright, outrageous, artistic friends who will grow into legend and come to be known as the Bloomsbury Group. And at the center of this charmed circle are the devoted, gifted sisters: Vanessa, the painter, and Virginia, the writer.
Ballantine Books * 9780804176378
January 2nd
THE SOUL OF DISCRETION: A Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler Mystery by Susan Hill (Mystery)
Chief Superintendent Simon Serrailler is asked to take the principal role in a potentially dangerous undercover operation. He must leave town immediately, without telling anyone --- not even his girlfriend Rachel, who has only just moved in with him. To complete his special operation, Simon must inhabit the mind of the worst kind of criminal. This takes its toll on him and --- as the investigation unfolds --- also on the town and some of its most respected citizens.
Overlook Hardcover * 9781468301458 |
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On Sale the Week of December 29th in Paperback
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December 30th
BAD WOLF by Nele Neuhaus (Mystery)
As two grisly murder cases collide, Inspectors Pia Kirchhoff and Oliver von Bodenstein dig deep into the past and underneath the veneer of bourgeois society to come up against a terrible secret that is about to impact their personal lives as well. In Nele Neuhaus' second U.S. publication of her popular series, tensions run high, and a complex and unpredictable plot propels her characters forward at breakneck speed.
Minotaur Books * 9781250062086
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR by Jeffrey Archer (Historical Fiction)
The latest volume in Jeffrey Archer’s The Clifton Chronicles opens with Harry Clifton and his wife Emma rushing to the hospital to learn the fate of their son Sebastian, who has been involved in a fatal car accident. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR follows the dazzling tale of the Clifton family's love, loss, betrayal and ambition into the 1960s.
St. Martin's Paperbacks * 9781250034465
THE DEAD IN THEIR VAULTED ARCHES: A Flavia de Luce Novel by Alan Bradley (Historical Mystery)
Eleven-year-old chemist and aspiring detective Flavia de Luce gathers with her family at the railway station, awaiting the return of her long-lost mother. Yet upon the train’s arrival, Flavia is approached by a stranger who whispers a cryptic message into her ear. Moments later he is dead, mysteriously pushed under the train by someone in the crowd. Who was this man, what did his words mean, and why were they intended for Flavia?
Bantam * 9780385344067
THE DEATH CLASS: A True Story About Life by Erika Hayasaki (Inspirational/Personal Growth)
When nurse Norma Bowe decided to teach a course on death at a college in New Jersey, she never expected it to be popular. But year after year students crowd into her classroom, and the reason is clear: Norma’s “death class” is really about how to make the most of what poet Mary Oliver famously called our “one wild and precious life.” By following her over four years, Erika Hayasaki shows how Norma steers four extraordinary students from their tormented families and neighborhoods toward happiness.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451642940
THE FOREVER GIRL by Alexander McCall Smith (Fiction)
Alexander McCall Smith's THE FOREVER GIRL is a novel about love and following one’s heart, and the unexpected places to which this can lead us. Through the lives of Clover and James, and Amanda and David, the author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series tells a tale full of love and heartbreak, humor and melancholy, that demonstrates the myriad ways in which love shapes our lives.
Anchor * 9780345804426
HAZARDOUS DUTY: A Presidential Agent Novel by W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV (Thriller/Adventure)
Mexican drug cartels are shooting up the streets of Laredo and El Paso. Somali pirates are holding three U.S. tankers for ransom. The President is fed up and has what he thinks is a pretty bright idea --- to get hold of Colonel Charley Castillo and his merry band and put them on the case. But everybody knows that the President hates Castillo’s guts, has just had him forcibly retired from the military, and now Castillo’s men are scattered far and wide, many of them in hiding.
Jove * 9780515154535
HUNTING SHADOWS: An Inspector Ian Rutledge Mystery by Charles Todd (Historical Mystery)
A society wedding becomes a crime scene when a man is murdered. After another body is found, the baffled local constabulary turns to Scotland Yard. Though the second crime had a witness, her description of the killer is so strange it’s unbelievable. In going over the details of the case, Inspector Ian Rutledge is reminded of a dark episode he witnessed in the war. To stop a murderer, will the ethical detective choose to follow the letter --- or the spirit --- of the law?
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062237101
THE KILL SWITCH: A Tucker Wayne Novel by James Rollins and Grant Blackwood (Thriller/Adventure)
The mission seems simple enough: extract a pharmaceutical magnate from Russian soil, a volatile man who holds the secret to a deadly bioweapon. But nothing is as it appears to be. A conspiracy of world-shattering scope unravels as former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and his stalwart companion, Kane, a military working dog of exceptional abilities, struggle to keep one move ahead of their deadly enemies.
Harper * 9780062135261
THE LIFE INTENDED by Kristin Harmel (Fiction)
Paperback Original
After her husband’s sudden death over 10 years ago, Kate Waithman never expected to be lucky enough to find another love of her life. But now she’s planning her second walk down the aisle to a perfectly nice man. So why isn’t she more excited? At first, Kate blames her lack of sleep on stress. But when she starts seeing Patrick, her late husband, in her dreams, she begins to wonder if she’s really ready to move on.
Gallery Books * 9781476754154
LINCOLN'S BOYS: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln’s Image by Joshua Zeitz (Biography/History)
Abraham Lincoln’s official secretaries, John Hay and John Nicolay, enjoyed more access, witnessed more history, and knew Lincoln better than anyone outside of the president’s immediate family. As Joshua Zeitz shows, the image of a humble man with uncommon intellect who rose from obscurity to become a storied wartime leader and emancipator is very much their creation.
Penguin Books * 9780143126034
MOVING TARGET by J. A. Jance (Thriller)
Lance Tucker, an incarcerated juvenile offender doing time for expertly hacking into the San Leandro School District’s computer system, has been set on fire and severely burned. B. Simpson, Ali Reynolds’s fiancé and the man who helped put Lance in jail, feels obligated to get to the bottom of what really happened. Meanwhile, in England, Ali investigates the decades-old murder of Leland Brooks’ father, which Leland himself was once suspected of committing.
Pocket Books * 9781476745022
NORTH OF BOSTON by Elisabeth Elo (Literary Thriller)
When the fishing boat Pirio Kasparov is on is rammed by a freighter, she finds herself abandoned in the North Atlantic. She survives nearly four hours in the water before being rescued by the Coast Guard. But the boat’s owner and her professional fisherman friend, Ned, is not so lucky. Compelled to look after Noah, the son of the late Ned, and her alcoholic prep school friend, Thomasina, Pirio can’t shake the lurking suspicion that the boat’s sinking --- and Ned’s death --- was no accident.
Penguin Books * 9780143126126
NOTORIOUS by Allison Brennan (Thriller)
Maxine Revere has dedicated her life to investigating murders that the police have long since given up any hope of solving. A nationally renowned investigative reporter with her own TV show and a tough-as-nails reputation, Max tackles cold cases from across the country and every walk of life. But the one unsolved murder that still haunts her is a case from her own past.
St. Martin's Paperbacks * 9781250038012
SAVE ME by Kristyn Kusek Lewis (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Daphne Mitchell’s picture-perfect life is upended the day her husband, Owen, comes home from work to tell her he's fallen for someone else. Unable to hate him, but also equally incapable of moving forward, Daphne's life hangs in limbo until the day Owen's new girlfriend sustains near-fatal injuries in a car accident. As Daphne becomes a pillar of support for the devastated Owen, she has to find out whether forgiveness is possible and decide which path is the right one for her.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455572236
SNIPER'S HONOR: A Bob Lee Swagger Novel by Stephen Hunter (Thriller/Adventure)
Kathy Reilly of The Washington Post becomes interested in the story of Ludmilla “Mili” Petrova, a legendary, beautiful female sniper who seems to have vanished from history. Reilly enlists former marine sniper Bob Lee Swagger to parse out the scarce details of Mili’s military service. The more Swagger learns about Mili’s last mission, the more he’s convinced her disappearance was no accident.
Pocket Books * 9781451640236
THE UNEXPECTED WALTZ by Kim Wright (Fiction)
Kelly Wilder becomes recently widowed from a much older wealthy man with whom she spent her married life doing charity work and building a lovely home. Now, with too much time and money on her hands, Kelly has absolutely no idea what happens next. So, on a whim, she signs up for a ballroom dancing class and slowly, step by high-heeled step, begins to rebuild her life with the help of friends old and new.
Gallery Books * 9781476754239
VANISHED: The Profiler, Book 2 by Elizabeth Heiter (Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
Eighteen years ago, FBI profiler Evelyn Baine's best friend, Cassie Byers, disappeared, the third in a series of unsolved abductions. Only a macabre nursery rhyme claiming that Evelyn was also an intended victim was left at the scene. Now, after all these years of silence, another girl has gone missing in South Carolina, and the Nursery Rhyme Killer is taking credit. But is Cassie's abductor really back, or is there a copycat at work?
Mira * 9780778317388
January 1st
KILLER: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman (Psychological Thriller)
At the behest of the court, Dr. Alex Delaware becomes embroiled in a bizarre child custody dispute initiated by physician Constance Sykes against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. When the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology.
Ballantine Books * 9780345505767 |
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