Skip to main content

March 10, 2015

March 10, 2015

The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of March 9th and March 16th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.

May we ask that you forward this newsletter to friends who you think would enjoy reading it?

On Sale the Week of March 9th in Hardcover

March 10th

17 CARNATIONS: The Royals, the Nazis and the Biggest Cover-Up in History by Andrew Morton (History)
Andrew Morton tells the story of the feckless Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor; his American wife, Wallis Simpson; and the bizarre wartime Nazi plot to make him a puppet king after the invasion of Britain and the attempted cover-up by Churchill, General Eisenhower and King George VI of the duke's relations with Hitler. From the alleged affair between Simpson and the German foreign minister to the discovery of top secret correspondence about the man dubbed "the traitor king" and the Nazi high command, 17 CARNATIONS is a saga of intrigue, betrayal and deception.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455527113

ALL THE OLD KNIVES by Olen Steinhauer (Thriller)
Six years ago in Vienna, terrorists took over a hundred hostages, and the rescue attempt went terribly wrong. The CIA’s Vienna station was witness to this tragedy, gathering intel from its sources during those tense hours, assimilating facts from the ground and from an agent on the inside. So when it all went wrong, the question had to be asked: Had their agent been compromised, and how?
Minotaur Books * 9781250045423

AMERICAN GHOST: A Family's Haunted Past in the Desert Southwest by Hannah Nordhaus (History)
The dark-eyed woman in the long black gown was first seen in the 1970s, standing near a fireplace. La Posada had been a grand Santa Fe home before it was converted to a hotel. Julia Schuster Staab, the wife of the home’s original owner, died nearly a century before the hauntings were first reported. In AMERICAN GHOST, Hannah Nordhaus traces the life, death and unsettled afterlife of her great-great-grandmother --- from her childhood in Germany to her years in the American West with her Jewish merchant husband.
Harper * 9780062249210

B & ME: A True Story of Literary Arousal by J. C. Hallman (Memoir)
Nearly 25 years ago, Nicholson Baker published U AND I, the groundbreaking tale of his literary relationship with John Updike. U AND I inspired a whole sub-genre of engaging, entertaining writing about reading, but what no story of this type has ever done is tell its tale from the moment of conception, that moment when you realize that there is a writer out there in the world who you must read. B & ME is that story, the story of J.C. Hallman discovering and reading Nicholson Baker --- and discovering himself in the process.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451682007

BETTYVILLE: A Memoir by George Hodgman (Memoir)
When George Hodgman leaves Manhattan for his hometown of Paris, Missouri, he finds himself --- an unlikely caretaker and near-lethal cook --- in a head-on collision with his aging mother, Betty, a woman of wit and will. As these two unforgettable characters try to bring their different worlds together, Hodgman reveals the challenges of Betty’s life and his own struggle for self-respect, moving readers from their small town --- crumbling but still colorful --- to the star-studded corridors of Vanity Fair.
Viking * 9780525427209

COLD BETRAYAL: An Ali Reynolds Novel by J. A. Jance (Thriller)
Ali Reynolds’ longtime friend and Taser-carrying nun, Sister Anselm, rushes to the bedside of a young pregnant woman hospitalized for severe injuries after she was hit by a car on a deserted Arizona highway. The girl had been running away from The Family, a polygamous cult with no patience for those who try to leave its ranks. Something about her strikes a chord in Sister Anselm, reminding her of a case she worked years before when another young girl wasn’t so lucky.
Touchstone * 9781476745046

DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson (History)
The sinking of the Lusitania is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. DEAD WAKE brings to life a cast of evocative characters --- from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love.
Crown * 9780307408860

THE DISCREET HERO written by Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Edith Grossman (Fiction)
Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa’s newest novel, THE DISCREET HERO, follows two fascinating characters whose lives are destined to intersect: neat, endearing Felícito Yanaqué, a small businessman in Piura, Peru, who finds himself the victim of blackmail; and Ismael Carrera, a successful owner of an insurance company in Lima, who cooks up a plan to avenge himself against the two lazy sons who want him dead.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux * 9780374146740

ENDANGERED: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller)
Joe Pickett had good reason to dislike Dallas Cates, even if he was a rodeo champion, and now he has even more --- Joe’s 18-year-old ward, April, has run off with him. And then comes even worse news: The body of a girl has been found in a ditch along the highway --- it is April, and the doctors aren’t sure if she’ll recover. Cates denies having anything to do with it, but Joe knows in his gut who’s responsible. What he doesn’t know is the kind of danger he’s about to encounter.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399160776

A FIREPROOF HOME FOR THE BRIDE by Amy Scheibe (Fiction)
Emmaline Nelson and her sister, Birdie, grow up in the Lutheran world of strict parents, strict milking times and strict morals. Though it’s 1958, southern Minnesota did not see changing roles for women on the horizon. Only when Emmy’s fiancé shows his true colors and forces himself on her does she find the courage to act. She discovers that the KKK is not only active in the Midwest but that her family is involved, and her sense of the firm rules she grew up under --- and their effect --- changes completely.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250049674

THE HOPE OF HEAVEN: God's Eight Messages of Assurance to a Grieving Father by Alan M. Hallene, Jr. with Erin Keeley Marshall (Christian Life/Spiritual Growth)
Al Hallene discovered his college-student son’s body after Alex hanged himself. While Al waited for the authorities to arrive, he had 10 minutes alone with his son. During that wrenching time, God gave Al eight visions of heaven, where the father and son would someday reunite. As Al recounts those heartening and healing moments, readers are reminded of the affirming hope that Christians share even while asking the real questions tragedy raises: Will we see our lost loved ones again? Does God care about our pain? What does this mean for us now?
Thomas Nelson * 9780718022051

IF YOU FIND THIS LETTER: My Journey to Find Purpose Through Hundreds of Letters to Strangers by Hannah Brencher (Memoir)
Fresh out of college, Hannah Brencher moved to New York, where she found herself lonely and depressed. When she noticed a woman who looked like she felt the same way on the subway, Hannah did something strange --- she wrote the woman a letter. She folded it, scribbled “If you find this letter, it’s for you...” on the front and left it behind. When she realized that it made her feel better, she started writing and leaving love notes all over the city. She found solace in the idea that her words might brighten someone’s day.
Howard Books * 9781476773605

LAST ONE HOME by Debbie Macomber (Romance)
Growing up, Cassie Carter and her sisters, Karen and Nichole, were incredibly close --- until one fateful event drove them apart. After high school, Cassie ran away from home to marry the wrong man, throwing away a college scholarship. Now 31, Cassie is living in Seattle with her daughter and hoping to leave her past behind. Despite the strides she has made, she hasn’t been able to make peace with her sisters. Then one day, Cassie receives a letter from Karen, offering what Cassie thinks may be a chance to reconcile.
Ballantine Books * 9780553391886

LIFE OR DEATH by Michael Robotham (Thriller)
Audie Palmer has spent 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to a robbery in which four people died and seven million dollars went missing. During that time he has suffered repeated beatings, stabbings and threats by inmates and guards, all desperate to answer the same question: where's the money? On the day before Audie is due to be released, he suddenly vanishes. Now everybody is searching for him, but Audie isn't running to save his own life --- he's trying to save someone else's.
Mulholland Books * 9780316252058

MAMA MAGGIE: The Untold Story of One Woman's Mission to Love the Forgotten Children of Egypt's Garbage Slums by Martin Makary and Ellen Vaughn (Biography)
Since 1997, Maggie Gobran and her organization Stephen’s Children have been changing lives in Cairo’s notorious zabala, or garbage slums. Her innovative, transformational work has garnered worldwide fame and multiple Nobel Prize nominations, but her full story has remained untold --- until now. Bestselling authors Martin Makary and Ellen Vaughn chronicle Mama Maggie’s surprising pilgrimage from privileged child to stylish businesswoman to college professor pondering God’s call to change.
Thomas Nelson * 9780718022037

MAN AT THE HELM by Nina Stibbe (Fiction)
Soon after her parents' separation, nine-year-old Lizzie Vogel moves with her siblings and newly single mother to a tiny village in the English countryside, where the new neighbors are horrified by their unorthodox ways and fatherless household. Lizzie's theatrical mother only invites more gossip by spending her days drinking whiskey, popping pills and writing plays. The one way to fit in, the children decide, will be to find themselves a new man at the helm.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316286671

SMALL MERCIES by Eddie Joyce (Fiction)
Ten years after the loss of Bobby --- the Amendola family’s youngest son --- everyone is still struggling to recover from the firefighter’s unexpected death. Bobby’s mother Gail; his widow Tina; his older brothers Peter, the corporate lawyer, and Franky, the misfit; and his father Michael have all dealt with their grief in different ways. But as the family gathers together for Bobby Jr.’s birthday party, they each must find a way to accept a new man in Tina’s life while reconciling their feelings for their lost loved one.
Viking * 9780525427292

SOIL by Jamie Kornegay (Fiction)
An ambitious young environmental scientist hoped to establish a sustainable farm on a small patch of river-bottom land nestled among the Mississippi hills. Jay Mize convinced his wife, Sandy, to move their six-year-old son away from town and to a rich and lush parcel. He did not know that within a year he’d be ruined, that flood and pestilence would invade his fledgling farm, or that his wife and son would leave him. When Jay discovers a corpse on his property, he is sure his bad luck has come to a head and he is being framed.
Simon & Schuster * 9781476750811

THE UNRAVELING OF MERCY LOUIS by Keija Parssinen (Psychological Suspense)
Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls’ basketball team, seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. At the periphery of her world floats team manager Illa Stark, who is spellbound by Mercy’s beauty and talent. But a note discovered in Mercy’s gym locker reveals that her life may not be as perfect as it appears. The last day of school brings the disturbing discovery, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect.
Harper * 9780062319098

WORLD GONE BY by Dennis Lehane (Historical Thriller)
Ten years have passed since Joe Coughlin’s enemies killed his wife and destroyed his empire, and much has changed. The former crime kingpin works as a consigliore to the Bartolo crime family, traveling between Tampa and Cuba, his wife’s homeland. He has everything --- money, power, a beautiful mistress and anonymity. But success cannot protect him from the dark truth of his past. Ultimately, the wages of a lifetime of sin will finally be paid in full.
William Morrow * 9780060004903


March 11th

GOLDENEYE: Where Bond Was Born --- Ian Fleming's Jamaica by Matthew Parker (Biography)
For two months every year, from 1946 to his death 18 years later, Ian Fleming lived at Goldeneye, the house he built on a point of high land overlooking a small white sand beach on Jamaica’s stunning north coast. All the James Bond novels and stories were written here. Matthew Parker’s book explores the huge influence of Jamaica on the creation of Fleming’s iconic post-war hero. The island was for Fleming part retreat from the world, part tangible representation of his own values, and part exotic fantasy.
Pegasus * 9781605986869


March 15th

WEREWOLF COP by Andrew Klavan (Supernatural Thriller)
Detective Zach Adams serves on a federal task force that has a single mission: to hunt down Dominic Abend, a European gangster who has taken over the American underworld. After a brutal murder gives them a lead, Zach and his tough guy NYPD partner Martin Goulart feel like they’re finally on Abend’s trail. But things get complicated --- and very, very weird. Zach is beginning to suspect that Abend’s evil goes beyond crime --- perhaps to the edge of the supernatural.
Pegasus * 9781605986982
On Sale the Week of March 9th in Paperback

March 10th

THE ANSWER TO THE RIDDLE IS ME: A Memoir of Amnesia by David Stuart MacLean (Memoir)
On October 17, 2002, David MacLean “woke up” on a train platform in India with no idea who he was or why he was there. Soon he could remember song lyrics, but not his family, his friends, or the woman he was told he loved. All of these symptoms were the result of the commonly prescribed malarial medication he had been taking. Upon his return to the States, he struggled to piece together the fragments of his former life.
Mariner Books * 9780544227705

BLOOD ALWAYS TELLS by Hilary Davidson (Thriller)
Dominique Monaghan just wanted to get even with her two-timing, married boyfriend, a washed-up boxer stuck in a toxic marriage to a dangerously spoiled socialite. However, an elaborate blackmail scheme soon lands her in the middle of an unexpected kidnapping…and attempted murder. But who is actually out to kill whom?
Forge Books * 9780765333551

BY ITS COVER: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon (Mystery)
One afternoon, Commissario Guido Brunetti gets a frantic call from the director of a prestigious Venetian library. Someone has stolen pages out of several rare books. After a round of questioning, the case seems clear: the culprit must be the man who requested the volumes, an American professor from a Kansas university. The only problem --- the man fled the library earlier that day, and after checking his credentials, the American professor doesn’t exist.
Grove Press * 9780802123473

DEATH ON BLACKHEATH: A Charlotte and Thomas Pitt Novel by Anne Perry (Historical Mystery)
The local police have found evidence of what appears to be an ugly crime at the home of Dudley Kynaston, an important member of the Ministry of Defense. Thomas Pitt and the Special Branch are called in to investigate. But the case takes a deadlier turn when the mutilated corpse of a young woman is found near the Kynaston home a few weeks later, and Pitt begins to realize that Kynaston himself is not entirely what he seems.
Ballantine Books * 9780345548429

THE DIRECTIVE by Matthew Quirk (Thriller)
In this sequel to THE 500, Mike Ford's brother is in over his head in a powerful conspiracy to steal a secret worth billions of dollars from the little-known but unbelievably influential trading desk at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In an effort to help, Mike soon finds himself trapped by the dangerous men in charge --- and forced to call on all the skills of his criminal past in order to escape.
Back Bay Books * 9780316198639

FOR THE BENEFIT OF THOSE WHO SEE: Dispatches from the World of the Blind by Rosemary Mahoney (Memoir)
Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school. Fascinated and impressed by what she learned from the blind children of Tibet, Mahoney was moved to investigate further the cultural history of blindness. As part of her research, she spent three months teaching at Tenberken's international training center for blind adults in Kerala, India.
Back Bay Books * 9780316043434

FOURTH OF JULY CREEK by Smith Henderson (Fiction)
After trying to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral 11-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, social worker Pete Snow comes face to face with the boy's profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah. But as Pete's own family spins out of control, Pearl's activities spark the full-blown interest of the FBI, putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.
Ecco * 9780062286468

A HEART’S DISGUISE: Journey of the Heart, Book One by Colleen Coble (Historical Romance)
Paperback Original
While the tiny town of Wabash, Indiana, celebrates the end of the Civil War, Sara Montgomery is fighting a deep sadness. The love of her life, Rand Campbell, didn’t come back from the front. So her brother and ailing father persuade her to pledge herself to another man, despite her misgivings. When Sarah finds out that Rand is in fact alive --- and that her fiancé Ben Croftner knew it --- she indignantly breaks off their engagement. Croftner doesn’t take rejection lightly --- and a single woman with a sick father makes an easy target.
Thomas Nelson * 9780529103413

HOUSE OF OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: Fifteen Central Park West, the World's Most Powerful Address by Michael Gross (History)
America’s foremost chronicler of the upper crust, journalist and bestselling author Michael Gross, turns his gimlet eye on the new-money wonderland that’s sprung up on the southwest rim of Central Park. Gross creates a dishy exposé of today’s wealthiest and most famous --- recounting the record-setting building’s inspired genesis, costly construction, and the flashy international lifestyle it has brought to a once benighted and socially déclassé Manhattan neighborhood.
Atria Books * 9781451666205

I CAN SEE IN THE DARK by Karin Fossum (Psychological Thriller)
Riktor doesn’t like the way the policeman storms into his home without even knocking. He knows he’s guilty of a terrible crime and is sure the policeman has found him out. But when the policeman finally does confront him, Riktor freezes. The man is arresting him for something totally unexpected. Riktor doesn’t have a clear conscience, but the crime he’s being accused of is one he certainly didn’t commit. Can he clear his name without further incriminating himself?
Mariner Books * 9780544483989

INVISIBLE CITY by Julia Dahl (Mystery)
When tabloid reporter Rebekah Roberts is thrust headfirst into the story of a murdered woman who was a member of an Hasidic Jewish community located in Brooklyn, she realizes that it may also present her with an opportunity to learn more about her mother, who gave birth to her and then disappeared weeks later to rejoin the very group that Rebekah is now investigating.
Minotaur Books * 9781250043412

KEEP QUIET by Lisa Scottoline (Psychological Thriller)
Jake Buckman picks up his 16-year-old son, Ryan, at their suburban movie theater. On the way home, Ryan asks to drive on a deserted road, and Jake sees it as a chance to make a connection. However, what starts as a father-son bonding opportunity instantly turns into a nightmare. Tragedy strikes, and with Ryan’s entire future hanging in the balance, Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that plunges them both into a world of guilt and lies.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250010100

THE LAST ENCHANTMENTS by Charles Finch (Fiction)
After graduating from Yale, William Baker, scion of an old line patrician family, goes to work in presidential politics. But when the campaign into which he has poured his heart ends in disappointment, he decides to leave New York behind, along with the devoted, ambitious and well-connected woman he’s been in love with for the last four years. Soon, however, he finds himself caught up in a whirlwind of unexpected friendships and romantic entanglements that threaten his safe plans.
St. Martin’s Griffin * 9781250063250

THE LIE by Helen Dunmore (Historical Fiction)
Daniel Branwell has survived the First World War and returned to the small fishing town where he was born. As he works on the land, struggling to make a living in the aftermath of war, he is drawn deeper and deeper into the traumas of the past and memories of his dearest friend and his first love. Above all, as the drama unfolds, Daniel is haunted by the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie.
Grove Press * 9780802123480

ONE LAST THING by Rebecca St. James and Nancy Rue (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Tara Faulkner and Seth Grissom grew up next door to each other in Savannah’s historic district. Their parents are best friends. They finish each other’s sentences all the time. Their fairytale wedding is a foregone conclusion...until Tara discovers another side to Seth three weeks before the wedding. Reality has crashed in on Tara’s fairytale --- but hope will lead her to a future she couldn’t have planned for herself.
Thomas Nelson * 9781401689278

TO RISE AGAIN AT A DECENT HOUR by Joshua Ferris (Fiction)
Paul O'Rourke is a Manhattan dentist with a thriving practice. But he is a man made of contradictions, and his biggest fear is that he may never truly come to understand anybody, including himself. When someone begins impersonating Paul online, his quest to learn why his identity has been stolen forces him to confront his troubled past and his uncertain future in a life disturbingly split between the real and the virtual.
Back Bay Books * 9780316033992

UNDONE: A Story of Making Peace with an Unexpected Life by Michele Cushatt (Memoir)
Paperback Original
UNDONE tells of author Michele Cushatt’s quest to make peace with a complicated life. When an unexpected health crisis and three small children enter her world within the span of eight months, her tidy life ends up in disarray, forcing her to discover that the most beautiful and courageous stories are sometimes written right in the middle of the mess.
Zondervan * 9780310339786

WONDERKID by Wesley Stace (Fiction)
Sold-out concerts, screaming fans, TV shows, Number Ones. This is the rock and roll dream, and the Wonderkids are living it. But something is wrong. Although the gigs are sold out, the halls are packed with little kids instead of sexy hipsters. And all that screaming sounds more like wailing. The TV appearances are PBS on Saturday morning rather than “Saturday Night Live,” and as for Number Ones, you don’t want to know.
Overlook Books * 9781468310085
On Sale the Week of March 16th in Hardcover

March 16th

HAMMER HEAD: The Making of a Carpenter by Nina MacLaughlin (Memoir)
Nina MacLaughlin spent her 20s working at a Boston newspaper, sitting behind a desk and staring at a screen. Yearning for more tangible work, she applied for a job she saw on Craigslist --- Carpenter’s Assistant: Women strongly encouraged to apply --- despite being a Classics major who couldn't tell a Phillips from a flathead screwdriver. She got the job, and in HAMMER HEAD she tells the rich and entertaining story of becoming a carpenter.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393239133

NYPD RED 3
by James Patterson and Marshall Karp (Thriller)
Detective Zach Jordan and his partner, Kylie MacDonald, are called to the home of billionaire businessman Hunter Alden, Jr. after he makes a grisly discovery in his townhouse garage. When Alden's teenage son goes missing soon afterwards, and his father seems oddly reluctant to find him, Zach and Kylie find themselves in the middle of a chilling conspiracy that threatens everyone in its wake --- especially their city's most powerful citizens.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316406994


March 17th

BETTER THAN BEFORE: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
If habits are a key to change, then what we really need to know is: How do we change our habits? BETTER THAN BEFORE answers that question. It presents a practical, concrete framework to allow readers to understand their habits --- and to change them for good. Infused with Gretchen Rubin’s compelling voice, rigorous research and easy humor, and packed with vivid stories of lives transformed, the book explains the (sometimes counter-intuitive) core principles of habit formation.
Crown * 9780385348614

A BLINK OF THE SCREEN: Collected Shorter Fiction by Terry Pratchett (Fantasy/Short Stories)
In the four decades since his first book appeared in print, Terry Pratchett has become one of the world's bestselling and best-loved authors. Here for the first time are his short stories and other short-form fiction collected into one volume. A BLINK OF THE SCREEN charts the course of Pratchett's long writing career: from his schooldays through to his first writing job, and the origins of his debut novel, THE CARPET PEOPLE; and on again to the dizzy mastery of the Discworld series.
Doubleday * 9780385538329

THE BULLET by Mary Louise Kelly (Thriller)
In a split second, everything Caroline Cashion has known is proved to be a lie. A single bullet is found lodged at the base of her skull. Caroline is stunned. She has never been shot. Then, over the course of one awful evening, she learns the truth: that she was adopted when she was three years old after her real parents were murdered. She was wounded too, a gunshot to the neck. Surgeons had stitched up the traumatized little girl, with the bullet still there. Now, Caroline has to find the truth of her past.
Gallery Books * 9781476769813

A DANGEROUS PLACE: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear (Historical Mystery)
On a ship bound for England to visit her aging father after her stepmother summons her home, Maisie Dobbs realizes she isn’t ready to return. Against the wishes of the captain, who warns her, “You will be alone in a most dangerous place,” she disembarks in Gibraltar. Days after her arrival, a photographer and member of Gibraltar’s Sephardic Jewish community is murdered, and Maisie becomes entangled in the case and renews an uneasy acquaintance in the process.
Harper * 9780062220554

DELICIOUS FOODS by James Hannaham (Fiction)
Darlene, once an exemplary wife and a loving mother to her young son, Eddie, finds herself devastated by the unforeseen death of her husband. Unable to cope with her grief, she turns to drugs and quickly forms an addiction. One day she disappears without a trace. Unbeknownst to 11-year-old Eddie, now left behind in a panic-stricken search for her, Darlene has been lured away with false promises of a good job and a rosy life. A shady company named Delicious Foods shuttles her to a remote farm, where she is held captive.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316284943

HAUSFRAU by Jill Alexander Essbaum (Fiction)
Anna Benz lives with her husband, Bruno, and their three young children in a suburb of Zürich. Though she leads a comfortable, well-appointed life, Anna is falling apart inside. Adrift and increasingly unable to connect with the emotionally unavailable Bruno or even with her own thoughts and feelings, Anna tries to rouse herself with new experiences: German language classes, Jungian analysis, and a series of sexual affairs she enters with an ease that surprises even her.
Random House * 9780812997538

THE LAST FLIGHT OF POXL WEST by Daniel Torday (Fiction)
Poxl West is the epitome of manhood and something of an idol to his teenage nephew, Eli Goldstein, who reveres him as a brave, singular, Jewish war hero. Poxl fills Eli’s head with electric accounts of his derring-do, adventures and romances, as he collects the best episodes from his storied life into a memoir. But as he delves deeper into Poxl’s history, Eli begins to see that the life of the fearless superman he’s adored has been much darker than he let on.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250051684

LINCOLN AND THE JEWS: A History by Jonathan D. Sarna and Benjamin Shapell (History)
One hundred and fifty years after Abraham Lincoln’s death, the full story of his extraordinary relationship with Jews is told here for the first time. LINCOLN AND THE JEWS provides readers both with a captivating narrative of his interactions with Jews, and with the opportunity to immerse themselves in rare manuscripts and images --- many from the Shapell Lincoln Collection --- that show Lincoln in a way he has never been seen before.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250059536

MADEMOISELLE CHANEL
by C. W. Gortner (Historical Fiction)
For readers of THE PARIS WIFE and Z comes this vivid novel full of drama, passion, tragedy and beauty that stunningly imagines the life of iconic fashion designer Coco Chanel --- the ambitious, gifted laundrywoman’s daughter who revolutionized fashion, built an international empire, and become one of the most influential and controversial figures of the 20th century.
William Morrow * 9780062356406

THE POCKET WIFE by Susan Crawford (Psychological Thriller)
Dana Catrell is shocked when her neighbor, Celia, is brutally murdered. To Dana’s horror, she was the last person to see Celia alive. Suffering from mania, the result of her bipolar disorder, she has troubling holes in her memory, including what happened on the afternoon of Celia’s death. The closer she comes to piecing together the shards of her broken memory, the more she falls apart. Is there a murderer lurking inside of Dana...or is there one out there in the shadows of reality, waiting to strike again?
William Morrow * 9780062362858

THE POSER by Jacob Rubin (Fiction/Humor)
All his life, Giovanni Bernini has possessed an uncanny gift: he can imitate anyone he meets. Honed by his mother at a young age, the talent catapults him from small-town obscurity to stardom. As his fame grows, Giovanni encounters a beautiful and enigmatic stage singer, Lucy Starlight --- the only person whose thread he cannot find --- and becomes increasingly trapped inside his many poses. Ultimately, he must assume the one identity he has never been able to master: his own.
Viking * 9780670016761

RECAPITULATIONS by Vincent Crapanzano (Memoir)
Vincent Crapanzano’s memoir recaptures meaningful moments from his life: as his childhood on the grounds of a psychiatric hospital, his psychiatrist father’s early death, his years at school in Switzerland and then at Harvard in the 1960s, his love affairs, his own teaching, and his far-flung travels. Taken together, these stories have the power of a nothing-taken-for-granted vision, fighting those conventions and ideologies that deaden the creative and inquiring mind.
Other Press * 9781590515938

THE STOLEN ONES by Owen Laukkanen (Thriller)
A sheriff’s deputy steps out of a diner on a rainy summer evening, and a few minutes later, he’s lying dead in the mud. When BCA agent Kirk Stevens arrives on the scene, he discovers that local authorities have taken into custody a single suspect: a hysterical young woman found sitting by the body, holding the deputy’s own gun. The mystery only deepens from there, as Stevens and Carla Windermere find themselves on the trail of a massive international kidnapping and prostitution operation.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399165535

UNPLAYABLE LIES: (The Only Golf Book You'll Ever Need) by Dan Jenkins (Sports/Essays)
UNPLAYABLE LIES consists of 38 essays, all of which, as Dan Jenkins says in the first essay, are "literally throbbing with opinion." Jenkins delves into the greatest rounds of golf he's ever seen; the funniest things said on a golf course; the rivalries on tour and in the press box; the game's most magical moments --- and its most absurd. This book is an ode to the game Jenkins loves. But it is Dan Jenkins, so nothing --- even the game of golf --- can escape his wrath, his critical eye, or his acerbic pen.
Doubleday * 9780385539753

WASHINGTON’S CIRCLE: The Creation of the President by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (History/Politics)
In 1789, as George Washington became the first president of the United States, the world was all but certain that the American experiment in liberty and representative government would founder. More than a few Americans feared that the world was right. In WASHINGTON’S CIRCLE, we see how Washington and his trusted advisers, close friends and devoted family defied the doomsayers to lay the foundation for an enduring constitutional republic.
Random House * 9781400069279

On Sale the Week of March 16th in Paperback

March 17th

THE BURNING ROOM: A Harry Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly (Thriller)
In the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit, not many murder victims die almost a decade after the crime. But when a man succumbs to complications from being shot by a stray bullet 10 years earlier, detectives Harry Bosch and Lucia Soto are tasked with solving what turns out to be a highly charged, politically sensitive case. Beginning with the bullet that's been lodged in the victim's spine, they must pull new leads from years-old information, which soon reveal that this shooting may have been anything but random.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455524198

THE DISAPPEARED by Kristina Ohlsson (Thriller)
Missing student Rebecca Trolle is found carved up and buried in a forest glade in a Stockholm suburb. While Fredrika Bergman and her team try to find out why Rebecca met such a violent demise, more bodies are found in the same area. Fredrika is inevitably drawn into the case, but it becomes much more complicated when her lover’s name is mentioned in the investigation.
Atria/Emily Bestler Books * 9781476734019

ENCOUNTERS AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD: A History of the Mandan People by Elizabeth A. Fenn (History)
ENCOUNTERS AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD concerns the Mandan Indians, iconic Plains people whose teeming, busy towns on the upper Missouri River were for centuries at the center of the North American universe. Elizabeth A. Fenn retrieves their history by piecing together important new discoveries in archaeology, anthropology, geology, climatology, epidemiology and nutritional science, offering us a new perspective on early American history, a new interpretation of the American past.
Hill and Wang * 9780374535117

A FAITH OF HER OWN: A Middlefield Amish Novel by Kathleen Fuller (Romance)
Paperback Original
When Jeremiah left his Amish community to pursue his dream of becoming a veterinarian, he left more than just his faith behind --- he walked away from his family and his childhood friend, Anna Mae. Now that he’s returned to help out his mentor and work in a Yankee veterinarian practice, Jeremiah must face his past --- and the people he betrayed. As their rekindled friendship begins to turn into something more, Jeremiah and Anna Mae must examine their own faith and their relationship with each other and their families.
Thomas Nelson * 9780529102782

THE FIRES OF AUTUMN by Irene Nemirovsky (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
At the end of the First World War, Bernard Jacquelain returns from the trenches a changed man. Broken by the unspeakable horrors he has witnessed, he becomes addicted to the lure of wealth and success. He wallows in the corruption and excess of post-war Paris, but when his lover abandons him, Bernard turns to a childhood friend for comfort. For 10 years, he lives the good bourgeois life, but when the drums of war begin to sound again, everything around which he has rebuilt himself starts to crumble.
Vintage * 9781101872277

GEMINI by Carol Cassella (Mystery)
When an unidentified Jane Doe, the victim of a hit-and-run, arrives in Dr. Charlotte Reese’s intensive care unit, she brings with her mysteries --- both medical and personal. As Charlotte cares for Jane, she becomes increasingly caught up in the questions of her patient’s identity and what led to her accident. When Charlotte’s search for answers reveals links between Charlotte and her patient, the repercussions will forever change her life and her understanding of what love can make possible.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451627947

THE MERMAID'S CHILD by Jo Baker
(Historical Fantasy)
Paperback Original
Malin has always been different, and when her father dies, leaving her alone, her choice is clear: stay and remain an outsider forever, or leave in search of the mythical inheritance she is certain awaits her. Apprenticed to a series of strange and wonderful characters, Malin embarks on a grueling journey that crosses oceans and continents --- from the high seas to desert plains --- and leads to a discovery that she never could have expected.
Vintage * 9780804172639

MIDNIGHT IN EUROPE by Alan Furst (Historical Thriller)
Cristián Ferrar, a brilliant and handsome Spanish émigré, is a lawyer in the Paris office of a prestigious international law firm. He is approached by the embassy of the Spanish Republic and asked to help a clandestine agency trying desperately to supply weapons to the Republic’s beleaguered army --- an effort that puts his life at risk in the battle against fascism. Joining Ferrar in this mission is a group of unlikely men and women: idealists, gangsters, arms traders, aristocrats and spies.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812981834

THE PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER: A Treasures of the Nile Novel
by Mesu Andrews (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
Anippe has grown up in the shadows of Egypt’s good god Pharaoh, aware that Anubis, god of the afterlife, may take her or her siblings at any moment. Now she is to be become the bride of Sebak, a kind but quick-tempered Captain of Pharaoh Tut’s army. In order to provide Sebak the heir he deserves and yet protect herself from the underworld gods, Anippe must launch a series of deceptions, even involving the Hebrew midwives --- women ordered by Tut to drown the sons of their own people in the Nile.
WaterBrook Press * 9781601425997

THE RED ROAD: An Alex Morrow Novel by Denise Mina (Mystery/Thriller)
Police detective Alex Morrow is serving as a witness in arms dealer Michael Brown's trial, where the case hinges on his fingerprints found on the guns he sells. When the investigation leads to a privileged Scottish lawyer who's expecting to be assassinated after a money laundering scheme goes bad, and a woman who's spying on the people who put her in jail, Morrow has her hands full. And that's before she even gets to her family issues.
Back Bay Books * 9780316188500

THE RISE: Creativity, the Gift of Failure, and the Search for Mastery by Sarah Lewis (Psychology)
Many of our most iconic, creative endeavors are not achievements but conversions, corrections after failed attempts. The gift of failure is a riddle. Like the number zero, it will always be both a void and the start of infinite possibility. THE RISE --- a soulful celebration of the determination and courage of the human spirit --- makes the case that many of our greatest triumphs come from understanding the importance of this mystery.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451629248

THE TOMB: A Novel of Martha by Stephanie Landsem (Historical Fiction)
Paperback Original
In this captivating retelling of a classic biblical story, Jesus shocks the town of Bethany with Lazarus’ resurrection from the dead, leading Martha --- a seemingly perfect woman trapped by the secrets of her past --- to hope and a new life.
Howard Books * 9781451689129

THE VISIONIST by Rachel Urquhart (Historical Fiction)
Fifteen-year-old Polly Kimball sets fire to the family farm, killing her abusive father. She and her young brother find shelter in a Massachusetts Shaker community called The City of Hope. As she struggles to keep her dark secrets concealed in the face of increasing scrutiny, Polly finds herself in a life-changing friendship with a young Shaker sister named Charity, a girl who will stake everything --- including her faith --- on Polly's honesty and purity.
Back Bay Books * 9780316228107

WHEN PARIS WENT DARK: The City of Light Under German Occupation, 1940-1944 by Ronald C. Rosbottom (History)
On June 14, 1940, German tanks entered a silent and nearly deserted Paris. Eight days later, France accepted a humiliating defeat and foreign occupation. WHEN PARIS WENT DARK evokes the detail of daily life in a city under occupation, and the brave people who fought against the darkness. Relying on a range of resources, Ronald C. Rosbottom has forged a groundbreaking book that will forever influence how we understand those dark years in the City of Light.
Back Bay Books * 9780316217439

WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME: Life in the Minor Leagues of Baseball by John Feinstein (Sports)
WHERE NOBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME takes readers inside the gritty, no-frills, high-stakes world of Triple-A baseball, which serves simultaneously as a launching pad for superstar careers and as a crash-landing pad for stars who have fallen. Introducing us to eight men --- two pitchers, three position players, two managers and one umpire --- John Feinstein tells the riveting stories of those who are on the cusp of greatness.
Anchor * 9780307949585

Don't forget to forward this newsletter to a friend or to visit the websites in TheBookReportNetwork.com:
Bookreporter.com, 20SomethingReads.com, ReadingGroupGuides.com, GraphicNovelReporter.com, FaithfulReader.com, Teenreads.com, Kidsreads.com and AuthorsOnTheWeb.com.

The Book Report Network
250 W. 57th Street - Suite 1228

New York, New York 10107

connect with us twitterfacebook