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March 8, 2016 |
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Here you will find books releasing the weeks of March 7th and March 14th 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 tribute to bestselling author Pat Conroy, who passed away Friday, March 4th at the age of 70 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.
Know a friend or family member who you think may enjoy this newsletter? Then please forward it on to them!
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This Week's Bonus News: In Remembrance and Appreciation of Pat Conroy, "Hey Out There"
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We at Bookreporter.com are deeply saddened by the heartbreaking news that bestselling author Pat Conroy has died at the age of 70. He passed away at his home in Beaufort, South Carolina, surrounded by family and loved ones, following a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Perhaps best known as the author of THE PRINCE OF TIDES and THE GREAT SANTINI, Conroy also wrote THE BOO, THE WATER IS WIDE, THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE, BEACH MUSIC, MY LOSING SEASON, THE PAT CONROY COOKBOOK, SOUTH OF BROAD, MY READING LIFE and THE DEATH OF SANTINI. Bookreporter.com's Maya Gittelman reflects on Conroy's extraordinary life and works in this wonderful tribute.
-Read reviews of MY LOSING SEASON, SOUTH OF BROAD and THE DEATH OF SANTINI.
-See discussion guides for THE PRINCE OF TIDES, BEACH MUSIC, SOUTH OF BROAD, MY READING LIFE and THE DEATH OF SANTINI.
-Click here to read Pat Conroy's bio.
-Visit Pat Conroy's official website and Facebook page.
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Click here to read our tribute to Pat Conroy. |
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On Sale the Week of March 7th in Hardcover
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March 7th
THE MEDICI: Power, Money, and Ambition in the Italian Renaissance by Paul Strathern (History)
Against the background of an age that saw the rebirth of ancient and classical learning, Paul Strathern explores the intensely dramatic rise and fall of the Medici family in Florence, as well as the Italian Renaissance, which they did so much to sponsor and encourage. Strathern also follows the lives of many of the great Renaissance artists and scientists with whom the Medici had dealings, along with the fortunes of those members of the Medici family who achieved success away from Florence.
Pegasus * 9781605989662
March 8th
ALL THINGS CEASE TO APPEAR by Elizabeth Brundage (Psychological Thriller/Mystery)
Late one winter afternoon in upstate New York, George Clare comes home to find his wife murdered and their three-year-old daughter alone in her room. And he is the immediate suspect --- the question of his guilt echoing in a story shot through with secrets both personal and professional. While his parents rescue him from suspicion, a persistent cop is stymied at every turn in proving Clare a heartless murderer. The pall of death is ongoing and relentless; behind one crime are others, and more than 20 years will pass before a hard kind of justice is finally served.
Knopf * 9781101875599
AT WAR ON THE GOTHIC LINE: Fighting in Italy, 1944-45 by Christian Jennings (History)
In the autumn of 1944, as Patton’s army paraded through Paris, another Allied force was gathering in southern Italy. Spearheaded by over 100,000 American troops, this vast, international army was faced with a grim task --- break The Gothic Line, a series of interconnected German fortifications that stretched across the mountains of northern Italy. These Allied soldiers fought uphill against entrenched enemies in some of the final and most brutal battles of the Second World War. Veteran war correspondent and historian Christian Jennings provides an unprecedented look inside this unsung but highly significant campaign.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250065179
THE CIVIL WARS OF JULIA WARD HOWE: A Biography by Elaine Showalter (Biography)
Julia Ward was an heiress and aspiring poet when she married Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, an internationally acclaimed pioneer in the education of the blind. Authorship of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" made her celebrated and revered. But Howe was also continuing to fight a civil war at home; she became a pacifist, suffragist and world traveler. She came into her own as a tireless campaigner for women’s rights and social reform. Esteemed author Elaine Showalter tells the story of Howe’s determined self-creation and brings to life the society she inhabited and the obstacles she overcame.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451645903
CLAWBACK: An Ali Reynolds Novel by J.A. Jance (Mystery/Thriller)
When Ali Reynolds’ parents lose their life savings to a Ponzi scheme, her father goes to confront his longtime friend and financial advisor, only to stumble into the scene of a bloody double homicide. With her father suddenly a prime suspect, Ali and her husband work to clear her father’s name, while at the same time seeking justice for her parents as well as the scheme’s other suddenly impoverished victims, one of whom is a stone cold killer.
Touchstone * 9781501110726
CRAZY BLOOD by T. Jefferson Parker (Psychological Suspense)
The Carson dynasty rules the ski resort town of Mammoth Lakes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. But when Wylie Welborn returns after a stint in Afghanistan, it reopens a dark moment in Carson family history: the murder of Wylie's father by his jealous and very pregnant wife, Cynthia. Her son Sky, born while his mother was in prison, and Wylie are half-brothers. They inherit not only superb athletic skills but an enmity that threatens to play out in a lethal drama on one of the fastest and most perilous ski slopes in the world.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250064097
FAR FROM TRUE: A Promise Falls Novel by Linwood Barclay (Thriller)
After the screen of a run-down drive-in movie theater collapses and kills four people, the daughter of one of the victims asks private investigator Cal Weaver to look into a recent break-in at her father’s house. Cal discovers a hidden basement room where it’s clear that salacious activities have taken place --- as well as evidence of missing DVDs. Meanwhile, Detective Barry Duckworth is still trying to solve two murders --- one of which is three years old --- that he believes are connected, since each featured a similar distinctive wound. As the lies begin to unravel, Cal is headed straight into the heart of a dark secret as his search uncovers more startling truths about Promise Falls.
NAL * 9780451472700
GOODBYE TO THE DEAD by Brian Freeman (Psychological Thriller)
Detective Jonathan Stride is haunted by his first wife Cindy’s death, even as he maintains a relationship with fellow detective Serena Dial. When Serena witnesses a brutal murder outside a bar, she stumbles onto a case that goes back to the last year of Cindy's life. At the time, Stride and Cindy were on opposing sides of an investigation that ended up sending Cindy’s friend, Janine, to prison for shooting her husband. During the current investigation, Serena finds a gun used in the murder of a woman connected to an organized crime syndicate --- a gun that turns out to be the same one used to kill Janine’s husband. Two unrelated cases years apart suddenly have a mysterious connection, and Stride must not only investigate, but also confront his past.
Quercus * 9781623659110
HARD COLD WINTER: A Van Shaw Novel by Glen Erik Hamilton (Thriller)
When an old crony of Van Shaw’s late grandfather calls in a favor, the recently discharged Ranger embarks on a dangerous journey to the Olympic Mountains, in search of a missing girl tied to Van’s own criminal past. What he finds instead is a brutal murder scene, including a victim from one of Seattle’s most influential families. But the dead bodies are only the start of Van’s troubles. A fellow Ranger from Afghanistan turns up at Van’s doorstep, seeking support from his former sergeant even as Van wrestles with his own reemerging symptoms of PTSD. The murder investigation leads to heavy pressure, with a billionaire businessman on one side and vicious gangsters on the other, each willing to play dirty to get what they want.
William Morrow * 9780062344588
HIGH DIVE by Jonathan Lee (Fiction)
In September 1984, a bomb was planted at the Grand Hotel in the seaside town of Brighton, England, set to explode in 24 days when the British prime minister and her entire cabinet would be staying there. HIGH DIVE not only takes us inside this audacious assassination attempt --- a decisive act of violence on the world stage --- but also imagines its way into a group of unforgettable characters, nimbly weaving together fact and fiction, comedy and tragedy.
Knopf * 9781101874592
INNOCENTS AND OTHERS by Dana Spiotta (Fiction)
INNOCENTS AND OTHERS is about two best friends who grow up in LA in the ’80s and become filmmakers. Meadow and Carrie have everything in common --- except their views on sex, power, movie-making and morality. Their lives collide with Jelly, a loner whose most intimate experience is on the phone. Jelly is older, erotic and mysterious. She cold calls powerful men and seduces them not through sex but through listening. She invites them to reveal themselves, and they do.
Scribner * 9781501122729
LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT WE ATE: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi (Memoir)
Long before Padma Lakshmi ever stepped onto a television set, she learned that how we eat is an extension of how we love, how we comfort, how we forge a sense of home --- and how we taste the world as we navigate our way through it. LOVE, LOSS, AND WHAT WE ATE is Lakshmi’s account of her journey from her grandmother’s kitchen in South India to the judges’ table of “Top Chef” and beyond. It chronicles the fierce devotion of the remarkable people who shaped her along the way.
Ecco * 9780062202611
MIKE HAMMER: MURDER NEVER KNOCKS by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins (Hard-boiled Mystery)
A failed attempt on his life by a contract killer gets Mike Hammer riled up. But it also lands him an unlikely job: security detail for a Hollywood producer having a party to honor his beautiful fianceĢe, a rising Broadway star. But it’s no walk in the park, as Hammer finds violence following him and his beautiful P.I. partner Velda into the swankiest of crime scenes. In the meantime, Hammer is trying to figure out who put the hitman on him. Is there a connection with the death of a newsstand operator who took a bullet meant for him? A shadowy figure looking for the kill of his life?
Titan Books * 9781783291342
OFF THE GRID: A Joe Pickett Novel by C. J. Box (Mystery/Thriller)
Nate Romanowski is off the grid, recuperating from wounds and trying to deal with past crimes, when he is suddenly surrounded by a small team of elite professional special operators. They’re not there to threaten him, but to make a deal. They need help destroying a domestic terror cell in Wyoming’s Red Desert, and in return they’ll make Nate’s criminal record disappear. But they are not what they seem, as Nate’s friend Joe Pickett discovers. They have a much different plan in mind, and it just may be something that takes them all down --- including Nate and Joe.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399176609
PEACEKEEPING by Mischa Berlinski (Fiction)
When Terry White, a former deputy sheriff and a failed politician, goes broke in the 2007–2008 financial crisis, he takes a job working for the UN, helping to train the Haitian police. He is sent to the remote town of Jérémie, where he is swept up in their complex politics when he befriends an earnest, reforming American-educated judge. Soon he convinces the judge to oppose the corrupt but charismatic Sénateur Maxim Bayard in an upcoming election. But when Terry falls in love with the judge’s wife, the electoral drama threatens to become a disaster.
Sarah Crichton Books * 9780374230449
THE SELLING OF THE BABE: The Deal That Changed Baseball and Created a Legend by Glenn Stout (Sports/History)
The sale of Babe Ruth by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees in 1919 is one of the pivotal moments in baseball history, changing the fortunes of two of baseball's most storied franchises. More than a simple transaction, the sale resulted in a deal that created the Yankee dynasty, turned Boston into an also-ran, sold the American people on the modern home run era after the Black Sox scandal, and led the public to fall in love with Ruth. Award-winning baseball historian Glenn Stout reveals brand-new information about Babe and the unique political situation surrounding his sale.
Thomas Dunne Books * 9781250064318
SISI: Empress on Her Own by Allison Pataki (Historical Fiction)
Married to Emperor Franz Joseph, Elisabeth --- fondly known as Sisi --- captures the hearts of her people as their “fairy queen,” but beneath that dazzling persona lives a far more complex figure. Sisi grows restless, feeling stifled by strict protocols and a turbulent marriage. A free-spirited wanderer, she finds solace at her estate outside Budapest. There she rides her beloved horses and enjoys visits from the striking Hungarian statesman Count Andrássy. But tragic news brings Sisi out of her fragile seclusion, forcing her to return to her capital and a world of gossip, envy and sorrow where a dangerous fate lurks in the shadows.
The Dial Press * 9780812989052
SPILL SIMMER FALTER WITHER by Sara Baume (Fiction)
It is springtime, and two outcasts --- a man ignored, even shunned by his village, and the one-eyed dog he takes into his quiet, tightly shuttered life --- find each other, by accident or fate, and forge an unlikely connection. As their friendship grows, their small, seaside town suddenly takes note of them, falsely perceiving menace where there is only mishap; the unlikely duo must take to the road.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt * 9780544716193
THE STEEL KISS: A Lincoln Rhyme Novel by Jeffery Deaver (Thriller)
Amelia Sachs is chasing a killer through a department store in Brooklyn when an escalator malfunctions. The stairs give way, with one man horribly mangled by the gears. Sachs is forced to let her quarry escape as she jumps in to try to help save the victim. She and famed forensic detective Lincoln Rhyme soon learn, however, that the incident may not have been an accident at all, but the first in a series of intentional attacks. They find themselves up against one of their most formidable opponents ever: a brilliant killer who turns common products into murder weapons.
Grand Central Publishing * 9781455536344
TAKEDOWN: A Small-Town Cop's Battle Against the Hells Angels and the Nation's Biggest Drug Gang by Jeff Buck, with Jon Land and Lindsay Preston (True Crime)
Twenty years working undercover in the netherworld of drugs has left Jeff Buck burned out and grateful to assume the quiet job of police chief in the small town of Reminderville, Ohio. That is, until a simple domestic assault case turns out to have links to the murder of a drug runner in upstate New York and a syndicate smuggling billions of dollars in drugs across the US-Canada border. As Buck reluctantly plunges back into his old world of death and deceit, he uncovers a complex chain linking the Hells Angels to the Russian Mafia in a plot to use Native American tribal land to smuggle their deadly wares into the United States.
Forge Books * 9780765338099
THE TRAVELERS by Chris Pavone (Thriller)
Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he’s living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can’t refuse. As he’s drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications --- and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all.
Crown * 9780385348485
THE TWO-FAMILY HOUSE by Lynda Cohen Loigman (Historical Fiction)
Brooklyn, 1947: In the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night. But as the years progress, small cracks start to appear, and their once-deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost --- but not quite --- wins.
St. Martin's Press * 9781250076922
THE WATERS OF ETERNAL YOUTH: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon (Mystery)
Fifteen years ago, a teenage girl fell into a canal late at night. Unable to swim, she went under and started to drown, only surviving thanks to a nearby man, an alcoholic, who heard her splashes and pulled her out, though not before she suffered irreparable brain damage that left her in a state of permanent childhood. The drunk man claimed he saw her thrown into the canal by another man, but the following day he couldn’t remember a thing. Now, at a fundraising dinner for a Venetian charity, a wealthy and aristocratic patroness --- the girl’s grandmother --- asks Brunetti if he will investigate.
Atlantic Monthly Press * 9780802124807
WE LOVE YOU, CHARLIE FREEMAN by Kaitlyn Greenidge (Fiction)
The Freeman family has been invited to the Toneybee Institute to participate in a research experiment. They will live in an apartment on campus with Charlie, a young chimp abandoned by his mother. The Freemans were selected for the experiment because they know sign language; they are supposed to teach it to Charlie and welcome him as a member of their family. Isolated in their new, nearly all-white community not just by their race but by their strange living situation, the Freemans come undone. And when daughter Charlotte discovers the truth about the Institute’s history of questionable studies, the secrets of the past begin to invade the present.
Algonquin Books * 9781616204679
WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS: Stories by Helen Oyeyemi (Fiction/Short Stories)
WHAT IS NOT YOURS IS NOT YOURS is built around the idea of keys, literal and metaphorical. The key to a house, the key to a heart, the key to a secret --- Helen Oyeyemi’s keys not only unlock elements of her characters’ lives, they promise further labyrinths on the other side. In “Books and Roses” one special key opens a library, a garden and clues to at least two lovers’ fates. In “Is Your Blood as Red as This?” an unlikely key opens the heart of a student at a puppeteering school. And in “If a Book Is Locked There’s Probably a Good Reason for That Don't You Think,” a key keeps a mystical diary locked (for good reason).
Riverhead Books * 9781594634635
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On Sale the Week of March 7th in Paperback
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March 7th
NIGHT AT THE FIESTAS: Stories by Kirstin Valdez Quade (Fiction/Short Stories)
Kirstin Valdez Quade's stories plunge us into the fierce, troubled hearts of characters defined by the desire to escape the past or else to plumb its depths. The deadbeat father of a pregnant teenager tries to transform his life by playing the role of Jesus in a bloody penitential Passion. A young man discovers that his estranged father and a boa constrictor have been squatting in his grandmother’s empty house. One girl attempts to uncover the mystery of her cousin's violent past, while another young woman finds herself at an impasse when she is asked to hear her priest's confession.
W. W. Norton & Company * 9780393352214
March 8th
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 Perennial * 9780062249203
THE BIG SEVEN by Jim Harrison (Mystery)
Detective Sunderson's new neighbors are creating even more havoc than the Great Leader did. A family of outlaws, armed to the teeth, the Ameses have local law enforcement too intimidated to take them on. Then Sunderson’s cleaning lady is murdered, and black sheep brother Lemuel Ames seeks Sunderson’s advice on a crime novel he’s writing that may not be fiction. Sunderson must struggle with the evil within himself and the far greater, more expansive evil of his neighbor.
Grove Press * 9780802124661
BOOK OF NUMBERS by Joshua Cohen (Fiction)
The enigmatic billionaire founder of Tetration hires failed novelist Josh Cohen to ghostwrite his memoirs. The mogul, known as Principal, brings Josh behind the digital veil, tracing the rise of Tetration, which started in the earliest days of the Internet by revolutionizing the search engine before venturing into smartphones, computers and the surveillance of American citizens. Principal takes Josh on a mind-bending world tour, initiating him into the secret pretext of the autobiography project and the life-or-death stakes that surround its publication.
Random House Trade Paperbacks * 9780812986655
CROW FAIR: Stories by Thomas McGuane (Fiction/Short Stories)
The ties of family make for uncomfortable binds in Thomas McGuane’s first short story collection in nine years. A devoted son is horrified to discover his mother’s antics before she slipped into dementia. A father’s outdoor skills are no match for an ominous change in the weather. But complications arise equally in the absence of blood, as when lifelong friends on a fishing trip finally confront their deep dislike for each other. Or when a gifted traveling cattle breeder succumbs to the lure of a stranger’s offer of easy money.
Vintage * 9780345805911
THE DISCREET HERO written by Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Edith Grossman (Fiction)
Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa’s latest 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.
Picador * 9781250081629
FALLING IN LOVE: A Commissario Guido Brunetti Mystery by Donna Leon (Mystery)
Invited by Commissario Guido Brunetti to dine at his in-laws’ palazzo, opera star Flavia Petrelli confesses her alarm at the excessive displays of adoration from an anonymous fan. When a talented young Venetian singer who has caught Flavia’s attention is savagely attacked, Brunetti begins to think that Flavia’s fears are justified in ways neither of them imagined. He must enter into the psyche of an obsessive fan before Flavia, or anyone else, comes to harm.
Grove Press * 9780802124876
THE FOLDED CLOCK: A Diary by Heidi Julavits (Essays)
When Heidi Julavits found her old diaries in a storage bin, she hoped to discover the early evidence of the person (and writer) she’d since become. Instead, "The actual diaries revealed me to possess the mind of a paranoid tax auditor." Thus was born a desire to try again, to chronicle her daily life as a forty-something woman, wife, mother and writer. The result is THE FOLDED CLOCK, in which the diary form becomes a meditation on time and self, youth and aging, betrayal and loyalty, friendship and romance, art and ambition.
Anchor * 9780804171441
THE HOUSE OF WOLFE: A Border Noir by James Carlos Blake (Noir Thriller)
A 10-member wedding party is kidnapped in front of the groom’s family mansion in Mexico City. The perpetrator is a small-time gangster who wants nothing more than to make his crew part of a major cartel and hopes that this crime will be his big break. Jessica Juliet Wolfe is a bridesmaid and close friend of the bride who hails from a family of notorious outlaws that has branches on both sides of the border. When the Wolfes learn of Jessie’s abduction, they fear that the kidnappers will kill the captives after receiving the ransom --- unless they rescue Jessie first.
Mysterious Press * 9780802124746
THE JAZZ PALACE by Mary Morris (Historical Fiction)
In the midst of boomtown Chicago, two Jewish families have suffered terrible blows. The Lehrmans, who run a small hat factory, lost their beloved son Harold in a blizzard. The Chimbrovas, who run a saloon, lost three of their boys on the SS Eastland when it sank in 1915. Each family holds out hope that one of their remaining children will rise to carry on the family business. But Benny Lehrman has no interest in making hats. His true passion is piano --- especially jazz.
Anchor * 9781101872864
THE LOST BOYS SYMPHONY by Mark Ferguson (Fiction)
After Henry's girlfriend, Val, leaves him and transfers to another school, his grief begins to manifest itself in bizarre and horrifying ways. After weeks of sleepless nights and sick delusions, Henry decides to run away and find Val. Once on the George Washington Bridge, however, a powerful hallucination knocks him out cold. When he awakens, he finds out that he has been kidnapped by two strangers who claim to be future versions of himself.
Back Bay Books * 9780316324038
MURDER ON THE CHAMP DE MARS: An Aimée Leduc Investigation by Cara Black (Mystery)
Aimée Leduc has her work cut out for her --- running her detective agency and fighting off sleep deprivation as she tries to be a good single mother to her new bébé. The last thing she has time for now is to take on a personal investigation for a poor manouche (Gypsy) boy. But he insists his dying mother has an important secret she needs to tell Aimée concerning Aimée’s father’s unsolved murder a decade ago. How can she say no? The dying woman’s secret is even more dangerous than her son realized.
Soho Crime * 9781616956240
A NECESSARY END by Holly Brown (Psychological Thriller)
Thirty-nine-year-old Adrienne is desperate to be a mother. And this time, nothing is going to get in her way. At 19, Leah bears a remarkable resemblance to the young woman Adrienne once was. Which is why Adrienne knows the baby Leah is carrying is meant to be hers. But Leah has ideas of her own. All she wants is to live in Adrienne’s house for a year after the baby is born and get a fresh start. It seems like a small price for Adrienne to pay to get their baby. And with Adrienne’s husband, Gabe, suddenly on board, what could possibly go wrong?
William Morrow Paperbacks * 9780062356383
THE NIGHT SISTER by Jennifer McMahon (Psychological Suspense)
Once the thriving attraction of rural Vermont, the Tower Motel now stands in disrepair, alive only in the memories of Amy, Piper, and Piper's kid sister, Margot. The three played there as girls until the day their games uncovered something dark and twisted in the motel's past, something that ruined their friendship forever. Now adults, Piper and Margot have tried to forget what they found that fateful summer, but their lives are upended when Piper receives a panicked midnight call from Margot, with news of a horrific crime for which Amy stands accused.
Anchor * 9780804169974
ORDINARY LIGHT: A Memoir by Tracy K. Smith (Memoir)
The youngest of five children, Tracy K. Smith was raised with limitless affection and a firm belief in God by a stay-at-home mother and an engineer father. But just as Tracy is about to leave home for college, her mother is diagnosed with cancer, a condition she accepts as part of God’s plan. ORDINARY LIGHT is the story of a young woman struggling to fashion her own understanding of belief, loss, history, and what it means to be black in America.
Vintage * 9780345804075
THE RESIDENCE: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen Brower (Social History)
America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous and heartwarming, THE RESIDENCE reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.
Harper Paperbacks * 9780062305206
RUN YOU DOWN by Julia Dahl (Mystery)
Aviva Kagan was a just a teenager when she left her Hasidic Jewish life in Brooklyn for a fling with a college boy from Florida --- and then disappeared. Twenty-three years later, the child she walked away from is a tabloid reporter named Rebekah Roberts. And Rebekah isn't sure she wants her mother back in her life. But when a man from the ultra-Orthodox enclave of Roseville, NY, contacts Rebekah about his young wife's mysterious death, she is drawn back into Aviva's world.
Minotaur Books * 9781250043429
SHOPAHOLIC TO THE RESCUE by Sophie Kinsella (Fiction)
Becky’s father has vanished from Los Angeles on a mysterious quest with her best friend’s husband. Becky’s mum is hysterical; her best friend, Suze, is desperate. Worse, Becky must tolerate an enemy along for the ride, who she’s convinced is up to no good. Determined to get to the bottom of why her dad has disappeared, help Suze, contain Alicia, and reunite her fractured family, Becky knows she must marshal all her trademark ingenuity. But just when her family needs her more than ever, can Becky pull it off?
Dial Press Trade Paperback * 9780812987706
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On Sale the Week of March 14th in Hardcover
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March 14th
PRIVATE PARIS by James Patterson and Mark Sullivan (Thriller)
When Jack Morgan stops by Private's Paris office, he envisions a quick hello during an otherwise relaxing trip. But he is quickly pressed into duty after getting a call from his client, Sherman Wilkerson, asking him to track down his young granddaughter, who is on the run from a brutal drug dealer. Before Jack can locate her, several members of France's cultural elite are found murdered in stunning, symbolic fashion. The only link between the crimes is a mysterious graffiti tag. As religious and ethnic tensions simmer in the City of Lights, only Jack and his Private team can connect the dots before the smoldering powder keg explodes.
Little, Brown and Company * 9780316407052
March 15th
ALLIGATOR CANDY: A Memoir by David Kushner (Memoir)
David Kushner grew up in the suburbs of Florida in the early 1970s, running wild with his friends, exploring, riding bikes and disappearing into the nearby woods for hours at a time. One morning in 1973, however, everything changed. David’s older brother Jon, making a trip to the local convenience store, vanished. This is the story of Jon’s murder at the hands of two sadistic drifters…and everything that happened after.
Simon & Schuster * 9781451682533
AS CLOSE TO US AS BREATHING by Elizabeth Poliner (Fiction)
In 1948, sisters Ada, Vivie and Bec assemble at their beloved family cottage in Woodmont, Connecticut. Ada is unimpeded by her strict, religious husband. Vivie is the family diplomat and an increasingly inventive chef. Unmarried Bec finds herself forced to choose between a family-centric life and a passion-filled life with a married man. But when a terrible accident occurs on the sisters' watch, the girls’ lives are changed forever. Seen through the eyes of Molly, who was 12 years old when she witnessed the accident, this is the story of a tragedy and its aftermath. Can Molly, decades after the event, draw from her aunt Bec's wisdom and free herself from the burden that destroyed so many others?
Lee Boudreaux Books * 9780316384148
AT THE EDGE OF THE ORCHARD by Tracy Chevalier (Historical Fiction)
1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck --- in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the 50 apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut, while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.
Viking * 9780525953005
BAD SIGNS by R.J. Ellory (Historical Thriller)
Orphaned by an act of senseless violence that took their mother from them, half-brothers Clarence Luckman and Elliott Danziger have been raised in state institutions, unaware of any world beyond its walls. But their lives take a sudden turn when they are seized as hostages by a convicted killer en route to death row. Earl Sheridan is a psychopath of the worst kind, and as he and his two hostages set off on a frenetic path through California down to Texas, Clarence and Elliot must come to terms with the ever-growing tide of violence in their wake.
The Overlook Press * 9781468311273
BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE by Jane Mendelsohn (Fiction)
A classic family tale colliding with the 21st century, BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE tells the story of two girls. Neva, from the mountains of Russia, was sold into the sex trade at the age of 10; Poppy is the adopted daughter of Steve, the patriarch of a successful New York real estate clan, the Zanes. She is his sister’s orphaned child. One of these young women will unwittingly help bring down this grand household with the inexorability of Greek tragedy, and the other will summon everything she’s learned and all her strength to try to save its members from themselves.
Knopf * 9781101875452
CAMBODIA NOIR by Nick Seeley (Thriller)
Once-great war photographer Will Keller's days and nights are a haze of sex, drugs, booze and brawling in lawless Phnom Penh, Cambodia. That is, until he meets Kara Saito, a beautiful young woman who begs Will to help find her sister, June, who disappeared while interning at a local paper. Entering the dangerous Phnom Penh underworld, Will uses June’s diary --- an unsettling collection of experiences, memories and dreams --- on his search for the missing girl. However, when disturbing facts about June and her family history reveal themselves, Will realizes that the most dangerous thing in Cambodia may be June herself.
Scribner * 9781501106088
DEEP BLUE by Randy Wayne White (Thriller)
Marine biologist Marion “Doc” Ford carefully watches a video of a hooded man executing three hostages. The man is an American working with ISIS, and in the next few days, it’ll be Ford’s job, as part of his shadowy second life, to make sure he never kills anybody else again. But a lot can go wrong in a few days. And Ford has no way of knowing that not only will the operation prove to be a lot more complicated than he has anticipated, but that he’ll end up bringing those complications back with him to the small community of Dinkin’s Bay, where he’s long made his home.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399173516
HEART OF GLASS: A Memoir by Wendy Lawless (Memoir)
Before downtown Manhattan was scrubbed clean, gentrified, and overrun with designer boutiques and trendy eateries and bars, it was the center of a burgeoning art scene. Running from the shipwreck of her glamorous and unstable childhood with a volatile mother, Wendy Lawless landed in the center of it all. She navigated this demi-monde of jaded punk rockers, desperate actors, pulsing parties and unexpected run-ins with her own past as she made every mistake of youth, looked for love in all the wrong places, and eventually learned how to grow up on her own.
Gallery Books * 9781476749808
LIFE REIMAGINED: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife by Barbara Bradley Hagerty (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
There’s no such thing as an inevitable midlife crisis, Barbara Bradley Hagerty writes in A LIFE REIMAGINED. New scientific research explodes the fable that midlife is a time when things start to go downhill for everybody. In fact, midlife can be a great new adventure, when you can embrace fresh possibilities, purposes and pleasures. Hagerty explains that midlife is about renewal: It’s the time to renegotiate your purpose, refocus your relationships, and transform the way you think about the world and yourself.
Riverhead Books * 9781594631702
A MAN LIES DREAMING by Lavie Tidhar (Historical Thriller)
Wolf, a low-rent private detective, roams London’s gloomy, grimy streets, haunted by dark visions of a future that could have been --- and a dangerous present populated by British Fascists and Nazis escaping Germany. Shomer, a pulp fiction writer, lies in a concentration camp, imagining another world. And when Wolf and Shomer's stories converge, we find ourselves drawn into a novel both shocking and profoundly haunting.
Melville House * 9781612195049
ON FIRE: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life by John O'Leary (Self-Help/Personal Growth)
When John O’Leary was nine years old, he was almost killed in a devastating house fire. With burns on 100 percent of his body, O’Leary mustered an almost unimaginable amount of inner strength just to survive the ordeal. The insights he gained through this experience and the heroes who stepped into his life to help him through the journey --- his family, the medical staff and total strangers --- changed his life. Now he is committed to living life to the fullest and inspiring others to do the same. ON FIRE contains O’Leary’s reflections on being that little boy, the life-giving choices made then, and the resulting lessons he learned.
North Star Way * 9781501117725
PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMAN by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
Two people, drawn together by chance, begin to unravel the mystery of the contents of a safe-deposit box long abandoned in a New York City bank. Jane Willoughby is a law clerk at the surrogate’s court and Phillip Lawton a fine arts expert for Christie’s auction house. They are simply doing their jobs when they come to the bank to inspect the contents of the box. But for both Jane and Phillip, the search turns personal --- and their efforts to reconstruct an enigmatic life will lead from New York to London and Paris, to Rome and Naples, and a series of stunning revelations.
Delacorte Press * 9780345531063
RIGHTFUL HERITAGE: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America by Douglas Brinkley (History)
RIGHTFUL HERITAGE chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s legacy as the founder of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and premier protector of America’s public lands. FDR built from scratch dozens of State Park systems and scenic roadways. As America’s president, he established hundreds of federal migratory bird refuges and spearheaded the modern endangered species movement. During its nine-year existence, the CCC put nearly three million young men to work on conservation projects, combating severe unemployment during the Great Depression.
Harper * 9780062089236
SHELTER by Jung Yun (Fiction)
Kyung Cho is a young father burdened by a house he can’t afford. For years, he and his wife, Gillian, have lived beyond their means. Now their debts and bad decisions are catching up with them. A few miles away, his parents, Jin and Mae, live in the town’s most exclusive neighborhood. Growing up, they gave him every possible advantage but never showed him kindness. Yet when an act of violence leaves Jin and Mae unable to live on their own, the dynamic suddenly changes, and he’s compelled to take them in. Tensions quickly mount as Kyung’s proximity to his parents forces old feelings of guilt and anger to the surface.
Picador * 9781250075611
THE TOTAL PACKAGE by Stephanie Evanovich (Romance)
After an addiction to painkillers nearly derailed his career, star quarterback Tyson Palmer got sober and went from zero to hero in the eyes of the public. But one person remains unconvinced: Dani Carr, a sports commentator who can’t forgive Tyson’s transgressions or forget a single passionate night with him back in college. To make things worse, Tyson doesn’t realize that this bombshell is the cute co-ed whose heart he once broke. But can a sports journalist trying to claw her way to the top and a quarterback who knows all about rock bottom make it to the Super Bowl without destroying each other?
William Morrow * 9780062234858
TWO IF BY SEA by Jacquelyn Mitchard (Fiction)
Hours after his wife and her family perish in the Christmas Eve tsunami in Brisbane, American expat and former police officer Frank Mercy’s life is changed when he saves a boy stuck in a submerged car. Instead of turning Ian over to the Red Cross, he takes the boy home to his Midwestern farm. He believes that Ian has an extraordinary telepathic gift, but wants to protect the frightened child. Struggling to start over, Frank meets Claudia, a champion equestrian. Both of them know it will be impossible to keep Ian’s gift a secret forever, yet they fight to keep Ian safe from a sinister group who wants him back.
Simon & Schuster * 9781501115578
AN UNRESTORED WOMAN by Shobha Rao (Fiction/Short Stories)
In 1947, the Indian subcontinent is partitioned into two separate countries: India and Pakistan. And with one decree, countless lives are changed forever. AN UNRESTORED WOMAN explores the fault lines in this mass displacement of humanity: a new mother is trapped on the wrong side of the border; a soldier finds the love of his life but is powerless to act on it; an ambitious servant seduces both master and mistress; a young prostitute quietly, inexorably plots revenge on the madam who holds her hostage. Caught in a world of shifting borders, these characters have reached their tipping points.
Flatiron Books * 9781250073822
THE WATCHER IN THE WALL by Owen Laukkanen (Thriller)
Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint BCA-FBI violent crime task force have handled shocking cases before, but this one is different. Stevens’ daughter, Andrea, is distraught over a classmate’s suicide, but what the two investigators find is even more disturbing --- an online suicide club of unhappy teenagers, presided over by an anonymous presence who seems to be spurring them on. It soon becomes apparent that the classmate wasn’t the first victim --- and won’t be the last, either, unless they can hunt down this psychopath once and for all.
G.P. Putnam's Sons * 9780399174544
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On Sale the Week of March 14th in Paperback
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March 15th
INNOCENCE; OR, MURDER ON STEEP STREET written by Heda Margolius Kovály, translated from the Czech by Alex Zucker (Historical Mystery)
1950s Prague is a city of numerous small terrors, of political tyranny, corruption and surveillance. There is no way of knowing whether one’s neighbor is spying for the government, or what one’s supposed friend will say under pressure to a State Security agent. But there are larger terrors, too. When a little boy is murdered at the cinema where his aunt works, the ensuing investigation sheds a little too much light on the personal lives of the cinema’s female ushers, each of whom is hiding a dark secret of her own.
Soho Crime * 9781616956455
A LOVE LIKE BLOOD by Marcus Sedgwick (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
In 1944, just days after the liberation of Paris, Charles Jackson sees something horrific: a man in a dark tunnel, apparently drinking the blood of a murdered woman. Terrified, he does nothing, telling himself afterward that worse tragedies happen during war. Seven years later, he returns to the city --- and sees the same man dining in the company of a fascinating, beautiful young woman. When they leave the restaurant, Charles decides to follow.
Pegasus * 9781605989495
THE MARTINI SHOT: A Novella and Stories by George Pelecanos (Crime Fiction/Short Stories)
Whether they're cops or conmen, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos' characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants.
Back Bay Books * 9780316284387
PIMP by Ken Bruen and Jason Starr (Hard-boiled Mystery)
Paperback Original
Ruined and on the lam, former drug kingpin Max Fisher stumbles upon the biggest discovery of his crooked life: a designer drug called PIMP that could put him back on top. Meanwhile, a certain femme fatale from his past is pursuing a comeback dream of her own, setting herself up in Hollywood as producer of a series based on her and Max’s life story. But even in La-La Land, happy endings are hard to come by, especially with both the cops and your enemies in the drug trade coming after you.
Hard Case Crime * 9781783295692
SISTERS OF HEART AND SNOW by Margaret Dilloway (Fiction)
Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian, becomes enraged. In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons * 9780425279212
TOO BAD TO DIE by Francine Mathews (Historical Thriller)
Weary of his deskbound status in the Royal Navy, intelligence officer Ian Fleming spends his spare time spinning stories in his head that are much more exciting than his own life…until the critical Tehran Conference, when Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Josef Stalin meet to finalize the D-Day invasion. With the Big Three in one place, Fleming is tipped off that Hitler’s top assassin has infiltrated the conference. Seizing his chance to play a part in a real-life action story, Fleming goes undercover to stop the Nazi killer.
Riverhead Books * 9781101983362
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