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In this newsletter, you will find books releasing the weeks of July 31st and August 7th 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 Sounding Off on Audio contest for August. This month's prizes are the audio versions of Wendy's Walker's EMMA IN THE NIGHT, read by Therese Plummer, and Louise Penny's GLASS HOUSES, read by Robert Bathurst.
Also, we are sharing with you a Q&A with Ruth Ware, whose new novel THE LYING GAME follows her bestsellers IN A DARK, DARK WOOD and THE WOMAN IN CABIN 10, and our interview with Michelle Richmond, author of the psychological thriller THE MARRIAGE PACT. THE LYING GAME and THE MARRIAGE PACT will be Bookreporter.com Bets On selections; you can read Carol Fitzgerald's commentary on both books in the August 4th Bookreporter.com Weekly Update newsletter.
For those of you who are doing online shopping, if you use the store links below, Bookreporter.com gets a small affiliate fee on your purchases. We would appreciate your considering this.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Indiebound
This Week's Bonus News:
August's Sounding Off on Audio Contest
Tell us about the audiobooks you’ve finished listening to with your comments and a rating of 1 to 5 stars for both the performance and the content. During the contest period from August 1st to September 6th at noon ET, two lucky readers each will be randomly chosen to win the audio versions of Wendy's Walker's EMMA IN THE NIGHT, read by Therese Plummer, and Louise Penny's GLASS HOUSES, read by Robert Bathurst.
To make sure other readers will be able to find the audiobook, please include the full title and correct author names (your entry must include these to be eligible to win). For complete rules and guidelines, click here.
- To see reader comments from previous contest periods, click here.
Click here to enter the contest.
On Sale the Week of July 31st in Hardcover
August 1st
THE ADDRESS by Fiona Davis (Historical Fiction)
One hundred years apart, Sara Smythe and Bailey Camden are both tempted by and struggle against the golden excess of their respective ages --- for Sara, the opulence of a world ruled by the Astors and Vanderbilts; for Bailey, the free-flowing drinks and cocaine in the nightclubs of New York City --- and take refuge and solace in the Upper West Side’s gilded fortress. But a building with a history as rich --- and often tragic --- as The Dakota’s can’t hold its secrets forever, and what Bailey discovers in its basement could turn everything she thought she knew about her grandfather, famed architect Theodore Camden --- and the woman who killed him --- on its head.
Dutton | 9781524741990
ARE YOU SLEEPING by Kathleen Barber (Psychological Thriller)
Josie Buhrman has spent the last 10 years trying to escape her family’s reputation and with good reason. After her father's murder 13 years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past --- starting with her last name. When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel.
Gallery Books | 9781501157660
THE BEDLAM STACKS by Natasha Pulley (Historical Fantasy)
In 1859, ex-East India Company smuggler Merrick Tremayne is trapped at home in Cornwall after sustaining an injury that almost cost him his leg. On the sprawling, crumbling grounds of the old house, something is wrong: a statue moves, his grandfather's pines explode, and his brother accuses him of madness. When the India Office recruits Merrick for an expedition to fetch quinine --- essential for the treatment of malaria --- from deep within Peru, he knows it's a terrible idea. Nearly every able-bodied expeditionary who's made the attempt has died, and he can barely walk. But Merrick is desperate to escape everything at home, so he sets off, against his better judgment, for a tiny mission colony on the edge of the Amazon.
Bloomsbury USA | 9781620409671
BIRDCAGE WALK by Helen Dunmore (Historical Thriller)
It is 1792, and Europe is seized by political turmoil and violence. Lizzie Fawkes has grown up in Radical circles where each step of the French Revolution is followed with eager idealism. But she has recently married John Diner Tredevant, a property developer who is heavily invested in Bristol’s housing boom, and he has everything to lose from social upheaval and the prospect of war. Soon his plans for a magnificent terrace built above the 200-foot drop of the Gorge come under threat. Tormented and striving Diner believes that Lizzie’s independent, questioning spirit must be coerced and subdued.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802127143
THE BLINDS by Adam Sternbergh (Thriller)
Imagine a place populated by criminals --- people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who’ve been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don’t know if they’ve perpetrated a crime or just witnessed one. What’s clear to them is that if they leave, they will end up dead. For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace --- but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town’s residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her --- and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down.
Ecco | 9780062661340
A BOY IN WINTER by Rachel Seiffert (Historical Fiction)
Early on a gray November morning in 1941, only weeks after the German invasion, a small Ukrainian town is overrun by the SS. Penned in with his fellow Jews, under threat of deportation, Ephraim anxiously awaits word of his two sons, missing since daybreak. Come in search of her lover, to fetch him home again, away from the invaders, Yasia must confront new and harsh truths about those closest to her. Here to avoid a war he considers criminal, German engineer Otto Pohl is faced with an even greater crime unfolding behind the lines, and no one but himself to turn to. And in the midst of it all is Yankel, a boy determined to survive this. But to do so, he must throw in his lot with strangers.
Pantheon | 9780307908834
CRIME SCENE by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman (Psychological Thriller)
A corpse lying at the bottom of the stairs. A beautiful but troubled young woman. A brutal, decades-old murder. And the man charged with making sense of it all. Clay Edison is a former star athlete turned coroner’s investigator. It’s his job to care for the dead and the people they leave behind. It’s not his job to solve mysteries. But some cases --- and some people --- can’t be resisted. What he discovers will set him on a quest to overturn a hideous injustice, no matter the consequences.
Ballantine Books | 9780399594601
CROSSING THE LINES by Sulari Gentill (Psychological Suspense/Mystery)
A successful writer, Madeleine, creates a character, Edward, and begins to imagine his life. He, too, is an author. Edward is in love with a woman, Willow, who's married to a man Edward loathes, and who loathes him, but he and Willow stay close friends. She's an artist. As Madeleine develops the plot, Edward attends a gallery show where a scummy critic is flung down a flight of fire stairs...murdered. Madeleine, still stressed from her miscarriages and grieving her inability to have a child, grows more and more enamored of Edward, spending more and more time with him and the progress of the investigation and less with her physician husband, Hugh, who in turn may be developing secrets of his own.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464209147
THE DARK NET by Benjamin Percy (Technothriller)
The Dark Net is real. An anonymous and often criminal arena that exists in the secret far reaches of the Web, some use it to manage Bitcoins, pirate movies and music, or traffic in drugs and stolen goods. And now an ancient darkness is gathering there as well. This force is threatening to spread virally into the real world unless it can be stopped by members of a ragtag crew: a 12-year-old who has been fitted with the Mirage, a high-tech visual prosthetic to combat her blindness; a technophobic journalist; a one-time child evangelist; and a hacker with a cause. They have no idea what the Dark Net really contains.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9780544750333
DEAD ON ARRIVAL by Matt Richtel (Technothriller)
An airplane touches down at a desolate airport in a remote Colorado ski town. Shortly after landing, Dr. Lyle Martin, a world-class infectious disease specialist, is brusquely awakened to shocking news: Everyone not on the plane appears to be dead. The world has gone dark. While they were in the air, a lethal new kind of virus surfaced, threatening mankind's survival, and now Martin --- one of the most sought-after virologists on the planet until his career took a precipitous slide --- is at the center of the investigation.
William Morrow | 9780062443274
GIRL IN SNOW by Danya Kukafka (Mystery/Thriller)
When a beloved high schooler named Lucinda Hayes is found murdered, no one in her sleepy Colorado suburb is untouched --- not the boy who loved her too much; not the girl who wanted her perfect life; not the officer assigned to investigate her murder. In the aftermath of the tragedy, these three indelible characters --- Cameron, Jade and Russ --- must each confront their darkest secrets in an effort to find solace, the truth or both.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501144370
THE HALF-DROWNED KING by Linnea Hartsuyker (Historical Fantasy)
Ragnvald Eysteinsson, the son and grandson of kings, grew up believing that he would one day take his dead father’s place as chief of his family’s lands. But sailing home from a raiding trip to Ireland, the young warrior is betrayed and left for dead by men in the pay of his greedy stepfather, Olaf. Rescued by a fisherman, Ragnvald is determined to have revenge for his stepfather’s betrayal, claim his birthright and the woman he loves, and rescue his beloved sister Svanhild. Opportunity may lie with Harald of Vestfold, the strong young Norse warrior rumored to be the prophesied king. Ragnvald pledges his sword to King Harald, a choice that will hold enormous consequence in the years to come.
Harper | 9780062563699
HAPPINESS: A Memoir: The Crooked Little Road to Semi-Ever After by Heather Harpham (Memoir)
HAPPINESS begins with a charming courtship between hopelessly attracted opposites: Heather, a world-roaming California girl, and Brian, an intellectual, homebody writer. Their magical interlude ends when Heather becomes pregnant; Brian is sure he loves her, but he doesn't want kids. Heather returns to California to deliver their daughter alone, buoyed by family and friends. Mere hours after Gracie's arrival, Heather's bliss is interrupted when a nurse wakes her: "Get dressed, your baby is in trouble.” Brian reappears as Gracie's condition grows dire. Together Heather and Brian have to decide what they are willing to risk to ensure their girl sees adulthood.
Henry Holt and Co. | 9781250131560
HOLDING by Graham Norton (Mystery)
The remote Irish village of Duneen has known little drama, but when human remains are discovered on an old farm, suspected to be that of Tommy Burke --- a former lover of two different inhabitants --- the village’s dark past begins to unravel. As the frustrated sergeant PJ Collins struggles to solve a genuine case for the first time in his life, he unearths a community’s worth of anger and resentments, secrets and regret.
Atria Books | 9781501173264
THE HOT ONE: A Memoir of Friendship, Sex, and Murder by Carolyn Murnick (Memoir)
As girls growing up in rural New Jersey in the late 1980s, Ashley and Carolyn had everything in common. Only when the girls attended different high schools did they begin to grow apart. After high school, Carolyn entered college in New York City and Ashley ended up in Los Angeles, where she quit school to work as a stripper and an escort. The last time Ashley visited New York, Carolyn was shocked by how the two friends had grown apart. One year later, Ashley was stabbed to death in her Hollywood home. The man who may have murdered Ashley --- an alleged serial killer --- now faces trial in Los Angeles. Carolyn Murnick traveled across the country to cover the case and learn more about her magnetic and tragic friend.
Simon & Schuster | 9781451625813
THE ICE-CREAM MAKERS by Ernest van der Kwast (Fiction)
As the heir to a proud Northern Italian ice-cream dynasty, Giovanni Calamine’s family is none too happy when he decides to break with tradition and travel the world as a notable poet. So when Giovanni receives an unexpected call from his brother, he is faced with a difficult decision: return home to serve in his family’s interests or continue on his own path in life once and for all.
Atria / 37 INK | 9781501159398
IT'S NOT YET DARK: A Memoir by Simon Fitzmaurice (Memoir)
In 2008, Simon Fitzmaurice was diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was given four years to live. In 2010, in a state of lung-function collapse, Simon knew with crystal clarity that now was not his time to die. Against all prevailing medical opinion, he chose to ventilate in order to stay alive. In IT’S NOT YET DARK, the young filmmaker, a husband and father of five small children, draws us deeply into his inner world. It is an astonishing journey into a life that, though brutally compromised, is lived more fully than most, revealing at its core the potent power love has to carry us through the days.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt | 9781328916716
LIGHTS ON, RATS OUT: A Memoir by Cree LeFavour (Memoir)
As a young college graduate a year into treatment with a psychiatrist, Cree LeFavour began to organize her days around the cruel, compulsive logic of self-harm: with each newly lit cigarette, the world would drop away as her focus narrowed on the blooming release of pleasure-pain as the burning tip was applied to an unblemished patch of skin. Her body was a canvas of cruelty; each scar a mark of pride and shame. LIGHTS ON, RATS OUT brings us closely into these years. We see the world as Cree did --- turned upside down, the richness of life muted and dulled, its pleasures perverted. The heady thrill of meeting with her psychiatrist, Dr. Adam N. Kohl, comes to be the only bright spot in her days.
Grove Press | 9780802125965
MORNINGSTAR: Growing Up With Books by Ann Hood (Memoir/Essays)
Growing up in a mill town in Rhode Island, in a household that didn’t foster a love of literature, Ann Hood discovered nonetheless the transformative power of books. She learned to channel her imagination, ambitions and curiosity by devouring ever-growing stacks. In MORNINGSTAR, Hood recollects how THE BELL JAR, MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, THE HARRAD EXPERIMENT and THE OUTSIDERS influenced her teen psyche and introduced her to topics that could not be discussed at home. Later, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN and THE GRAPES OF WRATH dramatically influenced her political thinking, while the Vietnam War and the Kent State shootings became headline news.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393254815
MOTHEREST by Kristen Iskandrian (Fiction)
It's the early 1990s, and Agnes is running out of people she can count on. A new college student, she is caught between the broken home she leaves behind and the wilderness of campus life. What she needs most is her mother, who has seemingly disappeared, and her brother, who left the family tragically a few years prior. As Agnes falls into a new romance, mines female friendships for intimacy, and struggles to find her footing, she writes letters to her mother, both to conjure a closeness they never had and to try to translate her experiences to herself. When she finds out she is pregnant, Agnes begins to contend with what it means to be a mother and, in some ways, what it means to be your own mother.
Twelve | 9781455594443
MRS. FLETCHER by Tom Perrotta (Fiction)
A 46-year-old divorcee whose beloved only child has just left for college, Eve Fletcher is struggling to adjust to her empty nest when one night her phone lights up with a text message. Sent from an anonymous number, the mysterious sender tells Eve, “U R my MILF!” Over the months that follow, that message comes to obsess Eve, who can’t curtail her interest in MILFateria.com, which features the erotic exploits of ordinary, middle-aged women like herself. Meanwhile, Eve’s son Brendan discovers that his new campus isn’t nearly as welcoming to his hard-partying lifestyle as he had imagined. Both mother and son find themselves enmeshed in morally fraught situations that come to a head on one fateful November night.
Scribner | 9781501144028
NEW PEOPLE by Danzy Senna (Fiction)
Maria and her college sweetheart, Khalil, are planning their wedding. They live together in a black bohemian enclave in Brooklyn, where Khalil is riding the wave of the first dot-com boom and Maria is plugging away at her dissertation, on the Jonestown massacre. They've even landed a starring role in a documentary about "new people" like them, who are blurring the old boundaries as a brave new era dawns. Everything Maria knows she should want lies before her --- yet she can't stop daydreaming about another man, a poet she barely knows. As fantasy escalates to fixation, it dredges up secrets from the past and threatens to unravel not only Maria's perfect new life but her very persona.
Riverhead Books | 9781594487095
NOTHING STAYS BURIED: A Monkeewrench Novel by PJ Tracy (Mystery/Thriller)
When Minneapolis homicide detectives Leo Magozzi and Gino Rolseth are called to a crime scene in a heavily wooded city park, everything about the setting is all too familiar. And when they discover a playing card on the victim's body, their worst fears are confirmed --- there’s a serial killer operating in the city for the first time in years. Weary of the darker side of their computer work for law enforcement, Grace MacBride and her unconventional partners at Monkeewrench Software agree to take on a private missing-persons case in a small farming community in southwestern Minnesota. As the violence accelerates in Minneapolis, Magozzi and Gino soon realize their killer is planning to complete the deck, and they enlist Monkeewrench to help stop the rampage.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735212459
ON HER MAJESTY'S FRIGHTFULLY SECRET SERVICE: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
When royal sleuth Georgie Rannoch receives a letter from her dearest friend Belinda, who’s awaiting the birth of her illegitimate baby, she yearns to run to her side. If only she could find a way to get there! But then opportunity presents itself in a most unexpected way --- her cousin the queen asks her to attend a house party in the Italian Lake Country. The Prince of Wales AND the dreadful Mrs. Simpson have been invited, and Her Majesty is anxious to thwart a possible secret wedding. What luck! A chance to see Belinda, even if it is under the guise of stopping unwanted nuptials. Only that’s as far as Georgie’s fortune takes her. She soon discovers that she attended finishing school with the hostess of the party --- and the hatred they had for each other then has barely dimmed.
Berkley | 9780425283509
THE READYMADE THIEF by Augustus Rose (Thriller)
Betrayed by her family after taking the fall for a friend, Lee finds refuge in a cooperative of runaways holed up in an abandoned building they call the Crystal Castle. But the façade of the Castle conceals a far more sinister agenda, one hatched by a society of fanatical men set on decoding a series of powerful secrets hidden in plain sight. And they believe Lee holds the key to it all. Aided by Tomi, a young hacker and artist with whom she has struck a wary alliance, Lee escapes into the unmapped corners of the city. But the deeper she goes underground, the more tightly she finds herself bound in the strange web she’s trying to elude. Desperate and out of options, Lee steps from the shadows to face who is after her --- and why.
Viking | 9780735221833
SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE by Sarah Schmidt (Psychological Thriller)
The brutal ax-murder of Andrew and Abby Borden leaves little evidence and many unanswered questions. While neighbors struggle to understand why anyone would want to harm the respected Bordens, those close to the family have a different tale to tell --- of a father with an explosive temper; a spiteful stepmother; and two spinster sisters, with a bond even stronger than blood, desperate for their independence. As the police search for clues, Emma comforts an increasingly distraught Lizzie, whose memories of that morning flash in scattered fragments. Shifting among the perspectives of the unreliable Lizzie, her older sister Emma, the housemaid Bridget, and the enigmatic stranger Benjamin, the events of that fateful day are slowly revealed.
Atlantic Monthly Press | 9780802126597
THE SEVENTH FUNCTION OF LANGUAGE written by Laurent Binet, translated by Sam Taylor (Mystery/Satire)
Laurent Binet spins a madcap secret history of the French intelligentsia, starring such luminaries as Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Gilles Deleuze, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler and Julia Kristeva --- as well as the hapless police detective Jacques Bayard, whose new case will plunge him into the depths of literary theory (starting with the French version of Roland Barthes for Dummies). Soon Bayard finds himself in search of a lost manuscript by the linguist Roman Jakobson on the mysterious “seventh function of language.”
Farrar, Straus and Giroux | 9780374261566
SHADOW OF THE LIONS by Christopher Swann (Mystery/Thriller)
In the middle of his senior year at the Blackburne School in Virginia, Matthias Glass’ roommate and best friend Fritz Davenport runs off into the woods after the two boys have an argument --- and vanishes without a trace. Ever since, Matthias has felt responsible, thinking that their fight led to Fritz’s disappearance. A decade later, after an early triumph with his first novel, Matthias realizes he has stalled out and become a failure as a writer, a boyfriend, a man. So when he is offered a job at Blackburne as an English teacher, he sees it as a chance to put his life back together. But once on campus, Matthias gets swiftly drawn into the past and is driven to find out what happened to Fritz.
Algonquin Books | 9781616205003
YESTERDAY by Felicia Yap (Science Fiction/Thriller)
Imagine a world in which classes are divided not by wealth or religion but by how much each group can remember. Monos, the majority, have only one day's worth of memory; elite Duos have two. In this stratified society, where Monos are excluded from holding high office and demanding jobs, Claire and Mark are a rare mixed marriage, a shining example of a new vision of tolerance and equality. Until a beautiful woman is found dead. The woman is Mark's mistress, and he is the prime suspect in her murder. The detective investigating the case has secrets of his own. So did the victim. And when both the investigator's and the suspect's memories are constantly erased, how can anyone learn the truth?
Mulholland Books | 9780316465250
On Sale the Week of July 31st in Paperback
August 1st
THE BOOK THAT MATTERS MOST by Ann Hood (Fiction)
Ava’s 25-year marriage has fallen apart, and her two grown children are pursuing their own lives outside of the country. Ava joins a book group, not only for her love of reading but also out of sheer desperation for companionship. The group’s goal throughout the year is for each member to present the book that matters most to them. Ava rediscovers a mysterious book from her childhood --- one that helped her through the traumas of the untimely deaths of her sister and mother. Alternating with Ava’s story is that of her troubled daughter Maggie, who, living in Paris, descends into a destructive relationship with an older man. Ava’s mission to find that book and its enigmatic author takes her on a quest that unravels the secrets of her past and offers her and Maggie the chance to remake their lives.
W. W. Norton & Company | 9780393354096
BRAVE DEEDS by David Abrams (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Spanning eight hours, BRAVE DEEDS follows a squad of six AWOL soldiers as they attempt to cross war-torn Baghdad on foot to attend the funeral of their leader, Staff Sergeant Rafe Morgan. As the men make their way to the funeral, they recall the most ancient of warriors yet are a microcosm of 21st-century America, and subject to the same human flaws as all of us. Drew is reliable in the field but unfaithful at home; Cheever, overweight and whining, is a friend to no one --- least of all himself; and platoon commander Dmitri “Arrow” Arogapoulos is stalwart, yet troubled with questions about his own identity and sexuality.
Black Cat | 9780802126863
BROOKLYN WARS: An Erica Donato Mystery by Triss Stein (Mystery)
Paperback Original
A public meeting becomes a battleground over plans to redevelop the once-proud Brooklyn Navy Yard. Local residents clamor for their own agenda in redeveloping 300 acres overlooking a sparkling downtown Manhattan, while business and real estate experts argue and city officials cower. Erica Donato witnesses the shocking murder of a power-broker that night on the Yard's condemned Admirals' Row. She uncovers the dead man's complicated history with the Yard, his road to wealth and a high-flyer lifestyle. When her daughter, Chris, visits her father's relatives for a family history project, Erica learns that the Donato clan was involved in the Navy Yard's glory days and its slow, politics-ridden death.
Poisoned Pen Press | 9781464207198
THE COTTINGLEY SECRET by Hazel Gaynor (Fiction)
Paperback Original
1917. Two young cousins, Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright, claim to have photographed fairies at the bottom of the garden. When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle becomes convinced of the photographs’ authenticity, the girls become a national sensation. Frances and Elsie will hide their secret for many decades, but Frances longs for the truth to be told. One hundred years later. When Olivia Kavanagh finds an old manuscript in her late grandfather’s bookshop, she becomes fascinated by the story it tells of two young girls who mystified the world. But it is the discovery of an old photograph that leads her to realize how the fairy girls’ lives intertwine with hers, blurring her understanding of what is real and what is imagined.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062499844
CROSSTALK by Connie Willis (Science Fiction/Romance)
In the not-too-distant future, a simple outpatient procedure to increase empathy between romantic partners has become all the rage. And Briddey Flannigan is delighted when her boyfriend, Trent, suggests undergoing the operation prior to a marriage proposal --- to enjoy better emotional connection and a perfect relationship with complete communication and understanding. But things don’t quite work out as planned, and Briddey finds herself connected to someone else entirely --- in a way far beyond what she signed up for. As things go from bad to worse, she begins to see the dark side of too much information, and to realize that love --- and communication --- are far more complicated than she ever imagined.
Del Rey | 9780345540690
CROWNED AND DANGEROUS: A Royal Spyness Mystery by Rhys Bowen (Historical Mystery)
Nothing is simple when you’re 35th in line for the British crown, least of all marriage. But with love on their side and plans to elope, Lady Georgiana Rannoch and her beau, Darcy O’Mara, hope to bypass a few royal rules. Throwing their cares to the wind, nothing could deter them from their mission --- except the news that Georgie’s future father-in-law has just been arrested for the murder of a wealthy American. With the elopement postponed, they head for Ireland where Darcy’s father insists he’s innocent, and it’s up to Georgie and Darcy to prove it --- for better or worse.
Berkley | 9780425283493
DAMAGED by Lisa Scottoline (Legal Thriller)
Ten-year-old Patrick O'Brien is a natural target at school. Shy, dyslexic and small for his age, he tries to hide his first-grade reading level from everyone. But the real trouble begins when Patrick is accused of attacking a school aide. The aide promptly quits and sues the boy, his family and the school district. Patrick's grandfather turns to the law firm of Rosato & DiNunzio for help, and Mary DiNunzio is on the case. Soon Mary becomes Patrick's true champion and his only hope for security and justice. But there is more to the story than meets the eye, and Patrick might be more troubled than he seems.
St. Martin’s Griffin | 9781250099648
THE DREAM LIFE OF ASTRONAUTS: Stories by Patrick Ryan (Fiction/Short Stories)
A would-be Miss America auditions for a shady local talent scout over vodka and Sunny D; a NASA engineer begins to wonder if the woman he’s having an affair with is slowly poisoning her husband; a Boy Scout troop leader, recovering from a stroke, tries to protect one of his scouts from being bullied by his own sons; a grandmother, sentenced to driver’s ed after a traffic accident, surprises herself by falling for her instructor. THE DREAM LIFE OF ASTRONAUTS balances heartbreak with wry humor as its characters try to make sense of the paths they find themselves on.
Dial Press Trade Paperback | 9780385341394
THE DYING GAME by Asa Avdic (Dystopian/Psychological Suspense)
Paperback Original
The year is 2037. The Soviet Union never fell, and much of Europe has been consolidated under the totalitarian Union of Friendship. On the tiny island of Isola, seven people have been selected to compete in a 48-hour test for a top-secret intelligence position. One of them is Anna Francis, a workaholic bureaucrat with a nine-year-old daughter she rarely sees and a secret that haunts her. Her assignment: to stage her own death and then to observe, from her hiding place inside the walls of the house, how the six other candidates react to the news that a murderer is among them. Who will take control? Who will crack under pressure? But then a storm rolls in, the power goes out, and the real game begins.
Penguin Books | 9780143131793
ECHOES IN DEATH by J. D. Robb (Mystery/Thriller)
As Lt. Eve Dallas and her billionaire husband Roarke are driving home, a young woman suddenly stumbles out in front of their car. Daphne Strazza is rushed to the ER, but it’s too late for her husband, Dr. Anthony Strazza. A brilliant orthopedic surgeon, he now lies dead amid the wreckage of his obsessively organized town house, his three safes opened and emptied. Daphne would be a valuable witness, but the only description of the perp she can offer is repeatedly calling him “the devil.” While it emerges that Dr. Strazza was cold, controlling and widely disliked, this is one case where the evidence doesn’t point to the spouse. What does the devil look like? And where will he show up next?
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250123138
FAITHFUL by Alice Hoffman (Fiction)
Shelby Richmond is an ordinary girl until one night an extraordinary tragedy changes her fate. Her best friend’s future is destroyed in an accident, while Shelby walks away with the burden of guilt. What happens when a life is turned inside out? When love is something so distant it may as well be a star in the sky? A fan of Chinese food, dogs, bookstores, and men she should stay away from, Shelby has to fight her way back to her own future. In New York City she finds a circle of lost and found souls --- including an angel who’s been watching over her ever since that fateful icy night.
Simon & Schuster | 9781476799223
FALSE FRIEND by Andrew Grant (Mystery/Thriller)
An arsonist is targeting schools in Birmingham, Alabama, with devastating effect. Detective Cooper Devereaux --- a man you can’t quite trust and should never ignore --- must put a stop to the elusive pyromaniac’s reign of terror before more damage is done. Or worse, before students’ lives are lost. But as Devereaux sifts through the ashes of the case, a grisly discovery at a burned-out school sends the investigation spiraling in a new, terrifying direction. The detective and his partner are dragged into a nightmare world by revelations of gruesome rituals, the disappearance of local citizens, and allegations against city officials of shocking crimes that stretch back decades.
Ballantine Books | 9780399594328
THE HERO’S BODY: A Memoir by William Giraldi (Memoir)
At just 47 years old, William Giraldi’s father was killed in a horrific motorcycle crash while racing on a country road. This tragedy, which forever altered the young Giraldi and devastated his family, provides the pulse for THE HERO’S BODY. In the tradition of Andre Dubus III’s TOWNIE, this is a deep-seeing investigation into two generations of men from the working-class town of Manville, New Jersey, including Giraldi’s own forays into obsessive bodybuilding as a teenager desperate to be worthy of his family’s pitiless, exacting codes of manhood.
Liveright | 9781631492938
HOW I BECAME A NORTH KOREAN by Krys Lee (Fiction)
Yongju is an accomplished student from one of North Korea's most prominent families. Jangmi, on the other hand, has had to fend for herself since childhood, most recently by smuggling goods across the border. Then there is Danny, a Chinese-American teenager whose quirks and precocious intelligence have long made him an outcast in his California high school. These three disparate lives converge when they flee their homes, finding themselves in a small Chinese town just across the river from North Korea. But will they find their way to the better lives they risked everything for?
Penguin Books | 9780143110507
THE IMPERIAL WIFE by Irina Reyn (Fiction)
Tanya Kagan, a rising specialist in Russian art at a top New York auction house, is trying to entice Russia's wealthy oligarchs to bid on the biggest sale of her career, The Order of Saint Catherine, while making sense of the sudden and unexplained departure of her husband. As questions arise over the provenance of the Order and auction fever kicks in, author Irina Reyn takes us into the world of Catherine the Great, the infamous 18th-century empress who may have owned the priceless artifact and who, it turns out, faced many of the same issues Tanya wrestles with in her own life.
Picador | 9781250130075
I’M SUPPOSED TO PROTECT YOU FROM ALL THIS: A Memoir by Nadja Spiegelman (Memoir)
For a long time, Nadja Spiegelman believed her mother was a fairy. More than her famous father, Maus creator Art Spiegelman, and even more than most mothers, hers --- French-born New Yorker art director Françoise Mouly --- exerted a force over reality that was both dazzling and daunting. As Nadja’s body changed, their relationship grew tense. Unwittingly, they were replaying a drama from her mother’s past, a drama Nadja sensed but had never been told. Then, after college, her mother suddenly opened up to her. Françoise recounted her turbulent adolescence caught between a volatile mother and a playboy father. The weight of the difficult stories she told her daughter shifted the balance between them.
Riverhead Books | 9780399573071
INCARCERATION NATIONS: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World by Baz Dreisinger (Social Science/Penology)
Beginning in Africa and ending in Europe, INCARCERATION NATIONS is a first-person odyssey through the prison systems of the world. Professor, journalist and founder of the Prison-to-College-Pipeline, Baz Dreisinger looks into the human stories of incarcerated men and women and those who imprison them, creating a jarring, poignant view of a world to which most are denied access, and a rethinking of one of America’s most far-reaching global exports: the modern prison complex.
Other Press | 9781590518991
LEONA: THE DIE IS CAST by Jenny Rogneby (Hard-boiled Thriller)
Paperback Original
Naked and bloody, a seven-year-old girl walks into a bank in central Stockholm in broad daylight and gets away with millions. Leona Lindberg of Stockholm's Violent Crimes Division agrees to work on the case. With a long, distinguished history in the police force, she seems to be the perfect choice. But Leona is grappling with deep issues of her own --- a gambling addiction, a strained marriage --- that could jeopardize the investigation. As she struggles to keep the volatile pieces of her life under control, the line between right and wrong becomes increasingly unclear --- and even irrelevant.
Other Press | 9781590518823
LITTLE BOY LOST by J. D. Trafford (Thriller)
Paperback Original
When eight-year-old Tanisha Walker offers attorney Justin Glass a jar full of change to find her missing brother, he doesn’t have the heart to turn her away. Justin had hoped to find the boy alive and well. But all that was found of Devon Walker was his brutally murdered body --- and the bodies of 12 other African American teenagers, all discarded like trash in a mass grave. Each had been reported missing. And none had been investigated. As simmering racial tensions explode into violence, Justin finds himself caught in the tide. And as he gives voice to the discontent plaguing the city’s forgotten and ignored, he vows to search for the killer who preys upon them.
Thomas & Mercer | 9781503943940
LONER by Teddy Wayne (Fiction)
David Federman has never felt appreciated. An academically gifted yet painfully forgettable member of his New Jersey high school class, the withdrawn, mild-mannered freshman arrives at Harvard fully expecting to be embraced by a new tribe of high-achieving peers. Initially, however, his social prospects seem unlikely to change, sentencing him to a lifetime of anonymity. Then he meets Veronica Morgan Wells and becomes instantly infatuated. Determined to win her attention and an invite into her glamorous world, he begins compromising his moral standards for this one, great shot at happiness. But both Veronica and David, it turns out, are not exactly as they seem.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501107900
MONSTERS: A Love Story by Liz Kay (Romantic Comedy)
When Stacey Lane writes a feminist take on FRANKENSTEIN, she never imagines it will catch the eye of unbelievably sexy Hollywood star Tommy DeMarco. Tommy’s passion for her book --- and for her, a recently widowed poet, mom and certified mess --- threatens to turn her life upside down, or maybe right-side up. From their first poolside meeting, the two are set on a collision course as they go about making the book into a movie, making each other crazy, and making love, if only in secret.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9781101982495
MRS. SAINT AND THE DEFECTIVES by Julie Lawson Timmer (Fiction)
Paperback Original
Markie, who has suffered a humiliating and very public fall from marital, financial and professional grace, moves, along with her teenage son, Jesse, to a new town. But Markie and Jesse are unable to escape the attention of their new neighbor Mrs. Saint, who takes it upon herself --- along with her ragtag group of “defectives” --- to identify and fix the flaws in those around her. Soon, the quirky yet endearing woman recruits Markie to join her eccentric community, a world where both hidden truths and hope unite them. But when Mrs. Saint’s own secrets threaten to unravel their fragile web of healing, it’s up to Markie to mend these wounds and usher in a new era for the “defectives” --- one full of second chances and happiness.
Lake Union Publishing | 9781477819968
PEARL HARBOR: From Infamy to Greatness by Craig Nelson (History)
The America we live in today was born, not on July 4, 1776, but on December 7, 1941, when an armada of 354 Japanese warplanes supported by aircraft carriers, destroyers and midget submarines suddenly and savagely attacked the United States, killing 2,403 men --- and forced America’s entry into World War II. PEARL HARBOR follows, moment by moment, the sailors, soldiers, pilots, diplomats, admirals, generals, emperor and president as they engineer, fight and react to this stunningly dramatic moment in world history.
Scribner | 9781451660500
POISONOUS by Allison Brennan (Thriller)
Teenaged Internet bully Ivy Lake fell off a cliff, and few people cared. After a year, the police still have no answers. With too many suspects and not enough evidence, the investigation has grown cold. At the request of Ivy's mentally challenged 18-year-old stepbrother, Tommy, Maxine Revere takes the case. But the more Max learns about Tommy and his dysfunctional family, the more she thinks she’s taken on an impossible task: this may be the one case she can’t solve.
St. Martin’s Paperbacks | 9781250066855
PUSHING UP DAISIES: An Agatha Raisin Mystery by M. C. Beaton (Mystery)
When Agatha Raisin left behind her PR business in London, she fulfilled her dream of settling in the cozy British Cotswolds where she began a successful private detective agency. Unfortunately, Lord Bellington, a wealthy land developer, wants to turn the community garden into a housing estate. When Agatha and her friend, Sir Charles Fraith, attempt to convince Lord Bellington to abandon his plans, he scoffs: “Do you think I give a damn about those pesky villagers?” So when Agatha finds his obituary in the newspaper two weeks later, it’s no surprise that some in town are feeling celebratory.
Minotaur Books | 9781250057457
THE RIVER AT NIGHT by Erica Ferencik (Thriller)
Stifled by a soul-crushing job, devastated by the death of her beloved brother, and lonely after the end of a 15-year marriage, Winifred Allen reluctantly agrees to join her three best friends on a high-octane getaway for their annual girls’ trip. What starts out as an invigorating hiking and rafting excursion soon becomes an all-too-real nightmare. A freak accident leaves the women stranded, separating them from their raft and everything they need to survive. A fire on the mountainside lures them to a ramshackle camp that appears to be their lifeline. But as Wini and her friends grasp the true intent of their supposed saviors, long-buried secrets emerge and lifelong allegiances are put to the test.
Gallery/Scout Press | 9781501143205
TWO BY TWO by Nicholas Sparks (Fiction)
Russell Green has it all: a stunning wife, a lovable six-year-old daughter, a successful career and an expansive home. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear...and no one is more surprised than Russ when he finds every aspect of the life he took for granted turned upside down. In a matter of months, Russ finds himself without a job or wife, caring for his young daughter while struggling to adapt to a new and baffling reality. Throwing himself into the wilderness of single parenting, Russ embarks on a journey at once terrifying and rewarding --- one that will test his abilities and his emotional resources beyond anything he ever imagined.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455520688
THE VATICAN PRINCESS: A Novel of Lucrezia Borgia by C. W. Gortner (Historical Fiction)
Glamorous and predatory, the Borgias fascinated and terrorized 15th-century Renaissance Italy, and Lucrezia Borgia, beloved daughter of the pope, was at the center of the dynasty’s ambitions. Slandered as a heartless seductress who lured men to their doom, was she in fact the villainess of legend, or was she trapped in a familial web, forced to choose between loyalty and survival? THE VATICAN PRINCESS is the first novel to describe Lucrezia’s coming-of-age in her own voice.
Ballantine Books | 9780345533999
WAR PORN by Roy Scranton (Fiction)
In WAR PORN, three lives fit inside one another like nesting dolls: a restless young woman at an end-of-summer barbecue in Utah; an American soldier in occupied Baghdad; and Qasim al-Zabadi, an Iraqi math professor, who faces the US invasion of his country with fear, denial and perseverance. As the book cuts from America to Iraq and back again, as home and hell merge, we come to see America through the eyes of the occupied, even as we see Qasim become a prisoner of the occupation. Through the looking glass of WAR PORN, Roy Scranton reveals the fragile humanity that connects Americans and Iraqis, torturers and the tortured, victors and their victims.
Soho Press | 9781616958336
WARS OF THE ROSES: Bloodline by Conn Iggulden (Historical Fiction)
Winter, 1461: Richard, duke of York, is dead. King Henry VI is still held prisoner. His Lancastrian queen, Margaret of Anjou, rides south with an army of victorious northerners, accompanied by painted warriors from the Scottish Highlands. With the death of York, Margaret and her army seem unstoppable. Yet in killing the father, Margaret has unleashed the sons. Edward of March, now duke of York, proclaims himself England’s rightful king. Factions form and tear apart as snow falls. Through blood and treason, through broken men and vengeful women, brother shall confront brother, king shall face king. Two men can always claim a crown --- but only one can keep it.
G.P. Putnam’s Sons | 9780399184185
WATCHING EDIE by Camilla Way (Psychological Suspense)
Edie was the kind of girl who immediately caused a stir when she walked into your life. Now, at 33, she is working as a waitress, pregnant and alone. When she becomes overwhelmed by the needs of her new baby and sinks into a bleak despair, she thinks that there’s no one to turn to. But someone has been watching Edie, waiting for the chance to prove once again what a perfect friend she can be. It’s no coincidence that Heather shows up on Edie’s doorstep, just when Edie needs her the most. Edie is about to learn a new lesson: Those who have hurt us deeply --- or who we have hurt --- never let us go, not entirely.
Berkley | 9781101991657
On Sale the Week of August 7th in Hardcover
August 8th
ALL IS BEAUTY NOW by Sarah Faber (Historical Fiction)
A glamorous family prepares to leave the seeming paradise of Brazil for Canada in the wake of the presumed drowning of their eldest daughter a year earlier. We meet the family's brilliant and charismatic father, whose bipolar extremes are becoming increasingly disturbing; his long-suffering wife, who once had a brief affair that proves to have shattering consequences for the family she swore to protect; their two remaining daughters, both on the brink of understanding the darker currents that run in their once-proud family; and the lost daughter herself, a beautiful young woman undone by her own grand delusions.
Little, Brown and Company | 9780316394963
THE AMBER SHADOWS by Lucy Ribchester (Historical Mystery)
As World War II rages on, Honey Deschamps tediously transcribes decrypted signals from the German Army, doing her part to assist the British war effort. Halfway across the world, Hitler’s armies are marching into Leningrad, leaving a trail of destruction and pillaging the country’s most treasured artworks, including the famous Amber Room. As reports begin filtering into Bletchley Park about the stolen loot, Honey receives a mysterious package postmarked from Russia. Inside is a small piece of amber, and it is just the first of several such packages. When she examines them together, she realizes that someone, relying on her abilities to unravel codes, is trying to tell her something.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774480
AMONG THE DEAD: A Rachel Carver Mystery by J .R. Backlund (Mystery)
Former North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent Rachel Carver blames herself for the collateral death of an innocent woman in her last case. Unable to accept her superior’s attempts to cover up the incident, she turned in her badge. But when a former partner asks her to lead a group of inexperienced detectives on a hunt for the killer, she reluctantly agrees. The trek has hardly begun when what seems to be the act of a loner proves to be much more as Rachel's team comes under attack --- and a detective is killed in the fallout. Just as she delves into the town’s past, Rachel discovers a secret history that connects the victims --- one that makes her the target of a man who would kill to keep it a secret.
Crooked Lane Books | 9781683312734
ANY DREAM WILL DO by Debbie Macomber (Fiction)
Shay Benson adored her younger brother, Caden, and that got her into trouble. Pastor Drew Douglas adored his wife. But when he lost her, it was all he could do to focus on his two beautiful kids, and his flock came in a distant third. Shay and Drew meet in church one day and strike up a friendship that, over time, turns into something deeper and possibly romantic. Shay learns to trust again as she, in turn, proves herself trustworthy to her adopted community. But Caden’s return to town and a disastrous secret threaten to undo the life Shay has tried so hard to rebuild. It will take the utmost courage and faith if she and Drew hope to find healing and open their hearts to a brighter future.
Ballantine Books | 9780399181191
BARELY LEGAL: A Herbie Fisher Novel Featuring Stone Barrington by Stuart Woods and Parnell Hall (Thriller/Adventure)
Under the tutelage of Stone Barrington, Herbie Fisher has transformed from a bumbling sad sack into a capable man about town and the youngest partner at the white shoe law firm Woodman & Weld. Now all of his training will be put to the test as he finds himself embroiled in his most daring adventure to date.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735217232
BIBLIOMYSTERIES: Stories of Crime in the World of Books and Bookstores edited by Otto Penzler (Mystery/Short Stories)
If you open your dictionary, you will discover that there is no such word as “bibliomystery.” However, most mystery readers know that the word refers to a mystery story that involves the world of books: a bookshop, a rare volume, a library, a collector or a bookseller. The stories in this unique collection were commissioned by the Mysterious Bookshop and were written by some of the mystery genre’s most distinguished authors --- tough guys like Ken Bruen, Reed Farrel Coleman, Loren D. Estleman, and Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins; bestsellers like Nelson DeMille, Anne Perry and Jeffery Deaver; and Edgar winners such as C. J. Box, Thomas H. Cook and Laura Lippman.
Pegasus Books | 9781681774589
THE COLOR OF FEAR: A Sharon McCone Mystery by Marcia Muller (Mystery)
Sharon McCone learns that her father has been the victim of a vicious, racially motivated attack. A nationally recognized Shoshone artist, Elwood had been visiting Sharon for the holidays, browsing for gifts in San Francisco's exclusive Marina district when he was set upon by a mob of angry young men. Now he lies in a coma, hovering between life and death. With little progress on the investigation from the overworked, short-handed police, Sharon resolves to track down Elwood's attackers herself. But when she begins receiving hate-filled, racist threats from a shadowy group, it becomes clear that her pursuit of justice may be putting her own life in jeopardy.
Grand Central Publishing | 9781455538928
THE DRIVER by Hart Hanson (Thriller)
Michael Skellig is a limo driver waiting for his client in the alley behind an upscale hotel. Suddenly the wind begins to speak to Skellig in the guttural accent of the Chechen torturer he shot through the eye in Yemen a decade ago: Troubletroubletrouble. Skellig has heard these warnings before --- he’s an Army Special Forces sergeant whose limo company is staffed by a ragtag band of wounded veterans. He runs inside just in time to save Avila from two gunmen but too late for one of Avila’s bodyguards --- and wakes up hours later in the hospital, the only person of interest in custody for the murder. Avila is willing to help clear Skellig’s name under one peculiar condition: that Skellig become Avila’s personal chauffeur.
Dutton | 9781101986363
EMMA IN THE NIGHT by Wendy Walker (Psychological Thriller)
One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: 15-year-old Cass and 17-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family, Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.
St. Martin's Press | 9781250141439
THE GOOD DAUGHTER by Karin Slaughter (Psychological Thriller)
Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn's happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead and their father, Pikeville's notorious defense attorney, devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night. Twenty-eight years later, Charlie has followed in her father's footsteps to become a lawyer herself. But when violence comes to Pikeville again --- and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized --- Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. The shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly 30 years ago won't stay buried forever.
William Morrow | 9780062430243
THE GREAT QUAKE: How the Biggest Earthquake in North America Changed Our Understanding of the Planet by Henry Fountain (History)
At 5:36pm on March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2. earthquake --- the second most powerful in world history --- struck the young state of Alaska. The violent shaking, followed by massive tsunamis, devastated the southern half of the state and killed more than 130 people. A day later, George Plafker, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, arrived to investigate. His fascinating scientific detective work in the months that followed helped confirm the then-controversial theory of plate tectonics. With deep, on-the-ground reporting from Alaska, often in the company of George Plafker, Fountain shows how the earthquake left its mark on the land and its people --- and on science.
Crown | 9781101904060
THE LAST TUDOR by Philippa Gregory (Historical Fiction)
Seventeen-year-old Jane Grey was queen of England for nine days. Her father and his allies crowned her instead of the dead king’s half-sister Mary Tudor, who quickly mustered an army, claimed her throne, and locked Jane in the Tower of London. When Jane refused to betray her Protestant faith, Mary sent her to the executioner’s block, where Jane transformed her father’s greedy power-grab into tragic martyrdom. Meanwhile, Jane’s sister, Katherine, faces imprisonment in the Tower when her pregnancy betrays her secret marriage. What will happen when the youngest Grey sister, Mary --- the last Tudor --- defies her ruthless and unforgiving cousin Queen Elizabeth?
Touchstone | 9781476758763
THE LOCALS by Jonathan Dee (Fiction)
Mark Firth is a contractor and home restorer in Howland, Massachusetts, who feels opportunity passing his family by. After being swindled by a financial advisor, what future can Mark promise his wife and their young daughter? He finds himself envying the wealthy weekenders in his community whose houses sit empty all winter. Philip Hadi used to be one of these people. But in the nervous days after 9/11, he flees New York and hires Mark to turn his Howland home into a year-round “secure location” from which he can manage billions of dollars of other people’s money. The collision of these two men’s very different worlds --- rural vs. urban, middle class vs. wealthy --- is the engine of Jonathan Dee’s new novel.
Random House | 9780812993226
THE MISFORTUNE OF MARION PALM by Emily Culliton (Fiction)
Marion Palm prefers not to think of herself as a thief but rather "a woman who embezzles." Over the years she has managed to steal $180,000 from her daughters' private school, money that has paid for European vacations, a Sub-Zero refrigerator, and perpetually unused state-of-the-art exercise equipment. But now, when the school faces an audit, Marion pulls piles of rubber-banded cash from their basement hiding places and flees, leaving her family to grapple with the baffled detectives, the irate school board, and the mother-shaped hole in their house.
Knopf | 9781524731908
OF MESS AND MOXIE: Wrangling Delight Out of This Wild and Glorious Life by Jen Hatmaker (Humor/Relationships)
Jen Hatmaker --- beloved author, Big Sister Emeritus and Chief BFF --- offers another round of hilarious tales, frank honesty and hope for the woman who has forgotten her moxie. Whether discussing the grapple with change or the time she drove to the wrong city for a fourth-grade field trip, Jen parlays her own triumphs and tragedies into a sigh of relief for all normal, fierce women everywhere who, like her, sometimes hide in the car eating crackers but also want to get back up and get back out, to live undaunted “in the moment” no matter what the moments hold.
Thomas Nelson | 9780718031848
REBELLION by Molly Patterson (Fiction)
In 1900, Addie, an American missionary in China, goes missing during the Boxer Rebellion. Her sister Louisa anticipates tragedy, certain that Addie’s fate is intertwined with her own legacy of loss. In 1958, Louisa’s daughter Hazel has her world upended by the untimely death of her husband. Yet even while she learns to enjoy her independence, Hazel realizes that the tradeoff for some freedoms is more precious than expected. Nearly half a century later, Juanlan has returned to her parents’ home in Heng’an. Her father is ill, and her sister-in-law is soon to give birth. Frustrated by obligation and the smallness of her own dreams, Juanlan at last dares to follow desire, only to discover an anger that cannot be contained.
Harper | 9780062574046
RED LIGHT RUN: Linked Stories by Baird Harper (Fiction/Short Stories)
When two cars collide at an intersection in a leafy Chicago suburb, Hartley Nolan is not the person police expect to find behind the wheel. After all, he barely drinks; everyone knows it’s his wife who’s the alcoholic. But the bigger question on people’s minds is what brought Sonia Senn, dead at the scene, back to her hometown in such a hurry that night? In 11 tightly linked stories, RED LIGHT RUN pulls us into the inner lives of Hartley, Sonia and a host of other characters to untangle the mounting forces that carry them to their fates.
Scribner | 9781501147357
THE TALENTED RIBKINS by Ladee Hubbard (Fiction)
Johnny Ribkins has just one week to come up with the money he stole from his mobster boss or it’s curtains. What may or may not be useful to him as he flees is that he comes from an African-American family that has been gifted with very odd superpowers. In the old days, the Ribkins family tried to apply their gifts to the civil rights effort, calling themselves The Justice Committee. But when their superpowers proved insufficient, the group fell apart. Out of frustration, Johnny and his brother used their talents to stage a series of burglaries. Now Johnny is on a race against the clock to dig up loot he's stashed all over Florida, and he has an unexpected sidekick: his brother's daughter, Eloise, who has a special superpower of her own.
Melville House | 9781612196367
THE WALLS by Hollie Overton (Psychological Thriller)
Working on death row is far from Kristy Tucker's dream, but she is grateful for a job that allows her to support her son and ailing father. When she meets Lance Dobson, Kristy begins to imagine a different kind of future. After their wedding, though, she finds herself serving her own life sentence --- one of abuse and constant terror. But Kristy is a survivor, and as Lance's violence escalates, the inmates she's worked with have planted an idea she simply can't shake. Now she must decide whether she'll risk everything to protect her family.
Redhook | 9780316268769
On Sale the Week of August 7th in Paperback
August 8th
THE AWARD by Danielle Steel (Fiction)
In 1940, the year Gaëlle de Barbet turned 16, the German Army moved in to occupy France and issued an edict that made clear its position about Jews. By 1944, Gaëlle had lost her brother and father --- a member of the Resistance --- as well as her closest friend. Fueled by her loss, Gaëlle risks her own life to bring Jewish children to safety, and later to salvage France’s great works of art. While Gaëlle goes on to have a rich and fulfilling life in the years following, she speaks little of her wartime experience. Until 77 years later, when her granddaughter succeeds in getting her named as a recipient of the Legion of Honor Medal.
Dell | 9781101883877
THE BLACK KACHINA by Jack Getze (Thriller/Adventure)
Paperback Original
When a top-secret weapon goes missing on Colonel Maggie Black's watch, her honor and her career are on the line. But finding her experimental missile won't be easy --- thanks to the revenge-fueled ambitions of Asdrubal Torres, whose hallucinatory encounter with the Great Spirit challenges him to refill Lake Cahuilla, the ancient inland sea that once covered much of southern California. To fulfill his blessed mission, Torres needs wizardry and weaponry, and the Great Spirit provides both. It turns into a race against time for Maggie and Jordan, who together must stop Torres from destroying Hoover Dam --- and turning the Colorado River into a tsunami that would kill hundreds of thousands and wipe out the Southwest's water supply.
Down & Out Books | 9781943402694
CRUEL BEAUTIFUL WORLD by Caroline Leavitt (Historical Fiction)
Sixteen-year-old Lucy Gold is about to run away with a much older man to live off the grid in rural Pennsylvania, a rash act that will have vicious repercussions for both her and her older sister, Charlotte. As Lucy’s default parent for most of their lives, Charlotte has seen her youth marked by the burden of responsibility, but never more so than when Lucy’s dream of a rural paradise turns into a nightmare.
Algonquin Books | 9781616207373
THE GERMAN GIRL by Armando Lucas Correa (Fiction)
In 1939, barred from places that once felt like home and stripped of their possessions, Hannah Rosenthal and her best friend Leo Martin make a pact: Come what may, they promise to have a future together. A chance to have that future appears in the form of the St. Louis, a transatlantic liner that can supposedly provide Jews safe passage to Cuba. Seven decades later, Anna Rosen receives a package from Hannah, a great aunt she has never met. She and her mother travel to Havana to meet her, and learn the story of how Hannah and Leo honored the solemn pact they made.
Washington Square Press | 9781501121234
THE GIRL WITH THE LOWER BACK TATTOO by Amy Schumer (Humor/Essays)
In THE GIRL WITH THE LOWER BACK TATTOO, Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress and writer Amy Schumer mines her past for stories about her teenage years, her family, relationships and sex, and shares the experiences that have shaped who she is --- a woman with the courage to bare her soul to stand up for what she believes in, all while making us laugh. Ranging from the raucous to the romantic, the heartfelt to the harrowing, this highly entertaining and universally appealing collection is the literary equivalent of a night out with your best friend.
Gallery Books | 9781501139895
HOW TO PARTY WITH AN INFANT by Kaui Hart Hemmings (Fiction)
When Mele Bart told her boyfriend Bobby she was pregnant with his child, he revealed to her that he was engaged to someone else. Fast forward two years, Mele’s daughter is a toddler, and Bobby and his fiancée want Ellie to be the flower girl at their wedding. Mele, who also has agreed to attend the nuptials, knows she can’t continue obsessing about Bobby and his cheese-making, Napa-residing fiancée. So she answers a questionnaire provided by the San Francisco Mommy Club in elaborate and shocking detail and decides to enter their cookbook writing contest. As the wedding date approaches, Mele uses her fellow club members’ stories to both inspire recipes and find comfort.
Simon & Schuster | 9781501100826
KEEP ME POSTED by Lisa Beazley (Fiction)
The once-close Sunday sisters have not done a bang-up job of keeping in touch. Cassie is consumed with trying to make her life work as a Manhattan wife and mom to twin toddlers, while her bighearted sister, Sid, lives an expat’s life of leisure in far-off Singapore. So Sid, who shuns social media, challenges Cassie to reconnect through old-fashioned letters. Soon, the letters become a kind of mutual confessional that have real and soul-satisfying effects. They just might have the power to help Cassie save her marriage, and give Sid the strength to get her life back on track. But first, one of Cassie’s infamous lapses in judgment comes back to bite her, and all of the letters wind up in the one place you’d never, ever want to see them: the internet.
Berkley | 9781101989876
A LIFE IN PARTS by Bryan Cranston (Memoir)
In A LIFE IN PARTS, Bryan Cranston traces the many roles he inhabited throughout his remarkable life, both on and off screen. For the first time he shares the story of his early years as an actor on the soap opera “Loving,” his recurring spots on “Seinfeld” and his time as bumbling father Hal on “Malcolm in the Middle,” to his tour-de-force, Tony-winning performance as Lyndon Baines Johnson in Broadway’s “All the Way,” to his most iconic role of all: Walter White of “Breaking Bad” fame.
Scribner | 9781476793870
THE LUSTER OF LOST THINGS by Sophie Chen Keller (Magical Realism)
Paperback Original
Walter Lavender Jr. is a master of finding. A wearer of high-tops. A maker of croissants. A son keeping vigil, 12 years counting. But he wouldn’t be able to tell you. Silenced by his motor speech disorder, Walter’s life gets lonely. Fortunately, he has The Lavenders, his mother’s enchanted dessert shop, where marzipan dragons breathe actual fire. He also has a knack for tracking down any missing thing --- except for his lost father. So when the Book at the root of the bakery’s magic vanishes, Walter, accompanied by his overweight golden retriever, journeys through New York City to find it --- along the way encountering an unforgettable cast of lost souls.
G.P. Putnam's Sons | 9780735210783
PERFUME RIVER by Robert Olen Butler (Fiction)
Robert Quinlan is a 70-year-old historian, teaching at Florida State University, where his wife Darla is also tenured. Their marriage, forged in the fervor of anti-Vietnam War protests, now bears the fractures of time, both personal and historical. For Robert and Darla, the cracks remain under the surface, whereas the divisions in Robert’s own family are more apparent. He has almost no relationship with his brother, Jimmy. Their father, a veteran of WWII, is coming to the end of his life. And an unstable homeless man whom Robert at first takes to be a fellow Vietnam veteran turns out to have a deep impact not just on Robert, but on his entire family.
Grove Press | 9780802126955
THE QUIET CHILD by John Burley (Historical/Psychological Thriller)
Paperback Original
It's the summer of 1954, and the residents of Cottonwood, California are dying. At the center of it all is six-year-old Danny McCray, a strange and silent child who appears to bring ruin to those around him. Even his own mother is plagued by an illness that is slowly consuming her. Sheriff Jim Kent has watched the people of his town suffer, increasingly aware of the whispers and rumors surrounding the boy --- and he worries someone might take drastic action to protect their loved ones. Then a stranger arrives, and Danny and his 10-year-old brother Sean go missing. In the search that follows, everyone is a suspect, and the consequences of finding the two brothers may be worse than not finding them at all.
William Morrow Paperbacks | 9780062431851
THE REGULARS by Georgia Clark (Fiction)
Best friends Evie, Krista and Willow are just trying to make it through their mid-20s in New York. They’re regular girls, with average looks and typical quarter-life crises: making it up the corporate ladder, making sense of online dating, and making rent. Until they come across Pretty, a magic tincture that makes them supermodel gorgeous. And it’s certainly not their fault if the sudden gift of beauty causes unexpected doors to open for them. But there’s a dark side to Pretty, too, and as the gloss fades for these modern-day Cinderellas, there’s just one question left: What would you sacrifice to be Pretty?
Atria/Emily Bestler Books | 9781501119606
THE STORY OF KULLERVO written by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Verlyn Flieger (Fantasy)
Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother and tried three times to kill him when he was still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and the magical powers of the black dog Musti, who guards him. When Kullervo is sold into slavery, he swears revenge on the magician. But he will learn that even at the point of vengeance, there is no escape from the cruelest of fates. Published here for the first time with J.R.R. Tolkien’s drafts, notes and lecture essays on its source work, the Kalevala, THE STORY OF KULLERVO is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien’s invented world.
Mariner Books | 9780544947245
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